Unsure how to produce en dash and em dash on Linux—and looking for the typographically correct characters instead of a dash-dash-dash replacement? Find out here how to insert en dash (–) and em dash (—) on Linux using the keyboard or character pickers.
First, Drops Are Falling
When watery drops are falling from the cloud and skies, it’s definitely raining; except, of course, when it is drizzling.
A drizzle, I am ashamed to admit having learned only recently, is precipitation with drops that muster no more than 0.5 mm (0.02 in) in diameter.
Now, while I try to capture and measure a raindrop in flight, how about we turn to dashes—en dashes or em dashes depending on how much they measure from beginning to end:
How to Insert En Dash ( – ) and Em Dash ( — ) on Linux
Using the US-English (Mac) Keyboard Layout
Time needed: 3 minutes
To insert an en dash (–) or em dash (—) character using Linux:
- Add and switch to the US-English (Macintosh) keyboard layout.
Here’s why: The Macintosh keyboard layout for US-English offers the most convenient access to the en and em dash characters.
Here’s how: You can change keyboard layouts swiftly using both Gnome and KDE. - Position the text cursor where you want to insert the em dash or en dash character.
Here’s where: Typically, use em and en dashes like whitespace or punctuation characters that are not separated from other characters by whitespace.
Example: The en dash—which occupies the space of a lowercase ‘n’—is used to give ranges of numbers, e.g., pages 5–7. - Press AltGr - (dash or minus) for en dash (–).
Em dash: Press AltGr Shift - for em dash (—).
- Optional: Switch back to the original keyboard layout.
Speaking of Macs: How to Insert Em-Dash ( — ) and En-Dash ( – ) on a Mac
Using the “Compose” Key
To input an em dash or en dash character using the “Compose” key on Linux:
- Define and turn on Compose key support.
- Position the text cursor where you want to insert the en or em dash character.
- Press Compose.
- Type
--.(two times dash or minus—Unicode character U+002D—followed by period) to insert the en dash –.
Type---(three times dash or minus) for the em dash —.
What happens: The three characters will be replaced with the respective dash automatically and in place.
Using a Character Picker
You can also use the Gnome and KDE character pickers to find the dash characters and copy them for inserting:
- Open Gnome Characters or KDE KCharSelect.
- Search for
dash.
More precision: You can also search forem dashoren dash, of course, to narrow search results. - Select and copy the desired en or em dash character in search results.
- Paste the character as desired.
How to Insert En Dash and Em Dash on Linux: FAQ
Can I also copy and paste the dash characters?
Yes.
You can use the following table to copy the desired dash character for pasting:
Em dash hyphen — | |
En dash — |
Two em dash ⸺ | |
Three em dash ⸻ |
This will inert the respective character using Unicode.
Can I enter ‘–’ and ‘—’ using Unicode code points?
Yes.
If you can neither switch keyboard layouts nor enable the “Compose” key, the Linux graphical user interface lets you enter en dash and em dash using their Unicode code points.
To input dashes as Unicode on Linux:
- Press Ctrl Shift U.
Here’s what happens: You should now see u (an underlined letter ‘u’). - Type the UTF-16 code point.
En dash: Type2013für en dash (U+2013).
Em dash: Type2014for em dash (U+2014).
Here’s what happens: You will see u followed by the code, both underlined, e.g., u2014.
- Press Enter.
(How to insert en dash and em dash on Linux tested with Gnome 36 and KDE 6.1; first published September 2024)