What is Em / En (टाइपोग्राफिक इकाइयाँ)?

Em: font size के बराबर चौड़ाई। En: एक em का आधा। em dash width, em space, en space, और CSS इकाइयों (1em, 0.5em) को परिभाषित करने के लिए उपयोग किया जाता है।

टाइपोग्राफी

डैश

वाक्य के भागों को अलग करने या श्रेणियाँ दर्शाने के लिए उपयोग किए जाने वाले विराम चिह्न। Unicode कई dashes परिभाषित करता है: hyphen (‐), en dash (–), em dash (—), figure dash (‒), आदि।

2023-04-24 · Updated 2024-12-23

What is a Dash?

In typography, dash refers to a family of horizontal line characters that perform distinct semantic roles. The word "dash" is often used loosely, but each member of the dash family has a specific purpose: the hyphen joins words, the en dash marks ranges, the em dash marks interruptions or parenthetical asides, and the minus sign is a mathematical operator. Confusing them is one of the most common typographic errors in digital publishing.

The Dash Family

Character	Unicode	Name	Width	Primary Use
-	U+002D	Hyphen-minus	Narrow	Keyboard input, compound words, programming
‐	U+2010	Hyphen	Same as -	True hyphen for breaking words
‑	U+2011	Non-breaking Hyphen	Same	Hyphen that prevents line breaks
–	U+2013	En Dash	1 en (~½ em)	Ranges, scores, compound proper nouns
—	U+2014	Em Dash	1 em	Parenthetical aside, interruption
―	U+2015	Horizontal Bar	~1 em	Dialogue attribution (in some typographic traditions)
−	U+2212	Minus Sign	Math-width	Mathematical subtraction

The Hyphen-Minus Problem

The hyphen-minus (U+002D, the - on your keyboard) is a compromise character that computers inherited from typewriter culture. It serves as hyphen, minus sign, and even dash in informal writing — but typographically it should only be used as a hyphen for word breaks or in code/programming contexts.

Smart text editors and word processors auto-convert -- to an en dash and --- to an em dash. HTML entities provide the correct characters:

&ndash;  <!-- en dash – -->
&mdash;  <!-- em dash — -->
&minus;  <!-- minus sign − -->

En Dash Usage (–)

The en dash (U+2013) is used for: - Ranges: pages 10–25, the 2020–2024 period, Monday–Friday - Scores: the final score was 3–2 - Compound modifiers with proper nouns: the New York–London flight

Keyboard entry: - macOS: Option + Hyphen - Windows: Alt + 0150 (numpad) - HTML: – or –

Em Dash Usage (—)

The em dash (U+2014) is the most versatile dash, used for: - Parenthetical aside: She finally arrived—three hours late—with no explanation. - Interruption: "I can't believe you would—" she stopped herself. - Emphasis: Only one thing mattered now—survival.

Em dashes may appear with or without spaces depending on house style (American style: no spaces; British style: spaced).

Keyboard entry: - macOS: Shift + Option + Hyphen - Windows: Alt + 0151 (numpad) - HTML: — or —

Quick Facts

Property	Value
Keyboard hyphen-minus	U+002D — the `-` key
En dash	U+2013, width of letter "n", for ranges
Em dash	U+2014, width of letter "m", for parentheticals
Minus sign	U+2212, mathematical subtraction
macOS en dash shortcut	Option + -
macOS em dash shortcut	Shift + Option + -
HTML en dash entity	`–`
HTML em dash entity	`—`