C-RET and empty lines

C-RET and empty lines

[Max Nikulin]

Hi,

A couple of recent threads reminded me about quite peculiar behavior 
when a new heading is added by C-RET. I prefer to have an empty line 
before headings. Sometimes such empty lines disappear. Is such behavior 
(highly dependent of context) intentional? From my point of view it is 
confusing.

--- 8< ---
Try =C-RET= when cursor in the following heading titles
* No empty line added

Text
* Existing empty line consumed

Text

* Empty line added before new heading

Text
--- >8 ---

Variants of C-RET effect:

--- 8< ---
* No empty line added

Text
* |
* Existing empty line consumed
--- >8 ---

or

--- 8< ---
* Existing empty line consumed

Text
* |
* Empty line added before new heading
--- >8 ---

or

--- 8< ---
* Empty line added before new heading

Text

* |
--- >8 ---

Re: C-RET and empty lines

[Ihor Radchenko]

Max Nikulin <manikulin@gmail.com> writes:

> A couple of recent threads reminded me about quite peculiar behavior 
> when a new heading is added by C-RET. I prefer to have an empty line 
> before headings. Sometimes such empty lines disappear. Is such behavior 
> (highly dependent of context) intentional? From my point of view it is 
> confusing.

Yes, it is intentional. Org follows the blank lines of the current
heading when you press C-RET, by default.

This behaviour is customizable. See `org-blank-before-new-entry'.

-- 
Ihor Radchenko // yantar92,
Org mode contributor,
Learn more about Org mode at <https://orgmode.org/>.
Support Org development at <https://liberapay.com/org-mode>,
or support my work at <https://liberapay.com/yantar92>

Re: C-RET and empty lines

[Juergen Fenn]

Am 22.08.23 um 11:52 Uhr schrieb Ihor Radchenko:
> This behaviour is customizable. See `org-blank-before-new-entry'.

Thank you for this hint. That was new to me as well.

M-x describe-variable RET org-blank-before-new-entry RET says:

> Should ‘org-insert-heading’ leave a blank line before new heading/item?
> The value is an alist, with ‘heading’ and ‘plain-list-item’ as CAR,
> and a boolean flag as CDR.  The cdr may also be the symbol ‘auto’, in
> which case Org will look at the surrounding headings/items and try to
> make an intelligent decision whether to insert a blank line or not.


Could you please advise how to configure the variable in your init file
to have it produce a blank line before _every_ new entry?

Thanks, and best regards,
Jürgen.

Re: C-RET and empty lines

[Ihor Radchenko]

Juergen Fenn <jfenn@gmx.net> writes:

> Could you please advise how to configure the variable in your init file
> to have it produce a blank line before _every_ new entry?

(setf (alist-get 'heading org-blank-before-new-entry) t)

-- 
Ihor Radchenko // yantar92,
Org mode contributor,
Learn more about Org mode at <https://orgmode.org/>.
Support Org development at <https://liberapay.com/org-mode>,
or support my work at <https://liberapay.com/yantar92>

Re: C-RET and empty lines

[Juergen Fenn]

Am 22.08.23 um 13:38 Uhr schrieb Ihor Radchenko:

>> Could you please advise how to configure the variable in your init file
>> to have it produce a blank line before _every_ new entry?
>
> (setf (alist-get 'heading org-blank-before-new-entry) t)

Thanks, again. Works fine for me. :)

Best Regards,
Jürgen.

Re: C-RET and empty lines

[Max Nikulin]

On 22/08/2023 16:52, Ihor Radchenko wrote:
> Max Nikulin writes:
> 
> Yes, it is intentional. Org follows the blank lines of the current
> heading when you press C-RET, by default.
> 
> This behaviour is customizable. See `org-blank-before-new-entry'.

Thank you for explanation. Frankly speaking, I missed an option "do not 
try to be smart (do not make decisions on hidden content because the 
previous heading is folded)" that just adds "\n*" with appropriate 
number of asterisks. I will try ('heading . t).