On 13-Sep-2004, Glynn Clements
However, If you treat them as ISO-8859-* (it doesn't matter which one, so long as you're consistent), the Haskell I/O functions will at least pass them through unmodified. Consider a trivial "cp" program:
main = do [src, dst] <- getArgs text <- readFile src writeFile dst text
If the assumed encoding is ISO-8859-*, this program will work regardless of the filenames which it is passed or the contents of the file (modulo the EOL translation on Windows).
And also modulo the control-Z issue on Windows, and the EOL issue on old Macs. But "this program will work (modulo <important issue>)" is just another way of saying "this program won't work". The program above may be a reasonably way of copying text files, but it does not work for copying binary files. -- Fergus J. Henderson | "I have always known that the pursuit Galois Connections, Inc. | of excellence is a lethal habit" Phone: +1 503 626 6616 | -- the last words of T. S. Garp.