This is a summary of https://orgmode.org/worg/exporters/org-element-docstrings.html and https://orgmode.org/worg/dev/org-syntax.html.

Shared behavior

Each greater element, element and object has a fixed set of properties attached to it. The following are shared by all types:

begin and end: refer to the beginning and ending position of the element or object
post-blank: number of blank lines or whitespaces at the end
parent: refers to the element or object containing it

Greater elements, elements and objects containing objects also have:

content-begin and content-end: used to delimit content
content: list of elements, objects and raw strings contained in the element or object

Greater elements and elements accepting affiliated keywords have:

post-affiliated: refers to the position after all such keywords

Syntax

Except where mentioned capitalization of the syntax is ignored.

Elements

Elements describe the structure of an org file.

Most elements can contain objects and/or plain text.

Except the following all elements start and end at the beginning of a line:

Clock
Headline
Inlinetask
Item
Planning
Node property
Section Table row

Elements accept a fixed set of keywords as attributes. These are called affiliated keywords (not to be confused with regular keywords which are actual elements).

Some elements have special properties whose value can hold objects themselves. These values are called secondary strings.

The following items are obsolete and won’t be parsed:

Quote section

Blocks

Center block (CENTER)
Comment block (COMMENT)
Dynamic block
Example block (EXAMPLE)
Export block (EXPORT)
Quote block (QUOTE)
Special block
Src block (SRC)
Verse block (VERSE)

Syntax

Except for dynamic blocks they follow this syntax:

CONTENTS

NAME can contain any non-whitespace character. Name determines the type of the block. If name is none of the above mentioned it is a special block.

PARAMETER can contain any character other than new line and can be omitted.

CONTENTS can contain anything except a line #+END_NAME on its own. Lines beginning with stars must be quoted by a comma. CONTENTS will not be parsed except for verse block.

Babel call :affiliated-keywords:

Syntax

This is a guess of the syntax and meaning based on the parse code.

#+CALL: FUNCTION[INSIDE-HEADER](ARGUMENTS) END-HEADER

FUNCTION is the name of a source block to execute.

INSIDE-HEADER can contain everything but ] and a newline.

ARGUMENTS can contain everything but ) and a newline.

END-HEADER can contain everything but a newline.

Properties

call: the function/code block to call
inside-header
arguments: arguments to the function/code block
end-header
begin
end
value: everything after the : as a string
post-blank
post-affiliated
and all affiliated keywords

Center block :greater-element:affiliated-keywords:

Syntax

See syntax for blocks.

Properties

begin
end
hiddenp
contents-begin
contents-end
post-blank
post-affiliated
and all affiliated keywords

Clock

Syntax

CLOCK: TIMESTAMP DURATION

TIMESTAMP and DURATION are optional.

TIMESTAMP is a timestamp object.

DURATION follows the pattern: => HH:MM. HH is a number containing any number of digits. MM is a two digit number.

Properties

status: either closed (if duration is set) or running (if duration is not set)
value: a timestamp
duration: a duration
begin
end
post-blank
post-affiliated = begin

Comment :affiliated-keywords:

Syntax

# CONTENTS

A line starting with a # and space (or end of line). Optionally preceded with whitespace.

CONTENTS can be any string (except newline). If multiple comments are accumulated the newline will be stored a well.

Consecutive comment lines are accumulated into one comment (without leading #).

Properties

begin
end
value
post-blank
post-affiliated
and all affiliated keywords

Comment block :affiliated-keywords:

Syntax

See blocks.

Properties

begin
end
value
post-blank
post-affiliated
and any affiliated keywords

Diary sexp :affiliated-keywords:

Syntax

%%(VALUE

VALUE can contain any character except a newline. The expression has to start at column 0.

Properties

begin
end
value: the entire value (with %%()
post-blank
post-affiliated
and any affiliated keywords

Drawer :greater-element:affiliated-keywords:

Syntax

:NAME:
CONTENTS
:END:

NAME can contain word-constituent characters, hyphens and underscores.

CONTENTS can contain any element but another drawer.

Properties

drawer-name
begin
end
hiddenp
contents-begin
contents-end
post-blank
post-affiliated
and all affiliated keywords

Dynamic block :greater-element:affiliated-keywords:

Syntax

#+BEGIN: NAME PARAMETERS
CONTENTS
#+END:

NAME cannot contain any whitespace characters.

PARAMETERS can contain any character and can be omitted.

The : after END should be present but it is still parsed if it is missing.

Properties

block-name
begin
end
hiddenp
contents-begin
contents-end
arguments
post-blank
post-affiliated
and all affiliated keywords

Example block :affiliated-keywords:

Syntax

See blocks.

PARAMETERS can contain the following flags:

continued number-lines: +n AMOUNT
new number-lines: -n AMOUNT
preserve-indent: -i>
retain-labels: -r>
not use-labels: -k>
label-fmt: -l "FMT" where FMT is anything but " and newline.

Properties

begin
end
value
switches: the PARAMETERS string of the block
number-lines: tuple (kind, number) where kind is either new or continued
preserve-indent
retain-labels
use-labels: flag, if code-references should use labels or line-numbers
label-fmt
post-blank
post-affiliated
and any affiliated keywords

Export block :affiliated-keywords:

Syntax

See blocks.

Where the PARAMETERS string is the backend (case is ignored).

Properties

type: the PARAMETERS string of the block
begin
end
value
post-blank
post-affiliated
and all affiliated keywords

Fixed width :affiliated-keywords:

Syntax

A line beginning with : followed by a whitespace or end of line. Consecutive fixed width lines are accumulated. The : can be preceded by optional whitespace.

Properties

begin
end
value
post-blank
post-affiliated
and all affiliated keywords

Footnote definition :greater-element:affiliated-keywords:

Syntax

[LABEL] CONTENTS

LABEL is either a number or follows the pattern fn:WORD, where WORD can contain any word-constituent character, hyphens and underscore characters.

CONTENTS can contain any element except another footnote definition. It ends at the next footnote definition, headline, two consecutive empty lines or the end of buffer.

Properties

label
begin
end
contents-begin
contents-end
pre-blank: blank lines after [LABEL]
post-blank
post-affiliated
and all affiliated keywords

Headline :greater-element:affiliated-keywords:

Can contain the standard set of objects without line breaks in its title.

Syntax

STARS KEYWORD PRIORITY TITLE TAGS

STARS is a string starting at column 0, containing at least one asterisk. This is used to define the level of the headline. This is the only required part of a headline. If other syntax follows there has to be a single space (or tab) after the stars.

KEYWORD is a todo keyword. Case is significant. If other syntax follows there has to be a single space (or tab) after keyword.

PRIORITY is a priority cookie of the form: [#A] where A can be any letter. Capital letters are recommended.

TITLE can be made of any character but a new line. If the first word in TITLE is COMMENT, the headline will be considered as commented. Case is significant. If TITLE is org-footnote-section, it will be considered as a footnote section. Case is significant.

TAGS is made of words containing any alpha-numeric character, underscore, at sign, hash sign or percent sign. Tags are separated and surrounded by :~s. If ~TAGS contains the ARCHIVE tag, it will be considered archived. Case is significant. There can be an arbitrary amount of whitespace (except newlines) between title and tags. But tags are usually right aligned at a specified column.

Properties

raw-value
title
alt-title
begin
end
pre-blank: blank lines before the content starts
post-blank
hiddenp
contents-begin
contents-end
level
priority
tags
todo-keyword
todo-type
scheduled
deadline
closed
quotedp
archivedp
commentedp
footnote-section-p
and all properties (names in upper case) of the property drawer
post-affiliated

Horizontal rule :affiliated-keywords:

Syntax

A line of at least 5 consecutive hyphens (-----). Can be indented.

Properties

begin
end
post-blank
post-affiliated
and all affiliated keywords

Inlinetask :greater-element:

Can contain the standard set of objects without line breaks in its title.

Syntax

Same syntax as headline but starts with at least org-inlinetask-min-level asterisks.

Inline tasks can be ended with a line of org-inlinetask-min-levek asterisk characters (should be starting at column 0 but this is not strictly required), followed by a sapce and the END string.

Properties

raw-value
title
begin
end
pre-blank: blank lines before the content starts
post-blank
hiddenp
contents-begin
contents-end
level
priority
tags
todo-keyword
todo-type
scheduled
deadline
closed
post-blank
and all properties (names in upper case) of the property drawer
post-affiliated = begin

Item :greater-element:

Can contain the standard set of objects without line breaks in its tag.

Syntax

BULLET COUNTER-SET CHECKBOX TAG

Only BULLET is required. BULLET is either an asterisk, a hyphen, a plus sign (for unordered lists) or follows the pattern COUNTER. or COUNTER) (for ordered lists). BULLET is always followed by a whitespace character (or line ending).

COUNTER is a number or a single letter.

COUNTER-SET follows the pattern [@COUNTER].

CHECKBOX is either a single whitespace character, a X or a hyphen. It is enclosed in squeare brackets.

TAG follows the pattern TAG-TEXT :: where TAG-TEXT can contain any character except a new line.

An item ends before the next item, the first line that is less or equally indented than its starting line, or two consecutive empty lines. Indentation of lines within other greater elements including inlinetask boundaries are ignored.

A plain list is a set of consecutive items of the same indentation. It can only directly contain items.

If the first item in a plain list has a COUNTER in its BULLET the plain list will be an ordered plain list. If it contains a tag, it will be a descriptive list. Otherwise it will be an unordered list.

Properties

bullet
begin
end
contents-begin
contents-end
checkbox: either off (space), on (X) or trans (-)
counter
tag
structure
hiddenp
post-blank
post-affiliated = begin

Keyword :affiliated-keywords:

Can contain the standard set of objects in its value.

Syntax

Similar to affiliated keywords. Orphaned affiliated keywords are considered a regular keyword.

#+KEY: VALUE

KEY can contain any non-whitespace character. But it cannot be equal to CALL or any affilaited keyword.

VALUE can contain any character except a newline.

If KEY is a document property, VALUE can contain objects.

Properties

key
value
begin
end
post-blank
post-affiliated
and all affiliated keywords

Latex environment :affiliated-keywords:

Syntax

\begin{ENVIRONMENT}
CONTENT
\end{ENVIRONMENT}

ENVIRONMENT is a string consisting of alpha-numeric and asterisk characters. Usually the asterisk is only at the end.

CONTENT can be anything except \end{ENVIRONMENT}.

Properties

begin
end
value: everything including the \begin and \end
post-blank
post-affiliated
and all affiliated keywords

Node property

Syntax

Follows one of the following patterns:

:NAME: VALUE
:NAME+: VALUE
:NAME:
:NAME+:

NAME can contain any non-whitespace character but cannot end with a plus sign. It cannot be an empty string.

VALUE can contain anything but a newline character.

Properties

key
value
begin
end
post-blank = 0
post-affiliated = begin

Paragraph :affiliated-keywords:

Can contain the standard set of objects.

Syntax

Anything that is not another element is a paragraph. Paragraphs can contain all other elements and objects. Empty lines and other elements end paragraphs but all inner elements must be closed first.

Properties

begin
end
contents-begin
contents-end
post-blank
post-affiliated
and all affiliated keywords

Plain list :greater-element:affiliated-keywords:

Syntax

See item.

Properties

type
begin
end
contents-begin
contents-end
structure
post-blank
post-affiliated
and all affiliated keywords

Planning

Syntax

Planning can immediately follow a headline. No blank line is allowed.

KEYWORD: TIMESTAMP

KEYWORD is one of DEADLINE, SCHEDULED or CLOSED. Planning can be repeated but one keyword can only be used once.

TIMESTAMP is a timestamp.

Properties

closed
deadline
scheduled
begin
end
post-blank
post-affiliated = begin

Property drawer :greater-element:

Syntax

Property drawers can be directly below headlines (after planning if existent). Its syntax is similar to drawers.

:PROPERTIES:
CONTENTS
:END:

CONTENTS consists of zero or more node properties.

Properties

begin
end
hiddenp
contents-begin
contents-end
post-blank
post-affiliated = begin

Quote block :greater-element:affiliated-keywords:

Syntax

See blocks.

Properties

begin
end
hiddenp
contents-begin
contents-end
post-blank
post-affiliated
and all affiliated keywords

Section :greater-element:

Syntax

A section contains directly any (greater) element. Only a headline can contain a section. Also text before the first headline in the document belongs to a section.

A section ends at the beginning of the next headline or the end of the file.

Properties

begin
end
contents-begin
contents-end
post-blank
post-affiliated = begin

Special block :greater-element:affiliated-keywords:

Syntax

See blocks.

Properties

type
begin
end
hiddenp
contents-begin
contents-end
post-blank
post-affiliated
and all affiliated keywords

Src block :affiliated-keywords:

Syntax

See blocks.

PARAMETERS follow the following pattern: LANGUAGE SWITCHES ARGUMENTS.

LANGUAGE cannot contain any whitespace character.

SWITCHES can be the following:

continued number-lines: +n AMOUNT space is optional, AMOUNT is a number
new number-lines: -n AMOUNT
preserve-indent: -i>
retain-labels: -r>
not use-labels: -k>
label-fmt: -l "FMT" where FMT is anything but " and newline.

ARGUMENTS can contain any character but a newline.

Properties

language
switches
parameters
begin
end
number-lines
retain-labels
use-labels
label-fmt
preserve-indent
value
post-blank
post-affiliated
and all affiliated keywords

Table :greater-element:affiliated-keywords:

Only org tables can only contain table rows. table.el tables don’t have vontent but use the value property to store raw table as a string.

Syntax

Tables start with a line starting with a vertical bar or the string +- followed by plus or minus signs only. Tables can be indented.

Org tables start with a line starting with | (vertical bar) and end at the first line not starting with a vertical bar.

Org tables can be immediately followed by #+TBLFM: FORMULAS lines, where FORMULAS can contain any character.

Example table:

| col1 | col2 | col3 |
|------+------+------|
|  200 |  300 |  500 |
#+TBLFM: $3=$1+$2

Table.el tables start with the string +- followed by plus or minus signs only and end at the first line not starting with either a vertical line or a plus sign.

Example table:

+------+------+------+
| col1 | col2 | col3 |
+------+------+------+
|  200 |  300 |  500 |
+------+------+------+

For more see: http://table.sourceforge.net/.

Properties

begin
end
tblfm
type
contents-begin
contents-end
value
post-blank
post-affiliated
and all affiliated keywords

Table row

Can contain table cells.

Syntax

There are two types of table rows:

standard type

vertical bar and any number of table cells.

| cell1 | cell2 |

rule type

vertical bar followed by hyphens.

|---------------|

A table rule has no content (content-begin = content-end).

Properties

begin
end
contents-begin
contents-end
type: either rule or standard
post-blank = 0
post-affiliated = begin

Verse block :affiliated-keywords:

Can contain the standard set of objects.

Syntax

See blocks.

CONTENTS will be parsed as objects.

Properties

begin
end
contents-begin
contents-end
post-blank
post-affiliated
and all affiliated keywords

Greater elements

Elements containing other elements are called greater elements. These are:

Center block
Drawer
Dynamic block
Footnote definition
Headline
Inlinetask
Item
Plain list
Property drawer
Quote block
Section
Special block
Table

With the exception of headline and item greater elements can not contain greater elements of the same type.

Objects

Objects are related to the org file content. Objects belong to either an element or a secondary string.

Some objects can recursively contain other objects. For later reference the following standard set of objects is defined here:

Export snippet
Footnote reference
Inline babel call
Inline src block
Latex or entity
Line break
Link
Macro
Radio target
Statistics cookie
Sub/Superscript
Target
Text markup (bold, italic, underline, strike through, code, verbatim)
Timestamp

Entity

Syntax

\NAME POST

NAME has a valid association in either org-entities or org-entities-user. It has to conform to the following regular expression: (_ +)|(there4|frac[13][24]|[a-zA-Z]+)

POST is the end of line, the string {} or a non-alphabetical character. It isn’t separated from NAME by a whitespace.

There is a huge list of accepted entities. See https://orgmode.org/worg/org-symbols.org

There can also be user defined entities which are configured in emacs.

Properties

name
latex
latex-math-p
html
ascii
latin1
utf-8
begin
end
use-brackets-p: true if POST is {}
post-blank

latex, latex-math-p, html, ascii, latin1 and utf-8 is defined in org-entities or org-entities-user.

Export snippet

Syntax

@@BACKEND:VALUE@@

BACKEND can contain any alpha-numeric character and hyphens.

VALUE can contain anything but the @@ string.

Properties

backend
value
begin
end
post-blank

Footnote reference

Can contain the standard set in its inline definition.

Syntax

[fn:LABEL]
[fn:LABEL:DEFINITION]
[fn::DEFINITION]

LABEL can contain any word constituent character, hyphens and underscores.

DEFINITION can contain any character. Opening and closing square brackets must be balanced in it. It can contain the standard set of objects, even other footnote references.

If the reference follows the second pattern it is called an inline footnote. If it follows the third one (LABEL omitted) it is an anonymous footnote.

Properties

label
type: standard if it follows the first pattern, inline otherwise
begin
end
contents-begin
contents-end
post-blank

Inline babel call

Syntax

call_NAME(ARGUMENTS)
call_NAME[HEADER](ARGUMENTS)[HEADER]

NAME can contain any character besides (, [, whitespace and newline.

HEADER can contain any character besides ] and newline.

ARGUMENTS can contain any character besides ) and newline.

Both ~HEADER~s are optional.

Properties

call
inside-header
arguments
end-header
begin
end
value
post-blank

Inline src block

Syntax

src_LANG{BODY}
src_LANG[OPTIONS]{BODY}

LANG can contain any non-whitespace character.

OPTIONS and BODY can contain any character but a newline.

Properties

language
value
parameters
begin
end
post-blank

Latex fragment

Syntax

\NAME BRACKETS
\(CONTENTS\)
\[CONTENTS\]
$$CONTENTS$$
PRE$CHAR$POST
PRE$BORDER1 BODY BORDER2$POST

NAME contains alphabetical characters only (can end with an asterisk) and must not have an association in either org-entities or org-entities-user. Otherwise it will be parsed as an entity.

BRACKETS is optional and is not separated from NAME with white spaces. It may contain any number of the following patterns:

[CONTENTS1]
{CONTENTS2}

CONTENTS1 can contain any character except {, }, [, ] and newline.

CONTENTS2 can contain any character except {, } and newline.

CONTENTS can contain any character but cannot contain \) in the second template or \] in the third one.

PRE is either the beginning of line or a character different from $.

CHAR is a non-whitespace character different from ., ,, ?, ;, ' or ".

POST is any punctuation (including parantheses and quotes) or space character or the end of line.

BORDER1 is a non-whitespace character different from ., ,, ; and $.

BODY can contain any character except $ and may not span over more than 3 lines.

BORDER2 is a non-whitespace character idfferent from ., , and $.

Properties

value
begin
end
post-blank

Line break

Syntax

\\SPACE

SPACE is zero or more whitespace characters followed by the end of line.

Properties

begin
end
post-blank = 0

Link

Recursive, can contain: export snippet, inline babel call, inline src block, latex fragment, entity, macro, plain link, statistics cookie, sub/superscript, text markup

Syntax

radio link: PRE1 RADIO POST1
angle link: <PROTOCOL:PATH>
plain link: PRE2 PROTOCOL:PATH2 POST2
bracket link: [[PATH3]DESCRIPTION]

PRE1 and POST1 when they exist are non alphanumeric characters.

RADIO is a string matched by some radio target.

PROTOCOL is a string among org-link-types.

PATH can contain any character but ], <, > and newline.

PRE2 and POST2 when they exist are non word constituent characters.

PATH2 can contain any non-whitespace character except (, ), < and >. It must end with a word-constituent character or any non-whitespace non-punctuation character followed by /.

DESCRIPTION must be enclosed within suqare brachets. It can contain any character but square brackets. It can contain any object found in a paragraph except a footnote reference, a radio target and a line break. It cannot contain another link unless it is a plain or angle link.

DESCRIPTION is optional.

PATH3 is built according to the following patterns:

file type: FILENAME
protocol type: PROTOCOL:PATH4
protocol type: PROTOCOL://PATH4
id type: id:ID
custom-id type: #CUSTOM-ID
coderef type: (CODEREF)
fuzzy type: FUZZY

FILENAME is a file name (absolute or relative).

ID is constituted of hexadecimal numbers separated with hyphens.

PATH4, CUSTOM-ID, CODEREF and FUZZY can contain any character besides square brackets.

Spaces, tabs and newlines (also indentation) in the link are replace with a single space.

Properties

type: one of radio, file, coderef, custom-id, fuzzy
path
format: one of plain, bracket, angle, radio
raw-link
application
search-option
begin
end
contents-begin
contents-end
post-blank

Macro

Syntax

{{{NAME(ARGUMENTS)}}}

NAME must start with a letter and can be followed by any number of alpha-numeric characters, hyphens and underscores.

ARGUMENTS can contain anything but the string }}}. Values within ARGUMENTS are separated by commas. Non-separating commas have to be escaped with a backslash character.

Multiple whitespace and newline characters in ARGUMENTS are replaced by a single space.

Properties

key
value
args
begin
end
post-blank

Radio target

Recursive, can contain: latex fragment, entity, sub/superscript

Syntax

<TARGET>

TARGET follows the same syntax as a target but it can also contain objects.

Properties

begin
end
contents-begin
contents-end
post-blank
value

Statistics cookie

Syntax

[PERCENT%]
[NUM1/NUM2]

PERCENT, NUM1 and NUM2 are numbers or the empty string.

Properties

begin
end
value
post-blank

Sub/Superscript

Recursive, can contain the standard set.

Syntax

subscript: CHAR_SCRIPT
superscript: CHAR^SCRIPT

CHAR is any non-whitespace character.

SCRIPT can be * or any expression enclosed in parenthesis or curly brackets. It can contain balanced paranthesis and curly brackets.

SCRIPT can also follow the pattern:

SIGN CHARS FINAL

SIGN is either a plus sign, a minus sign or an empty string.

CHARS is any number of alpha-numeric characters, commas, backslashes and dots or an empty string.

FINAL is an alpha-numeric character.

There is no whitespace between SIGN, CHARS and FINAL.

Properties

begin
end
use-brackets-p
contents-begin
contents-end
post-blank

Table cell

Recursive, can contain: export snippet, footnote reference, latex fragment, entity, link, macro, radio target, sub/superscript, target, text markup, timestamp

Syntax

CONTENTS SPACES |

CONTENTS can contain any character except a vertical bar.

SPACES contains any number of space and tab characters (including zero). Usually used to align the table properly.

The final bar may be replaced with a newline character for the last cell in row (but doesn’t have to).

Properties

begin
end
contents-begin
contents-end
post-blank = 0

Target

Syntax

<<CONTENTS>>

CONTENTS can contain any character except <, > and newline. It cannot start or end with a whitespace character. It cannot contain any objects.

Properties

begin
end
value
post-blank

Text markup

Is one of bold, italic, underline, strike through, code or verbatim.

Recursive, can contain the standard set

Syntax

PRE MARKER BORDER BODY BORDER MARKER POST

Nothing is separated by whitespace.

PRE is one of -, whitespace, (, ', ", { and beginning of line.

BORDER is anything but whitespace, ,, ' and ".

MARKER is one of * (bold), = (verbatim), / (italic), + (strike through), _ (underline) and “~~~” (code).

BODY can contain any character but may not span over more than 3 lines.

POST is one of -, whitespace, ., ,, :, !, ?, ;, ', ", ), }, [ and end of line.

BORDER BODY BORDER can contain the standard set of objects when the markup is bold, italic, strike through or underline, only the content of verbatim and code is not parsed.

Properties

begin
end
contents-begin
contents-end
post-blank

Verbatim and code don’t have contents-begin and contents-end because they don’t contain parsed content.

Timestamp

Syntax

diary type: <%%(SEXP)>
active type: <DATE TIME REPEATER-OR-DELAY>
inactive type: [DATE TIME REPEATER-OR-DELAY]
active range type: <DATE TIME REPEATER-OR-DELAY>--<DATE TIME REPEATER-OR-DELAY>
active range type: <DATE TIME-TIME REPEATER-OR-DELAY>
inactive range type: [DATE TIME REPEATER-OR-DELAY]--[DATE TIME REPEATER-OR-DELAY]
inactive range type: [DATE TIME-TIME REPEATER-OR-DELAY]

SEXP can contain any character except > and newline.

DATE follows the pattern: YYYY-MM-DD DAYNAME. Y, M and D are digits. DAYNAME is optional and can contain any non whitespace character besides +, -, ], >, a digit and newline.

TIME follows the pattern H:MM. H can be one or two digit long and can start with 0.

REPEATER-OR-DELAY follows the pattern:

MARK VALUE UNIT

MARK is + (cumulate type), ++ (catch-up type) or .+ (restart type) for a repeater and - (all type) or -- (first type) for warning delays.

VALUE is a number.

UNIT is a character among h (hour), d (day), w (week), m (month) and y (year).

MARK, VALUE and UNIT are not separated by whitespace characters.

There can be two REPEATER-OR-DELAY in the timestamp. One as a repeater and one as a warning delay.

Properties

type: one of diary, active-range, active, inactive-range, inactive
raw-value
timestamp-start
- year-start
- month-start
- day-start
- hour-start
- minute-start
timestamp-end
- year-end
- month-end
- day-end
- hour-end
- minute-end
repeater
- repeater-type: one of catch-up, restart, cumulate
- repeater-value
- repeater-unit
warning
- warning-type: one of first, all
- warning-value
- warning-unit
begin
end
post-blank

repeater-unit and warning-unit are one of the following: hour, day, week, month, year.

Affiliated keywords

Affiliated keywords (not to be confused with actual keywords) are no actual elements or objects. But they are attributes of the element or object they precede.

They follow the following patterns:

#+KEY: VALUE
#+KEY[OPTIONAL]: VALUE
#+ATTR_BACKEND: VALUE

The following affiliated keywords are recognized:

CAPTION
HEADER
NAME
PLOT
RESULTS
and ATTR_ followed by any string consisting of alpha-numeric characters, hyphens and underscores

Some keywords have been deprecated. They will be recognized but they will be renamed as follows:

HEADERS = HEADER
LABEL = NAME
SRCNAME = NAME
TBLNAME = NAME
DATA = NAME
RESNAME = NAME
SOURCE = NAME
RESULT = RESULTS

Only CAPTION and RESULTS can have a secondary value.

Only CAPTION, HEADER and ATTR_something keywords can occur more than once in an element. Their value will then be a list of strings.

Only CAPTION~s (secondary) value can have objects in it. The value of ~CAPTION will be stored in a secondary string.

Document properties

The syntax is the same as affiliated keywords but they apply to the whole document. Their values can contain objects and are stored as secondary strings.

Document properties are:

AUTHOR
DATE
TITLE

Secondary string

This is simply a list of strings and objects. It is used where properties or attributes can contain actual objects instead of just text.

Parsing

Parsing complete files or smaller chunks can be done with different granularities:

headline: only parse headlines
greater-element: no recursion into greater elements except headlines and section
element: parse everything except objects and plain text
objects (default): parse everything

When parsing smaller chunks (secondary strings) restrictions can be used to only parse elements of a specific type.

When parsing there are different modes:

first-section: the beginning of a document
section: a section
planning: planning
item: item (with a structure)
node-property: node property
table-row: table row

How parsing is done:

Find current elements type and parse it
Parse elements content (if applicable)
- When no content don’t do anything
- For greater elements: parse recursively between content-begin and content-end (Jump to 1. with next mode, current structure and granularity). Also make sure that granularity allows recursion (or the element is a headline).
- For elements: parse objects inside (if granularity allows it).
Insert the content into the parent element
Update the mode
Return result

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Babel call :affiliated-keywords:

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Center block :greater-element:affiliated-keywords:

Syntax

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Clock

Syntax

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Comment :affiliated-keywords:

Syntax

Properties

Comment block :affiliated-keywords:

Syntax

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Diary sexp :affiliated-keywords:

Syntax

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Drawer :greater-element:affiliated-keywords:

Syntax

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Dynamic block :greater-element:affiliated-keywords:

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Example block :affiliated-keywords:

Syntax

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Export block :affiliated-keywords:

Syntax

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Fixed width :affiliated-keywords:

Syntax

Properties

Footnote definition :greater-element:affiliated-keywords:

Syntax

Properties

Headline :greater-element:affiliated-keywords:

Syntax

Properties

Horizontal rule :affiliated-keywords:

Syntax

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Inlinetask :greater-element:

Syntax

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Item :greater-element:

Syntax

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Keyword :affiliated-keywords:

Syntax

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Latex environment :affiliated-keywords:

Syntax

Properties

Node property

Syntax

Properties

Paragraph :affiliated-keywords:

Syntax

Properties

Plain list :greater-element:affiliated-keywords:

Syntax

Properties

Planning

Syntax

Properties

Property drawer :greater-element:

Syntax

Properties