SymbolHub

Horizontal Bar (―)

The horizontal bar ― is Unicode U+2015, the typographical quotation dash used in Continental European literature to introduce dialogue. Press Copy to put it on your clipboard.

Unicode
U+2015
HTML
―
Word
2015 Alt+X

How to type the horizontal bar (―)

The quickest way is to press Copy above and paste. To type ― yourself, use the method for your device below.

Windows

  1. In Word or Outlook, type 2015 and press Alt + X. Alt + X converts the hex code before the cursor into the character, and back again.
  2. Press Win + R, type charmap and press Enter. Tick “Advanced view”, search for Horizontal Bar, then Select and Copy. Character Map is built into every version of Windows.

Mac

  1. Press Control + Command + Space to open the Character Viewer, search for horizontal bar and double-click it.
  2. With the Unicode Hex Input keyboard enabled (System Settings → Keyboard → Input Sources), hold Option and type 2015.

Linux & ChromeOS

  1. Press Ctrl + Shift + U, type 2015, then press Enter or Space. Works in GTK and IBus apps (GNOME, Firefox, Chrome, LibreOffice) and on ChromeOS.

iPhone & iPad

  1. Copy ― from this page, then go to Settings → General → Keyboard → Text Replacement and add it with a shortcut such as ;hori. The shortcut then turns into the symbol as you type, in every app.

Android

  1. Copy ― here, then open Gboard settings → Dictionary → Personal dictionary and add it with a shortcut.

Microsoft Word

  1. Type 2015, then press Alt + X.
  2. Insert → Symbol → More Symbols. Set “from” to Unicode (hex), type 2015 in “Character code” and click Insert.

Google Docs

  1. Insert → Special characters, then search for “horizontal bar” or draw it in the box.

Excel & Google Sheets

  1. Enter =UNICHAR(8213) in a cell. It works in Excel 2013 and later and in Google Sheets.

HTML

  1. Write ― or ― in your HTML.

What does ― mean?

The horizontal bar (―, Unicode U+2015), historically referred to as the quotation dash, is a distinctive literary punctuation mark used to introduce spoken dialogue in narrative fiction. Across Continental European publishing traditions—including French, Spanish, Russian, and Scandinavian literature—novelists dispense with quotation marks, beginning each character’s spoken speech with a horizontal bar at the paragraph margin.

While the horizontal bar is frequently confused with the em dash, type designers position the horizontal bar slightly higher on the line or extend its stroke so that it aligns naturally with the x-height of lowercase dialogue letters. When alternating speakers in rapid dialogue, it creates an elegant, uncluttered page layout compared to English curly quotes or French guillemets. Explore more typographical dashes in our dash symbols library.

Common uses

  • Introducing lines of spoken dialogue in French, Spanish, and Russian literary novels
  • Formatting character turn-taking in fiction without cluttering pages with quotation marks
  • Setting off conversational speech in narrative plays and scripts

Horizontal Bar codes for HTML, CSS and programming

Every code below produces ―. Use the HTML entity in web pages, the CSS escape in content, and the escape sequence in source code.

Unicode code pointU+2015
HTML entity (named)―
HTML decimal―
HTML hex―
CSS contentcontent: "\2015";
JavaScript"\u2015"
Python"\u2015"
Python (by name)"\N{HORIZONTAL BAR}"
Java / C#"\u2015"
UTF-8 bytesE2 80 95
UTF-162015
URL encoded%E2%80%95

― vs look-alike characters

These characters look similar to ― but have a different meaning and code. Pasting the wrong one can break search, sorting and screen readers.

CharNameWhen to use it
Em Dash
U+2014		Em dash (U+2014). The standard grammatical dash for sentence interruptions and pauses in English.
En Dash
U+2013		En dash (U+2013). Half the width of an em dash; used for numeric and chronological ranges.
Horizontal Line Extension
U+23AF		Horizontal line extension (U+23AF). A specialized glyph used for engineering diagrams and math rules.

Symbols similar to ―

Click to copy, or open a symbol for its codes. See the full line symbols collection.

  • Details
  • Details
  • Details
  • Details

― character properties

Official Unicode name
HORIZONTAL BAR
Also known as
quotation dash, dialogue dash, macron line
Code point
U+2015
Unicode block
General Punctuation (U+2000–U+206F)
General category
Dash punctuation (Pd)
Added in
Unicode 1.1 (1993)
Plane
Basic Multilingual Plane (0)
Emoji
No, it is a text symbol

Frequently asked questions

What is a quotation dash?

A quotation dash (horizontal bar, U+2015) is placed at the beginning of a paragraph in European literature to indicate that a character is speaking, replacing quotation marks.

Is the horizontal bar the same as an em dash?

No. While very similar in length, the horizontal bar is a distinct character in Unicode (U+2015 vs U+2014) and is positioned specifically to align with dialogue letterforms.

How do I type the horizontal bar on keyboard?

In Microsoft Word, type 2015 and press Alt + X. On Linux, press Ctrl + Shift + U, type 2015, and hit Enter. In HTML, write ― or copy it directly from SymbolHub.

Is there an alt code for the horizontal bar?

No. ― is outside the Windows-1252 and code page 437 character sets, so no Alt + number code produces it. Copy it from this page, type 2015 then Alt + X in Word, or find it in Character Map.

How do I type the horizontal bar on a Mac?

There is no single Option shortcut for ― on the US layout. Press Control + Command + Space to open the Character Viewer, search for “horizontal bar” and double-click it, or copy it from this page.

What is the HTML code for the horizontal bar?

Use the named entity ― or the numeric reference ― (hex ―). All three display ― in every browser.

What is the Unicode for the horizontal bar?

― is U+2015, officially named HORIZONTAL BAR, in the General Punctuation block. It has been part of Unicode since version 1.1 (1993).