Is it possible to automatically set UTF16 file encoding when opening a file of that type?

Question

I edit all kinds of files with Vim (as I\'m sure most Vim users do). One bug bear I have is what Vim does when I come across a file with an odd encoding. Most editors (the

Answer 1

Adding the encoding name to 'fileencodings' should do the trick:

:set fencs=ucs-bom,utf-16le,utf-8,default,latin1

Alternatively, there are plugins like AutoFenc and fencview.

Answer 2

Do you have a byte-order-mark ? Vim should detect this and work appropriately. From the doc - section 45.4:

When you start editing that 16-bit Unicode file, and it has a BOM, Vim will detect this and convert the file to utf-8 when reading it. The 'fileencoding' option (without s at the end) is set to the detected value. In this case it is "utf-16le". That means it's Unicode, 16-bit and little-endian. This file format is common on MS-Windows (e.g., for registry files).

Answer 3

Add this code to your .vimrc:

if has("multi_byte")
  if &termencoding == ""
    let &termencoding = &encoding
  endif
  set encoding=utf-8
  setglobal fileencoding=utf-8
  "setglobal bomb
  set fileencodings=ucs-bom,utf-8,latin1
endif