Convert date format in file names and contents from Roam Research default style to Obsidian default style.

roam-obsidian-date-convert.py

import re
import os
from dateutil.parser import parse

path = '' #insert file path to your vault here

### Convert date format in file content

for root, dirs, files in os.walk(path):
    files = [f for f in files if re.match(r'.*\.md', f)] # only keep files end with `.md`
    
    #TODO: could better ignore all dirs with `.` like `.git`
    
    for f in files:
        fullpath = (os.path.join(root, f))
        with open(fullpath, 'r') as f: #opens each .md file 
            contents = f.read() #reads the contents
            #substitutes dates with the format [[April 20th, 2020]] for [[2020-04-20]]
            new_contents = re.sub(r'(?<=\[)[\w]+\s\d{1,2}\w{1,2},\s\d{4}(?=\])',
                                  lambda x: str(parse(x.group(0), ignoretz=True)).split(" ")[0], contents, flags=re.M)
        with open(fullpath, 'w') as f:
            f.write(new_contents) #writes the files with the new substitutions 
            
### Convert daily notes names

for root, dirs, files in os.walk(path):
    files = [f for f in files if re.match(r'[\w]+\s\d{1,2}\w{1,2},\s\d{4}\.md', f)]
    for f in files:
        fullpath = (os.path.join(root, f))
        new_fullpath = re.sub(r'[\w]+\s\d{1,2}\w{1,2},\s\d{4}',
                                  lambda x: str(parse(x.group(0), ignoretz=True)).split(" ")[0], fullpath, flags=re.M)
        os.rename(fullpath, new_fullpath)
            

To format date add .strftime('%Y.%m.%d') after the parse

eg.
new_contents = re.sub(r'(?<=\[)[\w]+\s\d{1,2}\w{1,2},\s\d{4}(?=\])', lambda x: str(parse(x.group(0), ignoretz=True).strftime('%Y.%m.%d')).split(" ")[0], contents, flags=re.M)

I'm running this script within Obsidian using the "Execute Code" community plugin on a Mac, and I am getting:
name 're' is not defined
Seems like the import re line is not working?

Any ideas?

Hi Joilence,
I'm running this script within Obsidian using the "Execute Code" community plugin on Win11.
But I'm not getting the 'run' button.
Is there another way to use the script?
What might I be doing wrong?

Hi Joilence,
I'm a total newbie and I can't work out how to run the script. I've installed and activated the Execute Code plug-in. I've copy-posted your code into a note, but the "Run" button doesn't show up. Do I need to somehow indicate in the note that this is a code? Please help! :)

@max-fedoseev just in case you haven't found an answer elsewhere. To run code inside Obsidian you need to create a code block in your note like the following:

```run-python
import re
import os
from dateutil.parser import parse

....

```

Make sure the indentation is correct as you see above

What did you try yet? @jeom123

-> https://lmgtfy.app/#gsc.tab=0&gsc.q=UnicodeDecodeError%3A%20'charmap'%20codec%20can't%20decode%20byte%200x9d%20 you should try the first result. Change line 16 to

with open(fullpath, 'r', encoding="utf8") as f:

Foy my case I found that the markdown files that Roam exported were actually encoded in ANSI.
So on line 17, AND ON LINE 22, rather than

with open(fullpath, 'r', encoding="utf8") as f:

I wrote

with open(fullpath, 'r', encoding="ANSI") as f:

and everything worked fine.

Apparently there are some special characters that are different between the two. I only checked the characters in two files, but in one it was an apostrophe that it didn't like and in another it was a hyphen.