In the early 17th century, in Okes-printed plays of William Shakespeare, dashes are attested that indicate a thinking pause, … See more

Usage varies both within English and within other languages, but the usual conventions for the most common dashes in printed English text are these:
• An (unspaced) em dash or a spaced en dash can b… See more

The figure dash ‒ (U+2012 ‒ FIGURE DASH) has the same width as a numerical digit. (Many fonts have digits of equal width. ) It is used within numbers such as the phone number 555‒0199, especially in columns s… See more

The en dash, en rule, or nut dash – is traditionally half the width of an em dash. In modern fonts, the length of the en dash is not standardized, and the en dash is often more than half the width of the em dash. The widths … See more

The em dash, em rule, or mutton dash — is longer than an en dash. The character is called an em dash because it is one em wide, a length that varies depending on the font size. One em is the same length as the font's heigh… See more