The XCharter Font Package

Michael Sharpe

June 8, 2024

1 Package Features
The XCharter fonts are extensions of the Bitstream Charter fonts, adding oldstyle figures, superior
figures and small caps in all styles. The original Charter fonts were created by famed font designer
Matthew Carter in the late 1980’s to enhance legibility of the output from printers of that era (laser,
dot matrix, thermal and inkjet) with resolutions that would now be considered low—not far from
modern screen resolutions. Their low contrasts, high x-heights and use of piecewise linear outlines
where possible may make them interesting again as fonts that will render well on small devices and
perhaps projected slides.
It’s worth noting that the same designer provided Georgia for Microsoft. It is widely considered to be
one of the clearest serifed fonts for viewing on screen, and bears many similarities to Charter, though
with rounder finials, flatter serifs and curvier transitions. Their x-heights are the same for all practical
purposes but Georgia has Cap-height and Ascender-height about 2% more than Charter.
(This paragraph is processed using Georgia reduced by 1%.) The vertical stem widths of Georgia are
about 10% thicker than those of Charter and Georgia has distinctly greater contrast. As you can see,
it appears to render blacker. and occupies about 3% less horizontal space than Charter.
(This paragraph is processed using Gelasio-Regular reduced by 1%. Gelasio is a free, open source

font that is metrically equivalent to Georgia. Like Georgia, it has no small caps, but work is in

progress to add these via virtual fonts based on XCharter, and to add math fonts based on newtx.)
As of version 1.09 (2017-06-25) there is a new collection of Cyrillic glyphs in XCharter, copied from
Andrey Panov’s Khartiya, an extension of the free Charter fonts, with small caps included. Some new
figure styles were also copied from Khartiya—inferiors, numerators and denominators. Along with
these additions, there are now slanted versions for those who wish to have both slanted and italic text
available to meet distinct semantic purposes. Note that figures and uppercase slanted and italic are
almost identical (except for slanted Q and italic Q) but lower-case forms are distinct.
Starting with version 1.1, support has been added for typesetting in the Serbian variant of Cyrillic,
with some changes to the Italic and BoldItalic Cyrillic glyphs and a new option in the main package.
These are described more fully below.
Support files are provided for T1, TS1, LY1, T2A and OT2 encodings, the last two being to support
the Cyrillic component of XCharter. The package has a number of options:
• scaled=.98, for example, scales all text to 98% of specified size;

1
 • lining (or just lf) makes lining figures (0123456789) the default for text—this is set auto-
matically and does not need to be entered explicitly;
• oldstyle (or osf) sets the figure style in text mode to oldstyle (0123456789) with numeral one
like a shortened 1, but math mode will always use lining figures;
• proportional (or p), new as of version 1.23, changes the default tabular figure style to pro-
portional.
• oldstyleI (or osfI) sets the figure style in text mode to oldstyle (0123456789) with numeral
one like a shortened I, but math mode will always use lining figures;
• sups sets the style for superscript figures (e.g., footnote markers) to XCharter’s superior figures
rather than using the default text inserts in mathematical superscripts. This option has no effect
if a KOMA class is in force.
• scosf makes oldstyle figures the default in small cap text, no matter what the global figure
setting may be.
• serbianc is useful only with the T2A encoding. It modifies one slot in upright and slanted
shapes and five slots in italic shapes, as expected in Serbian Cyrillic. See the last section for
examples.

Changes in version 1.23

There are some substantial additions in version 1.23, some requiring newtx, version 1.71 or higher:
• XCharter.sty now works with all flavors of LaTeX—unicode and non-unicode—but there may
be some small differences in output. Essentially all previous options and macros are supported
and there are new ones available, some of which are limited to unicode engines.
• Previous versions of XCharter had only two normal figure styles: tabular lining (the de-
fault) and proportional oldstyle. Version 1.23 adds two more so there are separate TLF
(tabular lining figures), LF (proportional lining figures), TOsF (tabular
oldstyle figures) and OsF (proportional oldstyle figures). Two new options
have been added to globally select the default figures style. Option p (or proportional) and
t (or tabular). A new command \useproportional (preamble only) has the same effect as
option proportional.
• With the new figures came new macros to select them, no matter what the defaults may be.
There are two forms, one that switches the figures until further notice and the other a macro
with an argument.

Switch Command Effect Example

\tlfstyle \texttlf TLF {\tlfstyle123}, \texttlf{123}
\lfstyle \textlf LF {\lfstyle123},\textlf{123}
\tosfstyle \texttosf TOsF {\tosfstyle123},\texttosf{123}
\osfstyle \textosf OsF {\osfstyle123}, \textosf{123}
There are also the text font switches \liningnums, \tabularnums, \oldstylenums and
\proportionalnums, each of which changes only one attribute of the figure style and align-
ment. For example, \liningnums changes the style to lining and \tabularnums changes

2
 the figure alignment to tabular.
• There is a theorem font option similar to those in newtx and newpx. A new font family named
XCharterTH is made from the italic and bold italic faces of XCharter, but having upright
figures and punctuation that, IMO, look better than slanted ones in theorem statements and
the like. For details, consult the brief descriptions below and the more discursive version in the
documentation to newtx. There is a theoremfont option to XCharter that works exactly the
same as in newtx.
• The figure style in theoremfont will by default be the same as your chosen figure style. Option
thmlining will ensure that lining figures are always used.
• oldSS specifies the preference for the old Capital Sharp S rather than the newer form, U+1E9E,
ẞ.
• There are new options that affect only unicode engines:
– type1text (or type1) specifies processing the text font using type1 mode. This does
not prevent fontspec from loading.
– defaultfeatures= gives you a place to set the default text font features for fontspec.
Special Macros:
• \useproportional (usable only in the preamble) may be used for changing the text figure
alignment to proportional though math mode will use tabular lining figures. (New in 1.23.)
• \useosf (usable only in the preamble) may be used for changing the text figure style to osf
though math mode will use lining figures.
• \useosfI (usable only in the preamble) may be used for changing the text figure style to osfI
though math mode will use lining figures.
• \textsu prints its argument in superior figures, e.g., \textsu{12} results in ¹². The effect is
the same with {\sustyle 12}.
• \textinf prints its argument in inferior figures, e.g., \textinf{12} results in ₁₂. The effect
is the same with {\instyle 12}. (In versions of XCharter prior to 1.221, \textinf was
named \textin, but the latter conflicts with hyperref which redefines it to point to U+2208.)
• \textlf prints its argument in lining figures, e.g., \textlf{12} results in 12. The effect is
the same with {\lfstyle 12}.
• {\osfstyle 23} prints 23 (OldStyle,Proportional) while {\liningnums 23} prints
23, Lining with whatever figure alignment is in force. There are also macros \tabularnums,
\proportionalnums, \oldstylenums, \tosfstyle and \tlfstyle with the expected be-
haviors.
• Numerators and denominators are normally used only for constructing fractions, but may if
needed be called using \textnumerator and \textdenominator. They are about 7% smaller
than superiors and inferiors. You may use \textde and \textnu as abbreviations, though
the latter will not be available if babel is loaded with greek option. As of version 1.24, you
may prevent \textnu from overwriting the babel/greek definition by using the new option
notextnu to XCharter. In any case, a new command \textnum takes the place of the old
XCharter \textnu.

3
 • The \textfrac macro allows you to write, e.g., \textfrac{31}{32} to get the simple frac-
tion ³¹⁄⁄32, and \textfrac[2]{31}{32} to get 2³¹⁄⁄32. (The optional argument, 2 in the latter
case, is always typeset in lining figures.)
• The \textsfrac macro, available only when you use the newtx package with option xcharter
to load XCharter with newtxmath, allows you to write, e.g., \textsfrac{31}{32} to get the
simple stacked fraction 31 31
32 ,and \textsfrac[2]{31}{32} to get 2 32 . (The optional argument,
2 in the latter case, is always typeset in lining figures.)
• \textcircled renders its argument in raised and reduced small caps encircled by the bigcircle
glyph. E.g., \textcircled{M} and \textcircled{m} both render as O. m The macro works
also for numerals: \textcircled{2} renders as O. 2

• \textth (and also \textthit) render their arguments using the theorem fonts. For example:
\textth{Theorem font (01234):!} renders as Theorem font (01234):!—note the upright
figures and punctuation. (There is no Bold theorem font—if you attempt it using the specifica-
tion \textbf{\textth{Theorem font (01234):!}}, you will find that it renders as Theo-
rem font (01234):!.) The related font switch \thfamily is defined so that {\thfamily A12!}
and \textth{A12!} are equivalent. In opentype processing, the StylisticSet 05 controls
whether figures and punctuation are upright in italic shaped faces.

Greek letters in version 1.11:

ΓΔΘΛΞΠΣΥΦΨΩ
𝛤𝛥𝛩𝛬𝛯𝛱𝛴𝛶𝛷𝛹𝛺
𝛼𝛽𝛾𝛿𝜖𝜁𝜂𝜃𝜄𝜅𝜆 𝜇𝜈𝜉𝑜𝜋𝜌𝜎𝜏𝜐𝜙𝜒𝜓𝜔𝜀𝜗𝜛𝜚𝜍𝜑𝜘℘
αβγδϵζηθικλμνξ𝑜πρστυϕχψωεϑϖϱςφϰ
𝚪𝚫𝚯𝚲𝚵𝚷𝚺𝚼𝚽𝚿𝛀
𝜞𝜟𝜣𝜦𝜩𝜫𝜮𝜰𝜱𝜳Ω
𝜶𝜷𝜸𝜹𝝐𝜻𝜼𝜽𝜾𝜿𝝀𝝁𝝂𝝃𝒐𝝅𝝆𝝈𝝉𝝊𝝓𝝌𝝍𝝎𝜺𝝑𝝕𝝔𝝇𝝋𝝒℘
𝛂𝛃𝛄𝛅𝛜𝛇𝛈𝛉𝛊𝛋𝛌𝛍𝛎𝛏𝒐𝛑𝛒𝛔𝛕𝛖𝛟𝛘𝛙𝛚𝛆𝛝𝛡𝛠𝛓𝛗𝛞

2 Math/text package choices

All unicode
There is now a unicode math package, XCharter-Math that may be run with a simple preamble
containing
\usepackage{fontspec}
\setmainfont{XCharter} % reads XCharter.fontspec
\usepackage{unicode-math}
\setmathfont{XCharter-Math.otf}
or, even better, as described in the documentation for XCharter-Math,
\usepackage{xcharter-otf}

4
but in order to get the options and macros described in this documentation, you should use instead,
for the same effect
\usepackage[otfmath]{XCharter}
% loads fontspec, unicode-math, and sets XCharter-Math.otf
Notes on the last preamble fragment:
• Unless option otfmath is specified, math will be processed by newtxmath with xcharter
option. (See examples 2–6 below.)
• All options passed to XCharter that are not understood by XCharter will be passed along to
xcharter-otf provided option otfmath was specified.

Non-unicode only
Three non-unicode math packages seem to provide reasonable companions for XCharter. The first ex-
ample uses Charter italics as math italics, but doesn’t provide arbitrary scaling and doesn’t sufficiently
distinguish math italic v from mathematical Greek \nu. Moreover, it is not easy to redefine \mathcal
to get a better math calligraphic alphabet—e.g., the mathalpha package fails. The second uses liber-
tine italics and Greek in math mode, which is a good match to Charter in style and weight after scaling
up, is arbitrarily scalable, has distinct math italic v and mathematical Greek \nu, and is completely
compatible with mathalpha. The third is a new revision of newtxmath with option charter (or,
equivalently, xcharter), which substitutes Charter italics as math italics and, as of version 1.11, uses
a newly developed family of Greek symbols in {regular, bold} × {upright, italic} to match the style
and italic angle of XCharter. This version is scalable and has a math italic v (plus a matching w) dis-
tinct from \nu. (The option noxchvw to newtxmath changes the v and w to be the original Charter
italic glyphs, which may lead to issues with \nu.)
Example 1:
% [pdf]latex only
\usepackage[charter,expert]{mathdesign}
\usepackage[scaled=.96,osf]{XCharter}% matches the size used in math
\linespread{1.04}
Example 2:
% [pdf]latex only
\usepackage[scaled=.98,sups,osf]{XCharter}% lining figures in math, osf in text
\usepackage[scaled=1.04,varqu,varl]{inconsolata}% inconsolata typewriter
\usepackage[type1]{sourcesanspro}% sans serif
\usepackage[uprightscript,libertine,vvarbb,scaled=1.05]{newtxmath}
\linespread{1.04}

Non-unicode using newtxmath

Example 3:
% [pdf]latex only
\usepackage[scaled=.98,sups,osf]{XCharter}% lining figures in math, osf in text
\usepackage[scaled=1.04,varqu,varl]{inconsolata}% inconsolata typewriter

5
\usepackage[type1]{sourcesanspro}% sans serif
\usepackage[uprightscript,charter,vvarbb,scaled=1.05]{newtxmath}
\linespread{1.04}
Example 4:
% [pdf]latex only
\usepackage[<specify babel languages>]{babel}% load before XCharter
\usepackage[scaled=.98,sups,osf]{XCharter}% osf in text, lining figures in math
\usepackage[scaled=1.04,varqu,varl]{inconsolata}% inconsolata typewriter
\usepackage[type1]{sourcesanspro}% sans serif
\usepackage[uprightscript,charter,vvarbb,scaled=1.05]{newtxmath}
\linespread{1.04}
Example 5:
% an example using newtx.sty, works with all latex engines
\usepackage[<specify babel languages>]{babel}% load before newtx
\usepackage[scaled=1.04,varqu,varl]{inconsolata}% inconsolata tt
\usepackage[type1]{sourcesanspro}% sans serif for math
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc} % encoding to use for mathtt, etc
\usepackage[xcharter,osf,p,mathscale=1.05,textscale=0,uprightscript,vvarbb]{newtx}
% loads newtxmath
% newtx loads fontspec with unicode engines
\setmonofont{lmmono10-regular.otf}[Scale=1.08] % typewriter for text
\linespread{1.04}
% load polyglossia after newtx, if using
Example 6:
% Adds instructions to produce a pdf conforming to PDF/A-1b
%\pdfcompresslevel=0 % uncomment for debugging the pdf
%\pdfgentounicode=1
%\input glyphtounicode.tex % now part of latex
\InputIfFileExists{glyphtounicode-cmr.tex}{}{}
\InputIfFileExists{glyphtounicode-ntx.tex}{}{}
\usepackage[a-1b]{pdfx} % version 1.6.4 or higher
\usepackage[<specify babel languages>]{babel}% load before XCharter
\usepackage[scaled=.98,sups,osf]{XCharter}% osf in text, lining figures in math
\usepackage[scaled=1.04,varqu,varl]{inconsolata}% inconsolata typewriter
\usepackage[type1]{sourcesanspro}% sans serif
\usepackage[uprightscript,charter,vvarbb,scaled=1.05]{newtxmath}
\linespread{1.04}
Here is a short sample based on the preamble of Example 3:
The typeset math below follows the ISO recommendations that only variables be set in italic. Note the
use of upright shapes for d, e and π. (The first two are entered as \mathrm{d} and \mathrm{e},
and in fonts derived from newtxmath or mtpro2, the latter is entered as \uppi.)
Simplest form of the Central Limit Theorem: Let 𝑋1 , 𝑋2 , · · · be a sequence of iid random variables

6
with mean 0 and variance 1 on a probability space ( Ω, F , ℙ) . Then
2
e− 𝑣 /2
  ∫ 𝑦
𝑋1 + · · · + 𝑋 𝑛
ℙ √ ≤ 𝑦 → 𝔑( 𝑦 ) ≔ √ d𝑣 as 𝑛 → ∞,
𝑛 −∞ 2π

or, equivalently, letting 𝑆𝑛 ≔ 𝑋𝑘 ,

Í𝑛
1

∞ 2
√  e − 𝑣 /2
 ∫
𝔼 𝑓 𝑆𝑛 / 𝑛 → 𝑓 ( 𝑣) √ d𝑣 as 𝑛 → ∞, for every 𝑓 ∈ bC(ℝ) .
−∞ 2π

Unicode text, non-unicode math

The following examples cover using a unicode latex engine (lualatex or xelatex) with XCharter
otf fonts for text accompanied by newtxmath. They are simple variants of examples 5 and 6 from the
prior subsection.
Example 7:
% an example using newtx.sty, works with all latex engines
\usepackage[<specify babel languages>]{babel}% load before newtx
\usepackage[scaled=1.04,varqu,varl]{inconsolata}% inconsolata tt
\usepackage[type1]{sourcesanspro}% sans serif for math
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc} % encoding to use for mathtt, etc
\usepackage[xcharter,osf,p,mathscale=1.05,textscale=0,uprightscript,vvarbb]{newtx}
% loads newtxmath
% newtx loads fontspec with unicode engines
\setmonofont{lmmono10-regular.otf}[Scale=1.08] % typewriter for text
\linespread{1.04}
% load polyglossia after newtx, if using
Example 8:
% Adds instructions to produce a pdf conforming to PDF/A-1b
%\pdfcompresslevel=0 % uncomment for debugging the pdf
%\pdfgentounicode=1
%\input glyphtounicode.tex % now part of latex
\InputIfFileExists{glyphtounicode-cmr.tex}{}{}
\InputIfFileExists{glyphtounicode-ntx.tex}{}{}
\usepackage[a-1b]{pdfx} % version 1.6.4 or higher
\usepackage[<specify babel languages>]{babel}% load before XCharter
\usepackage[scaled=.98,sups,osf]{XCharter}% osf in text, lining figures in math
\usepackage[scaled=1.04,varqu,varl]{inconsolata}% inconsolata typewriter
\usepackage[type1]{sourcesanspro}% sans serif
\usepackage[uprightscript,charter,vvarbb,scaled=1.05]{newtxmath}
\linespread{1.04}

3 Text effects under fontaxes

This package loads the fontaxes package in order to access italic and slanted small caps. You should
pay attention to the fact that fontaxes modifies the behavior of some basic LATEX text macros such

7
as \textsc and \textup. Under normal LATEX, some text effects are combined, so that, for example,
\textbf{\textit{a}} produces bold italic a, while other effects are not, e.g., \textsc{\textup{a}}
has the same effect as \textup{a}, producing the letter a in upright, not small cap, style. With
fontaxes, \textsc{\textup{a}} produces instead upright small cap a. It offers a macro \textulc
that undoes small caps, so that, e.g., \textsc{\textulc{a}} produces a in non-small cap mode,
with whatever other style choices were in force, such as bold or italics.

4 Text Companion Issues

As of version 1.206, XCharter has essentially full support for textcomp and there should be no
issues in using any of the macros like \textregistered and \textinterrobang (®, ‽.)

XCharter-Roman-ts1

0́ 1́ ́2 ́3 ́4 5́ ́6 ́7
00x
́ `0 ´1 ˆ2 ˜3 ¨4 ˝5 ˚6 ˇ7
0
̋ x
́01x ˘8 ¯9 ˙ 10 ¸ 11 ˛ 12 ‚ 13 14 15

́02x 16 17 „ 18 19 20  21  22 23
1
̋ x
́03x ← 24 → 25  26  27  28  29 30 31

04x ́ ␢ 32 33 34 35 $ 36 37 38 ' 39
2
̋ x
́05x 40 41 ∗ 42 43 , 44 - 45 . 46 ⁄ 47
́06x 0 48 1 49 2 50 3 51 4 52 5 53 6 54 7 55
3
̋ x
07x́ 8 56 9 57 58 59 ⟨ 60 − 61 ⟩ 62 63

́10x 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71
4
̋ x
́11x 72 73 74 75 76 M 77 78 O 79
12x ́ 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 Ω 87
5
̋ x
13x ́ 88 89 90 [ 91 92 ] 93 ↑ 94 ↓ 95
14x ́ ` 96 97 b 98 c 99 d 100 101 102 103
6
̋ x
15x ́ 104 105 106 107 l 108 m 109 110 111

́16x 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119

7
̋ x
17x ́ 120 121 122 123 124 125 ~ 126  127
́20x ˘ 128 ˇ 129 ˝ 130 131 † 132 ‡ 133 || 134 ‰ 135
8
̋ x
21x ́ • 136 °C 137 $ 138 ¢ 139 ƒ 140 ₡ 141 ₩ 142  143
22x ́  144 ‘ 145 ₤ 146 ℞ 147 ” 148 • 149 ₫ 150 ™ 151
9
̋ x
23x ́ ˜ 152 ™ 153 š 154 № 155 œ 156 ℮ 157 ◦ 158 Ÿ 159
́24x 160 ¡ 161 ¢ 162 £ 163 ¤ 164 ¥ 165 ¦ 166 § 167
A
̋ x
25x ́ ¨ 168 © 169 ª 170 « 171 ¬ 172 ­ 173 ® 174 ¯ 175
26x ́ ° 176 ± 177 2 178 3 179 ´ 180 µ 181 ¶ 182 · 183
B
̋ x
́27x ※ 184 1 185 º 186 √ 187 ¼ 188 ½ 189 ¾ 190 € 191
́30x 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199
C
̋ x
31x ́ 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207

32x ́ 208 209 210 211 212 213 × 214 215

D
̋ x
33x ́ 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223

8
 ́34x 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231
E
̋ x
35x ́ 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239

36x
́ 240 241 242 243 244 245 ÷ 246 247
F
̋ x
́37x 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255

8
̋ ̋9 A
̋ B
̋ ̋C D
̋ E
̋ ̋F

5 Usage with fontspec

Because the package supplies a file named XCharter.fontspec whose contents list the otf files
that correspond to each of Regular, Bold, Italic, BoldItalic, Slanted and BoldSlanted, you may load
XCharter with just
\usepackage{fontspec}
\setmainfont{XCharter}
With unicode-encoded text, you will, in particular, have complete access to the Cyrillic glyphs.

6 XCharter and PDF/A

There are a number of PDF/A validators available, though their outputs can and do differ when applied
to the same document. I’ve tried the following.
• Adobe Acrobat Pro. Almost all XCharter documents validate PDF/A-1b.
• https://www.pdf-online.com/osa/validate.aspx is a free online validator. Almost all
XCharter documents validate PDF/A-1b.
• The free veraPDF validator is much stricter. Recent documents produced using XCharter since
version 1.24 have validated correctly.

9
7 Using Cyrillic with pdflatex
The OT2 encoding, now considered as obsolete because it is 7-bit, is nonetheless useful to scholars who
wish to write short segments using a Cyrillic script from a Western keyboard. There are two means
of doing this, one using control sequences for the characters (e.g., \CYRA for Cyrillic A) and the other
using ligatures to access the characters. Tables setting out the substitutions available may be consulted
at http://herbert.the-little-red-haired-girl.org/dvi/pdf/cyrillic.pdf.
Note that, while the OT2 encoded font is complete, there are many gaps in the T2A encoded version,
so that only Modern Russian and Ukrainian are fully covered, along with a number of characters from
Old Russian and other Slavic languages.

XCharter-Roman-tlf-ot2.tfm:

0́ 1́ 2́ 3́ 4́ ́5 6́ 7́
00x
́ Њ0 Љ1 Џ2 Э3 І4 Є5 Ђ6 Ћ7
0
̋ x
́01x њ8 љ9 џ 10 э 11 і 12 є 13 ђ 14 ћ 15
́02x Ю 16 Ж 17 Й 18 Ё 19 Ѵ 20 Ѳ 21 Ѕ 22 Я 23
1
̋ x
́03x ю 24 ж 25 й 26 ё 27 ѵ 28 ѳ 29 ѕ 30 я 31
04x ́ ¨ 32 ! 33 ” 34 Ѣ 35  36 % 37 ´ 38 ’ 39
2
̋ x
́05x ( 40 ) 41 * 42 ѣ 43 , 44 - 45 . 46 / 47
́06x 0 48 1 49 2 50 3 51 4 52 5 53 6 54 7 55
3
̋ x
07x́ 8 56 9 57 : 58 ; 59 « 60 ı 61 » 62 ? 63
́10x ˘ 64 А 65 Б 66 Ц 67 Д 68 Е 69 Ф 70 Г 71
4
̋ x
́11x Х 72 И 73 Ј 74 К 75 Л 76 М 77 Н 78 О 79
12x ́ П 80 Ч 81 Р 82 С 83 Т 84 У 85 В 86 Щ 87
5
̋ x
13x ́ Ш 88 Ы 89 З 90 [ 91 “ 92 ] 93 Ь 94 Ъ 95
14x ́ ‘ 96 а 97 б 98 ц 99 д 100 е 101 ф 102 г 103
6
̋ x
15x ́ х 104 и 105 ј 106 к 107 л 108 м 109 н 110 о 111
16x ́ п 112 ч 113 р 114 с 115 т 116 у 117 в 118 щ 119
7
̋ x
17x ́ ш 120 ы 121 з 122 – 123 — 124 № 125 ь 126 ъ 127
́20x 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135
8
̋ x
21x ́ 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143

22x ́ 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151

9
̋ x
23x ́ 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159

́24x 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167

A
̋ x
25x ́ 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175

26x ́ 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183

B
̋ x
́27x 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191

́30x 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199

C
̋ x
31x ́ 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207

32x ́ 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215

D
̋ x
33x ́ 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223

́34x 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231

E
̋ x
35x ́ 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239

10
 36x
́ 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247
F
̋ x
́37x 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255

̋8 ̋9 A
̋ ̋B C
̋ D
̋ E
̋ F
̋

This encoding contains the upright Sha glyph in slot 88. This may be used in mathematical formulas
by defining \def\Sha{{\usefont{OT2}{XCharter-TLF}{m}{n}\char88 }} so that one may
write $\text{\Sha}(A/K)$ for the Tate–Shafarevich group Ш ( 𝐴/ 𝐾 ) .
Example OT2 Preamble:
\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[OT2,T1]{fontenc} % loads ot2enc.def
\newcommand\cyrtext{%
\fontfamily{XCharter-TLF}\fontencoding{OT2}\selectfont} % declaration
\DeclareTextFontCommand{\textcyr}{\cyrtext} %macro with argument
The Russian part of the following sentence is entered as \textcyr{a e1to --- po-russki}.
This is text in English, then Russian: а это — по-русски.

11
Using T2A with T1:
Here’s an example of using XCharter text and math, set up to allow the use of Russian with English
as the main language.
\usepackage[OT2,T2A,T1]{fontenc} % spell out all text encodings to be used
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc} %
\usepackage{substitutefont} % so we can use fonts other than those specified in babel
\usepackage[russian,english]{babel}
\usepackage{XCharter} %
\usepackage[charter,vvarbb,scaled=1.07]{newtxmath}
\useosf % use oldstyle figures except in math
\substitutefont{T2A}{\rmdefault}{XCharter} % use XCharter to render Russian
%\substitutefont{OT2}{\rmdefault}{XCharter} % poor man's version
Any utf8-encoded text typed outside of a \foreignlanguage{}{} block will be rendered as T1-
encoded XCharter, while that within \foreignlanguage{russian}{} will render as T2A-encoded
Cyrillic.

12
XCharter-Roman-tlf-t2a.tfm:

́0 1́ ́2 3́ 4́ ́5 ́6 7́
00x
́ `0 ´1 ˆ2 ˜3 ¨4 ˝5 ˚6 ˇ7
0
̋ x
01x ́ ˘8 ¯9 ˙ 10 ¸ 11 ˛ 12 Ӏ 13 fj 14 fb 15
02x ́ “ 16 ” 17 fh 18 19  20 – 21 — 22  23
1
̋ x
03x ́  24 ı 25  26 ff 27 fi 28 fl 29 ffi 30 ffl 31
́04x ␣ 32 ! 33 " 34 # 35 $ 36 % 37 & 38 ’ 39
2
̋ x
05x ́ ( 40 ) 41 * 42 + 43 , 44 - 45 . 46 / 47
06x
́ 0 48 1 49 2 50 3 51 4 52 5 53 6 54 7 55
3
̋ x
07x ́ 8 56 9 57 : 58 ; 59 < 60 = 61 > 62 ? 63
10x ́ @ 64 A 65 B 66 C 67 D 68 E 69 F 70 G 71
4
̋ x
11x ́ H 72 I 73 J 74 K 75 L 76 M 77 N 78 O 79
́12x P 80 Q 81 R 82 S 83 T 84 U 85 V 86 W 87
5
̋ x
́13x X 88 Y 89 Z 90 [ 91 \ 92 ] 93 ^ 94 _ 95
́14x ‘ 96 a 97 b 98 c 99 d 100 e 101 f 102 g 103
6
̋ x
́15x h 104 i 105 j 106 k 107 l 108 m 109 n 110 o 111
́16x p 112 q 113 r 114 s 115 t 116 u 117 v 118 w 119
7
̋ x
17x ́ x 120 y 121 z 122 { 123 | 124 } 125 ~ 126 - 127
20x ́ Ґ 128 129 Ђ 130 Ћ 131 132 133 134 Љ 135
8
̋ x
́21x Ї 136 137 138 139 Ӕ 140 141 142 Ѕ 143
22x
́ 144 Ҫ 145 Ў 146 Ү 147 148 149 Џ 150 151
9
̋ x
23x́ 152 Є 153 154 Њ 155 Ё 156 № 157 ¤ 158 § 159
24x ́ ґ 160 161 ђ 162 ћ 163 һ 164 165 166 љ 167
A
̋ x
́25x ї 168 169 170 171 ӕ 172 173 174 ѕ 175
́26x 176 ҫ 177 ў 178 179 180 181 џ 182 183
B
̋ x
27x ́ 184 є 185 186 њ 187 ё 188 „ 189 « 190 » 191
30x
́ А 192 Б 193 В 194 Г 195 Д 196 Е 197 Ж 198 З 199
C
̋ x
́31x И 200 Й 201 К 202 Л 203 М 204 Н 205 О 206 П 207
32x ́ Р 208 С 209 Т 210 У 211 Ф 212 Х 213 Ц 214 Ч 215
D
̋ x
33x
́ Ш 216 Щ 217 Ъ 218 Ы 219 Ь 220 Э 221 Ю 222 Я 223
34x ́ а 224 б 225 в 226 г 227 д 228 е 229 ж 230 з 231
E
̋ x
́35x и 232 й 233 к 234 л 235 м 236 н 237 о 238 п 239
́36x р 240 с 241 т 242 у 243 ф 244 х 245 ц 246 ч 247
F
̋ x
37x́ ш 248 щ 249 ъ 250 ы 251 ь 252 э 253 ю 254 я 255
̋8 ̋9 ̋A B
̋ C
̋ D
̋ E
̋ F
̋

13
XCharter-Italic-tlf-t2a.tfm:

́0 1́ 2́ ́3 4́ ́5 6́ 7́
́00x `0 ´1 ˆ2 ˜3 ¨4 ˝5 ˚6 ˇ7
̋0x
01x ́ ˘8 ¯9 ˙ 10 ¸ 11 ˛ 12 Ӏ 13 fb 14 fh 15
02x ́ “ 16 ” 17 fj 18 19  20 – 21 — 22  23
̋1x
03x́  24 ı 25  26 ff 27 fi 28 fl 29 ffi 30 ffl 31
́04x ␣ 32 ! 33 " 34 # 35 $ 36 % 37 & 38 ’ 39
̋2x
05x ́ ( 40 ) 41 * 42 + 43 , 44 - 45 . 46 / 47
06x
́ 0 48 1 49 2 50 3 51 4 52 5 53 6 54 7 55
̋3x
́07x 8 56 9 57 : 58 ; 59 < 60 = 61 > 62 ? 63
10x ́ @ 64 A 65 B 66 C 67 D 68 E 69 F 70 G 71
̋4x
11x ́ H 72 I 73 J 74 K 75 L 76 M 77 N 78 O 79
12x ́ P 80 Q 81 R 82 S 83 T 84 U 85 V 86 W 87
̋5x
13x ́ X 88 Y 89 Z 90 [ 91 \ 92 ] 93 ^ 94 _ 95
́14x ‘ 96 a 97 b 98 c 99 d 100 e 101 f 102 g 103
̋6x
15x ́ h 104 i 105 j 106 k 107 l 108 m 109 n 110 o 111
16x ́ p 112 q 113 r 114 s 115 t 116 u 117 v 118 w 119
̋7x
17x ́ x 120 y 121 z 122 { 123 | 124 } 125 ~ 126 - 127
20x ́ Ґ 128 129 Ђ 130 Ћ 131 132 133 134 Љ 135
̋8x
21x
́ Ї 136 137 138 139 Ӕ 140 141 142 Ѕ 143
́22x 144 Ҫ 145 Ў 146 Ү 147 148 149 Џ 150 151
̋9x
́23x 152 Є 153 154 Њ 155 Ё 156 № 157 ¤ 158 § 159
24x ́ ґ 160 161 ђ 162 ћ 163 һ 164 165 166 љ 167
̋Ax
́25x ї 168 169 170 171 ӕ 172 173 174 ѕ 175
́26x 176 ҫ 177 ў 178 179 180 181 џ 182 183
̋Bx
27x ́ 184 є 185 186 њ 187 ё 188 „ 189 « 190 » 191
30x
́ А 192 Б 193 В 194 Г 195 Д 196 Е 197 Ж 198 З 199
̋Cx
31x ́ И 200 Й 201 К 202 Л 203 М 204 Н 205 О 206 П 207
́32x Р 208 С 209 Т 210 У 211 Ф 212 Х 213 Ц 214 Ч 215
̋Dx
́33x Ш 216 Щ 217 Ъ 218 Ы 219 Ь 220 Э 221 Ю 222 Я 223
34x ́ а 224 б 225 в 226 г 227 д 228 е 229 ж 230 з 231
̋Ex
́35x и 232 й 233 к 234 л 235 м 236 н 237 о 238 п 239
́36x р 240 с 241 т 242 у 243 ф 244 х 245 ц 246 ч 247
̋Fx
37x
́ ш 248 щ 249 ъ 250 ы 251 ь 252 э 253 ю 254 я 255
8
̋ ̋9 A
̋ B
̋ C
̋ D
̋ ̋E ̋F

8 Serbian Cyrillic
Serbian and Russian Cyrillic differ in the following ways.

14
 Character Shape Russian Serbian
U+0431 Upright б б
U+0431 Italic б б
U+0433 Italic г г
U+0434 Italic д д
U+043F Italic п п
U+0442 Italic т т

Usage under LuaLaTeX and XeLaTeX is simple. Your preamble should include
\usepackage{polyglossia}
\usepackage{fontspec}
\setmainfont{XCharter}[%
Language=Serbian,
Script=Cyrillic
]
Then all (unicode) input characters will be typeset using the above substitution table.
The story is a bit more complicated with LATEX processing.
Example 1: Serbian Cyrillic as default text.
\usepackage[utf8x]{inputenc}
\usepackage[serbianc]{babel}
\usepackage[serbianc]{XCharter}
\usepackage[T2A]{fontenc}
This will produce essentially the same output as the fontspec example above, with unicode in-
put.
It may be be possible to work out a scheme that would allow multiple scripts and languages to be used
with serbianc as the main or as a secondary language in babel, but I have not succeeded in doing
this with XCharter, and know of no other example that I might crib from.

Opentype processing and German orthography

Prior to version 1.12, XCharter offered only basic support for German orthography, having all re-
quired accented glyphs and the lower case ß, as well as a small caps ß. Under non-unicode LaTeX, the
T1 encoding contained S_S. With unicode tex processing:
{\addfontfeature{StylisticSet=1}\ss\ \textsc{\ss}}
typesets, as in non-unicode LaTeX processing, to
ßß
Note also that in unicode processing, in order to obtain the expected case change behavior, it may be
necessary to add in your preamble:
\uccode`ß=”1E9E

15
As of version 1.12 of XCharter, there are now glyphs in each style for U+1E9E and for its small
caps version, accessible under unicode TeX. The glyphs may be used as the uppercase and small caps
versions of germandbls. Currently, the new glyphs are not available in any of the LaTeX encodings
and must be used via unicode TeX.
The following tables show how to access the new glyphs in unicode TeX. Note that you will need to
set StylisticSet=1 if you wish not to use the new sharp-s glyphs.
New symbols in XCharter:
Glyph name glyph macro
uni1E9E ẞ \symbol{”1E9E}
uni1E9E.ss01 ẞ {\addfontfeature{StylisticSet=1}\symbol{”1E9E}}
germandbls.sc ß {\textsc{\ss}}
germandbls.sc.ss01 ß {\addfontfeature{StylisticSet=1}\textsc{\ss}}
Effect of choice of StylisticSet:
StylisticSet \ss \SS \MakeUppercase{\ss} \textsc{\ss}
None ß ẞ ẞ ß
=1 ß ẞ ẞ ß
Choosing the shape of the oldstyle figure “one”:

The default is 1. The choice is controlled by the feature cv01. To change this globally when you load
XCharter, you may make oldstyle numbers the default with the alternate shape for “one”:
\setmainfont{XCharter}[CharacterVariant={1:0},Numbers={OldStyle}]
To set this for one-time use, you can write:
{\addfontfeature{CharacterVariant={1:0},Numbers={OldStyle}}1}
to make 1 render as 1. (According to its documentation, the first index 1 in {1:0} refers to the
CharacterVariant index, and the second index, 0, refers to the first choice specified among the
variant forms.)
If you choose to load XCharter-*.otf using XCharter.sty or newtx, you may make use of the
options osf, osfI or the macros \useosf, \useosfI to the same effect.

16