gucharmap

gucharmap [OPTION…]

-h, --help
    Show summary of options

--help-all
    Show all help information

--help-gtk
    Show GTK-specific options

--version
    Print version and exit

--unicode-block=BLOCK
    Open specific Unicode block (e.g., "Latin-1 Supplement")

--unicode-subset=SUBSET
    Open specific Unicode subset (e.g., "Punctuation")

gucharmap is the official GNOME Character Map utility, a graphical tool for browsing, searching, and selecting characters from the Unicode standard. It categorizes characters into blocks (e.g., Basic Latin, Greek) and subsets (e.g., Symbols, Punctuation), allowing users to view detailed properties like name, codepoint, category, and decomposition. Key features include visual enlargement, searching by name or code, copying to clipboard via double-click or selection, and font previews. Primarily for desktops, it integrates with GTK applications, aiding writers, developers, and designers in inserting special symbols, emojis, or scripts not on standard keyboards. Run it from terminal or menus; supports Wayland and X11.

Graphical GTK app; requires display server (X11/Wayland). No batch or text output; list blocks/subsets via gucharmap --help-all.
Limited font rendering for complex scripts.

Double-click copies to clipboard; right-click for properties/copy. Use search bar for names like "smiling face" or codepoints like "U+1F600".

Predefined; run gucharmap --help-all for full list. Examples: Basic Latin, Emoticons.

Introduced in GNOME 2.8 (2004) by GNOME team as gucharmap-2.0; evolved through GNOME 3. Maintained until ~GNOME 40 (2021), superseded by redesigned gnome-characters for better emoji/modern Unicode support. Still packaged in most distros.

gnome-characters(1), xcharselect(1), unicode(7)