Obsidian logging - Log to Obsidian Journal from command line
This little utility written in Rust makes it possible to log directly to todays daily note from the linux command line.
Installation
You can install obsidian-logging using cargo:
Or build from source:
Or download binaries directly from the github releases page.
Tip
Since obsidian-logging is quite a mouthful to type every time, it is recommended to create a short alias. E.g
alias q=` obsidian-logging`
(Note: the space before the program name stops the commaand from being entered into command history)
On Windows, the doskey command can be used to create a macro:
doskey q=obsidian-logging
Configuration file
Obsidian-logging reads ~/.config/obsidian-logging/obsidian-logging.yaml on startup. If it does not exist, obsidian-logging will create it and prompt for some of the values. This is a file that uses the yaml configuration format. See obsidian-logging.example.yaml for what can be configured.
Obsidian-logging looks for a marker that signifiies where the log entries block will start. Log entries must be consecutive without empty lines. The marker is specified in the config file.
Environment variable
If specified, $OBSIDIAN_VAULT_DIR will override the vault value in obsidian-logging.yaml
Command line switches
No arguments
When invoking obsidian-logging without any arguments the entries of the current day, if any, will be listed. This is equivalent to obsidian-logging -l
No swithces
When invoking the command obsidian-logging This is a log entry obsidian-logging will append the string This is a log entry to the log section of the markdown daily note.
A timestamp will be prepended according to the chosen list mode. If list mode is bullet, '- HH:mm ' is prepended to the log statement. If list mode is 'table', the log statement is
wrapped in markdown table column separators: | HH:mm | log statement|
-t or --time
The timestamp may be overridden by specifying the -t/--time HH:mm switch. Log entries are sorted chronologically before being added to the markdown file.
-l or --list
You can list the current days log entries by specifying the -l option. If obsidian-logging is invoked without any arguments, this is the default action.
-b or --back
By specifying -b <number> you can go back in time and list the logs number of days ago. obsidian-logging -b 0 is the same as obsidian-logging -l
-e or --edit
Invokes $EDITOR with todays file. Uses vim if $EDITOR is not set,
-f or --time-format
Specifies 12H or 24H time format. 24H is default. Overrides time_format in obsidian-logging.yaml
-s or --silent
Do not output anything, not even error messages
-h or --help
Print command line argument help
-T list mode
Specifies the list output mode when obsidian-logging -l is called. Valid arguments are -T bullet and -T table. Overrides the list mode in obsidian-logging.yaml configuration file
-v or --version
Outputs the current version string and exits execution
-S or --stdin
If specified, input will be read from stdin instead of command line arguments, allowing piping of log statements into the program. Carriage return or linefeed characters will be removed, and log statement will be logged as a single line.