note 1.3.7-1 / usr / share / perl5 / note.pod

# -*-perl-*-

=head1 NAME

note - a perl script for maintaining notes.


=head1 SYNPOPSIS

note [options] [ number [,number...]]


=head1 DESCRIPTION

B<note> is a small console program written in perl, which allows 
you to manage notes similar to programs like "knotes" but from 
the commandline. Note can use different database-backends for 
notes-storage. It ships with a DBI-based mysql-module(which 
can also be used for other by DBI supported DBMS), another 
module, which uses a binary file for storage and a DBM module.
There are also two modules available which uses a text file.
Note supports since version 1.0.0 encryption(IDEA or DES)!


=head1 OPTIONS


=over

=item I<-c, --config file>

Use another config file than the default ~/.noterc.


=item I<-l, --list [topic]>

Lists all existing notes. If no topic were specified,
it will display a list of all existing topics.
See the section I<TOPICS> for details about topics.

=item I<-L, --longlist [topic]>

The same as I<-l> but prints also the timestamp of the notes.


=item I<-t, --topic>

Prints a list of all topics as a tree.


=item I<-T, --longtopic>

Prints the topic-tree with the notes under each topic.


=item I<-s, --search string>

Searches for <string> trough the notes database. See the section
I<SEARCHING> for details about the search engine.


=item I<-e, --edit number>

Edit the note with the number <number> using your default editor
or the one you specified in the config file.


=item I<-d, --delete number>

Delete the note with the number <number>. You can delete multiple notes
with one command. "1-4" deletes the notes 1,2,3,4. And "1,5,7" deletes
the specified ones.


=item I<-D, --Dump [file | -]>

Dumps all notes to the textfile <file>. If <file> is a "-" it will 
be printed out to standard output (STDOUT).


=item I<-I, --Import file | ->

Imports a previously dumped textfile into the
note database. Data will be appended by default.
You can also specify a dash I<note -I -> instead of a <file>,
which causes note, silently to read in a dump from STDIN.


=item I<-o, --overwrite>

Only suitable for use with --Import. Overwrites an 
existing notedb. Use with care.


=item I<-r, --raw>

Raw mode, output will not be formatted. Works not in interactive
mode, only on cmd-line for list and display. That means, no colors
will be used and no lines or titles.


=item I<-i, --interactive>

Start note in interactive mode. See the section I<INTERACTIVE MODE>
for details on this mode.
	

=item I<--encrypt cleartext>

Encrypt the given clear text string. You would need that if you want to
store the mysql password not in cleartext in the config(if you are using
the mysql backend!).


=item I<-h, --help>

Display this help screen.


=item I<-v, --version>

Display the version number.


=item B<->

If you run note just with one dash: B<note ->, then it will read in a new
note from STDIN until EOF. This makes it possible to pipe text into a new note, i.e.:

 cat sometextfile | note -


=back




=head1 USAGE

=head2 GENERAL USAGE

If you don't know, how to run note, try "note -h" first.
It will tell you all available commandline options.

To create a new note, simply run "note". You can enter
the note (the length is by default limited to 4096 bytes,
which you can change from your config file if you are using
the binary backend, otherwise there is no limitation).
End by typing a . on a line itself. note will tell you the
number of the note.

If you want to view the note, type "note 1", if the notenumber
was 1.

If you want to get an overview of all notes, type "note -l".
You will get a list of all notes, containing the number,
the first line and the creation date. If topic-support is
turned on (which is by default), then all subtopics under the
current topic will be displayed first.
If you want to see the timestamps, use "-L" instead of "-l".
Read more about topics below in the section "Topics".
You can also specify the topic which notes you want to see:
"-l mytopic" does the trick.
Additional, you might want to get an overview of your topic-
structure. You can use the command "-t" in this case, which
will display a tree-view of your topic-structure. You can
use the command "-T" if you want to see the notes under each
topic too. "-T" will also show the number of each note.

To edit a certain note, type "note -e 1". It will invoke your
editor (vi or pico). You can edit it, after saving, note
will store the changed note to the database.

Of course you can drop a certain note: "note -d 1" deletes
note number 1. If a note in the middle or the beginning of
the database will be deleted, note will recount the other
existent notes. For example there are 3 notes, number 1, 2
and 3. If you delete number 2, then number 3 will become
number 2.
You can also make use of the extended delete-syntax:
To delete note 1 and 2, use "-d 1,2"
To delete note 1,2 and 3, use "-d 1-3".



=head2 SEARCHING

If you cannot remember, which note you are looking for, you
can use the search capability of note: "note -s <searchstring>".
note will search the whole note database case insensitive for
an occurence of this string and tell you the number and first-
line it has.

You can extend the searchstring using B<AND>, B<OR> ( and ) and
shell-like wildcards:

 $ note -s "moses AND lenin"

or:

 $ note -s "(mike OR arnold) AND (jackson OR schwarzenegger)"

If note finds a note, which first line is a topic, then it will
display it's second line.

These rules apply for the interactive search too.

You need to know, that note searches for the expression in every
note. In other words, "moses AND lenin" searches for an occurence
of "moses" and "lenin" in ONE note. Or, if you are looking for
"mike OR daniel", then it searches for an occurence of "mike" or
daniel" in ONE note. Thus a note with the text "mike oldfield" will
match that search.


=head2 TOPICS

If topic-support is turned on (which is by default), the various
notes are sorted under various topics. There is no special database
field for the topic. Instead the topic will be stored right in the
note.
If the first line of your note contains some text bordered by slashes
(or whatever you prefer, set "TopicSeparator" in your config! default
is slash), then note will consider it as the topic of this certain
note. For examle:

 B</TodoList/>

If you are using topics, no data after the topic is allowed, if there
is any text, note will consider it as a subtopic! Therefore, don't for-
get to put a newline after the topic-line.

The list-command will only show you notes under this topic. If you
create a new note, it will automagically inserted under the current
topic (note will prepend  the string "/topicname/" to the text of your
note).

You can create at any time from any point a new topic. Just create a new
note and type the name of the new topic bordered by slashes (or
TopicSeparator) at the first line of this note. After saving, there
will be available a new topic with one note in it.

You can create as many subtopics as you like, the format is similar to
a filesystem-path. An example, say, you want to create such a
structure:

 (root - top level)
 |
 |----test
 |      |----subtopic
 |      |       |--note 1
 |      |       |--note 2
 |      |
 |      |--note 4
 |
 |--note 3

Then you may create those 4 new notes:

 --- snip ---
 /test/subtopic/
 note 1
 --- snip ---
 /test/subtopic/
 note 2
 --- snip ---
 note 3
 --- snip ---
 /test/
 note 4
 --- snip ---

I hope, you got the point ;-)

If a note does not contain the "magic" /topic/ construction on the first
line, it will be listed under the "root" of note, that is the point
you are at the startup of note.

You can subsequently move a note without a topic to a certain topic.
Simply edit it and insert at the first line the above mentioned
construction.

Note: Please don't forget the prepending and appending a slash of a
topic.  You will get strange results without it!




=head2 INTERACTIVE MODE

If you start note with the commandline flag B<-i>, then it starts
with an interactive interface.
It will start with a listing under the default top-topic ("/").
You can enter the name of a topic to change to that topic. This works
similar to a filesystem structure. The current topic will be 
displayed on the top of the screen.

The following commands are available:

=over

=item B<L [topic]>

This command lists all notes with a timestamp. If you specify a topic, it
will only list the notes under this topic. If you are under a certain subtopic,
then it will only display the notes under this topic.

=item B<l [topic]>

This commands behaves similar to B<L> but it does not display the timestamp.
You can achieve the same result by simply pressing enter at any time.


=item B<N>

You can create a new note by simply pressing B<N> or B<n>. You favorite
editor will be started and you can enter your note text. If you are already
under a topic then this new note will automatically go to this topic.
note adds an additional line to the top of the note with the topic. But
you can of course specify your own topic.

Note will tell you which number it has assigned to the newly created note.

=item B<E number>

By entering B<E> or B<e> and a note-number you can edit an existing note
using your favorite editor. This way you can also move an existing note
from one topic to another one by editing the first line of the note.


=item B<D number>

B<E> or B<e> deletes one or more existing note(s). It requires a note number
or a set of note numbers. 1-5 and 1,7,9 are possible values.
After one or more notes has been deleted note will recount all remaining notes.
Say if you delete 1 and 2, then 3 will become 1, 4 will become 5 and so forth.


=item B<S [expression]>

You can search for the occurence of a text in your notes-database with the
command B<S> or B<s>. If you omit an expression note will ask you for one.

If your search criteria matches on exactly one entry, note will display
that note entry instead of displaying its number.

=item B<T>

This prints a tree-view of your topic-structure. B<T> displays the tree with
notes, B<t> displays just the topics without notes.

=item B<C>

It is possible to change note's behavior at runtime. Specify the parameter
you'd like to modify followed by equalsign and the new value. Use with
care! However, database related parameters cannot be changed at runtime.
Entering just "c" without parameters displays the customizable variables.

=item B<cd topic>

Change the actual topic under which you are. This works identical like just
entering the topic but it has some advantages. You can enter B<cd ..> if
you want to go one level up in the topic-structure. And you can enter B<cd />
to go to the top of the structure. You can always leave out the 'cd' keyword too.

Additional it is possible to enter a note-number instead of a topic name.
For this feature to be active you need to set the config option B<ShortCd>
to B<1> or B<yes>. If you use a number and the note with this number is
under a certain topic then you will "cd" to this topic. This allows you
to do kind of jumps over multiple levels of topics.

If is possible to abbreviate a topic. This works only if the abbreviation
matches on one single topic. If it matches more than one topic then the
available ones will be suggested.


=item B<? or h>

Display a short help screen.


=item B<Q>

Quit note.

=back





=head2 BACKUP

You can also dump the contents of your note-database into a
ASCII-textfile(I<-D>). You can use this file later to import it into
your note-database(-I). This is useful, if you want quickly trans-
fer your notes from one host to another (i.e. you could mail
your note-dump form your office to home and import it there
for further use).

The dumps from the two versions of note are in the same format.
Using dumps it is also possible to reinitialize your database. You
can use the "-o" switch whcih causes note to overwrite your existing
database. This is very handy if you changed heavily your config. And
it is required, if you changed: encryption, db-driver, (binary-format)
and the password. You can use the following command for reinitializing:

 $ note -D - | note -o -I -

What the hell, does this do?! Step by step:

=over

=item *

B<note -D -> creates a note-database dump and prints it out
to stantdard output.

=item *

B<|> this is the shell's pipe command. It takes the output
of the left program and gives it to the right program as
standard input.

=item *

B<note -o -I -> imports a note-database dump from standard
input and overwrites an existing database.

=back

Before you use the B<-o> switch, I consider you to make a backup!





=head2 FORMATING

Another very nice feature is the possibility to format the note-text
(as much as shell allows it). First, you can use the note-internal
"magic-strings" for colorizing. Those strings looks much like HTML:
"<green>here is a green line of text</green> no more green."
As you see, the beginning of another color starts with a tag(kinda) of
the color <colorname> and ends with an end tag </colorname>.

The following colors are available:
black, red, green, yellow, blue, magenta, cyan and white.

Beside colorizing text, you can also create bold or underlined text! If
you decide to use this (additional) feature, you need to set the
Config-Option "FormatText" to 1 which turns it on.
Usage is very straightforward, if a word (a word is defined as some
text with at least one space surrounded) is between a magic mark-
character. Here are the available things, you can do:

 bold:       **word**
 underlined: __word__
 inverse:    {{word}}
 hidden:     //word//

The text will be formatted using the actually note-color.

The hidden formatting will use blue forground and blue background
to hide a string from the terminal, which is useful for passwords.

If you set "FormatText" to I<simple> then the formatting can be
done this way instead:

 bold:       *word*
 underlined: _word_
 inverse:    {word}
 hidden:     /word/

=head1 ENCRYPTION

You can turn on encryption from the config file.
Simply set UseEncryption to 1. Please note, that you need
to decide, if you want to use encryption before the first use
of note! If have already a note database and want to "migrate"
to encryption, I suggest you to follow the directions in the
file UPGRADE!

You can choose from different encryption algorythms. The default
is IDEA, but DES or BLOWFISH are also possible. You need to have
installed the following additional perl-modules on your system:
MD5
Crypt::IDEA
Crypt::DES
Crypt::CBC

After turning on encryption, note will ask you for a passphrase
everytime it runs! It will *not* store this passphrase!
So, don't forget it! Be careful!




=head1 CONFIGURATION

You can use a configuration file with note but it is not required.
Note will use default values if there is no config.

The default config file is B<~/.noterc>. You may specify another
one with the commandline flag I<--config>.

Comments start with #, empty lines will be ignored.

To turn on an option, set it to: B<1>, B<on> or B<yes>.

To turn off an option, set it to: B<0>, B<off> or B<no>.

An option consists of an atribute-value pair separated
by minimum one space (more spaces and/or tabs are allowed)
and an optional equal sign in between.

Variable names are case in-sensitive.

For a detailed explanation of each possible parameter take a look
at the supplied sample configuration file in B<config/noterc>.





=head1 AUTHOR

Thomas Linden <tom at linden dot at>


=head1 VERSION

1.3.6 (07/20/2009)

=cut