SymbolHub

Editorial policy and data sources

Every fact on SymbolHub is either generated from an official standard or checked by hand on real devices. This page explains how.

Updated 2 min read

What is generated from standards

The site is built by a program that reads the official data files at build time. That removes copy errors: if Unicode says a character is named DEGREE SIGN and sits at U+00B0, that is what every page says.

  • Official names, code points, blocks, general categories and the Unicode version in which each character was added: Unicode Character Database 16.0.
  • Emoji names and sequences: emoji-test.txt for Emoji 16.0.
  • HTML named character references: the WHATWG entities list.
  • HTML decimal and hex references, CSS, JavaScript, Python and Java escapes, UTF-8 and UTF-16 bytes and URL encoding are all calculated from the code point.
  • Windows alt codes: computed from the code page 437 (OEM) and Windows-1252 (ANSI) mappings. A character gets an alt code only if one of those code pages contains it.

What is checked by hand

Some methods have no machine-readable source: the Mac Option layer, the iPhone and Android keyboard routes, Microsoft Word's AutoCorrect entries and Google Docs substitutions. These are kept in a single reviewed table and were tested on current versions of macOS, iOS, Android (Gboard), Windows 11, Microsoft 365 and Google Docs. If a route could not be confirmed, we publish the universal methods instead (copy and paste, Character Viewer, Character Map or Unicode input).

How pages are written

Explanations of meaning, history and usage are written by people, not generated. Claims about history cite a source where one exists. We avoid inventing symbolism: when a meaning is a modern internet convention rather than a historical fact, the page says so.

Updates and corrections

Each page shows the date it was last updated. When Unicode publishes a new version, the data files are replaced and every page is rebuilt. If you find an error, email getinfotoyou@gmail.com. We correct verified errors promptly and note significant changes on the page.

Advertising

SymbolHub shows a limited number of ads to cover its costs. Advertisers have no influence on content, and ads are never placed inside symbol grids, tools or the copy tray. See the privacy policy for details.