16.5 Deleting and Rearranging Windows

C-x 0

Get rid of the selected window (delete-window). That is a zero. If there is more than one Emacs frame, deleting the sole remaining window on that frame deletes the frame as well. If the current frame is the only frame, it is not deleted.

C-x 1

Get rid of all windows except the selected one (delete-other-windows).

C-x ^

Make the selected window taller, at the expense of the other(s)
(enlarge-window).

C-x }

Make the selected window wider (enlarge-window-horizontally).

To delete a window, type C-x 0 (delete-window). (That is a zero.) The space occupied by the deleted window is distributed among the other active windows (but not the minibuffer window, even if that is active at the time). Once a window is deleted, its attributes are forgotten; there is no automatic way to make another window of the same shape or showing the same buffer. The buffer continues to exist, and you can select it in any window with C-x b.

C-x 1 (delete-other-windows) is more powerful than C-x 0; it deletes all the windows except the selected one (and the minibuffer). The selected window expands to use the whole frame except for the echo area.

To readjust the division of space among existing windows, use C-x ^ (enlarge-window). It makes the currently selected window longer by one line or as many lines as a numeric argument specifies. With a negative argument, it makes the selected window smaller. C-x } (enlarge-window-horizontally) makes the selected window wider by the specified number of columns. The extra screen space given to a window comes from one of its neighbors, if that is possible; otherwise, all the competing windows are shrunk in the same proportion. If this makes some windows too small, those windows are deleted and their space is divided up. Minimum window size is specified by the variables window-min-height and window-min-width.

You can also resize windows within a frame by clicking the left mouse button on a modeline, and dragging.

Clicking the right button on a mode line pops up a menu of common window manager operations. This menu contains the following options:

Delete Window

Remove the window above this modeline from the frame.

Delete Other Windows

Delete all windows on the frame except for the one above this modeline.

Split Window

Split the window above the mode line in half, creating another window.

Split Window Horizontally

Split the window above the mode line in half horizontally, so that there will be two windows side-by-side.

Balance Windows

Readjust the sizes of all windows on the frame until all windows have roughly the same number of lines.