taskwarrior/doc/man/task.1.in

.TH task 1 2011-03-03 "${PACKAGE_STRING}" "User Manuals"

.SH NAME
task \- A command line todo manager.

.SH SYNOPSIS
.B task [subcommand] [args]

.SH DESCRIPTION
Taskwarrior is a command line todo list manager. It maintains a list of tasks
that you want to do, allowing you to add/remove, and otherwise manipulate them.
Task has a rich list of subcommands that allow you to do various things with it.

At the core, taskwarrior is a list processing program. You add text and
additional related parameters and redisplay the information in a nice way.  It
turns into a todo list program when you add due dates and recurrence. It turns
into an organized todo list program when you add priorities, tags (one word
descriptors), project groups, etc.  Taskwarrior turns into an organized to do
list program when you modify the configuration file to have the output displayed
the way you want to see it.

.SH SUBCOMMANDS

.TP
.B add [tags] [attrs] description
Adds a new task to the task list.

.TP
.B log [tags] [attrs] description
Adds a new task that is already completed, to the task list.

.TP
.B annotate ID description
Adds an annotation to an existing task.

.TP
.B denotate ID description
Deletes an annotation for the specified task. If the provided description
matches an annotation exactly, the corresponding annotation is deleted. If the
provided description matches annotations partly, the first partly matched
annotation is deleted.

.TP
.B info ID
Shows all data and metadata for the specified task.

.TP
.B ID
With an ID but no specific command, taskwarrior runs the "info" command.

.TP
.B undo
Reverts the most recent action.  Obeys the confirmation setting.

.TP
.B shell
Launches an interactive shell with all the task commands available.

.TP
.B duplicate ID [tags] [attrs] [description]
Duplicates the specified task and allows modifications.

.TP
.B delete ID
Deletes the specified task from task list.

.TP
.B start ID
Marks the specified task as started.

.TP
.B stop ID
Removes the
.I start
time from the specified task.

.TP
.B done ID [tags] [attrs] [description]
Marks the specified task as done.

.TP
.B projects
Lists all project names that are currently used by pending tasks, and the
number of tasks for each.

.TP
.B tags
Show a list of all tags used.  Any special tags used are highlighted.

.TP
.B summary
Shows a report of task status by project.

.TP
.B timesheet [weeks]
Shows a weekly report of tasks completed and started.

.TP
.B history
Shows a report of task history by month.  Alias to history.monthly.

.TP
.B history.annual
Shows a report of task history by year.

.TP
.B ghistory
Shows a graphical report of task status by month.  Alias to ghistory.monthly.

.TP
.B ghistory.annual
Shows a graphical report of task status by year.

.TP
.B burndown.daily
Shows a graphical burndown chart, by day.

.TP
.B burndown.weekly
Shows a graphical burndown chart, by week.

.TP
.B burndown.monthly
Shows a graphical burndown chart, by month.

.TP
.B calendar [ y | due [y] | month year [y] | year ]
Shows a monthly calendar with due tasks marked.

.TP
.B stats
Shows task database statistics.

.TP
.B import \fIfile
Imports tasks in a variety of formats, from file or URL.

.TP
.B export
Exports all tasks in the default format.  This is an alias to the command
export.yaml.  Redirect the output to a file, if you wish to save it, or pipe it
to another command.

.TP
.B export.csv
Exports all tasks in CSV format.
Redirect the output to a file, if you wish to save it, or pipe it to another
command.

.TP
.B export.ical
Exports all tasks in iCalendar format.
Redirect the output to a file, if you wish to save it, or pipe it to another
command.

.TP
.B export.yaml
Exports all tasks in YAML 1.1 format.
Redirect the output to a file, if you wish to save it, or pipe it to another
command.

.TP
.B merge URL
Merges two task databases by comparing the modifications that are stored in the
undo.data files. The location of the second undo.data file must be passed on as
argument. URL may have the following syntaxes:

	ssh://[user@]host.xz[:port]/path/to/undo.data

	rsync://[user@]host.xz[:port]/path/to/undo.data

	[user@]host.xz:path/to/undo.data

	/path/to/local/undo.data

You can set aliases for frequently used URLs in the .taskrc.

.TP
.B push URL
Pushes the task database to a remote another location for distributing the
changes made by the merge command.

(See annotations above for valid URL syntaxes.)

.TP
.B pull URL
Overwrites the task database with those files found at the URL.

(See annotations above for valid URL syntaxes.)

.TP
.B color [sample | legend]
Displays all possible colors, a named sample, or a legend containing all
currently defined colors.

.TP
.B count [filter]
Displays only a count of tasks matching the filter.

.TP
.B ids [filter]
Applies the filter then extracts only the task IDs and presents them as
a range, for example: 1-4,12.  This is useful as input to a task command,
to achieve this:

	task priority:H $(task ids project:Home)

This example first gets the IDs for the project:Home filter, then sets
the priority to H for each of those tasks.

.TP
.B version
Shows the taskwarrior version number

.TP
.B help
Shows the long usage text.

.TP 
.B show [all | substring]"
Shows all the current settings in the taskwarrior configuration file. If a
substring is specified just the settings containing that substring will be
displayed.

.TP
.B config [name [value | '']]
Add, modify and remove settings directly in the taskwarrior configuration.
This command either modifies the 'name' setting with a new value of 'value',
or adds a new entry that is equivalent to 'name=value':

    task config name value

This command sets a blank value.  This has the effect of suppressing any
default value:

    task config name ''

Finally, this command removes any 'name=...' entry from the .taskrc file:

    task config name

.SH MODIFYING SUBCOMMANDS

.TP
.B ID [tags] [attrs] [description]
Modifies the existing task with provided information.

.TP
.B ID /from/to/
Performs one substitution on task description and annotation for fixing
mistakes.

If either 'from' or 'to' contain spaces, you will need to put quotes around
the whole thing.

.TP
.B ID /from/to/g
Performs all substitutions on task description and annotation for fixing
mistakes.

If either 'from' or 'to' contain spaces, you will need to put quotes around
the whole thing.

.TP
.B edit ID
Launches an editor to let you modify all aspects of a task directly.
In general, this is not the recommended method of modifying tasks, but is
provided for exceptional circumstances.  Use carefully.

.TP
.B append [tags] [attrs] description
Appends information to an existing task.

.TP
.B prepend [tags] [attrs] description
Prepends information to an existing task.

.SH REPORT SUBCOMMANDS

A report is a listing of information from the task database. There are several
reports currently predefined in taskwarrior. The output and sort behavior of
these reports can be configured in the configuration file. See also the man page
taskrc(5).

.TP
.B active [filter]
Shows all tasks matching the filter that are started but not completed.

.TP
.B all [filter]
Shows all tasks matching the filter, including parents of recurring tasks.

.TP
.B completed [filter]
Shows all tasks matching the filter that are completed.

.TP
.B minimal [filter]
Provides a minimal listing of tasks matching the filter.

.TP
.B ls [filter]
Provides a short listing of tasks matching the filter.

.TP
.B list [filter]
Provides a more detailed listing of tasks matching the filter.

.TP
.B long [filter]
Provides the most detailed listing of tasks with filter.

.TP
.B newest [filter]
Shows the newest tasks with filter.

.TP
.B oldest [filter]
Shows the oldest tasks with filter

.TP
.B overdue [filter]
Shows all incomplete tasks matching the filter
that are beyond their due date.

.TP
.B recurring [filter]
Shows all recurring tasks matching the filter.

.TP
.B waiting [filter]
Shows all waiting tasks matching the filter.

.TP
.B blocked [filter]
Shows all blocked tasks, that are dependent on other tasks, matching the filter.

.TP
.B unblocked [filter]
Shows all tasks that are not blocked by dependencies, matching the filter.

.TP
.B next [filter]
Shows all tasks with upcoming due dates matching the filter.

.SH FILTERS

A filter is a set of search criteria that the report applies before displaying
the results.  For example, to list all tasks belonging to the 'Home' project:

    task list project:Home

You can specify multiple filters, each of which further restrict the results:

    task list project:Home +weekend garden

This example applies three filters: the 'Home' project, the 'weekend' tag, and
the description or annotations must contain the characters 'garden'.  In this
example, 'garden' is translated internally to:

    description.contains:garden

as a convenient shortcut.  The 'contains' here is an attribute modifier, which
is used to exert more control over the filter than simply absence or presence.
See 'ATTRIBUTE MODIFIERS' for a complete list of modifiers.

.SH ATTRIBUTES AND METADATA

.TP
.B ID
Tasks can be specified uniquely by IDs, which are simply the index of the
task in a report. Be careful, as the IDs of tasks may change after a
modification to the database. Always run a report to check you have the right
ID for a task. IDs can be given to task as a sequences, for example,
.br
.B
task del 1,4-10,19

.TP
.B +tag|-tag
Tags are arbitrary words associated with a task. Use + to add a tag and - to
remove a tag from a task. A task can have any quantity of tags.

Certain tags (called 'special tags'), can be used to affect the way tasks are
treated.  For example, is a task has the special tag 'nocolor', then it is
exempt from all color rules.  The supported special tags are:

    +nocolor     Disable color rules processing for this task
    +nonag       Completion of this task suppresses all nag messages
    +nocal       This task will not appear on the calendar

.TP
.B project:<project-name>
Specifies the project to which a task is related to.

.TP
.B priority:H|M|L|N
Specifies High, Medium, Low and No priority for a task.

.TP
.B due:<due-date>
Specifies the due-date of a task.

.TP
.B recur:<frequency>
Specifies the frequency of a recurrence of a task.

.TP
.B until:<end-date-of-recurrence>
Specifies the Recurrence end-date of a task.

.TP
.B fg:<color-spec>
Specifies foreground color.

.TP
.B bg:<color-spec>
Specifies background color.

.TP
.B limit:<number-of-rows>
Specifies the desired number of tasks a report should show, if a positive
integer is given.  The value 'page' may also be used, and will limit the
report output to as many lines of text as will fit on screen.  This defaults
to 25 lines.

.TP
.B wait:<wait-date>
Date until task becomes pending.

.TP
.B depends:<id1,id2 ...>
Declares this task to be dependent on id1 and id2.  This means that the tasks
id1 and id2 should be completed before this task.  Consequently, this task will
then show up on the 'blocked' report.

.SH ATTRIBUTE MODIFIERS
Attribute modifiers improve filters.  Prefixing any modifier with '~' returns
the complementary set of items.  Supported modifiers are:

.RS
.B before     (synonyms under, below)
.br
.B  after      (synonyms over, above)
.br
.B  none
.br
.B  any
.br
.B  is         (synonym equals)
.br
.B  isnt       (synonym not)
.br
.B  has        (synonym contains)
.br
.B  hasnt
.br
.B  startswith (synonym left)
.br
.B  endswith   (synonym right)
.br
.B  word
.br
.B  noword
.RE

For example:

.RS
task list due.before:eom priority.not:L
.RE

The
.I before
modifier is used to compare values, preserving semantics, so project.before:B
list all projects that begin with 'A'.  Priority 'L' is before 'M', and
due:2011-01-01 is before due:2011-01-02.  The synonyms 'under' and 'below' are
included to allow filters that read more naturally.

The
.I after
modifier is the inverse of the
.I before
modifier.

The
.I none
modifier requires that the attribute does not have a value.  For example:

    task list priority:
    task list priority.none:

are equivalent, and list tasks that do not have a priority.

The
.I any
modifier requires that the attribute has a value, but any value will suffice.

The
.I is
modifier requires an exact match with the value.

The
.I isnt
modifier is the inverse of the
.I is
modifier.

The
.I has
modifier is used to search for a substring, such as:

    task list description.has:foo
    task list foo

which are equivalent and will return any task that has 'foo' in the description
or annotations.

The
.I hasnt
modifier is the inverse of the
.I has
modifier.

The
.I startswith
modifier matches against the left, or beginning of an attribute, such that:

    task list project.startswith:H
    task list project:H

are equivalent and will match any project starting with 'H'.  Matching all
projects not starting with 'H' is done with:

    task list project.~startswith:H
    task list project.not:H

The
.I endswith
modifier matches against the right, or end of an attribute.

The
.I word
modifier requires that the attribute contain the whole word specified, such
that this:

    task list description.word:bar

will match the description 'foo bar baz' but does not match 'dog food'.

The
.I noword
modifier is the inverse of the
.I word
modifier.

.SH SPECIFYING DATES AND FREQUENCIES

.SS DATES
Taskwarrior reads dates from the command line and displays dates in the
reports.  The expected and desired date format is determined by the
configuration variable
.I dateformat
in the taskwarrior configuration file.

.RS
.TP
Exact specification
task ... due:7/14/2008

.TP
Relative wording
task ... due:today
.br
task ... due:yesterday
.br
task ... due:tomorrow

.TP
Day number with ordinal
task ... due:23rd
.br
task ... due:3wks
.br
task ... due:1day
.br
task ... due:9hrs

.TP
Start of (work) week (Monday), calendar week (Sunday or Monday), month and year
.br
task ... due:sow
.br
task ... due:soww
.br
task ... due:socw
.br
task ... due:som
.br
task ... due:soy

.TP
End of (work) week (Friday), calendar week (Saturday or Sunday), month and year
.br
task ... due:eow
.br
task ... due:eoww
.br
task ... due:eocw
.br
task ... due:eom
.br
task ... due:eoy

.TP
At some point or later
.br
task ... wait:later
.br
task ... wait:someday

This sets the wait date to 1/18/2038.

.TP
Next occurring weekday
task ... due:fri
.RE

.SS FREQUENCIES
Recurrence periods. Taskwarrior supports several ways of specifying the
.I frequency
of recurring tasks.

.RS
.TP
daily, day, 1d, 2d, ...
Every day or a number of days.

.TP
weekdays
Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and skipping weekend days.

.TP
weekly, 1w, 2w, ...
Every week or a number of weeks.

.TP
biweekly, fortnight
Every two weeks.

.TP
quarterly, 1q, 2q, ...
Every three months, a quarter, or a number of quarters.

.TP
semiannual
Every six months.

.TP
annual, yearly, 1y, 2y, ...
Every year or a number of years.

.TP
biannual, biyearly, 2y
Every two years.
.RE


.SH COMMAND ABBREVIATION
All taskwarrior commands may be abbreviated as long as a unique prefix is used,
for example:

.RS
$ task li
.RE

is an unambiguous abbreviation for

.RS
$ task list
.RE

but

.RS
$ task l
.RE

could be list, ls or long.

.SH SPECIFYING DESCRIPTIONS
Some task descriptions need to be escaped because of the shell
and the special meaning of some characters to the shell. This can be
done either by adding quotes to the description or escaping the special
character:

.RS
$ task add "quoted ' quote"
.br
$ task add escaped \\' quote
.RE

The argument \-\- (a double dash) tells taskwarrior to treat all other args
as description:

.RS
$ task add -- project:Home needs scheduling
.RE

In other situations, the shell sees spaces and breaks up arguments.  For
example, this command:

.RS
$ task 123 /from this/to that/
.RE

is broken up into several arguments, which is corrected with quotes:

.RS
$ task 123 "/from this/to that/"
.RE

.SH CONFIGURATION FILE AND OVERRIDE OPTIONS
Taskwarrior stores its configuration in a file in the user's home directory:
~/.taskrc . The default configuration file can be overridden with

.TP
.B task rc:<path-to-alternate-file>
Specifies an alternate configuration file.

.TP
.B task rc.<name>:<value> ...
Specifies individual configuration file overrides.

.SH EXAMPLES

For examples please see the task tutorial man page at

.RS
man task-tutorial
.RE

or the online documentation starting at

.RS
<http://taskwarrior.org/wiki/taskwarrior/Simple>
.RE

.SH FILES

.TP
~/.taskrc User configuration file - see also taskrc(5).

.TP
~/.task The default directory where task stores its data files. The location
can be configured in the configuration file.

.TP
~/.task/pending.data The file that contains the tasks that are not yet done.

.TP
~/.task/completed.data The file that contains the completed "done" tasks.

.TP
~/.task/undo.data The file that contains the information to the "undo" command.

.SH "CREDITS & COPYRIGHTS"
Taskwarrior was written by P. Beckingham <paul@beckingham.net>.
.br
Copyright (C) 2006 \- 2011 P. Beckingham

This man page was originally written by P.C. Shyamshankar, and has been modified
and supplemented by Federico Hernandez.

Thank also to T. Charles Yun.

Taskwarrior is distributed under the GNU General Public License.  See
http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-2.0.txt for more information.

.SH SEE ALSO
.BR taskrc(5),
.BR task-tutorial(5),
.BR task-faq(5),
.BR task-color(5),
.BR task-sync(5)

For more information regarding taskwarrior, the following may be referenced:

.TP
The official site at
<http://taskwarrior.org>

.TP
The official code repository at
<git://tasktools.org/task.git/>

.TP
You can contact the project by writing an email to
<support@taskwarrior.org>

.SH REPORTING BUGS
.TP
Bugs in taskwarrior may be reported to the issue-tracker at
<http://taskwarrior.org>