Saving a text file - Notepad

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IanWilson
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Saving a text file - Notepad

Post by IanWilson »

If I save a .txt file using Notepad, I get a choice of encoding it as ANSI, Unicode, Unicode bigendian, or UTF-8.

What is the difference, and when, if ever, does it matter which I choose?

Ian

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HansV
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Re: Saving a text file - Notepad

Post by HansV »

ANSI is the default Windows character set. It contains 255 characters, including a limited set of accented letters and various symbols.

If you need to include special characters, for example Japanese or Arabic, you need to specify Unicode.

Unicode big endian is basically the same as Unicode, but for operating systems that use a slightly different way of storing data than Windows.

utf8 is a variant of Unicode that is often used for e-mail and web pages.

For most purposes, ANSI will be sufficient.
Best wishes,
Hans

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Hey Jude
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Re: Saving a text file - Notepad

Post by Hey Jude »

IanWilson wrote:If I save a .txt file using Notepad, I get a choice of encoding it as ANSI, Unicode, Unicode bigendian, or UTF-8.

What is the difference, and when, if ever, does it matter which I choose?

Ian
I always wondered that so thanks for asking :thankyou: and thank you Hans for such a wonderful explanation :fanfare:
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IanWilson
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Re: Saving a text file - Notepad

Post by IanWilson »

HansV wrote:ANSI is the default Windows character set. It contains 255 characters, including a limited set of accented letters and various symbols.

If you need to include special characters, for example Japanese or Arabic, you need to specify Unicode.

Unicode big endian is basically the same as Unicode, but for operating systems that use a slightly different way of storing data than Windows.

utf8 is a variant of Unicode that is often used for e-mail and web pages.

For most purposes, ANSI will be sufficient.
Thanks, Hans.

Ian

jaystarter
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Re: Saving a text file - Notepad

Post by jaystarter »

Excellent Hans, another nugget of info that helps us understand things
Jeff