Fix encoding of Unicode characters

CHANGELOG.rst

@@ -1,6 +1,12 @@
 Changelog
 =========
 
+0.7.2
+-----
+
+- Fix encoding of Unicode characters (smart quotes, em dashes, etc.) in llms.txt output
+  `#65 <https://github.com/jdillard/sphinx-llms-txt/issues/65>`_
+
 0.7.1
 -----
 

sphinx_llms_txt/__init__.py

@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ from .manager import LLMSFullManager
 from .processor import DocumentProcessor
 from .writer import FileWriter
 
-__version__ = "0.7.1"
+__version__ = "0.7.2"
 
 # Export classes needed by tests
 __all__ = [

sphinx_llms_txt/writer.py

@@ -11,6 +11,41 @@ from sphinx.util import logging
 logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
 
+def _fix_mojibake(text: str) -> str:
+    """Fix common UTF-8/Windows-1252 mojibake in text.
+
+    Mojibake (文字化け, "character transformation") is a Japanese term for garbled text
+    caused by decoding bytes with the wrong character encoding.
+
+    This handles the case where UTF-8 bytes were incorrectly decoded as Windows-1252
+    (or Latin-1), resulting in corrupted characters like:
+    - ' (U+2019) becoming ’
+    - " (U+201C) becoming “
+    - " (U+201D) becoming â€
+    - — (U+2014) becoming â€"
+    - – (U+2013) becoming â€"
+    - … (U+2026) becoming …
+
+    Args:
+        text: The potentially corrupted text string
+
+    Returns:
+        The repaired text string, or the original if no repair was needed/possible
+    """
+    if not text:
+        return text
+
+    try:
+        # Try to encode the text as Windows-1252 (which would succeed if it contains
+        # the mojibake characters) and then decode as UTF-8 (to get the original)
+        return text.encode("windows-1252").decode("utf-8")
+    except (UnicodeDecodeError, UnicodeEncodeError):
+        # If encoding/decoding fails, the text is either:
+        # - Already correct UTF-8
+        # - Corrupted in a different way we can't fix
+        return text
+
+
 class FileWriter:
     """Handles writing processed content to output files."""
 
@@ -119,6 +154,8 @@ class FileWriter:
                     and hasattr(self.app.config, "project")
                 ):
                     project_name = self.app.config.project
+                # Fix any UTF-8/Windows-1252 mojibake in the project name
+                project_name = _fix_mojibake(project_name)
                 f.write(f"# {project_name}\n\n")
 
                 # Add description if available
@@ -127,6 +164,8 @@ class FileWriter:
                     # Trim leading and trailing whitespace
                     description = description.strip()
                     if description:
+                        # Fix any UTF-8/Windows-1252 mojibake in the description
+                        description = _fix_mojibake(description)
                         # Only add blockquote if description is not empty
                         # Replace newlines with newline + blockquote marker to maintain
                         # blockquote formatting
@@ -162,6 +201,8 @@ class FileWriter:
                         suffix = None
 
                     title = page_titles.get(docname, docname)
+                    # Fix any UTF-8/Windows-1252 mojibake in the title
+                    title = _fix_mojibake(title)
 
                     uri = uri_template.format(
                         base_url=base_url,

tests/test_llms_txt.py

@@ -1182,3 +1182,48 @@ def test_llms_txt_no_warning_when_full_file_disabled(tmp_path, caplog):
     # Verify llms.txt was still created
     llms_txt = outdir / "llms.txt"
     assert llms_txt.exists()
+
+
+def test_fix_mojibake():
+    """
+    Test that the _fix_mojibake function correctly repairs UTF-8/Windows-1252 mojibake.
+    """
+    from sphinx_llms_txt.writer import _fix_mojibake
+
+    # Test case from issue #65: smart apostrophe corrupted
+    # U+2019 (') encoded as UTF-8 (E2 80 99) then decoded as Windows-1252 gives ’
+    # In Windows-1252: E2->â(U+00E2), 80->€(U+20AC), 99->™(U+2122)
+    corrupted = "What\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s New"  # ’
+    expected = "What\u2019s New"  # ' = U+2019
+    assert _fix_mojibake(corrupted) == expected
+
+    # Test left double quote: U+201C (") -> “
+    # U+201C encoded as UTF-8: E2 80 9C
+    # In Windows-1252: E2->â(U+00E2), 80->€(U+20AC), 9C->œ(U+0153)
+    corrupted_ldq = "He said \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Hello"
+    expected_ldq = "He said \u201cHello"
+    assert _fix_mojibake(corrupted_ldq) == expected_ldq
+
+    # Test em dash: U+2014 (—) -> â€"
+    # U+2014 encoded as UTF-8: E2 80 94
+    # In Windows-1252: E2->â(U+00E2), 80->€(U+20AC), 94->"(U+201D)
+    corrupted_emdash = "one\u00e2\u20ac\u201dtwo"
+    expected_emdash = "one\u2014two"
+    assert _fix_mojibake(corrupted_emdash) == expected_emdash
+
+    # Test that already correct text is not modified
+    # Using Unicode escape for smart apostrophe
+    correct = "What\u2019s New In Our Latest Release!"
+    assert _fix_mojibake(correct) == correct
+
+    # Test empty string
+    assert _fix_mojibake("") == ""
+
+    # Test plain ASCII text passes through unchanged
+    plain = "Hello World"
+    assert _fix_mojibake(plain) == plain
+
+    # Test mixed mojibake and normal text
+    mixed = "Here\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a test"
+    expected_mixed = "Here\u2019s a test"
+    assert _fix_mojibake(mixed) == expected_mixed