Re: How to enforce utf8 for all file without an override

[Rusi]

On Saturday, June 11, 2016 at 9:59:42 PM UTC+5:30, Tom Browder wrote:
> On Sat, Jun 11, 2016 at 9:47 AM, Emanuel Berg  wrote:
> > Tom Browder  writes:
> >
> >> How can I make utf8 the default in my
> >> init.el file?
> >
> > Emacs always did this automagically for me, but
> > this should force a certain encoding for read
> > and write operations. See the help for
> > `file-coding-system-alist' to understand how it
> > works. You might want to try with a test
> > ".txtt" extention if it needs experimentation
> > to get right. It sure beats littering each file
> > with instructions how to align the editor!
> >
> > (setq file-coding-system-alist
> >       (cons
> >        '("\\.txt\\'" . utf8)
> >        file-coding-system-alist) )
> 
> Hm, maybe that's part of my problem.  When I use the help describe
> function for "file-coding-system-alist" I get in the mini-buffer:
> 
>   Describe function: file-coding-system-alist [No match]
> 
> Maybe I'm missing some el files.  I'm using Emacs 24.4.1 (from a
> Debian 8 package).

Its a variable not a function -- ie see it with C-h v not C-h f

And the details that Eli is asking for should include:
OS
If *nix then env value of $LANG, etc