End-of-sentence space after \dots or \ldots or … with Xetex or Luatex

Question

I do not understand how to type what we call in French points de suspension at the end of a sentence, like this... I would like to create an \endldots command. How could I redefine \ldots so that it behaves similarly to a regular dot with respect to anglosaxon-style end-of-sentence spacing, i.e. generates a bigger skip ? I tried \@…\space but it does not work (only work with Pdftex). (Note: in this post I used the Unicode character; of course I could just type 3 dots but obviously this is not what i want.)

Important : I'm compiling with Luatex.

 % !TEX TS-program = lualatex
\documentclass{article}
\begin{document}
But@\ldots\space Even though,@\ldots\space It still doesn't work. Too bad!
But\ldots@\space Even though,\ldots@\space It still doesn't work.@ Too bad!
\end{document}

Edit

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{newunicodechar}
\newcommand{\susp}{…\spacefactor\sfcode`.\relax\space}
\renewcommand{\ldots}{…\space}
\begin{document}
But\susp Even though,\susp Now thanks to Egreg and David\ldots it works… like a charm\susp Thank you very much!
\end{document}

David Carlisle · Answer 1 · 2022-03-23T08:05:55.797

3

\@\ldots\space (the last line below)

\documentclass{article}
\begin{document}
\parfillskip=0pt plus .5\textwidth % just to exagerate the space
Aaa\ldots Bbb.
Aaa\ldots\ Bbb.
Aaa\ldots@ Bbb.
Aaa\ldots@ Bbb.
Aaa@\ldots\space Bbb.
\end{document}

In Unicode TeX the issue is rather different, \ldots resolves to the character … so you can give that character the same space factor code (\sfcode) as .

\documentclass{article}
\sfcode\…=\sfcode.
\begin{document}
\parfillskip=0pt plus .5\textwidth % just to exagerate the space
Aaa\ldots Bbb.
Aaa\ldots\ Bbb.
Aaa{\ldots} Bbb.
Aaa\ldots\space Bbb.
Aaa… Bbb.
\end{document}

edited Mar 23 '22 at 08:05

answered Mar 23 '22 at 01:00

David Carlisle

757,742

Thank you David. Sorry I forgot to mention, I'm not using pdftex. Your solution only works with pdftex. As I mentioned in the original post, I already tried @... but without success. – Vincent Krebs Mar 23 '22 at 01:17
Admittedly, originally I had written \xspace instead of \space... which package you should know quite a bit about ;) – Vincent Krebs Mar 23 '22 at 01:54
1

@VincentKrebs ah, lualatex (which applies for xelatex as well) answer added – David Carlisle Mar 23 '22 at 08:06
Wow, \sfcode`\…=\sfcode`\ is incredibly simple, thank you ! If we use it, we have to define a middle-of-sentence character too. – Vincent Krebs Mar 23 '22 at 10:33
1

@VincentKrebs …\@ would stop the end of sentence space just as .\@ stops it with . – David Carlisle Mar 23 '22 at 12:32

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Mar 23 '22 at 08:10

You can define \susp (or whatever name you prefer) to state the wanted space factor at the end and to issue a space. This space will be removed at end paragraphs anyway.

\documentclass{article}
%\usepackage[french]{babel}
\usepackage{newunicodechar}
\newcommand{\susp}{\ldots\spacefactor\sfcode`.\relax\space}
\newunicodechar{…}{\susp\ignorespaces}
\begin{document}
\xspaceskip=30pt % to better show the effect
But\susp But… But
BUT\susp But
\frenchspacing
But\susp But… But
BUT\susp But
\end{document}

With pdflatex we'd get

Thank you very much ! I like this \newcommand{\susp}{\ldots\spacefactor\sfcode`.\relax\space} because it leaves the original character alone, we need it for middle-of-sentence context. — Vincent Krebs, Mar 23 '22 at 10:31

End-of-sentence space after \dots or \ldots or … with Xetex or Luatex

2 Answers2