Step 1: Determine the UTF-8 encoding bit layout
The character has the Unicode code point U+00AD. In UTF-8, it is encoded using 2 bytes because its codepoint is in the range of
0x0080to0x07ff.
Therefore we know that the UTF-8 encoding will be done over 11 bits within the final 16 bits and that it will have the format:110xxxxx 10xxxxxx
Where thexare the payload bits.UTF-8 Encoding bit layout by codepoint range Codepoint Range Bytes Bit pattern Payload length U+0000 - U+007F 1 0xxxxxxx 7 bits U+0080 - U+07FF 2 110xxxxx 10xxxxxx 11 bits U+0800 - U+FFFF 3 1110xxxx 10xxxxxx 10xxxxxx 16 bits U+10000 - U+10FFFF 4 11110xxx 10xxxxxx 10xxxxxx 10xxxxxx 21 bits Step 2: Obtain the payload bits:
Convert the hexadecimal code point U+00AD to binary:
10101101. Those are the payload bits.Step 3: Fill in the bits to match the bit pattern:
Obtain the final bytes by arranging the paylod bits to match the bit layout:
11000010 10101101
SOFT HYPHEN·U+00AD
Character Information
Code Point
U+00AD
HEX
00AD
Unicode Plane
Basic Multilingual Plane
Category
Format
Character Representations
Click elements to copy| Encoding | Hex | Binary |
|---|---|---|
| UTF8 | C2 AD | 11000010 10101101 |
| UTF16 (big Endian) | 00 AD | 00000000 10101101 |
| UTF16 (little Endian) | AD 00 | 10101101 00000000 |
| UTF32 (big Endian) | 00 00 00 AD | 00000000 00000000 00000000 10101101 |
| UTF32 (little Endian) | AD 00 00 00 | 10101101 00000000 00000000 00000000 |
HTML Entity
­
URI Encoded
%C2%AD
Description
The Unicode character U+00AD, also known as the soft hyphen (code: 173), plays a crucial role in digital typography and text processing. It functions as a visual placeholder for potential hyphenation points in words, allowing authors to indicate where automatic or manual hyphenation might occur without actually inserting a hyphen in the text. This is particularly beneficial in typesetting and word processing, ensuring optimal line breaks and improved readability across various languages and platforms. The soft hyphen does not have any cultural or linguistic significance on its own but is essential for maintaining proper formatting in written content. It belongs to the Latin-1 Supplement Unicode block (characters 128 to 255), which extends the basic Latin character set to accommodate additional symbols necessary for text formatting and typography purposes. It's essential to note that the soft hyphen is not visible when displayed; instead, it serves as an instruction for software applications to insert a hard hyphen during text rendering or layout processing. The soft hyphen can be found in the Basic Multilingual Plane (0-65535), making it widely accessible across diverse linguistic contexts and platforms.
How to type the symbol on Windows
Hold Alt and type 0173 on the numpad. Or use Character Map.