encode::guess(3pm)

NAME

Encode::Guess -- Guesses encoding from data

SYNOPSIS

# if you are sure $data won't contain anything bogus
use Encode;
use Encode::Guess qw/euc-jp shiftjis 7bit-jis/;
my $utf8 = decode("Guess", $data);
my $data = encode("Guess", $utf8);   # this doesn't work!
# more elaborate way
use Encode::Guess;
my $enc = guess_encoding($data, qw/euc-jp shiftjis 7bit-jis/);
ref($enc) or die "Can't guess: $enc"; # trap error this way
$utf8 = $enc->decode($data);
# or
$utf8 = decode($enc->name, $data)

ABSTRACT

Encode::Guess enables you to guess in what encoding a given data is
encoded, or at least tries to.

DESCRIPTION

By default, it checks only ascii, utf8 and UTF-16/32 with BOM.

use Encode::Guess; # ascii/utf8/BOMed UTF

To use it more practically, you have to give the names of encodings to check (suspects as follows). The name of suspects can either be canonical names or aliases.

CAVEAT: Unlike UTF-(16|32), BOM in utf8 is NOT AUTOMATICALLY STRIPPED.

# tries all major Japanese Encodings as well

use Encode::Guess qw/euc-jp shiftjis 7bit-jis/;

If the $Encode::Guess::NoUTFAutoGuess variable is set to a true value, no heuristics will be applied to UTF8/16/32, and the result will be
limited to the suspects and "ascii".

Encode::Guess->set_suspects

You can also change the internal suspects list via "set_suspects"
method.

use Encode::Guess;
Encode::Guess->set_suspects(qw/euc-jp shiftjis 7bit-jis/);

Encode::Guess->add_suspects

Or you can use "add_suspects" method. The difference is that
"set_suspects" flushes the current suspects list while "add_suspects" adds.

use Encode::Guess;
Encode::Guess->add_suspects(qw/euc-jp shiftjis 7bit-jis/);
# now the suspects are euc-jp,shiftjis,7bit-jis, AND
# euc-kr,euc-cn, and big5-eten
Encode::Guess->add_suspects(qw/euc-kr euc-cn big5-eten/);

Encode::decode("Guess" ...)

When you are content with suspects list, you can now

my $utf8 = Encode::decode("Guess", $data);

Encode::Guess->guess($data)

But it will croak if:

* Two or more suspects remain

* No suspects left

So you should instead try this;

my $decoder = Encode::Guess->guess($data);

On success, $decoder is an object that is documented in
Encode::Encoding. So you can now do this;

my $utf8 = $decoder->decode($data);

On failure, $decoder now contains an error message so the whole
thing would be as follows;

my $decoder = Encode::Guess->guess($data);
die $decoder unless ref($decoder);
my $utf8 = $decoder->decode($data);

guess_encoding($data, [, list of suspects])

You can also try "guess_encoding" function which is exported by
default. It takes $data to check and it also takes the list of
suspects by option. The optional suspect list is not reflected to the internal suspects list.

my $decoder = guess_encoding($data, qw/euc-jp euc-kr euc-cn/);
die $decoder unless ref($decoder);
my $utf8 = $decoder->decode($data);
# check only ascii and utf8
my $decoder = guess_encoding($data);

CAVEATS

o Because of the algorithm used, ISO-8859 series and other single

byte encodings do not work well unless either one of ISO-8859 is
the only one suspect (besides ascii and utf8).

use Encode::Guess;
# perhaps ok
my $decoder = guess_encoding($data, 'latin1');
# definitely NOT ok
my $decoder = guess_encoding($data, qw/latin1 greek/);

The reason is that Encode::Guess guesses encoding by trial and
error. It first splits $data into lines and tries to decode the
line for each suspect. It keeps it going until all but one encoding is eliminated out of suspects list. ISO-8859 series is just
too successful for most cases (because it fills almost all code
points in \x00-\xff).

o Do not mix national standard encodings and the corresponding vendor

encodings.

# a very bad idea
my $decoder

= guess_encoding($data, qw/shiftjis MacJapanese cp932/);

The reason is that vendor encoding is usually a superset of
national standard so it becomes too ambiguous for most cases.

o On the other hand, mixing various national standard encodings

automagically works unless $data is too short to allow for guessing.

# This is ok if $data is long enough
my $decoder =

guess_encoding($data, qw/euc-cn

euc-jp shiftjis 7bit-jis
euc-kr
big5-eten/);

o DO NOT PUT TOO MANY SUSPECTS! Don't you try something like this!

my $decoder = guess_encoding($data,

Encode->encodings(":all"));

It is, after all, just a guess. You should alway be explicit when it
comes to encodings. But there are some, especially Japanese, environment that guess-coding is a must. Use this module with care.

TO DO

Encode::Guess does not work on EBCDIC platforms.

SEE ALSO

Encode, Encode::Encoding

perl v5.8.8 2001-09-21 Encode::Guess(3pm)