Programming in vim I often go search for something, yank it, then go back to where I was, insert it, modify it.
The problem is that after I search and find, I need to MANUALLY find my way back to where I was.
Is there an automatic way to go back to where I was when I initiated my last search?
I've always done by it setting a mark.
In command-mode, press m [letter]. For example, m a sets a mark at the current line using a as the mark indentifier.
To get back to the mark press ' [letter]. For example, ' a takes you back to the mark set in step 1.
To see all of the marks that currently set, type :marks.
On a slightly unrelated note, I just discovered another nifty thing about marks.
Let's say you jump to mark b by doing 'b. Vim automatically sets the mark ' (that's a single-quote) to be whichever line you were on before jumping to mark b.
That means you can do 'b to jump to that mark, then do '' (2 single-quotes) to jump back to whever you were before.
I discovered this accidentally using the :marks command, which shows a list of all marks.
The simplest way is to set a mark, with m[letter], then go back to it with '[letter]
Ctrl+O takes me to the previous location. Don't know about location before the search.
Edit: Also, `. will take you to the last change you made.
Use mark and return. To mark a spot before your search, Esc into command mode, then hit ma, where a is any letter of the alphabet. After you do your search you can return to the spot you marked by hitting `a (that's a backquote then the letter you marked your spot with) in edit mode.
Use `` to jump back to the exact position you were in before you searched/jumped, or '' to jump back to the start of the line you were on before you searched/jumped.
You really should read :help jumplist it explains all of this very well.