The garbled code of web pages is usually due to incorrect charset settings in HTML. charset is used to specify the character encoding method used by web pages to ensure that the browser correctly parses the text content. Common encoding methods include UTF-8, ISO-8859-1, GBK/GB2312, etc. To set the charset correctly, add <meta charset="UTF-8"> in the
part of the HTML, while ensuring that the file storage encoding is consistent with the settings. In addition, you need to check whether the server response header is set to the correct Content-Type encoding. If garbled code still appears, you can check whether the file storage encoding, browser loading encoding, server character set and external resource encoding are consistent. In short, file encoding, HTML settings and server configuration can only be unified to avoid garbled code problems. Web pages display garbled code? It may be that charset
in HTML is not set correctly.

Have you ever encountered a web page that turns into a bunch of question marks or garbled codes in Chinese? This is usually not because the web page is broken, but because the character encoding is not set properly. charset
in HTML is used to tell the browser which encoding method to parse page content. Only when the settings are correct can the text be displayed normally.
What is charset
and why is it important?
charset
is an attribute in the HTML <meta>
tag that specifies the character encoding method used by web pages. Simply put, it tells the browser: "You have to use this encoding to read my page, or there will be an error."

For example, if your HTML file is saved with UTF-8 encoding, but you write charset=ISO-8859-1
in meta
tag, then the browser may use the wrong encoding method, and the result is garbled code.
Common coding methods include:

- UTF-8 : Most commonly used, supports almost all languages around the world
- ISO-8859-1 : Commonly used in Western European languages, but not supported in Chinese
- GBK / GB2312 : Commonly used in early Chinese web pages
How to set charset
correctly?
Setting up charset
is very simple, just add this line of code to part of the HTML file:
<meta charset="UTF-8">
Pay attention to a few details:
This line of code is best placed at the front of
<head>
, the earlier the better, so as to avoid the browser starting to use default encoding before parsing it (usually UTF-8, but not guaranteed)Make sure that the encoding used when saving your HTML file is consistent with
charset
settings. For example, if you writeUTF-8
, but the file is actually saved asGBK
, then there will still be an errorIf you are using server-generated pages, such as PHP, Node.js, etc., you should also check whether the HTTP response header has set
Content-Type
encoding, such as:Content-Type: text/html; charset=UTF-8
If the HTTP header conflicts with the
meta
settings in HTML, the browser may preferentially use the encoding in the HTTP header
Frequently Asked Questions and Troubleshooting Methods
Sometimes even if you write
charset
, it is still garbled. At this time, you can check from these aspects:- ? Check the encoding format of HTML file saving (you can use an editor to view it, for example, the encoding will be displayed in the lower right corner of VS Code)
- ? Check the "response header" or "page information" in the browser developer tool (F12) to confirm whether the actually loaded encoding is correct.
- ? If it is a page generated by the server dynamically, check whether the server has set the correct character set.
- ? If there are external resources (such as JS, CSS) on the page, make sure that the encoding of these files is consistent.
A tip: If you are not sure what encoding is currently using on the web page, you can manually switch the encoding in the browser (right-click on Chrome → "View Page Information" → Encoding options) to see if there is any that can be displayed normally.
Basically that's it
Setting up
charset
looks simple, but it's easy to ignore the details. As long as you remember: the encoding of file saving, themeta
setting of HTML, and the response head of the server are consistent, there will be no problem.Don’t underestimate this small tag, it is the basis for the normal display of web text.
The above is the detailed content of Understanding HTML `charset` for Character Encoding. For more information, please follow other related articles on the PHP Chinese website!

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