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I understand that typically an en dash ( – ) is used when presenting a range of numbers. For example, when representing a range of years such as "1990 – 2000."

My question pertains to instances in which you have a range of years but choose to shorten the latter year by dropping the century. Do you still use the en dash in this instance, or is a hyphen instead correct?

Specifically, which is correct: "1950 - 60" or "1950 – 60?"

As a follow up, is it proper to include spaces in this instance or to leave no spaces?

For example: "1950 - 60" or "1950-60?"

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    Possible duplicate of When should I use an em-dash, an en-dash, and a hyphen? Also related: The usage of en dash between two complete dates
    – FumbleFingers
    Commented Aug 22, 2016 at 16:44
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    This is a matter of style, so the answer depends on which style manual you (or your editor/publication/organization) are following.
    – choster
    Commented Aug 22, 2016 at 16:45
  • It is similar because it's referring to the same topic as the en-dash questions. However, it's asking about a specific instance that is not addressed in either question that it's been compared to.
    – theforestecologist
    Commented Aug 22, 2016 at 22:14
  • This is a typography question. Another such question was recently transplanted willy-nilly to writers, even though the question related to an English language typographical signifier. Anyhow, the usual but not invariable print media typographical convention for ranges of any kind is an en-dash with thin spaces on either side. The thin spaces are especially important when transferring the convention to the web, because web fonts are often neither as high-resolution nor as well-designed as print fonts.
    – JEL
    Commented Aug 23, 2016 at 8:13

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