Dashes - – —

There are 3 types of dashes, and there is often confusion about when to use each mark:

MarkDetailsFunction

hyphen (-)

The shortest and most
common dash

To join words as compounds

en dash (–)

A longer dash, the width
of a letter ‘N’

To show spans of numbers or to link words of equal weight

To separate but highlight elements in a sentence

em dash (—)

The longest dash, the width
of a letter ‘M’

To separate but highlight elements in a sentence

While the compound and span functions are best reserved for their respective marks, you can choose whether to use a spaced en dash [text – text] or an unspaced em dash [text—text] to separate yet highlight text in a sentence.

Traditional practice favoured the em dash for this function, but the ASG supports the general trend toward spaced en dashes because they are cleaner and present fewer problems in online text. Whichever option you choose, be consistent.

Following is a summary of each mark and function. Please see the detailed entries for more advice.

Hyphens -
Use hyphens to join 2 words so they form 1 unit, including compound adjectives
anti-corruption watchdog
decision-making skills
post-9/11
En dashes –
Use en dashes to show a range, to link 2 distinct words or to set off part of a sentence
pages 31–46
the Sydney–Melbourne railway
The director’s position was clear – but the CEO stayed firm.
Em dashes —
Use unspaced em dashes to set off part of a sentence
The director’s position was clear—but the CEO stayed firm.
See also:   Em dashes —,  En dashes –,  Hyphens -