Buffers and Windows

Setting Options

When you set an option in Neovim, the syntax you may be accustom to, as a user, is :set nomodifiable, or :set buftype=nofile.

When using the the Neovim API to set options, I’ve found a couple things to keep in mind.

The option may be a buffer, window or global option, and there is a different API call for each. If you choose the wrong API, the API call will result in an error. So if you are trying to set an option, and you are getting an error indicating there is no such option, try a different API.
```
vim.api.nvim_buf_set_option(buf, 'modifiable', false)
vim.api.nvim_win_set_option(win, 'winhighlight', 'Normal:Normal')
vim.api.nvim_set_option('wrapscan', false)
```
The option values are type sensitive. Options prefixed with no are boolean values, i.e. :set nomodifiable translates to modifiable with a boolean value.
```
vim.api.nvim_buf_set_option(0, 'modifiable', true)
```

Reading a Buffer

Modifying a Buffer

Clearing a Buffer

vim.api.nvim_buf_set_lines(buf, 0, -1, true, {})

Replacing a Buffer

vim.api.nvim_buf_set_lines(buf, 0, -1, true, {"abc", "def"})

Appending to a Buffer

vim.api.nvim_buf_set_lines(buf, -1, -1, true, {"abc", "def"})

Setting Options on a Buffer

To set options on the current buffer, use 0 as the first argument. To specify a buffer, use the value returned by nvim.api.nvim_create_buf() or nvim.api.nvim_list_bufs().

vim.api.nvim_buf_set_option(0, 'buftype', 'nofile')
vim.api.nvim_buf_set_option(0, 'filetype', 'lua')
vim.api.nvim_buf_set_option(0, 'modifiable', true)

The name of a buffer is not a standard option, and has it’s own function:

vim.api.nvim_buf_set_name(buf, 'my special buffer')