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Dash and Hyphen Normalizer: Em Dash, En Dash and Hyphen

This free tool converts between em dashes (—), en dashes (–) and hyphens (-). It can also turn double hyphens into real em dashes, or replace all dash look-alikes with one plain hyphen.

By Debmedia Technologies LLP · Kolkata, India · Updated

What Is It and When Do You Need It?

Dashes are easy to mix up and text copied from the web or from word processors often contains the wrong one. This tool puts them right in one step.

Paste the text and choose the change you need.

How to Use This Tool

  1. Enter or paste your input in the box or boxes above.
  2. Choose the options, if there are any.
  3. Press the button to run the tool.
  4. Read the result and use the copy button where one is shown.

How the Calculation Works

Each mode uses a pattern replace. Look-alike mode maps U+2010 to U+2015 and the minus sign U+2212 to a hyphen. The double hyphen mode replaces two hyphens in a row. The range mode looks for a digit, a hyphen and another digit.

Worked Example

Pages 10-20 -- read them becomes Pages 10–20 — read them when you apply the range mode and then the double hyphen mode.

Common Uses

  • Cleaning text before import.
  • Applying a style guide.
  • Removing dashes from pasted text.
  • Preparing numbers and ranges.

Tips and Common Mistakes

  • Run the modes one at a time if you need more than one change.
  • Style guides differ on spaces around em dashes.
  • Dates such as 2020-01-05 are left alone by the range mode.
  • Check the first result against a case you already know, so you can trust the tool for the rest.
  • Nothing you type leaves your device. The work is done by your browser, so it also works with a slow connection once the page has loaded.

Next, you may need the smart quotes converter, invisible character remover, character counter, text repeater.

Everything runs in your browser. Nothing you type is uploaded, stored or sent to any outside service.

Frequently Asked Questions

The hyphen (-) joins words. The en dash (–) shows ranges such as 1–5. The em dash (—) marks a break in a sentence.
The non-breaking hyphen, figure dash, en dash, em dash, horizontal bar and the minus sign.
Some systems, CSV files and style guides do not allow them, and pasted text may show them as odd symbols.
In the range mode it only changes a hyphen between two numbers, so -5 is left alone.

Disclaimer: results are calculated in your browser from the numbers you enter. Check important results before you rely on them for money, health, safety or legal decisions.