A marker is a pointer to a specific location within a buffer, which may or may not have a single-character shortcut associated with it. Markers are persistent; they are saved to .filename.marks, where filename is the name of the buffer. (The dot prefix makes the markers file hidden on Unix systems.) Marker saving can be disabled in the General pane of the Utilities>Global Options dialog box; see the section called “The General Pane”.

Markers>Add/Remove Marker (shortcut: C+e C+m) adds a marker without a shortcut pointing to the current line. If a marker is already set on the current line, the marker is removed instead. If text is selected, markers are added to the first and last line of each selection.

Markers are listed in the Markers menu; selecting a marker from this menu will move the caret to its location.

Markers>Go to Previous Marker (shortcut: C+e C+COMMA) goes to the marker immediately before the caret position.

Markers>Go to Next Marker (shortcut: C+e C+PERIOD) goes to the marker immediately after the caret position.

Markers>Remove All Markers removes all markers set in the current buffer.

Markers with shortcuts allow for quicker keyboard-based navigation. The following commands all prompt for a single-character shortcut when invoked. Pressing ESCAPE instead of specifying a shortcut will cancel the operation.

Markers>Add Marker With Shortcut (shortcut: C+t key) adds a marker with the specified shortcut. If marker with that shortcut already exists, it will remain in the buffer but lose its shortcut.

Markers>Go to Marker (shortcut: C+y key) moves the caret to the location of the marker with the specified shortcut.

Markers>Select to Marker (shortcut: C+u key) creates a selection from the caret location to the marker with the specified shortcut.

Markers>Swap Caret and Marker (shortcut: C+k key) moves the caret to the location of the marker with the specified shortcut, and moves the marker to the former caret position. Invoke this command multiple times to flip between two locations in the buffer.

Lines which contain markers are indicated in the gutter with a highlight. Moving the mouse over the highlight displays a tool tip showing the marker's shortcut, if it has one. See the section called “Interface Overview” for information about the gutter.