Is there a command to alternate buffers? [duplicate]

Question

I want to quickly alternate between the buffer I'm in and the last buffer I was in. Is there a built-in command for this?

I rolled my own, but I might rather use something built-in.

(defun alternate-buffer ()
  "Alternate between the current buffer and the previous."
  (interactive)
  (switch-to-buffer (caar (window-prev-buffers))))

I've checked M-x apropos and searched for "buffer", but I haven't located such a command.

Answer 1

I use this function

(defun switch-to-previous-buffer ()
  (interactive)
  (switch-to-buffer (other-buffer)))

Still custom elisp, but better that caar

Answer 2

This can be done easily with the modern completion systems: Helm or Ivy. Use helm-buffers-list or ivy-switch-buffer correspondingly.

Now here's the trick: repeatedly press C-M-n to switch to the next buffer without exiting the completion. Press C-M-p for the previous buffer. Finally, press C-m to exit completion.

Answer 3

How about?:

previous-buffer ["In selected window switch to previous buffer."]

and

next-buffer ["In selected window switch to next buffer."]

Both are built-in functions defined in window.el and come with their own keyboard shortcuts, which you can of course change or create additional ones.

Answer 4

The command you're looking for is switch-to-other-buffer. I bind it to F9, and use it frequently.

Update: My bad - it's an elisp function co-opted from Xemacs:

;; Switch To Other Buffer, from Xemacs/files.el
(defun switch-to-other-buffer (arg)
 "Switch to the previous buffer.  With a numeric arg, n, switch to the nth
most recent buffer.  With an arg of 0, buries the current buffer at the
bottom of the buffer stack."
 (interactive "p")
 (if (eq arg 0)
 (bury-buffer (current-buffer)))
 (switch-to-buffer
  (if (<= arg 1) (other-buffer (current-buffer))
(nth (1+ arg) (buffer-list)))))