diff --git a/src/sanity/80columns.test b/src/sanity/80columns.test
index 54ce7c572..a2ed6076b 100755
--- a/src/sanity/80columns.test
+++ b/src/sanity/80columns.test
@@ -6,6 +6,16 @@ set -e
 
 rm -f failures
 
+if [ "`echo '{r₁|r₂|r₃}' | wc -m`" != 11 ]; then
+  # The current local does not grok unicode.
+  # We still run this test, but only on lines are that purely ascii.
+  x='[^	-~]' # This blank is a tab.
+else
+  x='.'
+fi
+x="$x$x$x$x$x$x$x$x$x" # 9x
+x="$x$x$x$x$x$x$x$x$x" # 81x
+
 for dir in "${INCDIR-..}" "${INCDIR-..}"/../iface; do
 
   find "$dir" \(    -name "${1-*}.hh" \
@@ -13,8 +23,7 @@ for dir in "${INCDIR-..}" "${INCDIR-..}"/../iface; do
                  -o -name "${1-*}.cc" \
 		 -o -name "${1-*}.test" \) -a -type f -a -print |
   while read file; do
-     x='........................................'
-     if (expand $file | grep -q $x.$x) 2>/dev/null; then
+     if (expand $file | grep -q $x) 2>/dev/null; then
 	if grep 'GNU Bison' "$file" >/dev/null ||
 	   grep 'generated by flex' "$file" >/dev/null ; then
 	  :