# Displaying special characters in PowerShell
**URL:** https://forums.powershell.org/t/displaying-special-characters-in-powershell/4551
**Category:** PowerShell Help
**Created:** [July 21, 2015, 9:52pm UTC](https://forums.powershell.org/t/displaying-special-characters-in-powershell/4551 "2015-07-21T21:52:50Z")
**Posts on this page:** 7
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@vince-panuccio](https://forums.powershell.org/u/vince-panuccio)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2015, 9:52pm UTC](https://forums.powershell.org/t/displaying-special-characters-in-powershell/4551/1 "2015-07-21T21:52:50Z")
I have tried setting different fonts and code pages in PowerShell but I cannot get the following characters to display.
$bars = [Char] ‘\_’, ‘▂’, ‘▃’, ‘▄’ ,‘▅’, ‘▆’, ‘▇’,‘█’
The characers belong to the MS Gothic font set but setting PowerShell to use this (rather ugly) font still did not render correctly and instead displayed small hollow squares.
Any help would be appreciated 🙂
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### Author:  [@donj](https://forums.powershell.org/u/donj)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2015, 11:19pm UTC](https://forums.powershell.org/t/displaying-special-characters-in-powershell/4551/2 "2015-07-21T23:19:35Z")
The PowerShell console can’t display extended characters from double-byte character sets. The console app dates from the mid-80s.
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### Author:  [@vince-panuccio](https://forums.powershell.org/u/vince-panuccio)
#### Post date: [July 22, 2015, 9:24pm UTC](https://forums.powershell.org/t/displaying-special-characters-in-powershell/4551/3 "2015-07-22T21:24:25Z")
That’s a shame. I didn’t know PowerShell was developed in the 80’s.
Why is it that Bash (a much older technology) can do this? [GitHub - holman/spark: ▁▂▃▅▂▇ in your shell.](https://github.com/holman/spark)
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### Author:  [@donj](https://forums.powershell.org/u/donj)
#### Post date: [July 22, 2015, 11:19pm UTC](https://forums.powershell.org/t/displaying-special-characters-in-powershell/4551/4 "2015-07-22T23:19:07Z")
Ugh. What did I write? The console host was written then, which is why the PowerShell team wrote the ISE for v2. If you can’t contribute positively to the conversation, at least don’t troll.
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### Author:  [@vince-panuccio](https://forums.powershell.org/u/vince-panuccio)
#### Post date: [July 22, 2015, 11:58pm UTC](https://forums.powershell.org/t/displaying-special-characters-in-powershell/4551/5 "2015-07-22T23:58:01Z")
I’m not trolling, just a bit of sarcasm.
You should modify the rules of engagement to include “NO SARCASM”.
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### Author:  [@donj](https://forums.powershell.org/u/donj)
#### Post date: [July 23, 2015, 12:05am UTC](https://forums.powershell.org/t/displaying-special-characters-in-powershell/4551/6 "2015-07-23T00:05:00Z")
Roger.
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### Author:  [@dotnVo](https://forums.powershell.org/u/dotnVo)
#### Post date: [May 16, 2024, 8:45pm UTC](https://forums.powershell.org/t/displaying-special-characters-in-powershell/4551/7 "2024-05-16T20:45:17Z")