lists are now a data type recognized by code blocks

* lisp/ob-ref.el (org-babel-ref-resolve): Recognize `list' as a unique
  type of data
  (org-babel-ref-at-ref-p): Recognize `list' as a unique type of data

* lisp/ob.el (org-babel-read-result): Recognize `list' as a unique
  type of data
  (org-babel-read-list): A function to read a textual Org-mode list
  into an emacs-lisp list.
  (org-babel-insert-result): Recognizes the "list" result param to
  insert data as an Org-mode list.
  (org-babel-result-end): Find the end of an Org-mode list.
  (org-babel-merge-params): Add "list" as a result param.

* doc/org.texi (results): Documentation of the new "list" results
  header argument.

3 files changed, 28 insertions, 7 deletions

diff --git a/doc/org.texi b/doc/org.texi
index bef8fa3..06583d7 100644
--- a/doc/org.texi
+++ b/doc/org.texi
@@ -11758,8 +11758,8 @@ another by commas, as shown in the following example.
 @node results, file, var, Specific header arguments
 @subsubsection @code{:results}
 
-There are three classes of @code{:results} header argument.  Only one option of
-each type may be supplied per code block.
+There are three classes of @code{:results} header argument.  Only one option
+per class may be supplied per code block.
 
 @itemize @bullet
 @item
@@ -11802,6 +11802,9 @@ table or scalar depending on their value.
 The results should be interpreted as an Org-mode table.  If a single value is
 returned, it will be converted into a table with one row and one column.
 E.g., @code{:results value table}.
+@item @code{list}
+The results should be interpreted as an Org-mode list.  If a single scalar
+value is returned it will be converted into a list with only one element.
 @item @code{scalar}, @code{verbatim}
 The results should be interpreted literally---they will not be
 converted into a table.  The results will be inserted into the Org-mode
diff --git a/lisp/ob-ref.el b/lisp/ob-ref.el
index 3dee798..dd59b39 100644
--- a/lisp/ob-ref.el
+++ b/lisp/ob-ref.el
@@ -147,6 +147,7 @@ the variable."
 		(case type
 		  ('results-line (org-babel-read-result))
 		  ('table (org-babel-read-table))
+		  ('list (org-babel-read-list))
 		  ('file (org-babel-read-link))
 		  ('source-block (org-babel-execute-src-block nil nil params))
 		  ('lob (org-babel-execute-src-block nil lob-info params)))))
@@ -214,6 +215,7 @@ to \"0:-1\"."
 Return nil if none of the supported reference types are found.
 Supported reference types are tables and source blocks."
   (cond ((org-at-table-p) 'table)
+	((org-list-in-item-p-with-indent 0) 'list)
         ((looking-at "^[ \t]*#\\+BEGIN_SRC") 'source-block)
         ((looking-at org-bracket-link-regexp) 'file)
         ((looking-at org-babel-result-regexp) 'results-line)))
diff --git a/lisp/ob.el b/lisp/ob.el
index 3c66963..afb3986 100644
--- a/lisp/ob.el
+++ b/lisp/ob.el
@@ -1307,6 +1307,7 @@ following the source block."
   (let ((case-fold-search t) result-string)
     (cond
      ((org-at-table-p) (org-babel-read-table))
+     ((org-list-in-item-p-with-indent 0) (org-babel-read-list))
      ((looking-at org-bracket-link-regexp) (org-babel-read-link))
      ((looking-at org-block-regexp) (org-babel-trim (match-string 4)))
      ((looking-at "^[ \t]*: ")
@@ -1332,6 +1333,10 @@ following the source block."
               (mapcar #'org-babel-read row)))
           (org-table-to-lisp)))
 
+(defun org-babel-read-list ()
+  "Read the list at `point' into emacs-lisp."
+  (mapcar #'org-babel-read (cdr (org-list-parse-list))))
+
 (defvar org-link-types-re)
 (defun org-babel-read-link ()
   "Read the link at `point' into emacs-lisp.
@@ -1365,7 +1370,9 @@ silent -- no results are inserted
 file ---- the results are interpreted as a file path, and are
           inserted into the buffer using the Org-mode file syntax
 
-raw ----- results are added directly to the org-mode file.  This
+list ---- the results are interpreted as an Org-mode list.
+
+raw ----- results are added directly to the Org-mode file.  This
           is a good option if you code block will output org-mode
           formatted text.
 
@@ -1430,6 +1437,13 @@ code ---- the results are extracted in the syntax of the source
 	(cond
 	 ;; do nothing for an empty result
 	 ((= (length result) 0))
+	 ;; insert a list if preferred
+	 ((member "list" result-params)
+	  (insert
+	   (org-babel-trim
+	    (org-list-to-generic (cons 'unordered
+				       (if (listp result) result (list result)))
+				 '(:splicep nil :istart "- " :iend "\n")))))
 	 ;; assume the result is a table if it's not a string
 	 ((not (stringp result))
 	  (insert (concat (orgtbl-to-orgtbl
@@ -1482,8 +1496,10 @@ code ---- the results are extracted in the syntax of the source
 (defun org-babel-result-end ()
   "Return the point at the end of the current set of results"
   (save-excursion
-    (if (org-at-table-p)
-        (progn (goto-char (org-table-end)) (point))
+    (cond
+     ((org-at-table-p) (progn (goto-char (org-table-end)) (point)))
+     ((org-list-in-item-p-with-indent 0) (- (org-list-bottom-point) 1))
+     (t
       (let ((case-fold-search t))
         (cond
          ((looking-at "[ \t]*#\\+begin_latex")
@@ -1500,7 +1516,7 @@ code ---- the results are extracted in the syntax of the source
           (forward-line 1))
          (t (progn (while (looking-at "[ \t]*\\(: \\|\\[\\[\\)")
                      (forward-line 1))))))
-      (point))))
+      (point)))))
 
 (defun org-babel-result-to-file (result)
   "Convert RESULT into an `org-mode' link.
@@ -1550,7 +1566,7 @@ Later elements of PLISTS override the values of previous element.
 This takes into account some special considerations for certain
 parameters when merging lists."
   (let ((results-exclusive-groups
-	 '(("file" "vector" "table" "scalar" "raw" "org"
+	 '(("file" "list" "vector" "table" "scalar" "raw" "org"
             "html" "latex" "code" "pp")
 	   ("replace" "silent" "append" "prepend")
 	   ("output" "value")))