Marking Blocks

To mark a block you must specify its outermost points, note that the text marked by the block ends one character before the marked position (this is so that it easy to mark whole lines).

Rectangular blocks are a bit different for more information, see section Rectangular Blocks.

Note also that block marks shrink and grow as text is deleted and inserted inside them, similar to what normal marks do.

These are the commands used to mark a block,

Ctrl-m

Ctrl-SPC

If a block is currently marked in this window it will unmark it. Otherwise it will either mark the beginning or end of the block depending on whether or not a block has previously been partially marked. The normal method for marking a few characters is to first make sure that no block is currently marked (the status line displays the status of the block marks, a `b' means that one end of a block has been marked and a `B' means that both ends of a block are marked in which case it will be highlighted somewhere in the buffer) then press Ctrl-m at one end, move the cursor to the opposite end and press Ctrl-m again.

Ctrl-x h

Mark the whole of the buffer.

Meta-@

Mark the current word.

Meta-h

Mark the current paragraph.

Another method for marking a block is to use the mouse, double clicking the left mouse button on a character has the same effect as moving to that character and typing Ctrl-m. Similarly, clicking the left mouse button while pressing the SHIFT key clears a marked block.

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