(La)TeX would typeset -- as an en dash. --- gets you an em dash. I, of course, used proper dashes in typeset documents, at least after I'd learnt about them in

(La)TeX would typeset -- as an en dash. --- gets you an em dash. I, of course, used proper dashes in typeset documents, at least after I'd learnt about them in Knuth's The TeXbook. I have found myself occasionally use them in ASCII contexts just as ---. But I've never sought out the proper unicode character.