Dashes: US vs. Uk
Dashes: en or em? The dash length you use and how to format it depends on your region and style preferences. First, the basics:
The em dash is longer (—).
The en dash is shorter (–).
For reference, this is a hyphen (-). Only use these when the spelling of a word calls for a hyphen.
So, when do you use each dash? It depends on where you are! The United Kingdom doesn’t use em dashes for much, mostly en dashes. The United States uses both.
Dashes can indicate breaks in your sentences.
(Learn about how to use dashes as breaks in your sentences here.) These dashes are used the exact same way in the US and the UK. The difference here lies in what that dash character looks like. If you are switching from US to UK (or the other way around), the use of the dash is maintained; just switch out the character.
To insert a break in your sentence (learn about that here), use the em dash in the US (—) without spaces surrounding it and an en dash in the UK (–) with spaces surrounding it. Here are some examples to show the formatting. (Notice the spelling changes as well.)
US: Your dress is my favorite color—the same color as my bag.
UK: Your dress is my favourite colour – the same colour as my bag.
To express relationships, use the en dash for both US and UK regions without spaces surrounding.
editor–author relationship
Arizona–California border
To show a range, use the en dash for both US and UK regions without spaces surrounding.
March–August
1957–1962
How to Make the Dashes
iOS keyboard:
em dash = shift + option + hyphen key
en dash = option + hyphen key
PC keyboard:
em dash = Alt + 0151
en dash = Alt + 0150
To learn more about the em dash or how to use dashes as breaks in sentences, see this post.