Todo.txt CLI

What's todo.sh?

todo.sh is a powerful shell script that adds to, edits, sorts and searches your todo.txt file from the command line. Mark items as complete and archive them into a done.txt file with todo.sh as well.

todo.sh Screencast

See todo.sh in action here:

Note: In the setup shown, I've aliased todo.sh to t to reduce typing.

Download todo.sh

Download the full todo.sh package. (Or, just get todo.sh or view the browser-friendly todo.sh) See the CHANGELOG for what's new.

Installation

1. Unzip todo.zip. Using the text editor of your choice, edit the section of the todo.cfg file that reads:
   

   # Your todo.txt directory
   TODO_DIR="/Users/gina/Documents/todo"  
   

   Replace "/Users/gina/Documents/todo" to wherever your todo.txt lives.
   
   Mac users, here's help viewing/editing files and folders that start with a dot.
   
   

   [hide this message]

   By default, Mac OS X's Finder does not display system configuration files - those that start with a dot, like the .todo configuration file. If you want to browse these files in Finder, you must unhide them. To do so, in the Terminal, type:

   defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles TRUE

   Hit Enter. Then type:

   killall Finder

   This will list dot files in Finder, .todo and .bash_profile. (See below for more info on that.) To hide the files again, execute the same commands, but replace TRUE with FALSE. This AppleScript is useful for toggling back and forth quickly.

2. Make the todo.sh script exectuable:
   

   $ chmod +x todo.sh

3. Move the todo.cfg configuration file to your home directory:
   

   mv todo.cfg ~/.

4. Backup your todo.txt before using todo.sh. Type ./todo.sh to see the usage message.

Tips and tricks

• Access todo.sh from 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.sh every 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 type t add laundry from anywhere in your file tree to add a task.
• Windows SlickRun integration. Set up a SlickRun keyword to execute todo.sh commands without being in a Cygwin window.

  MagicWord: td
  Filename/URL: cmd.exe
  Parameters: /c bash --login -i -c "todo.sh $i$" 
  

• Display your todo list on your desktop. Windows users, Samurize gets the job done. Mac users will want GeekTool.
  
  
  
• IM your todo.txt. Use the todobot.pl to instant message your todo.sh commands from any AIM client.
• Access your remote server's todo.txt via ssh. If you have a shell account on remote.server.com, alias your todo.sh commands 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.

Developers

If you're interested modifying or enhancing todo.sh, join the mailing list to discuss or code one of the future development proposals.

A set of (admittedly incomplete and primitive) todo.sh tests are available for testing todo.sh modifications.

Known bugs

• Apostrophe's not enclosed in quotes break with the add/append/replace command. That is, todo.sh add "fix lily's bike" works, but todo.sh add fix lily's bike does not.

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.