David Carlisle <[log in to unmask]> writes:

> use unicode internally in standard TeX (which is a 7bit  system
> pretending to be 8bit).

The first time you said this I brushed it off, figuring you
meant LaTeX is 7bit (which it is, when using inputenc).

But TeX really is 8bit.

What were you thinking of?  If it is screen output like "^^fa"
then this is no different from TeX's output of "^^I", and it
is just part of the sysstem-specific configuration.  If it is
ugly hackery in the source code, that is also the same as all
else in TeX.

Donald Arseneau                          [log in to unmask]