Zsh script to use vim + Dropbox for random notes.

open-note.sh

# USAGE:
# Set NOTE_FOLDER to where you want to store the notes

# Add a line to your .zshrc with the appropriate path:
# source path/to/open-note.sh

# note -> lists all notes
# note -n foo -> creates a new note named 2020-07-10-foo.md, where 2020-07-10 is today's date
#     (if there's a note today already with the same name, it will just open it)
# note foo -> if there's a single note with the substring "foo", it will open it
#     (if there are none, it will fail. If there is more than one it will fail--and it will list the matching notes)
# note -l foo -> it will open the most recent note with the substring "foo"
#
# -c will open it using code (VS Code). Else it will open it using whatever $NOTE_EDITOR is set to (default: vim)
# -p just prints the name of the file (if you want to use it for something else)
# -C copies the contents of the file to the clipboard using pbcopy (in case you just want to paste the note somewhere)
# -d puts out some useful debugging for this dang script.


export NOTE_FOLDER="$HOME/Dropbox (Personal)/vim/notes"

new-notefile()
{
  echo "$NOTE_FOLDER/`date +%Y-%m-%d`-$1.md"
}

note() {
  if [[ ! -v NOTE_EDITOR ]]; then NOTE_EDITOR=vim; fi
  unset list_notes use_last create_new just_print_path copy_to_clipboard debug_mode

  while getopts "dlLnpcCh" opt; do
    case ${opt} in
      l )
        local use_last=true ;;
      L )
        local list_notes=true ;;
      n )
        local create_new=true ;;
      p )
        local just_print_path=true ;;
      c )
        local NOTE_EDITOR=code ;;
      d )
        local debug_mode=true ;;
      C )
        local copy_to_clipboard=true ;;
      h )
        echo "Usage:"
        echo "  note         -- lists all notes"
        echo "  note foo     -- if there's one note with the name containing 'foo', opens that note"
        echo "  note -L foo  -- prints the paths for all notes containing 'foo'"
        echo "  note -n foo  -- creates a new note named 'foo'"
        echo "       -c      -- opens using \`code\` (VS Code) instead of vim. Or set NOTE_EDITOR if you want to use another editor"
        echo "       -C      -- copies the contents of the note to the clipboard with pbcopy instead of opening it for edit"
        echo "       -l      -- opens the most recent matching note (useful if the substring matches multiple notes"
        echo "       -p      -- prints out the file path rather than opening the file"
        return 0
        ;;
      \? )
        echo "Invalid option(s) specified: $@" 1>&2
        return 1
        ;;
    esac
  done
  
  shift $((OPTIND-1))

  if [[ -v debug_mode ]]; then
    echo "Use last: $use_last"
    echo "Create new: $create_new"
    echo "Just print: $just_print_path"
    echo "copy to clipboard: $copy_to_clipboard"
    echo "NOTE_EDITOR: $NOTE_EDITOR"
    echo "Arg1: $1, Arg2: $2, Arg3: $3, Arg4: $3, Arg@: $@"
  fi

  if [[ -v create_new ]]; then
    if [[ -n $1 ]]; then
      $NOTE_EDITOR "`new-notefile $1`"
      return 0
    else
      >&2 echo "Cannot create a new notefile if you don't specify a name for the note."
      return 1
    fi
  fi

  if [[ -n $1 ]]; then
    matches=`ls -r1 $NOTE_FOLDER | grep -i $1`
    if [[ -v use_last ]]; then matches=`echo $matches | head -1`; fi
    if [[ -v debug_mode ]]; then echo "matches: $matches"; fi
    if [[ -v list_notes ]]; then
      echo "$matches"
      return 0
    fi
  else
    if [[ -v copy_to_clipboard ]]; then
      2&> echo "I can't copy a file to clipboard if you don't specify a file!"
      return 1
    else
      echo "`ls -r1 $NOTE_FOLDER`"
      return 0
    fi
  fi

  notecount=`echo -n "$matches" | grep -c '^'`
  if [[ -v debug_mode ]]; then echo "notecount: $notecount"; fi

  if [[ $notecount -eq 0 ]]; then
    >&2 echo "No notes matching \"$1\" found!"
    >&2 echo "  Use -n if you want to create a new note named $1"
    return 1
  elif [[ $notecount -gt 1 ]]; then
    >&2 echo "Found $notecount notes matching \"$1\"."
    >&2 echo "  Use a more specific pattern, or the -l option if you just want the last one."
    echo $matches
    return 2
  else
    if [[ -v just_print_path ]]; then
      echo "$NOTE_FOLDER/$matches"
    elif [[ -v copy_to_clipboard ]]; then
      cat "$NOTE_FOLDER/$matches" | pbcopy
      echo "Copied $NOTE_FOLDER/$matches to Clipboard! `wc -l < $NOTE_FOLDER/$matches` lines"
    else
      $NOTE_EDITOR $NOTE_FOLDER/$matches
    fi
  fi
}