Approximations, also known as heuristics, are bound to go wrong at some point. Making decisions (other than downgrading) based on the utf8 flag is bad, and there is no "better" way to do the impossible.

In any case, document the problem. If at all possible, try to get the data source and/or its documentation to communicate the type to you.

In reply to Re^10: Getting mad with CGI::Application and utf8 by Juerd
in thread Getting mad with CGI::Application and utf8 by isync

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