Task Configuration

Configuring Task

Task recognizes several entries in the .taskrc file for configuration purposes. Valid entries are of the form:

name=value

Valid examples are:

data.location

This is a path to the directory containing all the task files. By default, it is set up to be ~/.task, for example: /Users/paul/.task

confirmation

May be "yes" or "no", and determines whether task will ask for confirmation before deleting a task.

echo.command

May be "yes" or "no", and causes task to display the ID and description of any task when you run the start, stop, do, undo, delete and undelete commands. The default value is "yes".

nag

This may be a string of text, or blank. It is used as a prompt when a task is completed that is not considered high priority. The "task next" command lists important tasks, and completing one of those does not generate this nagging. Default value is: Note: try to stick to high priority tasks. See "task next".

Is a number, defaulting to 2, which is the number of tasks for each project that are shown in the "task next" command.

curses

Determines whether task uses ncurses to establish the size of the window you are using, for text wrapping.

blanklines

May be "on" or "off". Prevents the display of unnecessary blank lines so that task makes better use screen real estate on small- screened devices.

dateformat

This is a string of characters that define how task formats dates. The default value is:

m/d/Y

which means dates look like:

6/7/2008

The string should contain the characters:

Character	Meaning	Example
m	minimal-digit month	1, 12
d	minimal-digit day	1, 30
y	two-digit year	08
M	two-digit month	01, 12
D	two-digit day	01, 30
Y	four-digit year	2008

The string may also contain other characters to act as spacers, or formatting. Other values could include (but are not limited to):

dateformat	How it looks
d/m/Y	7/6/2008
YMD	20080607
m-d-y	6-7-08

monthsperline

Determines how many months the "task calendar" command renders across the screen. Defaults to however many will fit. If more months that will fit are specified, task will only show as many that will fit.

weekstart

The day of the week that represents the first day of the week. Defaults to "Monday".

defaultwidth

The width of tables used when ncurses support is not available. Defaults to 80.

due

This is the number of days into the future that define when a task is considered due, and is colored accordingly. Defaults to 7.

color

May be "on" or "off". Determines whether task uses color. When "off", task will use dashes (-----) to underline column headings.

color.overdue
color.due
color.pri.H
color.pri.M
color.pri.L
color.pri.none
color.active
color.tagged
color.recurring

These are the coloration rules. They correspond to a particular attribute of a task, such as it being due, or being active, and specifies the automatic coloring of that task. The value may be one optional foreground color (see below) and one optional background color. For example, the value may be:
bold_red on_bright_yellow

color.tag.X

Colors any task that has the tag X.

color.project.X

Colors any task assigned to project X.

color.keyword.X

Colors any task where the description contains X.

default.project

Provides a default project name for the "task add ..." command.

default.priority

Provides a default priority for the "task add ..." command.

default.command

Provides a default command that is run every time task is invoked with no arguments. For example, if set to:

default.command=list project:foo

Then task will run the "list project:foo" command if no command is specified. This means that by merely typing:

% task
[task list project:foo]

ID Project Pri Description
 1 foo     H   Design the thing
 2 foo         Build the thing

Note that the value of this variable is simply the command line that you would ordinarily type, but without the preceding "task" program name.

shadow.file

If specified, designates a file path that will be autoamtically written to by task, whenever the task database changes. In other words, it is automatically kept up to date.

The shadow.command configuration variable is used to determine which report is written to the shadow file. There is no color used in the shadow file.

This feature can be useful in maintaining a current file for use by the "Samurize" program.

shadow.command

This is the command that is run to maintain the shadow file, determined by the shadow.file configuration variable. The format is identical to that of default.command - please see the documentation for default.command.

If this command is not specified, task will use the default.command value instead. If that is not specified, the command "list" is used.

shadow.notify

When this value is set to "on", task will display a message whenever the shadow file is updated by some task command.

locking

Determines whether task uses file locking when accessing the pending.data and completed.data files. Default to "on". Solaris users who store the task data files on an NFS mount may need to set locking to "off".

Note that setting this value to "off" is dangerous. It means that another program may write to the task.pending file when task is attempting to do the same.

import.synonym.id

import.synonym.uuid

import.synonym.status

import.synonym.tags

import.synonym.entry

import.synonym.start

import.synonym.due

import.synonym.recur

import.synonym.end

import.synonym.project

import.synonym.priority

import.synonym.fg

import.synonym.bg

import.synonym.description

If any of these configuration variables are found, they influence data import by specifying a single additional field name synonym. If a data import is failing because certain column names are not being recognized, then this is how the field mapping can be controlled.

Note that the command:

task version

will display the configuration variables found in the .taskrc file, and will warn you of any variables that are not recognized.