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If I want to delete everything in a buffer with elisp, how do I do that?

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31

Have you tried erase-buffer?

erase-buffer is an interactive built-in function in `C source code'.

(erase-buffer)


Delete the entire contents of the current buffer.
Any narrowing restriction in effect (see `narrow-to-region') is removed,
so the buffer is truly empty after this.

How to find such a function? M-x apropos buffer erase

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    There are a few exceptions, e.g., overlay objects are not deleted, and there may be some other stuff I am not familiar with that continues to be present after erase-buffer is called.
    – lawlist
    Oct 19, 2015 at 21:13
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    Yes, the question is not very precise wrt "everything" and "in" the buffer. If you want to get rid of everything associated with the buffer, then kill-buffer is your friend.
    – Drew
    Oct 19, 2015 at 21:54
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You can use some setf magic.

(setf (buffer-string) "")

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There's also this answer:

C-x h + del key clears the buffer

Note: This requires transient-mark-mode to be enabled (which it is by default).

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  • But this is a key sequence, whereas the OP asked for an Elisp answer.
    – Stefan
    Jul 19, 2017 at 3:08
  • Oops, posted too quickly.
    – Joshua Goldberg
    Jul 19, 2017 at 13:46

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