Variation Selectors Supplement

Variation Selectors Supplement is a Unicode block containing additional variation selectors beyond those found in the Variation Selectors block.

These combining characters are named variation selector-17 (for U+E0100) through to variation selector-256 (U+E01EF), abbreviated VS17 – VS256.

As of 12 December 2017^[update], VS17 (U+E0100) to VS48 (U+E011F) are used in ideographic variation sequences in the Unicode Ideographic Variation Database (IVD). These selectors are known as Ideographic Variation Selectors (IVS). They are not listed in the list of standardized variation sequence, instead they are listed in another Ideographic Variation Database.

The following IVS collections are currently registered in the IVD:

Similarly to the Moji Jōhō Kiban's role in Japan, the character repertoire of CNS 11643 (including draft revisions) is used for administrative purposes in Taiwan. In some cases, multiple of these correspond to a single Unicode character. Many of these cases are currently handled with mappings to the Supplementary Private Use Area. However, the Taipei Computer Association, which represents the interests of Taiwan in the Ideographic Research Group, has been evaluating the feasibility of registering an additional IVD collection in the future.

In Mainland China, the Culture and Art Publishing House has been collecting variant forms required for digitisation of intangible cultural heritage in databases and e-books, and has expressed the intent to register an IVD collection once this is finalised.

The following Unicode-related documents record the purpose and process of defining specific characters in the Variation Selectors Supplement block: