Prevent unwanted buffers from opening

Question

I'm using emacs for my daily javascript editing, to switch between buffers I use C-x LEFT and C-x RIGHT and I'm fine with this (even if I find it difficult to know the path of the file I'm modifying).

My problems:

1. at the startup I always have *scratch* and *Messages* opened, I thought that putting (kill-buffer "*scratch*") in my .emacs would solve the issue, but it's not, do you have a suggestion?

2. when I open files I always do TAB autocomplete, so each time I'm creating a new *Messages* buffer containing the options for the completion, how do I prevent this from creating, or better, how do I make emacs kill it, after I've made my choice?

Do say your opinion if you think I'm doing something that's not "the way it should be" with me navigating as I said at the top.

Answer 1

This drove me mad.. until I fixed it.

Now there's no scratch, messages, or completions buffers to screw with your flow. Enjoy!

Place this in your .emacs:

;; Makes *scratch* empty.
(setq initial-scratch-message "")

;; Removes *scratch* from buffer after the mode has been set.
(defun remove-scratch-buffer ()
  (if (get-buffer "*scratch*")
      (kill-buffer "*scratch*")))
(add-hook 'after-change-major-mode-hook 'remove-scratch-buffer)

;; Removes *messages* from the buffer.
(setq-default message-log-max nil)
(kill-buffer "*Messages*")

;; Removes *Completions* from buffer after you've opened a file.
(add-hook 'minibuffer-exit-hook
      '(lambda ()
         (let ((buffer "*Completions*"))
           (and (get-buffer buffer)
                (kill-buffer buffer)))))

;; Don't show *Buffer list* when opening multiple files at the same time.
(setq inhibit-startup-buffer-menu t)

;; Show only one active window when opening multiple files at the same time.
(add-hook 'window-setup-hook 'delete-other-windows)

Bonus:

;; No more typing the whole yes or no. Just y or n will do.
(fset 'yes-or-no-p 'y-or-n-p)

Answer 2

Well... it's partially the way Emacs works, but there are things you can do to help switching in general.

First, Emacs has to have at least one buffer. So, even if you wanted to get rid of *scratch* and *Messages*, you'd be left with yet another buffer you didn't want (or you'd get the point where Emacs just ignored your last kill-buffer request because it was re-creating that buffer (b/c it needs one buffer).

So, the best way to get to the point where switching buffers makes more sense is to actually have buffers you want to switch to.

And, when you've done that, you can look at all the options/packages available to you for switching buffers - many of which are listed on the Emacs Wiki under SwitchingBuffers. ido is pretty popular, as are icicles and anything.

Answer 3

If anyone is interested in removing only the *scratch* buffer and being left with *Messages* buffer, this code worked for me:

(defun acg-initial-buffer-choice ()
  (if (get-buffer "*scratch*")
      (kill-buffer "*scratch*"))
  (get-buffer "*Messages*"))

(setq initial-buffer-choice 'acg-initial-buffer-choice)

One thing you should keep in mind is, if at any time Emacs is left with no buffer to display (e.g. you killed all buffers) it'll create either a *scratch* or a *Messages* buffer, so be sure you won't be deleting all buffers during your workflow, or *scratch* can come back to life again.