# How to output UTF8 character on screen?

**URL:** <https://discourse.processing.org/t/how-to-output-utf8-character-on-screen/35944>\
**Category:** Coding Questions\
**Created:** [March 26, 2022, 3:35am UTC](https://discourse.processing.org/t/how-to-output-utf8-character-on-screen/35944 "2022-03-26T03:35:13Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![bigboss97](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/47e85d/32.png) [@bigboss97](https://discourse.processing.org/u/bigboss97)\
**Post date:** [March 26, 2022, 3:35am UTC](https://discourse.processing.org/t/how-to-output-utf8-character-on-screen/35944/1 "2022-03-26T03:35:13Z")

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I’m using Processing 3.5.4 on Windows 10.  
I managed to read a UTF8 file name and write it to a text file. But when I tried to use text() command to show it on screen I only saw some squares.  
Also, when I tried to put some Chinese characters in my Processing editor they became squares, too.  
Question, how can I display UTF8 characters on screen? Do I have to change some kind of encoding in my environment?  
Thanks

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**Author:** ![GoToLoop](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex036/user_avatar/discourse.processing.org/gotoloop/32/86_2.png) [@GoToLoop](https://discourse.processing.org/u/GoToLoop)\
**Post date:** [March 26, 2022, 3:43am UTC](https://discourse.processing.org/t/how-to-output-utf8-character-on-screen/35944/2 "2022-03-26T03:43:34Z")

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> [@Java Unicode Chars](https://discourse.processing.org/t/java-unicode-chars/34284/4):
>
> It’s showing katakana japanese_castle characters for me here: thinking /\*\* \* Unicode Katakana Test (v1.0.1) \* GoToLoop (2021/Dec/26) \* \* https://Discourse.Processing.org/t/java-unicode-chars/34284/4 \* \* http://Studio.ProcessingTogether.com/sp/pad/export/ro.9hlrt8LyDd9uA \*/ static final int FONT\_SIZE = 22, CHARS = 30; static final int START = 0x30A0, RANGE = 96; static final String FONT\_JAVA = "Serif"; void setup() { size(700, 150); noLoop(); fill(#FFFF00); textAlign(CENT…

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**Author:** ![bigboss97](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/47e85d/32.png) [@bigboss97](https://discourse.processing.org/u/bigboss97)\
**Post date:** [March 26, 2022, 6:33am UTC](https://discourse.processing.org/t/how-to-output-utf8-character-on-screen/35944/3 "2022-03-26T06:33:52Z")

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Following your advice, I changed the font to Serif and that does the job.  
Thanks so much for the quick response.