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(elisp)The Region

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The Region
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   The text between point and the mark is known as "the region".
Various functions operate on text delimited by point and the mark, but
only those functions specifically related to the region itself are
described here.

 - Function: region-beginning
     This function returns the position of the beginning of the region
     (as an integer).  This is the position of either point or the mark,
     whichever is smaller.

     If the mark does not point anywhere, an error is signaled.

 - Function: region-end
     This function returns the position of the end of the region (as an
     integer).  This is the position of either point or the mark,
     whichever is larger.

     If the mark does not point anywhere, an error is signaled.

   Few programs need to use the `region-beginning' and `region-end'
functions.  A command designed to operate on a region should normally
use `interactive' with the `r' specification to find the beginning and
end of the region.  This lets other Lisp programs specify the bounds
explicitly as arguments.  (Note: Interactive Codes.)