>
> While this topic is raised, would it make sense for Org-mode table
> formula to automatically parse any time-like string into time units
> (i.e., base sixty). That would be the easiest for most users, and (I
> imagine) would rarely result in surprising and unexpected behavior.
>
So, I took a shot at folding this into org-table.el, the resulting patch
is attached. I'm not sure if this sort of automatic interpretation of
time-like strings into integers is a good idea, or if this is the best
implementation (I'm not incredibly familiar with Org's table handling)
but after a couple of simple tests the patch does seem to work. For
example the following...
| 2:30 | 2 | 75 |
#+TBLFM: $3=$1/$2
It may make sense to also include functionality for converting the
result back into a time string, e.g.
#+begin_src emacs-lisp
(defun org-time-seconds-to-string (secs)
"Convert a number of seconds to a time string."
(cond ((>= secs 3600) (format-seconds "%h:%.2m:%.2s" secs))
((>= secs 60) (format-seconds "%m:%.2s" secs))
(t (format-seconds "%s" secs))))
#+end_src
| 2:30 | 2 | 1:15 |
#+TBLFM: $3='(org-time-seconds-to-string (/ (string-to-number $1)
(string-to-number $2)))
While the above is cumbersome, there may be a simpler syntax or
convention -- e.g., whenever one of the inputs is a time string then the
results are displayed as a time string. Not sure what the best option
is here, but thought this patch may spur some good suggestions.
Best -- Eric
>From 76b416013ee4c9a492c8ddced57727215165c298 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Eric Schulte <schulte.e...@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 21 Mar 2011 19:43:19 -0600
Subject: [PATCH] org-table: convert times to integers on table formula evaluation
* lisp/org-table.el (org-table-to-time): If cell contents look like a
time string, then converts to an integer.
(org-table-eval-formula): Convert times to integers on table formula
evaluation.
---
lisp/org-table.el | 26 ++++++++++++++++++++++----
1 files changed, 22 insertions(+), 4 deletions(-)
diff --git a/lisp/org-table.el b/lisp/org-table.el
index 3573032..3674b53 100644
--- a/lisp/org-table.el
+++ b/lisp/org-table.el
@@ -2273,6 +2273,21 @@ of the new mark."
(cons var (cons value modes)))
modes)
+(defun org-table-to-time (s)
+ "Convert cell to numerical time if contents look like a time string."
+ (cond
+ ((and (stringp s)
+ (string-match "\\([0-9]+\\):\\([0-9]+\\):\\([0-9]+\\)" s))
+ (let ((hour (string-to-number (match-string 1 s)))
+ (min (string-to-number (match-string 2 s)))
+ (sec (string-to-number (match-string 3 s))))
+ (+ (* hour 3600) (* min 60) sec)))
+ ((and (stringp s)
+ (string-match "\\([0-9]+\\):\\([0-9]+\\)" s))
+ (let ((min (string-to-number (match-string 1 s)))
+ (sec (string-to-number (match-string 2 s))))
+ (+ (* min 60) sec)))))
+
(defun org-table-eval-formula (&optional arg equation
suppress-align suppress-const
suppress-store suppress-analysis)
@@ -2369,10 +2384,13 @@ not overwrite the stored one."
(setq formula (org-table-formula-substitute-names formula)))
(setq orig (or (get-text-property 1 :orig-formula formula) "?"))
(while (> ndown 0)
- (setq fields (org-split-string
- (org-no-properties
- (buffer-substring (point-at-bol) (point-at-eol)))
- " *| *"))
+ (setq fields (mapcar (lambda (cell)
+ (let ((time (org-table-to-time cell)))
+ (if time (number-to-string time) cell)))
+ (org-split-string
+ (org-no-properties
+ (buffer-substring (point-at-bol) (point-at-eol)))
+ " *| *")))
(if (eq numbers t)
(setq fields (mapcar
(lambda (x) (number-to-string (string-to-number x)))
--
1.7.1
