Quickstart (require 'unicode-whitespace) (unicode-whitespace-setup 'subdued-faces) M-x whitespace-mode RET Explanation Unicode-whitespace makes the built-in `whitespace-mode' Unicode-aware in two different ways: 1. Recognizing Unicode whitespace characters in your buffer, such as "No-Break Space" or "Hair Space". 2. Displaying Unicode characters such as "Paragraph Sign" (pilcrow) in place of whitespace. This library also makes some minor adjustments to the default settings of `whitespace-mode', and exposes character-by-character display substitution mappings in customize. To use unicode-whitespace, place the unicode-whitespace.el library somewhere Emacs can find it, and add the following to your ~/.emacs file: (require 'unicode-whitespace) (unicode-whitespace-setup 'subdued-faces) ; 'subdued-faces is optional Then invoke `whitespace-mode' as usual. The display of newlines is changed from the default. Newlines are not displayed unless one of the following conditions is met: 1. `truncate-lines' is non-nil 2. `word-wrap' is non-nil 3. The major mode of the buffer is listed in `unicode-whitespace-newline-mark-modes'. A new `whitespace-style' is provided: 'echo causes the name of the whitespace character under the point to be displayed in the echo area. This is not enabled by default. Two interactive commands are provided to manipulate these settings when `whitespace-mode' is active: `unicode-whitespace-toggle-newlines' `unicode-whitespace-toggle-echo' See Also M-x customize-group RET unicode-whitespace RET M-x customize-group RET whitespace RET Notes If the extended characters used to represent whitespace do not display correctly on your system, install unicode-fonts.el and/or read the setup tips therein. Be aware when setting customizable variables for `whitespace-mode' that unicode-whitespace works by overwriting those same variables. Unicode-whitespace causes alternative line terminators such as "Line Separator" to visually break lines so long as `whitespace-mode' is on. Extra newline characters are not inserted. This is a visual effect only, which ceases when `whitespace-mode' is turned off. Unicode-whitespace turns off the long-line indicators built into whitespace-mode because of a font-lock bug. To reverse this, do (add-to-list 'whitespace-styles 'lines) or use a separate long-lines detection package. Compatibility and Requirements GNU Emacs version 24.4-devel : yes, at the time of writing GNU Emacs version 24.3 : yes GNU Emacs version 23.3 : yes GNU Emacs version 22.3 and lower : no Requires ucs-utils.el Uses if present: unicode-fonts.el Bugs Gray faces won't look good on a gray background such as that used by Zenburn color theme. Does Zenburn set background to light or dark? Provide a way to force faces? The face for alternative line terminators is often incorrect; font-lock overrides the settings from unicode-whitespace. This is because `whitespace-display-char-on' hardcodes \n as the line terminator. Calling alternative line terminators 'space-mark is a hack to make it possible to toggle display of standard newlines without affecting the alternates. They really should all be called newline-mark. whitespace.el could be updated to allow this. Trailing space that ends with \r or \f sometimes does not get fontified -- though it usually get picked up after some typing. This could be because of some assumptions in the post-command-hook of whitespace.el. TODO There should be separate faces for each of these classes, would need to patch or override whitespace.el unicode-whitespace-tab-names unicode-whitespace-tab-set-names unicode-whitespace-soft-space-names unicode-whitespace-hard-space-names unicode-whitespace-pseudo-space-names unicode-whitespace-standard-line-terminator-names unicode-whitespace-alternative-line-terminator-names form feed There are probably more nonprinting characters to include as pseudo-spaces by default. A list of glyphless chars could be gotten from variable `glyphless-char-display'. Regexps should probably be redone with only \t for certain things. A whitespace-cycle command could turn on the mode and cycle through a few levels of visibility. Add a test function that dumps an extended example to scratch buffer. Consistent marker symbol for thin spaces, and a way to see the intersection between thin and nonbreaking - maybe nonbreaking should be a consistent face and thin a consistent symbol. The tab-visibility bug in whitespace.el could probably be fixed with an overlay. Also, stipple can show tabs as arrows without changing display, seen here (http://emacswiki.org/emacs/BlankMode). However, the stipple face is dependent on frame-char-width/height. ; License Simplified BSD License: Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are met: 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer. 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution. This software is provided by Roland Walker "AS IS" and any express or implied warranties, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose are disclaimed. In no event shall Roland Walker or contributors be liable for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, exemplary, or consequential damages (including, but not limited to, procurement of substitute goods or services; loss of use, data, or profits; or business interruption) however caused and on any theory of liability, whether in contract, strict liability, or tort (including negligence or otherwise) arising in any way out of the use of this software, even if advised of the possibility of such damage. The views and conclusions contained in the software and documentation are those of the authors and should not be interpreted as representing official policies, either expressed or implied, of Roland Walker.