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### 20.6 Displaying a Buffer in a Window

It is a common Emacs operation to display or pop up some buffer in response to a user command. There are several different ways in which commands do this.

Many commands, like `C-x C-f` (`find-file`), display the buffer by “taking over” the selected window, expecting that the user’s attention will be diverted to that buffer. These commands usually work by calling `switch-to-buffer` internally (see Select Buffer).

Some commands try to display intelligently, trying not to take over the selected window, e.g., by splitting off a new window and displaying the desired buffer there. Such commands, which include the various help commands (see Help), work by calling `display-buffer` internally. See Window Choice, for details.

Other commands do the same as `display-buffer`, and additionally select the displaying window so that you can begin editing its buffer. The command `C-x `` (`next-error`) is one example (see Compilation Mode). Such commands work by calling the function `pop-to-buffer` internally. See Switching to a Buffer in a Window in The Emacs Lisp Reference Manual.

Commands with names ending in `-other-window` behave like `display-buffer`, except that they never display in the selected window. Several of these commands are bound in the `C-x 4` prefix key (see Pop Up Window).

Commands with names ending in `-other-frame` behave like `display-buffer`, except that they (i) never display in the selected window and (ii) prefer to create a new frame to display the desired buffer instead of splitting a window—as though the variable `pop-up-frames` is set to `t` (see Window Choice). Several of these commands are bound in the `C-x 5` prefix key.

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