The Unicode Standard Version 6.2 – Core Specification

This is The Unicode Standard, Version 6.2. It supersedes all earlier versions of the Unicode
Standard.
Why Unicode?
The Unicode Standard and its associated specifications provide programmers with a single
universal character encoding, extensive descriptions, and a vast amount of data about how
characters function. The specifications describe how to form words and break lines; how to
sort text in different languages; how to format numbers, dates, times, and other elements
appropriate to different languages; how to display languages whose written form flows
from right to left, such as Arabic and Hebrew, or whose written form splits, combines, and
reorders, such as languages of South Asia. These specifications include descriptions of how
to deal with security concerns regarding the many “look-alike” characters from alphabets
around the world. Without the properties and algorithms in the Unicode Standard and its
associated specifications, interoperability between different implementations would be
impossible, and much of the vast breadth of the world’s languages would lie outside the
reach of modern software.
What’s New?
Key new features that have been defined and documented since the publication of The Unicode
Standard, Version 6.0 include:
• additional characters for languages of China, other Asian countries, and Africa
• new math characters to support educational needs in the Arabic-speaking world
• labels for properties that aid implementation
• consolidation of Hangul algorithms
• support of new display styles for many emoji characters
• improved line-breaking behavior of Hebrew and Japanese text
• improved segmentation behavior for Thai, Lao, and similar languages
• more fully specified mappings between Simplified and Traditional Chinese
characters
Support for Languages and Symbol Sets. One new character was added in the Unicode
Standard, Version 6.2, the Turkish lira sign.