#!/usr/bin/perl
use strict;
use warnings;

use Devel::Peek;

my $bytes = "\xE2\x98\xBA";
my $uni   = "\x{263a}";

# Only one difference between these: the UTF8 flag is on for $uni
Dump($bytes);
Dump($uni); 

__END__
Outputs:

SV = PV(0x1801660) at 0x180b584
  REFCNT = 1
  FLAGS = (PADBUSY,PADMY,POK,pPOK)
  PV = 0x300bd0 "\342\230\272"\0
  CUR = 3
  LEN = 4
SV = PV(0x1801678) at 0x180b560
  REFCNT = 1
  FLAGS = (PADBUSY,PADMY,POK,pPOK,UTF8)
  PV = 0x316c80 "\342\230\272"\0 [UTF8 "\x{263a}"]
  CUR = 3
  LEN = 4