14.5 Evaluating code blocks

Code blocks can be evaluated¹ and the results placed in the Org-mode buffer. By default, evaluation is only turned on for emacs-lisp code blocks, however support exists for evaluating blocks in many languages. See Languages for a list of supported languages. See Structure of code blocks for information on the syntax used to define a code block.

There are a number of ways to evaluate code blocks. The simplest is to press C-c C-c or C-c C-v e with the point on a code block². This will call the org-babel-execute-src-block function to evaluate the block and insert its results into the Org-mode buffer.

It is also possible to evaluate named code blocks from anywhere in an Org-mode buffer or an Org-mode table. #+call (or synonymously #+function or #+lob) lines can be used to remotely execute code blocks located in the current Org-mode buffer or in the “Library of Babel” (see Library of Babel). These lines use the following syntax.

     #+call: <name>(<arguments>) <header arguments>
     #+function: <name>(<arguments>) <header arguments>
     #+lob: <name>(<arguments>) <header arguments>

<name>

The name of the code block to be evaluated.

<arguments>

Arguments specified in this section will be passed to the code block.

<header arguments>

Header arguments can be placed after the function invocation. See Header arguments for more information on header arguments.