The Unicode block Braille Patterns (U+2800..U+28FF) contains all 256 possible patterns of an 8-dot braille cell, thereby including the complete 6-dot cell range. In Unicode, a braille cell does not have a letter or meaning defined. For example, Unicode does not define U+2817 ⠗ BRAILLE PATTERN DOTS-1235 to be "R".
| Braille Patterns | |
|---|---|
| Range | U+2800..U+28FF (256 code points) |
| Plane | BMP |
| Scripts | Braille |
| Assigned | 256 code points |
| Unused | 0 reserved code points |
| Source standards | ISO 11548-1 |
| Unicode version history | |
| 3.0 (1999) | 256 (+256) |
| Unicode documentation | |
| Code chart ∣ Web page | |
| Note: | |
Independent script
In themselves, braille letters do not belong to any print script, but constitute a distinct braille script. The same braille letter can be used to transcribe multiple scripts, e.g. Latin, Cyrillic, Greek and even elements of Chinese characters, as well as digits. Thus while U+2813 ⠓ BRAILLE PATTERN DOTS-125 transcribes the letter h of the Latin script, as well as the digit 8, it transcribes ᄐ t- of Korean hangul and り ri of Japanese kana.
The Unicode character property of braille characters is set to "So" (Symbol, other) rather than to "Lo" (Letter, other). The ISO 15924 script code for braille "Brai".
Identifying, naming and ordering
The coding is in accordance with ISO/TR 11548-1 Communication aids for blind persons. Unicode uses the standard dot-numbering 1 to 8. Historically only the 6-dot cell was used in braille. The lower two dots were added later, which explains the irregular numbering 1-2-3-7 in the left column and 4-5-6-8 in the right column. Where dots 7 and 8 are not raised, there is no distinction between 6-dot and 8-dot definitions.
The Unicode name of a specific pattern mentions the raised dots: U+2813 ⠓ BRAILLE PATTERN DOTS-125 has dots 1, 2 and 5 raised. By exception, the zero dot raised pattern is named U+2800 ⠀ BRAILLE PATTERN BLANK.
In the 8-dot cell each dot individually can be raised or not. That creates 28=256 different patterns. By mapping each of the eight dots to a bit in a byte (in a little-endian order), and by defining "0"/"1" for not raised/raised per bit, every specific pattern generates an identifying binary number. So the pattern with dots 1-2-5 raised would yield (00010011)2, equivalent to (13)16 or (19)10.
The mapping can also be computed by adding together the hexadecimal values, seen at right, of the dots raised. So the pattern with dots 1-2-5 raised would yield 116+216+1016 = 1316. Whether computed directly in hexadecimal, or indirectly via binary, the result is added to 280016, the offset for the Braille Patterns Unicode block.
| Braille symbol | ⠓ | ⣇ | ⣿ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Unicode character | U+2813 | U+28C7 | U+28FF |
| Name | BRAILLE PATTERN DOTS-125 | BRAILLE PATTERN DOTS-12378 | BRAILLE PATTERN DOTS-12345678 |
| Dot numbers available | 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 | 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 | 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 |
| Dot raised=1 | 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 | 1 1 1 0 0 0 1 1 | 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 |
| Reverse order (lowest value right, as in decimal notation) | 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 12 | 1 1 0 0 0 1 1 12 | 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 12 |
| Hex value of dots | 10+2+116 | 80+40+4+2+116 | 80+40+20+10+8+4+2+116 |
| Total hexadecimal value | 1316 | C716 | FF16 |
| Into block, offset U+280016 | 280016+1316=U+2813 | 280016+C716=U+28C7 | 280016+FF16=U+28FF |
There is no regular mapping to the braille ASCII numbering.
Colloquial names
The Unicode names of braille dot patterns are not the same as what many English speakers would use colloquially. In particular, Unicode names use the word dots in the plural even when only one dot is listed: thus Unicode says braille pattern dots-5 when most English-speaking users of braille would simply say "braille dot 5" or just "dot 5".
In addition, some English-speaking users of braille use the word "and" when listing only two dots. Thus braille pattern dots-45 would be spoken as "braille dots 4 and 5". The word "and" is not always used when listing many dots however.
Block
Braille was added to the Unicode Standard in September, 1999 with the release of version 3.0.
When using punching, the filled (black) dots are to be punched.
The Unicode block for braille is U+2800 ... U+28FF:
| Braille Patterns[1] Official Unicode Consortium code chart (PDF) | ||||||||||||||||
| 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | A | B | C | D | E | F | |
| U+280x | ⠀ | ⠁ | ⠂ | ⠃ | ⠄ | ⠅ | ⠆ | ⠇ | ⠈ | ⠉ | ⠊ | ⠋ | ⠌ | ⠍ | ⠎ | ⠏ |
| U+281x | ⠐ | ⠑ | ⠒ | ⠓ | ⠔ | ⠕ | ⠖ | ⠗ | ⠘ | ⠙ | ⠚ | ⠛ | ⠜ | ⠝ | ⠞ | ⠟ |
| U+282x | ⠠ | ⠡ | ⠢ | ⠣ | ⠤ | ⠥ | ⠦ | ⠧ | ⠨ | ⠩ | ⠪ | ⠫ | ⠬ | ⠭ | ⠮ | ⠯ |
| U+283x | ⠰ | ⠱ | ⠲ | ⠳ | ⠴ | ⠵ | ⠶ | ⠷ | ⠸ | ⠹ | ⠺ | ⠻ | ⠼ | ⠽ | ⠾ | ⠿ |
| (end of 6-dot cell patterns) | ||||||||||||||||
| U+284x | ⡀ | ⡁ | ⡂ | ⡃ | ⡄ | ⡅ | ⡆ | ⡇ | ⡈ | ⡉ | ⡊ | ⡋ | ⡌ | ⡍ | ⡎ | ⡏ |
| U+285x | ⡐ | ⡑ | ⡒ | ⡓ | ⡔ | ⡕ | ⡖ | ⡗ | ⡘ | ⡙ | ⡚ | ⡛ | ⡜ | ⡝ | ⡞ | ⡟ |
| U+286x | ⡠ | ⡡ | ⡢ | ⡣ | ⡤ | ⡥ | ⡦ | ⡧ | ⡨ | ⡩ | ⡪ | ⡫ | ⡬ | ⡭ | ⡮ | ⡯ |
| U+287x | ⡰ | ⡱ | ⡲ | ⡳ | ⡴ | ⡵ | ⡶ | ⡷ | ⡸ | ⡹ | ⡺ | ⡻ | ⡼ | ⡽ | ⡾ | ⡿ |
| U+288x | ⢀ | ⢁ | ⢂ | ⢃ | ⢄ | ⢅ | ⢆ | ⢇ | ⢈ | ⢉ | ⢊ | ⢋ | ⢌ | ⢍ | ⢎ | ⢏ |
| U+289x | ⢐ | ⢑ | ⢒ | ⢓ | ⢔ | ⢕ | ⢖ | ⢗ | ⢘ | ⢙ | ⢚ | ⢛ | ⢜ | ⢝ | ⢞ | ⢟ |
| U+28Ax | ⢠ | ⢡ | ⢢ | ⢣ | ⢤ | ⢥ | ⢦ | ⢧ | ⢨ | ⢩ | ⢪ | ⢫ | ⢬ | ⢭ | ⢮ | ⢯ |
| U+28Bx | ⢰ | ⢱ | ⢲ | ⢳ | ⢴ | ⢵ | ⢶ | ⢷ | ⢸ | ⢹ | ⢺ | ⢻ | ⢼ | ⢽ | ⢾ | ⢿ |
| U+28Cx | ⣀ | ⣁ | ⣂ | ⣃ | ⣄ | ⣅ | ⣆ | ⣇ | ⣈ | ⣉ | ⣊ | ⣋ | ⣌ | ⣍ | ⣎ | ⣏ |
| U+28Dx | ⣐ | ⣑ | ⣒ | ⣓ | ⣔ | ⣕ | ⣖ | ⣗ | ⣘ | ⣙ | ⣚ | ⣛ | ⣜ | ⣝ | ⣞ | ⣟ |
| U+28Ex | ⣠ | ⣡ | ⣢ | ⣣ | ⣤ | ⣥ | ⣦ | ⣧ | ⣨ | ⣩ | ⣪ | ⣫ | ⣬ | ⣭ | ⣮ | ⣯ |
| U+28Fx | ⣰ | ⣱ | ⣲ | ⣳ | ⣴ | ⣵ | ⣶ | ⣷ | ⣸ | ⣹ | ⣺ | ⣻ | ⣼ | ⣽ | ⣾ | ⣿ |
| Notes 1.^ As of Unicode version 16.0 | ||||||||||||||||
Font differences
When showing braille graphically in printed instruction manuals, it can be useful to indicate the dots that are not punched, especially if a single braille cell of only one or two punched dots is shown out of context: in this case it might otherwise be difficult to judge the vertical alignment of the dots and tell the difference between, say, dots 2 and 4 versus dots 3 and 5.
The current Unicode charts, and some fonts, use empty circles to indicate dots that are not punched. This does not always render very clearly: if the circle outlines are printed heavily then it can be difficult to tell at a glance whether the dot is filled in or not. The braille package for LaTeX (and several printed publications such as the printed manual for the new international braille music code) show unpunched dots as very small dots (much smaller than the filled-in dots) rather than circles, and this tends to print better.
Some braille fonts do not indicate unpunched dots at all. Additionally, some Linux braille fonts (e.g. GNU Unifont and the DejaVu fonts) use small squares instead of small circles to indicate dots.
Other uses
The Braille Pattern characters are commonly[failed verification] used in terminal applications as a way to draw multiple pixels per character.
History
The following Unicode-related documents record the purpose and process of defining specific characters in the Braille Patterns block:
| Version | Final code points | Count | UTC ID | L2 ID | WG2 ID | Document |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.0 | U+2800..28FF | 256 | X3L2/90-064 | Extracts from "A Proposal for Funding the Programs of Braille Research and Literacy", 1990-01-01 | ||
| X3L2/91-085 | TC 173 Proposals for new work items for Braille Coding, 1991-03-20 | |||||
| X3L2/92-039 | Bishop, Avery (1991-10-29), The long awaited draft reply on Braille symbol encoding | |||||
| N1093 | Shibano, Kohji (1994-12-26), Braille Letters | |||||
| N1203 | Umamaheswaran, V. S.; Ksar, Mike (1995-05-03), "6.1.3.3", Unconfirmed minutes of SC2/WG2 Meeting 27, Geneva | |||||
| X3L2/95-114 | N1279 | Braille letters (addition request), 1995-10-27 | ||||
| N1303 (html, doc) | Umamaheswaran, V. S.; Ksar, Mike (1996-01-26), "8.14 Braille", Minutes of Meeting 29, Tokyo | |||||
| X3L2/95-125 | Duran, Peter (1990-05-24), A Proposal for Funding the Programs of Braille Research and Literacy | |||||
| UTC/1996-002 | Aliprand, Joan; Hart, Edwin; Greenfield, Steve (1996-03-05), "Braille", UTC #67 Minutes | |||||
| UTC/1996-007 | Hart, Edwin (1996-03-07), Contribution on Encoding Braille in ISO/IEC 10646 | |||||
| N1342 | Sato, Takayuki K. (1996-03-19), Braille letters (confirmation of request) | |||||
| N1339 | Ksar, Mike (1996-03-28), Liaison Letter on Braille to ISO/TC137 Secretariat | |||||
| N1345 | Hart, Edwin (1996-04-01), Initial comments on encoding Braille into ISO/IEC 10646 | |||||
| N1353 | Umamaheswaran, V. S.; Ksar, Mike (1996-06-25), "8.9", Draft minutes of WG2 Copenhagen Meeting # 30 | |||||
| UTC/1996-027.2 | Greenfield, Steve (1996-07-01), "K. Braille Proposal", UTC #69 Minutes (PART 2) | |||||
| N1409R | Braille Symbols, 1996-08-12 | |||||
| N1453 | Ksar, Mike; Umamaheswaran, V. S. (1996-12-06), "8.9", WG 2 Minutes - Quebec Meeting 31 | |||||
| L2/97-047 | N1541 | Everson, Michael (1997-03-11), Proposed pDAM text for Braille | ||||
| N1588 | DIS 11 548-1 - Communication aids for blind persons Part 1: Braille identifiers and shift marks - General guidelines, 1997-06-23 | |||||
| N1588.1 | DIS 11 548-2 - Communication aids for blind persons Part 2: Latin alphabet based character sets | |||||
| L2/97-157 | N1612 | Report of ad-hoc group on Braille encoding, 1997-07-01 | ||||
| L2/97-288 | N1603 | Umamaheswaran, V. S. (1997-10-24), "8.4", Unconfirmed Meeting Minutes, WG 2 Meeting # 33, Heraklion, Crete, Greece, 20 June – 4 July 1997 | ||||
| L2/98-136 | N1770 | Paterson, Bruce (1998-04-06), Revised Text of 10646-1/FPDAM 16: Amendment 16: Braille Patterns | ||||
| L2/98-286 | N1703 | Umamaheswaran, V. S.; Ksar, Mike (1998-07-02), "6.2.2 FPDAM-16 - Braille patterns", Unconfirmed Meeting Minutes, WG 2 Meeting #34, Redmond, WA, USA; 1998-03-16--20 | ||||
| ||||||
References
- "Unicode character database". The Unicode Standard. Retrieved 2023-07-26.
- "Enumerated Versions of The Unicode Standard". The Unicode Standard. Retrieved 2023-07-26.
- Unicode Chapter 15, section 15.10
- Unicode chart U+2800, braille patterns
- "Braille Pattern Dots-1358 (U+2895) Font Support". fileformat.info. Retrieved December 7, 2014.
- "Iirelu/Braillify". GitHub. 22 July 2021.
The Unicode block Braille Patterns U 2800 U 28FF contains all 256 possible patterns of an 8 dot braille cell thereby including the complete 6 dot cell range In Unicode a braille cell does not have a letter or meaning defined For example Unicode does not define U 2817 BRAILLE PATTERN DOTS 1235 to be R Braille PatternsRangeU 2800 U 28FF 256 code points PlaneBMPScriptsBrailleAssigned256 code pointsUnused0 reserved code pointsSource standardsISO 11548 1Unicode version history3 0 1999 256 256 Unicode documentationCode chart Web pageNote This article contains Unicode Braille characters Without proper rendering support you may see question marks boxes or other symbols instead of Braille characters Independent scriptIn themselves braille letters do not belong to any print script but constitute a distinct braille script The same braille letter can be used to transcribe multiple scripts e g Latin Cyrillic Greek and even elements of Chinese characters as well as digits Thus while U 2813 BRAILLE PATTERN DOTS 125 transcribes the letter h of the Latin script as well as the digit 8 it transcribes ᄐ t of Korean hangul and り ri of Japanese kana The Unicode character property of braille characters is set to So Symbol other rather than to Lo Letter other The ISO 15924 script code for braille Brai Identifying naming and orderingBraille dot numberingHexadecimal value of braille dots The coding is in accordance with ISO TR 11548 1 Communication aids for blind persons Unicode uses the standard dot numbering 1 to 8 Historically only the 6 dot cell was used in braille The lower two dots were added later which explains the irregular numbering 1 2 3 7 in the left column and 4 5 6 8 in the right column Where dots 7 and 8 are not raised there is no distinction between 6 dot and 8 dot definitions The Unicode name of a specific pattern mentions the raised dots U 2813 BRAILLE PATTERN DOTS 125 has dots 1 2 and 5 raised By exception the zero dot raised pattern is named U 2800 BRAILLE PATTERN BLANK In the 8 dot cell each dot individually can be raised or not That creates 28 256 different patterns By mapping each of the eight dots to a bit in a byte in a little endian order and by defining 0 1 for not raised raised per bit every specific pattern generates an identifying binary number So the pattern with dots 1 2 5 raised would yield 00010011 2 equivalent to 13 16 or 19 10 The mapping can also be computed by adding together the hexadecimal values seen at right of the dots raised So the pattern with dots 1 2 5 raised would yield 116 216 1016 1316 Whether computed directly in hexadecimal or indirectly via binary the result is added to 280016 the offset for the Braille Patterns Unicode block Unicode Braille Pattern encoding examples veBraille symbol Unicode character U 2813 U 28C7 U 28FFName BRAILLE PATTERN DOTS 125 BRAILLE PATTERN DOTS 12378 BRAILLE PATTERN DOTS 12345678Dot numbers available 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8Dot raised 1 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1Reverse order lowest value right as in decimal notation 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 sub 2 sub 1 1 0 0 0 1 1 1 sub 2 sub 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 sub 2 sub Hex value of dots 10 2 1 sub 16 sub 80 40 4 2 1 sub 16 sub 80 40 20 10 8 4 2 1 sub 16 sub Total hexadecimal value 13 sub 16 sub C7 sub 16 sub FF sub 16 sub Into block offset U 2800 sub 16 sub 2800 sub 16 sub 13 sub 16 sub U 2813 2800 sub 16 sub C7 sub 16 sub U 28C7 2800 sub 16 sub FF sub 16 sub U 28FF There is no regular mapping to the braille ASCII numbering Colloquial names The Unicode names of braille dot patterns are not the same as what many English speakers would use colloquially In particular Unicode names use the word dots in the plural even when only one dot is listed thus Unicode says braille pattern dots 5 when most English speaking users of braille would simply say braille dot 5 or just dot 5 In addition some English speaking users of braille use the word and when listing only two dots Thus braille pattern dots 45 would be spoken as braille dots 4 and 5 The word and is not always used when listing many dots however Block Braille was added to the Unicode Standard in September 1999 with the release of version 3 0 When using punching the filled black dots are to be punched The Unicode block for braille is U 2800 U 28FF Braille Patterns 1 Official Unicode Consortium code chart PDF 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C D E FU 280x U 281x U 282x U 283x end of 6 dot cell patterns U 284x U 285x U 286x U 287x U 288x U 289x U 28Ax U 28Bx U 28Cx U 28Dx U 28Ex U 28Fx Notes 1 As of Unicode version 16 0Font differences When showing braille graphically in printed instruction manuals it can be useful to indicate the dots that are not punched especially if a single braille cell of only one or two punched dots is shown out of context in this case it might otherwise be difficult to judge the vertical alignment of the dots and tell the difference between say dots 2 and 4 versus dots 3 and 5 The current Unicode charts and some fonts use empty circles to indicate dots that are not punched This does not always render very clearly if the circle outlines are printed heavily then it can be difficult to tell at a glance whether the dot is filled in or not The braille package for LaTeX and several printed publications such as the printed manual for the new international braille music code show unpunched dots as very small dots much smaller than the filled in dots rather than circles and this tends to print better Some braille fonts do not indicate unpunched dots at all Additionally some Linux braille fonts e g GNU Unifont and the DejaVu fonts use small squares instead of small circles to indicate dots Other usesThe Braille Pattern characters are commonly failed verification used in terminal applications as a way to draw multiple pixels per character HistoryThe following Unicode related documents record the purpose and process of defining specific characters in the Braille Patterns block Version Final code points Count UTC ID L2 ID WG2 ID Document3 0 U 2800 28FF 256 X3L2 90 064 Extracts from A Proposal for Funding the Programs of Braille Research and Literacy 1990 01 01X3L2 91 085 TC 173 Proposals for new work items for Braille Coding 1991 03 20X3L2 92 039 Bishop Avery 1991 10 29 The long awaited draft reply on Braille symbol encodingN1093 Shibano Kohji 1994 12 26 Braille LettersN1203 Umamaheswaran V S Ksar Mike 1995 05 03 6 1 3 3 Unconfirmed minutes of SC2 WG2 Meeting 27 GenevaX3L2 95 114 N1279 Braille letters addition request 1995 10 27N1303 html doc Umamaheswaran V S Ksar Mike 1996 01 26 8 14 Braille Minutes of Meeting 29 TokyoX3L2 95 125 Duran Peter 1990 05 24 A Proposal for Funding the Programs of Braille Research and LiteracyUTC 1996 002 Aliprand Joan Hart Edwin Greenfield Steve 1996 03 05 Braille UTC 67 MinutesUTC 1996 007 Hart Edwin 1996 03 07 Contribution on Encoding Braille in ISO IEC 10646N1342 Sato Takayuki K 1996 03 19 Braille letters confirmation of request N1339 Ksar Mike 1996 03 28 Liaison Letter on Braille to ISO TC137 SecretariatN1345 Hart Edwin 1996 04 01 Initial comments on encoding Braille into ISO IEC 10646N1353 Umamaheswaran V S Ksar Mike 1996 06 25 8 9 Draft minutes of WG2 Copenhagen Meeting 30UTC 1996 027 2 Greenfield Steve 1996 07 01 K Braille Proposal UTC 69 Minutes PART 2 N1409R Braille Symbols 1996 08 12N1453 Ksar Mike Umamaheswaran V S 1996 12 06 8 9 WG 2 Minutes Quebec Meeting 31L2 97 047 N1541 Everson Michael 1997 03 11 Proposed pDAM text for BrailleN1588 DIS 11 548 1 Communication aids for blind persons Part 1 Braille identifiers and shift marks General guidelines 1997 06 23N1588 1 DIS 11 548 2 Communication aids for blind persons Part 2 Latin alphabet based character setsL2 97 157 N1612 Report of ad hoc group on Braille encoding 1997 07 01L2 97 288 N1603 Umamaheswaran V S 1997 10 24 8 4 Unconfirmed Meeting Minutes WG 2 Meeting 33 Heraklion Crete Greece 20 June 4 July 1997L2 98 136 N1770 Paterson Bruce 1998 04 06 Revised Text of 10646 1 FPDAM 16 Amendment 16 Braille PatternsL2 98 286 N1703 Umamaheswaran V S Ksar Mike 1998 07 02 6 2 2 FPDAM 16 Braille patterns Unconfirmed Meeting Minutes WG 2 Meeting 34 Redmond WA USA 1998 03 16 20Proposed code points and characters names may differ from final code points and namesReferences Unicode character database The Unicode Standard Retrieved 2023 07 26 Enumerated Versions of The Unicode Standard The Unicode Standard Retrieved 2023 07 26 Unicode Chapter 15 section 15 10 Unicode chart U 2800 braille patterns Braille Pattern Dots 1358 U 2895 Font Support fileformat info Retrieved December 7 2014 Iirelu Braillify GitHub 22 July 2021
