Xah Lee asks what’s the best way to jump to another position in a buffer and then return to the original point? Emacs users know a lot of ways of doing this. We can, for example, use 【Ctrl+s】 to move the new point and then 【Ctrl+x Ctrl+x】 to return or we can use any of the push and pop mark tricks that I and many others have written about.
Lee says he tried all those but that the thing that works best for him is to simply split the window, move to the new position in the window that still has focus and then close that window when he’s done. That way he’s back to where he started quickly and easily. What I like about that method is that it’s easy to remember. In theory I like the other methods but the 【Ctrl+x Ctrl+x】 sets a new region that has to be turned off and unless I use the push/pop mark methods all the time I tend to forget how to do it.
For small jumps, ace-jump-mode and then popping the mark with【Ctrl+u Ctrl+Space】 to return works well. A similar method using【Ctrl+s】 or【Ctrl+r】 followed by a【Ctrl+u Ctrl+Space】 also works for me. Those work because they push the mark before the jump. Methods that don’t do that are harder for me to use effectively. In those cases, Lee’s method feels like a win. What do the rest of you do?