Inform character sets

Roger Firth's IF pages
Inform character sets
Inform character sets

If the print strings in your game include only symbols from the ASCII (or Basic Latin) character set -- values in the range 32..126 or $20..$7E -- then you probably don't need to read this. The information here is all about how to address the Extended Latin characters: mostly European accented letters with a few miscellaneous signs throw in for good measure. If you wish to display such characters, you have four options. Some carry disadvantages, which may affect which one you choose:

Insert them literally -- for example cause célèbre -- using whatever means your text editor provides for extending the keyboard repertoire.
Disadvantage: Your source file isn't portable between IBM PCs and Apple Macs. The word célèbre created on a PC might appear as cÈlËbre if that file was copied to a Mac, because the two physical machines use different character encoding.
Use the Inform compiler's ability to embed internal character codes -- for example cause c@@170l@@182bre -- by typing @@ followed by a decimal number.
Disadvantage: Your source file isn't portable between Z-machine and Glulx. The word c@@170l@@182bre compiles to célèbre on the Z-machine, but to cªl¶bre when the target is Glulx, because the two virtual machines use different character encoding. (But remember: character codes in the range @@32 to @@126 are the same in Glulx and the Z-machine. Thus, @@64 is "@", @@92 is "\", @@94 is "^" and @@126 is "~" in both environments.)
Use the compiler's ability to embed escape sequences -- for example cause c@'el@`ebre -- by typing @ followed by a character pair.
Use the compiler's ability to embed UniCode values -- for example cause c@{E9}l@{E8}bre -- by typing @{..} around a hexadecimal number.

So, from this wealth of possibilities, we can deduce a couple of guidelines:

If you're not bothered about PC/Mac cross-platform compatibility -- because you work on a single platform and you've no intention of sharing your source code with anybody else -- use Option 1 because it's easiest to read.
If you're publishing source code, you really have to make it cross-platform, so that means choosing one of the other options. I recommend Option 3, since an escape sequence like @'e is easier to recognise as é then either of the number-based options, and it also makes your code portable between Z-machine and Glulx.

Also, you might take a look at Wouter ten Brink's cross-VM mapchar.zip from the Archive.

These are the available Extended Latin characters.

Character	ZSCII charset	Glulx charset	Escape	UniCode
À (A grave) Á (A acute) Â (A circumflex) Ã (A tilde) Ä (A diaeresis) Å (A ring) à (a grave) á (a acute) â (a circumflex) ã (a tilde) ä (a diaeresis) å (a ring)	@@186 @@175 @@196 @@208 @@158 @@202 @@181 @@169 @@191 @@205 @@155 @@201	@@192 @@193 @@194 @@195 @@196 @@197 @@224 @@225 @@226 @@227 @@228 @@229	@`A @'A @^A @~A @:A @oA @`a @'a @^a @~a @:a @oa	@{C0} @{C1} @{C2} @{C3} @{C4} @{C5} @{E0} @{E1} @{E2} @{E3} @{E4} @{E5}
Æ (AE ligature) æ (ae ligature)	@@212 @@211	@@198 @@230	@AE @ae	@{C6} @{E6}
Ç (C cedilla) ç (c cedilla)	@@214 @@213	@@199 @@231	@cC @cc	@{C7} @{E7}
È (E grave) É (E acute) Ê (E circumflex) Ë (E diaeresis) è (e grave) é (e acute) ê (e circumflex) ë (e diaeresis)	@@187 @@176 @@197 @@167 @@182 @@170 @@192 @@164	@@200 @@201 @@202 @@203 @@232 @@233 @@234 @@235	@`E @'E @^E @:E @`e @'e @^e @:e	@{C8} @{C9} @{CA} @{CB} @{E8} @{E9} @{EA} @{EB}
Ì (I grave) Í (I acute) Î (I circumflex) Ï (I diaeresis) ì (i grave) í (i acute) î (i circumflex) ï (i diaeresis)	@@188 @@177 @@198 @@168 @@183 @@171 @@193 @@165	@@204 @@205 @@206 @@207 @@236 @@237 @@238 @@239	@`I @'I @^I @:I @`i @'i @^i @:i	@{CC} @{CD} @{CE} @{CF} @{EC} @{ED} @{EE} @{EF}
Ñ (N tilde) ñ (n tilde)	@@209 @@206	@@209 @@241	@~N @~n	@{D1} @{F1}
Ò (O grave) Ó (O acute) Ô (O circumflex) Õ (O tilde) Ö (O diaeresis) Ø (O slash) ò (o grave) ó (o acute) ô (o circumflex) õ (o tilde) ö (o diaeresis) ø (o slash)	@@189 @@178 @@199 @@210 @@159 @@204 @@184 @@172 @@194 @@207 @@156 @@203	@@210 @@211 @@212 @@213 @@214 @@216 @@242 @@243 @@244 @@245 @@246 @@248	@`O @'O @^O @~O @:O @/O @`o @'o @^o @~o @:o @/o	@{D2} @{D3} @{D4} @{D5} @{D6} @{D8} @{F2} @{F3} @{F4} @{F5} @{F6} @{F8}
OE (OE ligature) oe (oe ligature)	@@221 @@220	- -	@OE @oe	- -
Ù (U grave) Ú (U acute) Û (U circumflex) Ü (U diaeresis) ù (u grave) ú (u acute) û (u circumflex) ü (u diaeresis)	@@190 @@179 @@200 @@160 @@185 @@173 @@195 @@157	@@217 @@218 @@219 @@220 @@249 @@250 @@251 @@252	@`U @'U @^U @:U @`u @'u @^u @:u	@{D9} @{DA} @{DB} @{DC} @{F9} @{FA} @{FB} @{FC}
Ý (Y acute) ý (y acute) ÿ (y diaeresis)	@@180 @@174 @@166	@@221 @@253 @@255	@'Y @'y @:y	@{DD} @{FD} @{FF}
Ð (Eth) ð (eth) Þ (Thorn) þ (thorn) ß (ss)	@@218 @@216 @@217 @@215 @@161	@@208 @@240 @@222 @@254 @@223	@Et @et @Th @th @ss	@{D0} @{F0} @{DE} @{FE} @{DF}
¡ (inverted !) ¿ (inverted ?) « (left guillemet) » (right guillemet)	@@222 @@223 @@163 @@162	@@161 @@191 @@171 @@187	@!! @?? @<< @>>	@{A1} @{BF} @{AB} @{BB}
¢ (cent) £ (pound) ¤ (currency) ¥ (yen)	- @@219 - -	@@162 @@163 @@164 @@165	- @LL - -	@{A2} @{A3} @{A4} @{A5}
§ (section) ¶ (paragraph/pilcrow) © (copyright) ® (registered)	- - - -	@@167 @@182 @@169 @@174	- - - -	@{A7} @{B6} @{A9} @{AE}
¦ (broken bar) - (soft hyphen) ¬ (not) ¯ (macron/overline) ° (degree) µ (micro/mu) · (middle dot) ± (plus-or-minus) × (multiplication) ÷ (division)	- - - - - - - - - -	@@166 @@173 @@172 @@175 @@176 @@181 @@183 @@177 @@215 @@247	- - - - - - - - - -	@{A6} @{AD} @{AC} @{AF} @{B0} @{B5} @{B7} @{B1} @{D7} @{F7}
¼ (one-quarter) ½ (one-half) ¾ (three-quarters)	- - -	@@188 @@189 @@190	- - -	@{BC} @{BD} @{BE}
ª (feminine ordinal) º (masculine ordinal) ¹ (superscript 1) ² (superscript 2) ³ (superscript 3)	- - - - -	@@170 @@186 @@185 @@178 @@179	- - - - -	@{AA} @{BA} @{B9} @{B2} @{B3}
¨ (diaeresis) ´ (acute) ¸ (cedilla)	- - -	@@168 @@180 @@184	- - -	@{A8} @{B4} @{B8}