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.