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I am trying to write a function where I insert some text, and then activate the mark at the end of the function. I have several use-cases where I would like to use this.

I cannot figure out how do make it work. I have the following expression which I am using to test the behavior:

(progn (set-mark-command nil) (save-excursion (insert "hi")) (forward-line 2) (activate-mark))

Evaluating this expression does not activate the mark; however, if I comment out the save-excursion part which inserts some text, the mark is activated. Why isn't the mark being activated, and what can I do to make the expression work as expected?

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My question is a duplicate of this question and this one.

Quick recap: From the answers in those threads, it seems certain commands will deactivate the mark. Insert appears to be such a command.

We can fix this issue in two ways:

  1. Change the first line
- (progn + (let (deactivate-mark) (set-mark-command nil) (save-excursion (insert "hi")) (forward-line 2) (activate-mark))

This sets the variable deactivate-mark to nil. This was the first time I had seen a let with a variable without assigning it a value. You can read more about this here.

  1. Unset the variable deactivate-mark at the end of our function
 (progn (set-mark-command nil) (save-excursion (insert "hi")) (forward-line 2) (activate-mark) + (setq deactivate-mark nil))
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