Message5864

Yes, Philip, you're right: we could steal that information via reflection. Here using Jython:
---
from java.lang import System

def get_encoding(console):
    """returns encoding of this console
    <!> untested if console is null (i.e. when not attached to a tty)
    <!> might fail if a security manager is set without "suppressAccessChecks"
    """
    encoding_method = console.getClass().getDeclaredMethod("encoding", None)
    encoding_method.setAccessible(True)
    return encoding_method.invoke(console, None)

def get_charset(console):
    """returns charset of this console
    <!> untested if console is null (i.e. when not attached to a tty)
    <!> might fail if a security manager is set without "suppressAccessChecks"
    """
    charset_field = console.getClass().getDeclaredField("cs")
    charset_field.setAccessible(True)
    return charset_field.get(console)

if __name__ == "__main__":
    print "java.io.Console's encoding:", get_encoding(System.console())
     # cp437 (string)

    print "java.io.Console's charset:", get_charset(System.console())
     # IBM437 (java.nio.charset.Charset object)
---
Regards,
Regis