feature request: --set-due argument should decode human-readable dates

[obbardc]

Currently the --set-due argument requires a date, it'd be nicer if it could accept a human-readable form like:

--set-due=tomorrow --set-due=3d --set-due=1w --set-due=1m

$ ttdl new snakes
Added todo:
# D P Created    Finished   Due        Threshold  Spent  Subject
-----------------------------------------------------------------
4                                                        snakes
$ ttdl edit 4 --set-due=2020-07-03
Changed todos:
# D P Created    Finished   Due        Threshold  Spent  Subject
-----------------------------------------------------------------
4                           2020-07-03                   snakes
-----------------------------------------------------------------
1 todos (of 4 total)

[VladimirMarkelov]

I am close to publishing a new version with this feature. But I have a question: I am going to add more "special" dates(besides tomorrow|tmr|tm and today) and I am not sure how to make them easy to understand. I added weekdays: --set-due=fri and --set-due=next-fri. What real due date do you expect from both commands for a date 2020-07-10 that is Friday? At this moment it is ambiguous(I can interpret fri and next-fri in two ways).

[thomasjfox]

While testing out the new feature today I didn't give it much thought and tried "due:tuesday". That is not recognized at the moment.

We might think about adding full day names for "due:" in addition to the abbreviation.

[VladimirMarkelov]

I agree. It makes sense.

[thomasjfox]

I took a look around the net what other implementations do. While there are quite a few parsers, many of them don't handle cases like "Monday after two weeks", just plain "Monday".

Two examples:

1. TaskWarrior: Too many hardly used knobs IMHO: https://taskwarrior.org/docs/dates.html https://taskwarrior.org/docs/named_dates.html

2. Official PHP implementation: https://www.php.net/manual/en/datetime.formats.relative.php https://www.php.net/manual/en/function.strtotime.php

echo strtotime("next Thursday"), "\n"
-> Thursday this week (if NOW is f.e. Tuesday)

I'll also ask coworkers tomorrow regarding https://github.com/VladimirMarkelov/ttdl/issues/28#issuecomment-657252837

[VladimirMarkelov]

Thank you for research! It seems that having bot "DAY_OF_WEEK" and "next DAY_OF_WEEK" adds ambiguity. So, we can keep simple WEEKDAY without any prefix and always choose this DAYOFWEEK in the future(in other words, it is always neither in the past not today).

[obbardc]

I agree keeping it simple is best. Friday should mean the next Friday in the calender, if I wanted it to be set to any other Friday I should have to put in a date.

On Tue, 14 Jul 2020, 22:51 Vladimir Markelov, notifications@github.com wrote:

Thank you for research! It seems that having "next DAY_OF_WEEK" adds ambiguity. So, we can keep simple WEEKDAY without any prefix and always choose this DAYOFWEEK in the future(in other words, it is always neither in the past not today).

— You are receiving this because you authored the thread. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub https://github.com/VladimirMarkelov/ttdl/issues/28#issuecomment-658431354, or unsubscribe https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AAH3LVVBUSWUGNTIMAHKQR3R3THKXANCNFSM4OOXWY6A .

[VladimirMarkelov]

OK. It seems done. If it looks good, I will publish new version. The current rules:

Numbers (shortcuts):

• single number = day of month
• number-number = month-day of month

In some time interval

• number + d, w, m, y = in number days, weeks, months, years. Items can be combined: 1w3d - kind of a week and a half = in 10 days (you also can set it with 10d
• extra rule: if the current date is the last day of a month, m and y always sets the due date to the end of resulting month.

Named:

• today, tomorrow, and day of week

Extra rules:

• day of week can be full word, or abbreviated to 2 or 3 first letters
• except today all other dates are always in the future
• setting day of month in single number or month-day to 31 always sets the due date to the last day of month. So, one does not have to remember how many days the current month has. It is a bit simplified description but you get the idea

[thomasjfox]

I think the new rules are perfect. Great job!

Personally I'll probably use "tuesday" or "14d" the most: A task is either on a fixed day soon or something more vague like "in two weeks". Example: "check bicycle tire pressure due:30d"

[VladimirMarkelov]

Thank you all for the discussion. Closing the issue as done one.