Set global default encoding for ruby 1.9

I want to tell ruby that everything is utf8, except when stated otherwise, so I dont have to place these # encoding: utf-8 comments everywhere.

You can either:

1. set your RUBYOPT environment variable to "-E utf-8"
2. or use https://github.com/m-ryan/magic_encoding

If you're using environment variables, the general way is to use LC_ALL / LANG

Neither is set : fallback to US-ASCII

$ LC_ALL= LANG= ruby -e 'p Encoding.default_external'
#<Encoding:US-ASCII>

Either is set : that value is used

$ LC_ALL=en_US.UTF-8 LANG= ruby -e 'p Encoding.default_external'
#<Encoding:UTF-8>

$ LC_ALL= LANG=en_US.UTF-8 ruby -e 'p Encoding.default_external'
#<Encoding:UTF-8>

Both are set : LC_ALL takes precedence

$ LC_ALL=C LANG=en_US.UTF-8 ruby -e 'p Encoding.default_external'
#<Encoding:US-ASCII>

$ LC_ALL=en_US.UTF-8 LANG=C ruby -e 'p Encoding.default_external'
#<Encoding:UTF-8>