Em Dash vs En Dash

The en dash (–) is shorter than the em dash and longer than a hyphen. Its name comes from typography: it was traditionally half the width of an em. It is the standard mark for a range, a score and a connection between two equal elements.

• Ranges: 2019–2024, pages 10–24, Monday–Friday.
• Scores: the match ended 3–1.
• Connections: the London–Paris train, a north–south axis.
• Open compounds: a New York–based writer, a Nobel Prize–winning team.

In US style the en dash can also stand in for “to” or “through” in a range. In other styles, a hyphen is sometimes used for ranges in plain text, but the en dash is the typographic form. Either way, keep the choice consistent in a document.

The em dash (—) is the longest common dash, traditionally one em wide. It is punctuation rather than a connector. It sets off a parenthetical aside, marks an interruption or a change of direction, and can introduce an explanation or a summary.

• The plan — which nobody had read — was approved.
• She opened the door — and stopped.
• We need three things: speed, clarity — and coffee.

An em dash can usually be replaced by commas, parentheses or a colon. Its advantage is emphasis: it interrupts the sentence more sharply than a comma and less formally than parentheses. Do not use it as a universal substitute for every other punctuation mark.

Spacing is a style choice. Many US book styles set the em dash closed up (word—word); some news and British styles put a space on each side (word — word). Both are readable. Pick one and apply it throughout.

Range vs aside. “Read pages 10–24” uses an en dash because the dash spans two endpoints. “The chapter — all forty pages of it — was due Friday” uses an em dash because the dash sets off an aside.

Connection vs interruption. “The Oslo–Bergen route” uses an en dash to connect two places. “The route — delayed by snow — took nine hours” uses an em dash to interrupt the sentence.

Hyphen vs both. “A well-known author” uses a hyphen to join a compound adjective. “A well-known author — and a generous one — joined us” keeps the hyphen in the compound and adds em dashes around the aside. The marks can appear in the same sentence because they do different jobs.

Windows. Hold Alt and type 0150 on the numeric keypad for –, or 0151 for —. Num Lock must be on, and the digits must come from the keypad. In Microsoft Word, type 2013 or 2014 and press Alt+X.

Mac. On the US keyboard layout, Option+Minus gives –, and Option+Shift+Minus gives —. For any other layout, open the Character Viewer with Control+Command+Space and search for the dash by name.

Phones. Many mobile keyboards offer both dashes when you press and hold the hyphen key. If yours does not, copy the character from the en dash or em dash page and paste it.

HTML and code. Use – for – and — for —. In CSS, the escapes are \2013 and \2014; in JavaScript they are \u2013 and \u2014.

• Using a hyphen as an em dash. “The plan - still unfinished - was approved” is plain-text shorthand. Typeset text should use — or, if you must stay on a keyboard, at least use a consistent substitute.
• Using an em dash for a range. “Pages 10—24” mixes an interruption mark into a range. Use an en dash: pages 10–24.
• Using an en dash inside a compound. “A well–known author” is wrong; the compound takes a hyphen: well-known.
• Mixing spaced and unspaced em dashes. Both conventions exist, but a single document should not switch between them.