EN:Punctuation

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Punctuation System (v0.2.7+)

luatex-cn provides a complete modern punctuation processing system with squeeze, kinsoku (line-breaking rules), vertical quote replacement, and mainland/Taiwan style support.

Punctuation System vs Judou System

luatex-cn has two mutually exclusive punctuation mechanisms:

System	Use Case	punct-mode	Description
Punctuation (this page)	Modern books	normal (default)	Squeeze, kinsoku, quote replacement
Judou	Ancient books	judou or none	Convert punct to circles/dots or remove

When punct-mode=normal, the punctuation system is active; when punct-mode=judou or none, the judou system takes over and the punctuation system is automatically disabled.

Punctuation Styles

Taiwan Style (Default)

All punctuation marks are centered within the grid cell.

\punctSetup{punct-style=taiwan}
% or
\台湾标点风格

Mainland Style

Period (。) and comma (，、) marks are offset toward the upper-right corner of the grid cell, matching mainland Chinese publishing conventions.

\punctSetup{punct-style=mainland}
% or
\大陆标点风格

Configuration

Configure punctuation behavior via \punctSetup:

\punctSetup{
    punct-style = taiwan,    % Style: taiwan or mainland
    punct-squeeze = true,    % Squeeze: compress punct to half-grid
    kinsoku = true,          % Kinsoku: prevent misplaced punct
    punct-hanging = false,   % Hanging punctuation at line end (default off)
}

Parameter	Description	Default	Values
punct-style	Punctuation style	taiwan	taiwan, mainland
punct-squeeze	Squeeze punctuation	true	true, false
kinsoku	Line-breaking rules	true	true, false
punct-hanging	Hanging punctuation at column end (see below)	false	true, false

clreq preset keys (identical to the horizontal package)

Beyond the original parameters above, \punctSetup (CN alias \标点设置) offers a set of clreq presets whose key names and values match the horizontal pipeline exactly, so one manuscript can keep the same conventions in vertical and horizontal mode:

Parameter	Description	Default	Values
style	Overall style preset; none is the clreq "no adjustment" preset (neither squeezed nor hugging)	per document class	mainland, taiwan, none
squeeze-mode	How punctuation width adjustment is decided: legacy squeezes unconditionally (the ltc-guji default, zero layout change); context is context-sensitive, triggering only on adjacent marks or column start/end (the ltc-cn-vbook / ltc-tw-vbook default)	legacy	legacy, context
adjacent-punct	Consecutive-punctuation reduction, in character widths	1.5	1.5, 1, natural
line-start-bracket	Trim half a character from the start side of an opening bracket at column start	trim	trim, natural
line-end-punct	Trim half a character from the end side of a column-final period-type mark	compress	compress, natural
western-space	Automatic 1/4-em spacing between Han characters and Western letters/digits (see "Mixed Chinese-Western text" below)	true	true, false

Context-sensitive width adjustment (clreq): a single mark between Han characters occupies a full character width; reduction happens only when marks run consecutively (2 → 1.5 widths with bracket marks involved, down to 1 with adjacent-punct=1). The direction follows the clreq principle that the side carrying the blank is the side that yields.

Glyph placement is anchored by measured ink extents rather than the font's own design: mainland style hugs the upper right in vertical mode, Taiwan style is centered in both modes. Setting mainland style with a Taiwan font (or vice versa) therefore lands where the specification says it should.

Hanging Punctuation (punct-hanging)

clreq's hanging punctuation at line end: a period-type mark that lands at the column end moves entirely out of the column, hanging beyond the type area, so the column body is no longer compressed on its account. clreq notes that hanging suits vertical writing (in horizontal Taiwan/Hong Kong style the centered marks make it inadvisable).

\punctSetup{punct-hanging=true}   % CN alias: 标点悬挂

Off by default — hanging changes the layout of existing documents, so enabling it is a per-book style decision. Only takes effect under squeeze-mode=context (the ltc-cn-vbook / ltc-tw-vbook default).

Mixed Chinese-Western Text (clreq)

CJK-Western spacing

Per clreq, a 1/4 character width of spacing is inserted automatically between Han characters and Western letters/digits, participating in line adjustment (compressible to 1/8, stretchable to 1/2). Three exceptions take no spacing: next to Chinese pause/stop marks, after an opening bracket, and before a closing bracket.

• The rules share a single source with the horizontal package (tex/shared/luatex-cn-cjk-western.lua), so both modes keep the same conventions.
• Digit runs remain unbreakable units (symbol-separation rules): base letter-spacing inside, normal CJK-Western spacing at both ends.
• Only takes effect under squeeze-mode=context; disable with western-space=false (CN alias 中西间距).

Short runs in one slot: \CombineUpright

The third configuration — "set horizontally within one character frame" (Japanese tate-chū-yoko) — is provided by \CombineUpright (CN aliases \中横排 / \中橫排): two- or three-character numbers and very short Western strings are set horizontally inside a single character slot, ideal for dates and volume numbers:

今年\CombineUpright{12}月\CombineUpright{8}日刊行。
第\CombineUpright{365}回。

The group occupies exactly one character advance and can never be split across columns; glyphs inside share one baseline and run left to right; when the total width exceeds 1 em the group is compressed horizontally only (glyph height and vertical stroke weight unchanged); the usual 1/4 em CJK-Western spacing applies on both sides. For longer words and phrases use \Sideways instead.

Sideways Western text: \Sideways

Of clreq's three configurations for Western text in vertical writing, "rotated 90° clockwise" is provided by \Sideways (CN aliases \横置 / \橫置) — suited to longer Western words and phrases; single letters and acronyms usually just sit upright, one per cell (the engine default):

引用\Sideways{LuaTeX}之名继续排版。
年份\Sideways{2026}与长词\Sideways{Typography}混排。

Letters in a sideways run join into a word (no inner letter-spacing, never stretched apart by justification), share one vertical baseline, are centered horizontally in the column, and get the usual 1/4-em CJK-Western spacing against surrounding Han characters.

Extended punctuation classes

Connector marks (～ - –), interpuncts (· ・ ‧) and solidi (/ ／) are now classified: all three obey the line-start prohibition rules, and the mainland-style interpunct · is fixed at half a character width (clreq Appendix A, GB style — as in the name divider of 爱新觉罗·玄烨), while the Taiwan style takes a full width.

Punctuation Squeeze

When enabled, periods, commas and other marks are compressed to half the grid cell height, producing a tighter, more elegant layout.

Kinsoku (Line-Breaking Rules)

Follows Chinese typesetting standards (CLREQ) to prevent marks from appearing in inappropriate positions:

• Line-start forbidden: Closing brackets, periods, commas, middle marks cannot appear at column start
• Line-end forbidden: Opening brackets cannot appear at column end

Vertical Quote Replacement

The system automatically replaces horizontal bracket/quote forms with Unicode Vertical Presentation Forms (e.g., 「→﹁, 」→﹂, （→︵, ）→︶, 《→︽, 》→︾, —→︱, …→︙).

Using with cn-vbook / tw-vbook

The ltc-cn-vbook / ltc-tw-vbook document classes enable the punctuation system by default. Choose styles via templates:

% Default template: Taiwan style
\documentclass{ltc-cn-vbook}

% Zhonghua Shuju template: Mainland style
\documentclass[中华书局]{ltc-cn-vbook}

Using with guji

The ltc-guji class also supports the punctuation system. When punct-mode=normal, it activates automatically:

\documentclass[四库全书]{ltc-guji}
\正常标点模式  % Use modern punctuation (not judou)
\punctSetup{punct-style=mainland}

Switching Between Modes

You can dynamically switch between the punctuation and judou systems:

\正常标点模式    % Modern punctuation
\句读模式        % Judou mode (circles/dots)
\无标点模式      % Plain text (no punctuation)

Technical Details

Implemented via luatex-cn-core-punct.lua in three stages:

1. Flatten: Classify punctuation characters and replace with vertical forms
2. Layout: Apply squeeze and kinsoku processing
3. Render: Apply mainland/Taiwan style position offsets

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