Create new file in WinSCP with UTF-8 without BOM encoding

Question

I'm using WinSCP in order to work via SFTP with a remote server running a Linux distro. I'm also using Notepad++ (latest version) as my text editor (when editing a remote file).

When I use WinSCP to create a new file in the remote server using:

Right click > New > File...

Notepad++ opens the empty file, but the encoding appears as ANSI instead of UTF-8 w/o BOM, which is my default. I even have the "Apply to opened ANSI files" option enabled in Notepad++

Settings / Preferences / New Document / Encoding /
   UTF-8 without BOM / Apply to opened ANSI files

Because of this I have to manually select Encoding / Convert to UTF-8 without BOM each time, and if for some reason I forget I have to do that step, well, the file is saved as ANSI and that can cause trouble.

Is there a way for the new file to be encoded as UTF-8 without BOM from the get-go?

Answer 1

Checking Notepad++ source code, I can see that the "Apply to opened ANSI files" option is wrongly labeled. It should read "Apply to opened ASCII files" as it applies to 7-bit (ASCII) files only.

An empty file is "detected" to be 8-bit (ANSI), so the option never applies to empty files.

UniMode um = UnicodeConvertor.getEncoding();
if (um == uni7Bit)
{
    if (ndds._openAnsiAsUtf8)
    {
        um = uniCookie;
    }
    else
    {
        um = uni8Bit;
    }
}

The UnicodeConvertor.getEncoding() always returns uni8Bit when the file is empty.

I suggest you report this as a bug.

---

Nor there seems to be any command-line option to force different encoding.

Answer 2

This seems to be fixed in Notepad++ 6.4.5 https://notepad-plus-plus.org/download/v6.4.5.html

Fix UTF-8 (w/o BOM) detection bug.

Still, when a new file is created in WinSCP and it is opened with Notepad++, encoding in editors lower right corner is showing ANSI. But when the file is saved, closed, and opened once again, the encoding is UTF8.