Change / Save encoding How to convert 800 txt files UTF-8 to UTF-8-BOM

Vasile Caraus

@Alan-Kilborn said in Change / Save encoding How to convert 800 txt files UTF-8 to UTF-8-BOM:

@Vasile-Caraus said in Change / Save encoding How to convert 800 txt files UTF-8 to UTF-8-BOM:

I got this error, after running the Python script

You’re probably not running it under the Notepad++ plugin called PythonScript.

good morning @Alan-Kilborn Yes you are right. I had to use PythonScript from Notepad++. WORKS !! Thank you

guy038

Hi, @Vasile-caraus, @alan-kilborn and All,

Oh, I’m really silly ! You just can do it with Notepad++, without any restriction !

So, I assume that all your .html files, in your directory, are UTF-8 encoded ( and not UTF-8-BOM ! )

In this case, here is the road map :

First back-up the directory containing all the .html files to modify ( Wise ! )
Start Notepad++
If some .html files, located in this specific directory, are opened in N++, it’s best to close all these files
Now, open the Find in Files dialog ( Ctrl + Shift + F )
- SEARCH \A
- REPLACE \x{FEFF}
- FILTERS *.html
- DIRECTORY Your SPECIFIC folder
- Tick the Regular expression search mode
- Click on the Replace in Files button
- Confirm the Are you sure? dialog

Voila ! Now, all your .html files, in this specific folder, should be UTF-8-BOM encoded ;-))

Best Regards,

guy038

P.S. :

Note that the opposite manipulation of changing a UTF-8-BOM encoded file to an UTF-8 encoded file is always impossible with a regex !

Indeed, as the \A is the location between the BOM ( The three bytes \xEF\xBB\xBF ) and the very first byte of your UTF-8-BOM file, you cannot delete the Byte Order Mark with a regex !!

Vasile Caraus

@guy038 said in Change / Save encoding How to convert 800 txt files UTF-8 to UTF-8-BOM:

\x{FEFF}

hello @guy038

I test your solution, this is the print screen. I can tell you that is not working. Nothing is change. Only the Python script of @Alan-Kilborn WORKS !

Alan Kilborn

@guy038 's solution works for me.

But, it has some problems:

it doesn’t check to see if a BOM is present before adding one
if run multiple times it will keep inserting more and more BOM byte sequences at the start of file

So, if you’re sure that NONE of your files already has a BOM, it seems like the regex replacement approach will work.

Vasile Caraus

@guy038 said in Change / Save encoding How to convert 800 txt files UTF-8 to UTF-8-BOM:

\A

Indeed. @guy038 solution is good. Except if I press CANCEL for the first times. So, as to work, after I press “Replace All” I must also press OK immediate, not cancel it and again press “Replace All” and Ok

Alan Kilborn

@Vasile-Caraus

If you end up with extra BOM sequences at the start of your files, you won’t see them. They’ll be zero-width-non-breaking-spaces. They’ll be there, but you won’t know it. I don’t know what that will do to the “integrity” of your files, probably nothing. But I always like to know what’s in my files.

Hellena Crainicu

@guy038 said in Change / Save encoding How to convert 800 txt files UTF-8 to UTF-8-BOM:

SEARCH \A
REPLACE \x{FEFF}
FILTERS *.html

doesn’t work anymore. I just test it !
Doesn’t convert anymore ANSI files to UTF-8-BOM

Ekopalypse

@hellena-crainicu

Why do you think this is so? How did you test?
A quick test from my side seems to show that it still works.
The two lines in the PythonScript console show the state before and after the replace action was executed.

Hellena Crainicu

@ekopalypse ok, try “Find in files”, for multiple files.

Ekopalypse

@hellena-crainicu

That works for me too.