Re: Why isn't there a RIGHTWARDS BLACK ARROW?

Note: none of these 3 black arrows are found in the category "arrows" of
the Windows charmap, even if it can display them by entering "2B00" the
"Unicode page" field (accessible only when the "group by" combo box is set
to "all').
See for example with the "Segoe UI Symbols" font.

In the same font You can see other right(-only) arrows at U+2794, 2799,
 279B..27AF, 27B1..27B3, 27B5, 27B8, 27BA..27BE, 27F6, 27F9, 27FC, 27FF,
2900..2901, 2903, 2905, 2907, 290D, 290F..2911, 2914..2918, 291A, 291C,
291E, 2920, 2933, 2953, 2957, 295B, 295F, 2964, 296C..296D,
2970..2972, 2974..2975,
2978..2979, 297D, 2B43..2B44, 2B47..2B48, 2B4C (most of them also forgotten
in the category "arrows").

It's quite unfortunate that the categories available in the Windows Charmap
tool are missing lots of things (including for fonts that are shipped with
the same version of Windows), so you have to know the code or select
specific fonts to find them.

2013/10/26 Sindre Sorhus <sindresorhus_at_gmail.com>

>
>
>
> On Sat, Oct 26, 2013 at 7:45 PM, Jukka K. Korpela <jkorpela_at_cs.tut.fi>wrote:
>
>> 2013-10-26 18:36, Sindre Sorhus wrote:
>>
>> There are:
>>> ⬅ LEFTWARDS BLACK ARROW (U+2B05)
>>> ⬆ UPWARDS BLACK ARROW (U+2B06)
>>> ⬇ DOWNWARDS BLACK ARROW (U+2B07)
>>>
>>> But no right arrow. Why is that?
>>>
>>
>> There is
>> ⬅ BLACK RIGHTWARDS ARROW (U+27A1)
>> The code chart at
>> http://www.unicode.org/charts/**PDF/U2B00.pdf<http://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U2B00.pdf>
>> has a cross reference to it, in the description of U+2B05.
>>
>> My guess is that U+27A1 was included along with other dingbat arrows
>> (which are mostly rightward-pointing arrowlike symbols) because it had been
>> included in legacy character codes. It was then regarded as unnecessary to
>> duplicate it in the Miscellaneous Symbols and Arrows block.
>>
>> This is somewhat unfortunate. The code chart
>> http://www.unicode.org/charts/**PDF/U2700.pdf<http://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U2700.pdf>
>> says, in the description of U+27A1: “fonts may harmonize this glyph with
>> the style for other black arrows”. In practice, however, only few fonts
>> contain both U+27A1 and U+2B05, and in them, they tend to be rather
>> different in style. In the fonts in my system, only DejaVu Serif, Quivira,
>> and Segoe UI Symbol use the same style for both.
>
>
> Thanks, that confirms my suspicion :)
> That's unfortunate indeed.
>
> Is there any way to be able to get a proper RIGHTWARDS BLACK ARROW into
> Unicode?
>
>
>>
>>
>> These arrows are the most neutral and legible ones, so it's unfortunate
>>> that one is missing.
>>>
>>
>> Well, yes, for icon-like use they would be suitable if implemented
>> stylistically similarly and had shapes sufficiently resembling the
>> representative glyphs. But among the three fonts I mentioned, I think only
>> DejaVu Serif reflects the same design principles as the representative
>> glyphs.
>>
>> Not surprisingly, people mostly use images instead.
>>
>
> None of the fonts I've used made it it inverse-identical of the left one.
> Though doesn't help my use-case anyways as I'm using them in CLI apps where
> I can neither control the font or use images.
>
>
>>
>> Yucca
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
>
> --
> Sindre Sorhus
> sindresorhus.com
>
Received on Sat Oct 26 2013 - 13:56:36 CDT