Word Break

Unicode Version 18.0

Word Break is a character classification that defines where text can be split between words or phrases during line breaking and text segmentation, particularly for languages like Chinese, Japanese, and Thai that lack spaces. It assigns each character to a category such as Alphabetic, Numeric, Katakana, or Ideographic, along with special rules for combining marks, punctuation, and emoji sequences. The algorithm uses these categories to determine boundaries, preventing breaks inside numbers like “3,000” or within a base letter and its combining accents, while allowing breaks between Han ideographs or after certain punctuation. It also handles complex cases like emoji ZWJ sequences and regional indicator pairs, ensuring that sequences such as family emojis or flags are treated as single units. By following a defined set of rules, Word Break enables consistent, locale aware text wrapping across different platforms and applications.

Alphabetic letter
Abbr
LE
Count
34488

Alphabetic letter is a Word Break value classifying individual letters, like 'A' or 'ä', as standalone units for line breaking and text segmentation.

CARRIAGE RETURN
Abbr
CR
Count
1

CARRIAGE RETURN is a Word Break value that forces a line break, separating words or characters before and after it.

Double Quote
Abbr
DQ
Count
1

Double Quote is a MidNumLet, meaning it stays between letters and numbers without breaking lines, like in “don’t” or “3”x”.

E Base
Abbr
EB
Count
0

E Base is a word break class marking emoji bases, like people or objects, that can combine with emoji modifiers.

E Base GAZ
Abbr
EBG
Count
0

E Base GAZ is a Word Break value indicating an emoji base that absorbs following variation selectors and modifiers, preventing breaks.

E Modifier
Abbr
EM
Count
0

E Modifier is a Word Break value that marks letters requiring a spacing modifier after them, preventing breaks before that following modifier.

Extend
Abbr
Extend
Count
2684

Extend is a Word Break value for characters that continue a grapheme cluster, like combining marks, without starting a new word.

Extend Num Let
Abbr
EX
Count
11

Extend Num Let is a Word Break value that treats numeric characters followed by certain extenders as a single unit, preventing breaks between them.

Format
Abbr
FO
Count
58

Format is a Word Break value indicating characters that are invisible or control-like, thus treated as ignorable for line breaking and word segmentation.

Glue after zero width joiner
Abbr
GAZ
Count
0

Glue after zero width joiner is the Word Break value that prevents a line break after a zero width joiner, keeping the joined sequence intact.

Hebrew Letter
Abbr
HL
Count
75

Hebrew Letter is a Word Break value that keeps sequences of Hebrew characters together as a single unit, preventing line breaks within them.

Katakana
Abbr
KA
Count
337

Katakana is a word break value used to mark sequences of katakana characters as a single unit, preventing breaks between them.

LF
Abbr
LF
Count
1

LF is a Word Break value indicating a line feed character, which forces a line break and prevents any adjacent characters from forming a word.

Mid Letter
Abbr
ML
Count
9

Mid Letter is a word break value that prevents breaks between letters and certain punctuation like colons, commas, and middle dots.

Mid Num
Abbr
MN
Count
13

Mid Num is a Word Break value that keeps a numeric sequence intact by preventing breaks before or after certain punctuation marks like commas and periods.

Mid Num Let
Abbr
MB
Count
7

Mid Num Let is a Word Break value marking characters like middle dots that keep numeric sequences intact without splitting them.

Newline
Abbr
NL
Count
5

Newline is a Word Break value that marks line breaks, carriage returns, and line separators, which are used to separate lines in text.

Numeric
Abbr
NU
Count
784

Numeric is a Word Break value indicating that a character represents a number, like digits or numeric symbols, affecting line breaking.

Other
Abbr
XX
Count
271825

Other is a catchall for characters that don’t fit any specific word break rule, like symbols or unassigned code points.

Regional Indicator
Abbr
RI
Count
26

Regional Indicator is a Word Break value marking two regional letter characters that combine to denote a country or region flag.

Single Quote
Abbr
SQ
Count
1

Single Quote is used to separate words in specific languages, often acting as a punctuation mark that influences line breaking and text segmentation.

WSegSpace
Abbr
WSegSpace
Count
14

WSegSpace is a formatting character, typically a space, that prevents line breaks between adjacent words or syllables.

ZERO WIDTH JOINER
Abbr
ZWJ
Count
1

ZERO WIDTH JOINER is used to link characters, like emoji, into a single visual unit without adding any visible space or width.