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I have two org subtrees that look like this:

* Subtree A [2016-03-31 Thu 07:11] 
This is subtree A.
* Subtree B [2016-03-31 Thu 07:12] 
This is subtree B.

If I run M-x org-cut-subtree with my cursor at the beginning of Subtree A and then immediately run it again (at the beginning of Subtree B), what I end up with is a single kill-ring entry that looks like this:

* Subtree A [2016-03-31 Thu 07:11] 
This is subtree A.
* Subtree B [2016-03-31 Thu 07:12] 
This is subtree B.

I want only the subtree I'm cutting to end up in each kill ring; I don't want subsequent cuts to be appended.

I've spent a good amount of time trying to figure this out (I'm relatively new to Emacs) and I believe the reason for this appending behavior is the following:

two or more kill commands in a row combine their text into a single entry, so that a single C-y yanks all the text as a unit, just as it was before it was killed. https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/manual/html_node/emacs/Appending-Kills.html

What I want is to only push the currently cut subtree onto the ring, not append.

I'm using org-cut-subtree in a function that I run repeatedly while reviewing my refile.org. I run the function to refile each subtree once I've reviewed it, however this appending to existing kill ring behavior is causing duplicate entries to be refiled whenever I run the command more than once (the second call ends up refiling a copy of both the previous and the current subtree).

How can I prevent this from happening? I noticed if I run M-SPC to set a new mark before calling org-cut-subtree again, the issue seems to get resolved, but I haven't been able to figure out how to do that from within my function.

For a little context, here's the function where I'm using org-cut-subtree (to refile journal entries from refile.org into my main journal file):

(defun my/org-refile-to-journal ()
  "Refile an entry to journal file's date-tree"
  (interactive)
  (require 'org-datetree)
  (let ((journal (expand-file-name "journal-2016.org" org-directory))
    post-date)
    (setq post-date (or (org-entry-get (point) "TIMESTAMP_IA")
            (org-entry-get (point) "TIMESTAMP")))
    (setq post-date (nthcdr 3 (parse-time-string post-date)))
    (setq post-date (list (cadr post-date)
              (car post-date)
              (caddr post-date)))
    (org-cut-subtree)
    (with-current-buffer (or (find-buffer-visiting journal)
                 (find-file-noselect journal))
      (save-excursion
    (org-datetree-file-entry-under (current-kill 0) post-date)
    (bookmark-set "org-refile-last-stored")))
    (message "Refiled to %s" journal)))

Answer

As @lawlist explained in a comment to his answer below, adding (setq this-command 'my/org-refile-to-journal) to the end of my function does exactly what I wanted.

A review of the source for kill-region (which org-cut-subtree uses to cut) reveals that kill-region will only append to an existing ring if this-command is set to a kill-related function (i.e., if the previous command was a kill-related function).

Since 'my/org-refile-to-journal is not a kill-related function, setting this-command to that function effectively temporarily disables the append-to-kill-ring behavior when running my function multiple times in a row.

For reference, here's my updated function that is working as expected:

(defun my/org-refile-to-journal ()
  "Refile an entry to journal file's date-tree"
  (interactive)
  (require 'org-datetree)
  (let ((journal (expand-file-name "journal-2016.org" org-directory))
    post-date)
    (setq post-date (or (org-entry-get (point) "TIMESTAMP_IA")
            (org-entry-get (point) "TIMESTAMP")))
    (setq post-date (nthcdr 3 (parse-time-string post-date)))
    (setq post-date (list (cadr post-date)
              (car post-date)
              (caddr post-date)))
    (org-cut-subtree)
    (with-current-buffer (or (find-buffer-visiting journal)
                 (find-file-noselect journal))
      (save-excursion
    (org-datetree-file-entry-under (current-kill 0) post-date)
    (bookmark-set "org-refile-last-stored")))
    (message "Refiled to %s" journal))
  (setq this-command 'my/org-refile-to-journal))
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0
2

Under certain kill-related circumstances, the kill-related function(s) expressly set this-command to kill-region. The function kill-region looks at the value of the previous command -- which becomes last-command -- and appends subsequent kills to prior kills (if (eq last-command 'kill-region) . . . One way of preventing the append behavior is to modify the value of this-command at the tail end of the current function (which was modified by kill-region). For example, the original poster could place the following snippet at the tail end of his current function: (setq this-command 'my/org-refile-to-journal)

The following snippet achieves a different result -- i.e., it merely preserves the prior values of kill-ring and kill-ring-yank-pointer. For example, a user may wish to run a series of cut/paste operations that rely upon the kill-ring, but the user may nevertheless desire that his/her kill-ring remain the same as it was before running those cut/paste operations. To the extent that the user wishes to preserve his/her system clipboard in its original state, the following variables can also be set temporarily to nil by let-binding them: interprogram-cut-function and interprogram-paste-function.

(require 'cl) ;; for `copy-list'

(defun hello-world ()
"doc-string"
(interactive)
(let* (
    (original-kill-ring (copy-list kill-ring))
    (original-kill-ring-yank-pointer (copy-list kill-ring-yank-pointer))
    [INSERT ANYTHING ELSE THAT NEEDS LET-BINDING] )
  [INSERT CUSTOM STUFF HERE]
  (setq kill-ring original-kill-ring)
  (setq kill-ring-yank-pointer original-kill-ring-yank-pointer)))

I see that the original poster is programmatically reorganizing org-mode files. Although not needed to answer the question, the following link contains another method to accomplish something similar using org-archive-subtree which can cut/paste things to different locations (including other files): https://stackoverflow.com/a/22232709/2112489 -- the variables org-archive-location and org-archive-save-context-info facilitate that process.

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  • When I try using your above example, I get "user-error: The kill is not a (set of) tree(s) - please use s-v to yank anyway" on the second call to my function (the first call works fine, but all subsequent calls result in that error).
    – Raam Dev
    Mar 31 '16 at 23:34
  • The original answer was meant to be a snippet, not an entire function. I updated the example to include a sample function -- you'll need to insert your additional let-bound variables at the section that reads [INSERT ANYTHING ELSE THAT NEEDS LET-BINDING], and you'll need to insert everything that should be in the middle at [INSERT CUSTOM STUFF HERE]. Because I am not going to be duplicating your exact working environment, I don't feel comfortable inserting your own code because I have no way to test it.
    – lawlist
    Mar 31 '16 at 23:59
  • I'm still having trouble getting it working. I've only recently started learning Lisp, so it's probably something obvious that I'm doing wrong. I just read up about let-binding, as I wasn't even sure what that was. I think my trouble with using your snippet is that I'm not sure what "custom stuff" is versus stuff that needs to be let-bound, and then how to adapt the code in my existing function (which I pulled from somewhere) to use your snippet (which I do understand--it sounds like exactly what I need). It's getting late here; I'll have to revisit this with a clear head. Appreciate the help!
    – Raam Dev
    Apr 1 '16 at 0:32
  • Perhaps you can achieve what you really want by just making the last line of your custom function named my/org-refile-to-journal include: (setq this-command 'my/org-refile-to-journal) I suggest that because the kill-related command(s) look to see what the last function was in order to determine whether to append to a previous kill. And the kill-related function(s) expressly set this-command depending upon the circumstances -- so you can change the value of this-command at the very end of your function. The answer above is different -- i.e., it just preserves the prior kill-ring.
    – lawlist
    Apr 1 '16 at 5:41
  • That worked! Adding (setq this-command 'my/org-refile-to-journal) to the end of my function did exactly what I wanted. Also, it seems like my kill ring is preserved anyway--after running my function three times consecutively, I see three entries for the subtrees I cut plus everything else that was already on my kill ring. Reviewing the code for the kill-related functions now to figure out how that's working.
    – Raam Dev
    Apr 1 '16 at 10:26
1

Sorry, I misunderstood your question.

org-cut-subtree is calling org-copy-subtree, which then calls kill-region. As you've discovered, this will result in a series of kills getting appended together. @lawlist has provide a workaround, and it should be ok if you don't mind not having the kills available in your kill-ring beyond the duration of the function itself.

As an alternative, you could use a modified version of org-copy-subtree to force each kill to be treated as a distinct unit, and not appended.

For example:

(defun my-cut-trees1 ()
  "Cut subtrees using org defaults"
  (interactive)
  (org-cut-subtree))

(defun my-cut-trees2 ()
  "Cut subtrees without appending kills"
  (interactive)
  (my-org-copy-subtree nil 'cut))

(defun my-org-copy-subtree (&optional n cut force-store-markers nosubtrees)
  "org-copy-subtree, but without appending adjacent kills"
  (interactive "p")
  (let (beg end folded (beg0 (point)))
    (if (org-called-interactively-p 'any)
        (org-back-to-heading nil) ; take what looks like a subtree
      (org-back-to-heading t)) ; take what is really there
    (setq beg (point))
    (skip-chars-forward " \t\r\n")
    (save-match-data
      (if nosubtrees
          (outline-next-heading)
        (save-excursion (outline-end-of-heading)
                        (setq folded (outline-invisible-p)))
        (ignore-errors (org-forward-heading-same-level (1- n) t))
        (org-end-of-subtree t t)))
    ;; Include the end of an inlinetask
    (when (and (featurep 'org-inlinetask)
               (looking-at-p (concat (org-inlinetask-outline-regexp)
                                     "END[ \t]*$")))
      (end-of-line))
    (setq end (point))
    (goto-char beg0)
    (when (> end beg)
      (setq org-subtree-clip-folded folded)
      (when (or cut force-store-markers)
        (org-save-markers-in-region beg end))

      ;; MODIFICATION HERE
      ;; replace kill-region with kill-new/delete-region 
      (if cut (progn (kill-new (buffer-substring beg end))
                     (delete-region beg end))
      ;; end modification

        (copy-region-as-kill beg end))
      (setq org-subtree-clip (current-kill 0))
      (message "%s: Subtree(s) with %d characters"
               (if cut "Cut" "Copied")
               (length org-subtree-clip)))))

Try this on your org file: my-cut-trees1, which calls org-cut-subtree will append kills, but my-cut-trees2, which uses my modified org-copy-subtree instead won't. Maybe that will solve your problem.

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