[XeTeX] Finding out if a font supports a particular Unicode character and using it

[Michiel Kamermans]

On 1/28/2010 10:42 PM, R (Chandra) Chandrasekhar wrote:
> Dear Folks,
>
> Pardon me please if this question is naive.
>
> I would like to use the Unicode character U+2605 Black Star in the 
> Miscellaneous Symbols block, or lternatively, the character U+272A 
> Circled White Star in the Dingbats block in a .tex file.
>
> I have two questions:
>
> 1. How might I find out if a chosen font does indeed provide this 
> symbol? I am on Kubuntu 9.10 and have kcharselect and gucharmap, but 
> do not know of an efficient way of finding this out. Are there any 
> utilities to do this efficiently?

Hmm, in windows there's the "Babelmap" utility 
(http://www.babelstone.co.uk/Software/BabelMap.html) which comes with a 
font analysis optiont that lets you see which installed fonts implement 
a given unicode block (as well as which unicode blocks are [partially] 
implemented by single fonts). For what you need it to do, it runs well 
enough in wine, so you might want to give that a go.

Install wine, grab the zip file from the link and run the .exe via wine, 
then in the program scroll down to your character (or instasearch for 
its hexcode by typing it in the "go to code point" box), then hit F7. 
It'll list all fonts that even support that block on the right, in the 
"list all fonts that cover this unicode block" box.

- Mike "Pomax" Kamermans
nihongoresources.com