API

The Codepoints API

The API of Codepoints.net can be reached at

http://codepoints.net/api/v1/

It is a REST API giving access to Unicode data. Mostly, JSON will be returned. In the case of an error the API adheres to the Problem Details for HTTP APIs draft specification. What this means concretely is detailed on the errors description page.

The API sends a CORS header to allow true cross-domain requests in newer browsers.

The API Endpoints

• Request one codepoint
• Information about a Unicode block
• Information about a Unicode plane
• Request a sample glyph (This endpoint returns a PNG image.)
• Request a codepoint’s name only
• Value of a single property for all codepoints (This endpoint returns a PNG image.)
• Information about a script
• Transform a string (e.g., uppercase, NFC, …)
• Filter a string (e.g., by Unicode version or only uppercase letters)

Example Request

A typical request has the following form:

    GET /api/v1/codepoint/1234?property=cp,na,age HTTP/1.1
    Host: codepoints.net
    Accept: application/json
    Accept-Language: en

And the API response is shaped like this:

    HTTP/1.1 200 OK
    Date: Sun, 14 Jul 2013 20:19:19 GMT
    Access-Control-Allow-Origin: *
    Content-Language: en
    Content-Type: application/json; charset=UTF-8
    Last-Modified: Mon, 08 Jul 2013 23:21:20 +0200
    Link: <http://codepoints.net/U+1234>; rel=alternate
    Link: <http://codepoints.net/api/v1/block/ethiopic>; rel=up
    Link: <http://codepoints.net/api/v1/codepoint/1235>; rel=next
    Link: <http://codepoints.net/api/v1/codepoint/1233>; rel=prev
    Unicode-Version: 6.1.0

    {"cp":"4660","age":"3.0","na":"ETHIOPIC SYLLABLE SEE"}

There are three note-worthy headers here:

1. The Link headers allow access to the previous and next codepoint as well as to the containing Unicode block.
2. The custom header Unicode-Version gives the precise Unicode version this answer is valid for.
3. The Last-Modified header is appropriately set to allow client-side caching of the API response.