Export and Import with special unicode characters

Question

I exported a list of characters say:

ClearAll[t, r, \[Theta], \[Phi]]; Export["hello.txt", {t, r, \[Theta], \[Phi]}, "List"];

the file has the correct symbols when opened with a text editor, however, when I imported it with Mathematica:

old = Import["hello.txt", "List"]

I get:

{t, r, Î¸, Ï}

Any idea of how can I recover the original symbols?

Jens · Accepted Answer · 2013-07-28 01:53:51Z

You have to specify the correct character encoding:

Export["hello.txt", {t, r, θ, ϕ}, "List"]; old = Import["hello.txt", "List", CharacterEncoding -> "UTF8"] (* ==> {"t", "r", "θ", "ϕ"} *)

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