If I try char(0xE16E) in the GUI, I get as part of the stuff in the Info window Compiling: - evaluate fn:char(value): char(57710) -> "" E16E is in the Private Use Area and https://qt4cg.org/specifications/xpath-functions-40/Overview.html#func-char says of char() that "The result must consist of permitted characters." "Permitted characters" are "[Definition: A permitted character is one within the repertoire accepted by the implementation.]" At least as of 12.4, it looks like BaseX doesn't include private use characters in the character repertoire. (https://docs.basex.org/main/Search?input=repertoire gives me nothing at all, so I'm guessing.) Whether this is on purpose or not I have no idea, but it looks like that's what's happening. On Tue, Jun 9, 2026, at 05:58, Guillaume Porte via BaseX-Talk wrote:

Hi,

I'm trying to figure out a character display issue when using basex.

I have a document originally created by using a unicode font called fedorovsk.otf (https://sci.ponomar.net/fonts.html)

When I open the file inside a text editor, I can see all characters and ligatures (since the font is installed on the system), and it also works in the browser when using the font with @font-face.

When I load the document with basex (either by the specifying the path or after indexing it), ir returns the word with certain characters missing.

You can see the difference here : https://gprt.fr/unicode/test.html

Apparently, the codes for the first entity are  or 

When adding those codes to the XML document, they disappear in the output.

Do you have any idea on what's going on and how to fix it?

Regards

Guillaume