<!DOCTYPE html> <html> <head> <meta charset="UTF-8" /> <!-- <meta http-equiv="refresh" content="60" /> --> <meta name="description" content="Why to not use other charsets than UTF-8 in IRC and how to do it." /> <meta name="keywords" content="IRC,UTF-8,charset,Unicode,XChat,HexChat,irssi,WeeChat," /> <meta name="author" content="Mikaela Suomalainen" /> <link rel="canonical" href="https://mkaysi.github.io/pages/external/irc-utf-8.html"> <title> UTF-8 in IRC </title> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="../../css.css" /> </head> <body> <h2 id="why-to-use-utf-8">Why to use UTF-8</h2> <ul class="incremental"> <li>The characters that you send are visible to everyone.</li> <li>There is no unclearity what you say. <ul class="incremental"> <li>Example: <ul class="incremental"> <li><em>sain t?it?</em> <ul class="incremental"> <li>This can be understood two ways: <ul class="incremental"> <li><em>sain täitä</em> <ul class="incremental"> <li><em>I got louses</em></li> </ul></li> <li><em>sain töitä</em> <ul class="incremental"> <li><em>I got work</em></li> </ul></li> </ul></li> </ul></li> </ul></li> </ul></li> <li>All of the characters that you need are in it.</li> </ul> <p>TODO: add other reasons.</p> <h3 id="why-to-disable-fallback.">Why to disable fallback.</h3> <ul class="incremental"> <li>You know when people aren't sending UTF-8. <ul class="incremental"> <li>You can tell them it. <ul class="incremental"> <li>You can take action to their misbehavour.</li> </ul></li> </ul></li> <li>You aren't supporting depracated (by UTF-8) charsets.</li> </ul> <p>TODO: add other reasons.</p> <h2 id="how-to-use-utf-8.">How to use UTF-8.</h2> <h3 id="hexchat">HexChat</h3> <p>UTF-8 is used by default, but if your configuration is migrated from XChat you might not be using it.</p> <p>Open HexChat and there Network List (CTRL + S or search from the File menu.</p> <p>Edit network and ensure that the Character set says <strong>UTF-8 (Unicode).</strong></p> <p>"IRC (Latin/Unicode hybrid)" <strong>is not valid UTF-8</strong> and <strong>mustn't be used!</strong></p> <h3 id="irssi">irssi</h3> <p>I have copied these instructions from <a href="http://www.kapsi.fi/ohjeet/irssi-utf8.html">Kapsi's "Irssi ja UTF-8" guide</a> so these are untested and I wish someone will verify me that these work.</p> <pre><code>/set term_charset UTF-8 /set recode_out_default_charset UTF-8 /set recode_fallback "" /save</code></pre> <ol class="incremental" style="list-style-type: decimal"> <li>Sets terminal charset.</li> <li>Sets outgoing charset as UTF-8.</li> <li>Disables fallback when received messages aren't UTF-8.</li> <li>Saves irssi config.</li> </ol> <h3 id="weechat">WeeChat</h3> <pre><code>/set charset.default.decode "" /set charset.default.encode "UTF-8" /save</code></pre> <ol class="incremental" style="list-style-type: decimal"> <li>Stops decoding/fallbacking to other charsets than what we send.</li> <li>Send UTF-8.</li> <li>Saves WeeChat config files.</li> </ol> <h3 id="xchat">XChat</h3> <p><strong>XChat defaults to weird charset that claims to be UTF-8 and confuses users as in reality it's not UTF-8!</strong></p> <p>Open server list from the file menu or press CTRL + S, edit network and select the network. Ensure that the charset says <strong>UTF-8 (Unicode)</strong>.</p> <script> var idcomments_acct = '2405e74b7c1c8062b1b2ea830f1a8bd0'; var idcomments_post_id; var idcomments_post_url; </script> <span id="IDCommentsPostTitle" style="display:none"></span> <script type='text/javascript' src='http://www.intensedebate.com/js/genericCommentWrapperV2.js'></script> </body> </html> <!-- vim : set ft=markdown-->