1 files changed, 7 insertions, 5 deletions

diff --git a/lisp/dabbrev.el b/lisp/dabbrev.el
index ae16b52ee7d..1cfad105a95 100644
--- a/lisp/dabbrev.el
+++ b/lisp/dabbrev.el
@@ -128,7 +128,7 @@ Set this to nil if no characters should be skipped."
                  (const :tag "off" nil))
   :group 'dabbrev)
 
-(defcustom dabbrev--eliminate-newlines t
+(defcustom dabbrev-eliminate-newlines t
   "*Non-nil means dabbrev should not insert newlines.
 Instead it converts them to spaces."
   :type 'boolean
@@ -913,10 +913,12 @@ to record whether we upcased the expansion, downcased it, or did neither."
                           ((equal abbrev (downcase abbrev)) 'downcase)))))
 
     ;; Convert whitespace to single spaces.
-    (if dabbrev--eliminate-newlines
-        ;; Start searching at end of ABBREV so that any whitespace
-        ;; carried over from the existing text is not changed.
-        (let ((pos (length abbrev)))
+    (if dabbrev-eliminate-newlines
+        (let ((pos
+               (if (equal abbrev " ") 0 (length abbrev))))
+          ;; If ABBREV is real, search after the end of it.
+          ;; If ABBREV is space and we are copying successive words,
+          ;; search starting at the front.
           (while (string-match "[\n \t]+" expansion pos)
             (setq pos (1+ (match-beginning 0)))
             (setq expansion (replace-match " " nil nil expansion)))))