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.IX Title "source::encoding 3"
.TH source::encoding 3 2026-01-18 "perl v5.42.2" "Perl Programmers Reference Guide"
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.SH NAME
source::encoding \-\- Declare Perl source code encoding
.SH SYNOPSIS
.IX Header "SYNOPSIS"
.Vb 3
\& use source::encoding \*(Aqascii\*(Aq;
\& use source::encoding \*(Aqutf8\*(Aq;
\& no source::encoding;
.Ve
.SH DESCRIPTION
.IX Header "DESCRIPTION"
These days, Perl code either generally contains only ASCII characters with
\&\f(CW\*(C`\ex{}\*(C'\fR and similar escapes to represent non\-ASCII, or \f(CW\*(C`use\ utf8\*(C'\fR is used
to indicate that the source code itself contains characters encoded as UTF\-8.
.PP
That means that a character in the source code not meeting these criteria is
often a typographical error.  This pragma is used to tell Perl to raise an
error when this happens.
.PP
\&\f(CW\*(C`use\ source::encoding\ \*(Aqutf8\*(Aq\*(C'\fR is a synonym for \f(CW\*(C`use\ utf8\*(C'\fR.  They may
be used interchangeably.
.PP
\&\f(CW\*(C`use\ source::encoding\ \*(Aqascii\*(Aq\*(C'\fR turns off any UTF\-8 expectations, and
raises a fatal error if any character within its scope in the input source
code is not ASCII (or ASCII\-equivalent on EBCDIC systems).
.PP
\&\f(CW\*(C`no\ source::encoding\*(C'\fR turns off any UTF\-8/ASCII expectations for the
remainder of its scope.  The meaning of non\-ASCII characters is then
undefined.
.PP
\&\f(CW\*(C`use\ source::encoding\ \*(Aqascii\*(Aq\*(C'\fR is automatically enabled within the
lexical scope of a \f(CW\*(C`use\ v5.41.0\*(C'\fR or higher.
.SH "SEE ALSO"
.IX Header "SEE ALSO"
utf8