tp2md.rb

#!/usr/bin/env ruby -rjcode -Ku
# TaskPaper to Markdown converter
# Usage: tp2md.rb filename.taskpaper > output.md
require 'ftools'

infile = ARGV[0]
title = File.basename(infile,'.taskpaper').upcase
output = "# #{title} #\n\n"
prevlevel = 0
begin
    file = File.new(infile, "r")
    while (line = file.gets)
      if line =~ /^(\t+)?(.*?):(?:\s+)?$/
        tabs = $1
        project = $2
        if tabs.nil?
          output += "\n## #{project} ##\n\n"
          prevlevel = 0
        else
          output += "#{tabs.gsub(/^\t/,'')}* **#{project}**\n"
          prevlevel = tabs.length
        end
      elsif line =~ /^(\t+)?\- (.*)$/
        task = $2
        tabs = $1.nil? ? '' : $1
        task = "*#{task}*" if task =~ /@done/
        if tabs.length - prevlevel > 1
          tabs = "\t"
          prevlevel.times {|i| tabs += "\t"}
        end
        tabs = '' if prevlevel == 0 && tabs.length > 1
        output += "#{tabs.gsub(/^\t/,'')}* #{task.strip}\n"
        prevlevel = tabs.length
      else
        next if line =~ /^\s*$/
        tabs = ""
        prevlevel-1.times {|i| tabs += "\t"}
        output += "#{tabs}> #{line.strip}\n\n"
      end
    end
    file.close
rescue => err
    puts "Exception: #{err}"
    err
end

puts output

Very cool. Btw, where would I put the script? /usr/bin ?

I tend to keep scripts like this in a scripts folder off of my home directory (~/scripts) and put that directory in my path (in .bash_profile). If you wanted to make it executable (chmod a+x tp2md.rb) and stick it in /usr/local/bin, you could get away with that, too.

Note that it outputs the result to stdout, so you can redirect the output to anywhere you like (> filename.md) or pipe it to your Markdown processor directly (|/path/to/Markdown.pl)

Any chance you have one that does it in reverse?

I appreciate tp2md.rb and have come to rely on it but I don't know ruby at all myself. I note that the version of ruby shipped with OS X Mavericks isn't compatible with the required ftools gem. Any chance this could get an update? Thanks.