# Readlines help

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/readlines-help/89208>\
**Category:** Ruby\
**Created:** [March 18, 2007, 6:05pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/readlines-help/89208 "2007-03-18T18:05:52Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Bucco](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Bucco](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Bucco)\
**Post date:** [March 18, 2007, 6:05pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/readlines-help/89208/1 "2007-03-18T18:05:52Z")

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I am using the latest version of Ruby on Windows. When I do the  
following in irb:

File.open(‘sometextfile.txt’).readlines

I get an array of unicode characters. The example in the book I am  
following along with, Everyday Scripting with Ruby, shows each array  
element as a line from the file. No Unicode. How do I get readlines  
to work without spitting out unicode?

Thanks,  
SA

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Bucco](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Bucco](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Bucco)\
**Post date:** [March 19, 2007, 7:04pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/readlines-help/89208/2 "2007-03-19T19:04:15Z")

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I have a feeling it’ll be a Windows irb configuration issue. I just  
tried it on my Windows box and everything parses fine.

Unless your text file isn’t plain ASCII, perhaps? Have you tried a  
different text file?

-Augie