A fixed Unicode-to-ASCII punctuation swap
Exactly four replace operations run, globally across the whole input (not per-line): smart single quotes `‘` / `’` → ASCII `'`. Smart double quotes `“` / `”` → ASCII `"`. Horizontal ellipsis `…` → three dots `...`. En dash `–` + em dash `—` → ASCII hyphen `-`.
That is it. Other Unicode punctuation (French guillemets `«»`, CJK quotes `「」`, German `„“`, mathematical minus `−`) are NOT touched. Add them explicitly via Replace if your input contains them.
The ellipsis becomes three ASCII dots (not a single-char substitute), which can shift column widths in fixed-width output. Plan accordingly for aligned layouts.
How to use standardize punctuation in list items
- 1Paste text with smart quotes / em dashes / ellipsis
- 2Output runs four fixed replacements - no options
- 3Smart quotes → ASCII quotes
- 4Em/en dash → ASCII hyphen
- 5Ellipsis character → three ASCII dots
Keyboard shortcuts
Drive ListShift without touching the mouse.
What this tool actually does
Four hard-coded Unicode-to-ASCII replacements.
Smart single quotes → `'`
U+2018 LEFT SINGLE QUOTATION MARK and U+2019 RIGHT SINGLE QUOTATION MARK both become the ASCII apostrophe. Common when pasting from Word, Google Docs, or auto-correcting chat apps.
Smart double quotes → `"`
U+201C and U+201D both become ASCII `"`. Critical when preparing text for CSV, JSON, or code that parses plain ASCII only.
Horizontal ellipsis → `...`
U+2026 (a single character) becomes three ASCII dots. The line gets longer by two characters per ellipsis.
En/em dash → `-`
U+2013 (en dash `–`) and U+2014 (em dash `—`) both become an ASCII hyphen. Typographic distinction is lost - this is a lossy conversion for publishing-quality text.
What is NOT covered
Guillemets (`«»`), CJK quotes, mathematical minus, non-breaking hyphen, etc. Use Replace with Regex for those.
Worked example
Smart quotes, em dash, en dash, and ellipsis all converted to ASCII.
She said “hello” — then left… It’s a test – see the difference ‘Single quotes’ — too
She said "hello" - then left... It's a test - see the difference 'Single quotes' - too
Transformation reference
No options - these four replacements run unconditionally.
| Input character(s) | Output | Codepoint(s) |
|---|---|---|
| `‘` / `’` (smart single quotes) | `'` (ASCII apostrophe) | U+2018, U+2019 |
| `“` / `”` (smart double quotes) | `"` (ASCII double quote) | U+201C, U+201D |
| `…` (horizontal ellipsis) | `...` (three ASCII dots) | U+2026 |
| `–` / `—` (en/em dash) | `-` (ASCII hyphen) | U+2013, U+2014 |
| Other Unicode punctuation | Unchanged | Use Replace with Regex |