Emacs Org-Mode Table Snippets

Source: Org tutorial for tables - orgmode.org, james-stoup/org-mode-table-tutorial: A simplified guide to mastering Org Mode table functions · GitHub. Examples below are by james-stoup and under GPL-3.0 license

See Emacs org-mode shortcuts - Emacs Shortcuts for org-mode for table notation like @ symbol to denote rows and the $ symbol to denote columns

Column Width

Restrict column width org-table-shrink to reduce column width given cookie length in table like <10>. Use org-table-expand to restore normal column width.

A very wide cell	Another very very wide cell

Formulas

Create a formula by adding #+TBLFM: <insert formula here> to the end of any table.

Example: The formula should be read as “column 2 equals column 1 multiplied by 3”:

1	3
2	6
3	9
4	12
5	15

Summing Column

We need a way to tell the formula to always write to the last line, regardless of how many lines are in the table. What we need is the @> operator, that signifies the last row of the table.

Summing column with @>$2

ITEM	COST	PRICE
Bike	50	100
Sword	20	35
Drill	30	60
Cooler	10	70
TV	50	40
Blender	25	45
Boots	10	20
	195

Summing all columns into last row:

ITEM	COST	PRICE
Bike	50	100
Sword	20	35
Drill	30	60
Cooler	10	70
TV	50	40
Blender	25	45
Boots	20	20
Bike + Sword + Drill + Cooler + TV + Blender + Boots	205	370

Summing only columns 2 and 3

ITEM	COST	PRICE
Bike	50	100
Sword	20	35
Drill	30	60
Cooler	10	70
TV	50	40
Blender	25	45
Boots	20	20
	205	370

Summing only columns 2 and beyond

ITEM	COST	PRICE	SHIPPING	MILEAGE
Bike	50	100	0	23
Sword	20	35	10	12
Drill	30	60	5	51
Cooler	10	70	0	32
TV	50	40	20	19
Blender	25	45	0	9
Boots	20	20	0	38
	205	370	35	184

Summing Rows

PLAYER	CMP%	PASSING YARDS	RUSHING YARDS	TOTAL YARDS	PASSING TDs	RUSHING TDs	TOTAL TDs
Joe Burrow	69.8	4641	202	4843	42	2	44
Lamar Jackson	67.9	3955	852	4807	39	4	43
Josh Allen	63.6	3731	531	4262	28	12	40
Jayden Daniels	69.4	3530	864	4394	25	6	31

Auto Incrementing

The formula is smart enough to know that we don’t want to include something before the separator. However, it still isn’t correct. Even though it didn’t show the first value, it still incremented it, which leaves our starting value at 2. We can do better. Modify the formula to subtract one from each value to produce the result we want.

	BOOKS	READ?
1	IT	yes
2	The Hobbit	yes
3	The Black Company	yes
4	Salem’s Lot	no
5	Leaves of grass	no

Horizontal Separators and Referencing Rows

Horizontal lines can make your table much easier to read but they have a hidden use as well. You can specify all of the values between the first and second lines using @I..@II. These are NOT Roman numerals, so you must put IIIII for the 5th horizontal line, not V which would be the correct Roman numeral. In the example below you have decided to host a party and are trying to tally up the costs of different types of expenses.

ITEM	COST
rum	20
gin	18
beer	50
coke	10
sprite	5
chips	10
cookies	20
pizza	60
plates	10
napkins	8
cups	12
ALCOHOL	88
SODA	15
FOOD	90
MISC	30

Sums, Averages, and Other Transforms

See Calc package for other math libraries info-display-manual and select calc.

Averages and Weighted Average

The field marked AVERAGE GRADE should contain an average of the 3 tests and the final exam grades. The CLASS GRADE is computed similarly but the final exam is now weighted in respect to the other grades.

STUDENT	TEST 1	TEST 2	TEST 3	FINAL EXAM	AVERAGE GRADE	CLASS GRADE
Alice	89	93	75	77	83.5	82.2
Bob	78	99	69	80	81.5	81.2
Cathy	91	90	90	75	86.5	84.2
Doug	48	90	85	82	76.25	77.4

Mean, Median, and Standard Deviation

Here is three different things in one formula:

1. There are several math functions (such as vsdev - standard deviation of the data values per calc manual)
2. The output lines are being referenced with the @> operator. Each additional > references one more line above the last line. Thus @>>> should be read as “third line from the last line of the table”
3. All four functions are executed at once because each is separated by a :: operator.

INDEX	VALUE
1	1
2	2
3	4
4	2
5	3
6	1
7	4
8	1
9	5
MEAN	2.5555556
MEDIAN	2
STD DEV	1.5092309
SUM	23

Formatting

• Standard Deviation with prettier table if the output was but to only three decimal places using ;%.3f
• Medium with 3 digits with ;%.3d

INDEX	VALUE
1	1
2	2
3	4
4	2
5	3
6	1
7	4
8	1
9	5
MEDIAN	002
STD DEV	1.509

Clearing Cells and Random Values

• $1=0 simply clears everything in the first column by setting each value to 0. Useful for resetting table values

• @2$1..@>>$1 = random(1000);%.3d, creates random numbers. Here we create a random number between 1 and 1,000. Then we ensure that at least 3 digits are displayed with ;%.3d. This formula generates random numbers that will be used as student IDs. When testing out this formula (or any similar one) you will find that it is helpful to use the previous formula to reset everything to 0 while testing out your code.

• ‘(length’(@I..@II)), simply counts all the records between the two horizontal lines and returns them. This is a handy way of dealing with large tables that require a count, but don’t require a column dedicated to indexes.

STUDENT NUMBER	NAME	TEST 1	TEST 2	TEST 3	HOMEWORK	FINAL EXAM
221	Amy	78	82	91	94	77
931	Bob	77	83	89	90	70
067	Clara	84	88	99	100	80
632	Dylan	69	74	83	91	65
921	Ed	74	70	77	85	69
726	Fiona	80	81	86	88	74
663	Gareth	79	85	84	89	68
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Empty Cells

Continuing with our theme of a teacher checking grades, look at this table of grades. Some of the students have missing work. We need a breakdown of which students have missing assignments and how many assignments are missing.

We are looking for empty cells ("") and returning lists for each record. Then we count how many empty records were found, and set that number to the value in the MISSING column.

STUDENT NUMBER	NAME	TEST 1	TEST 2	TEST 3	HOMEWORK	FINAL EXAM	MISSING
409	Amy	78	82		94		2
016	Bob	77	83	89	90	70	0
432	Clara	84	88	99	100	80	0
869	Dylan	69		83	91	65	1
925	Ed	74	70	77	85	69	0
723	Fiona	80	81	86		74	1
688	Gareth	79	85	84	89	68	0
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