You want to type a long dash “—,” called an em dash, on your Windows PC or Mac, but you can't find it on your keyboard at all, so what do you do? Find out right away.
What is em dash?
The em dash (-) is a special type of dash, longer than the regular dash (-), and is primarily used to replace the role of commas, colons, or parentheses based on context. The em dash can add more context to dialogue or text, while still maintaining the flow of the sentence.
The origin of the name “em” is also somewhat complicated. It comes from a term in physical printing, where an “em” is essentially the maximum height an individual letter can have in a font at its current size.
How to type em dash on Windows
On Windows 10 and 11, there are a few different ways to type an em dash. Here are the two easiest:
How to type em dash on Mac
Typing an em dash on a Mac is also simple. In a text field, just press Shift + Option + Minus (“-”) on your keyboard. The em dash will appear immediately.
Hope this article is helpful to you.
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