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Dashes and Hyphens between Dates
Using Dashes between Ranges (e.g., Date Ranges)
The dash is used between ranges. These are often date ranges. For example:- Between times: 1200–1600
or 6 am–8 am
- Between days: Monday–Friday
- Between dates: 12–15 October
- Between months: June–August
- Between years: 1967–1969
- Pages 2–4
- 100–150 people
Table of Contents
- Don't Use "From" or "To"
- Avoid Using Spaces
- Using Hyphens in Ranges
- How to Get a Dash
- Printable Test

Don't Use "From" or "To"
Don't use the word "from" or "to" if you're using a dash to show a range. If you're not using a dash, then you can use "from" and "to." Don't mix these conventions.- Lunch break is 1200–1300.
- Lunch break is from 1200 to 1300.
- Lunch break is from 1200–1300.
Avoid Using Spaces
Avoid putting spaces around your dash. This is not a ruling. It is, however, good practice because when you use spaces, your autocorrect will often try to help you by changing your short dash (especially if you've decided to use hyphens) to an em dash (a longer dash, the length of an uppercase "M"). As autocorrect is inconsistent with this "help," you often end up with a mix of en dashes (a shorter dash, the length of a lowercase "n") and long dashes between your ranges.Using no spaces at all stops autocorrect trying to help you (as it waits for a space before it looks at what you've just typed), and using no spaces also eliminates inconsistencies with spacing. Here's a scruffy example:
With inconsistent spaces and a random long dash:
(This is scruffy.)
Here's a tidier version:0900– 0930 | Introduction |
0930 –1030 | Lesson 1 |
1030 – 1100 | Coffee |
1100 — 1200 | Lesson 2 |
1200–1300 | Lunch |

With no spaces and consistent dashes:
(This is much tidier.)
Read more about hyphens, en dashes, and em dashes.
0900–0930 | Introduction |
0930–1030 | Lesson 1 |
1030–1100 | Coffee |
1100–1200 | Lesson 2 |
1200–1300 | Lunch |

Using Hyphens in Ranges
Hyphens are not meant to be used for ranges (e.g., 10-12, 1967-1971). Dashes are used for this purpose. However, given that the hyphen is so easy to find on a keyboard, hyphens have become acceptable for ranges. Only a strict grammar pedant would chastise you for using a hyphen in a range. If this were to happen, you could make a good case for the pedant being out of date. Read more about using hyphens.How to Get a Dash
If you're using a text editor (like Microsoft Word) on your desktop PC, you can get the different dashes via your keyboard's numeric pad.Name | Punctuation | How To Get One |
---|---|---|
em dash | — | Ctl + Alt + minus (on the numeric pad) |
minus sign | − | minus (on the numeric pad) |
en dash | – | Ctl + minus (on the numeric pad) |
hyphen | - | - (the key to the right of "0") |
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