# E-Mail Addresses With Hyphens? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 15, 2001, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/e-mail-addresses-with-hyphens/87513 "2001-10-15T17:35:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2001, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/e-mail-addresses-with-hyphens/87513/1 "2001-10-15T17:35:40Z")
I’m trying to send an e-mail to a new friend I met while in Germany recently who has three hyphens in his e-mail address, and Hotmail keeps sending my mail back. I am assuming it is because of those hyphens. Is there something I can substitute that will make the mail go through? Have any of y’all had experience with this? Thank you! Quasi ---
**Author:** ![ninja\_rydr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/8491ac/32.png) [@ninja\_rydr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ninja_rydr)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2001, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/e-mail-addresses-with-hyphens/87513/2 "2001-10-15T17:47:00Z")
Try an underscore . ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2001, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/e-mail-addresses-with-hyphens/87513/3 "2001-10-15T18:01:09Z")
Maybe they are indeed supposed to be underscores], which are common in email addresses, so you’re getting good advice from **ninja\_rydr** but JFTR hyphens are legal. ---
**Author:** ![micco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f8ce5/32.png) [@micco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/micco)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2001, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/e-mail-addresses-with-hyphens/87513/4 "2001-10-15T18:03:27Z")
Hyphens are legal characters in SMTP addresses according to the spec: [http://www.cis.ohio-state.edu/cgi-bin/rfc/rfc2822.html#sec-3.4.1](http://www.cis.ohio-state.edu/cgi-bin/rfc/rfc2822.html#sec-3.4.1) According to RFC 2822, the local part of an email address may include any 7-bit ASCII character except control codes (tab, newline, etc.). Some legal characters are generally not used because of confusion or conflict with others systems (e.g. #, $, !, and spaces). However, hyphens are acceptable and used quite frequently. **ninja** is correct that an underscore is a legal character, but it should not be interpreted as a substitute for a hyphen. That is, if the correct email address has a hyphen, substituting an underscore should not work since both hyphens and underscores are legal characters. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2001, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/e-mail-addresses-with-hyphens/87513/5 "2001-10-16T00:10:32Z")
I have hypens in my email. Never had any problem. I infact have two hyphens. ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2001, 9:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/e-mail-addresses-with-hyphens/87513/6 "2001-10-16T09:42:54Z")
…but I don’t know how to underscore an e-mail address, never having had to do so. Can someone enlighten me? Thanks Quasi ---
**Author:** ![Gartog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/22d042/32.png) [@Gartog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gartog)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2001, 9:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/e-mail-addresses-with-hyphens/87513/7 "2001-10-16T09:55:35Z")
An underscore is a character similar to a hyphen, but lower. For example test-test test\_test On my keyboard this is achieved by pressing [shift] and the hyphen key together. As other people have mentioned a hyphen is a legal character. It is possible it’s an underscore and you have it written down wrongly, but if you can I’d suggest checking the address first, before changing it. What is the error you are getting? ---
**Author:** ![Toaster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@Toaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toaster)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2001, 9:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/e-mail-addresses-with-hyphens/87513/8 "2001-10-16T09:56:09Z")
Shift-Hyphen key gives you an underscore, \_. **ninja-rydr** didn’t mean for you to underline it, I’m sure. Hyphens _and_ underscores have always worked for me, so either your friend got it wrong (writing things down physically can make -s look like \_s) or Hotmail is evil, and you should try another, better free e-mail provider. ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2001, 10:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/e-mail-addresses-with-hyphens/87513/9 "2001-10-16T10:21:08Z")
_ **-** _ **-**** @t-online.de with the whole thing underscored, and when I try to send and underscore the whole thing at the beginning it puts the underscore at the beginning and not underneath the whole address. In other words it looks like this: \_**-\*\*\*\*\*-\*\*\*\*\*\*\*@t-online.de. I know how to underscore (shift and hyphen), but how do you do it where it underscores the whole line of characters rather than just at the front of the first character? Thanks Quasi ---
**Author:** ![Gartog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/22d042/32.png) [@Gartog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gartog)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2001, 10:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/e-mail-addresses-with-hyphens/87513/10 "2001-10-16T10:27:04Z")
You can’t, I think what was suggested was to replace the hyphens with underscores, incase you have it written down wrongly. What happens when you try to send the message with the first address? Also FYI [t-online.de](http://t-online.de) is a valid domain name. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2001, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/e-mail-addresses-with-hyphens/87513/11 "2001-10-16T14:29:50Z")
The underLINE you’re seeing with the email address is either because it is a link on a webpage/email, or because it has been underlined in HTML - the underline is NOT part of the actual address that you have to fill in. However, an underSCORE is like a hyphen, only it’s at the bottom of the character space. And slightly wider, too. This is a hyphen - This is an underscore \_ ---
**Author:** ![Googler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/7993a0/32.png) [@Googler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Googler)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2001, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/e-mail-addresses-with-hyphens/87513/12 "2001-10-16T16:32:52Z")
I dont know why I hate email addresses which has underscores:( .I dont mind hyphens though.