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Macros, tips, and templates for Corel® WordPerfect® for Windows®
© Copyright 1996-2010 by Barry MacDonnell. All Rights Reserved.

Hyphens,
hard hyphens,
soft hyphens,
hyphenation soft returns,
and hard spaces . . .
what they are and how they work

Related pages -

Using "Other Codes" in WordPerfect (Format > Line > Other Codes)

Edit > Paste Special > Unformatted Text helps solve formatting problems when copying blocks of text or macro code from the Internet or between WordPerfect documents

"Hyphenation divides words that span the hyphenation zone, a narrow area that surrounds the right margin of a document. You can enable automatic hyphenation [see below]. You can also change the width of the hyphenation zone. Increasing the hyphenation zone hyphenates fewer words, and decreasing the hyphenation zone hyphenates more words. As well, you can create a nonbreaking ["hard"] hyphen." [- Corel WordPerfect X3 Help file.]

There are four forms of hyphenation in WordPerfect:

• A hyphen is what you get when you press the "-" key next to the "0" (zero) key. In Reveal Codes, it produces a [- Hyphen] code. Words containing hyphen codes will wrap at the hyphen to the next line. This type of hyphen is often called a "regular hyphen" to distinguish it from the other types below.
  • Note:
  • Sometimes WordPerfect's hyphens do not translate to another program, so in those cases you may want to use hard hyphens (next item below) in the source document instead of regular hyphens.
  • When you use Find and Replace to locate a hyphenated word or number, you must use the same type of hyphen in the Find and Replace fields as exists in the item to be searched in the document. Hence, to find a regular hyphen, the item must contain regular hyphens (i.e., codes). To find hard hyphens (see next section below), the item must contain hard hyphens (which are characters, not codes).
  • Macro writers: Storing a word or phrase containing regular hyphens (i.e., [-Hyphen] codes) in a variable causes the hyphen codes to be converted to hard hyphens. Therefore, to use SearchString() in a macro to find such an item, you must first use StrTransform() on the variable. See, for example, the code in the PageLine macro in the Library. See also this post at WordPerfect Universe, here, which demonstrates a macro that searches for two hyphens and replaces them with an en-dash (or em-dash).
• A hard hyphen (or "character hyphen" or "non-breaking hyphen") is what you get when you click Format, Line, Other codes, Hyphen character, or simply press <Ctrl+hyphen>. It acts like any other "real" keyboard character (a,b,c,1,2,3, etc.); therefore, it doesn't produce any code in Reveal Codes (the hyphen you see there is a text character, not a code). It is often used to "glue" compound items together such as dates (2000-2003) or part numbers (123-001) so that part of the item won't wrap to the next line. It also can be useful to ensure that hyphens are translated as hyphens in some other programs.
  • Assign "Hyphenation Character" to the <Ctrl+hyphen> keys, if it is not already assigned to them. (See the tip below.)
  • When you use Find and Replace to locate a hard-hyphenated word or number, you must use hard hyphens (not [-Hyphen] codes; see above section) in the Find and Replace fields.
• A soft hyphen divides the word with a hyphen only when the word spans the hyphenation zone, a narrow area that surrounds the right margin of a document. This can be done automatically (see Tools, Language, Hyphenation to turn automatic hyphenation on and to adjust the zone) or you can insert a soft hyphen manually wherever you decide you might need one with Format, Line, Other codes, Soft hyphen. In Reveal Codes, it produces a [- Soft Hyphen] code. This type of hyphen only becomes visible on the main screen and in print when the joined characters or words span the hyphenation zone; otherwise you won't see it (but you can still see it in Reveal Codes).
  • Assign "Hyphenation Soft" to the <Alt+hyphen> keys, if it is not already assigned to them. (See the tip below.)
• A hyphenation soft return (inserted when you click Format, Line, Other codes, Hyphenation soft return; or just <Ctrl+Shift+hyphen>) divides the word without using a hyphen only when the word spans the hyphenation zone. In brief, it acts like a hyphen by dividing a word but it does not show up on the main screen or in print. In Reveal Codes, it produces a [Hyph SRt] code. It is often used following a slash (stroke) mark ("/") or a dash to allow wrapping at that location.
  • Tip: You can use the author's SoftWrap macro to add hyphenation soft returns at appropriate locations in e-mail and web page addresses.
  • Assign "Hyphenation Soft Return" to the <Alt+hyphen>, <Ctrl+Shift+hyphen> or <Ctrl+Alt+hyphen> keys, if it is not already assigned to one of them. (See the tip below.)

What is a "hard" space?

• Hard spaces, like hard hyphens, are useful in several circumstances, to "glue" words, numbers or dates together to prevent them from splitting to the next line by word wrap.
• Hard spaces can be entered from the keyboard by pressing <Ctrl+space>. Normally, pressing the <space> key produces a space character (ASCII 32), not a WordPerfect code; pressing the hyphen key produces a WordPerfect code, not a hyphen character (ASCII 45).

Notes and tips

• Shortcut keys: Hard hyphens, soft hyphens, and hyphenation soft returns can be assigned to the indicated keyboard shortcuts (or any available shortcut keys) to make them easy to access while typing. These three items are found under the Features tab in the Features category "Format," when you click on Tools, Settings, Customize, Keyboards tab, <keyboard name>, Edit. Scroll down in the shortcut key list to find the -+Ctrl, -+Alt, etc., shortcut keys, remove the old assignment (if any), then Assign the feature to the key combination. (For more help on assigning features, macros, etc., to shortcut keys, see here.)
• Hyphenation zone. Hyphenation divides words that start before the left boundary of this zone (a narrow area that surrounds the right margin of a document) and extend past the right boundary of the zone. You can change it with Tools, Language, Hyphenation (earlier versions: Format, Line, Hyphenation). This is what the dialog looks like:
  • Enable the checkbox to turn automatic hyphenation on.
  • Adjustments. The left dotted line represents the left boundary of the hyphenation zone; the middle solid line represents the right margin; and the right dotted line represents the right boundary of the hyphenation zone. The zone is measured as a percentage of the line length (determined by the current left and right margin settings).
    • Place the cursor where you want to change the zone.
    • Specify new percentages. Increase the percentages to hyphenate fewer words; decrease the percentages to hyphenate more words.
• Re-hyphenate? If Hyphenation was turned on before you made changes, WordPerfect may prompt you to re-hyphenate some words. You can remove this message from older documents where hyphenation was previously turned on, but where it is currently turned off, with a macro: See UPDATER.
• You have to insert some of these items manually. Hard spaces (see above), regular hyphens, soft hyphens, and hyphenation soft returns must be deliberately inserted by the user in WordPerfect, while hard hyphens can be either deliberately inserted, imported from an external source, or converted by WordPerfect during certain paste operations.
• Changes WordPerfect might make without telling you. If you paste material as "unformatted text" you should note the way WordPerfect 11 and later versions treat regular hyphens, soft hyphens, hyphenation soft returns, and hard spaces from a source document. See here for more (especially under the "Notes" section on that page).