How do I bind a minus sign to a number to remain on same line?

[baugd]

I want to bind a minus sign to a number so that the entire construct remains
on the same line and not split between two lines (e.g., -21% on same line
versus - on one line and 21% on next line).

Thanks,
Drew Baughman

 

[DeanH]

You use a Non-Breaking-Hyphen. Press Ctrl+Shft+Hyphen to create.
Hope this helps
DeanH

 

[Yves Dhondt]

Strictly speaking, Ctrl+Shift+Hyphen defines an open xml noBreakHypen
element which only exists in Word. This is neither a non-breaking hyphen nor
a non-breaking minus sign. There does exist a real non-breaking hyphen
(U+2011) and a minus sign (U+2212).

You should try displaying the three symbols next to each other on a line in
Word to see the difference.

Yves

 

[Peter T. Daniels]

Hyphen isn't acceptable as a minus sign (en-dash, which is Ctrl-minus
on the keypad, is) -- but Suzanne has discovered (and I confirmed)
that the minus sign identified by Yves _is_ a non-breaking minus. Type
2212 on the regular keyboard and press Alt-X. If you're going to use
it a lot, open Insert Symbol (if the character is selected, Insert
Symbol will open right to it) and assign a keyboard shortcut (button
left of middle on the bottom of the Insert Symbol panel).

 

[DeanH]

Hi Yves and Peter, many thanks for you comments, and yes I have never really
been happy with the Ctrl+Shift+Hyphen. The U+2212 works well and is
non-breaking as you say, but I tend not to use minus signs that much in my
work.
Nnon-breaking hypens I do, unfortunately the U+2011 does not bring up the
hyphen but a square box. Checking my Symbol listing and 2011 is not in the
General Punctuation listing, going from 200F (Right to Left Mark) to 2013 (En
Dash).
Any ideas?
DeanH

 

[Peter T. Daniels]

Are you using a font from a less than reputable source? Have you tried
the standard fonts?

When you have typed Ctrl-Shift-Hyphen and Show Non-Printing
Characters, do you see an en-dash? (Similarly, the optional hyphen
used for forcing a word to break at only a specific point, Ctrl-
Hyphen, shows up as logical-not sign.)

 

[DeanH]

Hi Peter.
All the fonts are standard MS issue, the only addition is a corporate font
based on Helvetica. The fonts I have tried in the symbol listing include
Arial, TNR, Helvetica, and the corporate font, as well as (normal text) and
the option for 2011, Alt+X does not appear.
I tend to work with Non-printing Characters always showing and the
Ctrl+Shift+Hyphen does look like an En Dash, only a little thinner if viewed
at high zoom (200%).
Correct the optional hyphenation sign is the NOT sign (00AC or Shft+`).
DeanH

 

[Peter T. Daniels]

I take no position on the special nonbreaking hyphen character at
2011. Didn't Word have such a thing before Unicode was invented, so it
would still use its old technique rather than try to accommodate the
new invention?

Selecting a nonbreaking hyphen inserted the traditional way yields no
code at all with Alt-X, showing that it is indeed a Word artifact and
not a special character. (Likewise for soft hyphen.)

 

[DeanH]

Yves, thanks for the response. As you can probably see from the other
postings, I cannot find U+2011 in the symbols listing.
I am on 2003/XP does this affect the listing?
DeanH

 

[Yves Dhondt]

It will depend on the available fonts and their version.

I noticed on Word 2007, when I use the default font (Calibri) and type 2011,
ALT+X, my font gets automatically switched to MS Gothic. I'm guessing this
is the work of uniscribe behind the curtains, but I can't say for sure.

On my system, the following fonts seem to support U+2011:
Arial Unicode MS
Lucida Sans Unicode
Meiryo
MS Gothic
MS Mincho
MS PGothic
MS PMincho
MS UI Gothic
Palatino Linotype

According to http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/help/HA011872311033.aspx you
should have at least 2 of these, but they might be the wrong versions:
Arial Unicode MS
Palatino Linotype

Yves

 

[DeanH]

Yves, many thanks. I have found the non-breaking hyphen 2011 character under
Arial Unicode MS, Lucida Sans Unicode and Palatino Linotype.
Thanks again, all the best.
DeanH