PURPOSE: To close characters automatically to nearly the same extent with manual photocomposition by finding array-directional position data on font characters in scanning line units and storing them in tables, and calculating an array-directional limit position for arranging both adjacent characters without overlapping according to adjacent character tables.

CONSTITUTION: A character font specified by a word processor 10 is read out of a magnetic disk by a character font read part 14 and a character width table calculation part 18 finds array-directional position data on the font characters in scanning line units and stores the character font in the block tables. Then a character feed arithmetic part 20 calculates the array-directional limit position for arranging mutually adjacent stored tables in the array direction without making mutual font characters overlap with each other from the adjacent tables. Character makeup data corresponding to the calculation result is generated by a character makeup data generation part 22 and the characters are closed automatically to nearly the same extent with the manual photocomposition.