Line Symbol Text Copy and Paste
Every kind of line character — dashes, rules, box-drawing, and decorative dividers.
Horizontal Line Symbols
| Symbol | Name | Unicode | Copy |
|---|---|---|---|
| — | Em Dash | U+2014 | — |
| – | En Dash | U+2013 | – |
| ─ | Light Horizontal | U+2500 | ─ |
| ━ | Heavy Horizontal | U+2501 | ━ |
| ═ | Double Horizontal | U+2550 | ═ |
Vertical Line Symbols
| Symbol | Name | Unicode | Copy |
|---|---|---|---|
| │ | Light Vertical | U+2502 | │ |
| ┃ | Heavy Vertical | U+2503 | ┃ |
| ║ | Double Vertical | U+2551 | ║ |
| ‖ | Double Vertical | U+2016 | ‖ |
| ┆ | Dashed Light | U+2506 | ┆ |
Decorative Line Dividers
What Each Line Symbol Means
Em Dash (U+2014)
The longest standard dash — about the width of the letter M. Used to set off parenthetical statements (like this one), indicate interrupted dialogue, or attribute a quote. The go-to dash for most writers.
En Dash (U+2013)
Shorter than the em dash, about the width of the letter N. Used for ranges (pages 10–15, 2020–2026) and compound adjectives with spaces. Not as commonly used as the em dash or hyphen.
Box-Drawing Lines (U+2500–U+257F)
These come from the Unicode box-drawing block, originally designed for creating tables and borders in terminal applications. Light (─), heavy (━), and double (═) lines can be combined to create boxes, tables, and frames in plain text. Still popular in code documentation and ASCII art.
How to Type Line Symbols
On Windows
- Em dash: Hold Alt, type 0151 on the numpad
- En dash: Hold Alt, type 0150 on the numpad
- In Word: Two hyphens auto-convert to an em dash
On Mac
- Em dash: Option + Shift + Hyphen
- En dash: Option + Hyphen
On iPhone/Android
- Em dash: Long-press the hyphen key on most keyboards
- En dash: Long-press the hyphen key and select the shorter dash
Hyphen vs En Dash vs Em Dash
These three are the most commonly confused line characters:
- Hyphen (-): Joins compound words (well-known) and breaks words across lines
- En dash (–): Indicates ranges (10–20) and relationships (Boston–New York flight)
- Em dash (—): Sets off clauses — like this — and indicates interruption
Line Symbols for Tables
Combine box-drawing characters to create text tables:
┌──────────┬──────────┐ │ Item │ Price │ ├──────────┼──────────┤ │ Coffee │ $4.50 │ │ Tea │ $3.00 │ └──────────┴──────────┘
The corner characters and intersection characters complete the box-drawing set. They all come from the same Unicode block (U+2500 to U+257F).