1 files changed, 9 insertions, 4 deletions
diff --git a/lib/rexml/encoding.rb b/lib/rexml/encoding.rb
index e35c3acf7c..a01763be99 100644
--- a/lib/rexml/encoding.rb
+++ b/lib/rexml/encoding.rb
@@ -56,10 +56,15 @@ module REXML
 
     def check_encoding str
       # We have to recognize UTF-16, LSB UTF-16, and UTF-8
-      return UTF_16 if /\A\xfe\xff/n =~ str
-      return UNILE if /\A\xff\xfe/n =~ str
-      str =~ /^\s*<?xml\s*version\s*=\s*(['"]).*?\2\s*encoding\s*=\s*(["'])(.*?)\2/um
-      return $1.upcase if $1
+      if str[0] == 0xfe && str[1] == 0xff
+        str[0,2] = ""
+        return UTF_16
+      elsif str[0] == 0xff && str[1] == 0xfe
+        str[0,2] = ""
+        return UNILE
+      end
+      str =~ /^\s*<\?xml\s+version\s*=\s*(['"]).*?\1\s+encoding\s*=\s*(["'])(.*?)\2/um
+      return $3.upcase if $3
       return UTF_8
     end
   end