diff --git a/include/helper.h b/include/helper.h
index 5f530dbf..a74a162e 100644
--- a/include/helper.h
+++ b/include/helper.h
@@ -221,4 +221,17 @@ PangoAttrList *token_match_get_pango_attr ( ThemeHighlight th, GRegex **tokens,
  */
 int rofi_scorer_fuzzy_evaluate ( const char *pattern, glong plen, const char *str, glong slen );
 /*@}*/
+
+/**
+ * @param a    UTF-8 string to compare
+ * @param b    UTF-8 string to compare
+ * @param n    Maximum number of characters to compare
+ *
+ * Compares the `G_NORMALIZE_ALL_COMPOSE` forms of the two strings.
+ *
+ * @returns less than, equal to, or greater than zero if the first `n` characters (not bytes) of `a`
+ *          are found, respectively, to be less than, to match, or be greater than the first `n`
+ *          characters (not bytes) of `b`.
+ */
+int utf8_strncmp ( const char *a, const char* b, size_t n );
 #endif // ROFI_HELPER_H
diff --git a/source/dialogs/combi.c b/source/dialogs/combi.c
index a3f09284..f63c49bf 100644
--- a/source/dialogs/combi.c
+++ b/source/dialogs/combi.c
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@
 #include <stdio.h>
 #include <rofi.h>
 #include "settings.h"
+#include "helper.h"
 
 #include <dialogs/dialogs.h>
 
@@ -151,18 +152,23 @@ static void combi_mode_destroy ( Mode *sw )
 static ModeMode combi_mode_result ( Mode *sw, int mretv, char **input, unsigned int selected_line )
 {
     CombiModePrivateData *pd = mode_get_private_data ( sw );
-    if ( *input[0] == '!' ) {
+
+    if ( input[0][0] == '!' ) {
         int switcher = -1;
-        for ( unsigned i = 0; switcher == -1 && i < pd->num_switchers; i++ ) {
-            if ( ( *input )[1] == mode_get_name ( pd->switchers[i] )[0] ) {
-                switcher = i;
+        char *eob = strchrnul ( input[0], ' ' );
+        ssize_t bang_len = g_utf8_pointer_to_offset ( input[0], eob ) - 1;
+        if ( bang_len > 0 ) {
+            for ( unsigned i = 0; switcher == -1 && i < pd->num_switchers; i++ ) {
+                const char *mode_name = mode_get_name ( pd->switchers[i] );
+                size_t mode_name_len = g_utf8_strlen ( mode_name, -1 );
+                if ( (size_t) bang_len <= mode_name_len && utf8_strncmp ( &input[0][1], mode_name, bang_len ) == 0 ) {
+                    switcher = i;
+                }
             }
         }
-        if ( switcher >= 0  ) {
-            char *n = strchr ( *input, ' ' );
-            // skip whitespace
-            if ( n != NULL ) {
-                n++;
+        if ( switcher >= 0 ) {
+            if ( eob[0] == ' ' ) {
+                char *n = eob+1;
                 return mode_result ( pd->switchers[switcher], mretv, &n,
                                      selected_line - pd->starts[switcher] );
             }
@@ -223,7 +229,7 @@ static char * combi_get_completion ( const Mode *sw, unsigned int index )
     for ( unsigned i = 0; i < pd->num_switchers; i++ ) {
         if ( index >= pd->starts[i] && index < ( pd->starts[i] + pd->lengths[i] ) ) {
             char *comp  = mode_get_completion ( pd->switchers[i], index - pd->starts[i] );
-            char *mcomp = g_strdup_printf ( "!%c %s", mode_get_name ( pd->switchers[i] )[0], comp );
+            char *mcomp = g_strdup_printf ( "!%s %s", mode_get_name ( pd->switchers[i] ), comp );
             g_free ( comp );
             return mcomp;
         }
@@ -237,14 +243,20 @@ static char * combi_preprocess_input ( Mode *sw, const char *input )
 {
     CombiModePrivateData *pd = mode_get_private_data ( sw );
     pd->current = NULL;
-    if ( input != NULL && input[0] == '!' && strlen ( input ) > 1 ) {
-        for ( unsigned i = 0; i < pd->num_switchers; i++ ) {
-            if ( input[1] == mode_get_name ( pd->switchers[i] )[0] ) {
-                pd->current = pd->switchers[i];
-                if ( input[2] == '\0' ) {
-                    return NULL;
+    if ( input != NULL && input[0] == '!' ) {
+        char *eob = strchrnul ( input, ' ' );
+        ssize_t bang_len = g_utf8_pointer_to_offset ( input, eob ) - 1;
+        if ( bang_len > 0 ) {
+            for ( unsigned i = 0; i < pd->num_switchers; i++ ) {
+                const char *mode_name = mode_get_name ( pd->switchers[i] );
+                size_t mode_name_len = g_utf8_strlen ( mode_name, -1 );
+                if ( (size_t) bang_len <= mode_name_len && utf8_strncmp ( &input[1], mode_name, bang_len ) == 0 ) {
+                    pd->current = pd->switchers[i];
+                    if ( eob[0] == '\0' || eob[1] == '\0' ) {
+                        return NULL;
+                    }
+                    return g_strdup ( eob+1 );
                 }
-                return g_strdup ( &input[2] );
             }
         }
     }
diff --git a/source/helper.c b/source/helper.c
index ef4a8a49..6e3fc67a 100644
--- a/source/helper.c
+++ b/source/helper.c
@@ -889,3 +889,26 @@ int rofi_scorer_fuzzy_evaluate ( const char *pattern, glong plen, const char *st
     g_free ( dp );
     return -lefts;
 }
+
+/**
+ * @param a    UTF-8 string to compare
+ * @param b    UTF-8 string to compare
+ * @param n    Maximum number of characters to compare
+ *
+ * Compares the `G_NORMALIZE_ALL_COMPOSE` forms of the two strings.
+ *
+ * @returns less than, equal to, or greater than zero if the first `n` characters (not bytes) of `a`
+ *          are found, respectively, to be less than, to match, or be greater than the first `n`
+ *          characters (not bytes) of `b`.
+ */
+int utf8_strncmp ( const char* a, const char* b, size_t n )
+{
+    char *na = g_utf8_normalize ( a, -1, G_NORMALIZE_ALL_COMPOSE );
+    char *nb = g_utf8_normalize ( b, -1, G_NORMALIZE_ALL_COMPOSE );
+    *g_utf8_offset_to_pointer ( na, n ) = '\0';
+    *g_utf8_offset_to_pointer ( nb, n ) = '\0';
+    int r = g_utf8_collate ( na, nb );
+    g_free ( na );
+    g_free ( nb );
+    return r;
+}