]> code.delx.au - gnu-emacs/blob - doc/emacs/display.texi
* term.c (init_tty): Fix incorrect ifdef placement (Bug#8450).
[gnu-emacs] / doc / emacs / display.texi
1 @c This is part of the Emacs manual.
2 @c Copyright (C) 1985, 1986, 1987, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1997, 2000, 2001,
3 @c 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011
4 @c Free Software Foundation, Inc.
5
6 @c See file emacs.texi for copying conditions.
7 @node Display, Search, Registers, Top
8 @chapter Controlling the Display
9
10 Since only part of a large buffer fits in the window, Emacs tries to
11 show a part that is likely to be interesting. Display-control
12 commands and variables allow you to specify which part of the text you
13 want to see, and how to display it.
14
15 @menu
16 * Scrolling:: Commands to move text up and down in a window.
17 * Auto Scrolling:: Redisplay scrolls text automatically when needed.
18 * Horizontal Scrolling:: Moving text left and right in a window.
19 * Follow Mode:: Follow mode lets two windows scroll as one.
20 * Faces:: How to change the display style using faces.
21 * Standard Faces:: Emacs' predefined faces.
22 * Temporary Face Changes:: Commands to temporarily modify the default text face
23 * Font Lock:: Minor mode for syntactic highlighting using faces.
24 * Highlight Interactively:: Tell Emacs what text to highlight.
25 * Fringes:: Enabling or disabling window fringes.
26 * Displaying Boundaries:: Displaying top and bottom of the buffer.
27 * Useless Whitespace:: Showing possibly-spurious trailing whitespace.
28 * Selective Display:: Hiding lines with lots of indentation.
29 * Optional Mode Line:: Optional mode line display features.
30 * Text Display:: How text characters are normally displayed.
31 * Cursor Display:: Features for displaying the cursor.
32 * Line Truncation:: Truncating lines to fit the screen width instead
33 of continuing them to multiple screen lines.
34 * Visual Line Mode:: Word wrap and screen line-based editing.
35 * Display Custom:: Information on variables for customizing display.
36 @end menu
37
38 @node Scrolling
39 @section Scrolling
40
41 If a buffer contains text that is too large to fit entirely within a
42 window that is displaying the buffer, Emacs shows a contiguous portion of
43 the text. The portion shown always contains point.
44
45 @cindex scrolling
46 @dfn{Scrolling} means moving text up or down in the window so that
47 different parts of the text are visible. Scrolling ``forward'' or
48 ``up'' means that text moves up, and new text appears at the bottom.
49 Scrolling ``backward'' or ``down'' moves text down, and new text
50 appears at the top.
51
52 Scrolling happens automatically if you move point past the bottom or
53 top of the window. You can also scroll explicitly with these
54 commands:
55
56 @table @kbd
57 @item C-l
58 Scroll the selected window so that the current line is the center-most
59 text line; on subsequent consecutive invocations, make the current
60 line the top-most line, the bottom-most line, and so forth in cyclic
61 order; also, maybe redisplay the screen (@code{recenter-top-bottom}).
62 @item C-v
63 @itemx @key{next}
64 @itemx @key{PageDown}
65 Scroll forward by nearly a full window (@code{scroll-up}).
66 @item M-v
67 @itemx @key{prior}
68 @itemx @key{PageUp}
69 Scroll backward (@code{scroll-down}).
70 @item C-M-l
71 Scroll heuristically to bring useful information onto the screen
72 (@code{reposition-window}).
73 @end table
74
75 @kindex C-l
76 @findex recenter-top-bottom
77 @kbd{C-l} (@code{recenter-top-bottom}) is a basic scrolling command.
78 It @dfn{recenters} the selected window, scrolling it so that the
79 current screen line is exactly in the center of the window, or as
80 close to the center as possible.
81
82 Typing @kbd{C-l} twice in a row (@kbd{C-l C-l}) scrolls the window
83 so that point is on the topmost screen line. Typing a third @kbd{C-l}
84 scrolls the window so that point is on the bottom-most screen line.
85 Each successive @kbd{C-l} cycles through these three screen positions.
86
87 @vindex recenter-positions
88 You can change the cycling order by customizing the list variable
89 @code{recenter-positions}. Each list element should be the symbol
90 @code{top}, @code{middle}, or @code{bottom}, or a number; an integer
91 number means to move the line to the specified screen line, while a
92 floating-point number between 0.0 and 1.0 specifies a percentage of
93 the screen space from the top. The default, @code{(middle top
94 bottom)}, is the cycling order described above. Furthermore, if you
95 change the variable @code{scroll-margin} to a non-zero value @var{n},
96 Emacs always leaves @var{n} screen lines between point and the top or
97 bottom of the window (@pxref{Auto Scrolling}).
98
99 You can also supply @kbd{C-l} with a prefix argument. With a plain
100 prefix argument, @kbd{C-u C-l}, Emacs simply recenters point. With a
101 positive argument @var{n}, it scrolls to place point @var{n} lines
102 down from the top of the window. An argument of zero puts point on
103 the topmost line. A negative argument @var{-n} puts point @var{n}
104 lines from the bottom of the window. For example, @kbd{C-u - 1 C-l}
105 puts point on the bottom line, and @kbd{C-u - 5 C-l} puts it five
106 lines from the bottom. When given an argument, @kbd{C-l} does not
107 clear the screen or cycle through different screen positions.
108
109 The more primitive command @code{recenter} behaves like
110 @code{recenter-top-bottom}, but does not cycle among screen positions.
111 Prior to Emacs 23, @kbd{C-l} was bound to @code{recenter}.
112
113 @vindex recenter-redisplay
114 If the variable @code{recenter-redisplay} has a non-@code{nil}
115 value, Emacs clears and redisplays the screen each time @kbd{C-l}
116 recenters the window; the special value @code{tty} (the default) says
117 to do this on text-terminal frames only. Redisplaying is useful in
118 case the screen becomes garbled for any reason (@pxref{Screen
119 Garbled}).
120
121 @kindex C-v
122 @kindex M-v
123 @kindex next
124 @kindex prior
125 @kindex PageDown
126 @kindex PageUp
127 @findex scroll-up
128 @findex scroll-down
129 To read the buffer a windowful at a time, type @kbd{C-v}
130 (@code{scroll-up}). This scrolls forward by nearly the whole window
131 height. The effect is to take the two lines at the bottom of the
132 window and put them at the top, followed by lines that were not
133 previously visible. If point was in the text that scrolled off the
134 top, it ends up at the new top of the window.
135
136 @kbd{M-v} (@code{scroll-down}) scrolls backward in a similar way.
137
138 @vindex next-screen-context-lines
139 The variable @code{next-screen-context-lines} controls the number of
140 lines of overlap left by @kbd{C-v} or @kbd{M-v}; by default, it is 2.
141 The function keys @key{next} and @key{prior}, or @key{PageDown} and
142 @key{PageUp}, are equivalent to @kbd{C-v} and @kbd{M-v} respectively.
143
144 You can supply @kbd{C-v} or @kbd{M-v} with a numeric prefix argument
145 @var{n}. This scrolls the window by @var{n} lines, while attempting
146 to leave point unchanged (so that the text and point move up or down
147 together). @kbd{C-v} with a negative argument is like @kbd{M-v} and
148 vice versa.
149
150 The names of scroll commands are based on the direction that the
151 text moves in the window. Thus, the command to scroll forward is
152 called @code{scroll-up} because it moves the text upward on the
153 screen. The keys @key{PageUp} and @key{PageDown} derive their names
154 and customary meanings from a different convention that developed
155 elsewhere; hence the strange result that @key{PageDown} runs
156 @code{scroll-up}.
157
158 @vindex scroll-preserve-screen-position
159 Some users like the full-screen scroll commands to keep point at the
160 same screen position. To enable this behavior, set the variable
161 @code{scroll-preserve-screen-position} to a non-@code{nil} value.
162 Then, whenever a command scrolls the text around point offscreen (or
163 within @code{scroll-margin} lines of the edge), Emacs moves point to
164 keep it at the same vertical and horizontal position within the
165 window. This mode is convenient for browsing through a file by
166 scrolling by screenfuls; if you come back to the screen where you
167 started, point goes back to the line where it started.
168
169 @kindex C-M-l
170 @findex reposition-window
171 The @kbd{C-M-l} command (@code{reposition-window}) scrolls the current
172 window heuristically in a way designed to get useful information onto
173 the screen. For example, in a Lisp file, this command tries to get the
174 entire current defun onto the screen if possible.
175
176 @node Auto Scrolling
177 @section Automatic Scrolling
178
179 Emacs performs @dfn{automatic scrolling} when point moves out of the
180 visible portion of the text.
181
182 @vindex scroll-conservatively
183 Normally, this centers point vertically within the window. However,
184 if you set @code{scroll-conservatively} to a small number @var{n},
185 then if you move point just a little off the screen (less than @var{n}
186 lines), Emacs scrolls the text just far enough to bring point back on
187 screen. By default, @code{scroll-conservatively} is@tie{}0.
188
189 @cindex aggressive scrolling
190 @vindex scroll-up-aggressively
191 @vindex scroll-down-aggressively
192 When the window does scroll by a longer distance, you can control
193 how aggressively it scrolls by setting the variables
194 @code{scroll-up-aggressively} and @code{scroll-down-aggressively}.
195 The value of @code{scroll-up-aggressively} should be either
196 @code{nil}, or a fraction @var{f} between 0 and 1. A fraction
197 specifies where on the screen to put point when scrolling upward,
198 i.e.@: when point moves forward in the buffer, and therefore text
199 scrolls up in the window. When point goes off the window end, the new
200 start position is chosen to put point @var{f} parts of the window
201 height from the bottom. Thus, larger @var{f} means more aggressive
202 scrolling: more new text is brought into view. The default value,
203 @code{nil}, is equivalent to 0.5.
204
205 Likewise, @code{scroll-down-aggressively} is used for scrolling
206 down, i.e.@: moving point back in the buffer. The value specifies how
207 far point should be placed from the top of the window; thus, as with
208 @code{scroll-up-aggressively}, a larger value is more aggressive.
209
210 @vindex scroll-margin
211 The variable @code{scroll-margin} restricts how close point can come
212 to the top or bottom of a window. Its value is a number of screen
213 lines; if point comes within that many lines of the top or bottom of
214 the window, Emacs performs automatic scrolling. By default,
215 @code{scroll-margin} is 0.
216
217 @node Horizontal Scrolling
218 @section Horizontal Scrolling
219 @cindex horizontal scrolling
220
221 @vindex auto-hscroll-mode
222 @dfn{Horizontal scrolling} means shifting all the lines sideways
223 within a window, so that some of the text near the left margin is not
224 displayed. When the text in a window is scrolled horizontally, text
225 lines are truncated rather than continued (@pxref{Line Truncation}).
226 If a window shows truncated lines, Emacs performs automatic horizontal
227 scrolling whenever point moves off the left or right edge of the
228 screen. To disable automatic horizontal scrolling, set the variable
229 @code{auto-hscroll-mode} to @code{nil}. Note that when the automatic
230 horizontal scrolling is turned off, if point moves off the edge of the
231 screen, the cursor disappears to indicate that. (On text-mode
232 terminals, the cursor is left at the edge instead.)
233
234 @vindex hscroll-margin
235 The variable @code{hscroll-margin} controls how close point can get
236 to the window's edges before automatic scrolling occurs. It is
237 measured in columns. For example, if the value is 5, then moving
238 point within 5 columns of an edge causes horizontal scrolling away
239 from that edge.
240
241 @vindex hscroll-step
242 The variable @code{hscroll-step} determines how many columns to
243 scroll the window when point gets too close to the edge. Zero, the
244 default value, means to center point horizontally within the window.
245 A positive integer value specifies the number of columns to scroll by.
246 A floating-point number specifies the fraction of the window's width
247 to scroll by.
248
249 You can also perform explicit horizontal scrolling with the
250 following commands:
251
252 @table @kbd
253 @item C-x <
254 Scroll text in current window to the left (@code{scroll-left}).
255 @item C-x >
256 Scroll to the right (@code{scroll-right}).
257 @end table
258
259 @kindex C-x <
260 @kindex C-x >
261 @findex scroll-left
262 @findex scroll-right
263 @kbd{C-x <} (@code{scroll-left}) scrolls text in the selected window
264 to the left by the full width of the window, less two columns. (In
265 other words, the text in the window moves left relative to the
266 window.) With a numeric argument @var{n}, it scrolls by @var{n}
267 columns.
268
269 If the text is scrolled to the left, and point moves off the left
270 edge of the window, the cursor will freeze at the left edge of the
271 window, until point moves back to the displayed portion of the text.
272 This is independent of the current setting of
273 @code{auto-hscroll-mode}, which, for text scrolled to the left, only
274 affects the behavior at the right edge of the window.
275
276 @kbd{C-x >} (@code{scroll-right}) scrolls similarly to the right.
277 The window cannot be scrolled any farther to the right once it is
278 displayed normally, with each line starting at the window's left
279 margin; attempting to do so has no effect. This means that you don't
280 have to calculate the argument precisely for @w{@kbd{C-x >}}; any
281 sufficiently large argument will restore the normal display.
282
283 If you use those commands to scroll a window horizontally, that sets
284 a lower bound for automatic horizontal scrolling. Automatic scrolling
285 will continue to scroll the window, but never farther to the right
286 than the amount you previously set by @code{scroll-left}.
287
288 @node Follow Mode
289 @section Follow Mode
290 @cindex Follow mode
291 @cindex mode, Follow
292 @findex follow-mode
293 @cindex windows, synchronizing
294 @cindex synchronizing windows
295
296 @dfn{Follow mode} is a minor mode that makes two windows, both
297 showing the same buffer, scroll as a single tall ``virtual window.''
298 To use Follow mode, go to a frame with just one window, split it into
299 two side-by-side windows using @kbd{C-x 3}, and then type @kbd{M-x
300 follow-mode}. From then on, you can edit the buffer in either of the
301 two windows, or scroll either one; the other window follows it.
302
303 In Follow mode, if you move point outside the portion visible in one
304 window and into the portion visible in the other window, that selects
305 the other window---again, treating the two as if they were parts of
306 one large window.
307
308 To turn off Follow mode, type @kbd{M-x follow-mode} a second time.
309
310 @node Faces
311 @section Faces: Controlling Text Display Style
312 @cindex faces
313
314 Emacs can display text in several different styles, which are called
315 @dfn{faces}. Each face can specify various @dfn{face attributes},
316 such as the font, height, weight and slant, the foreground and
317 background color, and underlining or overlining. A face does not have
318 to specify all of these attributes; often it inherits most of them
319 from another face.
320
321 On a text-only terminal, not all face attributes are meaningful.
322 Some text-only terminals support inverse video, bold, and underline
323 attributes; some support colors. Text-only terminals generally do not
324 support changing the height, width or font.
325
326 Most major modes assign faces to the text automatically through the
327 work of Font Lock mode. @xref{Font Lock}, for more information about
328 Font Lock mode and syntactic highlighting. You can print the current
329 buffer with the highlighting that appears on your screen using the
330 command @code{ps-print-buffer-with-faces}. @xref{PostScript}.
331
332 Enriched mode, the mode for editing formatted text, provides
333 commands and menus for specifying faces for text in the buffer.
334 @xref{Format Faces}.
335
336 @cindex face colors, setting
337 To alter the appearance of a face, use the customization buffer.
338 @xref{Face Customization}. You can also use X resources to specify
339 attributes of any particular face (@pxref{Resources}). When
340 displaying a character, any attribute that isn't specified by its face
341 is taken from the @code{default} face, whose attributes reflect the
342 default settings of the frame itself.
343
344 @findex set-face-foreground
345 @findex set-face-background
346 You can also change the foreground and background colors of a
347 specific face with @kbd{M-x set-face-foreground} and @kbd{M-x
348 set-face-background}. These commands prompt in the minibuffer for a
349 face name and a color name, with completion, and then set that face to
350 use the specified color. @xref{Face Customization}, for information
351 about color names. These commands affect the face colors on all
352 frames, both existing and those to be created in the future. These
353 changes do not, however, persist for future Emacs sessions; to make
354 lasting changes, use the customization buffer (@pxref{Face
355 Customization}).
356
357 You can also set foreground and background colors for the current
358 frame only; see @ref{Frame Parameters}.
359
360 Emacs can display variable-width fonts, but some of the Emacs
361 commands that calculate width and indentation do not know how to
362 calculate variable widths. This can sometimes lead to incorrect
363 results when you use variable-width fonts. In particular, indentation
364 commands can give inconsistent results, so we recommend you avoid
365 variable-width fonts, especially for editing program source code.
366
367 @node Standard Faces
368 @section Standard Faces
369
370 @findex list-faces-display
371 To see what faces are currently defined, and what they look like,
372 type @kbd{M-x list-faces-display}. It's possible for a given face to
373 look different in different frames; this command shows the appearance
374 in the frame in which you type it. With a prefix argument, this
375 prompts for a regular expression, and displays only faces with names
376 matching that regular expression.
377
378 Here are the standard faces for specifying text appearance. You can
379 apply them to specific text when you want the effects they produce.
380
381 @table @code
382 @item default
383 This face is used for ordinary text that doesn't specify any face.
384 @item bold
385 This face uses a bold variant of the default font.
386 @item italic
387 This face uses an italic variant of the default font.
388 @item bold-italic
389 This face uses a bold italic variant of the default font.
390 @item underline
391 This face underlines text.
392 @item fixed-pitch
393 This face forces use of a fixed-width font. It's reasonable to
394 customize this face to use a different fixed-width font, if you like,
395 but you should not make it a variable-width font.
396 @item variable-pitch
397 This face forces use of a variable-width font.
398 @item shadow
399 This face is used for making the text less noticeable than the surrounding
400 ordinary text. Usually this can be achieved by using shades of gray in
401 contrast with either black or white default foreground color.
402 @end table
403
404 Here's an incomplete list of faces used to highlight parts of the
405 text temporarily for specific purposes. (Many other modes define
406 their own faces for this purpose.)
407
408 @table @code
409 @item highlight
410 This face is used for highlighting portions of text, in various modes.
411 For example, mouse-sensitive text is highlighted using this face.
412 @item isearch
413 This face is used for highlighting the current Isearch match
414 (@pxref{Incremental Search}).
415 @item query-replace
416 This face is used for highlighting the current Query Replace match
417 (@pxref{Replace}).
418 @item lazy-highlight
419 This face is used for lazy highlighting of Isearch and Query Replace
420 matches other than the current one.
421 @item region
422 This face is used for displaying a selected region (@pxref{Mark}).
423 @item secondary-selection
424 This face is used for displaying a secondary X selection (@pxref{Secondary
425 Selection}).
426 @item trailing-whitespace
427 The face for highlighting excess spaces and tabs at the end of a line
428 when @code{show-trailing-whitespace} is non-@code{nil}; see
429 @ref{Useless Whitespace}.
430 @item nobreak-space
431 The face for displaying the character ``nobreak space.''
432 @item escape-glyph
433 The face for highlighting the @samp{\} or @samp{^} that indicates
434 a control character. It's also used when @samp{\} indicates a
435 nobreak space or nobreak (soft) hyphen.
436 @end table
437
438 These faces control the appearance of parts of the Emacs frame.
439 They exist as faces to provide a consistent way to customize the
440 appearance of these parts of the frame.
441
442 @table @code
443 @item mode-line
444 This face is used for the mode line of the currently selected window,
445 and for menu bars when toolkit menus are not used. By default, it's
446 drawn with shadows for a ``raised'' effect on graphical displays, and
447 drawn as the inverse of the default face on non-windowed terminals.
448 @item mode-line-inactive
449 Like @code{mode-line}, but used for mode lines of the windows other
450 than the selected one (if @code{mode-line-in-non-selected-windows} is
451 non-@code{nil}). This face inherits from @code{mode-line}, so changes
452 in that face affect mode lines in all windows.
453 @item mode-line-highlight
454 Like @code{highlight}, but used for portions of text on mode lines.
455 @item mode-line-buffer-id
456 This face is used for buffer identification parts in the mode line.
457 @item header-line
458 Similar to @code{mode-line} for a window's header line, which appears
459 at the top of a window just as the mode line appears at the bottom.
460 Most windows do not have a header line---only some special modes, such
461 Info mode, create one.
462 @item vertical-border
463 This face is used for the vertical divider between windows.
464 By default this face inherits from the @code{mode-line-inactive} face
465 on character terminals. On graphical displays the foreground color of
466 this face is used for the vertical line between windows without
467 scrollbars.
468 @item minibuffer-prompt
469 @cindex @code{minibuffer-prompt} face
470 @vindex minibuffer-prompt-properties
471 This face is used for the prompt strings displayed in the minibuffer.
472 By default, Emacs automatically adds this face to the value of
473 @code{minibuffer-prompt-properties}, which is a list of text
474 properties used to display the prompt text. (This variable takes
475 effect when you enter the minibuffer.)
476 @item fringe
477 @cindex @code{fringe} face
478 The face for the fringes to the left and right of windows on graphic
479 displays. (The fringes are the narrow portions of the Emacs frame
480 between the text area and the window's right and left borders.)
481 @xref{Fringes}.
482 @item scroll-bar
483 This face determines the visual appearance of the scroll bar.
484 @xref{Scroll Bars}.
485 @item border
486 This face determines the color of the frame border.
487 @item cursor
488 This face determines the color of the cursor.
489 @item mouse
490 This face determines the color of the mouse pointer.
491 @item tool-bar
492 This face determines the color of tool bar icons. @xref{Tool Bars}.
493 @item tooltip
494 This face is used for tooltips. @xref{Tooltips}.
495 @item menu
496 @cindex menu bar appearance
497 @cindex @code{menu} face, no effect if customized
498 @cindex customization of @code{menu} face
499 This face determines the colors and font of Emacs's menus. @xref{Menu
500 Bars}. This has no effect in Emacs built with GTK and in the
501 MS-Windows/Mac ports; you need to use system-wide styles and options
502 to change the appearance of GTK, Windows, or Mac menus. Setting the
503 font of LessTif/Motif menus is currently not supported; attempts to
504 set the font are ignored in this case.
505 @end table
506
507 @node Temporary Face Changes
508 @section Temporary Face Changes
509
510 The following commands change the default face within a buffer.
511
512 @cindex adjust buffer face height
513 @findex text-scale-adjust
514 @kindex C-x C-+
515 @kindex C-x C--
516 @kindex C-x C-=
517 @kindex C-x C-0
518 To increase the height of the default face in the current buffer,
519 type @kbd{C-x C-+} or @kbd{C-x C-=}. To decrease it, type @kbd{C-x
520 C--}. To restore the default (global) face height, type @kbd{C-x
521 C-0}. These keys are all bound to the same command,
522 @code{text-scale-adjust}, which looks at the last key typed to
523 determine which action to take.
524
525 The final key of these commands may be repeated without the leading
526 @kbd{C-x}. For instance, @kbd{C-x C-= C-= C-=} increases the face
527 height by three steps. Each step scales the height of the default
528 face by the value of the variable @code{text-scale-mode-step}. As a
529 special case, an argument of 0 removes any scaling currently active.
530
531 @cindex increase buffer face height
532 @findex text-scale-increase
533 @cindex decrease buffer face height
534 @findex text-scale-decrease
535 The commands @code{text-scale-increase} and
536 @code{text-scale-decrease} increase or decrease the height of the
537 default face, just like @kbd{C-x C-+} and @kbd{C-x C--} respectively.
538 You may find it convenient to bind to these commands, rather than
539 @code{text-scale-adjust}.
540
541 @cindex set buffer face height
542 @findex text-scale-set
543 The command @code{text-scale-set} sets the height of the default face
544 in the current buffer to an absolute level specified by its prefix
545 argument.
546
547 @findex text-scale-mode
548 The above commands automatically enable or disable the minor mode
549 @code{text-scale-mode}, depending on whether the current font scaling
550 is other than 1 or not.
551
552 @cindex variable pitch mode
553 @findex variable-pitch-mode
554 To temporarily change the face in the current buffer to a
555 variable-pitch (``proportional'') font, use the command @kbd{M-x
556 variable-pitch-mode} to enable or disable the Variable Pitch minor
557 mode.
558
559 @node Font Lock
560 @section Font Lock mode
561 @cindex Font Lock mode
562 @cindex mode, Font Lock
563 @cindex syntax highlighting and coloring
564
565 Font Lock mode is a minor mode, always local to a particular buffer,
566 which highlights (or ``fontifies'') the buffer contents according to
567 the syntax of the text you are editing. It can recognize comments and
568 strings in most programming languages; in several languages, it can
569 also recognize and properly highlight various other important
570 constructs, such as names of functions being defined or reserved
571 keywords. Some special modes, such as Occur mode and Info mode, have
572 completely specialized ways of assigning fonts for Font Lock mode.
573
574 @findex font-lock-mode
575 Font Lock mode is turned on by default in all modes which support it.
576 You can toggle font-lock for each buffer with the command @kbd{M-x
577 font-lock-mode}. Using a positive argument unconditionally turns Font
578 Lock mode on, and a negative or zero argument turns it off.
579
580 @findex global-font-lock-mode
581 @vindex global-font-lock-mode
582 If you do not wish Font Lock mode to be turned on by default,
583 customize the variable @code{global-font-lock-mode} using the Customize
584 interface (@pxref{Easy Customization}), or use the function
585 @code{global-font-lock-mode} in your @file{.emacs} file, like this:
586
587 @example
588 (global-font-lock-mode 0)
589 @end example
590
591 @noindent
592 This variable, like all the variables that control Font Lock mode,
593 take effect whenever fontification is done; that is, potentially at
594 any time.
595
596 @findex turn-on-font-lock
597 If you have disabled Global Font Lock mode, you can still enable Font
598 Lock for specific major modes by adding the function
599 @code{turn-on-font-lock} to the mode hooks (@pxref{Hooks}). For
600 example, to enable Font Lock mode for editing C files, you can do this:
601
602 @example
603 (add-hook 'c-mode-hook 'turn-on-font-lock)
604 @end example
605
606 Font Lock mode uses several specifically named faces to do its job,
607 including @code{font-lock-string-face}, @code{font-lock-comment-face},
608 and others. The easiest way to find them all is to use @kbd{M-x
609 customize-group @key{RET} font-lock-faces @key{RET}}. You can then
610 use that customization buffer to customize the appearance of these
611 faces. @xref{Face Customization}.
612
613 @vindex font-lock-maximum-decoration
614 The variable @code{font-lock-maximum-decoration} specifies the
615 preferred level of fontification, for modes that provide multiple
616 levels. Level 1 is the least amount of fontification; some modes
617 support levels as high as 3. The normal default is ``as high as
618 possible.'' You can specify an integer, which applies to all modes, or
619 you can specify different numbers for particular major modes; for
620 example, to use level 1 for C/C++ modes, and the default level
621 otherwise, use this:
622
623 @example
624 (setq font-lock-maximum-decoration
625 '((c-mode . 1) (c++-mode . 1)))
626 @end example
627
628 @vindex font-lock-maximum-size
629 Fontification can be too slow for large buffers, so you can suppress
630 it for buffers above a certain size. The variable
631 @code{font-lock-maximum-size} specifies a buffer size, beyond which
632 buffer fontification is suppressed.
633
634 @c @w is used below to prevent a bad page-break.
635 @vindex font-lock-beginning-of-syntax-function
636 @cindex incorrect fontification
637 @cindex parenthesis in column zero and fontification
638 @cindex brace in column zero and fontification
639 Comment and string fontification (or ``syntactic'' fontification)
640 relies on analysis of the syntactic structure of the buffer text. For
641 the sake of speed, some modes, including Lisp mode, rely on a special
642 convention: an open-parenthesis or open-brace in the leftmost column
643 always defines the @w{beginning} of a defun, and is thus always
644 outside any string or comment. (@xref{Left Margin Paren}.) If you
645 don't follow this convention, Font Lock mode can misfontify the text
646 that follows an open-parenthesis or open-brace in the leftmost column
647 that is inside a string or comment.
648
649 @cindex slow display during scrolling
650 The variable @code{font-lock-beginning-of-syntax-function} (always
651 buffer-local) specifies how Font Lock mode can find a position
652 guaranteed to be outside any comment or string. In modes which use the
653 leftmost column parenthesis convention, the default value of the variable
654 is @code{beginning-of-defun}---that tells Font Lock mode to use the
655 convention. If you set this variable to @code{nil}, Font Lock no longer
656 relies on the convention. This avoids incorrect results, but the price
657 is that, in some cases, fontification for a changed text must rescan
658 buffer text from the beginning of the buffer. This can considerably
659 slow down redisplay while scrolling, particularly if you are close to
660 the end of a large buffer.
661
662 @findex font-lock-add-keywords
663 Font Lock highlighting patterns already exist for many modes, but you
664 may want to fontify additional patterns. You can use the function
665 @code{font-lock-add-keywords}, to add your own highlighting patterns for
666 a particular mode. For example, to highlight @samp{FIXME:} words in C
667 comments, use this:
668
669 @example
670 (add-hook 'c-mode-hook
671 (lambda ()
672 (font-lock-add-keywords nil
673 '(("\\<\\(FIXME\\):" 1 font-lock-warning-face t)))))
674 @end example
675
676 @findex font-lock-remove-keywords
677 To remove keywords from the font-lock highlighting patterns, use the
678 function @code{font-lock-remove-keywords}. @xref{Search-based
679 Fontification,,, elisp, The Emacs Lisp Reference Manual}.
680
681 @cindex just-in-time (JIT) font-lock
682 @cindex background syntax highlighting
683 Fontifying large buffers can take a long time. To avoid large
684 delays when a file is visited, Emacs fontifies only the visible
685 portion of a buffer. As you scroll through the buffer, each portion
686 that becomes visible is fontified as soon as it is displayed; this
687 type of Font Lock is called @dfn{Just-In-Time} (or @dfn{JIT}) Lock.
688 You can control how JIT Lock behaves, including telling it to perform
689 fontification while idle, by customizing variables in the
690 customization group @samp{jit-lock}. @xref{Specific Customization}.
691
692 @node Highlight Interactively
693 @section Interactive Highlighting
694 @cindex highlighting by matching
695 @cindex interactive highlighting
696 @cindex Highlight Changes mode
697
698 @findex highlight-changes-mode
699 Highlight Changes mode is a minor mode that @dfn{highlights} the parts
700 of the buffer were changed most recently, by giving that text a
701 different face. To enable or disable Highlight Changes mode, use
702 @kbd{M-x highlight-changes-mode}.
703
704 @cindex Hi Lock mode
705 @findex hi-lock-mode
706 Hi Lock mode is a minor mode that highlights text that matches
707 regular expressions you specify. For example, you can use it to
708 highlight all the references to a certain variable in a program source
709 file, highlight certain parts in a voluminous output of some program,
710 or highlight certain names in an article. To enable or disable Hi
711 Lock mode, use the command @kbd{M-x hi-lock-mode}. To enable Hi Lock
712 mode for all buffers, use @kbd{M-x global-hi-lock-mode} or place
713 @code{(global-hi-lock-mode 1)} in your @file{.emacs} file.
714
715 Hi Lock mode works like Font Lock mode (@pxref{Font Lock}), except
716 that you specify explicitly the regular expressions to highlight. You
717 control them with these commands:
718
719 @table @kbd
720 @item C-x w h @var{regexp} @key{RET} @var{face} @key{RET}
721 @kindex C-x w h
722 @findex highlight-regexp
723 Highlight text that matches @var{regexp} using face @var{face}
724 (@code{highlight-regexp}). The highlighting will remain as long as
725 the buffer is loaded. For example, to highlight all occurrences of
726 the word ``whim'' using the default face (a yellow background)
727 @kbd{C-x w h whim @key{RET} @key{RET}}. Any face can be used for
728 highlighting, Hi Lock provides several of its own and these are
729 pre-loaded into a list of default values. While being prompted
730 for a face use @kbd{M-n} and @kbd{M-p} to cycle through them.
731
732 You can use this command multiple times, specifying various regular
733 expressions to highlight in different ways.
734
735 @item C-x w r @var{regexp} @key{RET}
736 @kindex C-x w r
737 @findex unhighlight-regexp
738 Unhighlight @var{regexp} (@code{unhighlight-regexp}).
739
740 If you invoke this from the menu, you select the expression to
741 unhighlight from a list. If you invoke this from the keyboard, you
742 use the minibuffer. It will show the most recently added regular
743 expression; use @kbd{M-p} to show the next older expression and
744 @kbd{M-n} to select the next newer expression. (You can also type the
745 expression by hand, with completion.) When the expression you want to
746 unhighlight appears in the minibuffer, press @kbd{@key{RET}} to exit
747 the minibuffer and unhighlight it.
748
749 @item C-x w l @var{regexp} @key{RET} @var{face} @key{RET}
750 @kindex C-x w l
751 @findex highlight-lines-matching-regexp
752 @cindex lines, highlighting
753 @cindex highlighting lines of text
754 Highlight entire lines containing a match for @var{regexp}, using face
755 @var{face} (@code{highlight-lines-matching-regexp}).
756
757 @item C-x w b
758 @kindex C-x w b
759 @findex hi-lock-write-interactive-patterns
760 Insert all the current highlighting regexp/face pairs into the buffer
761 at point, with comment delimiters to prevent them from changing your
762 program. (This key binding runs the
763 @code{hi-lock-write-interactive-patterns} command.)
764
765 These patterns are extracted from the comments, if appropriate, if you
766 invoke @kbd{M-x hi-lock-find-patterns}, or if you visit the file while
767 Hi Lock mode is enabled (since that runs @code{hi-lock-find-patterns}).
768
769 @item C-x w i
770 @kindex C-x w i
771 @findex hi-lock-find-patterns
772 Extract regexp/face pairs from comments in the current buffer
773 (@code{hi-lock-find-patterns}). Thus, you can enter patterns
774 interactively with @code{highlight-regexp}, store them into the file
775 with @code{hi-lock-write-interactive-patterns}, edit them (perhaps
776 including different faces for different parenthesized parts of the
777 match), and finally use this command (@code{hi-lock-find-patterns}) to
778 have Hi Lock highlight the edited patterns.
779
780 @vindex hi-lock-file-patterns-policy
781 The variable @code{hi-lock-file-patterns-policy} controls whether Hi
782 Lock mode should automatically extract and highlight patterns found in a
783 file when it is visited. Its value can be @code{nil} (never highlight),
784 @code{ask} (query the user), or a function. If it is a function,
785 @code{hi-lock-find-patterns} calls it with the patterns as argument; if
786 the function returns non-@code{nil}, the patterns are used. The default
787 is @code{ask}. Note that patterns are always highlighted if you call
788 @code{hi-lock-find-patterns} directly, regardless of the value of this
789 variable.
790
791 @vindex hi-lock-exclude-modes
792 Also, @code{hi-lock-find-patterns} does nothing if the current major
793 mode's symbol is a member of the list @code{hi-lock-exclude-modes}.
794 @end table
795
796 @node Fringes
797 @section Window Fringes
798 @cindex fringes
799
800 On a graphical display, each Emacs window normally has narrow
801 @dfn{fringes} on the left and right edges. The fringes are used to
802 display symbols that provide information about the text in the window.
803
804 The most common use of the fringes is to indicate a continuation
805 line, when one line of text is split into multiple lines on the
806 screen. The left fringe shows a curving arrow for each screen line
807 except the first, indicating that ``this is not the real beginning.''
808 The right fringe shows a curving arrow for each screen line except the
809 last, indicating that ``this is not the real end.''
810
811 The fringes indicate line truncation with short horizontal arrows
812 meaning ``there's more text on this line which is scrolled
813 horizontally out of view;'' clicking the mouse on one of the arrows
814 scrolls the display horizontally in the direction of the arrow. The
815 fringes can also indicate other things, such as empty lines, or where a
816 program you are debugging is executing (@pxref{Debuggers}).
817
818 @findex set-fringe-style
819 @findex fringe-mode
820 You can enable and disable the fringes for all frames using
821 @kbd{M-x fringe-mode}. To enable and disable the fringes
822 for the selected frame, use @kbd{M-x set-fringe-style}.
823
824 @node Displaying Boundaries
825 @section Displaying Boundaries
826
827 @vindex indicate-buffer-boundaries
828 On a graphical display, Emacs can indicate the buffer boundaries in
829 the fringes. It indicates the first line and the last line with
830 angle images in the fringes. This can be combined with up and down
831 arrow images which say whether it is possible to scroll the window up
832 and down.
833
834 The buffer-local variable @code{indicate-buffer-boundaries} controls
835 how the buffer boundaries and window scrolling is indicated in the
836 fringes. If the value is @code{left} or @code{right}, both angle and
837 arrow bitmaps are displayed in the left or right fringe, respectively.
838
839 If value is an alist, each element @code{(@var{indicator} .
840 @var{position})} specifies the position of one of the indicators.
841 The @var{indicator} must be one of @code{top}, @code{bottom},
842 @code{up}, @code{down}, or @code{t} which specifies the default
843 position for the indicators not present in the alist.
844 The @var{position} is one of @code{left}, @code{right}, or @code{nil}
845 which specifies not to show this indicator.
846
847 For example, @code{((top . left) (t . right))} places the top angle
848 bitmap in left fringe, the bottom angle bitmap in right fringe, and
849 both arrow bitmaps in right fringe. To show just the angle bitmaps in
850 the left fringe, but no arrow bitmaps, use @code{((top . left)
851 (bottom . left))}.
852
853 @node Useless Whitespace
854 @section Useless Whitespace
855
856 @cindex trailing whitespace
857 @cindex whitespace, trailing
858 @vindex show-trailing-whitespace
859 It is easy to leave unnecessary spaces at the end of a line, or
860 empty lines at the end of a file, without realizing it. In most
861 cases, this @dfn{trailing whitespace} has no effect, but there are
862 special circumstances where it matters, and it can be a nuisance.
863
864 You can make trailing whitespace at the end of a line visible by
865 setting the buffer-local variable @code{show-trailing-whitespace} to
866 @code{t}. Then Emacs displays trailing whitespace, using the face
867 @code{trailing-whitespace}.
868
869 This feature does not apply when point is at the end of the line
870 containing the whitespace. Strictly speaking, that is ``trailing
871 whitespace'' nonetheless, but displaying it specially in that case
872 looks ugly while you are typing in new text. In this special case,
873 the location of point is enough to show you that the spaces are
874 present.
875
876 @findex delete-trailing-whitespace
877 To delete all trailing whitespace within the buffer's accessible
878 portion (@pxref{Narrowing}), type @kbd{M-x delete-trailing-whitespace
879 @key{RET}}. This command does not remove newline characters.
880
881 @vindex indicate-empty-lines
882 @cindex unused lines
883 @cindex fringes, and unused line indication
884 Emacs can indicate unused lines at the end of the window with a
885 small image in the left fringe (@pxref{Fringes}). The image appears
886 for window lines that do not correspond to any buffer text. Blank
887 lines at the end of the buffer then stand out because they do not have
888 this image in the fringe.
889
890 To enable this feature, set the buffer-local variable
891 @code{indicate-empty-lines} to a non-@code{nil} value. You can enable
892 or disable this feature for all new buffers by setting the default
893 value of this variable, e.g.@: @code{(setq-default
894 indicate-empty-lines t)};. (This feature currently doesn't work on
895 text-only terminals.)
896
897 @node Selective Display
898 @section Selective Display
899 @cindex selective display
900 @findex set-selective-display
901 @kindex C-x $
902
903 Emacs has the ability to hide lines indented more than a given
904 number of columns. You can use this to get an overview of a part of a
905 program.
906
907 To hide lines in the current buffer, type @kbd{C-x $}
908 (@code{set-selective-display}) with a numeric argument @var{n}. Then
909 lines with at least @var{n} columns of indentation disappear from the
910 screen. The only indication of their presence is that three dots
911 (@samp{@dots{}}) appear at the end of each visible line that is
912 followed by one or more hidden ones.
913
914 The commands @kbd{C-n} and @kbd{C-p} move across the hidden lines as
915 if they were not there.
916
917 The hidden lines are still present in the buffer, and most editing
918 commands see them as usual, so you may find point in the middle of the
919 hidden text. When this happens, the cursor appears at the end of the
920 previous line, after the three dots. If point is at the end of the
921 visible line, before the newline that ends it, the cursor appears before
922 the three dots.
923
924 To make all lines visible again, type @kbd{C-x $} with no argument.
925
926 @vindex selective-display-ellipses
927 If you set the variable @code{selective-display-ellipses} to
928 @code{nil}, the three dots do not appear at the end of a line that
929 precedes hidden lines. Then there is no visible indication of the
930 hidden lines. This variable becomes local automatically when set.
931
932 See also @ref{Outline Mode} for another way to hide part of
933 the text in a buffer.
934
935 @node Optional Mode Line
936 @section Optional Mode Line Features
937
938 @cindex buffer size display
939 @cindex display of buffer size
940 @findex size-indication-mode
941 The buffer percentage @var{pos} indicates the percentage of the
942 buffer above the top of the window. You can additionally display the
943 size of the buffer by typing @kbd{M-x size-indication-mode} to turn on
944 Size Indication mode. The size will be displayed immediately
945 following the buffer percentage like this:
946
947 @example
948 @var{POS} of @var{SIZE}
949 @end example
950
951 @noindent
952 Here @var{SIZE} is the human readable representation of the number of
953 characters in the buffer, which means that @samp{k} for 10^3, @samp{M}
954 for 10^6, @samp{G} for 10^9, etc., are used to abbreviate.
955
956 @cindex line number display
957 @cindex display of line number
958 @findex line-number-mode
959 The current line number of point appears in the mode line when Line
960 Number mode is enabled. Use the command @kbd{M-x line-number-mode} to
961 turn this mode on and off; normally it is on. The line number appears
962 after the buffer percentage @var{pos}, with the letter @samp{L} to
963 indicate what it is.
964
965 @cindex Column Number mode
966 @cindex mode, Column Number
967 @findex column-number-mode
968 Similarly, you can display the current column number by turning on
969 Column number mode with @kbd{M-x column-number-mode}. The column
970 number is indicated by the letter @samp{C}. However, when both of
971 these modes are enabled, the line and column numbers are displayed in
972 parentheses, the line number first, rather than with @samp{L} and
973 @samp{C}. For example: @samp{(561,2)}. @xref{Minor Modes}, for more
974 information about minor modes and about how to use these commands.
975
976 @cindex narrowing, and line number display
977 If you have narrowed the buffer (@pxref{Narrowing}), the displayed
978 line number is relative to the accessible portion of the buffer.
979 Thus, it isn't suitable as an argument to @code{goto-line}. (Use
980 @code{what-line} command to see the line number relative to the whole
981 file.)
982
983 @vindex line-number-display-limit
984 If the buffer is very large (larger than the value of
985 @code{line-number-display-limit}), Emacs won't compute the line
986 number, because that would be too slow; therefore, the line number
987 won't appear on the mode-line. To remove this limit, set
988 @code{line-number-display-limit} to @code{nil}.
989
990 @vindex line-number-display-limit-width
991 Line-number computation can also be slow if the lines in the buffer
992 are too long. For this reason, Emacs doesn't display line numbers if
993 the average width, in characters, of lines near point is larger than
994 the value of @code{line-number-display-limit-width}. The default
995 value is 200 characters.
996
997 @findex display-time
998 @cindex time (on mode line)
999 Emacs can optionally display the time and system load in all mode
1000 lines. To enable this feature, type @kbd{M-x display-time} or customize
1001 the option @code{display-time-mode}. The information added to the mode
1002 line usually appears after the buffer name, before the mode names and
1003 their parentheses. It looks like this:
1004
1005 @example
1006 @var{hh}:@var{mm}pm @var{l.ll}
1007 @end example
1008
1009 @noindent
1010 @vindex display-time-24hr-format
1011 Here @var{hh} and @var{mm} are the hour and minute, followed always by
1012 @samp{am} or @samp{pm}. @var{l.ll} is the average number, collected
1013 for the last few minutes, of processes in the whole system that were
1014 either running or ready to run (i.e.@: were waiting for an available
1015 processor). (Some fields may be missing if your operating system
1016 cannot support them.) If you prefer time display in 24-hour format,
1017 set the variable @code{display-time-24hr-format} to @code{t}.
1018
1019 @cindex mail (on mode line)
1020 @vindex display-time-use-mail-icon
1021 @vindex display-time-mail-face
1022 @vindex display-time-mail-file
1023 @vindex display-time-mail-directory
1024 The word @samp{Mail} appears after the load level if there is mail
1025 for you that you have not read yet. On a graphical display you can use
1026 an icon instead of @samp{Mail} by customizing
1027 @code{display-time-use-mail-icon}; this may save some space on the mode
1028 line. You can customize @code{display-time-mail-face} to make the mail
1029 indicator prominent. Use @code{display-time-mail-file} to specify
1030 the mail file to check, or set @code{display-time-mail-directory}
1031 to specify the directory to check for incoming mail (any nonempty regular
1032 file in the directory is considered as ``newly arrived mail'').
1033
1034 @cindex mail (on mode line)
1035 @findex display-battery-mode
1036 @vindex display-battery-mode
1037 @vindex battery-mode-line-format
1038 When running Emacs on a laptop computer, you can display the battery
1039 charge on the mode-line, by using the command
1040 @code{display-battery-mode} or customizing the variable
1041 @code{display-battery-mode}. The variable
1042 @code{battery-mode-line-format} determines the way the battery charge
1043 is displayed; the exact mode-line message depends on the operating
1044 system, and it usually shows the current battery charge as a
1045 percentage of the total charge.
1046
1047 @cindex mode line, 3D appearance
1048 @cindex attributes of mode line, changing
1049 @cindex non-integral number of lines in a window
1050 By default, the mode line is drawn on graphics displays with
1051 3D-style highlighting, like that of a button when it is not being
1052 pressed. If you don't like this effect, you can disable the 3D
1053 highlighting of the mode line, by customizing the attributes of the
1054 @code{mode-line} face. @xref{Face Customization}.
1055
1056 @cindex non-selected windows, mode line appearance
1057 By default, the mode line of nonselected windows is displayed in a
1058 different face, called @code{mode-line-inactive}. Only the selected
1059 window is displayed in the @code{mode-line} face. This helps show
1060 which window is selected. When the minibuffer is selected, since
1061 it has no mode line, the window from which you activated the minibuffer
1062 has its mode line displayed using @code{mode-line}; as a result,
1063 ordinary entry to the minibuffer does not change any mode lines.
1064
1065 @vindex mode-line-in-non-selected-windows
1066 You can disable use of @code{mode-line-inactive} by setting variable
1067 @code{mode-line-in-non-selected-windows} to @code{nil}; then all mode
1068 lines are displayed in the @code{mode-line} face.
1069
1070 @vindex eol-mnemonic-unix
1071 @vindex eol-mnemonic-dos
1072 @vindex eol-mnemonic-mac
1073 @vindex eol-mnemonic-undecided
1074 You can customize the mode line display for each of the end-of-line
1075 formats by setting each of the variables @code{eol-mnemonic-unix},
1076 @code{eol-mnemonic-dos}, @code{eol-mnemonic-mac}, and
1077 @code{eol-mnemonic-undecided} to the strings you prefer.
1078
1079 @node Text Display
1080 @section How Text Is Displayed
1081 @cindex characters (in text)
1082
1083 @acronym{ASCII} printing characters (octal codes 040 through 0176) in Emacs
1084 buffers are displayed with their graphics, as are non-@acronym{ASCII} multibyte
1085 printing characters (octal codes above 0400).
1086
1087 @vindex tab-width
1088 Some @acronym{ASCII} control characters are displayed in special
1089 ways. The newline character (octal code 012) is displayed by starting
1090 a new line. The tab character (octal code 011) is displayed by moving
1091 to the next tab stop column (normally every 8 columns). The number of
1092 spaces per tab is controlled by the variable @code{tab-width}, which
1093 must have an integer value between 1 and 1000, inclusive, and is made
1094 buffer-local by changing it. Note that how the tab character in the buffer
1095 is displayed has nothing to do with the definition of @key{TAB} as a
1096 command.
1097
1098 Other @acronym{ASCII} control characters are normally displayed as a caret
1099 (@samp{^}) followed by the non-control version of the character; thus,
1100 control-A is displayed as @samp{^A}. The caret appears in face
1101 @code{escape-glyph}.
1102
1103 Non-@acronym{ASCII} characters 0200 through 0237 (octal) are
1104 displayed with octal escape sequences; thus, character code 0230
1105 (octal) is displayed as @samp{\230}. The backslash appears in face
1106 @code{escape-glyph}.
1107
1108 @vindex ctl-arrow
1109 If the variable @code{ctl-arrow} is @code{nil}, control characters in
1110 the buffer are displayed with octal escape sequences, except for newline
1111 and tab. Altering the value of @code{ctl-arrow} makes it local to the
1112 current buffer; until that time, the default value is in effect. The
1113 default is initially @code{t}.
1114
1115 The display of character codes 0240 through 0377 (octal) may be
1116 either as escape sequences or as graphics. They do not normally occur
1117 in multibyte buffers, but if they do, they are displayed as Latin-1
1118 graphics. In unibyte mode, if you enable European display they are
1119 displayed using their graphics (assuming your terminal supports them),
1120 otherwise as escape sequences. @xref{Unibyte Mode}.
1121
1122 @vindex nobreak-char-display
1123 @cindex no-break space, display
1124 @cindex no-break hyphen, display
1125 @cindex soft hyphen, display
1126 Some character sets define ``no-break'' versions of the space and
1127 hyphen characters, which are used where a line should not be broken.
1128 Emacs normally displays these characters with special faces
1129 (respectively, @code{nobreak-space} and @code{escape-glyph}) to
1130 distinguish them from ordinary spaces and hyphens. You can turn off
1131 this feature by setting the variable @code{nobreak-char-display} to
1132 @code{nil}. If you set the variable to any other value, that means to
1133 prefix these characters with an escape character.
1134
1135 You can customize the way any particular character code is displayed
1136 by means of a display table. @xref{Display Tables,, Display Tables,
1137 elisp, The Emacs Lisp Reference Manual}.
1138
1139 @node Cursor Display
1140 @section Displaying the Cursor
1141
1142 @findex blink-cursor-mode
1143 @vindex blink-cursor-alist
1144 @cindex cursor, locating visually
1145 @cindex cursor, blinking
1146 You can customize the cursor's color, and whether it blinks, using
1147 the @code{cursor} Custom group (@pxref{Easy Customization}). On
1148 a graphical display, the command @kbd{M-x blink-cursor-mode} enables
1149 or disables the blinking of the cursor. (On text terminals, the
1150 terminal itself blinks the cursor, and Emacs has no control over it.)
1151 You can control how the cursor appears when it blinks off by setting
1152 the variable @code{blink-cursor-alist}.
1153
1154 @vindex visible-cursor
1155 Some text terminals offer two different cursors: the normal cursor
1156 and the very visible cursor, where the latter may be e.g. bigger or
1157 blinking. By default Emacs uses the very visible cursor, and switches
1158 to it when you start or resume Emacs. If the variable
1159 @code{visible-cursor} is @code{nil} when Emacs starts or resumes, it
1160 doesn't switch, so it uses the normal cursor.
1161
1162 @cindex cursor in non-selected windows
1163 @vindex cursor-in-non-selected-windows
1164 Normally, the cursor appears in non-selected windows without
1165 blinking, with the same appearance as when the blinking cursor blinks
1166 ``off.'' For a box cursor, this is a hollow box; for a bar cursor,
1167 this is a thinner bar. To turn off cursors in non-selected windows,
1168 customize the variable @code{cursor-in-non-selected-windows} and
1169 assign it a @code{nil} value.
1170
1171 @vindex x-stretch-cursor
1172 @cindex wide block cursor
1173 On graphical displays, Emacs can optionally draw the block cursor
1174 as wide as the character under the cursor---for example, if the cursor
1175 is on a tab character, it would cover the full width occupied by that
1176 tab character. To enable this feature, set the variable
1177 @code{x-stretch-cursor} to a non-@code{nil} value.
1178
1179 @findex hl-line-mode
1180 @findex global-hl-line-mode
1181 @cindex highlight current line
1182 To make the cursor even more visible, you can use HL Line mode, a
1183 minor mode that highlights the line containing point. Use @kbd{M-x
1184 hl-line-mode} to enable or disable it in the current buffer. @kbd{M-x
1185 global-hl-line-mode} enables or disables the same mode globally.
1186
1187 @node Line Truncation
1188 @section Truncation of Lines
1189
1190 @cindex truncation
1191 @cindex line truncation, and fringes
1192 As an alternative to continuation (@pxref{Continuation Lines}), Emacs
1193 can display long lines by @dfn{truncation}. This means that all the
1194 characters that do not fit in the width of the screen or window do not
1195 appear at all. On graphical displays, a small straight arrow in the
1196 fringe indicates truncation at either end of the line. On text-only
1197 terminals, @samp{$} appears in the first column when there is text
1198 truncated to the left, and in the last column when there is text
1199 truncated to the right.
1200
1201 @vindex truncate-lines
1202 @findex toggle-truncate-lines
1203 Horizontal scrolling automatically causes line truncation
1204 (@pxref{Horizontal Scrolling}). You can explicitly enable line
1205 truncation for a particular buffer with the command @kbd{M-x
1206 toggle-truncate-lines}. This works by locally changing the variable
1207 @code{truncate-lines}. If that variable is non-@code{nil}, long lines
1208 are truncated; if it is @code{nil}, they are continued onto multiple
1209 screen lines. Setting the variable @code{truncate-lines} in any way
1210 makes it local to the current buffer; until that time, the default
1211 value is in effect. The default value is normally @code{nil}.
1212
1213 @c @vindex truncate-partial-width-windows @c Idx entry is in Split Windows.
1214 If the variable @code{truncate-partial-width-windows} is
1215 non-@code{nil}, it forces truncation rather than continuation in any
1216 window less than the full width of the screen or frame, regardless of
1217 the value of @code{truncate-lines}. See also @ref{Display,, Display,
1218 elisp, The Emacs Lisp Reference Manual}.
1219
1220 @vindex overflow-newline-into-fringe
1221 If the variable @code{overflow-newline-into-fringe} is
1222 non-@code{nil} on a graphical display, then Emacs does not continue or
1223 truncate a line which is exactly as wide as the window. Instead, the
1224 newline overflows into the right fringe, and the cursor appears in the
1225 fringe when positioned on that newline.
1226
1227 @node Visual Line Mode
1228 @section Visual Line Mode
1229
1230 @cindex word wrap
1231 Another alternative to ordinary line continuation is to use
1232 @dfn{word wrap}. Here, each long logical line is divided into two or
1233 more screen lines, like in ordinary line continuation. However, Emacs
1234 attempts to wrap the line at word boundaries near the right window
1235 edge. This makes the text easier to read, as wrapping does not occur
1236 in the middle of words.
1237
1238 @cindex Visual Line mode
1239 @findex visual-line-mode
1240 @findex global-visual-line-mode
1241 Word wrap is enabled by Visual Line mode, an optional minor mode.
1242 To turn on Visual Line mode in the current buffer, type @kbd{M-x
1243 visual-line-mode}; repeating this command turns it off. You can also
1244 turn on Visual Line mode using the menu bar: in the Options menu,
1245 select the @samp{Line Wrapping in this Buffer} submenu, followed by
1246 the @samp{Word Wrap (Visual Line Mode)} menu item. While Visual Line
1247 mode is enabled, the mode-line shows the string @samp{wrap} in the
1248 mode display. The command @kbd{M-x global-visual-line-mode} toggles
1249 Visual Line mode in all buffers.
1250
1251 @findex beginning-of-visual-line
1252 @findex end-of-visual-line
1253 @findex next-logical-line
1254 @findex previous-logical-line
1255 In Visual Line mode, some editing commands work on screen lines
1256 instead of logical lines: @kbd{C-a} (@code{beginning-of-visual-line})
1257 moves to the beginning of the screen line, @kbd{C-e}
1258 (@code{end-of-visual-line}) moves to the end of the screen line, and
1259 @kbd{C-k} (@code{kill-visual-line}) kills text to the end of the
1260 screen line.
1261
1262 To move by logical lines, use the commands @kbd{M-x
1263 next-logical-line} and @kbd{M-x previous-logical-line}. These move
1264 point to the next logical line and the previous logical line
1265 respectively, regardless of whether Visual Line mode is enabled. If
1266 you use these commands frequently, it may be convenient to assign key
1267 bindings to them. @xref{Init Rebinding}.
1268
1269 By default, word-wrapped lines do not display fringe indicators.
1270 Visual Line mode is often used to edit files that contain many long
1271 logical lines, so having a fringe indicator for each wrapped line
1272 would be visually distracting. You can change this by customizing the
1273 variable @code{visual-line-fringe-indicators}.
1274
1275 @node Display Custom
1276 @section Customization of Display
1277
1278 This section describes variables (@pxref{Variables}) that you can
1279 change to customize how Emacs displays. Beginning users can skip
1280 it.
1281 @c the reason for that pxref is because an xref early in the
1282 @c ``echo area'' section leads here.
1283
1284 @vindex visible-bell
1285 If the variable @code{visible-bell} is non-@code{nil}, Emacs attempts
1286 to make the whole screen blink when it would normally make an audible bell
1287 sound. This variable has no effect if your terminal does not have a way
1288 to make the screen blink.
1289
1290 @vindex echo-keystrokes
1291 The variable @code{echo-keystrokes} controls the echoing of multi-character
1292 keys; its value is the number of seconds of pause required to cause echoing
1293 to start, or zero, meaning don't echo at all. The value takes effect when
1294 there is someting to echo. @xref{Echo Area}.
1295
1296 @vindex baud-rate
1297 The variable @anchor{baud-rate}@code{baud-rate} holds the output
1298 speed of the terminal. Setting this variable does not change the
1299 speed of actual data transmission, but the value is used for
1300 calculations. On text-only terminals, it affects padding, and
1301 decisions about whether to scroll part of the screen or redraw it
1302 instead. It also affects the behavior of incremental search. On
1303 graphical displays, @code{baud-rate} is only used to determine how
1304 frequently to look for pending input during display updating. A
1305 higher value of @code{baud-rate} means that check for pending input
1306 will be done less frequently.
1307
1308 @cindex mouse pointer
1309 @cindex hourglass pointer display
1310 @vindex display-hourglass
1311 @vindex hourglass-delay
1312 On graphical displays, Emacs displays the mouse pointer as an
1313 hourglass if Emacs is busy. To disable this feature, set the variable
1314 @code{display-hourglass} to @code{nil}. The variable
1315 @code{hourglass-delay} determines the number of seconds of ``busy
1316 time'' before the hourglass is shown; the default is 1.
1317
1318 @vindex make-pointer-invisible
1319 If the mouse pointer lies inside an Emacs frame, Emacs makes it
1320 invisible each time you type a character to insert text, to prevent it
1321 from obscuring the text. (To be precise, the hiding occurs when you
1322 type a ``self-inserting'' character. @xref{Inserting Text}.) Moving
1323 the mouse pointer makes it visible again. To disable this feature,
1324 set the variable @code{make-pointer-invisible} to @code{nil}.
1325
1326 @vindex underline-minimum-offset
1327 @vindex x-underline-at-descent-line
1328 On graphical displays, the variable @code{underline-minimum-offset}
1329 determines the minimum distance between the baseline and underline, in
1330 pixels, for underlined text. By default, the value is 1; increasing
1331 it may improve the legibility of underlined text for certain fonts.
1332 (However, Emacs will never draw the underline below the current line
1333 area.) The variable @code{x-underline-at-descent-line} determines how
1334 to draw underlined text. The default is @code{nil}, which means to
1335 draw it at the baseline level of the font; if you change it to
1336 @code{nil}, Emacs draws the underline at the same height as the font's
1337 descent line.
1338
1339 @vindex overline-margin
1340 The variable @code{overline-margin} specifies the vertical position
1341 of an overline above the text, including the height of the overline
1342 itself, in pixels; the default is 2.
1343
1344 @findex tty-suppress-bold-inverse-default-colors
1345 On some text-only terminals, bold face and inverse video together
1346 result in text that is hard to read. Call the function
1347 @code{tty-suppress-bold-inverse-default-colors} with a non-@code{nil}
1348 argument to suppress the effect of bold-face in this case.
1349
1350 @vindex no-redraw-on-reenter
1351 On a text-only terminal, when you reenter Emacs after suspending, Emacs
1352 normally clears the screen and redraws the entire display. On some
1353 terminals with more than one page of memory, it is possible to arrange
1354 the termcap entry so that the @samp{ti} and @samp{te} strings (output
1355 to the terminal when Emacs is entered and exited, respectively) switch
1356 between pages of memory so as to use one page for Emacs and another
1357 page for other output. On such terminals, you might want to set the variable
1358 @code{no-redraw-on-reenter} non-@code{nil}; this tells Emacs to
1359 assume, when resumed, that the screen page it is using still contains
1360 what Emacs last wrote there.
1361
1362 @ignore
1363 arch-tag: 2219f910-2ff0-4521-b059-1bd231a536c4
1364 @end ignore