# Unicode Support

Unicode characters can be input straight from your keyboard! There are some limitations, however.

QMK has three different methods for enabling Unicode input and defining keycodes:

## Basic Unicode

This method supports Unicode code points up to `0x7FFF`. This covers characters for most modern languages, as well as symbols, but it doesn't cover emoji.

Add the following to your `rules.mk`:

```make
UNICODE_ENABLE = yes
```

Then add `UC(c)` keycodes to your keymap, where _c_ is the code point (preferably in hexadecimal, up to 4 digits long). For example: `UC(0x45B)`, `UC(0x30C4)`.

## Unicode Map

This method supports all possible code points (up to `0x10FFFF`); however, you need to maintain a separate mapping table in your keymap file, which may contain at most 16384 entries.

Add the following to your `rules.mk`:

```make
UNICODEMAP_ENABLE = yes
```

Then add `X(i)` keycodes to your keymap, where _i_ is an array index into the mapping table:

```c
enum unicode_names {
    BANG,
    IRONY,
    SNEK
};

const uint32_t PROGMEM unicode_map[] = {
    [BANG]  = 0x203D,  // ‽
    [IRONY] = 0x2E2E,  // ⸮
    [SNEK]  = 0x1F40D, // 🐍
};
```

Then you can use `X(BANG)`, `X(SNEK)` etc. in your keymap.

### Lower and Upper Case

Characters often come in lower and upper case pairs, such as å and Å. To make inputting these characters easier, you can use `XP(i, j)` in your keymap, where _i_ and _j_ are the mapping table indices of the lower and upper case character, respectively. If you're holding down Shift or have Caps Lock turned on when you press the key, the second (upper case) character will be inserted; otherwise, the first (lower case) version will appear.