Emacs highlights the region whenever there is one, if you enable
Transient Mark mode (@pxref{Transient Mark}).
- You can move point or the mark to adjust the boundaries of the region.
-It doesn't matter which one is set first chronologically, or which one
-comes earlier in the text. Once the mark has been set, it remains where
-you put it until you set it again at another place. Each Emacs buffer
-has its own mark, so that when you return to a buffer that had been
-selected previously, it has the same mark it had before.
+ Certain Emacs commands set the mark; other editing commands do not
+affect it, so the mark remains where you set it last. Each Emacs
+buffer has its own mark, and setting the mark in one buffer has no
+effect on other buffers' marks. When you return to a buffer that had
+been selected previously, its mark is at the same place as before.
+
+ The ends of the region are always point and the mark. It doesn't
+matter which of them was put in its current place first, or which one
+comes earlier in the text---the region starts from point or the mark
+(whichever comes first), and ends at point or the mark (whichever
+comes last). Every time you move point, or set the mark in a new
+place, the region changes.
Many commands that insert text, such as @kbd{C-y} (@code{yank}) and
-@kbd{M-x insert-buffer}, position point and the mark at opposite ends of
-the inserted text, so that the region contains the text just inserted.
+@kbd{M-x insert-buffer}, position point and the mark at opposite ends
+of the inserted text, so that the region consists of the text just
+inserted.
Aside from delimiting the region, the mark is also useful for
remembering a spot that you may want to go back to. To make this
projects / emacs.git / commitdiff