home.public.emacs-public/elisp-public/gmj-insert-item-or-heading.el

;; This buffer is for text that is not saved, and for Lisp evaluation.
;; To create a file, visit it with ‘C-o’ and enter text in its buffer.

(defun my-org-insert-item-or-heading ()
  "Insert a new item or heading

Insert a new item if currently on a line that starts an item,
else insert a new heading.
"

  (interactive)
  (beginning-of-line)
  (skip-chars-forward " \t")
  (if (or (looking-at "-") (looking-at "+"))
      ;; this handles the case where we are on a line that starts
      ;; an item.  Ideally, it should detect if we are inside a list,
      ;; to allow multi-line list elements.
      (progn
        (end-of-line)
        (if (org-at-item-checkbox-p)
            (org-insert-item '(checkbox))
          (org-insert-item))
        )
    (org-insert-heading-respect-content)))

;; Bind it to something useful
(global-set-key (kbd "C-c i") 'my-org-insert-item-or-heading)