I have to read an UTF-8 encoded file with accentuated chars. if i do : #! /usr/local/bin/macruby # encoding: utf-8 SIGNATURES_FILE = "/Users/yt/dev/Signature/signatures.txt" open(SIGNATURES_FILE) do |file| file.each do |line| puts line end end i get the correct characters on the Terminal, ie. : ... -- « Pour ceux qui vont chercher midi à quatorze heures, la minute de vérité risque de se faire longtemps attendre. » (Pierre Dac) however when doing (with or without the .force_encoding("UTF-8" and , "r:UTF-8") : t = "".force_encoding("UTF-8") open(SIGNATURES_FILE, "r:UTF-8") do |file| file.each do |line| t += line.force_encoding("UTF-8") end end puts t i get wrong chars : ... -- « Pour ceux qui vont chercher midi à quatorze heures, la minute de vérité risque de se faire longtemps attendre. » (Pierre Dac) the only difference is that i make use of a String t = "" what did i missunderstood ?