task(1) - Linux man page

Name

task - A command line todo manager.

Synopsis

task [subcommand] [args]

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.

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, taskwarrior runs the "info" command.

undo

Reverts the most recent action. Obeys the confirmation setting.

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. Any special tags used are highlighted.

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.

burndown.daily

Shows a graphical burndown chart, by day.

burndown.weekly

Shows a graphical burndown chart, by week.

burndown.monthly

Shows a graphical burndown chart, by month.

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 in a variety of formats, from file or URL.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.)

pull URL

Overwrites the task database with those files found at the URL.

(See annotations above for valid URL syntaxes.)

color [sample | legend]

Displays all possible colors, a named sample, or a legend containing all currently defined colors.

count [filter]

Displays only a count of tasks matching the filter.

version

Shows the taskwarrior version number

help

Shows the long usage text.

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.

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

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.
If either 'from' or 'to' contain spaces, you will need to put quotes around the whole thing.
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.
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.
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 taskwarrior. The output and sort behavior of these reports can be configured in the configuration file. See also the man page taskrc(5).

active [filter]: Shows all tasks matching the filter that are started but not completed.
all [filter]: Shows all tasks matching the filter, including parents of recurring tasks.
completed [filter]: Shows all tasks matching the filter that are completed.
minimal [filter]: Provides a minimal listing of tasks matching the filter.
ls [filter]: Provides a short listing of tasks matching the filter.
list [filter]: Provides a more detailed listing of tasks matching the filter.
long [filter]: Provides the most detailed listing of tasks with filter.
newest [filter]: Shows the newest tasks with filter.
oldest [filter]: Shows the oldest tasks with filter
overdue [filter]: Shows all incomplete tasks matching the filter that are beyond their due date.
recurring [filter]: Shows all recurring tasks matching the filter.
waiting [filter]: Shows all waiting tasks matching the filter.
blocked [filter]: Shows all blocked tasks, that are dependent on other tasks, matching the filter.
unblocked [filter]: Shows all tasks that are not blocked by dependencies, matching the filter.
next [filter]: Shows all tasks with upcoming due dates matching the filter.

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.

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.

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

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.

wait:<wait-date>

Date until task becomes pending.

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.

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 contains)
hasnt
startswith (synonym left)
endswith (synonym right)
word
noword

For example:

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

The 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 after modifier is the inverse of the before modifier.

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

The is modifier requires an exact match with the value.

The isnt modifier is the inverse of the is modifier.

The 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 hasnt modifier is the inverse of the has modifier.

The 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'.

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

The 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 noword modifier is the inverse of the word modifier.

Specifying Dates and Frequencies

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 dateformat in the taskwarrior 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
task ... due:3wks
task ... due:1day
task ... due:9hrs
Start of (work) week (Monday), calendar week (Sunday or Monday), month and year

task ... due:sow
task ... due:soww
task ... due:socw
task ... due:som
task ... due:soy
End of (work) week (Friday), calendar week (Saturday or Sunday), month and year

task ... due:eow
task ... due:eoww
task ... due:eocw
task ... due:eom
task ... due:eoy
At some point or later

task ... wait:later
task ... wait:someday
This sets the wait date to 1/18/2038.
Next occurring weekday
task ...
due:fri

Frequencies

Recurrence periods. Taskwarrior 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 taskwarrior commands may be abbreviated as long as a unique prefix is used, for example:

$ 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 taskwarrior to treat all other args as description:

$ task add -- project:Home needs scheduling

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

$ task 123 /from this/to that/

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

$ task 123 "/from this/to that/"

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

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

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.

Reporting Bugs

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