You might try using "\:", which is a zero-width break point, similar to "\%", except that it doesn't have the hyphen. I have not tested this, but you should be able to do something like "mrphl\|\:blrphl" and the two words should be separated by a thinspace that can break. At least, I think it should work.
Hope this helps. --dds -- "And finally, _thinking_ is an exercise to which all too few brains are accustomed." --E.E. "Doc" Smith, _First Lensman_ On Thu, Feb 21, 2019, 11:47 PM Dave Kemper <[email protected]> wrote: > On 2/21/19, G. Branden Robinson <[email protected]> wrote: > > At 2019-02-21T19:40:18-0600, Dave Kemper wrote: > >> As far as I can determine, groff does not offer a fixed-width, > >> breakable space. > > > > Will the digit space (\0) do? > > It would if it were breakable. > > printf '.ll 1c\na b c d e f g\n' | groff -a > printf '.ll 1c\na b c d e f g\n' | sed -E 's/ ([b-g])/\\0\1/g' | groff -a > >
