U+0009 "HT" CHARACTER TABULATION Unicode Character
Unicode Version 17.0
HT
U+0009 "HT" CHARACTER TABULATION is a control character originally derived from the tab key on typewriters and teletype machines, designed to advance the cursor or print head to the next fixed horizontal tab stop. In modern text processing, it is used to align data into columns or indent blocks of code, with its exact behavior depending on the application’s tab stop settings, typically defaulting to intervals of eight spaces. Unlike visible glyphs, this character itself has no printed representation but instead moves the active position forward, making it a fundamental tool for structuring plain text and working with tabular data.
General Properties
| Code Point | U+0009 |
| Version Added | 1.1 |
| Unicode 1.0 Name | Character Tabulation |
| Block | Basic Latin |
| General Category | Control |
| Canonical Combining Class | Not Reordered |
| Bidirectional Class | Segment Separator |
| Alias | CHARACTER TABULATION (control) HORIZONTAL TABULATION (control) HT (abbreviation) TAB (abbreviation) |
Encodings
| HTML Decimal Encoding | 	 |
| HTML Hex Encoding | 	 |
| UTF-8 Encoding | 0x09 |
| UTF-16 Encoding | 0x0009 |
| UTF-32 Encoding | 0x00000009 |
| C/C++/Java Escape | \u0009 |
Unicode Properties
| NFC Quick Check | Yes |
| NFD Quick Check | Yes |
| NFKC Quick Check | Yes |
| NFKD Quick Check | Yes |
| Numeric Type | None |
| Numeric Value | NaN |
| Line Break | Break After |
| Script | Common |
| Script Extensions | Common |
| Indic Syllabic Category | Other |
| Pattern White Space | Yes |
| White Space | Yes |
| Vertical Orientation | Rotated |
| Grapheme Cluster Break | Control |
| Word Break | Other |
| Sentence Break | Sp |