/** This function takes a string and first checks if it is encoded in utf8, in which case it is
* decoded appropriately. Otherwise, the specified text codec is used to transform the string.
* \param input The input string containing encoded data
/** This function takes a string and first checks if it is encoded in utf8, in which case it is
* decoded appropriately. Otherwise, the specified text codec is used to transform the string.
* \param input The input string containing encoded data