U+00A0 · Latin-1 Supplement

Non-Breaking Space

The no-break space looks exactly like an ordinary space but stops a line from wrapping at that point, keeping the words or numbers on either side together. Typesetters and web authors use it between a number and its unit, after honorifics, inside dates, and before French punctuation. In HTML it is also the classic way to force extra visible spacing that browsers would otherwise collapse.

WindowsAlt 255 / 0160

UnicodeU+00A0

HTML

U+00A0

Character codes

Unicode code point	`U+00A0`
Decimal	`160`
HTML named entity
HTML (hex)
HTML (decimal)
CSS	`\00A0`
JavaScript	`\u00A0`
Python	`\u00A0`
UTF-8 bytes	`C2 A0`
UTF-16	`00A0`
URL-encoded	`%C2%A0`

Character details

Official name	NO-BREAK SPACE
Unicode block	Latin-1 Supplement
General category	Space Separator (Zs)
SymbolHero category	Spaces & Invisible Characters
Decomposition	`<noBreak> U+0020`
Emoji	No

How to type the Non-Breaking Space

Windows

Hold Alt and type 255 on the numeric keypad (Num Lock on), then release Alt. Alt 255 uses the code page 437.
Hold Alt and type 0160 on the numeric keypad (Num Lock on), then release Alt. Alt 0160 uses the Windows-1252 code page.
In Microsoft Word or Outlook: type 00A0 then press Alt + X.
Open Character Map (search “Character Map” in Start), tick “Advanced view”, search for “no-break space”, then Select and Copy.

Mac

Press Control + Command + Space to open the Character Viewer, search “no-break space”, and double-click the result.
With the Unicode Hex Input keyboard enabled (System Settings → Keyboard → Input Sources), hold Option and type 00A0.

iPhone & Android

Tap Copy at the top of this page, then long-press where you want it and choose Paste.

Docs & web

Google Docs: Insert → Special characters, then search “no-break space” or enter U+00A0.
HTML: or
Excel / Google Sheets: =UNICHAR(160)

Examples

Placed between a number and its unit so '100 km' never splits across two lines
Used after titles like 'Dr.' or 'Mr.' so the name stays on the same line
Inserted before a French question mark or colon, as French typography requires
Written as in HTML to keep a phone number or date from wrapping

Good to know

Don’t mix it up: Often confused with the regular space (U+0020); they look identical, but text search, form validation, and code parsers treat them differently, which causes hard-to-spot bugs.

Tip: If copied text refuses to match in a search or spreadsheet formula, a hidden no-break space is a common culprit; paste the text into a code-point inspector to find it.

Display: the character itself is always the same code point, but its shape comes from the font on the device showing it. If you see an empty box, the font lacks this glyph—the text is still correct.