-@node Format of Diary File
-@subsection The Diary File
-@cindex diary file
-
-@vindex diary-file
- Your @dfn{diary file} is a file that records events associated with
-particular dates. The name of the diary file is specified by the
-variable @code{diary-file}; @file{~/diary} is the default. The
-@code{calendar} utility program supports a subset of the format allowed
-by the Emacs diary facilities, so you can use that utility to view the
-diary file, with reasonable results aside from the entries it cannot
-understand.
-
- Each entry in the diary file describes one event and consists of one
-or more lines. An entry always begins with a date specification at the
-left margin. The rest of the entry is simply text to describe the
-event. If the entry has more than one line, then the lines after the
-first must begin with whitespace to indicate they continue a previous
-entry. Lines that do not begin with valid dates and do not continue a
-preceding entry are ignored.
-
- You can also use a format where the first line of a diary entry
-consists only of the date or day name (with no following blanks or
-punctuation). For example:
-
-@example
-02/11/2012
- Bill B. visits Princeton today
- 2pm Cognitive Studies Committee meeting
- 2:30-5:30 Liz at Lawrenceville
- 4:00pm Dentist appt
- 7:30pm Dinner at George's
- 8:00-10:00pm concert
-@end example
-
-@noindent
-This entry will have a different appearance if you use the simple diary
-display
-@iftex
-(@pxref{Diary Display,,, emacs-xtra, Specialized Emacs Features}).
-@end iftex
-@ifnottex
-(@pxref{Diary Display}).
-@end ifnottex
-The simple diary display omits the date line at the beginning; only the
-continuation lines appear. This style of entry looks neater when you
-display just a single day's entries, but can cause confusion if you ask
-for more than one day's entries.
-
-@vindex diary-nonmarking-symbol
- You can inhibit the marking of certain diary entries in the calendar
-window; to do this, insert the string that
-@code{diary-nonmarking-symbol} specifies (default @samp{&}) at the
-beginning of the entry, before the date. This
-has no effect on display of the entry in the diary window; it only
-affects marks on dates in the calendar window. Nonmarking entries are
-especially useful for generic entries that would otherwise mark many
-different dates.
-