5 ms·

Tip: On a Mac, you can type an em-dash with shift-option-hyphen. (An en-dash is just option-hyphen.)

deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
twhb 9y ago
Follow-up tip: also on a Mac, go to System Preferences → Keyboard and check “Show keyboard and emoji viewers in menu bar”. Then, hit the icon just added to the menu bar and select “Show Keyboard Viewer”. With it open, hold down Option, Option+Shift, etc, to live-preview what will be typed. For symbols not there, hit Control+Command+Space to open the emoji/unicode typer. Hit the icon in the upper right to switch to a view where you can add favorites, like those arrows above. Some favorite shortcuts of mine besides the dashes: - Option+; → … (proper ellipsis) - Option+[ and Option+Shift+[ → “ and ” (admittedly, typing in an editor with smart quotes is better) - Option+] and Option+Shift+] → ‘ and ’ - Option+= → ≠ - Option+Shift+= → ± - Option+x → ≈ - Option+, → ≤ - Option+. → ≥ - Option+Shift+8 → ° (degree symbol, don’t confuse with similar characters) - Option+p → π I read something related to Perl 6 work that resonated: Unicode opens up a lot more possibilities than we’ve taken advantage of, we just don’t yet have the hardware to make it convenient. Keys labels as screens is a perennial idea; maybe once somebody does a great job of it, we’ll see those Option shortcuts frequently used.
- colanderman 9y ago
  Personally I’m a big fan of the compose key for such matters. (Both OS X and Linux.) The mnemonics I find easier to remember. • Compose . . → … • Compose < " and Compose > " → “ and ” • Compose < ' and Compose > ' → ‘ and ’ • Compose / = → ≠ • Compose + - → ± • (couldn't figure out ≈) • Compose < = → ≤ • Compose > = → ≥ • Compose o o → ° • (no compose for π)
  - anjbe 9y ago
    > (no compose for π) You can create your own compose sequences in ~/.XCompose. I mapped pi to Compose * p, taking the idea from Plan 9: https://9fans.github.io/plan9port/man/man7/keyboard.html https://9fans.github.io/plan9port/man/man7/keyboard.html
    - Freak_NL 9y ago
      If a particular compose sequence strikes you as sensible and suitable for everyone, you can submit patches upstream as well. I believe the base tables reside in Xorg, and GTK uses these as an upstream source, but I'm not completely sure. I've did this for vowels with macrons — ā (-a), ō (-o), ū (-u), in particular because they are useful in romanised Japanese.
  - chrismorgan 9y ago
    ~~ → ≈ I’ve customised my Compose key quite a bit. I added things like: - Greek characters from Vim’s digraphs, so p star = π, l star = λ, &c. (Looks like WinCompose’s defaults now actually include asterisk-first ones, star p → π, so I might drop my additions.) - Emoji, :), :D, XD, :/, :S, &c. - Improved curly quotes, whereby I super-conveniently type curly quotes all the time: ;; → ‘, :: → “, '' → ’, "" → ”. (Look at them on the keyboard to figure out the reasoning. ∷ is available as 2:.) I contemplated, but didn’t add, Vim’s box drawing digraphs; there are a few collisions, and I only ever use box drawing characters in Vim, so I’ll just use Ctrl+K there. http://temp.chrismorgan.info/.XCompose http://temp.chrismorgan.info/.XCompose is my current .XCompose. I’m using Windows these days, so that’s with WinCompose.
    - username223 9y ago
      > - Emoji, :), :D, XD, :/, :S, &c. Aagh! I mean... and so it comes full circle. Does no one remember when "emoticons" were sideways ASCII art? Does no one wonder why entry (8) in a list gets turned into "open paren smiley face with sunglasses?" Kids these days...
      - chrismorgan 9y ago
        Oh, I remember it full well. But even in those comparatively early days when only :-( and :-) had specific Unicode codepoints [HN filters out emoji, imagine the appropriate codepoints yourself], I preferred to use them to :-) and :-(. Why do I use all the fancy Unicode things? Because they’re there!
    - colanderman 9y ago
      ~~ doesn't work on OS X ;)
gnicholas 9y ago
And iOS will auto-correct two hyphens to an em-dash, which is faster than long-holding the dash and sliding over to the em-dash.
sandov 9y ago
On linux: [ctrl + shift + u] then write "2014" and press [enter]
triplesec 9y ago
on this Mac i can only get the same double-length hyphen from either shift-option-hyphen or option-hyphen - hyphen — — — – – – both other options
jacobwyke 9y ago
On Windows with the numpad: Alt + 0151 (en-dash is Alt + 0150)
- csixty4 9y ago
  Install WinCompose and it's right alt + three dashes (---)
- bmpafa 9y ago
  Easy-peazy! Makes me wish I still had a numpad :/
psergeant 9y ago
iOS, type two hyphens and it gets auto-created
- freshyill 9y ago
  Or hold on the hyphen and you can get an emdash, endash, or bullet.
  - mpblampo 9y ago
    True on Android too.
macintux 9y ago
Thanks. I think I've been using en-dash out of ignorance over the years.
gk1 9y ago
There are a few reasons why I switched from PC to Mac, but there's only one reason I'll never switch back—it's this em-dash shortcut.
- alanfalcon 9y ago
  I had to program this and other special characters—notably •, ™, and ®—as an autohotkey script on my work PC. I was going insane. I already had autohotkey going to reverse the direction of Windows’ stubbon backwards scroll anyway. (Once I used so-called “natural scrolling” for a week it became impossible to understand why anyone would choose anything else.)
  - xemoka 9y ago
    Hey, you can do that reversal with a registry edit too eh: http://www.vvse.com/blog/blog/2012/02/27/reverse-scrolling-on-windows-7/ http://www.vvse.com/blog/blog/2012/02/27/reverse-scrolling-o...
  - ScottBurson 9y ago
    When you move your eyes downward, the world seems to move up. Do you therefore call that "looking up"?
    - alanfalcon 9y ago
      No. I’d get dizzy real fast if that very natural association between movement and perception were suddenly reversed though. (Somehow that didn’t happen when I started using natural scrolling, only when trying to go back from it.)
- ashark 9y ago
  The em-dash shortcut, system-wide remapping of CAPS LOCK to CTRL from the GUI in about 15 seconds flat, a top-level modifier key (command) that's respected enough by developers that it mostly retains its "I belong to the OS and, therefore, to the user, not to you, mere program" character, and a de facto standard package manager that leaves the base system the hell alone, almost never breaks, and can install many of the binary packages I want. Also if I went back to Linux I'd have to figure out how to remap my window controls to Spectacle's defaults, which'd probably take forever or end up being impossible in the window manager I settled on or whatever. It's the little things.
gshubert17 9y ago
Thanks, I have been looking for that. But it's command-hyphen for en-dash, and shift-command-hyphen for em-dash on my Mac.
- wtallis 9y ago
  Why do you have command and option reversed? Are you using a non-Apple keyboard?
  - gshubert17 9y ago
    This is curious. I use an Apple keyboard with a numeric keypad on the right. From left to right on the lowest row, the keys are Control, Option (Alt), Command, Space, and so on. I was using LibreOffice 5.1.6.2 to try this. It looks like LibreOffice has remapped the keys.
- Bud 9y ago
  It emphatically is NOT shift-command-hyphen on ANY Mac. It's shift-option-hyphen, and has been since the Reagan Administration.
  - gshubert17 9y ago
    You're right. It is as you describe on my 2015 MacBook Air running 10.12.6. But on my 2009 iMac running 10.11.6, using LibreOffice, option-hyphen did produce an en-dash, but command-hyphen did. So either LibreOffice or some configuration setting somewhere on this Mac is responsible for this nonstandard behavior. Thanks.

deleted 9y ago

[deleted]

twhb 9y ago

Follow-up tip: also on a Mac, go to System Preferences → Keyboard and check “Show keyboard and emoji viewers in menu bar”. Then, hit the icon just added to the menu bar and select “Show Keyboard Viewer”. With it open, hold down Option, Option+Shift, etc, to live-preview what will be typed. For symbols not there, hit Control+Command+Space to open the emoji/unicode typer. Hit the icon in the upper right to switch to a view where you can add favorites, like those arrows above. Some favorite shortcuts of mine besides the dashes: - Option+; → … (proper ellipsis) - Option+[ and Option+Shift+[ → “ and ” (admittedly, typing in an editor with smart quotes is better) - Option+] and Option+Shift+] → ‘ and ’ - Option+= → ≠ - Option+Shift+= → ± - Option+x → ≈ - Option+, → ≤ - Option+. → ≥ - Option+Shift+8 → ° (degree symbol, don’t confuse with similar characters) - Option+p → π I read something related to Perl 6 work that resonated: Unicode opens up a lot more possibilities than we’ve taken advantage of, we just don’t yet have the hardware to make it convenient. Keys labels as screens is a perennial idea; maybe once somebody does a great job of it, we’ll see those Option shortcuts frequently used.

colanderman 9y ago
Personally I’m a big fan of the compose key for such matters. (Both OS X and Linux.) The mnemonics I find easier to remember. • Compose . . → … • Compose < " and Compose > " → “ and ” • Compose < ' and Compose > ' → ‘ and ’ • Compose / = → ≠ • Compose + - → ± • (couldn't figure out ≈) • Compose < = → ≤ • Compose > = → ≥ • Compose o o → ° • (no compose for π)
- anjbe 9y ago
  > (no compose for π) You can create your own compose sequences in ~/.XCompose. I mapped pi to Compose * p, taking the idea from Plan 9: https://9fans.github.io/plan9port/man/man7/keyboard.html https://9fans.github.io/plan9port/man/man7/keyboard.html
  - Freak_NL 9y ago
    If a particular compose sequence strikes you as sensible and suitable for everyone, you can submit patches upstream as well. I believe the base tables reside in Xorg, and GTK uses these as an upstream source, but I'm not completely sure. I've did this for vowels with macrons — ā (-a), ō (-o), ū (-u), in particular because they are useful in romanised Japanese.
- chrismorgan 9y ago
  ~~ → ≈ I’ve customised my Compose key quite a bit. I added things like: - Greek characters from Vim’s digraphs, so p star = π, l star = λ, &c. (Looks like WinCompose’s defaults now actually include asterisk-first ones, star p → π, so I might drop my additions.) - Emoji, :), :D, XD, :/, :S, &c. - Improved curly quotes, whereby I super-conveniently type curly quotes all the time: ;; → ‘, :: → “, '' → ’, "" → ”. (Look at them on the keyboard to figure out the reasoning. ∷ is available as 2:.) I contemplated, but didn’t add, Vim’s box drawing digraphs; there are a few collisions, and I only ever use box drawing characters in Vim, so I’ll just use Ctrl+K there. http://temp.chrismorgan.info/.XCompose http://temp.chrismorgan.info/.XCompose is my current .XCompose. I’m using Windows these days, so that’s with WinCompose.
  - username223 9y ago
    > - Emoji, :), :D, XD, :/, :S, &c. Aagh! I mean... and so it comes full circle. Does no one remember when "emoticons" were sideways ASCII art? Does no one wonder why entry (8) in a list gets turned into "open paren smiley face with sunglasses?" Kids these days...
    - chrismorgan 9y ago
      Oh, I remember it full well. But even in those comparatively early days when only :-( and :-) had specific Unicode codepoints [HN filters out emoji, imagine the appropriate codepoints yourself], I preferred to use them to :-) and :-(. Why do I use all the fancy Unicode things? Because they’re there!
  - colanderman 9y ago
    ~~ doesn't work on OS X ;)

gnicholas 9y ago

And iOS will auto-correct two hyphens to an em-dash, which is faster than long-holding the dash and sliding over to the em-dash.

sandov 9y ago

On linux: [ctrl + shift + u] then write "2014" and press [enter]

triplesec 9y ago

on this Mac i can only get the same double-length hyphen from either shift-option-hyphen or option-hyphen - hyphen — — — – – – both other options

jacobwyke 9y ago

On Windows with the numpad: Alt + 0151 (en-dash is Alt + 0150)

csixty4 9y ago
Install WinCompose and it's right alt + three dashes (---)
bmpafa 9y ago
Easy-peazy! Makes me wish I still had a numpad :/

psergeant 9y ago

iOS, type two hyphens and it gets auto-created

freshyill 9y ago
Or hold on the hyphen and you can get an emdash, endash, or bullet.
- mpblampo 9y ago
  True on Android too.

macintux 9y ago

Thanks. I think I've been using en-dash out of ignorance over the years.

gk1 9y ago

There are a few reasons why I switched from PC to Mac, but there's only one reason I'll never switch back—it's this em-dash shortcut.

alanfalcon 9y ago
I had to program this and other special characters—notably •, ™, and ®—as an autohotkey script on my work PC. I was going insane. I already had autohotkey going to reverse the direction of Windows’ stubbon backwards scroll anyway. (Once I used so-called “natural scrolling” for a week it became impossible to understand why anyone would choose anything else.)
- xemoka 9y ago
  Hey, you can do that reversal with a registry edit too eh: http://www.vvse.com/blog/blog/2012/02/27/reverse-scrolling-on-windows-7/ http://www.vvse.com/blog/blog/2012/02/27/reverse-scrolling-o...
- ScottBurson 9y ago
  When you move your eyes downward, the world seems to move up. Do you therefore call that "looking up"?
  - alanfalcon 9y ago
    No. I’d get dizzy real fast if that very natural association between movement and perception were suddenly reversed though. (Somehow that didn’t happen when I started using natural scrolling, only when trying to go back from it.)
ashark 9y ago
The em-dash shortcut, system-wide remapping of CAPS LOCK to CTRL from the GUI in about 15 seconds flat, a top-level modifier key (command) that's respected enough by developers that it mostly retains its "I belong to the OS and, therefore, to the user, not to you, mere program" character, and a de facto standard package manager that leaves the base system the hell alone, almost never breaks, and can install many of the binary packages I want. Also if I went back to Linux I'd have to figure out how to remap my window controls to Spectacle's defaults, which'd probably take forever or end up being impossible in the window manager I settled on or whatever. It's the little things.

gshubert17 9y ago

Thanks, I have been looking for that. But it's command-hyphen for en-dash, and shift-command-hyphen for em-dash on my Mac.

wtallis 9y ago
Why do you have command and option reversed? Are you using a non-Apple keyboard?
- gshubert17 9y ago
  This is curious. I use an Apple keyboard with a numeric keypad on the right. From left to right on the lowest row, the keys are Control, Option (Alt), Command, Space, and so on. I was using LibreOffice 5.1.6.2 to try this. It looks like LibreOffice has remapped the keys.
Bud 9y ago
It emphatically is NOT shift-command-hyphen on ANY Mac. It's shift-option-hyphen, and has been since the Reagan Administration.
- gshubert17 9y ago
  You're right. It is as you describe on my 2015 MacBook Air running 10.12.6. But on my 2009 iMac running 10.11.6, using LibreOffice, option-hyphen did produce an en-dash, but command-hyphen did. So either LibreOffice or some configuration setting somewhere on this Mac is responsible for this nonstandard behavior. Thanks.