1 files changed, 14 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/perllib/Utils.pm b/perllib/Utils.pm
index c9afff186..954561a08 100644
--- a/perllib/Utils.pm
+++ b/perllib/Utils.pm
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ package Utils;
 
 use strict;
 use Encode;
+use File::Slurp qw();
 use POSIX qw(strftime);
 use mySociety::DBHandle qw(dbh);
 use mySociety::GeoUtil;
@@ -262,4 +263,17 @@ sub _part {
     }
 }
 
+=head2 read_file
+
+Reads in a UTF-8 encoded file using File::Slurp and decodes it from UTF-8.
+This appears simplest, rather than getting confused with binmodes and so on.
+
+=cut
+sub read_file {
+    my $filename = shift;
+    my $data = File::Slurp::read_file( $filename );
+    $data = Encode::decode( 'utf8', $data );
+    return $data;
+}
+
 1;