Hyphenation anywhere

Question

Is there a (simple) way to allow hypheation a-n-y-w-h-e-r-e in any word?

Answer 1

With xelatex this is easily done.

\documentclass[a4paper]{article}
\usepackage{geometry}
\usepackage{kantlipsum}
\usepackage{multicol}
\begin{document}\thispagestyle{empty}
% "texdoc xetex" for Xe(La)TeX reference manual
\XeTeXinterchartokenstate 1
\XeTeXinterchartoks 0 0 = {\-}
\begin{multicols}{5}
  \kant[42]
\end{multicols}

\end{document}

In contrast the output without the use of \XeTeXinterchartoks:

Perhaps you even don't want the -'s. Then the following can be used:

\documentclass[a4paper]{article}
\usepackage{geometry}
\usepackage{kantlipsum}
\usepackage{multicol}
\begin{document}\thispagestyle{empty}
% "texdoc xetex" for Xe(La)TeX reference manual
{% temporarily enable hyphenation everywhere at no cost
\XeTeXinterchartokenstate 1
\XeTeXinterchartoks 0 0 = {\discretionary{}{}{}}
\exhyphenpenalty 0
\begin{multicols}{5}
  \kant[42]
\end{multicols}
}

% back to normal
\end{document}

Or possibly you prefer the - to stick into the right margins:

\documentclass[a4paper]{article}
\usepackage{geometry}
\usepackage{kantlipsum}
\usepackage{multicol}
\begin{document}\thispagestyle{empty}
% "texdoc xetex" for Xe(La)TeX reference manual
{% temporarily enable breaking everywhere
\XeTeXinterchartokenstate 1
\XeTeXinterchartoks 0 0 = {\discretionary{\rlap{-}}{}{}}
\exhyphenpenalty 0
\hyphenpenalty   0
\begin{multicols}{5}
  \kant[42]
\end{multicols}
}

% back to normal
\end{document}