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.
Ideographic Variation Sequences
, VS17 (U+E0100) to VS48 (U+E011F) are used in ideographic variation sequences in the Unicode Ideographic Variation Database (IVD). 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.
IVD collections
The following IVS collections are currently registered in the IVD:
RegionNamePurposeFirst registeredLast updatedNumber of sequencesChartCID-keyed Japanese OpenType fonts. Defines at least one sequence for every Japanese kanji from the 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.14,684Unicode characters corresponding to more than one glyph collected by the Han'yō Denshi program, a union of the character repertoires of the legacy kanji character sets used by multiple administrative systems in Japan (precursor to Moji Jōhō Kiban). Approximately 60% of the initial registration matches glyphs, but the existing variation sequences are not used for them.13,045All Han'yō Denshi sequencesUnicode 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 collection, from which it retains 9866 of the existing IVSes.11,392All Moji Jōhō sequencesMacao Supplementary Character Set (MSCS)154All MSCS sequencesStandard character variants permitted in personal names in South Korea36All Korean name sequencesVariant forms required for digitization of intangible cultural heritage in databases and e-books by the Culture and Art Publishing House.198All CAAPH sequences
Proposed IVD collections
, there are no IVD collection submissions under review.
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. In some cases, multiple of these correspond to a single Unicode character. Many of these cases are currently handled with mappings to the Supplementary Private Use Area. 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.
Code chart
History The following Unicode-related documents record the purpose and process of defining specific characters in the Variation Selectors Supplement block:
Version Count L2 ID WG2 ID Document 4.0 U+E0100..E01EF 240 html) N2403 doc)
References