Variation Selectors Supplement
Unicode block containing additional Variation Selectors
title: "Variation Selectors Supplement" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["unicode-blocks"] description: "Unicode block containing additional Variation Selectors" topic_path: "general/unicode-blocks" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Variation_Selectors_Supplement" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary Unicode block containing additional Variation Selectors ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox Unicode block"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| blockname | Variation Selectors Supplement |
| rangestart | E0100 |
| rangeend | E01EF |
| script1 | Inherited |
| 4_0 | 240 |
| note | |
| :: |
|blockname = Variation Selectors Supplement |rangestart = E0100 |rangeend = E01EF |script1 = Inherited |4_0 = 240 |note =
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:
::data[format=table]
| Region | Name | Purpose | First registered | Last updated | Number of sequences | Chart |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Japan | CID-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. | 14684 | {{plainlist | |||
| Japan | Unicode 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. | 13045 | All Han'yō Denshi sequences | |||
| Japan | Unicode 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. | 11384 | All Moji Jōhō sequences | |||
| Macau | Macao Supplementary Character Set (MSCS) | 154 | All MSCS sequences | |||
| Republic of Korea | Standard character variants permitted in personal names in South Korea | 36 | All Korean name sequences | |||
| China | Variant forms required for digitization of intangible cultural heritage in databases and e-books by the Culture and Art Publishing House. | 198 | All 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:
::data[format=table]
| Version | Count | L2 ID | WG2 ID | Document |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4.0 | U+E0100..E01EF | 240 | ||
| html) | ||||
| N2403 | ||||
| doc) | ||||
| :: |
References
References
- "Unicode character database". The Unicode Standard.
- "Enumerated Versions of The Unicode Standard". The Unicode Standard.
- "UTS #37, Unicode Ideographic Variation Database". Unicode Consortium.
- "Ideographic Variation Database".
- (2017). "PRI 108: Combined registration of the Adobe-Japan1 collection and of sequences in that collection". [[Adobe Inc.
- "The Hanyo-Denshi IVD Collection". [[Unicode Consortium]].
- (2010-11-25). "The "Hanyo-Denshi" IVD Collection has been registered!". [[Adobe Inc]].
- Chan, Eiso. (2025-02-27). "Request for review and endorsement of a preliminary version of the CAAPH IVD collection".
- Taipei Computer Association. (2021-05-07). "TCA's submission for the CJK extension IRG Working Set 2021".
- Taipei Computer Association. (2022-03-14). "4. About glyph normalization". Response to normalization and meaning issues on TCA characters in WS2021.
- Taipei Computer Association. (2021-09-10). "Activity Report from TCA".
- Proposed code points and characters names may differ from final code points and names
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