Auto detect ANSI encoding

[swaner]

• VSCode Version:
  1.1.1
• OS Version:
  Win 10

Steps to Reproduce:

1. Create a new file in notepad, save it as ANSI (on my machine Ansi = Windows-1252)
2. Open the file in vs code

Result: VSCode assumes UTF-8 and the file is corrupted. Sublime-text has no problem recognizing Windows-1252.

[bpasero]

@swaner we do not have encoding detection so you need to either configure the encoding globally or per workspace or switch it from the status bar picker.

[MantvydasD]

I support this issue. I just had a deployment using a script which had ® character inside it and I then edited with Code. And ooh, how the script failed and brought down the system. Simple editors handle ANSI files simply, and Code doesn't. That's a shame.

I attach a sample file to test. When I open this file with Code I see � instead of ®, it should leave ® alone. And I tried to change encoding to ANSI, and I couldn't find it among Change File Encoding. Windows 1252 should explicitly say it's ANSI. And Code should automatically understand it's such.

Character ®.txt

[JoV5]

+1

[g3o2]

Less powerful alternatives for handling this issue in the short run:

• use the problems or errors counter to signal the presence of � or any unrecognised characters;
• upon opening a file containing unrecognised characters, issue a question dialog suggesting Reopen with encoding or Continue. At least this will help prevent accidental overwriting;

Of course encoding detection would much more powerful.

[buzzzzer]

It is better to add onOpenFile setEnconding to api extentions...

[regs01]

I have UTF8 files and I have Windows 1251 files. I can't change it globally to Windows 1251. So every time i open them i have to reopen them. Why, at least, not to save desired encoding per file? If once i opened it in Win1251, open it in Win1251 any time else, unless i reopen or resave it manually as other encoding?

And it has western codepages stuck at the top of codepages list rather than local codepages.

[llucassantoss]

Hi,
For ANSI files, use Western (Windows 1252).

[bpasero]

#5388