title: How to save Russian characters in a UTF-8 encoded file
body: <p>OK so I have a PHP file with several strings of text in various languages.  For most languages like French or Spanish I just simply type in the characters.</p>
  
  <p>The problem I have is with Russian language characters. The PHP file is encoded in UTF-8, how can I make sure that the Russian characters are both saved correctly and displayed correctly on the output web page... Is it just a case of pasting the text into the PHP file, or is there a way to guarantee the characters will be saved into the file correctly - perhaps converting it into HTML-like notation for example?</p>
  
  <p>Obviously I am assuming the end user will have the correct encoding set in their web browser, I just want to make sure I got it all covered from my end.</p>
  
  <p>I am using Notepad++ on Windows to edit my PHP file.</p>
  
  <p>Thanks!</p>