Why do code files containing unicode string constants saved as UTF8 + BOM display correctly but when saved as UTF8 they do not in classic ASP?

Question

I have a code file which I will refer to as "myConstants.res.asp" with a bunch of constants in both English and French...

<% 
  const myStr1 = "Bienvenue dans ma maison au moment de cette belle journée de repos et de détente"
  const myStr2 = "Welcome to my house at this beautiful day of rest and relaxation"

  ... more constants ...
%>

This constant file is included in other ASP code files that have the following structure...

<%@ Language="VBSCRIPT" EnableSessionState=False %>
<% 
    Option Explicit 
    Response.CharSet  = "UTF-8"
    Response.CodePage = 65001    
%>

<!-- #include file = "myConstants.res.asp" -->

... additional code ...

If I save the myConstants.res.asp file as UTF8+BOM Unicode characters are displayed correctly which in my example case is only an issue for the constant myStr1. In reality I have several hundred of these strings. If I save the myConstants.res.asp file as UTF8 (no BOM). The Unicode characters show up as garbage.

Any thoughts as to why this is happening?

Answer 1

Could be the file doing the including is encoded differently?