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15 <title>UCD: Unicode NamesList File Format</title>
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47 <h1>Unicode NamesList File Format</h1>
48 <table height="87" cellSpacing="2" cellPadding="0" width="100%" border="1">
51 <td vAlign="top" width="144">Revision</td>
52 <td vAlign="top">3.1</td>
55 <td vAlign="top" width="144">Authors</td>
56 <td vAlign="top">Asmus Freytag</td>
59 <td vAlign="top" width="144">Date</td>
60 <td vAlign="top">2001-02-26</td>
63 <td vAlign="top" width="144">This Version</td>
64 <td vAlign="top"><a href="http://http://www.unicode.org/Public/3.1-Update/NamesList-2.html">http://www.unicode.org/Public/3.1-Update/NamesList-2.html</a></td>
67 <td vAlign="top" width="144">Previous Version</td>
68 <td vAlign="top"><a href="http://http://www.unicode.org/Public/3.0-Update/NamesList-1.html">http://www.unicode.org/Public/3.0-Update/NamesList-1.html</a></td>
71 <td vAlign="top" width="144">Latest Version</td>
72 <td vAlign="top"><a href="http://www.unicode.org/Public/UNIDATA/NamesList.html">http://www.unicode.org/Public/UNIDATA/NamesList.html</a></td>
80 <p>This file describes the format and contents of NamesList.txt</p>
82 <h3><i>Status</i></h3>
85 <i>The file and the files described herein are part of the <a href="UnicodeCharacterDatabase-3.1.0.html"> Unicode Character Database</a>
87 and are governed by the <a href="#Terms of Use">UCD Terms of Use</a> stated at the end.</i></p>
91 <h2>1.0 Introduction</h2>
93 <p>The Unicode name list file NamesList.txt (also NamesList.lst) is a plain text file used
94 to drive the layout of the character code charts in the Unicode Standard. The information
95 in this file is a combination of several fields from the UnicodeData.txt and Blocks.txt files,
96 together with additional annotations for many characters. This document describes the
97 syntax rules for the file format, but also gives brief information on how each construct
98 is rendered when laid out for the book. Some of the syntax elements were used in
99 preparation of the drafts of the book and may not be present in the final, released form
100 of the NamesList.txt file.</p>
102 <p>The same input file can be used to do the draft preparation for ISO/IEC 10646 (referred
103 below as ISO-style). This necessitates the presence of some information in the name list
104 file that is not needed (and in fact removed during parsing) for the Unicode book.</p>
106 <p>With access to the layout program (unibook.exe) it is a simple matter of creating
107 name lists for the purpose of formatting working drafts containing proposed characters.</p>
109 <h3>1.1 NamesList File Overview</h3>
111 <p>The *.lst files are plain text files which in their most simple form look like this</p>
113 <p>@@<tab>0020<tab>BASIC LATIN<tab>007F<br>
114 ; this is a file comment (ignored)<br>
115 0020<tab>SPACE<br>
116 0021<tab>EXCLAMATION MARK<br>
117 0022<tab>QUOTATION MARK<br>
119 007F<tab>DELETE</p>
121 <p>The semicolon (as first character), @ and <tab> characters are used by the file
122 syntax and must be provided as shown. Hexadecimal digits must be in UPPER CASE). A double
123 @@ introduces a block header, with the title, and start and ending code of the block
124 provided as shown.</p>
126 <p>For an ISO-style, minimal name list, only the NAME_LINE and BLOCKHEADER and their
127 constituent syntax elements are needed.</p>
129 <p>The full syntax with all the options is provided in the following sections.</p>
131 <h3>1.2 NamesList File Structure</h3>
133 <p>This section gives defines the overall file structure</p>
135 <pre><strong>NAMELIST: TITLE_PAGE* BLOCK*
137 <strong>TITLE_PAGE: TITLE
138 | TITLE_PAGE SUBTITLE
139 | TITLE_PAGE SUBHEADER
140 | TITLE_PAGE IGNORED_LINE
141 | TITLE_PAGE EMPTY_LINE
142 | TITLE_PAGE COMMENTLINE
144 | TITLE_PAGE PAGEBREAK
146 <strong>BLOCK: BLOCKHEADER
154 CHAR_ENTRY: NAME_LINE | RESERVED_LINE
155 | CHAR_ENTRY ALIAS_LINE
156 | CHAR_ENTRY COMMENT_LINE
157 | CHAR_ENTRY CROSS_REF
158 | CHAR_ENTRY DECOMPOSITION
159 | CHAR_ENTRY COMPAT_MAPPING
160 | CHAR_ENTRY IGNORED_LINE
161 | CHAR_ENTRY EMPTY_LINE
165 <p>In other words:<br>
167 Neither TITLE nor SUBTITLE may occur after the first BLOCKHEADER. </p>
169 <p>Only TITLE, SUBTITLE, SUBHEADER, PAGEBREAK, COMMENT_LINE, and IGNORED_LINE may
170 occur before the first BLOCKHEADER.</p>
172 <p>Directly following either a NAME_LINE or a RESERVED_LINE an uninterrupted sequence of
173 the following lines may occur (in any order and repeated as often as needed): ALIAS_LINE,
174 CROSS_REF, DECOMPOSITION, COMPAT_MAPPING, NOTICE, EMPTY_LINE and IGNORED_LINE.</p>
176 <p>Except for EMPTY_LINE, NOTICE and IGNORED_LINE, none of these lines may occur in any other
179 <p>Note: A NOTICE displays differently depending on whether it follows a header or title
180 or is part of a CHAR_ENTRY.</p>
182 <h3>1.3 NamesList File Elements</h3>
184 <p>This section provides the details of the syntax for the individual elements.</p>
186 <pre><small><strong>ELEMENT SYNTAX</strong> // How rendered</small></pre>
188 <pre><small><strong>NAME_LINE: CHAR <tab> LINE
189 </strong> // the CHAR and the corresponding image are echoed,
190 // followed by the name as given in LINE
192 <strong> CHAR TAB NAME COMMENT LF
193 </strong> // Names may have a comment, which is stripped off
194 // unless the file is parsed for an ISO style list
196 <strong>RESERVED_LINE: CHAR TAB <reserved>
197 </strong> // the CHAR is echoed followed by an icon for the
198 // reserved character and a fixed string e.g. <reserved>
200 <strong>COMMMENT_LINE: <tab> "*" SP EXPAND_LINE
201 </strong> // * is replaced by BULLET, output line as comment
202 <strong><tab> EXPAND_LINE</strong>
203 // output line as comment
205 <strong>ALIAS_LINE: <tab> "=" SP LINE
206 </strong> // replace = by itself, output line as alias
208 <strong>CROSS_REF: <tab> "X" SP EXPAND_LINE
209 </strong> // X is replaced by a right arrow
210 <strong> <tab> "X" SP "(" STRING SP "-" SP CHAR ")"
211 </strong> // X is replaced by a right arrow
212 // the "(", "-", ")" are removed, the
213 // order of CHAR and STRING is reversed
214 // i.e. both inputs result in the same output
216 <strong>IGNORED_LINE: <tab> ";" EXPAND_LINE
218 </strong> // empty lines and file comments are ignored
220 <strong>DECOMPOSITION: <tab> ":" EXPAND_LINE
221 </strong> // replace ':' by EQUIV, expand line into
224 <strong>COMPAT_MAPPING: <tab> "#" SP EXPAND_LINE
225 </strong> // replace '#' by APPROX, output line as mapping
227 <strong>NOTICE: "@+" <tab> LINE
228 </strong> // skip '@+', output text as notice
229 <strong> "@+" TAB * SP LINE
230 </strong> // skip '@', output text as notice
231 // "*" expands to a bullet character
232 // Notices following a character code apply to the
233 // character and are indented. Notices not following
234 // a character code apply to the page/block/column
235 // and are italicized, but not indented
237 <strong>SUBTITLE: "@@@+" <tab> LINE
238 </strong> // skip "@@@+", output text as subtitle
240 <strong>SUBHEADER: "@" <tab> LINE
241 </strong> // skip '@', output line as text as column header
243 <strong>BLOCKHEADER: "@@" <tab> BLOCKSTART <tab> BLOCKNAME <tab> BLOCKEND
244 </strong> // skip "@@", cause a page break and optional
245 // blank page, then output one or more charts
246 // followed by the list of character names.
247 // use BLOCKSTART and BLOCKEND to define the
248 // characters belonging to a block
249 // use blockname in page and table headers
250 <strong> "@@" <tab> BLOCKSTART <tab> BLOCKNAME COMMENT <tab> BLOCKEND
251 </strong>// if a comment is present it replaces the blockname
252 // when an ISO-style namelist is laid out
254 <strong>BLOCKSTART: CHAR</strong> // first character position in block
255 <strong>BLOCKEND: CHAR</strong> // last character position in block
256 <strong>PAGE_BREAK: "@@"</strong> // insert a (column) break
258 <strong>TITLE: "@@@" <tab> LINE</strong>
259 // skip "@@@", output line as text
260 // Title is used in page headers
262 <strong>EXPAND_LINE: {CHAR | STRING}+ LF </strong>
263 // all instances of CHAR *) are replaced by
264 // CHAR NBSP x NBSP where x is the single Unicode
265 // character corresponding to char
266 // If character is combining, it is replaced with
267 // CHAR NBSP <circ> x NBSP where <circ> is the
268 // dotted circle</small></pre>
270 <p><strong>Notes:</strong>
275 <li>Blocks must be aligned on 16-code point boundary and contain an integer
276 multiple of code points. The exception to that rule is for blocks of
277 ideographs etc. for which no names are listed in the file. Such blocks must
278 end on the actual last character.</li>
279 <li>Blocks must be non-overlapping and in ascending order. Namelines
280 must be in ascending order and following the block header for the block to
281 which they belong.</li>
282 <li>Reserved entries are optional, and will be supplied automatically. They
283 are required whenever followed by ALIAS_LINE, COMMENT_LINE or CROSS_REF</li>
286 <h3><strong>1.4 NamesList File Primitives</strong></h3>
288 <p>The following are the primitives and terminals for the NamesList syntax.</p>
290 <pre><strong><small>LINE: STRING LF
291 COMMENT: "(" NAME ")"
292 "(" NAME ")" "*" </small></strong><small>
293 <strong>BLOCKNAME:</strong> <sequence of Latin-1 characters, except "(" and ")">
294 <strong>NAME</strong>: <sequence of uppercase ASCII letters, digit and hyphen>
295 <strong>STRING</strong>: <sequence of Latin-1 characters>
296 <strong>CHAR</strong>: <strong>X X X X</strong>
297 <strong>| X X X X X</strong>
298 <strong>| X X X X X X</strong></small>
299 <small><strong>X: "0"|"1"|"2"|"3"|"4"|"5"|"6"|"7"|"8"|"9"|"A"|"B"|"C"|"D"|"E"|"F"
300 <tab>:</strong> <sequence of one or more ASCII tab characters 0x09>
301 <strong>SP</strong>: <ASCII 0x20>
302 <strong>LF</strong>: <any sequence of ASCII 0x0A and 0x0D>
305 <p><strong>Notes:</strong>
308 <li>Special lookahead logic prevents a mention of a 4 digit standard, such as ISO 9999 from
309 being misinterpreted as ISO CHAR. The - in a character range CHAR-CHAR is
310 replaced by an EN DASH.</li>
311 <li>Use of Latin-1 is supported in unibook.exe, but not portably, unless the file is encoded as
313 <li>The final LF in the file must be present</li>
314 <li>A CHAR inside ' or " is expanded, but only its glyph image is printed,
316 code value is not echoed.</li>
317 <li>Straight quotes in an EXPAND_LINE are replaced by curly quotes using English rules.
318 Apostrophes are supported, but nested quotes are not.</li>
320 <h2>Modifications</h2>
321 <p>Use of 4-6 digit hex notation is now supported.</p>
324 UCD <a name="Terms of Use">Terms of Use</a></h2>
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