Character Map
Encyclopedia
Character Map is a utility included with Microsoft Windows
operating systems and is used to view the characters in any installed font
, to check what keyboard input (Alt code) is used to enter those characters, and to copy characters to the clipboard
in lieu of typing them. The tool is usually useful for entering special characters
. It an be opened via the command line or Run Command dialog using the 'charmap' command.
The Advanced view check box can be used to inspect the character sets in a font according to different encodings
(code pages
), including Unicode
code ranges, to locate particular characters by their Unicode code point
and to search for characters by their Unicode name. For Unicode fonts, the characters can be grouped by their Unicode subrange. Although the Unicode standard already extends character field to plane 16 and many fonts e.g. MingLiU-ExtB begin to support higher ranges, this tool still only supports code points on plane 0 (between U+0000 and U+FFFF). Additionally, it does not display certain characters in that range though for reasons unexplained.
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
operating systems and is used to view the characters in any installed font
Font
In typography, a font is traditionally defined as a quantity of sorts composing a complete character set of a single size and style of a particular typeface...
, to check what keyboard input (Alt code) is used to enter those characters, and to copy characters to the clipboard
Clipboard
A clipboard is a thin, rigid board with a clip at the top for holding paper in place. A clipboard is typically used to support paper with one hand while writing on it with the other, especially when other writing surfaces are not available.-Other uses:...
in lieu of typing them. The tool is usually useful for entering special characters
Special Characters
Special characters have been given pronunciations similar to letters and numbers in a radio alphabet. The most common pronunciations originated with users of Unix systems....
. It an be opened via the command line or Run Command dialog using the 'charmap' command.
The Advanced view check box can be used to inspect the character sets in a font according to different encodings
Character encoding
A character encoding system consists of a code that pairs each character from a given repertoire with something else, such as a sequence of natural numbers, octets or electrical pulses, in order to facilitate the transmission of data through telecommunication networks or storage of text in...
(code pages
Windows code page
Windows code pages are sets of characters or code pages used in Microsoft Windows from the 1980s and 1990s...
), including Unicode
Unicode
Unicode is a computing industry standard for the consistent encoding, representation and handling of text expressed in most of the world's writing systems...
code ranges, to locate particular characters by their Unicode code point
Universal Character Set
The Universal Character Set , defined by the International Standard ISO/IEC 10646, Information technology — Universal multiple-octet coded character set , is a standard set of characters upon which many character encodings are based...
and to search for characters by their Unicode name. For Unicode fonts, the characters can be grouped by their Unicode subrange. Although the Unicode standard already extends character field to plane 16 and many fonts e.g. MingLiU-ExtB begin to support higher ranges, this tool still only supports code points on plane 0 (between U+0000 and U+FFFF). Additionally, it does not display certain characters in that range though for reasons unexplained.
External links
- Character Map Utility Windows XP and Vista
- Using special characters (Character Map): frequently asked questions
- Free online Character Map from the Department of Physics, University of OxfordUniversity of OxfordThe University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...