One can change the window configuration temporarily using RecursiveEdit. Inspired by a command posted by ErikNaggum in an Emacs Newsgroup, EmilioLopes wrote this macro:

;; inspired by Erik Naggum's `recursive-edit-with-single-window' (defmacro recursive-edit-preserving-window-config (body) "*Return a command that enters a recursive edit after executing BODY. Upon exiting the recursive edit (with\\[exit-recursive-edit] (exit) or \\[abort-recursive-edit] (abort)), restore window configuration in current frame." `(lambda () "See the documentation for `recursive-edit-preserving-window-config'." (interactive) (save-window-excursion ,body (recursive-edit))))

Use it like this:

(global-set-key (kbd "C-c 0") (recursive-edit-preserving-window-config (delete-window)))

(global-set-key (kbd "C-c 1") (recursive-edit-preserving-window-config (if (one-window-p 'ignore-minibuffer) (error "Current window is the only window in its frame") (delete-other-windows))))

Now pressing “C-c 1” will delete all other windows in the current frame and put you into “recursive editing”. You know you are in a recursive edit by noting the square brackets around the parentheses that always surround the major and minor mode names. After exiting recursive edit, e.g. by using “C-M-c” ( ‘exit-recursive-edit’ ), the original window configuration is restored.

CategoryWindows