The word joiner (WJ) is a format character in Unicode used to indicate that word separation should not occur at a position, when using scripts that do not use explicit spacing. It is encoded since Unicode version 3.2 (released in 2002) as U+2060 WORD JOINER (⁠).
The word joiner does not produce any space and prohibits a line break at its position. Thus, it is a nonbreaking space with zero width.[1]
The word joiner replaces the zero-width no-break space (ZWNBSP, U+FEFF), as a usage of the no-break space of zero width. Character U+FEFF is intended for use as a byte order mark (BOM) at the start of a file. However, if encountered elsewhere, it should, according to Unicode, be treated as a zero-width no-break space. The deliberate use of U+FEFF for this purpose is deprecated as of Unicode 3.2, with the word joiner strongly preferred.[1][2]
See also
- Byte order mark, which uses U+FEFF ZERO WIDTH NO-BREAK SPACE (ZWNBSP) character
- Zero-width space
- Zero-width joiner
References
- ^ a b "Layout Controls" (PDF). The Unicode Standard, Version 12.0.0. The Unicode Consortium. p. 871.
- ^ FAQ - UTF-8, UTF-16, UTF-32 & BOM, ”What should I do with U+FEFF in the middle of a file?“.