Don’t read any further if you don’t care for things like brain plasticity or facts you’re unlikely to use. Seriously.

I came across a piece of copywriting full of en-dashes today and thought it worth firming up my understanding.

“The storied “compound adjective hyphen,” an event so rare in the English language that proofreaders shiver with excitement whenever they come across it.”

“An en dash (–) is bigger than a hyphen but shorter than an em dash (—). The names come from an obscure typographical measurement system, but the dashes have now taken on a life of their own in grammar. The em dash is the spork of English grammar: It ain’t particularly pretty, but you can use it for most anything. Em dashes can replace colons or sets of parentheses, or represent a sudden change in thought or tone.”

Source: mental_floss

Something you’re likely to find more beneficial, shortcut keys if you need to work with en-dashes or em-dashes.

Shortcuts:

en-dash (–) : option+hyphen
em-dash (—) : shift+option+hyphen