--- a/Character.st	Tue Feb 07 20:17:46 2017 +0100
+++ b/Character.st	Tue Feb 07 22:13:38 2017 +0100
@@ -311,6 +311,7 @@
     ^ self codePoint:anInteger
 ! !
 
+
 !Character class methodsFor:'accessing untypeable characters'!
 
 controlCharacter:char
@@ -357,6 +358,7 @@
     ^ self codePoint:41
 ! !
 
+
 !Character class methodsFor:'constants'!
 
 backspace
@@ -646,6 +648,8 @@
       or:[ (asciivalue == 247 ) ]]]]]
 ! !
 
+
+
 !Character methodsFor:'accessing'!
 
 codePoint
@@ -1486,10 +1490,10 @@
     |s|
 
     asciivalue <= 16r7F ifTrue:[
-	^ self asString.
+        ^ self asString.
     ].
 
-    s := WriteStream on:(String new:6).
+    s := WriteStream on:(String new:self utf8BytesPerCharacter).
     s nextPutUtf8:self.
     ^ s contents
 
@@ -1497,6 +1501,8 @@
      'ä' utf8Encoded
      'a' utf8Encoded
     "
+
+    "Modified: / 07-02-2017 / 14:37:06 / stefan"
 ! !
 
 !Character methodsFor:'copying'!
@@ -1771,6 +1777,8 @@
     asciivalue <= 16rFF ifTrue:[^ 1].
     asciivalue <= 16rFFFF ifTrue:[^ 2].
     ^ 4
+
+    "Modified: / 07-02-2017 / 14:36:05 / stefan"
 !
 
 characterSize
@@ -1864,6 +1872,21 @@
     "
      (Character value:16r200) unicodeBlock
     "
+!
+
+utf8BytesPerCharacter
+    "return the number of bytes I require for storage in utf-8 encoding"
+
+    asciivalue <= 16r7F ifTrue:[^ 1].
+    asciivalue <= 16r7FF ifTrue:[^ 2].
+    asciivalue <= 16rFFFF ifTrue:[^ 3].
+    asciivalue <= 16r1FFFFF ifTrue:[^ 4].
+    asciivalue <= 16r1FFFFF ifTrue:[^ 5].
+    asciivalue <= 16r3FFFFFF ifTrue:[^ 6].
+
+    self error:'character cannot represented as utf8 (too large)'
+
+    "Created: / 07-02-2017 / 14:35:56 / stefan"
 ! !
 
 !Character methodsFor:'testing'!
@@ -3172,3 +3195,4 @@
 version_CVS
     ^ '$Header$'
 ! !
+