Semantics File Names for Document Management
Pile provides a set of tools, that allow you to work files that follow some human-readable conventions, that add semantic structure into file names. Example:
2017-04-04 #MChoic Member List 2017.xls
2017-04-04 #Finanzamt (Steuernummer . 1231012393).pdf
2017-04-05 #EXCITE Notes on Data Repositories (Author . Max Mustermann).pdf
2017-04-06 #ARAG #Invoive 14.2EUR.pdf
2017-02-24 Pictures Hochzeit Max+Maria Mustermann.tar.gz
The following elements are recognized by pile semantic filenames:
- date. ISO date strings at the beginning of the file-name are recognized as dates (
^\d\d\d\d-\d\d-\d\d
) - extension. Extensions like
.pdf
or.tar.gz
are recognized at the end of the filename (([.][a-z]{1-4})*$
) - tags. The syntax
#<tagname>
to categorize documents with tags. - attributes. The syntax
(<key> . <value>)
let's us attach attributes as key-value pairs.
The pile cli pile
provides the following features to manage documents from the command line
- Validate existing filenames
pile
- List documents with parsed semantic fields.
pile ls
- Query the document pile for tags, key-value pairs or names using SQL type queries.
pile select ...
- Parse and export document metadata from filenames as CSV, JSON, sqlitedb
pile export ...
-
Import view, that helps with annotating new documents
-
List view with instant-filter and preview
-
Seamless integration with existing tooling. Keep using finder, dropbox, git, etc. to manage your documents.
-
Don't duplicate functionality that is covered by established tools. I.e. don't do backups or version control. We create and manage semantic file names.
-
Support File Systems provided by Linux, OSX and Windows. (No use of
\/:
) -
No use of characters that can interfere with command line usage (
&|
). We do allow space characters.