Re: Dired: how to mark with other character but *

[Marcin Borkowski <mbork@mbork.pl>]

On 2021-01-31, at 08:34, Jean Louis <bugs@gnu.support> wrote:

> * Marcin Borkowski <mbork@mbork.pl> [2021-01-31 09:53]:
>> From the manual:
>>
>> ‘* c OLD-MARKCHAR NEW-MARKCHAR’
>>      Replace all marks that use the character OLD-MARKCHAR with marks
>>      that use the character NEW-MARKCHAR (‘dired-change-marks’).  This
>>      command is the primary way to create or use marks other than ‘*’ or
>>      ‘D’.  The arguments are single characters—do not use <RET> to
>>      terminate them.
>>
>> (and yes, it is not easy to find unless you know what you're looking
>> for).
>
> I found that, but it just replaces marks. It does not mark. This one I
> use after marking.
>
> You know when you mark with `m' then if I wish to invoke action like
> viewing a video then it is invoked on all marked items. So I cannot
> view the unmarked video which is what I need.
>
> Workflow is to mark videos for later, but also be able to view new
> videos. If I use * to mark then viewing videos is applied on files
> marked with * so I cannot view the unmarked video which is
> intended. The video is marked after review. That is why I have to mark
> the file with some other character that is not considered as file
> marked for action by Dired.
>
> It sounds more complicated than it is and I maybe do not express it
> perfect. But that workflow of selecting files after review appears to
> me very common.

Agreed.  I think `dired-mark' should ask for a character when provided
with `C-u' (without an actual number) - as of now, it just marks 4 files
- which is obvious, see this:

(dired-repeat-over-lines
       (prefix-numeric-value arg)

but I don't think many people use that feature (and if anyone does, they
can say C-u 4 m or something).

I'd probably file a bug report with this request.  Or even prepare
a patch myself (though I have to sort out my copyright papers since I've
changed my job and I suspect I'd have to do something about that).

Best,

--
Marcin Borkowski
http://mbork.pl