Plain Text Files

Plain text files do not have a charset tag. If the files are not in UTF-8 encoding, encoding conversion is needed. Use the iconv utility to perform the encoding conversion. For example, to convert a plain text file encoded in Traditional Chinese big5 to UTF-8, execute the following command: iconv -f big5 -t UTF-8 inputfilename > outputfilename

Alternatively, you can use File System Examiner to perform the encoding conversion. To start File System Examiner, click Launch, then choose Applications -> Utilities -> File System Examiner.

You can use Text Editor to read and write text files with various character encoding text automatically, so that you do not need to perform a manual conversion. You can also specify an encoding explicitly when you open or save a file in Text Editor. To start Text Editor, click Launch, then choose Applications -> Accessories -> Text Editor.