hist — Historical Forms
hist (Historical Forms) replaces default forms with the historical alternates that produced them, forms once in common use but anachronistic today.
The long s (ſ) and the old Fraktur k are examples. Some fonts keep these older forms as alternates so they can be used for a “period” effect.
It covers single characters only. For the same effect in a ligature, see hlig (Historical Ligatures).
Example
Section titled “Example”Without hist
Straße
With hist
Straße
.fea source
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Writing it in a feature file
Section titled “Writing it in a feature file”The rules are written with Lookup Type 1.
Without rules
Straße
With rulesStraße
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