23.3.3 %-Constructs in the Mode Line

The following table lists the recognized %-constructs and what they mean. In any construct except `%%', you can add a decimal integer after the `%' to specify how many characters to display.

%b

The current buffer name, obtained with the buffer-name function. See section 27.3 Buffer Names.

%c

The current column number of point.

%f

The visited file name, obtained with the buffer-file-name function. See section 27.4 Buffer File Name.

%F

The title (only on a window system) or the name of the selected frame. See section 29.3.3 Window Frame Parameters.

%l

The current line number of point, counting within the accessible portion of the buffer.

%n

`Narrow' when narrowing is in effect; nothing otherwise (see narrow-to-region in 30.4 Narrowing).

%p

The percentage of the buffer text above the top of window, or `Top', `Bottom' or `All'. Note that the default mode-line specification truncates this to three characters.

%P

The percentage of the buffer text that is above the bottom of the window (which includes the text visible in the window, as well as the text above the top), plus `Top' if the top of the buffer is visible on screen; or `Bottom' or `All'.

%s

The status of the subprocess belonging to the current buffer, obtained with process-status. See section 37.6 Process Information.

%t

Whether the visited file is a text file or a binary file. This is a meaningful distinction only on certain operating systems (see section 33.10.9 MS-DOS File Types).

%*

`%' if the buffer is read only (see buffer-read-only);
`*' if the buffer is modified (see buffer-modified-p);
`-' otherwise. See section 27.5 Buffer Modification.

%+

`*' if the buffer is modified (see buffer-modified-p);
`%' if the buffer is read only (see buffer-read-only);
`-' otherwise. This differs from `%*' only for a modified read-only buffer. See section 27.5 Buffer Modification.

%&

`*' if the buffer is modified, and `-' otherwise.

%[

An indication of the depth of recursive editing levels (not counting minibuffer levels): one `[' for each editing level. See section 21.12 Recursive Editing.

%]

One `]' for each recursive editing level (not counting minibuffer levels).

%-

Dashes sufficient to fill the remainder of the mode line.

%%

The character `%'---this is how to include a literal `%' in a string in which %-constructs are allowed.

The following two %-constructs are still supported, but they are obsolete, since you can get the same results with the variables mode-name and global-mode-string.

%m

The value of mode-name.

%M

The value of global-mode-string. Currently, only display-time modifies the value of global-mode-string.