diff --git a/examples/unicode.modal b/examples/unicode.modal
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a1fe73f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/unicode.modal
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+<> (🯅 |) () 
+<> (🯅 ?x) (?x 🯅) 
+
+🯅 _ _ _ |
diff --git a/makefile b/makefile
index 906314b..afebb2f 100644
--- a/makefile
+++ b/makefile
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ dest:
 run: all bin/modal
 	@ bin/modal -q examples/hello.modal
 debug: all bin/modal-debug
-	@ bin/modal-debug -a examples/hello.modal
+	@ bin/modal-debug -a examples/unicode.modal
 test: all bin/modal-debug bin/modal
 	@ bin/modal -v
 	@ bin/modal-debug -q examples/fizzbuzz.modal
diff --git a/src/modal.c b/src/modal.c
index 55ef37f..dcdbd88 100644
--- a/src/modal.c
+++ b/src/modal.c
@@ -105,7 +105,7 @@ file_import(char *path, char *ptr)
 	FILE *f;
 	int pr = 0;
 	if((f = fopen(path, "r"))) {
-		char c;
+		unsigned char c;
 		while(fread(&c, 1, 1, f)) {
 			c = c <= 0x20 ? 0x20 : c;
 			if(c == '(') pr++;