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(elisp)Buffers and Windows

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Buffers and Windows
===================

   This section describes low-level functions to examine windows or to
display buffers in windows in a precisely controlled fashion.  Note:
Displaying Buffers, for related functions that find a window to use
and specify a buffer for it.  The functions described there are easier
to use than these, but they employ heuristics in choosing or creating a
window; use these functions when you need complete control.

 - Function: set-window-buffer window buffer-or-name
     This function makes WINDOW display BUFFER-OR-NAME as its contents.
     It returns `nil'.  This is the fundamental primitive for changing
     which buffer is displayed in a window, and all ways of doing that
     call this function.

          (set-window-buffer (selected-window) "foo")
               => nil

 - Function: window-buffer &optional window
     This function returns the buffer that WINDOW is displaying.  If
     WINDOW is omitted, this function returns the buffer for the
     selected window.

          (window-buffer)
               => #<buffer windows.texi>

 - Function: get-buffer-window buffer-or-name &optional all-frames
     This function returns a window currently displaying
     BUFFER-OR-NAME, or `nil' if there is none.  If there are several
     such windows, then the function returns the first one in the
     cyclic ordering of windows, starting from the selected window.
     Note: Cyclic Window Ordering.

     The argument ALL-FRAMES controls which windows to consider.

        * If it is `nil', consider windows on the selected frame.

        * If it is `t', consider windows on all frames.

        * If it is `visible', consider windows on all visible frames.

        * If it is 0, consider windows on all visible or iconified
          frames.

        * If it is a frame, consider windows on that frame.

 - Function: get-buffer-window-list buffer-or-name &optional minibuf
          all-frames
     This function returns a list of all the windows currently
     displaying BUFFER-OR-NAME.

     The two optional arguments work like the optional arguments of
     `next-window' (Note: Cyclic Window Ordering); they are _not_
     like the single optional argument of `get-buffer-window'.  Perhaps
     we should change `get-buffer-window' in the future to make it
     compatible with the other functions.

     The argument ALL-FRAMES controls which windows to consider.

        * If it is `nil', consider windows on the selected frame.

        * If it is `t', consider windows on all frames.

        * If it is `visible', consider windows on all visible frames.

        * If it is 0, consider windows on all visible or iconified
          frames.

        * If it is a frame, consider windows on that frame.

 - Variable: buffer-display-time
     This variable records the time at which a buffer was last made
     visible in a window.  It is always local in each buffer; each time
     `set-window-buffer' is called, it sets this variable to
     `(current-time)' in the specified buffer (Note: Time of Day).
     When a buffer is first created, `buffer-display-time' starts out
     with the value `nil'.