Windows console does not display square root sign

Question

For a console application, I need to display the symbol: √
When I try to simply output it using:
std::cout << '√' << std::endl; or
std::wcout << '√' << std::endl; ,
it outputs the number 14846106 instead.

I've tried searching for an answer and have found several recommendations of the following:
std::cout << "\\xFB" << std::endl; and
std::cout << (unsigned char)251 << std::endl;
which both display a superscript 1.

This is using the Windows console with Lucida font. I've tried this with various character pages and always get the same superscript 1. When I try to find its value through getchar() or cin , the symbol is converted into the capital letter V . I am, however, sure that it can display this character simply by pasting it in. Is there an easy way of displaying Unicode characters?

Answer 1

Actually "\\xFB" or (unsigned char)251 are the same and do correspond to the root symbol √... but not in the Lucida font and other typefaces ASCII table , where it is an ¹ (superscript 1).

Switching to Unicode with the STL is a possibility, but I doubt it will run on Windows...

#include <iostream>
#include <locale.h>

int main() {
    std::locale::global(std::locale("en_US.UTF8"));
    std::wcout.imbue(std::locale());

    wchar_t root = L'√';

    std::wcout << root << std::endl;

    return 0;
}

Since this will not satisfy you, here a portable Unicode library: http://site.icu-project.org/