ICU behavior discrepancy in Current and LTS Node.js versions and latest browsers #58870

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1. climba03003 commented on Jun 28, 2025

   

   climba03003

   on Jun 28, 2025

   Last edited by climba03003

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   Node.js is actually using the latest version of ICU 77.1 with CIDR 47.
   You can check the source in https://github.com/nodejs/node/tree/main/deps/icu-small or using command node -e "console.log(process.versions)".

   Chromium is not using the latest version as you stated.
   You can find the latest commit in https://chromiumdash.appspot.com/branches
   Referencing the version 138.0.7204.140 https://chromium.googlesource.com/chromium/src.git/+/c3479d8b40c9b0340e8f3cbb8fb4838cfb835f6a
   Check the third-party CIDR version https://chromium.googlesource.com/chromium/src.git/+/c3479d8b40c9b0340e8f3cbb8fb4838cfb835f6a/third_party/cldr/
   Check the third-party ICU version https://chromium.googlesource.com/chromium/src.git/+/c3479d8b40c9b0340e8f3cbb8fb4838cfb835f6a/third_party/icu
   The ICU version is linked to https://chromium.googlesource.com/chromium/deps/icu/+/b929596baebf0ab4ac7ec07f38365db4c50a559d

   In conclude Chromium 138 is using ICU 74 with CIDR 45.

   Most of the time Node.js updates ICU more often than Chromium.
   If there is difference, Chromium is actually the outdated one.

   Note: Firefox shows the same result with Node.js.

   👀React with 👀1Reacted by Serhii Sydoruk
2. sidoruk-sv commented on Jun 28, 2025

   

   sidoruk-sv

   on Jun 28, 2025

   Last edited by sidoruk-sv

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   Ooofff... this bug was deeper than I thought.

   Yes, you are right about updated ICU versions used in Node.js, so I will close the issue.

   And I, on the other hand, had an incorrect assumption that browsers have to be a better "updaters" than they actually are.

   Thank you for detailed answer and time ❤

   ---

   To leave some meta and explain myself:

   I got into confusions.

   First confusion:

   The real data of CLDR v45 and v47 for that area was not touched. So for me it looks like some other parts of CLDR/ICU handling was changed, or I don't have full picture on how this things handled and defined:
   CLDR v45

   <symbol>₴</symbol>
   <symbol alt="narrow">↑↑↑</symbol>
   <symbol alt="variant">грн</symbol>
   

   https://github.com/unicode-org/cldr/blob/release-45/common/main/uk.xml#L7834-L7836

   CLDR v47

   <symbol>₴</symbol>
   <symbol alt="narrow">↑↑↑</symbol>
   <symbol alt="variant">грн</symbol>
   

   https://github.com/unicode-org/cldr/blob/release-47/common/main/uk.xml#L7889-L7891

   Second confusion:

   currencyDisplay: "narrowSymbol" - first I thought that it means "short name", so hrn or грн (in uk locale) is really a short name for "Ukrainian hryvnas" and price tags usually use that.

   Also as National Bank of Ukraine stated:

   uk	en
   https://bank.gov.ua/uk/uah	https://bank.gov.ua/en/uah
   Код валюти літерний – UAH	The letter code of the currency is UAH
   код валюти цифровий – 980	the numerical code is 980
   скорочена назва – грн	the shortened name is hrn
   графічний символ – ₴	the graphical symbol is ₴

   Third confusion:

   Inside ECMA spec there is a part about currencyDisplay:

   [[CurrencyDisplay]] is one of the String values "code", "symbol", "narrowSymbol", or "name", specifying whether to display the currency as an ISO 4217 alphabetic currency code, a localized currency symbol, or a localized currency name if formatting with the "currency" style.
   https://402.ecma-international.org/#sec-properties-of-intl-numberformat-instances

   And looks like there is no description on what should be used for narrowSymbol:
   "code" - ISO 4217 alphabetic currency code (UAH)
   "symbol" - a localized currency symbol (₴)
   "narrowSymbol" - looks like there is no explanation on what should be used for narrowSymbol
   "name" - localized currency name (Ukrainian Hryvnia)

   P.S. if you know someone from ECMA standardization team, please ping them, so this bug will be addressed (on whatever level (ECMA, CLDR, ICU) that happening).

   For me, I'm a bit tired to dig into this problem, so for now I will continue using a hack to correctly show narrowSymbol in my code
3. sidoruk-sv

   closed this as completedon Jun 28, 2025
4. climba03003 commented on Jun 28, 2025

   

   climba03003

   on Jun 28, 2025

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   Here the data being use for the currency.

   // uk.xml
   <currency type="UAH">
   	<displayName>українська гривня</displayName>
   	<displayName count="one">українська гривня</displayName>
   	<displayName count="few">українські гривні</displayName>
   	<displayName count="many">українських гривень</displayName>
   	<displayName count="other">української гривні</displayName>
   	<symbol>₴</symbol>
   	<symbol alt="narrow">↑↑↑</symbol>
   	<symbol alt="variant">грн</symbol>
   </currency>
   
   // root.xml
   <currency type="UAH">
   	<symbol alt="narrow">₴</symbol>
   </currency>

   From my understanding, the currency display should map into the below table.

   currencyDisplay	data
   code	currency[type]
   symbol	currency.symbol
   narrowSymbol	currency.symbol[alt="narrow"]
   name	currency.displayName

   In other to understand why it's show difference on symbol and narrowSymbol.
   Node.js is using icu-small and Chromium is using icu.

   For the data use by Chromium is actually generated from CLDR and transformed in another format.
   Name: https://chromium.googlesource.com/chromium/deps/icu/+/b929596baebf0ab4ac7ec07f38365db4c50a559d/source/data/curr/uk.txt#932
   Symbol: https://chromium.googlesource.com/chromium/deps/icu/+/b929596baebf0ab4ac7ec07f38365db4c50a559d/source/data/curr/uk.txt#931
   Narrow Symbol: https://chromium.googlesource.com/chromium/deps/icu/+/b929596baebf0ab4ac7ec07f38365db4c50a559d/source/data/curr/root.txt#189

   You can see the generated data match the data field I mention and there is difference between the CLDR data and the generated data.

   In conclude, Node.js is actually close to the expectation on using the CLDR data. Chromium may need to update the transformed data in order to display correctly.

   ❤️React with ❤️1Reacted by Serhii Sydoruk
5. jay123anta commented on Aug 6, 2026

   

   jay123anta

   on Aug 6, 2026

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   Update a year later: still diverging. Chrome 150 shows грн for symbol; stock Node at CLDR 48 (and Firefox) still show ₴ - upstream CLDR still has symbol=₴ / variant=грн, so the Chromium transformed-data divergence found above remains unfixed.

   Check your own browser against a Node snapshot (~30s, client-side): https://jay123anta.github.io/intl-drift/demo/ - from https://github.com/jay123anta/intl-drift, which catches server-vs-browser drift in CI.