ISUTF8(1)

✨ isutf8(1) — the moreutils era ✨

okay so bestie, listen 💅 this little icon checks whether your files are actually valid UTF-8, no cap. Like, syntactically valid. It's giving "vibe check for your bytes" and honestly it ate.

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

isutf8 [-hqliv] [--help] [--quiet] [--list] [--invert] [--verbose]
       [[file...]]

💖 DESCRIPTION 💖

isutf8 checks whether files are syntactically valid UTF-8. That's the whole gig, and it does it flawlessly 🫶

Where does the input come from? Either the files you name on the command line, or standard input if you're feeling mysterious. And the notices about files with invalid UTF-8 get printed to standard output — so you will hear about it, bestie 😭

🎀 OPTIONS 🎀

• -h, --help — prints out a help summary. cute lil recap energy ✨
• -q, --quiet — don't print messages telling which files are invalid UTF-8, merely indicate it with the exit status. silent but deadly, iykyk 💀
• -l, --list — print only the names of files containing invalid UTF-8. names only, no commentary, main character minimalism 👑
• -i, --invert — invert the selection: list UTF-8 compatible files. plot twist, we're celebrating the good ones now 🌈
• -v, --verbose — also print an hexdump-like view of the error and some context. forensic girly behavior, obsessed 🔥

⭐ EXIT STATUS ⭐

If the file is valid UTF-8, the exit status is zero. Slay 💖

If the file is not valid UTF-8, or there is some error, the exit status is non-zero. Not slay, but at least you know 😭

🦋 AUTHOR 🦋

Lars Wirzenius, Julien Palard — legends, fr fr 🫶

💜 SEE ALSO 💜

utf8(7) — go read it, bestie, it's literally right there 📖

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that's the whole page, bestie! brought to you by moreutils, dated 06/30/2025, and logged as ISUTF8(1) — go forth and validate those bytes 🌸✨💅