Converts natural language dates to ISO 8601 in TaskPaper 3.9.4. Supports "next Tuesday", "in 3 days", "end of month", etc.

fuzzy dates.scpt

Application('TaskPaper').documents[0].evaluate({
  script: `function(editor, options) {
    editor.outline.groupUndoAndChanges(function() {
      let items = editor.outline.root.descendants;
      
      items.forEach(item => {
        let attrs = item.attributes;
        
        for (let attr in attrs) {
          let value = attrs[attr];
          
          if (value && typeof value === 'string' && !value.match(/^\\d{4}-\\d{2}-\\d{2}$/)) {
            let date = parseFuzzyDate(value);
            if (date) {
              item.setAttribute(attr, formatISO(date));
            }
          }
        }
      });
    });
    
    function parseFuzzyDate(str) {
      let lower = str.toLowerCase().trim();
      let now = new Date();
      now.setHours(0, 0, 0, 0);
      
      if (lower === 'today') return now;
      if (lower === 'tomorrow') {
        let d = new Date(now);
        d.setDate(d.getDate() + 1);
        return d;
      }
      if (lower === 'yesterday') {
        let d = new Date(now);
        d.setDate(d.getDate() - 1);
        return d;
      }
      
      let dayMatch = lower.match(/(next|this|last)\\s+(sun|mon|tue|wed|thu|fri|sat|sunday|monday|tuesday|wednesday|thursday|friday|saturday)/);
      if (dayMatch) {
        let days = ['sunday', 'monday', 'tuesday', 'wednesday', 'thursday', 'friday', 'saturday'];
        let shortDays = ['sun', 'mon', 'tue', 'wed', 'thu', 'fri', 'sat'];
        let dayName = dayMatch[2];
        let targetDay = days.indexOf(dayName);
        if (targetDay === -1) targetDay = shortDays.indexOf(dayName);
        
        let currentDay = now.getDay();
        let daysToAdd;
        
        if (dayMatch[1] === 'next') {
          daysToAdd = (targetDay - currentDay + 7) % 7;
          if (daysToAdd === 0) daysToAdd = 7;
        } else if (dayMatch[1] === 'this') {
          daysToAdd = (targetDay - currentDay + 7) % 7;
        } else {
          daysToAdd = (targetDay - currentDay - 7) % 7;
          if (daysToAdd === 0) daysToAdd = -7;
        }
        
        let d = new Date(now);
        d.setDate(d.getDate() + daysToAdd);
        return d;
      }
      
      let inMatch = lower.match(/in\\s+(\\d+)\\s+(day|week|month|year)s?/);
      if (inMatch) {
        let amount = parseInt(inMatch[1]);
        let unit = inMatch[2];
        let d = new Date(now);
        
        if (unit === 'day') d.setDate(d.getDate() + amount);
        else if (unit === 'week') d.setDate(d.getDate() + (amount * 7));
        else if (unit === 'month') d.setMonth(d.getMonth() + amount);
        else if (unit === 'year') d.setFullYear(d.getFullYear() + amount);
        
        return d;
      }
      
      let agoMatch = lower.match(/(\\d+)\\s+(day|week|month|year)s?\\s+ago/);
      if (agoMatch) {
        let amount = parseInt(agoMatch[1]);
        let unit = agoMatch[2];
        let d = new Date(now);
        
        if (unit === 'day') d.setDate(d.getDate() - amount);
        else if (unit === 'week') d.setDate(d.getDate() - (amount * 7));
        else if (unit === 'month') d.setMonth(d.getMonth() - amount);
        else if (unit === 'year') d.setFullYear(d.getFullYear() - amount);
        
        return d;
      }
      
      let periodMatch = lower.match(/(next|last)\\s+(week|month|year)/);
      if (periodMatch) {
        let d = new Date(now);
        let amount = periodMatch[1] === 'next' ? 1 : -1;
        
        if (periodMatch[2] === 'week') d.setDate(d.getDate() + (amount * 7));
        else if (periodMatch[2] === 'month') d.setMonth(d.getMonth() + amount);
        else if (periodMatch[2] === 'year') d.setFullYear(d.getFullYear() + amount);
        
        return d;
      }
      
      let endMatch = lower.match(/end\\s+of\\s+(week|month|year)/);
      if (endMatch) {
        let d = new Date(now);
        
        if (endMatch[1] === 'week') {
          let daysUntilSunday = (7 - d.getDay()) % 7;
          d.setDate(d.getDate() + daysUntilSunday);
        } else if (endMatch[1] === 'month') {
          d.setMonth(d.getMonth() + 1, 0);
        } else if (endMatch[1] === 'year') {
          d.setMonth(11, 31);
        }
        
        return d;
      }
      
      let startMatch = lower.match(/start\\s+of\\s+(week|month|year)/);
      if (startMatch) {
        let d = new Date(now);
        
        if (startMatch[1] === 'week') {
          d.setDate(d.getDate() - d.getDay());
        } else if (startMatch[1] === 'month') {
          d.setDate(1);
        } else if (startMatch[1] === 'year') {
          d.setMonth(0, 1);
        }
        
        return d;
      }
      
      return null;
    }
    
    function formatISO(date) {
      let year = date.getFullYear();
      let month = String(date.getMonth() + 1).padStart(2, '0');
      let day = String(date.getDate()).padStart(2, '0');
      return year + '-' + month + '-' + day;
    }
  }`
});

Fuzzy Date Converter for TaskPaper

Converts natural language date tags to ISO 8601 format in TaskPaper 3.9.4.

Supported Patterns

• Relative: @due(today), @due(tomorrow), @due(yesterday)
• Weekdays: @due(next Tuesday), @due(this Friday), @due(last Monday)
• Intervals: @due(in 3 days), @due(in 2 weeks), @due(5 days ago)
• Periods: @due(next week), @due(last month), @due(next year)
• Boundaries: @due(end of week), @due(start of month)

Usage

All dates are converted to YYYY-MM-DD format. Works with any tag name (@due, @start, @deadline, etc.).

Run this script in TaskPaper to instantly convert all fuzzy dates in your document.

Compatibility

Tested with TaskPaper 3.9.4