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37.21.3 Active Display Table

Each window can specify a display table, and so can each buffer. The window's display table, if there is one, takes precedence over the buffer's display table. If neither exists, Emacs tries to use the standard display table; if that is nil, Emacs uses the usual character display conventions (see Usual Display).

Note that display tables affect how the mode line is displayed, so if you want to force redisplay of the mode line using a new display table, call force-mode-line-update (see Mode Line Format).

— Function: window-display-table &optional window

This function returns window's display table, or nil if there is none. The default for window is the selected window.

— Function: set-window-display-table window table

This function sets the display table of window to table. The argument table should be either a display table or nil.

— Variable: buffer-display-table

This variable is automatically buffer-local in all buffers; its value specifies the buffer's display table. If it is nil, there is no buffer display table.

— Variable: standard-display-table

The value of this variable is the standard display table, which is used when Emacs is displaying a buffer in a window with neither a window display table nor a buffer display table defined. Its default is nil.

The disp-table library defines several functions for changing the standard display table.