Variable: use-empty-active-region

Whether "region-aware" commands should act on empty regions.
If nil, region-aware commands treat empty regions as inactive.
If non-nil, region-aware commands treat the region as active as
long as the mark is active, even if the region is empty.

Region-aware commands are those that act on the region if it is
active and Transient Mark mode is enabled, and on the text near point otherwise.