Invisible & Whitespace Characters
Soft Hyphen
An invisible hyphen that only appears if the word actually breaks at that point.
- Unicode
- U+00AD
Try Soft Hyphen
Edit the text, then change the font and size.
About this entry
What it is
An invisible hyphen that only appears if the word actually breaks at that point.
Controlling where a long word may split in narrow columns.
Copy & use
How to copy and use soft hyphen
- 01
Copy the complete value
Use the copy button above so the value is captured without its label, description or surrounding page text.
- 02
Paste it where you need it
Controlling where a long word may split in narrow columns.
- 03
Check the final result
Apps may trim, reject or normalise invisible characters to prevent abuse. A character that works in one profile field may disappear in another, and moderation systems can change without notice.
Behaviour
How soft hyphen behaves
You cannot see whether this character arrived, so the properties that matter are the ones you can test for.
- Width
- Zero width unless a break actually happens there, at which point a hyphen appears.
- Line breaking
- Marks a permitted hyphenation point. This is conditional rendering, which makes it unlike every other character here.
- How software treats it
- Invisible in the middle of a line and visible at the end of one, which surprises people editing copy. Copying text that contains them brings the hyphens along invisibly, so pasted text may fail a comparison for no apparent reason.
- How to check it worked
- Resize the container until the word wraps at that point. If a hyphen appears where none was typed, it is there.
Common questions
Using soft hyphen
What is soft hyphen?
An invisible hyphen that only appears if the word actually breaks at that point. Controlling where a long word may split in narrow columns.
What is the code point for soft hyphen?
Soft Hyphen is Unicode U+00AD. The code point is what makes the character stable: it stays the same wherever the text is pasted, even when a different font draws it at another weight or width.
Will soft hyphen work everywhere?
Apps may trim, reject or normalise invisible characters to prevent abuse. A character that works in one profile field may disappear in another, and moderation systems can change without notice.
Can I customise soft hyphen after copying?
You can add a short label, repeat compatible symbols or trim the design to fit. Keep important spaces, line breaks and uncommon Unicode characters intact while editing.
Also known as
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