–
En Dash
- Unicode
- U+2013
- Category
- Punctuation
- HTML Entity
- –
- CSS
- \2013
The en dash (–) is a typographical symbol that is wider than a hyphen but narrower than an em dash, deriving its name from being roughly the width of the capital letter "N" in traditional typesetting. It primarily denotes ranges of numbers, dates, or times (like 1990–2024), and connects contrasting values or parallel concepts (such as the New York–London flight). In modern digital writing, it brings a clean, professional polish to spans and complex compound adjectives where a standard hyphen falls short.
How to Type
- Windows
- Alt+0150
- macOS
- Option+-
- Linux
- Compose+-+-
- HTML
- –
In Programming
While rarely used in raw code syntax—where it can cause frustrating syntax errors if mistakenly used instead of a standard hyphen-minus—the en dash frequently appears in technical documentation, comments, and UI text to format spans.
Tags
alt 0150
dash
date range dash
en dash vs em dash
minus
ndash
number range
punctuation
range
short dash
typography