Choose a Font for a Text Layout Configuration

In RegexBuddy, you choose fonts by adding them to a text layout configuration. You can select these on Editors tab in the Preferences and configure them via the button there. While editing a text layout configuration, click the Add Font button to get the dialog box shown below. This font selection dialog is specifically designed to help you select the font(s) you need to display all the characters in your text. The options may seem a little daunting, but they actually make the selection process much quicker because they can filter out irrelevant fonts.

Tick “allow only monospaced fonts” to see only monospaced fonts. Fonts that have different widths for the plain and bold variants are still considered monospaced by this option.

Tick “allow only fonts that can dipslay certain characters” to reduce the list of fonts to those that you could actually use to display the text you’re working with.

• Some of the non-ASCII characters in the sample text: If the sample text that you can provide at the bottom of the dialog box contains non-ASCII characters, then this option shows only fonts that support at least one of those non-ASCII characters. The font list indicates how many of those non-ASCII characters each font supports and sorts them from the most number of characters to least number of characters. With this option, you can tick or untick the additional option “that other fonts in the text layout cannot”. Untick this when choosing the base font for your text layout (the one you will list at the top) so that you can pick a font that supports the most characters. Tick it when choosing additional fonts. Then the list only shows fonts that support non-ASCII characters in your sample that are not yet supported by any fonts that you have already added to the text layout configuration. The number of characters is then the number of additional characters that your text layout will support if you add that font. If the option “that other fonts in the text layout cannot” becomes grayed out as soon as you try to tick it then that means that all the characters in your sample text are already supported by the fonts in your text layout configuration.
• Most of the characters present in a legacy encoding: If you mostly work with text from a specific code page then you can tick this option and select your code page. This gives you a list of fonts designed to support that code page (and possibly more). The character counts indicate the number of characters from the code page that each font support. For most 8-bit code pages you will see only fonts that support all the characters. But for large double-byte code pages RegexBuddy may show fonts with partial support so that it can show at least one font for each code page on a default installation of Windows 7. This is the oldest version of Windows still supported by RegexBuddy. The fonts included with Windows 7 were not as comprehensive as those included with Windows 10 or 11.
• Some of the characters in a Unicode script: If you need to work with characters from a specific Unicode script then you can tick this option and select the script from the drop-down list. This reduces the list of fonts to those that can display at least 18 characters from the selected script. This number eliminates fonts that only support a handful of characters from a script that the font is not really designed for, while still functioning properly for the Tagbanwa script which is the smallest Unicode script with only 18 characters. Some scripts like Han are very expansive with tens of thousands of characters. Windows uses multiple fonts to cover such scripts. Fonts are ordered from most number of supported characters in the script to least number of supported characters. The drop-down list with scripts only lists those scripts for which your computer has at least one font that supports at least 18 characters of that script. You’re unlikely to see Tagbanwa in the list because Windows does not ship with a font that supports the Tagbanwa script.
• Some of the characters in a Unicode block: If you need to work with characters from a specific Unicode block then you can tick this option and select the block from the drop-down list. This reduces the list of fonts to those that can display at least one quarter of the characters from the selected block. This number eliminates fonts that only support a handful of characters from a block that the font is not really designed for. Fonts are ordered from most number of supported characters in the block to least number of supported characters. The drop-down list with blocks only lists those blocks for which your computer has at least one font that supports at least one quarter of the characters of that block.
• Some characters that other fonts in the text layout cannot display: If you want your text layout to support as many characters as possible then you can select this option to look for additional fallback fonts after you’ve added your preferred fonts to support the scripts most important to you. This option reduces the list of fonts to those that support at least 18 characters not supported by any of the fonts already in your text layout configuration. Here too the limit of 18 characters comes from the smallest Unicode script having 18 characters. The assumption is that if a font adds 18 characters to the repertoire then it likely covers an additional script. However, this option does not actually check that. It just counts the characters supported by all the fonts, without caring about what those characters are.
• All Unicode characters (fonts of last resort): A font of last resort is a font that provides a glyph for each and every Unicode code point so that an application can at least display something. The glyph is not necessarily the correct character. The font named “Last Resort”, for example, shows every character as a square. The border of the square indicates the name of the Unicode block (only readable at huge font sizes). Inside the square is a glyph that represents the block, such as an A for the various Latin blocks. The font “Unicode BMP Fallback SIL” displays 4 hexadecimal numbers for each code point in the BMP. “Unifont” tries to show the actual character for most code points. It too shows 4 hexadecimal numbers for each code point in the BMP that it lacks. RegexBuddy is aware that these 3 fonts are last resort fonts. It does not show these fonts unless you select the option “all Unicode characters” because, by their nature, these fonts appear to support all characters, while in reality they do not properly support any character. Only Unifont is somewhat useful as an actual font. The only purpose for these fonts is to add one of them to the bottom of your list of fonts. Then RegexBuddy will use that font instead of showing a crossed out rectangle for characters not supported by any of your other fonts. But, this list may also include genuine fonts. Arial Unicode MS, for example, supports every character defined in Unicode 2.1.0. It thus covers all widely used modern scripts, making it a practical fallback font. RegexBuddy indicates the level of last resort fonts as follows:
  • Basic Unicode: The font has glyphs for all code points up to U+FFFF that are assigned in the specified Unicode version, except for private use code points unless noted.
  • Supplementary Unicode: The font has glyphs for all code points between U+10000 and U+10FFFF that are assigned in the specified Unicode version, except for private use code points unless noted.
  • Full Unicode: The font has glyphs for all code points that are assigned in the specified Unicode version, except for private use code points unless noted.
  • + private use: The font has glyphs for the private use code points in the range that it supports.
  • Basic plane: The font has glyphs for all the code points up to U+FFFF, regardless of whether they are assigned or not.
  • Supplementary planes: The font has glyphs for all the code points between U+10000 and U+10FFFF, regardless of whether they are assigned or not.
  • All planes: The font has glyphs for all the code points, regardless of whether they are assigned or not.

Select the font you want in the list of fonts. Fonts indicated with (already selected) are already in your text layout configuration. You can still select them. Doing so changes its order in the font list in the text layout configuration.

Most fonts are actually font families with fonts of different weights and/or with italic or oblique styles. The weight and style that you select only applies to that specific font. A text layout configuration can use fonts of different weights and styles. If you want to change the weight or style of a particular font, add the same font to the text layout configuration, selecting the new weight or style that you want. Doing so updates the font in the text layout configuration with the newly selected weight and style.

RegexBuddy’s color palettes allow syntax coloring to make parts of your text bold and/or italic. When a palette wants to make text bold, RegexBuddy uses a heavier weight of the font. It tries to use the same gap between a typical “regular” weight and a typical “bold” weight. But it is obviously limited to the weights the font actually provides. If you select Segoe UI Light as your font then the palette uses Segui UI Semibold as the “bold” weight. If you select Segoe UI Bold as your font then the “bold” weight becomes Segoe UI Black. If you select Segoe UI Black then the palette loses the ability to make text bold, because Segoe UI does not have a heavier variant.

When a palette makes text italic, it toggles the slanting of the text. If you select Segoe UI Regular as your font then Segoe UI Italic becomes the “italic” variant. But if you select Segoe UI Italic as your font then Segoe UI Regular becomes the “italic” variant for the color palette.

The checkbox labeled “display with all fonts in the text layout” determines how your selected font is previewed. If you tick the box then the preview shows how the full text layout configuration handles the sample text after the chosen font is added to the list. This may not make a significant difference if the font is added at the bottom of the list since then the other fonts take precedence. If you untick the box then the preview shows how the text layout configuration would handle the sample text if it were to use only the chosen font. This can make it easier to see exactly which part of your sample text the font can display and what it really looks like, which can help you decide whether to put that font higher or lower in the list of fonts in the text layout configuration.

To actually add the font to the text layout configuration, click the OK button. This closes the dialog. The font is inserted below the font that was selected before you clicked the Add Font button in the text layout configuration window. If the font was already in the list then it is moved to that position.