The text between the point and mark in a buffer.
A region is all text in a buffer between the point (the text-cursor position) and the mark (if it exists). With transient-mark-mode on, the region text is highlighted.
Questions tagged [region]
165 questions
33
votes
8 answers
How to select non-contiguous regions in Emacs?
Suppose that I have already selected some text in the current buffer.
Is it possible to select another stretch of text, while keeping the previous selection (and so on)?
Added: One motivation for this functionality is as follows:
Assume that I have…
Name
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25
votes
1 answer
Elisp for applying command to only the selected region
Say, I have some code like this:
(defun some-function ()
(interactive)
;; do something
)
Now I want some-function to operate only on the selected region in
the buffer ? How can I do that ? Also, can there be two separate code
path for doing…
Sibi
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19
votes
4 answers
What is the usefulness of `exchange-point-and-mark`?
The exchange-point-and-mark command is bound to C-x C-x, but I cannot think of any use cases that would make it deserving of such a prominent binding.
How can I use the exchange-point-and-mark to improve my editing technique?
Matthew Piziak
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15
votes
3 answers
Shift+Up isn't recognized by Emacs in a terminal
Very often I use Shift+Up/Down to select a region in Emacs. It works fine in GUI mode, but when emacs is invoked with -nw option I can select lines only with Shift+Down. The Shift+Up doesn't work, I get this error message in the minibuffer:
WeSenseASoulInSearchOfAnswers
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15
votes
2 answers
How to count the number of lines in the region?
Is there a command similar to count-words-region to count the total number of lines of a selected region?
Name
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14
votes
1 answer
How to copy text without losing selection?
When I copy some selected text (kill-ring-save with M-w), I automatically lose my selection. I have tried with Transient Mark Mode with no luck. (Note that I'm not using CUA Mode.)
NVaughan
- 1,481
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13
votes
3 answers
Fontify a region of a buffer with another major mode
I have a buffer that shows documentation for Ansible modules. This buffer has its own major mode which provides all the standard stuff. Notably, it fontifies the buffer to highlight inline markup, options, sections, etc. All in all, it is pretty…
user227
9
votes
6 answers
Selecting text without moving the cursor
I would like to grow a selection without moving point (the cursor) from its location. I know I can always use C-u C-spc to move to the previous location, but I would like to avoid that.
More specifically, I would like to do both of these…
Amelio Vazquez-Reina
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9
votes
3 answers
Set region to include enclosing parentheses
Starting with the point or active region, how do I quickly (in one keystroke / command) 'expand' to include the next set of enclosing parentheses?
If I start with: (| means point)
(defn foo [x] (+ x |42))
Or if I start with: (< and > bracket the…
David J.
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9
votes
2 answers
Selecting (i.e., as the region) the current match in incremental search
When searching for a string with C-s, I want to be able to hit some key to exit search mode but still maintain the selection of the match. That way I can immediately start typing and replace the last match.
For example, say I have the following…
Ben
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9
votes
2 answers
Remove parentheses around region
Is there a better alternative to this function I use to remove parens around a region? I'm looking for an Emacs builtin, or something better written, something that will remove any pairs around the selected region (ex: brackets, curly brackets,…
Nsukami _
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8
votes
3 answers
changing todo state of multiple headings at once
I've got a list of todo's, and I'd like to change all of the todo's in that list with a single command, instead of moving point to each item and changing the status manually. For example.
* TODO Item 1
** TODO Item 1.1
** TODO Item 1.2
* TODO Item…
Bernhard
- 355
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8
votes
1 answer
How to set the region (selection) programmatically in Emacs Lisp using indices?
Given 2 absolute numbers (compatible with region-beginning, region-end).
How can these numbers be used to set the selection?
Edit: If you use evil mode you may want to check this question, at the time of asking I wasn't aware this required a…
ideasman42
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8
votes
2 answers
Why is my function not identifying the end of the region correctly?
I have the following function, adapted slightly from here:
;; Insert text around a region. In this case, it's
;; the LaTeX code environment from the listings package
(defun wrap-code (start end)
"Insert a \begin{code} and \end{code} around a…
terdon
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8
votes
1 answer
Fold region of org file
Is there a way to fold a region in org-mode? (Not the whole file, and not an individual item, but a region containing multiple items.)
Often I want to collapse only a portion of an org file, say folding:
* a
** a1
** a2
* b
** b1
** b2
** b3
* c
**…
holocronweaver
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