Convert text files in a directory to UTF-8 encoding (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UTF-8)

utf8_convert.R

#' Convert text files in a directory to UTF-8 encoding
#' 
#' @param dir a character string naming the directory where the files are located.
#' @param new_dir a character string naming the directory where you would like the
#' converted files to be placed. 
#' 
#' @importFrom dplyr %>%

utf8_convert <- function(dir, new_dir){
    all_files <- list.files(dir)
    for (i in all_files){
        old_path <- paste0('TextFiles_AllTogether/', i)
        temp <- paste(readLines(old_path), collapse = ' ') %>% 
            iconv(to = 'UTF-8', sub = '')
        cat(temp, file = paste0(new_dir, i))
    }
}