I'm try to get a custom agenda setup which shows top level headings starting with cookies ([/])
(setq org-agenda-custom-commands
'(("p" "Custom daily agenda"
((search "\[[[:digit:]]*/[[:digit:]]*\]" ((org-agenda-overriding-header "Projects"))))
((org-agenda-files '("~/Dropbox/org/todo.org"))))))
todo.org contains:
* [/] Project A
* [1/2] Project B
** DONE task A
** TODO task B
The agenda buffer shows up empty. It should show
Projects
todo: [/] Project A
todo: [1/2] Project B
Since you're using a regular expression to search, your search string must be enclosed in curly braces (you can find details for the syntax of these strings in the help for function org-search-view). You should also use two double backslashes instead of one in your regexp string to quote the literal square brackets:
(setq org-agenda-custom-commands
'(("p" "Custom daily agenda"
((search "{\\[[[:digit:]]*/[[:digit:]]*\\]}" ((org-agenda-overriding-header "Projects"))))
((org-agenda-files '("~/Dropbox/org/todo.org"))))))
With this change, pressing p causes the *Org Agenda* buffer to show:
Projects
todo: [/] Project A
todo: [1/2] Project B
Related
I am using the great Org Capture Extension Firefox addon to directly capture my web links into my Emacs documents.
A minimal org capture template is:
(setq org-capture-templates `(
("L" "Protocol Link" entry (file+headline "~/web.org" "Links")
"* [[%:link][%:description]]\n")
;; ... your other templates
))
I use this to bookmark articles, in peculiar a lot of them are on
arxiv.org. The problem is that arxiv title pages contain [] characters, for instance:
[1606.04838] Optimization Methods for Large-Scale Machine Learning
This does not mix well with the [[%:link][%:description]] used in the template to create the org mode link. For instance a capture returns:
** [[https://arxiv.org/abs/1606.04838][[1606.04838] Optimization Methods for Large-Scale Machine Learning]]
and the Org-Mode link is broken because of the brackets in the "[1606.04838]" string.
How to solve this?
The cure is to transform the link [%:description] description into a string that does not contain squared brackets []. For this we can define a function that transforms the [, ] chars into (, ) ones.
(defun transform-square-brackets-to-round-ones(string-to-transform)
"Transforms [ into ( and ] into ), other chars left unchanged."
(concat
(mapcar #'(lambda (c) (if (equal c ?[) ?\( (if (equal c ?]) ?\) c))) string-to-transform))
)
Then we can use this function into the org-capture-template. The %(sexp) syntax is used to evaluate the lisp code into the template:
%(sexp) Evaluate Elisp sexp and replace with the result.
For convenience, %:keyword (see below) placeholders
within the expression will be expanded prior to this.
The sexp must return a string.
The modified org-capture-template is:
(setq org-capture-templates '(
("L" "Protocol Link" entry (file+headline "~/web.org" "Links")
"* [[%:link][%(transform-square-brackets-to-round-ones \"%:description\")]]\n")
;; ... your other templates
))
Then when you click on the Firefox Org-Capture button the template is correctly expended to
** (1606.04838) Optimization Methods for Large-Scale Machine Learning
with a well formed Org-Mode link (note that the [1606.04838] was turned into (1606.04838))
I am learning how to use Emacs and org-mode, and am wondering whether Emacs can support tags within rather than just at the end of headlines (whether natively or through a package or configuration in ~/.emacs).
Put differently, Emacs natively supports tags in this form:
* This is a headline. :tag1:tag2:
Is there a way to get Emacs to recognize tags in the format below in addition?
* This is a headline with :tag1: and :tag2:.
I've been searching for answers for several hours, and haven't found this question anywhere else; I'd be grateful for any advice!
The real answer to this question is in #lawlist's comment above, that (to quote #lawlist) it "is not possible [to get org-mode to recognize tags within a line of text instead of at the end of the line] without substantially modifying several aspects of org-mode yourself."
For this reason, if #lawlist writes the comment up as an answer, I'll accept it. I'm also writing up this additional answer, though, for anyone like me who comes along and, learning this, wants a way to take some text and automatically generate org-mode tags for it. Following the discussion in the comments above, I've written a function in elisp below, which allows a user to highlight some text and automatically find any tags within the text (here, in the form {{tag}}) and concatenate them in org-mode tag format at the end of the first line.
(defvar tag-regexp-for-generating-org-mode-tag-list-from-text "{{\\(.*?\\)}}"
"A regular expression, in double-quotes, used for finding 'tags' within lines of text (these can then be translated into org-mode syntax tags.
For example, in the string \"This text contains the 'tags' {{tag1}} and {{tag2}}\", the default regular expression
\"{{\\(.*?\\)}}\"
would find \"tag1\" and \"tag2\", which could then be transformed into org-mode syntax tags, \":tag1:tag2:\"")
;; Following https://emacs.stackexchange.com/a/12335, use just the selected region.
(defun generate-org-mode-tag-list-from-selected-text (beginning-of-selected-region end-of-selected-region)
"Take a highlighted section of text, find all strings within that text that match the search parameters defined in the variable tag-regexp-for-generating-org-mode-tag-list-from-text (by default, strings of the form {{tag1}} {{tag2}}), and concatenate them into a set of org-mode tags (:tag1:tag2:)
When text is highlighted, the argumentes beginning-of-selected-region and end-of-selected-region will be automatically populated.
"
(interactive "r") ;; 'r' mode will auto-populate 'beginning-of-selected-region' and 'end-of-selected-region' above with the values of region-beginning and region-end.
(if (use-region-p) ;; If a region is actively highlighted
(progn ;; Start a multi-line sequence of commands
;; Following https://learnxinyminutes.com/docs/elisp/, go to the beginning-of-selected-region (here, of the selected region), and do a find-and-replace.
(setq list-of-tag-strings (list)) ;; Create a blank list, which we'll fill in below.
(goto-char beginning-of-selected-region) ;; Go to the beginning of the selected region (we'll then search forward from there.
;; A regex of "{{\\(.*?\\)}}" below looks for tags in {{this}} form. You can specify any other regex here instead.
(while (re-search-forward tag-regexp-for-generating-org-mode-tag-list-from-text end-of-selected-region 't) ;; Search forward, but only up to the end-point of the selected region (otherwise, end-of-selected-region could be replaced with nil here).
(add-to-list 'list-of-tag-strings ;; Add to the list called list-of-tag-strings
(replace-regexp-in-string "[[:space:]|:|-]+" "_" (match-string 1)) ;; Since org-mode tags cannot have spaces or colons (or dashes?) within them, replace any of those in the first capture group from the regular expression above ('match-string 1' returns whatever was in the parentheses in the regular expression above) with an underscore.
t) ;; Append (first checking for duplicate items) the first capture group from the regular expression above (i.e., what's inside the parentheses in the regular expression) to a list. The t tells the function to append (rather than prepend) to the list.
) ;; End of while statement
;; Go to the end of the first line of the selected region.
(goto-char beginning-of-selected-region)
(end-of-line)
(if (> (length list-of-tag-strings) 0) ;; If the length of the list of found tags is greater than 0:
(insert " " ":" (mapconcat 'identity list-of-tag-strings ":") ":")) ;; Insert two spaces, a ':', the items from the list each separated by a ':', and a final ':'.
(message "Tags gathered from the selected region (which comprises character markers %d to %d) and printed on the first line of the region." beginning-of-selected-region end-of-selected-region))
;; 'Else' part of the statement:
(message "No region is selected for gathering tags. To run the function, you need to highlight a region first.")
))
You can then highlight text like this, and run the function with M-x generate-tag-list-from-selected-text:
This is a test {{with}} some {{tags}} in it.
This is another test with an {{additional tag}} and {{one:more}}.
This text will then become
This is a test {{with}} some {{tags}} in it. :with:tags:additional_tag:one_more:
This is another test with an {{additional tag}} and {{one:more}}.
Since this is the first function I've written in elisp, I used two sources for understanding the basics of elisp syntax, specifically regarding a) using just a selected area of text and b) running find-and-replace operations on that text. Given that the function uses the generic structure of the code vs. its specific content, I'm thinking that I'm within my rights to open up the function with a CC0 dedication (I do this because of StackOverflow's ongoing discussion about licensing of code on this site).
I am using org mode's agenda function (keyboard short cut: C-c a ) in order to make different sorted views of all my tasks. I do this by defining the variable org-agenda-custom-commands. If I have the following code in my init file:
(setq org-agenda-custom-commands'(
("p" "Projects" tags "PROJECT")
))
I can filter out tasks with the tag "PROJECT" by using the shortcut C-c a p. Likewise I can use the code:
(setq org-agenda-custom-commands'(
("t" "tasks to be done" tags-todo "TODO=\"TODO\" ")
))
to filter out task with todo status equal to TODO by using the shortcut C-c a t. My question is, how can I define org-aganda-custom-commands to filter out tasks with todo status equal to TODO AND with a tag equal to PROJECT ?
Thanks in advance : )
The tag search view is poorly named. It actually searches tags and properties. tag-todo adds an extra condition that only matches todo headlines. Use "+" to indicated that a condition is required (and "-" that it's forbidden). So +PROJECT+TODO=\"TODO\" will match headlines with the tag :PROJECT: and a todo keyword of TODO. Putting into a custom command looks like
(setq org-agenda-custom-commands
'(("p" "List Non-done projects"
tags "+PROJECT+TODO=\"TODO\"")))
I read the org-mode manual but couldn't find an easy way to add a CREATED field to newly created TODOs. In combination with org-log-done one could then compute the time it took to close a particular TODO. This is especially useful when using archive files.
Example:
* TODO Do something
CREATED: [2012-09-02 Sun 23:02]
* DONE Do something else
CREATED: [2012-09-02 Sun 20:02]
CLOSED: [2012-09-02 Sun 22:02]
I would expect the CREATED field to be added to new tasks (tasks which don't have that field) whenever the file is saved.
Any suggestions on how to achieve this? Using something like Git is not a solution for me to track the creations of TODOS.
I use org-expiry to implement that functionality, which is in the contrib directory of org.
The base configuration I use is:
;; Allow automatically handing of created/expired meta data.
(require 'org-expiry)
;; Configure it a bit to my liking
(setq
org-expiry-created-property-name "CREATED" ; Name of property when an item is created
org-expiry-inactive-timestamps t ; Don't have everything in the agenda view
)
(defun mrb/insert-created-timestamp()
"Insert a CREATED property using org-expiry.el for TODO entries"
(org-expiry-insert-created)
(org-back-to-heading)
(org-end-of-line)
(insert " ")
)
;; Whenever a TODO entry is created, I want a timestamp
;; Advice org-insert-todo-heading to insert a created timestamp using org-expiry
(defadvice org-insert-todo-heading (after mrb/created-timestamp-advice activate)
"Insert a CREATED property using org-expiry.el for TODO entries"
(mrb/insert-created-timestamp)
)
;; Make it active
(ad-activate 'org-insert-todo-heading)
If you are using capture it does not automatically work and needs a little glue. I have posted the complete config here: https://gist.github.com/4037694
A more lightweight solution would be to add ! flag to the TODO state:
(setq org-todo-keywords '((sequence "TODO(!)" "DONE")))
Then:
* TODO get of your ass
- State "TODO" from [2016-06-03 to. 10:35]
It isn't very pretty though.
Ref: http://orgmode.org/org.html#Tracking-TODO-state-changes
You don't need to modify functions with 'defadvice' to run expiry code on capture.
You should use hook:
(add-hook 'org-capture-before-finalize-hook
(lambda()
(save-excursion
(org-back-to-heading)
(org-expiry-insert-created))))
Same for 'org-insert-todo-heading'. There is a hook:
(add-hook 'org-insert-todo-heading-hook
(lambda()
(save-excursion
(org-back-to-heading)
(org-expiry-insert-created))))
Org provides a hook org-after-todo-state-change-hook which you can use here:
org-after-todo-state-change-hook is a variable defined in ‘org.el’.
Documentation:
Hook which is run after the state of a TODO item was changed.
The new state (a string with a TODO keyword, or nil) is available in the
Lisp variable ‘org-state’.
Use it as follows:
(require 'org-expiry)
(add-hook 'org-after-todo-state-change-hook
(lambda ()
(when (string= org-state "TODO")
(save-excursion
(org-back-to-heading)
(org-expiry-insert-created)))))
org-expiry is part of org-contrib, which is included in the org-plus-contrib package on the org ELPA.
Here's a buried treasure:
(setq org-treat-insert-todo-heading-as-state-change t)
I found it here, in response to someone saying they wanted an org-insert-todo-heading-hook.
Just tried it out and, true to form, when you org-insert-todo-heading, it counts as a state change, so ex: #+TODO: TODO(t!) | ... will add a log.
If you create all your TODOs with org-capture the following capture template does the trick:
(setq org-capture-templates
'(
("t" "TODO Task" entry (file+headline "~/inbox.org" "Tasks")
"* TODO %?\nCREATED: %u\nSRC: %a\n%i\n")
))
The result will look something like this:
* Tasks
** TODO Dummy task
CREATED: [2015-05-08 Fri]
SRC: [[file:~/path/to/file/where/you/created/the/task.org::*heading"][heading]]
Here is a lightweight solution that does not require an external package. I got it from the answer by #MarcinAntczak, the comments by #Clément, and this similar thread. It works with org-capture and with M-S-RET. Put this in your Emacs initialization file (e.g. ~/.emacs):
(defun insert-created-date(&rest ignore)
(insert (format-time-string
(concat "\nCREATED: "
(cdr org-time-stamp-formats))
))
(org-back-to-heading) ; in org-capture, this folds the entry; when inserting a heading, this moves point back to the heading line
(move-end-of-line()) ; when inserting a heading, this moves point to the end of the line
)
; add to the org-capture hook
(add-hook 'org-capture-before-finalize-hook
#'insert-created-date
)
; hook it to adding headings with M-S-RET
; do not add this to org-insert-heading-hook, otherwise this also works in non-TODO items
; and Org-mode has no org-insert-todo-heading-hook
(advice-add 'org-insert-todo-heading :after #'insert-created-date)
I did not add this function to state changes (e.g., from plain heading to TODO) because it would need to be in a properties drawer and I prefer to not have those extra lines. If you prefer to have it in properties, use the function defined in see this thread.
You can add a time stamp at creation time with zero config, but it won't be labeled CREATED. Rather than manually typing TODO, use C-c C-t. It will then be logged as "state changed to TODO from """ and time stamped.
BACKGROUND: In org-mode, the variable org-archive-location is set to "%s_archive::" by default, so that a file "toto.org" archives into a file "toto.org_archive". I would like it to archive to "toto.ref" instead. I am using org-mode version 7.4 (out of the git server).
I would have thought it to be as simple as
(setq org-archive-location
`(replace-regexp-in-string ".org" ".ref" %s)
)
But I was pointed out that this was not proper in LISP (plus, it did not work). My final solution is as follow, you should be able to adapt to most clever configurations of org-archive-location:
(setq org-archive-location "%s::* ARCHIVES")
(defadvice org-extract-archive-file (after org-to-ref activate)
(setq ad-return-value
(replace-regexp-in-string "\\.org" ".ref" ad-return-value)
)
)
Note that:
1) I voluntarily did not add a $ at the end of ".org" so that it would properly alter "test.org.gpg" into "test.ref.gpg".
2) It seems that one should use the regular expression "\.org" (rather than, say, ".org") (longer explanation below in the answers).
You can't define a variable in Emacs such that its value is obtained by running code; variables have simple, static values.
You can achieve the effect you described by advising the function org-extract-archive-file, which is the one that generates an archive location from org-archive-location:
(defadvice org-extract-archive-file (after org-to-ref activate)
(setq ad-return-value
(replace-regexp-in-string "\\.org" ".ref" ad-return-value)))
This works for me now, but of course the internals of org-mode are subject to change and this solution may not work forever.
You should not quote an expression that you want to evaluate. Note also that in a regular expression, . matches any character.
Here is an example of how to set the file, the location (e.g., main heading) in the file, and whether or not to include additional archive information:
(let* (
(org-archive-location "~/todo.org::* TASKS")
(org-archive-save-context-info nil))
...)
You can try this: #+ARCHIVE: %s.ref:: at the beginning of your org file.
Read more about it here.
Also, other interesting option is to set inside your headtree the following, for instance:
* Main Header of tree
:PROPERTIES:
:ARCHIVE: toto.ref:: * Main Header of tree in archive file
:END:
** sub tree of main header and so on
The latter I took from this video.