How do I jump to the start or end of my last yank or change in Vim?

Explanation

Vim automatically sets the marks '[ and '] whenever you yank, change, or paste text. They point to the first and last characters of that operation, letting you act on the same range again without re-selecting it. This is especially useful for reindenting after a paste or visually inspecting what was just modified.

How it works

• '[ jumps to the first line/character of the last yank or change
• '] jumps to the last line/character of the last yank or change
• These marks are set automatically — no manual m{a-z} needed
• Work with all operators: y, c, d, p, P, >, <, =, and filter !
• In linewise operations, '[ and '] point to the first and last lines

Example

After pasting a block of code with p, re-indent it without re-selecting:

p           " paste the block
'[=']       " reindent from start to end of pasted block

Or visually select exactly what was just yanked to verify it:

yip         " yank inner paragraph
`[v`]       " visually select it (character-precise)

Tips

• Use `[ and `] (with backtick) for character-precise jumps instead of line-wise jumps
• Combine with operators: '[>'] to indent the last pasted region
• :echo line("'[") and :echo line("']") print the line numbers for scripting
• After :read file.txt, '[ and '] mark the range of the inserted file content