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Why number sign "#" (known as hashtag symbol on social media) or at sign "@" are not consistent with the style of other letters of alphabet?

On the other hand "&" or "$" match the style of other letters.

Using default font:

Style[Partition[{"A", "B", "C", "D", "E", "F", "G", "H", "I", "J", 
    "K", "L", "M", "N", "#", "@", "O", "P", "Q", "R", "$", "&", "S", 
    "T", "U", "V", "W", "X", "Y", "Z"}, 6] // Grid, 50]

enter image description here

Using specific font family:

Style[Partition[{"A", "B", "C", "D", "E", "F", "G", "H", "I", "J", 
    "K", "L", "M", "N", "#", "@", "O", "P", "Q", "R", "$", "&", "S", 
    "T", "U", "V", "W", "X", "Y", "Z"}, 6] // Grid, 
 FontFamily -> "Lucida Console", 50]

enter image description here

Specifically I need mono-spaced font, like for example "Lucida Console" is, but the result is simply ugly.

Do you have recommendation for a nice mono-spaced font that correctly displays both "#"and "@"?

Update:

I found out Mathematica itself uses weird font for "@#": (see the distorted edges of "@", "#" has no distorted edges probably just because it is composed only of horizontal and vertical lines)

Rasterize["A # @ $ &" , ImageSize -> 600, RasterSize -> 1000]

enter image description here

Update 2:

On wikipedia number sign page they use non-italic font throughout the whole page but anyway the symbol of "#" is displayed as if it was italic. Why in mathematica we have this ugly "square like" shape and not nice "rhombus like" shape for "#"?

Update 3:

I even downloaded this beautiful roboto font and I tested it in other software and it nicely display "rhombus like" shape for "#" - Then I used this font in Mathematica and guess what? - All letters were OK but the same ugly "square shape" for "#". - What is wrong with Mathematica?

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  • $\begingroup$ For some of the special operators Mathematica uses its own fonts. To get the plain number sign use the \[NumberSign] character. $\endgroup$
    – b3m2a1
    Oct 28, 2020 at 18:21
  • $\begingroup$ It does not change anything for me... the style of \[NumberSign] is similarly inconsistent with other letters as it is with ordinary "#". $\endgroup$
    – azerbajdzan
    Oct 28, 2020 at 18:28
  • $\begingroup$ I don't know how to get mathematica to stop using its special fonts, but you can at least look through all the different font variation easily with something like Column[Style["Aa # @ \[NumberSign] "<>#, FontFamily -> #] & /@ $FontFamilies](or $FontFamilies[[i ;; j]] if you just want some) $\endgroup$
    – thorimur
    Oct 28, 2020 at 18:42
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    $\begingroup$ Also, I think the inconsistency appearing with both \[NumberSign] and # for Lucida Console miight siimply have to do with Lucida Console. Check out the other characters in Style["\[NumberSign]" <> StringJoin[Table[FromCharacterCode[n], {n, 32, 128}]], FontFamily -> "Lucida Console"]. Compare with, say, Times, which appears to format as expected except for Mathematica's slot symbol. Or, it could simply be that more characters are special Mathematica characters than I thought; I'm not sure. $\endgroup$
    – thorimur
    Oct 28, 2020 at 18:49
  • $\begingroup$ @thorimur I'm not sure what inconsistency you're seeing. I get a proper number sign when I run that code for both fonts? $\endgroup$
    – b3m2a1
    Oct 28, 2020 at 20:02

1 Answer 1

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Style has a PrivateFontOptions option with suboption OperatorSubstitution. With the default setting "OperatorSubstitution" -> True, special characters such as {, (, or [ are replaced by the equivalent characters in a special Wolfram System font. With the setting "OperatorSubstitution" -> False, such characters are not replaced. For example,

Style[Partition[{"A", "B", "C", "D", "E", "F", "G", "H", "I", "J", 
    "K", "L", "M", "N", "#", "@", "O", "P", "Q", "R", "$", "&", "S", 
    "T", "U", "V", "W", "X", "Y", "Z"}, 6] // Grid, 50,
    PrivateFontOptions -> {"OperatorSubstitution" -> False}]

font grid

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  • $\begingroup$ It does not work!!! I got the exact same result as without PrivateFontOptions -> {"OperatorSubstition" -> False}. What version of Mathematica are you using? By the way It was a very bad idea to set the Style option OperatorSubstitution to True by default. We are styling strings not the code. I do not need to style code. I need to style the output of the code. $\endgroup$
    – azerbajdzan
    Oct 28, 2020 at 19:55
  • $\begingroup$ @azerbajdzan this does the exact same thing as using \[NumberSign]. If that's not working, the issue is in your chosen font, not on the Mathematica side. $\endgroup$
    – b3m2a1
    Oct 28, 2020 at 19:57
  • $\begingroup$ I used it without any family font... so the default font was used. $\endgroup$
    – azerbajdzan
    Oct 28, 2020 at 19:59
  • $\begingroup$ @creidhne: You have a typo there: PrivateFontOptions -> {"OperatorSubstition" -> False}. OperatorSubstition should be OperatorSubstitution :-). I copied your code that is why it did not work. But anyway a very bad idea to set the option to True by default!!! $\endgroup$
    – azerbajdzan
    Oct 28, 2020 at 20:04
  • $\begingroup$ Further more - you will not find any reference to PrivateFontOptions in documentation of Style. It is not listed in options of Style. Wasted half of my day unnecessary on a trivial thing... $\endgroup$
    – azerbajdzan
    Oct 28, 2020 at 20:10

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