Hyphens, En, and Em Characters

The discussion of hyphens, en spaces (short dash), and em spaces (long dash) is twofold: when to use them and how to find them on your keyboard. This ITmail discusses how to find these characters on your keyboards.

(When to use these dashes is a subject for another day, but feel free to look it up. There are many — often contradictory — scholarly opinions on the subject, especially when it comes to whether there should be spaces to either side of them. But do note my use of em spaces!)

A hyphen is a short horizontal character used to, yes, hyphenate words. An en space is a little longer than a hyphen (about the width of the lowercase “n” in the font/size you are using), and an em space is even longer (about the width of the lowercase “m” in the font/size you are using).

Here’s where you can find these characters: (don't type the ">" key)

Full-Sized Keyboard (note hyphen!) on a Mac Computer

Hyphen: has its own key, often coupled with an underscore character, also called the “Minus” key

En Space: Option > Hyphen

Em Space: Option > Shift > Hyphen

Full-Sized Keyboard on a Windows Computer

Hyphen: has its own key, often coupled with an underscore character, also called the “Minus” key

En and Em Space: Windows Key > Period. (Opens the Emoji Keyboard) > Symbols > Em or En

iPad, iPhone, Android Phone

“123” key > long press on the hyphen key > slide to choose en or em dash

A few notes:

• If you type two hyphens in a row, some software programs will convert them to an em space automatically, rather than keep them as two hyphens (--). If this doesn't happen on your machine, find the correct em space. Two hyphens in a row are really two hyphens separated by a space and they might break at the end of a line, creating an unsightly mess of your otherwise brilliant writing.

• If you are wondering, an en space is often used to separate dates: 2021–2022.

• En and em are acceptable Scrabble words, but they are not chocolate-coated candies.