Changing "-" to \textendash

Question

I have a large LaTeX document, where hyphens are typeset with a single dash ("-") throughout. In my font, this shows up as a bold and vertically slightly off-center blob, but I'd like it to look like \textendash.

I tried to define - as a command that would translate to \textendash (by inserting \newcommand{-}{\textendash} in the preamble) but of course it didn't work. However I'd like it to work with the current "-" left in, since I 1) don't want to have to go through the entire document to replace the correct ones, and 2) don't want to rely on the next person editing the document avoiding "-" in favor of something else.

Is there any way to make "-" render in a nicer way?

Clarification:

• It is not necessary for me to use the \textendash specifically - my main concern is that the dashes that are produced, both by my - in the source, and by LaTeX's hyphenation at line-breaks, are ugly. I want a nicer rendering, but I have no specific requirement on which character should be used.
• The document can contain math minuses, and will definitely contain hyphens in references to file names. I only want to change the actual hyphens - basically, change the character TeX uses when it sees - in the source, and in every place that character would be used in a document.

Answer 1

Well you can make the - active and then define it. But it will affect all hyphens: real hyphens, math minus, hyphens in file names. On the whole I would say: don't do it. The trouble you get will cost you more time than changing you document.

\documentclass{article}
\begin{document}
\catcode`\-=\active
\newcommand-{hallo}

a - b

so-called

$1-1=0$

%\input{test-hyphen} %error
\end{document}

Answer 2

Here's an answer that is more robust than using an active character but it will only work in XeTeX (not LuaTeX). It will only affect hyphens that have spaces around them, so (rightly) something like «co-ordinate» will still use a regular hyphen.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{xesearch}
\UndoBoundary{-}
\SearchList{dash}{--}{-}
\begin{document}
There is no just ground, therefore, for the charge brought against me by
certain ignoramuses - that I have never written a moral tale, or, in more
precise words, a tale with a moral. They are not the critics predestined
to bring me out, and \emph{develop} my morals: - that is the secret. By and by
the ``North American Quarterly Humdrum'' will make them ashamed of their
stupidity. In the meantime, by way of staying execution - by way of
mitigating the accusations against me - I offer the sad history appended, -
a history about whose obvious moral there can be no question whatever,
since he who runs may read it in the large capitals which form the title
of the tale. I should have credit for this arrangement - a far wiser one
than that of La Fontaine and others, who reserve the impression to be
conveyed until the last moment, and thus sneak it in at the fag end of
their fables.
\end{document}

Courtesy Paul Isambert's nice xesearch package for the convenient interface to XeTeX's interchar toks feature.

Answer 3

One option is to make - an active character:

\documentclass{article}
\let\saveminus=-
\catcode`-=\active
\newcommand-{\ifmmode\saveminus\else\textendash\fi}
\begin{document}
well-known $a-b$
\end{document}

In this solution, - in mathmode still acts as a normal minus sign. But making - active may cause other problems, e.g. if you want to use \vspace{-1ex}.

Update: To change the automatically inserted hyphens, use

\hyphenchar\font=\textendash

Answer 4

What about just using --? It is not so esoteric since it is pretty common to write en-dashes in such way in ASCII formatted media.