[Python-Dev] Python and the Unicode Character Database (original) (raw)

Terry Reedy tjreedy at udel.edu
Wed Dec 1 19:29:06 CET 2010

On 12/1/2010 12:55 PM, Alexander Belopolsky wrote:

On Sun, Nov 28, 2010 at 5:48 PM, M.-A. Lemburg<mal at egenix.com> wrote: ..

With Python 3.1:

exec('\u0CF1 = 1') Traceback (most recent call last): File "", line 1, in File "", line 1 ೱ = 1 ^ SyntaxError: invalid character in identifier but with Python 3.2a4: exec('\u0CF1 = 1') eval('\u0CF1') 1 Such changes are not new, but I agree that they should probably be highlighted in the "What's new in Python x.x". As of today, "What’s New In Python 3.2" [1] does not even mention the unicodedata upgrade to 6.0.0. Here are the features form the unicode.org summary [2] that I think should be reflected in Python's "What's New" document: """ * adds 2,088 characters, including over 1,000 additional symbols—chief among them the additional emoji symbols, which are especially important for mobile phones; * corrects character properties for existing characters including - a general category change to two Kannada characters (U+0CF1, U+0CF2), which has the effect of making them newly eligible for inclusion in identifiers; - a general category change to one New Tai Lue numeric character (U+19DA), which would have the effect of disqualifying it from inclusion in identifiers unless grandfathering measures are in place for the defining identifier syntax. """

The above may be too verbose for inclusion to "What’s New In Python 3.2",

I think those 11 lines are pretty good. Put them in ('\N{CAT FACE WITH WRY SMILE}'!

Plus give a link to Unicode site (Issue numbers are implicit links).

-- Terry Jan Reedy

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