Re: confusing info in C-u C-x =

[martin rudalics]

You could try the following patch:

*** descr-text.el       Sat Nov  5 20:44:24 2005
--- descr-text.el       Mon Nov 21 08:50:36 2005
***************
*** 144,160 ****
        (goto-char (point-min)))))

  ;;;###autoload
! (defun describe-text-properties (pos &optional output-buffer)
    "Describe widgets, buttons, overlays and text properties at POS.
  Interactively, describe them for the character after point.
  If optional second argument OUTPUT-BUFFER is non-nil,
  insert the output into that buffer, and don't initialize or clear it
! otherwise."
    (interactive "d")
    (if (>= pos (point-max))
        (error "No character follows specified position"))
    (if output-buffer
!       (describe-text-properties-1 pos output-buffer)
      (if (not (or (text-properties-at pos) (overlays-at pos)))
        (message "This is plain text.")
        (let ((buffer (current-buffer))
--- 144,162 ----
        (goto-char (point-min)))))

  ;;;###autoload
! (defun describe-text-properties (pos &optional output-buffer overlay-bounds)
    "Describe widgets, buttons, overlays and text properties at POS.
  Interactively, describe them for the character after point.
  If optional second argument OUTPUT-BUFFER is non-nil,
  insert the output into that buffer, and don't initialize or clear it
! otherwise.
! Optional third argument OVERLAY-BOUNDS is a list of start and end
! positions of overlays as produced by `describe-char'."
    (interactive "d")
    (if (>= pos (point-max))
        (error "No character follows specified position"))
    (if output-buffer
!       (describe-text-properties-1 pos output-buffer overlay-bounds)
      (if (not (or (text-properties-at pos) (overlays-at pos)))
        (message "This is plain text.")
        (let ((buffer (current-buffer))
***************
*** 171,177 ****
            (describe-text-mode)
            (goto-char (point-min))))))))

! (defun describe-text-properties-1 (pos output-buffer)
    (let* ((properties (text-properties-at pos))
         (overlays (overlays-at pos))
         (wid-field (get-char-property pos 'field))
--- 173,179 ----
            (describe-text-mode)
            (goto-char (point-min))))))))

! (defun describe-text-properties-1 (pos output-buffer &optional overlay-bounds)
    (let* ((properties (text-properties-at pos))
         (overlays (overlays-at pos))
         (wid-field (get-char-property pos 'field))
***************
*** 205,212 ****
          (widget-insert "There are " (format "%d" (length overlays))
                         " overlays here:\n"))
        (dolist (overlay overlays)
!         (widget-insert " From " (format "%d" (overlay-start overlay))
!                        " to " (format "%d" (overlay-end overlay)) "\n")
          (describe-property-list (overlay-properties overlay)))
        (widget-insert "\n"))
        ;; Text properties
--- 207,222 ----
          (widget-insert "There are " (format "%d" (length overlays))
                         " overlays here:\n"))
        (dolist (overlay overlays)
!           (if overlay-bounds
!               (progn
!                 ;; OVERLAY-BOUNDS must be a list of the bounds of all overlays
!                 ;; at some "original" position.  The overlays at POS are one
!                 ;; character wide replicas of the overlays at that position.
!                 (widget-insert " From " (format "%d" (caar overlay-bounds))
!                                " to " (format "%d" (cdar overlay-bounds)) 
"\n")
!                 (setq overlay-bounds (cdr overlay-bounds)))
!             (widget-insert " From " (format "%d" (overlay-start overlay))
!                            " to " (format "%d" (overlay-end overlay)) "\n"))
          (describe-property-list (overlay-properties overlay)))
        (widget-insert "\n"))
        ;; Text properties
***************
*** 458,463 ****
--- 468,476 ----
         (multibyte-p enable-multibyte-characters)
         (overlays (mapcar #'(lambda (o) (overlay-properties o))
                           (overlays-at pos)))
+          (overlay-bounds ; Make list of start and end positions of overlays
+           (mapcar #'(lambda (o) (cons (overlay-start o) (overlay-end o)))
+                       (nreverse (overlays-at pos))))
         item-list max-width unicode)

      (if (or (< char 256)
***************
*** 718,724 ****
          (insert "\nSee the variable `reference-point-alist' for "
                  "the meaning of the rule.\n"))

!       (describe-text-properties pos (current-buffer))
        (describe-text-mode)))))

  (defalias 'describe-char-after 'describe-char)
--- 731,737 ----
          (insert "\nSee the variable `reference-point-alist' for "
                  "the meaning of the rule.\n"))

!       (describe-text-properties pos (current-buffer) overlay-bounds)
        (describe-text-mode)))))

  (defalias 'describe-char-after 'describe-char)