GNU Emacs Lisp Reference Manual

35.14.1: Display Table Format

A display table is actually an array of 262 elements.

Function: make-display-table

This creates and returns a display table. The table initially has nil in all elements.

The first 256 elements correspond to character codes; the nth element says how to display the character code n. The value should be nil or a vector of glyph values (see Glyphs). If an element is nil, it says to display that character according to the usual display conventions (see Usual Display).

If you use the display table to change the display of newline characters, the whole buffer will be displayed as one long ``line.''

The remaining six elements of a display table serve special purposes, and nil means use the default stated below.

256

The glyph for the end of a truncated screen line (the default for this is $). See Glyphs.

257

The glyph for the end of a continued line (the default is \).

258

The glyph for indicating a character displayed as an octal character code (the default is \).

259

The glyph for indicating a control character (the default is ^).

260

A vector of glyphs for indicating the presence of invisible lines (the default is ...). See Selective Display.

261

The glyph used to draw the border between side-by-side windows (the default is |). See Splitting Windows.

For example, here is how to construct a display table that mimics the effect of setting ctl-arrow to a non-nil value:

(setq disptab (make-display-table))
(let ((i 0))
  (while (< i 32)
    (or (= i ?\t) (= i ?\n)
        (aset disptab i (vector ?^ (+ i 64))))
    (setq i (1+ i)))
  (aset disptab 127 (vector ?^ ??)))