Re: How do I convert a string to Unicode and back (v5.005_03)?

[mirod]

If you have the iconv library on your system then the easiest way is to use Text::Iconv:

use Text::Iconv;
my $enc= 'latin1'; # or any other encoding supported by iconv, iconv -
+-list gives the list
my $enc2utf = new Text::Iconv( $enc, 'utf8')
                or die "Can't create enc2utf converter";
my $utf2enc= new Text::Iconv( 'utf8', $enc)
                or die "Can't create utf2enc converter";

# then you can convert strings like this:
my $utf8_string= $enc2utf->convert( $enc_string);
my $enc_string= $utf2enc->convert( $utf8_string);

This works with every character encoding supported by iconv, be it 1-byte or multi-byte.

You can also have a look at Converting character encodings for a discussion on character conversion.