Variation Selectors (Unicode block): Difference between revisions

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{{also|Variation Selectors Supplement|l1=Variation Selectors Supplement (Unicode block)}}

{{Infobox Unicode block

|blockname = Variation Selectors

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|script1 = [[Script (Unicode)#Special script property values|Inherited]]

|3_2 = 16

|note = <ref>{{citeCite web|url=https://www.unicode.org/ucd/|title=Unicode character database|work=The Unicode Standard|accessdateaccess-date=20162023-07-0926}}</ref><ref>{{citeCite web|url=https://www.unicode.org/versions/enumeratedversions.html|title=Enumerated Versions of The Unicode Standard|work=The Unicode Standard|accessdateaccess-date=20162023-07-0926}}</ref>

}}

'''Variation Selectors''' is a [[Unicode block]] containing 16 [[Variationvariation Selectors|Variation Selector]] format. They areselectors used to specify a specific[[Variant form (Unicode)|glyph variant]] for a preceding character. They are currently used to specify standardized variation sequences for mathematical symbols, [[emoji]] symbols, [['Phags-pa script|'Phags-pa]] letters, and CJK unified ideographs corresponding to [[CJK compatibility ideographs]]. At present only standardized variation sequences with VS1VS1–VS4, VS2, VS3VS7, VS15 and VS16 have been defined; <abbr title="text">VS15</abbr> and <abbr title="emoji">VS16</abbr> are reserved to determinerequest whether or notthat a character should be displayed as text or as an [[emoji]] respectively.<ref>{{Cite web | title=StandardizedVariants.txt | url=https://www.unicode.org/Public/UCD/latest/ucd/StandardizedVariants.txt | publisher=Unicode Consortium | date=2015-11-20 | accessdateaccess-date=2016-08-28 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web | title=Emoji Variation Sequences | url=http://www.unicode.org/reports/tr51/#Emoji_Variation_Sequences | publisher=Unicode Consortium | date=2020-09-18 | access-date=2020-11-18 }}</ref>

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 1113.0:<ref name="UniStdVarTxt">{{Cite web|url=https://www.unicode.org/Public/UNIDATA/StandardizedVariants.txt|title=UCD: Standardized Variation Sequences|publisher=Unicode Consortium }}</ref>

* [[CJK Compatibility Ideographs|CJK compatibility ideograph]] variation sequences contain VS1&ndash;VS3VS1–VS3 (U+FE00&ndash;UFE00–U+FE02)

* [[CJK Unified Ideographs Extension A]] and [[CJK Unified Ideographs Extension B|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 (Unicode block)|Basic Latin]], [[Halfwidth and fullwidth forms|Halfwidth and Fullwidth Forms]], [[Manichaean (Unicode block)|Manichaean]], [[Myanmar (Unicode block)|Myanmar]], [[Myanmar Extended-A]], [[Phags-pa (Unicode block)|Phags-pa]], and mathematical variation sequences contain only VS1 (U+FE00)

* [[Egyptian Hieroglyphs (Unicode block)#Standardized variants|Egyptian Hieroglyphs]] variation sequences VS1–VS4 and VS7 (U+FE00–FE03, and FE06) are used to rotate specific signs

* VS4&ndash;VS14VS5, VS6, and VS8–VS14 (U+FE03&ndash;U+FE0DFE04, FE05, and FE07–FE0D) are not used for any variation sequences

{{Unicode chart Variation Selectors}}

This list is continued in the [[Variation Selectors Supplement]].

==See also==

{{Unicode chart Variation Selectors}}

* {{Section link|Miscellaneous Symbols and Pictographs|Emoji modifiers}}

* [[Variant form (Unicode)]]

==History==

The following Unicode-related documents record the purpose and process of defining specific characters in the Variation Selectors block:

{{sticky header}}

{| class="wikitable sticky-header"

|-

! [[Unicode#Versions|Version]] !! {{nobr|Final code points<ref group=lower-alpha name=final/>}} !! Count !! [[International Committee for Information Technology Standards|L2]]&nbsp;ID !! [[ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 2|WG2]]&nbsp;ID !! Document

|-

| rowspan="912" | 3.2 || rowspan="912" | U+FE00..FE0F || rowspan="912" | 16 || {{nobr|L2/97-260}} || || {{Citation|title=Plane 14 Variant Tag|date=1997-12-01|first1=Hideki|last1=Hiura|first2=Tatsuo|last2=Kobayashi|authorlink2author-link2=Tatsuo Kobayashi|ref=none}}

|-

| {{nobr|[https://www.unicode.org/L2/L1998/98039.pdf L2/98-039]}} || || {{Citation|title=Preliminary Minutes - UTC #74 & L2 #171, Mountain View, CA - December 5, 1997|date=1998-02-24|first1=Joan|last1=Aliprand|first2=Arnold|last2=Winkler|ref=none|section=2.D.4 Variant Tag Mechanism}}

|-

| {{nobr|L2/98-277}} || || {{Citation|title=Plane 14 Variant tag|date=1998-07-29|first1=Hideki|last1=Hiura|first2=Tatsuo|last2=Kobayashi|ref=none}}

! [[Unicode#Versions|Version]] !! {{nobr|Final code points<ref group=lower-alpha name=final/>}} !! Count !! [[International Committee for Information Technology Standards|L2]]&nbsp;ID !! Document

|-

| {{nobr|[https://www.unicode.org/L2/L1998/98281r.pdf L2/98-281R (pdf],}} [https://www.unicode.org/L2/L1998/98281R.htm html]) || || {{Citation|title=Unconfirmed Minutes – UTC #77 & NCITS Subgroup L2 # 174 JOINT MEETING, Redmond, WA -- July 29-31, 1998|date=1998-07-31|first=Joan|last=Aliprand|ref=none|section=III.E.3 Variant Tagging (III.E.3)}}

| rowspan="9" | 3.2 || rowspan="9" | U+FE00..FE0F || rowspan="9" | 16 || {{nobr|L2/97-260}} || {{Citation|title=Plane 14 Variant Tag|date=1997-12-01|first1=Hideki|last1=Hiura|first2=Tatsuo|last2=Kobayashi|authorlink2=Tatsuo Kobayashi}}

|-

| {{nobr|[https://www.unicode.org/L2/L1998L2000/9803900187.pdfhtm L2/9800-039187]}} || || {{Citation|title=PreliminaryUTC Minutesminutes -- UTC #74 & L2 #171Boston, Mountain View, CAAugust 8- December 511, 19972000|date=19982000-0208-2423|first1first=JoanLisa|last1last=AliprandMoore|first2ref=Arnold|last2=Winklernone|section=2.D.4 Variant TagVariation MechanismSelector}}

|-

| {{nobr|[https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2001/01268-vs.txt L2/9801-277268]}} || || {{Citation|title=Plane 14 Variant tagselector|date=19982001-0706-29|first1=Hideki27|last1first=HiuraAsmus|first2last=TatsuoFreytag|last2ref=Kobayashinone}}

|-

| {{nobr|[https://www.unicode.org/L2/L1998L2001/98281r01309-cwk.pdf L2/9801-281R309]}} || || {{Citation|title=UnconfirmedVariation Minutesselectors - UTC #77 & NCITS Subgroup L2 # 174 JOINT MEETING, Redmond, WA -- July 29-31,and 1998Han|date=19982001-0708-3108|first=JoanJohn|last=AliprandJenkins|sectionref=III.E.3 Variant Taggingnone}}

|-

| {{nobr|[https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2001/0126801324r-vsvariation_selectors.txthtm L2/01-268324R]}} || || {{Citation|title=VariantVariation selectorSelectors [document has incorrect L2 ID number]|date=2001-0608-2717|first=AsmusMark|last=FreytagDavis|author-link=Mark Davis (Unicode)|ref=none}}

|-

| {{nobr|[https://www.unicode.org/L2consortium/L2001utc-minutes/01309UTC-088-cwk200108.pdfhtml L2/01-309295R]}} || || {{Citation|title=VariationMinutes selectorsfrom andthe HanUTC/L2 meeting #88|date=2001-0811-0806|first=JohnLisa|last=JenkinsMoore|ref=none|section=88-M5}}

|-

| {{nobr|[https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2002/02154-n2403-minutes.pdf L2/02-154]}} || [https://www.unicode.org/wg2/docs/n2403.pdf N2403] || {{Citation|title=Draft minutes of WG 2 meeting 41, Hotel Phoenix, Singapore, 2001-10-15/19|date=2002-04-22|first=V. S.|last=Umamaheswaran|ref=none|section=7.12}}

| {{nobr|L2/01-324R}} || {{Citation|title=Variation Selectors|date=2001-08-15|first=Mark|last=Davis|authorlink=Mark Davis (Unicode)}}

|-

| {{nobr|[https://www.unicode.org/consortiumL2/utc-minutesL2017/UTC17086-088vs16-200108keycaps-emoji.htmlpdf L2/0117-295R086]}} || || {{Citation|title=MinutesAdd fromZWJ, theVS-16, UTC/L2Keycaps & Tags meetingto #88Emoji_Component|date=20012017-1103-0627|firstfirst1=LisaJeremy|lastlast1=MooreBurge|sectionauthor-link1=88Jeremy Burge|display-M5authors=etal|ref=none}}

|-

| {{nobr|[https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2017/17086-vs16-keycaps-emoji17103.pdfhtm L2/17-086103]}} || || {{Citation|title=UTC #151 Minutes|date=2017-05-18|first=Lisa|last=Moore|ref=none|section=E.1.7 Add ZWJ, VS-16, Keycaps & Tags to Emoji_Component|date=2017-03-27|first1=Jeremy|last1=Burge|authorlink1=Jeremy Burge|display-authors=etal}}

|- class="sortbottom"

| colspan=5"6" | {{reflist|group=lower-alpha|refs=<ref name=final>Proposed code points and characters names may differ from final code points and names</ref>}}

|}