{"schema":"cpc-unicode-answer-v1","question":"How is a hyphen-minus different from a mathematical minus?","answer":"A mathematical operator, distinct from the ASCII hyphen-minus. Code points: U+2212. Source-code parsers may require ASCII - for subtraction. A non-equivalent fallback is \"-\" (ASCII hyphen-minus). Different typographic meaning and width. Exact string match: no. NFC match: no. Appearance and meaning were not tested. Font coverage, shaping, and application acceptance were not tested, so those results are unknown.","unicodeVersion":"18.0.0","purpose":"general","citation":"Do not invent a platform-support claim from this data.","page":"/answers/hyphen-minus-versus-mathematical-minus/","markdown":"/answers/hyphen-minus-versus-mathematical-minus.md","sample":"−","codepoints":[{"codepoint":"U+2212","name":"MINUS SIGN","displayLabel":"−","warnings":["mathematical-minus"],"explanations":[{"id":"mathematical-minus","title":"Mathematical minus sign","behavior":"A mathematical operator, distinct from the ASCII hyphen-minus.","limitation":"Source-code parsers may require ASCII - for subtraction.","fix":"Use U+002D for programming-language minus operators when the syntax requires it.","source":"https://www.unicode.org/reports/tr44/","alternatives":[{"value":"-","reason":"ASCII hyphen-minus","tradeoff":"Different typographic meaning and width."}],"evidenceTier":"standards-informed-editorial","evidence":{"behavior":"standards-informed","compatibility":"not-tested","repair":"editorial-guidance"}}]}],"comparison":{"schema":"cpc-unicode-compare-v1","exactlyEqual":false,"sameNFC":false,"sameNFKC":false,"sameVisualAppearance":"unknown","sameMeaning":"unknown","left":{"codepoints":["U+2212"],"graphemes":1},"right":{"codepoints":["U+002D"],"graphemes":1},"explanation":"Normalization equivalence does not guarantee the same rendering, semantics or acceptance in an application."},"graphemes":{"status":"available","method":"runtime-intl-segmenter","unicodeDataVersion":"runtime-unknown","count":1,"segments":[{"text":"−","utf16Offset":0,"codepoints":["U+2212"]}]},"normalizationChanged":{"NFC":false,"NFD":false,"NFKC":false,"NFKD":false},"normalizationUnicodeDataVersion":"runtime-unknown","targetCompatibility":{"status":"unknown","evidenceTier":"not-tested","purpose":"general","explanation":"No OS, font, browser, application, field policy or rendering engine was tested. Unicode validity and segmentation do not establish actual display or acceptance."}}