Provided by:
task_1.9.4-0ubuntu4_i386 
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
Taskwarrior was written by P. Beckingham <paul@beckingham.net>.
Copyright (C) 2006 - 2011 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.
Taskwarrior 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), task-sync(5)
For more information regarding taskwarrior, 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 taskwarrior may be reported to the issue-tracker at
<http://taskwarrior.org>