Is (propertize "test" 'face '(foreground-color . "red")) valid?

[Juanma Barranquero]

....or should it be

(propertize "test" 'face '((foreground-color . "red")))

?

From the Elisp reference (Text Properties / Special Properties):

> `face'
>      You can use the property `face' to control the font and color of
>      text.  *Note Faces::, for more information.
> 
>      In the simplest case, the value is a face name.  It can also be a
>      list; then each element can be any of these possibilities;
> 
>         * A face name (a symbol or string).
> 
>         * Starting in Emacs 21, a property list of face attributes.
>           This has the form (KEYWORD VALUE ...), where each KEYWORD is a
>           face attribute name and VALUE is a meaningful value for that
>           attribute.  With this feature, you do not need to create a
>           face each time you want to specify a particular attribute for
>           certain text.  *Note Face Attributes::.
> 
>         * A cons cell of the form `(foreground-color . COLOR-NAME)' or
>           `(background-color . COLOR-NAME)'.  These elements specify
>           just the foreground color or just the background color.
> 
>           `(foreground-color . COLOR-NAME)' is equivalent to
>           `(:foreground COLOR-NAME)', and likewise for the background.
> 

To follow the docs, cons-cell values for the `face' property shouldn't
be valid. However, they work (at least, creating such a test string and
inserting it into a fundamental-mode buffer shows it colored).

Documentation bug, obsolete feature, or what?


                                                           /L/e/k/t/u