Defining the character encoding of a JavaScript source file

Question

I would like to print a status message to my German users, which contains umlauts (ä/ü/ö). I also would like them be in the source file rather than having to download and parse some extra file just for the messages.

However, I can't seem to find a way to define the encoding of a JS source file. Is there something like HTML's http-equiv? Or should I define the encoding in the HTTP header?

When I simply encode the file in UTF-8 an serve it, IE displays garbage.

Tomcat-only for local development. Static files are served by Apache on the production system. — Leonard Ehrenfried, Feb 24 '10 at 10:09
See also : http://stackoverflow.com/questions/8833231/how-to-declare-character-encoding-in-an-individual-js-file — Guillaume Husta, Aug 25 '15 at 10:18

score 42 · Accepted Answer · edited Oct 18 '12 at 11:40

42

Sending the encoding in the headers is always a good idea.

If that's not possible, the <script> tag has the charset property. W3C Reference

<script src="translations.js" type="text/javascript" charset="utf-8"/>

edited Oct 18 '12 at 11:40

Kerem Baydoğan

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answered Feb 24 '10 at 10:07

Pekka

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score 10 · Answer 2 · answered May 23 '14 at 11:29

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It seems that the charset attribute for the script tag is not deprecated in HTML5 (it is deprecated only for a and link tags).

answered May 23 '14 at 11:29

Simon Hi

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score 3 · Answer 3 · edited Aug 25 '15 at 10:29

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While the charset parameter would seem helpful, it's important to note that it's actually deprecated in HTML5.

http://www.w3.org/International/questions/qa-html-encoding-declarations#charset

edited Aug 25 '15 at 10:29

Guillaume Husta

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answered Jun 22 '12 at 17:51

Micah Henning

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So what's the alternative then? – Eloff Jan 19 '13 at 18:08
The alternative is to define the charset in the HTTP headers. – Micah Henning Jan 31 '13 at 21:24
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@MicahHenning And what if you can't define it in the HTTP headers? – Timo Huovinen Oct 01 '13 at 10:36
Ultimately, it's the web server that defines the character set of the code being sent to the web browser, no matter if you use the `charset` parameter. – Micah Henning Oct 28 '13 at 19:13
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Or what if you aren't using a web server and running HTML files locally? – Natalie Adams May 09 '14 at 23:45
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HTML5 does not deprecated the property `charset` on a script tag. The link above only deals with links and not script. http://www.w3.org/TR/html5/scripting-1.html#attr-script-charset – Vern Burton Oct 26 '15 at 21:29
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@VernBurton Yes, you are correct. Perhaps in June of 2012 when I made this post my understanding was that the `charset` parameter was deprecated, but then it was later re-added. After all, HTML 5 wasn't finalized until late 2014. – Micah Henning Nov 10 '15 at 19:29

score 3 · Answer 4 · answered Feb 27 '13 at 22:00

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This might sound a bit dumb, but make sure you save your javascript file with the correct encoding in the editor you are using. I had a problem with the encoding of my javascript file, and the solution was as simple as this!

answered Feb 27 '13 at 22:00

CptCook

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score 2 · Answer 5 · edited Apr 04 '12 at 09:16

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For french javascript js, we've used another charset :

<script src="./js/MyScript.js" type="text/javascript" charset="iso-8859-1"></script>

edited Apr 04 '12 at 09:16

pjumble

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answered Apr 04 '12 at 09:09

Nolmë Informatique

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you should use utf-8, this charset will allow iso-8859-1 characters and more. – dotmindlabs Aug 25 '17 at 09:02
unless of course you explicitly desire to support *no more* than good ole French ;) – humanityANDpeace Mar 28 '18 at 13:15

score -1 · Answer 6 · answered Jun 05 '15 at 17:13

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The simplest solution to your problem would be to use unicode escape for special character in strings. This way, your code is not affected by the page that's hosting it.

A tool that might help you: http://www.webstein.net/tools/javascript-unicode

answered Jun 05 '15 at 17:13

ra00l

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Link is unfortunately dead. – Koray Tugay Jul 10 '16 at 17:47

Defining the character encoding of a JavaScript source file

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