decode_json(encode_utf8($json))

##</code><code>##

from_json(decode_utf8(encode_utf8($json)))

##</code><code>##

use utf8;

use JSON qw( from_json );

my $json = q({ "cat" : "text – abcd" });
my $data = from_json($json);

##</code><code>##

use open ':std', ':encoding(UTF-8)';

print($data->{cat}, "\n");

##</code><code>##

#!/usr/bin/perl

use strict;
use warnings;

use utf8;                             # Source encoded using UTF-8.
use open ':std', ':encoding(UTF-8)';  # Terminal expects UTF-8.

use JSON qw( from_json );

my $json = q({ "cat" : "text – abcd" });
my $data = from_json($json);
print($data->{cat}, "\n");