Info Catalog elisp: Association Lists elisp: Lists

elisp: Property Lists

 
 5.9 Property Lists
 ==================
 
 A “property list” (“plist” for short) is a list of paired elements.
 Each of the pairs associates a property name (usually a symbol) with a
 property or value.  Here is an example of a property list:
 
      (pine cones numbers (1 2 3) color "blue")
 
 This property list associates ‘pine’ with ‘cones’, ‘numbers’ with ‘(1 2
 3)’, and ‘color’ with ‘"blue"’.  The property names and values can be
 any Lisp objects, but the names are usually symbols (as they are in this
 example).
 
    Property lists are used in several contexts.  For instance, the
 function ‘put-text-property’ takes an argument which is a property list,
 specifying text properties and associated values which are to be applied
 to text in a string or buffer.  Text Properties.
 
    Another prominent use of property lists is for storing symbol
 properties.  Every symbol possesses a list of properties, used to record
 miscellaneous information about the symbol; these properties are stored
 in the form of a property list.  Symbol Properties.
 

Menu

 
· Plists and Alists           Comparison of the advantages of property
                                   lists and association lists.
· Plist Access                Accessing property lists stored elsewhere.
 

Info Catalog elisp: Association Lists elisp: Lists