This is ../info/emacs, produced by makeinfo version 4.0f from
emacs.texi.
This is the Fourteenth edition of the `GNU Emacs Manual', updated
for Emacs version 21.2.
INFO-DIR-SECTION Emacs
START-INFO-DIR-ENTRY
* Emacs: (emacs). The extensible self-documenting text editor.
END-INFO-DIR-ENTRY
Published by the Free Software Foundation 59 Temple Place, Suite 330
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(a) The FSF's Back-Cover Text is: "You have freedom to copy and
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File: emacs, Node: Counting Days, Next: General Calendar, Prev: Scroll Calendar, Up: Calendar/Diary
Counting Days
=============
`M-='
Display the number of days in the current region
(`calendar-count-days-region').
To determine the number of days in the region, type `M-='
(`calendar-count-days-region'). The numbers of days shown is
_inclusive_; that is, it includes the days specified by mark and point.
File: emacs, Node: General Calendar, Next: LaTeX Calendar, Prev: Counting Days, Up: Calendar/Diary
Miscellaneous Calendar Commands
===============================
`p d'
Display day-in-year (`calendar-print-day-of-year').
`C-c C-l'
Regenerate the calendar window (`redraw-calendar').
`SPC'
Scroll the next window (`scroll-other-window').
`q'
Exit from calendar (`exit-calendar').
To display the number of days elapsed since the start of the year, or
the number of days remaining in the year, type the `p d' command
(`calendar-print-day-of-year'). This displays both of those numbers in
the echo area. The number of days elapsed includes the selected date.
The number of days remaining does not include that date.
If the calendar window text gets corrupted, type `C-c C-l'
(`redraw-calendar') to redraw it. (This can only happen if you use
non-Calendar-mode editing commands.)
In Calendar mode, you can use `SPC' (`scroll-other-window') to
scroll the other window. This is handy when you display a list of
holidays or diary entries in another window.
To exit from the calendar, type `q' (`exit-calendar'). This buries
all buffers related to the calendar, selecting other buffers. (If a
frame contains a dedicated calendar window, exiting from the calendar
iconifies that frame.)
File: emacs, Node: LaTeX Calendar, Next: Holidays, Prev: General Calendar, Up: Calendar/Diary
LaTeX Calendar
==============
The Calendar LaTeX commands produce a buffer of LaTeX code that
prints as a calendar. Depending on the command you use, the printed
calendar covers the day, week, month or year that point is in.
`t m'
Generate a one-month calendar (`cal-tex-cursor-month').
`t M'
Generate a sideways-printing one-month calendar
(`cal-tex-cursor-month-landscape').
`t d'
Generate a one-day calendar (`cal-tex-cursor-day').
`t w 1'
Generate a one-page calendar for one week (`cal-tex-cursor-week').
`t w 2'
Generate a two-page calendar for one week (`cal-tex-cursor-week2').
`t w 3'
Generate an ISO-style calendar for one week
(`cal-tex-cursor-week-iso').
`t w 4'
Generate a calendar for one Monday-starting week
(`cal-tex-cursor-week-monday').
`t f w'
Generate a Filofax-style two-weeks-at-a-glance calendar
(`cal-tex-cursor-filofax-2week').
`t f W'
Generate a Filofax-style one-week-at-a-glance calendar
(`cal-tex-cursor-filofax-week').
`t y'
Generate a calendar for one year (`cal-tex-cursor-year').
`t Y'
Generate a sideways-printing calendar for one year
(`cal-tex-cursor-year-landscape').
`t f y'
Generate a Filofax-style calendar for one year
(`cal-tex-cursor-filofax-year').
Some of these commands print the calendar sideways (in "landscape
mode"), so it can be wider than it is long. Some of them use Filofax
paper size (3.75in x 6.75in). All of these commands accept a prefix
argument which specifies how many days, weeks, months or years to print
(starting always with the selected one).
If the variable `cal-tex-holidays' is non-`nil' (the default), then
the printed calendars show the holidays in `calendar-holidays'. If the
variable `cal-tex-diary' is non-`nil' (the default is `nil'), diary
entries are included also (in weekly and monthly calendars only). If
the variable `cal-tex-rules' is non-`nil' (the default is `nil'), the
calendar displays ruled pages in styles that have sufficient room.
File: emacs, Node: Holidays, Next: Sunrise/Sunset, Prev: LaTeX Calendar, Up: Calendar/Diary
Holidays
========
The Emacs calendar knows about all major and many minor holidays,
and can display them.
`h'
Display holidays for the selected date
(`calendar-cursor-holidays').
`Mouse-2 Holidays'
Display any holidays for the date you click on.
`x'
Mark holidays in the calendar window (`mark-calendar-holidays').
`u'
Unmark calendar window (`calendar-unmark').
`a'
List all holidays for the displayed three months in another window
(`list-calendar-holidays').
`M-x holidays'
List all holidays for three months around today's date in another
window.
`M-x list-holidays'
List holidays in another window for a specified range of years.
To see if any holidays fall on a given date, position point on that
date in the calendar window and use the `h' command. Alternatively,
click on that date with `Mouse-2' and then choose `Holidays' from the
menu that appears. Either way, this displays the holidays for that
date, in the echo area if they fit there, otherwise in a separate
window.
To view the distribution of holidays for all the dates shown in the
calendar, use the `x' command. This displays the dates that are
holidays in a different face (or places a `*' after these dates, if
display with multiple faces is not available). The command applies both
to the currently visible months and to other months that subsequently
become visible by scrolling. To turn marking off and erase the current
marks, type `u', which also erases any diary marks (*note Diary::).
To get even more detailed information, use the `a' command, which
displays a separate buffer containing a list of all holidays in the
current three-month range. You can use <SPC> in the calendar window to
scroll that list.
The command `M-x holidays' displays the list of holidays for the
current month and the preceding and succeeding months; this works even
if you don't have a calendar window. If you want the list of holidays
centered around a different month, use `C-u M-x holidays', which
prompts for the month and year.
The holidays known to Emacs include United States holidays and the
major Christian, Jewish, and Islamic holidays; also the solstices and
equinoxes.
The command `M-x list-holidays' displays the list of holidays for a
range of years. This function asks you for the starting and stopping
years, and allows you to choose all the holidays or one of several
categories of holidays. You can use this command even if you don't have
a calendar window.
The dates used by Emacs for holidays are based on _current
practice_, not historical fact. Historically, for instance, the start
of daylight savings time and even its existence have varied from year to
year, but present United States law mandates that daylight savings time
begins on the first Sunday in April. When the daylight savings rules
are set up for the United States, Emacs always uses the present
definition, even though it is wrong for some prior years.
File: emacs, Node: Sunrise/Sunset, Next: Lunar Phases, Prev: Holidays, Up: Calendar/Diary
Times of Sunrise and Sunset
===========================
Special calendar commands can tell you, to within a minute or two,
the times of sunrise and sunset for any date.
`S'
Display times of sunrise and sunset for the selected date
(`calendar-sunrise-sunset').
`Mouse-2 Sunrise/sunset'
Display times of sunrise and sunset for the date you click on.
`M-x sunrise-sunset'
Display times of sunrise and sunset for today's date.
`C-u M-x sunrise-sunset'
Display times of sunrise and sunset for a specified date.
Within the calendar, to display the _local times_ of sunrise and
sunset in the echo area, move point to the date you want, and type `S'.
Alternatively, click `Mouse-2' on the date, then choose
`Sunrise/sunset' from the menu that appears. The command `M-x
sunrise-sunset' is available outside the calendar to display this
information for today's date or a specified date. To specify a date
other than today, use `C-u M-x sunrise-sunset', which prompts for the
year, month, and day.
You can display the times of sunrise and sunset for any location and
any date with `C-u C-u M-x sunrise-sunset'. This asks you for a
longitude, latitude, number of minutes difference from Coordinated
Universal Time, and date, and then tells you the times of sunrise and
sunset for that location on that date.
Because the times of sunrise and sunset depend on the location on
earth, you need to tell Emacs your latitude, longitude, and location
name before using these commands. Here is an example of what to set:
(setq calendar-latitude 40.1)
(setq calendar-longitude -88.2)
(setq calendar-location-name "Urbana, IL")
Use one decimal place in the values of `calendar-latitude' and
`calendar-longitude'.
Your time zone also affects the local time of sunrise and sunset.
Emacs usually gets time zone information from the operating system, but
if these values are not what you want (or if the operating system does
not supply them), you must set them yourself. Here is an example:
(setq calendar-time-zone -360)
(setq calendar-standard-time-zone-name "CST")
(setq calendar-daylight-time-zone-name "CDT")
The value of `calendar-time-zone' is the number of minutes difference
between your local standard time and Coordinated Universal Time
(Greenwich time). The values of `calendar-standard-time-zone-name' and
`calendar-daylight-time-zone-name' are the abbreviations used in your
time zone. Emacs displays the times of sunrise and sunset _corrected
for daylight savings time_. *Note Daylight Savings::, for how daylight
savings time is determined.
As a user, you might find it convenient to set the calendar location
variables for your usual physical location in your `.emacs' file. And
when you install Emacs on a machine, you can create a `default.el' file
which sets them properly for the typical location of most users of that
machine. *Note Init File::.
File: emacs, Node: Lunar Phases, Next: Other Calendars, Prev: Sunrise/Sunset, Up: Calendar/Diary
Phases of the Moon
==================
These calendar commands display the dates and times of the phases of
the moon (new moon, first quarter, full moon, last quarter). This
feature is useful for debugging problems that "depend on the phase of
the moon."
`M'
Display the dates and times for all the quarters of the moon for
the three-month period shown (`calendar-phases-of-moon').
`M-x phases-of-moon'
Display dates and times of the quarters of the moon for three
months around today's date.
Within the calendar, use the `M' command to display a separate
buffer of the phases of the moon for the current three-month range. The
dates and times listed are accurate to within a few minutes.
Outside the calendar, use the command `M-x phases-of-moon' to
display the list of the phases of the moon for the current month and the
preceding and succeeding months. For information about a different
month, use `C-u M-x phases-of-moon', which prompts for the month and
year.
The dates and times given for the phases of the moon are given in
local time (corrected for daylight savings, when appropriate); but if
the variable `calendar-time-zone' is void, Coordinated Universal Time
(the Greenwich time zone) is used. *Note Daylight Savings::.
File: emacs, Node: Other Calendars, Next: Diary, Prev: Lunar Phases, Up: Calendar/Diary
Conversion To and From Other Calendars
======================================
The Emacs calendar displayed is _always_ the Gregorian calendar,
sometimes called the "new style" calendar, which is used in most of the
world today. However, this calendar did not exist before the sixteenth
century and was not widely used before the eighteenth century; it did
not fully displace the Julian calendar and gain universal acceptance
until the early twentieth century. The Emacs calendar can display any
month since January, year 1 of the current era, but the calendar
displayed is the Gregorian, even for a date at which the Gregorian
calendar did not exist.
While Emacs cannot display other calendars, it can convert dates to
and from several other calendars.
* Menu:
* Calendar Systems:: The calendars Emacs understands
(aside from Gregorian).
* To Other Calendar:: Converting the selected date to various calendars.
* From Other Calendar:: Moving to a date specified in another calendar.
* Mayan Calendar:: Moving to a date specified in a Mayan calendar.
File: emacs, Node: Calendar Systems, Next: To Other Calendar, Up: Other Calendars
Supported Calendar Systems
--------------------------
The ISO commercial calendar is used largely in Europe.
The Julian calendar, named after Julius Caesar, was the one used in
Europe throughout medieval times, and in many countries up until the
nineteenth century.
Astronomers use a simple counting of days elapsed since noon, Monday,
January 1, 4713 B.C. on the Julian calendar. The number of days elapsed
is called the "Julian day number" or the "Astronomical day number".
The Hebrew calendar is used by tradition in the Jewish religion. The
Emacs calendar program uses the Hebrew calendar to determine the dates
of Jewish holidays. Hebrew calendar dates begin and end at sunset.
The Islamic calendar is used in many predominantly Islamic countries.
Emacs uses it to determine the dates of Islamic holidays. There is no
universal agreement in the Islamic world about the calendar; Emacs uses
a widely accepted version, but the precise dates of Islamic holidays
often depend on proclamation by religious authorities, not on
calculations. As a consequence, the actual dates of observance can vary
slightly from the dates computed by Emacs. Islamic calendar dates begin
and end at sunset.
The French Revolutionary calendar was created by the Jacobins after
the 1789 revolution, to represent a more secular and nature-based view
of the annual cycle, and to install a 10-day week in a rationalization
measure similar to the metric system. The French government officially
abandoned this calendar at the end of 1805.
The Maya of Central America used three separate, overlapping calendar
systems, the _long count_, the _tzolkin_, and the _haab_. Emacs knows
about all three of these calendars. Experts dispute the exact
correlation between the Mayan calendar and our calendar; Emacs uses the
Goodman-Martinez-Thompson correlation in its calculations.
The Copts use a calendar based on the ancient Egyptian solar
calendar. Their calendar consists of twelve 30-day months followed by
an extra five-day period. Once every fourth year they add a leap day
to this extra period to make it six days. The Ethiopic calendar is
identical in structure, but has different year numbers and month names.
The Persians use a solar calendar based on a design of Omar Khayyam.
Their calendar consists of twelve months of which the first six have 31
days, the next five have 30 days, and the last has 29 in ordinary years
and 30 in leap years. Leap years occur in a complicated pattern every
four or five years.
The Chinese calendar is a complicated system of lunar months arranged
into solar years. The years go in cycles of sixty, each year containing
either twelve months in an ordinary year or thirteen months in a leap
year; each month has either 29 or 30 days. Years, ordinary months, and
days are named by combining one of ten "celestial stems" with one of
twelve "terrestrial branches" for a total of sixty names that are
repeated in a cycle of sixty.
File: emacs, Node: To Other Calendar, Next: From Other Calendar, Prev: Calendar Systems, Up: Other Calendars
Converting To Other Calendars
-----------------------------
The following commands describe the selected date (the date at point)
in various other calendar systems:
`Mouse-2 Other calendars'
Display the date that you click on, expressed in various other
calendars.
`p c'
Display ISO commercial calendar equivalent for selected day
(`calendar-print-iso-date').
`p j'
Display Julian date for selected day
(`calendar-print-julian-date').
`p a'
Display astronomical (Julian) day number for selected day
(`calendar-print-astro-day-number').
`p h'
Display Hebrew date for selected day
(`calendar-print-hebrew-date').
`p i'
Display Islamic date for selected day
(`calendar-print-islamic-date').
`p f'
Display French Revolutionary date for selected day
(`calendar-print-french-date').
`p C'
Display Chinese date for selected day
(`calendar-print-chinese-date').
`p k'
Display Coptic date for selected day
(`calendar-print-coptic-date').
`p e'
Display Ethiopic date for selected day
(`calendar-print-ethiopic-date').
`p p'
Display Persian date for selected day
(`calendar-print-persian-date').
`p m'
Display Mayan date for selected day (`calendar-print-mayan-date').
If you are using X, the easiest way to translate a date into other
calendars is to click on it with `Mouse-2', then choose `Other
calendars' from the menu that appears. This displays the equivalent
forms of the date in all the calendars Emacs understands, in the form of
a menu. (Choosing an alternative from this menu doesn't actually do
anything--the menu is used only for display.)
Otherwise, move point to the date you want to convert, then type the
appropriate command starting with `p' from the table above. The prefix
`p' is a mnemonic for "print," since Emacs "prints" the equivalent date
in the echo area.
File: emacs, Node: From Other Calendar, Next: Mayan Calendar, Prev: To Other Calendar, Up: Other Calendars
Converting From Other Calendars
-------------------------------
You can use the other supported calendars to specify a date to move
to. This section describes the commands for doing this using calendars
other than Mayan; for the Mayan calendar, see the following section.
`g c'
Move to a date specified in the ISO commercial calendar
(`calendar-goto-iso-date').
`g j'
Move to a date specified in the Julian calendar
(`calendar-goto-julian-date').
`g a'
Move to a date specified with an astronomical (Julian) day number
(`calendar-goto-astro-day-number').
`g h'
Move to a date specified in the Hebrew calendar
(`calendar-goto-hebrew-date').
`g i'
Move to a date specified in the Islamic calendar
(`calendar-goto-islamic-date').
`g f'
Move to a date specified in the French Revolutionary calendar
(`calendar-goto-french-date').
`g C'
Move to a date specified in the Chinese calendar
(`calendar-goto-chinese-date').
`g p'
Move to a date specified in the Persian calendar
(`calendar-goto-persian-date').
`g k'
Move to a date specified in the Coptic calendar
(`calendar-goto-coptic-date').
`g e'
Move to a date specified in the Ethiopic calendar
(`calendar-goto-ethiopic-date').
These commands ask you for a date on the other calendar, move point
to the Gregorian calendar date equivalent to that date, and display the
other calendar's date in the echo area. Emacs uses strict completion
(*note Completion::) whenever it asks you to type a month name, so you
don't have to worry about the spelling of Hebrew, Islamic, or French
names.
One common question concerning the Hebrew calendar is the computation
of the anniversary of a date of death, called a "yahrzeit." The Emacs
calendar includes a facility for such calculations. If you are in the
calendar, the command `M-x list-yahrzeit-dates' asks you for a range of
years and then displays a list of the yahrzeit dates for those years
for the date given by point. If you are not in the calendar, this
command first asks you for the date of death and the range of years,
and then displays the list of yahrzeit dates.
File: emacs, Node: Mayan Calendar, Prev: From Other Calendar, Up: Other Calendars
Converting from the Mayan Calendar
----------------------------------
Here are the commands to select dates based on the Mayan calendar:
`g m l'
Move to a date specified by the long count calendar
(`calendar-goto-mayan-long-count-date').
`g m n t'
Move to the next occurrence of a place in the tzolkin calendar
(`calendar-next-tzolkin-date').
`g m p t'
Move to the previous occurrence of a place in the tzolkin calendar
(`calendar-previous-tzolkin-date').
`g m n h'
Move to the next occurrence of a place in the haab calendar
(`calendar-next-haab-date').
`g m p h'
Move to the previous occurrence of a place in the haab calendar
(`calendar-previous-haab-date').
`g m n c'
Move to the next occurrence of a place in the calendar round
(`calendar-next-calendar-round-date').
`g m p c'
Move to the previous occurrence of a place in the calendar round
(`calendar-previous-calendar-round-date').
To understand these commands, you need to understand the Mayan
calendars. The "long count" is a counting of days with these units:
1 kin = 1 day 1 uinal = 20 kin 1 tun = 18 uinal
1 katun = 20 tun 1 baktun = 20 katun
Thus, the long count date 12.16.11.16.6 means 12 baktun, 16 katun, 11
tun, 16 uinal, and 6 kin. The Emacs calendar can handle Mayan long
count dates as early as 7.17.18.13.1, but no earlier. When you use the
`g m l' command, type the Mayan long count date with the baktun, katun,
tun, uinal, and kin separated by periods.
The Mayan tzolkin calendar is a cycle of 260 days formed by a pair of
independent cycles of 13 and 20 days. Since this cycle repeats
endlessly, Emacs provides commands to move backward and forward to the
previous or next point in the cycle. Type `g m p t' to go to the
previous tzolkin date; Emacs asks you for a tzolkin date and moves point
to the previous occurrence of that date. Similarly, type `g m n t' to
go to the next occurrence of a tzolkin date.
The Mayan haab calendar is a cycle of 365 days arranged as 18 months
of 20 days each, followed a 5-day monthless period. Like the tzolkin
cycle, this cycle repeats endlessly, and there are commands to move
backward and forward to the previous or next point in the cycle. Type
`g m p h' to go to the previous haab date; Emacs asks you for a haab
date and moves point to the previous occurrence of that date.
Similarly, type `g m n h' to go to the next occurrence of a haab date.
The Maya also used the combination of the tzolkin date and the haab
date. This combination is a cycle of about 52 years called a _calendar
round_. If you type `g m p c', Emacs asks you for both a haab and a
tzolkin date and then moves point to the previous occurrence of that
combination. Use `g m n c' to move point to the next occurrence of a
combination. These commands signal an error if the haab/tzolkin date
combination you have typed is impossible.
Emacs uses strict completion (*note Strict Completion::) whenever it
asks you to type a Mayan name, so you don't have to worry about
spelling.
File: emacs, Node: Diary, Next: Appointments, Prev: Other Calendars, Up: Calendar/Diary
The Diary
=========
The Emacs diary keeps track of appointments or other events on a
daily basis, in conjunction with the calendar. To use the diary
feature, you must first create a "diary file" containing a list of
events and their dates. Then Emacs can automatically pick out and
display the events for today, for the immediate future, or for any
specified date.
By default, Emacs uses `~/diary' as the diary file. This is the
same file that the `calendar' utility uses. A sample `~/diary' file is:
12/22/1988 Twentieth wedding anniversary!!
&1/1. Happy New Year!
10/22 Ruth's birthday.
* 21, *: Payday
Tuesday--weekly meeting with grad students at 10am
Supowit, Shen, Bitner, and Kapoor to attend.
1/13/89 Friday the thirteenth!!
&thu 4pm squash game with Lloyd.
mar 16 Dad's birthday
April 15, 1989 Income tax due.
&* 15 time cards due.
This example uses extra spaces to align the event descriptions of most
of the entries. Such formatting is purely a matter of taste.
Although you probably will start by creating a diary manually, Emacs
provides a number of commands to let you view, add, and change diary
entries.
* Menu:
* Diary Commands:: Viewing diary entries and associated calendar dates.
* Format of Diary File:: Entering events in your diary.
* Date Formats:: Various ways you can specify dates.
* Adding to Diary:: Commands to create diary entries.
* Special Diary Entries:: Anniversaries, blocks of dates, cyclic entries, etc.
File: emacs, Node: Diary Commands, Next: Format of Diary File, Up: Diary
Commands Displaying Diary Entries
---------------------------------
Once you have created a `~/diary' file, you can use the calendar to
view it. You can also view today's events outside of Calendar mode.
`d'
Display all diary entries for the selected date
(`view-diary-entries').
`Mouse-2 Diary'
Display all diary entries for the date you click on.
`s'
Display the entire diary file (`show-all-diary-entries').
`m'
Mark all visible dates that have diary entries
(`mark-diary-entries').
`u'
Unmark the calendar window (`calendar-unmark').
`M-x print-diary-entries'
Print hard copy of the diary display as it appears.
`M-x diary'
Display all diary entries for today's date.
`M-x diary-mail-entries'
Mail yourself email reminders about upcoming diary entries.
Displaying the diary entries with `d' shows in a separate window the
diary entries for the selected date in the calendar. The mode line of
the new window shows the date of the diary entries and any holidays
that fall on that date. If you specify a numeric argument with `d', it
shows all the diary entries for that many successive days. Thus, `2 d'
displays all the entries for the selected date and for the following
day.
Another way to display the diary entries for a date is to click
`Mouse-2' on the date, and then choose `Diary entries' from the menu
that appears.
To get a broader view of which days are mentioned in the diary, use
the `m' command. This displays the dates that have diary entries in a
different face (or places a `+' after these dates, if display with
multiple faces is not available). The command applies both to the
currently visible months and to other months that subsequently become
visible by scrolling. To turn marking off and erase the current marks,
type `u', which also turns off holiday marks (*note Holidays::).
To see the full diary file, rather than just some of the entries, use
the `s' command.
Display of selected diary entries uses the selective display feature
to hide entries that don't apply.
The diary buffer as you see it is an illusion, so simply printing the
buffer does not print what you see on your screen. There is a special
command to print hard copy of the diary buffer _as it appears_; this
command is `M-x print-diary-entries'. It sends the data directly to
the printer. You can customize it like `lpr-region' (*note Hardcopy::).
The command `M-x diary' displays the diary entries for the current
date, independently of the calendar display, and optionally for the next
few days as well; the variable `number-of-diary-entries' specifies how
many days to include. *Note Customizing the Calendar and Diary:
(elisp)Calendar.
If you put `(diary)' in your `.emacs' file, this automatically
displays a window with the day's diary entries, when you enter Emacs.
The mode line of the displayed window shows the date and any holidays
that fall on that date.
Many users like to receive notice of events in their diary as email.
To send such mail to yourself, use the command `M-x
diary-mail-entries'. A prefix argument specifies how many days
(starting with today) to check; otherwise, the variable
`diary-mail-days' says how many days.
File: emacs, Node: Format of Diary File, Next: Date Formats, Prev: Diary Commands, Up: Diary
The Diary File
--------------
Your "diary file" is a file that records events associated with
particular dates. The name of the diary file is specified by the
variable `diary-file'; `~/diary' is the default. The `calendar'
utility program supports a subset of the format allowed by the Emacs
diary facilities, so you can use that utility to view the diary file,
with reasonable results aside from the entries it cannot understand.
Each entry in the diary file describes one event and consists of one
or more lines. An entry always begins with a date specification at the
left margin. The rest of the entry is simply text to describe the
event. If the entry has more than one line, then the lines after the
first must begin with whitespace to indicate they continue a previous
entry. Lines that do not begin with valid dates and do not continue a
preceding entry are ignored.
You can inhibit the marking of certain diary entries in the calendar
window; to do this, insert an ampersand (`&') at the beginning of the
entry, before the date. This has no effect on display of the entry in
the diary window; it affects only marks on dates in the calendar
window. Nonmarking entries are especially useful for generic entries
that would otherwise mark many different dates.
If the first line of a diary entry consists only of the date or day
name with no following blanks or punctuation, then the diary window
display doesn't include that line; only the continuation lines appear.
For example, this entry:
02/11/1989
Bill B. visits Princeton today
2pm Cognitive Studies Committee meeting
2:30-5:30 Liz at Lawrenceville
4:00pm Dentist appt
7:30pm Dinner at George's
8:00-10:00pm concert
appears in the diary window without the date line at the beginning.
This style of entry looks neater when you display just a single day's
entries, but can cause confusion if you ask for more than one day's
entries.
You can edit the diary entries as they appear in the window, but it
is important to remember that the buffer displayed contains the _entire_
diary file, with portions of it concealed from view. This means, for
instance, that the `C-f' (`forward-char') command can put point at what
appears to be the end of the line, but what is in reality the middle of
some concealed line.
_Be careful when editing the diary entries!_ Inserting additional
lines or adding/deleting characters in the middle of a visible line
cannot cause problems, but editing at the end of a line may not do what
you expect. Deleting a line may delete other invisible entries that
follow it. Before editing the diary, it is best to display the entire
file with `s' (`show-all-diary-entries').
File: emacs, Node: Date Formats, Next: Adding to Diary, Prev: Format of Diary File, Up: Diary
Date Formats
------------
Here are some sample diary entries, illustrating different ways of
formatting a date. The examples all show dates in American order
(month, day, year), but Calendar mode supports European order (day,
month, year) as an option.
4/20/93 Switch-over to new tabulation system
apr. 25 Start tabulating annual results
4/30 Results for April are due
*/25 Monthly cycle finishes
Friday Don't leave without backing up files
The first entry appears only once, on April 20, 1993. The second and
third appear every year on the specified dates, and the fourth uses a
wildcard (asterisk) for the month, so it appears on the 25th of every
month. The final entry appears every week on Friday.
You can use just numbers to express a date, as in `MONTH/DAY' or
`MONTH/DAY/YEAR'. This must be followed by a nondigit. In the date
itself, MONTH and DAY are numbers of one or two digits. The optional
YEAR is also a number, and may be abbreviated to the last two digits;
that is, you can use `11/12/1989' or `11/12/89'.
Dates can also have the form `MONTHNAME DAY' or `MONTHNAME DAY,
YEAR', where the month's name can be spelled in full or abbreviated to
three characters (with or without a period). Case is not significant.
A date may be "generic"; that is, partially unspecified. Then the
entry applies to all dates that match the specification. If the date
does not contain a year, it is generic and applies to any year.
Alternatively, MONTH, DAY, or YEAR can be a `*'; this matches any
month, day, or year, respectively. Thus, a diary entry `3/*/*' matches
any day in March of any year; so does `march *'.
If you prefer the European style of writing dates--in which the day
comes before the month--type `M-x european-calendar' while in the
calendar, or set the variable `european-calendar-style' to `t' _before_
using any calendar or diary command. This mode interprets all dates in
the diary in the European manner, and also uses European style for
displaying diary dates. (Note that there is no comma after the
MONTHNAME in the European style.) To go back to the (default) American
style of writing dates, type `M-x american-calendar'.
You can use the name of a day of the week as a generic date which
applies to any date falling on that day of the week. You can abbreviate
the day of the week to three letters (with or without a period) or spell
it in full; case is not significant.
File: emacs, Node: Adding to Diary, Next: Special Diary Entries, Prev: Date Formats, Up: Diary
Commands to Add to the Diary
----------------------------
While in the calendar, there are several commands to create diary
entries:
`i d'
Add a diary entry for the selected date (`insert-diary-entry').
`i w'
Add a diary entry for the selected day of the week
(`insert-weekly-diary-entry').
`i m'
Add a diary entry for the selected day of the month
(`insert-monthly-diary-entry').
`i y'
Add a diary entry for the selected day of the year
(`insert-yearly-diary-entry').
You can make a diary entry for a specific date by selecting that date
in the calendar window and typing the `i d' command. This command
displays the end of your diary file in another window and inserts the
date; you can then type the rest of the diary entry.
If you want to make a diary entry that applies to a specific day of
the week, select that day of the week (any occurrence will do) and type
`i w'. This inserts the day-of-week as a generic date; you can then
type the rest of the diary entry. You can make a monthly diary entry in
the same fashion: select the day of the month, use the `i m' command,
and type the rest of the entry. Similarly, you can insert a yearly
diary entry with the `i y' command.
All of the above commands make marking diary entries by default. To
make a nonmarking diary entry, give a numeric argument to the command.
For example, `C-u i w' makes a nonmarking weekly diary entry.
When you modify the diary file, be sure to save the file before
exiting Emacs.
File: emacs, Node: Special Diary Entries, Prev: Adding to Diary, Up: Diary
Special Diary Entries
---------------------
In addition to entries based on calendar dates, the diary file can
contain "sexp entries" for regular events such as anniversaries. These
entries are based on Lisp expressions (sexps) that Emacs evaluates as
it scans the diary file. Instead of a date, a sexp entry contains `%%'
followed by a Lisp expression which must begin and end with
parentheses. The Lisp expression determines which dates the entry
applies to.
Calendar mode provides commands to insert certain commonly used sexp
entries:
`i a'
Add an anniversary diary entry for the selected date
(`insert-anniversary-diary-entry').
`i b'
Add a block diary entry for the current region
(`insert-block-diary-entry').
`i c'
Add a cyclic diary entry starting at the date
(`insert-cyclic-diary-entry').
If you want to make a diary entry that applies to the anniversary of
a specific date, move point to that date and use the `i a' command.
This displays the end of your diary file in another window and inserts
the anniversary description; you can then type the rest of the diary
entry. The entry looks like this:
%%(diary-anniversary 10 31 1948) Arthur's birthday
This entry applies to October 31 in any year after 1948; `10 31 1948'
specifies the date. (If you are using the European calendar style, the
month and day are interchanged.) The reason this expression requires a
beginning year is that advanced diary functions can use it to calculate
the number of elapsed years.
A "block" diary entry applies to a specified range of consecutive
dates. Here is a block diary entry that applies to all dates from June
24, 1990 through July 10, 1990:
%%(diary-block 6 24 1990 7 10 1990) Vacation
The `6 24 1990' indicates the starting date and the `7 10 1990'
indicates the stopping date. (Again, if you are using the European
calendar style, the month and day are interchanged.)
To insert a block entry, place point and the mark on the two dates
that begin and end the range, and type `i b'. This command displays
the end of your diary file in another window and inserts the block
description; you can then type the diary entry.
"Cyclic" diary entries repeat after a fixed interval of days. To
create one, select the starting date and use the `i c' command. The
command prompts for the length of interval, then inserts the entry,
which looks like this:
%%(diary-cyclic 50 3 1 1990) Renew medication
This entry applies to March 1, 1990 and every 50th day following; `3 1
1990' specifies the starting date. (If you are using the European
calendar style, the month and day are interchanged.)
All three of these commands make marking diary entries. To insert a
nonmarking entry, give a numeric argument to the command. For example,
`C-u i a' makes a nonmarking anniversary diary entry.
Marking sexp diary entries in the calendar is _extremely_
time-consuming, since every date visible in the calendar window must be
individually checked. So it's a good idea to make sexp diary entries
nonmarking (with `&') when possible.
Another sophisticated kind of sexp entry, a "floating" diary entry,
specifies a regularly occurring event by offsets specified in days,
weeks, and months. It is comparable to a crontab entry interpreted by
the `cron' utility. Here is a nonmarking, floating diary entry that
applies to the last Thursday in November:
&%%(diary-float 11 4 -1) American Thanksgiving
The 11 specifies November (the eleventh month), the 4 specifies Thursday
(the fourth day of the week, where Sunday is numbered zero), and the -1
specifies "last" (1 would mean "first," 2 would mean "second," -2 would
mean "second-to-last," and so on). The month can be a single month or
a list of months. Thus you could change the 11 above to `'(1 2 3)' and
have the entry apply to the last Thursday of January, February, and
March. If the month is `t', the entry applies to all months of the
year.
Most generally, sexp diary entries can perform arbitrary
computations to determine when they apply. *Note Sexp Diary Entries:
(elisp)Sexp Diary Entries.
File: emacs, Node: Appointments, Next: Daylight Savings, Prev: Diary, Up: Calendar/Diary
Appointments
============
If you have a diary entry for an appointment, and that diary entry
begins with a recognizable time of day, Emacs can warn you several
minutes beforehand that that appointment is pending. Emacs alerts you
to the appointment by displaying a message in the mode line.
To enable appointment notification, you must enable the time display
feature of Emacs, `M-x display-time' (*note Mode Line::). You must
also add the function `appt-make-list' to the `diary-hook', like this:
(add-hook 'diary-hook 'appt-make-list)
Adding this text to your `.emacs' file does the whole job:
(display-time)
(add-hook 'diary-hook 'appt-make-list)
(diary 0)
With these preparations done, when you display the diary (either with
the `d' command in the calendar window or with the `M-x diary'
command), it sets up an appointment list of all the diary entries found
with recognizable times of day, and reminds you just before each of
them.
For example, suppose the diary file contains these lines:
Monday
9:30am Coffee break
12:00pm Lunch
Then on Mondays, after you have displayed the diary, you will be
reminded at 9:20am about your coffee break and at 11:50am about lunch.
You can write times in am/pm style (with `12:00am' standing for
midnight and `12:00pm' standing for noon), or 24-hour European/military
style. You need not be consistent; your diary file can have a mixture
of the two styles.
Emacs updates the appointments list automatically just after
midnight. This also displays the next day's diary entries in the diary
buffer, unless you set `appt-display-diary' to `nil'.
You can also use the appointment notification facility like an alarm
clock. The command `M-x appt-add' adds entries to the appointment list
without affecting your diary file. You delete entries from the
appointment list with `M-x appt-delete'.
You can turn off the appointment notification feature at any time by
setting `appt-issue-message' to `nil'.
File: emacs, Node: Daylight Savings, Next: Time Intervals, Prev: Appointments, Up: Calendar/Diary
Daylight Savings Time
=====================
Emacs understands the difference between standard time and daylight
savings time--the times given for sunrise, sunset, solstices,
equinoxes, and the phases of the moon take that into account. The rules
for daylight savings time vary from place to place and have also varied
historically from year to year. To do the job properly, Emacs needs to
know which rules to use.
Some operating systems keep track of the rules that apply to the
place where you are; on these systems, Emacs gets the information it
needs from the system automatically. If some or all of this
information is missing, Emacs fills in the gaps with the rules
currently used in Cambridge, Massachusetts. If the resulting rules are
not what you want, you can tell Emacs the rules to use by setting
certain variables: `calendar-daylight-savings-starts' and
`calendar-daylight-savings-ends'.
These values should be Lisp expressions that refer to the variable
`year', and evaluate to the Gregorian date on which daylight savings
time starts or (respectively) ends, in the form of a list `(MONTH DAY
YEAR)'. The values should be `nil' if your area does not use daylight
savings time.
Emacs uses these expressions to determine the starting date of
daylight savings time for the holiday list and for correcting times of
day in the solar and lunar calculations.
The values for Cambridge, Massachusetts are as follows:
(calendar-nth-named-day 1 0 4 year)
(calendar-nth-named-day -1 0 10 year)
That is, the first 0th day (Sunday) of the fourth month (April) in the
year specified by `year', and the last Sunday of the tenth month
(October) of that year. If daylight savings time were changed to start
on October 1, you would set `calendar-daylight-savings-starts' to this:
(list 10 1 year)
If there is no daylight savings time at your location, or if you want
all times in standard time, set `calendar-daylight-savings-starts' and
`calendar-daylight-savings-ends' to `nil'.
The variable `calendar-daylight-time-offset' specifies the
difference between daylight savings time and standard time, measured in
minutes. The value for Cambridge, Massachusetts is 60.
The two variables `calendar-daylight-savings-starts-time' and
`calendar-daylight-savings-ends-time' specify the number of minutes
after midnight local time when the transition to and from daylight
savings time should occur. For Cambridge, Massachusetts both variables'
values are 120.
File: emacs, Node: Time Intervals, Prev: Daylight Savings, Up: Calendar/Diary
Summing Time Intervals
======================
The timeclock feature adds up time intervals, so you can (for
instance) keep track of how much time you spend working.
Use the `M-x timeclock-in' command when you start working on a
project, and `M-x timeclock-out' command when you're done. Each time
you do this, it adds one time interval to the record of the project.
Once you've collected data from a number of time intervals, you can
use `M-x timeclock-workday-remaining' to see how much time is left to
work today (assuming a typical average of 8 hours a day), and `M-x
timeclock-when-to-leave' which will calculate when you're "done."
If you want Emacs to display the amount of time "left" of your
workday in the mode line, either customize the
`timeclock-modeline-display' variable and set its value to `t', or
invoke the `M-x timeclock-modeline-display' command.
Terminating the current Emacs session might or might not mean that
you have stopped working on the project. If you'd like Emacs to ask
you about this, set the value of the variable
`timeclock-ask-before-exiting' to `t' (via `M-x customize'). By
default, only an explicit `M-x timeclock-out' tells Emacs that the
current interval is over.
The timeclock functions work by accumulating the data in a file
called `.timelog' in your home directory. (On MS-DOS, this file is
called `_timelog', since an initial period is not allowed in file names
on MS-DOS.) You can specify a different name for this file by
customizing the variable `timeclock-file'. If you edit the timeclock
file manually, or if you change the value of any of timeclock's
customizable variables, you should run the command `M-x
timeclock-reread-log' to update the data in Emacs from the file.
File: emacs, Node: Gnus, Next: Shell, Prev: Calendar/Diary, Up: Top
Gnus
====
Gnus is an Emacs package primarily designed for reading and posting
Usenet news. It can also be used to read and respond to messages from a
number of other sources--mail, remote directories, digests, and so on.
Here we introduce Gnus and describe several basic features. For
full details, see *Note Gnus: (gnus)Top.
To start Gnus, type `M-x gnus <RET>'.
* Menu:
* Buffers of Gnus:: The group, summary, and article buffers.
* Gnus Startup:: What you should know about starting Gnus.
* Summary of Gnus:: A short description of the basic Gnus commands.
File: emacs, Node: Buffers of Gnus, Next: Gnus Startup, Up: Gnus
Gnus Buffers
------------
As opposed to most normal Emacs packages, Gnus uses a number of
different buffers to display information and to receive commands. The
three buffers users spend most of their time in are the "group buffer",
the "summary buffer" and the "article buffer".
The "group buffer" contains a list of groups. This is the first
buffer Gnus displays when it starts up. It normally displays only the
groups to which you subscribe and that contain unread articles. Use
this buffer to select a specific group.
The "summary buffer" lists one line for each article in a single
group. By default, the author, the subject and the line number are
displayed for each article, but this is customizable, like most aspects
of Gnus display. The summary buffer is created when you select a group
in the group buffer, and is killed when you exit the group. Use this
buffer to select an article.
The "article buffer" displays the article. In normal Gnus usage,
you don't select this buffer--all useful article-oriented commands work
in the summary buffer. But you can select the article buffer, and
execute all Gnus commands from that buffer, if you want to.
File: emacs, Node: Gnus Startup, Next: Summary of Gnus, Prev: Buffers of Gnus, Up: Gnus
When Gnus Starts Up
-------------------
At startup, Gnus reads your `.newsrc' news initialization file and
attempts to communicate with the local news server, which is a
repository of news articles. The news server need not be the same
computer you are logged in on.
If you start Gnus and connect to the server, but do not see any
newsgroups listed in the group buffer, type `L' or `A k' to get a
listing of all the groups. Then type `u' to toggle subscription to
groups.
The first time you start Gnus, Gnus subscribes you to a few selected
groups. All other groups start out as "killed groups" for you; you can
list them with `A k'. All new groups that subsequently come to exist
at the news server become "zombie groups" for you; type `A z' to list
them. You can subscribe to a group shown in these lists using the `u'
command.
When you quit Gnus with `q', it automatically records in your
`.newsrc' and `.newsrc.eld' initialization files the subscribed or
unsubscribed status of all groups. You should normally not edit these
files manually, but you may if you know how.