Neovim Scratch Buffer Plugin

This plugin provides a simple way to work with scratch buffers in Neovim. It allows you to quickly open a scratch buffer in your current window or in a new split window. The plugin also offers the flexibility to configure the default name of the scratch buffer.

This plugin is based on vim-scratch, but written in lua for Neovim.

Features

• Open a scratch buffer in the current window.
• Open a scratch buffer in a new split window.
• Automatically switch to an existing scratch buffer if it's already open.
• Configure the default name for the scratch buffer.
• The scratch buffer acts as a temporary workspace and is not backed by a file.

Installation

To install this plugin, you can use your favorite Neovim package manager. For example:

lazy (recommended)

{
  "https://git.sr.ht/~swaits/scratch.nvim",
  lazy = true,
  keys = {
    { "<leader>bs", "<cmd>Scratch<cr>", desc = "Scratch Buffer", mode = "n" },
    { "<leader>bS", "<cmd>ScratchSplit<cr>", desc = "Scratch Buffer (split)", mode = "n" },
  },
  cmd = {
    "Scratch",
    "ScratchSplit",
  },
  opts = {},
}

pckr

{
  "https://git.sr.ht/~swaits/scratch.nvim",
  config = function()
    require("scratch").setup()
  end
}

vim-plug

Plug 'https://git.sr.ht/~swaits/scratch.nvim'
lua require("scratch").setup()

Configuring

The default configuration options are listed below:

opts = {
  -- The name of the scratch buffer
  buffer_name = "_SCRATCH_",
}

Usage

Commands

The plugin provides two commands:

• :Scratch — Opens or switches to the scratch buffer in the current window.
• :ScratchSplit — Opens or switches to the scratch buffer in a new split window.

Lua Functions

You can also use the plugin's Lua functions directly:

• require('scratch').open() — Equivalent to :Scratch.
• require('scratch').split() — Equivalent to :ScratchSplit.

License

MIT License

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Feel free to open issues or submit pull requests.