[SOLVED] Folder and files with special characters

T84 · 2016-02-14 16:44:05

I cannot open folders with special characters and Dolphin displays ? instead of the proper characters.
Even Amarok and Clementine cannot list nor play file with special characters (eg. Fabrizio De André - La Guerra di Piero is displayed in Dolphin as Fabrizio De Andr? - La Guerra di Piero).
I tried to edit /etc/locale.gen uncommenting the following lines and using locale-gen:

de_DE.UTF-8... done
de_DE.ISO-8859-1... done
en_US.UTF-8... done
en_US.ISO-8859-1... done
fr_FR.UTF-8... done
fr_FR.ISO-8859-1... done
it_IT.UTF-8... done
it_IT.ISO-8859-1... done

If I try to create a folder with a special character (eg. Novità) I get a question mark instead of the proper character (eg. Novit?).
I googled a lot but I didn't find any solution.
How can I set my system (Plasma) to make it read special characters?

Last edited by T84 (2016-02-15 16:08:34)

ymihc · 2016-02-14 17:30:32

Have you created a system wide locale.conf?

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/lo … the_locale

What's the output of

locale

Please use code tags in the future - thanks!

Last edited by ymihc (2016-02-14 17:35:39)

T84 · 2016-02-14 18:35:38

Yes, a wide locale.conf is present.

This is the locale output (sorry for previous missing tags):

LANG=C
LC_CTYPE="C"
LC_NUMERIC="C"
LC_TIME="C"
LC_COLLATE="C"
LC_MONETARY="C"
LC_MESSAGES="C"
LC_PAPER="C"
LC_NAME="C"
LC_ADDRESS="C"
LC_TELEPHONE="C"
LC_MEASUREMENT="C"
LC_IDENTIFICATION="C"
LC_ALL=

ymihc · 2016-02-14 18:38:19

Add your locale settings to the locale.conf like described in the wiki (which I have linked for you in my previous post). For example:

LANG=it_IT.UTF-8

or with

# localectl set-locale LANG=it_IT.UTF-8

You might have missed a step in the beginners' guide: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Be … ide#Locale

Edit: Adjusted it for Italy.

Last edited by ymihc (2016-02-14 18:48:32)

T84 · 2016-02-14 18:56:52

I've already tried both those steps but nothing changed and the locale output was the same.

ymihc · 2016-02-14 18:58:33

With a reboot?

T84 · 2016-02-14 18:59:45

Yes, I always reboot after editing files.

ugjka · 2016-02-14 19:29:51

cat /etc/locale.conf

???

ymihc · 2016-02-14 20:03:03

@ugjka:

What additional information do we get from

# cat /etc/locale.conf

compared to the

# locale

which I asked the thread starter a couple of posts ago?

If he really edited the locale.conf as he claimed, that should be fine too.

Last edited by ymihc (2016-02-14 20:06:50)

ugjka · 2016-02-14 20:13:06

@ymihc, simply sanity check.

I'm wondering whether locale can be set somewhere in $HOME like ~/.config/locale.conf or ~/.local/etc/locale.conf
I recommend checking those too

ymihc · 2016-02-15 07:22:58

@ugjka: Thanks for the explanation. You're perfectly right, maybe there are conflicting or "local" per user locale settings.

@T84: Please post additionally the outputs of the files (if they exist) ugjka suggested and try to describe what you have done so far step by step as detailed as possible (fresh installation? did you stick to the beginners guide? any other configurations?) - that would help a lot.

Last edited by ymihc (2016-02-15 07:23:55)

T84 · 2016-02-15 08:56:00

Thanks for the replies.
My Linux box has been up since three months, so it's not a so fresh installation.
I tried to put copies of ocale.conf in ~/.config/locale.conf or ~/.local/etc/locale.conf but nothing changed.

cat /etc/locale.conf

returns

LANG=it_IT.UTF-8

but

locale

returns

LANG=C
LC_CTYPE="C"
LC_NUMERIC="C"
LC_TIME="C"
LC_COLLATE="C"
LC_MONETARY="C"
LC_MESSAGES="C"
LC_PAPER="C"
LC_NAME="C"
LC_ADDRESS="C"
LC_TELEPHONE="C"
LC_MEASUREMENT="C"
LC_IDENTIFICATION="C"
LC_ALL=

ugjka · 2016-02-15 09:16:41

Are you running KDE?

Maybe this can help
https://userbase.kde.org/System_Settings/Locale

T84 · 2016-02-15 09:19:33

When I try

export LANG="it_IT.UTF-8"

I get the following output for the running session but this does not affect the filenames reading/creation

LANG=it_IT.UTF-8
LC_CTYPE="it_IT.UTF-8"
LC_NUMERIC="it_IT.UTF-8"
LC_TIME="it_IT.UTF-8"
LC_COLLATE="it_IT.UTF-8"
LC_MONETARY="it_IT.UTF-8"
LC_MESSAGES="it_IT.UTF-8"
LC_PAPER="it_IT.UTF-8"
LC_NAME="it_IT.UTF-8"
LC_ADDRESS="it_IT.UTF-8"
LC_TELEPHONE="it_IT.UTF-8"
LC_MEASUREMENT="it_IT.UTF-8"
LC_IDENTIFICATION="it_IT.UTF-8"
LC_ALL=

And when I reboot I get again

LANG=C
LC_CTYPE="C"
LC_NUMERIC="C"
LC_TIME="C"
LC_COLLATE="C"
LC_MONETARY="C"
LC_MESSAGES="C"
LC_PAPER="C"
LC_NAME="C"
LC_ADDRESS="C"
LC_TELEPHONE="C"
LC_MEASUREMENT="C"
LC_IDENTIFICATION="C"
LC_ALL=

Last edited by T84 (2016-02-15 09:20:00)

ugjka · 2016-02-15 09:24:16

Create a new user, see whether the problem persists.

ugjka · 2016-02-15 09:44:37

Check

cat ~/.config/plasma-localerc

T84 · 2016-02-15 15:24:16

cat ~/.config/plasma-localerc

returns

[Formats]
LANG=C

[Translations]
LANGUAGE=en_US:de:fr:it

Last edited by T84 (2016-02-15 15:33:17)

ymihc · 2016-02-15 15:31:50

Try to add your preferred locale to ~/.config/plasma-localerc

[Formats]
LANG=it_IT.UTF-8

[Translations]
LANGUAGE=en_US:de:fr:it

or do it via the GUI like ugjka previously suggested with his link (KDEs System Settings/Locale).

T84 · 2016-02-15 15:34:14

I have to correct myself.
I tried again to login in with the previously created user and this time I'm able to create folders and file with special characters.
I wonder if I have to remove my user and start from scratch with the new one.

TheSaint · 2016-02-15 15:35:17

So you should have a switcher to change the language you prefer. First you need to set the default language by systemsettings5.
What says

$ pacman -Qs kde-l10n

T84 · 2016-02-15 15:38:28

$ pacman -Qs kde-l10n

returns

local/kde-l10n-de 15.12.1-1
    German localization for KDE
local/kde-l10n-it 15.12.1-1
    Italian localization for KDE

T84 · 2016-02-15 16:08:20

I don't know what really did the trick but now the problem is solved and I'm able to use special characters in folders and filenames.
I deeply thank you all for the support.

TheSaint · 2016-02-15 16:26:14

My ~/.config/plasma-localerc is

[Formats]
LANG=it_IT.UTF-8
LC_MONETARY=it_IT.UTF-8
LC_NUMERIC=it_IT.UTF-8
useDetailed=true

[Translations]
LANGUAGE=it

Then folders and files may have accented characters.

Arch Linux

#1 2016-02-14 16:44:05

[SOLVED] Folder and files with special characters

#2 2016-02-14 17:30:32

Re: [SOLVED] Folder and files with special characters

#3 2016-02-14 18:35:38

Re: [SOLVED] Folder and files with special characters

#4 2016-02-14 18:38:19

Re: [SOLVED] Folder and files with special characters

#5 2016-02-14 18:56:52

Re: [SOLVED] Folder and files with special characters

#6 2016-02-14 18:58:33

Re: [SOLVED] Folder and files with special characters

#7 2016-02-14 18:59:45

Re: [SOLVED] Folder and files with special characters

#8 2016-02-14 19:29:51

Re: [SOLVED] Folder and files with special characters

#9 2016-02-14 20:03:03

Re: [SOLVED] Folder and files with special characters

#10 2016-02-14 20:13:06

Re: [SOLVED] Folder and files with special characters

#11 2016-02-15 07:22:58

Re: [SOLVED] Folder and files with special characters

#12 2016-02-15 08:56:00

Re: [SOLVED] Folder and files with special characters

#13 2016-02-15 09:16:41

Re: [SOLVED] Folder and files with special characters

#14 2016-02-15 09:19:33

Re: [SOLVED] Folder and files with special characters

#15 2016-02-15 09:24:16

Re: [SOLVED] Folder and files with special characters

#16 2016-02-15 09:44:37

Re: [SOLVED] Folder and files with special characters

#17 2016-02-15 15:24:16

Re: [SOLVED] Folder and files with special characters

#18 2016-02-15 15:31:50

Re: [SOLVED] Folder and files with special characters

#19 2016-02-15 15:34:14

Re: [SOLVED] Folder and files with special characters

#20 2016-02-15 15:35:17

Re: [SOLVED] Folder and files with special characters

#21 2016-02-15 15:38:28

Re: [SOLVED] Folder and files with special characters

#22 2016-02-15 16:08:20

Re: [SOLVED] Folder and files with special characters

#23 2016-02-15 16:26:14

Re: [SOLVED] Folder and files with special characters

Board footer