$ perl -de1 ... DB<1> $str = "\x{ 41 }" DB<2> p $str DB<3> $str1 = "\x{41}" DB<5> p $str1 A DB<6> $str2 = "\x{263A}" DB<7> p $str2 Wide character in print at (eval 30)[/usr/share/perl/5.28/perl5db.pl:738] line 2. ... ☺ DB<8> binmode STDOUT, ':utf8'; DB<9> p $str2 Wide character in print at (eval 30)[/usr/share/perl/5.28/perl5db.pl:738] line 2. ... ☺