[CallMeJim]

I upvoted solely for the use of an en dash ( – ) in the title, instead of a hyphen ( - ).

Probably comes down to personal aesthetics, but I find it looks so much nicer!

For users on Windows, I recommend setting up an AutoHotKey script to convert the string "==-" to "–", and "===-" to "—".

Easy to type, very intuitive (typing more characters gives a longer-width dash), and gives your carefully crafted email missives a lingering, hard-to-describe dash of style!

[jhardy54]

Alternatively: -- and ---. Some operating system (like iOS) even automatically convert to – and — for you.

[Tistron]

I use espanso, and replicate my config between mac and win with syncthing. My system is to put every expansion pattern within colons:

:y: => thumbs up emoji

::): => smiley

:endash: => –

:emdash: => —

I don't know why I hadn't thought of using :--: and :---:, I'm setting that up now, thanks!

[forgotmypw17]

On Mac, it is Alt Minus and Alt Shift Minus

[layer8]

> For users on Windows

I recommend WinCompose: https://github.com/samhocevar/wincompose

[drusepth]

Slightly harder to remember, but you can also press Alt+0150 for an en dash or Alt+0151 for an em dash. Works on any machine without any third-party software or configuration!

[whywhywhywhy]

Can also just use Winkey + . to open the Emoji picker that has a unicode section with the – and — em if you press the Ω icon

[reikonomusha]

From a typographic standpoint, the en-dash isn’t even the right one to use. :) It’s supposed to be a connective of sorts, for ranges or directions.

[CallMeJim]

Interesting! Is the below correct? For connecting-words, use a hyphen. For 1 – 5 ranges, use an en dash. For dramatic pauses — use an em dash.

[aasasd]

Yeah, afaik that's right. To my knowledge, the en dash is raised in some fonts compared to the other ones, so that it aligns better with numbers—which are usually always ‘uppercase’.

[Latty]

Linux users can set up a compose key and the default is ­Compose, -, -, . for – (en-dash) and Compose, -, -, - for — (em-dash).

[frosted-flakes]

WinCompose also works great on Windows.

https://github.com/samhocevar/wincompose

[WorldMaker]

Windows also has some limited built-in Compose Key/Dead Key (AltGr) support, but it's baked into the Keyboard Layout and very Keyboard Layout specific with some layouts doing a better job than others and no easy ways to copy them to other layouts. (For instance, Colemak's layout on Windows provides a handful of common punctuation/symbols: https://colemak.com/Multilingual)

WinCompose does look like an interesting general option. There's also an open issue asking about adding the idea to the applicable Windows PowerToy: https://github.com/microsoft/PowerToys/issues/6976