How do I use Unicode in AutoHotKey?

Question

I am trying to make two hyphens trigger a short dash, and three hyphens trigger a long dash; like

:*?:---=::—
:*?:--=::–

except working. Here i

Answer 1

I copied the code below from the AutoHotKey forums:

;IMPORTANT, you must save this script as UTF-8 to make it work.

::!?::
::?!::
PutUni("‽")
Return

::neko::
PutUni("猫")
Return

:?:damn::
PutUni("✩☠#‼")
Return

;Paste UTF8 string (Hex encoded or not) as unicode.
;If you don't use Hex encoding, you must save your script as UTF8
PutUni(DataIn)
{
    SavedClip := ClipBoardAll
    ClipBoard =
    If RegExMatch(DataIn, "^[0-9a-fA-F]+$")
    {
        Loop % StrLen(DataIn) / 2
        UTF8Code .= Chr("0x" . SubStr(DataIn, A_Index * 2 - 1, 2))
    }
    Else
        UTF8Code := DataIn

    Transform, ClipBoard, Unicode, %UTF8Code%
    Send ^v
    Sleep 100 ;Generous, less wait or none will often work.
    ClipBoard := SavedClip
    Return
}

The PutUni function will "translate" the desired input to the desired Unicode output.