Arabic Presentation Forms-A

Arabic Presentation Forms-A
Arabic Presentation Forms-A
Range	U+FB50..U+FDFF; (688 code points)
Plane	BMP
Scripts	Arabic (629 char.) ; Common (2 char.)
Major alphabets	Central Asian languages; Pashto; Persian; Kurdish; Sindhi; Urdu
Symbol sets	contextual forms; multi-letter and; word ligatures
Assigned	631 code points
Unused	25 reserved code points ; 32 non-characters
Unicode version history
1.1 (1993)	593 (+593)
3.2 (2002)	594 (+1)
4.0 (2003)	595 (+1)
6.0 (2010)	611 (+16)
14.0 (2021)	631 (+20)
Unicode documentation
	Code chart ∣ Web page
	Note: ; This range was initially part of the Private Use Area in Unicode 1.0.0, and removed from it in Unicode 1.0.1.

Arabic Presentation Forms-A is a Unicode block encoding contextual forms and ligatures of letter variants needed for Persian, Urdu, Sindhi and Central Asian languages. This block also allocates 32 noncharacters in Unicode, designed specifically for internal use.

The presentation forms are present only for compatibility with older standards such as codepage 864 used in DOS, and are typically used in visual and not logical order.^[5] It has been agreed no further presentation forms will be encoded; though the block still sees further encodings including a contiguous range of 32 noncharacters. ^[6]

Block

Arabic Presentation Forms-A^[1]^[2]^[3] Official Unicode Consortium code chart (PDF)
	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	A	B	C	D	E	F
U+FB5x	ﭐ	ﭑ	ﭒ	ﭓ	ﭔ	ﭕ	ﭖ	ﭗ	ﭘ	ﭙ	ﭚ	ﭛ	ﭜ	ﭝ	ﭞ	ﭟ
U+FB6x	ﭠ	ﭡ	ﭢ	ﭣ	ﭤ	ﭥ	ﭦ	ﭧ	ﭨ	ﭩ	ﭪ	ﭫ	ﭬ	ﭭ	ﭮ	ﭯ
U+FB7x	ﭰ	ﭱ	ﭲ	ﭳ	ﭴ	ﭵ	ﭶ	ﭷ	ﭸ	ﭹ	ﭺ	ﭻ	ﭼ	ﭽ	ﭾ	ﭿ
U+FB8x	ﮀ	ﮁ	ﮂ	ﮃ	ﮄ	ﮅ	ﮆ	ﮇ	ﮈ	ﮉ	ﮊ	ﮋ	ﮌ	ﮍ	ﮎ	ﮏ
U+FB9x	ﮐ	ﮑ	ﮒ	ﮓ	ﮔ	ﮕ	ﮖ	ﮗ	ﮘ	ﮙ	ﮚ	ﮛ	ﮜ	ﮝ	ﮞ	ﮟ
U+FBAx	ﮠ	ﮡ	ﮢ	ﮣ	ﮤ	ﮥ	ﮦ	ﮧ	ﮨ	ﮩ	ﮪ	ﮫ	ﮬ	ﮭ	ﮮ	ﮯ
U+FBBx	ﮰ	ﮱ	﮲	﮳	﮴	﮵	﮶	﮷	﮸	﮹	﮺	﮻	﮼	﮽	﮾	﮿
U+FBCx	﯀	﯁	﯂
U+FBDx				ﯓ	ﯔ	ﯕ	ﯖ	ﯗ	ﯘ	ﯙ	ﯚ	ﯛ	ﯜ	ﯝ	ﯞ	ﯟ
U+FBEx	ﯠ	ﯡ	ﯢ	ﯣ	ﯤ	ﯥ	ﯦ	ﯧ	ﯨ	ﯩ	ﯪ	ﯫ	ﯬ	ﯭ	ﯮ	ﯯ
U+FBFx	ﯰ	ﯱ	ﯲ	ﯳ	ﯴ	ﯵ	ﯶ	ﯷ	ﯸ	ﯹ	ﯺ	ﯻ	ﯼ	ﯽ	ﯾ	ﯿ
U+FC0x	ﰀ	ﰁ	ﰂ	ﰃ	ﰄ	ﰅ	ﰆ	ﰇ	ﰈ	ﰉ	ﰊ	ﰋ	ﰌ	ﰍ	ﰎ	ﰏ
U+FC1x	ﰐ	ﰑ	ﰒ	ﰓ	ﰔ	ﰕ	ﰖ	ﰗ	ﰘ	ﰙ	ﰚ	ﰛ	ﰜ	ﰝ	ﰞ	ﰟ
U+FC2x	ﰠ	ﰡ	ﰢ	ﰣ	ﰤ	ﰥ	ﰦ	ﰧ	ﰨ	ﰩ	ﰪ	ﰫ	ﰬ	ﰭ	ﰮ	ﰯ
U+FC3x	ﰰ	ﰱ	ﰲ	ﰳ	ﰴ	ﰵ	ﰶ	ﰷ	ﰸ	ﰹ	ﰺ	ﰻ	ﰼ	ﰽ	ﰾ	ﰿ
U+FC4x	ﱀ	ﱁ	ﱂ	ﱃ	ﱄ	ﱅ	ﱆ	ﱇ	ﱈ	ﱉ	ﱊ	ﱋ	ﱌ	ﱍ	ﱎ	ﱏ
U+FC5x	ﱐ	ﱑ	ﱒ	ﱓ	ﱔ	ﱕ	ﱖ	ﱗ	ﱘ	ﱙ	ﱚ	ﱛ	ﱜ	ﱝ	ﱞ	ﱟ
U+FC6x	ﱠ	ﱡ	ﱢ	ﱣ	ﱤ	ﱥ	ﱦ	ﱧ	ﱨ	ﱩ	ﱪ	ﱫ	ﱬ	ﱭ	ﱮ	ﱯ
U+FC7x	ﱰ	ﱱ	ﱲ	ﱳ	ﱴ	ﱵ	ﱶ	ﱷ	ﱸ	ﱹ	ﱺ	ﱻ	ﱼ	ﱽ	ﱾ	ﱿ
U+FC8x	ﲀ	ﲁ	ﲂ	ﲃ	ﲄ	ﲅ	ﲆ	ﲇ	ﲈ	ﲉ	ﲊ	ﲋ	ﲌ	ﲍ	ﲎ	ﲏ
U+FC9x	ﲐ	ﲑ	ﲒ	ﲓ	ﲔ	ﲕ	ﲖ	ﲗ	ﲘ	ﲙ	ﲚ	ﲛ	ﲜ	ﲝ	ﲞ	ﲟ
U+FCAx	ﲠ	ﲡ	ﲢ	ﲣ	ﲤ	ﲥ	ﲦ	ﲧ	ﲨ	ﲩ	ﲪ	ﲫ	ﲬ	ﲭ	ﲮ	ﲯ
U+FCBx	ﲰ	ﲱ	ﲲ	ﲳ	ﲴ	ﲵ	ﲶ	ﲷ	ﲸ	ﲹ	ﲺ	ﲻ	ﲼ	ﲽ	ﲾ	ﲿ
U+FCCx	ﳀ	ﳁ	ﳂ	ﳃ	ﳄ	ﳅ	ﳆ	ﳇ	ﳈ	ﳉ	ﳊ	ﳋ	ﳌ	ﳍ	ﳎ	ﳏ
U+FCDx	ﳐ	ﳑ	ﳒ	ﳓ	ﳔ	ﳕ	ﳖ	ﳗ	ﳘ	ﳙ	ﳚ	ﳛ	ﳜ	ﳝ	ﳞ	ﳟ
U+FCEx	ﳠ	ﳡ	ﳢ	ﳣ	ﳤ	ﳥ	ﳦ	ﳧ	ﳨ	ﳩ	ﳪ	ﳫ	ﳬ	ﳭ	ﳮ	ﳯ
U+FCFx	ﳰ	ﳱ	ﳲ	ﳳ	ﳴ	ﳵ	ﳶ	ﳷ	ﳸ	ﳹ	ﳺ	ﳻ	ﳼ	ﳽ	ﳾ	ﳿ
U+FD0x	ﴀ	ﴁ	ﴂ	ﴃ	ﴄ	ﴅ	ﴆ	ﴇ	ﴈ	ﴉ	ﴊ	ﴋ	ﴌ	ﴍ	ﴎ	ﴏ
U+FD1x	ﴐ	ﴑ	ﴒ	ﴓ	ﴔ	ﴕ	ﴖ	ﴗ	ﴘ	ﴙ	ﴚ	ﴛ	ﴜ	ﴝ	ﴞ	ﴟ
U+FD2x	ﴠ	ﴡ	ﴢ	ﴣ	ﴤ	ﴥ	ﴦ	ﴧ	ﴨ	ﴩ	ﴪ	ﴫ	ﴬ	ﴭ	ﴮ	ﴯ
U+FD3x	ﴰ	ﴱ	ﴲ	ﴳ	ﴴ	ﴵ	ﴶ	ﴷ	ﴸ	ﴹ	ﴺ	ﴻ	ﴼ	ﴽ	﴾	﴿
U+FD4x	﵀	﵁	﵂	﵃	﵄	﵅	﵆	﵇	﵈	﵉	﵊	﵋	﵌	﵍	﵎	﵏
U+FD5x	ﵐ	ﵑ	ﵒ	ﵓ	ﵔ	ﵕ	ﵖ	ﵗ	ﵘ	ﵙ	ﵚ	ﵛ	ﵜ	ﵝ	ﵞ	ﵟ
U+FD6x	ﵠ	ﵡ	ﵢ	ﵣ	ﵤ	ﵥ	ﵦ	ﵧ	ﵨ	ﵩ	ﵪ	ﵫ	ﵬ	ﵭ	ﵮ	ﵯ
U+FD7x	ﵰ	ﵱ	ﵲ	ﵳ	ﵴ	ﵵ	ﵶ	ﵷ	ﵸ	ﵹ	ﵺ	ﵻ	ﵼ	ﵽ	ﵾ	ﵿ
U+FD8x	ﶀ	ﶁ	ﶂ	ﶃ	ﶄ	ﶅ	ﶆ	ﶇ	ﶈ	ﶉ	ﶊ	ﶋ	ﶌ	ﶍ	ﶎ	ﶏ
U+FD9x			ﶒ	ﶓ	ﶔ	ﶕ	ﶖ	ﶗ	ﶘ	ﶙ	ﶚ	ﶛ	ﶜ	ﶝ	ﶞ	ﶟ
U+FDAx	ﶠ	ﶡ	ﶢ	ﶣ	ﶤ	ﶥ	ﶦ	ﶧ	ﶨ	ﶩ	ﶪ	ﶫ	ﶬ	ﶭ	ﶮ	ﶯ
U+FDBx	ﶰ	ﶱ	ﶲ	ﶳ	ﶴ	ﶵ	ﶶ	ﶷ	ﶸ	ﶹ	ﶺ	ﶻ	ﶼ	ﶽ	ﶾ	ﶿ
U+FDCx	ﷀ	ﷁ	ﷂ	ﷃ	ﷄ	ﷅ	ﷆ	ﷇ								﷏
U+FDDx
U+FDEx
U+FDFx	ﷰ	ﷱ	ﷲ	ﷳ	ﷴ	ﷵ	ﷶ	ﷷ	ﷸ	ﷹ	ﷺ	ﷻ	﷼	﷽	﷾	﷿
Notes 1.^ As of Unicode version 16.0 2.^ Grey areas indicate non-assigned code points 3.^ Black areas indicate noncharacters (code points that are guaranteed never to be assigned as encoded characters in the Unicode Standard)

History

The following Unicode-related documents record the purpose and process of defining specific characters in the Arabic Presentation Forms-A block:

Version	Final code points^[a]	Count	L2 ID	WG2 ID	Document
1.1	U+FB50..FBB1, FBD3..FD3F, FD50..FD8F, FD92..FDC7, FDF0..FDFB	593			(to be determined)
			L2/06-008R2		Moore, Lisa (2006-02-13), "Motion 106-M3", UTC #106 Minutes, Drop U+FD3E ORNATE LEFT PARENTHESIS and U+FD3F ORNATE RIGHT PARENTHESIS from the list of characters with Bidi Mirrored property proposed in Public Review Issue 80.
			L2/14-026		Moore, Lisa (2014-02-17), "Consensus 138-C21", UTC #138 Minutes, Change the General Category and linebreak properties of U+FD3E LEFT ORNATE PARENTHESIS to gc=Pe and lb=CL; and change General Category and linebreak properties of U+FD3F RIGHT ORNATE PARENTHESIS to gc=Ps and lb=OP, in Unicode 7.0.
			L2/20-289	N5155	Evans, Lorna Priest (2020-12-07), Request for glyph changes and annotations for Kazakh, Kyrgyz, and Uyghur [Affects U+FBD7-FBD8, U+FBDD, and U+FBE0-FBE1]
			L2/21-016R		Anderson, Deborah; Whistler, Ken; Pournader, Roozbeh; Moore, Lisa; Liang, Hai (2021-01-14), "11a. Glyph changes and annotations for Kazakh, Kyrgyz, and Uyghur", Recommendations to UTC #166 January 2021 on Script Proposals
			L2/21-009		Moore, Lisa (2021-01-27), "B.1 — 11a", UTC #166 Minutes
3.1	U+FDD0..FDEF	32	L2/00-187		Moore, Lisa (2000-08-23), "Not a Character", UTC minutes -- Boston, August 8-11, 2000
			L2/00-341	N2277	Addition of reserved characters for internal processing uses, 2000-09-19
			L2/01-050	N2253	Umamaheswaran, V. S. (2001-01-21), "7.20 Proposal for Reserved Positions for Processing Purposes", Minutes of the SC2/WG2 meeting in Athens, September 2000
3.2	U+FDFC	1	L2/01-148R		Pournader, Roozbeh (2001-04-07), Proposal: Arabic Ligature Rial
			L2/01-184R		Moore, Lisa (2001-06-18), "Motion 87-M6", Minutes from the UTC/L2 meeting
			L2/01-354	N2373	Pournader, Roozbeh (2001-09-20), Proposal: Arabic Currency Sign Rial
			L2/02-154	N2403	Umamaheswaran, V. S. (2002-04-22), "7.8", Draft minutes of WG 2 meeting 41, Hotel Phoenix, Singapore, 2001-10-15/19
4.0	U+FDFD	1	L2/02-005		Hussain, Sarmad; Afzal, Muhammad (2001-12-18), Urdu Computing Standards (Charts and Exhibits)
			L2/02-006 (pdf, doc)	N2413-1	Zia, Khaver (2002-01-10), Towards Unicode Standard for Urdu
			L2/02-003	N2413-2	Afzal, Muhammad; Hussain, Sarmad (2001-12-28), Urdu Computing Standards: Development of Urdu Zabta Takhti (UZT) 1.01
			L2/02-004	N2413-3	Hussain, Sarmad; Afzal, Muhammad (2001-12-28), Urdu Computing Standards: Urdu Zabta Takhti (UZT) 1.01
			L2/02-163	N2413-4 (pdf, doc)	Proposal to add Marks and Digits in Arabic Code Block (for Urdu), 2002-04-30
			L2/02-011R		Kew, Jonathan (2002-01-12), Comments on L2/02-006: Towards Unicode Standard for Urdu
			L2/02-197		Freytag, Asmus (2002-05-01), Urdu Feedback from Bidi Committee
			L2/02-166R2		Moore, Lisa (2002-08-09), "Motion 91-M3", UTC #91 Minutes
			L2/02-372	N2453 (pdf, doc)	Umamaheswaran, V. S. (2002-10-30), "7.9 Urdu contribution", Unconfirmed minutes of WG 2 meeting 42
			L2/02-466	N2567	Everson, Michael; Pournader, Roozbeh (2002-12-09), Towards resolution on the name of U+FDFD
			L2/02-467	N2568	Everson, Michael; Pournader, Roozbeh; Hussain, Sarmad; Afzal, Muhammad (2002-12-10), Consensus on the name of U+FDFD
			L2/04-196	N2653 (pdf, doc)	Umamaheswaran, V. S. (2004-06-04), "a-3", Unconfirmed minutes of WG 2 meeting 44
6.0	U+FBB2..FBC1	16	L2/98-274		Davis, Mark; Mansour, Kamal (1998-07-28), Proposed Arabic Script Additions for Minority Languages
			L2/98-409		Davis, Mark; Mansour, Kamal (1998-12-01), Proposal to add 25 Arabic characters to the BMP
			L2/98-419 (pdf, doc)		Aliprand, Joan (1999-02-05), "Additional Arabic characters", Approved Minutes -- UTC #78 & NCITS Subgroup L2 # 175 Joint Meeting, San Jose, CA -- December 1-4, 1998
			L2/02-021		Davis, Mark; Mansour, Kamal (2002-01-17), Proposal To Amend Arabic repertoire
			L2/03-154		Kew, Jonathan; Mansour, Kamal; Davis, Mark (2003-05-16), Proposal to encode productive Arabic-script modifier marks
			L2/06-039	N3460-A	Durrani, Attash (2006-01-29), Preliminary Proposal to add Nuqta Characters to Arabic Block
			L2/06-240		Kew, Jonathan (2006-07-19), Letter to Dr. Durrani
			L2/06-322		Durrani, Attash (2006-10-04), Letter to Jonathan Kew re Nuqtas
			L2/07-094		Durrani, Attash (2007-04-03), Regarding Nuqta Characters
			L2/07-174		Durrani, Attash (2007-05-14), The Case Folding Solution for the Arabic Script
			L2/08-159		Durrani, Attash; Mansour, Kamal; McGowan, Rick (2008-04-18), Proposal to Encode 22 Characters for Arabic Pedagogical Use
			L2/08-230		Anderson, Deborah (2008-05-23), Comments on Proposal to Encode 22 Characters for Arabic Pedagogical Use
			L2/08-159R	N3460R	Durrani, Attash; Mansour, Kamal; McGowan, Rick (2008-06-24), Proposal to Encode 16 Characters for Arabic Pedagogical Use
			L2/08-161R2		Moore, Lisa (2008-11-05), "Motion 115-M3", UTC #115 Minutes
			L2/08-412	N3553 (pdf, doc)	Umamaheswaran, V. S. (2008-11-05), "M53.19", Unconfirmed minutes of WG 2 meeting 53
			L2/08-361		Moore, Lisa (2008-12-02), "Consensus 117-C26", UTC #117 Minutes
			L2/09-011		Pournader, Roozbeh (2009-01-13), Consistent naming and better properties for Arabic Pedagogical Symbols
			L2/09-110	N3606	Pandey, Anshuman (2009-03-30), Proposal to Advance the Renaming of Arabic Pedagogical Symbols
			L2/09-234	N3603 (pdf, doc)	Umamaheswaran, V. S. (2009-07-08), "M54.06a", Unconfirmed minutes of WG 2 meeting 54
			L2/09-104		Moore, Lisa (2009-05-20), "Consensus 119-C25", UTC #119 / L2 #216 Minutes
14.0	U+FBC2	1	L2/19-306	N5142	Pournader, Roozbeh; Anderson, Deborah (2019-09-29), Arabic additions for Quranic orthographies
			L2/19-343		Anderson, Deborah; Whistler, Ken; Pournader, Roozbeh; Moore, Lisa; Liang, Hai (2019-10-06), "a. Additions for Quranic orthographiesFD4C:c. Arabic honorifics", Recommendations to UTC #161 October 2019 on Script Proposals
			L2/19-323		Moore, Lisa (2019-10-01), "Consensus 161-C4", UTC #161 Minutes
			L2/20-105		Anderson, Deborah; Whistler, Ken; Pournader, Roozbeh; Moore, Lisa; Constable, Peter; Liang, Hai (2020-04-20), "3f. Comments on L2/19-306", Recommendations to UTC #163 April 2020 on Script Proposals
	U+FD40..FD4B, FDFE..FDFF	14	L2/14-147		Pournader, Roozbeh (2014-07-27), Proposal to encode seventeen Arabic honorifics
			L2/14-170		Anderson, Deborah; Whistler, Ken; McGowan, Rick; Pournader, Roozbeh; Iancu, Laurențiu (2014-07-28), "5. L2/14‐147", Recommendations to UTC #140 August 2014 on Script Proposals
			L2/19-289R		Pournader, Roozbeh; Jibaly, Mustafa (2019-07-26), Proposal to encode fourteen Arabic honorifics
			L2/19-270		Moore, Lisa (2019-10-07), "Consensus 160-C25", UTC #160 Minutes
	U+FD4C..FD4D	2	L2/19-319		Pournader, Roozbeh; Jibaly, Mustafa (2019-09-29), Proposal to encode two more Arabic honorifics
	U+FD4C..FD4D	2	L2/19-323		Moore, Lisa (2019-10-01), "Consensus 161-C3", UTC #161 Minutes
	U+FD4E..FD4F	2	L2/20-042		Pournader, Roozbeh; Hooshdaran, Soheil; Jibaly, Mustafa (2020-01-15), Proposal to encode yet two more Arabic honorifics
	U+FD4E..FD4F	2	L2/20-015R		Moore, Lisa (2020-05-14), "C.5.3", Draft Minutes of UTC Meeting 162
	U+FDCF	1	L2/20-081		Pournader, Roozbeh; Evans, Lorna (2020-03-10), Proposal to encode an Arabic honorific used in Christian texts
			L2/20-105		Anderson, Deborah; Whistler, Ken; Pournader, Roozbeh; Moore, Lisa; Constable, Peter; Liang, Hai (2020-04-20), "3a. Arabic Honorific", Recommendations to UTC #163 April 2020 on Script Proposals
			L2/20-102		Moore, Lisa (2020-05-06), "Consensus 163-C13", UTC #163 Minutes
^ Proposed code points and characters names may differ from final code points and names

References

^ "Unicode character database". The Unicode Standard. Retrieved 2023-07-26.
^ "Enumerated Versions of The Unicode Standard". The Unicode Standard. Retrieved 2023-07-26.
^ "3.5: Private Use Area" (PDF). The Unicode Standard, Version 1.0, Volume 1. Unicode Consortium. 1991. pp. 118–119. ISBN 0-201-56788-1.
^ "Version 1.0.1 Notice Page" (PDF). Unicode Consortium.
^ The Unicode Consortium. The Unicode Standard, Version 6.0.0, (Mountain View, CA: The Unicode Consortium, 2011. ISBN 978-1-936213-01-6), Chapter 8
^ "Private-Use Characters, Noncharacters & Sentinels FAQ". www.unicode.org. Retrieved 2023-07-24.

[final-7] Proposed code points and characters names may differ from final code points and names

[1] "Unicode character database". The Unicode Standard. Retrieved 2023-07-26.

[2] "Enumerated Versions of The Unicode Standard". The Unicode Standard. Retrieved 2023-07-26.

[3] "3.5: Private Use Area" (PDF). The Unicode Standard, Version 1.0, Volume 1. Unicode Consortium. 1991. pp. 118–119. ISBN 0-201-56788-1.

[4] "Version 1.0.1 Notice Page" (PDF). Unicode Consortium.

[5] The Unicode Consortium. The Unicode Standard, Version 6.0.0, (Mountain View, CA: The Unicode Consortium, 2011. ISBN 978-1-936213-01-6), Chapter 8

[6] "Private-Use Characters, Noncharacters & Sentinels FAQ". www.unicode.org. Retrieved 2023-07-24.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[a]

Arabic Presentation Forms-A
Range	U+FB50..U+FDFF (688 code points)
Plane	BMP
Scripts	Arabic (629 char.) Common (2 char.)
Major alphabets	Central Asian languages Pashto Persian Kurdish Sindhi Urdu
Symbol sets	contextual forms multi-letter and word ligatures
Assigned	631 code points
Unused	25 reserved code points 32 non-characters
Unicode version history

1.1 (1993)	593 (+593)
3.2 (2002)	594 (+1)
4.0 (2003)	595 (+1)
6.0 (2010)	611 (+16)
14.0 (2021)	631 (+20)

Unicode documentation
Code chart ∣ Web page
Note: ^[1]^[2] This range was initially part of the Private Use Area in Unicode 1.0.0,^[3] and removed from it in Unicode 1.0.1.^[4]