package utf8;
-
$utf8::hint_bits = 0x00800000;
our $VERSION = '1.00';
=head1 NAME
-utf8 - Perl pragma to enable/disable UTF-8 in source code
+utf8 - Perl pragma to enable/disable UTF-8 (or UTF-EBCDIC) in source code
=head1 SYNOPSIS
=head1 DESCRIPTION
-WARNING: The implementation of Unicode support in Perl is incomplete.
-See L<perlunicode> for the exact details.
-
The C<use utf8> pragma tells the Perl parser to allow UTF-8 in the
-program text in the current lexical scope. The C<no utf8> pragma
-tells Perl to switch back to treating the source text as literal
-bytes in the current lexical scope.
+program text in the current lexical scope (allow UTF-EBCDIC on EBCDIC based
+platforms). The C<no utf8> pragma tells Perl to switch back to treating
+the source text as literal bytes in the current lexical scope.
This pragma is primarily a compatibility device. Perl versions
earlier than 5.6 allowed arbitrary bytes in source code, whereas
source text. Until UTF-8 becomes the default format for source
text, this pragma should be used to recognize UTF-8 in the source.
When UTF-8 becomes the standard source format, this pragma will
-effectively become a no-op. This pragma already is a no-op on
-EBCDIC platforms (where it is alright to code perl in EBCDIC
-rather than UTF-8).
+effectively become a no-op. For convenience in what follows the
+term I<UTF-X> is used to refer to UTF-8 on ASCII and ISO Latin based
+platforms and UTF-EBCDIC on EBCDIC based platforms.
-Enabling the C<utf8> pragma has the following effects:
+Enabling the C<utf8> pragma has the following effect:
=over 4
=item *
Bytes in the source text that have their high-bit set will be treated
-as being part of a literal UTF-8 character. This includes most literals
-such as identifiers, string constants, constant regular expression patterns
-and package names.
-
-=item *
-
-In the absence of inputs marked as UTF-8, regular expressions within the
-scope of this pragma will default to using character semantics instead
-of byte semantics.
-
- @bytes_or_chars = split //, $data; # may split to bytes if data
- # $data isn't UTF-8
- {
- use utf8; # force char semantics
- @chars = split //, $data; # splits characters
- }
+as being part of a literal UTF-8 character. This includes most
+literals such as identifiers, string constants, constant regular
+expression patterns and package names. On EBCDIC platforms characters
+in the Latin 1 character set are treated as being part of a literal
+UTF-EBCDIC character.
=back
=item * $num_octets = utf8::upgrade($string);
-Converts internal representation of string to the perls internal UTF-X form.
-Returns the number of octets necessary to represent the string as UTF-X.
+Converts internal representation of string to the Perl's internal
+I<UTF-X> form. Returns the number of octets necessary to represent
+the string as I<UTF-X>.
=item * utf8::downgrade($string[, CHECK])
=item * utf8::encode($string)
Converts (in-place) I<$string> from logical characters to octet sequence
-representing it in perl's UTF-X encoding.
+representing it in Perl's I<UTF-X> encoding.
=item * $flag = utf8::decode($string)
-Attempts to converts I<$string> in-place from perl's UTF-X encoding into logical characters.
+Attempts to convert I<$string> in-place from Perl's I<UTF-X> encoding
+into logical characters.
=back