What is the "Long Dash"?
When writers and typists search for the "long dash", they are looking for the typographic symbol —. In formal typography and Unicode specifications, this character is officially known as the Em Dash (codepoint U+2014).
It is called "long" because it is twice the width of a standard keyboard hyphen (-) and visibly longer than an en dash (–).
Comparison of the Three Dash Lengths
- : Hyphen (Shortest —
U+002D)– : En Dash (Medium —
U+2013)— : Long Dash / Em Dash (Longest —
U+2014)Why People Use the Long Dash
The long dash is one of the most versatile punctuation marks in modern English prose:
- To create a dramatic pause: "He opened the vault—and found it completely empty."
- To insert a parenthetical remark: "The new features—faster speeds, cleaner UI, and dark mode—are live today."
- To replace a colon: "She needed only one thing—time."
- To indicate broken dialogue: "Wait, don't press that—"
How to Get the Long Dash Quickly
- Mac Shortcut: Press Option + Shift + - (Hyphen).
- Windows Shortcut: Hold Alt and type 0151 on your numeric keypad.
- Phone / Mobile: Hold down the - (Hyphen) key on your touch keyboard and slide to the longest dash.
- Direct Copy: Use the live editor above to copy the symbol directly.
Converting Long Dashes into Hyphens
If you need your text formatted for legacy computer terminals, plain text emails, or code strings, use Text Cleaner's Remove Em Dash tool to convert all long dashes into clean standard hyphens.
