In Latin script, the double hyphen ⹀ is a punctuation mark that consists of two parallel hyphens (‐). It was a development of the earlier double oblique hyphen ⸗, which developed from a Central European variant of the virgule slash, originally a form of scratch comma. Similar marks (see below) are used in other scripts. In order to avoid it being confused with the equals sign =, the double hyphen is often shown as a double oblique hyphen in modern typography. The double hyphen is also not to be confused with two consecutive hyphens (- - ), which are often used to represent an em dash — or en dash – due to the limitations of typewriters and keyboards that do not have distinct hyphen and dash keys.

Usage

The double hyphen is used for several different purposes throughout the world: country''.

Stylistic variant of the single hyphen

When the double hyphen is used as a functionally equivalent graphical variant (allograph) of the single hyphen, it has the same Unicode code point as a conventional hyphen (since how it is displayed/printed is a font choice on that occasion).

Similar marks

Other forms of double hyphen are given unique codepoints in Unicode: