Re: how to copy a column of a table (with content)

[Marco Wahl]

Uwe Brauer <oub@mat.ucm.es> writes:

> I sometime have to deal with table that contains large columns and I
> want to copy that columns and modify them a bit.
>
> So I usually just insert an empty column and use kill-rectangle and 
> yank-rectangle.
>
> I am wondering, there seems no 
> org-table-kill-this-column and org-table-yank-this-column.
>
> I found 
>
> https://emacs.stackexchange.com/questions/28270/how-to-select-and-copy-a-column-of-an-org-table-without-rectangle-selection#:~:text=Just%20mark%20the%20beginning%20of,table%2Dpaste%2Drectangle%20).
>
> But it did not work for me.
>
> Any ideas?

I use the following function occasionally.  Possibly it helps in your case.

(defun mw-org-table-mark-column ()
  "Mark the column containing point."
  (interactive)
  (unless (org-at-table-p) (user-error "Not at a table"))
  (org-table-find-dataline)
  (org-table-check-inside-data-field)
  (let* ((col (org-table-current-column))
         (beg (org-table-begin))
         (end (org-table-end)))
    (goto-char beg)
    (org-table-goto-column col)
    (re-search-backward "|" nil t)
    (push-mark)
    (goto-char (1- end))
    (org-table-goto-column (1+ col))
    (re-search-backward "|" nil t)
    (exchange-point-and-mark)
    (forward-char)))

Copy a column would be:

1. Put the cursor into that column.
2. M-x mw-org-table-mark-column
3. Move the cursor onto the |.  E.g. { C-b }.
4. M-x copy-rectangle-as-kill
5. Move the cursor to a suitable position in the first line of the table.
6. M-x yank-rectangle

BTW rectangle-mark-mode -- possibly activated with { C-x SPC } -- can
help with the copy and yank in this case.


HTH,
-- 
Marco