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April 13, 2014
Question

UTF-8 encoding and "show"

  • April 13, 2014
  • 1 reply
  • 9136 views

Hi,

How may I show UTF-8 character signs? I'd like to show polish signs.

I know there is something like CID fonts. I don't know what's all about it, however.

Please help...

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1 reply

Legend
April 13, 2014

There is no way to use UTF-8.

There is no escape from getting a full understanding of font encoding, generating a font with a suitable encoding, and generating a show string suitably encoded.

Certain Latin2 symbols are font in the default fonts, otherwise you need to obtain and embed a suitable font.

April 14, 2014

Test Screen Name wrote:

There is no escape from getting a full understanding of font encoding, generating a font with a suitable encoding, and generating a show string suitably encoded.

So... How may one do that? Where may one find suitable documentation?

Isn't (La)TeX files converted to PS before printing? If so, it should be possible to print UTF-8 signs.

Legend
April 14, 2014

Where may one find suitable documentation?

PostScript Language Reference Manual, a constant friend to those writing PostScript.

Isn't (La)TeX files converted to PS before printing? If so, it should be possible to print UTF-8 signs.

Your point is perfectly true, but based on a misunderstanding.

PostScript was written with an understanding of the needs of typesetting in the many languages of the world, certainly including Polish. But PostScript was written long before Unicode was invented. So, while you can use the symbols needed to typeset the Polish language you cannot simply use the Unicode representation of the Polish language. Entirely different.

It is a fact that you can learn how to typeset Latin1 in an afternoon of looking at samples. It is also a fact that typesetting other character sets often requires deep and long study. Long and frustrating, but rewarding but interesting. If you don't want to go through all that study, I recommend use use LaTeX... we can help, but don't expect to find the solution in a few lines of code.