The em dash (—) is a long dash used to set off a clause or an abrupt break in a sentence, distinct from the shorter hyphen (-) or en dash (–). Some style guides, publications, and AI-writing detectors treat heavy em-dash use as a red flag, so this tool finds every em dash in your text and replaces it with whatever you choose — a comma, a regular hyphen, a space, or nothing at all. The default replacement is a comma and space, a common drop-in substitute that keeps sentences readable.
No — it specifically matches only the em dash character (—, U+2014). Regular hyphens (-) and en dashes (–) are left untouched since they're different characters with different typical uses.
Clear the "Replace with" field entirely (leave it empty) and every em dash will simply be deleted, with the text on either side joined directly together.
Em dashes appear disproportionately often in text generated by some language models, so some writers swap them out to make AI-assisted drafts read more like their usual style, or to match a publication's house style guide.
Every em dash in your text is swapped for whatever you type into the replacement box. By default that's a comma and a space, which suits the typical case where a dash stands in for a pause. Clear the box and the dashes simply disappear, or use a space, a hyphen or anything else.
Some people do it because a style guide or an editor asks for fewer dashes. Others just want the text to look less formal, or need to paste into a system that mangles the character. Whatever the reason, it saves you hunting for each dash by hand.
It works best on dashes written without spaces around them. If your text has a space on each side, you may end up with a doubled space, which the Whitespace Remover on this site will tidy up in one click.
The meeting—which ran long—ended at six.
The meeting, which ran long, ended at six.
Only the long dash (—) is replaced. En dashes (–) in number ranges, like 10–20, and plain hyphens are left alone.