Dashes

Dashes look like hyphens, but are wider. An em dash is the widest type of dash. Dashes have a different purpose than hyphens. We use two types of dashes:

Hyphen (-)

Hyphenate compound modifiers that are placed before the noun. Compound modifiers that come before the noun require a hyphen to distinguish them from individual modifiers and nouns. Do not hyphenate compound modifiers that come after the noun. Hyphens are used in compound words and to express ranges.

Examples:

• The most up-to-date software can be found here.

• It takes 24-48 hours for the data to upload.

Note

Never include whitespaces around a hyphen.

Additional examples:

✅	❌	Rationale
Protect your Internet property from common vulnerabilities with our enterprise-class Web Application Firewall (WAF).	Protect your Internet property from common vulnerabilities with our enterprise class Web Application Firewall (WAF).	‘Enterprise-class’ refers to the ability of something to scale with and handle the needs of large enterprises. A hyphen is necessary because the compound modifier comes before the noun.
Our WAF is enterprise class.	Our WAF is enterprise-class.	‘Enterprise class’ modifies ‘WAF.’ A hyphen is not necessary because the compound modifier comes after the noun.

Em dash (—)

Use em dashes to break up thoughts within a single sentence. Em dashes (—) or double dashes (—) with spaces around them may be used to break up thoughts within a sentence. Single dashes (-), or hyphens, are commonly used to write compound words/modifiers and should never be used to break up thoughts in this way.

• Shortcut for Mac users: Hold down Shift and Option keys, then press the Minus key

• Shortcut for PC users: Hold down the Alt key and type 0151

Dashes are used in pairs (in place of parenthesis) or alone (in place of a semicolon or colon).

Examples:

• Cookies provide saved information about a user’s session to establish a “state” — in most cases, identity — as your browser makes a request.

• Embed yourself in the team — the best results will come when trust is built.

Note

Following AP style guides, and to improve readability, we include whitespaces before and after the em dash.

Additional examples:

✅	❌	Rationale
The app has made security and privacy core to the company’s mission — and that is why it chose Cloudflare to provide an extra layer of protection.	The app has made security and privacy core to the company’s mission—and that is why it chose Cloudflare to provide an extra layer of protection.	An em dash with spaces on both sides is the appropriate way to distinguish the offset phrase at the end of this sentence.
ACME has always looked deeply into two sources of traffic — organic and direct traffic.	ACME has always looked deeply into two sources of traffic - organic and direct traffic.	A double dash is the appropriate way to clarify different types of traffic at the end of this sentence. A hyphen should not be used in place of a double dash.

Additional dash information:

Punctuation	Character/HTML Code	When to use in Cloudflare documentation	Justification
Hyphen	&#45	Negative numbers, compounding nouns, compound adjectives, removing ambiguity, certain prefixes, certain units	Use a hyphen instead of an en dash.
Minus	−	Do not use
Em Dash	—	Empty table cells	Heavy use of the em dash creates choppy sentences that might annoy readers.
En Dash	–	Copyright year spans	To avoid possible confusion, the word “to” should be used instead of an en dash in a range of numbers because the en dash can be misinterpreted as a minus sign.