Error in rendering special character

I often have to write in french, either to define strings for folder location or for comments.

My problem is that, since updating to matlab R2023b, I get errors simbols "�" in place of special characters (é, è, à, ...) each time I boot matlab and open a script (see figure below). This only happens on matlab that I reach on a server through Remote Desktop, and not on my personal computer (which has the same version). So, I believe it's something about how matlab has been installed or a setting that I cannot find. The errors are present in both .mlx and .m files.

I have tried made sure that the version installed is indeed 64 bit with the commands:

computer; computer('arch');

and receive 'PCWIN64' and 'win64'.

Finally, I wish I could just "not" write in french and only in english to solve this problem, but it is currently not possible.

[Star Strider]

I suggest that you Contact Support to see if there is a way to fix that.

If so, please post back here with the solution, since this could be a problem others may also encounter.

[Gab D]

Thank you for the suggestion. I will contact them and report back here as soon as I have an answer.

[Star Strider]

My pleasure!

I do not have that problem, however I am interested in learning the solution.

[Jon Asier Bárcena Petisco]

I have a similar problem. I used Matlab on my courses because the life script was visually really nice, but using English is simply not an option (I'm Spanish).

Answer 1

[Pavan Sahith]

Hello Gab,

I see that your MATLAB is not identifying French characters correctly and question marks are appearing instead, it could be due to the incorrect encoding being used. To get a better understanding of the current locale settings in MATLAB, you can use the command:

feature('locale')

Generally ,setting the encoding to 'UTF-8' should solve this issue. For that you can try the following steps:

• In MATLAB, Use "Save As" to save the file.
• The saving box that comes up will have a menu that allows you to select the format of the file to save as.
• Make sure that UTF-8 is selected and not "all .m files".

Additionally, I've found a couple of MATLAB Answers posts that might help you in setting the encoding to 'UTF-8'.

• https://in.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/answers/340903-unicode-characters-in-m-file
• https://in.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/answers/280988-how-do-i-get-my-matlab-editor-to-read-utf-8-characters-utf-8-characters-in-blank-squares-in-editors

If the issue still persists, you can contact the Technical Support.

Hope this helps!

[Gab D]

Hello,

I was communicating with Matlab's support at the same time, as suggested by @Star Strider. There was indeed a problem with the encoding and changing it to UTF-8 solved the wrongly appearing characters.

Using the line you suggested:

feature('locale')

I noticed that before the encoding was "windows-1252".

I used the informations on the following link and was able to change to UTF-8.

• https://www.mathworks.com/help/matlab/matlab_env/how-the-matlab-process-uses-locale-settings.html

I accepted your answer.