Jack Kamm <jackk...@gmail.com> writes: > ":results graphics file" is used this way in ob-R and ob-julia, and also > in the testing files test-ob-octave.el and ob-maxima-test.org. > > ":results graphics" just means that the result from > org-babel-execute:lang isn't written to the file by > org-babel-execute-src-block. This is needed for plotting because > org-babel-execute:lang usually writes directly to the file, rather than > returning a byte stream for the PNG or SVG. > > So the Org manual's wording about > "side-effects" and "output not written to disk" is correct in a sense, > but also confusing (readers should not have to know about these internal > implementation details).
What you describe is a special feature in _some_ babel backends. More generally, users must take care about writing the file to disk by themselves, as illustrated in the wget example. It may be worth mentioning though that some babel backends take care about writing the file. -- Ihor Radchenko // yantar92, Org mode contributor, Learn more about Org mode at <https://orgmode.org/>. Support Org development at <https://liberapay.com/org-mode>, or support my work at <https://liberapay.com/yantar92>