
``unicodedata`` --- Unicode Database
************************************

This module provides access to the Unicode Character Database which
defines character properties for all Unicode characters. The data in
this database is based on the ``UnicodeData.txt`` file version 5.1.0
which is publicly available from ftp://ftp.unicode.org/.

The module uses the same names and symbols as defined by the
UnicodeData File Format 5.1.0 (see
http://www.unicode.org/Public/5.1.0/ucd/UCD.html).  It defines the
following functions:

unicodedata.lookup(name)

   Look up character by name.  If a character with the given name is
   found, return the corresponding Unicode character.  If not found,
   ``KeyError`` is raised.

unicodedata.name(unichr[, default])

   Returns the name assigned to the Unicode character *unichr* as a
   string. If no name is defined, *default* is returned, or, if not
   given, ``ValueError`` is raised.

unicodedata.decimal(unichr[, default])

   Returns the decimal value assigned to the Unicode character
   *unichr* as integer. If no such value is defined, *default* is
   returned, or, if not given, ``ValueError`` is raised.

unicodedata.digit(unichr[, default])

   Returns the digit value assigned to the Unicode character *unichr*
   as integer. If no such value is defined, *default* is returned, or,
   if not given, ``ValueError`` is raised.

unicodedata.numeric(unichr[, default])

   Returns the numeric value assigned to the Unicode character
   *unichr* as float. If no such value is defined, *default* is
   returned, or, if not given, ``ValueError`` is raised.

unicodedata.category(unichr)

   Returns the general category assigned to the Unicode character
   *unichr* as string.

unicodedata.bidirectional(unichr)

   Returns the bidirectional category assigned to the Unicode
   character *unichr* as string. If no such value is defined, an empty
   string is returned.

unicodedata.combining(unichr)

   Returns the canonical combining class assigned to the Unicode
   character *unichr* as integer. Returns ``0`` if no combining class
   is defined.

unicodedata.east_asian_width(unichr)

   Returns the east asian width assigned to the Unicode character
   *unichr* as string.

   New in version 2.4.

unicodedata.mirrored(unichr)

   Returns the mirrored property assigned to the Unicode character
   *unichr* as integer. Returns ``1`` if the character has been
   identified as a "mirrored" character in bidirectional text, ``0``
   otherwise.

unicodedata.decomposition(unichr)

   Returns the character decomposition mapping assigned to the Unicode
   character *unichr* as string. An empty string is returned in case
   no such mapping is defined.

unicodedata.normalize(form, unistr)

   Return the normal form *form* for the Unicode string *unistr*.
   Valid values for *form* are 'NFC', 'NFKC', 'NFD', and 'NFKD'.

   The Unicode standard defines various normalization forms of a
   Unicode string, based on the definition of canonical equivalence
   and compatibility equivalence. In Unicode, several characters can
   be expressed in various way. For example, the character U+00C7
   (LATIN CAPITAL LETTER C WITH CEDILLA) can also be expressed as the
   sequence U+0327 (COMBINING CEDILLA) U+0043 (LATIN CAPITAL LETTER
   C).

   For each character, there are two normal forms: normal form C and
   normal form D. Normal form D (NFD) is also known as canonical
   decomposition, and translates each character into its decomposed
   form. Normal form C (NFC) first applies a canonical decomposition,
   then composes pre-combined characters again.

   In addition to these two forms, there are two additional normal
   forms based on compatibility equivalence. In Unicode, certain
   characters are supported which normally would be unified with other
   characters. For example, U+2160 (ROMAN NUMERAL ONE) is really the
   same thing as U+0049 (LATIN CAPITAL LETTER I). However, it is
   supported in Unicode for compatibility with existing character sets
   (e.g. gb2312).

   The normal form KD (NFKD) will apply the compatibility
   decomposition, i.e. replace all compatibility characters with their
   equivalents. The normal form KC (NFKC) first applies the
   compatibility decomposition, followed by the canonical composition.

   Even if two unicode strings are normalized and look the same to a
   human reader, if one has combining characters and the other
   doesn't, they may not compare equal.

   New in version 2.3.

In addition, the module exposes the following constant:

unicodedata.unidata_version

   The version of the Unicode database used in this module.

   New in version 2.3.

unicodedata.ucd_3_2_0

   This is an object that has the same methods as the entire module,
   but uses the Unicode database version 3.2 instead, for applications
   that require this specific version of the Unicode database (such as
   IDNA).

   New in version 2.5.

Examples:

>>> import unicodedata
>>> unicodedata.lookup('LEFT CURLY BRACKET')
u'{'
>>> unicodedata.name(u'/')
'SOLIDUS'
>>> unicodedata.decimal(u'9')
9
>>> unicodedata.decimal(u'a')
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<stdin>", line 1, in ?
ValueError: not a decimal
>>> unicodedata.category(u'A')  # 'L'etter, 'u'ppercase
'Lu'
>>> unicodedata.bidirectional(u'\u0660') # 'A'rabic, 'N'umber
'AN'
