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―

horizontal bar

Horizontal Bar

― is the horizontal bar, better known as a quotation dash or dialogue dash: some typographic styles use it to open a speaker's lines or to introduce who said a quotation. It is a separate character from the em dash —, not a longer version of it.

Text symbol

Also called: quotation dash · dialogue dash
Search it as: long bar · quote dash
Shows up in: Anything that takes text · its shape is whatever your font draws

What ― means

It marks quoted speech in some typographic traditions. Instead of opening quotation marks, text set this way starts each speaker's turn with the bar. Follow your publication's style rather than swapping every quotation mark for ―.

It belongs to the dash family, where each member has its own job: the hyphen joins words, the en dash marks ranges, the em dash sets off interruptions, and the horizontal bar is the one reserved for quotations.

A literary punctuation choice, not an emotional signal.

For interruptions in English prose, use an em dash; ― is not interchangeable.

What it means when someone sends it to you

2 readings

At the start of a speech line

Introduces a speaker's words in styles that use quotation dashes.

Before a name below a quotation

Introduces the attribution: who said or wrote it.

Don't confuse it with

—

Em Dash

Many fonts draw them almost alike, but the em dash sets off asides and interruptions while ― introduces quotations.

–

En Dash

The en dash is shorter and marks ranges or connects endpoints.

Questions people ask

Why does ― show as a box on some devices?

Because that device's fonts have no glyph for it. The character is still correct and still copies correctly — the box is a missing glyph, not a broken character.

How to type ―

Windows (Word)

Alt+XType 2015, then Alt+X to get ―.

Windows

Win+Rrun charmap for the full table, or use the emoji picker's Ω symbols tab (Win + .).

macOS

Control+Command+SpaceOpen the character viewer and search “horizontal bar”.

Linux

Ctrl+Shift+UType 2015, then Enter or Space.

HTML

―

CSS

\2015

Codes and encoding1 code points

HTML decimal

―

HTML hex

―

CSS content

content: "\2015";

Each escape is closed by the next backslash; a trailing space is needed before a literal hex digit.

URL encoded

%E2%80%95

On screen

Code points

JS .length

UTF-8 bytes

A visible symbol can contain several code points. JS .length counts UTF-16 units; UTF-8 counts bytes.

Families this belongs to

Typography & punctuation332 symbols

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