This class delivers three static methods: public static string ReadAllText(Īnd public static Encoding DetectEncoding(byte bytes) That's not rocket science: it's EncodingDetector. The trick is to test the longest preambles first. To determine the encoding of a file, we need to read the first few bytes (the maximum preamble length) of the file and compare it to the known preambles. To do so, we need to construct a list of encodings with a preamble, at the same time measuring the longest preamble in the list. Next, of course, we need to test the contents of a file to see if it starts with one of the known preambles. ' We have an Encoding with a Byte Order Mark So it's relatively easy to iterate over all supported encodings, selecting those that have a preamble: For Each Info As EncodingInfo In Encoding.GetEncodings()ĭim Preamble() As Byte = Info.GetEncoding().GetPreamble() Calling GetPreamble() on that gives us a byte array that contains the Byte Order Mark, called a preamble in. Each of those has a GetEncoding() method, returning the corresponding object. The result is an array of EncodingInfo objects. NET Framework helps us look for a Byte Order Mark through the () method. If it doesn't, there's not much we can do: the file could be encoded using UTF-8 or ANSI and we need to make a choice between them. If it does, its encoding is immediately clear. Basically, the file may or may not contain a Byte Order Mark.

NET determining the encoding of a text file can be tricky. Using constants for table and column namesĪs explained in Text Encoding and.Using a FileSystemWatcher from PowerShell.Comparing folder security using PowerShell.

System text encoding getencoding