tag

Tag

Tag is a simple utility for tagging files using filesystem extended attributes.

Usage

tag [files...] [flags]

Flags

• -a, --add strings - add comma separated tags to files
• -d, --del strings - delete comma separated tags from files
• -s, --set strings - set files tags to comma separated tags
• -c, --clear - clear tags on the files

Examples

List tags on files:

tag file1.txt file2.txt

Add tags:

tag file.txt --add important,work

Remove tags:

tag file.txt --del old-tag

Replace all tags:

tag file.txt --set new-tag-1,new-tag-2

Clear all tags:

tag file.txt --clear

Tag Syntax

Tags can use any characters, including spaces or commas. However, they must be quoted if using spaces, commas or quotes.

Basically just treat the tag list as a CSV record.

For example:

• tag name - bad!
• "tag name" - good!
• tag-name - good!
• has-a-"-character - bad!
• 'has-a-"-character' - good!
• one,two,a b c - bad!
• one,two,"a b c" - good!

Implementation

Tagging is implemented using filesystem extended attributes. Naturally this means that this only works for files on filesystems that support extended attributes.

Specifically, it uses the attribute user.xdg.tags and stores tags within that as a comma separated list (CSV format).

Limitations

Tags must be quoted if using characters with special meanings.