(emacs.info) Outline Format

 
 Format of Outlines
 ------------------
 
    Outline mode assumes that the lines in the buffer are of two types:
 "heading lines" and "body lines".  A heading line represents a topic in
 the outline.  Heading lines start with one or more stars; the number of
 stars determines the depth of the heading in the outline structure.
 Thus, a heading line with one star is a major topic; all the heading
 lines with two stars between it and the next one-star heading are its
 subtopics; and so on.  Any line that is not a heading line is a body
 line.  Body lines belong with the preceding heading line.  Here is an
 example:
 
      * Food
      This is the body,
      which says something about the topic of food.
      
      ** Delicious Food
      This is the body of the second-level header.
      
      ** Distasteful Food
      This could have
      a body too, with
      several lines.
      
      *** Dormitory Food
      
      * Shelter
      Another first-level topic with its header line.
 
    A heading line together with all following body lines is called
 collectively an "entry".  A heading line together with all following
 deeper heading lines and their body lines is called a "subtree".
 
    You can customize the criterion for distinguishing heading lines by
 setting the variable `outline-regexp'.  Any line whose beginning has a
 match for this regexp is considered a heading line.  Matches that start
 within a line (not at the left margin) do not count.  The length of the
 matching text determines the level of the heading; longer matches make
 a more deeply nested level.  Thus, for example, if a text formatter has
 commands `@chapter', `@section' and `@subsection' to divide the
 document into chapters and sections, you could make those lines count
 as heading lines by setting `outline-regexp' to
 `"@chap\\|@\\(sub\\)*section"'.  Note the trick: the two words
 `chapter' and `section' are equally long, but by defining the regexp to
 match only `chap' we ensure that the length of the text matched on a
 chapter heading is shorter, so that Outline mode will know that
 sections are contained in chapters.  This works as long as no other
 command starts with `@chap'.
 
    It is possible to change the rule for calculating the level of a
 heading line by setting the variable `outline-level'.  The value of
 `outline-level' should be a function that takes no arguments and
 returns the level of the current heading.  Some major modes such as C,
 Nroff, and Emacs Lisp mode set this variable in order to work with
 Outline minor mode.
Info Catalog
(emacs.info) Outline Mode
(emacs.info) Outline Motion
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