def decode(self, chars):
        # Check presence of a UTF-8 signature first
        if chars.startswith(BOM_UTF8):
            try:
                chars = chars[3:].decode("utf-8")
            except UnicodeError:
                # has UTF-8 signature, but fails to decode...
                return chars
            else:
                # Indicates that this file originally had a BOM
                self.fileencoding = BOM_UTF8
                return chars
        # Next look for coding specification
        try:
            enc = coding_spec(chars)
        except LookupError as name:
            tkMessageBox.showerror(
                title="Error loading the file",
                message="The encoding '%s' is not known to this Python "\
                "installation. The file may not display correctly" % name,
                master = self.text)
            enc = None
        if enc:
            try:
                return unicode(chars, enc)
            except UnicodeError:
                pass
        # If it is ASCII, we need not to record anything
        try:
            return unicode(chars, 'ascii')
        except UnicodeError:
            pass
        # Finally, try the locale's encoding. This is deprecated;
        # the user should declare a non-ASCII encoding
        try:
            chars = unicode(chars, encoding)
            self.fileencoding = encoding
        except UnicodeError:
            pass
        return chars
UntupleConfigurationWidget(module: Module,
dataset/ETHPy150Open francelabs/datafari/windows/python/Lib/idlelib/IOBinding.py/IOBinding.decode--crossover with--dataset/ETHPy150Open VisTrails/VisTrails/vistrails/gui/modules/tuple_configuration.py/UntupleConfigurationWidget.__init__