On 2/22/19, Dave Kemper <[email protected]> wrote:
> On 2/21/19, G. Branden Robinson <[email protected]> wrote:
>> Will the digit space (\0) do?
>
> It would if it were breakable.
...though this brings up a good point, that the documentation should
probably be amended to explicitly state that \0, \|, and \^ are
unbreakable. I had to figure this out through experimentation.
A possible patch to do this is attached. Perhaps only the groff.texi
part of the patch should be applied; groff.7.man isn't meant to be a
comprehensive reference, and this level of detail may add unnecessary
clutter.
diff --git a/doc/groff.texi b/doc/groff.texi
index f338ec8c..6291ceb9 100644
--- a/doc/groff.texi
+++ b/doc/groff.texi
@@ -11537,8 +11537,8 @@ a line is adjusted.
@endDefesc
@Defesc {\\|, , , }
-A 1/6@dmn{th} em space. Ignored for TTY output devices (rounded to
-zero).
+A 1/6@dmn{th} em unbreakable space. Ignored for TTY output devices
+(rounded to zero).
However, if there is a glyph defined in the current font file with name
@code{\|} (note the leading backslash), the width of this glyph is used
@@ -11546,8 +11546,8 @@ instead (even for TTYs).
@endDefesc
@Defesc {\\^, , , }
-A 1/12@dmn{th} em space. Ignored for TTY output devices (rounded to
-zero).
+A 1/12@dmn{th} em unbreakable space. Ignored for TTY output devices
+(rounded to zero).
However, if there is a glyph defined in the current font file with name
@code{\^} (note the leading backslash), the width of this glyph is used
@@ -11557,7 +11557,7 @@ instead (even for TTYs).
@Defesc {\\0, , , }
@cindex space, width of a digit (@code{\0})
@cindex digit width space (@code{\0})
-A space the size of a digit.
+An unbreakable space the size of a digit.
@endDefesc
The following string sets the @TeX{} logo:
diff --git a/man/groff.7.man b/man/groff.7.man
index 24f093fe..7cc9ae8e 100644
--- a/man/groff.7.man
+++ b/man/groff.7.man
@@ -2896,15 +2896,15 @@ Unpaddable space size space glyph (no line break).
.
.TP
.ESC 0
-Digit-width space.
+Digit-width unbreakable space.
.
.TP
.ESC |
-1/6\ em narrow space glyph; zero width in nroff.
+1/6\ em narrow unbreakable space glyph; zero width in nroff.
.
.TP
.ESC ^
-1/12\ em half-narrow space glyph; zero width in nroff.
+1/12\ em half-narrow unbreakable space glyph; zero width in nroff.
.
.TP
.ESC &
