From: Robert Klemme <shortcutter@...>
Date: 2009-05-03T19:55:08+09:00
Subject: Re: String problem

On 03.05.2009 11:26, Tom Cloyd wrote:
> Fresh Mix wrote:
>> What wrong?
>>
>> # irb
>> irb(main):001:0> xxx = "лошадь"
>> => "\320\273\320\276\321\210\320\260\320\264\321\214"
>> irb(main):002:0> xxx.length
>> => 12
>>   
> I assume you're wondering why each character appears to be represented 
> by two bytes - and I believe it's because the encoding is, of necessity, 
> UTF-8 or something very similar. If I recall correctly, this encoding is 
> designed to be able to represent the world's alphabets, etc., rather 
> than merely the limited character set used in western European 
> languages, and so two bytes must be used to allow for all the possibilities.
> 
> If I don't have this quite right (or right at all), I'm sure I'll be set 
> right by those who know more here (and they are legion!).

Actually I do not call myself in when it comes to encodings in Ruby. 
But I believe there is one important bit of information missing that's 
needed to properly answer the OP's question: what Ruby version did you use?

Kind regards

	robert

-- 
remember.guy do |as, often| as.you_can - without end
http://blog.rubybestpractices.com/