--- name: "task-tutorial" section: "5" platform: "linux" package: "taskwarrior" version: "2.3.0+dfsg-3" release: "Debian 8 (Jessie)" platforms: ["linux"] url: "https://new.carta.tech/task-tutorial" --- # task-tutorial(5) A tutorial for the task(1) command line todo manager. ## NAME task-tutorial - A tutorial for the [task(1)](/task/1.md) command line todo manager. ## DESCRIPTION This tutorial contains a narrative and a series of commands that lead you through different scenarios and illustrate the capabilities of taskwarrior. We will begin with basic usage, and progress to the more powerful features. It is recommended that you work through these examples alongside this tutorial. Make your terminal window as wide as you can, to properly see the formatted output of this page. Taskwarrior has many features and you will probably not use them all, but there are likely to be several capabilities that work well with your style of managing tasks. Everyone has different usage patterns. This is therefore a complete list of capabilities, and you should choose accordingly. ## BASIC USAGE Let's get started. We're planning a party, and there is a lot of work to do, so let's capture these tasks, by using the 'add' command. $ task add Select a free weekend in November\ Created task 1.\ $ task add Select and book a venue\ Created task 2.\ $ task add Come up with a guest list\ Created task 3.\ $ task add Mail invitations\ Created task 4.\ $ task add Select a caterer\ Created task 5. The '$' prompt shows that these are commands that you type (don't include the $ symbol yourself), and lines without the prompt are those displayed by taskwarrior. Let's take a look at our tasks so far. $ task list\ ID Project Pri Due Active Age Description\ \-- ------- --- --- ------ ------- ---------------------------------\ \ 1 1 min Select a free weekend in November\ \ 2 55 secs Select and book a venue\ \ 3 49 secs Come up with a guest list\ \ 4 40 secs Mail invitations\ \ 5 33 secs Select a caterer\ 5 tasks Now I've already ordered a cake, so rather than 'add' this, I'm going to 'log' it. This just means that I want to keep track of the task, but I've already done it. It saves me a step. $ task log Order a special cake\ Logged task. As for those invitations, I'm going to need to design them first. And I'm also going to need print them. Here we are duplicating a task and making a substitution. Notice how the commands can be abbreviated, provided they are still unique. $ task 4 duplicate /Mail/Design/\ Duplicated 4 'Mail invitations'.\ Duplicated 1 task.\ Created task 7.\ $ task 4 dup /Mail/Print/\ Duplicated 4 'Mail invitations'.\ Duplicated 1 task.\ Created task 8.\ $ task list That looks good - but now I think of it, I already have my guest list, so I can mark that one as done. $ task 3 done\ Completed 3 'Come up with a guest list'.\ Marked 1 task as done.\ $ task list\ ID Project Pri Due Active Age Description\ \-- ------- --- --- ------ ------ ---------------------------------\ \ 1 8 mins Select a free weekend in November\ \ 2 7 mins Select and book a venue\ \ 3 6 mins Mail invitations\ \ 4 6 mins Select a caterer\ \ 5 4 mins Design invitations\ \ 6 4 mins Print invitations\ 6 tasks And that's basic usage, and you already know enough to be productive using taskwarrior. If you stopped here, you would be perfectly able to manage your task list. But if you want to see what it can really do, keep reading... ## PROJECTS Remember to pay the rent at the end of the month. $ task add Pay teh rent on teh 31st\ Created task 7. Oh, that was sloppy, but it can be fixed with a global substitution, represented by the 'g' at the end. You could omit the 'g', and it would only make the first substitution. $ task 7 modify /teh/the/g\ Modified 1 task.\ $ task list\ ID Project Pri Due Active Age Description\ \-- ------- --- --- ------ ------- ---------------------------------\ \ 1 12 mins Select a free weekend in November\ \ 2 12 mins Select and book a venue\ \ 3 11 mins Mail invitations\ \ 4 11 mins Select a caterer\ \ 5 9 mins Design invitations\ \ 6 9 mins Print invitations\ \ 7 37 secs Pay the rent on the 31st\ 7 tasks We can now use projects to separate home chores from the party preparation. Let's assign that last task to the 'home' project. Note that a task may only belong to one project. $ task 7 modify project:home\ The scope of project 'home' has changed. Project 'home' is 0% complete (1 of 1 tasks remaining).\ Modified 1 task. And we will put those first six tasks in the 'party' project. See how we specify a range of tasks? Taskwarrior will want to confirm bulk changes like this, but we'll accept all changes here. $ task 1-6 modify project:party\ Task 1 modify "Select a free weekend in November"\ \ \- project will be set to 'party'.\ Proceed with change? (Yes/no/All/quit) A\ The scope of project 'party' has changed. Project 'party' is 0% complete (1 of 1 tasks remaining).\ The scope of project 'party' has changed. Project 'party' is 0% complete (2 of 2 tasks remaining).\ The scope of project 'party' has changed. Project 'party' is 0% complete (3 of 3 tasks remaining).\ The scope of project 'party' has changed. Project 'party' is 0% complete (4 of 4 tasks remaining).\ The scope of project 'party' has changed. Project 'party' is 0% complete (5 of 5 tasks remaining).\ The scope of project 'party' has changed. Project 'party' is 0% complete (6 of 6 tasks remaining).\ Modified 6 tasks. Now that we have multiple projects, as shown here, we can use project as a filter for the list report. You can see again that we can abbreviate 'list' and 'project', but when we abbreviate 'party', we are filtering all the projects that begin with 'par'. $ task projects\ Project Tasks Pri:None Pri:L Pri:M Pri:H\ \------- ----- -------- ----- ----- -----\ home 1 1 0 0 0\ party 6 6 0 0 0\ 2 projects (7 tasks)\ $ task project:home list\ ID Project Pri Due Active Age Description\ \-- ------- --- --- ------ ------ ------------------------\ \ 7 home 5 mins Pay the rent on the 31st\ 1 task\ $ task pro:par li\ ID Project Pri Due Active Age Description\ \-- ------- --- --- ------ ------- ---------------------------------\ \ 1 party 18 mins Select a free weekend in November\ \ 2 party 17 mins Select and book a venue\ \ 3 party 17 mins Mail invitations\ \ 4 party 17 mins Select a caterer\ \ 5 party 15 mins Design invitations\ \ 6 party 15 mins Print invitations\ 6 tasks ## PRIORITIES Priorities are another way to organize tasks. You can use priority values of high, medium and low, and taskwarrior knows these as H, M or L. $ task 1-3,5 modify priority:H\ Task 1 modify "Select a free weekend in November"\ \ \- priority will be set to 'H'.\ Proceed with change? (Yes/no/All/quit) A\ Modified 4 tasks.\ $ task list\ ID Project Pri Due Active Age Description\ \-- ------- --- --- ------ ------- ---------------------------------\ \ 1 party H 24 mins Select a free weekend in November\ \ 2 party H 23 mins Select and book a venue\ \ 3 party H 23 mins Mail invitations\ \ 5 party H 21 mins Design invitations\ \ 7 home 12 mins Pay the rent on the 31st\ \ 4 party 23 mins Select a caterer\ \ 6 party 21 mins Print invitations\ 7 tasks You can remove priorities by specifying a blank value. $ task 3 modify pri:\ Modified 1 task. ## TAGS A task may only have one project, but it may have any number of tags, which are just single words associated with the task. I can go to the print shop at the mall, and do all the invitation tasks, so let's tag them all. $ task 3,5,6 modify +mall\ Task 3 modify "Mail invitations"\ \ \- tags will be set to 'mall'.\ Proceed with change? (Yes/no/All/quit) A\ Modified 3 tasks. The long report shows tags, too, $ task long\ ID Project Pri Added Started Due Recur Countdown Age Deps Tags Description\ \-- ------- --- ---------- ------- --- ----- --------- ------- ---- ---- ---------------------------------\ \ 1 party H 10/16/2010 27 mins Select a free weekend in November\ \ 2 party H 10/16/2010 26 mins Select and book a venue\ \ 5 party H 10/16/2010 23 mins mall Design invitations\ \ 7 home 10/16/2010 14 mins Pay the rent on the 31st\ \ 3 party 10/16/2010 25 mins mall Mail invitations\ \ 4 party 10/16/2010 25 mins Select a caterer\ \ 6 party 10/16/2010 23 mins mall Print invitations\ 7 tasks and I can use tags as a filter to any report too. $ task +mall list\ ID Project Pri Due Active Age Description\ \-- ------- --- --- ------ ------- ------------------\ \ 5 party H 24 mins Design invitations\ \ 3 party 26 mins Mail invitations\ \ 6 party 24 mins Print invitations\ 3 tasks I made a mistake - I can't mail out the invitations at the mall, so let's remove that tag. $ task 3 modify -mall\ Modified 1 task. ## MODIFICATIONS Task 7 is not worded correctly, so I can modify that by specifying a task ID and a new description. This is also considered a bulk change, and so requires confirmation. $ task 7 modify Pay rent at the end of the month\ Task 7 "Pay the rent on the 31st"\ \ \- description will be changed from 'Pay the rent on the 31st' to 'Pay rent at the end of the month'.\ Proceed with change? (Yes/no/All/quit) Y\ Modified 1 task. We'll need music. I can prepend, and I can append to a task. $ task add music\ $ task 8 prepend Select some\ $ task 8 append for after dinner\ $ task dinner list\ ID Project Pri Due Active Age Description\ \-- ------- --- --- ------ ------- ----------------------------------\ \ 8 34 secs Select some Music for after dinner\ 1 task I can also go straight into an editor and modify anything. The task is formatted and you can edit anything you like, and the changes will be detected and made to the task. $ task 5 edit\ \[Your $EDITOR is invoked\] Sometimes the command line will confuse the shell. In this case, what would happen if there was a file named 'bands' in the current directory? $ task add Hire a band? The shell might expand that wild-card, so to avoid that, you can escape the wild-card, or quote the whole description. $ task add Hire a band\\?\ $ task add "Hire a band?" You can also use the minus minus operator which tells taskwarrior to stop being clever and interpret the rest of the arguments as a task description. Otherwise, that +dj would be interpreted as a tag. $ task add -- Hire a band\\? +dj\ Created task 9. We don't really need a band, so the easiest way to get rid of that task is to undo the last change. Taskwarrior has a complete undo stack, so you can undo all the way back to the beginning. $ task undo\ The last modification was made 10/16/2010\ Prior Values Current Values\ \ \------------ ------------------------------------\ description Hire a band? +dj\ entry 10/16/2010\ status pending\ uuid 599c7598-069d-4598-8d94-0c919c4213ec\ The undo command is not reversible. Are you sure you want to revert to the previous state? (y/n) y\ Task removed. The undo operation gets rid of the task completely, but I could also have just deleted the task, then the deletion itself would be tracked, and also undo-able. $ task 1 delete\ Permanently delete task 1 'Select a free weekend in November'? (y/n) y\ Deleting task 1 'Select a free weekend in November'.\ The scope of project 'party' has changed. Project 'party' is 0% complete (5 of 5 tasks remaining).\ $ task undo\ The last modification was made 10/16/2010\ Prior Values Current Values\ \ \------------------------------------ ------------------------------------\ description Select a free weekend in November Select a free weekend in November\ entry 10/16/2010 10/16/2010\ priority H H\ project party party\ status pending deleted\ uuid 3a6881bb-628b-4f90-93d7-4da563b83d54 3a6881bb-628b-4f90-93d7-4da563b83d54\ end 10/16/2010\ The undo command is not reversible. Are you sure you want to revert to the previous state? (y/n) y\ Modified task reverted. ## INFO During that undo operation, taskwarrior displayed metadata that is associated with the task. You can display this with the info command. $ task 1 info\ Name Value\ \----------- ------------------------------------\ ID 1\ Description Select a free weekend in November\ Status Pending\ Project party\ Priority H\ UUID 3a6881bb-628b-4f90-93d7-4da563b83d54\ Entered 10/16/2010 (44 mins)\ There are also statistics that taskwarrior gathers, which I can display. $ task stats\ Category Data\ \-------------------- -------------\ Pending 8\ Waiting 0\ Recurring 0\ Completed 2\ Deleted 0\ Total 10\ Annotations 0\ Unique tags 1\ Projects 2\ Data size 9.3 KiB\ Undo transactions 32\ Tasks tagged 20%\ Oldest task 10/16/2010\ Newest task 10/16/2010\ Task used for 29 mins\ Task added every 2 mins\ Task completed every 14 mins\ Average time pending 31 mins\ Average desc length 23 characters ## ANNOTATIONS Annotations are little notes that can be added to a task. There can be any number, and each has a time stamp. $ task 1 annotate the 13th looks good\ Annotated 1 with 'the 13th looks good'.\ $ task 1 annotate or the 14th\ Annotated 1 with 'or the 14th'\ $ task list\ ID Project Pri Due Active Age Description\ \-- ------- --- --- ------ ------- ----------------------------------\ \ 1 party H 48 mins Select a free weekend in November\ \ 10/16/2010 the 13th looks good\ \ 10/16/2010 or the 14th\ \ 2 party H 47 mins Select and book a venue\ \ 5 party H 44 mins Design invitations\ \ 8 19 mins Select some Music for after dinner\ \ 7 home 35 mins Pay rent at the end of the month\ \ 3 party 47 mins Mail invitations\ \ 4 party 47 mins Select a caterer\ \ 6 party 44 mins Print invitations\ 8 tasks Annotations can be removed by providing a matching pattern. $ task 1 denotate 14th\ Found annotation 'or the 14th' and deleted it. ## CONFIGURATION There is a 'show' command, that is used to display the active configuration. There are hundreds of settings that can be changed, and every one has a sensible default. $ task show\ Config variable Value\ \------------------------------- ----------------\ \_forcecolor no\ active.indicator \*\ alias.export export.yaml\ alias.export.vcalendar export.ical\ alias.ghistory ghistory.monthly\ alias.history history.monthly\ alias.rm delete\ \ ...\ weekstart Sunday If you want a complete list of all the settings and their meanings, read the man page. $ man taskrc The 'config' command is used to modify the settings, and in this case the configuration variable 'answer' is given the value of forty-two. $ task config answer forty-two\ Are you sure you want to add 'answer' with a value of 'forty-two'? (y/n) y\ Config file .taskrc modified. The 'show' command indicates that the value was changed, and also that the variable is unrecognized. The show command performs a detailed check on your configuration, and alerts you to several kinds of problem. The config command can also remove a value. $ task show answer\ Config variable Value\ \--------------- ---------\ answer forty-two\ Your .taskrc file contains these unrecognized variables:\ \ answer\ $ task config answer\ Are you sure you want to remove 'answer'? (y/n) y\ Config file .taskrc modified. A very powerful feature is the ability to override the configuration variables temporarily. Here I am requesting an ascending sort on the description field only. $ task rc.report.list.sort=description+ list\ ID Project Pri Due Active Age Description\ \-- ------- --- --- ------ ------- ----------------------------------\ \ 5 party H 51 mins Design invitations\ \ 3 party 53 mins Mail invitations\ \ 7 home 42 mins Pay rent at the end of the month\ \ 6 party 51 mins Print invitations\ \ 4 party 53 mins Select a caterer\ \ 1 party H 54 mins Select a free weekend in November\ \ 10/16/2010 the 13th looks good\ \ 2 party H 53 mins Select and book a venue\ \ 8 25 mins Select some Music for after dinner\ 8 tasks\ Configuration override report.list.sort=description+ The value in the configuration file is prefixed with 'rc.' to identify its namespace. ## DEFAULTS There is a default command, which can be set to anything, in this case it is set to the 'list' report. Then running taskwarrior with no command name runs the default command. $ task config default.command list\ Are you sure you want to add 'default.command' with a value of 'list'? (y/n) y\ Config file .taskrc modified.\ $ task\ ID Project Pri Due Active Age Description\ \-- ------- --- --- ------ ------- ----------------------------------\ \ 1 party H 55 mins Select a free weekend in November\ \ 10/16/2010 the 13th looks good\ \ 2 party H 54 mins Select and book a venue\ \ 5 party H 52 mins Design invitations\ \ 8 26 mins Select some Music for after dinner\ \ 7 home 43 mins Pay rent at the end of the month\ \ 3 party 54 mins Mail invitations\ \ 4 party 54 mins Select a caterer\ \ 6 party 52 mins Print invitations\ 8 tasks I can also specify a default priority and project, which means that any tasks added will use them, unless an alternative is provided. $ task config default.priority H\ Are you sure you want to add 'default.priority' with a value of 'H'? (y/n) y\ Config file .taskrc modified.\ $ task config default.project work\ Are you sure you want to add 'default.project' with a value of 'work'? (y/n) y\ Config file .taskrc modified.\ $ task add New task\ Created task 9.\ $ task New task list\ ID Project Pri Due Active Age Description\ \-- ------- --- --- ------ ------- -----------\ \ 9 work H 12 secs New task\ 1 task Let's just revert those changes, to clean up. $ task undo\ The last modification was made 10/16/2010\ Prior Values Current Values\ \ \------------ ------------------------------------\ description New task\ entry 10/16/2010\ priority H\ project work\ status pending\ uuid 0f44f9dd-79db-4098-b95b-4c3aa97d575a\ The undo command is not reversible. Are you sure you want to revert to the previous state? (y/n) y\ Task removed.\ $ task config default.priority\ Are you sure you want to remove 'default.priority'? (y/n) y\ Config file .taskrc modified.\ $ task config default.project\ Are you sure you want to remove 'default.project'? (y/n) y\ Config file .taskrc modified. ## ALIASES You can create aliases to effectively rename commands. $ task config alias.zzz list\ Are you sure you want to add 'alias.zzz' with a value of 'list'? (y/n) y\ Config file .taskrc modified.\ $ task zzz\ ID Project Pri Due Active Age Description\ \-- ------- --- --- ------ ------- ----------------------------------\ \ 1 party H 1 hr Select a free weekend in November\ \ 10/16/2010 the 13th looks good\ \ 2 party H 59 mins Select and book a venue\ \ 5 party H 56 mins Design invitations\ \ 8 30 mins Select some Music for after dinner\ \ 7 home 47 mins Pay rent at the end of the month\ \ 3 party 59 mins Mail invitations\ \ 4 party 58 mins Select a caterer\ \ 6 party 56 mins Print invitations\ 8 tasks You can abbreviate those, too. $ task z\ ID Project Pri Due Active Age Description\ \-- ------- --- --- ------ ------- ----------------------------------\ \ 1 party H 1 hr Select a free weekend in November\ \ 10/16/2010 the 13th looks good\ \ 2 party H 59 mins Select and book a venue\ \ 5 party H 56 mins Design invitations\ \ 8 30 mins Select some Music for after dinner\ \ 7 home 47 mins Pay rent at the end of the month\ \ 3 party 59 mins Mail invitations\ \ 4 party 58 mins Select a caterer\ \ 6 party 56 mins Print invitations\ 8 tasks ## COLOR \[Note that you will see color in your terminal as you work through this tutorial, but you will not see the color in the man page. This is a limitation of man pages in general. The text shown (without color) is included here.\] All the examples so far have been shown with color turned off. How about some color? $ task config color on\ Are you sure you want to change the value of 'color' from 'off' to 'on'? (y/n) y\ Config file .taskrc modified.\ $ task list\ ID Project Pri Due Active Age Description\ \-- ------- --- --- ------ ------- ----------------------------------\ \ 1 party H 1 hr Select a free weekend in November\ \ 10/16/2010 the 13th looks good\ \ 2 party H 1 hr Select and book a venue\ \ 5 party H 59 mins Design invitations\ \ 8 33 mins Select some Music for after dinner\ \ 7 home 50 mins Pay rent at the end of the month\ \ 3 party 1 hr Mail invitations\ \ 4 party 1 hr Select a caterer\ \ 6 party 59 mins Print invitations\ 8 tasks What you see is the result of a set of color rules being applied to the tasks. There is a hierarchy of color rules that colorize a task based on the metadata. Taskwarrior supports 256 colors on certain terminal emulators, and this shows the range of colors available. Note that your terminal may show fewer colors. $ task color\ Basic colors\ \ black red blue green magenta cyan yellow white\ \ black red blue green magenta cyan yellow white\ Effects\ \ red bold red underline on blue on green on bright green\ color0 - color15\ \ 0 1 2 . . .\ . . . 15\ Color cube rgb000 - rgb555 (also color16 - color231)\ \ 0 1 2 3 4 5\ \ 0 1 2 3 4 5 0 1 2 3 4 5 0 1 2 3 4 5 0 1 2 3 4 5 0 1 2 3 4 5 0 1 2 3 4 5\ \ 0\ \ 1\ \ 2\ \ 3\ \ 4\ \ 5\ Gray ramp gray0 - gray23 (also color232 - color255)\ \ 0 1 2 . . . . . . 23\ Try running 'task color white on red'. This is how to show a color sample. $ task color white on red\ Use this command to see how colors are displayed by your terminal.\ 16-color usage (supports underline, bold text, bright background):\ \ task color black on bright yellow\ \ task color underline cyan on bright blue\ 256-color usage (supports underline):\ \ task color color214 on color202\ \ task color rgb150 on rgb020\ \ task color underline grey10 on grey3\ \ task color red on color173\ Your sample:\ \ task color white on red Or samples of all the active color settings. $ task color legend\ Here are the colors currently in use:\ Color Definition\ \------------------------- -------------------------\ color.active black on bright green\ color.alternate\ color.blocked black on white\ color.calendar.due white on red\ color.calendar.due.today bold white on red\ color.calendar.holiday black on bright yellow\ color.calendar.overdue black on bright red\ color.calendar.today bold white on bright blue\ color.calendar.weekend white on bright black\ color.calendar.weeknumber bold blue\ color.debug yellow\ color.due red\ color.due.today red\ color.error yellow\ color.footnote yellow\ color.header yellow\ color.history.add black on red\ color.history.delete black on yellow\ color.history.done black on green\ color.overdue bold red\ color.pri.H bold white\ color.pri.L\ color.pri.M white\ color.pri.none\ color.recurring magenta\ color.summary.background on gray3\ color.summary.bar on green\ color.sync.added green\ color.sync.changed yellow\ color.sync.rejected red\ color.tagged green\ color.undo.after green\ color.undo.before red Themes are a simple way to use coordinated color schemes so by including a color theme into the configuration file, you can see some striking effects. For a blue theme, add this line to your .taskrc file: include /usr/share/taskwarrior/dark-blue-256.theme For a red theme: include /usr/share/taskwarrior/dark-red-256.theme For a general dark theme: include /usr/share/taskwarrior/dark-256.theme Here are two color rules that specify a dark blue background for all tasks that are part of the 'party' project, and uses bold to identify any tasks with the keyword 'invitations' in the description. $ task "rc.color.project.party=on rgb001" rc.color.keyword.invit=bold list\ \ ... There is a man page with a writeup of all the color capabilities. $ man task-color ## ACTIVE TASKS I'm selecting a venue, so let's indicate that task 2 is active by starting it. See how active tasks are affected by the color rules. $ task 2 start\ Started 2 'Select and book a venue'. There is an active report that shows only active tasks, and you can mark any active task as inactive, by stopping it. $ task active\ ID Project Pri Due Active Age Description\ \-- ------- --- --- ------ ---- -----------------------\ \ 2 party H \* 1 hr Select and book a venue\ 1 task\ $ task 2 stop\ Stopped 2 'Select and book a venue'. There is a journalling feature that records the start and stop times as annotations. $ task config journal.time on\ Are you sure you want to add 'journal.time' with a value of 'on'? (y/n) y\ Config file .taskrc modified.\ $ task config dateformat.annotation 'Y/m/d H:N'\ Are you sure you want to add 'dateformat.annotation' with a value of 'Y/m/d H:N'? (y/n) y\ Config file .taskrc modified.\ $ task 2 start\ Started 2 'Select and book a venue'.\ $ task venue list\ ID Project Pri Due Active Age Description\ \-- ------- --- --- ------ ---- -----------------------------\ \ 2 party H \* 1 hr Select and book a venue\ \ 2010/10/16 11:20 Started task\ 1 task\ $ task 2 stop\ Stopped 2 'Select and book a venue'.\ $ task venue list\ ID Project Pri Due Active Age Description\ \-- ------- --- --- ------ ---- -----------------------------\ \ 2 party H \* 1 hr Select and book a venue\ \ 2010/10/16 11:20 Started task\ \ 2010/10/16 11:21 Stopped task\ 1 task ## DUE DATES Due dates can be specified as dates, durations into the future or past, mnemonic, ordinal or day of week. $ task 1 modify due:7/31/2010\ Modified 1 task.\ $ task 1 modify due:2wks\ Modified 1 task.\ $ task 1 modify due:-2wks\ Modified 1 task.\ $ task 1 modify due:eom\ Modified 1 task.\ $ task 2 modify due:8th\ Modified 1 task.\ $ task 2 modify due:sunday\ Modified 1 task.\ $ task 5 modify due:eow\ Modified 1 task. Some of these dates are in the past, so now you see there are overdue tasks. Due dates have different colors for due, imminent, today and overdue values. You can also choose the format - for input and output. $ task rc.dateformat.report:Y-M-DTH:N:SZ list\ ID Project Pri Due Active Age Description\ \-- ------- --- -------------------- ------ ---- ------------------------------------\ \ 2 party H 2010-10-17T00:00:00Z 1 hr Select and book a venue\ \ 2010/10/16 11:20 Started task\ \ 2010/10/16 11:21 Stopped task\ \ 5 party H 2010-10-22T00:00:00Z 1 hr Design invitations\ \ 1 party H 2010-10-31T00:00:00Z 1 hr Select a free weekend in November\ \ 2010/10/16 00:00 the 13th looks good\ \ 8 1 hr Select some Music for after dinner\ \ 7 home 1 hr Pay rent at the end of the month\ \ 3 party 1 hr Mail invitations\ \ 4 party 1 hr Select a caterer\ \ 6 party 1 hr Print invitations\ 8 tasks\ Configuration override dateformat.report:Y-M-DTH:N:SZ ## CALENDAR When tasks have due dates, you can see them on the calendar. $ task calendar Taskwarrior provides sample holiday files for countries where taskwarrior is used most. You can create your own, or use one of the samples to show holidays on the calendar. Try adding this line to your ~/.taskrc file: include /usr/share/taskwarrior/holidays.en-US.rc Then: $ task calendar\ October 2010 November 2010 December 2010\ Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa\ \ 40 1 2 45 1 2 3 4 5 6 49 1 2 3 4\ \ 41 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 46 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 50 5 6 7 8 9 10 11\ \ 42 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 47 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 51 12 13 14 15 16 17 18\ \ 43 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 48 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 52 19 20 21 22 23 24 25\ \ 44 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 49 28 29 30 53 26 27 28 29 30 31\ \ 45 31\ Legend: today, due, due-today, overdue, weekend, holiday, weeknumber. There are holiday files for be-BY, cs-CZ, da-DK, de-AT, de-DE, en-CA, en-GB, en-NZ, en-US, es-ES, fr-FR, it-IT, nb-NO, nl-NL and sv-SE locales. You can see the whole year, see due tasks as well, and see the holidays: $ task cal 2010\ January 2010 February 2010 March 2010 April 2010\ Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa\ \ 1 1 2 6 1 2 3 4 5 6 10 1 2 3 4 5 6 14 1 2 3\ \ 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 7 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 11 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 15 4 5 6 7 8 9 10\ \ 3 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 8 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 12 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 16 11 12 13 14 15 16 17\ \ 4 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 9 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 13 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24\ \ 5 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 10 28 14 28 29 30 31 18 25 26 27 28 29 30\ \ 6 31\ May 2010 June 2010 July 2010 August 2010\ Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa\ \ 18 1 23 1 2 3 4 5 27 1 2 3 32 1 2 3 4 5 6 7\ \ 19 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 24 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 28 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 33 8 9 10 11 12 13 14\ \ 20 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 25 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 29 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 34 15 16 17 18 19 20 21\ \ 21 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 26 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 30 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 35 22 23 24 25 26 27 28\ \ 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 27 27 28 29 30 31 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 36 29 30 31\ \ 23 30 31\ September 2010 October 2010 November 2010 December 2010\ Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa\ \ 36 1 2 3 4 40 1 2 45 1 2 3 4 5 6 49 1 2 3 4\ \ 37 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 41 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 46 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 50 5 6 7 8 9 10 11\ \ 38 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 42 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 47 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 51 12 13 14 15 16 17 18\ \ 39 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 43 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 48 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 52 19 20 21 22 23 24 25\ \ 40 26 27 28 29 30 44 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 49 28 29 30 53 26 27 28 29 30 31\ \ 45 31\ Legend: today, due, due-today, overdue, weekend, holiday, weeknumber.\ $ task rc.calendar.details:full cal\ October 2010 November 2010 December 2010 January 2011\ Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa\ \ 40 1 2 45 1 2 3 4 5 6 49 1 2 3 4 1 1\ \ 41 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 46 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 50 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 2 2 3 4 5 6 7 8\ \ 42 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 47 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 51 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 3 9 10 11 12 13 14 15\ \ 43 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 48 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 52 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 4 16 17 18 19 20 21 22\ \ 44 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 49 28 29 30 53 26 27 28 29 30 31 5 23 24 25 26 27 28 29\ \ 45 31 6 30 31\ Legend: today, due, due-today, overdue, weekend, holiday, weeknumber.\ ID Project Pri Due Active Age Description\ \-- ------- --- ---------- ------ ---- ------------------------------------\ \ 2 party H 10/17/2010 1 hr Select and book a venue\ \ 2010/10/16 11:20 Started task\ \ 2010/10/16 11:21 Stopped task\ \ 5 party H 10/22/2010 1 hr Design invitations\ \ 1 party H 10/31/2010 1 hr Select a free weekend in November\ \ 2010/10/16 00:00 the 13th looks good\ 3 tasks\ Configuration override calendar.details:full\ $ task rc.calendar.holidays:full cal\ October 2010 November 2010 December 2010\ Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa\ \ 40 1 2 45 1 2 3 4 5 6 49 1 2 3 4\ \ 41 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 46 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 50 5 6 7 8 9 10 11\ \ 42 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 47 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 51 12 13 14 15 16 17 18\ \ 43 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 48 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 52 19 20 21 22 23 24 25\ \ 44 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 49 28 29 30 53 26 27 28 29 30 31\ \ 45 31\ Legend: today, due, due-today, overdue, weekend, holiday, weeknumber.\ Date Holiday\ \---------- -----------------------------------\ 10/11/2010 Columbus Day\ 11/11/2010 Veterans Day\ 11/25/2010 Thanksgiving Day\ 12/25/2010 Christmas Day\ 12/31/2010 New Year's Eve\ 1/1/2011 New Year's Day\ 1/17/2011 Birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr.\ 2/21/2011 Washington's Birthday\ Configuration override calendar.holidays:full ## RECURRENCE Remember the task we added to pay the rent? We're going to need to do that every month. Recurring tasks allow us to set up a single task that keeps coming back, just as you'd expect. $ task 7 modify due:eom recur:monthly\ Task 7 is now a recurring task.\ Modified 1 task.\ $ task 7 info\ Name Value\ \----------- ------------------------------------\ ID 7\ Description Pay rent at the end of the month\ Status Recurring\ Project home\ Recurrence monthly\ Mask\ Due 10/31/2010\ UUID f79123aa-3377-43fd-8f50-d14ab3c1577b\ Entered 10/16/2010 (1 hr) You can also limit the extent of the recurrence. Let's make sure the task doesn't recur after the lease ends. $ task 7 modify until:eoy\ Modified 1 task. And there is a recurring report that shows you only the recurring tasks. $ task recurring\ ID Project Pri Due Recur Active Age Description\ \-- ------- --- ---------- ------- ------ ---- --------------------------------\ \ 9 home 10/31/2010 monthly 1 hr Pay rent at the end of the month\ 1 task To illustrate a point, let's set up a recurring annual task as a reminder to pay taxes, and put the due date in the past. This will cause task to fill in the gaps, and create a series of severely overdue tasks. $ task add Pay taxes due:4/15/2007 recur:yearly\ Created task 10.\ $ task long\ ID Project Pri Added Started Due Recur Countdown Age Deps Tags Description\ \-- ------- --- ---------- ------- ---------- ------- --------- ------ ---- ---- ------------------------------------\ 11 10/16/2010 4/15/2007 yearly 3.5 yrs 2 secs Pay taxes\ 12 10/16/2010 4/15/2008 yearly 2.5 yrs 2 secs Pay taxes\ 13 10/16/2010 4/15/2009 yearly 1.5 yrs 2 secs Pay taxes\ 14 10/16/2010 4/15/2010 yearly 6 mths 2 secs Pay taxes\ \ 2 party H 10/16/2010 10/17/2010 -11 hrs 2 hrs Select and book a venue\ \ 2010/10/16 11:20 Started task\ \ 2010/10/16 11:21 Stopped task\ \ 5 party H 10/16/2010 10/22/2010 -5 days 2 hrs mall Design invitations\ \ 1 party H 10/16/2010 10/31/2010 -2 wks 2 hrs Select a free weekend in November\ \ 2010/10/16 00:00 the 13th looks good\ \ 9 home 10/16/2010 10/31/2010 monthly -2 wks 1 hr Pay rent at the end of the month\ 15 10/16/2010 4/15/2011 yearly -5 mths 2 secs Pay taxes\ \ 8 10/16/2010 1 hr Select some Music for after dinner\ \ 3 party 10/16/2010 2 hrs Mail invitations\ \ 4 party 10/16/2010 2 hrs Select a caterer\ \ 6 party 10/16/2010 2 hrs mall Print invitations\ 13 tasks Deletions to recurring tasks can be escalated to include all the recurrences of a task. $ task 11 delete\ Permanently delete task 11 'Pay taxes'? (y/n) y\ This is a recurring task. Do you want to delete all pending recurrences of this same task? (y/n) y\ Deleting recurring task 10 'Pay taxes'.\ Deleting recurring task 11 'Pay taxes'.\ Deleting recurring task 12 'Pay taxes'.\ Deleting recurring task 13 'Pay taxes'.\ Deleting recurring task 14 'Pay taxes'.\ Deleting recurring task 15 'Pay taxes'. ## SPECIAL TAGS You've seen tags, but there are also 'special tags' that have effects on individual tasks. The 'nocolor' special tag causes the color rules to be bypassed. $ task 6 modify +nocolor\ Modified 1 task. Special tags are highlighted by the 'tags' command. $ task tags\ Tag Count\ \------- -----\ mall 2\ nocolor 1\ 2 tags (9 tasks) There are others - the 'nonag' special tag prevents the generation of nag messages when you work on low priority tasks when there are more important ones. $ task 6 modify -nocolor\ Modified 1 task. The 'nocal' special tag will prevent a task from appearing on the calendar. ## WAITING When you have a task with a due date that is far out into the future, you may want to hide that task for a while. $ task add Look for new apartment due:eoy\ Created task 10. You can provide a wait date for a task, and it will remain hidden until that date. It will no longer be cluttering your task list, but it is still there, and visible using the 'waiting' report. When the wait date comes, the task will just reappear in the list. $ task 10 modify wait:12/1/2010\ Modified 1 task.\ $ task list\ ID Project Pri Due Active Age Description\ \-- ------- --- ---------- ------ ----- ------------------------------------\ \ 2 party H 10/17/2010 2 hrs Select and book a venue\ \ 2010/10/16 11:20 Started task\ \ 2010/10/16 11:21 Stopped task\ \ 5 party H 10/22/2010 2 hrs Design invitations\ \ 1 party H 10/31/2010 2 hrs Select a free weekend in November\ \ 2010/10/16 00:00 the 13th looks good\ \ 9 home 10/31/2010 2 hrs Pay rent at the end of the month\ \ 8 1 hr Select some Music for after dinner\ \ 3 party 2 hrs Mail invitations\ \ 4 party 2 hrs Select a caterer\ \ 6 party 2 hrs Print invitations\ 8 tasks\ $ task waiting\ ID Project Pri Wait Age Description\ \-- ------- --- --------- ----- ----------------------\ 10 12/1/2010 1 min Look for new apartment\ 1 task To illustrate this, let's set up a task with a very short wait time of five seconds. $ task add Do something in a few seconds\ Created task 11.\ $ task 11 modify wait:5s\ Modified 1 task.\ $ task list\ ID Project Pri Due Active Age Description\ \-- ------- --- ---------- ------ ----- ------------------------------------\ \ 2 party H 10/17/2010 2 hrs Select and book a venue\ \ 2010/10/16 11:20 Started task\ \ 2010/10/16 11:21 Stopped task\ \ 5 party H 10/22/2010 2 hrs Design invitations\ \ 1 party H 10/31/2010 2 hrs Select a free weekend in November\ \ 2010/10/16 00:00 the 13th looks good\ \ 9 home 10/31/2010 2 hrs Pay rent at the end of the month\ \ 8 1 hr Select some Music for after dinner\ \ 3 party 2 hrs Mail invitations\ \ 4 party 2 hrs Select a caterer\ \ 6 party 2 hrs Print invitations\ 8 tasks It's gone. Now we wait five seconds, then: $ task list\ ID Project Pri Due Active Age Description\ \-- ------- --- ---------- ------ ------- ------------------------------------\ \ 2 party H 10/17/2010 2 hrs Select and book a venue\ \ 2010/10/16 11:20 Started task\ \ 2010/10/16 11:21 Stopped task\ \ 5 party H 10/22/2010 2 hrs Design invitations\ \ 1 party H 10/31/2010 2 hrs Select a free weekend in November\ \ 2010/10/16 00:00 the 13th looks good\ \ 9 home 10/31/2010 2 hrs Pay rent at the end of the month\ \ 8 1 hr Select some Music for after dinner\ 11 18 secs Do something in a few seconds\ \ 3 party 2 hrs Mail invitations\ \ 4 party 2 hrs Select a caterer\ \ 6 party 2 hrs Print invitations\ 9 tasks And it's back. Now we delete it. $ task 11 rc.confirmation:no delete\ Deleting task 11 'Do something in a few seconds'. ## DEPENDENCIES Taskwarrior supports dependencies. Let's take a look at the party planning tasks, and assign dependencies. $ task pro:party list\ ID Project Pri Due Active Age Description\ \-- ------- --- ---------- ------ ----- ------------------------------------\ \ 2 party H 10/17/2010 3 hrs Select and book a venue\ \ 2010/10/16 11:20 Started task\ \ 2010/10/16 11:21 Stopped task\ \ 5 party H 10/22/2010 3 hrs Design invitations\ \ 1 party H 10/31/2010 3 hrs Select a free weekend in November\ \ 2010/10/16 00:00 the 13th looks good\ \ 3 party 3 hrs Mail invitations\ \ 4 party 3 hrs Select a caterer\ \ 6 party 3 hrs Print invitations\ 6 tasks Let's see. I can't mail invitations until they are printed. $ task 3 modify depends:6\ Modified 1 task. I can't print them until I design them. $ task 6 modify dep:5\ Modified 1 task. I need to select a weekend before a location. $ task 2 modify dep:1\ Modified 1 task. Design depends on location and weekend. $ task 5 modify dep:1,2\ Modified 1 task. And the caterer needs to know where. $ task 4 modify dep:1\ Modified 1 task. Let's take a look. All my tasks are blocked except task 1. That makes sense. $ task pro:party long\ ID Project Pri Added Started Due Recur Countdown Age Deps Tags Description\ \-- ------- --- ---------- ------- ---------- ----- --------- ----- ---- ---- ------------------------------------\ \ 2 party H 10/16/2010 10/17/2010 -10 hrs 3 hrs 1 Select and book a venue\ \ 2010/10/16 11:20 Started task\ \ 2010/10/16 11:21 Stopped task\ \ 5 party H 10/16/2010 10/22/2010 -5 days 3 hrs 1,2 mall Design invitations\ \ 1 party H 10/16/2010 10/31/2010 -2 wks 3 hrs Select a free weekend in November\ \ 2010/10/16 00:00 the 13th looks good\ \ 3 party 10/16/2010 3 hrs 6 Mail invitations\ \ 4 party 10/16/2010 3 hrs 1 Select a caterer\ \ 6 party 10/16/2010 3 hrs 5 mall Print invitations\ 6 tasks Hmm, that double dependency isn't right. $ task 5 modify dep:-1\ Modified 1 task. Here are the blocked tasks, and the opposite, the unblocked tasks. $ task blocked\ ID Deps Project Pri Due Active Age Description\ \-- ---- ------- --- ---------- ------ ----- -----------------------------\ \ 2 1 party H 10/17/2010 3 hrs Select and book a venue\ \ 2010/10/16 11:20 Started task\ \ 2010/10/16 11:21 Stopped task\ \ 5 2 party H 10/22/2010 3 hrs Design invitations\ \ 3 6 party 3 hrs Mail invitations\ \ 4 1 party 3 hrs Select a caterer\ \ 6 5 party 3 hrs Print invitations\ 5 tasks\ $ task unblocked\ ID Deps Project Pri Due Active Age Description\ \-- ---- ------- --- ---------- ------ ----- ------------------------------------\ \ 1 party H 10/31/2010 3 hrs Select a free weekend in November\ \ 2010/10/16 00:00 the 13th looks good\ \ 9 home 10/31/2010 3 hrs Pay rent at the end of the month\ \ 8 3 hrs Select some Music for after dinner\ 3 tasks If we look at task 1 closely, we can see that it is blocking 2 and 4. $ task 1 info\ Name Value\ \--------------------- ------------------------------------\ ID 1\ Description Select a free weekend in November\ \ 2010/10/16 00:00 the 13th looks good\ Status Pending\ Project party\ Priority H\ This task is blocking 2 Select and book a venue\ \ 4 Select a caterer\ Due 10/31/2010\ UUID 3a6881bb-628b-4f90-93d7-4da563b83d54\ Entered 10/16/2010 (3 hrs) And if we look at task 2, we see that it is blocked by 1, and blocking 5. $ task 2 info\ Name Value\ \--------------------- ------------------------------------\ ID 2\ Description Select and book a venue\ \ 2010/10/16 11:20 Started task\ \ 2010/10/16 11:21 Stopped task\ Status Pending\ Project party\ Priority H\ This task blocked by 1 Select a free weekend in November\ This task is blocking 5 Design invitations\ Due 10/17/2010\ UUID 773c2b02-919e-4527-95f0-814c19dd198a\ Entered 10/16/2010 (3 hrs) This is called a dependency chain, which is a string of tasks that are all connected not only by their project, but by dependencies. Now we understand that task 1 should be done first, but you may still violate the laws of physics if you wish. Let's complete task 2 and see what happens. Taskwarrior realizes what you are doing, and offers to fix the dependency chain to reflect what you have done. $ task 2 done\ Task 2 is blocked by:\ \ 1 Select a free weekend in November\ and is blocking:\ \ 5 Design invitations\ Would you like the dependency chain fixed? (y/n) y\ Completed 2 'Select and book a venue'.\ Project 'party' is 12% complete (7 of 8 tasks remaining).\ Marked 1 task as done.\ $ task 1 info\ Name Value\ \--------------------- ------------------------------------\ ID 1\ Description Select a free weekend in November\ \ 2010/10/16 00:00 the 13th looks good\ Status Pending\ Project party\ Priority H\ This task is blocking 4 Select a caterer\ \ 5 Design invitations\ Due 10/31/2010\ UUID 3a6881bb-628b-4f90-93d7-4da563b83d54\ Entered 10/16/2010 (3 hrs) ## REPORTS Taskwarrior has a good many reports. There is a report with minimal information: $ task minimal\ ID Project Description\ \-- ------- ------------------------------------\ \ 7 Select some Music for after dinner\ \ 8 home Pay rent at the end of the month\ \ 4 party Design invitations\ \ 2 party Mail invitations\ \ 5 party Print invitations\ \ 3 party Select a caterer\ \ 1 party Select a free weekend in November\ \ 2010/10/16 00:00 the 13th looks good There is the basic report: $ task ls\ ID Project Pri Description\ \-- ------- --- ------------------------------------\ \ 1 party H Select a free weekend in November\ \ 2010/10/16 00:00 the 13th looks good\ \ 4 party H Design invitations\ \ 7 Select some Music for after dinner\ \ 8 home Pay rent at the end of the month\ \ 2 party Mail invitations\ \ 3 party Select a caterer\ \ 5 party Print invitations There is the most common report: $ task list\ ID Project Pri Due Active Age Description\ \-- ------- --- ---------- ------ ----- ------------------------------------\ \ 4 party H 10/22/2010 5 hrs Design invitations\ \ 1 party H 10/31/2010 6 hrs Select a free weekend in November\ \ 2010/10/16 00:00 the 13th looks good\ \ 8 home 10/31/2010 5 hrs Pay rent at the end of the month\ \ 7 5 hrs Select some Music for after dinner\ \ 2 party 5 hrs Mail invitations\ \ 3 party 5 hrs Select a caterer\ \ 5 party 5 hrs Print invitations There is a report with most of the data shown: $ task long\ ID Project Pri Added Started Due Recur Countdown Age Deps Tags Description\ \-- ------- --- ---------- ------- ---------- ------- --------- ----- ---- ---- ------------------------------------\ \ 4 party H 10/16/2010 10/22/2010 -5 days 5 hrs 1 mall Design invitations\ \ 1 party H 10/16/2010 10/31/2010 -2 wks 6 hrs Select a free weekend in November\ \ 2010/10/16 00:00 the 13th looks good\ \ 8 home 10/16/2010 10/31/2010 monthly -2 wks 5 hrs Pay rent at the end of the month\ \ 7 10/16/2010 5 hrs Select some Music for after dinner\ \ 2 party 10/16/2010 5 hrs 5 Mail invitations\ \ 3 party 10/16/2010 5 hrs 1 Select a caterer\ \ 5 party 10/16/2010 5 hrs 4 mall Print invitations There is a report containing all tasks, old and new: $ task all\ ID Project Pri Due Completed Active Age Description\ \-- ------- --- ---------- ---------- ------ ----- ------------------------------------\ \ 9 12/31/2010 3 hrs Look for new apartment\ \ 7 5 hrs Select some Music for after dinner\ \ \- 10/16/2010 6 hrs Come up with a guest list\ \ \- 10/16/2010 5 hrs Order a special cake\ \ 6 home 10/31/2010 5 hrs Pay rent at the end of the month\ \ 8 home 10/31/2010 5 hrs Pay rent at the end of the month\ \ \- party H 10/17/2010 10/16/2010 6 hrs Select and book a venue\ \ 2010/10/16 11:20 Started task\ \ 2010/10/16 11:21 Stopped task\ \ 4 party H 10/22/2010 5 hrs Design invitations\ \ 1 party H 10/31/2010 6 hrs Select a free weekend in November\ \ 2010/10/16 00:00 the 13th looks good\ \ 2 party 6 hrs Mail invitations\ \ 5 party 5 hrs Print invitations\ \ 3 party 6 hrs Select a caterer There is a report showing completed work: $ task completed\ Complete Project Pri Age Description\ \---------- ------- --- ----- -----------------------------\ 10/16/2010 party H 6 hrs Select and book a venue\ \ 2010/10/16 11:20 Started task\ \ 2010/10/16 11:21 Stopped task\ 10/16/2010 6 hrs Come up with a guest list\ 10/16/2010 5 hrs Order a special cake There is a report showing recurring tasks only: $ task recurring\ ID Project Pri Due Recur Active Age Description\ \-- ------- --- ---------- ------- ------ ----- --------------------------------\ \ 8 home 10/31/2010 monthly 5 hrs Pay rent at the end of the month There is a report to show all the waiting tasks: $ task waiting\ ID Project Pri Wait Age Description\ \-- ------- --- --------- ----- ----------------------\ \ 9 12/1/2010 3 hrs Look for new apartment There is a report showing all the tasks that are blocked via dependencies by other tasks: $ task blocked\ ID Deps Project Pri Due Active Age Description\ \-- ---- ------- --- ---------- ------ ----- ------------------\ \ 4 1 party H 10/22/2010 5 hrs Design invitations\ \ 2 5 party 6 hrs Mail invitations\ \ 3 1 party 6 hrs Select a caterer\ \ 5 4 party 5 hrs Print invitations There is a report showing tasks that are not blocked by dependencies: $ task unblocked\ ID Deps Project Pri Due Active Age Description\ \-- ---- ------- --- ---------- ------ ----- ------------------------------------\ \ 1 party H 10/31/2010 6 hrs Select a free weekend in November\ \ 2010/10/16 00:00 the 13th looks good\ \ 8 home 10/31/2010 5 hrs Pay rent at the end of the month\ \ 7 5 hrs Select some Music for after dinner There is a report showing the oldest tasks: $ task oldest limit:3\ ID Project Pri Due Active Age Description\ \-- ------- --- ---------- ------ ----- ------------------------------------\ \ 1 party H 10/31/2010 6 hrs Select a free weekend in November\ \ 2010/10/16 00:00 the 13th looks good\ \ 2 party 6 hrs Mail invitations\ \ 3 party 6 hrs Select a caterer There is a report showing the newest tasks: $ task newest limit:3\ ID Project Pri Due Active Age Description\ \-- ------- --- ---------- ------ ----- ----------------------------------\ \ 8 home 10/31/2010 5 hrs Pay rent at the end of the month\ \ 7 5 hrs Select some Music for after dinner\ \ 5 party 6 hrs Print invitations There is a report showing the completed and started tasks, by week: $ task timesheet\ 10/10/2010 - 10/16/2010\ \ Completed (3 tasks)\ \ Project Due Description\ \ Come up with a guest list\ \ Order a special cake\ \ party 10/17/2010 Select and book a venue\ \ 2010/10/16 11:20 Started task\ \ 2010/10/16 11:21 Stopped task\ Started (0 tasks) And "what should I work on next?" This one can be useful because it pulls a few of the highest priority tasks from all the projects. $ task next\ ID Project Pri Due Active Age Description\ \-- ------- --- ---------- ------ ----- ------------------------------------\ \ 1 party H 10/31/2010 6 hrs Select a free weekend in November\ \ 2010/10/16 00:00 the 13th looks good\ \ 8 home 10/31/2010 5 hrs Pay rent at the end of the month\ \ 7 5 hrs Select some Music for after dinner ## CUSTOM REPORTS You can even define your own custom report. Let's quickly create a custom report - we'll call it foo - and I can choose from a long list of fields to include in the report, but I want to see the ID, the date when I entered the task, and the description. I can specify the labels for those columns, the sort order of the report, and I can filter. $ cat \>\> ~/.taskrc\ report.foo.description=My own report\ report.foo.columns=id,entry,description\ report.foo.labels=ID,Entered,Description\ report.foo.sort=entry+,description+\ report.foo.filter=status:pending\ ^D Custom reports also show up on the help output. $ task help \| grep foo\ \ task foo \[tags\] \[attrs\] desc... My own report I can inspect the configuration. $ task show report.foo\ Config variable Value\ \---------------------- ----------------------\ report.foo.columns id,entry,description\ report.foo.description My own report\ report.foo.filter status:pending\ report.foo.labels ID,Entered,Description\ report.foo.sort entry+,description+ And they can be run just like the other reports. $ task foo\ ID Entered Description\ \-- ---------- ------------------------------------\ \ 4 10/16/2010 Design invitations\ \ 2 10/16/2010 Mail invitations\ \ 8 10/16/2010 Pay rent at the end of the month\ \ 5 10/16/2010 Print invitations\ \ 3 10/16/2010 Select a caterer\ \ 1 10/16/2010 Select a free weekend in November\ \ 2010/10/16 00:00 the 13th looks good\ \ 7 10/16/2010 Select some Music for after dinner\ 7 tasks ## CHARTS The history report gives monthly totals of tasks added, completed and deleted. There is also an annual version. $ task history\ Year Month Added Completed Deleted Net\ \---- ------- ----- --------- ------- ---\ 2010 October 19 3 7 9\ Average 19 3 7 9\ $ task history.annual\ Year Added Completed Deleted Net\ \------- ----- --------- ------- ---\ 2010 19 3 7 9\ Average 19 3 7 9 There is a graphical monthly and annual version. \[These charts do not show up in a man page\] $ task ghistory\ \ ...\ $ task ghistory.annual\ \ ... There is a project summary report that shows progress in all the projects. $ task summary\ Project Remaining Avg age Complete 0% 100%\ \------- --------- ------- -------- ------------------------------\ (none) 2 59 mins 50% ===============\ home 1 3 hrs 0%\ party 5 6 hrs 16% =====\ 3 projects ## ADVANCED FILTERS Filters are a very powerful tool. First here is an unfiltered list, which shows all tasks. $ task list\ ID Project Pri Due Active Age Description\ \-- ------- --- ---------- ------ ----- ------------------------------------\ \ 4 party H 10/22/2010 6 hrs Design invitations\ \ 1 party H 10/31/2010 6 hrs Select a free weekend in November\ \ 2010/10/16 00:00 the 13th looks good\ \ 8 home 10/31/2010 6 hrs Pay rent at the end of the month\ \ 7 6 hrs Select some Music for after dinner\ \ 2 party 6 hrs Mail invitations\ \ 3 party 6 hrs Select a caterer\ \ 5 party 6 hrs Print invitations\ 7 tasks Now again, but with the text 'invit', which acts as a filter on the description field. $ task invit list\ ID Project Pri Due Active Age Description\ \-- ------- --- ---------- ------ ----- ------------------\ \ 4 party H 10/22/2010 6 hrs Design invitations\ \ 2 party 6 hrs Mail invitations\ \ 5 party 6 hrs Print invitations\ 3 tasks This is the equivalent form using attribute modifiers. In this example we are filtering on descriptions that contain the word fragment. Here we are using the 'contains' modifier, but there are many others. $ task description.contains:invit list\ ID Project Pri Due Active Age Description\ \-- ------- --- ---------- ------ ----- ------------------\ \ 4 party H 10/22/2010 6 hrs Design invitations\ \ 2 party 6 hrs Mail invitations\ \ 5 party 6 hrs Print invitations\ 3 tasks All tasks containing the whole word 'the'. See how annotations are also searched? $ task desc.word:the list\ ID Project Pri Due Active Age Description\ \-- ------- --- ---------- ------ ----- ------------------------------------\ \ 1 party H 10/31/2010 6 hrs Select a free weekend in November\ \ 2010/10/16 00:00 the 13th looks good\ \ 8 home 10/31/2010 6 hrs Pay rent at the end of the month\ 2 tasks Here is a list of all tasks that do not contain the whole word 'invitations'. $ task desc.noword:invitations list\ ID Project Pri Due Active Age Description\ \-- ------- --- ---------- ------ ----- ------------------------------------\ \ 1 party H 10/31/2010 6 hrs Select a free weekend in November\ \ 2010/10/16 00:00 the 13th looks good\ \ 8 home 10/31/2010 6 hrs Pay rent at the end of the month\ \ 7 6 hrs Select some Music for after dinner\ \ 3 party 6 hrs Select a caterer\ 4 tasks Here list all tasks in the 'party' project. And the full equivalent. Here list tasks that are not in the 'party' project. I could have also used 'isnt' here - there are several synonyms for modifiers, so that the filter can be written so that it reads naturally. $ task pro:party list\ $ task pro.is:party list\ $ task pro.not:party list Here the 'over' modifier is filtering on priorities that sort higher than 'Low', and also filtering on the 'party' project. There are two terms in this filter. $ task pro:party pri.over:L list\ ID Project Pri Due Active Age Description\ \-- ------- --- ---------- ------ ----- ------------------------------------\ \ 4 party H 10/22/2010 6 hrs Design invitations\ \ 1 party H 10/31/2010 6 hrs Select a free weekend in November\ \ 2010/10/16 00:00 the 13th looks good\ 2 tasks Same again, but only show me the first two tasks. Now all tasks, but just show the first page of tasks. I don't have a page full of tasks here, but you get the idea. $ task pro:party limit:2 list\ ID Project Pri Due Active Age Description\ \-- ------- --- ---------- ------ ----- ------------------------------------\ \ 4 party H 10/22/2010 6 hrs Design invitations\ \ 1 party H 10/31/2010 6 hrs Select a free weekend in November\ \ 2010/10/16 00:00 the 13th looks good\ 2 tasks, 2 shown\ $ task limit:page list\ ID Project Pri Due Active Age Description\ \-- ------- --- ---------- ------ ----- ------------------------------------\ \ 4 party H 10/22/2010 6 hrs Design invitations\ \ 1 party H 10/31/2010 6 hrs Select a free weekend in November\ \ 2010/10/16 00:00 the 13th looks good\ 2 tasks Now you can see how some of the built-in reports work. The 'list' report is just all tasks, filtered so that only the pending tasks are shown. $ task status:pending all\ ... The 'waiting' report is similarly defined. $ task status:waiting all\ ... ## HELP You'll find a quick reference page built in, with the 'help' command, or perhaps you'll want to take a look at the several man pages installed. $ task help\ ... ## CREDITS & COPYRIGHTS Copyright (C) 2006 - 2014 P. Beckingham, F. Hernandez. This man page was originally written by Federico Hernandez, and has been modified and supplemented by Paul Beckingham. Taskwarrior is distributed under the MIT license. See http://www.opensource.org/licenses/mit-license.php for more information. ## SEE ALSO **[task(1)](/task/1.md),** **[tasksh(1)](/tasksh/1.md),** **[taskrc(5)](/taskrc/5.md),** **[task-faq(5)](/task-faq/5.md),** **[task-color(5)](/task-color/5.md),** **[task-sync(5)](/task-sync/5.md)** For more information regarding task, the following may be referenced: - The official site at \ - The official code repository at \ - You can contact the project by writing an email to \ ## REPORTING BUGS - Bugs in task may be reported to the issue-tracker at \