"Hardware-counter-based tools" or "hardware-counter based tools"? [duplicate]

Solution 1:

This one is tricky because it is solved with a mark of punctuation called the "en-dash." Its length is longer than a hyphen and shorter than a full em-dash. It's the middle one in this series: - – —

So with a term like "Hardware-counter-based tools" the solution is to use an en-dash between "counter" and "based," which signifies that the modifier "based" should apply to both words preceding it:

Hardware counter–based tools

Otherwise, the en-dash is used to indicate spans or ranges between units: 9:00–10:00, etc.

Solution 2:

The Raven is close but not quite there yet. "Hardware counter based" is a compound attributive adjective and needs both a hyphen and an en-dash:

This is a hardware-counter–based tool.

A hyphen is usually needed when using a compound adjective:

This is a counter-based tool.

The hyphen–en-dash combo is needed when one of the elements in the compound adjective is itself a compound. This helps the reader identify which of the words are associated with each other:

{ [ ( hardware ) - ( counter ) ] – ( based ) } tool

Not that the hyphen would be unnecessary if the phrase were used as a predicative adjective:

This tool is hardware counter–based.