The Todo.txt Command Line Interface (CLI)
+ +If you've got a file called todo.txt on your computer right now, you're in the right place. Countless software applications and web sites can manage your to-do list with all sorts of bells and whistles. But if you don't want to depend on someone else's data format or someone else's server, a plain text file is the way to go.
Problem is, you don't want to launch a full-blown text editor every time you need to add an item to your to-do list, or mark one that's already there as complete. With a simple but powerful shell script called todo.sh, you can interact with todo.txt at the command line for quick and easy, Unix-y access.
Download and Install
+-
+
- Download the latest version of todo.sh from GitHub and extract it.
- Using the text editor of your choice, edit the section of the
todo.cfgfile that reads:
+ +# Your todo.txt directory +TODO_DIR="/Users/gina/Documents/todo" +
+Replace "/Users/gina/Documents/todo" to wherever yourtodo.txtfile lives.
+ - Make the todo.sh script exectuable:
+$ chmod +x todo.sh
+
+ - Move the todo.cfg configuration file to your home directory:
+mv todo.cfg ~/.
+
+
+ - Type
./todo.shto see the usage message.
+
How It Works
+ +Here's a screencast of todo.sh in action.
+ + + + +
Get Help
+ + +Join the mailing list for support or feature requests.
+ + +Tips and tricks
+ +-
+
- Access
todo.shfrom anywhere in the file tree. Add the following to your ~/.bashrc file (~/.bash_profile for Mac and Cygiwn users):
++PATH=$PATH:"/path/to/your/todo/scripts" +
+ - Avoid typing
todo.shevery time. Add the following to your ~/.bashrc file (~/.bash_profile for Mac and Cygwin users):
+ ++alias t='todo.sh -d /path/to/your/todo.cfg' +
+Then you simply typet add laundryfrom anywhere in your file tree to add a task.
+ - Display your todo list on your desktop. Windows users, Samurize gets the job done. Mac users will want GeekTool.
+ ++ 
++ 
+
+
+ - Hide the configuration file by renaming it
.todo.cfg.
+
+
+ - Access your remote server's todo.txt via ssh. If you have a shell account on remote.server.com, alias your
todo.shcommands to do the same thing as usual but prepend "ssh username@remote.server.com" to them. Something like:
+ +ssh username@remote.server.com todo.sh list
+Which displays the remote todo list.
+ - Set up a tickler system to work with todo.txt. Mailing list member Tannie wrote an tickler.sh script which moves items you have to do in the future to todo.txt. + +
- Integrate todo.txt with a calendar using the Unix program remind. + +
- Get your todo's via email using postfix. +
Platform compatibility
+todo.sh has been tested on:
-
+
- Cygwin for Windows + +
- Mac OS X 10.4+ Terminal +
- Ubuntu 5.10 / Sed 4.1.4 / Grep 2.5.1 / Cat 5.2.1 / wc 5.2.1 +
Let us know if you're using todo.sh successfully anywhere else.
Why plain text?
+ +Plain text is software and operating system agnostic. It's searchable, portable, lightweight and easily manipulated. It's unstructured. It works when someone else's web server is down or your Outlook .PST file is corrupt. Since it's been around since the dawn of computing, it's safe to say it's completely future-proof. There's no exporting and importing, no databases or tags or flags or stars or prioritizing or [Insert company name here]-induced rules on what you can and can't do with it.
+Todo.txt is a flat text file that contains one task per line, each optionally associated with a context, project and priority for slicing, dicing and sorting.
+ +The 3 axes of an effective todo list
+Using special notation in todo.txt, you can create a list that's sliceable by 3 key axes.
+ +Priority. Your todo list should be able to tell you what's the next most important thing for you to get done - either by project or by context or overall.
+Optionally assign tasks a priority that'll bubble them up to the top of the list.
+This is all possible inside todo.txt.
+ +Project. The only way to move a big project forward is to tackle a small subtask associated with it. Your todo.txt should be able to list out all the tasks specific to a project.
+In order to move along a project like "Cleaning out the garage," my task list should give me the next logical action to take in order to move that project along. "Clean out the garage" isn't a good todo item; but "Call Goodwill to schedule pickup" in the "Clean out garage" project is.
+ +Context. Getting Things Done author David Allen suggests splitting up your task lists by context - ie, the place and situation where you'll work on the job. Messages that you need to send go in the "@email" context; calls to be made "@phone", household projects "@home."
+ +That way, when you've got a few minutes in the car with your cell phone, you can easily check your "@phone" tasks and make a call or two while you have the opportunity.
+ + +Suggested Todo.txt format
+ +The beauty of todo.txt is that it's completely unstructured; the fields you can attach to each task are only limited by your imagination. To get started, use special notation to indicate task context (like @phone), project (like +GarageSale) and priority (like (A)). So, a todo.txt file might look like this:
+
+ ++(A) @phone thank Mom for the meatballs +(B) +GarageSale @phone schedule Goodwill pickup ++GarageSale @home post signs around the neighborhood +@shopping Eskimo pies +
A script that perhaps slices out the @phone contextual items and emails them to your mobile phone, for instance, would just output:
+++(A) @phone thank Mom for the meatballs +(B) +GarageSale @phone schedule Goodwill pickup +
A call to todo.sh to just see the garage sale project items would return:
++ + ++(B) +GarageSale @phone schedule Goodwill pickup ++GarageSale @home post signs around the neighborhood +
Other notations
+ +With todo.sh, you can choose any unique keyword search by it. For example, to indicate you're waiting on something to complete a task, append the word WAIT to the item in todo.txt. Others like to add due dates to a task, DUE:2006-08-01. It's completely up to you. To view items by keyword, do todo.sh list yourkeyword.
Author
+ +Unless otherwise noted, all the todo.txt scripts published herein are authored by Gina Trapani and licensed under the GNU General Public License.
+Scripts and text originally published as an ongoing series at Lifehacker.com. Special thanks to all the Lifehacker readers who contributed to Todo.sh by fixing code, adding features, reporting bugs and making suggestions.
+ +All software comes as is with no warranty. Do back up your todo.txt before you read another word. Questions, support and help is available in the Todo.txt Mailing list.
+ + + + + +