Editing Khmer script (section)

== Spacing and punctuation ==

[[Space (typography)|Spaces]] are not used between all words in written Khmer. Spaces are used within sentences in roughly the same places as [[comma]]s might be in English, although they may also serve to set off certain items such as numbers and proper names.

Western-style [[punctuation mark]]s are quite commonly used in modern Khmer writing, including French-style [[guillemet]]s for [[Non-English usage of quotation marks|quotation marks]]. However, traditional Khmer punctuation marks are also used; some of these are described in the following table.

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center"
! Mark
! Khmer name
! Function
|-
| <big>{{lang|km|។}}</big>
| {{lang|km|ខណ្ឌ}} ''khând''
| style="text-align:left;" | Used as a [[Full stop|period]] (the sign resembles an [[eighth rest]] in music writing). However, consecutive sentences on the same theme are often separated only by spaces.
|-
|<big>{{lang|km|៘}}</big>
| {{lang|km|ល៉ៈ}} ''lăk''
| style="text-align:left;" | Equivalent to ''[[etc.]]''
|-
|<big>{{lang|km|ៗ}}</big>
| {{lang|km|លេខទោ}} ''lékh toŭ'' <br/>("figure two")
| style="text-align:left;" | Duplication sign (similar in form to the [[#Numerals|Khmer numeral]] for 2). It indicates that the preceding word or phrase is to be repeated ([[reduplication|duplicated]]), a common feature in Khmer syntax.
|-
|<big>{{lang|km|៕}}</big>
| {{lang|km|បរិយោសាន}} ''bârĭyoŭsan''
| style="text-align:left;" | A period used to end an entire text or a chapter.
|-
|<big>{{lang|km|៚}}</big>
| {{lang|km|គោមូត្រ}} ''koŭmutr'' <br/>("cow urine")
| style="text-align:left;" | A period used at the end of poetic or religious texts.
|-
|<big>{{lang|km|៙}}</big>
| {{lang|km|ភ្នែកមាន់}} ''phnêk moăn'' <br/>("cock's eye")
| style="text-align:left;" | A symbol (said to represent the elephant trunk of [[Ganesha]]) used at the start of poetic or religious texts.
|-
| <big>{{lang|km|៖}}</big>
|{{lang|km|ចំណុចពីរគូស}} ''châmnŏch pir kus'' <br/>"two dots (and a) line"
| style="text-align:left;" | Used similarly to a [[colon (punctuation)|colon]]. (The middle line distinguishes this sign from a [[#Diacritics|diacritic]].)
|}

A [[hyphen]] ({{lang|km|សហសញ្ញា}} ''sâhâ sânhnhéa'') is commonly used between components of personal names, and also as in English when a word is divided between lines of text. It can also be used between numbers to denote ranges or dates. Particular uses of Western-style periods include grouping of digits in large numbers (see ''[[#Numerals|Numerals]]'' hereinbefore) and denotation of [[abbreviation]]s.