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Variation Selectors Supplement
Unicode block containing additional Variation Selectors

Variation Selectors Supplement is a Unicode block containing additional variation selectors beyond those found in the Variation Selectors block.

These combining characters are named variation selector-17 (for U+E0100) through to variation selector-256 (U+E01EF), abbreviated VS17 – VS256.

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Ideographic Variation Sequences

As of 12 December 2017[update], VS17 (U+E0100) to VS48 (U+E011F) are used in ideographic variation sequences in the Unicode Ideographic Variation Database (IVD).12 These selectors are known as Ideographic Variation Selectors (IVS). They are not listed in the list of standardized variation sequence, instead they are listed in another Ideographic Variation Database.3

IVD collections

The following IVS collections are currently registered in the IVD:4

RegionNamePurposeFirst registeredLast updatedNumber of sequencesChart
 JapanAdobe-Japan1CID-keyed Japanese OpenType fonts. Defines at least one sequence for every Japanese kanji from the Adobe-Japan1 collection present in Unicode, even for those with only one glyph, both as future-proofing and to allow that (Japan-region) glyph to be uniquely referenced.52007-12-142022-09-1314684
 JapanHanyo-DenshiUnicode characters corresponding to more than one glyph collected by the Han'yō Denshi programme, a union of the character repertoires of the legacy kanji character sets used by multiple administrative systems in Japan (precursor to Moji Jōhō Kiban).6 Approximately 60% of the initial registration matches Adobe-Japan1 glyphs, but the existing Adobe-Japan1 variation sequences are not used for them.72010-11-142012-03-0213045All Han'yō Denshi sequences
 JapanMoji_JohoUnicode characters corresponding to more than one entry in the Moji Jōhō Kiban, a database of kanji used for administrative purposes in Japan. Supersedes and deprecates the Hanyo-Denshi collection, from which it retains 9866 of the existing IVSes.82014-05-162017-12-1211384All Moji Jōhō sequences
 MacauMSARGMacao Supplementary Character Set (MSCS)2016-08-152020-11-06154All MSCS sequences
 South KoreaKRNameStandard character variants permitted in personal names in South Korea2017-12-1236All Korean name sequences

Proposed IVD collections

Similarly to the Moji Jōhō Kiban's role in Japan, the character repertoire of CNS 11643 (including draft revisions) is used for administrative purposes in Taiwan.9 In some cases, multiple of these correspond to a single Unicode character.10 Many of these cases are currently handled with mappings to the Supplementary Private Use Area.11 However, the Taipei Computer Association, which represents the interests of Taiwan in the Ideographic Research Group, has been evaluating the feasibility of registering an additional IVD collection in the future.1213

In Mainland China, the Culture and Art Publishing House has been collecting variant forms required for digitisation of intangible cultural heritage in databases and e-books, and has expressed the intent to register an IVD collection once this is finalised.14

Code chart

Variation Selectors Supplement[1]Official Unicode Consortium code chart (PDF)
 0123456789ABCDEF
U+E010x VS 17 VS 18 VS 19 VS 20 VS 21 VS 22 VS 23 VS 24 VS 25 VS 26 VS 27 VS 28 VS 29 VS 30 VS 31 VS 32
U+E011x VS 33 VS 34 VS 35 VS 36 VS 37 VS 38 VS 39 VS 40 VS 41 VS 42 VS 43 VS 44 VS 45 VS 46 VS 47 VS 48
U+E012x VS 49 VS 50 VS 51 VS 52 VS 53 VS 54 VS 55 VS 56 VS 57 VS 58 VS 59 VS 60 VS 61 VS 62 VS 63 VS 64
U+E013x VS 65 VS 66 VS 67 VS 68 VS 69 VS 70 VS 71 VS 72 VS 73 VS 74 VS 75 VS 76 VS 77 VS 78 VS 79 VS 80
U+E014x VS 81 VS 82 VS 83 VS 84 VS 85 VS 86 VS 87 VS 88 VS 89 VS 90 VS 91 VS 92 VS 93 VS 94 VS 95 VS 96
U+E015x VS 97 VS 98 VS 99 VS 100 VS 101 VS 102 VS 103 VS 104 VS 105 VS 106 VS 107 VS 108 VS 109 VS 110 VS 111 VS 112
U+E016x VS 113 VS 114 VS 115 VS 116 VS 117 VS 118 VS 119 VS 120 VS 121 VS 122 VS 123 VS 124 VS 125 VS 126 VS 127 VS 128
U+E017x VS 129 VS 130 VS 131 VS 132 VS 133 VS 134 VS 135 VS 136 VS 137 VS 138 VS 139 VS 140 VS 141 VS 142 VS 143 VS 144
U+E018x VS 145 VS 146 VS 147 VS 148 VS 149 VS 150 VS 151 VS 152 VS 153 VS 154 VS 155 VS 156 VS 157 VS 158 VS 159 VS 160
U+E019x VS 161 VS 162 VS 163 VS 164 VS 165 VS 166 VS 167 VS 168 VS 169 VS 170 VS 171 VS 172 VS 173 VS 174 VS 175 VS 176
U+E01Ax VS 177 VS 178 VS 179 VS 180 VS 181 VS 182 VS 183 VS 184 VS 185 VS 186 VS 187 VS 188 VS 189 VS 190 VS 191 VS 192
U+E01Bx VS 193 VS 194 VS 195 VS 196 VS 197 VS 198 VS 199 VS 200 VS 201 VS 202 VS 203 VS 204 VS 205 VS 206 VS 207 VS 208
U+E01Cx VS 209 VS 210 VS 211 VS 212 VS 213 VS 214 VS 215 VS 216 VS 217 VS 218 VS 219 VS 220 VS 221 VS 222 VS 223 VS 224
U+E01Dx VS 225 VS 226 VS 227 VS 228 VS 229 VS 230 VS 231 VS 232 VS 233 VS 234 VS 235 VS 236 VS 237 VS 238 VS 239 VS 240
U+E01Ex VS 241 VS 242 VS 243 VS 244 VS 245 VS 246 VS 247 VS 248 VS 249 VS 250 VS 251 VS 252 VS 253 VS 254 VS 255 VS 256
Notes1.^ As of Unicode version 16.0

History

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

VersionFinal code points15CountL2 IDWG2 IDDocument
4.0U+E0100..E01EF240L2/97-260Hiura, Hideki; Kobayashi, Tatsuo (1997-12-01), Plane 14 Variant Tag
L2/98-039Aliprand, Joan; Winkler, Arnold (1998-02-24), "2.D.4 Variant Tag Mechanism", Preliminary Minutes - UTC #74 & L2 #171, Mountain View, CA - December 5, 1997
L2/98-277Hiura, Hideki; Kobayashi, Tatsuo (1998-07-29), Plane 14 Variant tag
L2/98-281R (pdf, html)Aliprand, Joan (1998-07-31), "III.E.3 Variant Tagging (III.E.3)", Unconfirmed Minutes – UTC #77 & NCITS Subgroup L2 # 174 JOINT MEETING, Redmond, WA -- July 29-31, 1998
L2/01-268Freytag, Asmus (2001-06-27), Variant selector
L2/01-309Jenkins, John (2001-08-08), Variation selectors and Han
L2/01-324RDavis, Mark (2001-08-17), Variation Selectors [document has incorrect L2 ID number]
L2/01-295RMoore, Lisa (2001-11-06), "88-M5", Minutes from the UTC/L2 meeting #88
L2/02-154N2403Umamaheswaran, V. S. (2002-04-22), "7.12", Draft minutes of WG 2 meeting 41, Hotel Phoenix, Singapore, 2001-10-15/19
L2/02-372N2453 (pdf, doc)Umamaheswaran, V. S. (2002-10-30), "M42.21 (Amendment 1 to 10646-2)", Unconfirmed minutes of WG 2 meeting 42

References

  1. "Ideographic Variation Database". Unicode Consortium. https://www.unicode.org/ivd/ ↩

  2. "UTS #37, Unicode Ideographic Variation Database". Unicode Consortium. https://www.unicode.org/reports/tr37/ ↩

  3. "Ideographic Variation Database". Unicode Consortium. https://www.unicode.org/ivd/ ↩

  4. "Ideographic Variation Database". Unicode Consortium. https://www.unicode.org/ivd/ ↩

  5. Lunde, Ken; Muller, Eric (2017). "PRI 108: Combined registration of the Adobe-Japan1 collection and of sequences in that collection". Adobe/Unicode Consortium. Note that all Adobe-Japan1-6 kanji, except those twenty seven pointed out above, are given IVS assignments, including those that have only one form assigned. This is to ensure that each Adobe-Japan1-6 kanji can be uniquely and explicitly identified without referencing their default (IVS-less) encoding, and because kanji may be added in future Adobe-Japan1 Supplements that may be variants of such kanji. /wiki/Ken_Lunde ↩

  6. "The Hanyo-Denshi IVD Collection". Ideographic Variation Database. Unicode Consortium. https://www.unicode.org/ivd/hanyo-denshi/ ↩

  7. Lunde, Ken; Hua Gu (2010-11-25). "The "Hanyo-Denshi" IVD Collection has been registered!". CJK Type Blog. Adobe Inc. /wiki/Ken_Lunde ↩

  8. "The Hanyo-Denshi IVD Collection". Ideographic Variation Database. Unicode Consortium. https://www.unicode.org/ivd/hanyo-denshi/ ↩

  9. Taipei Computer Association (2021-05-07). "TCA's submission for the CJK extension IRG Working Set 2021" (PDF). ISO/IEC JTC1/SC2/WG2/IRG N2486. https://www.unicode.org/irg/docs/n2486-T_2021_sub.pdf ↩

  10. Taipei Computer Association (2022-03-14). "4. About glyph normalization" (PDF). Response to normalization and meaning issues on TCA characters in WS2021. pp. 3–5. ISO/IEC JTC1/SC2/WG2/IRG N2546. https://www.unicode.org/irg/docs/n2546-TSourceGlyphIssues.pdf#page=3 ↩

  11. Taipei Computer Association (2022-03-14). "4. About glyph normalization" (PDF). Response to normalization and meaning issues on TCA characters in WS2021. pp. 3–5. ISO/IEC JTC1/SC2/WG2/IRG N2546. https://www.unicode.org/irg/docs/n2546-TSourceGlyphIssues.pdf#page=3 ↩

  12. Taipei Computer Association (2022-03-14). "4. About glyph normalization" (PDF). Response to normalization and meaning issues on TCA characters in WS2021. pp. 3–5. ISO/IEC JTC1/SC2/WG2/IRG N2546. https://www.unicode.org/irg/docs/n2546-TSourceGlyphIssues.pdf#page=3 ↩

  13. Taipei Computer Association (2021-09-10). "Activity Report from TCA" (PDF). ISO/IEC JTC1/SC2/WG2/IRG N2502. https://www.unicode.org/irg/docs/n2502-TCAActivityReport.pdf ↩

  14. Chan, Eiso (2025-02-27). "Request for review and endorsement of a preliminary version of the CAAPH IVD collection" (PDF). ISO/IEC JTC1/SC2/WG2/IRG N2796. https://www.unicode.org/irg/docs/n2796-CAAPH-IVD.pdf ↩

  15. Proposed code points and characters names may differ from final code points and names ↩