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6.5.4 Moving by Sentences

Command	Key Binding	Purpose
backward-sentence	‘M-a’	Move backward to start of sentence
forward-sentence	‘M-e’	Move forward to end of sentence

Variable: sentence-end ¶

A regular expression that matches ends of sentences. Every paragraph boundary terminates sentences as well. The value includes the whitespace following the sentence.

Function: sentence-end ¶

Return the regexp describing the end of a sentence.

This function returns either the value of the variable

• ‘sentence-end’ if it is non-nil, or
• the default value constructed from the variables
  • ‘sentence-end-base’,
  • ‘sentence-end-double-space’,
  • ‘sentence-end-without-period’ and
  • ‘sentence-end-without-space’.

The default value specifies that in order to be recognized as the end of a sentence, the ending period, question mark, or exclamation point must be followed by two spaces, with perhaps some closing delimiters in between.

You can alter this behavior by customizing the following variables:

sentence-end-double-space

non-nil means a single space does not end a sentence

sentence-end-without-period

non-nil means a sentence will end without a period

sentence-end-without-space

a string of characgters that end a sentence without requiring spaces after