User:Omegatron/Dash syntax
There have been several proposals for wikicode conventions that allow rendering "real" dashes — like this. Currently, an editor either needs to enter the dash as an HTML entity: —, or has to enter the Unicode character — directly by finding it in the character insert box below the edit window. Both are slow and tedious, and despite the introduction of UTF-8, lots of people are still typing single hyphens - or double hyphens -- to represent dashes. Other types of dashes are even worse; very few people go through the trouble of entering a minus sign, for instance.
This is my proposal for a syntax to cover all the major situations where dashes are desired. If you see a conflict or problem with it, please add to the talk page. The idea behind this proposal is to put a little context parsing into the software, so a dash between two numbers is rendered as an en, but between two characters is left as a hyphen. (Remember, you can always use <nowiki> tags to escape behavior like this or force something else, but, like the other codes used on the site, a good syntax will work as desired in most cases, saving time and effort.)
Syntax
= Hyphen <span style="background-color:#eee;">-</span> =
- text-text
= En dash <span style="background-color:#eee;">–</span> =
- 1912-1934
- text_-_text
= Spaced en dash <span style="background-color:#eee;"> – </span> =
- text__-__text
= Em dash <span style="background-color:#eee;">—</span> =
- text--text
= Spaced em dash <span style="background-color:#eee;"> — </span> =
- text_--_text
= Minus sign <span style="background-color:#eee;">−</span> =
- _-123
- 123-_
- 123_-_123
= Not covered =
- Minus signs between text variables: a + b − c
- Full dates, linked dates
Minus signs inside superscripts for chemical symbols: SO42−
Examples
Compound words are sometimes combined into one, but sometimes remain hyphenated: foo-bar.- Compound words are sometimes combined into one, but sometimes hyphenated: foo-bar.
From 1923-1945, Mr. Foo frequently patronized bars.- From 1923–1945, Mr. Foo frequently patronized bars.
Foos are timid creatures--one was found hiding underneath a bar for several years -- and should not be approached carelessly.- Foos are timid creatures—one was found hiding underneath a bar for several years — and should not be approached carelessly.
Foo's theorem derives a result of -3 from the equation 2 + 5 - 10, barring arithmetic mistakes- Foo's theorem derives a result of −3 from the equation 2 + 5 − 10, barring arithmetic mistakes
Other conventions
(See this talk page for lots of discussion and variants. The following is a summary of the major proposals.)
= [[TeX|T<sub>E</sub>X]] and [http://daringfireball.net/projects/smartypants/ SmartyPants] convention =
- hyphen = “
-” (one hyphen: “Ex-wife”) - en dash = “
--” (two hyphens: “1995--2004”) - em dash = “
---” (three hyphens: “em dashes---those beautiful things”) - spaced en dash = “
--” (two hyphens surrounded by spaces: “November 1 -- December 26”) - spaced em dash = “
---” (three hyphens surrounded by spaces: “em dashes --- those beautiful things”)
= [[Textile]] convention =
- hyphen = “
-” (one hyphen with no spaces: “Ex-wife”) - en dash = “
-” (one hyphen surrounded by spaces: “1995 - 2004”) - em dash = “
--” (two hyphens: “em dashes--those beautiful things”) - spaced en dash = ??? (can this be typeset at all using the Textile notation?)
- spaced em dash = “
--” (two hyphens surrounded by spaces: “em dashes -- those beautiful things”)
= [http://bugzilla.wikipedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1485#c20 Nathan Hamblen's backwards convention] =
- hyphen = “
-” (one hyphen with no spaces: “Ex-wife”) - en dash = “
---” (three hyphens: “1995---2004”) - em dash = “
--” (two hyphens: “em dashes--those beautiful things”) - spaced en dash = “
---”? (three hyphens surrounded by spaces: “November 1 --- December 26”) - spaced em dash = “
--”? (two hyphens surrounded by spaces: “em dashes -- those beautiful things”)