1992-2006 or 1992 - 2006

[Nightmare85]

Hello guys,
One album is named:
High Times: The Singles 1992-2006

I don't like the missing spaces between 1992 and 2006, but I almost never see such spaces.
Since it's the short form of this, why don't they use spaces as here:
Hight Times: The Singles 1992 until 2006
:?:

How is it in American English?
(Because that album belongs to an English band.)

Cheers!

 

[emsr2d2]

Hello guys,
One album is named:
High Times: The Singles 1992-2006

I don't like the missing spaces between 1992 and 2006, but I almost never see such spaces.
Since it's the short form of this, why don't they use spaces as here:
Hight Times: The Singles 1992 until 2006
:?:

How is it in American English?
(Because that album belongs to an English band.)

Cheers!

1992-2006 is actually more of a contraction of "From 1992 to 2006 inclusive"! That would be a lot to put on an album cover.

Dates are more frequently abbreviated this way, using a dash. Personally, I don't like how it looks when you add the spaces. When you're simply giving the beginning and end dates of something, you normally just do the starting month/year, a dash and the ending month/year.

John Smith, Director of Studies, 1992-1995
Helen Jones, Music Teacher, 2004-2007
Sarah Ryman, Temporary Typist, Mar-Sept 2003

It's the same as birth and death dates:

David Smith, 1954-2009

 

[bertietheblue]

If only for the sake of economy, the preference is for an unspaced hyphen (and note, not unspaced en or em dash) in most style guides, including the one I use at work. However, the preference, largely aesthetic, is not to use a hyphen, at least in formal English, when the construction is 'from ... to', eg on the covering letter of a job application:

'From 2000-2003, I was employed in Tokyo as a translator ...'

Instead:

'From 2000 to 2003, I was employed ...'

And definitely don't write 'between 2000-2003' - instead 'between 2000 and 2003' - since the hyphen means 'to'.

Of course in some cases you could equally use 'to'. Which is correct?

In paragraphs (a)-(b) above
In paragraphs (a) to (b) above

The answer is either, though I prefer the former, if only for, yet again, the sake of economy. The only point here is to be consistent and not switch between the 2 in the same document/letter, etc.

 

[Raymott]

Hello guys,
One album is named:
High Times: The Singles 1992-2006

I don't like the missing spaces between 1992 and 2006, but I almost never see such spaces.
Since it's the short form of this, why don't they use spaces as here:
Hight Times: The Singles 1992 until 2006
:?:

How is it in American English?
(Because that album belongs to an English band.)

Cheers!

I also don't like the missing spaces. It's not a hyphenated number, so I'd prefer 1992 - 2006.
I also prefer spaces around a dash and an ellipsis, which some people don't use.

But this is less a problem than the tragic punctuation of some of the English teachers here from various places in the world, who have apparently been taught that when, and whether, to use spaces around a period or comma are personal choices.

 

[Barb_D]

In American style, to show a range, use the en-dash, without spaces.


You can make one by holding down the alt key while pressing 0150 on your number key pad. I do this all the time. (You can also create an em-dash if you need to with alt+0151.)

I lived there from 1988–2003. It's only a bit different from the hyphen.
I lived there from 1988-2003.