diff --git a/flang/runtime/character.cpp b/flang/runtime/character.cpp
--- a/flang/runtime/character.cpp
+++ b/flang/runtime/character.cpp
@@ -456,9 +456,9 @@
       to[j] = static_cast<TO>(' ');
     }
   } else if (toChars <= fromChars) {
-    std::memcpy(to, from, toChars * shift<TO>);
+    std::memcpy(to, from, toChars * sizeof(TO));
   } else {
-    std::memcpy(to, from, fromChars * shift<TO>);
+    std::memcpy(to, from, fromChars * sizeof(TO));
     for (std::size_t j{fromChars}; j < toChars; ++j) {
       to[j] = static_cast<TO>(' ');
     }
diff --git a/flang/unittests/RuntimeGTest/CharacterTest.cpp b/flang/unittests/RuntimeGTest/CharacterTest.cpp
--- a/flang/unittests/RuntimeGTest/CharacterTest.cpp
+++ b/flang/unittests/RuntimeGTest/CharacterTest.cpp
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@
 // in Fortran.
 
 #include "../../runtime/character.h"
+#include "../../runtime/descriptor.h"
 #include "gtest/gtest.h"
 #include <cstring>
 #include <functional>
@@ -134,11 +135,79 @@
     std::memcpy(buf[0], x, xBytes);
     std::memcpy(buf[1], y, yBytes);
     ASSERT_EQ(cmp, expect) << "compare '" << x << "'(" << xBytes << ") to '"
-                           << y << "'(" << yBytes << "), got " << cmp
+                           << y << "'(" << yBytes << "'), got " << cmp
                            << ", should be " << expect << '\n';
   }
 }
 
+// Test MIN() and MAX()
+struct ExtremumTestCase {
+  const char *x, *y, *expect;
+};
+
+template <typename CHAR>
+void RunExtremumTests(const char *which,
+    std::function<void(Descriptor &, const Descriptor &, const char *, int)>
+        function,
+    const std::vector<ExtremumTestCase> &testCases) {
+
+  // Helper for creating, allocating and filling up a descriptor with data from
+  // a raw character literal, converted to the CHAR type used by the test.
+  auto CreateDescriptor = [](const char *raw) -> OwningPtr<Descriptor> {
+    std::size_t length{std::strlen(raw)};
+    std::basic_string<CHAR> converted{raw, raw + length};
+
+    OwningPtr<Descriptor> descriptor{Descriptor::Create(
+        sizeof(CHAR), length, nullptr, 0, nullptr, CFI_attribute_allocatable)};
+    if (descriptor->Allocate() != 0) {
+      return nullptr;
+    }
+
+    std::copy(
+        converted.begin(), converted.end(), descriptor->OffsetElement<CHAR>());
+
+    return descriptor;
+  };
+
+  for (const auto &t : testCases) {
+    OwningPtr<Descriptor> x = CreateDescriptor(t.x);
+    OwningPtr<Descriptor> y = CreateDescriptor(t.y);
+
+    ASSERT_NE(x, nullptr);
+    ASSERT_TRUE(x->IsAllocated());
+    ASSERT_NE(y, nullptr);
+    ASSERT_TRUE(y->IsAllocated());
+    function(*x, *y, nullptr, 0);
+
+    std::basic_string<CHAR> got{
+        x->OffsetElement<CHAR>(), x->ElementBytes() / sizeof(CHAR)};
+    std::basic_string<CHAR> expect{t.expect, t.expect + std::strlen(t.expect)};
+    EXPECT_EQ(expect, got) << which << "('" << t.x << "','" << t.y
+                           << "') for CHARACTER(kind=" << sizeof(CHAR) << ")";
+  }
+}
+
+template <typename CHAR> struct ExtremumTests : public ::testing::Test {};
+TYPED_TEST_CASE(ExtremumTests, CharacterTypes);
+
+TYPED_TEST(ExtremumTests, MinTests) {
+  static std::vector<ExtremumTestCase> tests{
+      {"a", "z", "a"},
+      {"zaaa", "aa", "aa  "},
+      {"aaz", "aaaaa", "aaaaa"},
+  };
+  RunExtremumTests<TypeParam>("MIN", RTNAME(CharacterMin), tests);
+}
+
+TYPED_TEST(ExtremumTests, MaxTests) {
+  static std::vector<ExtremumTestCase> tests{
+      {"a", "z", "z"},
+      {"zaa", "aaaaa", "zaa  "},
+      {"aaaaa", "aazaa", "aazaa"},
+  };
+  RunExtremumTests<TypeParam>("MAX", RTNAME(CharacterMax), tests);
+}
+
 // Test search functions INDEX(), SCAN(), and VERIFY()
 
 template <typename CHAR>