diff --git a/src/utils.c b/src/utils.c
index 3a38b264168147784fc50c4672464ab05ff23c6f..4e8c428093518ede31b08fdf284221741dbc98ec 100644
--- a/src/utils.c
+++ b/src/utils.c
@@ -190,6 +190,8 @@ int parse_char(const char *str, int *chr, size_t *col
 
 		if (wctomb(ctrl_wide_str, (wchar_t)wide_str) != -1)
 		    *col += wcwidth(wide_str);
+		else
+		    (*col)++;
 
 		free(ctrl_wide_str);
 	    /* If we have a normal character, get its width in columns