I was reading the release notes of Visual Studio Code and a particular caught my eye.

As you can see, there is a javascript file with the ≤ symbol. I can't figure out how it works, if I try to use it in my code I get a "Invalid or unexpected token" error (which I was expecting), and I can't find if it's only a VSCode configuration that shrinks <= into ≤ for aesthetic purposes.

How does it work?

I was reading the release notes of Visual Studio Code and a particular caught my eye.

As you can see, there is a javascript file with the ≤ symbol. I can't figure out how it works, if I try to use it in my code I get a "Invalid or unexpected token" error (which I was expecting), and I can't find if it's only a VSCode configuration that shrinks <= into ≤ for aesthetic purposes.

How does it work?

• javascript
• operators
• visual-studio-code

Share Improve this question Follow edited Apr 13, 2018 at 8:16 Nisarg Shah 14.6k66 gold badges3838 silver badges5757 bronze badges asked Apr 13, 2018 at 8:16 bimbo1989bimbo1989 82211 gold badge1010 silver badges2222 bronze badges 3

• 2 Might be github./tonsky/FiraCode – tkausl Commented Apr 13, 2018 at 8:17
• 1 it IS only a VSCode configuration that shrinks <= into ≤ for aesthetic purposes. – Kajbo Commented Apr 13, 2018 at 8:19
• Going to check out FiraCode, looks like it's the answer :) – bimbo1989 Commented Apr 13, 2018 at 8:20

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4 Answers 4

Sorted by: Reset to default 3

It looks like a monospaced font with ligatures, which makes <= looking as one sign.

Some sources:

• https://github./tonsky/FiraCode
• https://github./i-tu/Hasklig
• https://github./be5invis/Iosevka

This is just due to the font ligature. The actual characters are 2: <= but the ligature renders them as one.

Some fonts support ligatures such as Fira Code and most likely you need to enable ligatures on your IDE if you want to use them.

I have worked with Ligatures for a while. These are called Monospaced Programming Fonts with Ligatures and it's just not FiraCode, there are several others out there. For example -

Monoid

---

Hasklig

Also these are supported by a LOT of editors and not just VS Code.

Perhaps worth to mention that for working ligatures in VSC you need:

• Locally installed font with ligatures support (Monoid / Iosevka / Fira Code)
• editor.fontFamily set to given font,
• editor.fontLigatures set to true.