@cindex highlighting region
@cindex region highlighting
- Emacs can highlight the current region on a terminal which supports
-colors. But normally it does not. Why not?
+ On a terminal that supports colors, Emacs can highlight the current
+region. But normally it does not. Why not?
- Highlighting the region doesn't work well ordinarily in Emacs, because
-once you have set a mark, there is @emph{always} a region (in that
-buffer). And highlighting the region all the time would be a nuisance.
+ Highlighting the region whenever it exists would not be desirable in
+Emacs, because once you have set a mark, there is @emph{always} a
+region (in that buffer). And highlighting the region all the time
+would be a nuisance. So normally Emacs highlights the region only
+immediately after you have selected it with the mouse.
You can turn on region highlighting by enabling Transient Mark mode.
This is a more rigid mode of operation in which the region ``lasts''
only temporarily, so you must set up a region for each command that uses
one. In Transient Mark mode, most of the time there is no region;
-therefore, highlighting the region when it exists is convenient.
+therefore, highlighting the region when it exists is useful and
+not annoying.
@findex transient-mark-mode
To enable Transient Mark mode, type @kbd{M-x transient-mark-mode}.
@item
Quitting with @kbd{C-g} deactivates the mark.
+
+@item
+Some commands operate on the region whenever it is active. For
+instance, @kbd{C-x u} in Transient Mark mode operates on the region
+when there is a region. Outside Transient Mark mode, you must type
+@kbd{C-u C-x u} if you want it to operate on the region.
+@xref{Undo}. Other commands that act this way are identified
+in their own documentation.
@end itemize
Highlighting of the region uses the @code{region} face; you can