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25 alt="[Unicode]" width="34" height="33"></a> <a
26 class="bar" href="UnicodeCharacterDatabase.html">Unicode Character
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36 <h1>UNICODE CHARACTER DATABASE</h1>
37 <table border="1" cellspacing="2" cellpadding="0" height="87" width="100%">
39 <td valign="TOP" width="144">Revision</td>
40 <td valign="TOP">3.1.0</td>
43 <td valign="TOP" width="144">Authors</td>
44 <td valign="TOP">Mark Davis and Ken Whistler</td>
47 <td valign="TOP" width="144">Date</td>
48 <td valign="TOP">2001-02-28</td>
51 <td valign="TOP" width="144">This Version</td>
53 href="http://http://www.unicode.org/Public/3.1-Update/UnicodeCharacterDatabase-3.1.0.html">http://www.unicode.org/Public/3.1-Update/UnicodeCharacterDatabase-3.1.0.html</a></td>
56 <td valign="TOP" width="144">Previous Version</td>
58 href="http://www.unicode.org/Public/3.0-Update1/UnicodeCharacterDatabase-3.0.1.html">http://www.unicode.org/Public/3.0-Update1/UnicodeCharacterDatabase-3.0.1.html</a></td>
61 <td valign="TOP" width="144">Latest Version</td>
63 href="http://www.unicode.org/Public/UNIDATA/UnicodeCharacterDatabase.html">http://www.unicode.org/Public/UNIDATA/UnicodeCharacterDatabase.html</a></td>
69 <p><i>This document describes the format and content of the Unicode Character
70 Database (UCD)</i></p>
72 <h3><i>Status</i></h3>
74 <p><i>The file and the files described herein are part of the Unicode
75 Character Database and are governed by the <a href="#UCD_Terms">UCD Terms of
76 Use</a> given below.</i></p>
77 <p><i>The <a href="#References">References</a> provide related information
78 that is useful in understanding this document.</i></p>
79 <p><i><b>Warning: </b>the information in this file does not completely
80 describe the use and interpretation of Unicode character properties and
81 behavior. It must be used in conjunction with the data in the other files in
82 the Unicode Character Database, and relies on the notation and definitions
84 href="http://www.unicode.org/unicode/standard/versions/Unicode3.0.html">The
85 Unicode Standard</a>. All chapter references are to Version 3.1.0 of the
89 <p>The Unicode Character Database (UCD) is a set of files that define the
90 Unicode character properties and internal mappings. This document describes the
91 files that are part of <a href="http://www.unicode.org/unicode/reports/tr27/">The
92 Unicode Standard, Version 3.1</a> [<a href="#U3.1">U3.1</a>]. The main changes
93 in this version are:</p>
95 <li>All of the data files have been updated to account for the large number of
96 additional characters in Unicode 3.1.</li>
97 <li>PropList.txt has been extensively reorganized and reformatted.</li>
98 <li>Scripts.txt has been added to the UCD.</li>
99 <li>A large number of informative derived property files have been added to
102 <p><i>Files in the UCD use a common format unless otherwise specified. For
103 details, see <a href="#UCD_File_Format">UCD File Format</a>.</i></p>
104 <h2><a name="Conformance">Conformance</a></h2>
105 <p>For information on the meaning and application of the terms normative and
106 informative, see "Chapter 4, Character Properties (revision)" in <a
107 href="http://www.unicode.org/unicode/reports/tr27/#conformance">UAX #27, Unicode
109 <p>Some informative data files contain derived properties, properties that can
110 be derived from other properties in the UCD. The derived properties that are
111 computed from solely normative properties are themselves normative, while the
112 others are informative.</p>
114 <p>The following table summarizes the files in the Unicode Character Database.
115 For more information about these files, see the referenced technical
116 report(s), files, or section of Unicode Standard, Version 3.1.</p>
117 <table border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="4">
119 <th>".txt" File</th>
121 <th align="center">N/I</th>
125 <td>ArabicShaping</td>
127 <td align="center">N</td>
128 <td>Basic Arabic and Syriac character shaping properties, such as initial,
129 medial and final shapes.</td>
132 <td>BidiMirroring</td>
133 <td><a href="http://www.unicode.org/unicode/reports/tr9/">UAX #9</a></td>
134 <td align="center">I</td>
135 <td>Properties for substituting characters in an implementation of
136 bidirectional mirroring.</td>
141 <td align="center">N</td>
142 <td>List of block names.</td>
146 <td><a href="http://www.unicode.org/unicode/reports/tr21/">UTR #21</a></td>
147 <td align="center">N</td>
148 <td>Mapping from characters to their case-folded forms. This is an
149 informative file containing normative derived properties.
150 <p><i>Derived from UnicodeData and SpecialCasing.</i></p>
154 <td>CompositionExclusions</td>
155 <td><a href="http://www.unicode.org/unicode/reports/tr15/">UAX #15</a></td>
156 <td align="center">N</td>
157 <td>Properties for normalization.</td>
160 <td><i>DerivedXXX</i></td>
161 <td>DerivedProperties.html</td>
162 <td align="center">N/I</td>
163 <td>Various informative derived files, described in the documentation file.
164 Some of the derived properties are normative and some are informative.</td>
167 <td>EastAsianWidth</td>
168 <td><a href="http://www.unicode.org/unicode/reports/tr11/">UAX #11</a></td>
169 <td align="center">I</td>
170 <td>Properties for determining the choice of wide vs. narrow glyphs in East
176 <td align="center">I</td>
177 <td>Index to Unicode characters, as printed in the Unicode Standard. (See <a
178 href="#Update_Note">Update Note</a>.)</td>
183 <td align="center">N</td>
184 <td>List of Jamo short names, used in deriving HANGUL SYLLABLE names
185 algorithmically.</td>
189 <td><a href="http://www.unicode.org/unicode/reports/tr14/">UAX #14</a></td>
190 <td align="center">N/I</td>
191 <td>Properties for line breaking.</td>
196 <td align="center">I</td>
197 <td>This file duplicates some of the material in the UnicodeData file, and
198 adds annotations used in the character charts.</td>
201 <td>NormalizationTest</td>
202 <td><a href="http://www.unicode.org/unicode/reports/tr15/">UAX #15</a></td>
203 <td align="center">N</td>
204 <td>Test file for conformance to Unicode Normalization Forms.</td>
208 <td>PropList.html</td>
209 <td align="center">N/I</td>
210 <td>Extended character properties</td>
214 <td><a href="http://www.unicode.org/unicode/reports/tr24/">UTR #24</a></td>
215 <td align="center">I</td>
216 <td>Default scripts values for use in regular expressions.</td>
219 <td>SpecialCasing</td>
221 <a href="http://www.unicode.org/unicode/reports/tr21/">UTR #21</a></td>
222 <td align="center">N</td>
223 <td>List of properties required for full case mapping.</td>
227 <td>UnicodeData.html,<br>
229 <a href="http://www.unicode.org/unicode/reports/tr21/">UTR #21</a>,<br>
230 <a href="http://www.unicode.org/unicode/reports/tr15/">UAX #15</a></td>
231 <td align="center">N/I</td>
232 <td>The main file in the UCD. </td>
237 <td align="center">N/I</td>
238 <td>Extended properties of Han (CJK) characters. (See <a href="#Format_Note">Format
243 <p><b><a name="Update_Note">Update Note</a>: </b>The information in Index.txt
244 files matches the appropriate version of the book. Changes in the Unicode
245 Character Database since then may not be reflected in these files, since they
246 are primarily of archival interest.</p>
247 <p><b><a name="Format_Note">Format Note</a>: </b>The file data format differs
248 from the standard format, and is described in the header of the file. The
249 header also describes which properties are informative and which are
252 <h2><a name="UCD_File_Format">UCD File Format</a></h2>
253 <p>Files in the UCD use the following format, unless otherwise specified.</p>
255 <li>Each line of data consists of fields separated by semicolons. The fields
256 are numbered starting with zero. Code points are expressed as hexadecimal
257 numbers with four to six digits. They are written without "U+".
258 Within a sequence of code points, spaces are used for separation. Leading
259 and trailing spaces within a field are not significant.</li>
262 <li>The first field (0) of each line in the Unicode Character Database files
263 represents a code point or range. The remaining fields (1..n) are properties
264 associated with that code point.</li>
267 <li>A range of code points is specified by the form "X..Y". Each
268 code point from X to Y has the associated properties. For example:</li>
271 <pre>0000..007F; Basic Latin
272 0080..00FF; Latin-1 Supplement
274 1680 ; White_space # Zs OGHAM SPACE MARK
275 2000..200A; White_space # Zs [11] EN QUAD..HAIR SPACE</pre>
278 <li>Hash marks ("#") are used to indicate comments: all characters
279 from the hash mark to the end of the line are comments, and disregarded when
280 parsing data. In many files, the comments on data lines use a common format.</li>
283 <pre>00BC..00BE ; numeric # No [3] VULGAR FRACTION ONE QUARTER..VULGAR FRACTION THREE QUARTERS</pre>
286 <li>The first part of the comment is the UCD general category. The symbol
287 "L&" indicates characters of type Lu, Ll, or Lt. The code
288 point ranges are calculated so that they all have the same General Category
289 (or L&). While this results in more ranges than are strictly necessary,
290 it makes the contents of the ranges clearer. The second part of the comment
291 (in square brackets), indicates the number of items in a range, if there is
292 one. The third part is the name of the character in field zero: if it is a
293 range, then the character names for the ends of the range are separated by
296 <p>However, the comments are purely informational, and may change format or be
297 omitted in the future. They should not be parsed for content.</p>
298 <h2><a name="References">References</a></h2>
299 <table cellspacing="12" cellpadding="0" width="100%" border="0">
302 <td valign="top" width="1">[<a name="FAQ">FAQ</a>]</td>
303 <td valign="top">Unicode Frequently Asked Questions<br>
304 <a href="http://www.unicode.org/unicode/faq/">http://www.unicode.org/unicode/faq/<br>
305 </a><i>For answers to common questions on technical issues.</i></td>
308 <td valign="top" width="1">[<a name="Glossary">Glossary</a>]</td>
309 <td valign="top">Unicode Glossary<a
310 href="http://www.unicode.org/glossary/"><br>
311 http://www.unicode.org/glossary/<br>
312 </a><i>For explanations of terminology used in this and other documents.</i></td>
315 <td valign="top" width="1">[<a name="Reports">Reports</a>]</td>
316 <td valign="top">Unicode Technical Reports<br>
317 <a href="http://www.unicode.org/unicode/reports/">http://www.unicode.org/unicode/reports/<br>
318 </a><i>For information on the status and development process for
319 technical reports, and for a list of technical reports.</i></td>
322 <td valign="top" width="1">[<a name="U3.1">U3.1</a>]</td>
323 <td valign="top">Unicode Standard Annex #27: Unicode 3.1<a
324 href="http://www.unicode.org/unicode/reports/tr27/"><br>
325 http://www.unicode.org/unicode/reports/tr27/</a></td>
328 <td valign="top" width="1">[<a name="Versions">Versions</a>]</td>
329 <td valign="top">Versions of the Unicode Standard<br>
330 <a href="http://www.unicode.org/unicode/standard/versions/">http://www.unicode.org/unicode/standard/versions/<br>
331 </a><i>For details on the precise contents of each version of the
332 Unicode Standard, and how to cite them.</i></td>
337 <i><a name="UCD_Terms">UCD Terms of Use</a></i></h2>
338 <h3><i>Disclaimer</i></h3>
340 <p><i>The Unicode Character Database is provided as is by Unicode, Inc. No
341 claims are made as to fitness for any particular purpose. No warranties of any
342 kind are expressed or implied. The recipient agrees to determine applicability
343 of information provided. If this file has been purchased on magnetic or
344 optical media from Unicode, Inc., the sole remedy for any claim will be
345 exchange of defective media within 90 days of receipt.</i></p>
346 <p><i>This disclaimer is applicable for all other data files accompanying the
347 Unicode Character Database, some of which have been compiled by the Unicode
348 Consortium, and some of which have been supplied by other sources.</i></p>
350 <h3><i>Limitations on Rights to Redistribute This Data</i></h3>
352 <p><i>Recipient is granted the right to make copies in any form for internal
353 distribution and to freely use the information supplied in the creation of
354 products supporting the Unicode<sup>TM</sup> Standard. The files in the
355 Unicode Character Database can be redistributed to third parties or other
356 organizations (whether for profit or not) as long as this notice and the
357 disclaimer notice are retained. Information can be extracted from these files
358 and used in documentation or programs, as long as there is an accompanying
359 notice indicating the source.</i></p>
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