> I have no idea - the default for emacsW32 I assume? I do have backups of the
> corrupted file if that would help determine it.
Yes, that will help determine it. Open the backup file, and enter:
C-h v buffer-file-coding-system
You will get something like:
buffer-file-coding-system is a variable defined in `C source code'.
Its value is utf-8-emacs
Local in buffer *wide reply to Joseph Buchignani*; global value is nil
> Let me give some actual octal examples to help diagnose the encoding.
> \342\200\246 - this is some kind of dash copied off of a website
If UTF-8, then it is horizontal ellipsis
> \342\200\224 - a dash or a colon, I think
em dash
> \346\235\250\351\270\243 - this is two or three chinese characters, probably
> two.
It looks like two.
>
> Assuming the original encoding is utf-8-emacs, should I then force emacs to
> read the document that way? If so, what's the best way to do that?
Before opening the document):
C-x RET c utf-8-emacs
Or Options menu-> Mule -> Set Coding Systems -> For next command
or after opening the document:
C-x RET r utf-8-emacs
Or Options menu -> Mule -> Set Coding Systems -> For reverting this file now