User Guide

FontLab 4
114
Structure of the Name-Unicode Database
The database that links Unicode indexes and glyph names is nothing more than a text file,
STANDARD.NAM, located in the Data directory that has the following structure:
%%FONTLAB NAMETABLE
0x0000 .notdef
0x0002 nonmarkingreturn
0x0020 visiblespace
0x0020 space
. . . . . . . . .
The first line of this file is a signature that is used to show that this file is a properly defined database
file.
The lines that follow the signature have a very simple structure:
<Unicode index> <name>
The Unicode index may be in decimal or hex (started with ‘0x’) form. The name should not have any
spaces. Names are case sensitive.
One Unicode index may be linked with more than one name and several Unicode indexes may be
linked with one name.
If the name is preceded with the ‘!’, it means that Unicode may be generated from the name but
none of the marked names may be generated when the Unicode index is known. This is necessary
when none of the glyph’s names is included in the list of standard names supported by Adobe
(Adobe Glyph List). This feature makes it possible to generate correct Unicode indexes for
incorrectly named glyphs but will never assign incorrect names.
You can extend this file in any text editor, but we strongly recommend not changing it.