spasi

Spasi is the term used in Indonesian and Malay for the space character in text. It refers to the blank area that separates letters, words, and other elements in written content and digital data.

In typography, there are several kinds of spaces. The standard space (Unicode U+0020) is the most common. Other variants include the non-breaking space (U+00A0) that prevents a line break, and wider or narrower spaces such as the en space (U+2002) and the em space (U+2003). These spacings help with readability, justification, and alignment.

In computing and messaging, the space character is encoded as ASCII 32 and Unicode U+0020. It functions as whitespace, separating tokens in source code and text. Some contexts require different handling of spaces, such as preserving a non-breaking space in dates or numbers, or using zero-width spaces to control line breaks without visible gaps.

Common usage rules vary by language and style guide. In Indonesian typography, words are typically separated by a single space; sentences end with a period followed by a space. Some older texts or typographic traditions used two spaces after a period, but modern practice generally favors one.

In text processing, spaces are among the most common characters to handle. Tasks include trimming trailing spaces, normalizing consecutive spaces to a single space, and distinguishing ordinary spaces from non-breaking or zero-width spaces to ensure correct rendering and searchability.