Use the digits to hide and show sections.

* magit.el (magit-section-lineage, magit-section-show-level, magit-show-level,
magit-define-level-shower-1): New.
(magit-mode-map): Bind the digits and M-digits to magit-show-level-N
and magit-show-level-N-all.
* magit.texi: Document it in a new chapter for Sections.

NEWS

@@ -17,6 +17,11 @@ Changes in magit 0.7:
 * M-x magit-status doesn't prompt anymore for a directory when invoked
   from within a Git repository.  Use C-u to force a prompt.
 
+* The digit keys '1', '2', '3', and '4' now show sections on the
+  respective level and hide everything below.  With Meta, they work on
+  all sections, without, they work only on sections that are a parent
+  or child of the current section.
+
 * Magit works better with oldish Gits that don't understand "--graph"
   for example.
 

magit.el

@@ -680,10 +680,42 @@ Many Magit faces inherit from this one by default."
 	   (t
 	    (magit-section-expand s))))))
 
+(defun magit-section-lineage (s)
+  (and s (cons s (magit-section-lineage (magit-section-parent s)))))
+
+(defun magit-section-show-level (section level threshold path)
+  (magit-section-set-hidden section (>= level threshold))
+  (when (< level threshold)
+    (if path
+	(magit-section-show-level (car path) (1+ level) threshold (cdr path))
+      (dolist (c (magit-section-children section))
+	(magit-section-show-level c (1+ level) threshold nil)))))
+
+(defun magit-show-level (level all)
+  (if all
+      (magit-section-show-level magit-top-section 0 level nil)
+    (let ((path (reverse (magit-section-lineage (magit-current-section)))))
+      (magit-section-show-level (car path) 0 level (cdr path)))))
+
+(defmacro magit-define-level-shower-1 (level all)
+  (let ((fun (intern (format "magit-show-level-%s%s"
+			     level (if all "-all" ""))))
+	(doc (format "Show sections on level %s." level)))
+    `(defun ,fun ()
+       ,doc
+       (interactive)
+       (magit-show-level ,level ,all))))
+
+(defmacro magit-define-level-shower (level)
+  `(progn
+     (magit-define-level-shower-1 ,level nil)
+     (magit-define-level-shower-1 ,level t)))
+
 (defmacro magit-define-section-jumper (sym title)
   (let ((fun (intern (format "magit-jump-to-%s" sym)))
 	(doc (format "Jump to section `%s'." title)))
     `(defun ,fun ()
+       ,doc
        (interactive)
        (magit-goto-section '(,sym)))))
 
@@ -891,17 +923,26 @@ Many Magit faces inherit from this one by default."
 (magit-define-section-jumper staged    "Staged changes")
 (magit-define-section-jumper unpushed  "Unpushed commits")
 
+(magit-define-level-shower 1)
+(magit-define-level-shower 2)
+(magit-define-level-shower 3)
+(magit-define-level-shower 4)
+
 (defvar magit-mode-map
   (let ((map (make-keymap)))
     (suppress-keymap map t)
     (define-key map (kbd "n") 'magit-goto-next-section)
     (define-key map (kbd "p") 'magit-goto-previous-section)
     (define-key map (kbd "TAB") 'magit-toggle-section)
     (define-key map (kbd "<backtab>") 'magit-expand-collapse-section)
-    (define-key map (kbd "1") 'magit-jump-to-untracked)
-    (define-key map (kbd "2") 'magit-jump-to-unstaged)
-    (define-key map (kbd "3") 'magit-jump-to-staged)
-    (define-key map (kbd "4") 'magit-jump-to-unpushed)
+    (define-key map (kbd "1") 'magit-show-level-1)
+    (define-key map (kbd "2") 'magit-show-level-2)
+    (define-key map (kbd "3") 'magit-show-level-3)
+    (define-key map (kbd "4") 'magit-show-level-4)
+    (define-key map (kbd "M-1") 'magit-show-level-1-all)
+    (define-key map (kbd "M-2") 'magit-show-level-2-all)
+    (define-key map (kbd "M-3") 'magit-show-level-3-all)
+    (define-key map (kbd "M-4") 'magit-show-level-4-all)
     (define-key map (kbd "g") 'magit-refresh)
     (define-key map (kbd "G") 'magit-refresh-all)
     (define-key map (kbd "s") 'magit-stage-item)

magit.texi

@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@ as an extension to Emacs.
 @menu
 * Introduction::                
 * Acknowledgments::             
+* Sections::                    
 * Status::                      
 * Untracked files::             
 * Staging and Committing::      
@@ -93,6 +94,44 @@ Alex Ott contributed support for git svn.  Thanks!
 Marcin Bachry contributed bug fixes and support for decorated logs.
 Thanks!
 
+@node Sections
+@chapter Sections
+
+All Magit buffers are structured into nested 'sections'.  These
+sections can be hidden and shown individually.  When a section is
+hidden, only its first line is shown and all its children are
+completely invisible.
+
+The most fine-grained way to control the visibility of sections is the
+@kbd{TAB} key.  It will to toggle the current section (the section
+that contains point) between being hidden and being shown.
+
+Typing @kbd{S-TAB} toggles the visibility of the children of the
+current section.  When all of them are shown, they will all be hidden.
+Otherwise, when some or all are hidden, they will all be shown.
+
+The digit keys @kbd{1}, @kbd{2}, @kbd{3}, and @kbd{4} control the
+visibility of sections based on levels.  Hitting @kbd{2}, for example,
+will show sections on levels one and two, and will hide sections on
+level 3.  However, only sections that are a parent or child of the
+current section are affected.
+
+For example, when the current section is on level 3 and you hit
+@kbd{1}, the grand-parent of the current section (which is on level
+one) will be show, the parent of the current section (level 2) will be
+hidden.  The visibility of no other section will be changed.
+
+This sounds a bit complicated, but you'll figure it out.
+
+Using @kbd{M-1}, @kbd{M-2}, @kbd{M-3}, and @kbd{M-4} is similar to the
+unmodified digits, but now all sections on the respective level are
+affected, regardless of whether they are related to the current
+section.
+
+For example, @kbd{M-1} will only show the first lines of the top-level
+sections and will hide everything else.  Typing @kbd{M-4} on the other
+hand will show everything in the status buffer.
+
 @node Status
 @chapter Status
 
@@ -114,17 +153,8 @@ the status buffer in this way after saving a file in Emacs.
 The header at the top of the status buffer shows a short summary of
 the repository state: where it is located, which branch is checked
 out, etc.  Below the header are a number of sections that show details
-about the working tree and the staging area.  Only sections that are
-not empty are shown.
-
-You control how much of a section is visible by moving point to its
-title and hitting @kbd{TAB} or @kbd{S-TAB}.  Hitting @kbd{TAB} will
-toggle between hiding and showing the section.  A hidden section only
-shows its first line.  You can also control the visibility of
-sub-sections in this way.  Hitting @kbd{S-TAB} will fully expand a
-section by showing it and all of its sub-sections.  If a section is
-already fully expanded, @kbd{S-TAB} will collapse it: the section
-itself remains shown, but all its immediate sub-sections are hidden.
+about the working tree and the staging area.  You can hide and show
+them as described in the previous section.
 
 The first section shows @emph{Untracked files}, if there are any.  See
 @ref{Untracked files} for more details.