perl -Mencoding=utf16,STDOUT,utf8 -p -e 1

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works for me, and so does: 
perl -Mencoding=utf8,STDIN,utf16 -p -e 1

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using both 5.8.7 and 5.8.8 on freebsd (-V output below, FWIW). 
Summary of my perl5 (revision 5 version 8 subversion 8) configuration:
  Platform:
    osname=freebsd, osvers=6.1-prerelease, archname=amd64-freebsd
    uname='freebsd thing4.ldc.upenn.edu 6.1-prerelease freebsd 6.1-pre
+release #0: fri mar 17 22:23:07 est 2006 root@thing4.ldc.upenn.edu:us
+robjusrsrcsysthing4 amd64 '
    config_args='-sde -Dprefix=/usr/local -Darchlib=/usr/local/lib/per
+l5/5.8.8/mach -Dprivlib=/usr/local/lib/perl5/5.8.8 -Dman3dir=/usr/loc
+al/lib/perl5/5.8.8/perl/man/man3 -Dman1dir=/usr/local/man/man1 -Dsite
+arch=/usr/local/lib/perl5/site_perl/5.8.8/mach -Dsitelib=/usr/local/l
+ib/perl5/site_perl/5.8.8 -Dscriptdir=/usr/local/bin -Dsiteman3dir=/us
+r/local/lib/perl5/5.8.8/man/man3 -Dsiteman1dir=/usr/local/man/man1 -U
+i_malloc -Ui_iconv -Uinstallusrbinperl -Dcc=cc -Duseshrplib -Dccflags
+=-DAPPLLIB_EXP="/usr/local/lib/perl5/5.8.8/BSDPAN" -Doptimize=-O2 -fn
+o-strict-aliasing -pipe  -Ud_dosuid -Ui_gdbm -Dusethreads=n -Dusemyma
+lloc=y -Duse64bitint'
    hint=recommended, useposix=true, d_sigaction=define
    usethreads=undef use5005threads=undef useithreads=undef usemultipl
+icity=undef
    useperlio=define d_sfio=undef uselargefiles=define usesocks=undef
    use64bitint=define use64bitall=define uselongdouble=undef
    usemymalloc=y, bincompat5005=undef
  Compiler:
    cc='cc', ccflags ='-DAPPLLIB_EXP="/usr/local/lib/perl5/5.8.8/BSDPA
+N" -DHAS_FPSETMASK -DHAS_FLOATINGPOINT_H -fno-strict-aliasing -pipe -
+Wdeclaration-after-statement -I/usr/local/include',
    optimize='-O2 -fno-strict-aliasing -pipe ',
    cppflags='-DAPPLLIB_EXP="/usr/local/lib/perl5/5.8.8/BSDPAN" -DHAS_
+FPSETMASK -DHAS_FLOATINGPOINT_H -fno-strict-aliasing -pipe -Wdeclarat
+ion-after-statement -I/usr/local/include'
    ccversion='', gccversion='3.4.4 [FreeBSD] 20050518', gccosandvers=
+''
    intsize=4, longsize=8, ptrsize=8, doublesize=8, byteorder=12345678
    d_longlong=define, longlongsize=8, d_longdbl=define, longdblsize=1
+6
    ivtype='long', ivsize=8, nvtype='double', nvsize=8, Off_t='off_t',
+ lseeksize=8
    alignbytes=8, prototype=define
  Linker and Libraries:
    ld='cc', ldflags =' -Wl,-E -L/usr/local/lib'
    libpth=/usr/lib /usr/local/lib
    libs=-lm -lcrypt -lutil
    perllibs=-lm -lcrypt -lutil
    libc=, so=so, useshrplib=true, libperl=libperl.so
    gnulibc_version=''
  Dynamic Linking:
    dlsrc=dl_dlopen.xs, dlext=so, d_dlsymun=undef, ccdlflags='  -Wl,-R
+/usr/local/lib/perl5/5.8.8/mach/CORE'
    cccdlflags='-DPIC -fPIC', lddlflags='-shared  -L/usr/local/lib'


Characteristics of this binary (from libperl): 
  Compile-time options: MYMALLOC PERL_MALLOC_WRAP USE_64_BIT_ALL
                        USE_64_BIT_INT USE_LARGE_FILES USE_PERLIO
  Locally applied patches:
        defined-or
  Built under freebsd
  Compiled at Mar 18 2006 13:05:40
  @INC:
    /usr/local/lib/perl5/5.8.8/BSDPAN
    /usr/local/lib/perl5/site_perl/5.8.8/mach
    /usr/local/lib/perl5/site_perl/5.8.8
    /usr/local/lib/perl5/site_perl
    /usr/local/lib/perl5/5.8.8/mach
    /usr/local/lib/perl5/5.8.8
    .

[download]
My first inclination for this sort of thing would be to use binmode: 
perl -pe 'BEGIN{binmode STDIN,":encoding(utf16)";binmode STDOUT,":utf8
+"} 1;' < in > out

[download]
But that involves a bit more typing.

In reply to Re: Strange interaction between command line and encoding by graff
in thread Strange interaction between command line and encoding by VSarkiss

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