Show Buffers

An Emacs major mode displaying all user buffers (buffers without leading "*" and space) in a side window.

Description

show-buffers is similar to Emacs' built-in buffer-menu-mode activated by command list-buffers. The main difference is that show-buffers displays only user buffers (buffers with a backed file) in a side window.

Unlike buffer-menu-mode in which the buffer list is static, the content in show-buffers window is updated dynamically when buffers are created or buffers are killed. Modified buffers are labeled with a "*".

Use

Put the show-buffers.el in your emacs' load path and add (require 'show-buffers) to your init.el file.

Customization

Following variables can be customized:

• show-buffers-window-width: default to 35
• show-buffers-window-position: 'right and 'left are available. Default to 'right
• show-buffers-refresh-interval: how frequently (in seconds) should show-buffers window be refreshed. Default to 1.0 second.
• show-buffers-follow-interval: how frequently (in seconds) should show-buffers window points to the buffer currently focused. Default to 0.8 seconds.

Keybindings

Several commands are available for buffer killing, saving and switching. However, these commands are NOT intended to be used outside the show-buffers side window. Instead, please use following keybindings in the side window (just like treemacs).

• r: refresh the side window
• k: kill the buffer under the cursor
• s: save the buffer under the cursor
• S: save all modified buffers
• RET: display and switch to the buffer under the cursor
• o: display and switch to the buffer under the cursor, then close all other windows
• q: close the show-buffers side window