When I save a file in GB or Big5 format, why do some characters get replaced by strange codes?
Wenlin can display over 20,000 different characters that are in the Unicode standard. The GB and Big5 character sets (which Wenlin supports for compatibility with other software) are more limited: GB defines codes for 6,763 Chinese characters, and Big5 defines codes for 13,050. In some circumstances when you try to put a Unicode character into GB or Big5 format, if the format doesn’t include the character, Wenlin substitutes a notation like [U+xxxx], where xxxx is the four-digit Unicode number. Many of the missing characters are rarely used; the main problem is that Big5 doesn’t include simplified characters and GB doesn’t include the full forms of characters that have been simplified. Therefore, use Unicode (or UTF-8) whenever possible. When you must use GB, use only simple forms. When you must use Big5, use only full forms. You can convert between simple and full forms using the “Make Transformed Copy” command in the Edit menu. Starting with version 2.1, two new file formats, GBK and
Wenlin can display over 70,000 different characters that are in the Unicode standard. The GB and Big5 character sets (which Wenlin supports for compatibility with other software) are more limited: GB defines codes for 6,763 Chinese characters, and Big5 defines codes for 13,050. In some circumstances when you try to put a Unicode character into GB or Big5 format, if the format doesn’t include the character, Wenlin substitutes a notation like [U+xxxx], where xxxx is the four-digit Unicode number. Many of the missing characters are rarely used; the main problem is that Big5 doesn’t include simplified characters and GB doesn’t include the full forms of characters that have been simplified. Therefore, use Unicode (or UTF-8) whenever possible. When you must use GB, use only simple forms. When you must use Big5, use only full forms. You can convert between simple and full forms using the “Make Transformed Copy” command in the Edit menu. Starting with version 2.1, two new file formats, GBK and
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