NUL-byte between every other character in output

Question

I'm using Ruby to read and then print a file to stdout, redirecting the output to a file in Windows PowerShell.

However, when I inspect the files, I get this for the input:

PS D:> head -n 1 .\inputfile
<text id="http://observer.guardian.co.uk/osm/story/0,,1009777,00.html">         <s>             Hooligans       NNS     hooligan
                ,       ,       ,               unbridled       JJ      unbridled               passion NN      passion
-       :       -               and     CC      and             no      DT      no              executive       JJ      executiv
e               boxes   NNS     box             .       SENT    .               </s>

... yet this for the output:

PS D:> head -n 1 .\outputfile
ÿ_< t e x t   i d = " h t t p : / / o b s e r v e r . g u a r d i a n . c o . u k / o s m / s t o r y / 0 , , 1 0 0 9 7 7 7 , 0
0 . h t m l " >                  < s >           H o o l i g a n s       N N S   h o o l i g a n                 ,       ,
 ,               u n b r i d l e d       J J     u n b r i d l e d               p a s s i o n   N N     p a s s i o n
 -       :       -               a n d   C C     a n d           n o     D T     n o             e x e c u t i v e       J J
 e x e c u t i v e               b o x e s       N N S   b o x           .       S E N T         .               < / s >

How can this happen?

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Edit: since my problem didn't have anything to do with Ruby, I've removed the Ruby-code, and included my usage of the Windows shell.

Answer 1

In PowerShell > is effectively the same as | Out-File and Out-File defaults to Unicode encoding. Try this instead of using >:

... | Out-File outputfile -encoding ASCII