Add hint for OR'ing TERMs to help text for ls/list.

The regexp syntax and quoting rules aren't known to many who are not well versed in the Bash shell, and difficult to get right even for people in the know. This question came up just recently on the mailing list, too.

tests/t1200-pri.sh

@@ -66,6 +66,12 @@ TODO: 4 added.
 TODO: 4 of 4 tasks shown
 EOF
 
+test_todo_session 'priority error' <<EOF
+>>> todo.sh pri 10 B
+=== 1
+TODO: No task 10.
+EOF
+
 cat > todo.txt <<EOF
 (B) smell the uppercase Roses +flowers @outside
 (C) notice the sunflowers

tests/t1300-ls.sh

@@ -73,6 +73,29 @@ TODO: 1 of 3 tasks shown
 TODO: 1 of 3 tasks shown
 EOF
 
+#
+# check negative filtering via -TERM
+#
+test_todo_session 'checking negative filtering via -TERM' <<EOF
+>>> todo.sh ls -second
+2 aaa zzz this line should be first.
+1 ccc xxx this line should be third.
+--
+TODO: 2 of 3 tasks shown
+
+>>> todo.sh ls "-should be f"
+3 bbb yyy this line should be second.
+1 ccc xxx this line should be third.
+--
+TODO: 2 of 3 tasks shown
+
+>>> todo.sh ls "- zzz"
+3 bbb yyy this line should be second.
+1 ccc xxx this line should be third.
+--
+TODO: 2 of 3 tasks shown
+EOF
+
 #
 # check the filtering of TERM with regexp
 #

todo.sh

@@ -87,10 +87,10 @@ help()
 
 		  Options:
 		    -@
-		        Hide context names in list output. Use twice to show context
+		        Hide context names in list output.  Use twice to show context
 		        names (default).
 		    -+
-		        Hide project names in list output. Use twice to show project
+		        Hide project names in list output.  Use twice to show project
 		        names (default).
 		    -c
 		        Color mode
@@ -103,7 +103,7 @@ help()
 		    -p
 		        Plain mode turns off colors
 		    -P
-		        Hide priority labels in list output. Use twice to show
+		        Hide priority labels in list output.  Use twice to show
 		        priority labels (default).
 		    -a
 		        Don't auto-archive tasks automatically on completion
@@ -199,12 +199,15 @@ help()
 		    list [TERM...]
 		    ls [TERM...]
 		      Displays all tasks that contain TERM(s) sorted by priority with line
-		      numbers.  If no TERM specified, lists entire todo.txt.
+		      numbers.  Each task must match all TERMs (logical AND); to display
+		      tasks that contain any TERM (logical OR), use
+		      "TERM1\|TERM2\|..." (with quotes), or TERM1\\\|TERM2 (unquoted).
+		      If no TERM specified, lists entire todo.txt.
 
 		    listall [TERM...]
 		    lsa [TERM...]
 		      Displays all the lines in todo.txt AND done.txt that contain TERM(s)
-		      sorted by priority with line  numbers.  If no TERM specified, lists
+		      sorted by priority with line numbers.  If no TERM specified, lists
 		      entire todo.txt AND done.txt concatenated and sorted.
 
 		    listcon
@@ -214,8 +217,8 @@ help()
 		    listfile [SRC [TERM...]]
 		    lf [SRC [TERM...]]
 		      Displays all the lines in SRC file located in the todo.txt directory,
-		      sorted by priority with line  numbers.  If TERM specified, lists
+		      sorted by priority with line numbers.  If TERM specified, lists
-		      all lines that contain TERM in SRC file.
+		      all lines that contain TERM(s) in SRC file.
 		      Without any arguments, the names of all text files in the todo.txt
 		      directory are listed.
 
@@ -223,7 +226,7 @@ help()
 		    lsp [PRIORITY] [TERM...]
 		      Displays all tasks prioritized PRIORITY.
 		      If no PRIORITY specified, lists all prioritized tasks.
-		      If TERM specified, lists only prioritized tasks that contain TERM.
+		      If TERM specified, lists only prioritized tasks that contain TERM(s).
 
 		    listproj
 		    lsprj
@@ -296,6 +299,11 @@ cleanup()
 
 cleaninput()
 {
+    # Parameters:    When $1 = "for sed", performs additional escaping for use
+    #                in sed substitution with "|" separators.
+    # Precondition:  $input contains text to be cleaned.
+    # Postcondition: Modifies $input.
+
     # Replace CR and LF with space; tasks always comprise a single line.
     input=${input//$'\r'/ }
     input=${input//$'\n'/ }
@@ -310,6 +318,44 @@ cleaninput()
     fi
 }
 
+getPrefix()
+{
+    # Parameters:    $1: todo file; empty means $TODO_FILE.
+    # Returns:       Uppercase FILE prefix to be used in place of "TODO:" where
+    #                a different todo file can be specified.
+    local base=$(basename "${1:-$TODO_FILE}")
+    echo "${base%%.[^.]*}" | tr 'a-z' 'A-Z'
+}
+
+getTodo()
+{
+    # Parameters:    $1: task number
+    #                $2: Optional todo file
+    # Precondition:  $errmsg contains usage message.
+    # Postcondition: $todo contains task text.
+
+    local item=$1
+    [ -z "$item" ] && die "$errmsg"
+    [ "${item//[0-9]/}" ] && die "$errmsg"
+
+    todo=$(sed "$item!d" "${2:-$TODO_FILE}")
+    [ -z "$todo" ] && die "$(getPrefix "$2"): No task $item."
+}
+getNewtodo()
+{
+    # Parameters:    $1: task number
+    #                $2: Optional todo file
+    # Precondition:  None.
+    # Postcondition: $newtodo contains task text.
+
+    local item=$1
+    [ -z "$item" ] && die 'Programming error: $item should exist.'
+    [ "${item//[0-9]/}" ] && die 'Programming error: $item should be numeric.'
+
+    newtodo=$(sed "$item!d" "${2:-$TODO_FILE}")
+    [ -z "$newtodo" ] && die "$(getPrefix "$2"): No updated task $item."
+}
+
 archive()
 {
     #defragment blank lines
@@ -338,12 +384,7 @@ replaceOrPrepend()
       ;;
   esac
   shift; item=$1; shift
-
+  getTodo "$item"
-  [ -z "$item" ] && die "$errmsg"
-  [[ "$item" = +([0-9]) ]] || die "$errmsg"
-
-  todo=$(sed "$item!d" "$TODO_FILE")
-  [ -z "$todo" ] && die "TODO: No task $item."
 
   if [[ -z "$1" && $TODOTXT_FORCE = 0 ]]; then
     echo -n "$querytext"
@@ -368,7 +409,7 @@ replaceOrPrepend()
   # date again.
   sed -i.bak -e "$item s/^${priority}${prepdate}//" -e "$item s|^.*|${priority}${prepdate}${input}${backref}|" "$TODO_FILE"
   if [ $TODOTXT_VERBOSE -gt 0 ]; then
-    newtodo=$(sed "$item!d" "$TODO_FILE")
+    getNewtodo "$item"
     case "$action" in
       replace)
         echo "$item $todo"
@@ -658,10 +699,8 @@ _addto() {
     echo "$input" >> "$file"
     if [ $TODOTXT_VERBOSE -gt 0 ]; then
         TASKNUM=$(sed -n '$ =' "$file")
-        BASE=$(basename "$file")
-        PREFIX=$(echo ${BASE%%.[^.]*} | tr 'a-z' 'A-Z')
         echo "$TASKNUM $input"
-        echo "${PREFIX}: $TASKNUM added."
+        echo "$(getPrefix "$file"): $TASKNUM added."
     fi
 }
 
@@ -690,7 +729,7 @@ filtercommand()
             ## $search_term
             #
             ## Remove the first character (-) before adding to our filter command
-            filter="${filter:-}${filter:+ | }grep -v -i '$(shellquote "${search_term:1}")'"
+            filter="${filter:-}${filter:+ | }grep -v -i $(shellquote "${search_term:1}")"
         fi
     done
 
@@ -784,20 +823,18 @@ _list() {
     [ "$filtered_items" ] && echo "$filtered_items"
 
     if [ $TODOTXT_VERBOSE -gt 0 ]; then
-        BASE=$(basename "$FILE")
-        PREFIX=$(echo ${BASE%%.[^.]*} | tr 'a-z' 'A-Z')
         NUMTASKS=$( echo -n "$filtered_items" | sed -n '$ =' )
         TOTALTASKS=$( echo -n "$items" | sed -n '$ =' )
 
         echo "--"
-        echo "${PREFIX}: ${NUMTASKS:-0} of ${TOTALTASKS:-0} tasks shown"
+        echo "$(getPrefix "$FILE"): ${NUMTASKS:-0} of ${TOTALTASKS:-0} tasks shown"
     fi
     if [ $TODOTXT_VERBOSE -gt 1 ]; then
         echo "TODO DEBUG: Filter Command was: ${filter_command:-cat}"
     fi
 }
 
-export -f cleaninput shellquote filtercommand _list die
+export -f cleaninput getPrefix getTodo getNewtodo shellquote filtercommand _list die
 
 # == HANDLE ACTION ==
 action=$( printf "%s\n" "$ACTION" | tr 'A-Z' 'a-z' )
@@ -874,11 +911,8 @@ case $action in
 "append" | "app" )
     errmsg="usage: $TODO_SH append ITEM# \"TEXT TO APPEND\""
     shift; item=$1; shift
+    getTodo "$item"
 
-    [ -z "$item" ] && die "$errmsg"
-    [[ "$item" = +([0-9]) ]] || die "$errmsg"
-    todo=$(sed "$item!d" "$TODO_FILE")
-    [ -z "$todo" ] && die "TODO: No task $item."
     if [[ -z "$1" && $TODOTXT_FORCE = 0 ]]; then
         echo -n "Append: "
         read input
@@ -893,7 +927,7 @@ case $action in
 
     if sed -i.bak $item" s|^.*|&${appendspace}${input}|" "$TODO_FILE"; then
         if [ $TODOTXT_VERBOSE -gt 0 ]; then
-            newtodo=$(sed "$item!d" "$TODO_FILE")
+            getNewtodo "$item"
             echo "$item $newtodo"
 	fi
     else
@@ -908,14 +942,11 @@ case $action in
     # replace deleted line with a blank line when TODOTXT_PRESERVE_LINE_NUMBERS is 1
     errmsg="usage: $TODO_SH del ITEM# [TERM]"
     item=$2
-    [ -z "$item" ] && die "$errmsg"
+    getTodo "$item"
-    [[ "$item" = +([0-9]) ]] || die "$errmsg"
-    DELETEME=$(sed "$item!d" "$TODO_FILE")
-    [ -z "$DELETEME" ] && die "TODO: No task $item."
 
     if [ -z "$3" ]; then
         if  [ $TODOTXT_FORCE = 0 ]; then
-            echo "Delete '$DELETEME'?  (y/n)"
+            echo "Delete '$todo'?  (y/n)"
             read ANSWER
         else
             ANSWER="y"
@@ -929,7 +960,7 @@ case $action in
                 sed -i.bak -e $item"s/^.*//" "$TODO_FILE"
             fi
             if [ $TODOTXT_VERBOSE -gt 0 ]; then
-                echo "$item $DELETEME"
+                echo "$item $todo"
                 echo "TODO: $item deleted."
             fi
         else
@@ -943,13 +974,13 @@ case $action in
             -e $item"s/ *$3  */ /g" \
             -e $item"s/$3//g" \
             "$TODO_FILE"
-        newtodo=$(sed "$item!d" "$TODO_FILE")
+        getNewtodo "$item"
-        if [ "$DELETEME" = "$newtodo" ]; then
+        if [ "$todo" = "$newtodo" ]; then
-            [ $TODOTXT_VERBOSE -gt 0 ] && echo "$item $DELETEME"
+            [ $TODOTXT_VERBOSE -gt 0 ] && echo "$item $todo"
             die "TODO: '$3' not found; no removal done."
         fi
         if [ $TODOTXT_VERBOSE -gt 0 ]; then
-            echo "$item $DELETEME"
+            echo "$item $todo"
             echo "TODO: Removed '$3' from task."
             echo "$item $newtodo"
         fi
@@ -964,15 +995,13 @@ case $action in
     # Split multiple depri's, if comma separated change to whitespace separated
     # Loop the 'depri' function for each item
     for item in $(echo $* | tr ',' ' '); do
-	[[ "$item" = +([0-9]) ]] || die "$errmsg"
+        getTodo "$item"
-	todo=$(sed "$item!d" "$TODO_FILE")
-	[ -z "$todo" ] && die "TODO: No task $item."
 
 	if [[ "$todo" = \(?\)\ * ]]; then
 	    sed -i.bak -e $item"s/^(.) //" "$TODO_FILE"
 	    if [ $TODOTXT_VERBOSE -gt 0 ]; then
-		NEWTODO=$(sed "$item!d" "$TODO_FILE")
+		getNewtodo "$item"
-		echo "$item $NEWTODO"
+		echo "$item $newtodo"
 		echo "TODO: $item deprioritized."
 	    fi
 	else
@@ -990,11 +1019,7 @@ case $action in
     # Split multiple do's, if comma separated change to whitespace separated
     # Loop the 'do' function for each item
     for item in $(echo $* | tr ',' ' '); do
-        [ -z "$item" ] && die "$errmsg"
+        getTodo "$item"
-        [[ "$item" = +([0-9]) ]] || die "$errmsg"
-
-        todo=$(sed "$item!d" "$TODO_FILE")
-        [ -z "$todo" ] && die "TODO: No task $item."
 
         # Check if this item has already been done
         if [ "${todo:0:2}" != "x " ]; then
@@ -1003,7 +1028,7 @@ case $action in
             sed -i.bak $item"s/^(.) //" "$TODO_FILE"
             sed -i.bak $item"s|^|x $now |" "$TODO_FILE"
             if [ $TODOTXT_VERBOSE -gt 0 ]; then
-                newtodo=$(sed "$item!d" "$TODO_FILE")
+                getNewtodo "$item"
                 echo "$item $newtodo"
                 echo "TODO: $item marked as done."
 	    fi
@@ -1086,19 +1111,16 @@ case $action in
     dest="$TODO_DIR/$3"
     src="$TODO_DIR/$4"
 
-    [ -z "$item" ] && die "$errmsg"
     [ -z "$4" ] && src="$TODO_FILE"
     [ -z "$dest" ] && die "$errmsg"
 
-    [[ "$item" = +([0-9]) ]] || die "$errmsg"
-
     [ -f "$src" ] || die "TODO: Source file $src does not exist."
     [ -f "$dest" ] || die "TODO: Destination file $dest does not exist."
 
-    MOVEME=$(sed "$item!d" "$src")
+    getTodo "$item" "$src"
-    [ -z "$MOVEME" ] && die "$item: No such item in $src."
+    [ -z "$todo" ] && die "$item: No such item in $src."
     if  [ $TODOTXT_FORCE = 0 ]; then
-        echo "Move '$MOVEME' from $src to $dest? (y/n)"
+        echo "Move '$todo' from $src to $dest? (y/n)"
         read ANSWER
     else
         ANSWER="y"
@@ -1111,10 +1133,10 @@ case $action in
             # leave blank line behind (preserves line numbers)
             sed -i.bak -e $item"s/^.*//" "$src"
         fi
-        echo "$MOVEME" >> "$dest"
+        echo "$todo" >> "$dest"
 
         if [ $TODOTXT_VERBOSE -gt 0 ]; then
-            echo "$item $MOVEME"
+            echo "$item $todo"
             echo "TODO: $item moved from '$src' to '$dest'."
         fi
     else
@@ -1135,16 +1157,20 @@ case $action in
 note: PRIORITY must be anywhere from A to Z."
 
     [ "$#" -ne 3 ] && die "$errmsg"
-    [[ "$item" = +([0-9]) ]] || die "$errmsg"
     [[ "$newpri" = @([A-Z]) ]] || die "$errmsg"
+    getTodo "$item"
+
+    oldpri=
+    if [[ "$todo" = \(?\)\ * ]]; then
+        oldpri=${todo:1:1}
+    fi
 
-    oldpri=$(sed -ne $item's/^(\(.\)) .*/\1/p' "$TODO_FILE")
     if [ "$oldpri" != "$newpri" ]; then
         sed -i.bak -e $item"s/^(.) //" -e $item"s/^/($newpri) /" "$TODO_FILE"
     fi
     if [ $TODOTXT_VERBOSE -gt 0 ]; then
-        NEWTODO=$(sed "$item!d" "$TODO_FILE")
+        getNewtodo "$item"
-        echo "$item $NEWTODO"
+        echo "$item $newtodo"
         if [ "$oldpri" != "$newpri" ]; then
             if [ "$oldpri" ]; then
                 echo "TODO: $item re-prioritized from ($oldpri) to ($newpri)."