If your command line allows for the inclusion of unicode characters, the input
text will be considered as UTF8 by cpdf. Special characters which exist
in the PDF WinAnsiEncoding Latin 1 code (such as many accented characters) will
be reproduced in the PDF. This does not mean, however, that every special
character can be reproduced. You must experiment.
For compatibility with previous versions of cpdf, special characters may be introduced manually with a backslash followed by the three-digit octal code of the character in the PDF WinAnsiEncoding Latin 1 Code. The full table is included in Appendix D of the Adobe PDF Reference Manual, which is available at http://www.adobe.com/devnet/pdf/pdf_reference.html.
For example, a German sharp s (ß) may be introduced by \337.