Unicode alias names and abbreviations: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 01:28, 23 March 2022

Revision as of 07:50, 27 March 2022

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==Background==

The formal, primary Unicode name is unique over all names, only uses certain characters & format, and is guaranteed never to change. The formal name consists of characters A–Z (uppercase), 0–9, " " (space), and "-" (hyphen).

Next to this name, a character can have one or more formal (normative) '''alias names'''. Such an alias name also follows the rules of a name: characters used (A-Z, -, 0-9, &lt;space>) and not used (a-z, %, $, etc.). Alias names are also unique in the full name set (that is, all names and alias names are all unique in their combined set). Alias names are formally described in the Unicode Standard.<ref name="NameAliases">{{cite web|url=https://www.unicode.org/Public/14.0.0/ucd/NameAliases.txt |title=NameAliases-14.0.0.txt|access-date=2021-09-14|date=2020-10-21|publisher=The Unicode Consortium}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://www.unicode.org/versions/Unicode14.0.0/ch24.pdf|title=The Unicode Standard|version=14.0.0|publisher=The Unicode Consortium|isbn=978-1-936213-29-0|date=2021}}</ref> In this sense, an abbreviation is also considered a Unicode ''name''.

The Unicode standard also uses and publishes alternative names that are ''not formal'', and are not listed as normative alias names. These labels may not be unique and may use irregular characters in their name. They are used in Unicode code charts, for example {{unichar|070F|SYRIAC ABBREVIATION MARK|cwith=&nbsp;}}: <!-- hardcoded, div into span, from Template:Unicode alias/abbrbox: --><span title="SYRIAC ABBREVIATION MARK" style="background:#ffffff; border: 1px dashed black; padding: 0 0.2em; display:inline-block"><templatestyles src="smallcaps/styles.css"/><span class="smallcaps smallcaps-smaller">SAM</span></span><templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://unicode.org/charts/PDF/U0700.pdf#search=070F|title=Unicode 14.0 Character Code Charts: Syriac}}</ref>

In this sense, an abbreviation is also considered a ''name''.

The Unicode standard also uses (publishes{{Where|date=July 2021}}) "alias names" that are ''not'' formal, and are ''not'' listed in the normative <code>NameAliases.txt</code> file. These names may not be unique and may use incorrect characters in their name.{{Citation needed|date=July 2021}}

==Reason to add an alias==