Sum clocked times in a task

[gerazov]

Does this feature exist in Emacs orgmode core?

N/A

Orgmode link

No response

Feature value

It's nice to be able to see the clocked time of a task. Currently the sums per task are displayed in the Agenda view if the clock mode is active. But if a task spans days/weeks/months and has many clocked times it's difficult to sum them all up.

I used Gemini to create this function and integrated it into my functions.lua and it works great 🚀

Here's the function:

local function parse_duration_to_seconds(duration_str)
    local hours, minutes = duration_str:match("^(%d+):(%d+)$")
    if not hours or not minutes then return 0 end
    local h = tonumber(hours)
    local m = tonumber(minutes)
    return (h * 3600) + (m * 60)
end

local function format_seconds_to_duration(total_seconds)
    local total_minutes = math.floor(total_seconds / 60)
    local hours = math.floor(total_minutes / 60)
    local minutes = total_minutes % 60
    return string.format("%d:%02d", hours, minutes)
end

function ClockSumSelectedLines()
    local total_seconds = 0
    local count = 0

    local start_line = vim.fn.line("'<")
    local end_line = vim.fn.line("'>")

    -- Safety check for selection or single line
    if start_line > end_line then
        start_line = vim.fn.line(".")
        end_line = vim.fn.line(".")
    end

    -- Get the content of the selected lines (start is 1-indexed, so we use start_line - 1)
    local lines = vim.api.nvim_buf_get_lines(0, start_line - 1, end_line, false)

    -- 1. Determine Indent from the first line
    local first_line = lines[1] or ""
    -- Lua pattern: ^(%s*) captures all leading whitespace at the start of the line.
    local indent = first_line:match("^(%s*)") or ""

    -- 2. Calculate Sum
    for _, line in ipairs(lines) do
        local duration = line:match("=> (%d+:%d+)$")

        if duration then
            total_seconds = total_seconds + parse_duration_to_seconds(duration)
            count = count + 1
        end
    end

    if count == 0 then
        print("No valid clock lines found in selection.")
        return
    end

    local total_duration_str = format_seconds_to_duration(total_seconds)

    -- 3. Prepend Indent to the Result Row
    local result_row_content = string.format("TOTAL_CLOCK_SUM: %s (from %d rows)", total_duration_str, count)
    local result_row = indent .. result_row_content -- Add the captured indent here

    -- Insert the result row below the selection.
    vim.api.nvim_buf_set_lines(0, end_line, end_line, true, {result_row})

    -- Move the cursor to the newly inserted line
    vim.api.nvim_win_set_cursor(0, {end_line + 1, #indent + 1}) -- Move cursor past the indent

    print(string.format("Clock sum calculated: %s", total_duration_str))
end

vim.api.nvim_create_user_command(
  'ClockSum',
  ClockSumSelectedLines,
  {
    range = true,
    desc = 'Calculates total time from CLOCK rows and inserts the total below.'
  }
)

vim.keymap.set(
  'v', '<leader>cs',
  ":'<,'>ClockSum<CR>",
  {noremap = true, silent = true, desc = 'Calculate Clock Sum for Selection'}
)

Additional context

No response

[kristijanhusak]

There's org-clock-display that does something like this, but it shows it more as a virtual text. I don't know if you are looking to get the value in the buffer, or just see what is the number?

[gerazov]

That's interesting - gathering all the clocks from a subtree sounds like a good feature 👍

C-c C-x C-d (org-clock-display)

Display time summaries for each subtree in the current buffer. This puts overlays at the end of each headline, showing the total time recorded under that heading, including the time of any subheadings. You can use visibility cycling to study the tree, but the overlays disappear when you change the buffer (see variable org-remove-highlights-with-change) or press C-c C-c.

If you ask me I'd rather have a Total time field (not virtual) in the log book drawer if you have more than 1 clocked time interval, and then have it update as you clock in more time on that task. Also it could be affected by recalculating totals (gq).

That way if you have dedicated a fixed number of hours (say by setting an effort estimate) to a task you could see how far along you are and if you're overshooting the estimate or not. Could be very relevant if work is paid by the hour.

Having parent nodes collect totals from submodes and update their clocks could also be very useful. Say you have a research project in which you 1) have to do literature review 2) develop a system 3) run experiments 4) analyze results 5) report - you could then clock in each of these separately, and have the master node keep track of total time spent.