I feel that between is the whole example including the outer layer due to show its starting and ending point
And +++++ in/- between +++++ is what is excluding the starting and ending point. Not know what the difference in the hyphen resembles.
I feel if that if its between something how would you describe the start and end of the example except for using it as a alternative metephor. It is a connotes. The tricky meangs of words in the english language.