Character Map (Windows)
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Windows includes a tool called Character Map that lets you browse every character in any font you have installed. It shows the Alt code needed to type a character and can copy it to your clipboard so you don't have to type it. Similar apps exist on other systems, like Apple's Character Viewer.
Overview
Character Map is a Windows utility designed to help users insert special characters. It can be launched by typing "charmap" into the Run dialog or command line. An "Advanced view" option lets users explore character sets within a font based on different encodings, such as Unicode code ranges. This view also allows searching for characters by their Unicode code point or name.
For Unicode fonts, characters can be grouped by their Unicode subrange. However, the tool only supports code points on plane 0 (U+0000 to U+FFFF), even though the Unicode standard extends to plane 16 and includes many assigned characters on plane 1. Additionally, some characters within plane 0 are not displayed for reasons that are not explained.
The utility can be started on any Windows version by entering "charmap" in the Start or Run dialog. On Windows 2000, XP, Vista, and 7, it is located in the Start Menu under All Programs, Accessories, System Tools. On Windows 10 and 11, it appears in the Windows Accessories or Windows Tools folders. Starting with Windows Vista, users can also find it by typing its name into the Start Menu search box.
A separate, secondary character map is available on Windows 10 and 11. It can be accessed within a text field using a keyboard shortcut or the key on the virtual touch keyboard.
This version is primarily for inserting emoji but also provides a smaller set of special characters. The Character Map has been included in Windows NT 4.0 build 1381 and later, Windows 95 and later 9x versions, and certain Windows CE editions with a Windows 95-based GUI. An earlier version also existed in Windows 3.11 and Windows NT 3.51, which used the Program Manager interface.
Did You Know?
- The OS/2 analogue of the character map called Characters Map is available from third parties for systems from OS/2 Warp 3 onwards to current ArcaOS versions.
- The MacOS version is included in the Font Book app, and is shown when viewing the 'Repertoire' of a font.
- A Linux GNUstep character map application, 'Charmap', is developed by GNU Savannah.
More in Windows Components
Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: Character Map (Windows) (CC BY-SA 4.0).
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