Ellipses
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In general, don't use ellipses. An ellipsis is made up of
three contiguous periods. Ellipses indicate the omission of part of a sentence, paragraph, or larger
block of text where the omission is not pertinent to the understanding of the subject at
hand.
Ellipses as suspension points
When ellipses are used to indicate hesitation, they are called suspension
points. Don't use ellipses this way in our documentation.
Not recommended: The answer is ... wait
for it ... that you shouldn't do this.
Ellipses in a user interface
When ellipses appear in a user interface, exclude them from the
documentation describing the user interface unless their omission could cause
confusion. For example, if the text on the button in the UI reads Save ...,
document it as click Save.
Ellipses in text
Don't use ellipses in your written documentation; omit any unnecessary
information and include all necessary information.
However, it's acceptable to use ellipses in quoted text (to replace a
portion of the quoted text) except when they appear at the beginning or end of
the text.
Not recommended: My high school English
teacher made me learn that Shakespeare quote about all the world being a stage
and " ... all the men and women merely players."
Not recommended: My high school English
teacher made me learn that Shakespeare quote: "All the world's a stage, And all
the men and women merely players ...."
The previous example ended with four ellipsis points. The final
ellipsis point is, in fact, a period. So when the material that you're omitting
contains one or more sentence boundaries, use four dots instead of three.
Recommended: My high school English
teacher made me learn that Shakespeare quote: "All the world's a stage, ....
And one man in his time plays many parts."
Punctuation and spacing of ellipses
Keep all three ellipsis points together. When creating an ellipsis,
instead of the ellipsis character, use three periods in a row. Insert one space
before and after the ellipsis unless a punctuation mark immediately follows the
ellipsis; in this case, don't insert a space after the ellipsis.
Recommended: You don't need to
understand all the other Python code in there ... we'll explain it all in class.
Also recommended: You don't need to
understand all the other Python code in there ...; we'll explain it all in class.
Not recommended: You don't need to
understand all the other Python code in there...we'll explain it all in class.
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Last updated 2024-10-15 UTC.
[null,null,["Last updated 2024-10-15 UTC."],[[["\u003cp\u003eAvoid using ellipses (...) in technical documentation to indicate omission or hesitation.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eWhen describing UI elements, omit ellipses unless their absence would create confusion.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eIn quoted text, ellipses can be used to replace omitted content mid-sentence, but not at the beginning or end.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eEllipses should be three periods with a space before and after, unless followed by punctuation.\u003c/p\u003e\n"]]],["Avoid using ellipses in documentation, except within quoted text where they replace omitted portions, excluding the start or end of the quote. In user interfaces, document ellipses only if omitting them causes confusion. When used, ellipses consist of three contiguous periods. Use four periods when omitting text containing sentence boundaries. Ensure a space precedes and follows the ellipsis unless a punctuation mark directly follows it. Do not use ellipses as suspension points.\n"],null,["# Ellipses\n\nIn general, don't use ellipses. An ellipsis is made up of\nthree contiguous periods. Ellipses indicate the omission of part of a sentence, paragraph, or larger\nblock of text where the omission is not pertinent to the understanding of the subject at\nhand.\n\nEllipses as suspension points\n-----------------------------\n\nWhen ellipses are used to indicate hesitation, they are called *suspension\npoints*. Don't use ellipses this way in our documentation.\n\nNot recommended: The answer is ... wait\nfor it ... that you shouldn't do this.\n\nEllipses in a user interface\n----------------------------\n\nWhen ellipses appear in a user interface, exclude them from the\ndocumentation describing the user interface unless their omission could cause\nconfusion. For example, if the text on the button in the UI reads **Save ...** ,\ndocument it as *click **Save***.\n\nEllipses in text\n----------------\n\nDon't use ellipses in your written documentation; omit any unnecessary\ninformation and include all necessary information.\n\nHowever, it's acceptable to use ellipses in quoted text (to replace a\nportion of the quoted text) except when they appear at the beginning or end of\nthe text.\n\nNot recommended: My high school English\nteacher made me learn that Shakespeare quote about all the world being a stage\nand \" ... all the men and women merely players.\"\n\nNot recommended: My high school English\nteacher made me learn that Shakespeare quote: \"All the world's a stage, And all\nthe men and women merely players ....\"\n\nThe previous example ended with four ellipsis points. The final\nellipsis point is, in fact, a period. So when the material that you're omitting\ncontains one or more sentence boundaries, use four dots instead of three.\n\nRecommended: My high school English\nteacher made me learn that Shakespeare quote: \"All the world's a stage, ....\nAnd one man in his time plays many parts.\"\n\nPunctuation and spacing of ellipses\n-----------------------------------\n\nKeep all three ellipsis points together. When creating an ellipsis,\ninstead of the ellipsis character, use three periods in a row. Insert one space\nbefore and after the ellipsis unless a punctuation mark immediately follows the\nellipsis; in this case, don't insert a space after the ellipsis.\n\nRecommended: You don't need to\nunderstand all the other Python code in there ... we'll explain it all in class.\n\nAlso recommended: You don't need to\nunderstand all the other Python code in there ...; we'll explain it all in class.\n\nNot recommended: You don't need to\nunderstand all the other Python code in there...we'll explain it all in class."]]
