ellipsis

The ellipsis rule turns runs of three or more dots into the single character U+2026 and writes the two-dot form after ? and ! in locales that use it.

Updated 21 October 2026 · spec 1.12.0

ellipsis replaces a typed run of full stops with the single character U+2026 (…). In locales that write an ellipsis after a question or exclamation mark with only two dots, as Russian does with Что?.., it also produces that abbreviated form. It is on by default.

The rule is deliberately narrow. A run of exactly two dots is almost never touched, because .. appears in relative paths, version ranges and numeric ranges.

How it works #

The rule works on each maximal run of dot-like characters (full stops and U+2026), in order:

1. A single full stop is an ordinary full stop. Nothing happens.
2. Three or more full stops become one U+2026.
3. A run that mixes full stops and U+2026 (……, ….., ..…) is normalised to one U+2026.
4. A single existing U+2026 stays, unless the locale asks for the abbreviated form (below).
5. A run of exactly two full stops is left alone, with one exception in locales that do not use the abbreviated form: two dots directly after ? or ! become U+2026, because Really?.. is a typing slip for Really?….

The abbreviated form #

Some locales write the ellipsis after ? or ! with two dots, because the mark already occupies the first position of the three. When the locale sets ellipsis.abbreviatedAfterTerminal to true, an ellipsis whose left neighbour is ? or ! is written as two full stops. The rule decides this once per run: Что?... becomes Что?.. in one step, an existing Что?… is rewritten to Что?.., and Что?!... becomes Что?!.. because the character before the run is !. In these locales a two-dot run is never touched, so Что?.. is already final.

Only the single character to the left of the run is examined.

What arrives from spaces #

The spaces rule runs first. It removes the spaces in a Chicago-style . . ., so that sequence reaches this rule as .... A space in front of a run of two or more dots is kept by spaces, so See ../docs and e.g. .. arrive with their spaces and are never merged into a three-dot run.

Examples #

Three dots, longer runs and mixed runs collapse to one character:

Notice that the single full stops, the existing ellipsis and the sentence ends are untouched.

Two dots are protected, with the one exception after ? or !:

In Russian the rule goes the other way after ? and !. After a letter, the ordinary ellipsis is used:

Notice that Он ушёл... got the ordinary ellipsis, since a letter precedes it, and the two-dot path ../ is left alone. Turkish and Ukrainian set the same flag:

French does not use the abbreviated form, so ?... becomes ?…. The nbsp rule then adds the narrow no-break space in front of the question mark:

Spaced dots merge (via spaces), and a space typed in front of a dot run survives:

In markdown mode, code spans are not touched:

Locale data #

The rule reads one field, ellipsis.abbreviatedAfterTerminal (a boolean). It is true for ru, tr and uk, and false for the other locales shipped with polytypo, including en-US, fi, fr, de-DE, el and sv.

Options #

ellipsis is on by default. To switch it off:

transform(text, { locale: 'en-US', rules: { ellipsis: false } })

With the rule off, Wait... stays as typed. The spaces rule still runs.

Edge cases #

• A single full stop is never touched, so decimals, abbreviations and 1.2.3 are safe.
• A run of exactly two dots is untouched everywhere, except directly after ? or ! in a locale without the abbreviated form. In the abbreviated locales a two-dot run is inert.
• Four dots collapse to one U+2026. The rule does not preserve the Chicago convention of an ellipsis followed by a full stop (….).
• Runs are maximal and are never joined across another character. Dots separated by a no-break space or a tab are separate runs; only spaces-stripped ordinary spaces let dots merge.
• U+2025 (‥), U+22EF and the CJK dot leaders are neither converted nor produced.
• The spacing around an ellipsis is not decided here. Whether word … takes a no-break space belongs to nbsp.
• The rule does not delete a space in front of an ellipsis, in any locale, including Greek.
• The abbreviated form is written only after ? and !. A leading ..? or ..! is left alone.

Related #

• spaces: runs first and decides which spaces around dots survive.
• nbsp: decides the spacing around the ellipsis.
• Locale resolution
• Idempotency

Normative text: spec/rules/ellipsis.md.