Prevent an expression from formatting:

Release the hold to let it format:

Prevent an unevaluated expression from formatting:

Releasing the hold allows evaluation and, subsequently, formatting to occur:

DisableFormatting must appear inside held expression or it will evaluate away:

DisableFormatting works inside any function with held attributes like HoldAll:

HoldRest:

HoldFirst:

HoldAllComplete:

Disable the formatting in held expressions:

Evaluate held parts to restore the normal formatting:

DisableFormatting is invisible in StandardForm and TraditionalForm:

InputForm and FullForm show DisableFormatting:

Hold, HoldForm and other functions that hold their arguments prevent evaluation but not typesetting:

DisableFormatting inside of Hold prevents the unevaluated expression from typesetting:

However, DisableFormatting does not by itself hold its argument or prevent typesetting:

In a HoldFirst or HoldRest function, DisableFormatting only affects the held arguments:

Defer prevents an expression from evaluating but not typesetting:

If copied and pasted, that expression will then evaluate:

If using DisableFormatting along with Defer, the expression will neither evaluate nor typeset:

However, on copy and paste, it evaluates and therefore typesets normally:

Interpretation assigns an arbitrary appearance to an output expression:

If copied and pasted, normal interpretation and typesetting follow:

However, the original expression remains unevaluated:

With DisableFormatting, the normal evaluation and formatting is restored once the hold is released:

On the other hand, copy and paste will preserve the DisableFormatting wrapper:

Inactivate creates an expression that sometimes, but not always, avoids 2D typesetting:

The result is a different expression, where each head h has been replaced by Inactive[h]:

DisableFormatting always avoids 2D typesetting, and the input expression returns unchanged: