byproject: A Python repository from gregnordin

byproject.py for todo.txt

Purpose

Display todo.txt items by project instead of by date.

I discovered and began using todo.txt in August 2016 to keep track of my to-do items in the context of various projects by tagging items with +<projectname>. My preferred method of interaction is the todo.txt command line interface. I have found a number of add-ons to be useful, particularly add, xp, and pri. However, I often want to display items organized by project, and have not found an add-on that will do this. Hence this python script.

As a side note, Michael Descy's Plaintext Productivity has many useful ideas for text file-based personal organization and productivity.

Installation

Requirements

Python 3.x
- I recommend installing Anaconda as the simplest, most hassle-free route to using python.
Mac OS (Linux is probably fine too, but I haven't tested it)

Download

Download byproject.py. This is the only file you need. It uses the colorama package, which is included by default in the standard Andaconda install.
Copy byproject.py to any convenient directory in your file system.

Prepare `byproject.py` for use

Modify the shebang on line 1, #!/usr/bin/env python3.5, as needed to point to your python installation. It tells the operating system what to use to execute byproject.py. See answers to this StackOverflow question for an explanation.
Modify lines 233 and 235 to point to your done.txt and todo.txt files, respectively.
In Terminal, make the directory where you put byproject.py the current working directory and execute chmod +x byproject.py. This indicates to the operating system that byproject.py is a file that can be directly executed.

I find it convenient to define several aliases in my .bash_profile. Here is what I use:

alias bp='~/Documents/Projects/todo/byproject.py'
alias bpt='~/Documents/Projects/todo/byproject.py -p 0'  # Today's done items

Usage

Given the first alias, executing bp -h prints the following help text:

usage: byproject.py [-h] [-f FILE] [-v]
                [-p PREV | -d DAY | -m MONTH | -w WEEK | -r RANGE RANGE | -a]
                [-i INCLUDE [INCLUDE ...] | -x EXCLUDE [EXCLUDE ...]]

optional arguments:
-h, --help            show this help message and exit
-f FILE, --file FILE  Specify input file name (and path), FILE
-v, --verbose         Print extra debug information
-p PREV, --prev PREV  Number of days previous, PREV=N, to today to include
-d DAY, --day DAY     Particular day, DAY=YYYY-MM-DD
-m MONTH, --month MONTH
                    Specified month, MONTH=YYYY-MM
-w WEEK, --week WEEK  Week starting from specified day, WEEK=YYYY-MM-DD
-r RANGE RANGE, --range RANGE RANGE
                    Range of dates, RANGE=YYYY-MM-DD
-a, --all             Process all days in file
-i INCLUDE [INCLUDE ...], --include INCLUDE [INCLUDE ...]
                    Include specified projects
-x EXCLUDE [EXCLUDE ...], --exclude EXCLUDE [EXCLUDE ...]
                    Exclude specified projects

Examples

Show contents of todo.txt by project

bp

Show items in todo.txt with project tags "proposals" and "whitepapers"

bp -i projectname1 projectname2

Show items in todo.txt except for those with project tag "personal" and "home"

bp -x projectname1 projectname2

Show items for today in done.txt

bp -p 0

Show items for last 3 days in done.txt

bp -p 3

Show items for last week in temp.txt

bp -p 7 -f temp.txt

Show items for last week in done.txt with project tag "make3dprinter"

bp -p 7 -i make3dprinter

Show items for last week in temp.txt with project tag "make3dprinter"

bp -p 7 -i make3dprinter -f temp.txt

Show items for last week in done.txt except for those with project tag "groceries"

bp -p 7 -x groceries

Show all items in done.txt

bp -a

Show items for specified day in done.txt

bp -d YYYY-MM-DD

Show items for week starting on specified day in done.txt

bp -w YYYY-MM-DD

Show items for month in done.txt

bp -m YYYY-MM

Show items in specified date range in done.txt

bp -r YYYY-MM-DD YYYY-MM-DD

Show items in specified date range in done.txt with project tag "make3dprinter"

bp -r YYYY-MM-DD YYYY-MM-DD -i make3dprinter

Assumptions

I use only one project tag per todo item. byproject.py has been designed with this in mind.
The todo.txt and done.txt files are sorted by date in ascending order.

Other useful bash functions

In my .bash_profile file I have included the following function definition to find, count, and list the unique project tags in a text file in descending order of occurrence.

# Create function to list all projects in descending order with number
# of occurrences for any file with the default file being done.txt
listproj() {
	if [ $# -eq 0 ];
	then
	   cut -d'+' -f2 /Users/nordin/Dropbox/todo/done.txt | cut -d' ' -f1 | sort | uniq -c | sort -nr
	else
	   cut -d'+' -f2 $1 | cut -d' ' -f1 | sort | uniq -c | sort -nr
	fi
}

I also use the following function with todo.sh rather than creating an alias so that it gracefully handles all possible flags.

# Set up todo.sh to use with Dropbox such that all flags work
# From http://stackoverflow.com/questions/7131670/make-bash-alias-that-takes-parameter
# and http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2172352/in-bash-how-can-i-check-if-a-string-begins-with-some-value
t() {
    # If argument starts with "-" (like "t -h") put it in the middle of command
    if  [[ $1 == -* ]] ;
    then
        /Users/nordin/Dropbox/todo/todo.sh $1 -d /Users/nordin/Dropbox/todo/todo.cfg;
    # Otherwise, put it at end of command (like "t list")
    else
        /Users/nordin/Dropbox/todo/todo.sh -d /Users/nordin/Dropbox/todo/todo.cfg $@;
    fi
}

gregnordin/byproject