To reproduce: $ emacs -q Type the following in a Java buffer: class X { String field1; String[] field2; int field3; int[] field4; X field5; X[] field6; } Select the six field lines and 'M-x align' them: class X { String field1; String[] field2; int field3; int[] field4; X field5; X[] field6; } Expected result: class X { String field1; String[] field2; int field3; int[] field4; X field5; X[] field6; } Emacs version (just compiled trunk): GNU Emacs 25.0.50.1 (x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu, GTK+ Version 3.10.9) of 2014-12-15