Re: Can't make emacs use utf-8?? (on WinXP)

[Benjamin Riefenstahl]

Hi Bjoern,


Bjoern <p2@blinker.net> writes:
> But I can't seem to convert my existing files. If I convert them to
> utf-8 (or mule-utf-8 ?) with C-x RET f utf-8 and save them, their
> encoding is still 'undecided-dos' when I reopen them.

Are there any characters in those files that would need converting?

> Except for one html File, where it works somehow (the others are
> .jsp and .java files, but I've also failed with another html
> file). When I create a text file just containing 'abc', it also
> works (recognised as utf-8 after reopening).

A text file that just has ASCII characters is just ASCII.  Emacs has
assigned your default encoding, there is nothing in there to detect
UTF-8 or any other (8-bit) encoding.

> However I tried writing a HelloWorld.java from scratch, and again it
> didn't work.

Java files should be plain ASCII, if at all possible.  HTML files can
be in UTF-8, but than they should declare the encoding in a <meta>
element.

> I'm really confused - how can undecided-dos happen at all, if utf-8
> is first in the priority list?

Good question.  I would expect that for plain ASCII, but you say that
a plain ASCII file got utf-8 assigned on opening, so that can't be it.
There may be mode-specific specialties.  Actually there *should* be,
as in the case of HTML or XML, but AFAIK, Emacs doesn't have much of
those yet.


so long, benny