Don't display ^M characters with emacs

Question

I am wondering if there is a way to temporarily not display the ^M characters in a file.
I don't want to remove them I just want to not display them.

score 13 · Accepted Answer · answered Jun 16 '10 at 07:23

13

I use the following function (forgot where I found it):

(defun hide-ctrl-M ()
  "Hides the disturbing '^M' showing up in files containing mixed UNIX and DOS line endings."
  (interactive)
  (setq buffer-display-table (make-display-table))
  (aset buffer-display-table ?\^M []))

answered Jun 16 '10 at 07:23

Otto Pichlhoefer

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It's possible to use that code, but I'd recommend using the features built into Emacs to properly handle [text coding](http://stackoverflow.com/a/14009245/462302). – aculich Dec 23 '12 at 06:58

score 9 · Answer 2 · answered Dec 23 '12 at 06:55

9

The GNU Emacs documentation describes how to handle Text Coding using revert-buffer-with-coding-system:

C-x <RET> r coding <RET>
Revisit the current file using the coding system coding (revert-buffer-with-coding-system).

In your case if the correct system coding isn't detected automatically you can type:

C-x RET r dos RET

to avoid displaying the ^M characters without actually modifying the file.

answered Dec 23 '12 at 06:55

aculich

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I've found I need to set the coding to `utf-8-hfs-dos`, rather than simply `dos` (using emacs 25.3.1). – BungleFeet Feb 06 '19 at 13:06

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Jun 15 '10 at 21:13

At least with emacs 22.3 this seems to be an issue only if your file has a combination of newline styles, say from editing with a "non-enlightened" editor under both windows unix.

If the lines are consistently terminated w/ ^M modern emacs will note at the bottom that it's [dos] mode and not show the ^M. It's then smart enough to place ^M in the file when you save.

If you've got some odd combination you can try running

$ unix2dos FILE

to get to a good state, after which hopefully you can keep it in DOS mode.

I note that my xemacs 21.4 doesn't have this feature, alas.

There's a discussion here: http://groups.google.com/group/gnu.emacs.help/browse_thread/thread/676113e90825d4e7

right but... the suggestion to consider unix2dos was offered as a way to correct the problem where a file contains mixed newlines. In other words, the answer provided here applies to a question the OP *may not have known to ask*. — Cheeso, Jun 17 '10 at 13:37

Don't display ^M characters with emacs

3 Answers3