ENCODE::UNICODE::UTF7(3perl)

💌 NAME

Encode::Unicode::UTF7 — the UTF-7 encoding girlies, that's it, that's the module 💅

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✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

use Encode qw/encode decode/;
$utf7 = encode("UTF-7", $utf8);
$utf8 = decode("UTF-7", $ucs2);

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🎀 ABSTRACT 🎀

okay so bestie, this module implements the UTF-7 encoding as documented in RFC 2152. and UTF-7, like the name literally says, is a 7-bit re-encoded version of UTF-16BE. it was designed to be MTA-safe and everyone expected it to become the standard way to swap Unicode-y mails around over mail. iconic plan, truly. BUT — and this is the plot twist 😭 — once UTF-8 showed up and MTAs got 8-bit compliant, UTF-7 basically stopped being used at all. it's giving retired influencer.

and because of that whole situation, UTF-7 was not supported by Encode until version 1.95. no cap. but Unicode::String — that's a module by Gisle Aas that adds Unicode supports to non-utf8-savvy perl — did support UTF-7. so the UTF-7 support got added here so that Encode can supersede Unicode::String 100%. eat that, we're the upgrade now 💅✨

🌸 In Practice 🌸

so when you actually wanna encode Unicode for mails and web pages?? do NOT use UTF-7 unless you are sure your recipients and readers can handle it. fr fr. very few MUAs and WWW Browsers support these days — literally only Mozilla seems to support one 😭🫠. for general cases, use UTF-8 for the message body and MIME-Header for the header instead. that's the move, that's the vibe, periodt.

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👀 SEE ALSO 👀

• Encode
• Encode::Unicode
• Unicode::String
• RFC 2781 <http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2152.txt>

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okay bye bestie, that's the whole page 💖 this was perl v5.44.0, dated 2026-10-17, and yes the page is literally called Encode::Unicode::UTF7(3perl) — go forth and encode responsibly, mwah 🫶🦋🌸