Variable: hi-lock-use-overlays

hi-lock-use-overlays is a variable defined in hi-lock.el.gz.

Value

nil

Documentation

Whether to always use overlays instead of font-lock rules.

When font-lock-mode(var)/font-lock-mode(fun) is enabled and the buffer specifies font-lock rules, highlighting is performed by adding new font-lock rules to the existing ones, so when new matching strings are added, they are highlighted by font-lock. Otherwise, overlays are used, but new highlighting overlays are not added when new matching strings are inserted to the buffer. However, sometimes overlays are still preferable even in buffers where font-lock is enabled, when hi-lock overlays take precedence over other overlays in the same buffer.

Source Code

;; Defined in /usr/src/emacs/lisp/hi-lock.el.gz
(defvar hi-lock-use-overlays nil
  "Whether to always use overlays instead of font-lock rules.
When `font-lock-mode' is enabled and the buffer specifies font-lock rules,
highlighting is performed by adding new font-lock rules to the existing ones,
so when new matching strings are added, they are highlighted by font-lock.
Otherwise, overlays are used, but new highlighting overlays are not added
when new matching strings are inserted to the buffer.
However, sometimes overlays are still preferable even in buffers
where font-lock is enabled, when hi-lock overlays take precedence
over other overlays in the same buffer.")