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#lang pollen
◊ ( define - meta title "white-space characters" )
◊ hanging - topic [ ( topic - from - metas metas ) ] { For control and predictability }
You ’ re now familiar with the essential alphabetic , numeric , and symbol characters . We turn to the frequently overlooked ◊ em { white - space characters } — the keyboard characters that put blank space between point A and point B .
There are six important white - space characters: the ◊ xref { word space } , the ◊ xref { nonbreaking space } , the ◊ link [ "tabs-and-tab-stops.html" ] { tab } , the ◊ xref { hard line break } , the ◊ xref { carriage return } , and the ◊ xref { hard page break } .
◊ ( omission )
“ But if all white space looks the same when printed , why should I care ? ” Two reasons: ◊ em { control } and ◊ em { predictability } .
◊ em { Control } means you get the intended result with the minimum keystrokes . Suppose you need a paragraph to start at the top of the next page . What do you do ? If you use a hard page break rather than a sequence of carriage returns , you get the job done with one keystroke .
◊ em { Predictability } means that as you edit and reformat , you ’ ll always get the same result . If you approximate a hard page break with carriage returns , at some point in your editing , your text will reflow and you ’ ll have a large , unexpected gap where you intended a page break . Then you ’ ll have a new problem to diagnose and fix . But a hard page break will always do the right thing .
The time you invest in learning how to use white - space characters will be paid back in layouts that snap together faster and require less fiddling .