Dashes and Hyphens

Six marks that get mixed up constantly. The em dash (—) breaks a sentence or marks dialogue. The horizontal bar (―) opens a line of dialogue in languages that set speech without quotes. The en dash (–) joins ranges: 1941–1945. The figure dash (‒) is exactly one digit wide, so columns of numbers stay aligned. The minus (−) belongs in formulas and is not a hyphen — it sits at a different width and height against digits. The hyphen (‐) joins parts of a word. Copy the right one straight from here instead of hunting for an Alt code.