vc_translate_unicode(9)

✨ vc_translate_unicode(9) — Kernel API Manual ✨

okay so bestie, this is the page for vc_translate_unicode, straight out of the Kernel API Manual 💅 and it's literally the little function that stitches UTF-8 bytes together into a Unicode code point for the virtual console. grab a strawberry 🍓 and let's go.

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🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

int vc_translate_unicode (struct vc_data *vc , int c , bool *rescan );

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🎀 ARGUMENTS 🎀

• vc — the virtual console, obvs. it's the whole struct vc_data * situation.
• c — the UTF-8 byte you want translated. one single byte, bestie.
• rescan — gets set to true iff c wasn't consumed here and needs to be re-processed. so if this flips to true, that byte is coming back for round two 🙈.

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💖 DESCRIPTION 💖

so here's the tea — this function is building up a code point byte by byte, and it keeps its little bookkeeping in the vc_data struct:

• vc_data.vc_utf_char is the being-constructed Unicode code point. the main character of the whole operation 👑.
• vc_data.vc_utf_count is the number of continuation bytes still expected to arrive. the countdown ⏳.
• vc_data.vc_npar is the number of continuation bytes arrived so far. the tally so far 📊.

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🔥 RETURN 🔥

the returns are giving very specific, so listen up:

• -1 — input OK so far, c consumed, further bytes expected. we're mid-vibe, keep the bytes coming ✨.
• 0xFFFD — two whole possibilities, and yes you need to know both:
  • Possibility 1: input invalid, c may have been consumed (see desc. of rescan). 👀
  • Possibility 2: input OK, c consumed, and U+FFFD is the resulting code point. U+FFFD is valid, REPLACEMENT CHARACTER . not a bug, that's just what it is 🫶.
• otherwise — input OK, c consumed, resulting code point returned. slay, we got the whole character 🎉.

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🦋 SEE ALSO 🦋

Kernel file ./drivers/tty/vt/vt.c plus a whole friend group of functions: vc_font_pitch(9), vc_font_size(9), vc_do_resize(9), __vc_resize(9), vt_resize(9), enum vc_ctl_state(9), vc_sanitize_unicode(9), vt_kmsg_redirect(9), con_is_bound(9), con_is_visible(9), con_debug_enter(9), con_debug_leave(9), do_unregister_con_driver(9).

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fr fr, rescan is the one to watch — if it's true, that byte did NOT get eaten here and needs re-processing. no cap.

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that's the whole page, bestie 💜 — sourced from ./drivers/tty/vt, dated October 2026, and it's the vc_translate_unicode(9) page from the Kernel API Manual. mwah, go read some more kernel docs 🧚‍♀️🌸