Re^2: UTF-8 text files with Byte Order Mark

Patient: "Doctor, it hurts when I do this."
Doctor: "So don't do it!"

Easy to say, of course, but what if the program one of my users uses stores that BOM anyway? Besides, as pointed out, a BOM in a utf-8 file *are* valid so I feel I should support it. Look, if the user was toying around with malformed files I'd be more than happy to tell him to get that fixed :D but apparently he's doing what he righteously thinks is righs.

Comment on Re^2: UTF-8 text files with Byte Order Mark

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Re^3: UTF-8 text files with Byte Order Mark by ikegami (Patriarch) on Feb 13, 2007 at 20:36 UTC
a BOM in a utf-8 file are* valid* "`!`" in an ASCII file is also valid. But if you place a "`!`" at the start of your Perl program, it probably will not compile. It is a malformed file, not from a UNICODE perspective, but from your parser's perspective. I provided two alternatives (removing the BOM and File::BOM) that will work with your broken tools (i.e. tools that add undesirable character to the files you edit). I'd go with them since allowing the BOM is surely a good thing.	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re^4: UTF-8 text files with Byte Order Mark by muba (Priest) on Feb 13, 2007 at 20:43 UTC
Ouch. I'm afraid I used the wrong tone in my previous reply. You see, I am now removing that BOM myself (as you can read below). I never meant to attack or critisize you. In fact, I much appreciate your input!	[reply]