README.md (6492B)
1 # ace-window 2 3 [](https://melpa.org/#/ace-window) 4 [](https://stable.melpa.org/#/ace-window) 5 6 **GNU Emacs package for selecting a window to switch to** 7 8 ## What and why 9 10 I'm sure you're aware of the `other-window` command. While it's great 11 for two windows, it quickly loses its value when there are more windows. 12 You need to call it many times, and since it's not easily predictable, 13 you have to check each time if you're in the window that you wanted. 14 15 Another approach is to use `windmove-left`, `windmove-up`, etc. These 16 are fast and predictable. Their disadvantage is that they need 4 key 17 bindings. The default ones are shift+arrows, which are hard to reach. 18 19 This package aims to take the speed and predictability of `windmove` 20 and pack it into a single key binding, similar to `other-window`. 21 22 ## Setup 23 24 Just assign `ace-window` to a short key binding, as switching windows 25 is a common task. I suggest <kbd>M-o</kbd>, as it's short and not 26 bound to anything important in the default Emacs. 27 28 ## Usage 29 30 When there are two windows, `ace-window` will call `other-window` 31 (unless `aw-dispatch-always` is set non-nil). If there are more, each 32 window will have the first character of its window label highlighted 33 at the upper left of the window. Pressing that character will either 34 switch to that window or filter to the next character needed to select 35 a specific window. Note that, unlike `ace-jump-mode`, the position of 36 point will not be changed, i.e. the same behavior as that of 37 `other-window`. 38 39 A special character defined by `aw-make-frame-char` (default = `z`) 40 means create a new frame and use its window as the target. The new 41 frame's location is set relative to the prior selected frame's location 42 and given by `aw-frame-offset`. The new frame's size is given by 43 `aw-frame-size`. See their documentation strings for more information. 44 45 The windows are ordered top-down, left-to-right. This means that if you 46 remember your window layouts, you can switch windows without even 47 looking at the leading char. For instance, the top left window will 48 always be `1` (or `a` if you use letters for window characters). 49 50 `ace-window` works across multiple frames, as you can see from the 51 [in-action gif](http://oremacs.com/download/ace-window.gif). 52 53 54 ## Swap and delete window 55 56 - You can swap windows by calling `ace-window` with a prefix argument <kbd>C-u</kbd>. 57 58 - You can delete the selected window by calling `ace-window` with a double prefix argument, i.e. <kbd>C-u C-u</kbd>. 59 60 ## Change the action midway 61 62 You can also start by calling `ace-window` and then decide to switch the action to `delete` or `swap` etc. By default the bindings are: 63 64 - <kbd>x</kbd> - delete window 65 - <kbd>m</kbd> - swap windows 66 - <kbd>M</kbd> - move window 67 - <kbd>c</kbd> - copy window 68 - <kbd>j</kbd> - select buffer 69 - <kbd>n</kbd> - select the previous window 70 - <kbd>u</kbd> - select buffer in the other window 71 - <kbd>c</kbd> - split window fairly, either vertically or horizontally 72 - <kbd>v</kbd> - split window vertically 73 - <kbd>b</kbd> - split window horizontally 74 - <kbd>o</kbd> - maximize current window 75 - <kbd>?</kbd> - show these command bindings 76 77 For proper operation, these keys *must not* be in `aw-keys`. Additionally, 78 if you want these keys to work with fewer than three windows, you need to 79 have `aw-dispatch-always` set to `t`. 80 81 ## Customization 82 Aside from binding `ace-window`: 83 84 (global-set-key (kbd "M-o") 'ace-window) 85 86 the following customizations are available: 87 88 ### `aw-keys` 89 `aw-keys` - the list of initial characters used in window labels: 90 91 (setq aw-keys '(?a ?s ?d ?f ?g ?h ?j ?k ?l)) 92 93 `aw-keys` are 0-9 by default, which is reasonable, but in the setup 94 above, the keys are on the home row. 95 96 ### `aw-scope` 97 The default one is `global`, which means that `ace-window` will work 98 across frames. If you set this to `frame`, `ace-window` will offer you 99 only the windows of the current frame. 100 101 ### `aw-background` 102 103 By default, `ace-window` temporarily sets a gray background and 104 removes color from available windows in order to make the 105 window-switching characters more visible. This is the behavior 106 inherited from `ace-jump-mode`. 107 108 This behavior might not be necessary, as you already know the locations 109 where to look, i.e. the top-left corners of each window. 110 So you can turn off the gray background with: 111 112 (setq aw-background nil) 113 114 ### `aw-dispatch-always` 115 116 When non-nil, `ace-window` will issue a `read-char` even for one window. 117 This will make `ace-window` act differently from `other-window` for one 118 or two windows. This is useful to change the action midway and execute 119 an action other than the default *jump* action. 120 By default, this is set to `nil`. 121 122 ### `aw-dispatch-alist` 123 124 This is the list of actions you can trigger from `ace-window` other than the 125 *jump* default. By default it is: 126 127 (defvar aw-dispatch-alist 128 '((?x aw-delete-window "Delete Window") 129 (?m aw-swap-window "Swap Windows") 130 (?M aw-move-window "Move Window") 131 (?c aw-copy-window "Copy Window") 132 (?j aw-switch-buffer-in-window "Select Buffer") 133 (?n aw-flip-window) 134 (?u aw-switch-buffer-other-window "Switch Buffer Other Window") 135 (?c aw-split-window-fair "Split Fair Window") 136 (?v aw-split-window-vert "Split Vert Window") 137 (?b aw-split-window-horz "Split Horz Window") 138 (?o delete-other-windows "Delete Other Windows") 139 (?? aw-show-dispatch-help)) 140 "List of actions for `aw-dispatch-default'.") 141 142 When using ace-window, if the action character is followed by a string, 143 then `ace-window` will be invoked again to select the target window for 144 the action. Otherwise, the current window is selected. 145 146 ### `aw-minibuffer-flag` 147 148 When non-nil, also display `ace-window-mode` string in the minibuffer 149 when `ace-window` is active. This is useful when there are many 150 side-by-side windows and the `ace-window-mode` string is cutoff in the 151 minor mode area of the modeline. 152 153 ### `aw-ignored-buffers` 154 155 List of buffers and major-modes to ignore when choosing a window from 156 the window list. Active only when `aw-ignore-on` is non-nil. Windows 157 displaying these buffers can still be chosen by typing their specific 158 labels. 159 160 ### `aw-ignore-on` 161 162 When t, `ace-window` will ignore buffers and major-modes in 163 `aw-ignored-buffers`. Use M-0 `ace-window` to toggle this value. 164 :type 'boolean) 165 166 ### `aw-ignore-current` 167 168 When t, `ace-window` will ignore `selected-window'.