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]