View source for How to display ANSI chars in UTF-8 format

mIRC 7 (and later) has changed the default text encoding from ANSI to UTF-8 encoded text only. As a result, users who are still using older mIRC versions (version 6.*) without using UTF-8 to encode their non-english messages, send messages that cannot be viewed correctly in newer, UTF-8 only, clients. It is beyond the scope of the script wiki to explain about UTF-8 and ANSI encodings.

'''Note:''' All the following examples and information refers to mIRC 7.1 and later.

== Viewing ANSI chars in UTF-8 format ==

In order to view ANSI encoded text in UTF-8 format, mIRC has two identifiers for the job: [[$utfencode]] and [[$utfdecode]], which can be used as in the following example:

 [[alias]] heb2utf {
   [[If-Then-Else|if]] ([[$isid]]) {
     [[return]] $utfdecode($utfencode([[$1-|$1-]], 177))
   }
 
   [[echo]] -ag $utfdecode($utfencode([[$1-|$1-]], 177))
 }
This example transforms Hebrew ANSI chars to UTF-8 encoded chars, and can be used either as an identifier or a command, in which it will either return the encoded text or display it, accordingly.

== Sending ANSI chars from UTF-8 format ==

In order to send ANSI chars, the text should be tranformed to ANSI encoding, and then be sent explicitly (because mIRC transforms the underlying bytes to UTF-8 encoded text and sends it as UTF-8). In order to do so, the [[raw]] command with the -n parameter is to be used, as in the following example:

 [[alias]] sayheb {
   .raw -n PRIVMSG [[$active]] : [[DollarPlus|$+]] $utfdecode($utfencode([[$1-|$1-]]), 177)
   [[echo]] -at < [[DollarPlus|$+]] [[$iif]]([[$chan_(remote)|$chan]], [[$nick_(nick)|$nick(]][[$chan_(remote)|$chan]], [[$me]]).pnick, [[$me]]) [[DollarPlus|$+]] > [[$1-|$1-]]
 }
This example writes a Hebrew ANSI encoded message to the active window.

== Examples ==

Using the previous alias, automatic possible transformation of ANSI encoded messages to UTF-8 can be done.

 on $*:TEXT:$(/[ [[DollarPlus|$+]] [[$chr]](224) [[DollarPlus|$+]] - [[DollarPlus|$+]] [[$chr]](250) [[DollarPlus|$+]] ]/):#,?: {
   [[If-Then-Else|if]] ($heb2utf([[$1-|$1-]]) != [[$1-|$1-]]) {
     [[If-Then-Else|if]] ([[$chan_(remote)|$chan]]) {
       [[echo]] -gt [[$chan_(remote)|$chan]] Possible Hebrew translation ( [[DollarPlus|$+]] [[$nick_(nick)|$nick(]][[$chan_(remote)|$chan]], [[$nick_(remote)|$nick]]).pnick [[DollarPlus|$+]] ): $heb2utf([[$1-|$1-]])
     }
     [[If-Then-Else|elseif]] ($query([[$nick_(remote)|$nick]])) {
       [[echo]] -gt [[$nick_(remote)|$nick]] Possible Hebrew translation ( [[DollarPlus|$+]] [[$nick_(remote)|$nick]] [[DollarPlus|$+]] ): $heb2utf([[$1-|$1-]])
     }
   }
 }
This example catches all messages which may contain Hebrew ANSI encoded chars and displays the UTF-8 encoded transformed message.

This can be used for other languages as well, by following these changes:
# Find the ANSI code of the first letter in the new language's alpha-bet, e.g. in this example - 224 is the ANSI code of the first letter in the Hebrew alpha-bet - "Alef"
# Find the ANSI code of the last letter in the new language's alpha-bet, e.g. in this example - 250 is the ANSI code of the last letter in the Hebrew alpha-bet - "Tav"
# Replace the previously found codes in the regex of the event trigger. This will make the event catch only possible transformable messages, and not all messages.
# Replace the GDI charset number in the "heb2utf" alias to the new language number.
# ''Optional:'' Change the name of the alias "heb2utf" (and all its references) to "<yourlang>2utf", e.g. "greek2utf".

== See Also ==
* [[$utfencode]]
* [[$utfdecode]]

== External links ==
*[http://trout.snt.utwente.nl/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=224231 Unicode support in mIRC]

[[Category:Tutorials]]