diff --git a/expand.h b/expand.h
index 6738a04b4..d17899cf9 100644
--- a/expand.h
+++ b/expand.h
@@ -51,23 +51,32 @@
 
 #define DIRECTORIES_ONLY 32
 
-/** Character represeting a home directory */
-#define HOME_DIRECTORY 0xfffffffc
+/*
+  Use unencoded private-use keycodes for internal characters
+*/
+#define EXPAND_RESERVED 0xf000
 
-/** Character represeting process expantion */
-#define PROCESS_EXPAND 0xfffffffb
+enum
+{
+	/** Character represeting a home directory */
+	HOME_DIRECTORY = EXPAND_RESERVED,
 
-/** Character representing variable expantion */
-#define VARIABLE_EXPAND 0xfffffffa
+	/** Character represeting process expantion */
+	PROCESS_EXPAND,
+	
+	/** Character representing variable expantion */
+	VARIABLE_EXPAND,
 
-/** Character representing the start of a bracket expantion */
-#define BRACKET_BEGIN 0xfffffff9
+	/** Character representing the start of a bracket expantion */
+	BRACKET_BEGIN,
 
-/** Character representing the end of a bracket expantion */
-#define BRACKET_END 0xfffffff8
+	/** Character representing the end of a bracket expantion */
+	BRACKET_END,
 
-/** Character representing separation between two bracket elements */
-#define BRACKET_SEP 0xfffffff7
+	/** Character representing separation between two bracket elements */
+	BRACKET_SEP,
+}
+	;
 
 /** Character for separating two array elements. We use 30, i.e. the ascii record separator since that seems logical. */
 #define ARRAY_SEP 0x1e
diff --git a/input_common.h b/input_common.h
index a877074a2..20a1cd8fa 100644
--- a/input_common.h
+++ b/input_common.h
@@ -8,15 +8,19 @@ Header file for the low level input library
 
 #include <wchar.h>
 
-#ifndef WCHAR_MAX
-#define WCHAR_MAX 0x80000000
-#endif
-
-#define WCHAR_END (WCHAR_MAX + (unsigned long)1)
+/*
+  Use unencoded private-use keycodes for internal characters
+*/
+#define INPUT_COMMON_RESERVED 0xe000
 
 enum
 {
-	R_NULL = WCHAR_END + (unsigned long)1
+	/**
+	   R_NULL is sometimes returned by the input when a character was
+	   requested but none could be delivered, or when an exception
+	   happened.
+	*/
+	R_NULL = INPUT_COMMON_RESERVED
 }
 	;
 
diff --git a/reader.c b/reader.c
index 6a687d825..a553ce952 100644
--- a/reader.c
+++ b/reader.c
@@ -2392,7 +2392,14 @@ static int can_read( int fd )
 	return 0;	
 }
 
-
+/**
+   Test if the specified character is in the private use area that fish uses to store internal characters
+*/
+static int wchar_private( wchar_t c )
+{
+	return ( (c >= 0xe000) && (c <= 0xf8ff ) );
+		
+}
 
 wchar_t *reader_readline()
 {
@@ -2442,7 +2449,7 @@ wchar_t *reader_readline()
 		while( 1 )
 		{
 			c=input_readch();
-			if( (c< WCHAR_END) && (c>31) && (c != 127) )
+			if( ( (!wchar_private(c))) && (c>31) && (c != 127) )
 			{
 				if( can_read(0) )
 				{
@@ -2462,7 +2469,7 @@ wchar_t *reader_readline()
 							break;
 						}
 						c = input_readch();
-						if( (c< WCHAR_END) && (c>31) && (c != 127) )
+						if( (!wchar_private(c)) && (c>31) && (c != 127) )
 						{
 							arr[i]=c;
 							c=0;
@@ -2835,7 +2842,7 @@ wchar_t *reader_readline()
 			/* Other, if a normal character, we add it to the command */
 			default:
 			{
-				if( (c< WCHAR_END) && (c>31) && (c != 127) )
+				if( (!wchar_private(c)) && (c>31) && (c != 127) )
 					insert_char( c );
 				else
 					debug( 0, L"Unknown keybinding %d", c );
diff --git a/wildcard.h b/wildcard.h
index 5db4e38c1..00842c6a5 100644
--- a/wildcard.h
+++ b/wildcard.h
@@ -15,20 +15,23 @@
 #include "util.h"
 
 /*
-    These constants are outside the 31 bit character space of USC4,
-	thogh they may clash with WEOF. I need to use characters outside of
-	the regular character space to represent wildcards and such, 
-	in order to do backslash removal before wildcard matching.
+  Use unencoded private-use keycodes for internal characters
 */
 
-/** Character representing any character except '/' */
-#define ANY_CHAR 0xfffffffe
+#define WILDCARD_RESERVED 0xf400
 
-/** Character representing any character string not containing '/' (A slash) */
-#define ANY_STRING 0xfffffffd
+enum
+{
+	/** Character representing any character except '/' */
+	ANY_CHAR = WILDCARD_RESERVED,
 
-/** Character representing any character string */
-#define ANY_STRING_RECURSIVE 0xfffffff6
+	/** Character representing any character string not containing '/' (A slash) */
+	ANY_STRING,
+
+	/** Character representing any character string */
+	ANY_STRING_RECURSIVE,
+}
+	;
 
 /**
     Expand the wildcard by matching against the filesystem.