Template:ISO 15924 script codes and related Unicode data


This documentation is shared between templates {{Unicode blocks}} and {{ISO 15924 script codes and related Unicode data}}.

The template can be used as usual. It is not a navigation box, so it can be everywhere in an article. The notes are contained within the template, and will not appear in the main References part.

Note that a script is not a language. A single script, like the Latin alphabet, is used in many languages. Unicode is only about scripts, not about languages that use that script. Still there may be nuances, like the English versus Polish language in using accents on letters.

ISO defines and publishes a script in the ISO 15924 list. It defines the Alpha-4 code (Aaaa-Zzzz), the Numeric code (000-999), and the formal Name for each accepted script. Currently there are some 160 scripts defined in this list. Included are scripts like "Mathematical notation (Zmth)" and "Code for undetermined script (a.k.a. Common, Zyyy)". The list is formally maintained and published by ISO, and practically by the Unicode Consortium office. It is published on the Unicode website. Technically, the list is file iso15924.txt.

Then, Unicode (not ISO) maintains a list of Alias script names right next to the ISO-defined scripts, for each script Unicode has encoded. The Alias name is an English name for that script.

So the ISO alpha-4 code gets a unique Alias name by Unicode: Mymr:ISO Name=Myanmar (Burmese), Alias=Myanmar. These Alias names are also present in the definition file iso15924.txt.[5]