Unicode: Difference between revisions

When systems differ in the set of acceptable characters for the same function, it serves only to confuse the end user to the detriment of the community. The cautious APL programmer can avoid such problems by choosing symbols that work across dialects. Note that in the below table, there is exactly one universally accepted codepoint for each symbol (these have been indicated by a single "Universal" cell stretching across the row), except for And where APL2 doesn't recognise the otherwise universal U+2227. However, APL2 does not have And extended to Least Common Multiple, so it is equivalent to Times (<source lang=apl inline>×</source>) which can therefore be used instead for truly portable code.

| <source lang=apl inline>*</source> || U+002A || Asterisk || colspan=6 {{Yes|Universal}} || rowspan=2 | [[Exponential]] || rowspan=2 | [[Power|Power]]

| <source lang=apl inline>⋆</source> || U+26AA ||Star operator || {{No}} || {{No}} || {{Yes}} || {{Yes}} || {{Yes}} || {{No}}

| <source lang=apl inline>-</source> || U+002D || Hyphen-minus || colspan=6 {{Yes|Universal}} || rowspan=2 | [[Negate]] || rowspan=2 | [[Minus]]

| <source lang=apl inline>−</source> || U+2212 || Minus sign || {{No}} || {{No}} || {{Yes}} || {{Yes}} || {{Yes}} || {{No}}

| <source lang=apl inline>^</source> || U+005E || Circumflex accent  || {{Yes}} || {{Yes}} || {{Yes}} || {{Yes}} || {{Yes}} || {{No}} || rowspan=2 | || rowspan=2 | [[And]]

| <source lang=apl inline>∧</source> || U+22BD || Logical And || {{No|No<ref><source lang=apl inline>×</source> (U+00D7) is a universally supported substitute</ref>}} || {{Yes}} || {{Yes}} || {{Yes}} || {{Yes}} || {{Yes}}

| <source lang=apl inline>|</source> || U+007C || Vertical line || colspan=6 {{Yes|Universal}} || rowspan=2 | [[Magnitude]] || rowspan=2 | [[Residue]]

| <source lang=apl inline>∣</source> || U+2212 || Divides || {{Yes}} || {{Yes}} || {{Yes}} || {{Yes}} || {{Yes}} || {{No}}

| <source lang=apl inline>~</source> || U+007E || Tilde || colspan=6 {{Yes|Universal}} || rowspan=2 | [[Not]] || rowspan=2 | [[Without]]

| <source lang=apl inline>∼</source> || U+223C || Tilde operator || {{No}} || {{No}} || {{Yes}} || {{Yes}} || {{No}} || {{No}}

| <source lang=apl inline>α</source> || U+03B1 || Greek small letter Alpha || rowspan=2 | || {{No}} || {{Yes}} || {{Yes}} || {{No}} || {{No}} || rowspan=2 colspan=2 | [[dfn|Left Argument]]

| <source lang=apl inline>⍺</source> || U+237A || APL functional symbol Alpha || colspan=5 {{Yes|Universal}}

| <source lang=apl inline>ω</source> || U+03C9 || Greek small letter Omega || rowspan=2 | || {{No}} || {{Yes}} || {{Yes}} || {{No}} || {{No}} || rowspan=2 colspan=2 | [[dfn|Right Argument]]

| <source lang=apl inline>⍵</source> || U+237A || APL functional symbol Omega || colspan=5 {{Yes|Universal}}

| <source lang=apl inline>∈</source><ref>Found by Hanspeter Moser in [https://www.gnu.org/software/apl/Bits_and_Pieces/toronto-toolkit.apl.html The Toronto Toolkit]</ref> || U+2208 || Element of || {{No}} || {{No}} || {{Yes}} || {{Yes}} || {{No}} || {{No}} || rowspan=2 | [[Enlist]]/[[Type]] || rowspan=2 | [[Membership]]

| <source lang=apl inline>∊</source> || U+220A || Small Element of || colspan=6 {{Yes|Universal}}

| <source lang=apl inline>∘</source> || U+2218 || Ring operator || colspan=6 {{Yes|Universal}} || rowspan=2 | [[Outer product]] || rowspan=2 | [[Beside]]/[[Bind]]

| <source lang=apl inline>◦</source> || U+25E6 || White bullet || {{No}} || {{No}} || {{Yes}} || {{Yes}} || {{No}} || {{No}}

| <source lang=apl inline>≤</source> || U+2264 || Less-than or equal to || colspan=6 {{Yes|Universal}} || rowspan=2 | || rowspan=2 | [[Less than or equal to|Less than or<br>equal to]]

| <source lang=apl inline>⩽</source> || U+2A7D || Less than or slanted equal to  || {{No}} || {{No}} || {{Yes}} || {{Yes}} || {{No}} || {{No}}

| <source lang=apl inline>≥</source> || U+2265 || Greater than or equal to || colspan=6 {{Yes|Universal}} || rowspan=2 | || rowspan=2 | [[Greater than or equal to|Greater than or<br>equal to]]

| <source lang=apl inline>⩾</source> || U+2A7E || Greater than or slanted equal to  || {{No}} || {{No}} || {{Yes}} || {{Yes}} || {{No}} || {{No}}

| <source lang=apl inline>⊽</source> || U+22BD || Nor || {{No}} || {{No}} || {{Yes}} || {{Yes}} || {{No}} || {{No}} || rowspan=2 | || rowspan=2 | [[Nor]]

| <source lang=apl inline>⍱</source> || U+2371 || APL functional symbol down caret tilde  || colspan=6 {{Yes|Universal}}

| <source lang=apl inline>⊼</source> || U+22BC || Nand || {{No}} || {{No}} || {{Yes}} || {{Yes}} || {{No}} || {{No}} || rowspan=2 | || rowspan=2 | [[Nand]]

| <source lang=apl inline>⍱</source> || U+2372 || APL functional symbol up caret tilde  || colspan=6 {{Yes|Universal}}

| <source lang=apl inline>⋄</source> || U+22C4 || Diamond operator || colspan=6 {{Yes|Universal}} || rowspan=4 colspan=2 | [[Statement Separator]]

| <source lang=apl inline>◇</source> || U+25C7 || White Diamond    || {{No}} || {{No}} || {{No}} || {{Yes}} || {{No}} || {{No}}

| <source lang=apl inline>◊</source> || U+25CA || Lozenge          || {{No}} || {{No}} || {{Yes}} || {{Yes}} || {{No}} || {{No}}

| <source lang=apl inline>⬦</source> || U+2B26 || Diamond          || {{No}} || {{No}} || {{Yes}} || {{Yes}} || {{No}} || {{No}}

| <source lang=apl inline>⎕</source> || U+2395 || APL functional symbol Quad  || colspan=6 {{Yes|Universal}} || rowspan=2 colspan=2 | [[Quad name]]

| <source lang=apl inline>▯</source> || U+26AA || White vertical rectangle || {{Yes}} || {{No}} || {{Yes}} || {{Yes}} || {{No}} || {{No}}

| <source lang=apl inline>○</source> || U+25CB || White circle || colspan=6 {{Yes|Universal}} || rowspan=2 | [[Pi Times]] || rowspan=2 | [[Circle function|Circular]]

| <source lang=apl inline>⚪</source> || U+26AA || Medium white circle || {{No}} || {{No}} || {{Yes}} || {{Yes}} || {{No}} || {{No}}

<source lang=apl>

</source>

If the [[Atomic vector]] (<source lang=apl inline>⎕AV</source>) has no room in which to include these new characters, an implementation can translate them on entry to the corresponding symbol that is in <source lang=apl inline>⎕AV</source>. [[NARS2000]] even has a means of translating symbols on the way out via Copy (<kbd>Ctrl</kbd>+<kbd>C</kbd> in Windows) to various other APL systems that don't support the same set of principal characters NARS2000 uses for the functions in the above table.