DEC Special Graphics Character Set
From Just Solve the File Format Problem
The DEC Special Graphics Character Set is one of the available character sets on VT100 and compatible terminals.
It differs from ASCII only in the 32 characters from code points (decimal) 95 through 126 (the "special graphics characters"). Its most recognizable characters are probably the line-drawing and box-drawing characters, which were frequently used in the VT100 variant of ANSI Art.
Unicode mapping
All of the characters exist in Unicode, though there does not seem to be an official mapping. The horizontal "scan" line characters were added in Unicode 3.2.0[1].
Here is an unofficial Unicode mapping:
| Character | Proposed Unicode equivalent | |
|---|---|---|
| 0x5f Blank | U+00A0 NO-BREAK SPACE | |
| 0x60 Diamond | ◆ | U+25C6 BLACK DIAMOND |
| 0x61 Checkerboard | ▒ | U+2592 MEDIUM SHADE |
| 0x62 HT | ␉ | U+2409 SYMBOL FOR HORIZONTAL TABULATION |
| 0x63 FF | ␌ | U+240C SYMBOL FOR FORM FEED |
| 0x64 CR | ␍ | U+240D SYMBOL FOR CARRIAGE RETURN |
| 0x65 LF | ␊ | U+240A SYMBOL FOR LINE FEED |
| 0x66 Degree symbol | ° | U+00B0 DEGREE SIGN |
| 0x67 Plus/minus | ± | U+00B1 PLUS-MINUS SIGN |
| 0x68 NL |  | U+2424 SYMBOL FOR NEWLINE |
| 0x69 VT | ␋ | U+240B SYMBOL FOR VERTICAL TABULATION |
| 0x6a Lower-right corner | ┘ | U+2518 BOX DRAWINGS LIGHT UP AND LEFT |
| 0x6b Upper-right corner | ┐ | U+2510 BOX DRAWINGS LIGHT DOWN AND LEFT |
| 0x6c Upper-left corner | ┌ | U+250C BOX DRAWINGS LIGHT DOWN AND RIGHT |
| 0x6d Lower-left corner | └ | U+2514 BOX DRAWINGS LIGHT UP AND RIGHT |
| 0x6e Crossing Lines | ┼ | U+253C BOX DRAWINGS LIGHT VERTICAL AND HORIZONTAL |
| 0x6f Horizontal line - scan 1 | ⎺ | U+23BA HORIZONTAL SCAN LINE-1 |
| 0x70 Horizontal line - scan 3 | ⎻ | U+23BB HORIZONTAL SCAN LINE-3 |
| 0x71 Horizontal line - scan 5 | ─ | U+2500 BOX DRAWINGS LIGHT HORIZONTAL |
| 0x72 Horizontal line - scan 7 | ⎼ | U+23BC HORIZONTAL SCAN LINE-7 |
| 0x73 Horizontal line - scan 9 | ⎽ | U+23BD HORIZONTAL SCAN LINE-9 |
| 0x74 Left "T" | ├ | U+251C BOX DRAWINGS LIGHT VERTICAL AND RIGHT |
| 0x75 Right "T" | ┤ | U+2524 BOX DRAWINGS LIGHT VERTICAL AND LEFT |
| 0x76 Bottom "T" | ┴ | U+2534 BOX DRAWINGS LIGHT UP AND HORIZONTAL |
| 0x77 Top "T" | ┬ | U+252C BOX DRAWINGS LIGHT DOWN AND HORIZONTAL |
| 0x78 Vertical bar | │ | U+2502 BOX DRAWINGS LIGHT VERTICAL |
| 0x79 Less than or equal to | ≤ | U+2264 LESS-THAN OR EQUAL TO |
| 0x7a Greater than or equal to | ≥ | U+2265 GREATER-THAN OR EQUAL TO |
| 0x7b Pi | π | U+03C0 GREEK SMALL LETTER PI |
| 0x7c Not equal to | ≠ | U+2260 NOT EQUAL TO |
| 0x7d UK pound symbol | £ | U+00A3 POUND SIGN |
| 0x7e Centered dot | · | U+00B7 MIDDLE DOT |
Specifications
- VT220 Programmer Reference Manual, Table 2-4: DEC Special Graphics Character Set
- VT100 Series Technical Manual, Table A-9: Special Graphics Characters
- VT100 User Guide, Table 3-9: Special Graphics Characters
Links
- VT100 ASCII Animation: TwilightZone - Example of VT100 animation, using box-drawing characters (video)
- Wikipedia: VT100
- VT100.net
- About the 'alternate linedrawing character set'
