Re: Garbage display when NULL in file

[Eli Zaretskii]

> Date: Sun, 8 Mar 2009 18:19:55 -0700
> From: Samuel Wales <samologist@gmail.com>
> Cc: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org
> 
> On Sun, Mar 8, 2009 at 12:15, Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org> wrote:
> > What, you want every single file be read as UTF-8?  I don't recommend
> > that.
> 
> What's a good, very short executive level summary of the issues?

Too many files you encounter nowadays as a matter of routine are not
UTF-8 encoded.  If you tell Emacs to always assume UTF-8, you will get
garbage displayed in those files.

> If I paste into a plain ASCII file some ridiculous version of -- or '
> or `, am I OK answering utf-8 for what emacs asks me?

Yes, you should be OK.  But the issue here was not how to save the
buffer, the issue was how to make sure it is displayed correctly after
visiting a file.

> Same for CJK?

If Emacs mentions UTF-8 among the possible encodings it suggests, then
yes, you are safe with CJK as well.