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