Does it insert the symbol between spaces too, or only between letters within a word?

It inserts the symbol between every character of the whole input, including around spaces between words, since it processes the text as one continuous sequence of characters rather than word by word.

Can the symbol be more than one character?

Yes, any non-empty string works, so you could use " - " or a custom multi-character separator, not just a single dash.

Does it handle multi-byte characters like emoji correctly?

Yes, it splits the input using code-point-aware iteration rather than raw UTF-16 units, so most emoji and other multi-byte characters are treated as single characters rather than being split apart.

Letter Symbol Inserter - Insert a Symbol Between Letters

Overview

Introduction

A spaced-out, letter-by-letter look, like "h-e-l-l-o" or "h e l l o", is a common stylized text effect that's tedious to type out by hand for anything longer than a word.

This tool inserts your chosen symbol between every character automatically.

What Is Letter Symbol Inserter?

A tool that splits your text into individual characters and rejoins them with your chosen symbol inserted between every pair.

It runs entirely client-side as part of this site's String Tools collection, so nothing you paste is ever uploaded to a server.

How Letter Symbol Inserter Works

The tool splits the input into an array of individual characters (code-point aware, so most multi-byte characters stay intact) and joins that array back together using your chosen symbol as the separator.

The transformation happens synchronously in JavaScript the moment you type, with no network round trip involved.

When To Use Letter Symbol Inserter

Use it to create a spaced-out stylized text effect, a spelling-out prompt for a game, or a visually emphasized heading.

It's a fast way to get the answer without opening a code editor, a REPL, or writing a one-off script just to check.

Often used alongside Letter Symbol Wrapper, Word Symbol Wrapper and String Repeater.

Features

Advantages

Works with any symbol string, from a single dash to a multi-character separator.
Correctly handles multi-byte characters like emoji rather than splitting their underlying code units apart.

Limitations

Applies to the entire input as one sequence, including spaces, so a multi-word phrase gets the symbol inserted around word-separating spaces too, not just within each word.

Examples

Inserting a dash between letters

Input

hello

Output

h-e-l-l-o

The default symbol "-" is placed between each of the five characters.

Best Practices & Notes

Best Practices

Use a single word as input if you want the spacing effect only within a word, not across word boundaries.
Try a space as the symbol for a classic "s p a c e d o u t" look.

Developer Notes

Splitting uses Array.from(input) rather than input.split(""), since Array.from() iterates by Unicode code point and correctly keeps surrogate-pair characters like most emoji together as single array entries.

Letter Symbol Inserter Use Cases

Creating a spaced-out stylized text effect for a heading or banner
Building a letter-by-letter spelling-out prompt for a game or quiz
Adding visual emphasis to a short word or acronym

Common Mistakes

Running it on a long multi-word sentence and being surprised the symbol also appears around spaces between words.
Leaving the symbol field empty, which the tool rejects since there'd be nothing to insert.

Tips

For a two-sided decorative effect instead, try the Letter Symbol Wrapper tool, which wraps each character in a symbol pair rather than inserting a separator between them.

Letter Symbol Inserter