How do I run a substitute or filter command without Vim automatically repositioning my marks?

Explanation

When Vim executes commands that move or reorder lines — such as :sort, :%!sort, or :s/// across ranges — it automatically adjusts named marks to follow the text. Sometimes you want marks to stay exactly where they are even after the buffer changes. The :keepmarks modifier tells Vim not to reposition marks during the subsequent command.

How it works

• Prefix any Ex command with :keepmarks to prevent marks from being moved
• Specifically, it suppresses adjustments to the visual selection marks '< and '>, the change marks '[ and '], and other auto-set marks
• The marks you set manually ('a, 'b, etc.) are also preserved
• Without :keepmarks, a :sort or filter command would move '< and '> to the new positions of the sorted lines

Example

" Select lines 5-20 in visual mode, exit visual, then sort without moving marks
:keepmarks 5,20!sort

After this command, '< still points to line 5 and '> to line 20, even though the lines were reordered by sort.

Tips

• Combine with :keepjumps to also preserve the jump list: :keepjumps keepmarks %s/old/new/g
• Especially useful in Vimscript functions that manipulate buffers and need stable mark positions for subsequent operations
• :lockmarks is a related but different modifier — it prevents marks from being updated at all, even from their normal adjustments during insertions