gistfile1.txt

    function force_utf8( $string ) {
        $utf8 = "";
        $string = str_split( $string );

        for ( $i = 0; $i < count( $string ); $i++ ) {
            $utf8 .= mb_convert_encoding( $string[$i], "UTF-8", mb_detect_encoding( $string[$i] ) );
        }

        return $utf8;
    }