§9.6.6

Marks and Symbols in Cells

A dash, a footnote mark or an icon in a cell—what does it mean?

✅ NormativeSettled. The requirement holds as written.📄 Page ruleCan be applied from the page alone.Read §9.6.6 in the RFC ↗

The requirement

A footnote marker MUST stay in the cell of the value it is attached to. An em-dash alone in a cell is a value and MUST be kept; a cell printed blank MUST stay blank. A cell whose content is a symbol or icon MUST be rendered as a bracketed transcription of what the mark asserts, and MUST NOT be replaced by an emoji.

When it applies

A sun/water requirements table where the icons are the values — a full sun versus a partial sun, one droplet versus two. A rendering that leaves those cells empty says nothing at all.

Sketch of the printed page — layout, not output

| Subscribers¹ | 48,210³ |   ← superscripts attached to a value
| Dividend     | —       |   ← an em-dash standing alone in a cell
| Approved     | ✓       |   ← a checkmark standing in for a value

Reading the examples. Each one pairs a source page with the output the rule expects. ✅ Sample: the rule applies. ❌ Counter-sample: it looks like it applies and does not, or a rendering got it wrong. A non-conforming output, in red, is shown only for contrast. … marks content left out of an excerpt.

Footnote superscripts

A footnote marker MUST stay in the same cell as the value it is attached to, rendered with : 48,2103, New Program2 — see Superscript and Subscript (§7.2.11).
The marker MUST NOT be stripped, and MUST NOT be given a column of its own. It points at one number; separated from that number it points at nothing.

The em-dash

An em-dash alone in a cell is a value and MUST be rendered as —. In accounting it means zero, and we checked — a different claim from an empty cell, which means nothing here.
The rule holds in both directions, and the second is the one most often broken: a cell printed blank MUST be rendered as an empty cell, and a dash MUST NOT be supplied for it, however many of its neighbours carry one (never invent).

The same reasoning makes the structural blank meaningful in Triangles and Matrix Tables (§9.8.2) and the coloured fill meaningful in Color as the Value (§9.6.4) — a non-value that is a value.

✅ SampleThe rule applies

Em-dashes stand in for the not-yet-available 15-year figures of two private indexes`single`

Em-dashes stand in for the not-yet-available 15-year figures of two private indexes, alongside ¹ footnote markers on the index names. The dashes are values; the markers stay on the names.

Source page

Expected output · excerpt

Index	1-Quarter	YTD	1-Year	3-Year	5-Year	10-Year	15-Year
Tarnwick Capital Partners LLC Timber Impact Investing Index¹	0.29	1.12	-0.89	1.21	2.66	3.28	3.82
Tarnwick Capital Partners LLC Real Estate Impact Investing Index¹	0.66	0.44	1.14	1.13	-0.87	1.43	—
Tarnwick Capital Partners LLC Infrastructure Impact Investing Index¹	-0.23	-0.41	-0.65	2.64	1.63	2.32	—
Merevald Global Natural Resources Index	1.09	13.44	-4.63	10.72	0.13	2.92	6.18
Vantage World Natural Resources Index (net)	-0.71	14.09	-8.57	5.21	-4.27	2.84	4.87
Vantage US Natural Resources Index (net)	-2.88	12.69	-14.14	-0.39	-6.53	3.72	5.25
…

❌ Counter-sampleLooks like it applies and does not — or a rendering got it wrong

On the Rückkauf eigener Anteile row the page prints nothing in Eigene Anteile`entwick`

On the Rückkauf eigener Anteile row the page prints nothing in Eigene Anteile — only the Gesamtkapital column carries a value, 0. A rendering that writes an em-dash into the blank cell invents a value: the em-dash rule cuts both ways.

Source page

Expected output · excerpt

	Grundkapital	Kapital- rücklagen	Gewinn- rücklagen	Sonstige Rücklagen	Eigene Anteile	Gesellschafter VAG	Minderheiten- anteile	Gesamtkapital
1. Jänner 2005	218.100	1.074.778	2.816.854	172.965	-14.761	4.267.936	1.493.854	5.761.790
Unrealisierte Gewinne/Verluste (-) aus der Bewertung von Wertpapieren:
Saldo Gewinn/Verlust (-) der Periode vor Ertragssteuern				200.291		200.291		200.291
Ertragssteuern				-50.009		-50.009		-50.009
Realisierte, im JÜ ausgewiesene Gewinne (-)/Verluste vor Ertragssteuern				-77		-77		-77
Ertragssteuern				19		19		19
Rückkauf eigener Anteile								0
…

Non-conforming output

What the rule rules out.

…
Rückkauf eigener Anteile	—	0
…

Markdown

<table>
  <!-- … -->
  <tr> <td>Rückkauf eigener Anteile</td> <td></td> <td></td> <td></td> <td></td> <td>—</td> <td></td> <td></td> <td>0</td> </tr>
  <!-- … -->
</table>

Checkmarks, crosses and icons

A mark that stands in for a value MUST be rendered as a bracketed word stating what it asserts: [yes], [no], [checked], [locked], [icon: present].
The nearest emoji MUST NOT be substituted. An emoji looks faithful and is not: it carries a shape rather than the claim the page makes, and no two producers pick the same one.
Where a symbol is glued to a value rather than standing in for one — ▲ 512.40, a bare + or - carrying a superscript — the glyph MUST stay with the value in the cell, as printed. See Iconography and Symbols (§7.3.4) for marks outside tables.

Sketch of the printed page — layout, not output

| Feature | Basic | Pro |
| SSO     | 🔒    | ✓   |   → | SSO | [locked] | [yes] |

A repeated mark is a scale

Some columns grade a value by printing the mark more than once — one droplet for low water, two for high; one star, three stars.

A repeated mark MUST be transcribed once per printed mark: [water], [water][water]. The count is the value; collapsing the pair to one token loses the distinction the column exists to draw.
A count notation such as [water:2] MUST NOT be used.
The vocabulary MUST distinguish every distinct mark the scale prints. A sun column printing a solid, a half-filled and an outline glyph is a three-step scale; a rendering with two names for it has lost a step.

✅ SampleThe rule applies

X is a disclosure-control placeholder standing in for a suppressed value`wqa`

the note below the table says so. It is printed text and is kept as X. The row labels and the Total row are bold.

Source page

Expected output · excerpt, the table and its note

	LESS THAN 1 YEAR	1 YEAR TO LESS THAN 2 YEARS	2 YEARS TO LESS THAN 3 YEARS	3 YEARS TO LESS THAN 4 YEARS	4 YEARS TO LESS THAN 5 YEARS	5 YEARS OR MORE	TOTAL
Nov-25	1,430	685	310	140	X	X	2,569
Dec-25	1,390	660	295	130	X	X	2,478
Jan-26	1,570	705	320	150	X	X	2,750
Total	4,390	2,050	925	420	8	X	7,797

X denotes a value below 5 but not zero, suppressed to prevent identification of individuals.

✅ SampleThe rule applies

Checkmark glyphs in Independent and Financial Expert (1) assert a yes`ed`

they are rendered as [yes], and an unmarked cell stays empty.

Source page

Expected output

Name	Age	Director Since	Independent	Financial Expert (1)	Committee Membership Until 2025 Meeting	Committee Membership After 2025 Meeting	Other Public Company Boards
Warren T. Castellan	67	2011	[yes]	[yes]	CC	NCGC
Foster L. Kilbane	67	1993	[yes]		CC	AC, CC	1 (2)
Elias N. Okafor	45	2020	[yes]		CC	CC
Marguerite S. Voss	69	2015	[yes]		NCGC	CC
Desmond K. Hara	62	1993
Adele R. Winslow	67	2013	[yes]	[yes]	CC Chairperson	CC Chairperson	1
Marcus T. Whitfield	72	1993	[yes]	[yes]	AC, NCGC	AC, NCGC
Priya N. Rajan	62	2023	[yes]	[yes]	AC	AC	1
Gerald P. Ashcombe (Lead Director)	76	2019	[yes]		NCGC Chairperson	NCGC Chairperson
Renata M. Solano	67	2024	[yes]		NCGC	NCGC	1
B. Trevor Lindqvist	77	1997	[yes]	[yes]	AC Chairperson	AC Chairperson	1
Naledi K. Osei	60	2020	[yes]		AC, CC	AC, CC	1
Colin J. Whitmore	65	2008 (3)	[yes]		AC, NCGC	CC, NCGC

✅ SampleThe rule applies

▲ 512.40 — an up-triangle glued to the value, kept with it in the cell`du`

The 대비 and 대비율(%) figures are set heavier than the rest of the row, so those cells are bold.

Source page

Expected output

지 수	현재가	대비	대비율(%)	날짜
Global Industrial Average	25,332.18	▲ 512.40	+2.06%	06/04
Merevald Tech Composite	7,527.12	▲ 194.10	+2.65%	06/04
Broad Market 500 Index	2,803.27	▲ 58.82	+2.14%	06/04
U.S. 10 year Index	2.13	▲ 0.06	+2.83%	06/04
U.S. 30 year Index	2.61	▲ 0.08	+3.17%	06/04

✅ SampleThe rule applies

↓ stands in the time cells of stops a service does not list a time for`lakecruise`

↓ stands in the time cells of stops a service does not list a time for, and a row of small ⊛ glyphs sits under the service numbers. Both are printed characters and are kept as printed; no emoji replaces them. Station rows set in heavy type are bold; the arrows in them show no extra weight and stay plain.

Source page

Expected output · table 1 of 2, excerpt

	Täglich Daily
Kurs / Service	101/102	103/104	105/106	107/108	109/110	113/114	117/118
	⊛	⊛	⊛	⊛	⊛	⊛	⊛
Lindenhafen	09.20	10.20	11.20	12.20	13.20	15.20	17.20	Lindenhafen
Aurenbach	09.47	↓	↓	12.47	13.47	↓	↓	Aurenbach
Tannwil	09.58	↓	↓	12.58	13.58	↓	↓	Tannwil
Seewinkel	↓	10.51	11.51	↓	↓	15.51	17.51	Seewinkel
Rebstein	↓	10.59	11.59	↓	↓	15.59	↓	Rebstein
Falkenau	10.09	↓	↓	13.09	14.09	↓	18.04	Falkenau
…

✅ SampleThe rule applies

A body made entirely of bare + / - symbols, some carrying (1), (2), (3) superscripts`vap`

The marks are printed characters and stay as printed, each superscript in the cell of the mark it is attached to. The Precision band is set in bold italic.

Source page

Expected output

Type of analytical procedure	IDENTIFICATION	TESTING FOR IMPURITIES		ASSAY - dissolution (measurement only) - content/potency
characteristics	IDENTIFICATION	quantitat.	limit	ASSAY - dissolution (measurement only) - content/potency
Accuracy	-	+	-	+
Precision
Repeatability	-	+	-	+
Interm.Precision	-	+ ⁽¹⁾	-	+ ⁽¹⁾
Specificity ⁽²⁾	+	+	+	+
Detection Limit	-	- ⁽³⁾	+	-
Quantitation Limit	-	-	+ ⁽³⁾	-
Linearity	-	+	-	+
Range	-	+	-	+

Look-alike

Two similar pages that call for different decisions. Synthetic, for teaching the boundary.

A cell with no number in it. Is there a value, or nothing?

An em-dash alone

	5-yr	15-yr
Timber	2.66	3.82
Real estate	-0.87	—

The convention

A value. Record the dash.

A genuinely blank cell

	2005	2004
Ertragssteuern	-50.009	-50.009
Unrealisierte

The convention

Empty. Never supply a dash.

Look at the structure. What evidence changes the answer?

Rule id tables-marks-and-symbols-in-cells · tables marks encoding

When it applies

Footnote superscripts

The em-dash

Checkmarks, crosses and icons

A repeated mark is a scale

Look-alike

A cell with no number in it. Is there a value, or nothing?

An em-dash alone

A genuinely blank cell

Neighbouring rules, and how they differ

More