RE: [External] : Re: Dired: how to mark with other character but *

[Drew Adams <drew.adams@oracle.com>]

> > ‘* 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).
> 
> Still, sounds complicated with all the replace and change
> stuff - what's the command to just mark the file at point with
> an arbitrary char?

There isn't one.  But you could define one.
___

Note, BTW, that `* c' will let you change ANY
"mark" char, including just a space (no mark).

IOW, you can change (all) UNmarked lines to any
mark you like using `* c SPC CHAR', where SPC
is a space char and CHAR is any char you like.
___

This too is very helpful, IMO:

,----
| M-DEL (translated from <M-backspace>) runs the command
| dired-unmark-all-files (found in dired-mode-map), which is an
| interactive compiled Lisp function in ‘dired.el’.
| 
| It is bound to M-DEL, * ?.
| 
| (dired-unmark-all-files MARK &optional ARG)
| 
| Remove a specific mark (or any mark) from every file.
| After this command, type the mark character to remove,
| or type RET to remove all marks.
| With prefix arg, query for each marked file.
| Type C-h at that time for help.
`----

I use that all the time, but usually with just
`M-DEL RET', to remove all marks.