The first code: rules and commonly mistaken characters

Cangjie takes codes in a fixed order: top to bottom, left to right, outside to inside. The first shape reached is the first code. It follows stroke shape, not meaning or dictionary radical, so it often differs from intuition. The tables below group, by opening shape, the characters whose first code is most easily mistaken. Radicals are named by shape (竹, 手, 弓, and so on).

A slant at the top is 竹

A slant (丿) at the top or upper left is taken as 竹.

Character	Code	Notes
我	竹手戈	The upper left slant is 竹, not 手 or 戈.
生	竹手一	The top slant is 竹.
失	竹手人	The top slant is 竹, as in 生.
千	竹十	The slant is 竹, then 十.
禾	竹木	The top slant is 竹, then 木.
朱	竹十木	The top slant is 竹.

A leading hook or fold is 弓

A leading hooked or folded connected stroke is taken whole as 弓.

Character	Code	Notes
及	弓竹水	Opening fold and hook are 弓, then 竹, 水.
乃	弓竹尸	Opens on 弓.
予	弓戈弓弓	Opening hook is 弓.
承	弓弓手人	The upper left strokes give 弓, then 弓.

The 戈 is on the right but taken first

In these characters the 戈 sits on the right, yet it is the first code. Its highest point is above the other parts, so by the top to bottom rule it is taken first. The catch is that the 戈 auxiliary shapes vary and that stroke can sit lower, so it is not always obvious that the 戈 is the highest part. It is clear in 之, whose top is a single dot, but less obvious in 弋, 式 and 求. Learn the 戈 auxiliary shapes, and look to the upper right for the opening stroke.

Character	Code	Notes
弋	戈心	戈 is the main shape and its top is highest, so it comes first.
之	戈弓人	The top dot is 戈, the clear case.
式	戈心一	The 戈 on the right is higher than 工, so it comes first.
求	戈十水	The top point is 戈, then 十 and 水.

Similar shapes, different first code

Nearly identical shapes can take different first codes.

Character	Code	Notes
千	竹十	Has the slant, first code 竹.
干	一十	No slant, first code 一.
牛	竹手	The opening slant is 竹.
午	人十	Opens on 人, not 竹.