# Dir#.glob over accentuated named directories? **URL:** \ **Category:** Ruby\ **Created:** [March 6, 2008, 10:36am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/dir-glob-over-accentuated-named-directories/131132 "2008-03-06T10:36:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Une\_BSSSSvS\_ue](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/u/2acd7d/32.png) [@Une\_BSSSSvS\_ue](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Une_BSSSSvS_ue)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2008, 10:36am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/dir-glob-over-accentuated-named-directories/131132/1 "2008-03-06T10:36:10Z")
over MacOS X the user could have named directories using accentuated characters like : “Défaut” (for Default) when doing a Dir.glob over the parent directory of it i get : De’faut is there a way to get the “right” name in UTF-8 ??? instead of ASCII ? because, after getting those directories i memorize this directory name to a label “Défaut” and move the directory to a www safe string “defaut” (no accentuate characters). ---
**Author:** ![Une\_BSSSSvS\_ue](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/u/2acd7d/32.png) [@Une\_BSSSSvS\_ue](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Une_BSSSSvS_ue)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2008, 3:51pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/dir-glob-over-accentuated-named-directories/131132/2 "2008-03-06T15:51:26Z")
7stud – [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > That is your display device’s > interpretation of the string. fine, thanks 😉 in fact this is due to my text editor (TextMate); i did the following experiment : make a folder on desktop with an accentuated character e run the script : puts “Defaut” # here the e is accentuated as the folder on desktop Dir.glob( “/Users/yt/Desktop/\*” ).each { | f | puts f } on “RubyMate” (the TextMate “console”) i get the right think but copying from “RubyMate” to a ruby utf-8 encoded file (still within TextMate) i get e’ (e ans the accent apart)… ---
**Author:** ![Une\_BSSSSvS\_ue](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/u/2acd7d/32.png) [@Une\_BSSSSvS\_ue](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Une_BSSSSvS_ue)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2008, 2:33pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/dir-glob-over-accentuated-named-directories/131132/3 "2008-03-06T14:33:07Z")
Une Bév ue wrote: > over MacOS X the user could have named directories using accentuated > characters like : > > “D�faut” (for Default) > > when doing a Dir.glob over the parent directory of it i get : > is there a way to get the “right” name in UTF-8 ??? instead of ASCII ? Ruby has the “right” name–it’s just that your display device is unable to display it. For instance, when I use Dir.glob to read a directory that contains a file named cafe.txt, where the ‘e’ has an accent, this is the output: /TestData/cafe\_\_314\_\_201.txt #underscores added by me which is the UFT-8 character : _\_x\_cc_\_x\_81 #underscores added by me in octal format. You can prove that to yourself by doing this: puts “cafe\_\_xcc\_\_x81” #remove the underscores When you say I get: > De’faut that is completely meaningless. That is your display device’s interpretation of the string. As for what display device you are using and what encodings it can display, e.g. ascii, UTF-8, or even what character your filename actually contains, who knows? The forum software and/or my browser are interpreting your problematic character as a black square with a question mark inside it. ---
**Author:** ![Une\_BSSSSvS\_ue](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/u/2acd7d/32.png) [@Une\_BSSSSvS\_ue](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Une_BSSSSvS_ue)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2008, 5:02pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/dir-glob-over-accentuated-named-directories/131132/4 "2008-03-06T17:02:23Z")
7stud – [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > What is a ‘ruby utf-8 encoded file’? nothing more than an utf-8 encoded text file… > As an aside, how do you like TextMate? You might try running your > program in Terminal to see if things make more sense. from Terminal i get : De##faut ( using ls -al ) running the script from terminal gave me : Defaut with the right accent for the line “puts “Defaut”” and “/Users/yt/Desktop/De’faut” the accent apart on the terminal window but pasting it in TextEdit, the right think… the reason i was confused abou that ? ---
**Author:** ![Une\_BSSSSvS\_ue](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/u/2acd7d/32.png) [@Une\_BSSSSvS\_ue](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Une_BSSSSvS_ue)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2008, 4:47pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/dir-glob-over-accentuated-named-directories/131132/5 "2008-03-06T16:47:11Z")
Une Bév ue wrote: > 7stud – [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > > > That is your display device’s > > interpretation of the string. > > fine, thanks 😉 > > in fact this is due to my text editor (TextMate); i did the following > experiment : > > make a folder on desktop with an accentuated character e run the script > : > > puts “Defaut” # here the e is accentuated as the folder on desktop > > Dir.glob( “/Users/yt/Desktop/\*” ).each { | f | puts f } > > on “RubyMate” (the TextMate “console”) i get the right think but copying > from “RubyMate” to a ruby utf-8 encoded file (still within TextMate) i > get e’ (e ans the accent apart)… What is a ‘ruby utf-8 encoded file’? As an aside, how do you like TextMate? You might try running your program in Terminal to see if things make more sense. ---
**Author:** ![Une\_BSSSSvS\_ue](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/u/2acd7d/32.png) [@Une\_BSSSSvS\_ue](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Une_BSSSSvS_ue)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2008, 6:19pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/dir-glob-over-accentuated-named-directories/131132/6 "2008-03-06T18:19:35Z")
Une Bév ue wrote: > 7stud – [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > > > What is a ‘ruby utf-8 encoded file’? > > nothing more than an utf-8 encoded text file… > > > As an aside, how do you like TextMate? You might try running your > > program in Terminal to see if things make more sense. > > from Terminal i get : > > De##faut ( using ls -al ) -ls- is most likely an ancient program written in C, and it doesn’t know how to read or output UTF-8 characters. However, if you run your ruby program in terminal, Terminal is capable of displaying a UTF-8 character if given a UTF-8 character. It doesn’t matter whether the UTf-8 character is part of a string that is a single work or whether the UTF-8 character is part of a string that is a path.