Help with org-map-entries and property searches

Help with org-map-entries and property searches

[Ben Alexander]

Hi,

I'm trying to code lisp, and it's slow going for me.  I was hoping  
someone with a few spare cycles could explain why this doesn't work  
the way I expect.  I typed the following code into an org file and hit  
C-x C-e (eval-last-sexp):

(length (org-map-entries t "+LEDGER=\"entry\""))                      
=> 1
(length (org-map-entries t "+LEDGER=\"transaction\""))                
=> 2

This looks good: I do have two headlines with a property called LEDGER  
where the value is "transaction" (no quotes)

However, all of the following attempts to search for both kinds of (or  
all) values fail (no error, just the wrong value).  What am I doing  
wrong?

(length (org-map-entries t "+LEDGER={\"transaction\"\|\"entry\"}"))   
=> 0
(length (org-map-entries t "+LEDGER={transaction\|entry}"))           
=> 0
(length (org-map-entries t "+LEDGER=entry"))                          
=> 0
(length (org-map-entries t "+LEDGER"))                                
=> 0

I was inspired by this example of a property search from the org info  
page (section 7.3)

      +work-boss+PRIORITY="A"+Coffee="unlimited"+Effort<2         \
               +With={Sarah\|Denny}+SCHEDULED>="<2008-10-11>"

I've tried this in
GNU Emacs 22.3.2 (i386-apple-darwin9.5.0, Carbon Version 1.6.0) of  
2008-09-21 on plume.sr.unh.edu - Aquamacs Distribution 1.5
and
GNU Emacs 22.3.1 (i386-apple-darwin9.5.1, Carbon Version 1.6.0) of  
2008-11-07 on Xander.local (compiled via MacPorts)

Org-mode version 6.15a in both.

I also got the same results when I did it after a 'start-vanilla- 
aquamacs' (thanks to William Henney for the tip!)

Thanks,
Ben

Re: Help with org-map-entries and property searches

[Bernt Hansen]

Ben Alexander <bva@alexanderonline.org> writes:

> However, all of the following attempts to search for both kinds of (or
> all) values fail (no error, just the wrong value).  What am I doing
> wrong?
>
> (length (org-map-entries t "+LEDGER={\"transaction\"\|\"entry\"}"))
> => 0
> (length (org-map-entries t "+LEDGER={transaction\|entry}"))
> => 0
> (length (org-map-entries t "+LEDGER=entry"))
> => 0
> (length (org-map-entries t "+LEDGER"))
> => 0
>

Try this:  (add 2 more \ characters before the |)

(length (org-map-entries t "+LEDGER={transaction\\\|entry}"))
=> 3

HTH,

Bernt

Re: Help with org-map-entries and property searches

[Ben Alexander]

Genius!

Thanks!

On 2008-Dec-17, at 15:46, Bernt Hansen wrote:

> Ben Alexander <bva@alexanderonline.org> writes:
>
>> However, all of the following attempts to search for both kinds of  
>> (or
>> all) values fail (no error, just the wrong value).  What am I doing
>> wrong?
>>
>
> Try this:  (add 2 more \ characters before the |)
>
> (length (org-map-entries t "+LEDGER={transaction\\\|entry}"))
> => 3
>
> HTH,
>
> Bernt