linux-bin/nj

#!/bin/bash
if [ "$1" == "-h" ] ; then
    echo "
          nj - new journal, create/open markdown text file for human writing
             - creates new or opens existing file in the user's preferred EDITOR 
             (e.g. if defined in .bashrc) else nano is used as default.
    
              Usage: nj 
                     nj my-title ~/projects/foo ~/bin/nj-ucsc.tmpl
              
              The first example above would create new timestamped file in the default 
              notes directory.  
              The second example would create/open existing file called 'my-title.md' 
              in a directory 'projects/foo' using a custom user template called 'nj-ucsc.tmpl'

              Setup .bashrc.local or other user specific config file for defining 
              variables: 'export EDITOR=vim' or set temporarily for current session:
              'export author='first last'
    "
    echo "$(tput setaf 6)$EDITOR $(tput setaf 7)is currently set as editor"
    exit 0
fi

set -e

defTitle=journal
defDir=notes
defApp=nano #nano,vim,nvim,gvim,emacs,atom,subl
defTemplate=$HOME/bin/nj.tmpl

title=$1
basedir=$2
mdtemplate=$3
app=$EDITOR

if [[ $MY_NAME ]] & [[ -z $author ]]; then
    author=$MY_NAME
fi

if [[ -z $author ]]; then
    author=$USER
fi

if [[ -z $title ]]; then
    title=$defTitle
fi

if [[ -z $basedir ]]; then
    basedir=$HOME/$defDir
fi

if [[ -z $mdtemplate ]]; then
    mdtemplate=$defTemplate
fi

if [[ -z $app ]]; then
    app=$defApp
fi

fn=$basedir/$(date +"%Y-%m-%d")-$title.md

if [[ -e $fn ]]
then
    echo "opening $fn"
    $app $fn
else
    echo "creating $fn"
    cat $mdtemplate | sed -E "s|(date: ).+|\1$(date --iso-8601='seconds')  |" | sed -E "s|(author: ).+|\1$author  |" | sed -E "s|(title: ).+|\1$title  |" >> $fn
    $app $fn
fi