A utility to optimize emoji data for efficient use in applications. This tool takes the raw emoji data and transforms it into a compact, optimized format while preserving all essential information.
This project optimizes the emoji-data dataset from iamcal, transforming the verbose format into a minimal JSON structure that:
- ✅ Reduces file size significantly (93.96% smaller! 1.71MB → 105.80KB)
- 🔍 Maintains all searchable names
- 🎨 Preserves skin tone variations
- 📁 Organizes by category
↕️ Pre-sorts all emojis
The optimized format is ideal for applications that need to include emoji data while minimizing sorting logic and bundle size.
Raw emoji data (RawEmojiData.json) is sourced from iamcal/emoji-data.
# Clone the reposito
8000
ry
git clone <repository-url>
cd <repository-directory>
# Install dependencies
yarn install# Process and optimize the emoji data
yarn emoji clean
# Show statistics about the emoji data
yarn emoji info
# Generate TypeScript type definitions
yarn emoji types
# Display help information
yarn emoji help
# Run tests
yarn test
# or if you don't have yarn installed
npx ts-node emojiTests.tsOnce processed, you can use the data in multiple ways:
import emojiData from './EmojiData.json';
// Access emojis by category
const peopleEmojis = emojiData['People & Body'];The project includes a utility library with helpful functions:
import emojiUtil from './emojiUtil';
// Find an emoji by name
const thumbsUp = emojiUtil.findEmojiByName('thumbs up');
// Get all emojis from a category
const smileys = emojiUtil.getEmojisByCategory('Smileys & Emotion');
// Convert unicode to emoji character
const thumbsUpChar = emojiUtil.unicodeToEmoji('1F44D');
// Get random emoji
const randomEmoji = emojiUtil.getRandomEmoji();
// Get all emoji categories
const categories = emojiUtil.getCategories();
// Get all skin tone variants for an emoji
const skinToneVariants = emojiUtil.getAllSkinToneVariants(thumbsUp);
console.log(skinToneVariants);
// Output: {
// 'light': '👍🏻',
// 'medium-light': '👍🏼',
// 'medium': '👍🏽',
// 'medium-dark': '👍🏾',
// 'dark': '👍🏿'
// }The optimized EmojiData.json uses the following compact structure:
{
"Category Name": [
{
"n": ["emoji name", "alternative name", "another name"], // First value is the name and the rest are search terms
"u": "1F44D", // Unicode codepoint
"v": ["u-1F3FB", "u-1F3FC"] // Optional skin tone variations (optimized!)
},
// More emojis...
],
// More categories...
}Where:
n: Array of names, including the primary name and alternativesu: Unicode representation of the emojiv: Optional array of skin tone variations (using the u- prefix to save space)
The project includes full TypeScript support with automatically generated type definitions:
- Dynamic Types: Types are generated based on the actual data, ensuring type safety
- Category-Specific Types: All emoji categories are mapped in a type-safe way
- Type-Safe Access: Use the EmojiCategoryType union for type-safe category access
import { EmojiCategories, EmojiCategoryType, CompactEmoji } from './emojiTypes';
import emojiData from './EmojiData.json';
// Type-safe data
const data = emojiData as EmojiCategories;
// Type-safe category access
const category: EmojiCategoryType = 'Smileys & Emotion';
const smileys = data[category];The project includes a comprehensive test suite to ensure all functionality works correctly. Run the tests with:
yarn test
# or if you don't have yarn installed
npx ts-node emojiTests.tsTests include:
- Category Tests: Verifies all expected emoji categories exist
- Search Tests: Ensures emoji can be found by name correctly
- Skin Tone Tests: Verifies skin tone variations work properly
- Unicode Tests: Checks conversion between unicode and emoji characters
- Random Tests: Ensures random emoji selection works as expected
- Count Tests: Validates emoji counting functions
- Type Tests: Verifies TypeScript types are working correctly
Test output includes clear pass/fail indicators and a summary of results.
This project is available under the MIT License. The original emoji data is from iamcal's emoji-data project.