The marks 0-9 are the last 10 files you were editing. See :h viminfo-file-marks
(took me a while to find the correct help subject).
'"
: the cursor position when last exiting the current buffer (:h '"
). Exiting here means closing the buffer (:bd
) or exiting Vim while you edit a file. It does not mean leaving the buffer (like switching to another buffer). This mark is stored in the viminfo file (see :h viminfo
). It can be used to restore the cursor position when you edit the file again (see :h restore-cursor
).
'^
: the position where the cursor was the last time when Insert mode was
stopped (:h '^
)
'.
: the position where the last change was made (:h '.
).
If you insert some text, '^
and '.
will point to the same location (nearly - '.
is on the last inserted char, '^
after the last inserted char except for end-of-line).
If you do some change without inserting (e.g. delete a line) '.
will reflect that position, while '^
is unchanged.