- ^ refers to the last step left in the superpath, never to a step right. (In the A4 notes below, in red, I seem to disagree with what I say here.)
- [^] refers to the superpath’s imprint, [^^] to the super-superpath’s imprint, etc. Referring to a superpath’s imprint from within a subpath is only possible if the subpath’s imprint isn’t included in the superpath’s—that is: the subpath shouldn’t preceed \\ or be preceded by //.
- [[^]] refers to the superpath as a whole, [[^^]] to the super-superpath, etc.
My A4 notebook (p. 23) also bears witness to complicated thoughts and conflicting insights (in red) about what the ^ symbol should and should not refer to.
At the bottom of page 21 of my A4 notebook, I touch upon the problem of it being unclear what ^ refers to within a subpath:
The problem is that, if ^ refers to the containing step, that that containing step cannot yet be completed, because we’re currently stepping through a path that’s part of the containing step.
The way out of this problem is hidden in the first list item above: ^ refers to the last step left in the superpath, never to a step right.