# perldoc > Encode::Symbol

---
type: CommandReference
command: Encode::Symbol
mode: perldoc
section: 
source: perldoc
---

## Quick Reference
- `encode("symbol", $utf8)` — Convert UTF‑8 to Symbol encoding
- `decode("symbol", $bytes)` — Convert Symbol encoding to UTF‑8
- `encode("dingbats", $utf8)` — Convert UTF‑8 to Dingbats encoding
- `decode("dingbats", $bytes)` — Convert Dingbats encoding to UTF‑8
- `encode("AdobeSymbol", $utf8)` — Equivalent to `symbol` encoding
- `encode("AdobeZDingbat", $utf8)` — Equivalent to `dingbats`
- `encode("MacDingbats", $utf8)` — Also an alias for Dingbats
- `decode("AdobeZDingbat", $bytes)` — Decode the same encoding

## Name — Symbol Encodings

## Synopsis
perl
use Encode qw/encode decode/;
$symbol  = encode("symbol", $utf8);   # loads Encode::Symbol implicitly
$utf8    = decode("", $symbol);       # ditto
## Examples
perl
use Encode;
my $utf8_string = "Hello ☺";
my $symbol_bytes = encode("symbol", $utf8_string);
my $decoded = decode("symbol", $symbol_bytes);
Encodings and aliases:
| Canonical      | Alias           | Description   |
|----------------|-----------------|---------------|
| symbol         | AdobeSymbol     | Symbol        |
| dingbats       | AdobeZDingbat   | Dingbats      |
|                | MacDingbats     | Dingbats      |

## See Also
- [Encode](http://localhost/phpMan.php/perldoc/Encode/markdown)