Let me clear up a common misconception. When most people say writing in code, what they really mean is writing using a cipher. A code is when a symbol, word, or phrase is used to stand for a different word, phrase, or sentence. A cipher is were each letter in a word is represented with a different letter or symbol.
The dash is a punctuation mark that is similar to a hyphen or minus sign, but differs from both of these symbols primarily in length and function.
Dashes and hyphens. The common âhyphenâ. The character commonly known as hyphen originated in early typewriters. The character repertoire had to be kept small, so several characters such as hyphen, en dash, em dash, and minus sign were lumped together. In modern character code standards, the character is called âhyphen-minusâ to reflect its ambiguity, but itâs really more ambiguous than the name suggests.