This is a small but useful contact manager.
I've created a setup.py file that allows for it to be installed using pip.
It requires Python 3.8 or later.
To install:
$ pip install -e .
Obtaining file:///Users/andrew/Developer/contacts
Installing collected packages: contacts
Found existing installation: contacts 0.1
Uninstalling contacts-0.1:
Successfully uninstalled contacts-0.1
Running setup.py develop for contacts
Successfully installed contacts
$
From that point on, you can invoke it with just contacts as a command line.
The contact file is currently assumed to be named contacts.txt and is located in the running user's home directory (i.e., it's ~/contacts.txt).
The format of the contact file is simple.
name
keyword: value
keyword: value
...
- note
- note
- ...
Here's an example:
Roy
Phone: 0118 999 881 99 9119 7253
Email: roy@renham-industries.co.uk
Org: Renham Industries
Role: IT Support
- Best friend is Moss
To run the contact manager, simply invoke the Python script with one or more patterns. All contacts that match all provided patterns will be listed.
A contact is considered to match a pattern if every provided pattern can be found in either the name, a value, or a note.
When one or more contacts are found, the script will list how many contacts were found and will list each contact.
For example:
$ contacts roy it support
Found 1 contact:
Roy (IT Support at Renham Industries)
Email ... roy@renham-industries.co.uk
Phone ... 0118 999 881 99 9119 7253
- Best friend is Moss
Note that the list of keyword/value pairs is sorted in alphabetical order, as is the list of contacts that were found. The notes are printed in the order they were found in the input file (there may be a note that spans multiple lines, so sorting those lines would be weird).
There are no command line switches of consequence. The switches --version and --help are supported, but they only do what you'd expect.
$ contacts --help
Usage: contacts [OPTIONS] PATTERN...
The main application.
Args: pattern: The pattern to search for.
Options:
--version Show the version and exit.
--help Show this message and exit.
$
There is no specific rule describing which keywords are allowed. There are a few that are particularly looked for and treated differently, however.
If the Nickname keyword is found, it will be searched, but it will not be printed.
For example, consider the following contact:
Dr Spock
Nickname: Doctor
Email: spock@enterprise.com
This contact will match a search for doctor spock, but when it's printed, the result will be:
$ contacts doctor spock
Found 1 contact:
Dr Spock
Email ... spock@enterprise.com
The Doctor nickname is suppressed from the printed output.
If the DOB keyword is found, it is assumed to represent a date of birth in the form yyyy-mm-dd.
For example, consider the following contact:
Harry Potter
Email: harry@hogwarts.co.uk
DOB: 1980-07-31
This indicates that Harry Potter was born on 31st July, 1980.
When the resulting contact is printed, a calculation is done to determine how old someone is based on the current date and their date-of-birth, and this is printed along with the contact.
For example, when run on 26th November 2019:
$ contacts hogwarts
Found 1 contact:
Harry Potter
Email ... harry@hogwarts.co.uk
DOB ..... 1980-07-31 (aged 39)
If a contact has either a Role or an Org keyword, these details are printed along with their name.
Looking at our earlier example:
Roy
Phone: 0118 999 881 99 9119 7253
Email: roy@renham-industries.co.uk
Org: Renham Industries
Role: IT Support
- Best friend is Moss
When this is printed, the role (IT Support) and the org (Renham Industries) are not printed as separate keywords, but they're included in the name. The role is printed first, then the organisation.
For example:
$ contacts roy it support
Found 1 contact:
Roy (IT Support at Renham Industries)
Email ... roy@renham-industries.co.uk
Phone ... 0118 999 881 99 9119 7253
- Best friend is Moss
If a contact has multiple roles or multiple organisations, they are all listed. For example:
Roy
Phone: 0118 999 881 99 9119 7253
Email: roy@renham-industries.co.uk
Org: Renham Industries
Org: Arsenal
Role: IT Support
- Best friend is Moss
would result in:
$ contacts roy it support
Found 1 contact:
Roy (IT Support at Arsenal and Renham Industries)
Email ... roy@renham-industries.co.uk
Phone ... 0118 999 881 99 9119 7253
- Best friend is Moss