Wikipedia:How to make dashes

Compared to the 100-meter dash, dashes on Wikipedia are easy.

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

- + −
hyphen-minus, plus, minus signs compared

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 ndash, use the template {{spaced ndash}} – or, more commonly, its shortcut {{snd}} – since this template also provides the essential non-breaking space before the dash. Alternatively, the raw HTML  – sequence could be used but will clutter the source text needlessly.
  • For an em dash, type {{mdash}} or —.
  • For a minus sign, type {{minus}} or the HTML code &minus.

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/iPadOS with an external keyboard) use:

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

Alternatively for Mac:

  • Press ⌘ Cmd+Ctrl+Space to open the Emoji and Symbols menu, and choose from the Punctuation section.

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.

See also