[Python-Dev] Encoding detection in the standard library?

["Martin v. Löwis"]

> IMO, encoding estimation is something that many web programs will have
> to deal with

Can you please explain why that is? Web programs should not normally
have the need to detect the encoding; instead, it should be specified
always - unless you are talking about browsers specifically, which
need to support web pages that specify the encoding incorrectly.

> so it might as well be built in; I would prefer the option
> to run `text=input.encode('guess')` (or something similar) than relying
> on an external dependency or worse yet using a hand-rolled algorithm.

Ok, let me try differently then. Please feel free to post a patch to
bugs.python.org, and let other people rip it apart.

For example, I don't think it should be a codec, as I can't imagine it
working on streams.

Regards,
Martin