From mboxrd@z Thu Jan  1 00:00:00 1970
From: Bernt Hansen <bernt@norang.ca>
Subject: Re: dates in a spreadsheet
Date: Wed, 17 Mar 2010 18:39:43 -0400
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	<87eijjynnm.fsf@stats.ox.ac.uk> <joshmattoon@gmail.com>
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	(Josh Mattoon's message of "Wed\, 17 Mar 2010 13\:45\:51 -0700")
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To: Josh Mattoon <joshmattoon@gmail.com>
Cc: Dan Davison <davison@stats.ox.ac.uk>, emacs-orgmode@gnu.org

Josh Mattoon <joshmattoon@gmail.com> writes:

> Hey Nick, the first one came through just fine. This is pretty cool but s=
till not quite what I'm looking for. =C2=A0It totally helped me get what I =
wanted though! =C2=A0I wanted to have a separate row for each day
> so I could fill in activities. =C2=A0Modifying your example I get:=C2=A0
>
> | date =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 | place =C2=A0 | activit=
y =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0| notes =C2=
=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0|
> |------------------+---------+---------------------------+---------------=
---|
> | <2010-03-19 Fri> | =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 | =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =
=C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 | dum=
my =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0|
> | <2010-03-20 Sat> | =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 | =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =
=C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 | =C2=
=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0|
> | <2010-03-21 Sun> | moon =C2=A0 =C2=A0| collect rocks =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=
=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 | =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0=
 =C2=A0 =C2=A0|
> | <2010-03-22 Mon> | jupiter | thrash around the red dot | =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =
=C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0|
> | <2010-03-23 Tue> | mars =C2=A0 =C2=A0| see the little green men =C2=A0|=
 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0|
> | <2010-03-24 Wed> | earth =C2=A0 | =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =
=C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 | home, sweet home |
> #+TBLFM: @2$1 =3D <03-19-2010>::$1 =3D @-1$1 + 1
>
> Exactly what I wanted! =C2=A0I can insert days, move them around, and jus=
t hit C-u C-c C-c to have it update. =C2=A0I'd like to understand how it wo=
rks though, if you don't mind. =C2=A0What does the ::$1 synax mean? =C2=A0A=
nd
> how did it know that we were dealing with a date?

As I understand it

This is a formula line with 2 formulas in it.  The formulas are
separated by the ::

@2$1 =3D <03-19-2010> sets the cell at row 2, column 1 to Mar 19, 2010

Then the next formula just calculates all of the values for column 1
leaving the static entry previously defined alone.

$1 =3D @-1$1 + 1   column 1 entries are the previous row for column 1 plus 1

so it just adds 1 to the initial value of the date for each following
row in your table.

HTH,
Bernt