äöü.
ÄÖÜ.


##</code><code>##

  DB<62> open $fr,"<:raw","encode"

  DB<63> p -s $fr                   # 20 bytes
20
  DB<64> @a=<$fr>                   # slurp

  DB<65> dd \@a                     # Data::Dump::dd shows bytes correctly    
[
  "\xC3\xA4\xC3\xB6\xC3\xBC.\r\n",  # "ä" = UTF8:\xC3\xA4 = codepoint U+00E4 etc
  "\xC3\x84\xC3\x96\xC3\x9C.\r\n",
  "\r\n",
]

  DB<66> seek $fr,10,0              # put readpointer to middle

  DB<67> p tell $fr                 # ok pos = 10
10
  DB<68> read $fr,$rr,10            # read last 10 bytes into $rr

  DB<69> dd $rr                     # ouch, first byte is missing utf-8 boundary
"\x84\xC3\x96\xC3\x9C.\r\n\r\n"

  DB<70> $ru=Encode::decode('utf8',$rr)  # lets decode to internal string

  DB<71> Dump $ru                   # Devel::Peek : utf8-flag is set, first byte translated to  \x{fffd}
SV = PVMG(0x36d3a28) at 0x36d56b8
  REFCNT = 1
  FLAGS = (SMG,POK,IsCOW,pPOK,UTF8)
  IV = 0
  NV = 0
  PV = 0x36195e8 "\357\277\275\303\226\303\234.\r\n\r\n"\0 [UTF8 "\x{fffd}\x{d6}\x{dc}.\r\n\r\n"]
  CUR = 12
  LEN = 16
  COW_REFCNT = 0
  MAGIC = 0x3630f58
    MG_VIRTUAL = &PL_vtbl_utf8
    MG_TYPE = PERL_MAGIC_utf8(w)
    MG_LEN = -1

  DB<72> dd $ru                    # Data::Dump agrees
"\x{FFFD}\xD6\xDC.\r\n\r\n"

  DB<73> p length $ru              # 8 chars = "*ÖÜ.\r\n\r\n" with * for fail
8
  DB<74> p $ru                     # can't be printed without warning
Wide character in print at (eval 84)[C:/Perl_524/lib/perl5db.pl:737] line 2, <$fr> line 8.
   ... yadda traceback
´&#9488;¢&#9500;û&#9500;£.         # OK cmd.exe can't handle unicode  


  DB<75> @au = split//,$ru         

  DB<76> p $au[0]                  # yeah first character causing trouble
Wide character in print at (eval 86)[C:/Perl_524/lib/perl5db.pl:737] line 2, <$fr> line 8.
... yadda traceback
´&#9488;¢
  DB<77> p $au[1]
Í
  DB<78> dd $au[1]                 # yep D6 is the codepoint for "Ö" in unicode
"\xD6"