Javascript character encoding

Question

In an external javascript file I have a function that is used to append text to table cells (within the HTML doc that the javascript file is added to), text that can sometimes have Finnish characters (such as ä). That text is passed as an argument to my function:

content += addTableField(XML, 'Käyttötarkoitus', 'purpose', 255);

The problem is that diacritics such as "ä" get converted to some other bogus characters, such as "�". I see this when viewing the HTML doc in a browser. This is obviously not desirable, and is quite strange as well since the character encoding for the HTML doc is UTF-8.

How can I solve this problem?

Thanks in advance for helping out!

Are all your files (including the js one) served in UTF-8 ? Note that some servers (like some versions of tomcat) can break your js encoding. — Denys Séguret, May 30 '12 at 16:07
[UTF-8 all the way through](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/279170/utf-8-all-the-way-through) — Taz, May 30 '12 at 16:11
You can see it in Chrome inspector : network/your file/headers — Denys Séguret, May 30 '12 at 16:12
If the page wasn't in UTF-8 he would most likely see `"Ã¤"` instead of "�" — Esailija, May 30 '12 at 16:15
No, because the editor may parse it for him, but not SAVE it the same way — Sebas, May 30 '12 at 16:26
@DenysSéguret Do you have a reference for how Tomcat can break JS encoding? I'm looking into the subject and a reference would be helpful. — dj18, Aug 05 '16 at 19:40
@dj18 Sorry, I can't remember what version of tomcat I had already stopped using for that reason, back in 2012... But I hope you won't find them anywhere now in 2016 — Denys Séguret, Aug 05 '16 at 19:46

Esailija · Accepted Answer · 2012-05-30T16:24:47.663

4

The file that contains content += addTableField(XML, 'Käyttötarkoitus', 'purpose', 255); is not saved in UTF-8 encoding.

I don't know what editor you are using but you can find it in settings or in the save dialog.

Example:

If you can't get this to work you could always write out the literal code points in javascript:

content += addTableField(XML, 'K\u00E4ytt\u00f6tarkoitus', 'purpose', 255);

credit: triplee

edited May 30 '12 at 16:24

answered May 30 '12 at 16:11

Esailija

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In any event, you might want to use `'K\u00E4ytt\u00F5tarkoitus'` for portability, although it's ugly and hard to read. – tripleee May 30 '12 at 16:20
@tripleee thanks, I have edited it in. Btw `"ö"` is `'\u00f6'` :P – Esailija May 30 '12 at 16:25

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered May 30 '12 at 17:30

To check out the character encoding announced by a server, you can use Firebug (in the Info menu, there’s a command for viewing HTTP headers). Alternatively, you can use online services like Web-Sniffer.

If the headers for the external .js file specify a charset parameter, you need to use that encoding, unless you can change the relevant server settings (perhaps a .htaccess file).

If they lack a charset parameter, you can specify the encoding in the script element, e.g. <script src="foo.js" charset="utf-8">.

The declared encoding should of course match the actual encoding, which you can normally select when you save a file (using “Save As” command if needed).

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered May 30 '12 at 16:15

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The character encoding of the HTML file / doc does not matter any external ressource.

You will need to deliver the script file with UTF8 character encoding. If it was saved as such, your server config is bogus.

answered May 30 '12 at 16:15

Bergi

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Javascript character encoding

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