cat > note.txt <<EOF cat >> notes.txt <<EOF

ontouchstart · on Aug 17, 2022

Yes. If we also add

    date >> notes.txt

it would be a great immutable ledger .

CRConrad · on Aug 18, 2022

Yeah, I was actually thinking of that too -- and how they should both be rolled up into an alias, for single-command dated notetaking. Dunno if that would work, though: What's the syntax for adding the "EOF" bit after what you type after invoking it?

ontouchstart · on Aug 18, 2022

  $ alias dn='date >> notes.txt && cat >> notes.txt <<EOF'
  $ dn
  > Reply to https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32507878
  >   alias dn='date >> notes.txt && cat >> notes.txt <<EOF'
  > EOF
  $ cat notes.txt 
  Thu 18 Aug 2022 01:41:18 PM UTC
  Reply to https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32507878
    alias dn='date >> notes.txt && cat >> notes.txt <<EOF'

CRConrad · on Aug 18, 2022

Yeah, but you had to type "EOF" to get out of the "cat >>" sub-process, didn't you? There's probably no way to automate / hide that away... (?) Sure, it's pretty good the way it is already, but it bugs me that you have to type that bit that isn't what you want to note. (Who, me? What OCD?)

ontouchstart · on Aug 18, 2022

The essence of this tiny "interactive command line utility" is to capture user key strokes and redirect to a sub-process. So there gotta be a way to interrupt and exit the sub-process. "EOF" is just a convention. You can also get out of the sub-process with "Ctrl-D" like in Python shell.

Interactive editors like vi/emacs also need to flush the buffer and save the content to the file, but you have to type something, such as ":w" and "C-x C-s" (or use GUI).

If you want full automation without human input, I/O redirection is the way.