6 ms·

Org Mode Syntax Cheat Sheet (2017)

132 points by nyc111 2y ago

canistel 2y ago
If there is one tool (if I can call it that) that changed my life, it is Org Mode. I was a Vim guy who in a desperate attempt to get digitally organised was forced to give Org Mode a try and got sucked into Emacs. I now live better organised, with far less anxiety and remain unfazed at the multi-tasking demands of the corporate world, all thanks to this major mode.
- MarkMarine 2y ago
  I’m a recent convert to emacs, the experience with clojure is just so much better. The best experience I’ve ever had programming with a tool honestly. Org mode is a bit of a mystery to me thus far, collapsible sections are great but could you expand on what is so helpful to you and how you use it?
  - canistel 2y ago
    Keep track of all TODOs in one's life. You can create TODO items and schedule them. You tag them (similar to hashtags) too. Now, if I want to see the list to things to be done today (or any day for that matter), Org Mode will generate the agenda for you. You can filter your agenda/TODOs - for example, if you are getting into a call with Team X, you can filter with "teamx" to get the list of items marked against the team. You can of course add checklists under tasks (sub items), and notes too. Recurring schedule is supported. Keeping notes. Org Mode doubles up as an Outliner. You can keep hierarchical notes in a single large file. You can mix-in tables (with support for LISP formulae) for tabular data. You can embed images and LaTeX too. You can convert your notes to HTML or Markdown in a jiffy. There are shortcuts for instant note taking. You can archive sections that are no longer required. I have stopped using mindmaps and now rather rely on Org. It can handle tree-structured information very well. As a calendar. You can also add diary-remind reminders. Remember one's wedding anniversary (and Spouse's birthday) to save one's marriage. As with everything in Emacs, configurable and extensible (with ELisp). Almost every method and every variable is Global. This is of course crazy, but the power that this proffers is enormous. I learn something new about Org Mode every now and then. I do not consider myself as a power user, as I am sure there is still much left to be explored. https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/refcards/pdf/orgcard.pdf https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/refcards/pdf/orgcard.pdf
    - globular-toast 2y ago
      Good summary. One thing to note about org is it's not opinionated. Even the word "Todo" is up to you, in fact you can just tell it a bunch of "not done" keywords and a bunch of "done" ones. Over the years I've tweaked these. For example I use STARTED for tasks that I've begun but not yet finished, because I hate starting things but but not finishing them. I've set my agenda views to display these right at the top. Similarly I've added more resolutions like DELEGATED. This flexibility means you can bend it to rather odd requirements. For example, in my current job I'm required to track time against project codes, but I have to scale the proportion against the hours I'm contracted for (it's a tax thing, I'm told). Org supports clocking in/out of things. It doesn't know what those things are, they are just items in the outline. So I structure my todos under the project codes then track time against those tasks or just directly to the project. Then I have an agenda view which shows me totals for each project and a column scaling the proportions to the total contracted hours over the period. But you might have completely different requirements. You might want a flat backlog and to "refile" tasks into "sprints" when they get properly defined then set a deadline on the whole sprint. Org supports it all because it doesn't really care that much. Seeing people struggle with the likes of Jira becomes rather comical.
  - vim-guru 2y ago
    You might also like the org-babel features of creating executable code-blocks. You can even mix languages by using the output of one block as the input to another. Welcome to the future of 2012 ;) I made one such document a while back with mostly Clojure, if you want to have a look: https://github.com/dnv-opensource/reagent-flow/ https://github.com/dnv-opensource/reagent-flow/
- wild_egg 2y ago
  I keep hearing anecdotes like this and truly want to give Emacs a shot. Do you use it exclusively on a PC? My big blocker is that a significant portion of my time is on a phone rather than a computer these days and I have to think that all the chording with Emacs would get impossibly cumbersome. Anyone here have a good way to leverage Emacs on the go?
  - canistel 2y ago
    I faced this problem too. I am a Linux user personally, but use Windows at work. I am not a phone person, but do use it regularly. I sync org files to phone (using Syncthing) and use Orgzly to access these from Android. Although it is possible to install Emacs in Android as a terminal tool in Termux or even as a GUI tool, you need to connect a keyboard to do something sensible. Long story short, if your phone is your daily driver, Emacs may not be for you as it is keyboard oriented. But if you are a computer person who occasionally uses the phone, there are ways to get by.
    - heehaw 2y ago
      I have managed to get org mode working with emacs android port. big help was keyboard designer keyboard. I was able to set C-x and M-x for single touch. And added some keys as per requirements. https://www.keyboarddesigner.com/index.php?page=24 https://www.keyboarddesigner.com/index.php?page=24
    - dotancohen 2y ago
      I moved from Orgzly to Orgro. Now updating the files on the phone is exactly like any other note-taking phone application (for better or worse). It's not as good as experience as the Emacs desktop, but no worse than anything else on the phone.
      - kreyenborgi 2y ago
        I also use orgro, it's very nice for reading the headings and minor edits. For more complicated edits (date stuff, moving around trees) I use the organice build that works with SyncThing https://github.com/200ok-ch/organice/issues/932#issuecomment-1599279267 https://github.com/200ok-ch/organice/issues/932#issuecomment... Neither are full org mode, but good enough for reading notes and minor edits/captures on the go.
- noufalibrahim 2y ago
  I've been an Emacs user since 2000 or so. Got introduced to org when it first came out and it (along with ledger for accounts) have taken over my life. The phone did make it a little challenging but before that I used a notebook and dumped it into org at the end of the day. I've been doing something similar with my phone now. A lot of people refer to org-mode as the gateway drug for Emacs and it truly is that.
- agumonkey 2y ago
  I use org mode as simple outline or table but so far the organization part still evades me.. I guess I'm too chaotic still to understand how to make real good use of it.
  - bananapub 2y ago
    it's not very complicated - it's an outliner mashed into an ad-hoc wiki in your editor, and also lets you mark up things as "tasks" with optional "scheduling". you can just outline things in to it, then when an item congeals enough to become a task, <S-right> on it to add a TODO tag and now org mode can be an organiser - put it in the agenda agenda, specify a workflow (TODO->PENDING->DONE; TODO->ABANDONED, etc), schedule it, emit it in to an ical file, etc etc. probably the nicest part of org is that you don't pay for things you don't use - using it as a just a nice way of organising bullet points works fine, and then there are a jillion optional features around it.
    - agumonkey 2y ago
      Oh I've tuned the hell out of it, the issue lies above I guess, cause I keep accumulating tasks in various states, sometimes clocked or not.. and then it's hell to manage cleaning what's what.
  - tetris11 2y ago
    I've been using Org-Mode for over 10 years. There is no one way. You start off first writing simple outlines, and then you start creating todos, and then maybe you start to look at agendas to organize your todos (note: I rarely do this). The biggest game changer for me was org-roam. It's essentially a database of all my files where I can add snippets or link to other files, or whatnot. The TODO stuff I use a rough general guide of where I am, but I do not strictly adhere to it. Essentially: Make Org-Mode work for you and your mindset, don't feel the need to bend to it.
    - agumonkey 2y ago
      I should try roam, it might help with my scattered brain (or maybe it will make it worse :) do you know good videos of people demonstrating their workflow habits ?
- sam29681749 2y ago
  What specifically about emacs org mode made you more organised?
- ews 2y ago
  org is absolutely the gateway drug to the whole Emacs ecosystem. I started using org after 16 years on vim and slowly found myself replacing my entire text/code workflow with it. I stopped using vim at all about 5 years ago and I never looked back.
ipnon 2y ago
Mass availability of LLMs has made it much easier to adopt EMACS and Org Mode because you no longer need to read the docs to be a power user. I can ask an LLM how to do literally anything in EMACS and it will either tell me an existing function or show me how to write a new one. This is a feature that I haven’t seen still in the most popular editors. What would be most powerful is something like Cursor but applied to the editor config, where the editor itself gets more powerful and more suited to your needs the more you use it.
- e3bc54b2 2y ago
  LLMs are so damn useful for small languages in general. Imperfect, but the tradeoffs are much better that in large languages with loads of easy access material. I also cut my teeth on Elisp when ChatGPT was new, and it was very helpful.
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
SansGuidon 2y ago
I like the idea of OBTF and org mode but I find the syntax quite inconvenient. I do not like Markdown also. I'm currently taking inspiration from bujo, obtf, org mode and markdown for making my own thing based on characters I'm ok to type both on mobile and desktop and which can make it easy to find information back in a huge file both for humans and programs.
- dotancohen 2y ago
  Good luck!
  - SansGuidon 2y ago
    Thanks I find it not so hard already good results with only little code and time (thanks to llm for the draft).
geokon 2y ago
I used Orgmode for years, but I think fundamentally tieing your markup to your editor is kind of a bad sign... I'd be curious to hear counterarguments though. I think the primary reason it's tied is because you sort of can't make standalone ELisp apps (or at least nobody does). Otherwise you'd just have an `org2html` and `org2pdf` application at the command line. Alternatives like Asciidoc are not perfect, esp for literate programming, b/c it's also kinda complex and so it also only has one backend (that's runnable from Clojure through JRuby!). I imagine a simpler multi-backend solution like Djot will be the future most likely. Bloated underspeced markups are on the way out.
- hitchdev 2y ago
  >you sort of can't make standalone ELisp apps (or at least nobody does). Otherwise you'd just have an `org2html` and `org2pdf` application at the command line. Because I don't like emacs and I wanted to lean on command line apps for getting data into and out of my orgzly org-mode electronic brain, I've been doing this by combining orgmode with jinja2 (I do this with a cli app I wrote called 'orji'). I think it's a very powerful combination. I use it to generate latex/html/whatever and short bash scripts which are then run. E.g. * Generate my CV using a latex CV template I found on overleaf that I converted into a jinja2 template. * Send the contents of a TODO note tagged 'sendemail' as an email with a tiny templated bash script. * Create jira ticket with the details of a note. * Generate reveal.js presentations. All from my phone, using orgzly and one big button which runs a single termux script that seeks out TODO notes with labels (e.g. cv/sendemail) that match the scripts in my library (cv.sh / sendemail.sh). jinja2 certainly has the capability to end up creating a huge old mess if you abuse it, especially to generate code, but I find that using it to template tiny 5-6 line bash scripts or a latex or an HTML file hits a sweet spot of usability and flexibility.
  - JNRowe 2y ago
    A link to the documentation¹ and repo² to save others a few steps. Examples are helpfully linked toward the end of the page and its source in the README. ¹ https://hitchdev.com/orji/ https://hitchdev.com/orji/ ² https://github.com/crdoconnor/orji https://github.com/crdoconnor/orji
nanna 2y ago
An org mode syntax I use heavily that I rarely see mentioned, including in this cheat sheet, is the obscurely named Radio Targets. Enclose any term or phrase in <<<tripple angle brackets>>>, hit C-c C-c on it, and then any previous or further instance of it in the same buffer will be automatically linked to it from then on. Incredibly useful when you're wroting notes on a long book for example and want to keep track of the instance when a term was defined. Turns an org file into its own wiki. https://orgmode.org/manual/Radio-Targets.html https://orgmode.org/manual/Radio-Targets.html
- budzynski 2y ago
  Hi, the docs are quite brief about this. Would ratio targets allow you to create a link to a website to the word <<<my site>>> would always lead to a corresponding link? Do you have an example of radio targets?
  - tetris11 2y ago
    It's more of a glosssary. My Glossary: - <<<Martin Prince>>>: Smart guy, gets bullied a lot Nelson Muntz - <<<Nelson Muntz>>>: Troubled guy, does a lot of bullying to Martin Prince. Watching the Simpsons, Martin Prince seems to get into a lot of altercations with Nelson Munz. Any reference of "Martin Prince" or "Nelson Muntz" will be highlighted (YES, even in the definitions themselves) due to the radio targets in the document (you may have C-c C-c the target first to initialise it). You can click on that highlighted text to jump to where it was first defined.
  - nanna 2y ago
    No, that wouldn't work. Radio Targets are intended for the precise repetitions of the same characters. If you surround a regular org link in three angle brackets, eg <<<[[https://www.bbc.com][bbc] https://www.bbc.com][bbc]]>>>, then the Radio link will clobber the web link on the target itself (ie C-c C-o won't take you anywhere), and it will only highlight repetitions of [[https://www.bbc.com][bbc] https://www.bbc.com][bbc]] rather than just bbc. For something similar to what you're asking, I would just go for something like... The <<<bbc>>> ([[https://www.bbc.com][site] https://www.bbc.com][site]]) is the UK's state broadcasting company. Now when I write bbc (or BBC) these will be highlighted as links and will take you back to the Radio Target in the first sentence and I can then click on the link Also note that you can mark a word or region and then hit C-c n r (org-insert-radio-target-brackets) to surround it in angle brackets and enable it as a radio target.
nanna 2y ago
I wish org mode had a syntax for end of line comments. Why do comments have to be their own line or in a space eating comment block? Sometimes I just want to comment something I've written without the extra space and ambiguity of breaking to a new line.
eviks 2y ago
If you're alreay spending a lot of special chars for a quote combo (hash, plus, newline), why does it have to be so verbose instead of something shorter like... a quotation mark? And for paired stuff maybe the plus sign could be replaced with some paired symbol like {? #+BEGIN_QUOTE #+END_QUOTE
jl6 2y ago
Oh man, what a way to learn that Nick Higham died earlier this year. A titan in his niche.
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
submeta 2y ago
I have been using Emacs ever since I bought an Amiga in the 80s. I love Emacs and Elisp. Some 15 years ago I started using Orgmode heavily. But a lack of a mobile solution and it not being available ubiquitously made me go back to Markdown and Obsidian for note taking and Kanban boards in Notion for task management. Markdown is available everywhere. In forums, in chatgpt, in any kind of text editor. So although I still use Emacs, I stopped (heavy heartedly) using Orgmode.
- green_dee 2y ago
  Didn't you enjoy orgzly?
KarlVoit 2y ago
Unfortunately, "Org-mode" (or Orgmode) means two different things: (1) the lightweight markup syntax and (2) the Elisp implementation of a PIM/PKM tool within GNU Emacs. This seems to be subtle but it results in many misunderstandings and unnecessary discussion issues. To "solve" this situation, I tried to coin the term "Orgdown" for the syntax alone: https://gitlab.com/publicvoit/orgdown/ https://gitlab.com/publicvoit/orgdown/ and https://karl-voit.at/2021/11/27/orgdown/ https://karl-voit.at/2021/11/27/orgdown/ There are many use-cases to use Orgdown outside of Emacs and there are many tools that support Orgdown already: https://gitlab.com/publicvoit/orgdown/-/blob/master/doc/Tool-Support.org https://gitlab.com/publicvoit/orgdown/-/blob/master/doc/Tool... Although I'm using Orgdown and Org-mode for over a decade, I do think that even with an objective point of view, Orgdown does have its benefits from a syntax definition point of view in comparison to Markdown and other lightweight markup languages (LML): https://karl-voit.at/2017/09/23/orgmode-as-markup-only/ https://karl-voit.at/2017/09/23/orgmode-as-markup-only/ Oh and btw, the linked cheat-sheet covers only the most basic Orgdown syntax elements. Within the Orgdown concept, I defined misc "levels" of syntax elements, starting with OD1: https://gitlab.com/publicvoit/orgdown/-/blob/master/doc/Orgdown1-Syntax-Examples.org https://gitlab.com/publicvoit/orgdown/-/blob/master/doc/Orgd... This also serves as some sort of cheat sheet I guess. HTH

132 points by nyc111 2y ago

If there is one tool (if I can call it that) that changed my life, it is Org Mode. I was a Vim guy who in a desperate attempt to get digitally organised was forced to give Org Mode a try and got sucked into Emacs. I now live better organised, with far less anxiety and remain unfazed at the multi-tasking demands of the corporate world, all thanks to this major mode.

MarkMarine 2y ago
I’m a recent convert to emacs, the experience with clojure is just so much better. The best experience I’ve ever had programming with a tool honestly. Org mode is a bit of a mystery to me thus far, collapsible sections are great but could you expand on what is so helpful to you and how you use it?
- canistel 2y ago
  Keep track of all TODOs in one's life. You can create TODO items and schedule them. You tag them (similar to hashtags) too. Now, if I want to see the list to things to be done today (or any day for that matter), Org Mode will generate the agenda for you. You can filter your agenda/TODOs - for example, if you are getting into a call with Team X, you can filter with "teamx" to get the list of items marked against the team. You can of course add checklists under tasks (sub items), and notes too. Recurring schedule is supported. Keeping notes. Org Mode doubles up as an Outliner. You can keep hierarchical notes in a single large file. You can mix-in tables (with support for LISP formulae) for tabular data. You can embed images and LaTeX too. You can convert your notes to HTML or Markdown in a jiffy. There are shortcuts for instant note taking. You can archive sections that are no longer required. I have stopped using mindmaps and now rather rely on Org. It can handle tree-structured information very well. As a calendar. You can also add diary-remind reminders. Remember one's wedding anniversary (and Spouse's birthday) to save one's marriage. As with everything in Emacs, configurable and extensible (with ELisp). Almost every method and every variable is Global. This is of course crazy, but the power that this proffers is enormous. I learn something new about Org Mode every now and then. I do not consider myself as a power user, as I am sure there is still much left to be explored. https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/refcards/pdf/orgcard.pdf https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/refcards/pdf/orgcard.pdf
  - globular-toast 2y ago
    Good summary. One thing to note about org is it's not opinionated. Even the word "Todo" is up to you, in fact you can just tell it a bunch of "not done" keywords and a bunch of "done" ones. Over the years I've tweaked these. For example I use STARTED for tasks that I've begun but not yet finished, because I hate starting things but but not finishing them. I've set my agenda views to display these right at the top. Similarly I've added more resolutions like DELEGATED. This flexibility means you can bend it to rather odd requirements. For example, in my current job I'm required to track time against project codes, but I have to scale the proportion against the hours I'm contracted for (it's a tax thing, I'm told). Org supports clocking in/out of things. It doesn't know what those things are, they are just items in the outline. So I structure my todos under the project codes then track time against those tasks or just directly to the project. Then I have an agenda view which shows me totals for each project and a column scaling the proportions to the total contracted hours over the period. But you might have completely different requirements. You might want a flat backlog and to "refile" tasks into "sprints" when they get properly defined then set a deadline on the whole sprint. Org supports it all because it doesn't really care that much. Seeing people struggle with the likes of Jira becomes rather comical.
- vim-guru 2y ago
  You might also like the org-babel features of creating executable code-blocks. You can even mix languages by using the output of one block as the input to another. Welcome to the future of 2012 ;) I made one such document a while back with mostly Clojure, if you want to have a look: https://github.com/dnv-opensource/reagent-flow/ https://github.com/dnv-opensource/reagent-flow/
wild_egg 2y ago
I keep hearing anecdotes like this and truly want to give Emacs a shot. Do you use it exclusively on a PC? My big blocker is that a significant portion of my time is on a phone rather than a computer these days and I have to think that all the chording with Emacs would get impossibly cumbersome. Anyone here have a good way to leverage Emacs on the go?
- canistel 2y ago
  I faced this problem too. I am a Linux user personally, but use Windows at work. I am not a phone person, but do use it regularly. I sync org files to phone (using Syncthing) and use Orgzly to access these from Android. Although it is possible to install Emacs in Android as a terminal tool in Termux or even as a GUI tool, you need to connect a keyboard to do something sensible. Long story short, if your phone is your daily driver, Emacs may not be for you as it is keyboard oriented. But if you are a computer person who occasionally uses the phone, there are ways to get by.
  - heehaw 2y ago
    I have managed to get org mode working with emacs android port. big help was keyboard designer keyboard. I was able to set C-x and M-x for single touch. And added some keys as per requirements. https://www.keyboarddesigner.com/index.php?page=24 https://www.keyboarddesigner.com/index.php?page=24
  - dotancohen 2y ago
    I moved from Orgzly to Orgro. Now updating the files on the phone is exactly like any other note-taking phone application (for better or worse). It's not as good as experience as the Emacs desktop, but no worse than anything else on the phone.
    - kreyenborgi 2y ago
      I also use orgro, it's very nice for reading the headings and minor edits. For more complicated edits (date stuff, moving around trees) I use the organice build that works with SyncThing https://github.com/200ok-ch/organice/issues/932#issuecomment-1599279267 https://github.com/200ok-ch/organice/issues/932#issuecomment... Neither are full org mode, but good enough for reading notes and minor edits/captures on the go.
noufalibrahim 2y ago
I've been an Emacs user since 2000 or so. Got introduced to org when it first came out and it (along with ledger for accounts) have taken over my life. The phone did make it a little challenging but before that I used a notebook and dumped it into org at the end of the day. I've been doing something similar with my phone now. A lot of people refer to org-mode as the gateway drug for Emacs and it truly is that.
agumonkey 2y ago
I use org mode as simple outline or table but so far the organization part still evades me.. I guess I'm too chaotic still to understand how to make real good use of it.
- bananapub 2y ago
  it's not very complicated - it's an outliner mashed into an ad-hoc wiki in your editor, and also lets you mark up things as "tasks" with optional "scheduling". you can just outline things in to it, then when an item congeals enough to become a task, <S-right> on it to add a TODO tag and now org mode can be an organiser - put it in the agenda agenda, specify a workflow (TODO->PENDING->DONE; TODO->ABANDONED, etc), schedule it, emit it in to an ical file, etc etc. probably the nicest part of org is that you don't pay for things you don't use - using it as a just a nice way of organising bullet points works fine, and then there are a jillion optional features around it.
  - agumonkey 2y ago
    Oh I've tuned the hell out of it, the issue lies above I guess, cause I keep accumulating tasks in various states, sometimes clocked or not.. and then it's hell to manage cleaning what's what.
- tetris11 2y ago
  I've been using Org-Mode for over 10 years. There is no one way. You start off first writing simple outlines, and then you start creating todos, and then maybe you start to look at agendas to organize your todos (note: I rarely do this). The biggest game changer for me was org-roam. It's essentially a database of all my files where I can add snippets or link to other files, or whatnot. The TODO stuff I use a rough general guide of where I am, but I do not strictly adhere to it. Essentially: Make Org-Mode work for you and your mindset, don't feel the need to bend to it.
  - agumonkey 2y ago
    I should try roam, it might help with my scattered brain (or maybe it will make it worse :) do you know good videos of people demonstrating their workflow habits ?
sam29681749 2y ago
What specifically about emacs org mode made you more organised?
ews 2y ago
org is absolutely the gateway drug to the whole Emacs ecosystem. I started using org after 16 years on vim and slowly found myself replacing my entire text/code workflow with it. I stopped using vim at all about 5 years ago and I never looked back.

ipnon 2y ago

Mass availability of LLMs has made it much easier to adopt EMACS and Org Mode because you no longer need to read the docs to be a power user. I can ask an LLM how to do literally anything in EMACS and it will either tell me an existing function or show me how to write a new one. This is a feature that I haven’t seen still in the most popular editors. What would be most powerful is something like Cursor but applied to the editor config, where the editor itself gets more powerful and more suited to your needs the more you use it.

e3bc54b2 2y ago
LLMs are so damn useful for small languages in general. Imperfect, but the tradeoffs are much better that in large languages with loads of easy access material. I also cut my teeth on Elisp when ChatGPT was new, and it was very helpful.

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]

SansGuidon 2y ago

I like the idea of OBTF and org mode but I find the syntax quite inconvenient. I do not like Markdown also. I'm currently taking inspiration from bujo, obtf, org mode and markdown for making my own thing based on characters I'm ok to type both on mobile and desktop and which can make it easy to find information back in a huge file both for humans and programs.

dotancohen 2y ago
Good luck!
- SansGuidon 2y ago
  Thanks I find it not so hard already good results with only little code and time (thanks to llm for the draft).

geokon 2y ago

I used Orgmode for years, but I think fundamentally tieing your markup to your editor is kind of a bad sign... I'd be curious to hear counterarguments though. I think the primary reason it's tied is because you sort of can't make standalone ELisp apps (or at least nobody does). Otherwise you'd just have an `org2html` and `org2pdf` application at the command line. Alternatives like Asciidoc are not perfect, esp for literate programming, b/c it's also kinda complex and so it also only has one backend (that's runnable from Clojure through JRuby!). I imagine a simpler multi-backend solution like Djot will be the future most likely. Bloated underspeced markups are on the way out.

hitchdev 2y ago
>you sort of can't make standalone ELisp apps (or at least nobody does). Otherwise you'd just have an `org2html` and `org2pdf` application at the command line. Because I don't like emacs and I wanted to lean on command line apps for getting data into and out of my orgzly org-mode electronic brain, I've been doing this by combining orgmode with jinja2 (I do this with a cli app I wrote called 'orji'). I think it's a very powerful combination. I use it to generate latex/html/whatever and short bash scripts which are then run. E.g. * Generate my CV using a latex CV template I found on overleaf that I converted into a jinja2 template. * Send the contents of a TODO note tagged 'sendemail' as an email with a tiny templated bash script. * Create jira ticket with the details of a note. * Generate reveal.js presentations. All from my phone, using orgzly and one big button which runs a single termux script that seeks out TODO notes with labels (e.g. cv/sendemail) that match the scripts in my library (cv.sh / sendemail.sh). jinja2 certainly has the capability to end up creating a huge old mess if you abuse it, especially to generate code, but I find that using it to template tiny 5-6 line bash scripts or a latex or an HTML file hits a sweet spot of usability and flexibility.
- JNRowe 2y ago
  A link to the documentation¹ and repo² to save others a few steps. Examples are helpfully linked toward the end of the page and its source in the README. ¹ https://hitchdev.com/orji/ https://hitchdev.com/orji/ ² https://github.com/crdoconnor/orji https://github.com/crdoconnor/orji

nanna 2y ago

An org mode syntax I use heavily that I rarely see mentioned, including in this cheat sheet, is the obscurely named Radio Targets. Enclose any term or phrase in <<<tripple angle brackets>>>, hit C-c C-c on it, and then any previous or further instance of it in the same buffer will be automatically linked to it from then on. Incredibly useful when you're wroting notes on a long book for example and want to keep track of the instance when a term was defined. Turns an org file into its own wiki. https://orgmode.org/manual/Radio-Targets.html https://orgmode.org/manual/Radio-Targets.html

budzynski 2y ago
Hi, the docs are quite brief about this. Would ratio targets allow you to create a link to a website to the word <<<my site>>> would always lead to a corresponding link? Do you have an example of radio targets?
- tetris11 2y ago
  It's more of a glosssary. My Glossary: - <<<Martin Prince>>>: Smart guy, gets bullied a lot Nelson Muntz - <<<Nelson Muntz>>>: Troubled guy, does a lot of bullying to Martin Prince. Watching the Simpsons, Martin Prince seems to get into a lot of altercations with Nelson Munz. Any reference of "Martin Prince" or "Nelson Muntz" will be highlighted (YES, even in the definitions themselves) due to the radio targets in the document (you may have C-c C-c the target first to initialise it). You can click on that highlighted text to jump to where it was first defined.
- nanna 2y ago
  No, that wouldn't work. Radio Targets are intended for the precise repetitions of the same characters. If you surround a regular org link in three angle brackets, eg <<<[[https://www.bbc.com][bbc] https://www.bbc.com][bbc]]>>>, then the Radio link will clobber the web link on the target itself (ie C-c C-o won't take you anywhere), and it will only highlight repetitions of [[https://www.bbc.com][bbc] https://www.bbc.com][bbc]] rather than just bbc. For something similar to what you're asking, I would just go for something like... The <<<bbc>>> ([[https://www.bbc.com][site] https://www.bbc.com][site]]) is the UK's state broadcasting company. Now when I write bbc (or BBC) these will be highlighted as links and will take you back to the Radio Target in the first sentence and I can then click on the link Also note that you can mark a word or region and then hit C-c n r (org-insert-radio-target-brackets) to surround it in angle brackets and enable it as a radio target.

nanna 2y ago

I wish org mode had a syntax for end of line comments. Why do comments have to be their own line or in a space eating comment block? Sometimes I just want to comment something I've written without the extra space and ambiguity of breaking to a new line.

eviks 2y ago

If you're alreay spending a lot of special chars for a quote combo (hash, plus, newline), why does it have to be so verbose instead of something shorter like... a quotation mark? And for paired stuff maybe the plus sign could be replaced with some paired symbol like {? #+BEGIN_QUOTE #+END_QUOTE

jl6 2y ago

Oh man, what a way to learn that Nick Higham died earlier this year. A titan in his niche.

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]

submeta 2y ago

I have been using Emacs ever since I bought an Amiga in the 80s. I love Emacs and Elisp. Some 15 years ago I started using Orgmode heavily. But a lack of a mobile solution and it not being available ubiquitously made me go back to Markdown and Obsidian for note taking and Kanban boards in Notion for task management. Markdown is available everywhere. In forums, in chatgpt, in any kind of text editor. So although I still use Emacs, I stopped (heavy heartedly) using Orgmode.

green_dee 2y ago
Didn't you enjoy orgzly?

KarlVoit 2y ago

Unfortunately, "Org-mode" (or Orgmode) means two different things: (1) the lightweight markup syntax and (2) the Elisp implementation of a PIM/PKM tool within GNU Emacs. This seems to be subtle but it results in many misunderstandings and unnecessary discussion issues. To "solve" this situation, I tried to coin the term "Orgdown" for the syntax alone: https://gitlab.com/publicvoit/orgdown/ https://gitlab.com/publicvoit/orgdown/ and https://karl-voit.at/2021/11/27/orgdown/ https://karl-voit.at/2021/11/27/orgdown/ There are many use-cases to use Orgdown outside of Emacs and there are many tools that support Orgdown already: https://gitlab.com/publicvoit/orgdown/-/blob/master/doc/Tool-Support.org https://gitlab.com/publicvoit/orgdown/-/blob/master/doc/Tool... Although I'm using Orgdown and Org-mode for over a decade, I do think that even with an objective point of view, Orgdown does have its benefits from a syntax definition point of view in comparison to Markdown and other lightweight markup languages (LML): https://karl-voit.at/2017/09/23/orgmode-as-markup-only/ https://karl-voit.at/2017/09/23/orgmode-as-markup-only/ Oh and btw, the linked cheat-sheet covers only the most basic Orgdown syntax elements. Within the Orgdown concept, I defined misc "levels" of syntax elements, starting with OD1: https://gitlab.com/publicvoit/orgdown/-/blob/master/doc/Orgdown1-Syntax-Examples.org https://gitlab.com/publicvoit/orgdown/-/blob/master/doc/Orgd... This also serves as some sort of cheat sheet I guess. HTH