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      1 :mod:`unicodedata` --- Unicode Database
      2 =======================================
      3 
      4 .. module:: unicodedata
      5    :synopsis: Access the Unicode Database.
      6 
      7 .. moduleauthor:: Marc-Andr Lemburg <mal (a] lemburg.com>
      8 .. sectionauthor:: Marc-Andr Lemburg <mal (a] lemburg.com>
      9 .. sectionauthor:: Martin v. Lwis <martin (a] v.loewis.de>
     10 
     11 .. index::
     12    single: Unicode
     13    single: character
     14    pair: Unicode; database
     15 
     16 --------------
     17 
     18 This module provides access to the Unicode Character Database (UCD) which
     19 defines character properties for all Unicode characters. The data contained in
     20 this database is compiled from the `UCD version 9.0.0
     21 <http://www.unicode.org/Public/9.0.0/ucd>`_.
     22 
     23 The module uses the same names and symbols as defined by Unicode
     24 Standard Annex #44, `"Unicode Character Database"
     25 <http://www.unicode.org/reports/tr44/tr44-6.html>`_.  It defines the
     26 following functions:
     27 
     28 
     29 .. function:: lookup(name)
     30 
     31    Look up character by name.  If a character with the given name is found, return
     32    the corresponding character.  If not found, :exc:`KeyError` is raised.
     33 
     34    .. versionchanged:: 3.3
     35       Support for name aliases [#]_ and named sequences [#]_ has been added.
     36 
     37 
     38 .. function:: name(chr[, default])
     39 
     40    Returns the name assigned to the character *chr* as a string. If no
     41    name is defined, *default* is returned, or, if not given, :exc:`ValueError` is
     42    raised.
     43 
     44 
     45 .. function:: decimal(chr[, default])
     46 
     47    Returns the decimal value assigned to the character *chr* as integer.
     48    If no such value is defined, *default* is returned, or, if not given,
     49    :exc:`ValueError` is raised.
     50 
     51 
     52 .. function:: digit(chr[, default])
     53 
     54    Returns the digit value assigned to the character *chr* as integer.
     55    If no such value is defined, *default* is returned, or, if not given,
     56    :exc:`ValueError` is raised.
     57 
     58 
     59 .. function:: numeric(chr[, default])
     60 
     61    Returns the numeric value assigned to the character *chr* as float.
     62    If no such value is defined, *default* is returned, or, if not given,
     63    :exc:`ValueError` is raised.
     64 
     65 
     66 .. function:: category(chr)
     67 
     68    Returns the general category assigned to the character *chr* as
     69    string.
     70 
     71 
     72 .. function:: bidirectional(chr)
     73 
     74    Returns the bidirectional class assigned to the character *chr* as
     75    string. If no such value is defined, an empty string is returned.
     76 
     77 
     78 .. function:: combining(chr)
     79 
     80    Returns the canonical combining class assigned to the character *chr*
     81    as integer. Returns ``0`` if no combining class is defined.
     82 
     83 
     84 .. function:: east_asian_width(chr)
     85 
     86    Returns the east asian width assigned to the character *chr* as
     87    string.
     88 
     89 
     90 .. function:: mirrored(chr)
     91 
     92    Returns the mirrored property assigned to the character *chr* as
     93    integer. Returns ``1`` if the character has been identified as a "mirrored"
     94    character in bidirectional text, ``0`` otherwise.
     95 
     96 
     97 .. function:: decomposition(chr)
     98 
     99    Returns the character decomposition mapping assigned to the character
    100    *chr* as string. An empty string is returned in case no such mapping is
    101    defined.
    102 
    103 
    104 .. function:: normalize(form, unistr)
    105 
    106    Return the normal form *form* for the Unicode string *unistr*. Valid values for
    107    *form* are 'NFC', 'NFKC', 'NFD', and 'NFKD'.
    108 
    109    The Unicode standard defines various normalization forms of a Unicode string,
    110    based on the definition of canonical equivalence and compatibility equivalence.
    111    In Unicode, several characters can be expressed in various way. For example, the
    112    character U+00C7 (LATIN CAPITAL LETTER C WITH CEDILLA) can also be expressed as
    113    the sequence U+0043 (LATIN CAPITAL LETTER C) U+0327 (COMBINING CEDILLA).
    114 
    115    For each character, there are two normal forms: normal form C and normal form D.
    116    Normal form D (NFD) is also known as canonical decomposition, and translates
    117    each character into its decomposed form. Normal form C (NFC) first applies a
    118    canonical decomposition, then composes pre-combined characters again.
    119 
    120    In addition to these two forms, there are two additional normal forms based on
    121    compatibility equivalence. In Unicode, certain characters are supported which
    122    normally would be unified with other characters. For example, U+2160 (ROMAN
    123    NUMERAL ONE) is really the same thing as U+0049 (LATIN CAPITAL LETTER I).
    124    However, it is supported in Unicode for compatibility with existing character
    125    sets (e.g. gb2312).
    126 
    127    The normal form KD (NFKD) will apply the compatibility decomposition, i.e.
    128    replace all compatibility characters with their equivalents. The normal form KC
    129    (NFKC) first applies the compatibility decomposition, followed by the canonical
    130    composition.
    131 
    132    Even if two unicode strings are normalized and look the same to
    133    a human reader, if one has combining characters and the other
    134    doesn't, they may not compare equal.
    135 
    136 
    137 In addition, the module exposes the following constant:
    138 
    139 .. data:: unidata_version
    140 
    141    The version of the Unicode database used in this module.
    142 
    143 
    144 .. data:: ucd_3_2_0
    145 
    146    This is an object that has the same methods as the entire module, but uses the
    147    Unicode database version 3.2 instead, for applications that require this
    148    specific version of the Unicode database (such as IDNA).
    149 
    150 Examples:
    151 
    152    >>> import unicodedata
    153    >>> unicodedata.lookup('LEFT CURLY BRACKET')
    154    '{'
    155    >>> unicodedata.name('/')
    156    'SOLIDUS'
    157    >>> unicodedata.decimal('9')
    158    9
    159    >>> unicodedata.decimal('a')
    160    Traceback (most recent call last):
    161      File "<stdin>", line 1, in ?
    162    ValueError: not a decimal
    163    >>> unicodedata.category('A')  # 'L'etter, 'u'ppercase
    164    'Lu'
    165    >>> unicodedata.bidirectional('\u0660') # 'A'rabic, 'N'umber
    166    'AN'
    167 
    168 
    169 .. rubric:: Footnotes
    170 
    171 .. [#] http://www.unicode.org/Public/9.0.0/ucd/NameAliases.txt
    172 
    173 .. [#] http://www.unicode.org/Public/9.0.0/ucd/NamedSequences.txt
    174