---
name: "memo"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "memo"
version: "1.7.1-5"
release: "Debian 13 (Trixie)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/memo"
---

# memo(1)

unix-style note-taking software

## NAME

memo - unix-style note-taking software

## SYNOPSIS

memo \[OPTIONS\]

## DESCRIPTION

Memo is a note-taking software for POSIX compatible operating systems. The short notes are saved to user's home directory in ~/.memo file by default.

## OPTIONS

- \-a, --add \<content\> \[yyyy-MM-dd\]

  Add a new note

- \-d, --delete \<id\>

  Delete note by id

- \-D, --delete-all

  Delete all notes

- \-e, --export \<format\> \<path\>

  Export notes to a file. \<format\> must be either csv or html

- \-f, --search \<search\>

  Find notes by text search

- \-F --regex \<regex\>

  Find notes by regular expression

- \-i, --stdin

  Add multiple notes from stdin

- \-l, --latest \<n\>

  Show latest n notes

- \-m, --set-done \<id\>

  Mark note status as done

- \-M, --set-undone \<id\>

  Mark note status as undone

- \-o, --list-date

  Show all notes organized by date

- \-O, --organize

  Reorder and organize note id codes

- \-p, --path

  Show current memo file path

- \-P, --postpone \[id\]

  Show postponed or mark note as postponed

- \-R, --delete-done

  Delete all notes marked as done

- \-r, --replace \<id\> \[content\]/\[yyyy-MM-dd\]

  Replace note content or date

- \-s, --list

  Show all notes except postponed. Same as typing command memo

- \-T, --set-done-all

  Mark all notes as done

- \-u, --list-undone

  Show only undone notes

- \-

  Read from stdin

- \-h, --help

  Show short help and exit. This page

- \-V, --version

  Show version number of program

## EXAMPLES

Add a new note:\
        memo -a "Remember to buy milk!"

Add a new note with custom date:\
        memo -a "File taxes" 2014-10-14

Search memos by string:\
        memo -f buy

Output:\
        4    2014-10-10    Remember to buy milk

Replace record 4 with new text:\
        memo -r 4 "Remember to buy cheese"

Add note from stdin:\
        echo "My new note" \| memo -

Mark note as postponed:\
        memo -P 4

Show postponed notes:\
        memo -P

Postponed notes are not shown by default. Postponed note can be marked as undone or done normally using -m or -M flag. Only undone notes can be postponed.

It's possible to change the location (and name) of the .memo file. Create $HOME/.memorc (or $XDG\_CONFIG\_HOME/.memorc) with a line MEMO\_PATH=/path/you/would/like , Memo will use that path instead of the default $HOME/.memo path.

It's also possible to set memo path using an environment variable. For example: export MEMO\_PATH=/path/to/some/file. If MEMO\_PATH environment variable is set that will be used. If it's not set, Memo will try to read .memorc for MEMO\_PATH. If the file does not exist or has errors, Memo will use $HOME/.memo file to store the notes.

Since version 1.3 -D option asks for confirmation before deleting all notes. It's possible to disable this confirmation via .memorc property. To disable the confirmation add MEMO\_CONFIRM\_DELETE=no to\
  .memorc file.

Since version 1.5 it's possible to set a property MARK\_AS\_DONE in\
  .memorc. The property takes a valid date as a value. For example: MARK\_AS\_DONE=2014-12-23. If the property is set Memo will mark all notes older than the property value as done automatically.

## NOTES

On some terminal emulators with Bash you can't use exclamation mark if Bash history expand feature is enabled. For example: memo -a "This is a test note!" 2014-12-20 would fail. Some terminal emulators workaround this (Gnome Terminal for example). You might want to disable Bash history expand if you don't use it by putting set +H to your ~/.bashrc. Please note, that this is not a bug in Memo, or in Bash. It's a feature of Bash.

## FILES

*$HOME/.memo* *$HOME/.memorc, $XDG\_CONFIG\_HOME/.memorc*

## COLORS

Since version 1.6 Memo has support for colors. Color support can be enabled in .memorc by setting USE\_COLORS=yes. By default Memo uses blue for odd lines and magenta for even lines. These can be modified via .memorc properties LINE\_COLOR and ODD\_LINE\_COLOR. Supported colors are:

- red

  - cyan

  - green

  - blue

  - black

  - brown

  - magenta

  - gray

  - none

  ## AUTHORS

Written by Niko Rosvall and contributors.

## COPYRIGHT

Copyright (C) 2014-2020 Niko Rosvall \<niko@byteptr.com\>

Released under license GPL-3+. For more information, see http://www.gnu.org/licenses