View source for Template:Private Use Area/doc

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{{tsh|PUA}}
This is a null formatting template. It has no effect but to indicate that a character lies in the [[Private Use Area]] (PUA) of [[Unicode]], and to place the article using the character in [[:Category:Articles with wanted Private Use Area characters]].

'''Useful PUA characters'''

PUA characters are not normally appropriate for Wikipedia. However, if the text is formatted for a font that supports it, there are cases where a PUA character may be desired, such as when the font or the character itself is being discussed.  (See [[Tengwar]], for example.)  In such cases an image of the character should also be displayed, or an article with an image linked to.

'''Formatting PUA characters'''

Browsers will generally not know how to handle PUA characters.  It is therefore necessary to force the browser to display the character in an appropriate font.  An existing template such as {{tl|IPA}} may be sufficient. If not, fonts X, Y, Z can be individually specified with html markup such as:
:<code><nowiki><span style="font-family:X, Y, Z">[PUA]</span></nowiki></code>

'''Substituting PUA characters'''

As of 2024{{Update after|2025}}, [[WP:AutoWikiBrowser|AutoWikiBrowser]] (AWB) is not capable of editing pages that contain unsubstituted PUA characters. If they are to be kept, it is therefore best to replace them with their four-digit Unicode numbers, using the code <code><nowiki>&#...;</nowiki></code> (decimal) or <code><nowiki>&#x...;</nowiki></code> (hexadecimal). In the Wikipedia edit window, PUA characters will display as a box containing the hexadecimal Unicode number, which can be manually converted to <code><nowiki>&#x...;</nowiki></code> format.

Both formatting and substitution are required if PUA characters are to be useful, and this PUA template is required as well if we are to keep track of them.

'''See also'''

See [[Wikipedia:CHECKWIKI/016 dump]] for the results of the latest CHECKWIKI run (includes both invisible formatting characters and PUA characters.  Daily scan results of most articles edited that day are posted [https://tools.wmflabs.org/checkwiki/cgi-bin/checkwiki.cgi?project=enwiki&view=only&id=16 here]; unlike the full list, the context of the errors are specified (look for "{PUA}").

==TemplateData==
{{TemplateData header}}
<templatedata>
{
	"params": {
		"1": {}
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}
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[[Category:Unicode templates]]

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