2

I'm trying to solve this problem for sometime. In the title bar of my web browsers and places like that; If there is a Farsi (Persian) string, it is shown like **** or something similar.
I searched and found out the font that I choose for the job has no Persian glyphs. So I want to know which fonts or font families could I use that has Persian glyphs in them?

Raphael Ahrens
  • 9,701
  • 5
  • 37
  • 52
m_hmt
  • 21
  • 2

2 Answers2

1

First of all, you can just use Persian Fonts instead :-).

As described Persian Script is an adaption of arabic script.

To search for fonts which could match you can use:

$ otfinfo  -s FreeFarsi.ttf 
arab     Arabic

or for all fonts:

$ otfinfo -s *.ttf *.otf
FreeFarsi-BoldItalic.ttf:DFLT       Default
FreeFarsi-BoldItalic.ttf:arab       Arabic
FreeFarsi-Bold.ttf:DFLT     Default
FreeFarsi-Bold.ttf:arab     Arabic
FreeFarsi-Italic.ttf:DFLT       Default
FreeFarsi-Italic.ttf:arab       Arabic
FreeFarsi-Mono.ttf:arab     Arabic
FreeFarsi.ttf:arab      Arabic
homa.ttf:arab       Arabic
nazlib.ttf:arab     Arabic
nazli.ttf:arab      Arabic
titr.ttf:arab       Arabic

As you can see the scripts are not always called arab but 'DFLT'. A fallback solution is the answer of @terdon.

terdon
  • 234,489
  • 66
  • 447
  • 667
0

You could try a program like gnome-specimen which shows the text you choose rendered in the different fonts. If you en ter text with persian glyphs you should be able to locate a font that handles them:

   gnome-specimen screenshot

Image shamelessly stolen from @derobert's answer.

Community
  • 1
terdon
  • 234,489
  • 66
  • 447
  • 667
  • @r004 I understand and I have no idea since I don't speak Farsi. I do speak Greek however, which has the same problem and using programs like the above and text like "English Ελληνικά" would allow me to identify the fonts that display that correctly. I was thinking you might be able to do the same by using an example sentence mixing English and Farsi letters. – terdon Mar 24 '14 at 19:06
  • @r004 yes, my suggestion is a horrible solution. I hope someone offers you a better one but this is unlikely since not many of us will know Farsi, and by extension, not many will know a specific font to suggest to you. I just thought you might find it a useful workaround, feel free not to use it. By the way, are you the OP? If so, please merge your accounts. – terdon Mar 24 '14 at 19:19
  • So; I need to search the fonts and find out what fonts has it – m_hmt Mar 24 '14 at 19:19
  • @m_hmt yes, as I said to r004 this is just a workaround. Alternatively, you could also google "Linux fonts farsi" and have a look, I got several hundred hits. – terdon Mar 24 '14 at 19:20
  • @terdon; Sorry about that; I meant that was not what he asked. I think Persian is like Arabic;(according to Wikipedia). and `Dejavu` fonts have the full set of right to left glyphs. – r004 Mar 24 '14 at 19:22
  • @r004 in that case, why don't you post an answer? And just so you don't get beaten up, never say that Persian is like Arabic :). They have absolutely no relation apart from both being Indo-European languages (as is English). The Persian language is about a thousand years older for starters, does not use the same alphabet and is from a completely different branch of linguistic evolution. In fact, Arabic is closer to English than it is to Farsi. Iranian Persian is written in a modified Arabic Alphabet yes, but it has its own glyphs that do not exist in the Arabic alphabet. – terdon Mar 24 '14 at 19:31
  • @m_hmt Sorry for my comparison as @terdon called it. (Wikipedia's fault). I searched a bit and found out that you have your own **Font Set** called Standard Persian Fonts. has Persian/English Glyphs. (but I don't know what family they are as you called it or if they have full hint and rendering support). a simple Google search shows `Droid Naskh` has a good rendering support and UTF-8 capable. (because of that it is widely used in android devices) – r004 Mar 24 '14 at 19:48