Variation Selectors is the block name of a
Unicode code point block containing 16
variation selectors
Variation Selectors is the block name of a Unicode code point block containing 16 variation selectors. Each variation selector is used to specify a specific glyph variant for a preceding character. They are currently used to specify standardize ...
. Each variation selector is used to specify a specific glyph variant for a preceding character. They are currently used to specify standardized variation sequences for mathematical symbols,
emoji
An emoji ( ; plural emoji or emojis) is a pictogram, logogram, ideogram or smiley embedded in text and used in electronic messages and web pages. The primary function of emoji is to fill in emotional cues otherwise missing from typed conversat ...
symbols,
'Phags-pa letters, and CJK unified ideographs corresponding to
CJK compatibility ideographs
CJK Compatibility Ideographs is a Unicode block created to contain Han characters that were encoded in multiple locations in other established character encodings, in addition to their CJK Unified Ideographs assignments, in order to retain roun ...
. 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
An emoji ( ; plural emoji or emojis) is a pictogram, logogram, ideogram or smiley embedded in text and used in electronic messages and web pages. The primary function of emoji is to fill in emotional cues otherwise missing from typed conversat ...
respectively.
These combining characters are named ''variation selector-1'' (for U+FE00) through to ''variation selector-16'' (U+FE0F), and are abbreviated VS1 – VS16. Each applies to the immediately preceding character.
As of Unicode 13.0:
*
CJK compatibility ideograph variation sequences contain VS1–VS3 (U+FE00–U+FE02)
*
CJK Unified Ideographs Extension A and
B variation sequences contain VS1 (U+FE00) and VS2 (U+FE01)
* Emoji variation sequences contain VS16 (U+FE0F) for emoji-style (with color) or VS15 (U+FE0E) for text style (monochrome)
*
Basic Latin,
Halfwidth and Fullwidth Forms
In CJK (Chinese, Japanese and Korean) computing, graphic characters are traditionally classed into fullwidth (in Taiwan and Hong Kong: 全形; in CJK: 全角) and halfwidth (in Taiwan and Hong Kong: 半形; in CJK: 半角) characters. Unlik ...
,
Manichaean
Manichaeism (;
in New Persian ; ) is a former major religionR. van den Broek, Wouter J. Hanegraaff ''Gnosis and Hermeticism from Antiquity to Modern Times''SUNY Press, 1998 p. 37 founded in the 3rd century AD by the Parthian Empire, Parthian ...
,
Myanmar
Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John C. Wells, Joh ...
,
Myanmar Extended-A
Myanmar Extended-A is a Unicode block containing Myanmar characters for writing the Khamti Shan
The Tai Khamti, ( Khamti: တဲး ၵံးတီႈ, ( th, ชาวไทคำตี่, my, ခန္တီးရှမ်းလူမ ...
,
Phags-pa, and mathematical variation sequences contain only VS1 (U+FE00)
* VS4–VS14 (U+FE03–U+FE0D) are not used for any variation sequences
This list is continued in the
Variation Selectors Supplement
Variation Selectors Supplement is a Unicode block containing additional Variation Selectors beyond those found in the Variation Selectors (Unicode block), Variation Selectors block.
These combining characters are named ''variation selector-17'' ...
.
See also
*
*
Variant form (Unicode) A variant form is a different glyph for a character, encoded in Unicode through the mechanism of variation sequences: sequences in Unicode that consist of a base character followed by a variation selector character.
A variant form usually has a ver ...
History
The following Unicode-related documents record the purpose and process of defining specific characters in the Variation Selectors block:
References
{{reflist
Unicode blocks