Encoding Mismatch

A Visual Studio Code extension that alerts when the encoding of an open file does not match the defined configuration.

Features

• Automatic encoding mismatch detection: Monitors open files and detects when their actual encoding does not match the expected configuration
• Visual status bar indicator: Displays an alert indicator in the VS Code status bar when a mismatch is detected
• Configurable warning messages: Shows alert notifications with details about the expected vs. actual encoding

Installation

1. Open VS Code
2. Go to the Extensions view (Ctrl+Shift+X / Cmd+Shift+X)
3. Search for "Encoding Mismatch"
4. Click Install

Usage

Once installed, the extension works automatically. When you open a file whose encoding does not match your files.encoding configuration:

1. An alert indicator will appear in the status bar (if enabled)
2. You will receive a warning notification with details (if enabled)

Example

If your configuration expects UTF-8 but you open a file with windows-1252 encoding:

Encoding mismatch in "file.txt": expected "utf8" but found "windows1252"

Configuration

The extension provides the following configuration options in settings.json:

encodingMismatch.showErrorMessages

• Type: boolean
• Default: true
• Description: Show warning messages when file encoding doesn't match the configured encoding

{
  "encodingMismatch.showErrorMessages": true
}

encodingMismatch.showStatusBarIndicator

• Type: boolean
• Default: true
• Description: Show a status bar indicator when encoding mismatch is detected

{
  "encodingMismatch.showStatusBarIndicator": true
}

Base encoding configuration

To define the expected encoding, use the standard VS Code configuration:

{
  "files.encoding": "utf8"
}

You can set the encoding globally or per language:

{
  "files.encoding": "utf8",
  "[python]": {
    "files.encoding": "utf8"
  },
  "[java]": {
    "files.encoding": "iso88591"
  }
}

Feedback and Contributions

Feature suggestions and contributions are welcome. You can:

• Report issues
• Suggest new features
• Submit pull requests with improvements

Enjoying the extension? Consider leaving a review or starring the repository.