Usage Examples

Here are some Taskwarrior command line examples that cover a variety of topics. While this is not a reference for the features and command line, perhaps you will learn something new…

Some of the examples are deliberately chosen because there is more than one solution, in which case all are presented, for comparison.

30 Second Tutorial

$ task add Read Taskwarrior documents later
$ task add priority:H Pay bills
$ task next
$ task 2 done
$ task
$ task 1 delete

Creating Tasks

Creating tasks is straightforward, but here are some tips:

Create a task with due date.

$ task add Pay the rent due:eom

Create a task, then add a due date later.

$ task add Pay the rent Created task 12
$ task 12 modify due:eom

Remove a due date from a task.

$ task 12 modify due:

Create a task with a multi-line description.

$ task add "Five syllables here
> Seven more syllables there
> Are you happy now?"

Filters

A filter is how you restrict the tasks to just those that you want to see or modify.

Show tasks I added in the last 4 days.

$ task entry.after:today-4days list

Show tasks I added yesterday.

$ task entry:yesterday list

Show tasks I added in the last hour.

$ task entry.after:now-1hour list

Show tasks I completed between a date range.

$ task end.after:2015-05-0 and end.before:2015-05-31 completed

Show tasks I completed in the last week.

$ task end.after:today-1wk completed

Show tasks in This project or That project.

$ task project:This or project:That list

More complex algebraic filters.

$ task project:This and \( priority:H or priority:M \) list

Search for pattern in description and annotations:

$ task /pattern/ list
$ task rc.seach.case.sensitive:yes /pattern/ list
$ task rc.seach.case.sensitive:no  /pattern/ list

Search for tasks with no project.

$ task project: list

Reports

Reports are simply a collection of configuration settings that specify display attributes, sorting, filter and a name.

Temporarily changing the sorting of a report.

$ task rc.report.next.sort=due-,urgency- next

Projects

A single project may be assigned to a task, and that project may be multiple words.

Assign a long project name.

$ task add Rake the leaves project:'Home & Garden'

Moving all tasks to a new project.

$ task project:OLDNAME modify project:NEWNAME

Moving all pending tasks to a new project.

$ task project:OLDNAME and status:pending modify project:NEWNAME

Using a project hierarchy.

$ task add project:Home.Kitchen Clean the floor
$ task add project:Home.Kitchen Replace broken light bulb
$ task add project:Home.Garden Plant the bulbs
$ task project:Home.Kitchen count
2
$ task project:Home.Garden count
1
$ task project:Home count
3

What projects are currently used?

$ task projects
$ task _projects

What are all the projects I have ever used?

$ task rc.list.all.projects=1 projects
$ task rc.list.all.projects=1 _projects
$ task _unique project

Special Tags

A special tag is one with a specific name, that can influence behavior.

Modify a task to boost its urgency, and probably cause it to show up on the next report.

$ task 1 modify +next

Virtual Tags

A virtual tag is a tag that doesn’t actually exist, but the tag filter syntax is used to simulate the tag, providing a very convenient shortcut. After all, composing a filter to match the tasks due today is not straightforward.

List tasks due today.

$ task due.after:yesterday and due.before:tomorrow list
$ task +DUETODAY list

List tasks that are due, but not today.

$ task +DUE -DUETODAY list

List tasks that are due this week.

$ task +WEEK list

List tasks that are overdue.

$ task +OVERDUE list

What virtual tags are present for this task?

$ task 1 info

Recurring Tasks

Recurring tasks are tasks that you need to do again and again.

I want to make a task that is due at 9:00am every Monday, starting this coming Monday.

$ task add Do the thing due:2015-06-08T09:00 recur:weekly

I want a reminder to pay the rent every month, but only for a year.

$ task add Pay rent due:28th recur:monthly until:now+1yr

Priority

Priority is now a User Defined Attribute since version 2.4.3, and as such can be configured.

Make priority L sort lower than no priority.

$ task config uda.priority.values H,M,,L

Note that the above configuration only changes the sorting order. The L priority will still be considered higher than no priority in urgency calculations. To change the urgency calculation, you also need to adjust the urgency coefficients of the values.

I need more priority values for my workflow.

$ task config uda.priority.values OMG,DoIt,Meh,Phfh,Nope,

How do I remove the priority from a task?

$ task 1 modify priority:

Color

I’m using a color theme, but I don’t see any colors. This is usually because your tasks do not contain due dates, priorities etc. Prove color is working with these commands.

$ task color
$ task color legend

When task output goes to a file or pipe, all color is lost. Force color with:

$ task rc._forcecolor:on rc.defaultwidth:120 rc.detection:off ...

DOM

The Taskwarrior DOM is an addressing mechanism to provide access to all stored data. It can be used in your scripts, or when manipulating tasks at the command line.

Get just the description for task 12.

$ task _get 12.description
Rake the leaves

Show the creation timestamp, and last modification date for task 12.

$ task _get 12.entry 12.modified
2000-04-04T01:02:31 2014-08-24T13:31:43

Get the dimensions of my terminal window.

$ task _get tw.width tw.height

Add a task, and set the wait date to 4 days before the due date.

$ task add Pay the rent due:eom wait:due-4days

Add a task, and use the same due date as task 12.

$ task add Buy wine for the party due:12.due

Get the week number on which task 12 due.

$ task _get 12.due.week

Get the columns used in the next report.

$ task _get rc.report.next.columns
$ task show report.next.columns

Configuration

Although you can interactively edit your .taskrc file using any text editor, there is also a command for doing this. Furthermore, you can temporarily override these settings on the command line.

Set the default.command to a different report.

$ task config default.command long

Restore the default.command to its original setting.

$ task config default.command

Set the default.command to a blank value.

$ task config default.command ''

Temporarily override default.command.

$ task rc.default.command:long

Show sort order of all reports.

$ task show | grep report | grep sort

Miscellaneous

Scriptwriters often need access to assorted data, and it can all be obtained, but sometimes through odd mechanisms…

What is the most recent task ID?

$ task newest rc.verbose=nothing limit:1 | cut -f1 -d' '
$ task rc.verbose=nothing rc.report.foo.columns:id rc.report.foo.sort:id- foo limit:1

What is the minimum necessary data for a task?

$ echo '{"description":"A new task"}' | task import -
$ task add A new task

Troubleshooting

Taskwarrior has some built-in functionality to help you get past obstacles.

Show the runtime diagnostics, to see if anything is wrong.

$ task diagnostics

Determine which version of GnuTLS is used by Taskwarrior.

$ task diagnostics | grep gnutls

Just let me brute-force change a task. Using Vim.

$ task 12 edit
$ EDITOR=vim task 12 edit

I can’t list my completed tasks, because the list report has a filter that shows only pending tasks.

$ task rc.report.list.filter: list
$ task all

Do I have the latest released version?

$ curl https://gothenburgbitfactory.org/latest/task
$ task --version 
2.5.3