Provided by: taskwarrior_2.6.1+dfsg-1_amd64 
NAME
task - A command line todo manager.
SYNOPSIS
task <filter> <command> [ <mods> | <args> ]
task --version
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. Taskwarrior has a rich set 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.
FILTER
The <filter> consists of zero or more search criteria that select tasks. For example, to list all
pending tasks belonging to the 'Home' project:
task project:Home list
You can specify multiple filter terms, each of which further restricts the result:
task project:Home +weekend garden list
This example applies three filters: the 'Home' project, the 'weekend' tag, and the description or
annotations must contain the character sequence '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 the section 'ATTRIBUTE MODIFIERS' below for
a complete list of modifiers.
Note that a filter may have zero terms, which means that all tasks apply to the command. This can be
dangerous, and this special case is confirmed, and cannot be overridden. For example, this command:
task modify +work
This command has no filter, and will modify all tasks. Are you sure? (yes/no)
will add the 'work' tag to all tasks, but only after confirmation.
More filter examples:
task <command> <mods>
task 28 <command> <mods>
task +weekend <command> <mods>
task +bills due.by:eom <command> <mods>
task project:Home due.before:today <command> <mods>
task ebeeab00-ccf8-464b-8b58-f7f2d606edfb <command> <mods>
By default filter elements are combined with an implicit 'and' operator, but 'or' and 'xor' may also be
used, provided parentheses are included:
task '( /[Cc]at|[Dd]og/ or /[0-9]+/ )' <command> <mods>
The parentheses isolate the logical term from any default command filter or implicit report filter which
would be combined with an implicit 'and'.
A filter may target specific tasks using ID or UUID numbers. To specify multiple tasks use one of these
forms (space-separated list of ID numbers, UUID numbers or ID ranges):
task 1 2 3 delete
task 1-3 info
task 1 2-5 19 modify pri:H
task 4-7 ebeeab00-ccf8-464b-8b58-f7f2d606edfb info
Note that it may be necessary to properly escape special characters as well as quotes in order to avoid
their special meanings in the shell. See also the section 'SPECIFYING DESCRIPTIONS' for more information.
MODIFICATIONS
The <mods> consist of zero or more changes to apply to the selected tasks, such as:
task <filter> <command> project:Home
task <filter> <command> +weekend +garden due:tomorrow
task <filter> <command> Description/annotation text
task <filter> <command> /from/to/ <- replace first match
task <filter> <command> /from/to/g <- replace all matches
SUBCOMMANDS
Taskwarrior supports different kinds of commands. There are read commands, write commands, miscellaneous
commands and script helper commands. Read commands do not allow modification of tasks. Write commands
can alter almost any aspect of a task. Script helper commands are provided to help you write add-on
scripts, for example, shell completion (only minimal output is generated, as with verbose=nothing). Those
commands which are explicitly affected by the context are denoted as such.
READ SUBCOMMANDS
Reports are read subcommands. 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). There are also other read subcommands that are not reports.
task --version
This is the only conventional command line argument that Taskwarrior supports, and is intended for
add-on scripts to verify the version number of an installed Taskwarrior without invoking the
mechanisms that create default files.
task <filter>
With no command specified, the default command is run, and the filter applied.
task <filter> active
Shows all tasks matching the filter that are started but not completed.
task <filter> all
Shows all tasks matching the filter, including parents of recurring tasks.
task <filter> blocked
Shows all tasks matching the filter, that are currently blocked by other tasks.
task <filter> blocking
Shows all tasks matching the filter, that block other tasks.
task <filter> burndown.daily
Shows a graphical burndown chart, by day. Is affected by the context.
task <filter> burndown.weekly
Shows a graphical burndown chart, by week. Note that 'burndown' is an alias to the
'burndown.weekly' report. Is affected by the context.
task <filter> burndown.monthly
Shows a graphical burndown chart, by month. Is affected by the context.
task calendar [due|<month> <year>|<year>] [y]
Shows a monthly calendar with due tasks marked. Shows one horizontal line of months. If the 'y'
argument is provided, will show at least one complete year. If a year is provided, such as
'2015', then that full year is shown. If both a month and a year are specified ('6 2015') then
the months displayed begin at the specified month and year. If the 'due' argument is provided,
will show the starting month of the earliest due task.
task colors [<sample> | legend]
Displays all possible colors, a named sample, or a legend containing all currently defined colors.
task columns [<substring>]
Displays all supported columns and formatting styles. Useful when creating custom reports. If a
substring is provided, only matching column names are shown.
task commands
Shows all the supported commands, with some details of each.
task <filter> completed
Shows all tasks matching the filter that are completed.
task <filter> count
Displays only a count of tasks matching the filter. Is affected by the context.
task <filter> export
Exports all tasks in the JSON format. Redirect the output to a file, if you wish to save it, or
pipe it to another command or script to convert it to another format. You'll find these example
scripts online at <https://taskwarrior.org/tools/>:
export-csv.pl
export-sql.py
export-xml.py
export-yaml.pl
export-html.pl
export-tsv.pl
export-xml.rb
export-ical.pl
export-xml.pl
export-yad.pl
task <filter> ghistory.annual
Shows a graphical report of task status by year.
task <filter> ghistory.monthly
Shows a graphical report of task status by month. Note that 'ghistory' is an alias to
'ghistory.monthly'.
task <filter> ghistory.weekly
Shows a graphical report of task status by week.
task <filter> ghistory.daily
Shows a graphical report of task status by day.
task help
Shows the long usage text.
task <filter> history.annual
Shows a report of task history by year. Is affected by the context.
task <filter> history.monthly
Shows a report of task history by month. Note that 'history' is an alias to 'history.monthly'. Is
affected by the context.
task <filter> history.weekly
Shows a report of task history by week. Is affected by the context.
task <filter> history.daily
Shows a report of task history by day. Is affected by the context.
task <filter> ids
Applies the filter then extracts only the task IDs and presents them as a space-separated list.
This is useful as input to a task command, to achieve this:
task $(task project:Home ids) modify priority:H
This example first gets the IDs for the project:Home filter, then sets the priority to H for each
of those tasks. This can also be achieved directly:
task project:Home modify priority:H
This command is mainly of use to external scripts.
task <filter> uuids
Applies the filter on all tasks (even deleted and completed tasks) then extracts only the task
UUIDs and presents them as a space-separated list. This is useful as input to a task command, to
achieve this:
task $(task project:Home status:completed uuids) modify status:pending
This example first gets the UUIDs for the project:Home and status:completed filters, then makes
each of those tasks pending again.
This command is mainly of use to external scripts.
task udas
Shows a list of UDAs that are defined, including their name, type, label and allowed values. Also
shows UDA usage and any orphan UDAs.
task <filter> information
Shows all data and metadata for the specified tasks. This is the only means of displaying all
aspects of a given task, including the change history.
task <filter> list
Provides a standard listing of tasks matching the filter.
task <filter> long
Provides the most detailed listing of tasks matching the filter.
task <filter> ls
Provides a short listing of tasks matching the filter.
task <filter> minimal
Provides a minimal listing of tasks matching the filter.
task <filter> newest
Shows the newest tasks matching the filter.
task <filter> next
Shows a page of the most urgent tasks, sorted by urgency, which is a calculated value.
task <filter> ready
Shows a page of the most urgent ready tasks, sorted by urgency with started tasks first. A ready
task is one that is either unscheduled, or has a scheduled date that is past and is not waiting.
task <filter> oldest
Shows the oldest tasks matching the filter.
task <filter> overdue
Shows all incomplete tasks matching the filter that are beyond their due date.
task <filter> projects
Lists all project names that are currently used by pending tasks, and the number of tasks for
each. Is affected by the context.
task <filter> recurring
Shows all recurring tasks matching the filter.
task <filter> unblocked
Shows all tasks that are not currently blocked by other tasks, matching the filter.
task <filter> waiting
Shows all waiting tasks matching the filter.
WRITE SUBCOMMANDS
task add <mods>
Adds a new pending task to the task list. It is affected by the currently set context.
task <filter> annotate <mods>
Adds an annotation to an existing task.
task <filter> append <mods>
Appends description text to an existing task.
task <filter> delete <mods>
Deletes the specified task from task list. Is affected by the context.
task <filter> denotate <mods>
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. Is affected by the context.
task <filter> done <mods>
Marks the specified task as done. Is affected by the context.
task <filter> duplicate <mods>
Duplicates the specified task and allows modifications. Is affected by the context.
task <filter> edit
Launches a text 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. Is affected by the context.
task import [<file> ...]
Imports tasks in the JSON format. Can be used to add new tasks, or update existing ones. Tasks
are identified by their UUID.
If no file or "-" is specified, import tasks from STDIN.
Setting rc.recurrence.confirmation to an appropriate level is recommended if import is to be used
in automated workflows. See taskrc(5).
For importing other file formats, the standard task release comes with a few example scripts, such
as:
import-todo.sh.pl
import-yaml.pl
task log <mods>
Adds a new task that is already completed, to the task list. It is affected by the currently set
context.
task <filter> modify <mods>
Modifies the existing task with provided information.
task <filter> prepend <mods>
Prepends description text to an existing task. Is affected by the context.
task <filter> purge
Permanently removes the specified tasks from the data files. Only tasks that are already deleted
can be purged. This command has a local-only effect and changes introduced by it are not synced.
Is affected by the context.
Warning: causes permanent, non-revertible loss of data.
task <filter> start <mods>
Marks the specified tasks as started. Is affected by the context.
task <filter> stop <mods>
Removes the start time from the specified task. Is affected by the context.
MISCELLANEOUS SUBCOMMANDS
Miscellaneous subcommands either accept no command line arguments, or accept non-standard arguments.
task calc <expression>
Evaluates an algebraic expression. Can be used to test how Taskwarrior parses and evaluates the
expression given on the command line.
Examples:
task calc 1 + 1
2
task calc now + 8d
2015-03-26T18:06:57
task calc eom
2015-03-31T23:59:59
task 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
task context <name>
Sets the currently active context. See the CONTEXT section.
Example:
task context work
task context delete <name>
Deletes the context with the name <name>. If the context being deleted is currently set as active,
it will be unset.
Example:
task context delete work
task context define <name> <filter>
Defines a new context with name <name> and definition <filter>. This command does not affect the
currently set context, just adds a new context definition.
Examples:
task context define work project:Work
task context define home project:Home or +home
task context define superurgent due:today and +urgent
task context list
Outputs a list of available contexts along with their definitions.
task context none
Clears the currently active context, if any was set.
task context show
Shows the currently active context, along with its definition.
task diagnostics
Shows diagnostic information, of the kind needed when reporting a problem. When you report a bug,
it is likely that the platform, version, and environment are important. Running this command
generates a summary of similar information that should accompany a bug report.
It includes compiler, library and software information. It does not include any personal
information, other than the location and size of your task data files.
This command also performs a diagnostic scan of your data files looking for common problems, such
as duplicate UUIDs.
task execute <external command>
Executes the specified command. Not useful by itself, but when used in conjunction with aliases
and extensions can provide seamless integration.
task logo
Displays the Taskwarrior logo.
task news
Guides the user through important release notes anytime a new version of Taskwarrior is installed.
It provides personalized feedback, deprecation warnings and usage advice, where applicable.
task reports
Lists all supported reports. This includes the built-in reports, and any custom reports you have
defined.
task show [all | <substring>]
Shows all the current settings. If a substring is specified just the settings containing that
substring will be displayed.
task <filter> stats
Shows statistics of the tasks defined by the filter. Is affected by the context.
task <filter> summary
Shows a report of aggregated task status by project. Is affected by the context.
task sync [init]
The sync command synchronizes data with the Taskserver, if configured.
The init subcommand should only ever be run once, and only on one client, because it sends all
data to the Taskserver. This allows all the subsequent sync commands to only send small deltas.
Note: If you use multiple sync clients, make sure this setting (which is the default) is on your
primary client:
recurrence=on
and on all other clients (this is not the default):
recurrence=off
This is a workaround to avoid a recurrence bug that duplicates recurring tasks.
task <filter> tags
Show a list of all tags used. Any special tags used are highlighted. Note that virtual tags are
not listed - they don't really exist, and are just a convenient notation for other task metadata.
It is an error to attempt to add or remove a virtual tag. Is affected by the context.
task timesheet [<weeks>]
Shows a weekly report of tasks completed and started.
task undo
Reverts the most recent action. Obeys the confirmation setting.
task version
Shows the Taskwarrior version number.
HELPER SUBCOMMANDS
task _aliases
Generates a list of all aliases, for autocompletion purposes.
task _columns
Displays only a list of supported columns.
task _commands
Generates a list of all commands, for autocompletion purposes.
task _config
Lists all supported configuration variables, for completion purposes.
task _context
Lists all available context variables, for completion purposes.
task <filter> _ids
Shows only the IDs of matching tasks, in the form of a list. Deprecated in favor of _unique.
task _show
Shows the combined defaults and overrides of the configuration settings, for use by third-party
applications.
task <filter> _unique <attribute>
Reports a unique set of attribute values. For example, to see all the active projects:
task +PENDING _unique project
task <filter> _uuids
Shows only the UUIDs of matching tasks among all tasks (even deleted and completed tasks), in the
form of a list. Deprecated in favor of _unique.
task _udas
Shows only defined UDA names, in the form of a list.
task <filter> _projects
Shows only a list of all project names used. Deprecated in favor of _unique.
task <filter> _tags
Shows only a list of all tags used, for autocompletion purposes. Deprecated in favor of _unique.
task <filter> _urgency
Displays the urgency measure of a task.
task _version
Shows only the Taskwarrior version number.
task _zshcommands
Generates a list of all commands, for zsh autocompletion purposes.
task <filter> _zshids
Shows the IDs and descriptions of matching tasks.
task <filter> _zshuuids
Shows the UUIDs and descriptions of matching tasks.
task _get <DOM> [<DOM> ...]
Accesses and displays the DOM reference(s). Used to extract individual values from tasks, or the
system. Supported DOM references are:
rc.<name>
tw.syncneeded
tw.program
tw.args
tw.width
tw.height
tw.version
context.program (Deprecated in 2.6.0)
context.args (Deprecated in 2.6.0)
context.width (Deprecated in 2.6.0)
context.height (Deprecated in 2.6.0)
system.version
system.os
<id>.<attribute>
<uuid>.<attribute>
Note that the 'rc.<name>' reference may need to be escaped using '--' to prevent the reference
from being interpreted as an override.
Note that if the DOM reference is not valid, or the reference evaluates to a missing value, the
command exits with 1.
Additionally, some components of the attributes of particular types may be extracted by DOM
references.
$ task _get 2.due.year
2015
For a full list of supported attribute-specific DOM references, consult the online documentation
at: <https://taskwarrior.org/docs/dom.html>
ATTRIBUTES AND METADATA
ID Tasks can be specified uniquely by IDs, which are simply the indexes of the tasks in the data
file. The ID of a task may therefore change, but only when a command is run that displays IDs.
When modifying tasks, it is safe to rely on the last displayed ID. Always run a report to check
you have the right ID for a task. IDs can be given to task as a sequence, for example,
task 1,4-10,19 delete
+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, if 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
+next Elevates task so it appears on 'next' report
There are also virtual tags, which represent task metadata in tag form. These tags do not exist,
but can be used to filter tasks. The supported virtual tags are:
ACTIVE Matches if the task is started
ANNOTATED Matches if the task has annotations
BLOCKED Matches if the task is blocked
BLOCKING Matches if the task is blocking
CHILD Matches if the task has a parent (deprecated in 2.6.0)
COMPLETED Matches if the task has completed status
DELETED Matches if the task has deleted status
DUE Matches if the task is due
INSTANCE Matches if the task is a recurrent instance
LATEST Matches if the task is the newest added task
MONTH Matches if the task is due this month
ORPHAN Matches if the task has any orphaned UDA values
OVERDUE Matches if the task is overdue
PARENT Matches if the task is a parent (deprecated in 2.6.0)
PENDING Matches if the task has pending status
PRIORITY Matches if the task has a priority
PROJECT Matches if the task has a project
QUARTER Matches if the task is due this quarter
READY Matches if the task is actionable
SCHEDULED Matches if the task is scheduled
TAGGED Matches if the task has tags
TEMPLATE Matches if the task is a recurrence template
TODAY Matches if the task is due today
TOMORROW Matches if the task is due sometime tomorrow
UDA Matches if the task has any UDA values
UNBLOCKED Matches if the task is not blocked
UNTIL Matches if the task expires
WAITING Matches if the task is waiting
WEEK Matches if the task is due this week
YEAR Matches if the task is due this year
YESTERDAY Matches if the task was due sometime yesterday
You can use +BLOCKED to filter blocked tasks, or -BLOCKED for unblocked tasks. Similarly,
-BLOCKED is equivalent to +UNBLOCKED. It is an error to attempt to add or remove a virtual tag.
project:<project-name>
Specifies the project to which a task is related to.
priority:H|M|L or priority:
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.
scheduled:<ready-date>
Specifies the date after which a task can be accomplished.
until:<expiration date of task>
Specifies the expiration date of a task, after which it will be deleted.
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>
When a task is given a wait date, it is hidden from most built-in reports, which exclude +WAITING.
When the date is in the past, the task is not considered +WAITING, and again becomes visible.
Note that, for compatibilty, such tasks are shown as having status "waiting", but this will change
in a future release.
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.
It accepts a comma-separated list of ID numbers, UUID numbers and ID ranges. When prefixing any
element of this list by '-', the specified tasks are removed from the dependency list.
entry:<entry-date>
For report purposes, specifies the date that a task was created.
ATTRIBUTE MODIFIERS
Attribute modifiers improve filters. Supported modifiers are:
before (synonyms under, below)
after (synonyms over, above)
by
none
any
is (synonym equals)
isnt (synonym not)
has (synonym contains)
hasnt
startswith (synonym left)
endswith (synonym right)
word
noword
They can be applied to all regular attributes (see above) and the following calculated attributes:
urgency (or short urg)
For example:
task due.before:eom priority.not:L list
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 by modifier is the same as 'before', except it also includes the moment in question. For example:
task add test due:eoy
will be found when using the inclusive filter 'by':
task due.by:eoy
but not when the non-inclusive filter 'before' is used:
task due.before:eoy
this applies equally to other named dates such as 'eom', 'eod', etc; the modifier compares using '<='
rather than '<' like 'before' does.
The none modifier requires that the attribute does not have a value. For example:
task priority: list
task priority.none: list
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 description.has:foo list
task foo list
These 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 project.startswith:H list
task project:H list
are equivalent and will match any project starting with 'H'. Matching all projects not starting with 'H'
is done with:
task project.not:H list
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 description.word:bar list
Will match the description 'foo bar baz' but does not match 'dog food'.
The noword modifier is the inverse of the word modifier.
EXPRESSIONS AND OPERATORS
You can use the following operators in filter expressions:
and or xor ! Logical operators
< <= = == != !== >= > Relational operators
( ) Precedence
For example:
task due.before:eom priority.not:L list
task '( due < eom or priority != L )' list
task '! ( project:Home or project:Garden )' list
The = operator tests for approximate equality. Dates compare equal if they are on the same day (hour and
minutes are ignored). Strings compare equal if the left operand starts with the right operand. The ==
operator tests for exact equality. The != and !== operators are the negation of = and == respectively.
The negation operator is !.
Note that the parentheses are required when using a logical operator other than the 'and' operator. The
reason is that some reports contain filters that must be combined with the command line. Consider this
example:
task project:Home or project:Garden list
While this looks correct, it is not. The 'list' report contains a filter of:
task show report.list.filter
Config Variable Value
----------------- --------------
report.list.filter status:pending
Which means the example is really:
task status:pending project:Home or project:Garden list
The implied 'and' operator makes it:
task status:pending and project:Home or project:Garden list
This is a precedence error - the 'and' and 'or' need to be grouped using parentheses, like this:
task status:pending and ( project:Home or project:Garden ) list
The original example therefore must be entered as:
task '( project:Home or project:Garden )' list
This includes quotes to escape the parentheses, so that the shell doesn't interpret them and hide them
from Taskwarrior.
There is redundancy between operators, attribute modifiers and other syntactic sugar. For example, the
following are all equivalent:
task foo list
task /foo/ list
task description.contains:foo list
task description.has:foo list
task 'description ~ foo' list
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
Exact specification
task ... due:7/14/2008
ISO-8601
task ... due:2013-03-14T22:30:00Z
Relative wording
task ... due:now
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 next (work) week (Monday), calendar week (Sunday or Monday), month, quarter and year
task ... due:sow
task ... due:soww
task ... due:socw
task ... due:som
task ... due:soq
task ... due:soy
End of current (work) week (Friday), calendar week (Saturday or Sunday), month, quarter and year
task ... due:eow
task ... due:eoww
task ... due:eocw
task ... due:eom
task ... due:eoq
task ... due:eoy
At some point or later
task ... wait:later
task ... wait:someday
This sets the wait date to 12/30/9999.
Next occurring weekday
task ... due:fri
Predictable holidays
task ... due:goodfriday
task ... due:easter
task ... due:eastermonday
task ... due:ascension
task ... due:pentecost
task ... due:midsommar
task ... due:midsommarafton
task ... due:juhannus
FREQUENCIES
Recurrence periods. Taskwarrior supports several ways of specifying the frequency of recurring tasks.
daily, day, 1da, 2da, ...
Every day or a number of days.
weekdays
Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and skipping weekend days.
weekly, 1wk, 2wks, ...
Every week or a number of weeks.
biweekly, fortnight
Every two weeks.
monthly, month, 1mo, 2mo, ...
Every month.
quarterly, 1qtr, 2qtrs, ...
Every three months, a quarter, or a number of quarters.
semiannual
Every six months.
annual, yearly, 1yr, 2yrs, ...
Every year or a number of years.
biannual, biyearly, 2yr
Every two years.
CONTEXT
Context is a user-defined query, which is automatically applied to all commands that filter the task list
and to commands that create new tasks (add, log). For example, any report command will have its result
affected by the current active context. Here is a list of the commands that are affected:
add
burndown
count
delete
denotate
done
duplicate
edit
history
log
prepend
projects
purge
start
stats
stop
summary
tags
All other commands are NOT affected by the context.
$ task list
ID Age Project Description Urg
1 2d Sport Run 5 miles 1.42
2 1d Home Clean the dishes 1.14
$ task context home
Context 'home' set. Use 'task context none' to remove.
$ task list
ID Age Project Description Urg
2 1d Home Clean the dishes 1.14
Context 'home' set. Use 'task context none' to remove.
Task list got automatically filtered for project:Home.
$ task add Vaccuum the carpet
Created task 3.
Context 'home' set. Use 'task context none' to remove.
$ task list
ID Age Project Description Urg
2 1d Home Clean the dishes 1.14
3 5s Home Vaccuum the carpet 1.14
Context 'home' set. Use 'task context none' to remove.
Note that the newly added task "Vaccuum the carpet" has "project:Home" set automatically.
As seen in the example above, context is applied by specifying its name to the "context" command.
To change the currently applied context, just pass the new context's name to the 'context'
command.
To unset any context, use the 'none' subcommand.
$ task context none
Context unset.
$ task list
ID Age Project Description Urg
1 2d Sport Run 5 miles 1.42
2 1d Home Clean the dishes 1.14
3 7s Home Vaccuum the carpet 1.14
Context can be defined using the 'define' subcommand, specifying both the name of the new context,
and it's assigned filter.
$ task context define home project:Home
Are you sure you want to add 'context.home.read' with a value of 'project:Home'? (yes/no) yes
Are you sure you want to add 'context.home.write' with a value of 'project:Home'? (yes/no) yes
Context 'home' successfully defined.
Note that you were separately prompted to set the 'read' and 'write' context. This allows you to
specify contexts that only work for reporting commands or only for commands that create tasks.
To remove the definition, use the 'delete' subcommand.
$ task context delete home
Are you sure you want to remove 'context.home.read'? (yes/no) yes
Are you sure you want to remove 'context.home.write'? (yes/no) yes
Context 'home' deleted.
To check what is the currently active context, use the 'show' subcommand.
$ task context show
Context 'home' with
* read filter: '+home'
* write filter: '+home'
is currently applied.
Contexts can store arbitrarily complex filters.
$ task context define family project:Family or +paul or +nancy
Are you sure you want to add 'context.family.read' with a value of 'project:Family or +paul or
+nancy'? (yes/no) yes
Are you sure you want to add 'context.family.write' with a value of 'project:Family or +paul
or +nancy'? (yes/no) no
Context 'family' successfully defined.
Contexts are permanent, and the currently set context name is stored in the "context"
configuration variable. The context definition is stored in the "context.<name>.read"
configuration variable (for reporting commands) and "context.<name>.write" configuration variable
(for task additions, i.e. task add/log).
Note that in the example above, the user decided not to define the complex filter as writeable
context. The reason for this decision is that the complex filter in the example does not directly
translate to a modification. In fact, if such a context is used as a writeable context, the
following happens:
$ task add Call Paul
Created task 4.
Context 'family' set. Use 'task context none' to remove.
$ task 4 list
ID Age Project Tags Description Urg
4 9min Family nancy paul or or Call Paul 0
There is no clear mapping between the complex filter used and the modifications (should only the
project be set? only the tags? both?). Additionally note the 'or' operators being present in the
description. Taskwarrior does not try to guess the user intention here, and instead, the user is
expected to set the "context.<name>.write" variable to make their intention explicit, for example:
$ task config context.family.write project:Family
Are you sure you want to change the value of 'context.family.write' from 'project:Family or
+paul or +nancy' to 'project:Family'? (yes/no) yes
Config file /home/tbabej/.config/task/taskrc modified.
$ task context
Name Type Definition Active
family read project:Family or +paul or +nancy yes
write project:Family yes
home read +home no
write +home no
Note how read and write contexts differ for context "family", while for context "home" they stay
the same.
In addition, every configuration parameter can be overridden for the current context, by
specifying context.<name>.rc.<parameter>. For example, if the default command for the family
context should be displaying the family_report:
$ task config context.family.rc.default.command family_report
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.
Note that you can restrict the minimum abbreviation size using the configuration setting:
abbreviation.minimum=3
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 modify /from this/to that/
is broken up into several arguments, which is corrected with quotes:
$ task 123 modify "/from this/to that/"
It is sometimes necessary to force the shell to pass quotes to Taskwarrior intact, so you can use:
$ task add project:\'Three Word Project\' description
Taskwarrior supports Unicode using only the UTF8 encoding, with no Byte Order Marks in the data files.
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 with highest priority.
TASKRC=<path-to-alternate-file> task ..
The environment variable specifies an alternate configuration file to use.
XDG_CONFIG_HOME=<path-to-alternate-config-home> task ..
The environment variable specifies an alternate configuration file to use.
task rc.<name>:<value> ...
task rc.<name>=<value> ... Specifies individual configuration file overrides.
TASKDATA=/tmp/.task task ...
The environment variable overrides the default, and the 'data.location' configuration setting of
the task data directory.
MORE EXAMPLES
For examples please see the online documentation starting at
<https://taskwarrior.org/docs>
Note that the online documentation can be more detailed and more current than this man page.
FILES
~/.taskrc
User configuration file - see also taskrc(5). Note that this can be overridden on the command
line or by the TASKRC environment variable. Also, if ~/.taskrc doesn't exist and XDG_CONFIG_HOME
environment variable is defined, taskwarrior will check if $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/task/taskrc exists and
attempt to read it
~/.task
The default directory where task stores its data files. The location can be configured in the
configuration variable 'data.location', or overridden with the TASKDATA environment variable..
~/.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 information needed by the "undo" command.
CREDITS & COPYRIGHTS
Copyright (C) 2006 - 2021 T. Babej, P. Beckingham, F. Hernandez.
Taskwarrior is distributed under the MIT license. See https://www.opensource.org/licenses/mit-license.php
for more information.
SEE ALSO
taskrc(5), task-color(5), task-sync(5)
For more information regarding Taskwarrior, see the following:
The official site at
<https://taskwarrior.org>
The official code repository at
<https://github.com/GothenburgBitFactory/taskwarrior>
You can contact the project by emailing
<support@GothenburgBitFactory.org>
REPORTING BUGS
Bugs in Taskwarrior may be reported to the issue-tracker at
<https://github.com/GothenburgBitFactory/taskwarrior/issues>