Unicode::UTF8-Parser ============ Rakudo's built-in UTF8 parser will wait for a possible combining character before getc() returns. Using this module, you can read bytes from $*IN and use this module to get unicode characters use Unicode::UTF8-Parser; my $stdin = supply { while (my $b = $*IN.read(1)[0]).defined { emit($b) } }; my $utf8 = parse-utf8-bytes($stdin); $utf8.tap({ say "got $_" }); The module exports the sub parse-utf8-bytes, which take a supply as input and returns a new supply. If there are Non-UTF8 bytes in the stream, they will be emitted as Int. You have to implement handling of these yourself ($val ~~ Int).