How to specify output file encoding in Ruby?

Question

How can I set the encoding of a file when using a File#open?

Answer 1

Here's an example that outputs a file in the UTF-16LE encoding:

open("data.txt", "w:UTF-16LE")

Ruby looks at the encoding of the string you are writing, and transcodes as necessary. Here's a very detailed blog post describing mechanics with excellent examples (see the section called "The Default External and Internal Encodings").

Answer 2

That blog also has a bunch of great information about character encoding with Ruby, including a post about encoding with Ruby 1.8.

Answer 3

Here's the way to read pages with Japanese Shift JIS encoding:

  file = open(url, "r:Shift_JIS")