—

Em Dash

Unicode
U+2014
Category
Punctuation
HTML Entity
—
CSS
\2014
The em dash (—) is a versatile punctuation mark used to indicate a break in thought, set off parenthetical phrases, or emphasize a point. Its name originates from traditional typography, where the dash was exactly the width of the capital letter "M" in a given typeface. In modern writing, it often replaces commas, parentheses, or colons to give sentences a dramatic flair or conversational tone.

How to Type

Windows
Alt+0151
macOS
Shift+Option+-
Linux
Compose + - + - + -
HTML
—

In Programming

While rarely used in source code syntax, the em dash frequently appears in technical documentation, comments, and string literals to format text for human readability. Developers must ensure proper UTF-8 encoding, as the em dash can sometimes cause rendering bugs in legacy systems restricted to ASCII.

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Tags

long dash pause punctuation typography parenthetical

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