How to source() .R file saved using UTF-8 encoding?

Question

The following, when copied and pasted directly into R works fine: ``` > character_test <- function() print("R同时也被称为GNU S是一个强烈的功能性语言和环境，探索统计数据集，使许多从自定义数据图形显示...") > character_test() [1] "R同时也被称为GNU S是一个强烈的功能性语言和环境,探索统计数据集,使许多从自定义数据图形显示..." ``` However, if I make a file called character_test.R containing the EXACT SAME code, save it in UTF-8 encoding (so as to retain the special Chinese characters), then when I source() it in R, I get the following error: ``` > source(file="C:\Users\Tony\Desktop\character_test.R", encoding = "UTF-8") Error in source(file = "C:\Users\Tony\Desktop\character_test.R", encoding = "utf-8") : C:\Users\Tony\Desktop\character_test.R:3:0: unexpected end of input 1: character.test <- function() print("R 2: ^ In addition: Warning message: In source(file = "C:\Users\Tony\Desktop\character_test.R", encoding = "UTF-8") : invalid input found on input connection 'C:\Users\Tony\Desktop\character_test.R' ``` Any help you can offer in solving and helping me to…

Accepted Answer

We talked about this a lot in the comments to my previous post but I don't want this to get lost on page 3 of comments: You have to set the locale, it works with both input from the R-console (see screenshot in comments) as well as with input from file see this screenshot:

The file "myfile.r" contains:

```
russian <- function() print ("Американские с...");
```

The console contains:

```
source("myfile.r", encoding="utf-8")
> Error in source(".....
Sys.setlocale("LC_CTYPE","ru")
> [1] "Russian_Russia.1251"
russian()
[1] "Американские с..."
```

Note that the file-in fails and it points to the same character as the original poster's error (the one after "R). I can not do this with Chinese because i would have to install "Microsoft Pinyin IME 3.0", but the process is the same, you just replace the locale with "chinese" (the naming is a bit inconsistent, consult the documentation).

How to source() .R file saved using UTF-8 encoding?

Solution

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