Mojibake Unicode library
Shares rank 2 of 3 unicode libraries by recommenders
Small free C library for Unicode text, shipped as one .c and one .h file. One critic thought it unhelpful for Unicode work in C.
Small free C library for Unicode text, shipped as one .c and one .h file. One critic thought it unhelpful for Unicode work in C.
6 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 5
- criticize it
- 1
- approval share
- 83%
Recommended in 1 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 5 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 5 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 1 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, not met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Small single-file C library
“the smallest possible C/C++ library, without requiring them to use a +20MB library just to normalize a string”
Comment from 17 Jul 2026 in “Show HN: Mojibake – a low-level Unicode library written in C” “One .c file and one header .h - That is the way opensource lib should be!”
Comment from 17 Jul 2026 in “Show HN: Mojibake – a low-level Unicode library written in C” “Love the amalgamation approach”
Comment from 17 Jul 2026 in “Show HN: Mojibake – a low-level Unicode library written in C”
Other unicode libraries people recommend
The two most recommended other unicode libraries, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| chardet | 7 | 21 | 25% | 1 | — | — |
| Mojibake Unicode libraryThis page | 5 | 1 | 83% | 1 | — | — |
| ICU library | 5 | 1 | 83% | 3 | — | — |
What people said
All 7 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“One .c file and one header .h - That is the way opensource lib should be!”
“The people using it will probably have an easier time navigating Unicode text than they would have if they had used other existing libraries”
“the smallest possible C/C++ library, without requiring them to use a +20MB library just to normalize a string”
“A cursory look at the services provided by this library should dissuade people from attempting to work with Unicode text in C.”
“handle a wider number of algorithms, such as the "confusable" one”
“The API documention is so nice!”
“Love the amalgamation approach”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.