Converting to a useful table in org-mode?

Converting to a useful table in org-mode?

[Sharon Kimble]

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I have this list of books that I've read on my kindle which I now want
to store for posterity in org-mode. 

24-11-13 - Andrew Lane - young sherlock Holmes, fire storm 
3-12-13 - Richmal Compton - just Williams New years day 
9-12-13 - richmal compton - still william 
11-1-14 - Pc wren - beau geste 
18-1-14 - Andrew Lane - young sherlock Holmes, the red leech 
26-1-14 - Ian Fleming - casino royale 
24-02-14 - Cory doctorow - little brother 

How can I create a table of them please? 

I've tried highlighting them and then converting the region, but with a bit of elbow-grease and
deletions I get this -

| 24-11-13 | Andrew   Lane     | young   sherlock  Holmes,  fire   storm        |
|  3-12-13 | Richmal  Compton  | just    Williams  New      years  day          |
|  9-12-13 | richmal  compton  | still   william                                |
|  11-1-14 | Pc       wren     | beau    geste                                  |
|  18-1-14 | Andrew   Lane     | young   sherlock  Holmes,  the    red    leech |
|  26-1-14 | Ian      Fleming  | casino  royale                                 |
| 24-02-14 | Cory     doctorow | little  brother                                |

which looks stilted and unnatural! How can I close the gaps in the
cells please and get it all left-aligned? I've tried tabbing in the
cell and that didn't work, and neither did 'C-c C-c'.

Thanks
Sharon.
-- 
A taste of linux = http://www.sharons.org.uk
my git repo = https://bitbucket.org/boudiccas/dots
Debian testing, Fluxbox 1.3.5, emacs 24.3.1
Registered Linux user 561944

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Re: Converting to a useful table in org-mode?

[Michael Weylandt]

On Mar 18, 2014, at 20:39, Sharon Kimble <boudiccas@talktalk.net> wrote:

> I have this list of books that I've read on my kindle which I now want
> to store for posterity in org-mode. 

(OT thus sounds more like tasks/checklists to me)

> 
> 24-11-13 - Andrew Lane - young sherlock Holmes, fire storm 
> 3-12-13 - Richmal Compton - just Williams New years day 
> 9-12-13 - richmal compton - still william 
> 11-1-14 - Pc wren - beau geste 
> 18-1-14 - Andrew Lane - young sherlock Holmes, the red leech 
> 26-1-14 - Ian Fleming - casino royale 
> 24-02-14 - Cory doctorow - little brother 
> 
> How can I create a table of them please? 
> 
> I've tried highlighting them and then converting the region, but with a bit of elbow-grease and
> deletions I get this -
> 
> | 24-11-13 | Andrew   Lane     | young   sherlock  Holmes,  fire   storm        |
> |  3-12-13 | Richmal  Compton  | just    Williams  New      years  day          |
> |  9-12-13 | richmal  compton  | still   william                                |
> |  11-1-14 | Pc       wren     | beau    geste                                  |
> |  18-1-14 | Andrew   Lane     | young   sherlock  Holmes,  the    red    leech |
> |  26-1-14 | Ian      Fleming  | casino  royale                                 |
> | 24-02-14 | Cory     doctorow | little  brother                                |

That looks like a table -- assuming the leftmost pipe is the first character in each row, org should recognize it as a table. For me, the most obvious sign involves turning it purple but I'm not sure if that's set by my color theme or not. 

If it's a table, just put point anywhere inside it and hit TAB and it should auto align (left justified by default)

If that's not working, please send a copy of the file in question and details of your setup, including but not limited to the output of `M-x org-version` and everything in your .emacs with an "org" in it.

Hope that helps,
Michael



> 
> which looks stilted and unnatural! How can I close the gaps in the
> cells please and get it all left-aligned? I've tried tabbing in the
> cell and that didn't work, and neither did 'C-c C-c'.
> 
> Thanks
> Sharon.
> -- 
> A taste of linux = http://www.sharons.org.uk
> my git repo = https://bitbucket.org/boudiccas/dots
> Debian testing, Fluxbox 1.3.5, emacs 24.3.1
> Registered Linux user 561944

Re: Converting to a useful table in org-mode?

[Nick Dokos]

Sharon Kimble <boudiccas@talktalk.net> writes:

> I have this list of books that I've read on my kindle which I now want
> to store for posterity in org-mode. 
>
> 24-11-13 - Andrew Lane - young sherlock Holmes, fire storm 
> 3-12-13 - Richmal Compton - just Williams New years day 
> 9-12-13 - richmal compton - still william 
> 11-1-14 - Pc wren - beau geste 
> 18-1-14 - Andrew Lane - young sherlock Holmes, the red leech 
> 26-1-14 - Ian Fleming - casino royale 
> 24-02-14 - Cory doctorow - little brother 
>
> How can I create a table of them please? 
>

Mark the region and then do

C-u C-u C-u M-x org-table-convert-region RET

When it prompts you for a separator regexp, type ' - ' (without the
quotes, but include the spaces).

-- 
Nick