Ihor Radchenko writes on Mon 14 Nov 2022 03:59: > alain.coch...@unistra.fr writes: > > > Ihor Radchenko writes on Mon 7 Nov 2022 02:31:
> > > If you want to force string output, use :results output. > > > > > > By default, ob-shell tries to guess the output type. In the > > > case of two commands returning output, the guess is yielding > > > the table. In the case of a single command, the guess is > > > yielding a single string output. > > > > Thanks a lot. > > > > I find it strange, though, that the default is not as what one gets > > from running the code from a terminal. I imagine there are good > > reasons for that, but I think this should be made clear (or at least > > clearer) in the manual. I browsed through section 16 of the manual, > > with particular attention to 16.5 (Evaluating Code Blocks) and 16.6 > > (Results of Evaluation), but still cannot see where this is said or > > hinted; if it is there, I missed it or do not know enough to > > understand it. > The manual describes generic code execution. If you do not explicitly > specify the :results header arg, it is the specific babel backend that > specifies the defaults. > Will it help if we mention this fact in "16.6 Results of Evaluation" > section? Yes, it would help me. At least I would been warned. But it would be complete only if knew where to read about each specific babel backend. > > For the sake of newcomers, it seems to me that something along the > > line of what you write above would fit somewhere in 16.6, with a first > > short mention/warning (and reference to it) next to that excerpt in > > 16.5: > > > > Org captures the results of the code block evaluation and inserts > > them in the Org file, right after the code block. > Talking about ob-shell does not belong to this section of the > manual. Other backends have different behaviour. Have you seen > examples in > https://orgmode.org/worg/org-contrib/babel/languages/ob-doc-shell.html > ? Are they not clear enough? No, I had not seen this before. If I had, I might have understood why I was getting the "strange" output that originated this thread -- but I do not find it explained as clearly as you explained it: "In the case of two commands returning output, the guess is yielding the table. In the case of a single command, the guess is yielding a single string output." I can now see that the ob-doc-shell.html page is (indirectly) referred to in 16.9, via https://orgmode.org/worg/org-contrib/babel/languages/index.html. Maybe this is enough for some, but for me it is too convoluted. I had seen this page, but it was a long time ago, when I checked whether the languages I use were supported or not. So why not also refer to it in 16.6, together with the mentioned fact to which you are referring above? a. PS 1: In the manual, I see "backend" and "back-end". So it is an issue similar to the "subtree/sub-tree" issue you fixed a few days ago, to the "heading/headline" issue that was reported recently, and to many similar cases I met in the past. So I was wondering if there could exist some (semi-)automatic way which would ensure that future maintainers will not inadvertently re-introduce "sub-tree" occurrences, or the like. Perhaps some "accepted terminology" list that would be checked upon? PS 2: Reading the ob-doc-shell.html page, I understood (kind of) what was so far a mystery to me : that a "#+begin_src bash" group works as expected while "#+begin_src ba + C-M-i" fails to complete "ba" to "bash": namely that all the shells fall inside the "shell" umbrella keyword. Still, would not it make sense that the completion mechanism also work for all those particular shells? -- EOST (École et Observatoire des Sciences de la Terre) ITE (Institut Terre & Environnement) | alain.coch...@unistra.fr 5 rue René Descartes [bureau 110] | Phone: +33 (0)3 68 85 50 44 F-67084 Strasbourg Cedex, France | [ slot available for rent ]
