Re: Iterate over list with `org-next-item'

[Nick Dokos <nicholas.dokos@hp.com>]

Zachary Young <zacharysyoung@gmail.com> wrote:


> I am trying to iterate over a list with `org-next-item'. I just tried:
> 
> (ignore-errors (while (equal nil (org-next-item))))
> 
> and it worked.
> 
> Is there a better way to do this? I'm not very versed in Elisp, and
> `org-next-item' returning `nil' on success, and throwing an error at the end
> of the list is throwing me a bit.
> 

It's always a good idea to browse the org-mode code itself for examples: after
all it's been written by (or vetted by) the experts, so it should provide a
good foundation.

I found three examples of org-next-item usage, two of which are shown here
(the third one is a bit subtler):

* org.el:

--8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8---
(defun org-skip-over-state-notes ()
  "Skip past the list of State notes in an entry."
  (if (looking-at "\n[ \t]*- State") (forward-char 1))
  (while (looking-at "[ \t]*- State")
    (condition-case nil
	(org-next-item)
      (error (org-end-of-item)))))
--8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8---

* org-mouse.el:

--8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8---
(defun org-mouse-for-each-item (function)
  (save-excursion
    (ignore-errors
      (while t (org-previous-item)))
    (ignore-errors
      (while t
	(funcall function)
	(org-next-item)))))
--8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8---


As you can see, the second almost matches what you came up with, but the
condition is simpler: the code *uses* the error raised to get
out of the (otherwise infinite) loop, so there is no need to check
what org-next-item returns.

HTH
Nick