numspace

Numspace, short for numeric space, is a typographic whitespace concept used to improve the alignment of numeric data in text, tables, and captions. The idea is to provide a space whose width matches the width of a digit in the current font, helping digits line up neatly in columns or rows, especially when digits vary in width in proportional fonts.

In Unicode and typography, the most widely recognized form of a numeric space is the figure space, encoded as U+2007. This space character has the same advance width as a digit in the font, making it useful for aligning numbers in tabular data and for spacing thousands separators in a visually consistent way. Some authors and fonts also refer to this concept as numeral space or numeric space, though numspace is not a universally standardized term.

Usage and practice vary by typesetting system. In professional typography and digital font ecosystems, numeric spaces are employed to achieve clean numerical alignment without resorting to fixed-width digits or manual spacing. They are particularly advantageous when presenting currency, statistics, or measurements in narrow columns, where decimal points and digits must align across multiple entries.

Related concepts include tabular figures (digits designed to align vertically in tables), figure space versus thin or en space, and the broader category of numeral spacing in fonts. While not every font or editor exposes a distinct “numspace” control, the underlying principle—using a digit-width space to ensure consistent numeric alignment—remains a common tool in high-quality typesetting. See also numeral spacing, figure space, Unicode U+2007.