Half a croissant, on a plate, with a sign in front of it saying '50c'
h a l f b a k e r y
I never imagined it would be edible.

idea: add, search, annotate, link, view, overview, recent, by name, random

meta: news, help, about, links, report a problem

account: browse anonymously, or get an account and write.

user:
pass:
register,


                       

— Key

A computer key for the em dash.
  (+7)
(+7)
  [vote for,
against]

It seems like I use the em dash (—) a lot more than I use some characters that traditionally have spots on the keyboard (^,`, |). It's annoying when I'm not writing on Word and I want to use an em dash. I have to copy and paste it from another location. There's probably some kind of keyboard shortcut assigned to the —, but that's too cumbersome. I want a key that does this —————— when I press it six times.
DrWorm, May 22 2010

The Microsoft Keyboard Layout Creator http://msdn.microso...lobal/bb964665.aspx
(This doesn't seem to work with Windows 7) [ldischler, May 22 2010]

[link]






       So either buy a Mac keyboard for your pc, which, as Ian points out, has a shortcut for the em dash, or redefine your keyboard using the free Layout Creator (see link).
ldischler, May 22 2010
  

       I have seen eighteenth century printed books which use the underscore for this purpose _ an interesting alternative to the em dash.
pocmloc, May 22 2010
  

       — and of course, I hardly need to mention how useful “em” and “en” are in Scrabble…
hippo, May 22 2010
  

       I thought this was going to be a key for giving someone a bun.
nomocrow, May 23 2010
  

       Try "Ctrl" and the Num-pad "-". Works in Word on my PC, but I guess you already knew that, 'cos it doesn't work in notepad.
Ling, May 23 2010
  

       @[Ian Tindale]— Thanks!
DrWorm, May 24 2010
  

       Download AutoHotKey and write your own script to convert "------" to "—"
kevinthenerd, Jun 01 2010
  

       Here's your AutoHotKey script (without requiring an end-key to trigger it since you normally have no space, period, or enter after an m-dash).   

       :*:------::—
kevinthenerd, Jun 01 2010
  

       Hotkeys are good, but the problem still rears its ugly head when you try to type on a smartphone.
DrWorm, Jun 02 2010
  

       I defined -= as an en dash and =-= as an em dash, in Microsoft Word's autocorrect as you type. I find this convenient.
phundug, Jun 03 2010
  
      
[annotate]
  


 

back: main index

business  computer  culture  fashion  food  halfbakery  home  other  product  public  science  sport  vehicle