Emacs: List Buffers

This page is a tutorial on managing buffers in emacs.

In emacs, every file is shown in a “buffer”. (You can think of “buffer” as opened file or tabbed window without the tab. It's called buffer because back in 1980s, emacs can only display parts of a file.)

Alt+x list-buffers 【Ctrl+x Ctrl+b】

List buffers.

Alt+x ibuffer

Improved version of list buffers. It colors the files by type.

Alt+x kill-buffer 【Ctrl+x k】

Close the current buffer.

Make ibuffer Default

To make ibuffer default, put the following in your init file:

(defalias 'list-buffers 'ibuffer) ; make ibuffer default

Batch Operation on Buffers

You can do operation in batch to the marked ones. Example:

• Save all unsaved files
• Close all files of a given dir
• Close all Java files

Here's most useful ibuffer commands.

• m → Mark
• u → Unmark
• * u → Mark unsaved
• S → Save marked buffer
• D → Close marked buffers

While in ibuffer, Alt+x describe-mode to see a full list of ibuffer commands.