> Using .\|.\|. is too "spread out", but the \^ space looks very nice, > and is much simpler.
>> Note that the effect depends on the font. In particular, in a >> fixed-width font (like Courier Roman, \f[CR]), your "..." will >> come out with each dot spaced on by the fixed width of a character, >> and will look bad. In that case moving the dots closer together, >> as in >> >> .char \[el] .\h'-0.25n'.\h'-0.25n'. >> >> would produce a better result. I beg to differ. There is a general tendency these days to set the ellipsis way to tight (such as in the predefined "ellipsis" character in most fonts). Therefore: in a monospaced font such as Courier, use "..." without negative space. In a proportional font such as Times, use a full space between dots: ".\~.\~." (even "\|" is too tight, let alone "\^"). Take a look at some paperback novels from a few years back. They always use a loosely spaced ellipsis with full spaces.
