Exclude table in org-mode export

Question

While I enjoy the table mode of org and love the way I can work with the data in these tables with eg Python or R I am currently stuck with a simple problem: How can I exclude the table from being exported?

#+TBLNAME: data
| Col1 | Col2 | Col3 | Col4 | Col5 |
...
#+TBLFM: ...

While i do know where I would include the respective option when executing R code (here I write :exports results so that the source is hidden) and while I know that |: as an option should seal the deal:

#+OPTIONS:     H:2 num:t toc:t ::t |:f ^:t f:t tex:t

I still have my huge table in my document. What am I doing wrong?

Answer 1

Embed your table inside a COMMENT block thus:

#+BEGIN_COMMENT

#+TBLNAME: data
| Col1 | Col2 | Col3 | Col4 | Col5 |
...
#+TBLFM: ...

#+END_COMMENT

I use this method for defining tabular data which I then process to produce an exported diagram or plot.

Answer 2

Another smart way is adding :noexport: tag to the section header which includes the data table.

C-c C-q (org-set-tags-command), input "noexport" tag at the section.

If you want to export again, C-c C-q and delete :noexport: tag.

* Data Section not for export                  :noexport:

#+TBLNAME: data
| Col1 | Col2 | Col3 | Col4 | Col5 |
|------+------+------+------+------|
|    1 | 2    | 3    | 4    | 5    |
#+TBLFM: ...

* Analysis Section

#+BEGIN_SRC R :session *R* :results output :exports results :var tmp=data
tmp
#+END_SRC

#+RESULTS:
:   Col1 Col2 Col3 Col4 Col5
: 1    1    2    3    4    5

Answer 3

@Juancho's answer is nice if you want to exclude a specific table from export. If you want to exclude all tables, you can simply set the |: option:

#+OPTIONS: |:nil

Note that the value false is to be denoted by nil not f!

This sets the variable org-export-with-tables whose docstring is:

org-export-with-tables is a variable defined in `ox.el'. Its value is t

Documentation: Non-nil means export tables. This option can also be set with the OPTIONS keyword, e.g. "|:nil".