# Whitespaces In the Internet Object format, whitespace refers to any character with a Unicode code point less than or equal to `U+0020` (i.e., characters in the range `U+0000` to `U+0020`). This range includes both non-printable control characters and common whitespace characters such as the horizontal tab (`U+0009`), newline (`U+000A`), vertical tab (`U+000B`), form feed (`U+000C`), carriage return (`U+000D`), and space (`U+0020`). ## EBNF Definition ```ebnf whitespace = ascii_whitespace | unicode_whitespace ; ascii_whitespace = ? any character with Unicode code point U+0000 to U+0020 ? ; unicode_whitespace = U+1680 | U+2000 | U+2001 | U+2002 | U+2003 | U+2004 | U+2005 | U+2006 | U+2007 | U+2008 | U+2009 | U+200A | U+2028 | U+2029 | U+202F | U+205F | U+3000 | U+FEFF ; ``` In addition to the characters in the range `U+0000` to `U+0020`, the Internet Object format also includes characters in the Unicode whitespace category as whitespace. This includes characters such as the non-breaking space (`U+00A0`), em space (`U+2003`), and en space (`U+2002`), among others. Including Unicode whitespace characters can make it easier to work with text in languages that use non-Latin scripts, such as Arabic, Chinese, or Japanese. It's also worth noting that the Internet Object format recognizes the zero-width non-breaking space (`U+FEFF`) as whitespace. This character is often used as a byte order mark (BOM) in Unicode-encoded documents. ## Whitespace Characters The following table lists the valid whitespace characters: | Code Points | Description | Notes | | -------------------- | -------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | `U+0000` to `U+0020` | Space, Line Feed, Carriage Return, Tab, Bell, etc. | Any character having charCode `<=0x20` such as space. Includes ASCII space and control characters. | | `U+1680` | Ogham Space Mark | Space used in Ogham scripts. | | `U+2000` | En Quad | Space equal to the width of the lowercase letter "n". | | `U+2001` | Em Quad | Space equal to the width of the uppercase letter "M". | | `U+2002` | En Space | Space equal to half the width of the em space. | | `U+2003` | Em Space | Space equal to the width of the em space. | | `U+2004` | Three-per-Em Space | Space equal to one-third of an em space. | | `U+2005` | Four-per-Em Space | Space equal to one-quarter of an em space. | | `U+2006` | Six-per-Em Space | Space equal to one-sixth of an em space. | | `U+2007` | Figure Space | Space equal to the width of a numeral character. | | `U+2008` | Punctuation Space | Space used for punctuation. | | `U+2009` | Thin Space | Space narrower than the regular space character. | | `U+200A` | Hair Space | Very narrow space used for special purposes. | | `U+2028` | Line Separator | Character used to separate lines in text. | | `U+2029` | Paragraph Separator | Character used to separate paragraphs in text. | | `U+202F` | Narrow No-Break Space | Non-breaking space narrower than the regular space character. | | `U+205F` | Medium Mathematical Space | Space used in mathematical notation. | | `U+3000` | Ideographic Space | Space used in East Asian scripts. | | `U+FEFF` | Byte Order Mark (BOM) | Zero Width Non-Breaking Space, often used as a BOM. | ## Rules * **Whitespace Insensitive**: Internet Object is not whitespace sensitive, meaning that the parser ignores the whitespaces surrounding the values and structural elements * **String Preservation**: Any whitespace characters found within the values or strings themselves are preserved * **Unicode Code Points**: All whitespace characters are recognized based on their Unicode code points * **Reserved Characters**: All listed whitespace characters are reserved and should not be used as part of identifiers or keys ## Best Practices * **Enhance Readability**: Use whitespace characters like spaces and tabs to format your document for better readability * **Avoid Unnecessary Whitespace**: While whitespace can improve readability, excessive or unnecessary whitespace can clutter the document * **Consistent Formatting**: Maintain a consistent use of whitespace throughout the document to ensure uniformity and ease of maintenance * **Be Mindful of Invisible Characters**: Some whitespace characters, like zero-width spaces, are invisible but can affect the parsing and rendering of the document ## See Also * [**Encoding**](https://docs.internetobject.org/the-structure/encoding) - Unicode character handling and encoding * [**String Values**](https://docs.internetobject.org/the-structure/values/string) - Whitespace handling in strings --- # Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question. 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