Basic Information
| Official Name |
REPLACEMENT CHARACTER |
| Code Point |
U+FFFD |
| Code Block |
Specials |
Uses of the REPLACEMENT CHARACTER
Note
The description in this section is an example of cases where the REPLACEMENT CHARACTER is used, and it does not necessarily behave as described in all cases. How the REPLACEMENT CHARACTER is handled depends on the software or environment being used.
Text Editors
When opening a file in a UNICODE-compatible (UTF-8, UTF-16, UTF-32) text editor, there may be characters that cannot be read (a sequence of bytes that is invalid as UNICODE), which could cause problems. In this case, replacing the invalid characters with the REPLACEMENT CHARACTER can avoid the problem.
UNICODE Encoding Libraries
When converting a certain encoding to UTF-8, UTF-16, or UTF-32, unexpected data may be passed and cannot be converted. In such cases, unconvertible characters are replaced with the REPLACEMENT CHARACTER.
Related Terms