comparison man/mule.texi @ 31141:a7c55d999688

Expand the explanation about Lisp files being loaded as multibyte. Add index entries.

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environment variable @env{EMACS_UNIBYTE}.  You can also customize
@code{enable-multibyte-characters} or, equivalently, directly set the
variable @code{default-enable-multibyte-characters} in your init file to
have basically the same effect as @samp{--unibyte}.

  Multibyte strings are not created during initialization from the
values of environment variables, @file{/etc/passwd} entries etc.@: that
contain non-ASCII 8-bit characters.  However, the initialization file is
normally read as multibyte---like Lisp files in general when they are
loaded for running---even with @samp{--unibyte}.  To avoid multibyte
strings being generated by non-ASCII characters in it, put
@samp{-*-unibyte: t;-*-} in a comment on the first line.  Do the same
for initialization files for packages like Gnus.

  The mode line indicates whether multibyte character support is enabled
in the current buffer.  If it is, there are two or more characters (most
often two dashes) before the colon near the beginning of the mode line.
When multibyte characters are not enabled, just one dash precedes the

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environment variable @env{EMACS_UNIBYTE}.  You can also customize
@code{enable-multibyte-characters} or, equivalently, directly set the
variable @code{default-enable-multibyte-characters} in your init file to
have basically the same effect as @samp{--unibyte}.

@cindex Lisp files, and multibyte operation
@cindex multibyte operation, and Lisp files
@cindex unibyte operation, and Lisp files
@cindex init file, and non-ASCII characters
@cindex environment variables, and non-ASCII characters
  Multibyte strings are not created during initialization from the
values of environment variables, @file{/etc/passwd} entries etc.@: that
contain non-ASCII 8-bit characters.  However, Lisp files, when they are
loaded for running, and in particular the initialization file
@file{.emacs}, are normally read as multibyte---even with
@samp{--unibyte}.  To avoid multibyte strings being generated by
non-ASCII characters in Lisp files, put @samp{-*-unibyte: t;-*-} in a
comment on the first line, or specify the coding system @samp{raw-text}
with @kbd{C-x @key{RET} c}.  Do the same for initialization files for
packages like Gnus.

  The mode line indicates whether multibyte character support is enabled
in the current buffer.  If it is, there are two or more characters (most
often two dashes) before the colon near the beginning of the mode line.
When multibyte characters are not enabled, just one dash precedes the