Emacs M-h selects paragraph + an extra line

Question

In Emacs, when I type M-h (mark-paragraph), Emacs selects the paragraph under point plus an extra line (typically right above the paragraph). Is there a way to ask Emacs to just select the paragraph?

Note: I have noticed this behavior under shell-script-mode, but haven't checked if it occurs with other major modes.

Answer 1

It's just how Emacs tells paragraphs apart. I wouldn't argue with it. This way, if you keep pressing M-{, more paragraphs get marked seemlessly. And if you really wanted to shrink by one line, just C-n.

I don't mean to be rude, but having started with Emacs from a Windows background, I wasted a lot of time trying to get it to work exactly how I wanted. CUA, delete-selection, etc, etc. I learned a lot but also wasted a lot of time.

Now I run Emacs with most of that stuff disabled, and I actually find the "Emacs paradigm" works. Most of the time.