[ellatrix]

What?

Closes #85768

When a non-breaking space sits next to a space, or at the start or end of a line, the "Replace non-breaking spaces" button removes it instead of turning it into a space. Regular spaces are never removed. The dots marking non-breaking spaces are now the admin theme color (blue by default) instead of red.

Why?

Non-breaking spaces often sit next to regular spaces, for example word   word. Replacing it gave three regular spaces in a row. HTML shows them as one, so the replaced space added nothing, and the editor (which uses white-space: pre-wrap) showed an extra wide gap until reload.

The red dot also looked like an error, while a non-breaking space is usually fine.

How?

1. Non-breaking spaces in the range become regular spaces, as before.
2. Going from right to left, each of them that now has a space, a line break, or the edge of the text next to it is removed. This uses remove() from @wordpress/rich-text, so formats stay in place.
3. Regular spaces that were already there are left alone. So word   word becomes word word, which HTML shows with one space.
4. The dot uses var(--wp-admin-theme-color).

Which non-breaking spaces get replaced (the selection, or next to the caret) is unchanged.

Testing Instructions

Open the demo post in Playground

1. Click into the paragraph. The non-breaking spaces show as blue dots.
2. Put the caret right after the dot following "non-breaking".
3. Hover the active button in the block toolbar: it reads "Replace non-breaking space". Click it. The dot is gone and only the two regular spaces that were there before are left.
4. Select the whole paragraph text. The button now reads "Replace non-breaking spaces". Click it. The three dots after "when" are removed, and the regular spaces between them stay.
5. Save and reload. The text looks the same.

Testing Instructions for Keyboard

1. Do step 2 with the arrow keys.
2. Press Alt+F10 (Option+F10 on Mac) to move to the block toolbar, go to "Replace non-breaking space" with the arrow keys, and press Enter.
3. Focus goes back to the paragraph and the dot is gone.

Screenshots or screencast

	Before	After
Caret next to the space
After clicking the button

The new e2e test, "should remove non-breaking spaces that would collapse when replaced", fails on trunk with one two (three spaces) instead of one two (the two regular spaces). The test from #85777 now expects one two, since both non-breaking spaces there sit next to each other.

Use of AI Tools

Authored by Claude (Opus 5.5) in collaboration with @ellatrix.

🤖 Generated with Claude Code

[github-actions]

🤖 PR meta 🤖

🎉 Props

If you're merging code through a pull request on GitHub, copy and paste the following into the bottom of the merge commit message.

Co-authored-by: ellatrix <ellatrix@git.wordpress.org>
Co-authored-by: Mamaduka <mamaduka@git.wordpress.org>
Co-authored-by: singhakanshu00 <akanshusingh@git.wordpress.org>
Co-authored-by: hanneslsm <hanneslsm@git.wordpress.org>
Co-authored-by: andreawetzel <awetz583@git.wordpress.org>

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📦 Bundle size

Size Change: +61 B (0%)

Total Size: 8.57 MB

📦 View Changed

Filename	Size	Change
build/scripts/format-library/index.min.js	79.3 kB	+72 B (+0.09%)
build/styles/block-editor/content-rtl.css	6 kB	-2 B (-0.03%)
build/styles/block-editor/content-rtl.min.css	4.47 kB	-3 B (-0.07%)
build/styles/block-editor/content.css	6 kB	-3 B (-0.05%)
build/styles/block-editor/content.min.css	4.46 kB	-3 B (-0.07%)

_{1afa342 Run}

⚡ Performance

Show the results

Client side metrics exclude the server response time.

front-end-block-theme

Metric	832145f	trunk	% Change
timeToFirstByte	56.7 ms +3.09% -1.76%	54.95 ms +11.56% -3.91%	3.18%
largestContentfulPaint	96 ms +8.33% -4.17%	90 ms +6.67% -2.22%	6.67%
lcpMinusTtfb	36.4 ms +20.33% -5.91%	34.4 ms +13.66% -5.81%	5.81%
wpBeforeTemplate	29.81 ms +11.34% -3.69%	28.68 ms +15.55% -1.88%	3.94%
wpTemplate	22.53 ms +5.5% -3.51%	22.28 ms +6.28% -5.48%	1.12%
wpTotal	52.89 ms +2.72% -2.1%	50.97 ms +12.6% -3.49%	3.77%
wpMemoryUsage	7.70 MB +0% -0%	7.67 MB +0% -0%	0.43%
wpDbQueries	16 +0% -0%	16 +0% -0%	0%

front-end-classic-theme

Metric	832145f	trunk	% Change
timeToFirstByte	42.2 ms +5.81% -3.08%	41.9 ms +5.01% -3.1%	0.72%
largestContentfulPaint	90 ms +2.22% -2.22%	88 ms +4.55% -0%	2.27%
lcpMinusTtfb	47.6 ms +4.31% -1.47%	46.9 ms +1.92% -2.45%	1.49%
wpBeforeTemplate	26.1 ms +2.68% -0.46%	26.13 ms +2.56% -0.73%	-0.11%
wpTemplate	12.7 ms +3.94% -5.35%	12.57 ms +6.21% -5.73%	1.03%
wpTotal	39.21 ms +6.66% -3.09%	38.6 ms +5.83% -1.97%	1.58%
wpMemoryUsage	6.28 MB +0% -0%	6.25 MB +0% -0%	0.54%
wpDbQueries	9 +0% -0%	9 +0% -0%	0%

media-processing

Metric	832145f	trunk	% Change
mediaProcessingJpeg	398.72 ms +1.23% -0.8%	401.65 ms +1.07% -0.91%	-0.73%
mediaProcessingAvif	6131.4 ms +0.35% -0.27%	6136.39 ms +0.1% -0.34%	-0.08%
mediaProcessingJpegToAvif	4228.73 ms +0.21% -0.36%	4216.48 ms +0.06% -0.53%	0.29%

media-upload

Metric	832145f	trunk	% Change
jpegUploadProcessing	1954.77 ms +0.82% -24.3%	1478.68 ms +3.2% -1.91%	32.2%
pngUploadProcessing	169.19 ms +9.65% -4.07%	191.74 ms +31.59% -6.2%	-11.76%
largeJpegUploadProcessing	1935.02 ms +1.44% -24.24%	1459.6 ms +1.4% -0.49%	32.57%
multipleImageUploadProcessing	2051.73 ms +1.79% -0.47%	2034.3 ms +1.06% -0.68%	0.86%

post-editor

Metric	832145f	trunk	% Change
serverResponse	450.09 ms +2.68% -9%	456.8 ms +2.17% -8.06%	-1.47%
firstPaint	366.66 ms +26.04% -18.64%	414.87 ms +21.23% -45.6%	-11.62%
domContentLoaded	877.24 ms +2.32% -1.81%	881.96 ms +0.54% -0.65%	-0.54%
loaded	878.51 ms +2.31% -1.8%	883.01 ms +0.56% -0.63%	-0.51%
firstContentfulPaint	511.71 ms +1.87% -4.02%	509.62 ms +1.64% -2.96%	0.41%
firstBlock	2655.29 ms +1.74% -1.09%	2671.88 ms +1.03% -0.53%	-0.62%
type	19.66 ms +3.41% -7.73%	19.04 ms +5.04% -7.83%	3.26%
typeWithoutInspector	18.67 ms +3.7% -7.93%	19.18 ms +8.34% -8.6%	-2.66%
typeWithTopToolbar	26.16 ms +7% -8.6%	25.02 ms +5.76% -8.87%	4.56%
typeContainer	9.27 ms +2.91% -8.09%	8.93 ms +8.17% -5.04%	3.81%
focus	127.19 ms +4.5% -7.2%	122.61 ms +1.99% -2.01%	3.74%
firstFocus	265.87 ms +0% -0%	269.58 ms +0% -0%	-1.38%
selectAll	380.61 ms +8.98% -2.04%	372.23 ms +1.24% -4.01%	2.25%
undo	31.47 ms +6.96% -2.64%	31.2 ms +7.31% -3.01%	0.87%
listViewOpen	81.25 ms +2.73% -6.01%	76.51 ms +10.64% -9.41%	6.2%
inserterOpen	48.28 ms +2.17% -5.16%	45.17 ms +2.19% -3.7%	6.89%
inserterHover	12.48 ms +8.09% -5.93%	12.72 ms +4.17% -11.79%	-1.89%
inserterSearch	9.2 ms +8.37% -9.57%	9.96 ms +6.93% -2.71%	-7.63%
loadPatterns	705.26 ms +4.35% -2.71%	726.29 ms +5.58% -3.74%	-2.9%
wpTotal	440.39 ms +2.76% -9.33%	446.41 ms +2.37% -8.07%	-1.35%
wpMemoryUsage	14.73 MB +0% -0%	14.72 MB +0% -0%	0.1%
wpDbQueries	55 +0% -1.82%	55 +0% -1.82%	0%

site-editor

Metric	832145f	trunk	% Change
serverResponse	342.81 ms +1.42% -5.59%	334.83 ms +2.64% -6.91%	2.38%
firstPaint	202.18 ms +15.12% -11.66%	223.13 ms +31.59% -8.76%	-9.39%
domContentLoaded	706.98 ms +1.96% -0.68%	692.87 ms +2.81% -1.31%	2.04%
loaded	707.99 ms +1.96% -0.68%	694.17 ms +2.73% -1.33%	1.99%
firstContentfulPaint	403.61 ms +1.51% -3.69%	384.05 ms +7.97% -6.49%	5.09%
firstBlock	2830.93 ms +1.8% -0.56%	2782.1 ms +2.65% -1.56%	1.76%
type	14.64 ms +12.3% -8.47%	16.08 ms +3.17% -10.14%	-8.96%
navigate	88.7 ms +17.22% -0.37%	89.41 ms +15.73% -3.98%	-0.79%
loadPatterns	933.27 ms +19.76% -6.21%	1015.33 ms +10.82% -10.12%	-8.08%
loadPages	1001.01 ms +2.93% -6.22%	1034.29 ms +0.47% -2.41%	-3.22%
wpTotal	334.16 ms +1.39% -5.6%	326.32 ms +2.65% -7.25%	2.4%
wpMemoryUsage	12.77 MB +0% -0%	12.73 MB +0% -0%	0.27%
wpDbQueries	44 +2.27% -0%	44.5 +1.12% -1.12%	-1.12%

_{1afa342 Run}

🏁 Flaky tests

Some tests passed with failed attempts. The failures may not be related to this commit but are still reported for visibility. See the documentation for more information.

Undo restores the post selection when another synced entity is loaded (RTC WebSocket) in /test/e2e/specs/editor/collaboration/collaboration-undo-redo.spec.ts, passed after 1 failed attempt.

Error: expect(received).toMatchObject(expected)

- Expected  - 2
+ Received  + 2

  Object {
    "attributeKey": "content",
    "blockIndex": 0,
    "content": "abcdef",
-   "endOffset": 3,
-   "offset": 3,
+   "endOffset": 6,
+   "offset": 6,
  }

Call Log:
- Timeout 5000ms exceeded while waiting on the predicate
    at /home/runner/work/gutenberg/gutenberg/test/e2e/specs/editor/collaboration/collaboration-undo-redo.spec.ts:363:5

inserts a block in proper place after having clicked `Browse All` from inline inserter in /test/e2e/specs/editor/various/inserting-blocks.spec.js, passed after 1 failed attempt.

TimeoutError: locator.click: Timeout 10000ms exceeded.
Call log:
  - waiting for getByRole('button', { name: 'Add block' })
    - locator resolved to <button type="button" aria-pressed="false" aria-haspopup="true" aria-expanded="false" aria-label="Add block" class="components-button block-editor-inserter__toggle is-next-40px-default-size has-icon">…</button>
  - attempting click action
    - waiting for element to be visible, enabled and stable
    - element is visible, enabled and stable
    - scrolling into view if needed
    - done scrolling
    - performing click action
    - <html lang="en-US" data-wpds-root-provider="true" data-wpds-corner-radius="subtle" class="wp-toolbar interface-interface-skeleton__html-container">…</html> intercepts pointer events
  - retrying click action
    - waiting for element to be visible, enabled and stable
  - element was detached from the DOM, retrying

    at /home/runner/work/gutenberg/gutenberg/test/e2e/specs/editor/various/inserting-blocks.spec.js:557:5

keeps the inline inserter open when the Block Library panel closes in /test/e2e/specs/editor/various/inserting-blocks.spec.js, passed after 1 failed attempt.

TimeoutError: locator.click: Timeout 10000ms exceeded.
Call log:
  - waiting for getByRole('button', { name: 'Add block' })
    - locator resolved to <button type="button" aria-pressed="false" aria-haspopup="true" aria-expanded="false" aria-label="Add block" class="components-button block-editor-inserter__toggle is-next-40px-default-size has-icon">…</button>
  - attempting click action
    - waiting for element to be visible, enabled and stable
    - element is visible, enabled and stable
    - scrolling into view if needed
    - done scrolling
  - element was detached from the DOM, retrying

    at /home/runner/work/gutenberg/gutenberg/test/e2e/specs/editor/various/inserting-blocks.spec.js:614:59

should select by dragging into nested block in /test/e2e/specs/editor/various/multi-block-selection.spec.js, passed after 1 failed attempt.

Error: expect(received).toEqual(expected) // deep equality

- Expected  - 1
+ Received  + 0

  Array [
    1,
-   2,
  ]

Call Log:
- Timeout 5000ms exceeded while waiting on the predicate
    at /home/runner/work/gutenberg/gutenberg/test/e2e/specs/editor/various/multi-block-selection.spec.js:569:5

_{1afa342 Run}

[Mamaduka]

Don't think this fully addresses #85768, or at least without a comment explaining why we're keeping "Replace non-breaking spaces" rather than using a dynamic label - #85777.

[github-actions]

There was a conflict while trying to cherry-pick the commit to the wp/7.2 branch. Please resolve the conflict manually and create a PR to the wp/7.2 branch.

PRs to wp/7.2 are similar to PRs to trunk, but you should base your PR on the wp/7.2 branch instead of trunk.

# Checkout the wp/7.2 branch instead of trunk.
git checkout wp/7.2

# Create a new branch for your PR.
git checkout -b my-branch

# Cherry-pick the commit.
git cherry-pick 5fec8083534421d009afee57eda996ff87df58e9

# Check which files have conflicts.
git status

# Resolve the conflict...
# Add the resolved files to the staging area.
git status
git add .
git cherry-pick --continue

# Push the branch to the repository
git push origin my-branch

# Create a PR and set the base to the wp/7.2 branch.
# See https://docs.github.com/en/pull-requests/collaborating-with-pull-requests/proposing-changes-to-your-work-with-pull-requests/changing-the-base-branch-of-a-pull-request.

[Mamaduka]

I'll handle this as part of the bulk backport. It should be faster than backporting each item individually.