GNU Emacs Lisp Reference Manual

25.4: Selecting Windows

When a window is selected, the buffer in the window becomes the current buffer, and the cursor will appear in it.

Function: selected-window

This function returns the selected window. This is the window in which the cursor appears and to which many commands apply.

Function: select-window window

This function makes window the selected window. The cursor then appears in window (on redisplay). The buffer being displayed in window is immediately designated the current buffer.

The return value is window.

(setq w (next-window))
(select-window w)
     => #<window 65 on windows.texi>

Macro: save-selected-window forms...

This macro records the selected window, executes forms in sequence, then restores the earlier selected window. It does not save or restore anything about the sizes, arrangement or contents of windows; therefore, if the forms change them, the changes are permanent.

The following functions choose one of the windows on the screen, offering various criteria for the choice.

Function: get-lru-window &optional frame

This function returns the window least recently ``used'' (that is, selected). The selected window is always the most recently used window.

The selected window can be the least recently used window if it is the only window. A newly created window becomes the least recently used window until it is selected. A minibuffer window is never a candidate.

The argument frame controls which windows are considered.

• If it is nil, consider windows on the selected frame.
• If it is t, consider windows on all frames.
• If it is visible, consider windows on all visible frames.
• If it is 0, consider windows on all visible or iconified frames.
• If it is a frame, consider windows on that frame.

Function: get-largest-window &optional frame

This function returns the window with the largest area (height times width). If there are no side-by-side windows, then this is the window with the most lines. A minibuffer window is never a candidate.

If there are two windows of the same size, then the function returns the window that is first in the cyclic ordering of windows (see following section), starting from the selected window.

The argument frame controls which set of windows are considered. See get-lru-window, above.