What are best practices for working with utf8 vs bytes?

When working with UTF-8 and byte strings in Perl, it's essential to follow best practices to ensure proper encoding and decoding of text, especially in web applications. Using UTF-8 consistently prevents issues related to character misinterpretation and ensures a smooth user experience.

Best practices include:

  • Always save your files in UTF-8 encoding.
  • Use the `use utf8;` pragma to enable UTF-8 in your source code.
  • Decode incoming byte strings using `Encode::decode('UTF-8', $string)`.
  • Encode outgoing strings using `Encode::encode('UTF-8', $string)`.
  • Use `use open ':std', ':encoding(UTF-8)';` to handle standard input/output in UTF-8.

Following these guidelines will ensure that your Perl scripts handle UTF-8 data effectively, minimizing potential errors related to character encoding.

# Enabling UTF-8 in the Perl script use utf8; # Handling UTF-8 strings $utf8_string = Encode::decode('UTF-8', $byte_string); $output_string = Encode::encode('UTF-8', $utf8_string);

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