Script that randomly suggest something to do from your favourites. Useful for those slow days when you are bored to death and have no idea what to do with your life.

what_next.sh

#!/bin/bash
set -e

SCRIPT=$0
ARG=$1
ACTIVITIES_FILE=~/what_next_activities.json

# Colors
RED=$(tput setaf 1)
GREEN=$(tput setaf 2)
NOCOLOR=$(tput sgr0)

which jq > /dev/null || { echo "dependency 'jq' not found. Exiting."; exit 1;}

usage() {
  echo -n " ${SCRIPT} [OPTIONS]

  Smartly suggests a random activity to do next

  Options:
  -s|--suggest  Suggest an activity
  -u|--update   Update acitivities list.
  "
  exit 1
}

create_sample_actitivies_file() {
  cat << EOF > $ACTIVITIES_FILE
[
  {
    "name": "<category_1>",
    "activities": [
      "<category_example_1>",
      "<category_example_2>",
      "<category_example_3>"
    ]
  },
  {
    "name": "<category_2>",
    "activities": [
      "<category_example_1>",
      "<category_example_2>",
      "<category_example_3>"
    ]
  }
]
EOF
}

suggest() {

  LENGTH=$(jq length $ACTIVITIES_FILE)

  [[ $LENGTH == 0 ]] && { printf "\nNo More Suggestions left!! Exiting\n"; return 0; }

  SELECTED_ACTIVITY_INDEX=$(( RANDOM % LENGTH ))

  CATEGORY=$(jq -r .[$SELECTED_ACTIVITY_INDEX].name $ACTIVITIES_FILE)

  printf "\nCategory:  %s%s%s" "${RED}" "${CATEGORY}" "${NOCOLOR}"

  printf "\nSuggestions:\n"
  jq -r ".[$SELECTED_ACTIVITY_INDEX].activities[]" $ACTIVITIES_FILE | while read -r ACTIVITY; do
    echo "* ${GREEN}$ACTIVITY${NOCOLOR}"
  done
  
  jq "del(.[$SELECTED_ACTIVITY_INDEX])" $ACTIVITIES_FILE > $ACTIVITIES_FILE.tmp; mv $ACTIVITIES_FILE.tmp $ACTIVITIES_FILE;

  read -rp "Suggest another? (Y/N) " ANOTHER_SUGGESTION

  if [[ $ANOTHER_SUGGESTION == [yY] ]]
  then
   suggest
  fi

}

update() {
  echo "Opening activities json save file after making changes. Ensure valid json."
  sleep 3
  
  [[ -f $ACTIVITIES_FILE ]] || create_sample_actitivies_file

  EDITOR=$(which vi || which nano)

  cp $ACTIVITIES_FILE $ACTIVITIES_FILE.bak

  $EDITOR $ACTIVITIES_FILE

  if ! $(cat $ACTIVITIES_FILE | jq empty);
  then
    echo "Invalid JSON. reverting file changes. Please start over.";
    mv $ACTIVITIES_FILE.bak $ACTIVITIES_FILE
    exit 1;
  fi
}

case $ARG in
  -s | --suggest)
    cp $ACTIVITIES_FILE $ACTIVITIES_FILE.preserved
    suggest
    mv $ACTIVITIES_FILE.preserved $ACTIVITIES_FILE
    ;;
  -u | --update)
    update
    ;;
  *)
    usage
    ;;
esac