Hyphen vs En Dash vs Em Dash: When to Use Each

Quick answer: Use a hyphen (-) to join words (well-known), an en dash (–) for ranges (pages 10–20), and an em dash (—) to break a sentence for emphasis or an aside. On Windows type them with Alt + 0150 (–) and Alt + 0151 (—); on a Mac with Option + - and Option + Shift + -. Copy them here:

–En DashU+2013CopyDetails
—Em DashU+2014CopyDetails

The three marks look similar but they are different characters with different jobs. Their names come from old typesetting: the en dash was roughly the width of a capital N and the em dash the width of a capital M. A fourth look-alike, the true minus sign (−), belongs to math and is covered below.

Hyphen vs en dash vs em dash vs minus at a glance

The hyphen (-)

The hyphen is the short mark on your keyboard. Technically the key types hyphen-minus (U+002D), a character inherited from ASCII that has to serve as both hyphen and minus. Use it to:

• Join compound modifiers before a noun: a well-known author, a two-year contract.
• Join some compound words and prefixes: mother-in-law, re-enter, ex-president.
• Split a word at the end of a line.
• Write phone numbers, part numbers and anything in code, URLs, file names or command lines.

Unicode also has a dedicated hyphen (U+2010) and a non-breaking hyphen (U+2011) that stops a line from breaking at that point, plus an invisible soft hyphen that only appears if a word is split at the end of a line. For everyday writing the keyboard hyphen is correct.

The en dash (–)

The en dash is longer than a hyphen and shorter than an em dash. It means “to” or “between”:

• Ranges: 1990–2010, pages 45–67, Monday–Friday, 9:00–5:00.
• Scores and votes: a 3–1 win, passed 52–48.
• Connections between equal things: the New York–London flight, a parent–teacher meeting.
• Compounds built on an open compound (a style many editors follow): pre–World War II.

Don’t mix an en dash with “from” or “between”: write from 1990 to 2010 or 1990–2010, not from 1990–2010. En dashes in ranges are normally set without spaces. In British usage, a spaced en dash ( – ) is also the common way to mark a break in a sentence, where American style uses an em dash.

The em dash (—)

The em dash is the longest of the three. It interrupts a sentence more strongly than a comma and more casually than a colon or parentheses:

• An aside: The results—all three of them—were positive.
• A sudden break or emphasis: There was only one problem—the door was locked.
• An interrupted line of dialogue: “I was just going to—”

Spaces or no spaces? It depends on your style guide. The Chicago Manual of Style and most American book publishing use a closed em dash (word—word). AP style, used by many news outlets, puts a space on each side (word — word). Pick one and use it consistently.

The minus sign (−)

In math, the proper minus sign is U+2212 MINUS SIGN. It is designed to be the same width as the plus sign and to sit at the same height, so 5 − 3 and −12° look balanced in typeset text. The keyboard hyphen-minus is the acceptable plain-text substitute.

Use the real minus sign in documents, typeset math and web pages where appearance matters. Do not use it in spreadsheets, formulas, programming code or data files: Excel, calculators and programming languages expect the hyphen-minus (U+002D), and a pasted −5 using U+2212 may be treated as text instead of a number. There is no Windows Alt code for the minus sign; use one of these instead:

• Word: type 2212 and press Alt + X
• HTML: − or −
• Mac: open the Character Viewer (Control + Command + Space) and search “minus”
• Copy it from the minus sign page or the math symbols collection

How to type en and em dashes

Windows

With a numeric keypad and Num Lock on, hold Alt, type 0150 (en dash) or 0151 (em dash) on the keypad, and release. Both codes come from the Windows-1252 table; there are no three-digit code page 437 versions. Without a keypad, press Windows + . and look in the Symbols tab’s punctuation section, or use Character Map. The Alt code finder lists these and related punctuation.

Mac

Option + - types an en dash and Option + Shift + - types an em dash. These work in virtually every Mac app.

Microsoft Word, Excel and Google Docs

• Word: type 2013 or 2014 and press Alt + X, or use Insert > Symbol > More Symbols > Special Characters, which lists both dashes by name. Word’s AutoFormat can also turn typed hyphens into dashes; check File > Options > Proofing > AutoCorrect Options if dashes appear or disappear unexpectedly.
• Excel: =UNICHAR(8211) gives – and =UNICHAR(8212) gives —.
• Google Docs: Insert > Special characters and search “en dash” or “em dash”.

iPhone and Android

Press and hold the hyphen key on the numbers-and-symbols keyboard; the popup offers the en dash and em dash (and usually a bullet). On iPhone, the Smart Punctuation setting under Settings > General > Keyboard can also convert two typed hyphens into a dash.

HTML

Use – (–) and — (—), or type the characters directly in a UTF-8 page. The Unicode converter gives CSS and JavaScript escapes if you need them.

Other dash-like characters

Unicode has several more dashes you may run into. The figure dash (U+2012) is the width of a digit and is meant for phone-number style groupings in typeset text. The horizontal bar (U+2015) introduces quoted dialogue in some typographic traditions. If a dash in a document won’t match a search or breaks a formula, paste it into the Unicode lookup to see exactly which character it is.

Common mistakes

• Using a hyphen for a range (10-20). Acceptable in plain text, but an en dash (10–20) is correct in edited writing.
• Using two hyphens for an em dash (word–word). A typewriter habit; replace with —.
• Using an en dash in a hyphenated word (well–known). Compound words take a hyphen.
• Pasting a dash or minus sign into code or a spreadsheet. Command-line options, formulas and numbers need the plain hyphen-minus.

Related symbols

• – En dash and — Em dash
• − Minus sign and soft hyphen
• … Ellipsis and • Bullet
• More punctuation symbols

FAQ

What is the difference between an em dash and an en dash?

The en dash (–) is shorter and means “to” or “between,” as in ranges. The em dash (—) is longer and marks a break or aside in a sentence.

What is the Alt code for an em dash?

Alt + 0151 on the numeric keypad. The en dash is Alt + 0150.

Should I put spaces around an em dash?

Chicago style says no; AP style says yes. Both are correct if used consistently.

Is a hyphen the same as a minus sign?

The keyboard key types hyphen-minus (U+002D), which serves as both. The dedicated minus sign is a separate character, U+2212, used in typeset math.