UTF-8 encoding and Notepad with LaTeX

Question

I have written some LaTeX commands in a separate file, say foo.tex and include them in my LaTeX document.

Only after I edit foo.tex with Notepad (default editor in Windows), I get the following error message when compiling :

Unicode char \u8: not set up for use with LaTeX

I suspect that Notepad alters my text file, which is saved as previously with the UTF-8 encoding. How can I prevent it ?

According to Notepad, both files are in "UTF-8" encoding. However, I suspect that various encodings may be called "UTF-8" by Notepad. — Laurent Dudok de Wit, Jan 14 '14 at 20:59
On GNU/Linux, you can try file --mine foo.tex to get the 'charset', but it is not foolproof.... — jon, Jan 14 '14 at 21:00
You might try moving to Notepad2 or notepad++; both load about as fast as notepad and won't screw up your EOL markers. — Canageek, Jan 14 '14 at 21:20

score 9 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 12:39

9

Very likely notepad puts a byte order marker (BOM) at the start of the file. The "character" is invisible, but present. See also: How to make notepad to save text in utf-8 without bom?

For TeX files that are input after package inputenc is loaded, BOM can be disabled by:

\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\DeclareUnicodeCharacter{FEFF}{}

edited May 23 '17 at 12:39

Community

answered Jan 14 '14 at 21:00

Heiko Oberdiek

1 Answers1