Fix garbled message text

Ideas on how to fix garbled message text

1. Possible cause
   • Encoding issue: Choose the correct the language/encode of message text or auto detect the encode by tools
   • PHP utf8_encode() & utf8_decode()
2. (optional) convert the current encode to UTF-8
3. (optional) Making text wrap to window size

Possible approaches to encode the message text:

Approach	Goal	Is Chinese text garbled/encoded?	Sample text
JavaScript decodeURIComponent() Function	"converts characters into a format that can be transmitted over the Internet ... " Cited from w3schools	TRUE	before: http://www.中文網址.tw/my test.asp?name=ståle&car=saab after: http%3A%2F%2Fwww.%E4%B8%AD%E6%96%87%E7%B6%B2%E5%9D%80.tw%2Fmy%20test.asp%3Fname%3Dst%C3%A5le%26car%3Dsaab
URL Decoder/Encoder	(same as above)	TRUE	(same as above)
PHP: json_encode	Save array in mysql database	TRUE	before: array("作者" => "馬克吐溫"); after: {"\u4f5c\u8005":"\u99ac\u514b\u5410\u6eab"}
PHP: serialize	Save array in mysql database	FALSE	before: array("作者" => "馬克吐溫"); after: a:1:{s:6:"作者";s:12:"馬克吐溫";}

Ways to fix garbled message text

ConvertZ v.8.02

• choose encode: manually (mainly in Asia language)
• convert to UTF-8: available
• convert to big5 from UTF-8: available the wording may be changed by the software ex: 余美人 -> 於美人
• allow to wrap long text: available

EmEditor v.14.3.1 ($)

• choose encode: manually and auto-detect
• convert to UTF-8: available
• allow to wrap long text: available
• support command line: EmEditor FAQ: How can I convert file encodings with the command line?

Google Chrome v.10 (viewer)

• choose encode: manually and auto-detect
• allow to wrap long text: available (auto)

MadEdit v.0.2.9.1

• choose encode: manually and auto-detect
• convert to UTF-8: available
• allow to wrap long text: available

Microsoft Internet Explorer v.8 (viewer)

• choose encode: manually and auto-detect
• allow to wrap long text:

Microsoft notepad (記事本) for Windows

method 1: Err: 解決用記事本(notepad)開啟簡體字txt檔，出現亂碼的問題(2010): notepad + Notepad++

• choose encode: manually
• convert to UTF-8: available by Notepad++
• allow to wrap long text: available

method 2: Microsoft AppLocale 公用程式(patched: piaip pAppLocale) + notepad

• choose encode: manually
• convert to UTF-8: not available
• allow to wrap long text: available

Microsoft Office Word 2003 ($)

• choose encode: manually
• convert to UTF-8: available
• allow to wrap long text: available

Mozilla Firefox v.3.6 (viewer)

• choose encode: manually and auto-detect
• allow to wrap long text: no but you can copy the following code into the web address bar to wrap long text (Thanks, Return of the Sasquatch: word wrap for Firefox bookmarklet!)

javascript:(function() { var D = document; F(D.body); function F(n) { var u, r, c, x; if (n.nodeType == 3) { u = n.data.search(/\S{45}/); if (u >= 0) { r = n.splitText(u + 45); n.parentNode.insertBefore(D.createElement('wbr'), r); } } else if ((n.tagName != 'STYLE') && (n.tagName != 'SCRIPT')) { for (c = 0; x = n.childNodes[c]; ++c) { F(x); } } } D.body.innerHTML += ' '; })();

Notepad++ v.5.8

• choose encode: manually
• convert to UTF-8: available
• allow to wrap long text: available

not supported at this moment

• LibreOffice 3.3.0 - Writer
• OpenOffice.org 3.3.0 - Writer is not supported but OpenOffice.org Calc is supported.

further reading

• 簡繁體文件轉換
• Character encoding - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia