View source for Template:Spaced en dash space/doc

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{{COinS safe|n}}
{{Template shortcuts |snds|spndsp|sndashs|spndashsp}}
{{Contains special characters}}
{{Infobox punctuation mark|mark=—
|variant1=–|caption1=En dash
|variant2=—|caption2=Em dash
|variant3=‒|caption3=Figure dash
|variant4=―|caption4=Horizontal bar}}
{{Sidebar punctuation marks}}

This is the '''spaced en dash space''' template; it renders text in the same format as the HTML markup sequence <code>'''&amp;nbsp;&amp;ndash;&amp;nbsp;'''</code>. The resulting text is three characters in a line in the following order: 
# a [[non-breaking space]] (which cannot become a [[Line break (computing)|line break]] and will not collapse together with any normal spaces that come before the template), 
# a short type of dash called an [[Dash#En dash|en dash]]), and 
# one more of the same kind of non-breaking space (which will behave just like the first).

The recommended usage is to use ''no'' space before the template and ''no'' space after the template, like this:
::<nowiki>[[Salt]]{{snds}}[[Black pepper|Pepper]]{{snds}}[[Curry]]{{snds}}[[Saffron]]</nowiki>
:This will render one space on each side of the dash, and a line break will not come ''before'' one of the dashes nor will a line break come ''after'' one of the dashes as rendered here:
::[[Salt]]&nbsp;&ndash;&nbsp;[[Black pepper|Pepper]]&nbsp;&ndash;&nbsp;[[Curry]]&nbsp;&ndash;&nbsp;[[Saffron]]

The template is used to connect words with an en dash but with a non-breaking space before and after the en dash. Others uses of the template "spaced en dash space" are within other templates, tables, lists, and similar things to provide a separator between items. It is also to be consistent so that the article editor can use their choice of '''<nowiki>{{</nowiki>bull}}''', '''<nowiki>{{</nowiki>dot}}''', '''<nowiki>{{</nowiki>middot}}''', '''<nowiki>{{</nowiki>spaced en dash}}''', or '''<nowiki>{{</nowiki>spaced en dash space}}''' and not have to insert the {{bull}}, {{dot}}, {{middot}}, {{spaced en dash}}, or {{spaced en dash space}} symbols; they can use any of these templates as a simple macro. See above and right for shortcuts editors can use to easily implement this template in articles.

== Dot sizes ==

{{Dot size}}

== See also ==

* {{tn|·}}, which produces a spaced bold [[interpunct]] aka middot: "{{·}}"
* {{tn|•}}, which produces a spaced bullet point: "{{•}}"
* {{tn|\}}, which produces a spaced forward slash: "{{\}}"
* {{tl|en dash}}, which produces an ''unspaced'' [[Dash#En dash|en dash]]
* {{tl|spaced en dash}}, which produces a non-breaking space, followed by an [[Dash#En dash|en dash]], and then a breaking space
* {{tl|em dash}}, which produces an ''unspaced'' [[Dash#Em dash|em dash]]
* [[Non-breaking space]]

<includeonly>{{Sandbox other||
[[Category:Inline spacing templates]]
[[Category:Typing-aid templates|En dash, spaced]]
[[Category:Character-substitution templates]]
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