Entering Unicode Characters in Notepad

[Nathan Sokalski]

I am attempting to enter Unicode characters in Notepad. From my
understanding, this is done by using ALT+<DECIMAL CODE ON KEYPAD>. I have
tried this with several codes that I got from the www.unicode.org site, but
it did not show the correct characters (I admit that I did have to convert
from hexadecimal to decimal, but that is not a hard task). For example,
ALT+65532 should show the object replacement character, right? I thought
that was correct, but it did not show that character. Is there something I
am doing wrong? Also, does anybody know of a website that gives a complete
listing of Unicode characters, with their codes in decimal, without
categorizing them into groups (I basically just want a long scrollable list,
or maybe a paged list, but I don't want to have to guess as to what category
a character is in). If anybody can tell me what I am doing wrong in Notepad
and/or where I can get a complete continuous list of Unicode characters, I
would appreciate it. Thanks.

 

[Nightowl]

Hi Nathan

There are several problems here It can depend on your font, your
input method and the program you want to use.

First you need to make sure your selected font includes that character.
Not all of them do. Times New Roman and Arial are two Windows standard
fonts that have it, but Trebuchet, for example, just shows an empty box.

With characters whose decimal code is higher than 255, the Alt+number
method doesn't work in Notepad (some are remapped to lower numbers).
More advanced programs such as Wordpad or Word will accept an Alt-code
(but see note on Wordpad below). Or you can type the hex code, followed
by Alt+X. So in Word 2003 I typed FFFC Alt+X and got your Object
Replacement Character. Note that you must first select an appropriate
font, as mentioned above. Notepad won't do it, but try it in Word,
Wordpad or another "rich text" program.

Another method is to copy the character from Character Map or similar
program to the clipboard and paste it into your document. I like
BabelMap, a free program with many more features:
http://www.babelstone.co.uk/Software/BabelMap.html

But yet another problem is it seems that not all glyphs are created
equal, at least in Windows . I experimented with the Object
Replacement Character in Times New Roman. I could type it directly in
Word 2003 using the hex code or the Alt-code, but Wordpad resolutely
showed a blank space. When I copied it from BabelMap to the clipboard
and pasted it, Notepad happily displayed it while Wordpad still refused,
even with "Paste Special". Both programs were set to use Times New
Roman.

In contrast, when I chose a small letter "w" with circumflex, both
Wordpad and Notepad pasted it with no problems. In Wordpad I could also
type it directly with 0175 Alt+X or the decimal equivalent Alt+373.

Sorry if this all sounds terribly confusing, but I hope some of it helps
Oh, P.S.: in both Character Map and BabelMap, if you know the
character you want you can search for it by name, rather than have to
guess which category it's in.

 

[Luigi M Bianchi]

Nathan,

You may also want to try BabelPad, at the same URL as BabelMap. This is
a full unicode editor, which uses BabelMap.

/luigi

 

[Nathan Sokalski]

Thanks, it definitely explains why I was unable to enter the characters in
Notepad, but was able to copy & paste them (NOTE: you can select a font in
Notepad, you just have to use the same one for the whole document). It's
also interesting to know that even with the same font not all programs
display it the same. Thank you for your help, maybe if we're lucky programs
will start following the standard more completely, and possibly having a
"font" called Unicode (something that is not really a font, but simply
displays the Unicode character, with the keyboard characters mapped to the
correct characters). Thanks again.

 

[Nightowl]

Thanks, it definitely explains why I was unable to enter the characters in
Notepad, but was able to copy & paste them (NOTE: you can select a font in
Notepad, you just have to use the same one for the whole document). It's
also interesting to know that even with the same font not all programs
display it the same. Thank you for your help, maybe if we're lucky programs
will start following the standard more completely, and possibly having a
"font" called Unicode (something that is not really a font, but simply
displays the Unicode character, with the keyboard characters mapped to the
correct characters). Thanks again.

You're very welcome, Nathan. Hmm. . . I think you'd really need to be a
multi-tentacled creature with a very large desk if you were to have such
a keyboard, since there are thousands of Unicode characters Just
teasing, I know what you mean and it's definitely A Good Thing that
programs are becoming more compliant -- especially from my point of view
as a typesetter.

 

[ashishnegi1985]

Hi Nathan

There are several problems here It can depend on your font, your
input method and the program you want to use.

First you need to make sure your selected font includes that character.
Not all of them do. Times New Roman and Arial are two Windows standard
fonts that have it, but Trebuchet, for example, just shows an empty box.

With characters whose decimal code is higher than 255, the Alt+number
method doesn't work in Notepad (some are remapped to lower numbers).
More advanced programs such as Wordpad or Word will accept an Alt-code
(but see note on Wordpad below). Or you can type the hex code, followed
by Alt+X. So in Word 2003 I typed FFFC Alt+X and got your Object
Replacement Character. Note that you must first select an appropriate
font, as mentioned above. Notepad won't do it, but try it in Word,
Wordpad or another "rich text" program.

Another method is to copy the character from Character Map or similar
program to the clipboard and paste it into your document. I like
BabelMap, a free program with many more features:
http://www.babelstone.co.uk/Software/BabelMap.html

But yet another problem is it seems that not all glyphs are created
equal, at least in Windows . I experimented with the Object
Replacement Character in Times New Roman. I could type it directly in
Word 2003 using the hex code or the Alt-code, but Wordpad resolutely
showed a blank space. When I copied it from BabelMap to the clipboard
and pasted it, Notepad happily displayed it while Wordpad still refused,
even with "Paste Special". Both programs were set to use Times New
Roman.

In contrast, when I chose a small letter "w" with circumflex, both
Wordpad and Notepad pasted it with no problems. In Wordpad I could also
type it directly with 0175 Alt+X or the decimal equivalent Alt+373.

Sorry if this all sounds terribly confusing, but I hope some of it helps
Oh, P.S.: in both Character Map and BabelMap, if you know the
character you want you can search for it by name, rather than have to
guess which category it's in.


Nathan Sokalski <[email protected]> wrote on Wed, 12 Sep 2007:

>I am attempting to enter Unicode characters in Notepad. From my
>understanding, this is done by using ALT+<DECIMAL CODE ON KEYPAD>. I have
>tried this with several codes that I got from the www.unicode.org site, but
>it did not show the correct characters (I admit that I did have to convert
>from hexadecimal to decimal, but that is not a hard task). For example,
>ALT+65532 should show the object replacement character, right? I thought
>that was correct, but it did not show that character. Is there something I
>am doing wrong? Also, does anybody know of a website that gives a complete
>listing of Unicode characters, with their codes in decimal, without
>categorizing them into groups (I basically just want a long scrollable list,
>or maybe a paged list, but I don't want to have to guess as to what category
>a character is in). If anybody can tell me what I am doing wrong in Notepad
>and/or where I can get a complete continuous list of Unicode characters, I
>would appreciate it. Thanks.

--
Nightowl

Hey Buddy, I want to Thank you for the same. I was working for 2 hrs and i had this problem at office earlier as well and it didnt fix it. Your first sentence of the reply was itself spot on the issue.
I really appreciate your help and am just logged in and registered for this to Thank you for your reply in the post
Take Care
Ashish