open FH, '<:utf8', 'input.txt'
    or die $!
my $str = <FH>;
close FH;

##</code><code>##

C3 A0

##</code><code>##

print $str;

##</code><code>##

echo -e "\xC3\xA0" | perl -pne 'BEGIN{binmode STDIN, ":utf8"}'
echo -e "\xD0\xBC" | perl -pne 'BEGIN{binmode STDIN, ":utf8"}'