What is the primary function of the Unicode standard?

The primary function of the Unicode standard is to standardize character representation. Unicode provides a unique number for every character, no matter the platform, program, or language. This universality ensures that text appears consistently across different software applications and devices, allowing for the proper display and interaction of text from various languages and scripts.

By using Unicode, developers can avoid issues related to character encoding mismatches that can arise when using different legacy encoding systems. This standardization is crucial in our globally interconnected world, where applications need to handle multiple languages and character sets simultaneously. It allows for the seamless interchange of text data across different environments, ensuring that characters are accurately represented without loss or misinterpretation.