Re: \: re-enables hyphenation--should it?

[Larry Kollar]

On Jul 31, 2020, at 6:41 PM, Dave Kemper <saint.snit@gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> On 7/31/20, Larry Kollar <larry.kollar@me.com> wrote:
>> It’s a space, which I would presume ends a word. A zero-width space,
>> by definition, but still a space.
> 
> I suppose that depends where you're getting your definition.  The
> groff(7) man page and the Texinfo manual define \: as a "zero-width
> break point," which does not suggest the observed behavior in the way
> your alternate definition does.
> 
> groff(7) calls \& a "non-printable, zero-width glyph" but the Texinfo
> manual calls it a "zero-width space."  However, \& does not have the
> hyphenation-resetting property that \: does.

OK, I guess I should have checked before trying to work from memory. :)

So you've tried using \& in place of \: to control breaking? Does it work
better?

— Larry