{"schema":"cpc-unicode-answer-v1","question":"Why can two regional indicators stay two letters?","answer":"A flag emoji is two regional indicator scalars. One indicator is a letter symbol. A renderer can show the pair as two letters. Code points: U+1F1FA, U+1F1F8. Sequence support was not tested. The pair does not prove that a destination draws a flag. A non-equivalent fallback is \"US\" (The ASCII letters named by this pair). Two letters, not a flag emoji. The letters match only this two-indicator string. 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/why-two-regional-indicators-can-stay-two-letters/","markdown":"/answers/why-two-regional-indicators-can-stay-two-letters.md","sample":"🇺🇸","codepoints":[{"codepoint":"U+1F1FA","name":"REGIONAL INDICATOR SYMBOL LETTER U","displayLabel":"🇺","warnings":["regional-indicator-pair"],"explanations":[{"id":"regional-indicator-pair","title":"Two regional indicators are a flag sequence","behavior":"A flag emoji is two regional indicator scalars. One indicator is a letter symbol. A renderer can show the pair as two letters.","limitation":"Sequence support was not tested. The pair does not prove that a destination draws a flag.","fix":"Keep both indicators when a flag sequence is required. Use the ASCII letters when the destination must not depend on an emoji flag.","source":"https://www.unicode.org/reports/tr51/","alternatives":[{"value":"US","reason":"The ASCII letters named by this pair","tradeoff":"Two letters, not a flag emoji. The letters match only this two-indicator string."}],"evidenceTier":"standards-informed-editorial","evidence":{"behavior":"standards-informed","compatibility":"not-tested","repair":"editorial-guidance"}}]},{"codepoint":"U+1F1F8","name":"REGIONAL INDICATOR SYMBOL LETTER S","displayLabel":"🇸","warnings":["regional-indicator-pair"],"explanations":[{"id":"regional-indicator-pair","title":"Two regional indicators are a flag sequence","behavior":"A flag emoji is two regional indicator scalars. One indicator is a letter symbol. A renderer can show the pair as two letters.","limitation":"Sequence support was not tested. The pair does not prove that a destination draws a flag.","fix":"Keep both indicators when a flag sequence is required. Use the ASCII letters when the destination must not depend on an emoji flag.","source":"https://www.unicode.org/reports/tr51/","alternatives":[{"value":"US","reason":"The ASCII letters named by this pair","tradeoff":"Two letters, not a flag emoji. The letters match only this two-indicator string."}],"evidenceTier":"standards-informed-editorial","evidence":{"behavior":"standards-informed","compatibility":"not-tested","repair":"editorial-guidance"}}]}],"comparison":null,"graphemes":{"status":"available","method":"runtime-intl-segmenter","unicodeDataVersion":"runtime-unknown","count":1,"segments":[{"text":"🇺🇸","utf16Offset":0,"codepoints":["U+1F1FA","U+1F1F8"]}]},"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."}}