SymbolHub

Non-Breaking Hyphen (‑)

The non-breaking hyphen ‑ is Unicode U+2011, the typographical hyphen that prevents line breaks between compound words and codes. Press Copy to put it on your clipboard.

Unicode
U+2011
HTML
‑
Word
2011 Alt+X

How to type the non-breaking hyphen (‑)

The quickest way is to press Copy above and paste. To type ‑ yourself, use the method for your device below.

Windows

  1. In Word or Outlook, type 2011 and press Alt + X. Alt + X converts the hex code before the cursor into the character, and back again.
  2. Press Win + R, type charmap and press Enter. Tick “Advanced view”, search for Non-Breaking Hyphen, then Select and Copy. Character Map is built into every version of Windows.

Mac

  1. Press Control + Command + Space to open the Character Viewer, search for non breaking hyphen and double-click it.
  2. With the Unicode Hex Input keyboard enabled (System Settings → Keyboard → Input Sources), hold Option and type 2011.

Linux & ChromeOS

  1. Press Ctrl + Shift + U, type 2011, then press Enter or Space. Works in GTK and IBus apps (GNOME, Firefox, Chrome, LibreOffice) and on ChromeOS.

iPhone & iPad

  1. Copy ‑ from this page, then go to Settings → General → Keyboard → Text Replacement and add it with a shortcut such as ;non. The shortcut then turns into the symbol as you type, in every app.

Android

  1. Copy ‑ here, then open Gboard settings → Dictionary → Personal dictionary and add it with a shortcut.

Microsoft Word

  1. Type 2011, then press Alt + X.
  2. Insert → Symbol → More Symbols. Set “from” to Unicode (hex), type 2011 in “Character code” and click Insert.

Google Docs

  1. Insert → Special characters, then search for “non breaking hyphen” or draw it in the box.

Excel & Google Sheets

  1. Enter =UNICHAR(8209) in a cell. It works in Excel 2013 and later and in Google Sheets.

HTML

  1. Write ‑ or ‑ in your HTML.

What does ‑ mean?

The non-breaking hyphen (‑, Unicode U+2011) is a specialized typographical formatting mark engineered to prevent automatic line breaks across compound words, hyphenated surnames, and technical identifiers. While a standard keyboard hyphen invites web browsers and typesetting engines to wrap text at its boundary, a non-breaking hyphen acts as glue, ensuring that both elements remain united on the same line.

Professional editors and web designers depend on the non-breaking hyphen for hyphenated family names (e.g. Smith‑Jones), flight and product numbers (Boeing 737‑800), and telephone or ISBN codes where splitting across margins would disrupt reading comprehension. Compare its layout utility with the en dash, the long em dash, and the tabular figure dash in our complete dash symbols collection.

Common uses

  • Hyphenated surnames preventing awkward splits across margins: “Catherine Zeta‑Jones”
  • Commercial product codes and aircraft models: “Cisco ASA 5505‑X”, “Airbus A320‑200”
  • Telephone numbers and chemical formulas: “1‑800‑555‑0199”, “1,2‑dichloroethane”

Non-Breaking Hyphen codes for HTML, CSS and programming

Every code below produces ‑. Use the HTML entity in web pages, the CSS escape in content, and the escape sequence in source code.

Unicode code pointU+2011
HTML decimal‑
HTML hex‑
CSS contentcontent: "\2011";
JavaScript"\u2011"
Python"\u2011"
Python (by name)"\N{NON-BREAKING HYPHEN}"
Java / C#"\u2011"
UTF-8 bytesE2 80 91
UTF-162011
URL encoded%E2%80%91

‑ vs look-alike characters

These characters look similar to ‑ but have a different meaning and code. Pasting the wrong one can break search, sorting and screen readers.

CharNameWhen to use it
Hyphen-Minus
U+002D		Hyphen-minus (U+002D). Standard ASCII key that permits line wrapping at column edges.
En Dash
U+2013		En dash (U+2013). Longer dash used for spans and date ranges rather than hyphenated compounds.
Figure Dash
U+2012		Figure dash (U+2012). Matched to numerical digit width for aligned telephone directories.

Symbols similar to ‑

Click to copy, or open a symbol for its codes. See the full dash symbols collection.

‑ character properties

Official Unicode name
NON-BREAKING HYPHEN
Also known as
hard hyphen, no-break hyphen, unbreakable hyphen
Code point
U+2011
Unicode block
General Punctuation (U+2000–U+206F)
General category
Dash punctuation (Pd)
Added in
Unicode 1.1 (1993)
Plane
Basic Multilingual Plane (0)
Emoji
No, it is a text symbol

Frequently asked questions

Why use a non-breaking hyphen?

A non-breaking hyphen guarantees that hyphenated names, product codes, or telephone numbers will never be broken in half across two lines of text at the right margin.

How do I type a non-breaking hyphen in Word and Docs?

In Microsoft Word, press Ctrl + Shift + Hyphen (-). In Google Docs, use Insert → Special characters and search for “non-breaking hyphen”. In HTML, write ‑.

Does a non-breaking hyphen look different from a normal hyphen?

In almost all fonts, the non-breaking hyphen renders with the exact same width and visual weight as a regular hyphen; its difference is purely functional in layout flow.

Is there an alt code for the non-breaking hyphen?

No. ‑ is outside the Windows-1252 and code page 437 character sets, so no Alt + number code produces it. Copy it from this page, type 2011 then Alt + X in Word, or find it in Character Map.

How do I type the non-breaking hyphen on a Mac?

There is no single Option shortcut for ‑ on the US layout. Press Control + Command + Space to open the Character Viewer, search for “non breaking hyphen” and double-click it, or copy it from this page.

What is the HTML code for the non-breaking hyphen?

‑ has no named HTML entity. Use the numeric reference ‑ or ‑, or paste the character directly into a UTF-8 page.

What is the Unicode for the non-breaking hyphen?

‑ is U+2011, officially named NON-BREAKING HYPHEN, in the General Punctuation block. It has been part of Unicode since version 1.1 (1993).