Some other variables are always local in every buffer, but they are used for internal purposes. The global value of the variable is again in effect in this buffer. Setting the major mode kills all the local variables of the buffer. To set the global value of a variable, regardless of whether the variable has a local value in the current buffer, you can use the Lisp function setq-default . It works like setq .
Programs can look at a variable's default value with default-value .
This function takes a symbol as an argument and returns its default value.