Emacs: how to re-mark a previously marked region

If the region just got unmarked (which Emacs calls "deactivated"), C-xC-x will remark (a.k.a. "re-activate") it.

The script snippets below will bind key-chords F6, C-F6, C-S-F6 to manager markers (vs mark). Markers move and shrink and grow, as you change text around and between them. You can use whichever keys you prefer. Put the code into your ~/.emacs config file.

• First establish the bounds of the intitial region (mark -- point).
• Then press F6 to set markers to the bounds of that region.
• Do whatever you need to do...
• Re-establish the bounds of the modified region by pressing C-F6.Repeat *"Do.." as need be
• When you have finished use C-S-F6 to clear the region markers.

---

(global-set-key (kbd "<f6>") 'set-markers-for-region)
(defun set-markers-for-region ()
  (interactive)
  (make-local-variable 'm1)
  (make-local-variable 'm2)
  (setq m1 (copy-marker (mark)))
  (setq m2 (copy-marker (point))))

(global-set-key (kbd "<C-f6>") 'set-region-from-markers)
(defun set-region-from-markers ()
  (interactive)
  (set-mark m1)
  (goto-char m2))

(global-set-key (kbd "<C-S-f6>") 'unset-region-markers)
(defun unset-region-markers ()
  (interactive)
  (set-marker m1 nil)
  (set-marker m2 nil))

Unfortunately, there is no region history feature in Emacs. There is the function pop-mark, which restores the mark to a previous location taken from the variable mark-ring, but it does not set point and thus is useless for restoring old regions. If you are adept at Emacs-Lisp, you could advise function set-mark with code that maintains a region ring (similar to the variable mark-ring). Then you could implement a pop-region function that behaves similarly to pop-mark.