User:Yurim/Punctuation and Special Characters

Punctuation and Special Characters

General

• As a general rule, MusicBrainz editors should correct spelling and punctuation. (Style/Principle/Error_correction_and_artist_intent)
• Use of basic ASCII punctuation characters such as ' and " is allowed, but typographically-correct punctuation is preferred. (Style/Miscellaneous)
• Picard can convert Unicode punctuation characters in MusicBrainz data to ASCII for consistent use of punctuation in tags. ([1], [2])
• Japanese artists have a tendency to choose capitalization and punctuation for aesthetic reasons; and to be very consistent regarding case over all releases. For this reason, words in the Latin script on a Japanese release should be in the same case as on the album art if other available sources, such as official discography or record label pages, are consistent; not normalized according to English or other capitalization standards. (Style/Language/Japanese)

Input

• Wikipedia writes about Hexadecimal code input in general.
• Linux:
  • <CTRL-SHIFT-u>, <hex-code>, <SPACE>
  • On Ubuntu you might be able to enter the code points with the ComposeKey.
• Windows:
  • fileformat.info has an article How to enter Unicode characters in Microsoft Windows.
  • Press and hold <ALT>, <+> on the numpad, <hex-code>, release <ALT>
  • Use The UnicodeInput Utility from fileformat.info

English

• Quotation marks [3]):
  • ‘…’ (U+2018 'LEFT SINGLE QUOTATION MARK' / U+2019 'RIGHT SINGLE QUOTATION MARK')
  • “…” (U+201C 'LEFT DOUBLE QUOTATION MARK' / U+201D 'RIGHT DOUBLE QUOTATION MARK')

• Apostrophe: ’ (U+2019 'RIGHT SINGLE QUOTATION MARK') ([4])
• Ellipsis is treated inconsistently ([5]). Some authorities require three dots, some suggest using the prefabricated ellipsis character … (U+2026 'HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS'). The use of spaces before and/or after the ellipsis is also inconsistent.

• Uses of Hyphens, Dashes and the Minus Sign
  • - (U+0012 'HYPHEN-MINUS') is the multi-purpose character with its own key on the keyboard ([6]).
  • ‐ (U+2010 'HYPHEN') joins words and syllables and is used within dates ([7])
  • − (U+2212 'MINUS SIGN') is used in equations or for negative numbers ([8]).
  • ‒ (U+2012 'FIGURE DASH') is the same width as a digit and thus mostly used within a number ([9]).
  • – (U+2013 'EN DASH') is used for ranges, relationships, and connections ([10]).
  • — (U+2014 'EM DASH') can be used instead of colons, parentheses or to show an aprupt change of thought ([11]).
  • ― (U+2015 'HORIZONTAL BAR') is used as quotation mark ([12]).

German

• Quotation marks in Germany, Austria, etc. ([13]):
  • „…“ (U+201E 'DOUBLE LOW-9 QUOTATION MARK' / U+201C 'LEFT DOUBLE QUOTATION MARK')
  • ‚…‘ (U+201A 'SINGLE LOW-9 QUOTATION MARK' / U+2018 'LEFT SINGLE QUOTATION MARK')
  • »…« (U+00BB 'RIGHT-POINTING DOUBLE ANGLE QUOTATION MARK' / U+00AB 'LEFT-POINTING DOUBLE ANGLE QUOTATION MARK')
  • ›…‹ (U+203A 'SINGLE RIGHT-POINTING ANGLE QUOTATION MARK' / U+2039 'SINGLE LEFT-POINTING ANGLE QUOTATION MARK')

• Quotation marks in Switzerland and Liechtenstein ([14]):
  • «…» (U+00BB 'RIGHT-POINTING DOUBLE ANGLE QUOTATION MARK' / U+00AB 'LEFT-POINTING DOUBLE ANGLE QUOTATION MARK')
  • ‹…› (U+203A 'SINGLE RIGHT-POINTING ANGLE QUOTATION MARK' / U+2039 'SINGLE LEFT-POINTING ANGLE QUOTATION MARK')
  • „…“ (U+201E 'DOUBLE LOW-9 QUOTATION MARK' / U+201C 'LEFT DOUBLE QUOTATION MARK')
  • ‚…‘ (U+201A 'SINGLE LOW-9 QUOTATION MARK' / U+2018 'LEFT SINGLE QUOTATION MARK')

• Apostrophe: ’ (U+2019 'RIGHT SINGLE QUOTATION MARK') ([15])
• Ellipsis … (U+2026 'HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS') marks an omission. It is not followed by a period, heading and trailing white space is handled like if there was no omission. ([16], [17])

• Uses of Hyphens, Dashes and the Minus Sign
  • - (U+0012 'HYPHEN-MINUS', German “Mittestrich”) is the multi-purpose character with its own key on the keyboard ([18]).
  • ‐ (U+2010 'HYPHEN', German “Viertelgeviertstrich” or “Divis”) joins words and syllables ([19])
  • − (U+2212 'MINUS SIGN') is used in equations or for negative numbers ([20]).
  • ‒ (U+2012 'FIGURE DASH', German “ziffernbreiter Strich”) can be used for omitted digits ([21]).
  • – (U+2013 'EN DASH', German “Halbgeviertstrich”) is used for ranges, omissions, comparisons, routes, and to show an insert or a pause within a sentence ([22]).
  • — (U+2014 'EM DASH', German “Geviertstrich”) may be used for list items ([23]).

French

• Quotation marks ("guillemets") [24]), separated from the inner text by a space:
  • « … » (U+00AB 'LEFT-POINTING DOUBLE ANGLE QUOTATION MARK' / U+00BB 'RIGHT-POINTING DOUBLE ANGLE QUOTATION MARK')
  • ‹ … › (U+2039 'SINGLE LEFT-POINTING ANGLE QUOTATION MARK' / U+203A 'SINGLE RIGHT-POINTING ANGLE QUOTATION MARK')
  • “ … ” (U+201C 'LEFT DOUBLE QUOTATION MARK' / U+201D 'RIGHT DOUBLE QUOTATION MARK')
  • ‘ … ’ (U+2018 'LEFT SINGLE QUOTATION MARK' / U+2019 'RIGHT SINGLE QUOTATION MARK')

Other locales

Check this map on Imgur describing what quotations marks are used how in Europe.

Other Special Characters

• Number signs come in different shapes:
  • # (U+0023 'NUMBER SIGN')
  • ＃ (U+FF03 'FULLWIDTH NUMBER SIGN')
  • ﹟ (U+FE5F 'SMALL NUMBER SIGN').

• The sharp sign in music notation:
  • ♯ (U+266F 'MUSIC SHARP SIGN')
  • 𝄪 (U+1D12A 'MUSICAL SYMBOL DOUBLE SHARP')
  • 𝄰 (U+1D130 'MUSICAL SYMBOL SHARP UP')
  • 𝄱 (U+1D131 'MUSICAL SYMBOL SHARP DOWN')
  • 𝄲 (U+1D132 'MUSICAL SYMBOL QUARTER TONE SHARP')

• Unit signs: ([25])
  • Degree ° (U+00B0 'DEGREE SIGN') is used to represent degrees of arc, hours, degrees of temperature, alcohol proof, or diminished quality in musical harmony. ([26])
  • Prime ′ (U+2032 'PRIME') is commonly used to represent feet (ft), arcminutes (am) and minutes (min). ([27])
  • Double Prime ″ (U+2033 'DOUBLE PRIME') represents inches (in), arcseconds (as), seconds (s) and is used as ditto mark. ([28], [29])
  • µ (U+00B5 'MICRO SIGN')

• The numero sign № (U+2116 'NUMERO SIGN').
• ² (U+00B2 'SUPERSCRIPT TWO')
• ³ (U+00B3 'SUPERSCRIPT THREE')

• Intellectual property:
  • © (U+00A9 'COPYRIGHT SYMBOL') ([30]) Don't confuse it with:
    • Ⓒ (U+24B8 'CIRCLED LATIN CAPITAL LETTER C')
    • ⓒ (U+24D2 'CIRCLED LATIN SMALL LETTER C')
  • ℗ (U+2117 'SOUND RECORDING COPYRIGHT') ([31])
  • ® (U+00AE 'REGISTERED SIGN') ([32])
  • ™ (U+2122 'TRADE MARK SIGN') ([33])
  • ℠ (U+2120 'SERVICE MARK') ([34])

• Emojis: http://unicode.org/emoji/charts/full-emoji-list.html

• Please, let's never get started with white space characters. ([35])

Links

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unicode
• http://www.fileformat.info/info/unicode/
• http://www.georgehernandez.com/h/xComputers/CharacterSets/Shortcuts.asp
• https://www.facebook.com/kartografiaekstremalna/photos/a.153692631483262.1073741826.153690641483461/470311916487997