Smart space management & Comma and period

[Alan]

I have Smart space management turned on with Space AFTER for Comma. When deleting or cutting text between a Comma and a Period the two characters end up next to each other instead of having a Space inbetween. Am I correct to expect that Space inbetween?

[admin]

When you have a sequence of two punctuation signs (for instance, comma+period), things are more complex. Right, normally comma requires a space AFTER (if it is followed by ordinary text, i.e. if it is used in “orthodox” way). But a period normally does not require a space BEFORE. And the fact that the second punctuation sign (in our case, a period) does not require a space BEFORE, has a higher priority than the fact that the first punctuation sign (in our case, a comma) requires a space AFTER. This scheme is required to make punctuation signs work properly in ordinary text. For example, quite often closing brackets “)” are followed by commas or periods, like at the beginning of my post. But it is the same case as yours. Closing brackets require a space AFTER if followed by ordinary text. But commas do not require a space BEFORE. And the requirement of the second punctuation sign has a higher priority. That is why the AutoCorrect and other related features do not suggest a space between a closing bracket and a comma, as expected.

[Alan]

Thank you for the clear explanation. That makes perfect sense to me. I had not thought that the Period must have no space before it.