Wikipedia:How to make dashes

This help page is a how-to guide.

It explains concepts or processes used by the Wikipedia community. It is not one of Wikipedia's policies or guidelines, and may reflect varying levels of consensus.

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WP:HTMD

The hyphen-minus (keyboard hyphen), en dash, em dash, and mathematical minus/negative symbols are different (see WP:Manual of Style/Dashes). Pressing the - on your keyboard, usually next to the 0 (zero) key, will produce a hyphen-minus. Methods of producing the other characters are described below.

Methods that work on any platform

The CharInsert toolbar

To insert a dash or minus sign, use the toolbar below the edit box. Click where you want the character to be inserted, select "Insert" from the pull-down menu, and then:

To insert an en dash (–), click on the first character (the shorter dash).
To insert an em dash (—), click on the second character (the longer dash).
To insert a minus sign (−), click on the − between the ± and the ×.

Templates or HTML codes

For an en dash, type {{ndash}} or –.
For a "spaced en dash" (with a non-breaking space before the dash and a regular space after it) type {{spaced ndash}} or {{snd}}.
For an em dash, type {{mdash}} or —.
For a minus sign, type −.

Copy and paste

Find an en dash (–), an em dash (—), or a minus sign (−) already in some text—in this sentence, for example—and paste it where a new one is wanted.

Platform-dependent methods

Mac

For Mac (or iOS with an external keyboard) use:

⌥ Opt+- (en dash) or ⌥ Opt+⇧ Shift+- (em dash).

Alternatively for Mac:

Pull down the Input menu and select Show Emoji & Symbols. Then select from Punctuation.
If the Input menu is not displayed, open Language & Region within System Preferences. Then click on Keyboard Preferences... and check Show input menu in menu bar.

Linux

Use AltGr- (en dash) or AltGr⇧ Shift- (em dash).

If you have a compose key:

Use Compose--. (en dash) or Compose--- (em dash).

Windows

For Windows on a keyboard with a numeric keypad:

Use Alt+0150 (en dash) or Alt+0151 (em dash) using the numeric keypad.

iOS and Android

For iOS (iPhone and iPad) and Android:

Hold the - (hyphen) on the on-screen keyboard until a popup appears with choices, including the en dash and em dash.

External links

AutoHotkey A scripting language for Windows. Character replacement needs only short one-line scripts.
KbdEdit Modify an existing keyboard or create a new keyboard.
abcTajpu An add-on for the Firefox browser.