# Install uni with Homebrew, apk, MacPorts, Nix Unicode database query tool for the command-line. Version 2.9.0 via Homebrew; verified 2026-07-25. Also installable with nix: nix profile install nixpkgs#uni. ## Install ```sh sudo av install brew:uni ``` Additional install commands: ### macOS - Homebrew (100%): ```sh brew install uni ``` Evidence: local Homebrew formula metadata - MacPorts (94%): ```sh sudo port install uni ``` Evidence: MacPorts ports tree: textproc/uni/Portfile from https://api.github.com/repos/macports/macports-ports/git/trees/master?recursive=1 ### Linux - apk (92%): ```sh sudo apk add uni ``` Evidence: Alpine Linux edge package indexes: uni from https://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/edge/community/x86_64/APKINDEX.tar.gz - Nix (92%): ```sh nix profile install nixpkgs#uni ``` Evidence: nixpkgs package indexes: pkgs/by-name/un/uni/package.nix from https://api.github.com/repos/NixOS/nixpkgs/git/trees/master?recursive=1 ## Package facts - **Package key:** brew:uni - **Package manager:** Homebrew - **Version:** 2.9.0 - **Source summary:** Unicode database query tool for the command-line - **Homepage:** - **Repository:** - **Last updated:** 2026-07-25T21:47:59+02:00 - **Generated:** 2026-08-03T19:37:03+00:00 ## Executables - uni (alias) ## Install behavior - Bottle: not available ## Freshness - Page generated: 2026-08-03 - Package-manager version: 2.9.0 ## Project history and usage uni is a Go command-line tool for querying the Unicode database. Its README describes commands for identifying codepoints in text, searching codepoints, printing ranges or classes, and finding emoji. ### Project history The GitHub repository was created in December 2018. The project sits in a Unix tradition of small text-inspection tools, but updates that niche for modern Unicode and emoji workflows. The README says uni supports Unicode 15.1 and includes good emoji support. It also documents JSON output, browser/WASM availability, and integrations with dmenu, rofi, fzf, and Vim, showing that the tool evolved beyond a simple codepoint lookup command into a terminal-centered Unicode utility. ### Adoption history The README points users to release binaries, packages for multiple platforms, and `go install zgo.at/uni/v2@latest` from source. The supplied package facts show availability in Homebrew, Alpine, MacPorts, and Nix. Repository metadata shows hundreds of GitHub stars and a sequence of releases, including v2.9.0 in December 2025. For a Unicode lookup CLI, that suggests durable use among developers who frequently inspect unfamiliar characters, terminal width, escapes, and emoji names. ### How it is used Common usage is interactive and pipeline-friendly: identify characters from arguments or stdin, search by name, print specific codepoints and ranges, and format output fields such as Unicode version, name, UTF-8 bytes, HTML entity, X11 keysym, JSON escape, or display width. The README's integrations make uni useful as a picker as well as an inspector: scripts can wire it into dmenu, rofi, fzf, or Vim so users can search for and insert symbols without leaving keyboard-driven workflows. ### Why package nerds care uni is package-interesting because it packages Unicode data into a fast single-purpose CLI. It is the kind of tool that rarely appears in application dependency graphs but frequently lives in a developer's personal shell setup. Compared with older conversion tools, uni is focused on discovery and metadata rather than transcoding. That makes it complementary to tools such as uni2ascii, iconv, and GUI character maps. ### Timeline - 2018: GitHub repository created. - 2023: README documents support for Unicode 15.1. - 2025: GitHub page lists v2.9.0 as a December 2025 release. - 2026: Repository metadata shows continued availability and package interest. ### Related projects - The README compares uni with CLI alternatives such as unicode.vim, unicode, uc, and chr, and GUI tools such as gnome-characters, gucharmap, KCharSelect, rofi-emoji, and rofimoji. - The README links dmenu, rofi, fzf, and Vim integrations for picker-style workflows. ### Sources - - - - input.source_facts.package-manager ## Security Notes broad file, network, media, or database tool signal. - **Geiger risk:** blue / medium - broad file, network, media, or database tool signal ## Other Package-Manager Records - Nix - uni: normalized package name match | nixpkgs package indexes: pkgs/by-name/un/uni/package.nix from https://api.github.com/repos/NixOS/nixpkgs/git/trees/master?recursive=1 - apk - uni - 2.9.0-r6: normalized package name match | Alpine Linux edge package indexes: uni from https://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/edge/community/x86_64/APKINDEX.tar.gz | Query the Unicode database from the commandline | https://github.com/arp242/uni - apk - uni-doc - 2.9.0-r6: normalized package name match | Alpine Linux edge package indexes: uni-doc from https://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/edge/community/x86_64/APKINDEX.tar.gz | Query the Unicode database from the commandline (documentation) | https://github.com/arp242/uni - MacPorts - uni: normalized package name match | MacPorts ports tree: textproc/uni/Portfile from https://api.github.com/repos/macports/macports-ports/git/trees/master?recursive=1 ## Combined YAML source View the package source record on GitHub. [combined/uni.yml](https://github.com/mxcl/pkgdb/blob/main/combined/uni.yml) ## Sources - pkg.so package database - Geiger risk classifier - curated package history - pkgdb category and tag curation - external package-manager database matches - cross-ecosystem install command graph