diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index b9990f6..ebe802b 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -30,3 +30,10 @@ Other Comparison Sites
  * [Wikipedia](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Emoji)
  * [Emoji.codes family tree](https://emoji.codes/family)
 
+Unicode Emoji Data
+------------------
+ * [Unicode Technical Standard 51](http://unicode.org/reports/tr51/tr51-12.html) - the standard
+ * [Data files](http://unicode.org/Public/emoji/5.0/)
+ * [Comparison table](http://unicode.org/emoji/charts/full-emoji-list.html) - with images
+ * [Charts](http://unicode.org/emoji/charts/index.html)
+
diff --git a/bin/update-db.py b/bin/update-db.py
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..5ed6934
--- /dev/null
+++ b/bin/update-db.py
@@ -0,0 +1,130 @@
+#!/usr/bin/python3
+# 
+# parse emoji data into json 
+#
+
+import argparse
+import json
+import os
+import re
+import sys
+
+def to_hex(i):
+    if i > 0xFFFF:
+        return "%X" % i
+    else:
+        return "%04X" % i
+
+emojis = dict()
+
+
+line_pattern = re.compile("([A-F0-9 ]+);([-a-z ]+)# ([^ ]+) (.*)$")
+filename = 'emoji-test.txt'
+sys.stdout.write("INFO: processing file '%s'" % filename)
+f = open(filename, mode='r', encoding='utf-8')
+line_count = 0
+emoji_count = 0
+for rawline in f:
+    line_count += 1
+    if line_count % 100 == 0:
+        sys.stdout.write(".")
+        
+    line = rawline.strip()
+        
+    if len(line) == 0 or line[0] == '#':
+        continue
+        
+    emoji_count += 1
+    
+    matcher = line_pattern.search(line)
+    if not matcher:
+        sys.stdout.write("\nERROR: no match on line %d ('%s')" % (line_count, line))
+        continue
+    
+    emoji = {}
+    emoji['codepoints'] = matcher.group(1).strip()
+    emoji['status'] = matcher.group(2).strip()
+    emoji['chars'] = matcher.group(3)
+    emoji['text'] = matcher.group(4).strip()
+    
+    emojis[emoji['codepoints']] = emoji
+    
+f.close()
+    
+sys.stdout.write("\n")
+sys.stdout.write("INFO: complete %d lines processed\n" % line_count)
+sys.stdout.write("INFO: complete %d emoji processed\n" % emoji_count)
+
+
+line_pattern = re.compile("([.A-F0-9 ]+);([-A-Za-z_ ]+)# +([^ ]+) (.*)$")
+filename = 'emoji-data.txt'
+sys.stdout.write("INFO: processing file '%s'" % filename)
+f = open(filename, mode='r', encoding='utf-8')
+line_count = 0
+emoji_count = 0
+new_count = 0
+for rawline in f:
+    line_count += 1
+    if line_count % 100 == 0:
+        sys.stdout.write(".")
+        
+    line = rawline.strip()
+        
+    if len(line) == 0 or line[0] == '#':
+        continue
+        
+    
+    matcher = line_pattern.search(line)
+    if not matcher:
+        sys.stdout.write("\nERROR: no match on line %d ('%s')" % (line_count, line))
+        continue
+    
+    str = matcher.group(1).strip()
+    if ".." not in str:
+        codepoints = [ str ]
+    else:
+        codepoints = []
+        split = str.split("..")
+        for loop in range(int(split[0], 16), int(split[0], 16)+1):
+            codepoints.append(to_hex(loop))
+        
+    for codepoint in codepoints:
+        emoji_count += 1
+        if codepoint in emojis:
+            emoji = emojis[codepoint] 
+        else:
+            new_count += 1
+            emoji = {}
+            emoji['codepoints'] = codepoint
+            emoji['chars'] = chr(int(codepoint, 16))
+            emojis[codepoint] = emoji
+    
+        if 'property' not in emoji:
+            emoji['property'] = {}
+            
+        emoji['property'][matcher.group(2).strip()] = True
+        emoji['version'] = matcher.group(3).strip()
+    
+f.close()
+
+sys.stdout.write("\n")
+sys.stdout.write("INFO: complete %d lines processed\n" % line_count)
+sys.stdout.write("INFO: complete %d emoji processed\n" % emoji_count)
+sys.stdout.write("INFO: complete %d emoji added\n" % new_count)
+
+filename = "output.json"
+sys.stdout.write("INFO: saving to file '%s'\n" % filename)
+f = open(filename, mode='w', encoding='utf-8')
+f.write(json.dumps(emojis, ensure_ascii=False, sort_keys=True, indent=4, separators=(',', ': ')))
+f.close()
+sys.stdout.write("INFO: save complete: %d emoji\n" % len(emojis))
+
+filename = "output.sql"
+sys.stdout.write("INFO: saving to file '%s'\n" % filename)
+f = open(filename, mode='w', encoding='utf-8')
+#f.write(json.dumps(emojis, ensure_ascii=False, sort_keys=True, indent=4, separators=(',', ': ')))
+f.close()
+sys.stdout.write("INFO: save complete: %d emoji\n" % len(emojis))
+
+
+
diff --git a/unicode/README.md b/unicode/README.md
deleted file mode 100644
index b1d4899..0000000
--- a/unicode/README.md
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,7 +0,0 @@
-Unicode Emoji Data
-==================
-
- * [Unicode Technical Standard 51](http://unicode.org/reports/tr51/tr51-12.html) - the standard
- * [Data files](http://unicode.org/Public/emoji/5.0/)
- * [Comparison table](http://unicode.org/emoji/charts/full-emoji-list.html) - with images
- * [Charts](http://unicode.org/emoji/charts/index.html)