pop-working.sh

#!/bin/bash
# pop-working: Pops the top block of multiline content from the "working" file.
# It reads lines until it finds a line with at least 3 hyphens (e.g. "------").
# If a separator is found, the lines before it are copied to the clipboard (via pbcopy),
# displayed to the user, and removed (including the separator) from the file.
# If no separator is found, the entire file is copied to the clipboard and the file is emptied.
# If the file exists but is empty, the script exits with a message.
# Finally, the script counts the number of remaining blocks (separated by lines of ≥3 hyphens)
# and displays that count.

WORKING_FILE="working"

# Check if the working file exists.
if [ ! -f "$WORKING_FILE" ]; then
  echo "Error: '$WORKING_FILE' does not exist."
  exit 1
fi

# Check if the file is empty.
if [ ! -s "$WORKING_FILE" ]; then
  echo "No pending work on the stack"
  exit 0
fi

popped=""
remaining=""
separator_found=0

# Process the file line by line.
while IFS= read -r line || [ -n "$line" ]; do
  # Trim whitespace for separator matching.
  trimmed_line=$(echo "$line" | sed 's/^[[:space:]]*//; s/[[:space:]]*$//')
  if [ $separator_found -eq 0 ] && echo "$trimmed_line" | grep -Eq '^-{3,}$'; then
    separator_found=1
    continue  # Skip the separator line.
  fi

  if [ $separator_found -eq 0 ]; then
    popped="${popped}${line}"$'\n'
  else
    remaining="${remaining}${line}"$'\n'
  fi
done < "$WORKING_FILE"

# If no separator was found, treat the entire file as the block to pop.
if [ $separator_found -eq 0 ]; then
  popped=$(cat "$WORKING_FILE")
  remaining=""
fi

# Use Perl to trim leading and trailing whitespace (including newlines) from the popped content.
popped_trimmed=$(echo "$popped" | perl -0777 -pe 's/^\s+//; s/\s+\z//')

# Copy the trimmed content to the clipboard (OSX pbcopy)
echo -n "$popped_trimmed" | pbcopy

# Function to count blocks in the remaining content.
# A block is defined as a non-empty section separated by lines that are at least 3 hyphens.
count_blocks() {
  local content="$1"
  local block_count=0
  local block=""
  # Remove leading/trailing whitespace from the entire content.
  local trimmed=$(echo "$content" | sed 's/^[[:space:]]*//; s/[[:space:]]*$//')
  # Process each line.
  while IFS= read -r line || [ -n "$line" ]; do
    local tline=$(echo "$line" | sed 's/^[[:space:]]*//; s/[[:space:]]*$//')
    if echo "$tline" | grep -Eq '^-{3,}$'; then
      # When a separator is encountered, if there is a non-empty block, count it.
      if [ -n "$(echo "$block" | sed 's/^[[:space:]]*//; s/[[:space:]]*$//')" ]; then
        block_count=$((block_count+1))
        block=""
      fi
    else
      block="${block}${line}"$'\n'
    fi
  done <<< "$trimmed"
  # Count any remaining non-empty block.
  if [ -n "$(echo "$block" | sed 's/^[[:space:]]*//; s/[[:space:]]*$//')" ]; then
    block_count=$((block_count+1))
  fi
  echo "$block_count"
}

# Count the remaining blocks.
blocks_remaining=0
if [ -n "$remaining" ]; then
  blocks_remaining=$(count_blocks "$remaining")
fi

# Display the message with the block count.
echo "$blocks_remaining blocks remaining, popped to clipboard:"
echo "$popped_trimmed"

# Overwrite the working file with the remaining content.
echo -n "$remaining" > "$WORKING_FILE"