hst-mode --- Go back to last cursor positions in Emacs

A workable solution to going back'' in Emacs. All IDEs (and even Vim/evil) have ways to go back to the last place'' (cursor position) you were at.

This only works for the local bufffer. You won't jump around to different buffers, windows, and frames by hitting the back button.

Installation

Just put hst-mode.el into your LOAD-PATH; e.g.:

$ curl https://github.com/hackharmony/longer-jump/blob/master/hst-mode.el > ~/.emacs.d/lisp/hst-mode.el

Then add this to your ~/.emacs:

(add-to-list 'load-path "~/.emacs.d/lisp/")
(require 'hst-mode)

;; only if you want this to be enabled everywhere!
(global-hst-mode 1)

;; otherwise you need to do M-x hst-mode on a per-buffer basis or something like…
(add-hook 'text-mode-hook #'hst-mode) ;; track history when writing text
(add-hook 'prog-mode'hook #'hst-mode) ;; track history when writing code

Usage

M-x hst-mode in a buffer you want to use this in.

Default keybindings are ⌘-[ to go back in history and ⌘-] to go forward. Change them like this:

(define-key hst-map (kbd "C-}") #'hst-mode--go-forward)
;                   ^^^^^^^^^^^ or anything you want
(define-key hst-map (kbd "C-{") 'hst-mode--go-back)
;                   ^^^^^^^^^^^ or anything you want

Customizations

A number of things can be customized. M-x customize-group hst to see the full list.

• hst-mode-max-history-entries --- How many entries you want to be remembered
• hst-mode-threshold-lines-moved --- How many lines you need to approximately move before a new history entry is registered