16.4 Displaying in Another Window

C-x 4 is a prefix key for commands that select another window (splitting the window if there is only one) and select a buffer in that window. Different C-x 4 commands have different ways of finding the buffer to select.

C-x 4 b bufname RET

Select buffer bufname in another window. This runs switch-to-buffer-other-window.

C-x 4 f filename RET

Visit file filename and select its buffer in another window. This runs find-file-other-window. See Visiting.

C-x 4 d directory RET

Select a Dired buffer for directory directory in another window. This runs dired-other-window. See Dired.

C-x 4 m

Start composing a mail message in another window. This runs mail-other-window, and its same-window version is C-x m (see Sending Mail).

C-x 4 .

Find a tag in the current tag table in another window. This runs find-tag-other-window, the multiple-window variant of M-. (see Tags).

If the variable display-buffer-function is non-nil, its value is the function to call to handle display-buffer. It receives two arguments, the buffer and a flag that if non-nil means that the currently selected window is not acceptable. Commands such as switch-to-buffer-other-window and find-file-other-window work using this function.