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avatar Ubuntu

Why do backticks work for highlighting code in Discord, but Armenian commas don't?

kz flag
Aditya Kirad

When I send code in Discord using this:

```py
print("hello world!")
```

it appears in a box with code highlighted as you can see in the picture below. However, when I use Unicode U+055d (Armenian comma) for the code fences (՝՝՝ ՝՝՝) :

՝՝՝py
print("hello world!")
՝՝՝

and send it, the code doesn't get highlighted. It also does not appear in the box as you can see in the picture.

enter image description here

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wjandrea avatar
cn flag
wjandrea
For more info, in Unicode these are called "confusables" and there's tons of them. Here's an [official demo page](https://util.unicode.org/UnicodeJsps/confusables.jsp?a=%60&r=None). Some others are `ˋ`‵｀`. My favorites are the Cyrillic letters like `а` and `р` cause they look *exactly* like the Latin letters in most fonts.
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in flag
AndreKR
Is there any application where Armenian commas do work for formatting code? Why would they?
8
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Guntram Blohm avatar
cn flag
Guntram Blohm
If you press `ALT-96` in windows, you get a backtick, which has an ascii code of 96, or 60 hex; not an armenian comma.
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Score:16
BeastOfCaerbannog avatar Ubuntu
ca flag
BeastOfCaerbannog

I faced the same thing when I edited your question. This:

```py
print("hello world!")
```

renders as:

print("hello world!")

whereas this:

՝՝՝py
print("hello world!")
՝՝՝

renders as:

՝՝՝py print("hello world!") ՝՝՝

While the characters for designating code fences are similar to the eye, they are different for your apps. The backtick character (`) has the Unicode representation of U+0060, while the Armenian comma (՝) has the Unicode representation of U+055D, as you said.

The code formatting here and in Discord uses some flavor of Markdown, for which backtick U+0060 characters have a special meaning (are used for highlighting code), while the Armenian comma U+055D character has no special meaning. That makes your text correctly highlighted when using backticks and printed just as you wrote it when using Armenian commas.

0 + 0
eg flag
Lenne
There is a visible difference between backtick and Armenian comma. Edit: - on this device (PC, chrome, win11). Your mileage may differ.
1
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BeastOfCaerbannog avatar
ca flag
BeastOfCaerbannog
It depends on the font used and the font rendering. When I see this thread from my phone, the difference is clear. However, when I read it from my PC, both look almost the same.
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Elon Musk
I sit in a Tesla and translated this thread with Ai:

mangohost

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