all Python 3unicodedatafunction

unicodedata.name()

character names

Returns the official Unicode name of a character, for example 'CYRILLIC SMALL LETTER SHORT I' for 'й'.

Syntax

unicodedata.name(chr, default=None, /)

Control characters ('\n', '\t') have no name, and without the second argument the function raises ValueError, so pass a default when scanning arbitrary text. It takes exactly one character: a string of length 2 raises TypeError, and a 'й' written as two code points is exactly such a string. It is the best way to identify an invisible character hiding in text.

Examples

import unicodedata
print(unicodedata.name('й'))  # → CYRILLIC SMALL LETTER SHORT I
print([unicodedata.name(c, '?') for c in 'a\u00a0\n'])
# → ['LATIN SMALL LETTER A', 'NO-BREAK SPACE', '?']
unicodedata.name('\n')  # → ValueError: no such name

See also

Common errors

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