Provided by: calcurse_4.8.1-1_amd64 
NAME
calcurse - terminal-based organizer for interactive and command line use
SYNOPSIS
calcurse [-D datadir] [-C confdir] [-c calendar-file]
calcurse -Q [--from date] [--to date | --days number]
calcurse -a | -d date | -d number | -n | -r[number] | -s[date] | -t[number]
calcurse -G [filter options] [format options] | -P [filter options] [format options]
calcurse -h | --status | -g | -i file | -x[file] | --daemon
The first form shows how to invoke calcurse interactively; the remainder is command line
forms.
The second form shows queries (as opposed to interactive use). For convenience, common
queries have abbreviated forms shown in the third line. All queries may be combined with
filter options as well as format options.
The fourth form shows operations on the calcurse data files, one for display of entries,
the other for removal of them.
The fifth form is miscellaneous help and support functions.
All details are in OPTIONS.
DESCRIPTION
calcurse is a calendar and scheduling application for use in a terminal session (terminal
emulator). When invoked without options, calcurse enters interactive mode; in most other
cases, calcurse produces output on the terminal and exits. It helps keeping track of
events, appointments and everyday tasks. Interactive mode is used when data are entered or
when already existing entries are inspected or edited. All data are saved to disk as text
files. Command line mode is used for queries and administrative tasks and for automating
tasks in scripts.
The interactive interface is based on ncurses and can be customized to suit user
preferences. Customization includes program behaviour as well as visual appearance and key
bindings, and is performed interactively; the result is automatically saved to disk and
loaded on every invocation. Available actions are documented in an online help system. A
configurable notification system issues reminders of upcoming deadlines.
When leaving the interactive program, a background daemon may continue running and issue
reminders; it stops automatically when the interactive mode is reentered.
This man page mainly describes the command-line mode. The following two subsections
contain some general descriptions of command line options and usage.
Input and Output Date Format
Many options require a date argument, and query results per day are set apart by a leading
date line.
The input format of date options and the output format of date lines are taken from the
configuration file (see FILES). The formats are set in the "General Options" submenu in
interactive mode. Particularly in scripts it may be desirable that formats are independent
of the local user configuration. For this purpose use the options --input-datefmt and
--output-datefmt.
An input date consists of date, month and year. Here day must be in the range 1-31 and
month in 1-12. Depending on the operating system year must be in the range 1902-2037 or
1902-?. Additionally, some short forms are allowed with the obvious meaning: today,
tomorrow, yesterday, now and weekdays mon, ..., sun.
Optionally, a date argument for a filter option (see Filter Options) may be followed by a
time-of-day specification in hours and minutes (24-hour clock). The specification has the
fixed format hh:mm (example: "2018-12-1 20:30" when the input date format is the ISO
standard format). Note that the entire date specification must be quoted to create one
argument.
Filter, format and day range options
These options do not accomplish anything in and of themselves. They influence other
options and are in a way opposites: filter options affect the input to, format and day
range options the output from calcurse. Specifically, filter options limit what is loaded
from the data files into calcurse, day range options limit what is output (see -Q), and
format options describe how it is presented.
Filter options have effect on queries (-Q and query short-forms), grep (-G), purge (-P)
and export (-x). Format options have effect on queries, grep and --dump-imported. Day
range options have effect on queries only.
OPTIONS
Most options imply command line mode. Options compatible with interactive mode are marked
"(also interactively)".
-a, --appointment
Print the appointments and events for the current day. Equivalent to -Q --filter-type
cal.
-c file, --calendar file
(also interactively) Specify the calendar file to use. The default calendar is located
at <datadir>/apts (see FILES). If file is not an absolute path name, it is interpreted
relative to the current working directory. The option has precedence over -D.
-C dir, --confdir dir
(also interactively) Specify the configuration directory to use. See section FILES for
the default directory and the interaction with -D.
-D dir, --datadir dir
(also interactively) Specify the (data) directory to use. See section FILES for the
default directory and the interaction with -C.
-d date|num, --day date|num
Print appointments and events for the given date or given range of days, depending on
the argument format:
• a date
• a number num
In the first case, appointments and events for date are returned, while in the second
case those for num days are returned. Positive values of num means the future,
negative the past; the range either starts or ends with the current day. As an example
calcurse -d 3 displays appointments and events for today, tomorrow and the day after
tomorrow, while calcurse -d -2 displays those for yesterday and today. The first form
is equivalent to -Q --filter-type cal --from date, the second to -Q --filter-type cal
--days num.
--daemon
Start calcurse in background mode; restart, if the daemon was already running. Usually
done automatically by setting the configuration option daemon.enable in the Notify
submenu in interactive mode.
--days num
Specify the range of days when used with -Q. Can be combined with --from, but not with
--to. Without --from, the first day of the range defaults to the current day. The
number may be negative, see -Q --query.
--dump-imported
When importing items, print each newly created object to stdout. Format options can be
used to specify which details are printed. See also Format Options.
--export-uid
When exporting items, add the hash of each item to the exported object as a UID
property.
--from date
Specify the start date of the day range when used with -Q. When used without -to or
--days the range is one day (the specified day), see -Q --query.
-F, --filter
Deprecated, see -P. Note that this option is for backward compatibility and not the
same as -P (it does not use the invert filter option).
-g, --gc
Run the garbage collector for note files. The garbage collector removes files from the
notes directory (see FILES) that are no longer linked to an item. Usually done
automatically by setting the configuration option general.autogc in the General
Options submenu in interactive mode.
-G, --grep
Print appointments, events and TODO items in calcurse data file format.
-h, --help
Print a short help text describing the supported command-line options.
-i file, --import file
Import the icalendar data contained in file.
--input-datefmt format
For command line and script use only: override the configuration file setting of the
option format.inputdate (General Options submenu in interactive mode). A valid format
is any of 1, 2, 3, or 4, with 1 = mm/dd/yyyy, 2 = dd/mm/yyyy, 3 = yyyy/mm/dd, 4 =
yyyy-mm-dd.
-l num, --limit num
Limit the number of results printed to num.
-n, --next
Print the first appointment within the next 24 hours. The printed time is the number
of hours and minutes left before this appointment.
--output-datefmt format
For command line and script use only: override the configuration file setting of the
option format.outputdate (General Options submenu in interactive mode). A valid format
is any strftime(3) format string.
-P, --purge
Load items from the data files and save them back; the items are described by suitable
filter options (see Filter Options). It may be used to drop specific items from the
data files, see EXAMPLES.
The matching items are (silently) removed from the data files. Any combination of
filter options, except --filter-invert, may be used in describing the items to be
removed. The invert filter is used internally by the purge option, and its
simultaneous use on the command line may result in unpredictable behaviour.
Warning: Be careful with this option, specifying the wrong filter options may result
in data loss. It is highly recommended to test with -G first and fine-tune the filters
to show the items to be removed. Then run the same command with -P instead of -G. In
any case, make a backup of the data files in advance.
-q, --quiet
(also interactively) Be quiet. Do not show system dialogs.
-Q, --query
Print all appointments and events in a given range of days followed by all TODO items.
The calendar part is displayed per day with a leading line containing the date and a
trailing empty line (much like the calendar panel in interactive mode).
The day range defaults to the current day and is changed with the options --from and
--to/--days. The range --from a --to z includes both a and z. The range --from a
--days n, includes a as the first day, if n is positive, or last day, if n is
negative.
Day range has an effect on queries only.
-r[num], --range[=num]
Print appointments and events for num number of days starting with the current day. If
num is left out, a range of 1 day is used. The number may be negative in which case
the range is in the past, ending with the current day. Equivalent to -Q --filter-type
cal --days num.
--read-only
(also interactively) Do not save configuration nor appointments and todos.
Warning: If you run calcurse interactively in read-only mode, all changes from that
session will be lost without warning!
-s[date], --startday[=date]
Print events and appointments from the optional date; default is the current day.
Equivalent to -Q --filter-type cal --from date.
-S regex, --search regex
When used with any of -a, -d, -r, -s, or -t print only the items having a description
that matches the given regular expression. Equivalent to -Q --filter-pattern regex.
--status
Display the status of running instances of calcurse, interactive or background mode.
The process pid is also printed.
-t[num], --todo[=num]
Print the todo list. If the optional number num is given, then only uncompleted (open)
todos having a priority equal to num will be returned. The priority number must be
between 1 (highest) and 9 (lowest). It is also possible to specify 0 for the priority,
in which case only completed (closed) tasks will be shown. Equivalent to -Q
--filter-type todo, combined with --filter-priority and --filter-completed or
--filter-uncompleted.
--to date
Specify the end date of the day range when used with -Q. When used without --from the
start day is the current day. Cannot be combined with --days, see -Q --query.
-v, --version
Display calcurse version.
-x[format], --export[=format]
Export user data in the specified format. Events, appointments and todos are converted
and echoed to stdout. Two formats are available: ical and pcal. The default format is
ical.
FILTER OPTIONS
Filter options have effect on queries (-Q and query short-forms), grep (-G), purge (-P)
and export (-x), see also options in the DESCRIPTION section.
Several filter options may be given. For an item to be loaded into calcurse it must match
all filters. In other words, filters are logically "and"-ed. The --filter-type option has
a default value which matches any item. All other filter options have no default value and
only apply when explicitly set.
The filter options fall into three groups: general, calendar, todo. The general filters
apply to all items, the calendar filters concern start and end times and apply to
appointments and events only, and the todo filters concern priority and completeness and
apply to TODOs only.
Outside the three groups is the invert filter.
--filter-invert
Invert the combined effect of any other filters, i.e. load the items that do not match
them.
General filters
--filter-type type
Include items that match type. The type value is a comma-separated list of type
descriptions selected from event, apt, recur-event, recur-apt and todo. You can also
use recur as a shorthand for recur-event,recur-apt and cal as a shorthand for
event,apt,recur.
--filter-pattern pattern
Include items with a description that matches the pattern. The pattern is interpreted
as an extended regular expression.
--filter-hash string
Include items with a hash starting with string. The filter can be negated by
prepending an exclamation mark (!): include items with a hash string not starting with
string. For the (SHA1) hash of an item refer to Extended format specifiers.
Calendar filters
For filter options ending in -from, -to, -after, -before and -range, start or end time is
the filter criterion.
An event is an all-day appointment for which no times are displayed. The start time of an
event is the beginning of the event day (midnight), the end time is the end of the event
day (one second before next midnight).
The -start- options ending in -from, -after and -range refer to the same filter criterion
and cannot be used together. The same is the case for options ending in -to, -before and
-range. Similar restrictions apply to -end- options.
Start and end times of a recurrent item refer to the very first occurrence, not to those
of any of the repetitions. If a recurrent item meets the criterion, all of the repetitions
are displayed in queries, even though they may not meet the criterion. If they are
unwanted, they may be removed from the output with the day range options, although this
will also remove other items in that range.
--filter-start-from date
Include items that start at or after a given date.
--filter-start-to date
Include items that start at or before a given date.
--filter-start-after date
Include items that start after a given date.
--filter-start-before date
Include items that start before a given date.
--filter-start-range range
Include items with a start date that belongs to a given range. A range consists of a
start date and an end date, separated by a comma.
--filter-end-from date
Include items that end at or after a given date.
--filter-end-to date
Include items that end at or before a given date.
--filter-end-after date
Include items that end after a given date.
--filter-end-before date
Include items that end before a given date.
--filter-end-range range
Include items with an end date that belongs to a given range. A range consists of a
start date and an end date, separated by a comma.
Todo filters
--filter-priority priority
Include TODO items with a given priority.
--filter-completed
Include completed TODO items.
--filter-uncompleted
Include uncompleted TODO items.
FORMAT OPTIONS
Format options have effect on queries, grep and --dump-imported.
The options specify a format for appointments, recurring appointments, events, recurring
events or todo items, respectively.
--format-apt format, --format-recur-apt format, --format-event format,
--format-recur-event format, --format-todo format
The format argument is a string composed of printf-style format specifiers, which are
replaced as explained below, and ordinary characters, which are copied to stdout
without modification. Each option has a default format string which is used when the
option is not given. Default strings are described in Default Format Strings.
Note: Use of a format option requires explicit formatting of field separation and line
spacing.
Default format strings
Each specifier is introduced by a % followed by a character which tells what to print. The
available specifiers depend on the item type. Times are printed as hours and minutes
(hh:mm) unless otherwise noted; time formats can be changed with extended specifiers.
For each format option there is a default format string which is used when the option is
not given. In query results the default format options are:
--format-apt " - %S -> %E\n\t%m\n"
--format-recur-apt " - %S -> %E\n\t%m\n"
--format-event " * %m\n"
--format-recur-event " * %m\n"
--format-todo "%p. %m\n"
In all other cases (grep and dump-imported) the default format string is "%(raw)".
Appointments
%d
Print the duration of the appointment in seconds
%e
Print the end time of the appointment as the Unix time in seconds
%E
Print the end time of the appointment or the marker ..:.. if it ends after midnight
%m
Print the description of the item
%n
Print the name of the note file belonging to the item
%N
Print the note belonging to the item
%r
Print the remaining time before the appointment
%s
Print the start time of the appointment as the Unix time in seconds
%S
Print the start time of the appointment or the marker ..:.. if it begins before
midnight
Events
%m
Print the description of the item
%n
Print the name of the note file belonging to the item
%N
Print the note belonging to the item
Todo items
%m
Print the description of the item
%n
Print the name of the note file belonging to the item
%N
Print the note belonging to the item
%p
Print the priority of the item
Extended format specifiers
Extended format specifiers can be used to control the printing of times for some of the
single-letter specifiers. Additionally there are two specifiers that do not have any
corresponding short form and are intended for use in scripting.
%(duration[:format])
extended form of %d
%(remaining[:format])
extended form of %r
format may contain any of the strftime(3) specifiers %d, %H, %M or %S with the
following modifications: 1) days are not limited to the "calendar" values 0-31 (hours,
minutes and seconds are "clock" values, but see E in the following) 2) each number is
by default padded with zeros to two decimal places, 3) the % character may be followed
by one or two optional flags: -, which suppresses the zero-padding, E, which will
suppress the "clock" limits on %H, %M and %S; if both are used, - must precede E, 4)
no other flags or width specifications are supported
%(start[:format])
extended form of %s
%(end[:format])
extended form of %e
format may be any strftime(3) format specifier or one of the strings epoch or default;
the former is equivalent to the (calcurse) specifiers %s and %e (seconds since the
Epoch); the latter is equivalent to the (calcurse) specifiers %S and %E or the
(strftime) format string %H:%M, except that the continuation marker ..:.. is printed
if the start/end time belongs to another day
%(raw)
the text file format of an item as saved on disk; the default format for the grep and
dump-imported options; can be used with all format options
%(hash)
the (SHA1) hash of the above; can be used with all format options
EXAMPLES
calcurse -d tomorrow
Display the calendar for tomorrow (same as calcurse -Q --filter-type cal --from
tomorrow).
calcurse -d friday
Display the calendar for the upcoming friday.
calcurse -d 7
Display the calendar for the next seven days (same as calcurse -Q -filter-type cal
--days 7).
calcurse -r7 --format-apt " - %S -> %E\n\t%m\n%N"
Print appointments and events for the next seven days. Also, print the notes attached
to each regular appointment.
calcurse -r7 --format-apt " - %m (%S to %E)\n" --format-recur-apt " - %m (%S to %E)\n"
Print appointments and events for the next seven days and use a custom format for
(recurrent) appointments:
- Some appointment (18:30 to 21:30)
calcurse -t --format-todo "(%p) %m\n"
List all todo items and put parentheses around the priority specifiers.
If the calcurse data files contain many entries which are no longer needed or wanted, they
can, of course, be removed interactively. If there are many, it can be a tedious task and
may be done better as in the following two examples.
calcurse --input-datefmt 4 -G --filter-start-before 2015-1-1
List event and appointment entries in the data files with a start time before 1
January 2015, and all TODO entries.
Purge. When -G is replaced by -P, those entries are removed. This may remove recurring
items that have occurrences after 1 January 2015.
calcurse --input-datefmt 1 -G --filter-start-from 11/1/2015 --filter-type event,apt
List (ordinary) event and appointment entries with a start time of 1 November 2015 or
later.
calcurse -G --filter-type apt --format-apt "%(hash) %m\n"
For each appointment list the SHA1 hash of the data file entry followed by the
description.
calcurse -G --filter-type apt --format-apt "%(duration:%d/%EH/%EM)\t%m\n"
For each appointment list the (total) duration as either days, hours or minutes
followed by the description.
calcurse -G --filter-type apt --format-apt "%(start:%c) %(duration:%d %H:%M)\t%m\n"
For each appointment list the start time in a localized standard format, followed by
the duration in days, hours and minutes, followed by the description.
FILES
The following structure is created by default in your home directory the first time
calcurse is run without any options:
$XDG_DATA_HOME/calcurse/ $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/calcurse/
|___apts |___conf
|___notes/ |___hooks/
|___todo |___keys
$XDG_DATA_HOME defaults to $HOME/.local/share and $XDG_CONFIG_HOME defaults to
$HOME/.config.
The files are of two different kinds: data and configuration. The data files constitute
the calcurse database and are independent of the calcurse release version; the
configuration files depend on the calcurse version although backwards compatibility is
always aimed at.
Data files
The calendar file apts contains all of the user’s appointments and events, and the todo
file contains the todo list. The notes subdirectory contains the notes which are attached
to appointments, events or todos. One text file is created per note, whose name is the
SHA1 message digest of the note itself.
The (hidden) lock files of the calcurse (.calcurse.pid) and daemon (.daemon.log) programs
are present when they are running. If daemon log activity has been enabled in the
notification configuration menu, the file daemon.log is present.
An alternative calendar file may be specified with the -c option.
Configuration files
The conf file contains the user configuration and the keys file the user-defined key
bindings. The hooks directory contains user-supplied scripts, see Hooks.
Directory configuration
An alternative directory for both the configuration files and the data directory may be
specified with the -D option.
An alternative directory for the configuration files only may be specified with the -C
option; in that case data files are either in the default directory or in the directory
specified by -D. If both -D and -C are present, configuration files in the data directory,
if any, are ignored.
If $HOME/.calcurse exists, then it will be used as the default for both the data directory
and the configuration directory.
<datadir> <confdir>
| |
|__ apts |___ conf
|__ todo |___ keys
|__ notes/ |___ hooks/
defaults:
<datadir>: $XDG_DATA_HOME/calcurse ($HOME/.local/share/calcurse)
<confdir>: $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/calcurse ($HOME/.config/calcurse)
both: $HOME/.calcurse (only if it exists)
calcurse may switch between two configuration setups, but still access the same data files
e.g. with:
$ calcurse
$ calcurse -C "$HOME/.config/calcurse/config"
Hooks
Scripts placed in <confdir>/calcurse/hooks/ (see Directory configuration) trigger actions
at certain events. To enable a hook, add a script with one of the following names to this
directory. Also make sure the script is executable.
pre-load
Executed before the data files are loaded.
post-load
Executed after the data files are loaded.
pre-save
Executed before the data files are saved.
post-save
Executed after the data files are saved.
Some examples can be found in the contrib/hooks/ directory of the calcurse source tree.
ENVIRONMENT
A few environment variables affect how calcurse operates.
CALCURSE_EDITOR, VISUAL, EDITOR
Specifies the external editor to use for writing notes. They are tried in the order
listed until one is found. If none of them are set, vi is used.
CALCURSE_PAGER, PAGER
Specifies - as for the editor - the default viewer to be used for reading notes.
Default is less.
MERGETOOL
Tool used to merge two files to solve a save conflict. Default is vimdiff. The program
is called with two file names as the only arguments.
See also FILES.
BUGS
If you find a bug, please send a report to bugs@calcurse.org, or, if you are a Github
user, raise an issue at https://github.com/lfos/calcurse.
SEE ALSO
The ical specification (rfc2445) can be found at: http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc2445
The pcal project page: http://pcal.sourceforge.net/
calcurse home page: http://calcurse.org/
calcurse at GitHub: https://github.com/lfos/calcurse
The complete manual, maintained in html format, can be found in the doc/ directory of the
source package, or at: http://calcurse.org/files/manual.html
AUTHORS
• Frederic Culot <frederic@culot.org>
• Lukas Fleischer <lfleischer@calcurse.org>
COPYRIGHT
Copyright (c) 2004-2023 calcurse Development Team. This software is released under the BSD
License.
05/22/2023 CALCURSE(1)