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In typography, a thin space is a space character whose width is usually 1⁄5 or 1⁄6 of an em. It is used to add a narrow space, such as between nested quotation marks or to separate glyphs that interfere with one another. It is not as narrow as the hair space. It is also used in the International System of Units and in many countries as a thousands separator when writing numbers in groups of three digits, in order to facilitate reading.^[1] It also avoids the ambiguity of the comma, used as a thousands separator in many countries but as a decimal point in Europe.

In Unicode, thin space is encoded at U+2009 THIN SPACE ( ,  ). Some text editors, such as IntelliJ IDEA and Android Studio, will display the character as its suggested abbreviation of "THSP".^[2] Unicode's U+202F   NARROW NO-BREAK SPACE is a non-breaking space with a width similar to that of the thin space.

In LaTeX and Plain TeX, \thinspace produces a narrow, non-breaking space.^[3]^[4] Inside and outside of math formulae in LaTeX, \, also produces a narrow, non-breaking space.

In all versions of LibreOffice and in some of Microsoft Word, the special characters and symbols dialog (often available via Insert > Symbol or Insert > Special Characters), has both the thin space and the narrow no-break space available for point-and-click insertion. In LibreOffice's Symbol dialog, there is an easy-to-find box field to narrow the searching; in Word's Symbol dialog, under font = "(normal text)", the characters are found in subset = "General Punctuation", Unicode character 2009 and nearby. Other word processing programs and in many Linux configurations, have ways of producing a thin space using keyboard shortcuts.

References

^ "8th edition of the SI Brochure" (PDF). Bureau International des Poids et Mesures (BIPM). Retrieved 9 October 2019.
^ Schneider, Marcel (January 13, 2020). "Proposal to extend support for abbreviations - For consideration by Unicode Technical Committee (20007-abbreviations.pdf)" (PDF).
^ Knuth, Donald E. (1986) [Incorporates the final corrections made in 1996]. The TeXbook (PDF). Illustrations by Duane Bibby. Addison Wesley. pp. 5, 352. hdl:2027/mdp.49015000850066. ISBN 978-0-201-13447-6. LCCN 85-30845. OCLC 682395096. OL 7406778M. Archived (PDF) from the original on September 24, 2004.
^ Braams, Johannes; et al. (October 1, 2015). The LaTeX 2_ε Sources (PDF) (1.2 ed.). p. 79.

[1] "8th edition of the SI Brochure" (PDF). Bureau International des Poids et Mesures (BIPM). Retrieved 9 October 2019.

[2] Schneider, Marcel (January 13, 2020). "Proposal to extend support for abbreviations - For consideration by Unicode Technical Committee (20007-abbreviations.pdf)" (PDF).

[3] Knuth, Donald E. (1986) [Incorporates the final corrections made in 1996]. The TeXbook (PDF). Illustrations by Duane Bibby. Addison Wesley. pp. 5, 352. hdl:2027/mdp.49015000850066. ISBN 978-0-201-13447-6. LCCN 85-30845. OCLC 682395096. OL 7406778M. Archived (PDF) from the original on September 24, 2004.

[4] Braams, Johannes; et al. (October 1, 2015). The LaTeX 2_ε Sources (PDF) (1.2 ed.). p. 79.

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-{{short description|space character about 1⁄5 em wide}}
+{{Short description|Space character about 1/5 em wide}}
+[[File:Example of thin space.svg|thumb|right|upright=1.4|Spacing examples.  The top row is unspaced, the middle row has a thin space between the words, and the bottom has a regular space.]]
-In [[typography]], a '''thin space''' is a [[space (punctuation)|space character]] that is usually {{frac|1|5}} or {{frac|1|6}} of an [[em (typography)|em]] in width. It is used to add a narrow space, such as between nested [[quotation mark]]s or to separate [[glyph]]s that interfere with one another. It is not as narrow as the ''[[hair space]]''. It is also used in the [[International System of Units]] and in many countries as a [[thousands separator]] when writing numbers in groups of three digits, in order to facilitate reading.<ref>{{cite web |title=8th edition of the SI Brochure |url=https://www.bipm.org/utils/common/pdf/si_brochure_8.pdf |publisher=Bureau International des Poids et Mesures (BIPM) |accessdate=9 October 2019}}</ref>
+In [[typography]], a '''thin space''' is a [[space (punctuation)|space character]] whose width is usually {{frac|1|5}} or {{frac|1|6}} of an [[em (typography)|em]]. It is used to add a narrow space, such as between nested [[quotation mark]]s or to separate [[glyph]]s that interfere with one another. It is not as narrow as the [[hair space]]. It is also used in the [[International System of Units]] and in many countries as a [[thousands separator]] when writing numbers in groups of three digits, in order to facilitate reading.<ref>{{cite web |title=8th edition of the SI Brochure |url=https://www.bipm.org/utils/common/pdf/si_brochure_8.pdf |publisher=Bureau International des Poids et Mesures (BIPM) |access-date=9 October 2019}}</ref> It also avoids the ambiguity of the comma, used as a thousands separator in many countries but as a decimal point in Europe.
-In [[Unicode]], thin space is encoded at {{unichar|2009|thin space|ulink=b:Unicode/Character_reference/2000-2FFF#ref THSP|html=}}. Unicode's {{unichar|202f|narrow no-break space|ulink=b:Unicode/Character reference/2000-2FFF#ref NNBSP|nlink=|html=}} is a [[non-breaking space]] with a width similar to that of the thin space.
+In [[Unicode]], thin space is encoded at {{unichar|2009|ulink=b:Unicode/Character_reference/2000-2FFF|html=}}. Some text editors, such as IntelliJ IDEA and Android Studio, will display the character as its suggested abbreviation of "<code><kbd>THSP</kbd></code>".<ref>{{cite web | first1=Marcel | last1=Schneider | url=https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2020/20007-abbreviations.pdf#page=1 |title= Proposal to extend support for abbreviations - For consideration by Unicode Technical Committee (20007-abbreviations.pdf) | date=January 13, 2020}}</ref> Unicode's {{unichar|202f|ulink=b:Unicode/Character reference/2000-2FFF}} is a [[non-breaking space]] with a width similar to that of the thin space.
 In [[LaTeX]] and [[Plain TeX]], <code><kbd>\thinspace</kbd></code> produces a narrow, [[non-breaking space]].<ref>{{cite book |first=Donald E. |last=Knuth |author-link=Donald E. Knuth |title=The TeXbook |publisher=Addison Wesley |date=1986 |orig-year=Incorporates the final corrections made in 1996 |pages=5, 352 |url=http://www.ctex.org/documents/shredder/src/texbook.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040924030027/http://www.ctex.org/documents/shredder/src/texbook.pdf |archive-date=September 24, 2004 |url-status=live |others=Illustrations by Duane Bibby |format=PDF |hdl=2027/mdp.49015000850066 |isbn=978-0-201-13447-6 |lccn=85-30845 |oclc=682395096 |ol=7406778M }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first1=Johannes |last1=Braams |url=http://mirrors.ibiblio.org/CTAN/macros/latex/base/source2e.pdf#page=89 |title= The LaTeX 2<sub>ε</sub> Sources |date=October 1, 2015 |edition=1.2 |page=79 |display-authors=etal}}</ref> Inside and outside of math formulae in LaTeX, <code><kbd>\,</kbd></code> also produces a narrow, non-breaking space.
-In some versions of [[Microsoft Word]], the symbol [[dialog box|dialog]] (often available via ''Insert > Symbol'' or ''Insert > Special Characters''), has both the thin space and the narrow no-break space available for point-and-click insertion. In Word's Symbol dialog, under font = "(normal text)", they are found in subset = "General Punctuation", Unicode character 2009 and nearby. Other word processing programs have ways of producing a thin space.
+In all versions of [[LibreOffice]] and in some of [[Microsoft Word]], the special characters and symbols [[dialog box|dialog]] (often available via ''Insert > Symbol'' or ''Insert > Special Characters''), has both the thin space and the narrow no-break space available for point-and-click insertion. In LibreOffice's Symbol dialog, there is an easy-to-find box field to narrow the searching; in Word's Symbol dialog, under font = "(normal text)", the characters are found in subset = "General Punctuation", Unicode character 2009 and nearby. Other word processing programs and in many Linux configurations, have ways of producing a thin space using keyboard shortcuts.
 ==See also==
 {{Wiktionary|thin space}}
 * [[Figure space]]
-* [[Whitespace character]] for additional space characters of varying widths
+* [[Whitespace character]] for additional space characters of various widths
 ==References==