diff --git a/src/expand/expand.rs b/src/expand/expand.rs
index 3098b87e1..09bf427b1 100644
--- a/src/expand/expand.rs
+++ b/src/expand/expand.rs
@@ -1,4 +1,6 @@
 #![crate_name = "expand"]
+#![feature(unicode)]
+
 /*
  * This file is part of the uutils coreutils package.
  *
@@ -12,12 +14,14 @@
 
 extern crate getopts;
 extern crate libc;
+extern crate rustc_unicode;
 extern crate unicode_width;
 
 use std::fs::File;
 use std::io::{stdin, stdout, BufRead, BufReader, BufWriter, Read, Write};
 use std::iter::repeat;
 use std::str::from_utf8;
+use rustc_unicode::str::utf8_char_width;
 use unicode_width::UnicodeWidthChar;
 
 #[path = "../common/util.rs"]
@@ -173,7 +177,7 @@ fn expand(options: Options) {
 
             while byte < buf.len() {
                 let (ctype, cwidth, nbytes) = if options.uflag {
-                    let nbytes = UnicodeWidthChar::width(buf[byte] as char).unwrap_or(0);
+                    let nbytes = utf8_char_width(buf[byte]);
 
                     if byte + nbytes > buf.len() {
                         // don't overrun buffer because of invalid UTF-8
diff --git a/src/unexpand/unexpand.rs b/src/unexpand/unexpand.rs
index 83bae7fc7..af138dcef 100644
--- a/src/unexpand/unexpand.rs
+++ b/src/unexpand/unexpand.rs
@@ -1,4 +1,6 @@
 #![crate_name = "unexpand"]
+#![feature(unicode)]
+
 /*
  * This file is part of the uutils coreutils package.
  *
@@ -12,11 +14,13 @@
 
 extern crate getopts;
 extern crate libc;
+extern crate rustc_unicode;
 extern crate unicode_width;
 
 use std::fs::File;
 use std::io::{stdin, stdout, BufRead, BufReader, BufWriter, Read, Stdout, Write};
 use std::str::from_utf8;
+use rustc_unicode::str::utf8_char_width;
 use unicode_width::UnicodeWidthChar;
 
 #[path = "../common/util.rs"]
@@ -206,7 +210,7 @@ fn unexpand(options: Options) {
                 }
 
                 let (ctype, cwidth, nbytes) = if options.uflag {
-                    let nbytes = UnicodeWidthChar::width(buf[byte] as char).unwrap_or(0);
+                    let nbytes = utf8_char_width(buf[byte]);
 
                     // figure out how big the next char is, if it's UTF-8
                     if byte + nbytes > buf.len() {