8.1 Timestamps, deadlines, and
scheduling
A timestamp
is a specification of a date (possibly with a time or a range of
times) in a special format, either ‘<2003-09-16 Tue>’ or
‘<2003-09-16 Tue
09:39>’ or ‘<2003-09-16 Tue
12:00-12:30>’1. A timestamp can
appear anywhere in the headline or body of an Org tree entry. Its
presence causes entries to be shown on specific dates in the
agenda (see Weekly/daily
agenda). We distinguish:
- Plain timestamp; Event; Appointment
-
A
simple timestamp just assigns a date/time to an item. This is
just like writing down an appointment or event in a paper
agenda. In the timeline and agenda displays, the headline of
an entry associated with a plain timestamp will be shown
exactly on that date.
* Meet Peter at the movies <2006-11-01 Wed 19:15>
* Discussion on climate change <2006-11-02 Thu 20:00-22:00>
- Timestamp with repeater interval
-
A
timestamp may contain a repeater interval,
indicating that it applies not only on the given date, but
again and again after a certain interval of N days (d), weeks
(w), months (m), or years (y). The following will show up in
the agenda every Wednesday:
* Pick up Sam at school <2007-05-16 Wed 12:30 +1w>
- Diary-style sexp entries
-
For more complex date specifications, Org-mode supports using
the special sexp diary entries implemented in the Emacs
calendar/diary package. For example
* The nerd meeting on every 2nd Thursday of the month
<%%(diary-float t 4 2)>
- Time/Date range
-
Two timestamps connected by
‘--’
denote a range. The headline will be shown on the first and
last day of the range, and on any dates that are displayed
and fall in the range. Here is an example:
** Meeting in Amsterdam
<2004-08-23 Mon>--<2004-08-26 Thu>
- Inactive timestamp
-
Just like a plain
timestamp, but with square brackets instead of angular ones.
These timestamps are inactive in the sense that they do
not trigger an entry to show up in the agenda.
* Gillian comes late for the fifth time [2006-11-01 Wed]