-For a symbol, its value is used (but it is ignored if t or nil).
- A string appearing directly as the value of a symbol is processed verbatim
- in that the %-constructs below are not recognized.
- Note that unless the symbol is marked as a `risky-local-variable', all
- properties in any strings, as well as all :eval and :propertize forms
- in the value of that symbol will be ignored.
-For a list of the form `(:eval FORM)', FORM is evaluated and the result
- is used as a mode line element. Be careful--FORM should not load any files,
- because that can cause an infinite recursion.
-For a list of the form `(:propertize ELT PROPS...)', ELT is displayed
- with the specified properties PROPS applied.
-For a list whose car is a symbol, the symbol's value is taken,
- and if that is non-nil, the cadr of the list is processed recursively.
- Otherwise, the caddr of the list (if there is one) is processed.
-For a list whose car is a string or list, each element is processed
- recursively and the results are effectively concatenated.
-For a list whose car is an integer, the cdr of the list is processed
- and padded (if the number is positive) or truncated (if negative)
- to the width specified by that number.
+
+For any symbol other than t or nil, the symbol's value is processed as
+ a mode line construct. As a special exception, if that value is a
+ string, the string is processed verbatim, without handling any
+ %-constructs (see below). Also, unless the symbol has a non-nil
+ `risky-local-variable' property, all properties in any strings, as
+ well as all :eval and :propertize forms in the value, are ignored.
+
+A list whose car is a string or list is processed by processing each
+ of the list elements recursively, as separate mode line constructs,
+ and concatenating the results.
+
+A list of the form `(:eval FORM)' is processed by evaluating FORM and
+ using the result as a mode line construct. Be careful--FORM should
+ not load any files, because that can cause an infinite recursion.
+
+A list of the form `(:propertize ELT PROPS...)' is processed by
+ processing ELT as the mode line construct, and adding the text
+ properties PROPS to the result.
+
+A list whose car is a symbol is processed by examining the symbol's
+ value, and, if that value is non-nil, processing the cadr of the list
+ recursively; and if that value is nil, processing the caddr of the
+ list recursively.
+
+A list whose car is an integer is processed by processing the cadr of
+ the list, and padding (if the number is positive) or truncating (if
+ negative) to the width specified by that number.
+