Zero-width space
The zero-width space (), abbreviated ZWSP, is a non-printing character used in computerized typesetting to indicate word boundaries to text-processing systems for scripts that do not use explicit spacing, or after characters not followed by a visible space after which there may be a line break.
Purpose
The zero-width space marks a potential line break without
Unlike fixed-width spaces, in
Example
To show the effect of the zero-width space, the following words have been separated with zero-width spaces:
LoremIpsumDolorSitAmetConsecteturAdipiscingElitSedDoEiusmodTemporIncididuntUtLaboreEtDoloreMagnaAliquaUtEnimAdMinimVeniamQuisNostrudExercitationUllamcoLaborisNisiUtAliquipExEaCommodoConsequatDuisAuteIrureDolorInReprehenderitInVoluptateVelitEsseCillumDoloreEuFugiatNullaPariaturExcepteurSintOccaecatCupidatatNonProidentSuntInCulpaQuiOfficiaDeseruntMollitAnimIdEstLaborum
And the following words are not separated with these spaces:
LoremIpsumDolorSitAmetConsecteturAdipiscingElitSedDoEiusmodTemporIncididuntUtLaboreEtDoloreMagnaAliquaUtEnimAdMinimVeniamQuisNostrudExercitationUllamcoLaborisNisiUtAliquipExEaCommodoConsequatDuisAuteIrureDolorInReprehenderitInVoluptateVelitEsseCillumDoloreEuFugiatNullaPariaturExcepteurSintOccaecatCupidatatNonProidentSuntInCulpaQuiOfficiaDeseruntMollitAnimIdEstLaborum
On browsers supporting zero-width spaces, resizing the window will re-break the first text only at word boundaries, while the second text will not be broken at all.
Usage
HTML
In HTML pages, the HTML element <wbr>
functions as a zero-width space. In Internet Explorer 6, the zero-width space was not supported in some fonts.[3]
Prohibition in domain names
Encoding
The zero-width space character is encoded in Unicode as U+200B ZERO WIDTH SPACE,[6] and input in HTML as ​
, ​
or ​
. Contrary to what their names suggest, the character entities ​
, ​
, ​
, and ​
also refer to the zero-width space.[7]
The TeX representation is \hskip0pt
; the LaTeX representation is \hspace{0pt}
;[8] and the groff representation is \:
.[9]
Its semantics and
See also
- Hair space
- Whitespace character – including a table comparing various space-like characters
- Word divider
- Word wrapping
- Word joiner (U+2060: ), as well as zero-width no-break space (U+FEFF: )
- Zero-width joiner (U+200D: )
- Zero-width non-joiner (U+200C: )
References
Citations
- ^ "Zones spéciales et caractères de formatage" [Special areas and formatting characters] (PDF). Hapax Quebec (in French). p. 3. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 December 2005. Retrieved 31 July 2019.
Les espaces sans chasse sont conçues pour les langues qui ne séparent pas les mots à l'aide d'espaces visibles, comme le thaï ou le japonais.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-936213-32-0.
- ^ Dunae, Alex. "Better Web Typography with Spaces and Hyphens". dunae.ca. Archived from the original on December 14, 2010. Retrieved December 3, 2009.
- ^ "Network.IDN.blacklist_chars". mozillaZine. Retrieved 2018-02-07.
- ^ "Unicode Character 'Zero Width Space'". FileFormat.Info. Retrieved 2018-02-07.
- ^ "General Punctuation – Unicode" (PDF). Retrieved 2013-07-20.
- ^ Entities/ZeroWidthSpace in MathML Version 2.0
- ^ "The LaTeX Companion. Chapter 3: Basic Formatting Tools" (PDF). Retrieved 2019-07-16.
- ^ "groff(7) – Linux manual page". Retrieved 2014-02-08.
Sources
- Mair, Victor H.; Liu, Yongquan (1991), Characters and computers, IOS Press