Is it a hyphen? Is it a en dash? An em dash? What do I use?!?

dashesA Dash is a Dash is a Dash – Or Is It?  Lions and tigers and bears, oh my! More like hyphens and dashes and…more dashes. Oh Lord! The dash, the en dash, and the em dash. The Three Musketeers of the writing world. The Holy Trinity of the literary apocalypse. The…okay, you get it. These simple lines on paper (or a computer screen) are enough to make the staunchest writer quiver if they don’t know when to use which. No, don’t run away. It’s okay. No need to panic. This is easy. Really.

Em Dash (—): Denotes a pause in thought, a parenthetical statement, or — more casually — an afterthought. In a web page, a web developer can include — to represent the character. When typing, you can input a character by holding ALT and typing 0151 on the numpad.
En Dash (–): Denotes a range, especially of numbers, such as $100–150. – in a web page or ALT-0150 on a keyboard.
Hyphen (-): Used for the hyphenation of words (co-ordination; able-minded; pre- and post- touring.) Just use the keyboard key for this one.

Thank you to www.kajhaffenden.com for the above definition and shortcuts.

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