Standalone script to help manage notes

INSTRUCTIONS.md

1. Create git repo mkdir notes && cd notes && git init
2. Copy note.py (with or without the .py file extension) into git repo
3. Run ./note --new My First Note to create a new note
4. Run ./note --save to commit.

Optional steps:

• Set EDITOR and do ./note --new --open ... to immediate open the new note in your editor
• Create a private repo on git remote service (e.g. GitHub, GitLab, etc.) and set that as remote origin.
  • This means you can do ./note --save --push to immediately commit and push the new commit to the remote.
• Observe ./note --help for more quirks and features.

note.py

#!/usr/bin/env python3
import argparse
from datetime import date
import time
import os
import re

parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(description="Manage Notes")


parser.add_argument(
    "--new",
    "-n",
    action="store_true",
    help="Add new note",
)
parser.add_argument(
    "--open",
    "-o",
    action="store_true",
    help="For --new, open file in $EDITOR",
)
parser.add_argument(
    "--copy-last",
    "-c",
    action="store_true",
    help="For --new, copy contents from last note with same name"
)
parser.add_argument(
    "--date",
    "-d",
    help="For --new, set date explicitly instead of using today's date"
)

def new(args):
    title = ''
    slug = str(int(time.time()))
    previous = None
    if args.rest:
        # has title
        title = ' '.join(args.rest)
        slug = re.sub(r"[!@#$%^&\*\(\)\[\]\{\};:\,\./<>\?\|`~=_+ ]", "-", '-'.join(args.rest).lower())
    if slug.startswith("-") or slug.endswith("-"):
        try:
            slug = re.match(r"^\-*(.*?)\-*$", slug)[1]
        except Exception:
            pass
    if args.copy_last:
        previous_files = {}
        for dirpath, dirs, files in os.walk("."):
            for filename in files:
                if slug in filename:
                    previous_files[filename] = os.path.join(dirpath, filename)
        if previous_files:
            previous = previous_files[sorted(previous_files.keys())[-1]]
    ts = args.date or date.today().strftime("%Y-%m-%d")
    filename = f"{ts}-{slug}.md"
    if os.path.exists(filename):
        reply = input(f"A note at {filename} already exists! Overwrite? [y/N]: ").lower().strip()
        if not reply or reply[0] == 'n':
            print("Leaving note alone.")
            exit(0)
    with open(filename, "w") as f:
        if args.copy_last and previous:
            print(f"Copying contents from last note at {previous}")
            with open(previous, "r") as previous_file:
                f.write(previous_file.read())
        elif title:
            f.write(f"# {title}\n")
    print(f"created new note at ./{filename}")
    if args.open:
        editor = os.environ.get("NOTE_EDITOR", os.environ.get("EDITOR", "vi"))
        os.system(f"{editor} {filename}")


parser.add_argument(
    "--save",
    "-s",
    action="store_true",
    help="Commit and push all changes",
)
parser.add_argument(
    "--push",
    "-p",
    action="store_true",
    help="For --save, push changes to git remote origin",
)
def save(args):
    os.system("git add -A")
    os.system("git rm $(git ls-files --deleted) 2> /dev/null")
    message = f'Note Save {date.today().strftime("%Y-%m-%d")}'
    if args.rest:
        message = ' '.join(args.rest)
    os.system(f'git commit --no-verify --no-gpg-sign -m "{message}"')
    if args.push:
        os.system("git rebase origin")
        os.system("git push origin")


parser.add_argument(
    "rest",
    nargs="*"
)
if __name__ == "__main__":
    args = parser.parse_args()
    if args.new:
        new(args)
    elif args.save:
        save(args)
    else:
        parser.exit("You must specify an action. Seek --help.")