Dash Symbols

The grammatical hierarchy: hyphen, en dash, and em dash

Understanding the distinction between horizontal dashes is one of the most critical fundamentals of English grammar and publishing typography. Writers frequently confuse the standard keyboard hyphen (-), the en dash (–), and the em dash (—). Each serves a distinct syntactic function:

• Hyphen (-) (U+002D): Used strictly to join compound words (like well-known or state-of-the-art) and to break long words across line breaks.
• En Dash (–) (U+2013): Exactly the width of a capital letter N. Used to indicate ranges, spans of time, and relational connections (such as 1939–1945 or London–Paris flight).
• Em Dash (—) (U+2014): Exactly the width of a capital letter M. Used to introduce parenthetical thoughts, abrupt sentence shifts, or dramatic emphasis—like this—replacing commas, parentheses, or colons.

For related punctuation and layout marks, check our punctuation symbols guide, compare with quotes in quotation marks, or explore structural dividing rules in line symbols.

Formatting date spans and numeric ranges with en dashes

In formal publishing styles (such as Chicago, APA, and Oxford), you should never use a hyphen for numerical spans. When describing pages, scores, or years, the en dash represents the word "to" or "through": pages 45–67, the 2024–2028 term, or a 3–1 victory. Crucially, the en dash sits closed against the numbers without flanking spaces in standard American style.

In British publishing, typographers often favor an en dash flanked by spaces ( – ) to serve as a parenthetical dash instead of an unspaced em dash (—). Both systems are grammatically correct provided they are used consistently throughout a document.

Typing dashes effortlessly across operating systems

Because physical keyboards lack dedicated keys for en and em dashes, operating systems provide quick keyboard shortcuts:

• Windows: Hold Alt and type 0150 on the numeric keypad for the en dash –, or Alt + 0151 for the em dash —. In Microsoft Word, typing two hyphens (--) between words automatically transforms into an em dash.
• macOS: Press Option + - for the en dash –, and Option + Shift + - for the em dash —.
• HTML: Use the named entities – for – and — for —.