31.10.4 Commands to Add to the Diary

While in the calendar, there are several commands to create diary entries. The basic commands are listed here; more sophisticated commands are in the next section (see Special Diary Entries). Entries can also be based on non-Gregorian calendars. See Diary Entries Using non-Gregorian Calendars.

i d

Add a diary entry for the selected date ( diary-insert-entry).

i w

Add a diary entry for the selected day of the week ( diary-insert-weekly-entry).

i m

Add a diary entry for the selected day of the month ( diary-insert-monthly-entry).

i y

Add a diary entry for the selected day of the year ( diary-insert-yearly-entry).

You can make a diary entry for a specific date by selecting that date in the calendar window and typing the i d command. This command displays the end of your diary file in another window and inserts the date; you can then type the rest of the diary entry.

If you want to make a diary entry that applies to a specific day of the week, select that day of the week (any occurrence will do) and type i w. This inserts the day-of-week as a generic date; you can then type the rest of the diary entry. You can make a monthly diary entry in the same fashion: select the day of the month, use the i m command, and type the rest of the entry. Similarly, you can insert a yearly diary entry with the i y command.

All of the above commands make marking diary entries by default. To make a nonmarking diary entry, give a prefix argument to the command. For example, C-u i w makes a nonmarking weekly diary entry.

When you modify the diary file, be sure to save the file before exiting Emacs. Saving the diary file after using any of the above insertion commands will automatically update the diary marks in the calendar window, if appropriate. You can use the command calendar-redraw to force an update at any time.