Soft Hyphen ­

The Soft Hyphen character (­) is a standard HTML entity defined in the HTML specification. In HTML source code, it can be written using the named entity reference ­, the decimal numeric character reference ­, or the hexadecimal numeric reference ­. The character is assigned Unicode code point U+00AD in the Universal Character Set.

The soft hyphen is an invisible character that marks a permissible line-break point within a word. It has no visible effect unless the word needs to be broken at a line end, at which point it appears as a regular hyphen. It is a powerful tool for controlling word wrapping in responsive web layouts.

Punctuation and whitespace entities are among the most frequently used HTML entities in web development. They handle characters that either have special meaning in HTML syntax — such as angle brackets and ampersands — or represent typographic characters that improve the visual quality of text, like em dashes and curly quotes. Proper use of punctuation entities is essential for producing valid, well-formed HTML documents and achieving professional-looking typography on the web.

When deciding how to encode the Soft Hyphen character in your HTML documents, the named entity ­ is generally the most readable choice for developers reviewing or maintaining source code. The decimal form ­ and hexadecimal form ­ are equally valid alternatives that work in contexts where named entities may not be supported, or when generating HTML output programmatically from server-side code. All three representations produce identical visual output in every modern web browser.

Use the soft hyphen inside long words or compound terms to suggest where the browser can break the word if it doesn't fit on one line. This is particularly useful in narrow columns, responsive layouts, and for long technical terms or URLs. The CSS property hyphens: auto provides an alternative automatic approach.