How to identify any Arabic character and its properties
Some letters look alike but are completely different characters to a computer. Arabic ي and Persian ی are identical at the start and in the middle of a word, and Arabic ك and Persian ک are very close. Search, sorting and databases treat them as different letters, so a search for علي misses a name typed with the Persian yeh.
The character explorer tells you what a character is, not just what it looks like. Every character has a code point, the fixed number Unicode assigns to it, written like U+064A. Look a character up, read its official name and properties, and copy it exactly when you need it, such as tatweel or the Arabic comma.
How to use it
- Type one of three things into Search a character, name or U+0627: the character itself, its code point such as U+06CC, or part of its English name such as YEH or KAF.
- Narrow the results with Category (Letters, Marks & diacritics, Punctuation & symbols, Numbers, Invisible & controls) or pick a single Unicode block such as Arabic Supplement.
- Click a character card to open its details: code point, category, bidi class, joining type, joining group, combining class, numeric value, decomposition and block.
- Click Copy character to copy it exactly, even if it is invisible.
- Results load 72 at a time. Click Show more to continue, or Search results JSON to save them with source details.
Worked examples from the tool
علی
- U+0639 · ARABIC LETTER AIN · Position 1
- U+0644 · ARABIC LETTER LAM · Position 2
- U+06CC · ARABIC LETTER FARSI YEH · Position 3
Settings: Invisible text · Show all characters (first 300)
کتاب
- U+06A9 · ARABIC LETTER KEHEH · Position 1
- U+062A · ARABIC LETTER TEH · Position 2
- U+0627 · ARABIC LETTER ALEF · Position 3
- U+0628 · ARABIC LETTER BEH · Position 4
Settings: Invisible text · Show all characters (first 300)
بَّ
U+0628 U+064E U+0651
Settings: Code point list
What the properties mean
- Category: the kind of character, as a short code. Lo is a letter, Mn a mark placed above or below a letter such as fatha, Nd a digit, and Cf an invisible formatting character.
- Bidi class: how the character behaves in a line that mixes Arabic and Latin. AL is an Arabic letter, AN an Arabic number, EN a European number, and NSM a mark that takes the direction of the letter before it.
- Joining type: D joins on both sides, like beh; R joins only to the letter before it, like alef, dal, reh and waw; U never joins; T is transparent to joining, like vowel marks; and C forces joining, like tatweel.
- Joining group: the shape family a letter belongs to. Arabic yeh is in YEH; Persian yeh is in FARSI YEH.
- Combining class: a number that sets the order of stacked marks when text is normalized. Fatha is 30 and shadda 33, so fatha comes first.
- Decomposition: characters that are equivalent to two or more others. ﻻ, for example, decomposes to 0644 0627: lam, then alef.
When the explorer helps
- Before normalizing a list of names, to check whether its yeh or kaf is Arabic or Persian. The Persian and Arabic letters guide explains when normalizing is the right call.
- When you need a character your keyboard does not have, such as the rial sign ﷼, the Arabic percent sign ٪ or the Arabic decimal separator ٫.
- When you want to know whether your font displays a particular character or shows a box instead.
- When you write code or a regular expression and need exact code points.
To see every character in a whole word at once, paste it into the invisible character inspector and tick Show all characters (first 300), as in the first two examples below. For characters that never show at all, read the invisible characters guide.
Limits
- The explorer covers 2,027 characters: Arabic script and its blocks, related marks, ASCII, and the relevant control and space characters. It does not include emoji or most accented Latin letters.
- Official names are English only, so you cannot search with Arabic names such as ياء. Paste the character itself or type its English name.
- Searching by character works for a single character. Paste a whole word and you get no results.
- How a character looks depends on the fonts on your device; it may show as a box if no font covers it.
- The data comes from Unicode 18.0. Your browser or other software may use an older version that does not know the newest characters.
- A missing property is shown as Not available, never as zero.
Frequently asked questions
How do I tell whether the yeh in my text is Arabic or Persian?
Paste the word into the invisible character inspector and tick Show all characters (first 300). Arabic yeh is ARABIC LETTER YEH at U+064A; Persian yeh is ARABIC LETTER FARSI YEH at U+06CC. To convert them, use Persian ی ک → Arabic ي ك in the Cleaner.
Why do I get no results when I search with an Arabic word?
Official character names are in English. Paste a single character, or type part of its English name, such as ALEF, HAMZA or FATHA.
How do I copy an invisible character such as ZWNJ?
Search for ZWNJ, or choose Invisible & controls under Category. Open the card and click Copy character. You will paste it without seeing it, so check it in the invisible character inspector.
What does U+ mean in a code point?
It means the digits after it are the character's Unicode number in hexadecimal. U+0627 is alef, and you can search with or without the prefix, as in 0627.
Can I use the search results in my own project?
Download them with Search results JSON. The file names the data source, its version and the Unicode licence link; check the licence before you republish.