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> Typing <word><space><hyphenminus><hyphenminus><space><word><space> yields an en dash.

More importantly, typing just a single hyphen minus in this constellation triggers the autoreplace, too. (Typing the double hyphen is only necessary without spaces in order to distinguish between an intentional hyphen and an em dash.)

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Good point. Either way, it's kind of peculiar that getting an en dash in this manner demands flanking the hyphen(s) with spaces, and those spaces persist after replacement, when the typical usage of an en dash specifically doesn't demand spaces.

From TFA:

> August 1–August 31

From a top comment:

> Boston–San Francisco flight, 10–20 years

To achieve this using the replacement feature we're talking about would take something like <word><space><hyphenminus><space><word><space><alt+leftarrow><bksp><leftarrow><bksp><alt+rightarrow> which is ridiculous.

In professional typesetting, like a book, I sometimes see spaces flanking an em dash, however.

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