Both of these ligatures (fi and ->) in standard computer fonts like TTF or OTF use exactly the same technology. The only difference is that one ligature applie

Both of these ligatures (fi and ->) in standard computer fonts like TTF or OTF use exactly the same technology. The only difference is that one ligature applies to alphabetic characters and the other to non-alphabetic characters. Ligatures can be used to make some font aesthetically pleasing like this: http://www.impallari.com/lobster/ http://www.impallari.com/lobster/ Or they can be abused like this: https://pixelambacht.nl/2015/sans-bullshit-sans/ https://pixelambacht.nl/2015/sans-bullshit-sans/ It is perfectly possible for a font to have alphabetic and non-alphabetic ligatures.