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 if the display supports that, or by placing a plus sign (@samp{+})
56 beside the date otherwise.
58 @vindex mark-holidays-in-calendar
59 Similarly, setting the variable @code{mark-holidays-in-calendar} to
60 @code{t} marks holiday dates, either with a change of face or with an
63 @vindex calendar-holiday-marker
64 @vindex diary-entry-marker
65 The variable @code{calendar-holiday-marker} specifies how to mark a
66 date as being a holiday. Its value may be a character to insert next to
67 the date, or a face name to use for displaying the date. Likewise, the
68 variable @code{diary-entry-marker} specifies how to mark a date that has
69 diary entries. The calendar creates faces named @code{holiday-face} and
70 @code{diary-face} for these purposes; those symbols are the default
71 values of these variables, when Emacs supports multiple faces on your
74 @vindex calendar-load-hook
75 The variable @code{calendar-load-hook} is a normal hook run when the
76 calendar package is first loaded (before actually starting to display
79 @vindex initial-calendar-window-hook
80 Starting the calendar runs the normal hook
81 @code{initial-calendar-window-hook}. Recomputation of the calendar
82 display does not run this hook. But if you leave the calendar with the
83 @kbd{q} command and reenter it, the hook runs again.@refill
85 @vindex today-visible-calendar-hook
86 The variable @code{today-visible-calendar-hook} is a normal hook run
87 after the calendar buffer has been prepared with the calendar when the
88 current date is visible in the window. One use of this hook is to
89 replace today's date with asterisks; to do that, use the hook function
90 @code{calendar-star-date}.
92 @findex calendar-star-date
94 (add-hook 'today-visible-calendar-hook 'calendar-star-date)
98 Another standard hook function marks the current date, either by
99 changing its face or by adding an asterisk. Here's how to use it:
101 @findex calendar-mark-today
103 (add-hook 'today-visible-calendar-hook 'calendar-mark-today)
107 @vindex calendar-today-marker
108 The variable @code{calendar-today-marker} specifies how to mark today's
109 date. Its value should be a character to insert next to the date or a
110 face name to use for displaying the date. A face named
111 @code{calendar-today-face} is provided for this purpose; that symbol is
112 the default for this variable when Emacs supports multiple faces on your
115 @vindex today-invisible-calendar-hook
117 A similar normal hook, @code{today-invisible-calendar-hook} is run if
118 the current date is @emph{not} visible in the window.
120 @vindex calendar-move-hook
121 Starting in Emacs 21, each of the calendar cursor motion commands
122 runs the hook @code{calendar-move-hook} after it moves the cursor.
124 @node Holiday Customizing
125 @section Customizing the Holidays
127 @vindex calendar-holidays
128 @vindex christian-holidays
129 @vindex hebrew-holidays
130 @vindex islamic-holidays
131 Emacs knows about holidays defined by entries on one of several lists.
132 You can customize these lists of holidays to your own needs, adding or
133 deleting holidays. The lists of holidays that Emacs uses are for
134 general holidays (@code{general-holidays}), local holidays
135 (@code{local-holidays}), Christian holidays (@code{christian-holidays}),
136 Hebrew (Jewish) holidays (@code{hebrew-holidays}), Islamic (Moslem)
137 holidays (@code{islamic-holidays}), and other holidays
138 (@code{other-holidays}).
140 @vindex general-holidays
141 The general holidays are, by default, holidays common throughout the
142 United States. To eliminate these holidays, set @code{general-holidays}
145 @vindex local-holidays
146 There are no default local holidays (but sites may supply some). You
147 can set the variable @code{local-holidays} to any list of holidays, as
150 @vindex all-christian-calendar-holidays
151 @vindex all-hebrew-calendar-holidays
152 @vindex all-islamic-calendar-holidays
153 By default, Emacs does not include all the holidays of the religions
154 that it knows, only those commonly found in secular calendars. For a
155 more extensive collection of religious holidays, you can set any (or
156 all) of the variables @code{all-christian-calendar-holidays},
157 @code{all-hebrew-calendar-holidays}, or
158 @code{all-islamic-calendar-holidays} to @code{t}. If you want to
159 eliminate the religious holidays, set any or all of the corresponding
160 variables @code{christian-holidays}, @code{hebrew-holidays}, and
161 @code{islamic-holidays} to @code{nil}.@refill
163 @vindex other-holidays
164 You can set the variable @code{other-holidays} to any list of
165 holidays. This list, normally empty, is intended for individual use.
167 @cindex holiday forms
168 Each of the lists (@code{general-holidays}, @code{local-holidays},
169 @code{christian-holidays}, @code{hebrew-holidays},
170 @code{islamic-holidays}, and @code{other-holidays}) is a list of
171 @dfn{holiday forms}, each holiday form describing a holiday (or
172 sometimes a list of holidays).
174 Here is a table of the possible kinds of holiday form. Day numbers
175 and month numbers count starting from 1, but ``dayname'' numbers
176 count Sunday as 0. The element @var{string} is always the
177 name of the holiday, as a string.
180 @item (holiday-fixed @var{month} @var{day} @var{string})
181 A fixed date on the Gregorian calendar.
183 @item (holiday-float @var{month} @var{dayname} @var{k} @var{string})
184 The @var{k}th @var{dayname} in @var{month} on the Gregorian calendar
185 (@var{dayname}=0 for Sunday, and so on); negative @var{k} means count back
186 from the end of the month.
188 @item (holiday-hebrew @var{month} @var{day} @var{string})
189 A fixed date on the Hebrew calendar.
191 @item (holiday-islamic @var{month} @var{day} @var{string})
192 A fixed date on the Islamic calendar.
194 @item (holiday-julian @var{month} @var{day} @var{string})
195 A fixed date on the Julian calendar.
197 @item (holiday-sexp @var{sexp} @var{string})
198 A date calculated by the Lisp expression @var{sexp}. The expression
199 should use the variable @code{year} to compute and return the date of a
200 holiday, or @code{nil} if the holiday doesn't happen this year. The
201 value of @var{sexp} must represent the date as a list of the form
202 @code{(@var{month} @var{day} @var{year})}.
204 @item (if @var{condition} @var{holiday-form})
205 A holiday that happens only if @var{condition} is true.
207 @item (@var{function} @r{[}@var{args}@r{]})
208 A list of dates calculated by the function @var{function}, called with
209 arguments @var{args}.
212 For example, suppose you want to add Bastille Day, celebrated in
213 France on July 14. You can do this as follows:
216 (setq other-holidays '((holiday-fixed 7 14 "Bastille Day")))
220 The holiday form @code{(holiday-fixed 7 14 "Bastille Day")} specifies the
221 fourteenth day of the seventh month (July).
223 Many holidays occur on a specific day of the week, at a specific time
224 of month. Here is a holiday form describing Hurricane Supplication Day,
225 celebrated in the Virgin Islands on the fourth Monday in August:
228 (holiday-float 8 1 4 "Hurricane Supplication Day")
232 Here the 8 specifies August, the 1 specifies Monday (Sunday is 0,
233 Tuesday is 2, and so on), and the 4 specifies the fourth occurrence in
234 the month (1 specifies the first occurrence, 2 the second occurrence,
235 @minus{}1 the last occurrence, @minus{}2 the second-to-last occurrence, and
238 You can specify holidays that occur on fixed days of the Hebrew,
239 Islamic, and Julian calendars too. For example,
243 '((holiday-hebrew 10 2 "Last day of Hanukkah")
244 (holiday-islamic 3 12 "Mohammed's Birthday")
245 (holiday-julian 4 2 "Jefferson's Birthday")))
249 adds the last day of Hanukkah (since the Hebrew months are numbered with
250 1 starting from Nisan), the Islamic feast celebrating Mohammed's
251 birthday (since the Islamic months are numbered from 1 starting with
252 Muharram), and Thomas Jefferson's birthday, which is 2 April 1743 on the
255 To include a holiday conditionally, use either Emacs Lisp's @code{if} or the
256 @code{holiday-sexp} form. For example, American presidential elections
257 occur on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November of years
261 (holiday-sexp (if (= 0 (% year 4))
262 (calendar-gregorian-from-absolute
263 (1+ (calendar-dayname-on-or-before
264 1 (+ 6 (calendar-absolute-from-gregorian
265 (list 11 1 year))))))
266 "US Presidential Election"))
273 (if (= 0 (% displayed-year 4))
275 (extract-calendar-day
276 (calendar-gregorian-from-absolute
277 (1+ (calendar-dayname-on-or-before
278 1 (+ 6 (calendar-absolute-from-gregorian
279 (list 11 1 displayed-year)))))))
280 "US Presidential Election"))
283 Some holidays just don't fit into any of these forms because special
284 calculations are involved in their determination. In such cases you
285 must write a Lisp function to do the calculation. To include eclipses,
286 for example, add @code{(eclipses)} to @code{other-holidays}
287 and write an Emacs Lisp function @code{eclipses} that returns a
288 (possibly empty) list of the relevant Gregorian dates among the range
289 visible in the calendar window, with descriptive strings, like this:
292 (((6 27 1991) "Lunar Eclipse") ((7 11 1991) "Solar Eclipse") ... )
295 @node Date Display Format
296 @section Date Display Format
297 @vindex calendar-date-display-form
299 You can customize the manner of displaying dates in the diary, in mode
300 lines, and in messages by setting @code{calendar-date-display-form}.
301 This variable holds a list of expressions that can involve the variables
302 @code{month}, @code{day}, and @code{year}, which are all numbers in
303 string form, and @code{monthname} and @code{dayname}, which are both
304 alphabetic strings. In the American style, the default value of this
308 ((if dayname (concat dayname ", ")) monthname " " day ", " year)
312 while in the European style this value is the default:
315 ((if dayname (concat dayname ", ")) day " " monthname " " year)
319 The ISO standard date representation is this:
322 (year "-" month "-" day)
326 This specifies a typical American format:
329 (month "/" day "/" (substring year -2))
332 @node Time Display Format
333 @section Time Display Format
334 @vindex calendar-time-display-form
336 The calendar and diary by default display times of day in the
337 conventional American style with the hours from 1 through 12, minutes,
338 and either @samp{am} or @samp{pm}. If you prefer the European style,
339 also known in the US as military, in which the hours go from 00 to 23,
340 you can alter the variable @code{calendar-time-display-form}. This
341 variable is a list of expressions that can involve the variables
342 @code{12-hours}, @code{24-hours}, and @code{minutes}, which are all
343 numbers in string form, and @code{am-pm} and @code{time-zone}, which are
344 both alphabetic strings. The default value of
345 @code{calendar-time-display-form} is as follows:
348 (12-hours ":" minutes am-pm
349 (if time-zone " (") time-zone (if time-zone ")"))
353 Here is a value that provides European style times:
356 (24-hours ":" minutes
357 (if time-zone " (") time-zone (if time-zone ")"))
360 @node Daylight Savings
361 @section Daylight Savings Time
362 @cindex daylight savings time
364 Emacs understands the difference between standard time and daylight
365 savings time---the times given for sunrise, sunset, solstices,
366 equinoxes, and the phases of the moon take that into account. The rules
367 for daylight savings time vary from place to place and have also varied
368 historically from year to year. To do the job properly, Emacs needs to
369 know which rules to use.
371 Some operating systems keep track of the rules that apply to the place
372 where you are; on these systems, Emacs gets the information it needs
373 from the system automatically. If some or all of this information is
374 missing, Emacs fills in the gaps with the rules currently used in
375 Cambridge, Massachusetts, which is the center of GNU's world.
378 @vindex calendar-daylight-savings-starts
379 @vindex calendar-daylight-savings-ends
380 If the default choice of rules is not appropriate for your location,
381 you can tell Emacs the rules to use by setting the variables
382 @code{calendar-daylight-savings-starts} and
383 @code{calendar-daylight-savings-ends}. Their values should be Lisp
384 expressions that refer to the variable @code{year}, and evaluate to the
385 Gregorian date on which daylight savings time starts or (respectively)
386 ends, in the form of a list @code{(@var{month} @var{day} @var{year})}.
387 The values should be @code{nil} if your area does not use daylight
390 Emacs uses these expressions to determine the start and end dates of
391 daylight savings time as holidays and for correcting times of day in the
392 solar and lunar calculations.
394 The values for Cambridge, Massachusetts are as follows:
398 (calendar-nth-named-day 1 0 4 year)
399 (calendar-nth-named-day -1 0 10 year)
404 i.e., the first 0th day (Sunday) of the fourth month (April) in
405 the year specified by @code{year}, and the last Sunday of the tenth month
406 (October) of that year. If daylight savings time were
407 changed to start on October 1, you would set
408 @code{calendar-daylight-savings-starts} to this:
414 For a more complex example, suppose daylight savings time begins on
415 the first of Nisan on the Hebrew calendar. You should set
416 @code{calendar-daylight-savings-starts} to this value:
419 (calendar-gregorian-from-absolute
420 (calendar-absolute-from-hebrew
421 (list 1 1 (+ year 3760))))
425 because Nisan is the first month in the Hebrew calendar and the Hebrew
426 year differs from the Gregorian year by 3760 at Nisan.
428 If there is no daylight savings time at your location, or if you want
429 all times in standard time, set @code{calendar-daylight-savings-starts}
430 and @code{calendar-daylight-savings-ends} to @code{nil}.
432 @vindex calendar-daylight-time-offset
433 The variable @code{calendar-daylight-time-offset} specifies the
434 difference between daylight savings time and standard time, measured in
435 minutes. The value for Cambridge is 60.
437 @vindex calendar-daylight-savings-starts-time
438 @vindex calendar-daylight-savings-ends-time
439 The variable @code{calendar-daylight-savings-starts-time} and the
440 variable @code{calendar-daylight-savings-ends-time} specify the number
441 of minutes after midnight local time when the transition to and from
442 daylight savings time should occur. For Cambridge, both variables'
445 @node Diary Customizing
446 @section Customizing the Diary
448 @vindex holidays-in-diary-buffer
449 Ordinarily, the mode line of the diary buffer window indicates any
450 holidays that fall on the date of the diary entries. The process of
451 checking for holidays can take several seconds, so including holiday
452 information delays the display of the diary buffer noticeably. If you'd
453 prefer to have a faster display of the diary buffer but without the
454 holiday information, set the variable @code{holidays-in-diary-buffer} to
457 @vindex number-of-diary-entries
458 The variable @code{number-of-diary-entries} controls the number of
459 days of diary entries to be displayed at one time. It affects the
460 initial display when @code{view-diary-entries-initially} is @code{t}, as
461 well as the command @kbd{M-x diary}. For example, the default value is
462 1, which says to display only the current day's diary entries. If the
463 value is 2, both the current day's and the next day's entries are
464 displayed. The value can also be a vector of seven elements: for
465 example, if the value is @code{[0 2 2 2 2 4 1]} then no diary entries
466 appear on Sunday, the current date's and the next day's diary entries
467 appear Monday through Thursday, Friday through Monday's entries appear
468 on Friday, while on Saturday only that day's entries appear.
470 @vindex print-diary-entries-hook
471 @findex print-diary-entries
472 The variable @code{print-diary-entries-hook} is a normal hook run
473 after preparation of a temporary buffer containing just the diary
474 entries currently visible in the diary buffer. (The other, irrelevant
475 diary entries are really absent from the temporary buffer; in the diary
476 buffer, they are merely hidden.) The default value of this hook does
477 the printing with the command @code{lpr-buffer}. If you want to use a
478 different command to do the printing, just change the value of this
479 hook. Other uses might include, for example, rearranging the lines into
480 order by day and time.
482 @vindex diary-date-forms
483 You can customize the form of dates in your diary file, if neither the
484 standard American nor European styles suits your needs, by setting the
485 variable @code{diary-date-forms}. This variable is a list of patterns
486 for recognizing a date. Each date pattern is a list whose elements may
487 be regular expressions (@pxref{Regular Expressions}) or the symbols
488 @code{month}, @code{day}, @code{year}, @code{monthname}, and
489 @code{dayname}. All these elements serve as patterns that match certain
490 kinds of text in the diary file. In order for the date pattern, as a
491 whole, to match, all of its elements must match consecutively.
493 A regular expression in a date pattern matches in its usual fashion,
494 using the standard syntax table altered so that @samp{*} is a word
497 The symbols @code{month}, @code{day}, @code{year}, @code{monthname},
498 and @code{dayname} match the month number, day number, year number,
499 month name, and day name of the date being considered. The symbols that
500 match numbers allow leading zeros; those that match names allow
501 three-letter abbreviations and capitalization. All the symbols can
502 match @samp{*}; since @samp{*} in a diary entry means ``any day'', ``any
503 month'', and so on, it should match regardless of the date being
506 The default value of @code{diary-date-forms} in the American style is
510 ((month "/" day "[^/0-9]")
511 (month "/" day "/" year "[^0-9]")
512 (monthname " *" day "[^,0-9]")
513 (monthname " *" day ", *" year "[^0-9]")
517 The date patterns in the list must be @emph{mutually exclusive} and
518 must not match any portion of the diary entry itself, just the date and
519 one character of whitespace. If, to be mutually exclusive, the pattern
520 must match a portion of the diary entry text---beyond the whitespace
521 that ends the date---then the first element of the date pattern
522 @emph{must} be @code{backup}. This causes the date recognizer to back
523 up to the beginning of the current word of the diary entry, after
524 finishing the match. Even if you use @code{backup}, the date pattern
525 must absolutely not match more than a portion of the first word of the
526 diary entry. The default value of @code{diary-date-forms} in the
527 European style is this list:
530 ((day "/" month "[^/0-9]")
531 (day "/" month "/" year "[^0-9]")
532 (backup day " *" monthname "\\W+\\<[^*0-9]")
533 (day " *" monthname " *" year "[^0-9]")
538 Notice the use of @code{backup} in the third pattern, because it needs
539 to match part of a word beyond the date itself to distinguish it from
542 @node Hebrew/Islamic Entries
543 @section Hebrew- and Islamic-Date Diary Entries
545 Your diary file can have entries based on Hebrew or Islamic dates, as
546 well as entries based on the world-standard Gregorian calendar.
547 However, because recognition of such entries is time-consuming and most
548 people don't use them, you must explicitly enable their use. If you
549 want the diary to recognize Hebrew-date diary entries, for example,
552 @vindex nongregorian-diary-listing-hook
553 @vindex nongregorian-diary-marking-hook
554 @findex list-hebrew-diary-entries
555 @findex mark-hebrew-diary-entries
557 (add-hook 'nongregorian-diary-listing-hook 'list-hebrew-diary-entries)
558 (add-hook 'nongregorian-diary-marking-hook 'mark-hebrew-diary-entries)
562 If you want Islamic-date entries, do this:
564 @findex list-islamic-diary-entries
565 @findex mark-islamic-diary-entries
567 (add-hook 'nongregorian-diary-listing-hook 'list-islamic-diary-entries)
568 (add-hook 'nongregorian-diary-marking-hook 'mark-islamic-diary-entries)
571 Hebrew- and Islamic-date diary entries have the same formats as
572 Gregorian-date diary entries, except that @samp{H} precedes a Hebrew
573 date and @samp{I} precedes an Islamic date. Moreover, because the
574 Hebrew and Islamic month names are not uniquely specified by the first
575 three letters, you may not abbreviate them. For example, a diary entry
576 for the Hebrew date Heshvan 25 could look like this:
579 HHeshvan 25 Happy Hebrew birthday!
583 and would appear in the diary for any date that corresponds to Heshvan 25
584 on the Hebrew calendar. And here is an Islamic-date diary entry that matches
588 IDhu al-Qada 25 Happy Islamic birthday!
591 As with Gregorian-date diary entries, Hebrew- and Islamic-date entries
592 are nonmarking if they are preceded with an ampersand (@samp{&}).
594 Here is a table of commands used in the calendar to create diary entries
595 that match the selected date and other dates that are similar in the Hebrew
600 Add a diary entry for the Hebrew date corresponding to the selected date
601 (@code{insert-hebrew-diary-entry}).
603 Add a diary entry for the day of the Hebrew month corresponding to the
604 selected date (@code{insert-monthly-hebrew-diary-entry}). This diary
605 entry matches any date that has the same Hebrew day-within-month as the
608 Add a diary entry for the day of the Hebrew year corresponding to the
609 selected date (@code{insert-yearly-hebrew-diary-entry}). This diary
610 entry matches any date which has the same Hebrew month and day-within-month
611 as the selected date.
613 Add a diary entry for the Islamic date corresponding to the selected date
614 (@code{insert-islamic-diary-entry}).
616 Add a diary entry for the day of the Islamic month corresponding to the
617 selected date (@code{insert-monthly-islamic-diary-entry}).
619 Add a diary entry for the day of the Islamic year corresponding to the
620 selected date (@code{insert-yearly-islamic-diary-entry}).
623 @findex insert-hebrew-diary-entry
624 @findex insert-monthly-hebrew-diary-entry
625 @findex insert-yearly-hebrew-diary-entry
626 @findex insert-islamic-diary-entry
627 @findex insert-monthly-islamic-diary-entry
628 @findex insert-yearly-islamic-diary-entry
629 These commands work much like the corresponding commands for ordinary
630 diary entries: they apply to the date that point is on in the calendar
631 window, and what they do is insert just the date portion of a diary entry
632 at the end of your diary file. You must then insert the rest of the
635 @node Fancy Diary Display
636 @section Fancy Diary Display
637 @vindex diary-display-hook
638 @findex simple-diary-display
640 Diary display works by preparing the diary buffer and then running the
641 hook @code{diary-display-hook}. The default value of this hook
642 (@code{simple-diary-display}) hides the irrelevant diary entries and
643 then displays the buffer. However, if you specify the hook as follows,
646 @findex fancy-diary-display
648 (add-hook 'diary-display-hook 'fancy-diary-display)
652 this enables fancy diary display. It displays diary entries and
653 holidays by copying them into a special buffer that exists only for the
654 sake of display. Copying to a separate buffer provides an opportunity
655 to change the displayed text to make it prettier---for example, to sort
656 the entries by the dates they apply to.
658 As with simple diary display, you can print a hard copy of the buffer
659 with @code{print-diary-entries}. To print a hard copy of a day-by-day
660 diary for a week, position point on Sunday of that week, type
661 @kbd{7 d}, and then do @kbd{M-x print-diary-entries}. As usual, the
662 inclusion of the holidays slows down the display slightly; you can speed
663 things up by setting the variable @code{holidays-in-diary-buffer} to
666 @vindex diary-list-include-blanks
667 Ordinarily, the fancy diary buffer does not show days for which there are
668 no diary entries, even if that day is a holiday. If you want such days to be
669 shown in the fancy diary buffer, set the variable
670 @code{diary-list-include-blanks} to @code{t}.@refill
672 @cindex sorting diary entries
673 If you use the fancy diary display, you can use the normal hook
674 @code{list-diary-entries-hook} to sort each day's diary entries by their
675 time of day. Here's how:
677 @findex sort-diary-entries
679 (add-hook 'list-diary-entries-hook 'sort-diary-entries t)
683 For each day, this sorts diary entries that begin with a recognizable
684 time of day according to their times. Diary entries without times come
685 first within each day.
687 Fancy diary display also has the ability to process included diary
688 files. This permits a group of people to share a diary file for events
689 that apply to all of them. Lines in the diary file of this form:
692 #include "@var{filename}"
696 includes the diary entries from the file @var{filename} in the fancy
697 diary buffer. The include mechanism is recursive, so that included files
698 can include other files, and so on; you must be careful not to have a
699 cycle of inclusions, of course. Here is how to enable the include
702 @vindex list-diary-entries-hook
703 @vindex mark-diary-entries-hook
704 @findex include-other-diary-files
705 @findex mark-included-diary-files
707 (add-hook 'list-diary-entries-hook 'include-other-diary-files)
708 (add-hook 'mark-diary-entries-hook 'mark-included-diary-files)
711 The include mechanism works only with the fancy diary display, because
712 ordinary diary display shows the entries directly from your diary file.
714 @node Sexp Diary Entries
715 @section Sexp Entries and the Fancy Diary Display
716 @cindex sexp diary entries
718 Sexp diary entries allow you to do more than just have complicated
719 conditions under which a diary entry applies. If you use the fancy
720 diary display, sexp entries can generate the text of the entry depending
721 on the date itself. For example, an anniversary diary entry can insert
722 the number of years since the anniversary date into the text of the
723 diary entry. Thus the @samp{%d} in this dairy entry:
725 @findex diary-anniversary
727 %%(diary-anniversary 10 31 1948) Arthur's birthday (%d years old)
731 gets replaced by the age, so on October 31, 1990 the entry appears in
732 the fancy diary buffer like this:
735 Arthur's birthday (42 years old)
739 If the diary file instead contains this entry:
742 %%(diary-anniversary 10 31 1948) Arthur's %d%s birthday
746 the entry in the fancy diary buffer for October 31, 1990 appears like this:
749 Arthur's 42nd birthday
752 Similarly, cyclic diary entries can interpolate the number of repetitions
757 %%(diary-cyclic 50 1 1 1990) Renew medication (%d%s time)
764 Renew medication (5th time)
768 in the fancy diary display on September 8, 1990.
770 There is an early reminder diary sexp that includes its entry in the
771 diary not only on the date of occurrence, but also on earlier dates.
772 For example, if you want a reminder a week before your anniversary, you
777 %%(diary-remind '(diary-anniversary 12 22 1968) 7) Ed's anniversary
781 and the fancy diary will show
786 both on December 15 and on December 22.
789 The function @code{diary-date} applies to dates described by a month,
790 day, year combination, each of which can be an integer, a list of
791 integers, or @code{t}. The value @code{t} means all values. For
795 %%(diary-date '(10 11 12) 22 t) Rake leaves
799 causes the fancy diary to show
806 on October 22, November 22, and December 22 of every year.
809 The function @code{diary-float} allows you to describe diary entries
810 that apply to dates like the third Friday of November, or the last
811 Tuesday in April. The parameters are the @var{month}, @var{dayname},
812 and an index @var{n}. The entry appears on the @var{n}th @var{dayname}
813 of @var{month}, where @var{dayname}=0 means Sunday, 1 means Monday, and
814 so on. If @var{n} is negative it counts backward from the end of
815 @var{month}. The value of @var{month} can be a list of months, a single
816 month, or @code{t} to specify all months. You can also use an optional
817 parameter @var{day} to specify the @var{n}th @var{dayname} of
818 @var{month} on or after/before @var{day}; the value of @var{day} defaults
819 to 1 if @var{n} is positive and to the last day of @var{month} if
820 @var{n} is negative. For example,
823 %%(diary-float t 1 -1) Pay rent
827 causes the fancy diary to show
834 on the last Monday of every month.
836 The generality of sexp diary entries lets you specify any diary entry
837 that you can describe algorithmically. A sexp diary entry contains an
838 expression that computes whether the entry applies to any given date.
839 If its value is non-@code{nil}, the entry applies to that date;
840 otherwise, it does not. The expression can use the variable @code{date}
841 to find the date being considered; its value is a list (@var{month}
842 @var{day} @var{year}) that refers to the Gregorian calendar.
844 Suppose you get paid on the 21st of the month if it is a weekday, and
845 on the Friday before if the 21st is on a weekend. Here is how to write
846 a sexp diary entry that matches those dates:
849 &%%(let ((dayname (calendar-day-of-week date))
850 (day (car (cdr date))))
851 (or (and (= day 21) (memq dayname '(1 2 3 4 5)))
852 (and (memq day '(19 20)) (= dayname 5)))
853 ) Pay check deposited
856 The following sexp diary entries take advantage of the ability (in the fancy
857 diary display) to concoct diary entries whose text varies based on the date:
859 @findex diary-sunrise-sunset
860 @findex diary-phases-of-moon
861 @findex diary-day-of-year
862 @findex diary-iso-date
863 @findex diary-julian-date
864 @findex diary-astro-day-number
865 @findex diary-hebrew-date
866 @findex diary-islamic-date
867 @findex diary-french-date
868 @findex diary-mayan-date
870 @item %%(diary-sunrise-sunset)
871 Make a diary entry for the local times of today's sunrise and sunset.
872 @item %%(diary-phases-of-moon)
873 Make a diary entry for the phases (quarters) of the moon.
874 @item %%(diary-day-of-year)
875 Make a diary entry with today's day number in the current year and the number
876 of days remaining in the current year.
877 @item %%(diary-iso-date)
878 Make a diary entry with today's equivalent ISO commercial date.
879 @item %%(diary-julian-date)
880 Make a diary entry with today's equivalent date on the Julian calendar.
881 @item %%(diary-astro-day-number)
882 Make a diary entry with today's equivalent astronomical (Julian) day number.
883 @item %%(diary-hebrew-date)
884 Make a diary entry with today's equivalent date on the Hebrew calendar.
885 @item %%(diary-islamic-date)
886 Make a diary entry with today's equivalent date on the Islamic calendar.
887 @item %%(diary-french-date)
888 Make a diary entry with today's equivalent date on the French Revolutionary
890 @item %%(diary-mayan-date)
891 Make a diary entry with today's equivalent date on the Mayan calendar.
895 Thus including the diary entry
898 &%%(diary-hebrew-date)
902 causes every day's diary display to contain the equivalent date on the
903 Hebrew calendar, if you are using the fancy diary display. (With simple
904 diary display, the line @samp{&%%(diary-hebrew-date)} appears in the
905 diary for any date, but does nothing particularly useful.)
907 These functions can be used to construct sexp diary entries based on
908 the Hebrew calendar in certain standard ways:
911 @findex diary-rosh-hodesh
912 @cindex parasha, weekly
913 @findex diary-parasha
914 @cindex candle lighting times
915 @findex diary-sabbath-candles
919 @findex diary-yahrzeit
921 @item %%(diary-rosh-hodesh)
922 Make a diary entry that tells the occurrence and ritual announcement of each
924 @item %%(diary-parasha)
925 Make a Saturday diary entry that tells the weekly synagogue scripture reading.
926 @item %%(diary-sabbath-candles)
927 Make a Friday diary entry that tells the @emph{local time} of Sabbath
930 Make a diary entry that gives the omer count, when appropriate.
931 @item %%(diary-yahrzeit @var{month} @var{day} @var{year}) @var{name}
932 Make a diary entry marking the anniversary of a date of death. The date
933 is the @emph{Gregorian} (civil) date of death. The diary entry appears
934 on the proper Hebrew calendar anniversary and on the day before. (In
935 the European style, the order of the parameters is changed to @var{day},
936 @var{month}, @var{year}.)
939 @node Appt Customizing
940 @section Customizing Appointment Reminders
942 You can specify exactly how Emacs reminds you of an appointment, and
943 how far in advance it begins doing so, by setting these variables:
945 @vindex appt-message-warning-time
948 @vindex appt-display-mode-line
949 @vindex appt-msg-window
950 @vindex appt-display-duration
951 @vindex appt-disp-window-function
952 @vindex appt-delete-window-function
954 @item appt-message-warning-time
955 The time in minutes before an appointment that the reminder begins. The
956 default is 10 minutes.
958 If this is non-@code{nil}, Emacs rings the
959 terminal bell for appointment reminders. The default is @code{t}.
961 If this is non-@code{nil}, Emacs displays the appointment
962 message in the echo area. The default is @code{t}.
963 @item appt-display-mode-line
964 If this is non-@code{nil}, Emacs displays the number of minutes
965 to the appointment on the mode line. The default is @code{t}.
966 @item appt-msg-window
967 If this is non-@code{nil}, Emacs displays the appointment
968 message in another window. The default is @code{t}.
969 @item appt-disp-window-function
970 This variable holds a function to use to create the other window
971 for the appointment message.
972 @item appt-delete-window-function
973 This variable holds a function to use to get rid of the appointment
974 message window, when its time is up.
975 @item appt-display-duration
976 The number of seconds to display an appointment message. The default