1 files changed, 11 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/gnu/java/nio/charset/EncodingHelper.java b/gnu/java/nio/charset/EncodingHelper.java
index 033440d5d..be7b4afe0 100644
--- a/gnu/java/nio/charset/EncodingHelper.java
+++ b/gnu/java/nio/charset/EncodingHelper.java
@@ -148,6 +148,17 @@ public class EncodingHelper
        throw new UnsupportedEncodingException("Charset "+name+" not found.");
      }
    }
+
+  /**
+   * Returns the default charset without throwing any exceptions. The default
+   * charset is UTF8.
+   *
+   * @return the default charset
+   */
+  public static Charset getDefaultCharset()
+  {
+    return new UTF_8();
+  }
 }