use Encode qw(decode);

sub decode_it {
  my $s = shift;
  eval {
    $s = decode('UTF-8', $s, 1);
    1;
  } or do {
    $s = decode('latin1', $s, 1);
  };
  return $s;
}

use Devel::Peek qw(Dump);
Dump decode_it($_) for  "\xE2\x84\xA2", "\xE7\xE1";

__END__
SV = PV(0x100820708) at 0x10081c248
  REFCNT = 1
  FLAGS = (TEMP,POK,pPOK,UTF8)
  PV = 0x100202140 "\342\204\242"\0 [UTF8 "\x{2122}"]
  CUR = 3
  LEN = 8
SV = PV(0x100820748) at 0x100860ee0
  REFCNT = 1
  FLAGS = (TEMP,POK,pPOK,UTF8)
  PV = 0x10025dec0 "\303\247\303\241"\0 [UTF8 "\x{e7}\x{e1}"]
  CUR = 4
  LEN = 8

[download]

Once decoded by decode_it, your character strings are ready to be UTF-8 encoded right before you put it out onto your web page.

In reply to Re: Character encoding woes - unicode or not? by repellent
in thread Character encoding woes - unicode or not? by japhy

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