perl -MEncode -le '$a="\x{0341}"; $b=encode("utf8",$a); print "a:b ", (($a eq $b) ? "same":"different")'

# prints "different" -- $a is perl-internal utf8, $b is raw

perl -MEncode -le '$a="foo"; $b=encode("utf8",$a); print "a:b ", (($a eq $b) ? "same":"different")'

# prints "same"

perl -MEncode -le '$a="foo"; $b=decode("utf8",$a); print "a:b ", (($a eq $b) ? "same":"different")'

# also prints "same"

perl -MEncode -le '$a=decode("utf8","foo"); $b=encode("utf8","foo"); print "a:b ", (($a eq $b) ? "same":"different")'

# still prints "same