Dired-like browser for buffers?

Question

I use Spacemacs, and I often use SPC b b to list buffers so that I can kill the buffers I no longer want. Unfortunately, this process takes a while because I have to repeatedly press SPC b b, navigate to a buffer I want to kill, open it, and then hit SPC b d.

I was looking for something that allows me to open up a list of buffers, in a new buffer, and quickly navigate through them and delete them easily. Kind of like Dired (in Evil mode), which allows you to use j and k to navigate through the list of files and D to delete a file.

Does something like this currently exist in Spacemacs, or in some well-known package?

Answer 1

What you want is built-in to emacs. Put (require 'ibuffer) in your config file, then bind a key to 'ibuffer:

(global-set-key "\C-x\C-b" 'ibuffer)

Be sure to check out its help documentation. It has a lot of features.

Answer 2

As mentioned, Ibuffer (ibuffer) and Buffer Menu (buffer-menu) are the closest to a Dired-like interface. But you can also list and act on multiple buffers using just completion.

With Icicles, commands that show you buffer names for completion let you use S-<delete> on any number of them to kill those buffer.

Similarly, C-x k (icicle-kill-buffer, in Icicle mode) lets you kill any number of buffers during the same command.

See:

• Buffer-Name Input for more about buffer-name completion
• Multi-Commands for info about acting on multiple completion candidates during the same command

Answer 3

From HELM Mini (SPC b b), you can do C-c d to kill a buffer without exiting HELM Mini.