Buffers

The helm-buffers-list command is Helm’s version of switch-to-buffer or list-buffers. By default, it is bound to <helm-prefix> C-x C-b.

The helm-mini command displays buffers and recently visited files. It may be more useful than helm-buffers-list.

Tip

• Use helm-mini instead of helm-buffers-list.

Buffers by major mode

To find buffers by major mode, we can use a pattern for the major mode name, regexps, or both.

Desired Buffers	Pattern
emacs-lisp-mode	*lisp
emacs-lisp-mode or sh-mode	*lisp,sh
Name starts with “helm”	^helm
Name excludes “lisp”, “info”	*!lisp,!info

Patterns can be combined. For example, for buffers in emacs-lisp-mode, match “helm”, and end in “foo”, the pattern is:

*lisp helm foo

Buffer face

The buffer’s face indicates its state. The faces depend on the Emacs theme; some examples are below:

Color	State
Modified	Orange
Modified by external program	Red

Hide buffers

The customizable variable helm-boring-buffer-regexp-list stores regexps indicating “boring” buffers that Helm should not display.