Strange behavior for the "-on" flag

[aisneto]

Diagnostic output

jrnl: v4.1
Python: 3.11.2 (main, Mar 13 2023, 12:18:29) [GCC 12.2.0]
OS: Linux 6.1.0-17-amd64

Current Behavior

I'm attempting to retrieve all entries from a randomly chosen day using a combination of commands. This should be easily achieved with the command: jrnl -on "$(jrnl --short | shuf -n 1 | cut -d' ' -f1)". However, my journal indicates that no entries were found. Interestingly, when I use echo "$(jrnl --short | shuf -n 1 | cut -d' ' -f1)", I receive the expected result for a day where there were indeed entries in my journal (e.g., 2023-11-24).

Here's where it gets perplexing. If I manually use the result prompted by that echo as an argument for the -on flag (e.g., jrnl -on 2023-11-24), I successfully retrieve entries. Additionally, if I use another flag, such as jrnl -from "$(jrnl --short | shuf -n 1 | cut -d' ' -f1)", I also retrieve entries correctly. It appears that the -on flag is encountering difficulties when directly reading the output."

Even more perplexing is that the command sometimes works, promptly retrieving all entries on a random day. I do not have a clue what is happening.

Expected Behavior

The retrieval of all entries on a random day

Repro Steps

Simply try to use the output from other bash code with the -on flag.

Debug output

 jrnl --debug -on "$(jrnl --short | shuf -n 1 | cut -d'-' -f1,2,3)"
┏━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━┓
┃  547 entries found                ┃
┗━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━┛
[14:26:18] DEBUG    Logging start                                     main.py:32
           DEBUG    Parsed args:                                      main.py:42
                    Namespace(debug=True, preconfig_cmd=None,                   
                    postconfig_cmd=None, filename=None,                         
                    template=None, on_date='\x1b[1m\x1b[30m2022-11-16           
                    09:45:00 AM\x1b[0m \x1b[1m\x1b[33m@phil\x1b[0m',            
                    today_in_history=False, month=None, day=None,               
                    year=None, start_date=None, end_date=None,                  
                    contains=None, strict=False, starred=False,                 
                    tagged=False, limit=None, excluded=[],                      
                    edit=False, delete=False, change_time=None,                 
                    export=False, tags=False, short=False,                      
                    config_override=[], config_file_path='', text=[],           
                    exclude_starred=False, exclude_tagged=False)                
           DEBUG    Reading configuration from file                install.py:91
                    /home/aisneto/.config/jrnl/jrnl.yaml                        
           DEBUG    Using configuration:                          install.py:117
                    "{                                                          
                        'colors': {                                             
                            'body': 'none',                                     
                            'date': 'black',                                    
                            'tags': 'yellow',                                   
                            'title': 'cyan'                                     
                        },                                                      
                        'default_hour': 9,                                      
                        'default_minute': 0,                                    
                        'editor': 'nvim',                                       
                        'encrypt': False,                                       
                        'highlight': True,                                      
                        'indent_character': '|',                                
                        'journals': {                                           
                            'default': {                                        
                                'encrypt': True,                                
                                'journal':                                      
                    '/home/aisneto/Documentos/Registros/Journal/j               
                    ournal.txt'                                                 
                            }                                                   
                        },                                                      
                        'linewrap': 79,                                         
                        'tagsymbols': '#@',                                     
                        'template': False,                                      
                        'timeformat': '%F %r',                                  
                        'version': 'v4.1'                                       
                    }"                                                          
           DEBUG    Using journal name: default                    config.py:206
           DEBUG    Updating configuration with specific journal   config.py:111
                    overrides:                                                  
                    {                                                           
                        'encrypt': True,                                        
                        'journal':                                              
                    '/home/aisneto/Documentos/Registros/Journal/jo              
                    urnal.txt'                                                  
                    }                                                           
           DEBUG    Scoped config:                                 config.py:120
                    {                                                           
                        'colors': {                                             
                            'body': 'none',                                     
                            'date': 'black',                                    
                            'tags': 'yellow',                                   
                            'title': 'cyan'                                     
                        },                                                      
                        'default_hour': 9,                                      
                        'default_minute': 0,                                    
                        'editor': 'nvim',                                       
                        'encrypt': True,                                        
                        'highlight': True,                                      
                        'indent_character': '|',                                
                        'journals': {                                           
                            'default': {                                        
                                'encrypt': True,                                
                                'journal':                                      
                    '/home/aisneto/Documentos/Registros/Journal/jo              
                    urnal.txt'                                                  
                            }                                                   
                        },                                                      
                        'linewrap': 79,                                         
                        'tagsymbols': '#@',                                     
                        'template': False,                                      
                        'timeformat': '%F %r',                                  
                        'version': 'v4.1',                                      
                        'journal':                                              
                    '/home/aisneto/Documentos/Registros/Journal/jo              
                    urnal.txt'                                                  
                    }                                                           
           DEBUG    open_journal 'default'                        Journal.py:473
[14:26:19] DEBUG    start                                   BaseEncryption.py:16
           DEBUG    start                           BasePasswordEncryption.py:19
           DEBUG    start                                 Jrnlv2Encryption.py:23
           DEBUG    decrypting                      BasePasswordEncryption.py:59
           DEBUG    decrypting                            Jrnlv2Encryption.py:55
           DEBUG    opened Journal with 547 entries               Journal.py:136
           DEBUG    Search mode: starting                      controller.py:203
           DEBUG    Search mode: has search args               controller.py:210
           DEBUG    count: 0                                   controller.py:253
┏━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━┓
┃  no entries found               ┃

Other Information

No response

[micahellison]

Hi @aisneto, based on that log, it looks like the color codes in the output from jrnl --short might be messing with your next call to jrnl, or the other commands in your piped chain. It's sending a bunch of color codes and a tag to your final jrnl -on call:

on_date='\x1b[1m\x1b[30m2022-11-16 09:45:00 AM\x1b[0m \x1b[1m\x1b[33m@phil\x1b[0m'

If you first pipe its output to a color remover like ansi2txt before processing the output, does that help? You'll need to strip out that tag (@phil) also.

[aisneto]

I've tried your recommendation using "aha", like this: jrnl -on "$(jrnl --short | shuf -n 1 | cut -d' ' -f1 | aha --black)"

Now I got it working. However, strangely enough, some tries did return "no entries". Still, I would say that the command this way works 9 of 10 times.

[micahellison]

Hi @aisneto, I think the issue that your script is clearing the formatting with aha at the end when instead it'd be better off clearing the formatting at the beginning, before shuf and cut work on it, like so:

jrnl -on "$(jrnl --short | aha --black | shuf -n 1 | cut -d' ' -f1)"

[micahellison]

I'm closing this to clear off my list, though feel free to tag me with a comment back here if you need any more help.