NAME
task - A command line todo manager.
SYNOPSIS
task [subcommand] [args]
DESCRIPTION
Task 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, task is a list processing program. You add text and
additional related parameters and task redisplays 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. Task
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.
SUBCOMMANDS
add [tags] [attrs] description
Adds a new task to the task list.
log [tags] [attrs] description
Adds a new task that is already completed, to the task list.
annotate ID description
Adds an annotation to an existing task.
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.
info ID
Shows all data and metadata for the specified task.
ID With an ID but no specific command, task runs the "info"
command.
undo Reverts the most recent action.
shell Launches an interactive shell with all the task commands
available.
duplicate ID [tags] [attrs] [description]
Duplicates the specified task and allows modifications.
delete ID
Deletes the specified task from task list.
start ID
Marks the specified task as started.
stop ID
Removes the start time from the specified task.
done ID [tags] [attrs] [description]
Marks the specified task as done.
projects
Lists all project names that are currently used by pending
tasks, and the number of tasks for each.
tags Show a list of all tags used.
summary
Shows a report of task status by project.
timesheet [weeks]
Shows a weekly report of tasks completed and started.
history
Shows a report of task history by month. Alias to
history.monthly.
history.annual
Shows a report of task history by year.
ghistory
Shows a graphical report of task status by month. Alias to
ghistory.monthly.
ghistory.annual
Shows a graphical report of task status by year.
calendar [ y | due [y] | month year [y] | year ]
Shows a monthly calendar with due tasks marked.
stats Shows task database statistics.
import file
Imports tasks from a variety of formats.
export Exports all tasks in CSV format. This command is an alias to
the export.csv command. Redirect the output to a file, if you
wish to save it, or pipe it to another command.
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.
color [sample]
Displays all possible colors, or a sample.
version
Shows the task version number
help Shows the long usage text.
show [all | substring]"
Shows all the current settings in the task configuration file.
If a substring is specified just the settings containing that
substring will be displayed.
config [name [value | '']]
Add, modify and remove settings directly in the task
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
MODIFYING SUBCOMMANDS
ID [tags] [attrs] [description]
Modifies the existing task with provided information.
ID /from/to/
Performs one substitution on task description and annotation for
fixing mistakes.
ID /from/to/g
Performs all substitutions on task description and annotation
for fixing mistakes.
edit ID
Launches an editor to let you modify all aspects of a task
directly. Use carefully.
append [tags] [attrs] description
Appends information to an existing task.
prepend [tags] [attrs] description
Prepends information to an existing task.
REPORT SUBCOMMANDS
A report is a listing of information from the task database. There are
several reports currently predefined in task. The output and sort
behavior of these reports can be configured in the configuration file.
See also the man page taskrc(5).
active [tags] [attrs] [description]
Shows all tasks matching the specified criteria that are started
but not completed.
all [tags] [attrs] [description]
Shows all tasks matching the specified criteria.
completed [tags] [attrs] [description]
Shows all tasks matching the specified criteria that are
completed.
minimal [tags] [attrs] [description]
Provides a minimal listing of tasks with specified criteria.
ls [tags] [attrs] [description]
Provides a short listing of tasks with specified criteria.
list [tags] [attrs] [description]
Provides a more detailed listing of tasks with specified
criteria.
long [tags] [attrs] [description]
Provides the most detailed listing of tasks with specified
criteria.
newest [tags] [attrs] [description]
Shows the newest tasks with specified criteria.
oldest [tags] [attrs] [description]
Shows the oldest tasks with specified criteria
overdue [tags] [attrs] [description]
Shows all incomplete tasks matching the specified criteria that
are beyond their due date.
recurring [tags] [attrs] [description]
Shows all recurring tasks matching the specified criteria.
waiting [tags] [attrs] [description]
Shows all waiting tasks matching the specified criteria.
next [tags] [attrs] [description]
Shows all tasks with upcoming due dates matching the specified
criteria.
ATTRIBUTES AND METADATA
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,
task del 1,4-10,19
+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
project:<project-name>
Specifies the project to which a task is related to.
priority:H|M|L|N
Specifies High, Medium, Low and No priority for a task.
due:<due-date>
Specifies the due-date of a task.
recur:<frequency>
Specifies the frequency of a recurrence of a task.
until:<end-date-of-recurrence>
Specifies the Recurrence end-date of a task.
fg:<color-spec>
Specifies foreground color.
bg:<color-spec>
Specifies background color.
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, if ncurses is
not installed or enabled.
wait:<wait-date>
Date until task becomes pending.
ATTRIBUTE MODIFIERS
Attribute modifiers improve filters. Supported modifiers are:
before (synonyms under, below)
after (synonyms over, above)
none
any
is (synonym equals)
isnt (synonym not)
has (synonym contain)
hasnt
startswith (synonym left)
endswith (synonym right)
word
noword
For example:
task list due.before:eom priority.not:L
SPECIFYING DATES AND FREQUENCIES
DATES
Task reads dates from the command line and displays dates in the
reports. The expected and desired date format is determined by the
configuration variable dateformat in the task configuration file.
Exact specification
task ... due:7/14/2008
Relative wording
task ... due:today
task ... due:yesterday
task ... due:tomorrow
Day number with ordinal
task ... due:23rd
End of week (Friday), month and year
task ... due:eow
task ... due:eom
task ... due:eoy
Next occurring weekday
task ... due:fri
FREQUENCIES
Recurrence periods. Task supports several ways of specifying the
frequency of recurring tasks.
daily, day, 1d, 2d, ...
Every day or a number of days.
weekdays
Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and
skipping weekend days.
weekly, 1w, 2w, ...
Every week or a number of weeks.
biweekly, fortnight
Every two weeks.
quarterly, 1q, 2q, ...
Every three months, a quarter, or a number of quarters.
semiannual
Every six months.
annual, yearly, 1y, 2y, ...
Every year or a number of years.
biannual, biyearly, 2y
Every two years.
COMMAND ABBREVIATION
All task commands may be abbreviated as long as a unique prefix is
used. E.g.
$ task li
is an unambiguous abbreviation for
$ task list
but
$ task l
could be list, ls or long.
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:
$ task add "quoted ' quote"
$ task add escaped \' quote
The argument -- (a double dash) tells task to treat all other args as
description:
$ task add -- project:Home needs scheduling
CONFIGURATION FILE AND OVERRIDE OPTIONS
Task stores its configuration in a file in the user's home directory:
~/.taskrc . The default configuration file can be overridden with
task rc:<path-to-alternate-file>
Specifies an alternate configuration file.
task rc.<name>:<value> ...
Specifies individual configuration file overrides.
EXAMPLES
For examples please see the task tutorial man page at
man task-tutorial
or the online documentation starting at
<http://taskwarrior.org/wiki/taskwarrior/Simple>
FILES
~/.taskrc User configuration file - see also taskrc(5).
~/.task The default directory where task stores its data files. The
location
can be configured in the configuration file.
~/.task/pending.data The file that contains the tasks that are not yet
done.
~/.task/completed.data The file that contains the completed "done"
tasks.
~/.task/undo.data The file that contains the information to the "undo"
command.
CREDITS & COPYRIGHTS
task was written by P. Beckingham <paul@beckingham.net>.
Copyright (C) 2006 - 2010 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.
task is distributed under the GNU General Public License. See
http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-2.0.txt for more information.
SEE ALSO
taskrc(5), task-tutorial(5), task-faq(5) task-color(5)
For more information regarding task, the following may be referenced:
The official site at
<http://taskwarrior.org>
The official code repository at
<git://tasktools.org/task.git/>
You can contact the project by writing an email to
<support@taskwarrior.org>
REPORTING BUGS
Bugs in task may be reported to the issue-tracker at
<http://taskwarrior.org>