How to Type an Em Dash (—)

The em dash is not on any standard keyboard. Here is every way to produce one, by platform.

Copy and paste

Fastest if you only need one. Em dash: — · En dash: – · Two-em dash: ⸺

Mac

• Em dash — Option + Shift + Hyphen
• En dash – Option + Hyphen

This works system-wide: Pages, Mail, Slack, browsers, terminals. On a MacBook the Hyphen key is the one to the right of 0. If nothing appears, check that your input source is a Latin keyboard rather than a phonetic or IME layout.

Windows

• Em dash — Alt + 0151 (numeric keypad, Num Lock on)
• En dash – Alt + 0150

The digits must come from the numeric keypad — the number row will not work. On a laptop without a keypad, use the Windows emoji panel instead: press Win + . (period), open the Symbols tab, and pick the dash from the punctuation set.

Microsoft Word

• Em dash — Ctrl + Alt + Minus (on the numeric keypad)
• En dash – Ctrl + Minus (numeric keypad)
• Any character Type 2014 then press Alt + X

Word's AutoFormat also converts word--word into word—word as you type. If that misfires, it is under File → Options → Proofing → AutoCorrect Options → AutoFormat As You Type.

Google Docs

There is no built-in shortcut. Two options: Insert → Special characters and search "em dash", or set up a substitution under Tools → Preferences → Substitutions, mapping something like -- to —. The substitution approach is worth the thirty seconds if you write in Docs regularly.

iPhone and Android

Press and hold the hyphen key on the symbol layer. A small popup offers the hyphen, en dash and em dash — slide to the longest one and release.

Linux

• Compose key: Compose, then three hyphens (---) for an em dash, two for an en dash
• Unicode entry: Ctrl + Shift + U, then 2014, then Enter or Space

HTML and code

• HTML entity: — (em) and – (en)
• Numeric: — and –
• CSS/JS escape: \2014 and \u2014
• Markdown: type the literal character; --- alone on a line is a horizontal rule, not a dash

Alt codes reference

Character	Unicode	Alt code
Hyphen -	U+002D	Alt + 45
En dash –	U+2013	Alt + 0150
Em dash —	U+2014	Alt + 0151
Horizontal bar ―	U+2015	Alt + 8213
Two-em dash ⸺	U+2E3A	—

Going the other way

If you need to remove em dashes rather than type them — the usual case when editing AI-generated drafts — the em dash remover strips or replaces all five dash variants at once and repairs the spacing. See also em dash vs en dash vs hyphen for when each is correct.