Why are there dashes in a .NET GUID?

Question

Why are there dashes in a .NET GUID? Are there dashes in most implementations of a GUID, or is it just a Microsoft thing?

Signed,

741ecf77-9c92-4435-8e6b-859

Answer 1

The GUID is really just a number. The hyphens show you how the various components are broken down but aren't really part of the number. It's like an IP address - you can store a 32-bit number, or you can store a string with dots in it, they are equivalent.