title: Decode/encode from big5 to utf-8 is not working
body: <p>I am trying very basic character set conversion like iconv does but not able to figure out why its not working. I am using python decode, encode routines but looks like missing on something very basic.</p>
  
  <p>Code:</p>
  
  <pre><code>#!/usr/bin/python
  
  import sys
  
  if __name__ == "__main__":
      if len(sys.argv) &lt; 2:
          print ("wrong input")
          sys.exit(1)
  
      fi = open(sys.argv[1], "r")
      buf = fi.read()
      fi.close()
  
      print ("got input: \n{0}".format(buf))
  
      buf.decode("big5", "strict").encode("utf8", "strict")
  
      fo = open(sys.argv[2], "w")
      fo.write(buf)
      fo.close()
  
  
      print ("changed: \n{0}".format(buf))
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Input files. hello.big5 is obtained by converting utf file with <strong>iconv</strong></p>
  
  <pre><code>[workspace] &gt; cat hello.utf8 
  hello = 你好
  
  [workspace] &gt; cat hello.big5 
  hello = �A�n
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>When executed:</p>
  
  <pre><code>[workspace] &gt; ./test.py  hello.big5 out
  got input: 
  hello = �A�n
  
  changed: 
  hello = �A�n
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Can someone point out where I am tripping ? </p>