19.1 Unicode Support on Windows

Microsoft Windows supports UTF-8 in console applications running in Windows Terminal but not in applications running in the older Windows Console Host. In Windows Terminal, the code page must be set to 65001 for UTF-8 to be enabled. With the UTF-8 code page, running units -V might show

GNU Units version 2.24
Without readline, with UTF-8, locale English_United States (en_US)

Two values are shown for the locale: the first is the one returned by the system; the second is the POSIX value to which the system value is mapped.

With a different code page, the result might be

GNU Units version 2.24
Without readline, with UTF-8 (disabled), locale English_United States (en_US)
To enable UTF-8: set code page to 65001

If units is running in Windows Console Host, regardless of the code page, the result might be

GNU Units version 2.24
Without readline, with UTF-8 (disabled), locale English_United States (en_US)
To enable UTF-8: run in Windows Terminal and set code page to 65001

The UTF-8 code page can be set by running chcp 65001.

As of late 2024, the Windows build of units does not identify characters—typically East Asian—that occupy more than one column, and error messages involving those characters may not be properly aligned.