diff --git a/lib/internal/readline/utils.js b/lib/internal/readline/utils.js
index 3257ee3a1e4a1f..b867dec0cdb338 100644
--- a/lib/internal/readline/utils.js
+++ b/lib/internal/readline/utils.js
@@ -163,7 +163,6 @@ function stripVTControlCharacters(str) {
   return str.replace(ansi, '');
 }
 
-
 /*
   Some patterns seen in terminal key escape codes, derived from combos seen
   at http://www.midnight-commander.org/browser/lib/tty/key.c
@@ -450,7 +449,7 @@ function* emitKeys(stream) {
     if (s.length !== 0 && (key.name !== undefined || escaped)) {
       /* Named character or sequence */
       stream.emit('keypress', escaped ? undefined : s, key);
-    } else if (s.length === 1) {
+    } else if (charLengthAt(s, 0) === s.length) {
       /* Single unnamed character, e.g. "." */
       stream.emit('keypress', s, key);
     }
diff --git a/lib/readline.js b/lib/readline.js
index c16bb059183598..2a475fcf671a55 100644
--- a/lib/readline.js
+++ b/lib/readline.js
@@ -494,81 +494,67 @@ Interface.prototype._insertString = function(c) {
 };
 
 Interface.prototype._tabComplete = function(lastKeypressWasTab) {
-  const self = this;
-
-  self.pause();
-  self.completer(self.line.slice(0, self.cursor), function onComplete(err, rv) {
-    self.resume();
+  this.pause();
+  this.completer(this.line.slice(0, this.cursor), (err, value) => {
+    this.resume();
 
     if (err) {
-      self._writeToOutput(`Tab completion error: ${inspect(err)}`);
+      this._writeToOutput(`Tab completion error: ${inspect(err)}`);
       return;
     }
 
     // Result and the text that was completed.
-    const [completions, completeOn] = rv;
+    const [completions, completeOn] = value;
 
     if (!completions || completions.length === 0) {
       return;
     }
 
-    // Apply/show completions.
-    if (lastKeypressWasTab) {
-      self._writeToOutput('\r\n');
-      const width = completions.reduce((a, b) => {
-        return a.length > b.length ? a : b;
-      }).length + 2;  // 2 space padding
-      let maxColumns = MathFloor(self.columns / width);
-      if (!maxColumns || maxColumns === Infinity) {
-        maxColumns = 1;
-      }
-      let group = [];
-      for (const c of completions) {
-        if (c === '') {
-          handleGroup(self, group, width, maxColumns);
-          group = [];
-        } else {
-          group.push(c);
-        }
-      }
-      handleGroup(self, group, width, maxColumns);
-    }
-
     // If there is a common prefix to all matches, then apply that portion.
-    const f = completions.filter((e) => e);
-    const prefix = commonPrefix(f);
+    const prefix = commonPrefix(completions.filter((e) => e !== ''));
     if (prefix.length > completeOn.length) {
-      self._insertString(prefix.slice(completeOn.length));
+      this._insertString(prefix.slice(completeOn.length));
+      return;
     }
 
-    self._refreshLine();
-  });
-};
+    if (!lastKeypressWasTab) {
+      return;
+    }
 
-// this = Interface instance
-function handleGroup(self, group, width, maxColumns) {
-  if (group.length === 0) {
-    return;
-  }
-  const minRows = MathCeil(group.length / maxColumns);
-  for (let row = 0; row < minRows; row++) {
-    for (let col = 0; col < maxColumns; col++) {
-      const idx = row * maxColumns + col;
-      if (idx >= group.length) {
-        break;
+    // Apply/show completions.
+    const completionsWidth = completions.map((e) => getStringWidth(e));
+    const width = MathMax(...completionsWidth) + 2; // 2 space padding
+    let maxColumns = MathFloor(this.columns / width) || 1;
+    if (maxColumns === Infinity) {
+      maxColumns = 1;
+    }
+    let output = '\r\n';
+    let lineIndex = 0;
+    let whitespace = 0;
+    for (let i = 0; i < completions.length; i++) {
+      const completion = completions[i];
+      if (completion === '' || lineIndex === maxColumns) {
+        output += '\r\n';
+        lineIndex = 0;
+        whitespace = 0;
+      } else {
+        output += ' '.repeat(whitespace);
       }
-      const item = group[idx];
-      self._writeToOutput(item);
-      if (col < maxColumns - 1) {
-        for (let s = 0; s < width - item.length; s++) {
-          self._writeToOutput(' ');
-        }
+      if (completion !== '') {
+        output += completion;
+        whitespace = width - completionsWidth[i];
+        lineIndex++;
+      } else {
+        output += '\r\n';
       }
     }
-    self._writeToOutput('\r\n');
-  }
-  self._writeToOutput('\r\n');
-}
+    if (lineIndex !== 0) {
+      output += '\r\n\r\n';
+    }
+    this._writeToOutput(output);
+    this._refreshLine();
+  });
+};
 
 Interface.prototype._wordLeft = function() {
   if (this.cursor > 0) {
@@ -1125,7 +1111,7 @@ Interface.prototype[SymbolAsyncIterator] = function() {
  * accepts a readable Stream instance and makes it emit "keypress" events
  */
 
-function emitKeypressEvents(stream, iface) {
+function emitKeypressEvents(stream, iface = {}) {
   if (stream[KEYPRESS_DECODER]) return;
 
   stream[KEYPRESS_DECODER] = new StringDecoder('utf8');
@@ -1138,26 +1124,25 @@ function emitKeypressEvents(stream, iface) {
 
   function onData(b) {
     if (stream.listenerCount('keypress') > 0) {
-      const r = stream[KEYPRESS_DECODER].write(b);
-      if (r) {
+      const string = stream[KEYPRESS_DECODER].write(b);
+      if (string) {
         clearTimeout(timeoutId);
 
-        let escapeTimeout = ESCAPE_CODE_TIMEOUT;
-
-        if (iface) {
-          iface._sawKeyPress = r.length === 1;
-          escapeTimeout = iface.escapeCodeTimeout;
-        }
+        // This supports characters of length 2.
+        iface._sawKeyPress = charLengthAt(string, 0) === string.length;
+        const escapeTimeout = iface.escapeCodeTimeout || ESCAPE_CODE_TIMEOUT;
 
-        for (let i = 0; i < r.length; i++) {
-          if (r[i] === '\t' && typeof r[i + 1] === 'string' && iface) {
+        let length = 0;
+        for (const character of string) {
+          length += character.length;
+          if (character === '\t' && length !== string.length) {
             iface.isCompletionEnabled = false;
           }
 
           try {
-            stream[ESCAPE_DECODER].next(r[i]);
+            stream[ESCAPE_DECODER].next(character);
             // Escape letter at the tail position
-            if (r[i] === kEscape && i + 1 === r.length) {
+            if (character === kEscape && length === string.length) {
               timeoutId = setTimeout(escapeCodeTimeout, escapeTimeout);
             }
           } catch (err) {
diff --git a/test/parallel/test-readline-tab-complete.js b/test/parallel/test-readline-tab-complete.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..bbdb18bd8015de
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/parallel/test-readline-tab-complete.js
@@ -0,0 +1,68 @@
+'use strict';
+
+// Flags: --expose_internals
+
+const common = require('../common');
+const readline = require('readline');
+const assert = require('assert');
+const EventEmitter = require('events').EventEmitter;
+const { getStringWidth } = require('internal/readline/utils');
+
+// This test verifies that the tab completion supports unicode and the writes
+// are limited to the minimum.
+[
+  'あ',
+  '𐐷',
+  '🐕'
+].forEach((char) => {
+  [true, false].forEach((lineBreak) => {
+    const completer = (line) => [
+      [
+        'First group',
+        '',
+        `${char}${'a'.repeat(10)}`, `${char}${'b'.repeat(10)}`, char.repeat(11),
+      ],
+      line
+    ];
+
+    let output = '';
+    const width = getStringWidth(char) - 1;
+
+    class FakeInput extends EventEmitter {
+    columns = ((width + 1) * 10 + (lineBreak ? 0 : 10)) * 3
+
+    write = common.mustCall((data) => {
+      output += data;
+    }, 6)
+
+    resume() {}
+    pause() {}
+    end() {}
+    }
+
+    const fi = new FakeInput();
+    const rli = new readline.Interface({
+      input: fi,
+      output: fi,
+      terminal: true,
+      completer: completer
+    });
+
+    const last = '\r\nFirst group\r\n\r\n' +
+    `${char}${'a'.repeat(10)}${' '.repeat(2 + width * 10)}` +
+      `${char}${'b'.repeat(10)}` +
+      (lineBreak ? '\r\n' : ' '.repeat(2 + width * 10)) +
+      `${char.repeat(11)}\r\n` +
+    `\r\n\u001b[1G\u001b[0J> ${char}\u001b[${4 + width}G`;
+
+    const expectations = [char, '', last];
+
+    rli.on('line', common.mustNotCall());
+    for (const character of `${char}\t\t`) {
+      fi.emit('data', character);
+      assert.strictEqual(output, expectations.shift());
+      output = '';
+    }
+    rli.close();
+  });
+});