Definition
En dash
An en dash (–) is half the width of an em dash and marks ranges — 1939–45, pp. 22–30 — and compound relationships such as a London–Paris flight. It is not a hyphen.
Manuscripts arrive with hyphens standing in for en dashes almost universally, because a keyboard offers no en dash key. Converting them is a search-and-replace with judgement: a range takes an en dash, a compound word keeps its hyphen. In a range the dash is closed up to the numbers; used as a spaced alternative to the em dash in British style, it takes a space on both sides.
Related tools & guides
See it handled in your own manuscript
Ceeryo sets your .docx as a book — justified and hyphenated text with widows, orphans and rivers controlled, drop caps, running heads — and shows you every spread before you pay anything.