---
title: 1.18 Unicode Characters
description: "C++ supports Unicode character literals for representing characters beyond the ASCII character set. Unicode enables programs to store and process text from many languages using a standardized character encoding. This example demonstrates how to declare Unicode character literals using `char16_t`…"
url: "https://magenta-tarsier-454184.hostingersite.com/docs/cpp-programming/basic-refreshers-cplusplus/1-18-unicode-characters/"
updated: "2026-07-28"
category: C++ Programming / Basic Refreshers
---

# 1.18 Unicode Characters

C++ supports Unicode character literals for representing characters beyond the ASCII character set. Unicode enables programs to store and process text from many languages using a standardized character encoding.

This example demonstrates how to declare Unicode character literals using `char16_t` and `char32_t`.

## Source Code

```
#include <iostream>

int main()
{
    char16_t symbol16 = u'Ω';
    char32_t symbol32 = U'😀';

    std::cout << "char16_t size: " << sizeof(symbol16) << " byte(s)\n";
    std::cout << "char32_t size: " << sizeof(symbol32) << " byte(s)\n";

    return 0;
}
```

## Output

```
char16_t size: 2 byte(s)
char32_t size: 4 byte(s)
```

> Unicode characters are stored in the variables, but they are not printed in this example because `std::cout` does not directly support outputting `char16_t` and `char32_t` character values.

## Explanation

- `char16_t symbol16 = u'Ω';` declares a UTF-16 character and initializes it with the Unicode character `Ω`.
- `char32_t symbol32 = U'😀';` declares a UTF-32 character and initializes it with the Unicode character 😀.
- The prefix `u` creates a UTF-16 character literal of type `char16_t`.
- The prefix `U` creates a UTF-32 character literal of type `char32_t`.
- `sizeof(symbol16)` returns the storage size of a UTF-16 code unit, which is 2 bytes.
- `sizeof(symbol32)` returns the storage size of a UTF-32 code unit, which is 4 bytes.
- Unicode support allows C++ programs to represent characters from many writing systems instead of being limited to the basic ASCII character set.
- `return 0;` terminates the program successfully.