CGI removes the URL-encoding, but IIRC, CGI leaves the character encoding in place. If so, you can use Encode's decode_utf8 or utf8's decode on what param returns.

CGI has the -utf8 pragma:

This makes CGI.pm treat all parameters as UTF-8 strings. Use this with care, as it will interfere with the processing of binary uploads. It is better to manually select which fields are expected to return utf-8 strings and convert them using code like this:

     use Encode;
     my $arg = decode utf8=>param('foo');
[download]

The problem with binary (file) uploads is due to CGI's legacy, as it partially treats file uploads as form parameters instead of keeping both separate.

Alexander

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Today I will gladly share my knowledge and experience, for there are no sweeter words than "I told you so". ;-)