Emacs bug: resetting mark location

Emacs bug: resetting mark location

[George Antoun]

I've been having an issue with Emacs for some time now where it seems 
that Emacs tends to reset the mark location. The sequence of keystrokes 
that I run into is as follows:

1.) set a mark
2.) move the cursor several characters with the arrow keys
3.) perform a search forward
4.) perform a cut

The cut operation executes successfully, however the mark location for 
some reason is consistently moved to cursor location the end of step 
(2.) Can you provide any insight into why this is occurring? I have 
checked with several of my co-workers and they are experiencing the same 
problem. I am using Emacs version 20.7.1 on a PC. Thanks for your help.

George Antoun

-- 
George Antoun
Project Engineer
ATA Engineering, Inc.

george.antoun@ata-e.com
Phone: (858) 480-2084

Re: Emacs bug: resetting mark location

[Kevin Rodgers]

George Antoun wrote:
> I've been having an issue with Emacs for some time now where it seems 
> that Emacs tends to reset the mark location. The sequence of keystrokes 
> that I run into is as follows:
> 
> 1.) set a mark
> 2.) move the cursor several characters with the arrow keys
> 3.) perform a search forward
> 4.) perform a cut
> 
> The cut operation executes successfully, however the mark location for 
> some reason is consistently moved to cursor location the end of step 
> (2.) Can you provide any insight into why this is occurring? I have 
> checked with several of my co-workers and they are experiencing the same 
> problem. I am using Emacs version 20.7.1 on a PC. Thanks for your help.

I suspect it happens regardless of what command you perform in step 4
to terminate the search.  (I assume the search is an incremental search,
since you didn't mention the actual keys you typed to invoke those
commands.)  For example, try terminating the search with RET; then C-x
C-x (exchange-point-and-mark) will also take you to the end of step 2.

As the Basics of Incremental Search section of the manual explains:

,----
|    When you exit the incremental search, it sets the mark where point
| _was_ before the search.  That is convenient for moving back there.  In
| Transient Mark mode, incremental search sets the mark without
| activating it, and does so only if the mark is not already active.
`----

-- 
Kevin