+/**
+ * Define UChar32 as a type for single Unicode code points.
+ * UChar32 is a signed 32-bit integer (same as int32_t).
+ *
+ * The Unicode code point range is 0..0x10ffff.
+ * All other values (negative or >=0x110000) are illegal as Unicode code points.
+ * They may be used as sentinel values to indicate "done", "error"
+ * or similar non-code point conditions.
+ *
+ * Before ICU 2.4 (Jitterbug 2146), UChar32 was defined
+ * to be wchar_t if that is 32 bits wide (wchar_t may be signed or unsigned)
+ * or else to be uint32_t.
+ * That is, the definition of UChar32 was platform-dependent.
+ *
+ * @see U_SENTINEL
+ * @stable ICU 2.4
+ */
+typedef int32_t UChar32;
+
+/**
+ * This value is intended for sentinel values for APIs that
+ * (take or) return single code points (UChar32).
+ * It is outside of the Unicode code point range 0..0x10ffff.
+ *
+ * For example, a "done" or "error" value in a new API
+ * could be indicated with U_SENTINEL.
+ *
+ * ICU APIs designed before ICU 2.4 usually define service-specific "done"
+ * values, mostly 0xffff.
+ * Those may need to be distinguished from
+ * actual U+ffff text contents by calling functions like
+ * CharacterIterator::hasNext() or UnicodeString::length().
+ *
+ * @return -1
+ * @see UChar32
+ * @stable ICU 2.4
+ */
+#define U_SENTINEL (-1)
+