Home | Tips | Library | Other Authors | Other WP Sites | Writer's Links | Contact | Site Map

Macros, tips, and templates for Corel® WordPerfect® for Windows®
© Copyright 1996-2008 by Barry MacDonnell. All Rights Reserved.

Hyphens,
hard hyphens,
soft hyphens, and
hyphenation soft returns . . .

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 several forms of this feature.

• 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.
• 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. 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 "Assigning features to key combinations," 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 (inserted when you click Format > Line > Other codes > Soft hyphen) divides the word with a hyphen only when the word spans the hyphenation zone (which is a narrow area that surrounds the right margin of a document; see Tools > Language > Hyphenation to adjust the zone). In Reveal Codes, it produces a [- Soft Hyphen] code.
  • Assign "Hyphenation Soft" to the <Alt+hyphen> keys, if it is not already assigned to them. (See "Assigning features to key combinations," below.)
• A hyphenation soft return (inserted when you click Format >Line > Other codes > Hyphenation soft return) divides the word without using a hyphen only when the word spans the hyphenation zone. In brief, it acts like a hyphen. In Reveal Codes, it produces a [Hyph SRt] code. It is often used following a slash mark ("/") or 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 them. (See "Assigning features to key combinations," below.)

Assigning features to key combinations

The last three hyphenation items above can be assigned to the indicated keyboard combination to make them easy to access while typing. The three items are found under the Features tab in the Features category "Format," when you click on Tools > Settings > Customize > Keyboards tab > [select 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.

Notes and tips

• 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 below), 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).
• 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).