2 @c This is part of the GNU Emacs Lisp Reference Manual.
3 @c Copyright (C) 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1995, 1998 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
4 @c See the file elisp.texi for copying conditions.
5 @node Calendar, System Interface, Display, Top
6 @chapter Customizing the Calendar and Diary
8 There are many customizations that you can use to make the calendar and
9 diary suit your personal tastes.
12 * Calendar Customizing:: Defaults you can set.
13 * Holiday Customizing:: Defining your own holidays.
14 * Date Display Format:: Changing the format.
15 * Time Display Format:: Changing the format.
16 * Daylight Savings:: Changing the default.
17 * Diary Customizing:: Defaults you can set.
18 * Hebrew/Islamic Entries:: How to obtain them.
19 * Fancy Diary Display:: Enhancing the diary display, sorting entries,
20 using included diary files.
21 * Sexp Diary Entries:: Fancy things you can do.
22 * Appt Customizing:: Customizing appointment reminders.
25 @node Calendar Customizing
26 @section Customizing the Calendar
27 @vindex view-diary-entries-initially
29 If you set the variable @code{view-diary-entries-initially} to
30 @code{t}, calling up the calendar automatically displays the diary
31 entries for the current date as well. The diary dates appear only if
32 the current date is visible. If you add both of the following lines to
33 your init file:@refill
36 (setq view-diary-entries-initially t)
41 this displays both the calendar and diary windows whenever you start Emacs.
43 @vindex view-calendar-holidays-initially
44 Similarly, if you set the variable
45 @code{view-calendar-holidays-initially} to @code{t}, entering the
46 calendar automatically displays a list of holidays for the current
47 three-month period. The holiday list appears in a separate
50 @vindex mark-diary-entries-in-calendar
51 You can set the variable @code{mark-diary-entries-in-calendar} to
52 @code{t} in order to mark any dates with diary entries. This takes
53 effect whenever the calendar window contents are recomputed. There are
54 two ways of marking these dates: by changing the face (@pxref{Faces}),
55 or by placing a plus sign (@samp{+}) beside the date.
57 @vindex mark-holidays-in-calendar
58 Similarly, setting the variable @code{mark-holidays-in-calendar} to
59 @code{t} marks holiday dates, either with a change of face or with an
62 @vindex calendar-holiday-marker
63 @vindex diary-entry-marker
64 The variable @code{calendar-holiday-marker} specifies how to mark a
65 date as being a holiday. Its value may be a character to insert next to
66 the date, or a face name to use for displaying the date. Likewise, the
67 variable @code{diary-entry-marker} specifies how to mark a date that has
68 diary entries. The calendar creates faces named @code{holiday-face} and
69 @code{diary-face} for these purposes; those symbols are the default
70 values of these variables.
72 @vindex calendar-load-hook
73 The variable @code{calendar-load-hook} is a normal hook run when the
74 calendar package is first loaded (before actually starting to display
77 @vindex initial-calendar-window-hook
78 Starting the calendar runs the normal hook
79 @code{initial-calendar-window-hook}. Recomputation of the calendar
80 display does not run this hook. But if you leave the calendar with the
81 @kbd{q} command and reenter it, the hook runs again.@refill
83 @vindex today-visible-calendar-hook
84 The variable @code{today-visible-calendar-hook} is a normal hook run
85 after the calendar buffer has been prepared with the calendar when the
86 current date is visible in the window. One use of this hook is to
87 replace today's date with asterisks; to do that, use the hook function
88 @code{calendar-star-date}.
90 @findex calendar-star-date
92 (add-hook 'today-visible-calendar-hook 'calendar-star-date)
96 Another standard hook function marks the current date, either by
97 changing its face or by adding an asterisk. Here's how to use it:
99 @findex calendar-mark-today
101 (add-hook 'today-visible-calendar-hook 'calendar-mark-today)
105 @vindex calendar-today-marker
106 The variable @code{calendar-today-marker} specifies how to mark today's
107 date. Its value should be a character to insert next to the date or a
108 face name to use for displaying the date. A face named
109 @code{calendar-today-face} is provided for this purpose; that symbol is
110 the default for this variable.
112 @vindex today-invisible-calendar-hook
114 A similar normal hook, @code{today-invisible-calendar-hook} is run if
115 the current date is @emph{not} visible in the window.
117 @vindex calendar-move-hook
118 Starting in Emacs 21, each of the calendar cursor motion commands
119 runs the hook @code{calendar-move-hook} after it moves the cursor.
121 @node Holiday Customizing
122 @section Customizing the Holidays
124 @vindex calendar-holidays
125 @vindex christian-holidays
126 @vindex hebrew-holidays
127 @vindex islamic-holidays
128 Emacs knows about holidays defined by entries on one of several lists.
129 You can customize these lists of holidays to your own needs, adding or
130 deleting holidays. The lists of holidays that Emacs uses are for
131 general holidays (@code{general-holidays}), local holidays
132 (@code{local-holidays}), Christian holidays (@code{christian-holidays}),
133 Hebrew (Jewish) holidays (@code{hebrew-holidays}), Islamic (Moslem)
134 holidays (@code{islamic-holidays}), and other holidays
135 (@code{other-holidays}).
137 @vindex general-holidays
138 The general holidays are, by default, holidays common throughout the
139 United States. To eliminate these holidays, set @code{general-holidays}
142 @vindex local-holidays
143 There are no default local holidays (but sites may supply some). You
144 can set the variable @code{local-holidays} to any list of holidays, as
147 @vindex all-christian-calendar-holidays
148 @vindex all-hebrew-calendar-holidays
149 @vindex all-islamic-calendar-holidays
150 By default, Emacs does not include all the holidays of the religions
151 that it knows, only those commonly found in secular calendars. For a
152 more extensive collection of religious holidays, you can set any (or
153 all) of the variables @code{all-christian-calendar-holidays},
154 @code{all-hebrew-calendar-holidays}, or
155 @code{all-islamic-calendar-holidays} to @code{t}. If you want to
156 eliminate the religious holidays, set any or all of the corresponding
157 variables @code{christian-holidays}, @code{hebrew-holidays}, and
158 @code{islamic-holidays} to @code{nil}.@refill
160 @vindex other-holidays
161 You can set the variable @code{other-holidays} to any list of
162 holidays. This list, normally empty, is intended for individual use.
164 @cindex holiday forms
165 Each of the lists (@code{general-holidays}, @code{local-holidays},
166 @code{christian-holidays}, @code{hebrew-holidays},
167 @code{islamic-holidays}, and @code{other-holidays}) is a list of
168 @dfn{holiday forms}, each holiday form describing a holiday (or
169 sometimes a list of holidays).
171 Here is a table of the possible kinds of holiday form. Day numbers
172 and month numbers count starting from 1, but ``dayname'' numbers
173 count Sunday as 0. The element @var{string} is always the
174 name of the holiday, as a string.
177 @item (holiday-fixed @var{month} @var{day} @var{string})
178 A fixed date on the Gregorian calendar.
180 @item (holiday-float @var{month} @var{dayname} @var{k} @var{string})
181 The @var{k}th @var{dayname} in @var{month} on the Gregorian calendar
182 (@var{dayname}=0 for Sunday, and so on); negative @var{k} means count back
183 from the end of the month.
185 @item (holiday-hebrew @var{month} @var{day} @var{string})
186 A fixed date on the Hebrew calendar.
188 @item (holiday-islamic @var{month} @var{day} @var{string})
189 A fixed date on the Islamic calendar.
191 @item (holiday-julian @var{month} @var{day} @var{string})
192 A fixed date on the Julian calendar.
194 @item (holiday-sexp @var{sexp} @var{string})
195 A date calculated by the Lisp expression @var{sexp}. The expression
196 should use the variable @code{year} to compute and return the date of a
197 holiday, or @code{nil} if the holiday doesn't happen this year. The
198 value of @var{sexp} must represent the date as a list of the form
199 @code{(@var{month} @var{day} @var{year})}.
201 @item (if @var{condition} @var{holiday-form})
202 A holiday that happens only if @var{condition} is true.
204 @item (@var{function} @r{[}@var{args}@r{]})
205 A list of dates calculated by the function @var{function}, called with
206 arguments @var{args}.
209 For example, suppose you want to add Bastille Day, celebrated in
210 France on July 14. You can do this as follows:
213 (setq other-holidays '((holiday-fixed 7 14 "Bastille Day")))
217 The holiday form @code{(holiday-fixed 7 14 "Bastille Day")} specifies the
218 fourteenth day of the seventh month (July).
220 Many holidays occur on a specific day of the week, at a specific time
221 of month. Here is a holiday form describing Hurricane Supplication Day,
222 celebrated in the Virgin Islands on the fourth Monday in August:
225 (holiday-float 8 1 4 "Hurricane Supplication Day")
229 Here the 8 specifies August, the 1 specifies Monday (Sunday is 0,
230 Tuesday is 2, and so on), and the 4 specifies the fourth occurrence in
231 the month (1 specifies the first occurrence, 2 the second occurrence,
232 @minus{}1 the last occurrence, @minus{}2 the second-to-last occurrence, and
235 You can specify holidays that occur on fixed days of the Hebrew,
236 Islamic, and Julian calendars too. For example,
240 '((holiday-hebrew 10 2 "Last day of Hanukkah")
241 (holiday-islamic 3 12 "Mohammed's Birthday")
242 (holiday-julian 4 2 "Jefferson's Birthday")))
246 adds the last day of Hanukkah (since the Hebrew months are numbered with
247 1 starting from Nisan), the Islamic feast celebrating Mohammed's
248 birthday (since the Islamic months are numbered from 1 starting with
249 Muharram), and Thomas Jefferson's birthday, which is 2 April 1743 on the
252 To include a holiday conditionally, use either Emacs Lisp's @code{if} or the
253 @code{holiday-sexp} form. For example, American presidential elections
254 occur on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November of years
258 (holiday-sexp (if (= 0 (% year 4))
259 (calendar-gregorian-from-absolute
260 (1+ (calendar-dayname-on-or-before
261 1 (+ 6 (calendar-absolute-from-gregorian
262 (list 11 1 year))))))
263 "US Presidential Election"))
270 (if (= 0 (% displayed-year 4))
272 (extract-calendar-day
273 (calendar-gregorian-from-absolute
274 (1+ (calendar-dayname-on-or-before
275 1 (+ 6 (calendar-absolute-from-gregorian
276 (list 11 1 displayed-year)))))))
277 "US Presidential Election"))
280 Some holidays just don't fit into any of these forms because special
281 calculations are involved in their determination. In such cases you
282 must write a Lisp function to do the calculation. To include eclipses,
283 for example, add @code{(eclipses)} to @code{other-holidays}
284 and write an Emacs Lisp function @code{eclipses} that returns a
285 (possibly empty) list of the relevant Gregorian dates among the range
286 visible in the calendar window, with descriptive strings, like this:
289 (((6 27 1991) "Lunar Eclipse") ((7 11 1991) "Solar Eclipse") ... )
292 @node Date Display Format
293 @section Date Display Format
294 @vindex calendar-date-display-form
296 You can customize the manner of displaying dates in the diary, in mode
297 lines, and in messages by setting @code{calendar-date-display-form}.
298 This variable holds a list of expressions that can involve the variables
299 @code{month}, @code{day}, and @code{year}, which are all numbers in
300 string form, and @code{monthname} and @code{dayname}, which are both
301 alphabetic strings. In the American style, the default value of this
305 ((if dayname (concat dayname ", ")) monthname " " day ", " year)
309 while in the European style this value is the default:
312 ((if dayname (concat dayname ", ")) day " " monthname " " year)
316 The ISO standard date representation is this:
319 (year "-" month "-" day)
323 This specifies a typical American format:
326 (month "/" day "/" (substring year -2))
329 @node Time Display Format
330 @section Time Display Format
331 @vindex calendar-time-display-form
333 The calendar and diary by default display times of day in the
334 conventional American style with the hours from 1 through 12, minutes,
335 and either @samp{am} or @samp{pm}. If you prefer the European style,
336 also known in the US as military, in which the hours go from 00 to 23,
337 you can alter the variable @code{calendar-time-display-form}. This
338 variable is a list of expressions that can involve the variables
339 @code{12-hours}, @code{24-hours}, and @code{minutes}, which are all
340 numbers in string form, and @code{am-pm} and @code{time-zone}, which are
341 both alphabetic strings. The default value of
342 @code{calendar-time-display-form} is as follows:
345 (12-hours ":" minutes am-pm
346 (if time-zone " (") time-zone (if time-zone ")"))
350 Here is a value that provides European style times:
353 (24-hours ":" minutes
354 (if time-zone " (") time-zone (if time-zone ")"))
357 @node Daylight Savings
358 @section Daylight Savings Time
359 @cindex daylight savings time
361 Emacs understands the difference between standard time and daylight
362 savings time---the times given for sunrise, sunset, solstices,
363 equinoxes, and the phases of the moon take that into account. The rules
364 for daylight savings time vary from place to place and have also varied
365 historically from year to year. To do the job properly, Emacs needs to
366 know which rules to use.
368 Some operating systems keep track of the rules that apply to the place
369 where you are; on these systems, Emacs gets the information it needs
370 from the system automatically. If some or all of this information is
371 missing, Emacs fills in the gaps with the rules currently used in
372 Cambridge, Massachusetts, which is the center of GNU's world.
375 @vindex calendar-daylight-savings-starts
376 @vindex calendar-daylight-savings-ends
377 If the default choice of rules is not appropriate for your location,
378 you can tell Emacs the rules to use by setting the variables
379 @code{calendar-daylight-savings-starts} and
380 @code{calendar-daylight-savings-ends}. Their values should be Lisp
381 expressions that refer to the variable @code{year}, and evaluate to the
382 Gregorian date on which daylight savings time starts or (respectively)
383 ends, in the form of a list @code{(@var{month} @var{day} @var{year})}.
384 The values should be @code{nil} if your area does not use daylight
387 Emacs uses these expressions to determine the start and end dates of
388 daylight savings time as holidays and for correcting times of day in the
389 solar and lunar calculations.
391 The values for Cambridge, Massachusetts are as follows:
395 (calendar-nth-named-day 1 0 4 year)
396 (calendar-nth-named-day -1 0 10 year)
401 i.e., the first 0th day (Sunday) of the fourth month (April) in
402 the year specified by @code{year}, and the last Sunday of the tenth month
403 (October) of that year. If daylight savings time were
404 changed to start on October 1, you would set
405 @code{calendar-daylight-savings-starts} to this:
411 For a more complex example, suppose daylight savings time begins on
412 the first of Nisan on the Hebrew calendar. You should set
413 @code{calendar-daylight-savings-starts} to this value:
416 (calendar-gregorian-from-absolute
417 (calendar-absolute-from-hebrew
418 (list 1 1 (+ year 3760))))
422 because Nisan is the first month in the Hebrew calendar and the Hebrew
423 year differs from the Gregorian year by 3760 at Nisan.
425 If there is no daylight savings time at your location, or if you want
426 all times in standard time, set @code{calendar-daylight-savings-starts}
427 and @code{calendar-daylight-savings-ends} to @code{nil}.
429 @vindex calendar-daylight-time-offset
430 The variable @code{calendar-daylight-time-offset} specifies the
431 difference between daylight savings time and standard time, measured in
432 minutes. The value for Cambridge is 60.
434 @vindex calendar-daylight-savings-starts-time
435 @vindex calendar-daylight-savings-ends-time
436 The variable @code{calendar-daylight-savings-starts-time} and the
437 variable @code{calendar-daylight-savings-ends-time} specify the number
438 of minutes after midnight local time when the transition to and from
439 daylight savings time should occur. For Cambridge, both variables'
442 @node Diary Customizing
443 @section Customizing the Diary
445 @vindex holidays-in-diary-buffer
446 Ordinarily, the mode line of the diary buffer window indicates any
447 holidays that fall on the date of the diary entries. The process of
448 checking for holidays can take several seconds, so including holiday
449 information delays the display of the diary buffer noticeably. If you'd
450 prefer to have a faster display of the diary buffer but without the
451 holiday information, set the variable @code{holidays-in-diary-buffer} to
454 @vindex number-of-diary-entries
455 The variable @code{number-of-diary-entries} controls the number of
456 days of diary entries to be displayed at one time. It affects the
457 initial display when @code{view-diary-entries-initially} is @code{t}, as
458 well as the command @kbd{M-x diary}. For example, the default value is
459 1, which says to display only the current day's diary entries. If the
460 value is 2, both the current day's and the next day's entries are
461 displayed. The value can also be a vector of seven elements: for
462 example, if the value is @code{[0 2 2 2 2 4 1]} then no diary entries
463 appear on Sunday, the current date's and the next day's diary entries
464 appear Monday through Thursday, Friday through Monday's entries appear
465 on Friday, while on Saturday only that day's entries appear.
467 @vindex print-diary-entries-hook
468 @findex print-diary-entries
469 The variable @code{print-diary-entries-hook} is a normal hook run
470 after preparation of a temporary buffer containing just the diary
471 entries currently visible in the diary buffer. (The other, irrelevant
472 diary entries are really absent from the temporary buffer; in the diary
473 buffer, they are merely hidden.) The default value of this hook does
474 the printing with the command @code{lpr-buffer}. If you want to use a
475 different command to do the printing, just change the value of this
476 hook. Other uses might include, for example, rearranging the lines into
477 order by day and time.
479 @vindex diary-date-forms
480 You can customize the form of dates in your diary file, if neither the
481 standard American nor European styles suits your needs, by setting the
482 variable @code{diary-date-forms}. This variable is a list of patterns
483 for recognizing a date. Each date pattern is a list whose elements may
484 be regular expressions (@pxref{Regular Expressions}) or the symbols
485 @code{month}, @code{day}, @code{year}, @code{monthname}, and
486 @code{dayname}. All these elements serve as patterns that match certain
487 kinds of text in the diary file. In order for the date pattern, as a
488 whole, to match, all of its elements must match consecutively.
490 A regular expression in a date pattern matches in its usual fashion,
491 using the standard syntax table altered so that @samp{*} is a word
494 The symbols @code{month}, @code{day}, @code{year}, @code{monthname},
495 and @code{dayname} match the month number, day number, year number,
496 month name, and day name of the date being considered. The symbols that
497 match numbers allow leading zeros; those that match names allow
498 three-letter abbreviations and capitalization. All the symbols can
499 match @samp{*}; since @samp{*} in a diary entry means ``any day'', ``any
500 month'', and so on, it should match regardless of the date being
503 The default value of @code{diary-date-forms} in the American style is
507 ((month "/" day "[^/0-9]")
508 (month "/" day "/" year "[^0-9]")
509 (monthname " *" day "[^,0-9]")
510 (monthname " *" day ", *" year "[^0-9]")
514 The date patterns in the list must be @emph{mutually exclusive} and
515 must not match any portion of the diary entry itself, just the date and
516 one character of whitespace. If, to be mutually exclusive, the pattern
517 must match a portion of the diary entry text---beyond the whitespace
518 that ends the date---then the first element of the date pattern
519 @emph{must} be @code{backup}. This causes the date recognizer to back
520 up to the beginning of the current word of the diary entry, after
521 finishing the match. Even if you use @code{backup}, the date pattern
522 must absolutely not match more than a portion of the first word of the
523 diary entry. The default value of @code{diary-date-forms} in the
524 European style is this list:
527 ((day "/" month "[^/0-9]")
528 (day "/" month "/" year "[^0-9]")
529 (backup day " *" monthname "\\W+\\<[^*0-9]")
530 (day " *" monthname " *" year "[^0-9]")
535 Notice the use of @code{backup} in the third pattern, because it needs
536 to match part of a word beyond the date itself to distinguish it from
539 @node Hebrew/Islamic Entries
540 @section Hebrew- and Islamic-Date Diary Entries
542 Your diary file can have entries based on Hebrew or Islamic dates, as
543 well as entries based on the world-standard Gregorian calendar.
544 However, because recognition of such entries is time-consuming and most
545 people don't use them, you must explicitly enable their use. If you
546 want the diary to recognize Hebrew-date diary entries, for example,
549 @vindex nongregorian-diary-listing-hook
550 @vindex nongregorian-diary-marking-hook
551 @findex list-hebrew-diary-entries
552 @findex mark-hebrew-diary-entries
554 (add-hook 'nongregorian-diary-listing-hook 'list-hebrew-diary-entries)
555 (add-hook 'nongregorian-diary-marking-hook 'mark-hebrew-diary-entries)
559 If you want Islamic-date entries, do this:
561 @findex list-islamic-diary-entries
562 @findex mark-islamic-diary-entries
564 (add-hook 'nongregorian-diary-listing-hook 'list-islamic-diary-entries)
565 (add-hook 'nongregorian-diary-marking-hook 'mark-islamic-diary-entries)
568 Hebrew- and Islamic-date diary entries have the same formats as
569 Gregorian-date diary entries, except that @samp{H} precedes a Hebrew
570 date and @samp{I} precedes an Islamic date. Moreover, because the
571 Hebrew and Islamic month names are not uniquely specified by the first
572 three letters, you may not abbreviate them. For example, a diary entry
573 for the Hebrew date Heshvan 25 could look like this:
576 HHeshvan 25 Happy Hebrew birthday!
580 and would appear in the diary for any date that corresponds to Heshvan 25
581 on the Hebrew calendar. And here is an Islamic-date diary entry that matches
585 IDhu al-Qada 25 Happy Islamic birthday!
588 As with Gregorian-date diary entries, Hebrew- and Islamic-date entries
589 are nonmarking if they are preceded with an ampersand (@samp{&}).
591 Here is a table of commands used in the calendar to create diary entries
592 that match the selected date and other dates that are similar in the Hebrew
597 Add a diary entry for the Hebrew date corresponding to the selected date
598 (@code{insert-hebrew-diary-entry}).
600 Add a diary entry for the day of the Hebrew month corresponding to the
601 selected date (@code{insert-monthly-hebrew-diary-entry}). This diary
602 entry matches any date that has the same Hebrew day-within-month as the
605 Add a diary entry for the day of the Hebrew year corresponding to the
606 selected date (@code{insert-yearly-hebrew-diary-entry}). This diary
607 entry matches any date which has the same Hebrew month and day-within-month
608 as the selected date.
610 Add a diary entry for the Islamic date corresponding to the selected date
611 (@code{insert-islamic-diary-entry}).
613 Add a diary entry for the day of the Islamic month corresponding to the
614 selected date (@code{insert-monthly-islamic-diary-entry}).
616 Add a diary entry for the day of the Islamic year corresponding to the
617 selected date (@code{insert-yearly-islamic-diary-entry}).
620 @findex insert-hebrew-diary-entry
621 @findex insert-monthly-hebrew-diary-entry
622 @findex insert-yearly-hebrew-diary-entry
623 @findex insert-islamic-diary-entry
624 @findex insert-monthly-islamic-diary-entry
625 @findex insert-yearly-islamic-diary-entry
626 These commands work much like the corresponding commands for ordinary
627 diary entries: they apply to the date that point is on in the calendar
628 window, and what they do is insert just the date portion of a diary entry
629 at the end of your diary file. You must then insert the rest of the
632 @node Fancy Diary Display
633 @section Fancy Diary Display
634 @vindex diary-display-hook
635 @findex simple-diary-display
637 Diary display works by preparing the diary buffer and then running the
638 hook @code{diary-display-hook}. The default value of this hook
639 (@code{simple-diary-display}) hides the irrelevant diary entries and
640 then displays the buffer. However, if you specify the hook as follows,
643 @findex fancy-diary-display
645 (add-hook 'diary-display-hook 'fancy-diary-display)
649 this enables fancy diary display. It displays diary entries and
650 holidays by copying them into a special buffer that exists only for the
651 sake of display. Copying to a separate buffer provides an opportunity
652 to change the displayed text to make it prettier---for example, to sort
653 the entries by the dates they apply to.
655 As with simple diary display, you can print a hard copy of the buffer
656 with @code{print-diary-entries}. To print a hard copy of a day-by-day
657 diary for a week, position point on Sunday of that week, type
658 @kbd{7 d}, and then do @kbd{M-x print-diary-entries}. As usual, the
659 inclusion of the holidays slows down the display slightly; you can speed
660 things up by setting the variable @code{holidays-in-diary-buffer} to
663 @vindex diary-list-include-blanks
664 Ordinarily, the fancy diary buffer does not show days for which there are
665 no diary entries, even if that day is a holiday. If you want such days to be
666 shown in the fancy diary buffer, set the variable
667 @code{diary-list-include-blanks} to @code{t}.@refill
669 @cindex sorting diary entries
670 If you use the fancy diary display, you can use the normal hook
671 @code{list-diary-entries-hook} to sort each day's diary entries by their
672 time of day. Here's how:
674 @findex sort-diary-entries
676 (add-hook 'list-diary-entries-hook 'sort-diary-entries t)
680 For each day, this sorts diary entries that begin with a recognizable
681 time of day according to their times. Diary entries without times come
682 first within each day.
684 Fancy diary display also has the ability to process included diary
685 files. This permits a group of people to share a diary file for events
686 that apply to all of them. Lines in the diary file of this form:
689 #include "@var{filename}"
693 includes the diary entries from the file @var{filename} in the fancy
694 diary buffer. The include mechanism is recursive, so that included files
695 can include other files, and so on; you must be careful not to have a
696 cycle of inclusions, of course. Here is how to enable the include
699 @vindex list-diary-entries-hook
700 @vindex mark-diary-entries-hook
701 @findex include-other-diary-files
702 @findex mark-included-diary-files
704 (add-hook 'list-diary-entries-hook 'include-other-diary-files)
705 (add-hook 'mark-diary-entries-hook 'mark-included-diary-files)
708 The include mechanism works only with the fancy diary display, because
709 ordinary diary display shows the entries directly from your diary file.
711 @node Sexp Diary Entries
712 @section Sexp Entries and the Fancy Diary Display
713 @cindex sexp diary entries
715 Sexp diary entries allow you to do more than just have complicated
716 conditions under which a diary entry applies. If you use the fancy
717 diary display, sexp entries can generate the text of the entry depending
718 on the date itself. For example, an anniversary diary entry can insert
719 the number of years since the anniversary date into the text of the
720 diary entry. Thus the @samp{%d} in this dairy entry:
722 @findex diary-anniversary
724 %%(diary-anniversary 10 31 1948) Arthur's birthday (%d years old)
728 gets replaced by the age, so on October 31, 1990 the entry appears in
729 the fancy diary buffer like this:
732 Arthur's birthday (42 years old)
736 If the diary file instead contains this entry:
739 %%(diary-anniversary 10 31 1948) Arthur's %d%s birthday
743 the entry in the fancy diary buffer for October 31, 1990 appears like this:
746 Arthur's 42nd birthday
749 Similarly, cyclic diary entries can interpolate the number of repetitions
754 %%(diary-cyclic 50 1 1 1990) Renew medication (%d%s time)
761 Renew medication (5th time)
765 in the fancy diary display on September 8, 1990.
767 There is an early reminder diary sexp that includes its entry in the
768 diary not only on the date of occurrence, but also on earlier dates.
769 For example, if you want a reminder a week before your anniversary, you
774 %%(diary-remind '(diary-anniversary 12 22 1968) 7) Ed's anniversary
778 and the fancy diary will show
783 both on December 15 and on December 22.
786 The function @code{diary-date} applies to dates described by a month,
787 day, year combination, each of which can be an integer, a list of
788 integers, or @code{t}. The value @code{t} means all values. For
792 %%(diary-date '(10 11 12) 22 t) Rake leaves
796 causes the fancy diary to show
803 on October 22, November 22, and December 22 of every year.
806 The function @code{diary-float} allows you to describe diary entries
807 that apply to dates like the third Friday of November, or the last
808 Tuesday in April. The parameters are the @var{month}, @var{dayname},
809 and an index @var{n}. The entry appears on the @var{n}th @var{dayname}
810 of @var{month}, where @var{dayname}=0 means Sunday, 1 means Monday, and
811 so on. If @var{n} is negative it counts backward from the end of
812 @var{month}. The value of @var{month} can be a list of months, a single
813 month, or @code{t} to specify all months. You can also use an optional
814 parameter @var{day} to specify the @var{n}th @var{dayname} of
815 @var{month} on or after/before @var{day}; the value of @var{day} defaults
816 to 1 if @var{n} is positive and to the last day of @var{month} if
817 @var{n} is negative. For example,
820 %%(diary-float t 1 -1) Pay rent
824 causes the fancy diary to show
831 on the last Monday of every month.
833 The generality of sexp diary entries lets you specify any diary
834 entry that you can describe algorithmically. A sexp diary entry
835 contains an expression that computes whether the entry applies to any
836 given date. If its value is non-@code{nil}, the entry applies to that
837 date; otherwise, it does not. The expression can use the variable
838 @code{date} to find the date being considered; its value is a list
839 (@var{month} @var{day} @var{year}) that refers to the Gregorian
842 The sexp diary entry applies to a date when the expression's value
843 is non-@code{nil}, but some values have more specific meanings. If
844 the value is a string, that string is a description of the event which
845 occurs on that date. The value can also have the form
846 @code{(@var{mark} . @var{string})}; then @var{mark} specifies how to
847 mark the date in the calendar, and @var{string} is the description of
848 the event. If @var{mark} is a single-character string, that character
849 appears next to the date in the calendar. If @var{mark} is a face
850 name, the date is displayed in that face. If @var{mark} is
851 @code{nil}, that specifies no particular highlighting for the date.
853 Suppose you get paid on the 21st of the month if it is a weekday, and
854 on the Friday before if the 21st is on a weekend. Here is how to write
855 a sexp diary entry that matches those dates:
858 &%%(let ((dayname (calendar-day-of-week date))
859 (day (car (cdr date))))
860 (or (and (= day 21) (memq dayname '(1 2 3 4 5)))
861 (and (memq day '(19 20)) (= dayname 5)))
862 ) Pay check deposited
865 The following sexp diary entries take advantage of the ability (in the fancy
866 diary display) to concoct diary entries whose text varies based on the date:
868 @findex diary-sunrise-sunset
869 @findex diary-phases-of-moon
870 @findex diary-day-of-year
871 @findex diary-iso-date
872 @findex diary-julian-date
873 @findex diary-astro-day-number
874 @findex diary-hebrew-date
875 @findex diary-islamic-date
876 @findex diary-french-date
877 @findex diary-mayan-date
879 @item %%(diary-sunrise-sunset)
880 Make a diary entry for the local times of today's sunrise and sunset.
881 @item %%(diary-phases-of-moon)
882 Make a diary entry for the phases (quarters) of the moon.
883 @item %%(diary-day-of-year)
884 Make a diary entry with today's day number in the current year and the number
885 of days remaining in the current year.
886 @item %%(diary-iso-date)
887 Make a diary entry with today's equivalent ISO commercial date.
888 @item %%(diary-julian-date)
889 Make a diary entry with today's equivalent date on the Julian calendar.
890 @item %%(diary-astro-day-number)
891 Make a diary entry with today's equivalent astronomical (Julian) day number.
892 @item %%(diary-hebrew-date)
893 Make a diary entry with today's equivalent date on the Hebrew calendar.
894 @item %%(diary-islamic-date)
895 Make a diary entry with today's equivalent date on the Islamic calendar.
896 @item %%(diary-french-date)
897 Make a diary entry with today's equivalent date on the French Revolutionary
899 @item %%(diary-mayan-date)
900 Make a diary entry with today's equivalent date on the Mayan calendar.
904 Thus including the diary entry
907 &%%(diary-hebrew-date)
911 causes every day's diary display to contain the equivalent date on the
912 Hebrew calendar, if you are using the fancy diary display. (With simple
913 diary display, the line @samp{&%%(diary-hebrew-date)} appears in the
914 diary for any date, but does nothing particularly useful.)
916 These functions can be used to construct sexp diary entries based on
917 the Hebrew calendar in certain standard ways:
920 @findex diary-rosh-hodesh
921 @cindex parasha, weekly
922 @findex diary-parasha
923 @cindex candle lighting times
924 @findex diary-sabbath-candles
928 @findex diary-yahrzeit
930 @item %%(diary-rosh-hodesh)
931 Make a diary entry that tells the occurrence and ritual announcement of each
933 @item %%(diary-parasha)
934 Make a Saturday diary entry that tells the weekly synagogue scripture reading.
935 @item %%(diary-sabbath-candles)
936 Make a Friday diary entry that tells the @emph{local time} of Sabbath
939 Make a diary entry that gives the omer count, when appropriate.
940 @item %%(diary-yahrzeit @var{month} @var{day} @var{year}) @var{name}
941 Make a diary entry marking the anniversary of a date of death. The date
942 is the @emph{Gregorian} (civil) date of death. The diary entry appears
943 on the proper Hebrew calendar anniversary and on the day before. (In
944 the European style, the order of the parameters is changed to @var{day},
945 @var{month}, @var{year}.)
948 All the functions documented above take an optional argument
949 @var{mark} which specifies how to mark the date in the calendar display.
950 If one of these functions decides that it applies to a certain date,
951 it returns a value that contains @var{mark}.
953 @node Appt Customizing
954 @section Customizing Appointment Reminders
956 You can specify exactly how Emacs reminds you of an appointment, and
957 how far in advance it begins doing so, by setting these variables:
959 @vindex appt-message-warning-time
962 @vindex appt-display-mode-line
963 @vindex appt-msg-window
964 @vindex appt-display-duration
965 @vindex appt-disp-window-function
966 @vindex appt-delete-window-function
968 @item appt-message-warning-time
969 The time in minutes before an appointment that the reminder begins. The
970 default is 10 minutes.
972 If this is non-@code{nil}, Emacs rings the
973 terminal bell for appointment reminders. The default is @code{t}.
975 If this is non-@code{nil}, Emacs displays the appointment
976 message in the echo area. The default is @code{t}.
977 @item appt-display-mode-line
978 If this is non-@code{nil}, Emacs displays the number of minutes
979 to the appointment on the mode line. The default is @code{t}.
980 @item appt-msg-window
981 If this is non-@code{nil}, Emacs displays the appointment
982 message in another window. The default is @code{t}.
983 @item appt-disp-window-function
984 This variable holds a function to use to create the other window
985 for the appointment message.
986 @item appt-delete-window-function
987 This variable holds a function to use to get rid of the appointment
988 message window, when its time is up.
989 @item appt-display-duration
990 The number of seconds to display an appointment message. The default