Buffer list

Development reference · View source

Space b b lists open buffers in the Navigator’s columns (see Session and destination navigation ).

Key	Action
Enter	Visit the buffer, focusing a pane already showing it
`Ctrl-t`	Toggle a bounded preview of its in-memory text
`Tab`	Actions, starting with Bring into active pane

Tab actions:

Bring into active pane shows the buffer here instead of focusing another pane.
Close hidden buffers closes clean buffers not visible in any pane, keeping unsaved edits and pending saves. It applies to the whole workspace even when the list is filtered.
A modified file offers Save and Discard changes. Discard asks for a separate Enter.
Close appears only once a buffer is clean, never discards edits, and redirects every pane that shared the buffer.
Explorer buffers offer only Bring into active pane and Close hidden buffers. Filesystem changes happen only by editing an explorer and confirming its :write plan.

Retention of special buffers. The eight most recently active clean generated and special buffers, explorers included, are kept after their last pane moves away. Activating a ninth retires the least recently used detached one.

This keeps Ctrl-o/Ctrl-i and Alt-o/Alt-i useful without letting Space b b or the Finder accumulate stale views.
A dirty special buffer stays open until saved or discarded.
An empty, clean scratch buffer retires as soon as its last pane leaves. Written scratch text is an ordinary buffer.