Question

Problem: Arabic words in my text files read by java show as series of question marks : ??????

Here is the code:

        File[] fileList = mainFolder.listFiles();
        BufferedReader bufferReader = null;
        Reader reader = null;


        try{

        for(File f : fileList){           
            reader = new InputStreamReader(new FileInputStream(f.getPath()), "UTF8");
            bufferReader = new BufferedReader(reader);
            String line = null;

            while((line = bufferReader.readLine())!= null){
               System.out.println(new String(line.getBytes(), "UTF-8"));
            }              

        }
        }
        catch(Exception exc){
            exc.printStackTrace();
        }

        finally {
            //Close the BufferedReader
            try {
                if (bufferReader != null)
                    bufferReader.close();
            } catch (IOException ex) {
                ex.printStackTrace();
            }

As you can see I have specified the UTF-8 encoding in different places and still I get question marks, do you have any idea how can I fix this??

Thanks

Answer 1

Replace

System.out.println(new String(line.getBytes(), "UTF-8"));

by

System.out.println(line);

The String#getBytes() without the charset argument namely uses platform default encoding to get the bytes from the string, which may not be UTF-8 per se. You’re already reading the bytes as UTF-8 by InputStreamReader, so you don’t need to massage it forth and back afterwards.

Further, ensure that your display console (where you’re reading those lines) supports UTF-8. In for example Eclipse, you can do that by Window > Preferences > General > Workspace > Text File Encoding > Other > UTF-8.

See also:

• Unicode – How to get the characters right?