Unicode symbols

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In computing, a Unicode symbol is a Unicode character which is not part of a script used to write a natural language, but is nonetheless available for use as part of a text.

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Many of the symbols are drawn from existing character sets or ISO/IEC or other national and international standards. The Unicode Standard states that "The universe of symbols is rich and open-ended," but that in order to be considered, a symbol must have a "demonstrated need or strong desire to exchange in plain text." [1] This makes the issue of what symbols to encode and how symbols should be encoded more complicated than the issues surrounding writing systems. Unicode focuses on symbols that make sense in a one-dimensional plain-text context. For example, the typical two-dimensional arrangement of electronic diagram symbols justifies their exclusion. [2] (Box-drawing characters are a partial exception, for legacy purposes, and a number of electronic diagram symbols are indeed encoded in Unicode's Miscellaneous Technical block.) For adequate treatment in plain text, symbols must also be displayable in a monochromatic setting. Even with these limitations – monochromatic, one-dimensional and standards-based – the domain of potential Unicode symbols is extensive. (However, emojis  – ideograms, graphic symbols  – that were admitted into Unicode, allow colors although the colors are not standardized.)

Symbol block list

There are 149,186 characters, with Unicode 15.0, [3] [4] including the following symbol blocks:

See also

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Variation Selectors is the block name of a Unicode code point block containing 16 variation selectors used to specify a glyph variant for a preceding character. They are currently used to specify standardized variation sequences for mathematical symbols, emoji symbols, 'Phags-pa letters, and CJK unified ideographs corresponding to CJK compatibility ideographs. At present only standardized variation sequences with VS1, VS2, VS3, VS15 and VS16 have been defined; VS15 and VS16 are reserved to request that a character should be displayed as text or as an emoji respectively.

Supplemental Symbols and Pictographs is a Unicode block containing emoji characters. It extends the set of symbols included in the Miscellaneous Symbols and Pictographs block. It also includes Typikon symbols.

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Symbols and Pictographs Extended-A is a Unicode block containing emoji characters. It extends the set of symbols included in the Supplemental Symbols and Pictographs block.

References

  1. ↑ "Section 22: Symbols" (PDF). The Unicode Standard. The Unicode Consortium. September 2022.
  2. ↑ "Section 22: Miscellaneous Technical" (PDF). The Unicode Standard. The Unicode Consortium. September 2022.
  3. ↑ "Unicode character database". The Unicode Standard. Retrieved 2020-03-15.
  4. ↑ "Enumerated Versions of The Unicode Standard". The Unicode Standard. Retrieved 2020-03-15.
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