How to wrap long lines without spaces in HTML?

Question

If a user types in a long line without any spaces or white space, it will break formating by going wider than the current element. Something like:

HA

Answer 1

I didn't want to add libraries to my pages just for word breaking. Then I wrote a simple function which I provide below, hope it helps people.

(It is breaking by 15 characters, and applying "& shy;" between, but you can change it easily in the code)

//the function:
BreakLargeWords = function (str)
{
    BreakLargeWord = function (word)
    {
        var brokenWords = [];
        var wpatt = /\w{15}|\w/igm;
        while (wmatch = wpatt.exec(word))
        {
            var brokenWord = wmatch[0];
            brokenWords.push(brokenWord);
            if (brokenWord.length >= 15) brokenWords.push("­");
        }
        return brokenWords.join("");
    }

    var match;
    var word = "";
    var words = [];
    var patt = /\W/igm;
    var prevPos = 0;
    while (match = patt.exec(str))
    {
        var pos = match.index;
        var len = pos - prevPos;
        word = str.substr(prevPos, len);

        if (word.length > 15) word = BreakLargeWord(word);

        words.push(word);
        words.push(match[0]);
        prevPos = pos + 1;
    }
    word = str.substr(prevPos);
    if (word.length > 15) word = BreakLargeWord(word);
    words.push(word);
    var text = words.join("");
    return text;
}

//how to use
var bigText = "Why is this text this big? Lets do a wrap here! aaaaaaaaaaaaa-bbbbb-eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee";
var goodText = BreakLargeWords(bigText);