Version 6 of encoding system

Updated 2005-12-28 22:15:47

encoding system ?encoding?

Set the system encoding to encoding. If encoding is omitted then the command returns the current system encoding. The system encoding is used whenever Tcl passes strings to system calls.


RS 2005-06-14: On Windows, a different encoding is used for consoles (cmd.exe). You can find out which with

 fconfigure stdout -encoding

which gives cp437 for KBK in New York and me in Germany. Reconfiguring stdout doesn't really work - even if you

 fconfigure stdout -encoding cp1252

the stubborn thing still stays with cp437...

MG does this on 2005-06-16, on Win XP in Britain. When I run the 'Command Prompt', cmd.exe, or tclsh.exe

 fconfigure stdout -encoding

begins as cp850, and trying to change it, then check it, with the same command seems to be successful. When I run Wish and check fconfigure stdout -encoding in the ('console show') console, it starts as utf-8, and is again changable. In all of the above, though, encoding system is cp1252.


Can soneone elaborate on the meaning of the 'identity' encoding? When using freewrap I get:

  % encoding system
  identity

What is this and what is it used for?

schlenk 2005-06-27: The identity encoding is for testing purposes, it should not be used without very good reasons. If you see your encoding system set to identity, you are missing the proper encoding files for your setup. This happens with tclkit-sh.exe on windows or other wrapped applications which do not include the right encodings for the local system they are running on.


See also:


Tcl syntax help - Category Command - Category Binary Data - Category Introspection