Why native2ascii is embedding \ufeff in start of properties file

Question

Hi,
I am new in java internationalization world and I got astonished that it is not possible to use non-ANSI encoded property files. Any how, I tried to use native2ansi utility to convert UTF8 encoded property file to ANSI using this command:
native2ascii -encoding UTF-8 MessageBundle-UTF8.properties MessageBundle_en_US.propertiesIn response I got an ANSI encode file with this text:
\ufeffTitle = Window Title
Now after setting the locale to English US, I tried to access it using this java code:
Locale sysLocale = Locale.getDefault();
ResourceBundle messages = ResourceBundle.getBundle("MessageBundle",sysLocale);
System.out.println(messages.getString("Title"));
This code throws an exception "Can't find resource for bundle java.util.PropertyResourceBundle, key Title" when it tries to execute messages.getString("Title");
However, if I remove \ufeff from the start of my text in properties file, the code works fine. \ufeff was not added in the original UTF8 file and was generated by native2ascii.
Can you guys plz tell me, what is wrong.
Thanks
Saqib

Answer 1

What you are seeing is the BOM (byte order mark), and if you are seeing it in the result file from native2ascii, then the BOM was definitely also there in the original file (the reason you are seeing it now is that native2ascii inserted the \u notation in front of it). So native2ascii did not generate anything.
Try looking at your source file in a hex editor, then you will see the BOM.
You probably saved your file in Notepad or another application that automatically inserts a BOM in UTF-8 files. Use a proper editor to save your files (one that does not insert a BOM), and you won't have the problem.