Should I be able to use `org-agenda-filter` to filter by todo keyword?
reddit / emacs

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graduale · 2022-10-17 03:00

Start `emacs -Q`, create an `.org` file somewhere with the following
contents and add it to the agenda (with `org-agenda-file-to-front`,
say):

    #+TODO: TODO WAIT | DONE
    * TODO This is a test
:work:
    * WAIT This is another test
:work:

Run `(org-tags-view nil "work+TODO=\"WAIT\"")` and you will see, as
expected, an agenda view containing only the task tagged "WAIT".

Quit the agenda and call `org-todo-list`, then run `org-agenda-
filter`, and enter `work+TODO="WAIT"` at the prompt. Do you get the
exact same result? I had assumed I would, but I do not. Instead I get
this message:

    ‘+TODO’ filter ignored because tag/category is not represented

So, questions:

- Is this as it should be?
- Is there a way of using `org-agenda-filter` to filter out tasks with
a specific todo keyword?

I realize I could do this:

    (setq org-agenda-custom-commands
      '(("p" "Test"
          tags "+work+TODO=\"WAIT\"")))

or perhaps use `org-agenda-filter-by-regexp`. My question is just
whether `org-agenda-filter` should allow me to find all entries with a
particular todo keyword, and if not, I guess I'd want to know why not?

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yantar92 · 2022-10-19 13:02

Agenda fitlers are split into more granular filtering separate for
tags, categories, effort, etc. org-agenda-filter that you tried to
call ("/") does not support filtering by todo keywords. Instead, you
need to use <number> r to filter by todo keyword.

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graduale · 2022-10-19 13:15

Thanks. Good to know what I’m seeing is what’s expected. Is there a
simple way to use that way of filtering by todo keyword to exclude
items with a particular keyword?

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yantar92 · 2022-10-19 13:26

I afraid it is not supported (no idea why). What you can do though is
"=" - regexp filter.

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graduale · 2022-10-19 13:43

Thanks for the tip. I guess I can take a break now from trying to
understand the definition of `org-agenda-filter`. Back to work...