Braille

Contents

Characters A-Z All 64 6-dot Braille Unicode characters All 256 8-dot Braille Unicode characters Braille for representing numbers Links

Characters A-Z

Notes: A-J form the base characters, and K-Z (except W) can be formed by adding dots to them: K-T: A-J plus 1 dot U-V and X-Z (excluding W): A-E plus 2 dots 'ejoty' gives every 5th char.

All 64 6-dot Braille Unicode characters

Mnemonics: 'corners' are even numbers, in anticlockwise order: f/6⠋⠙d/4 h/8⠓⠚j/0 mirror images: ⠑⠊ e/i (vowels) mirror images: ⠗⠺ r/w (right/wrong) similar: ⠇⠗ l/r (left/right) similar: ⠕⠗ o/r ('or') similar: ⠧⠼ v/number similar: ⠛⠭ g/x vowels: ⠁⠑⠊⠕⠥ aeiou 26 letters: ⠁⠃⠉⠙⠑⠋⠛⠓⠊⠚⠅⠇⠍⠝⠕⠏⠟⠗⠎⠞⠥⠧⠺⠭⠽⠵ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz

All 256 8-dot Braille Unicode characters

There are 256 Braille Unicode characters: U+2800..U+28FF (10240..10495). The final column is useful for sorting the chars as though they are the binary representation of integers. Note: the char '*' has a lower Unicode codepoint than '1', thus sorting as a string, sorts them in numerical order.

Braille for representing numbers

Braille typically numbers dots 1 2 3 7 (left) 4 5 6 8 (right). However, if we use numbering 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8, then Braille dots can be used as the binary representation for the numbers 0 to 255 inclusive. The 256 Braille chars ordered by binary representation: ⠀⢀⠠⢠⠐⢐⠰⢰⠈⢈⠨⢨⠘⢘⠸⢸ ⡀⣀⡠⣠⡐⣐⡰⣰⡈⣈⡨⣨⡘⣘⡸⣸ ⠄⢄⠤⢤⠔⢔⠴⢴⠌⢌⠬⢬⠜⢜⠼⢼ ⡄⣄⡤⣤⡔⣔⡴⣴⡌⣌⡬⣬⡜⣜⡼⣼ ⠂⢂⠢⢢⠒⢒⠲⢲⠊⢊⠪⢪⠚⢚⠺⢺ ⡂⣂⡢⣢⡒⣒⡲⣲⡊⣊⡪⣪⡚⣚⡺⣺ ⠆⢆⠦⢦⠖⢖⠶⢶⠎⢎⠮⢮⠞⢞⠾⢾ ⡆⣆⡦⣦⡖⣖⡶⣶⡎⣎⡮⣮⡞⣞⡾⣾ ⠁⢁⠡⢡⠑⢑⠱⢱⠉⢉⠩⢩⠙⢙⠹⢹ ⡁⣁⡡⣡⡑⣑⡱⣱⡉⣉⡩⣩⡙⣙⡹⣹ ⠅⢅⠥⢥⠕⢕⠵⢵⠍⢍⠭⢭⠝⢝⠽⢽ ⡅⣅⡥⣥⡕⣕⡵⣵⡍⣍⡭⣭⡝⣝⡽⣽ ⠃⢃⠣⢣⠓⢓⠳⢳⠋⢋⠫⢫⠛⢛⠻⢻ ⡃⣃⡣⣣⡓⣓⡳⣳⡋⣋⡫⣫⡛⣛⡻⣻ ⠇⢇⠧⢧⠗⢗⠷⢷⠏⢏⠯⢯⠟⢟⠿⢿ ⡇⣇⡧⣧⡗⣗⡷⣷⡏⣏⡯⣯⡟⣟⡿⣿ Notes: The first char is a blank Braille char, not space. The 2nd 1/2 all have dot 1 present (lines 9-16). The 2nd 1/4 all have dot 2 present (lines 5-8). The 2nd 1/8 all have dot 3 present (lines 3-4). The 2nd 1/16 all have dot 7 present (line 2). The 2nd 1/32 all have dot 4 present (2nd 1/2 of line 1, chars 9-16). The 2nd 1/64 all have dot 5 present (2nd 1/4 of line 1, chars 5-8). The 2nd 1/128 all have dot 6 present (2nd 1/8 of line 1, chars 3-4). The 2nd 1/256 all have dot 8 present (2nd 1/16 of line 1, char 2). Below is code to generate the 256 chars in that order.

//JavaScript: print 256 Braille chars in binary representation order:

function NumToBraille(vNum)
{
	let vOffset = 0;
	if (vNum & 128) vOffset |= 1;   //dot 1
	if (vNum & 64)  vOffset |= 2;   //dot 2
	if (vNum & 32)  vOffset |= 4;   //dot 3
	if (vNum & 16)  vOffset |= 64;  //dot 7
	if (vNum & 8)   vOffset |= 8;   //dot 4
	if (vNum & 4)   vOffset |= 16;  //dot 5
	if (vNum & 2)   vOffset |= 32;  //dot 6
	if (vNum & 1)   vOffset |= 128; //dot 8
	return String.fromCharCode(0x2800 + vOffset);
}

function BrailleToNum(vChar)
{
	const vOffset = vChar.charCodeAt(0) - 0x2800;
	let vNum = 0;
	if (vOffset & 1)   vNum |= 128; //dot 1
	if (vOffset & 2)   vNum |= 64;  //dot 2
	if (vOffset & 4)   vNum |= 32;  //dot 3
	if (vOffset & 64)  vNum |= 16;  //dot 7
	if (vOffset & 8)   vNum |= 8;   //dot 4
	if (vOffset & 16)  vNum |= 4;   //dot 5
	if (vOffset & 32)  vNum |= 2;   //dot 1
	if (vOffset & 128) vNum |= 1;   //dot 8
	return vNum;
}

let vOutput = "";
for (let i = 0; i < 256; i++)
	vOutput += NumToBraille(i);
console.log(vOutput);
console.log(1 == BrailleToNum(NumToBraille(1)));

#Python: print 256 Braille chars in binary representation order:

def NumToBraille(vNum):
	vOffset = 0
	if vNum & 128: vOffset |= 1   #dot 1
	if vNum & 64:  vOffset |= 2   #dot 2
	if vNum & 32:  vOffset |= 4   #dot 3
	if vNum & 16:  vOffset |= 64  #dot 7
	if vNum & 8:   vOffset |= 8   #dot 4
	if vNum & 4:   vOffset |= 16  #dot 5
	if vNum & 2:   vOffset |= 32  #dot 6
	if vNum & 1:   vOffset |= 128 #dot 8
	return chr(0x2800 + vOffset)

def BrailleToNum(vChar):
    vOffset = ord(vChar) - 0x2800
    vNum = 0
    if vOffset & 1:   vNum |= 128 #dot 1
    if vOffset & 2:   vNum |= 64  #dot 2
    if vOffset & 4:   vNum |= 32  #dot 3
    if vOffset & 64:  vNum |= 16  #dot 7
    if vOffset & 8:   vNum |= 8   #dot 4
    if vOffset & 16:  vNum |= 4   #dot 5
    if vOffset & 32:  vNum |= 2   #dot 6
    if vOffset & 128: vNum |= 1   #dot 8
    return vNum

oChars = []
for i in range(256):
	oChars.append(NumToBraille(i))
vOutput = "".join(oChars)
print(vOutput)
print(1 == BrailleToNum(NumToBraille(1)))

Links

Braille - Wikipedia English Braille - Wikipedia Braille Patterns - Wikipedia NamesList.txt [Unicode characters and names e.g. 'BRAILLE PATTERN BLANK' to 'BRAILLE PATTERN DOTS-12345678'] The Braille Alphabet – PharmaBraille