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(emacs)Highlight Interactively

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Interactive Highlighting by Matching
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   It is sometimes useful to highlight the strings that match a certain
regular expression.  For example, you might wish to see all the
references to a certain variable in a program source file, or highlight
certain parts in a voluminous output of some program, or make certain
cliches stand out in an article.

   Use the `M-x hi-lock-mode' command to turn on a minor mode that
allows you to specify regular expressions of the text to be
highlighted.  Hi-lock mode works like Font Lock (Note: Font Lock),
except that it lets you specify explicitly what parts of text to
highlight.  You control Hi-lock mode with these commands:

`C-x w h REGEXP <RET> FACE <RET>'
     Highlight text that matches REGEXP using face FACE
     (`highlight-regexp').  By using this command more than once, you
     can highlight various parts of the text in different ways.

`C-x w r REGEXP <RET>'
     Unhighlight REGEXP (`unhighlight-regexp').  You must enter one of
     the regular expressions currently specified for highlighting.
     (You can use completion, or choose from a menu, to enter one of
     them conveniently.)

`C-x w l REGEXP <RET> FACE <RET>'
     Highlight entire lines containing a match for REGEXP, using face
     FACE (`highlight-lines-matching-regexp').

`C-x w b'
     Insert all the current highlighting regexp/face pairs into the
     buffer at point, with comment delimiters to prevent them from
     changing your program.  This key binding runs the
     `hi-lock-write-interactive-patterns' command.

     These patterns will be read the next time you visit the file while
     Hi-lock mode is enabled, or whenever you use the `M-x
     hi-lock-find-patterns' command.

`C-x w i'
     Re-read regexp/face pairs in the current buffer
     (`hi-lock-write-interactive-patterns').  The list of pairs is
     found no matter where in the buffer it may be.

     This command does nothing if the major mode is a member of the list
     `hi-lock-exclude-modes'.