*08*	Use of marks

This chapter shows how to use marks.

|08_1|	What are marks?
|08_2|	Implicit marks
|08_3|	Named marks
|08_4|	Global scope marks
|08_5|	Numbered marks

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*08_1*	What are marks?

Marks are positions in a file which are remembered and can be accessed with
the given name. These can be thought of as bookmarks which are kept at
various places in files. In vim, all the marks have single character names.

Marks are of two types: implicit and explicit. Implicit marks are
automatically set in the file as a part of the various editing processes.
Explicit marks are explicitly set by the user. Explicit marks are also
called as named marks.


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*08_2*	Implicit marks

When you make a jump to a position with the "G" command, Vim remembers the
position from before this jump.  This position is called a mark.  To go back
where you came from, use this command: >

	``

This ` is a backtick. You can jump to the start of the line from where the
last jump happened by using the single quote instead.

	''

If you use the same command a second time you will jump back again.  That's
because the ` command is a jump itself, and the position from before this
jump is remembered.

Generally, every time you do a command that can move the cursor further than
within the same line, this is called a jump.  This includes the search
commands "/" and "n" (it doesn't matter how far away the match is).  But not
the character searches with "fx" and "tx" or the word movements "w" and "e".

Also, "j" and "k" are not considered to be a jump.  Even when you use a
count to make them move the cursor quite a long way away.

The `` command jumps back and forth, between two points.  The CTRL-O command
jumps to older positions (Hint: O for older).  CTRL-I then jumps back to
newer positions (Hint: I is just next to O on the keyboard).  Consider this
sequence of commands: >

	33G
	/^The
	CTRL-O

You first jump to line 33, then search for a line that starts with "The".
Then with CTRL-O you jump back to line 33.  Another CTRL-O takes you back to
where you started.  If you now use CTRL-I you jump to line 33 again.  And
to the match for "The" with another CTRL-I.


	     |	example text   ^	     |
	33G  |	example text   |  CTRL-O     | CTRL-I
	     |	example text   |	     |
	     V	line 33 text   ^	     V
	     |	example text   |	     |
       /^The |	example text   |  CTRL-O     | CTRL-I
	     V	There you are  |	     V
		example text

	Note:
	CTRL-I is the same as <Tab>.

The ":jumps" command gives a list of positions you jumped to.  The entry
which you used last is marked with a ">".

Similarly the following command takes you to the place of the last change >

	`.

Or >

	'.

takes you to the line of last change

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*08_3*	Named marks

Vim enables you to place your own marks in the text.  The command "ma" marks
the place under the cursor as mark a.  You can place 26 marks (a through z)
in your text.  You can't see them, it's just a position that Vim remembers.

To go to a mark, use the command `{mark}, where "{mark} is the mark letter.
Thus to move to the a mark:
>
	`a

The command 'mark (single quotation mark, or apostrophe) moves you to the
beginning of the line containing the mark.  This differs from the `mark
command, which moves you to marked column.

The marks can be very useful when working on two related parts in a file.
Suppose you have some text near the start of the file you need to look at,
while working on some text near the end of the file.

Move to the text at the start and place the s (start) mark there: >

	ms

The move to the text you want to work on and put the e (end) mark there: >

	me

Now you can move around, and when you want to look at the start of the file,
you use this to jump there: >

	's

Then you can use '' to jump back to where you were, or 'e to jump to the
text you were working on at the end.

There is nothing special about using s for start and e for end, they are
just easy to remember.

You can use this command to get a list of marks: >

	:marks

You will notice a few special marks.  These include:

	'	The cursor position before doing a jump
	"	The cursor position when last editing the file
	[	Start of the last change
	]	End of the last change

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*08_4*	Global scope marks

The marks a to z are local in nature. They are local to a file. So there are
26 such marks for each file being edited. What if you want global marks to
jump across files. There are 26 such marks - the uppercase A to Z. You can
set and jump to such marks in the same way as the previous commands. >

	mE
	'E

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*08_5*	Numbered marks

There are 10 marks 0 to 9, which cannot be set directly. These are set
automatically when you exit vim. 0 is the latest while 9 is the oldest. You
can use this marks to your advantage. For example, you can have the
following alias >

	bash> alias vil="vi -c \"normal '0\""

So typing "vil" at the bash prompt will take you to the latest file you have
quit.

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