I want to use the unicode (partial) block symbols (https://strangeweb.page/@jochie/115118219770375106) to draw graphs:

chars = [' ','▏','▎','▍','▌','▋','▊','▉','█']

The idea is that I can "scale” the horizontal bars (7/8, 6/8, 5/8, …) if/when at least one of the values gets a bit high, like this:

1️⃣ 0
2️⃣ 0
3️⃣ ▉▉▉▉▉▉▉▌ 12
4️⃣ ▉▉▉▉▉▉▉▉▏ 13
5️⃣ ▉▉ 3
6️⃣ 0

In my editor/client it’s fine, but some fonts show
U+258C “▌” as taller than the others, which is a bit annoying!

Any suggestions/alternatives?

#unicode #graph #programming

@jochie oh that's an interesting idea, I did something similar for sparklines using the vertical blocks
https://wok.oblomov.eu/tecnologia/sparkling-wok/
https://wok.oblomov.eu/tecnologia/sparkling-wok-2/
but recently I've replaced them with SVGs.

From my experience, the question is: which Unicode codepoints are you using *exactly*, both full and partial?

@oblomov I like those sparklines

As far as I can tell (checked again just now), I'm using these: 2588 for the full block, and 2589..258F for the (left) 1/8..7/8 partials.

https://www.unicode.org/charts/nameslist/n_2580.html

@jochie
> I like those sparklines

me too 8-D

> I'm using these: 2588 for the full block, and 2589..258F for the (left) 1/8..7/8 partials.

Weird. The screenshot looks like your editor is substituting U+25A0 for the full block, or maybe the font doesn't have it (see also the centering wrt to the text), but then why would the “extra” on point 4 (the one with value 13) look correct? What font is your editor using?

@oblomov That screenshot that I think you're referring to is actually the Discord app in the Firefox browser.

Plot twist!

You were on to something. While writing my response I noticed that I had a bug in my code and was unintentionally using the "left 7/8 block” U+2589 where I thought I was using the full block.

Back to the drawing board (hah) for me, and more ‍️ feelings with regards to fonts and unicode.