This article containsUnicode Braille characters. Without properrendering support, you may seequestion marks, boxes, or other symbols instead ofBraille characters.

TheUnicode blockBraille Patterns (U+2800..U+28FF) contains all 256 possible patterns of an 8-dot braille cell, thereby including the complete 6-dot cell range.^[3] In Unicode, a braille cell does not have a letter or meaning defined. For example, Unicode doesnot defineU+2817 ⠗BRAILLE PATTERN DOTS-1235 to be "R".

In themselves, braille letters do not belong to any print script, but constitute a distinct braille script. The same braille letter can be used to transcribe multiple scripts, e.g. Latin, Cyrillic, Greek and even elements of Chinese characters, as well as digits. Thus whileU+2813 ⠓BRAILLE PATTERN DOTS-125 transcribes the letterh of the Latin script, as well as the digit8, it transcribes ᄐt- of Koreanhangul andりri of Japanese kana.

TheUnicode character property of braille characters is set to "So" (Symbol, other) rather than to "Lo" (Letter, other). TheISO 15924script code for braille "Brai".^[3]

The coding is in accordance with ISO/TR 11548-1Communication aids for blind persons.^[3] Unicode uses the standard dot-numbering 1 to 8. Historically only the 6-dot cell was used in braille. The lower two dots were added later, which explains the irregular numbering 1-2-3-7 in the left column and 4-5-6-8 in the right column. Where dots 7 and 8 are not raised, there is no distinction between 6-dot and 8-dot definitions.

The Unicode name of a specific pattern mentions the raised dots:U+2813 ⠓BRAILLE PATTERN DOTS-125 has dots 1, 2 and 5 raised. By exception, the zero dot raised pattern is namedU+2800 ⠀BRAILLE PATTERN BLANK.^[4]

In the 8-dot cell, each dot individually can be raised or not. That creates 2⁸=256 different patterns. By mapping each of the eight dots to a bit in a byte (in alittle-endian order), and by defining "0"/"1" for not raised/raised per bit, every specific pattern generates an identifying binary number. So the pattern with dots 1-2-5 raised would yield (00010011)₂, equivalent to (13)₁₆ or (19)₁₀.

The mapping can also be computed by adding together the hexadecimal values, seen at right, of the dots raised. So the pattern with dots 1-2-5 raised would yield 1₁₆+2₁₆+10₁₆ = 13₁₆. Whether computed directly in hexadecimal, or indirectly via binary, the result is added to 2800₁₆, the offset for the Braille Patterns Unicode block.

There is no regular mapping to thebraille ASCII numbering.

The Unicode names of braille dot patterns are not the same as what many English speakers would use colloquially. In particular, Unicode names use the worddots in the plural even when only one dot is listed: thus Unicode saysbraille pattern dots-5 when most English-speaking users of braille would simply say "braille dot 5" or just "dot 5".

In addition, some English-speaking users of braille use the word "and" when listing only two dots. Thusbraille pattern dots-45 would be spoken as "braille dots 4 and 5". The word "and" is not always used when listing many dots however.

Braille was added to theUnicode Standard in September, 1999 with the release of version 3.0.

When using punching, the filled (black) dots are to be punched.

The Unicode block for braille is U+2800 ... U+28FF:

When showing braille graphically in printed instruction manuals, it can be useful to indicate the dots that are not punched, especially if a single braille cell of only one or two punched dots is shown out of context: in this case it might otherwise be difficult to judge the vertical alignment of the dots and tell the difference between, say, dots 2 and 4 versus dots 3 and 5.

The current Unicode charts, and some fonts, use empty circles to indicate dots that are not punched. This does not always render very clearly: if the circle outlines are printed heavily then it can be difficult to tell at a glance whether the dot is filled in or not. The braille package for LaTeX (and several printed publications such as the printed manual for the new international braille music code) show unpunched dots as very small dots (much smaller than the filled-in dots) rather than circles, and this tends to print better.

Some braille fonts do not indicate unpunched dots at all. Additionally, some Linux braille fonts (e.g.GNU Unifont and theDejaVu fonts) use small squares instead of small circles to indicate dots.^[5]

The Braille Pattern characters are commonly^{[6][failed verification]} used interminal applications as a way to draw multiple pixels per character.

The following Unicode-related documents record the purpose and process of defining specific characters in the Braille Patterns block:

• Braille patterns
• Unicode blocks

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• Short description is different from Wikidata
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• Articles with failed verification from December 2023