Language desk
< August 9	<< Jul \| August \| Sep >>	Current desk >

Welcome to the Wikipedia Language Reference Desk Archives
The page you are currently viewing is an archive page. While you can leave answers for any questions shown below, please ask new questions on one of the current reference desk pages.

August 10

Should you use a dash or an en-dash?

When you list two years together, should you place in between the two years a dash or an en-dash? For example:

At the 1st Academy Awards (1927-1928), the Best Actor was Emil Jannings. (dash)

At the 1st Academy Awards (1927–1928), the Best Actor was Emil Jannings. (en-dash)

Also: Are there -- or are there not -- blank spaces on either side of the dash/en-dash?

Thanks. Joseph A. Spadaro (talk) 19:26, 10 August 2019 (UTC)[reply]

You should use an en dash (see MOS:ENDASH), not a hyphen as in your first example. No spaces around it. Deor (talk) 19:46, 10 August 2019 (UTC)[reply]

@Deor: OK. Thanks. So, my second example is correct, in terms of both the dash (actually, the en-dash) and the spacing? Correct? Thanks. Joseph A. Spadaro (talk) 20:51, 10 August 2019 (UTC)[reply]

So it would seem, at least for this particular context. When giving full birth and death dates, as in our bio articles, the convention seems to be to leave a space on either side of it. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 01:28, 11 August 2019 (UTC)[reply]

As the MOS says, when an en dash is used between things that themselves contain word spaces (such as full dates in month/day/year or day/month/year format), spaces are used around the en dash. Spaces are also used when an en dash is used as sentence punctuation, equivalent to an em dash. Deor (talk) 03:54, 11 August 2019 (UTC)[reply]

If we're talking about style in Wikipedia, the relevant reference is WP:MOSNUM#Ranges. 1927–1928 is correct, but since it is a pair of consecutive years, 1927–28 is also correct and I would say preferable. Other publications may have different style rules. --76.69.116.4 (talk) 01:41, 11 August 2019 (UTC)[reply]

The problem with that pedantic dash rule is if you want to search "2018–19 Golden State Warriors season", for example, you have to find a dash somewhere and paste it in. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 17:56, 11 August 2019 (UTC)[reply]

No you don't, since the hyphen-version title redirects to the en-dash version article. Indeed, MOS:DASH explicitly states: "In article titles, do not use a hyphen (-) as a substitute for an en dash, for example in eye–hand span (since eye does not modify hand). Nonetheless, to aid searching and linking, provide a redirect with hyphens replacing the en dash(es), as in eye-hand span. Similarly, provide category redirects for categories containing dashes." Deor (talk) 18:49, 11 August 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Assuming someone remembers to do it. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 22:56, 11 August 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Searching within an article is an issue in any case. If you type "2018-19" into the browser's search box, it's not going to find mentions of the "2018–19" season. ~~Personally I abhor all uses of en dashes~~—but this is not the place to engage in such debate, so I'll delete that remark before posting. --76.69.116.4 (talk) 02:09, 12 August 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Maybe if you're using one of those computers that inexplicably don't provide a single keystroke for the en dash, and you lack access to the wiki editor's character menu. —Tamfang (talk) 14:06, 17 August 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks, all. Joseph A. Spadaro (talk) 17:46, 12 August 2019 (UTC)[reply]