# Problem processing non utf8 string

**URL:** https://discourse.julialang.org/t/problem-processing-non-utf8-string/11261
**Category:** New to Julia
**Created:** [May 30, 2018, 1:42pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/problem-processing-non-utf8-string/11261 "2018-05-30T13:42:34Z")
**Posts on this page:** 1
**Showing post:** 5

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### Author: ![StefanKarpinski](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/stefankarpinski/32/24_2.png) [@StefanKarpinski](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/StefanKarpinski)
#### Post date: [May 30, 2018, 6:06pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/problem-processing-non-utf8-string/11261/5 "2018-05-30T18:06:32Z")

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Are you using 0.6? In the latest Julia versions (master / soon-to-be-released 0.7-alpha), the standard `String` type can hold arbitrary data, but gives it a UTF-8 like interpretation and display. On 0.6 and earlier some operations insisted on valid UTF-8 data in Strings, which indeed did lead to annoyances along the lines of what you’re describing. Those annoyances are gone on Julia master.

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