UTF-8 Encoding Algorithm

This section provides a tutorial example on how to write a programming algorithm to encode characters with UTF-8 encoding.

Here is an algorithm for UTF-8 encoding on a single character:

Input: 
   unsigned integer c - the code point of the character to be encoded
Output: 
   byte b1, b2, b3, b4 - the encoded sequence of bytes
Algorithm:
   if (c<0x80) 
      b1 = c>>0  & 0x7F | 0x00
      b2 = null
      b3 = null
      b4 = null
   else if (c<0x0800)
      b1 = c>>6  & 0x1F | 0xC0
      b2 = c>>0  & 0x3F | 0x80
      b3 = null
      b4 = null
   else if (c<0x010000)
      b1 = c>>12 & 0x0F | 0xE0
      b2 = c>>6  & 0x3F | 0x80
      b3 = c>>0  & 0x3F | 0x80
      b4 = null
   else if (c<0x110000)
      b1 = c>>18 & 0x07 | 0xF0
      b2 = c>>12 & 0x3F | 0x80
      b3 = c>>6  & 0x3F | 0x80
      b4 = c>>0  & 0x3F | 0x80
   end if

Exercise: Write an algorithm to decode a UTF-8 encoded byte sequence.

Table of Contents

 About This Book

 Character Sets and Encodings

 ASCII Character Set and Encoding

 GB2312 Character Set and Encoding

 GB18030 Character Set and Encoding

 JIS X0208 Character Set and Encodings

 Unicode Character Set

UTF-8 (Unicode Transformation Format - 8-Bit)

 UTF-8 Encoding

UTF-8 Encoding Algorithm

 Features of UTF-8 Encoding

 UTF-16, UTF-16BE and UTF-16LE Encodings

 UTF-32, UTF-32BE and UTF-32LE Encodings

 Python Language and Unicode Characters

 Java Language and Unicode Characters

 Character Encoding in Java

 Character Set Encoding Maps

 Encoding Conversion Programs for Encoded Text Files

 Using Notepad as a Unicode Text Editor

 Using Microsoft Word as a Unicode Text Editor

 Using Microsoft Excel as a Unicode Text Editor

 Unicode Fonts

 Archived Tutorials

 References

 Full Version in PDF/EPUB