Em Dash Remover

Em and en dashes become hyphens or commas.

FREE · NO SIGN-UP · RUNS ON YOUR DEVICE

Your text stays on your device

Specification

Em Dash Remover at a glance

How to

Questions

An em dash is the long one used to break a sentence. A hyphen is short and joins words. They look similar and behave differently.

A comma usually reads more naturally where the dash was breaking a sentence. A hyphen is safer where the dash was joining two things.

A dash that sat between spaces keeps them, so you get a spaced hyphen rather than two words run together.

Yes. En dashes, used for ranges, are replaced alongside em dashes and counted separately so you can see both.

Background

Choose a hyphen or a comma as the replacement. A dash that sat between spaces keeps its spacing, so the sentence still reads the way it did.

An em dash breaks a sentence, an en dash marks a range, and a hyphen joins two words.
Replacing a dash with a comma changes the rhythm of a sentence slightly but keeps it readable.
Some systems mangle long dashes on import, which is the usual reason for wanting plain hyphens.
Removing the spacing along with the dash is what makes replaced text look wrong, so the spacing is kept.

Specification of the Em Dash Remover tool
Dashes handled	Em dash and en dash, wherever they appear.
Replacement	A hyphen or a comma, whichever reads better in your text.
Spacing	A dash between spaces keeps its spacing; one inside a word does not gain any.
Count	The number of each dash type is shown before you copy.
Other cleaning	Invisible, quote and spacing switches are there if you want them.
Price	Free. Supported by clearly labelled ads placed outside the working area.
Account required	No.
Where it runs	In your browser tab. Nothing is sent anywhere.

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