Cursive / Script Text Generator

Script example: a save-the-date line

Two names and a date, typical of how script text is used, converted from plain text:

Two of the substitute letters appear here: ℰ for the capital E and ℯ for every small e, both from Letterlike Symbols. The ampersand, the comma and the whole date stay plain, because Unicode has no script digits or script punctuation.

Why some script letters look slightly different

Mathematical Script capitals start at U+1D49C and lowercase at U+1D4B6, but eleven positions in that range are reserved and empty: capitals B, E, F, H, I, L, M and R, and small e, g and o. Those letters already existed in the Letterlike Symbols block as ℬ ℰ ℱ ℋ ℐ ℒ ℳ ℛ and ℯ ℊ ℴ, encoded earlier because physics and mathematics used them as symbols, for example ℒ for the Laplace transform, ℋ for the Hamiltonian and ℯ for the natural exponent. Unicode did not duplicate them, so the generator fills each gap with the older character.

The two blocks can be drawn by different fonts. When the Letterlike Symbols come from the system's main typeface and the rest of the alphabet from a math font, a name like ℳℯ𝓁𝒾𝓈𝓈𝒶 may show its M and e slightly heavier, smaller or less slanted than their neighbours. That unevenness is expected, not a copying error.

Where script text reads well

Script suits short, personal text: a name, a signature line, a wedding hashtag in a caption, a quote at the end of a bio. Capitals carry most of the flourish, so title-cased words show the style at its best, while long all-capital lines become hard to read as the looped capitals crowd each other.

Unicode also has a Bold Script alphabet (U+1D4D0-U+1D503) with no gaps at all, which some other generators label bold cursive. This page uses the regular-weight script letters.

Screen readers and copying script text

Because the alphabet mixes two blocks, software that announces character names gives inconsistent results within one word: "script capital M" for ℳ but "mathematical script small l" for the l that follows. Other screen readers read the letters as an ordinary word, and some skip them. A name written in script can be hard for a listener to follow, so repeat anything important in plain text.

Under Unicode compatibility normalization (NFKC), every script letter, including the Letterlike substitutes, maps back to a plain Latin letter. Software that normalizes before searching or comparing will treat ℳℯ𝓁𝒾𝓈𝓈𝒶 as Melissa; software that does not will see a completely different string.

Cursive / Script characters at a glance

Making script text look its best

• Use title case: script capitals carry most of the decoration.
• Keep dates and numbers plain, since the script alphabet has no digits.
• Check names containing B, E, F, H, I, L, M, R, e, g or o on another device, because those letters come from a different block.
• Avoid script for anything people must type back, such as a username or a discount code.

Cursive / Script text FAQ

Related text styles

• Gothic / Fraktur Text Generator: blackletter capitals that, like script, borrow a few letters from Letterlike Symbols
• Italic Text Generator: a simple slant without calligraphic flourishes
• Bold Italic Text Generator: heavy slanted letters for emphasis instead of decoration
• Fancy Text Generator: all 15 styles side by side