How do I set a mark and jump back to it later?

Explanation

Vim marks let you bookmark positions in a file and jump back to them instantly. Lowercase marks are local to the current buffer, while uppercase marks work across files.

How it works

• ma sets mark a at the current cursor position
• 'a jumps to the line of mark a (first non-blank character)
• `a jumps to the exact position (line and column) of mark a

Example

While editing a function on line 42:

1. Press ma to set mark a
2. Navigate elsewhere to line 200
3. Press 'a to jump back to line 42

Tips

• '' jumps to the position before the last jump
• `. jumps to the position of the last change
• Uppercase marks (mA through mZ) persist across files
• :marks lists all current marks