cnotes

A simple command-line logging and note-taking system written in strict C89/ANSI C for maximum portability.

Overview

cnotes provides quick, one-line note capture from the terminal. Notes are stored in a simple CSV format and can be displayed, sorted, and filtered. The intent is to behave mostly like an immutable log, however entry deletion is enabled through an 'archiving' mechanism.

Comprehensive explanatory documentation of the internals of these tools cna be found in INTERNALS. In essence, the design philosophy is the same as the old unix bromide "do one thing, and do it well". In addition, I have made minor modifications to enable composition through shell scripting. I will not be overly customizing the CLI interface, for precisely this reason.

Supported Platforms

• Linux/Unix (GCC)
• macOS (GCC/Clang)
• Windows (Turbo C++ 3.0, MinGW)
• DOS 6.22 (Turbo C++ 3.0)

Building

Linux/Unix/macOS

make

Binaries are placed in the build/ directory.

DOS/Windows (Turbo C++ 3.0)

make -f MAKEFILE.TC

Or use the batch file if make is unavailable:

BUILD.BAT

Installation (Unix-like systems)

sudo make install    # installs to /usr/local/bin
sudo make uninstall  # removes from /usr/local/bin

Commands

cnadd

Add a new timestamped note entry.

cnadd "Remember to call Bob"
cnadd -c Work "Meeting at 3pm"
cnadd -c Personal "Buy groceries"

Options:

• -c CATEGORY - Specify category (max 10 chars, default: "General")

cndump

Display all notes in a formatted table. Output width adapts to terminal size automatically.

cndump              # display all notes (boxed table)
cndump -s           # simple output (no box borders)
cndump -d           # sort by date (newest first)
cndump -c           # sort by category
cndump -r           # reverse sort order
cndump -d -r        # sort by date, oldest first
cndump -a           # display archived entries

Options:

• -d, --date - Sort by date/time
• -c, --category - Sort by category
• -r, --reverse - Reverse sort order
• -a, --archive - Show archived entries instead of active
• -s, --simple - Simple output without box borders

cncount

Display note statistics.

cncount             # total entry count
cncount -c          # count by category
cncount -d          # count by date
cncount -a          # count archived entries
cncount -a -c       # count archived entries by category

Options:

• -c, --category - Show counts per category
• -d, --date - Show counts per date
• -a, --archive - Count archived entries instead of active

cndel

Archive note entries. Entries are moved to cnotes.arc rather than permanently deleted.

cndel -n 5          # archive entry at line 5
cndel -l            # archive the last (most recent) entry
cndel -d 2025-01-30 # archive all entries from a specific date
cndel -n 5 -y       # archive without confirmation prompt

Options:

• -n LINE_NUMBER - Archive entry at specified line number
• -d DATE - Archive all entries matching DATE (YYYY-MM-DD)
• -l - Archive the last (most recent) entry
• -y - Skip confirmation prompt

Archived entries can be viewed using cndump -a, searched with cnfind -a, or counted with cncount -a.

cnfind

Search notes by text, category, or date.

cnfind meeting              # search for 'meeting' in text (case-insensitive)
cnfind -c Work              # show all entries in Work category
cnfind -d 2025-01-30        # show all entries from a specific date
cnfind -c Work meeting      # search 'meeting' in Work category only
cnfind -i meeting           # case-sensitive search
cnfind -n meeting           # show only match count
cnfind -a meeting           # search in archived entries

Options:

• -c CATEGORY - Filter by category (case-insensitive)
• -d DATE - Filter by date (YYYY-MM-DD)
• -i - Case-sensitive search (default is case-insensitive)
• -n - Show only count of matches
• -a, --archive - Search archived entries instead of active

The output includes line numbers for use with cndel -n.

cnhelp

Quick reference for all cnotes commands.

cnhelp              # show command overview
cnhelp cnadd        # help for cnadd
cnhelp dump         # help for cndump (short form)

Configuration

Notes Location

By default, notes are stored in:

Platform	Active Notes	Archived Notes
Unix/Linux	~/.local/share/cnotes/cnotes.csv	~/.local/share/cnotes/cnotes.arc
Windows	%USERPROFILE%\.cnotes\cnotes.csv	%USERPROFILE%\.cnotes\cnotes.arc
DOS	cnotes.csv	cnotes.arc

Environment Variables

• CNOTES_PATH - Override the notes directory location (highest priority)
• On DOS, set CNOTES_HOME if HOME is not available

Example:

export CNOTES_PATH=/custom/path/to/notes

Compile-time Configuration

Override defaults by defining at compile time:

gcc -DCNOTES_DIR=\".mynotes\" -DMAX_ENTRIES=1000 ...

Data Format

Notes are stored in CSV format:

DATE,TIME,CATEGORY  ,"MESSAGE"
2025-01-30,14:30,Work      ,"Meeting with team"
2025-01-30,09:15,Personal  ,"Buy groceries"

Fields:

• Date: YYYY-MM-DD (10 chars)
• Time: HH:MM (5 chars)
• Category: padded to 10 chars
• Message: quoted, max 125 chars

Archive

cnotes follows an immutable-log philosophy. When entries are "deleted" using cndel, they are moved to an archive file (cnotes.arc) rather than permanently removed. This provides:

• Recoverability - Archived entries can be reviewed or manually restored
• Audit trail - A complete history of all notes is preserved
• Data safety - Accidental deletions are never permanent

Use the -a flag with cndump, cnfind, or cncount to work with archived entries.

TODO

Future commands to implement:

• cntail - Show last N entries (quick view)

  cntail                  # last 5 entries
  cntail -n 10            # last 10 entries
  

• cncat - List unique categories

  cncat                   # list categories
  cncat -c                # with counts
  

• cnexport - Export to other formats

  cnexport > notes.txt    # plain text
  cnexport -t > notes.tsv # tab-separated
  

License

This project is dedicated to the public domain under the CC0 1.0 Universal license. See LICENSE for details.

Author

Greg Gauthier (gmgauthier@protonmail.com)