Logger-TXT

A life logging system in a portable, durable, and searchable format.

Logger-TXT is a small, shell based tool to log activities throughout the day to a simple, portable text file, along with the date/time. Options are available to log a specific entry under a type and project. All entries are stored in a simple TXT file. Whether you track purchases, what you ate that day, progress on projects at work or all of the above and more, you will always have a simple, solid way of storing that information and a script that gets out of your way to get it there.

Getting the Script

The best place to follow this project and download the latest and greatest versions of Logger-TXT is on the Logger-TXT Github page. I highly encourage input and changes to the script as I am always looking for improvements.

Installation

Location of log script

To install Logger-TXT simply copy logger.sh to where you would like it to be stored on your computer. If you have multiple computers logger works really well within a folder in Dropbox. For example you could keep logger.sh and your log file in ~/Dropbox/log/ and it will automatically be synced between computers.

Location of log file

There are two options for defining where your log file is to be saved.

  1. Setting an environment variable
  • In ~/.profile add:
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export LOGGERTXT_PATH=~/Dropbox/log/log.txt
  • Make sure you include the name of your log file. This allows you to set it to a hidden file if you desire.
  1. Default action if no environment variable set
  • If no LOGGERTXT_PATH is set, a log.txt file will be created in the folder where logger.sh is located.

Quick Command Line Access

In ~/.profile add:

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alias l="/path/to/script/logger.sh"

Example Input

Without Alias

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./logger.sh -t personal -p project "This is a log note with a type and project"

With Alias

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l -t personal -p project "This is a log note with a type and project"

Example output in log.txt

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31/01/11 13:30 - PERSONAL (PROJECT) - This is a log note with a type and project
31/01/11 13:35 - PERSONAL - This is a log not with just a type
31/01/11 13:40 - (PROJECT) - This is a log not with just a project
31/01/11 13:45 - This is just a general event which doesn't belong to anything

Main Goals

The main goal of this project was to create a simple logging tool which could be accessed quickly from within the command line environment. By storing all data in a TXT file, you’re not locked into always using this tool or limited to only viewing log events with this script. The data portability that a TXT file offers between tools, operating systems and environments is crucial to having a smooth workflow that is extremely dependable.

What do you use it for anyways?!?

Over time the act of logging will become habitual. Over the course of a day you may log any of the following and anything else you deem important.

  • Progress of tasks related to work and/or specific projects
    • Extremely handy when it comes to filling in hours with an employer as you can easily look up what projects were worked on, on that Tuesday two weeks ago.
  • Progress of personal tasks or projects
    • Progress logging is the main use of this tool
  • Purchases made
    • Extremely useful when the credit card bill comes with cryptic names of companies.
  • Log important events or anything where the time that it happened is important.
    • Had an important conversation with someone? Log that you had it so you can also know when it exactly happened.
  • Log anything!

Tools to make it simpler and easier

OS X

  • iTerm2
    • Recommended
    • More advanced program than the stock Terminal.app
    • Comes with a built in quick view window so you can quickly bring up a terminal window to user Logger-TXT

Major Changes Coming

  • Will be re-architecting the script to work well from a /bin folder so that I can set it up with Homebrew for easy, one-line installation.