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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

As of 12 December 2017, 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:

Region	Name	Purpose	First registered	Last updated	Number of sequences	Chart
Japan	Adobe-Japan1	CID-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.	2007-12-14	2022-09-13	14684	All Adobe sequences Contrastive Adobe sequences
Japan	Hanyo-Denshi	Unicode 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). Approximately 60% of the initial registration matches Adobe-Japan1 glyphs, but the existing Adobe-Japan1 variation sequences are not used for them.	2010-11-14	2012-03-02	13045	All Han'yō Denshi sequences
Japan	Moji_Joho	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 Hanyo-Denshi collection, from which it retains 9866 of the existing IVSes.	2014-05-16	2017-12-12	11384	All Moji Jōhō sequences
Macau	MSARG	Macao Supplementary Character Set (MSCS)	2016-08-15	2020-11-06	154	All MSCS sequences
South Korea	KRName	Standard character variants permitted in personal names in South Korea	2017-12-12		36	All Korean name sequences

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:

References

1. "Unicode character database". The Unicode Standard. Retrieved 2023-07-26.
2. "Enumerated Versions of The Unicode Standard". The Unicode Standard. Retrieved 2023-07-26.
3. ^ "Ideographic Variation Database". Unicode Consortium.
4. "UTS #37, Unicode Ideographic Variation Database". Unicode Consortium.
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.
6. ^ "The Hanyo-Denshi IVD Collection". Ideographic Variation Database. Unicode Consortium.
7. Lunde, Ken; Hua Gu (2010-11-25). "The "Hanyo-Denshi" IVD Collection has been registered!". CJK Type Blog. Adobe Inc.
8. 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.
9. ^ 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.
10. Taipei Computer Association (2021-09-10). "Activity Report from TCA" (PDF). ISO/IEC JTC1/SC2/WG2/IRG N2502.

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