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Say I want to be able, in an arbitrary notebook, to quickly invoke a cell containing the commands

NotebookFileName[]
DateString[]

What are good ways to get to be able to do this?

I have tried to create a palette for this purpose (see the image of it below), but, when I click on the palette, nothing happens. I guess I created a wrong kind of pallette.

enter image description here

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  • $\begingroup$ Define a function that does that? $\endgroup$
    – MarcoB
    Dec 29, 2020 at 1:47
  • $\begingroup$ @MarcoB : How to define and use such a function? $\endgroup$
    – Iosif Pinelis
    Dec 29, 2020 at 4:34

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
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Try:

CreatePalette[
 Button["Filename and Date", 
  str1 = NotebookFileName[SelectedNotebook[]]; str2 = DateString[];
  NotebookWrite[
   InputNotebook[], {Cell[str1, "Content"], Cell[str2, "Content"]}]
  ]
 ]

enter image description here

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  • $\begingroup$ Thank you very much; upvoted both of your answers. (I have only increased the font size: {Cell[str1, "Content", FontSize -> 15], Cell[str2, "Content", FontSize -> 15]}) $\endgroup$
    – Iosif Pinelis
    Jan 1, 2021 at 18:02
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The following code will create a palette and print the file name and date:

CreatePalette[{Button["Filename and Date",
   NotebookWrite[
    InputNotebook[], {NotebookFileName[SelectedNotebook[]], 
     DateString[]}]]}]

But note, that this will only work if the input notebook has a name. A new notebook needs to be saved before it acquires a name. Otherwise you will get an error message.

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  • $\begingroup$ Thank you very much! Just one little thing: Can I get the results formatted nicely, say without the extra spaces in the pathname? Sorry for my lack of proficiency in Mathematica. $\endgroup$
    – Iosif Pinelis
    Dec 30, 2020 at 14:33
  • $\begingroup$ Sorry, I do not see an extra space? Is it in your path or file name? However, NotebookFileName[SelectedNotebook[]] is an ordinary string and can be formatted accordingly. $\endgroup$
    – Daniel Huber
    Dec 30, 2020 at 17:03
  • $\begingroup$ This is what I get after pressing the palette button, with spaces: u.pcloud.link/publink/… There are no spaces in the pathname. Sorry, I don't know how to modify your code to get rid of the spaces and maybe get a better formatting otherwise. $\endgroup$
    – Iosif Pinelis
    Dec 30, 2020 at 21:31
  • $\begingroup$ I see one space between 2020 and 16. Is this what you mean? Concerning formatting, you could say: str=NotebookFileName[SelectedNotebook[]]; or str=NotebookFileName[SelectedNotebook[]] and then format str as you wish. $\endgroup$
    – Daniel Huber
    Dec 31, 2020 at 8:54
  • $\begingroup$ Thank you for your response, but I am sorry for my total ineptitude in Mathematica. I have tried this: u.pcloud.link/publink/… but only got this after pressing the button: u.pcloud.link/publink/… . Could you please just show me the entire modified code that would produce the pathname and date in plain text format? $\endgroup$
    – Iosif Pinelis
    Dec 31, 2020 at 17:27

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