how to work with utf-8

how to work with utf-8

[Paul Tremblay]

I'm a vim user who is trying out emacs. One of the things that really
impresses me with emacs is its multi-lingual (utf-8) support. 

I have read throug the tutorial, and I have also tried playing with
the multi-linual mule, but can't quite figure out how to get started
with two basic tasks:

1. Is there an easier way to open a utf-8 file than with: 

C-x C-m c utf-8 C-x C-f ?

For example, what if I want to create a new utf-8 file from scratch?

2. How do I enter utf-8 characters directly in emacs? In vim, there is
a serier of sequences to do this: control k, and then u to indicate a
hexidecimal that has a width of 4, and then something like 201c for a
right curly quote.

Thanks

Paul

-- 

************************
*Paul Tremblay         *
*phthenry@iglou.com    *
************************

Re: how to work with utf-8

[Peter Dyballa]

Am 18.04.2005 um 00:16 schrieb Paul Tremblay:

> 1. Is there an easier way to open a utf-8 file than with:
>
> C-x C-m c utf-8 C-x C-f ?
>
> For example, what if I want to create a new utf-8 file from scratch?

You can set these things in .emacs:

	(set-language-environment		'UTF-8)
	(set-default-coding-systems		'utf-8)
	(setq file-name-coding-system		'utf-8)
	(setq default-buffer-file-coding-system 'utf-8)
	(setq coding-system-for-write		'utf-8)
	(set-keyboard-coding-system		'utf-8)
	(set-terminal-coding-system		'utf-8)
;	(set-clipboard-coding-system		'utf-8)
;	(set-selection-coding-system		'utf-8)
	(set-language-environment		'German)
	(prefer-coding-system			'iso-8859-15)
	(modify-coding-system-alist 'process "\\*shell\\*\\'" 'utf-8-unix)

and/or set locales like LC_ALL, LC_CTYPE, LANG to contain UTF-8 as for 
example: LANG=de_DE.UTF-8. Modern Emacsen, I think 21.3 at least, 
derive their mode of operation from this.

You can start your text files à la: ;;; -*- mode: Text; coding: utf-8; 
-*-
Once you've done that you can C-x RET r: 
revert-buffer-with-coding-system.

And what you might need most are fontsets of fonts that allow you to 
see these glyphs.


>
> 2. How do I enter utf-8 characters directly in emacs? In vim, there is
> a serier of sequences to do this: control k, and then u to indicate a
> hexidecimal that has a width of 4, and then something like 201c for a
> right curly quote.
>

Happily I can input these with my keyboard, either directly or with 
simultaneously pressing the alt key. But for the future I'd like to 
know a more general method too ...

--
Greetings

   Pete

   Basic, n.:
	A programming language.  Related to certain social diseases in
that those who have it will not admit it in polite company.