Character Encoding and Garbled Text

Maintained on October 10, 2026

When working with Japanese text in the command prompt, you may run into garbled characters. This happens often when handling UTF-8 files or processing the output of other programs.

This article explains the causes of garbled text and how to deal with it.

Why Garbled Text Happens

Garbled text occurs because the side that writes the text and the side that reads it use different character encodings.

On Japanese Windows, the following encodings coexist.

Encoding	Code page	Description
Shift_JIS	932	Default on Japanese Windows
UTF-8	65001	The mainstream for the web and development
UTF-16	-	Used internally by Windows

The default code page of the command prompt is 932 (Shift_JIS), but recent text editors and programs often default to UTF-8. This mismatch is the main cause of garbled text.

Checking the Current Code Page

chcp

－ □ ×

Command Prompt

Microsoft Windows [Version xx.x.xxxxx.xxx]

C:\users\user>chcp

Active code page: 932

C:\users\user>

Changing the Code Page (chcp Command)

The chcp command changes the code page.

Switch to UTF-8

chcp 65001

－ □ ×

Command Prompt

Microsoft Windows [Version xx.x.xxxxx.xxx]

C:\users\user>chcp 65001

Active code page: 65001

C:\users\user>

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Switch Back to Shift_JIS

chcp 932

Scope of chcp

A code page changed with chcp is valid only in that command prompt window. A new window returns to the default code page.

Fixing Garbled Text in Batch Files

Fix 1: Mind the Encoding When Saving the Batch File

A batch file must be saved in the same encoding as the command prompt’s code page.

Save format	Behavior
ANSI (Shift_JIS)	Works with the default code page 932
UTF-8 (no BOM)	Use together with chcp 65001
UTF-8 (with BOM)	Garbage characters may appear at the beginning

UTF-8 with BOM

If you save a batch file as UTF-8 with a BOM, the BOM (Byte Order Mark) at the start may prevent @echo off from being recognized correctly. When saving as UTF-8, choose no BOM.

Fix 2: Change chcp Inside the Batch File

In a batch file that processes UTF-8 files, change the code page at the beginning.

@echo off
setlocal

rem Save the current code page, then switch to UTF-8
for /f "tokens=2 delims=:" %%a in ('chcp') do set ORIG_CP=%%a
chcp 65001 >nul

rem Process the UTF-8 file
type "utf8_data.txt"

rem Restore the original code page
chcp %ORIG_CP% >nul

endlocal

The wording of the chcp output varies with the display language, but the code page number always follows a colon (:), so delims=: extracts it as shown above. Saving the original code page lets you restore it reliably without hard-coding 932.

チェック

Adding >nul, as in chcp 65001 >nul, suppresses the “Active code page: 65001” message.

UTF-8 batch files can be unstable on older systems

Running a UTF-8 batch file that contains Japanese text with chcp 65001 may cause labels and goto to be misinterpreted on older versions of Windows 10 and similar. If you distribute the batch file or are unsure of the target environment, saving as Shift_JIS (Fix 3) is the safe choice.

Fix 3: Save as Shift_JIS

When the batch file itself contains Japanese text, the most reliable method is to save it as Shift_JIS (ANSI).

In Visual Studio Code, click the encoding indicator at the bottom right, choose “Save with Encoding”, and select “Japanese (Shift JIS)”.

Making UTF-8 the System-Wide Default

On Windows 10 version 1803 and later (including Windows 11), you can make UTF-8 the default for the whole OS from the region settings.

Open Settings → Time & Language → Language & region → Administrative language settings (running intl.cpl also opens it)
On the “Administrative” tab, select “Change system locale”
Check “Beta: Use Unicode UTF-8 for worldwide language support” and restart

Use this setting with care

Enabling this setting can cause older applications and batch files that assume Shift_JIS to show garbled text. Because the impact is broad, first check whether adjusting chcp or the save format solves the problem.

Common Garbled-Text Cases and Fixes

Case 1: A UTF-8 File Is Garbled with the type Command

chcp 65001 >nul
type "utf8_file.txt"
chcp 932 >nul

Case 2: findstr Cannot Search Japanese Text

findstr uses the system code page, so searching a UTF-8 file for Japanese text may not work correctly.

chcp 65001 >nul
findstr "キーワード" "utf8_file.txt"
chcp 932 >nul

With PowerShell, specifying the encoding explicitly is more reliable.

powershell -NoProfile -Command "Select-String -Path utf8_file.txt -Pattern 'キーワード' -Encoding utf8"

Limits of findstr UTF-8 support

findstr’s UTF-8 support is incomplete, and pattern searches for Japanese text using regular expressions may not work correctly. If you need reliable UTF-8 text searching, consider PowerShell’s Select-String cmdlet.

Case 3: The Output of Another Program Is Garbled

The output of programs that default to UTF-8, such as Python or Node.js, may be garbled.

chcp 65001 >nul
python script.py
chcp 932 >nul

Alternatively, you can set the program’s output encoding with an environment variable.

set PYTHONIOENCODING=utf-8
python script.py

This makes Python emit UTF-8. It works for pipes and files, but on screen the text is still garbled if the console code page remains 932.

Case 4: A File Created by Redirection Is Garbled

In Windows PowerShell 5.1, a file saved with redirection (>) is UTF-16. Opening it in other tools may show garbled text or what looks like a space between every character.

When saving from PowerShell, specify the encoding explicitly, as in Out-File -Encoding utf8 or Set-Content -Encoding utf8. Note that -Encoding utf8 in Windows PowerShell 5.1 saves with a BOM.

Case 5: echo in a Batch File Is Garbled

This occurs when the encoding the batch file is saved in does not match the command prompt’s code page.

Match the batch file’s save format to the command prompt’s code page.

Font Settings

If some characters do not display, the command prompt’s font setting may be the cause.

Right-click the title bar of the command prompt
Select “Properties”
On the “Font” tab, choose “MS Gothic” or “Consolas”

Windows Terminal is recommended

Windows Terminal (the default terminal in Windows 11 22H2 and later) displays UTF-8 well. If garbled text keeps occurring, consider using Windows Terminal.

Summary

Problem	Fix
A UTF-8 file displays garbled	Change the code page with `chcp 65001`
Japanese in a batch file is garbled	Save it as Shift_JIS
Another program’s output is garbled	`chcp 65001` or a setting in the program
findstr cannot search Japanese	Change the code page or use PowerShell
UTF-8 with BOM problems	Save as UTF-8 without BOM