## demonstration of various strings' encoding in ruby
lines=<<-LINES
Time.now.zone
Time.now.localtime.zone
"EST"
Time.now.localtime.zone.encode("".encoding)
""
String.new("")
String.new
LINES
lines.each_line.each_with_index do |line, index|
puts "#{line.strip} #=> \"#{eval line}\"" unless line.strip =~ /^"/
puts "#{line.strip}.encoding #=> #{(eval line).encoding}"
end