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Unicode character property
Unicode character property
from Wikipedia

The Unicode Standard assigns various properties to each Unicode character and code point.[1][2]

The properties can be used to handle characters (code points) in processes, like in line-breaking, script direction right-to-left or applying controls. Some "character properties" are also defined for code points that have no character assigned and code points that are labelled like "<not a character>". The character properties are described in Standard Annex #44.[2]

Properties have levels of forcefulness: normative, informative, contributory, or provisional. For simplicity of specification, a character property can be assigned by specifying a continuous range of code points that have the same property.[3]

Semantic elements

[edit]

Properties are displayed in the following order:[4]

[code];[name];[gc];[cc];[bc];[decomposition];[nv-dec];[nv-dig];[nv-num];[bm];[alias];;[upper case];[lower case];[title case]
  • alias = corrected name. Obsolete. Now tracked with a separate database, but remains for Unicode 1.0 names.
  • bc = bidi (bidirectional) category [L, R etc]
  • bm = bidi mirrored [N or Y]
  • cc = combining class [position of diacritic]
  • decomposition type or <mapping> = letter + diacritic, ligature X Y, superscript X, font X, initial X, medial X, final X, isolated X, vertical X, etc.
  • gc = general category [letter, symbol, digit, punctuation, case behaviour, etc.]
  • nv = numeric type and value [of a digit]. If numeric type is 'decimal', all 3 slots are filled. If 'digit', the first will be null. (This has been discontinued.) If 'numeric', then the first two will be null and only the last will be used.

The property between alias and upper case is obsolete and is now null for all Unicode characters.

Name and alias

[edit]

A Unicode character is assigned a unique Name (na).[1] The name is composed of uppercase letters A–Z, digits 0–9, hyphen-minus and space. Some sequences are excluded: names beginning with a space or hyphen, names ending with a space or hyphen, repeated spaces or hyphens, and space after hyphen are not allowed. The name is guaranteed to be unique within Unicode, and can be used to identify a code point and its character. Ideographic characters, of which there are tens of thousands, are named in the pattern "cjk unified ideograph-hhhh". For example, U+4E00 CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-4E00. Formatting characters also have names: U+00A0   NO-BREAK SPACE.

The following Unicode categories do not have a Name value assigned: Controls (General Category: Cc), Private use (Co), Surrogate (Cs), Non-characters (Cn) and Reserved (Cn). They may be referenced, informally, by a generic or specific meta-name, called "Code Point Labels": <control>, <control-0088>, <reserved>, <noncharacter-hhhh>, <private-use-hhhh>, or <surrogate>. Since these labels contain "<" and ">", they can never appear in a Name, which prevents confusion.

Unicode 1.0 names

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In version 2.0 of Unicode, many names were changed. From then on the rule "a name will never change" came into effect, including the strict (normative) use of alias names. Disused Unicode 1.0 names were moved to the property Alias, to provide backward compatibility.

For example, U+0264 ɤ LATIN SMALL LETTER RAMS HORN has the Unicode 1.0 name "LATIN SMALL LETTER BABY GAMMA".

Character name alias

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Starting from Unicode 2.0, the published name for a code point will never change. Therefore, in the event of a character name being misspelled or if the character name is completely wrong or seriously misleading, a formal Character Name Alias may be assigned to the character, and this alias may be used by applications instead of the actual defective character name.[1] For example, U+FE18 PRESENTATION FORM FOR VERTICAL RIGHT WHITE LENTICULAR BRAKCET has the character name alias "PRESENTATION FORM FOR VERTICAL RIGHT WHITE LENTICULAR BRACKET" in order to mitigate the misspelling of "bracket" as "brakcet" [sic] in the actual character name; U+A015 YI SYLLABLE WU has the character name alias "YI SYLLABLE ITERATION MARK" because, contrary to the character name, it does not have a fixed syllabic value.

In addition to character name aliases which are corrections to defective character names, some characters are assigned aliases which are alternative names or abbreviations. Five types of character name aliases are defined in the Unicode Standard:

  • Correction: corrections for misspelled or seriously incorrect character names;
  • Control: ISO 6429 names for C0 and C1 control functions (which are not assigned character names in the Unicode Standard);
  • Alternate: alternative names for some format characters (only U+FEFF ZERO WIDTH NO-BREAK SPACE which has the alias "BYTE ORDER MARK");
  • Figment: Documented labels for some C1 control code functions which are not actual names in any standard;
  • Abbreviation: Abbreviations or acronyms for control codes, format characters, spaces, and variation selectors.

All formal character name aliases follow the rules for permissible character names, and are guaranteed to be unique within both the character name alias and the character name namespaces (for this reason, the ISO 6429 name "BELL" is not defined as an alias for U+0007 <control-0007> because U+1F514 is named "BELL"; U+0007 instead has the alias "ALERT").[1]

As of Unicode 17.0, 39 formal character name aliases are defined as corrections for defective character names.[5]

Apart from these normative names, informal names may be shown in the Unicode code charts. These are other commonly used names for a character, and do not have the same character restriction. These informal names are not guaranteed to be unique, and may be changed or removed in later versions of the standard.

General Category

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Each code point is assigned a value for General Category. This is one of the character properties that are also defined for unassigned code points and code points that are defined "not a character".

General Category (Unicode Character Property)[a]
Value Category Major, minor Basic type[b] Character assigned[b] Count[c]
(as of 17.0)
Remarks
 
L, Letter; LC, Cased Letter (Lu, Ll, and Lt only)[d]
Lu Letter, uppercase Graphic Character 1,886
Ll Letter, lowercase Graphic Character 2,283
Lt Letter, titlecase Graphic Character 31 Digraphs consisting of an uppercase letter followed by a lowercase letter (e.g., Dž, Lj, Nj, and Dz)
Lm Letter, modifier Graphic Character 410 A modifier letter
Lo Letter, other Graphic Character 141,062 An ideograph or a letter in a unicase alphabet
M, Mark
Mn Mark, nonspacing Graphic Character 2,059
Mc Mark, spacing combining Graphic Character 471
Me Mark, enclosing Graphic Character 13
N, Number
Nd Number, decimal digit Graphic Character 770 All these, and only these, have Numeric Type = De[e]
Nl Number, letter Graphic Character 239 Numerals composed of letters or letterlike symbols (e.g., Roman numerals)
No Number, other Graphic Character 915 E.g., vulgar fractions, superscript and subscript digits, vigesimal digits
P, Punctuation
Pc Punctuation, connector Graphic Character 10 Includes spacing underscore characters such as "_", and other spacing tie characters. Unlike other punctuation characters, these may be classified as "word" characters by regular expression libraries.[f]
Pd Punctuation, dash Graphic Character 27 Includes several hyphen characters
Ps Punctuation, open Graphic Character 79 Opening bracket characters
Pe Punctuation, close Graphic Character 77 Closing bracket characters
Pi Punctuation, initial quote Graphic Character 12 Opening quotation mark. Does not include the ASCII "neutral" quotation mark. May behave like Ps or Pe depending on usage
Pf Punctuation, final quote Graphic Character 10 Closing quotation mark. May behave like Ps or Pe depending on usage
Po Punctuation, other Graphic Character 641
S, Symbol
Sm Symbol, math Graphic Character 960 Mathematical symbols (e.g., +, , =, ×, ÷, , , ). Does not include parentheses and brackets, which are in categories Ps and Pe. Also does not include !, *, -, or /, which despite frequent use as mathematical operators, are primarily considered to be "punctuation".
Sc Symbol, currency Graphic Character 64 Currency symbols
Sk Symbol, modifier Graphic Character 125
So Symbol, other Graphic Character 7,468
Z, Separator
Zs Separator, space Graphic Character 17 Includes the space, but not TAB, CR, or LF, which are Cc
Zl Separator, line Format Character 1 Only U+2028 LINE SEPARATOR (LSEP)
Zp Separator, paragraph Format Character 1 Only U+2029 PARAGRAPH SEPARATOR (PSEP)
C, Other
Cc Other, control Control Character 65 (will never change)[e] No name,[g] <control>
Cf Other, format Format Character 170 Includes the soft hyphen, joining control characters (ZWNJ and ZWJ), control characters to support bidirectional text, and language tag characters
Cs Other, surrogate Surrogate Not (only used in UTF-16) 2,048 (will never change)[e] No name,[g] <surrogate>
Co Other, private use Private-use Character (but no interpretation specified) 137,468 total (will never change)[e] (6,400 in BMP, 131,068 in Planes 15–16) No name,[g] <private-use>
Cn Other, not assigned Noncharacter Not 66 (will not change unless the range of Unicode code points is expanded)[e] No name,[g] <noncharacter>
Reserved Not 814,664 No name,[g] <reserved>
  1. ^ "Table 4-4: General Category". The Unicode Standard. Unicode Consortium. September 2025.
  2. ^ a b "Table 2-3: Types of code points". The Unicode Standard. Unicode Consortium. September 2025.
  3. ^ "DerivedGeneralCategory.txt". The Unicode Consortium. 2025-07-24.
  4. ^ "5.7.1 General Category Values". UTR #44: Unicode Character Database. Unicode Consortium. 2024-08-27.
  5. ^ a b c d e Unicode Character Encoding Stability Policies: Property Value Stability Stability policy: Some gc groups will never change. gc=Nd corresponds with Numeric Type=De (decimal).
  6. ^ "Annex C: Compatibility Properties (§ word)". Unicode Regular Expressions. Version 23. Unicode Consortium. 2022-02-08. Unicode Technical Standard #18.
  7. ^ a b c d e "Table 4-9: Construction of Code Point Labels". The Unicode Standard. Unicode Consortium. September 2025. A Code Point Label may be used to identify a nameless code point. E.g. <control-hhhh>, <control-0088>. The Name remains blank, which can prevent inadvertently replacing, in documentation, a Control Name with a true Control code. Unicode also uses <not a character> for <noncharacter>.

Punctuation

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Characters have separate properties to denote they are a punctuation character. The properties all have a Yes/No values: Dash, Quotation_Mark, Sentence_Terminal, Terminal_Punctuation. The Punctuation property refers to characters that are used to divide or structure text, and these are classified into different types based on their roles. Unicode assigns these punctuation characters specific categories.

Whitespace

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Whitespace is a commonly used concept for a typographic effect. Basically it covers invisible characters that have a spacing effect in rendered text. It includes spaces, tabs, and new line formatting controls. In Unicode, such a character has the property set WSpace=yes. In version 17.0, there are 25 whitespace characters.

Name Code point Width box May break? In
IDN?
Script Block General
category
Notes
character tabulation U+0009 9 Yes No Common Basic Latin Other,
control
HT, Horizontal Tab. HTML/XML named entity: &Tab;, LaTeX: \tab, C escape: \t
line feed U+000A 10 Is a line-break Common Basic Latin Other,
control
LF, Line feed. HTML/XML named entity: &NewLine;, C escape: \n
line tabulation U+000B 11 Is a line-break Common Basic Latin Other,
control
VT, Vertical Tab. C escape: \v
form feed U+000C 12 Is a line-break Common Basic Latin Other,
control
FF, Form feed. C escape: \f
carriage return U+000D 13 Is a line-break Common Basic Latin Other,
control
CR, Carriage return. C escape: \r
space U+0020 32 Yes No Common Basic Latin Separator,
space
Most common (normal ASCII space). LaTeX:
next line U+0085 133 Is a line-break Common Latin-1
Supplement
Other,
control
NEL, Next line. LaTeX: \\
no-break space U+00A0 160   No No Common Latin-1
Supplement
Separator,
space
Non-breaking space: identical to U+0020, but not a point at which a line may be broken.
HTML/XML named entity: &nbsp;, &NonBreakingSpace;, LaTeX: ~
ogham space mark U+1680 5760 Yes No Ogham Ogham Separator,
space
Used for interword separation in Ogham text. Normally a vertical line in vertical text or a horizontal line in horizontal text, but may also be a blank space in "stemless" fonts. Requires an Ogham font.
en quad U+2000 8192   Yes No Common General
Punctuation
Separator,
space
Width of one en. U+2002 is canonically equivalent to this character; U+2002 is preferred.
em quad U+2001 8193 Yes No Common General
Punctuation
Separator,
space
Also known as "mutton quad". Width of one em. U+2003 is canonically equivalent to this character; U+2003 is preferred.
en space U+2002 8194 Yes No Common General
Punctuation
Separator,
space
Also known as "nut". Width of one en. U+2000 En Quad is canonically equivalent to this character; U+2002 is preferred.
HTML/XML named entity: &ensp;, LaTeX: \enspace (the LaTeX en space is a no-break space)
em space U+2003 8195 Yes No Common General
Punctuation
Separator,
space
Also known as "mutton". Width of one em. U+2001 Em Quad is canonically equivalent to this character; U+2003 is preferred.
HTML/XML named entity: &emsp;, LaTeX: \quad
three-per-em space U+2004 8196 Yes No Common General
Punctuation
Separator,
space
Also known as "thick space". One third of an em wide.
HTML/XML named entity: &emsp13;, LaTeX: \; (the LaTeX thick space is a no-break space)
four-per-em space U+2005 8197 Yes No Common General
Punctuation
Separator,
space
Also known as "mid space". One fourth of an em wide.
HTML/XML named entity: &emsp14;
six-per-em space U+2006 8198 Yes No Common General
Punctuation
Separator,
space
One sixth of an em wide. In computer typography, sometimes equated to U+2009.
figure space U+2007 8199 No No Common General
Punctuation
Separator,
space
Figure space. In fonts with monospaced digits, equal to the width of one digit.
HTML/XML named entity: &numsp;
punctuation space U+2008 8200 Yes No Common General
Punctuation
Separator,
space
As wide as the narrow punctuation in a font, i.e. the advance width of the period or comma.[6]
HTML/XML named entity: &puncsp;
thin space U+2009 8201 Yes No Common General
Punctuation
Separator,
space
Thin space; one-fifth (sometimes one-sixth) of an em wide. Recommended for use as a thousands separator for measures made with SI units. Unlike U+2002 to U+2008, its width may get adjusted in typesetting.[7]
HTML/XML named entity: &thinsp;, &ThinSpace;, LaTeX: \, (the LaTeX thin space is a no-break space)
hair space U+200A 8202 Yes No Common General
Punctuation
Separator,
space
Thinner than a thin space. HTML/XML named entity: &hairsp;, &VeryThinSpace;
line separator U+2028 8232 Is a line-break Common General
Punctuation
Separator,
line
paragraph separator U+2029 8233 Is a line-break Common General
Punctuation
Separator,
paragraph
narrow no-break space U+202F 8239 No No Common General
Punctuation
Separator,
space
Narrow no-break space. Similar in function to U+00A0 No-Break Space. When used with Mongolian, its width is usually one third of the normal space; in other context, its width sometimes resembles that of the Thin Space (U+2009). LaTeX: \,
medium mathematical space U+205F 8287 Yes No Common General
Punctuation
Separator,
space
MMSP. Used in mathematical formulae. Four-eighteenths of an em.[8] In mathematical typography, the widths of spaces are usually given in integral multiples of an eighteenth of an em, and 4/18 em may be used in several situations, for example between the a and the + and between the + and the b in the expression a + b.[9]
HTML/XML named entity: &MediumSpace;, LaTeX: \: (the LaTeX medium space is a no-break space)
ideographic space U+3000 12288   Yes No Common CJK Symbols
and
Punctuation
Separator,
space
As wide as a CJK character cell (fullwidth). Used, for example, in tai tou.
 Name  Code point Width box May break? In
IDN?
Script Block General
category
Notes
mongolian vowel separator U+180E 6158 Yes No Mongolian Mongolian Other,
Format
MVS. A narrow space character, used in Mongolian to cause the final two characters of a word to take on different shapes.[10] It is no longer classified as space character (i.e. in Zs category) in Unicode 6.3.0, even though it was in previous versions of the standard.
zero width space U+200B 8203 Yes No ? General
Punctuation
Other,
Format
ZWSP, zero-width space. Used to indicate word boundaries to text processing systems when using scripts that do not use explicit spacing. It is similar to the soft hyphen, with the difference that the latter is used to indicate syllable boundaries, and should display a visible hyphen when the line breaks at it.
HTML/XML named entity: &ZeroWidthSpace;[11][c]
zero width non-joiner U+200C 8204 Yes Context-dependent[16] ? General
Punctuation
Other,
Format
ZWNJ, zero-width non-joiner. When placed between two characters that would otherwise be connected, a ZWNJ causes them to be printed in their final and initial forms, respectively.
HTML/XML named entity: &zwnj;
zero width joiner U+200D 8205 Yes Context-dependent[17] ? General
Punctuation
Other,
Format
ZWJ, zero-width joiner. When placed between two characters that would otherwise not be connected, a ZWJ causes them to be printed in their connected forms. Can also be used to display joining forms in isolation. Depending on whether a ligature or conjunct is expected by default, can either induce (as in emoji and in Sinhala) or suppress (as in Devanagari) substitution with a single glyph, whilst still permitting use of individual joining forms (unlike ZWNJ).
HTML/XML named entity: &zwj;
word joiner U+2060 8288 No No ? General
Punctuation
Other,
Format
WJ, word joiner. Similar to U+200B, but not a point at which a line may be broken.
HTML/XML named entity: &NoBreak;
zero width non-breaking space U+FEFF 65279  No No ? Arabic
Presentation
Forms-B
Other,
Format
Zero-width non-breaking space. Used primarily as a Byte Order Mark. Use as an indication of non-breaking is deprecated as of Unicode 3.2; see U+2060 instead.
  1. ^ White_Space is a binary Unicode property.[18]
  2. ^ "Unicode PropList.txt". Unicode. 2025-06-30. Retrieved 2025-09-11.
  3. ^ Although &ZeroWidthSpace; is one HTML5 named entity for U+200B, the additional names NegativeMediumSpace, NegativeThickSpace, NegativeThinSpace and NegativeVeryThinSpace (which are names used in the Wolfram Language for negative-advance spaces, which it maps to the Private Use Area)[12][13][14][15] are also defined by HTML5 as aliases for U+200B (e.g. &NegativeMediumSpace;).[11]


Casing

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The Case value is normative in Unicode. It pertains to those scripts with uppercase and lowercase letters. Case-difference occurs in Adlam, Armenian, Beria Erfe, Cherokee, Coptic, Cyrillic, Deseret, Garay, Glagolitic, Greek, Khutsuri and Mkhedruli Georgian, Latin, Medefaidrin, Old Hungarian, Osage, Vithkuqi and Warang Citi scripts.


Different languages have different case mapping rules.

In Turkish, U+0069 i LATIN SMALL LETTER I corresponds to U+0130 İ LATIN CAPITAL LETTER I WITH DOT ABOVE instead of U+0049 I LATIN CAPITAL LETTER I. Similarly, U+0049 I LATIN CAPITAL LETTER I when corresponds to U+0131 ı LATIN SMALL LETTER DOTLESS I instead of U+0069 i LATIN SMALL LETTER I.

In Nawdm, the letter Ĥ corresponds to ɦ in lowercase instead of the usual case mappings being Ĥĥ and Ɦɦ.

In Greek, the letter sigma has different lowercase forms depending on where it is in a word. U+03A3 Σ GREEK CAPITAL LETTER SIGMA converts to U+03C3 σ GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA if it is at the start or middle of a word, and converts to U+03C2 ς GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA if it is at the end of a word.

In Lithuanian, the dot in lowercase i and j is preserved when followed by accents. For example: Í in lowercase is i̇́.[19]

Despite the existence of U+1E9E LATIN CAPITAL LETTER SHARP S, U+00DF ß LATIN SMALL LETTER SHARP S corresponds to "SS".

Unicode encodes 31 titlecase characters.

  • U+01C5 Dž LATIN CAPITAL LETTER D WITH SMALL LETTER Z WITH CARON
  • U+01C8 Lj LATIN CAPITAL LETTER L WITH SMALL LETTER J
  • U+01CB Nj LATIN CAPITAL LETTER N WITH SMALL LETTER J
  • U+01F2 Dz LATIN CAPITAL LETTER D WITH SMALL LETTER Z
  • U+1F88 GREEK CAPITAL LETTER ALPHA WITH PSILI AND PROSGEGRAMMENI
  • U+1F89 GREEK CAPITAL LETTER ALPHA WITH DASIA AND PROSGEGRAMMENI
  • U+1F8A GREEK CAPITAL LETTER ALPHA WITH PSILI AND VARIA AND PROSGEGRAMMENI
  • U+1F8B GREEK CAPITAL LETTER ALPHA WITH DASIA AND VARIA AND PROSGEGRAMMENI
  • U+1F8C GREEK CAPITAL LETTER ALPHA WITH PSILI AND OXIA AND PROSGEGRAMMENI
  • U+1F8D GREEK CAPITAL LETTER ALPHA WITH DASIA AND OXIA AND PROSGEGRAMMENI
  • U+1F8E GREEK CAPITAL LETTER ALPHA WITH PSILI AND PERISPOMENI AND PROSGEGRAMMENI
  • U+1F8F GREEK CAPITAL LETTER ALPHA WITH DASIA AND PERISPOMENI AND PROSGEGRAMMENI
  • U+1F98 GREEK CAPITAL LETTER ETA WITH PSILI AND PROSGEGRAMMENI
  • U+1F99 GREEK CAPITAL LETTER ETA WITH DASIA AND PROSGEGRAMMENI
  • U+1F9A GREEK CAPITAL LETTER ETA WITH PSILI AND VARIA AND PROSGEGRAMMENI
  • U+1F9B GREEK CAPITAL LETTER ETA WITH DASIA AND VARIA AND PROSGEGRAMMENI
  • U+1F9C GREEK CAPITAL LETTER ETA WITH PSILI AND OXIA AND PROSGEGRAMMENI
  • U+1F9D GREEK CAPITAL LETTER ETA WITH DASIA AND OXIA AND PROSGEGRAMMENI
  • U+1F9E GREEK CAPITAL LETTER ETA WITH PSILI AND PERISPOMENI AND PROSGEGRAMMENI
  • U+1F9F GREEK CAPITAL LETTER ETA WITH DASIA AND PERISPOMENI AND PROSGEGRAMMENI
  • U+1FA8 GREEK CAPITAL LETTER OMEGA WITH PSILI AND PROSGEGRAMMENI
  • U+1FA9 GREEK CAPITAL LETTER OMEGA WITH DASIA AND PROSGEGRAMMENI
  • U+1FAA GREEK CAPITAL LETTER OMEGA WITH PSILI AND VARIA AND PROSGEGRAMMENI
  • U+1FAB GREEK CAPITAL LETTER OMEGA WITH DASIA AND VARIA AND PROSGEGRAMMENI
  • U+1FAC GREEK CAPITAL LETTER OMEGA WITH PSILI AND OXIA AND PROSGEGRAMMENI
  • U+1FAD GREEK CAPITAL LETTER OMEGA WITH DASIA AND OXIA AND PROSGEGRAMMENI
  • U+1FAE GREEK CAPITAL LETTER OMEGA WITH PSILI AND PERISPOMENI AND PROSGEGRAMMENI
  • U+1FAF GREEK CAPITAL LETTER OMEGA WITH DASIA AND PERISPOMENI AND PROSGEGRAMMENI
  • U+1FBC GREEK CAPITAL LETTER ALPHA WITH PROSGEGRAMMENI
  • U+1FCC GREEK CAPITAL LETTER ETA WITH PROSGEGRAMMENI
  • U+1FFC GREEK CAPITAL LETTER OMEGA WITH PROSGEGRAMMENI

Other general characteristics

[edit]

Unicode defines several general character properties in the Unicode Character Database (UAX #44). Some of the most important ones include:

  • Ideographic — Characters that represent ideas or concepts rather than specific sounds. These include most Han (CJK) characters used in Chinese, Japanese, and Korean writing systems.[20]
  • Alphabetic — Characters that are considered letters in an alphabetic or syllabic writing system. This includes Latin, Greek, Cyrillic letters, as well as characters from syllabaries like Hiragana.[21]
  • Noncharacter — Code points that are permanently reserved for internal use and are not assigned to any abstract character. These include U+FDD0 through U+FDEF, and any code ending in FFFE or FFFF (such as U+1FFFE, U+10FFFF).[22]

Combining class

[edit]

Some common codes:

0 = spacing letter, symbol or modifier (e.g. a, (, ʰ)
1 = overlay
6 = Han reading (CJK diacritic reading marks)
7 = nukta (diacritic nukta in Brahmic scripts)
8 = kana voicing marks
9 = virama

10–199 = various fixed-position classes

Marks which attach to the base letter:

200 = attached at bottom left
202 = attached directly below (e.g. cedilla on ç)
204 = attached at bottom right
208 = attached to left
210 = attached to right
212 = attached to top left
214 = attached directly above
216 = attached at top right

Marks which do not attach to the base letter:

218 = bottom left
220 = directly below (e.g. ring on n̥)
222 = below right
224 = left
226 = right
228 = above left
230 = above (e.g. acute accent on á)
232 = above right
233 = double below (subtends two bases)
234 = double above (extends two bases)
240 = iota subscript (only that Greek diacritic)

Bidirectional writing

[edit]

Six character properties pertain to bi-directional writing: Bidi_Class, Bidi_Control, Bidi_Mirrored, Bidi_Mirroring_Glyph, Bidi_Paired_Bracket and Bidi_Paired_Bracket_Type.

One of Unicode's major features is support of bi-directional (Bidi) text display right-to-left (R-to-L) and left-to-right (L-to-R). The Unicode Bidirectional Algorithm UAX9[23] describes the process of presenting text with altering script directions. For example, it enables a Hebrew quote in an English text. The Bidi_Character_Type marks a character's behaviour in directional writing. To override a direction, Unicode has defined special formatting control characters (Bidi-Control characters). These characters can enforce a direction, and by definition only affect bi-directional writing.

Each code point has a property called Bidi_Class. It defines its behaviour in a bidirectional text as interpreted by the algorithm:

Bidirectional character type (Bidi_Class Unicode character property)[1]
Type[2] Description Strength Directionality General scope Bidi_Control character[3]
L Left-to-Right Strong L-to-R Most alphabetic and syllabic characters, Chinese characters, non-European or non-Arabic digits, LRM character, ... U+200E LEFT-TO-RIGHT MARK (LRM)
R Right-to-Left Strong R-to-L Adlam, Garay, Hebrew, Mandaic, Mende Kikakui, N'Ko, Samaritan, ancient scripts like Kharoshthi and Nabataean, RLM character, ... U+200F RIGHT-TO-LEFT MARK (RLM)
AL Arabic Letter Strong R-to-L Arabic, Hanifi Rohingya, Sogdian, Syriac, and Thaana alphabets, and most punctuation specific to those scripts, ALM character, ... U+061C ARABIC LETTER MARK (ALM)
EN European Number Weak European digits, Eastern Arabic-Indic digits, Coptic epact numbers, ...
ES European Separator Weak plus sign, minus sign, ...
ET European Number Terminator Weak degree sign, currency symbols, ...
AN Arabic Number Weak Arabic-Indic digits, Arabic decimal and thousands separators, Rumi digits, Hanifi Rohingya digits, ...
CS Common Number Separator Weak colon, comma, full stop, no-break space, ...
NSM Nonspacing Mark Weak Characters in General Categories Mark, nonspacing, and Mark, enclosing (Mn, Me)
BN Boundary Neutral Weak Default ignorables, non-characters, control characters other than those explicitly given other types
B Paragraph Separator Neutral paragraph separator, appropriate Newline Functions, higher-level protocol paragraph determination
S Segment Separator Neutral Tabs
WS Whitespace Neutral space, figure space, line separator, form feed, General Punctuation block spaces (smaller set than the Unicode whitespace list)
ON Other Neutrals Neutral All other characters, including object replacement character
LRE Left-to-Right Embedding Explicit L-to-R LRE character only U+202A LEFT-TO-RIGHT EMBEDDING (LRE)
LRO Left-to-Right Override Explicit L-to-R LRO character only U+202D LEFT-TO-RIGHT OVERRIDE (LRO)
RLE Right-to-Left Embedding Explicit R-to-L RLE character only U+202B RIGHT-TO-LEFT EMBEDDING (RLE)
RLO Right-to-Left Override Explicit R-to-L RLO character only U+202E RIGHT-TO-LEFT OVERRIDE (RLO)
PDF Pop Directional Format Explicit PDF character only U+202C POP DIRECTIONAL FORMATTING (PDF)
LRI Left-to-Right Isolate Explicit L-to-R LRI character only U+2066 LEFT-TO-RIGHT ISOLATE (LRI)
RLI Right-to-Left Isolate Explicit R-to-L RLI character only U+2067 RIGHT-TO-LEFT ISOLATE (RLI)
FSI First Strong Isolate Explicit FSI character only U+2068 FIRST STRONG ISOLATE (FSI)
PDI Pop Directional Isolate Explicit PDI character only U+2069 POP DIRECTIONAL ISOLATE (PDI)
Notes
1.^ Unicode Bidirectional Algorithm (UAX#9), As of Unicode version 16.0
2.^ Possible Bidirectional character types for character property: Bidi_Class or 'type'
3.^ Bidi_Control characters: Twelve Bidi_Control formatting characters are defined. They are invisible, and have no effect apart from directionality. Nine of them have a unique, overruling BiDi-type that is used by the algorithm. Their type is also their acronym (e.g. character 'LRE' has BiDi type 'LRE').

In normal situations, the algorithm can determine the direction of a text by this character property. To control more complex Bidi situations, e.g. when an English text has a Hebrew quote, extra options are added to Unicode. 12 characters have the property Bidi_Control=Yes: ALM, FSI, LRE, LRI, LRM, LRO, PDF, PDI, RLE, RLI, RLM and RLO as named in the table. These are invisible formatting control characters, only used by the algorithm and with no effect outside of bidirectional formatting.[23] Despite the name, they are formatting characters, not control characters, and have General category Other, format (Cf) in the Unicode definition.

Basically, the algorithm determines a sequence of characters with the same strong direction type (R-to-L or L-to-R), taking in account an overruling by the special Bidi-controls. Number strings (Weak types) are assigned a direction according to their strong environment, as are Neutral characters. Finally, the characters are displayed per a string's direction.

Two character properties are relevant to determining a mirror image of a glyph in bidirectional text: Bidi_Mirrored=Yes indicates that the glyph should be mirrored when written R-to-L. The property Bidi_Mirroring_Glyph=U+hhhh can then point to the mirrored character. For example, parentheses (, ) are mirrored this way. Shaping cursive scripts such as Arabic, and mirroring glyphs that have a direction, is not part of the algorithm.

Numeric values and types

[edit]

Decimal

[edit]

Characters are classified with a Numeric type.[1] Characters such as fractions, subscripts, superscripts, Roman numerals, currency numerators, encircled numbers, and script-specific digits are type Numeric. They have a numeric value that can be decimal, including zero and negatives, or a vulgar fraction. If there is not such a value, as with most of the characters, the numeric type is "None".

The characters that do have a numeric value are separated in three groups: Decimal (De), Digit (Di) and Numeric (Nu, i.e. all other). "Decimal" means the character is a straight decimal digit. Only characters that are part of a contiguous encoded range 0..9 have numeric type Decimal. Other digits, like superscripts, have numeric type Digit. All numeric characters like fractions and Roman numerals end up with the type "Numeric". The intended effect is that a simple parser can use these decimal numeric values, without being distracted by say a numeric superscript or a fraction. Eighty-three CJK Ideographs that represent a number, including those used for accounting, are typed Numeric.

On the other hand, characters that could have a numeric value as a second meaning are still marked Numeric type None, and have no numeric value. E.g. Latin letters can be used in paragraph numbering like "II.A.1.b", but the letters "I", "A" and "b" are not numeric (type None) and have no numeric value.

Numeric Type[a][b] (Unicode character property)
Numeric type Code Has numeric value Example Remarks
Not numeric <none> No
  • A
  • X (Latin)
  • !
  • Д
  • μ
Numeric Value="NaN"
Decimal De Yes
  • 0
  • 1
  • 9
  •  (Devanagari 6)
  •  (Kannada 6)
  • 𝟨 (Mathematical, styled sans serif)
Straight digit (decimal-radix). Corresponds both ways with General Category=Nd[a]
Digit Di Yes
  • ¹ (superscript)
  •  (digit with full stop)
Decimal, but in typographic context
Numeric Nu Yes
  • ¾
  •  (Tamil number ten)
  •  (Roman numeral)
  •  (Han number 6)
Numeric value, but not decimal-radix
a. ^ "Section 4.6: Numeric Value". The Unicode Standard. Unicode Consortium. September 2025.
b. ^ "Unicode Derived Numeric Types". Unicode Character Database. Unicode Consortium. 2025-06-30.

Hexadecimal digits

[edit]

Hexadecimal characters are those in the series with hexadecimal values 0123456789ABCDEF (sixteen characters, decimal value 0–15). The character property Hex_Digit is set to Yes when a character is in such a series:

Characters in Unicode marked Hex_Digit=Yes[a]
0123456789ABCDEF Basic Latin, capitals Also ASCII_Hex_Digit=Yes
0123456789abcdef Basic Latin, small letters Also ASCII_Hex_Digit=Yes
0123456789ABCDEF Fullwidth forms, capitals
0123456789abcdef Fullwidth forms, small letters
a. ^ "Unicode 17.0 UCD: PropList.txt". 2025-06-30. Retrieved 2025-09-11.

Forty-four characters are marked as Hex_Digit. The ones in the Basic Latin block are also marked as ASCII_Hex_Digit.

Unicode has no separate characters for hexadecimal values. A consequence is, that when using regular characters it is not possible to determine whether hexadecimal value is intended, or even whether a value is intended at all. That should be determined at a higher level, e.g. by prepending 0x to a hexadecimal number or by context. The only feature is that Unicode can note that a sequence can or can not be a hexadecimal value.

Block

[edit]

A block is a uniquely named, contiguous range of code points. It is identified by its first and last code point. Blocks do not overlap, nor do they extend across planes. The number of code points in each block must be a multiple of 16. A block may contain code points that are reserved, not-assigned, etc. Each character that is assigned, has a single "block name" value from the 346 names assigned as of Unicode version 17.0. Unassigned code points outside of an existing block have the default value "No_block".

Plane Block range Block name Code points[a] Assigned characters Scripts[b][c][d][e][f]
 0 BMP U+0000..U+007F Basic Latin[g] 128 128 Latin (52 characters), Common (76 characters)
 0 BMP U+0080..U+00FF Latin-1 Supplement[h] 128 128 Latin (64 characters), Common (64 characters)
 0 BMP U+0100..U+017F Latin Extended-A 128 128 Latin
 0 BMP U+0180..U+024F Latin Extended-B 208 208 Latin
 0 BMP U+0250..U+02AF IPA Extensions 96 96 Latin
 0 BMP U+02B0..U+02FF Spacing Modifier Letters 80 80 Bopomofo (2 characters), Latin (14 characters), Common (64 characters)
 0 BMP U+0300..U+036F Combining Diacritical Marks 112 112 Inherited
 0 BMP U+0370..U+03FF Greek and Coptic 144 135 Coptic (14 characters), Greek (117 characters), Common (4 characters)
 0 BMP U+0400..U+04FF Cyrillic 256 256 Cyrillic (254 characters), Inherited (2 characters)
 0 BMP U+0500..U+052F Cyrillic Supplement 48 48 Cyrillic
 0 BMP U+0530..U+058F Armenian 96 91 Armenian
 0 BMP U+0590..U+05FF Hebrew 112 88 Hebrew
 0 BMP U+0600..U+06FF Arabic 256 256 Arabic (238 characters), Common (6 characters), Inherited (12 characters)
 0 BMP U+0700..U+074F Syriac 80 77 Syriac
 0 BMP U+0750..U+077F Arabic Supplement 48 48 Arabic
 0 BMP U+0780..U+07BF Thaana 64 50 Thaana
 0 BMP U+07C0..U+07FF NKo 64 62 N’Ko
 0 BMP U+0800..U+083F Samaritan 64 61 Samaritan
 0 BMP U+0840..U+085F Mandaic 32 29 Mandaic
 0 BMP U+0860..U+086F Syriac Supplement 16 11 Syriac
 0 BMP U+0870..U+089F Arabic Extended-B 48 43 Arabic
 0 BMP U+08A0..U+08FF Arabic Extended-A 96 96 Arabic (95 characters), Common (1 character)
 0 BMP U+0900..U+097F Devanagari 128 128 Devanagari (122 characters), Common (2 characters), Inherited (4 characters)
 0 BMP U+0980..U+09FF Bengali 128 96 Bengali
 0 BMP U+0A00..U+0A7F Gurmukhi 128 80 Gurmukhi
 0 BMP U+0A80..U+0AFF Gujarati 128 91 Gujarati
 0 BMP U+0B00..U+0B7F Oriya 128 91 Oriya
 0 BMP U+0B80..U+0BFF Tamil 128 72 Tamil
 0 BMP U+0C00..U+0C7F Telugu 128 101 Telugu
 0 BMP U+0C80..U+0CFF Kannada 128 92 Kannada
 0 BMP U+0D00..U+0D7F Malayalam 128 118 Malayalam
 0 BMP U+0D80..U+0DFF Sinhala 128 91 Sinhala
 0 BMP U+0E00..U+0E7F Thai 128 87 Thai (86 characters), Common (1 character)
 0 BMP U+0E80..U+0EFF Lao 128 83 Lao
 0 BMP U+0F00..U+0FFF Tibetan 256 211 Tibetan (207 characters), Common (4 characters)
 0 BMP U+1000..U+109F Myanmar 160 160 Myanmar
 0 BMP U+10A0..U+10FF Georgian 96 88 Georgian (87 characters), Common (1 character)
 0 BMP U+1100..U+11FF Hangul Jamo 256 256 Hangul
 0 BMP U+1200..U+137F Ethiopic 384 358 Ethiopic
 0 BMP U+1380..U+139F Ethiopic Supplement 32 26 Ethiopic
 0 BMP U+13A0..U+13FF Cherokee 96 92 Cherokee
 0 BMP U+1400..U+167F Unified Canadian Aboriginal Syllabics 640 640 Canadian Aboriginal
 0 BMP U+1680..U+169F Ogham 32 29 Ogham
 0 BMP U+16A0..U+16FF Runic 96 89 Runic (86 characters), Common (3 characters)
 0 BMP U+1700..U+171F Tagalog 32 23 Tagalog
 0 BMP U+1720..U+173F Hanunoo 32 23 Hanunoo (21 characters), Common (2 characters)
 0 BMP U+1740..U+175F Buhid 32 20 Buhid
 0 BMP U+1760..U+177F Tagbanwa 32 18 Tagbanwa
 0 BMP U+1780..U+17FF Khmer 128 114 Khmer
 0 BMP U+1800..U+18AF Mongolian 176 158 Mongolian (155 characters), Common (3 characters)
 0 BMP U+18B0..U+18FF Unified Canadian Aboriginal Syllabics Extended 80 70 Canadian Aboriginal
 0 BMP U+1900..U+194F Limbu 80 68 Limbu
 0 BMP U+1950..U+197F Tai Le 48 35 Tai Le
 0 BMP U+1980..U+19DF New Tai Lue 96 83 New Tai Lue
 0 BMP U+19E0..U+19FF Khmer Symbols 32 32 Khmer
 0 BMP U+1A00..U+1A1F Buginese 32 30 Buginese
 0 BMP U+1A20..U+1AAF Tai Tham 144 127 Tai Tham
 0 BMP U+1AB0..U+1AFF Combining Diacritical Marks Extended 80 58 Inherited
 0 BMP U+1B00..U+1B7F Balinese 128 127 Balinese
 0 BMP U+1B80..U+1BBF Sundanese 64 64 Sundanese
 0 BMP U+1BC0..U+1BFF Batak 64 56 Batak
 0 BMP U+1C00..U+1C4F Lepcha 80 74 Lepcha
 0 BMP U+1C50..U+1C7F Ol Chiki 48 48 Ol Chiki
 0 BMP U+1C80..U+1C8F Cyrillic Extended-C 16 11 Cyrillic
 0 BMP U+1C90..U+1CBF Georgian Extended 48 46 Georgian
 0 BMP U+1CC0..U+1CCF Sundanese Supplement 16 8 Sundanese
 0 BMP U+1CD0..U+1CFF Vedic Extensions 48 43 Common (16 characters), Inherited (27 characters)
 0 BMP U+1D00..U+1D7F Phonetic Extensions 128 128 Cyrillic (2 characters), Greek (15 characters), Latin (111 characters)
 0 BMP U+1D80..U+1DBF Phonetic Extensions Supplement 64 64 Greek (1 character), Latin (63 characters)
 0 BMP U+1DC0..U+1DFF Combining Diacritical Marks Supplement 64 64 Inherited
 0 BMP U+1E00..U+1EFF Latin Extended Additional 256 256 Latin
 0 BMP U+1F00..U+1FFF Greek Extended 256 233 Greek
 0 BMP U+2000..U+206F General Punctuation 112 111 Common (109 characters), Inherited (2 characters)
 0 BMP U+2070..U+209F Superscripts and Subscripts 48 42 Latin (15 characters), Common (27 characters)
 0 BMP U+20A0..U+20CF Currency Symbols 48 34 Common
 0 BMP U+20D0..U+20FF Combining Diacritical Marks for Symbols 48 33 Inherited
 0 BMP U+2100..U+214F Letterlike Symbols 80 80 Greek (1 character), Latin (4 characters), Common (75 characters)
 0 BMP U+2150..U+218F Number Forms 64 60 Latin (41 characters), Common (19 characters)
 0 BMP U+2190..U+21FF Arrows 112 112 Common
 0 BMP U+2200..U+22FF Mathematical Operators 256 256 Common
 0 BMP U+2300..U+23FF Miscellaneous Technical 256 256 Common
 0 BMP U+2400..U+243F Control Pictures 64 42 Common
 0 BMP U+2440..U+245F Optical Character Recognition 32 11 Common
 0 BMP U+2460..U+24FF Enclosed Alphanumerics 160 160 Common
 0 BMP U+2500..U+257F Box Drawing 128 128 Common
 0 BMP U+2580..U+259F Block Elements 32 32 Common
 0 BMP U+25A0..U+25FF Geometric Shapes 96 96 Common
 0 BMP U+2600..U+26FF Miscellaneous Symbols 256 256 Common
 0 BMP U+2700..U+27BF Dingbats 192 192 Common
 0 BMP U+27C0..U+27EF Miscellaneous Mathematical Symbols-A 48 48 Common
 0 BMP U+27F0..U+27FF Supplemental Arrows-A 16 16 Common
 0 BMP U+2800..U+28FF Braille Patterns 256 256 Braille
 0 BMP U+2900..U+297F Supplemental Arrows-B 128 128 Common
 0 BMP U+2980..U+29FF Miscellaneous Mathematical Symbols-B 128 128 Common
 0 BMP U+2A00..U+2AFF Supplemental Mathematical Operators 256 256 Common
 0 BMP U+2B00..U+2BFF Miscellaneous Symbols and Arrows 256 254 Common
 0 BMP U+2C00..U+2C5F Glagolitic 96 96 Glagolitic
 0 BMP U+2C60..U+2C7F Latin Extended-C 32 32 Latin
 0 BMP U+2C80..U+2CFF Coptic 128 123 Coptic
 0 BMP U+2D00..U+2D2F Georgian Supplement 48 40 Georgian
 0 BMP U+2D30..U+2D7F Tifinagh 80 59 Tifinagh
 0 BMP U+2D80..U+2DDF Ethiopic Extended 96 79 Ethiopic
 0 BMP U+2DE0..U+2DFF Cyrillic Extended-A 32 32 Cyrillic
 0 BMP U+2E00..U+2E7F Supplemental Punctuation 128 94 Common
 0 BMP U+2E80..U+2EFF CJK Radicals Supplement 128 115 Han
 0 BMP U+2F00..U+2FDF Kangxi Radicals 224 214 Han
 0 BMP U+2FF0..U+2FFF Ideographic Description Characters 16 16 Common
 0 BMP U+3000..U+303F CJK Symbols and Punctuation 64 64 Han (15 characters), Hangul (2 characters), Common (43 characters), Inherited (4 characters)
 0 BMP U+3040..U+309F Hiragana 96 93 Hiragana (89 characters), Common (2 characters), Inherited (2 characters)
 0 BMP U+30A0..U+30FF Katakana 96 96 Katakana (93 characters), Common (3 characters)
 0 BMP U+3100..U+312F Bopomofo 48 43 Bopomofo
 0 BMP U+3130..U+318F Hangul Compatibility Jamo 96 94 Hangul
 0 BMP U+3190..U+319F Kanbun 16 16 Common
 0 BMP U+31A0..U+31BF Bopomofo Extended 32 32 Bopomofo
 0 BMP U+31C0..U+31EF CJK Strokes 48 39 Common
 0 BMP U+31F0..U+31FF Katakana Phonetic Extensions 16 16 Katakana
 0 BMP U+3200..U+32FF Enclosed CJK Letters and Months 256 255 Hangul (62 characters), Katakana (47 characters), Common (146 characters)
 0 BMP U+3300..U+33FF CJK Compatibility 256 256 Katakana (88 characters), Common (168 characters)
 0 BMP U+3400..U+4DBF CJK Unified Ideographs Extension A 6,592 6,592 Han
 0 BMP U+4DC0..U+4DFF Yijing Hexagram Symbols 64 64 Common
 0 BMP U+4E00..U+9FFF CJK Unified Ideographs 20,992 20,992 Han
 0 BMP U+A000..U+A48F Yi Syllables 1,168 1,165 Yi
 0 BMP U+A490..U+A4CF Yi Radicals 64 55 Yi
 0 BMP U+A4D0..U+A4FF Lisu 48 48 Lisu
 0 BMP U+A500..U+A63F Vai 320 300 Vai
 0 BMP U+A640..U+A69F Cyrillic Extended-B 96 96 Cyrillic
 0 BMP U+A6A0..U+A6FF Bamum 96 88 Bamum
 0 BMP U+A700..U+A71F Modifier Tone Letters 32 32 Common
 0 BMP U+A720..U+A7FF Latin Extended-D 224 204 Latin (199 characters), Common (5 characters)
 0 BMP U+A800..U+A82F Syloti Nagri 48 45 Syloti Nagri
 0 BMP U+A830..U+A83F Common Indic Number Forms 16 10 Common
 0 BMP U+A840..U+A87F Phags-pa 64 56 Phags Pa
 0 BMP U+A880..U+A8DF Saurashtra 96 82 Saurashtra
 0 BMP U+A8E0..U+A8FF Devanagari Extended 32 32 Devanagari
 0 BMP U+A900..U+A92F Kayah Li 48 48 Kayah Li (47 characters), Common (1 character)
 0 BMP U+A930..U+A95F Rejang 48 37 Rejang
 0 BMP U+A960..U+A97F Hangul Jamo Extended-A 32 29 Hangul
 0 BMP U+A980..U+A9DF Javanese 96 91 Javanese (90 characters), Common (1 character)
 0 BMP U+A9E0..U+A9FF Myanmar Extended-B 32 31 Myanmar
 0 BMP U+AA00..U+AA5F Cham 96 83 Cham
 0 BMP U+AA60..U+AA7F Myanmar Extended-A 32 32 Myanmar
 0 BMP U+AA80..U+AADF Tai Viet 96 72 Tai Viet
 0 BMP U+AAE0..U+AAFF Meetei Mayek Extensions 32 23 Meetei Mayek
 0 BMP U+AB00..U+AB2F Ethiopic Extended-A 48 32 Ethiopic
 0 BMP U+AB30..U+AB6F Latin Extended-E 64 60 Latin (56 characters), Greek (1 character), Common (3 characters)
 0 BMP U+AB70..U+ABBF Cherokee Supplement 80 80 Cherokee
 0 BMP U+ABC0..U+ABFF Meetei Mayek 64 56 Meetei Mayek
 0 BMP U+AC00..U+D7AF Hangul Syllables 11,184 11,172 Hangul
 0 BMP U+D7B0..U+D7FF Hangul Jamo Extended-B 80 72 Hangul
 0 BMP U+D800..U+DB7F High Surrogates 896 0 Unknown
 0 BMP U+DB80..U+DBFF High Private Use Surrogates 128 0 Unknown
 0 BMP U+DC00..U+DFFF Low Surrogates 1,024 0 Unknown
 0 BMP U+E000..U+F8FF Private Use Area 6,400 6,400 Unknown
 0 BMP U+F900..U+FAFF CJK Compatibility Ideographs 512 472 Han
 0 BMP U+FB00..U+FB4F Alphabetic Presentation Forms 80 58 Armenian (5 characters), Hebrew (46 characters), Latin (7 characters)
 0 BMP U+FB50..U+FDFF Arabic Presentation Forms-A 688 656 Arabic (654 characters), Common (2 characters)
 0 BMP U+FE00..U+FE0F Variation Selectors 16 16 Inherited
 0 BMP U+FE10..U+FE1F Vertical Forms 16 10 Common
 0 BMP U+FE20..U+FE2F Combining Half Marks 16 16 Cyrillic (2 characters), Inherited (14 characters)
 0 BMP U+FE30..U+FE4F CJK Compatibility Forms 32 32 Common
 0 BMP U+FE50..U+FE6F Small Form Variants 32 26 Common
 0 BMP U+FE70..U+FEFF Arabic Presentation Forms-B 144 141 Arabic (140 characters), Common (1 character)
 0 BMP U+FF00..U+FFEF Halfwidth and Fullwidth Forms 240 225 Hangul (52 characters), Katakana (55 characters), Latin (52 characters), Common (66 characters)
 0 BMP U+FFF0..U+FFFF Specials 16 5 Common
 1 SMP U+10000..U+1007F Linear B Syllabary 128 88 Linear B
 1 SMP U+10080..U+100FF Linear B Ideograms 128 123 Linear B
 1 SMP U+10100..U+1013F Aegean Numbers 64 57 Common
 1 SMP U+10140..U+1018F Ancient Greek Numbers 80 79 Greek
 1 SMP U+10190..U+101CF Ancient Symbols 64 14 Greek (1 character), Common (13 characters)
 1 SMP U+101D0..U+101FF Phaistos Disc 48 46 Common (45 characters), Inherited (1 character)
 1 SMP U+10280..U+1029F Lycian 32 29 Lycian
 1 SMP U+102A0..U+102DF Carian 64 49 Carian
 1 SMP U+102E0..U+102FF Coptic Epact Numbers 32 28 Common (27 characters), Inherited (1 character)
 1 SMP U+10300..U+1032F Old Italic 48 39 Old Italic
 1 SMP U+10330..U+1034F Gothic 32 27 Gothic
 1 SMP U+10350..U+1037F Old Permic 48 43 Old Permic
 1 SMP U+10380..U+1039F Ugaritic 32 31 Ugaritic
 1 SMP U+103A0..U+103DF Old Persian 64 50 Old Persian
 1 SMP U+10400..U+1044F Deseret 80 80 Deseret
 1 SMP U+10450..U+1047F Shavian 48 48 Shavian
 1 SMP U+10480..U+104AF Osmanya 48 40 Osmanya
 1 SMP U+104B0..U+104FF Osage 80 72 Osage
 1 SMP U+10500..U+1052F Elbasan 48 40 Elbasan
 1 SMP U+10530..U+1056F Caucasian Albanian 64 53 Caucasian Albanian
 1 SMP U+10570..U+105BF Vithkuqi 80 70 Vithkuqi
 1 SMP U+105C0..U+105FF Todhri 64 52 Todhri
 1 SMP U+10600..U+1077F Linear A 384 341 Linear A
 1 SMP U+10780..U+107BF Latin Extended-F 64 57 Latin
 1 SMP U+10800..U+1083F Cypriot Syllabary 64 55 Cypriot
 1 SMP U+10840..U+1085F Imperial Aramaic 32 31 Imperial Aramaic
 1 SMP U+10860..U+1087F Palmyrene 32 32 Palmyrene
 1 SMP U+10880..U+108AF Nabataean 48 40 Nabataean
 1 SMP U+108E0..U+108FF Hatran 32 26 Hatran
 1 SMP U+10900..U+1091F Phoenician 32 29 Phoenician
 1 SMP U+10920..U+1093F Lydian 32 27 Lydian
 1 SMP U+10940..U+1095F Sidetic 32 26 Sidetic
 1 SMP U+10980..U+1099F Meroitic Hieroglyphs 32 32 Meroitic Hieroglyphs
 1 SMP U+109A0..U+109FF Meroitic Cursive 96 90 Meroitic Cursive
 1 SMP U+10A00..U+10A5F Kharoshthi 96 68 Kharoshthi
 1 SMP U+10A60..U+10A7F Old South Arabian 32 32 Old South Arabian
 1 SMP U+10A80..U+10A9F Old North Arabian 32 32 Old North Arabian
 1 SMP U+10AC0..U+10AFF Manichaean 64 51 Manichaean
 1 SMP U+10B00..U+10B3F Avestan 64 61 Avestan
 1 SMP U+10B40..U+10B5F Inscriptional Parthian 32 30 Inscriptional Parthian
 1 SMP U+10B60..U+10B7F Inscriptional Pahlavi 32 27 Inscriptional Pahlavi
 1 SMP U+10B80..U+10BAF Psalter Pahlavi 48 29 Psalter Pahlavi
 1 SMP U+10C00..U+10C4F Old Turkic 80 73 Old Turkic
 1 SMP U+10C80..U+10CFF Old Hungarian 128 108 Old Hungarian
 1 SMP U+10D00..U+10D3F Hanifi Rohingya 64 50 Hanifi Rohingya
 1 SMP U+10D40..U+10D8F Garay 80 69 Garay
 1 SMP U+10E60..U+10E7F Rumi Numeral Symbols 32 31 Arabic
 1 SMP U+10E80..U+10EBF Yezidi 64 47 Yezidi
 1 SMP U+10EC0..U+10EFF Arabic Extended-C 64 21 Arabic
 1 SMP U+10F00..U+10F2F Old Sogdian 48 40 Old Sogdian
 1 SMP U+10F30..U+10F6F Sogdian 64 42 Sogdian
 1 SMP U+10F70..U+10FAF Old Uyghur 64 26 Old Uyghur
 1 SMP U+10FB0..U+10FDF Chorasmian 48 28 Chorasmian
 1 SMP U+10FE0..U+10FFF Elymaic 32 23 Elymaic
 1 SMP U+11000..U+1107F Brahmi 128 115 Brahmi
 1 SMP U+11080..U+110CF Kaithi 80 68 Kaithi
 1 SMP U+110D0..U+110FF Sora Sompeng 48 35 Sora Sompeng
 1 SMP U+11100..U+1114F Chakma 80 71 Chakma
 1 SMP U+11150..U+1117F Mahajani 48 39 Mahajani
 1 SMP U+11180..U+111DF Sharada 96 96 Sharada
 1 SMP U+111E0..U+111FF Sinhala Archaic Numbers 32 20 Sinhala
 1 SMP U+11200..U+1124F Khojki 80 65 Khojki
 1 SMP U+11280..U+112AF Multani 48 38 Multani
 1 SMP U+112B0..U+112FF Khudawadi 80 69 Khudawadi
 1 SMP U+11300..U+1137F Grantha 128 86 Grantha (85 characters), Inherited (1 character)
 1 SMP U+11380..U+113FF Tulu-Tigalari 128 80 Tulu Tigalari
 1 SMP U+11400..U+1147F Newa 128 97 Newa
 1 SMP U+11480..U+114DF Tirhuta 96 82 Tirhuta
 1 SMP U+11580..U+115FF Siddham 128 92 Siddham
 1 SMP U+11600..U+1165F Modi 96 79 Modi
 1 SMP U+11660..U+1167F Mongolian Supplement 32 13 Mongolian
 1 SMP U+11680..U+116CF Takri 80 68 Takri
 1 SMP U+116D0..U+116FF Myanmar Extended-C 48 20 Myanmar
 1 SMP U+11700..U+1174F Ahom 80 65 Ahom
 1 SMP U+11800..U+1184F Dogra 80 60 Dogra
 1 SMP U+118A0..U+118FF Warang Citi 96 84 Warang Citi
 1 SMP U+11900..U+1195F Dives Akuru 96 72 Dives Akuru
 1 SMP U+119A0..U+119FF Nandinagari 96 65 Nandinagari
 1 SMP U+11A00..U+11A4F Zanabazar Square 80 72 Zanabazar Square
 1 SMP U+11A50..U+11AAF Soyombo 96 83 Soyombo
 1 SMP U+11AB0..U+11ABF Unified Canadian Aboriginal Syllabics Extended-A 16 16 Canadian Aboriginal
 1 SMP U+11AC0..U+11AFF Pau Cin Hau 64 57 Pau Cin Hau
 1 SMP U+11B00..U+11B5F Devanagari Extended-A 96 10 Devanagari
 1 SMP U+11B60..U+11B7F Sharada Supplement 32 8 Sharada
 1 SMP U+11BC0..U+11BFF Sunuwar 64 44 Sunuwar
 1 SMP U+11C00..U+11C6F Bhaiksuki 112 97 Bhaiksuki
 1 SMP U+11C70..U+11CBF Marchen 80 68 Marchen
 1 SMP U+11D00..U+11D5F Masaram Gondi 96 75 Masaram Gondi
 1 SMP U+11D60..U+11DAF Gunjala Gondi 80 63 Gunjala Gondi
 1 SMP U+11DB0..U+11DEF Tolong Siki 64 54 Tolong Siki
 1 SMP U+11EE0..U+11EFF Makasar 32 25 Makasar
 1 SMP U+11F00..U+11F5F Kawi 96 87 Kawi
 1 SMP U+11FB0..U+11FBF Lisu Supplement 16 1 Lisu
 1 SMP U+11FC0..U+11FFF Tamil Supplement 64 51 Tamil
 1 SMP U+12000..U+123FF Cuneiform 1,024 922 Cuneiform
 1 SMP U+12400..U+1247F Cuneiform Numbers and Punctuation 128 116 Cuneiform
 1 SMP U+12480..U+1254F Early Dynastic Cuneiform 208 196 Cuneiform
 1 SMP U+12F90..U+12FFF Cypro-Minoan 112 99 Cypro Minoan
 1 SMP U+13000..U+1342F Egyptian Hieroglyphs 1,072 1,072 Egyptian Hieroglyphs
 1 SMP U+13430..U+1345F Egyptian Hieroglyph Format Controls 48 38 Egyptian Hieroglyphs
 1 SMP U+13460..U+143FF Egyptian Hieroglyphs Extended-A 4,000 3,995 Egyptian Hieroglyphs
 1 SMP U+14400..U+1467F Anatolian Hieroglyphs 640 583 Anatolian Hieroglyphs
 1 SMP U+16100..U+1613F Gurung Khema 64 58 Gurung Khema
 1 SMP U+16800..U+16A3F Bamum Supplement 576 569 Bamum
 1 SMP U+16A40..U+16A6F Mro 48 43 Mro
 1 SMP U+16A70..U+16ACF Tangsa 96 89 Tangsa
 1 SMP U+16AD0..U+16AFF Bassa Vah 48 36 Bassa Vah
 1 SMP U+16B00..U+16B8F Pahawh Hmong 144 127 Pahawh Hmong
 1 SMP U+16D40..U+16D7F Kirat Rai 64 58 Kirat Rai
 1 SMP U+16E40..U+16E9F Medefaidrin 96 91 Medefaidrin
 1 SMP U+16EA0..U+16EDF Beria Erfe 64 50 Beria Erfe
 1 SMP U+16F00..U+16F9F Miao 160 149 Miao
 1 SMP U+16FE0..U+16FFF Ideographic Symbols and Punctuation 32 12 Han (9 characters), Khitan Small Script (1 character), Nushu (1 character), Tangut (1 character)
 1 SMP U+17000..U+187FF Tangut 6,144 6,144 Tangut
 1 SMP U+18800..U+18AFF Tangut Components 768 768 Tangut
 1 SMP U+18B00..U+18CFF Khitan Small Script 512 471 Khitan Small Script
 1 SMP U+18D00..U+18D7F Tangut Supplement 128 31 Tangut
 1 SMP U+18D80..U+18DFF Tangut Components Supplement 128 115 Tangut
 1 SMP U+1AFF0..U+1AFFF Kana Extended-B 16 13 Katakana
 1 SMP U+1B000..U+1B0FF Kana Supplement 256 256 Hiragana (255 characters), Katakana (1 character)
 1 SMP U+1B100..U+1B12F Kana Extended-A 48 35 Hiragana (32 characters), Katakana (3 characters)
 1 SMP U+1B130..U+1B16F Small Kana Extension 64 9 Hiragana (4 characters), Katakana (5 characters)
 1 SMP U+1B170..U+1B2FF Nushu 400 396 Nüshu
 1 SMP U+1BC00..U+1BC9F Duployan 160 143 Duployan
 1 SMP U+1BCA0..U+1BCAF Shorthand Format Controls 16 4 Common
 1 SMP U+1CC00..U+1CEBF Symbols for Legacy Computing Supplement 704 695 Common
 1 SMP U+1CEC0..U+1CEFF Miscellaneous Symbols Supplement 64 34 Common
 1 SMP U+1CF00..U+1CFCF Znamenny Musical Notation 208 185 Common (116 characters), Inherited (69 characters)
 1 SMP U+1D000..U+1D0FF Byzantine Musical Symbols 256 246 Common
 1 SMP U+1D100..U+1D1FF Musical Symbols 256 233 Common (211 characters), Inherited (22 characters)
 1 SMP U+1D200..U+1D24F Ancient Greek Musical Notation 80 70 Greek
 1 SMP U+1D2C0..U+1D2DF Kaktovik Numerals 32 20 Common
 1 SMP U+1D2E0..U+1D2FF Mayan Numerals 32 20 Common
 1 SMP U+1D300..U+1D35F Tai Xuan Jing Symbols 96 87 Common
 1 SMP U+1D360..U+1D37F Counting Rod Numerals 32 25 Common
 1 SMP U+1D400..U+1D7FF Mathematical Alphanumeric Symbols 1,024 996 Common
 1 SMP U+1D800..U+1DAAF Sutton SignWriting 688 672 SignWriting
 1 SMP U+1DF00..U+1DFFF Latin Extended-G 256 37 Latin
 1 SMP U+1E000..U+1E02F Glagolitic Supplement 48 38 Glagolitic
 1 SMP U+1E030..U+1E08F Cyrillic Extended-D 96 63 Cyrillic
 1 SMP U+1E100..U+1E14F Nyiakeng Puachue Hmong 80 71 Nyiakeng Puachue Hmong
 1 SMP U+1E290..U+1E2BF Toto 48 31 Toto
 1 SMP U+1E2C0..U+1E2FF Wancho 64 59 Wancho
 1 SMP U+1E4D0..U+1E4FF Nag Mundari 48 42 Mundari
 1 SMP U+1E5D0..U+1E5FF Ol Onal 48 44 Ol Onal
 1 SMP U+1E6C0..U+1E6FF Tai Yo 64 55 Tai Yo
 1 SMP U+1E7E0..U+1E7FF Ethiopic Extended-B 32 28 Ethiopic
 1 SMP U+1E800..U+1E8DF Mende Kikakui 224 213 Mende Kikakui
 1 SMP U+1E900..U+1E95F Adlam 96 88 Adlam
 1 SMP U+1EC70..U+1ECBF Indic Siyaq Numbers 80 68 Common
 1 SMP U+1ED00..U+1ED4F Ottoman Siyaq Numbers 80 61 Common
 1 SMP U+1EE00..U+1EEFF Arabic Mathematical Alphabetic Symbols 256 143 Arabic
 1 SMP U+1F000..U+1F02F Mahjong Tiles 48 44 Common
 1 SMP U+1F030..U+1F09F Domino Tiles 112 100 Common
 1 SMP U+1F0A0..U+1F0FF Playing Cards 96 82 Common
 1 SMP U+1F100..U+1F1FF Enclosed Alphanumeric Supplement 256 200 Common
 1 SMP U+1F200..U+1F2FF Enclosed Ideographic Supplement 256 64 Hiragana (1 character), Common (63 characters)
 1 SMP U+1F300..U+1F5FF Miscellaneous Symbols and Pictographs 768 768 Common
 1 SMP U+1F600..U+1F64F Emoticons 80 80 Common
 1 SMP U+1F650..U+1F67F Ornamental Dingbats 48 48 Common
 1 SMP U+1F680..U+1F6FF Transport and Map Symbols 128 119 Common
 1 SMP U+1F700..U+1F77F Alchemical Symbols 128 128 Common
 1 SMP U+1F780..U+1F7FF Geometric Shapes Extended 128 103 Common
 1 SMP U+1F800..U+1F8FF Supplemental Arrows-C 256 171 Common
 1 SMP U+1F900..U+1F9FF Supplemental Symbols and Pictographs 256 256 Common
 1 SMP U+1FA00..U+1FA6F Chess Symbols 112 102 Common
 1 SMP U+1FA70..U+1FAFF Symbols and Pictographs Extended-A 144 120 Common
 1 SMP U+1FB00..U+1FBFF Symbols for Legacy Computing 256 250 Common
 2 SIP U+20000..U+2A6DF CJK Unified Ideographs Extension B 42,720 42,720 Han
 2 SIP U+2A700..U+2B73F CJK Unified Ideographs Extension C 4,160 4,160 Han
 2 SIP U+2B740..U+2B81F CJK Unified Ideographs Extension D 224 222 Han
 2 SIP U+2B820..U+2CEAF CJK Unified Ideographs Extension E 5,776 5,774 Han
 2 SIP U+2CEB0..U+2EBEF CJK Unified Ideographs Extension F 7,488 7,473 Han
 2 SIP U+2EBF0..U+2EE5F CJK Unified Ideographs Extension I 624 622 Han
 2 SIP U+2F800..U+2FA1F CJK Compatibility Ideographs Supplement 544 542 Han
 3 TIP U+30000..U+3134F CJK Unified Ideographs Extension G 4,944 4,939 Han
 3 TIP U+31350..U+323AF CJK Unified Ideographs Extension H 4,192 4,192 Han
 3 TIP U+323B0..U+3347F CJK Unified Ideographs Extension J 4,304 4,298 Han
14 SSP U+E0000..U+E007F Tags 128 97 Common
14 SSP U+E0100..U+E01EF Variation Selectors Supplement 240 240 Inherited
15 PUA-A U+F0000..U+FFFFF Supplementary Private Use Area-A 65,536 65,534 Unknown
16 PUA-B U+100000..U+10FFFF Supplementary Private Use Area-B 65,536 65,534 Unknown
  1. ^ Code point count includes unassigned code points: noncharacter, reserved etc.
  2. ^ The script has one or multiple characters in the block, as defined by the Script Property. This is independent of the block name
  3. ^ "Common" and "Unknown" (Zyyy) and "Inherited" (Zinh or Qaai) refer to Scripts in ISO 15924
  4. ^ Unicode Blocks data file. As of Unicode version 17.0
  5. ^ UAX 24: Unicode Script Property (4 alpha code)
  6. ^ UAX 24: Script data file
  7. ^ Called "C0 Controls and Basic Latin" in ISO/IEC 10646
  8. ^ Called "C1 Controls and Latin-1 Supplement" in ISO/IEC 10646

Script

[edit]

Each assigned character can have a single value for its "Script" property, signifying to which script it belongs.[24] The value is a four-letter code in the range Aaaa-Zzzz, as available in ISO 15924, which is mapped to a writing system. Apart from when describing the background and usage of a script, Unicode does not use a connection between a script and languages that use that script. So "Hebrew" refers to the Hebrew script, not to the Hebrew language.

The special code Zyyy for "Common" allows a single value for a character that is used in multiple scripts. The code Zinh "Inherited script", used for combining characters and certain other special-purpose code points, indicates that a character "inherits" its script identity from the character with which it is combined. (Unicode formerly used the private code Qaai for this purpose.) The code Zzzz "Unknown" is used for all characters that do not belong to a script (i.e. the default value), such as symbols and formatting characters. Overall, characters of a single script can be scattered over multiple blocks, like Latin characters. And the other way around too: multiple scripts can be present is a single block, e.g. block Letterlike Symbols contains characters from the Latin, Greek and Common scripts.

When the Script is "" (blank), according to Unicode the character does not belong to a script. This pertains to symbols, because the existing ISO script codes "Zmth" (Mathematical notation), "Zsym" (Symbol), and "Zsye" (Symbol, emoji variant) are not used in Unicode. The "Script" property is also blank for code points that are not a typographic character like controls, substitutes, and private use code points.

If there is a specific script alias name in ISO 15924, it is used in the character name: U+0041 A LATIN CAPITAL LETTER A, and U+05D0 א HEBREW LETTER ALEF.

ISO 15924 Script in Unicode[e]
Code ISO number ISO formal name Directionality Unicode Alias[f] Version Characters Notes Description
Adlm 166 Adlam right-to-left script Edit this on Wikidata Adlam 9.0 88 Ch 19.9
Afak 439 Afaka left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata ZZ— Not in Unicode, proposal is explored[i]
Aghb 239 Caucasian Albanian left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata Caucasian Albanian 7.0 53 Ancient/historic Ch 8.11
Ahom 338 Ahom, Tai Ahom left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata Ahom 8.0 65 Ancient/historic Ch 15.16
Arab 160 Arabic right-to-left script Edit this on Wikidata Arabic 1.0 1,413 Ch 9.2
Aran 161 Arabic (Nastaliq variant) right-to-left script Edit this on Wikidata ZZ— Typographic variant of Arabic (see § Arab)
Armi 124 Imperial Aramaic right-to-left script Edit this on Wikidata Imperial Aramaic 5.2 31 Ancient/historic Ch 10.4
Armn 230 Armenian left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata Armenian 1.0 96 Ch 7.6
Avst 134 Avestan right-to-left script Edit this on Wikidata Avestan 5.2 61 Ancient/historic Ch 10.7
Bali 360 Balinese left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata Balinese 5.0 127 Ch 17.3
Bamu 435 Bamum left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata Bamum 5.2 657 Ch 19.6
Bass 259 Bassa Vah left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata Bassa Vah 7.0 36 Ancient/historic Ch 19.7
Batk 365 Batak left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata Batak 6.0 56 Ch 17.6
Beng 325 Bengali (Bangla) left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata Bengali 1.0 96 Ch 12.2
Berf 258 Beria Erfe left-to-right and top-down Edit this on Wikidata Beria Erfe 17.0 50
Bhks 334 Bhaiksuki left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata Bhaiksuki 9.0 97 Ancient/historic Ch 14.3
Blis 550 Blissymbols varies ZZ— Not in Unicode, proposal is explored[i]
Bopo 285 Bopomofo left-to-right, right-to-left script Edit this on Wikidata Bopomofo 1.0 77 Ch 18.3
Brah 300 Brahmi left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata Brahmi 6.0 115 Ancient/historic Ch 14.1
Brai 570 Braille left-to-right, right-to-left script Edit this on Wikidata Braille 3.0 256 Ch 21.1
Bugi 367 Buginese left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata Buginese 4.1 30 Ch 17.2
Buhd 372 Buhid left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata Buhid 3.2 20 Ch 17.1
Cakm 349 Chakma left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata Chakma 6.1 71 Ch 13.11
Cans 440 Unified Canadian Aboriginal Syllabics left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata Canadian Aboriginal 3.0 726 Ch 20.2
Cari 201 Carian left-to-right, right-to-left script Edit this on Wikidata Carian 5.1 49 Ancient/historic Ch 8.5
Cham 358 Cham left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata Cham 5.1 83 Ch 16.10
Cher 445 Cherokee left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata Cherokee 3.0 172 Ch 20.1
Chis 298 Chisoi left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata ZZ— Not in Unicode, proposal is mature[ii]
Chrs 109 Chorasmian right-to-left script, top-to-bottom Edit this on Wikidata Chorasmian 13.0 28 Ancient/historic Ch 10.8
Cirt 291 Cirth varies ZZ— Not in Unicode
Copt 204 Coptic left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata Coptic 1.0 137 Ancient/historic, disunified from Greek in 4.1 Ch 7.3
Cpmn 402 Cypro-Minoan left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata Cypro Minoan 14.0 99 Ancient/historic Ch 8.4
Cprt 403 Cypriot syllabary right-to-left script Edit this on Wikidata Cypriot 4.0 55 Ancient/historic Ch 8.3
Cyrl 220 Cyrillic left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata Cyrillic 1.0 508 Includes typographic variant Old Church Slavonic (see § Cyrs) Ch 7.4
Cyrs 221 Cyrillic (Old Church Slavonic variant) left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata ZZ— Typographic variant of Cyrillic (see § Cyrl); Ancient/historic
Deva 315 Devanagari (Nagari) left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata Devanagari 1.0 164 Ch 12.1
Diak 342 Dives Akuru left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata Dives Akuru 13.0 72 Ancient/historic Ch 15.15
Dogr 328 Dogra left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata Dogra 11.0 60 Ancient/historic Ch 15.18
Dsrt 250 Deseret (Mormon) left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata Deseret 3.1 80 Ch 20.4
Dupl 755 Duployan shorthand, Duployan stenography left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata Duployan 7.0 143 Ch 21.6
Egyd 070 Egyptian demotic mixed ZZ— Not in Unicode
Egyh 060 Egyptian hieratic mixed ZZ— Not in Unicode
Egyp 050 Egyptian hieroglyphs right-to-left script, left-to-right, bottom-to-top, top-to-bottom Edit this on Wikidata Egyptian Hieroglyphs 5.2 5,105 Ancient/historic Ch 11.4
Elba 226 Elbasan left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata Elbasan 7.0 40 Ancient/historic Ch 8.10
Elym 128 Elymaic right-to-left script Edit this on Wikidata Elymaic 12.0 23 Ancient/historic Ch 10.9
Ethi 430 Ethiopic (Geʻez) left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata Ethiopic 3.0 523 Ch 19.1
Gara 164 Garay right-to-left script Edit this on Wikidata Garay 16.0 69
Geok 241 Khutsuri (Asomtavruli and Nuskhuri) left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata Georgian Unicode groups Khutsori, Asomtavruli and Nuskhuri into 'Georgian' (see § Geok). Similarly, Mkhedruli and Mtavruli are 'Georgian' (see § Geor) Ch 7.7
Geor 240 Georgian (Mkhedruli and Mtavruli) left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata Georgian 1.0 173 In Unicode this also includes Nuskhuri (Geok) Ch 7.7
Glag 225 Glagolitic left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata Glagolitic 4.1 134 Ancient/historic Ch 7.5
Gong 312 Gunjala Gondi left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata Gunjala Gondi 11.0 63 Ch 13.15
Gonm 313 Masaram Gondi left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata Masaram Gondi 10.0 75 Ch 13.14
Goth 206 Gothic left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata Gothic 3.1 27 Ancient/historic Ch 8.9
Gran 343 Grantha left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata Grantha 7.0 85 Ancient/historic Ch 15.14
Grek 200 Greek left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata Greek 1.0 518 Directionality sometimes as boustrophedon Ch 7.2
Gujr 320 Gujarati left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata Gujarati 1.0 91 Ch 12.4
Gukh 397 Gurung Khema left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata Gurung Khema 16.0 58
Guru 310 Gurmukhi left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata Gurmukhi 1.0 80 Ch 12.3
Hanb 503 Han with Bopomofo (alias for Han + Bopomofo) mixed ZZ— See § Hani, § Bopo
Hang 286 Hangul (Hangŭl, Hangeul) left-to-right, vertical right-to-left Edit this on Wikidata Hangul 1.0 11,739 Hangul syllables relocated in 2.0 Ch 18.6
Hani 500 Han (Hanzi, Kanji, Hanja) top-to-bottom, columns right-to-left (historically) Han 1.0 103,351 Ch 18.1
Hano 371 Hanunoo (Hanunóo) left-to-right, bottom-to-top Edit this on Wikidata Hanunoo 3.2 21 Ch 17.1
Hans 501 Han (Simplified variant) varies ZZ— Subset of Han (Hanzi, Kanji, Hanja) (see § Hani)
Hant 502 Han (Traditional variant) varies ZZ— Subset of § Hani
Hatr 127 Hatran right-to-left script Edit this on Wikidata Hatran 8.0 26 Ancient/historic Ch 10.12
Hebr 125 Hebrew right-to-left script Edit this on Wikidata Hebrew 1.0 134 Ch 9.1
Hira 410 Hiragana vertical right-to-left, left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata Hiragana 1.0 381 Ch 18.4
Hluw 080 Anatolian Hieroglyphs (Luwian Hieroglyphs, Hittite Hieroglyphs) left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata Anatolian Hieroglyphs 8.0 583 Ancient/historic Ch 11.6
Hmng 450 Pahawh Hmong left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata Pahawh Hmong 7.0 127 Ch 16.11
Hmnp 451 Nyiakeng Puachue Hmong left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata Nyiakeng Puachue Hmong 12.0 71 Ch 16.12
Hntl 504 Han (Traditional variant) with Latin (alias for Hant + Latn) ZZ— See § Hant and § Latn
Hrkt 412 Japanese syllabaries (alias for Hiragana + Katakana) vertical right-to-left, left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata Katakana or Hiragana See § Hira, § Kana Ch 18.4
Hung 176 Old Hungarian (Hungarian Runic) right-to-left script Edit this on Wikidata Old Hungarian 8.0 108 Ancient/historic Ch 8.8
Inds 610 Indus (Harappan) right-to-left script, boustrophedon Edit this on Wikidata ZZ— Not in Unicode, proposal is explored[i]
Ital 210 Old Italic (Etruscan, Oscan, etc.) right-to-left script, left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata Old Italic 3.1 39 Ancient/historic Ch 8.6
Jamo 284 Jamo (alias for Jamo subset of Hangul) varies ZZ— Subset of § Hang
Java 361 Javanese left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata Javanese 5.2 90 Ch 17.4
Jpan 413 Japanese (alias for Han + Hiragana + Katakana) varies ZZ— See § Hani, § Hira and § Kana
Jurc 510 Jurchen left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata ZZ— Not in Unicode
Kali 357 Kayah Li left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata Kayah Li 5.1 47 Ch 16.9
Kana 411 Katakana vertical right-to-left, left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata Katakana 1.0 321 Ch 18.4
Kawi 368 Kawi left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata Kawi 15.0 87 Ancient/historic Ch 17.9
Khar 305 Kharoshthi right-to-left script Edit this on Wikidata Kharoshthi 4.1 68 Ancient/historic Ch 14.2
Khmr 355 Khmer left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata Khmer 3.0 146 Ch 16.4
Khoj 322 Khojki left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata Khojki 7.0 65 Ancient/historic Ch 15.7
Kitl 505 Khitan large script left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata ZZ— Not in Unicode
Kits 288 Khitan small script vertical right-to-left Edit this on Wikidata Khitan Small Script 13.0 472 Ancient/historic Ch 18.12
Knda 345 Kannada left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata Kannada 1.0 92 Ch 12.8
Kore 287 Korean (alias for Hangul + Han) left-to-right ZZ— See § Hani, § Hang
Kpel 436 Kpelle left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata ZZ— Not in Unicode, proposal is explored[i]
Krai 396 Kirat Rai left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata Kirat Rai 16.0 58
Kthi 317 Kaithi left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata Kaithi 5.2 68 Ancient/historic Ch 15.2
Lana 351 Tai Tham (Lanna) left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata Tai Tham 5.2 127 Ch 16.7
Laoo 356 Lao left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata Lao 1.0 83 Ch 16.2
Latf 217 Latin (Fraktur variant) left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata ZZ— Typographic variant of Latin (see § Latn)
Latg 216 Latin (Gaelic variant) left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata ZZ— Typographic variant of Latin (see § Latn)
Latn 215 Latin left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata Latin 1.0 1,492 See also: Latin script in Unicode Ch 7.1
Leke 364 Leke left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata ZZ— Not in Unicode
Lepc 335 Lepcha (Róng) left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata Lepcha 5.1 74 Ch 13.12
Limb 336 Limbu left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata Limbu 4.0 68 Ch 13.6
Lina 400 Linear A left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata Linear A 7.0 341 Ancient/historic Ch 8.1
Linb 401 Linear B left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata Linear B 4.0 211 Ancient/historic Ch 8.2
Lisu 399 Lisu (Fraser) left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata Lisu 5.2 49 Ch 18.9
Loma 437 Loma left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata ZZ— Not in Unicode, proposal is explored[i]
Lyci 202 Lycian left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata Lycian 5.1 29 Ancient/historic Ch 8.5
Lydi 116 Lydian right-to-left script Edit this on Wikidata Lydian 5.1 27 Ancient/historic Ch 8.5
Mahj 314 Mahajani left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata Mahajani 7.0 39 Ancient/historic Ch 15.6
Maka 366 Makasar left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata Makasar 11.0 25 Ancient/historic Ch 17.8
Mand 140 Mandaic, Mandaean right-to-left script Edit this on Wikidata Mandaic 6.0 29 Ch 9.5
Mani 139 Manichaean right-to-left script Edit this on Wikidata Manichaean 7.0 51 Ancient/historic Ch 10.5
Marc 332 Marchen left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata Marchen 9.0 68 Ancient/historic Ch 14.5
Maya 090 Mayan hieroglyphs mixed ZZ— Not in Unicode
Medf 265 Medefaidrin (Oberi Okaime, Oberi Ɔkaimɛ) left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata Medefaidrin 11.0 91 Ch 19.10
Mend 438 Mende Kikakui right-to-left script Edit this on Wikidata Mende Kikakui 7.0 213 Ch 19.8
Merc 101 Meroitic Cursive right-to-left script Edit this on Wikidata Meroitic Cursive 6.1 90 Ancient/historic Ch 11.5
Mero 100 Meroitic Hieroglyphs right-to-left script Edit this on Wikidata Meroitic Hieroglyphs 6.1 32 Ancient/historic Ch 11.5
Mlym 347 Malayalam left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata Malayalam 1.0 118 Ch 12.9
Modi 324 Modi, Moḍī left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata Modi 7.0 79 Ancient/historic Ch 15.12
Mong 145 Mongolian vertical left-to-right, left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata Mongolian 3.0 168 Mong includes Clear and Manchu scripts Ch 13.5
Moon 218 Moon (Moon code, Moon script, Moon type) mixed ZZ— Not in Unicode, proposal is explored[i]
Mroo 264 Mro, Mru left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata Mro 7.0 43 Ch 13.8
Mtei 337 Meitei Mayek (Meithei, Meetei) left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata Meetei Mayek 5.2 79 Ch 13.7
Mult 323 Multani left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata Multani 8.0 38 Ancient/historic Ch 15.10
Mymr 350 Myanmar (Burmese) left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata Myanmar 3.0 243 Ch 16.3
Nagm 295 Nag Mundari left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata Nag Mundari 15.0 42
Nand 311 Nandinagari left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata Nandinagari 12.0 65 Ancient/historic Ch 15.13
Narb 106 Old North Arabian (Ancient North Arabian) right-to-left script Edit this on Wikidata Old North Arabian 7.0 32 Ancient/historic Ch 10.1
Nbat 159 Nabataean right-to-left script Edit this on Wikidata Nabataean 7.0 40 Ancient/historic Ch 10.10
Newa 333 Newa, Newar, Newari, Nepāla lipi left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata Newa 9.0 97 Ch 13.3
Nkdb 085 Naxi Dongba (na²¹ɕi³³ to³³ba²¹, Nakhi Tomba) left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata ZZ— Not in Unicode
Nkgb 420 Naxi Geba (na²¹ɕi³³ gʌ²¹ba²¹, 'Na-'Khi ²Ggŏ-¹baw, Nakhi Geba) left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata ZZ— Not in Unicode, proposal is explored[i]
Nkoo 165 N’Ko right-to-left script Edit this on Wikidata NKo 5.0 62 Ch 19.4
Nshu 499 Nüshu vertical right-to-left Edit this on Wikidata Nushu 10.0 397 Ch 18.8
Ogam 212 Ogham bottom-to-top, left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata Ogham 3.0 29 Ancient/historic Ch 8.14
Olck 261 Ol Chiki (Ol Cemet’, Ol, Santali) left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata Ol Chiki 5.1 48 Ch 13.10
Onao 296 Ol Onal left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata Ol Onal 16.0 44
Orkh 175 Old Turkic, Orkhon Runic right-to-left script Edit this on Wikidata Old Turkic 5.2 73 Ancient/historic Ch 14.8
Orya 327 Oriya (Odia) left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata Oriya 1.0 91 Ch 12.5
Osge 219 Osage left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata Osage 9.0 72 Ch 20.3
Osma 260 Osmanya left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata Osmanya 4.0 40 Ch 19.2
Ougr 143 Old Uyghur mixed Old Uyghur 14.0 26 Ancient/historic Ch 14.11
Palm 126 Palmyrene right-to-left script Edit this on Wikidata Palmyrene 7.0 32 Ancient/historic Ch 10.11
Pauc 263 Pau Cin Hau left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata Pau Cin Hau 7.0 57 Ch 16.13
Pcun 015 Proto-Cuneiform left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata ZZ— Not in Unicode
Pelm 016 Proto-Elamite left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata ZZ— Not in Unicode
Perm 227 Old Permic left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata Old Permic 7.0 43 Ancient/historic Ch 8.13
Phag 331 Phags-pa vertical left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata Phags-pa 5.0 56 Ancient/historic Ch 14.4
Phli 131 Inscriptional Pahlavi right-to-left script Edit this on Wikidata Inscriptional Pahlavi 5.2 27 Ancient/historic Ch 10.6
Phlp 132 Psalter Pahlavi right-to-left script Edit this on Wikidata Psalter Pahlavi 7.0 29 Ancient/historic Ch 10.6
Phlv 133 Book Pahlavi mixed ZZ— Not in Unicode
Phnx 115 Phoenician right-to-left script Edit this on Wikidata Phoenician 5.0 29 Ancient/historic[g] Ch 10.3
Piqd 293 Klingon (KLI pIqaD) left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata ZZ— Rejected for inclusion in Unicode[iii][iv]
Plrd 282 Miao (Pollard) left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata Miao 6.1 149 Ch 18.10
Prti 130 Inscriptional Parthian right-to-left script Edit this on Wikidata Inscriptional Parthian 5.2 30 Ancient/historic Ch 10.6
Psin 103 Proto-Sinaitic mixed ZZ— Not in Unicode
Qaaa-Qabx 900-949 Reserved for private use (range) ZZ— Not in Unicode
Ranj 303 Ranjana left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata ZZ— Not in Unicode
Rjng 363 Rejang (Redjang, Kaganga) left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata Rejang 5.1 37 Ch 17.5
Rohg 167 Hanifi Rohingya right-to-left script Edit this on Wikidata Hanifi Rohingya 11.0 50 Ch 16.14
Roro 620 Rongorongo mixed ZZ— Not in Unicode, proposal is explored[i]
Runr 211 Runic left-to-right, boustrophedon Edit this on Wikidata Runic 3.0 86 Ancient/historic Ch 8.7
Samr 123 Samaritan right-to-left script, top-to-bottom Edit this on Wikidata Samaritan 5.2 61 Ch 9.4
Sara 292 Sarati mixed ZZ— Not in Unicode
Sarb 105 Old South Arabian right-to-left script Edit this on Wikidata Old South Arabian 5.2 32 Ancient/historic Ch 10.2
Saur 344 Saurashtra left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata Saurashtra 5.1 82 Ch 13.13
Seal 590 (Small) Seal varies ZZ— Not in Unicode, proposal is explored[i]
Sgnw 095 SignWriting vertical left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata SignWriting 8.0 672 Ch 21.7
Shaw 281 Shavian (Shaw) left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata Shavian 4.0 48 Ch 8.15
Shrd 319 Sharada, Śāradā left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata Sharada 6.1 104 Ch 15.3
Shui 530 Shuishu left-to-right ZZ— Not in Unicode
Sidd 302 Siddham, Siddhaṃ, Siddhamātṛkā left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata Siddham 7.0 92 Ancient/historic Ch 15.5
Sidt 180 Sidetic right-to-left script Edit this on Wikidata Sidetic 17.0 26 Ancient/historic
Sind 318 Khudawadi, Sindhi left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata Khudawadi 7.0 69 Ch 15.9
Sinh 348 Sinhala left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata Sinhala 3.0 111 Ch 13.2
Sogd 141 Sogdian horizontal and vertical writing in East Asian scripts, top-to-bottom Edit this on Wikidata Sogdian 11.0 42 Ancient/historic Ch 14.10
Sogo 142 Old Sogdian right-to-left script Edit this on Wikidata Old Sogdian 11.0 40 Ancient/historic Ch 14.9
Sora 398 Sora Sompeng left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata Sora Sompeng 6.1 35 Ch 15.17
Soyo 329 Soyombo left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata Soyombo 10.0 83 Ancient/historic Ch 14.7
Sund 362 Sundanese left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata Sundanese 5.1 72 Ch 17.7
Sunu 274 Sunuwar left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata Sunuwar 16.0 44
Sylo 316 Syloti Nagri left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata Syloti Nagri 4.1 45 Ancient/historic Ch 15.1
Syrc 135 Syriac right-to-left script Edit this on Wikidata Syriac 3.0 88 Includes typographic variants Estrangelo (see § Syre), Western (§ Syrj), and Eastern (§ Syrn) Ch 9.3
Syre 138 Syriac (Estrangelo variant) right-to-left script Edit this on Wikidata ZZ— Typographic variant of Syriac (see § Syrc)
Syrj 137 Syriac (Western variant) right-to-left script Edit this on Wikidata ZZ— Typographic variant of Syriac (see § Syrc)
Syrn 136 Syriac (Eastern variant) right-to-left script Edit this on Wikidata ZZ— Typographic variant of Syriac (see § Syrc)
Tagb 373 Tagbanwa left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata Tagbanwa 3.2 18 Ch 17.1
Takr 321 Takri, Ṭākrī, Ṭāṅkrī left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata Takri 6.1 68 Ch 15.4
Tale 353 Tai Le left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata Tai Le 4.0 35 Ch 16.5
Talu 354 New Tai Lue left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata New Tai Lue 4.1 83 Ch 16.6
Taml 346 Tamil left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata Tamil 1.0 123 Ch 12.6
Tang 520 Tangut vertical right-to-left, left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata Tangut 9.0 7,059 Ancient/historic Ch 18.11
Tavt 359 Tai Viet left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata Tai Viet 5.2 72 Ch 16.8
Tayo 380 Tai Yo vertical right-to-left Edit this on Wikidata Tai Yo 17.0 55
Telu 340 Telugu left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata Telugu 1.0 101 Ch 12.7
Teng 290 Tengwar left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata ZZ— Not in Unicode
Tfng 120 Tifinagh (Berber) right-to-left script, left-to-right, top-to-bottom, bottom-to-top Edit this on Wikidata Tifinagh 4.1 59 Ch 19.3
Tglg 370 Tagalog (Baybayin, Alibata) left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata Tagalog 3.2 23 Ch 17.1
Thaa 170 Thaana right-to-left script Edit this on Wikidata Thaana 3.0 50 Ch 13.1
Thai 352 Thai left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata Thai 1.0 86 Ch 16.1
Tibt 330 Tibetan left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata Tibetan 2.0 207 Added in 1.0, removed in 1.1 and reintroduced in 2.0 Ch 13.4
Tirh 326 Tirhuta left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata Tirhuta 7.0 82 Ch 15.11
Tnsa 275 Tangsa left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata Tangsa 14.0 89 Ch 13.18
Todr 229 Todhri left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata Todhri 16.0 52 Ancient/historic
Tols 299 Tolong Siki left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata Tolong Siki 17.0 54
Toto 294 Toto left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata Toto 14.0 31 Ch 13.17
Tutg 341 Tulu-Tigalari left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata Tulu Tigalari 16.0 80 Ancient/historic
Ugar 040 Ugaritic left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata Ugaritic 4.0 31 Ancient/historic Ch 11.2
Vaii 470 Vai left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata Vai 5.1 300 Ch 19.5
Visp 280 Visible Speech left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata ZZ— Not in Unicode
Vith 228 Vithkuqi left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata Vithkuqi 14.0 70 Ancient/historic Ch 8.12
Wara 262 Warang Citi (Varang Kshiti) left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata Warang Citi 7.0 84 Ch 13.9
Wcho 283 Wancho left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata Wancho 12.0 59 Ch 13.16
Wole 480 Woleai left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata ZZ— Not in Unicode, proposal is explored[i]
Xpeo 030 Old Persian left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata Old Persian 4.1 50 Ancient/historic Ch 11.3
Xsux 020 Cuneiform, Sumero-Akkadian left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata Cuneiform 5.0 1,234 Ancient/historic Ch 11.1
Yezi 192 Yezidi right-to-left script Edit this on Wikidata Yezidi 13.0 47 Ancient/historic Ch 9.6
Yiii 460 Yi left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata Yi 3.0 1,220 Ch 18.7
Zanb 339 Zanabazar Square (Zanabazarin Dörböljin Useg, Xewtee Dörböljin Bicig, Horizontal Square Script) left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata Zanabazar Square 10.0 72 Ancient/historic Ch 14.6
Zinh 994 Code for inherited script Inherited 684
Zmth 995 Mathematical notation ZZ— Not a 'script' in Unicode
Zsye 993 Symbols (emoji variant) ZZ— Not a 'script' in Unicode
Zsym 996 Symbols ZZ— Not a 'script' in Unicode
Zxxx 997 Code for unwritten documents ZZ— Not a 'script' in Unicode
Zyyy 998 Code for undetermined script Common 9,123
Zzzz 999 Code for uncoded script Unknown 954,246 In Unicode: All other code points
Notes
  1. ^
    ISO 15924 publications As of 24 April 2025
  2. ^
  3. ^
    ISO 15924 Changes (including Aliases for Unicode; as of 24 April 2025)
  4. ^
    Unicode version 17.0
  5. ^
  6. ^
    Unicode uses the "Property Value Alias" (Alias) as the script-name. These Alias names are part of Unicode and are published informatively next to ISO 15924. An alias script name may be used in a character name: Palm, Palmyrene → U+10860 𐡠 PALMYRENE LETTER ALEPH.
  7. ^
    In Unicode, the Phoenician script is intended for the representation of text in Paleo-Hebrew, Archaic Phoenician, Phoenician, Early Aramaic, Late Phoenician cursive, Phoenician papyri, Siloam Hebrew, Hebrew seals, Ammonite, Moabite, and Punic.[v]
References
  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j "SEI List of Scripts Not Yet Encoded". Unicode Consortium. March 2023. Retrieved 2023-09-25.
  2. ^ "Unicode Pipeline § Code Points Provisionally Assigned for Mature Proposals". Unicode Consortium. 2023-09-12. Retrieved 2023-09-25.
  3. ^ Michael Everson (1997-09-18). "Proposal to encode Klingon in Plane 1 of ISO/IEC 10646-2". Archived from the original on 2024-02-13.
  4. ^ The Unicode Consortium (2001-08-14). "Approved Minutes of the UTC 87 / L2 184 Joint Meeting".
  5. ^ "Middle East-II, Ancient Scripts". The Unicode Consortium. Retrieved 2025-09-21.

Normalization properties

[edit]

Decompositions, decomposition type, canonical combining class, composition exclusions, and more.

Age

[edit]

Age is the version of the standard in which the code point was first designated. The version number is shortened to the numbering major.minor', although there more detailed version numbers are used: versions 4.0.0 and 4.0.1 both are named 4.0 as Age. Given the releases, Age can be from the range: 1.1, 2.0, 2.1, 3.0, 3.1, 3.2, 4.0, 4.1, 5.0, 5.1, 5.2, 6.0, 6.1, 6.2, 6.3, 7.0, 8.0, 9.0, 10.0, 11.0, 12.0, 12.1, 13.0, 14.0, 15.0, 15.1, 16.0 and 17.0.[25] The long values for Age begin in a V and use an underscore instead of a dot: V1_1, for example.[2] Codepoints without a specifically assigned age value have the value "NA", with the long form "Unassigned".

Deprecated

[edit]

Once a character has been defined, it will not be removed or reassigned.[26] However, a character may be deprecated, meaning its "use is strongly discouraged".[27] As of Unicode version 17.0, the following fifteen characters are deprecated:[28]

Deprecated characters in Unicode
Codepoint Character name Recommended alternative Remarks
U+0149 LATIN SMALL LETTER N PRECEDED BY APOSTROPHE U+02BC U+006E ʼn
U+0673 ARABIC LETTER ALEF WITH WAVY HAMZA BELOW U+0627 U+065F اٟ
U+0F77 TIBETAN VOWEL SIGN VOCALIC RR U+0FB2 U+0F81[a] ྲཱྀ
U+0F79 TIBETAN VOWEL SIGN VOCALIC LL U+0FB3 U+0F81[a] ླཱྀ
U+17A3 KHMER INDEPENDENT VOWEL QAQ U+17A2
U+17A4 KHMER INDEPENDENT VOWEL QAA U+17A2 U+17B6 អា
U+206A INHIBIT SYMMETRIC SWAPPING None[b]
U+206B ACTIVATE SYMMETRIC SWAPPING None[b]
U+206C INHIBIT ARABIC FORM SHAPING None[b]
U+206D ACTIVATE ARABIC FORM SHAPING None[b]
U+206E NATIONAL DIGIT SHAPES None[b]
U+206F NOMINAL DIGIT SHAPES None[b]
U+2329 LEFT-POINTING ANGLE BRACKET U+3008[c] U+27E8 MATHEMATICAL LEFT ANGLE BRACKET is recommended for mathematical and other technical use
U+232A RIGHT-POINTING ANGLE BRACKET U+3009[c] U+27E9 MATHEMATICAL RIGHT ANGLE BRACKET is recommended for mathematical and other technical use
U+E0001 LANGUAGE TAG None[d]
  1. ^ a b U+0F81 TIBETAN VOWEL SIGN REVERSED II is itself discouraged (but not deprecated), and is canonically equivalent to the sequence U+0F71 U+0F80.
  2. ^ a b c d e f Rather than using this control character to indicate the appropriate appearance for text, appropriate character codes with the correct state should be used.[29]
  3. ^ a b This alternative character is in the CJK Symbols and Punctuation block, and is not suitable for mathematical or technical use
  4. ^ Alternative means of language tagging should be used instead.[30]

Boundaries

[edit]

The Unicode Standard specifies the following boundary-related properties:

  • Grapheme cluster
  • Word
  • Line
  • Sentence

Alias name

[edit]

Unicode can assign alias names to code points. These names are unique over all names (including regular ones), so they can be used as identifier. There are five possible reasons to add an alias:

1. Abbreviation
Commonly occurring abbreviations or acronyms for control codes, format characters, spaces, and variation selectors.
For example, U+00A0   NO-BREAK SPACE has alias NBSP. Sometimes presented in a box:
NBSP
.
2. Control
ISO 6429 names for C0 and C1 control functions and similar commonly occurring names, are added as an alias to the character.
For example, U+0008 <control-0008> has the alias BACKSPACE.
3. Correction
This is a correction for a "serious problem" in the primary character name, usually an error.
For example, U+2118 SCRIPT CAPITAL P is actually a lowercase p, and so is given alias name WEIERSTRASS ELLIPTIC FUNCTION: "actually this has the form of a lowercase calligraphic p, despite its name, and through the alias the correct spelling is added." In descriptions, with preceding symbol .
4. Alternate
A widely used alternate name for a character.
Example: U+FEFF ZERO WIDTH NO-BREAK SPACE has the alternate alias BYTE ORDER MARK.
5. Figment
Several documented labels for C1 control code points which were never actually approved in any standard (figment meaning "feigned, in fiction").
For example, U+0099 <control-0099> has the figment alias SINGLE GRAPHIC CHARACTER INTRODUCER. This name is an architectural concept from early drafts of ISO/IEC 10646-1, but it was never approved or standardized.
[edit]

References

[edit]
Revisions and contributorsEdit on WikipediaRead on Wikipedia
from Grokipedia
Unicode character properties are named attributes assigned to Unicode code points or abstract characters, providing essential information about their semantics, behavior, and categorization to support text processing, rendering, and in software systems. These properties encompass a wide range of data, from basic identifiers like character names to functional attributes such as bidirectional class and combining class, enabling consistent handling of text across diverse scripts and languages. Properties are classified into several types based on their structure and usage: catalog properties are enumerated and extendable lists, such as the property that assigns characters to writing systems like Latin or Han. Additional categories from the Character Database (UCD) include binary properties (e.g., , true/false values), enumeration properties (e.g., General_Category with values like Lu for uppercase letters or Bidi_Class for bidirectional behavior), numeric properties (e.g., Numeric_Value for digits), string properties (e.g., Case_Folding), and miscellaneous types; these encompass normative properties like Bidi_Class and informative ones like provisional aliases. Normative properties, such as General_Category and Decomposition_Type, are required for conformance to the Unicode Standard, ensuring interoperability in algorithms like normalization and , while informative properties offer supplementary details without mandatory implementation. The UCD serves as the primary repository for these properties, comprising a set of machine-readable data files that detail values for each Unicode character, updated with each version of the standard (e.g., Unicode 17.0.0 as of 2025). Key files include UnicodeData.txt for core attributes like category and combining class, PropertyAliases.txt for standardized abbreviations (e.g., "gc" for General_Category), and PropertyValueAliases.txt for value synonyms (e.g., "Uppercase_Letter" for "Lu"). Stability policies guarantee that once published, properties like character names and canonical combining classes remain immutable, with updates requiring approval from the Unicode Technical Committee to maintain . Derived properties, such as ID_Start for identifier formation, are computed from base properties to aid in specific applications like programming languages and regular expressions.

Overview

Definition and Purpose

Unicode character properties are metadata attributes assigned to each in the standard, ranging from U+0000 to U+10FFFF, that describe the behavior, category, or semantics of characters to facilitate various aspects of text processing, , rendering, and . These properties provide essential information about how characters should be handled in software applications, extending beyond mere encoding to include details such as directionality, combining behavior, and numeric values. The primary purpose of Unicode character properties is to ensure consistent and predictable handling of text across diverse applications and platforms, including font selection, line breaking, , and search functionality. By standardizing these attributes, properties enable in globalized computing environments, supporting the rendering of bidirectional scripts, segmentation of words and sentences, and accurate for sorting. For instance, the General Category property distinguishes letters from symbols, aiding in tasks like uppercase conversion or punctuation detection without delving into specific implementations. Introduced with Unicode 1.0 in October 1991, character properties have evolved significantly in subsequent versions to accommodate an expanding repertoire of global scripts and to align with the development of ISO/IEC 10646, the international standard for universal character encoding. This evolution emphasizes support for diverse writing systems while maintaining compatibility with legacy encodings. Properties are classified as normative, which must be adhered to for conformance to the standard (such as those governing bidirectional rendering), or informative, serving as guidelines that may inform but do not strictly require implementation.

Classification of Properties

Unicode character properties are classified into several types based on the nature of their values, as defined in the Unicode Character Property Model. Binary properties are boolean, taking true or false values, such as White_Space, which identifies characters that separate tokens in text processing. Enumerated properties have a finite set of named values, for example, General_Category with values like Letter or Mark, used to categorize characters for rendering and analysis. Catalog properties involve extensible lists of strings, such as Name_Alias, which provides alternative names for characters. Numeric properties assign or rational numbers, like Numeric_Value for digits and fractions. String properties map to sequences of code points, including Decomposition_Mapping for normalization forms. Stability levels for properties are governed by the Unicode Character Encoding Stability Policy to ensure reliable text processing across versions. Immutable properties, such as the code point assignment and character Name, never change once established, providing foundational guarantees since Unicode 2.0. Deprecated properties are discouraged for new implementations but remain supported for backward compatibility, like certain legacy aliases. Provisional properties lack full stability commitments and may be revised, particularly for specialized areas like Unihan data. These policies were last updated on January 9, 2024. Properties are further tiered by usage to guide implementation priorities. Core or normative properties are essential for Unicode conformance, including Bidi_Class for layout. Supplementary properties support advanced features, such as those for handling. Informative properties offer non-normative guidance, like ISO_Comment for additional annotations, without conformance requirements. Contributory properties, such as Other_Alphabetic, contribute to derived normative ones but are not used independently. By 17.0 released in 2025, the Unicode Character Database specifies over 100 properties when accounting for main, contributory, and alias variants, enabling diverse applications from text rendering to search algorithms. Emerging properties, like Emoji_Presentation added in 6.0 in 2010, exemplify expansions for modern digital communication, classifying characters that default to emoji-style presentation.

Naming and Identification

Character Names

Each Unicode character that is formally assigned a receives a unique official name, serving as its primary identifier within the standard. These names are defined in the Unicode Character Database (UCD) via the Name property and follow a strict format: all uppercase English words separated by single spaces, with no abbreviations except in specific predefined cases, such as algorithmic names for or CJK ideographs. For example, the character at code point U+0041 is named "LATIN CAPITAL LETTER A". This naming convention has been in place since the initial release of 1.0 in , providing a consistent way to reference characters independently of their visual representation. In the original Unicode 1.0, some character names differed slightly from their modern forms to accommodate alignment with the emerging ISO/IEC 10646 standard. For instance, the name for U+0009 was "HORIZONTAL TABULATION," but it was later revised to "CHARACTER TABULATION" to match ISO nomenclature. These legacy Unicode 1.0 names are preserved for historical reference in the obsolete Unicode_1_Name field of the UnicodeData.txt file, which has not been updated since Unicode 6.2.0 and is no longer actively used. No substantive changes to names have occurred since Unicode 2.0 in 1996, when the current stability rules were established. The immutability of character names is enforced by the Unicode Consortium's Character Encoding Stability Policy, which prohibits alterations to assigned names to maintain compatibility across implementations and versions, with exceptions only for documented clerical corrections. This stability extends to all formally named characters, ensuring that software and systems can rely on consistent over time. Supplementary synonyms or abbreviations, such as "A" for U+0041, are provided via the separate NameAliases property rather than altering the official name. Control characters receive descriptive names that reflect their function, such as "NULL" for U+0000 or "LINE FEED" for U+000A, often including aliases from standards like ISO/IEC 6429. In contrast, characters in the (e.g., E000–F8FF) have no official names, allowing implementers to define their own without conflicting with the standard. By Unicode 17.0, over 154,000 characters—out of a total of 159,801 encoded characters—have been assigned official names, encompassing scripts, symbols, and controls from around the world.

Aliases and Abbreviations

In Unicode, the Name_Alias property defines official synonyms for character names, providing alternative identifiers that support compatibility and correction of historical naming issues. Introduced in Unicode 4.0 in 2003, this property categorizes aliases into types such as corrections (for fixing erroneous names), abbreviations (short forms), control (standard names for control characters), alternate (variant formal names), and figment (for obsolete or fictional usages). For instance, the character U+0000 has the official name "NULL" along with aliases "NUL" (abbreviation) and "NULL" (control type). These aliases are documented in the NameAliases.txt file within the Unicode Character Database (UCD) and ensure uniqueness across the entire namespace of character names and aliases. Abbreviated names, especially for control codes, were formalized and stabilized in Unicode 3.0 in 2000 to promote consistent usage in technical documentation and software. Examples include "NUL" for NULL (U+0000), "LF" for LINE FEED (U+000A), and "BEL" for ALERT (U+0007), which offer concise representations while preserving the full descriptive names. These abbreviations are particularly valuable for control and format characters, where brevity aids in debugging, scripting, and legacy protocol integration without altering core semantics. The primary role of aliases and abbreviations is to enhance interoperability with older systems, improve human readability in code and charts, and accommodate naming evolutions without breaking existing implementations. While not required for Unicode conformance, they are integral to practical applications, such as in the (ICU) library, where they enable flexible character lookup and property querying in routines. Deprecated aliases, including some from pre- 1.0 eras that were retired for hygiene, are excluded from current lists; the authoritative compilation resides in UAX #44 (Unicode Character Database standard, version 17.0.0, August 2025).

Categorical Assignments

General Category

The General Category property is a normative Unicode character property that provides a basic classification for every Unicode code point based on its primary usage in text, such as letters, marks, numbers, punctuation, symbols, separators, or other characters. Defined in the Unicode Character Database (UCD), it uses two-letter abbreviations to denote 30 specific values, grouped into seven major classes: Letter (L), Mark (M), Number (N), Punctuation (P), Symbol (S), Separator (Z), and Other (C). Introduced as normative in Unicode 1.0, the property has remained stable in structure while expanding to accommodate new characters and scripts, with assignments guiding core text processing behaviors like segmentation and rendering. The major classes encompass broad syntactic roles, with subcategories offering finer distinctions. For instance, the Letter class (L) includes Uppercase Letter (Lu, e.g., U+0041 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER A), Lowercase (Ll, e.g., U+0061 LATIN SMALL LETTER A), Titlecase Letter (Lt, e.g., U+01C5 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER D WITH SMALL LETTER Z), Modifier Letter (Lm), and Other Letter (Lo). The Mark class (M) covers combining elements like Nonspacing Mark (Mn, e.g., U+0300 COMBINING GRAVE ACCENT for diacritics) and Spacing Combining Mark (Mc). Number (N) features Decimal Number (Nd, e.g., U+0030 DIGIT ZERO), while Separator (Z) includes Space Separator (Zs, e.g., U+0020 SPACE) and Line Separator (Zl, e.g., U+2028 LINE SEPARATOR). (P) breaks down into types such as Connector Punctuation (Pc, e.g., U+005F LOW LINE for underscores linking words) and Other (Po, e.g., U+0021 ). Symbol (S) has Currency Symbol (Sc, e.g., U+0024 ) and Other Symbol (So, for icons like flags). The Other class (C) handles controls like Control (Cc, e.g., U+0009 CHARACTER TABULATION). These subcategories influence key text operations: casing behaviors apply primarily to cased letters (Lu, , Lt), enabling uppercase, lowercase, and titlecase mappings in normalization; sorting algorithms weight categories differently, treating letters as primary keys ahead of symbols or ; and rendering engines use them for layout, such as positioning nonspacing marks over base letters or inserting line breaks at separators. For example, Connector Punctuation like the affects word boundary detection in searches, while Format controls (Cf in C) like zero-width spaces guide bidirectional rendering without visible impact. Updates to the General Category have focused on assigning new code points to existing values rather than introducing novel categories, ensuring compatibility across Unicode versions. In Unicode 15.0 (2022) and 16.0 (2023), thousands of characters from scripts like Kawi and Tamil Supplement were classified using established subcategories, such as Lo for ideographic letters, supporting consistent processing for emerging writing systems. This stability aids implementations in distinguishing syntactic roles from script-specific traits, as seen in interactions with the Script property for multilingual text.

Script Property

The Script property is a normative Unicode character property that assigns a single script value to each Unicode code point to identify its primary writing system affiliation. This enumerated property partitions the entire Unicode codespace, with over 170 explicit script values as of Unicode 17.0, including examples such as Latn for the Latin script and Arab for the Arabic script. Special values include Zyyy for the Common script, which covers characters shared across multiple scripts like punctuation and symbols; Zinh for Inherited, used for non-spacing marks that inherit their script from a base character; and Zzzz for Unknown, applied to unassigned or private-use code points. The property's guidelines and values are detailed in Unicode Standard Annex #24, with the latest revision (39) aligned to Unicode 17.0 released in 2025. For characters that belong to multiple scripts based on usage, the Script_Extensions property provides a set of applicable script values, enabling more precise handling of multi-script scenarios. Introduced in Unicode 6.0 in , this property extends the primary Script value; for instance, Han characters may have Script_Extensions including Hani alongside Jpan for Japanese or Hans for simplified Chinese. It is particularly useful for ideographic scripts where context determines the associated . The Script property plays a in text processing applications, such as selecting appropriate fonts by segmenting text runs according to script boundaries, supporting script-specific input methods for keyboard layouts and composition, and aiding resolution by identifying script-level directionality rules. Provisional scripts, which are added experimentally before full stability, exemplify ongoing expansion; Tangut was introduced as a provisional script in Unicode 10.0 in 2017 to support the ancient Tangut writing system. More recent additions include in Unicode 13.0 in 2020, representing the historical used in medieval . Emoji characters are typically assigned to the Common script (Zyyy) or specific scripts like Zinh for inherited modifiers, allowing flexible rendering across diverse contexts without strict script isolation. While the Script property focuses on writing system affiliation and may overlap with the General Category for certain marks, it remains distinct in emphasizing linguistic and cultural grouping.

Block Assignment

The Block property is an informative catalog property in the Unicode Standard that assigns each encoded character to one of over 330 predefined blocks, which are contiguous ranges of code points organized thematically to reflect shared cultural, linguistic, or functional characteristics. For example, the Basic Latin block covers U+0000–U+007F for standard ASCII characters, while the much larger CJK Unified Ideographs block spans U+4E00–U+9FFF (and extensions) for thousands of East Asian ideographs. This property was introduced in Unicode 1.0 in 1991 as a way to structure the character repertoire. The primary purpose of the Block property is to support practical implementation in software and systems, such as optimizing memory allocation for character processing or enabling font subsets that load only blocks relevant to a given script or . Block names remain stable across Unicode versions to ensure , but block sizes vary significantly, from as few as 16 code points (e.g., Spacing Modifier Letters, U+02B0–U+02FF) to the full 65,536 code points in certain planes like the . Blocks are defined as fixed, non-overlapping contiguous ranges, with any unassigned code points within a block explicitly noted in the Unicode Character Database; these gaps allow for future expansions without redefining existing assignments. As the standard evolves, new blocks are added to accommodate emerging scripts and symbols—for instance, the (U+11F00–U+11F3F) was introduced in Unicode 15.0 in 2022 to encode the medieval from . In Unicode 17.0, released in September 2025, additional blocks such as Sidetic (U+10940–U+1095F) were incorporated to support newly encoded historical scripts. The standard includes two large Supplementary Private Use Area blocks (U+E000–U+F8FF and U+F0000–U+FFFFD) reserved for private agreements between vendors, ensuring they do not conflict with standard assignments. While block assignments often align with script distributions for technical efficiency, the Script property offers a more granular classification based on linguistic usage, potentially spanning multiple blocks.

Combining and Decomposition

Canonical Combining Class

The Canonical Combining Class property assigns a numeric value from 0 to 254 to each Unicode character to specify its role and positioning in sequences of combining marks during canonical reordering. This property is normative, requiring exact adherence in implementations for Unicode normalization conformance, and serves primarily to define a stable ordering that groups and sorts diacritics based on their typical attachment points relative to a base character. Characters with class 0 (Not_Reordered) include base letters, symbols, and certain non-combining marks that anchor sequences without participating in reordering, while combining characters receive values reflecting visual positions such as below, above, or attached sides. The classes are organized into major groups that facilitate predictable sorting: for instance, class 1 (Overlay) applies to diacritics that superimpose directly on the base glyph, class 7 (Nukta) to dot-like modifiers in Brahmi-derived scripts like , and class 9 () to vowel-suppressing marks in Indic writing systems. Positional classes dominate for non-spacing marks, including 200 (Attached_Below_Left) for marks joined low on the left, 220 (Below) for under-base attachments such as certain emoji modifiers, and 230 (Above) for overhead diacritics like U+0301 COMBINING . Enclosing marks (general category Me) typically receive class 0 or 1, while spacing marks (Mc) often use 0 or low numbers to preserve their width in sequences. The full set of named classes covers diverse script needs, with values 10–199 reserved for future fixed-position classes and the highest used value 240 (Iota_Subscript). In practice, the Canonical Combining Class enables the stable sorting of combining sequences in ascending order by class value, ensuring that canonically equivalent strings—such as a base letter with a dot below followed by a dot above versus the reverse—yield identical representations in normalized forms like NFC (Normalization Form C) or NFD (Normalization Form D). This reordering prevents rendering inconsistencies across systems, as unsorted diacritics might visually overlap or misalign in some fonts or languages. For example, the sequence <U+0061, U+0307, U+0323> (a with dot above then dot below) reorders to <U+0061, U+0323, U+0307> during normalization, with classes 230 and 220 respectively, to match the canonical below-before-above convention. Emoji combining sequences, such as skin tone modifiers (e.g., U+1F3FB with class 220), integrate via these classes to maintain compatibility with general . Updates to the Canonical Combining Class are infrequent to preserve stability, with new values introduced only when necessary for script support; the last significant expansion occurred in Unicode 3.2 (2002), adding positional classes for scripts like Mongolian and improved Indic handling. Subsequent additions, such as class 220 for below-positioned emoji modifiers in Unicode 8.0 (2015), have been limited and targeted, ensuring backward compatibility in normalization processes.

Decomposition and Normalization

The Decomposition_Type property is an enumerated Unicode character property that categorizes the type of decomposition mapping assigned to a code point in the UnicodeData.txt file. It distinguishes between normative canonical decompositions, which preserve semantic equivalence, and informative compatibility decompositions, which handle variant forms such as stylistic or formatting alternatives. Common values include Canonical for standard equivalences (e.g., precomposed accented letters), Compat for compatibility mappings (e.g., ligatures to separate letters), Font for font-specific variants (e.g., blackletter forms), and NoDecomp (or None) as the default for characters lacking any decomposition. For instance, U+00E9 (LATIN SMALL LETTER E WITH ACUTE) has Decomposition_Type=Canonical and maps to the sequence <U+0065, U+0301> (e + COMBINING ACUTE ACCENT). Decomposition mappings form the basis for Unicode normalization, which standardizes text representations to ensure consistent processing across systems. The four primary normalization forms are defined in Unicode Standard Annex #15: NFD applies canonical decomposition followed by stable sorting of combining marks; NFC extends NFD by adding canonical composition to produce compact forms; NFKD uses compatibility decomposition with sorting; and NFKC combines compatibility decomposition, sorting, and composition. These algorithms recursively decompose characters, reorder components based on the Canonical Combining Class for stability, and recompose where possible using primary and secondary composition rules to avoid ambiguities. The latest revision of UAX #15, dated July 30, 2025, aligns with Unicode 17.0.0 and includes stability guarantees for existing mappings. In Unicode 17.0 (2025), minor adjustments to some canonical decompositions were made for consistency, such as aligning overlays with U+0338 COMBINING LONG SOLIDUS OVERLAY in certain mathematical characters, while preserving overall stability. Compatibility decompositions, indicated by Decomposition_Type=Compat or subtypes like Narrow, Wide, Super, and Sub, expand variant representations—such as half-width forms or circled letters—into their base equivalents, enabling lossy but useful transformations. These are particularly valuable in search and applications, where NFKC normalization unifies visually similar items (e.g., mapping FULLWIDTH A (U+FF21) to LATIN CAPITAL LETTER A (U+0041)) to improve matching accuracy without preserving original formatting distinctions. However, such mappings can affect round-trip fidelity, requiring careful selection of forms based on use case. Emoji handling saw notable advancements in Unicode 9.0 (released June 21, 2016), with new decomposition rules supporting complex sequences like skin tone modifiers and (ZWJ) combinations, ensuring they integrate properly into normalization without treating ZWJ sequences as traditional decompositions.

Directional Behavior

Bidirectional Class

The Bidirectional Class, formally known as Bidi_Class in the Unicode Character Database, is an enumerated property that assigns directional categories to characters to facilitate the correct rendering of mixed left-to-right (LTR) and right-to-left (RTL) text, as defined in Unicode Standard Annex #9: The Bidirectional Algorithm (UAX #9). This property is essential for scripts such as and Hebrew, where text directionality must be resolved algorithmically to determine embedding levels and visual ordering without altering the logical sequence of characters. With over 20 distinct values, Bidi_Class ensures consistent bidirectional behavior across Unicode implementations, serving as the foundational input for the UBA's resolution phases. The classes are grouped into four main categories: strong, weak, neutral, and explicit embedding or isolation controls. Strong classes include L (Left-to-Right) for characters like Latin letters, R (Right-to-Left) for Hebrew letters, and AL (Right-to-Left Arabic) for Arabic letters, which establish a character's inherent direction. Weak classes, such as EN (European Number) for Western digits, AN (Arabic Number) for Arabic-Indic digits, ES (European Separator), ET (European Terminator), CS (Common Separator), NSM (Nonspacing Mark), and BN (Boundary Neutral), inherit direction based on surrounding context to handle numerals and punctuation in mixed scripts. Neutral classes—B (Paragraph Separator), S (Segment Separator), WS (Whitespace), and ON (Other Neutral)—lack strong directionality and adopt the embedding level of adjacent text, often requiring algorithmic resolution. Explicit classes, including LRE/LRO (Left-to-Right Embedding/Override), RLE/RLO (Right-to-Left Embedding/Override), PDF (Pop Directional Format), and the isolate controls LRI (Left-to-Right Isolate), RLI (Right-to-Left Isolate), FSI (First Strong Isolate), and PDI (Pop Directional Isolate), allow programmatic control over directional scoping. These categories collectively guide the UBA in assigning paragraph and embedding levels to resolve ambiguities in bidirectional text flow. For instance, the Latin capital A (U+0041) is assigned L, ensuring it flows left-to-right, while the Arabic letter Alef (U+0627) receives AL, promoting right-to-left progression. Similarly, the European digit 0 (U+0030) is EN, adapting to nearby strong directions, and a space (U+0020) is WS, treated as neutral. Bidi_Class assignments have been stable since their introduction in Unicode 1.1 (1993), with no retroactive changes to existing characters to maintain compatibility in legacy systems. Extensions via isolate classes were introduced in Unicode 6.3 (2013) to provide finer-grained control, limiting directional effects to isolated segments and reducing nesting issues in complex layouts, such as those involving paired brackets that may relate to mirroring behaviors. The property's data is derived and documented in files like DerivedBidiClass.txt, with the latest updates aligned to Unicode 17.0 (September 2025).

Mirroring and Overrides

The Bidi_Mirrored property is a binary Unicode character property that specifies whether a character's glyph should be visually mirrored when its resolved directionality in the bidirectional algorithm is right-to-left (RTL). This ensures semantic consistency in mixed-direction text, such as displaying an opening parenthesis as its mirrored counterpart in RTL contexts. For instance, the character U+0028 LEFT PARENTHESIS, which has Bidi_Mirrored=Yes, is rendered as a right parenthesis glyph (equivalent to U+0029) when embedded in RTL runs. Similarly, U+003C LESS-THAN SIGN mirrors to U+003E GREATER-THAN SIGN. The property is applied during the final reordering step of the Unicode Bidirectional Algorithm (UAX #9, Rule L4), where implementations must depict such characters with appropriate mirrored glyphs, though exact graphical mirroring is not required if it adheres to font conventions. Defined since Unicode 1.1, Bidi_Mirrored is normative and listed in the UnicodeData.txt file (field 9) and BidiMirroring.txt for paired mappings. To manage explicit directionality in , Unicode provides directional formatting characters that override or isolate the natural flow, grouped under the Bidi_Control binary , which is true for these invisible controls. This identifies characters affecting the algorithm's levels or isolates, ensuring precise control without altering surrounding text direction. Key examples include the Left-to-Right Mark (LRM, U+200E) and Right-to-Left Mark (RLM, U+200F), zero-width characters that enforce LTR or RTL direction for adjacent neutrals, introduced in 1.1. For stronger overrides, the Pop Directional Formatting character (PDF, U+202C) terminates or override scopes initiated by others, added alongside initiators like Left-to-Right Embedding (LRE, U+202A), Right-to-Left Embedding (RLE, U+202B), Left-to-Right Override (LRO, U+202D), and Right-to-Left Override (RLO, U+202E) in Unicode 2.0 (1996). These allow forcing direction over sequences, such as rendering English quotes correctly within text, while PDF restores the prior state. Following Unicode 6.3 (2013), isolate initiators were introduced to limit the scope of directional changes and reduce nesting issues, also marked by Bidi_Control=Yes. These include Left-to-Right Isolate (LRI, U+2066), which starts an LTR-isolated embedding; Right-to-Left Isolate (RLI, U+2067) for RTL; First Strong Isolate (FSI, U+2068), which bases direction on the first strong character; and Pop Directional Isolate (PDI, U+2069) to end isolates. Unlike earlier overrides, isolates prevent interaction with outer text, promoting safer bidi handling in complex layouts like user interfaces or markup. All Bidi_Control characters are processed early in the algorithm to adjust embedding levels without visible impact, supporting symmetric glyph rendering via Bidi_Mirrored where applicable.

Numeric Attributes

Numeric Type

The Numeric_Type property is an enumerated character property defined in the Unicode Standard that classifies characters based on their numeric significance and usage in numeral systems. It indicates whether a character contributes to numeric representation and specifies the subtype of that role, facilitating tasks such as number parsing, formatting, and in software implementations. This property is normative and derived from specific fields in the UnicodeData.txt file within the Unicode Character Database (UCD). The possible values of Numeric_Type are None (the default for characters without numeric meaning), , Digit, and Numeric. The value applies to characters that represent the decimal digits 0 through 9 and can be used in forming base-10 numbers, such as U+0030 DIGIT ZERO or characters from other scripts like U+0660 ARABIC-INDIC DIGIT ZERO. The Digit value is assigned to characters that denote digits 0 through 9 but are not suitable for standard decimal arithmetic, often including superscript or subscript forms, for example U+00B2 SUPERSCRIPT TWO with a digit value of 2. The Numeric value covers characters with broader numeric interpretations, including integers greater than 9, fractions, or other rational numbers, such as U+215E VULGAR FRACTION ONE QUARTER representing 0.25. Derivation of Numeric_Type follows rules from the UCD: a character receives Decimal if UnicodeData fields 6 (Decimal Digit Value), 7 (Digit Value), and 8 (Numeric Value) are all non-empty; Digit if fields 7 and 8 are non-empty but field 6 is empty; and Numeric if only field 8 is non-empty. For CJK Unified Ideographs, numeric types are derived from Unihan data tags like kPrimaryNumeric. Since Unicode 4.0, the set of characters with Numeric_Type=Decimal has been co-extensive with the General_Category value Nd (Decimal Digit Number). The Numeric_Type categorizes the role of a character in numeric contexts, while the companion Numeric_Value property supplies the precise magnitude associated with it. Stability policies ensure reliability for implementations: Numeric_Type values are immutable once assigned to a character, with no new assignments of Digit since Unicode 6.1.0, as the distinction from Numeric was deemed less useful for modern applications. Since Unicode 3.2, these values have been stable in a way that supports consistent behavior without requiring changes to existing data. From Unicode 6.0.0 onward, characters appear only in contiguous ranges of 10 consecutive code points with values 0-9, and from Unicode 6.2.0, no Number category characters (Nd, Nl, No) can have Numeric_Type=None. The property evolves with additions for historical and ancient scripts to preserve cultural numeral systems. For instance, Unicode 12.0 (2019) introduced the Ottoman Siyaq Numbers block (U+1ED00–U+1ED4F), where characters like U+1ED01 OTTOMAN SIYAQ NUMBER ONE and fractional forms such as U+1ED3C OTTOMAN SIYAQ FRACTION ONE HALF are assigned Numeric_Type=Numeric to represent accounting values from documents. Similarly, Unicode 11.0 (2018) added Mayan Numerals (U+1D2E0–U+1D2FF), with characters like U+1D2E1 MAYAN NUMERAL ONE receiving Numeric_Type=Numeric for values up to 19 in the system. More recently, Unicode 17.0 (2025) added Tolong Siki digits (U+11DE0–U+11DE9) with Numeric_Type=Decimal for the . These updates expand support for fractional and non-decimal notations without altering established types.

Numeric Value

The Numeric_Value in the Unicode Character Database (UCD) specifies the numerical meaning assigned to characters that function as numerals, such as digits or fractional symbols. It provides either an value or a rational for characters classified under relevant Numeric_Type categories, while remaining undefined for non-numeric characters. This enables software to interpret and process these characters in numerical contexts, such as calculations or sorting. Values are formatted as decimal integers for whole numbers, like "1" for U+0031 DIGIT ONE, or as rational fractions in the form "a/b" for parts of a whole, such as "1/2" for U+00BD VULGAR FRACTION ONE HALF or "3/4" for U+00BE VULGAR FRACTION THREE QUARTERS. These formats support precise handling in applications, including rendering and arithmetic operations. In collation processes, Numeric_Value informs the Unicode Collation Algorithm to sort numeric sequences correctly within text, preventing issues like "10" appearing after "2" in lexical ordering. Examples illustrate its use across scripts: the contiguous ASCII decimal digits U+0030 through U+0039 carry values "0" through "9", forming the basis of modern positional numeral systems. Compatibility characters like superscript digits, such as U+00B2 SUPERSCRIPT TWO with value "2", preserve numeric semantics from legacy encodings like ISO 8859-1. In Unicode 11.0 (2018), Numeric_Value was extended to Indic Siyaq fractions, for instance "1/4" for U+1ECAD INDIC SIYAQ FRACTION ONE QUARTER, accommodating historical notations from South Asian manuscripts.

Temporal and Legacy Aspects

Age Property

The Age property specifies the Unicode version in which a given was first assigned and became . It serves as a catalog property that tracks the historical introduction of characters, ensuring that implementations can reference the exact release where a character gained normative status. This property is normative and immutable once set, meaning the age of a character never changes in subsequent versions. The values of the Age property are enumerated using a version identifier format, such as V1_1 for 1.1 or V17_0 for 17.0, reflecting the major and minor version numbers. Unassigned code points receive no age value, typically denoted as "NA" or "Unassigned" in data files. These values are derived from the Unicode Character Database file DerivedAge.txt, which lists ranges of code points by their introduction version. In practice, the Age property facilitates version-specific text processing, such as rendering fallbacks for older systems or filtering characters in regular expressions—for instance, the pattern \p{age=V3_0} matches all code points assigned up to and including Unicode 3.0. It supports compatibility across software that may not fully implement the latest Unicode releases, allowing selective handling of newer characters without affecting legacy content. Every assigned character receives an age at the time of its encoding, promoting as the standard evolves. Representative examples illustrate its application: the Basic Latin block, including characters like U+0041 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER A, has an age of V1_1, introduced in 1993. Emoji from version 14.0, such as U+1FAE0 MELTING FACE, carry V14_0, added in September 2021. More recent additions in 17.0, like U+1FAEA DISTORTED FACE, are assigned V17_0 upon the version's release on September 9, 2025.

Deprecated and Obsolete Properties

In the Unicode Standard, deprecated properties are those that remain part of the Unicode Character Database (UCD) for backward compatibility but are strongly discouraged from use in new implementations or APIs, as they have been supplanted by more robust alternatives or are considered defective. This policy aligns with the Unicode Consortium's stability guidelines, ensuring that no property is ever removed once stabilized, thereby preventing disruptions in existing software while encouraging migration to current standards; for instance, the Conformance Clause in the Unicode Standard mandates support for normative properties but permits avoidance of deprecated ones where possible. Obsolete properties, a subset of deprecated ones, lack any ongoing practical use case and are retained solely for historical or legacy data access. A prominent example is the ISO_Comment property, which was introduced to track annotations for characters derived from ISO 10646 but became obsolete as of Unicode 5.2.0 (2009) and fully deprecated in Unicode 6.0.0 (2010) once chart generation processes no longer required it, with its values now defaulting to null strings for all code points. Similarly, the property, deprecated in Unicode 6.0.0, was replaced by the more comprehensive Line_Break property for handling hyphenation in text processing. Other deprecated properties include Grapheme_Link (from Unicode 5.0.0), which redundantly duplicated the behavior of Combining Class value 9, and normalization-related ones like Expands_On_NFC, Expands_On_NFD, Expands_On_NFKC, Expands_On_NFKD, and FC_NFKC_Closure (all from Unicode 6.0.0), which proved less useful for modern checks and were supplanted by updated normalization algorithms. The property, reflecting legacy names from Unicode 1.0, was declared obsolete in Unicode 6.2.0 (2012) and is no longer updated or used in official documentation. For legacy handling, properties like Other_ID_Continue serve as compatibility mechanisms, listing characters that qualified as ID_Continue in prior Unicode versions but no longer do under current identifier rules in UTS #31, allowing software upgrades to maintain conformance without breaking existing identifier validity. This ensures that applications processing legacy data, such as programming languages or file systems, can continue to recognize valid sequences while transitioning to recommended properties like ID_Continue; however, reliance on such legacy properties may introduce security risks or inconsistencies in or normalization if not carefully managed during upgrades. Recent updates include the removal of data file attributes in Unicode 17.0.0 (2025) for several long-deprecated properties, such as Gr_Link (alias for Grapheme_Link), , isc (ISO 10646 comment), kGB7, kJa, XO_NFC, XO_NFD, XO_NFKC, XO_NFKD, and FC_NFKC, streamlining the UCD without altering their stabilized values. Earlier, Unicode 14.0 (2021) deprecated certain property aliases to consolidate naming conventions, though no major properties were obsoleted at that time. These changes underscore the ongoing effort to phase out obsolete elements while preserving property's role in tracking when properties were active.

Boundary and Formatting Rules

Grapheme Cluster Boundaries

Grapheme cluster boundaries define the edges between user-perceived characters in Unicode text, treating sequences of one or more code points as a single unit for operations like cursor movement, selection, and text rendering. Unlike individual code points, grapheme clusters approximate what users intuitively see as a single character, such as a base letter combined with diacritics or complex emoji compositions. This segmentation is specified in Standard Annex #29 (UAX #29), which provides a default algorithm for identifying these boundaries in a language-independent manner. The algorithm relies on several character properties to determine breaks. Primarily, it uses the Grapheme_Cluster_Break (GCB) property, which categorizes characters into values such as Control, CR, LF, Extend, ZWJ, Regional_Indicator, SpacingMark, and others derived from the General_Category (e.g., Nonspacing_Mark) and Canonical_Combining_Class. Binary properties like Grapheme_Extend (a superset including GCB=Extend or ZWJ) and the legacy Grapheme_Base further aid in identifying base characters versus extenders, ensuring no breaks occur between a base and its attachments. These properties enable the rules to handle diverse scripts, from Latin accented letters to Indic conjuncts. The default grapheme cluster algorithm consists of pairwise rules that prohibit (×) or allow (÷) breaks between adjacent characters, processed from left to right with higher-precedence rules overriding lower ones. Core rules include no break after control characters or line breaks (e.g., : (Control | CR | LF) ÷), syllable formation (e.g., GB6: L × (L | V | LV | LVT) for leading jamo), and crucially, no break between a grapheme base and extenders (e.g., GB9: × (Extend | ZWJ), treating combining marks like U+0300 () as attached to a preceding base). A final catch-all rule (GB999: Any ÷ Any) permits breaks elsewhere. For instance, the sequence "ä" (U+0061 LATIN SMALL LETTER A followed by U+0308 COMBINING DIAERESIS) forms a single cluster with no internal boundary, as the diaeresis has GCB=Extend. Extensions to the basic rules support modern and flags. Rule GB11 prohibits breaks within (ZWJ) sequences of extended pictographic characters (e.g., 👨‍👩‍👧 U+1F468 ZWJ U+1F469 ZWJ U+1F467 forms a single family emoji cluster), added in 9.0 (2016) to align with Unicode Technical Standard #51 (UTS #51). Similarly, rules GB12 and GB13 handle regional indicator pairs for flags (e.g., 🇺🇸 U+1F1FA REGIONAL INDICATOR U+1F1F8 REGIONAL INDICATOR as one cluster), introduced in 10.0 (2017) to prevent splitting bicolor flags. These updates ensure emoji sequences, which may span multiple code points, are treated holistically as user-perceived units.

Line Breaking Properties

The line breaking properties in Unicode classify characters according to their behavior in determining possible line break points within text, enabling consistent wrapping across scripts and languages. These properties form the basis of the Unicode Line Breaking Algorithm, which processes sequences of characters to identify mandatory, prohibited, or optional breaks, supporting diverse typographic traditions such as space-delimited Western text, width-based East Asian layouts, and syllable-bound . Assigned as a normative Unicode character property, the line break class for each specifies how it interacts with adjacent characters in break opportunity resolution. The properties are divided into non-tailorable classes, which enforce fixed behavior across implementations, and tailorable classes, which allow customization for language-specific or stylistic needs. Non-tailorable classes include mandatory breaks like carriage returns and line feeds, while tailorable ones handle ambiguities in alphabetic, ideographic, or numeric contexts. The full set of 34 classes is detailed in the Unicode data file LineBreak.txt, where each character is mapped to one class based on its typographic role, with the Unambiguous_Hyphen (HH) class added in Unicode 17.0 (2024). For example, spaces (class SP) permit indirect breaks after them, whereas word joiners (class WJ) prohibit breaks on either side to preserve compound words. In the line breaking algorithm, these properties are applied through a sequence of rules (LB1 to LB31) that resolve break opportunities symbolically: "÷" for allowed breaks, "×" for prohibited ones, and context-dependent logic for contingencies. Mandatory breaks (e.g., class BK) always trigger a line end, while combining marks (class CM) attach to the preceding base character without allowing intervening breaks. Tailoring might adjust classes like AL (alphabetic) to prevent breaks within words in certain languages, and special handling applies to sequences such as (classes H2, H3, JL, JV, JT) or emoji modifiers (classes EB, EM). The algorithm also accounts for overrides like zero-width spaces (class ZW) to insert explicit break points. The following table summarizes the line break property values, grouped by category for clarity:
CategoryClassDescription
Non-tailorable ClassesBKMandatory break (e.g., paragraph separator).
CRCarriage return (break after, except before LF).
LFLine feed (break after).
NLNext line (break after).
SGSurrogate (invalid in well-formed text).
WJWord joiner (no break before or after).
ZWZero width space (break opportunity).
GLNon-breaking "glue" (no break before or after, e.g., NBSP).
SPSpace (indirect break after).
ZWJZero width joiner (no break in sequences).
CMCombining mark (no break from preceding base).
Break OpportunitiesB2Break before and after (e.g., em dash).
BABreak after (e.g., sentence-terminal punctuation).
BBBreak before (e.g., dictionary punctuation).
HYHyphen (break after, except in numerics).
HHUnambiguous hyphen (break after, except word-initial).
CBContingent break (depends on additional data, e.g., inline objects).
Prohibiting BreaksCLClose punctuation (no break before, e.g., right bracket).
CPClose parenthesis (no break before, e.g., ) ].
EXExclamation/interrogation (no break before, e.g., ! ?).
INInseparable (indirect breaks only between pairs).
NSNonstarter (indirect break before, e.g., interrobang).
OPOpen punctuation (no break after, e.g., ( [ ).
QUQuotation (opening/closing behavior, e.g., “ ”).
Numeric ContextISInfix numeric separator (no break around numerics, e.g., . ,).
NUNumeric (forms expressions, e.g., digits).
POPostfix numeric (no break after numerics, e.g., %).
PRPrefix numeric (no break before numerics, e.g., $).
SYSymbol allowing break after (no break before, e.g., /).
Other CharactersAIAmbiguous (behaves as AL or ID based on East Asian width).
AKAksara (Brahmic syllable consonant).
ALAlphabetic (normal text characters).
APAksara pre-base (Brahmic repha).
ASAksara start (Brahmic independent vowel).
CJConditional Japanese starter (behaves as NS or ID).
EBEmoji base (no break from following modifier).
EMEmoji modifier (no break from preceding base).
H2Hangul LV syllable.
H3Hangul LVT syllable.
HLHebrew letter (alphabetic with hyphen/slash rules).
IDIdeographic (break before/after, except numerics).
JLHangul L jamo.
JVHangul V jamo.
JTHangul T jamo.
RIRegional indicator (pairs kept together).
SAComplex context-dependent (e.g., Thai; requires analysis).
VFVirama final (Brahmic final consonant).
VIVirama (Brahmic conjoining).
XXUnknown (unassigned or private use).
This classification ensures robust handling of mixed-script text, with implementations required to resolve ambiguities per the algorithm's rules for optimal readability.

References

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