Bufler is like a butler for your buffers, presenting them to you in an organized way based on your instructions. The instructions are written as grouping rules in a simple language, allowing you to customize the way buffers are grouped. The default rules are designed to be generally useful, so you don’t have to write your own.
It also provides a workspace mode which allows frames to focus on buffers in certain groups. Since the groups are created automatically, the workspaces are created dynamically, rather than requiring you to put buffers in workspaces manually.
This screenshot shows bufler-list
in the top window, and bufler-switch-buffer
reading a buffer with completion in the bottom window. Note how the same, recursively grouped buffers are shown in both ways.
This screenshot compares Bufler and Ibuffer showing the same buffers with the default settings. Note how Bufler provides collapsible sections to group and hide uninteresting buffers. It also allows commands to be applied to selected sections: for example, pressing k
in this Bufler list would kill the buffers in the groups compilation-mode
and completion-list-mode
(and, of course, since it calls kill-buffer
, any unsaved, file-backed buffers would ask to be saved first).
This screenshot shows Bufler Tabs Mode, which works with the new tab-bar-mode
and tab-line-mode
from Emacs 27. The tab-bar
selects the workspace, and the tab-line
selects a buffer in the current workspace.
Use quelpa-use-package, like this:
(use-package bufler
:quelpa (bufler :fetcher github :repo "alphapapa/bufler.el"))
Bufler provides four primary, user-facing features. They complement each other, but each one may be used independently.
- The command
bufler
shows a list of buffers grouped according to the defined grouping rules. It allows manipulation of buffers and groups of buffers. - The command
bufler-switch-buffer
prompts for a buffer with completion and switches to the selected one. Buffers are presented by their “path” in the groups. - The global minor mode
bufler-mode
allows each frame to have a “workspace,” which is a buffer group selected by the user. When the mode is active, the commandbufler-switch-buffer
presents only buffers from the current workspace (unless called with a prefix, in which case it shows all buffers), and the current workspace is displayed in the mode line and the frame’s title. Buffers can also be manually assigned to named workspaces. - The global minor mode
bufler-tabs-mode
uses the new Emacs 27tab-bar
andtab-line
features to display workspaces and buffers. Thetab-bar
shows top-level workspaces (and whatever the selected one is, even if not top-level), and thetab-line
shows buffers from the current workspace.
A workflow using Bufler could be something like this:
- Start Emacs.
- Activate
bufler-mode
. - Open some buffers, find some files, etc.
- When you need to switch buffers, use
M-x bufler-switch-buffer
. The buffers are presented by group with their “outline paths,” which makes it easier to find the buffer you’re looking for, since they’re organized by project, directory, mode, etc. - The next time you call
bufler-switch-buffer
in that frame, it will only offer buffers from that frame’s buffer group, making it easier to find buffers related to the current project. Or if you need to select a buffer in a different group, useC-u
withbufler-switch-buffer
to see all buffers. (Of course, existing commands likeswitch-to-buffer
are not affected; Bufler doesn’t interfere with other modes or commands.) - Make a new frame for a different project by using
bufler-list
to show the list of buffer groups, then selecting a group and pressingF
to make the frame, which will be automatically set to that group’s workspace. - When you need to kill or save a bunch of buffers at once, use
bufler-list
, put the cursor on a group you want to kill or save, and pressk
ors
. If you want to see which buffers have unsaved (indicated with*
) or uncommitted (indicated withedited
) changes, you can browse through the list of buffers (enablebufler-vc-state
to show VC state for each buffer; this is disabled by default because getting up-to-date information on a buffer’s VC state can be slow).
Then, you can write your own buffer-grouping rules to make them as simple or as complex as you like. They’re just Lisp functions, so you can do anything with them, but the DSL provided by the macro makes simple ones easy to write.
bufler
- Show the Bufler buffer list.
bufler-mode
- Enable the Bufler workspace mode, which allows each frame to have a chosen workspace from Bufler’s groups.
bufler-tabs-mode
- Enable the Bufler workspace tabs mode, which uses
tab-bar-mode
andtab-line-mode
from Emacs 27+ to display Bufler workspaces and buffers. bufler-switch-buffer
- Switch to a buffer selected from the frame’s workspace. With prefix, select from all buffers. With two prefixes, also set the frame’s workspace.
bufler-workspace-frame-set
- Set the frame’s workspace. Setting the workspace may be done automatically by
bufler-switch-buffer
, but this command may be used to set the workspace to a group containing other groups, after whichbufler-switch-buffer
will present buffers from the selected group and its subgroups. bufler-workspace-buffer-set
- Set the current buffer’s workspace name. With prefix, unset it. Note that, in order for a buffer to appear in a named workspace, the buffer must be matched by an
auto-workspace
group before any other group.
In the Bufler buffer list, these keys are available (use C-h m
to get the most up-to-date listing). They operate on all buffers in the section at point.
?
Show key bindings Hydra.1
–4
Cycle section levels at point.M-1
–M-4
Cycle top-level sections.RET
Switch to buffer.SPC
Peek at buffer, keeping focus in buffer list.g
Refresh Bufler list (with prefix, force updating buffers’ VC state and grouping).f
Set the current frame’s workspace to the group at point (with prefix, unset).F
Make a new frame whose workspace is the group at point.N
Add buffers to named workspace (with prefix, remove from it).k
Kill buffers.s
Save buffers.
bufler-switch-buffer
works best whencompletion-styles
includes thesubstring
style. It also works well withhelm-mode
andivy-mode
.- Customize settings in the
bufler
group.
See the =bufler= info page to view this information in Emacs.
The Bufler groups definition is a list stored in variable bufler-groups
. Each element of the list is either a lambda function which takes a single argument, a buffer, or a list of such functions. Each buffer is matched against these functions in order until it does not match any more functions at that level. A list of functions defines a subgroup which short-circuits other groups at the same level, preventing further grouping outside of the subgroup’s functions. Ultimately, it’s lambdas all the way down.
This seems somewhat difficult to explain, so please see the examples. Once you get the hang of it, it’s powerful and flexible.
For convenience, the macro bufler-defgroups
provides a sort of DSL, a concise vocabulary for defining groups. For example, the default groups are defined like this:
(bufler-defgroups
(group
;; Subgroup collecting all named workspaces.
(auto-workspace))
(group
;; Subgroup collecting all `help-mode' and `info-mode' buffers.
(group-or "*Help/Info*"
(mode-match "*Help*" (rx bos "help-"))
(mode-match "*Info*" (rx bos "info-"))))
(group
;; Subgroup collecting all special buffers (i.e. ones that are not
;; file-backed), except `magit-status-mode' buffers (which are allowed to fall
;; through to other groups, so they end up grouped with their project buffers).
(group-and "*Special*"
(lambda (buffer)
(unless (or (funcall (mode-match "Magit" (rx bos "magit-status"))
buffer)
(funcall (mode-match "Dired" (rx bos "dired"))
buffer)
(funcall (auto-file) buffer))
"*Special*")))
(group
;; Subgroup collecting these "special special" buffers
;; separately for convenience.
(name-match "**Special**"
(rx bos "*" (or "Messages" "Warnings" "scratch" "Backtrace") "*")))
(group
;; Subgroup collecting all other Magit buffers, grouped by directory.
(mode-match "*Magit* (non-status)" (rx bos (or "magit" "forge") "-"))
(auto-directory))
;; Subgroup for Helm buffers.
(mode-match "*Helm*" (rx bos "helm-"))
;; Remaining special buffers are grouped automatically by mode.
(auto-mode))
;; All buffers under "~/.emacs.d" (or wherever it is).
(dir user-emacs-directory)
(group
;; Subgroup collecting buffers in `org-directory' (or "~/org" if
;; `org-directory' is not yet defined).
(dir (if (bound-and-true-p org-directory)
org-directory
"~/org"))
(group
;; Subgroup collecting indirect Org buffers, grouping them by file.
;; This is very useful when used with `org-tree-to-indirect-buffer'.
(auto-indirect)
(auto-file))
;; Group remaining buffers by whether they're file backed, then by mode.
(group-not "*special*" (auto-file))
(auto-mode))
(group
;; Subgroup collecting buffers in a version-control project,
;; grouping them by directory.
(auto-project))
;; Group remaining buffers by directory, then major mode.
(auto-directory)
(auto-mode))
Note that the macro does not set the variable bufler-groups
, it merely expands a groups form, so you should use, e.g. (setf bufler-groups (bufler-defgroups ...))
to actually set the groups.
The following group types are available in bufler-defgroups
. Note that each one is expanded into a lambda, so they may also be called by funcall
(see example above).
- Meta types
- These types compose multiple of the other types into a single group.
group (TYPE...)
Define a subgroup matching given types, which short-circuits other groups at the same level.group-not (NAME TYPE)
Groups buffers which do not match the given type.group-and (NAME TYPE...)
Groups buffers which match all of the given types.group-or (NAME TYPE...)
Groups buffers which match any of the given types.
- Auto-types
- These types automatically create groups for the buffer’s attribute of this type.
auto-directory
Buffer’s directory.auto-file
Buffer’s file name.auto-hidden
Whether the buffer is hidden.auto-indirect
Whether the buffer is indirect (e.g. a cloned indirect buffer).auto-mode
Buffer’s major mode.auto-project
Buffer’s version-control project directory according toproject.el
.auto-special
Whether the buffer is special (i.e. whether its name starts with*
).auto-tramp
Whether the buffer is opened via Tramp.auto-workspace
The buffer’s named workspace, if any.
- Regexp types
- These types match a value against a buffer’s attribute and group buffers which match.
filename-match (NAME REGEXP)
Match a regular expression against the buffer’s filename, if it has one.name-match (NAME REGEXP)
Match a regular expression against the buffer’s name.mode-match (NAME REGEXP)
Match a regular expression against the buffer’s major-mode.
- Other types
-
dir (DIRS DEPTH)
Groups buffers which match one of the given DIRS. DIRS may be one or a list of directory paths. DEPTH may be nil or a depth above which to produce subdirectory groups (a feature probably broken at the moment). See example above.
Bufler does not require nor depend on Helm, but because it uses completing-read
, it requires no special configuration to work with helm-mode
for selecting buffers.
To show Bufler’s grouped buffers in a Helm-specific command, Bufler provides helm-bufler.el
, which includes helm-bufler-source
, a Helm source that shows buffers in the current workspace (or when the Helm command is called with C-u
, all buffers). It looks like this when showing all buffers:
Use it like this:
(require 'helm-bufler)
(helm :sources '(helm-bufler-source))
Bufler does not require nor depend on Ivy, but because it uses completing-read
, Bufler requires no special configuration to work with ivy-mode
for selecting buffers. For example, this shows bufler-switch-buffers
with ivy-mode
activated (in the spacemacs-dark
theme):
Bufler does not require nor depend on Prism, but you can use Prism’s level faces with Bufler by using M-x customize-option RET bufler-face-prefix RET
and choosing the Prism faces
option. For example (showing an earlier version of the package, when it was called Sbuffer):
Bufler is primarily about grouping buffers automatically and dynamically, using smart, customizeable rules. While Ibuffer provides some powerful grouping features, they are restricted to single-level grouping, and they require extensive, manual configuration. Bufler offers recursive, multi-level grouping, and a set of default groups is provided which are designed to be generally useful. Bufler presents groups in bufler-list
using the magit-section
library, which allows groups and buffers to be toggled, marked, and operated on with commands.
Ibuffer groups must be manually and individually specified. So, for example, to group project A’s buffers into one group, and project B’s into another, Ibuffer requires the user to make a group for each project. Bufler provides a set of automatic grouping rules that create groups automatically. For example, with the rule (auto-project)
, Bufler would create one group for project A’s buffers and another for project B’s. When those projects’ buffers are closed, the groups are automatically removed.
Bufler also provides optional workspace features in the form of bufler-mode
, which helps focus a frame on a group of buffers. When it’s active, the command bufler-switch-buffer
presents buffers from that frame’s selected workspace; when called with a prefix argument, it presents all buffers, and then switches the frame’s workspace to the selected buffer’s group.
Of course, Ibuffer is a mature tool with many features, so Bufler doesn’t replace it completely. Bufler is a very young project.
Project expanded and renamed from Sbuffer to Bufler.
First tagged release.
- Thanks to Jonas Bernoulli for magit-section.
- Thanks to Magnar Sveen and Matus Goljer for dash.el.
- Thanks to Johan Andersson for f.el.
- Thanks to Jerry Peng for Pretty Hydra.
Bufler bufler bufler bufler bufler bufler bufler bufler.
GPLv3