Simon Manley

Em dash, En dash and Hyphen

• Hyphen – HTML ‐
• En dash – (win + –) HTML –
• Em dash — (win + shift + –) HTML —

All done without AI. More information and usage on Wikipedia

No spaces around the dash (—like this): This is the traditional standard for print media and book publishing. It’s strictly required by the Chicago Manual of Style and the MLA Handbook. Proponents argue it looks cleaner and treats the em-dash as a strong, unbroken punctuation mark that tightly connects two thoughts.

Spaces around the dash ( — like this): This is the standard for newspapers and digital media. The Associated Press (AP) Stylebook requires spaces on both sides. On digital screens, the spaces add a bit of visual "breathing room," preventing the long dash from crashing into the letters on either side, which can sometimes look cluttered on low-resolution displays or specific fonts.