Ask HN: How do you call the "-" on a keyboard?

I prefer dash, but I do find it somewhat amusing that windows virtual key codes have a mismatch between the constant and the description on this page: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/inputdev/vir...

VK_OEM_MINUS 0xBD For any country/region, the Dash and Underscore key

VK_SUBTRACT 0x6D Subtract key

I'm not sure if I've ever heard someone say "Subtract key" but I guess it makes sense for it's purpose on the numpad

This other source has a different description: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/api/system.windows....

OemMinus 189 The OEM minus key on any country/region keyboard.

The "ASCII" page in the Jargon File gives a few names for "-". It even says that the official ANSI/CCITT names are "hyphen" and "minus".

https://www.catb.org/jargon/html/A/ASCII.html

If it's the "-" on the keypad, I call it "minus". If it's the key on the main keyboard, I call it "dash".

I do it a little differently for the character (versus the key). That's probably more important because I'm almost always referring to the character, not the key. I call that a "minus", "hyphen", or "dash" depending on the context it's being used in.

"Hyphen" in writing, "dash" or "tack" in command line

Minus is an option. Especially on numpad.

Dash

Minus

Dash. Sometimes - minus.

("-")