Reproducing a table

Reproducing a table

[Jarmo Hurri]

Greetings (again).

What is the smartest way to reproduce a table without defining the table
as an Org source block (constraint explained below).

I can do the following, but it doesn't seem very sane (need to use elisp
or some other language just to funnel the table).

# -----------------------------------------------------------------
* define table
  #+name: my-table
  | row 1 |     1 |     2 |
  | row 2 |     3 |     4 |
  |-------+-------+-------|
  |       | col 1 | col 2 |
* reproduce entire table
  I need to be able to reproduce the entire table in my document
  #+BEGIN_SRC elisp :var data=my-table :hlines yes
  (print data)
  #+END_SRC

  #+RESULTS:
  | row 1 |     1 |     2 |
  | row 2 |     3 |     4 |
  |-------+-------+-------|
  |       | col 1 | col 2 |
* reproduce only data
  I also need to be able to pass only the data to functions
  #+BEGIN_SRC elisp :var data=my-table[0:1,1:2]
  (print data)
  #+END_SRC

  #+RESULTS:
  | 1 | 2 |
  | 3 | 4 |
# -----------------------------------------------------------------

The reason I can _not_ define the table as an Org source block is the
second example. I need to pass parts of the table as data to functions,
and constructs like my-table()[0:1,1:2] don't work. (At least I have not
been able to get them to work.)

Jarmo

Re: Reproducing a table

[Christian Moe]

You can simplify it even further to

#+begin_src elisp :var data=my-table :hlines yes
  data  
#+end_src

which is sane enough for me.

To get simpler than that, I think you need #+INCLUDE and a separate
file.

I can't tell from the example why you need to define it in one place and
reproduce it in another, though, instead of just giving it a name right
where you want it to appear. (One situation where it would be helpful,
obviously, is if you want the same table to appear in multiple documents
that you export from the same .org file.)

Yours,
Christian


Jarmo Hurri writes:

> Greetings (again).
>
> What is the smartest way to reproduce a table without defining the table
> as an Org source block (constraint explained below).
>
> I can do the following, but it doesn't seem very sane (need to use elisp
> or some other language just to funnel the table).
>
> # -----------------------------------------------------------------
> * define table
>   #+name: my-table
>   | row 1 |     1 |     2 |
>   | row 2 |     3 |     4 |
>   |-------+-------+-------|
>   |       | col 1 | col 2 |
> * reproduce entire table
>   I need to be able to reproduce the entire table in my document
>   #+BEGIN_SRC elisp :var data=my-table :hlines yes
>   (print data)
>   #+END_SRC
>
>   #+RESULTS:
>   | row 1 |     1 |     2 |
>   | row 2 |     3 |     4 |
>   |-------+-------+-------|
>   |       | col 1 | col 2 |
> * reproduce only data
>   I also need to be able to pass only the data to functions
>   #+BEGIN_SRC elisp :var data=my-table[0:1,1:2]
>   (print data)
>   #+END_SRC
>
>   #+RESULTS:
>   | 1 | 2 |
>   | 3 | 4 |
> # -----------------------------------------------------------------
>
> The reason I can _not_ define the table as an Org source block is the
> second example. I need to pass parts of the table as data to functions,
> and constructs like my-table()[0:1,1:2] don't work. (At least I have not
> been able to get them to work.)
>
> Jarmo

Re: Reproducing a table

[Jarmo Hurri]

Christian Moe <mail@christianmoe.com> writes:

Greetings.

> You can simplify it even further to
>
> #+begin_src elisp :var data=my-table :hlines yes
>   data  
> #+end_src
>
> which is sane enough for me.
>
> To get simpler than that, I think you need #+INCLUDE and a separate
> file.

I think that would be the best approach.

> I can't tell from the example why you need to define it in one place
> and reproduce it in another, though, instead of just giving it a name
> right where you want it to appear.

The table contains a bivariate probability distribution, which I need to
reproduce at multiple locations in a document, and from which I need to
calculate a few things (which is why I need to pass the data part to
functions).

This is part of a process of fixing an old Org file which no longer
exports into LaTeX PDF. In some earlier version of Org the following
used to work:

  #+name: my-table
  | row 1 |     1 |     2 |
  | row 2 |     3 |     4 |
  |-------+-------+-------|
  |       | col 1 | col 2 |

  #+call: my-table() :hlines yes

That is, in the past the table name used to sort of define a function
which could then be called to reproduce the table. But this produced
errors in the current version, so I started to figure out ways to
achieve the same end result.

Thanks!

Jarmo

Re: Reproducing a table

[Christian Moe]

Jarmo Hurri writes:

> In some earlier version of Org the following
> used to work:
>
>   #+name: my-table
>   | row 1 |     1 |     2 |
>   | row 2 |     3 |     4 |
>   |-------+-------+-------|
>   |       | col 1 | col 2 |
>
>   #+call: my-table() :hlines yes
>
> That is, in the past the table name used to sort of define a function
> which could then be called to reproduce the table. But this produced
> errors in the current version, so I started to figure out ways to
> achieve the same end result.

I see! I had no idea that this was possible, but it does indeed work for
me (I'm still on version 8.3.4).

Yours,
Christian