Entering Unicode Character

Question

Despite related questions and answers, I am still confused. In xelatex, how do I insert a unicode character like, http://unicode.scarfboy.com/?s=U%2bfdfb ?

(In my workflow I need to insert the character after certain words.)

Answer 1

To begin with, you need to find a font on your machine that has the glyph. Then it's easy:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{fontspec}
\usepackage{newunicodechar}

\newfontface{\arabtype}{Damascus}[Scale=1.2]

\newunicodechar{ﷻ}{{\arabtype ﷻ}}

\begin{document}

This is ﷻ in a standard document

\end{document}

For pdflatex the easiest is to prepare a document named fdfb-char.tex

\documentclass{standalone}
\usepackage{fontspec}
\usepackage{newunicodechar}

\newfontface{\arabtype}{Damascus}[Scale=1.2]

\newunicodechar{ﷻ}{{\arabtype ﷻ}}

\begin{document}

ﷻ 

\end{document}

and compile it with XeLaTeX. Then the following will work for all engines.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{ifxetex}
\usepackage{graphicx}

\ifxetex
  \usepackage{fontspec}
  \usepackage{newunicodechar}
  \newfontface{\arabtype}{Damascus}[Scale=1.2]
  \newunicodechar{ﷻ}{{\arabtype ﷻ}}
\else
  \usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
  \DeclareUnicodeCharacter{FDFB}{%
    \raisebox{-.6\dp\strutbox}{%
      \includegraphics[height=1.2\ht\strutbox]{fdfb-char}%
    }%
  }
\fi

\begin{document}

This is ﷻ in a standard document

{\LARGE This is ﷻ in a standard document}

\end{document}