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Unicode support in the compiler and linker

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Most Microsoft C/C++ (MSVC) build tools support Unicode inputs and outputs.

Filenames

Filenames specified on the command line or in compiler directives (such as #include) may contain Unicode characters.

Source code files

Unicode characters are supported in identifiers, macros, string and character literals, and in comments. Universal character names are also supported.

Unicode can be input into a source code file in the following encodings:

  • UTF-16 little endian with or without byte order mark (BOM)

  • UTF-16 big endian with or without BOM

  • UTF-8 with BOM

In the Visual Studio IDE, you can save files in several encoding formats, including Unicode ones. Save them in the Save File As dialog by using the dropdown on the Save button. Select Save with Encoding in the dropdown. Then, in the Advanced Save Options dialog, select an encoding from the dropdown list. Choose OK to save the file.

Output

During compilation, the compiler outputs diagnostics to the console in UTF-16. The characters that can be displayed at your console depend on the console window properties. Compiler output redirected to a file is in the current ANSI console codepage.

Linker response files and .DEF files

Response files and .DEF files can be either UTF-16 or UTF-8 with a BOM, or ANSI.

.asm and .cod dumps

.asm and .cod dumps are in ANSI by default for compatibility with MASM. Use /FAu to output UTF-8.

If you specify /FAs, the intermingled source gets printed directly. It may look garbled, for example, when the source code is UTF-8 and you didn't specify /FAsu.

See also

Use the MSVC toolset from the command line