Unicode® 15.0.0 (DRAFT)
This page summarizes the important changes for the Unicode Standard, Version 15.0.0.
This version supersedes all previous versions of the Unicode Standard.
| The Unicode Character Database, Code Charts, and Annexes for Version 15.0
will be released on
September NN, 2022. The core specification (the PDF chapters) of Version 15.0 is still pending publication due to the extensive editorial work required for the new content additions. Until final publication, the links to individual chapters of the core specification will not be activated. An announcement will be made when the core specification for Version 15.0 is available. In the meantime, implementers can continue to reference the relevant sections of the
most recent version of the core specification. |
A. Summary
B. Technical Overview
C. Stability Policy Update
D. Textual Changes and Character Additions
E. Conformance Changes
F. Changes in the Unicode Character Database
G. Changes in the Unicode Standard Annexes
H. Changes in Synchronized Unicode Technical Standards
M. Implications for Migration
Unicode 15.0 adds 4489 characters,
for a total of 149,186 characters.
These additions include 2 new scripts,
for a total of 161 scripts, as well as 20 new emoji characters.
The new scripts and characters in Version 15.0 add support for lesser-used languages
and unique written requirements worldwide, including numerous symbols additions.
Funds from the
Adopt-a-Character
program provided support for some of these additions.
The new scripts and characters include:
Popular symbol additions:
- 20 emoji characters. For complete statistics regarding all emoji as of
Unicode 15.0, see
Emoji Counts.
For more information about emoji additions in version 15.0, including new
emoji ZWJ sequences and emoji modifier sequences, see
Emoji Recently Added, v15.0.
Other symbol and notational additions include:
Support for CJK unified ideographs was enhanced in Version 15.0
by significant corrections and improvements to the Unihan database.
Changes to the Unihan database include updated source lists, regular expressions,
and new and updated fields.
See UAX #38,
Unicode Han Database (Unihan) for more information on the updates.
Additional support for lesser-used languages and scholarly work was extended, including:
Important chart font updates, including:
Synchronization
Several other important Unicode specifications have been updated for Version 15.0.
The following four Unicode Technical Standards are versioned in
synchrony with the Unicode Standard, because their data files cover the same repertoire.
All have been updated to Version 15.0:
Some of the changes in Version 15.0 and associated Unicode Technical Standards
may require modifications
to implementations. For more information, see the migration and modification sections of
UTS #10, UTS #39, UTS #46, and UTS #51.
See Sections D through H below for additional details regarding the changes in this version of
the Unicode Standard, its associated annexes, and the other synchronized Unicode specifications.
Version 15.0 of the Unicode Standard consists of:
- The core specification
- The code charts (delta and archival) for this version
- The Unicode Standard Annexes
- The Unicode Character Database (UCD)
The core specification gives the general principles,
requirements for conformance, and guidelines for implementers. The
code charts show representative glyphs for all the Unicode
characters. The Unicode Standard Annexes supply detailed normative
information about particular aspects of the standard. The Unicode
Character Database supplies normative and informative data for
implementers to allow them to implement the Unicode Standard.
The core specification is available as
a single pdf for viewing.
(14 MB)
Links are also available
in the navigation bar on the left of this page to access
individual chapters and appendices
of the core specification.
Several sets of code charts are available. They serve different
purposes:
- The latest set of code charts for
the Unicode Standard is available online. Those charts are always the most current
code charts available, and may be updated at any time. The charts are organized by
scripts and blocks for easy reference.
An online index by character name
is also provided.
For Unicode 15.0.0 in particular two additional sets of code chart pages are provided:
- A set of delta code charts showing the
new blocks and any blocks in which characters were added for Unicode 15.0.0. The new characters are visually highlighted in the charts.
- A set of archival code charts that represents
the entire set of characters, names and representative glyphs at the time of publication of Unicode 15.0.0.
The delta and archival code charts are a stable part of this release of the Unicode Standard. They will never be updated.
Links to the individual
Unicode Standard Annexes are available in
the navigation bar on the left of this page. The list of significant changes
in the content of the Unicode Standard Annexes for Version 15.0 can be found
in Section G below.
Data files for Version 15.0 of
the Unicode Character Database are available. The ReadMe.txt in that directory provides a roadmap
to the functions of the various subdirectories.
Zipped versions of the UCD
for bulk download are available, as well.
Version 15.0.0 of the Unicode Standard
should be referenced as:
The Unicode Consortium. The Unicode Standard, Version 15.0.0, (Mountain View, CA: The Unicode Consortium,
2022. ISBN 978-1-936213-32-0)
https://www.unicode.org/versions/Unicode15.0.0/
The terms “Version 15.0” or “Unicode 15.0” are abbreviations for the full version reference, Version 15.0.0.
The citation and permalink for the latest published version of the Unicode Standard is:
The Unicode Consortium. The Unicode Standard.
https://www.unicode.org/versions/latest/
A complete specification of the contributory files for Unicode
15.0 is found on the page Components for 15.0.0.
That page also provides the recommended reference format for Unicode Standard Annexes. For examples of how to cite particular portions of the Unicode Standard, see also the Reference Examples.
Errata incorporated into Unicode 15.0 are listed by date in
a separate table. For corrigenda and errata after the release of Unicode 15.0, see the list of current
Updates and Errata.
There were no significant changes to the Stability Policy of the core specification between Unicode 14.0 and Unicode 15.0.
Two new
scripts were added with accompanying new block descriptions:
| Script |
Number of
Characters |
| Kawi |
86 |
| Nag Mundari |
42 |
Changes in the Unicode Standard Annexes are listed in Section G.
Character Assignment Overview
4489 characters have been added.
Most character additions are in new blocks, but there are also character additions to a number of existing blocks. For details, see delta code charts.
There are no significant new conformance requirements in Unicode 15.0.
The detailed listing of all changes to the contributory data files of the Unicode Character Database
for Version 15.0 can be found in
UAX #44, Unicode Character Database.
The changes listed there include character additions and property revisions to existing characters that will affect implementations.
Some of the important impacts on implementations migrating from earlier versions of the standard are highlighted in
Section M.
In Version 15.0, some of the Unicode Standard Annexes have had significant revisions. The most important of these changes are listed below. For the full details of all changes, see the Modifications section
of each UAX, linked directly from the following list of UAXes.
| Unicode Standard Annex |
Changes |
UAX #9
Unicode Bidirectional Algorithm
|
The text under UAX9-C2 was amended to emphasize that higher-level
protocols should be used to mitigate misleading bidirectional ordering
of source code, including potential spoofing attacks.
An extended example of use of the higher-level protocol HL4 for program text
was added in Section 4.3.2,
HL Example 2 for Program Text. |
UAX
#11
East Asian Width |
No significant changes in this version. |
UAX
#14
Unicode Line Breaking Algorithm |
No significant changes in this version. |
UAX
#15
Unicode Normalization Forms
|
The text in Section 5.1, Composition Exclusion Types was updated. |
UAX
#24
Unicode Script Property
|
No significant changes in this version. |
UAX
#29
Unicode Text Segmentation |
Four postbase Kawi characters were added to the list of SpacingMark exceptions,
so that they are assigned Grapheme_Cluster_Break=XX. |
UAX
#31
Unicode Identifier and Pattern Syntax
|
The text now clarifies that contextual restrictions on ZWJ and ZWNJ
are applicable only if the default identifier syntax is customized to
add those characters. Important guidance on profiles for default
identifiers is presented in UAX31-R1. The text now clarifies that
requirement UAX31-R3 Pattern_White_Space and Pattern_Syntax Characters
is applicable not only to pattern syntaxes, but also to programming
languages. In particular, some Pattern_Whitespace characters are
relevant to issues of bidirectional ordering and potential
spoofing attacks. The two
new scripts for Unicode 15.0 were added to the Excluded Scripts table. |
UAX
#34
Unicode Named Character Sequences |
A further clarification was added about medial hyphen in UAX34-R3.
The explanation of the Unicode namespace for character names was
extended in UAX34-D3. |
UAX
#38
Unicode Han Database (Unihan) |
Information about CJK Extension H and the single-character extension
to CJK Extension C were added. The sources and syntax were updated
for kIRG_GSource and kIRG_TSource. The syntax was updated for several
fields dealing with variants. A new field, kAlternateTotalStrokes was added.
Several new sections dealing with details of sources were added to the text. |
UAX
#41
Common References for Unicode Standard Annexes |
All references were updated for Unicode 15.0. |
UAX
#42
Unicode Character Database in XML |
New code point attributes, values, and patterns were added for Unicode 15.0. |
UAX
#44
Unicode Character Database |
The documentation was updated to describe the changes to the UCD for
Version 15.0. |
UAX #45
U-Source Ideographs |
The status "H" was added for the new CJK Extension H. A new section
was added to the text, descripting the Ideographic Description Sequence
field in USourceData.txt. |
UAX #50
Unicode Vertical Text Layout |
A short section was added discussing the limits of the applicability
of the Vertical_Orientation property when dealing with right-to-left scripts. |
There are also significant revisions in the Unicode Technical Standards whose
versions are synchronized with the Unicode Standard. The most important of these changes are listed below.
For the full details of all changes, see the Modifications section
of each UTS, linked directly from the following list of UTSes.
| Unicode Technical Standard |
Changes |
UTS #10
Unicode Collation Algorithm |
No significant changes in this version. |
UTS #39
Unicode Security Mechanisms |
The zero width joiner (ZWJ) and zero width non-joiner (ZWNJ) characters
are changed from Identifier_Status=Allowed to Identifier_Status=Restricted;
they are therefore no longer allowed by the General Security Profile by default.
Implementers who implement the General Security Profile or who otherwise use
the Identifier_Status or Identifier_Type properties should carefully
review the impact of that change. |
UTS #46
Unicode IDNA Compatibility Processing |
A note was added to Section 4.2, ToASCII regarding the empty label
for the DNS root. |
UTS #51
Unicode Emoji |
The definition of emoji_zwj_element was updated, and the emoji flag
sequence definition was updated to better align with the discussion in
Annex B, Valid Emoji Flag Sequences. The rules in Section 1.4.9, EBNF
and Regex were updated. The text in Section 2.7.1, Emoji and Text Presentation
Selectors was updated to clarify the behavior of the text presentation
selector on emoji ZWJ sequences.
|
There are a significant number of changes in Unicode 15.0 which may impact implementations upgrading
to Version 15.0 from earlier versions of the standard. The most important of these are listed
and explained here, to help focus on the issues most likely to cause unexpected trouble during upgrades.
Script-related Changes
Two new scripts have been added in Unicode 15.0.0. Some of these scripts have
particular attributes which may cause issues for implementations. The more
important of these attributes are summarized here.
Casing Issues
Numeric Property Issues
CJK/Unihan Changes
See UAX
#38, Unicode Han Database (Unihan) for further details on these changes,
especially Section 4.2, Listing
by Date of Addition to the Unicode Standard, and Section 4.3, Listing by
Location within Unihan.zip.
UAX #38 also has updated regex values for numerous
Unihan properties.
Emoji Changes
- 20 new emoji characters have been added. However, in addition
to those individual characters, many new emoji sequences have been
recognized, as well. Implementations supporting emoji should be
checked to reflect changes in
UTS #51, Unicode Emoji
and all of its associated data files.
Code Charts
![[Unicode]](https://www.unicode.org/webscripts/logo60s2.gif){kind=small}
