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I want to archive an entry automatically when its todo state gets marked as done.

The problem is that you can set up lots of different states that mean done. So a function like this will only work if the done state is literally called DONE:

(defun channing/archive-when-done ()
    (when (equal (org-get-todo-state) "DONE") (org-archive-subtree-default)))
(add-hook 'org-after-todo-state-change-hook
    'channing/archive-when-done)

How can I detect if an entry is in the done state, regardless of the particular keyword?

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You can detect if an org entry is done with the (undocumented) predicate function org-entry-is-done-p. It tests the current entry's todo keyword against org-done-keywords, which is also undocumented. (I discovered these gems after reinventing this particular wheel symbol-for-symbol.)

For your purposes, you could rewrite your function as:

(defun channing/archive-when-done ()
  "Archive current entry if it is marked as DONE (see `org-done-keywords')."
  (when (org-entry-is-done-p)
    (org-archive-subtree-default)))
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  • I think there are problems with this, items get moved but sometimes I get a line like this left in my todo.org: - State "DONE" from "TODO" [2016-02-13 Sat 22:32] which should be with the moved item.
    – Channing Walton
    Commented Feb 13, 2016 at 22:34
  • 1
    @ChanningWalton: hmm, well, for the narrow purposes of the question (how to detect if entry is done), then org-entry-is-done-p is what you need. As for the broader question of the extra material left in your org file, that's a bug in your archive functionality, unfortunately. Good luck tracking it down!
    – Dan ♦
    Commented Feb 13, 2016 at 23:30
  • It seems I have some entertainment ahead of me!
    – Channing Walton
    Commented Feb 13, 2016 at 23:31
  • 1
    @ChanningWalton: most certainly! The org innards are <cough> <cough> baroque, so I don't envy you the task.
    – Dan ♦
    Commented Feb 13, 2016 at 23:33

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