How to Ensure UTF-8 Encoding for File Conversion: Why Adding a BOM Makes the Difference?

Ensuring UTF-8 File Encoding for File Conversion

In the midst of a site conversion to UTF-8 encoding, a common task is to ensure that all files are encoded accordingly. However, existing files may use an outdated encoding format. This article explores a solution to write files in UTF-8 format, addressing the issue presented in a recent query.

A simple script was employed to convert the encoding, but the resulting files retained their original encoding. The following script was used:

header('Content-type: text/html; charset=utf-8');
mb_internal_encoding('UTF-8');
$fpath = "folder";
$d = dir($fpath);
while (False !== ($a = $d->read())) {
    if ($a != '.' and $a != '..') {
        $npath = $fpath . '/' . $a;
        $data = file_get_contents($npath);
        file_put_contents('tempfolder/' . $a, $data);
    }
}

To successfully write files in UTF-8 encoding, the script requires the addition of UTF-8 BOM (Byte Order Mark):

file_put_contents($myFile, "\xEF\xBB\xBF".  $content); 

This prefix ensures that the file is recognized as UTF-8 encoded and correctly interpreted. With this modification, the script will effectively convert and save the files in UTF-8 format, resolving the encoding discrepancy.

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