Re: Complex conversion of text to org table

[Thierry Banel <tbanelwebmin@free.fr>]

Use a regex replacement. Basically you replace the 1st space with a
vertical pipe:

M-x query-replace-regexp
^\([^ ]+\)
|\1|
answer yes repeatedly,
then type TAB to align the table.


Le 12/03/2017 16:14, Xebar Saram a écrit :
> Hi list
>
> so im trying to use orgmode to collect food recepies. i have one issue
> which is to convert text based ingridents list into org tables.
>
> for example take this list
>
> 3/4 cup milk
> 2 tablespoons white vinegar
> 1 cup all-purpose flour
> 2 tablespoons white sugar
> 1 teaspoon baking powder
> 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
> 1/2 teaspoon salt
> 1 egg
> 2 tablespoons butter, melted
> cooking spray
>
> if i mark this as a region and issue
> `org-table-create-or-convert-from-region` this is the result
>
> |     3/4 | cup         | milk        |         |      |        |    
> |       |         |
> |       2 | tablespoons | white       | vinegar | (%or | better | yet
> | lemon | juice%) |
> |       1 | cup         | all-purpose | flour   |      |        |    
> |       |         |
> |       2 | tablespoons | white       | sugar   |      |        |    
> |       |         |
> |       1 | teaspoon    | baking      | powder  |      |        |    
> |       |         |
> |     1/2 | teaspoon    | baking      | soda    |      |        |    
> |       |         |
> |     1/2 | teaspoon    | salt        |         |      |        |    
> |       |         |
> |       1 | egg         |             |         |      |        |    
> |       |         |
> |       2 | tablespoons | butter,     | melted  |      |        |    
> |       |         |
> | cooking | spray       |             |         |      |        |    
> |       |         |
>
>
> as you can see it got the amount (1/2) and the unit (cup) right yet
> the actual ingredients is cut into several columns
>
> i dont really know how to deal with this. is there a more intelligent
> way of auto directing the conversion to split it the correct way?
>
> if not any suggestions on how to convert it in a better way? perhaps a
> command to quick delete the separator (|) across all the column?
>
> thx alot in advance
>
> Z