documentation: new notes

README.md

@@ -63,6 +63,9 @@ search for patterns within your notes.
 With this, you may populate the location list with all links to the currently
 opened note.
 
+- `:DenoteNew {title}`:
+With this, a new note entry is generated with the supplied title.
+
 #### Key mappings
 This package also defines the following interface for key mappings, which
 automatically open the location window:
@@ -83,16 +86,13 @@ nnoremap [l :lprevious<CR>
 ```
 
 ### Customization
-You can customize the behavior of this package using the following two global
-variables. The variable `g:denote_note_file_extensions` defaults to `['md',
-'org', 'txt']` and lists the file extensions in which `:DenoteGrep` will look
-for the given pattern. The other variable `g:denote_loc_title_columns` defaults
-to `40` and specifies the number of columns used to display the titles of your
-notes.
+You can customize the behavior of this package using several global variables.
+Customization is explained in the [help file](doc/denote.txt), also accessible
+through `:help denote-settings`.
 
 ### Future features
 These features are planned:
-- Note creation (and deletion?)
 - Tag manipulation
 - Title manipulation
 - Signature handling?
+- Note deletion?

autoload/denote/frontmatter.vim

@@ -0,0 +1,59 @@
+" Functions to create the front matter {{{1
+" Helper function to put string in double quotes, and remove inside double
+" quotes.
+function s:escapeDQ(s)
+	return '"' .. substitute(a:s, '"', '', 'g') .. '"'
+endfunction
+
+" Create front matter (yaml)
+function s:md_new_yaml(id, title, tags)
+	return [
+				\ '---',
+				\ 'title:      '  .. s:escapeDQ(a:title),
+				\ 'date:       '  .. strftime("%FT%T%z"),
+				\ 'tags:       [' .. map(copy(a:tags), {_, t -> s:escapeDQ(t) })->join(', ') .. ']',
+				\ 'identifier: '  .. s:escapeDQ(a:id),
+				\ '---'
+				\ ]
+endfunction
+	
+" Create front matter (toml)
+function s:md_new_toml(id, title, tags)
+	return [
+				\ '+++',
+				\ 'title      '  .. s:escapeDQ(a:title),
+				\ 'date       '  .. strftime("%FT%T%z"),
+				\ 'tags       [' .. map(copy(a:tags), {_, t -> s:escapeDQ(t) })->join(', ') .. ']',
+				\ 'identifier '  .. s:escapeDQ(a:id),
+				\ '+++'
+				\ ]
+endfunction
+
+" Create front matter (plain)
+function s:plain_new(id, title, tags)
+	return [
+				\ 'title:      ' .. a:title,
+				\ 'date:       ' .. strftime("%F"),
+				\ 'tags:       ' .. a:tags->join(' '),
+				\ 'identifier: ' .. a:id,
+				\ '---------------------------',
+				\ ]
+endfunction
+
+" Create front matter (org)
+function s:org_new(id, title, tags)
+	return [
+				\ '#+title:      ' .. a:title,
+				\ '#+date:       [' .. strftime("%F %a %R") .. ']',
+				\ '#+filetags:   :' .. map(copy(a:tags), {_, t -> substitute(t, ':', '', 'g') })->join(':') .. ':',
+				\ '#+identifier: ' .. a:id,
+				\ ]
+endfunction
+
+" Create front matter
+function denote#frontmatter#new(ft, id, title, tags=[])
+	return a:ft == 'org' ? s:org_new(a:id, a:title, a:tags)
+				\ : a:ft == 'plain' ? s:plain_new(a:id, a:title, a:tags)
+				\ : g:denote_fm_md_type == 'toml' ? s:md_new_toml(a:id, a:title, a:tags)
+				\ : s:md_new_yaml(a:id, a:title, a:tags)
+endfunction

autoload/denote/meta.vim

@@ -32,5 +32,14 @@ endfunction
 " Return the note tags from the filename as a list.
 function denote#meta#noteTagsFromFile(filename)
 	return a:filename->matchstr("__\\zs.\\{-\\}\\ze\\(==\\|@@\\|--\\|\\..\\)")->split("_")
-				\ ?? []
+endfunction
+
+" Identifier creation
+function denote#meta#identifier_generate()
+	if g:denote_identifier_fun
+				return execute "call " .. g:denote_identifier_fun .. "()"
+	endif
+	return exists("*strftime")
+				\ ? strftime("%Y%m%dT%H%M%S")
+				\ : rand()
 endfunction

doc/denote.txt

@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-*denote.txt*	For Vim version 9.0.  Last change: 2026 Feb 17
+*denote.txt*	For Vim version 9.0.  Last change: 2026 Feb 18
 
 This is the documentation for the denote plugin.
 
@@ -51,25 +51,47 @@ This command is a wrapper around |:lvimgrep| to search for a pattern in the
 denote entries. The required argument is a pattern as required by |:vimgrep|,
 i.e., /{pattern}/[g][j][f].
 
+					*:DenoteNew*
+This command takes as argument a note title, and generates a new denote entry
+with the specified title. The entry file type is controlled by the setting
+|g:denote_new_ft|.
+
 					*:DenoteBackReferences*
 When called from an opened denote entry, this command populates the location
 list with all references to the current note.
 
 							*denote-settings*
 Settings ~
-					*'g:denote_note_file_extension'*
+					*g:denote_note_file_extension*
 With this setting you may specify the file extensions of all denote entries
 within which |:DenoteGrep| will search for the provided pattern. If left
 unspecified, it is set to the following default value:
 >
 	g:denote_note_file_extension = ['md', 'org', 'txt']
 <
-					*'g:denote_loc_title_columns'*
+					*g:denote_loc_title_columns*
 This integer specifies the number of columns used to display the titles of
 denote entries. Per default, it is set to:
 >
 	g:denote_loc_title_columns = 60
 <
+					*g:denote_new_ft*
+Newly created notes are of this file type. Possible values are 'md', 'org', or
+'txt', with the following default:
+>
+	g:denote_new_ft = 'md'
+<
+					*g:denote_fm_md_type*
+The front matter of 'md' notes is given as 'yaml' or as 'toml'. By default,
+this package uses 'yaml':
+>
+	g:denote_fm_md_type = 'yaml'
+<
+					*g:denote_identifier_fun*
+Denote allows the use of custom identifiers. This variable, if set, points to
+a function that generates identifiers for newly created notes. The function is
+supposed to return a unique string.
+
 							*denote-mappings*
 Mappings ~
 

plugin/denote.vim

@@ -10,6 +10,22 @@ if !exists('g:denote_loc_title_columns')
 	let g:denote_loc_title_columns=40
 endif
 
+" Default filetype for newly created denote entries
+if !exists('g:denote_new_ft')
+	let g:denote_new_ft='md'
+endif
+
+" Default front-matter type for markdown notes, may be one of 'yaml' or 'toml'
+if !exists('g:denote_fm_md_type')
+	let g:denote_fm_md_type='yaml'
+endif
+
+" By using the following global variable, the user may specify a custom
+" function for creating identifiers.
+if !exists('g:denote_identifier_fun')
+	let g:denote_identifier_fun=''
+endif
+
 " Local functions {{{1
 " Put all notes of the given tag to the location list. The tag argument is
 " mandatory.
@@ -82,10 +98,24 @@ function s:tagList(ArgLead, cmdLine, CursorPos)
 	return uniq(sort(tags))->join("\n")
 endfunction
 
+" This creates a new denote entry with the given title and of the given
+" filetype. The title may be empty.
+function s:DenoteNew(title, ft=g:denote_new_ft)
+	let identifier=denote#meta#identifier_generate()
+	let fn=identifier .. '--' .. a:title
+				\ ->tolower()
+				\ ->substitute('[^[:fname:]]\|/', '-', 'g')
+				\ ->substitute('-\+', '-', 'g')
+				\ ->trim('-') .. '.' .. a:ft
+	execute "edit " .. fn
+	call setline(1, denote#frontmatter#new(a:ft, identifier, a:title))
+endfunction
+
 " Public commands and key mappings {{{1
 command -nargs=* Denote :call <SID>DenoteNotes(<q-args>)
 command -nargs=1 -complete=custom,<SID>tagList DenoteTag :call <SID>DenoteNotesByTag(<q-args>)
 command -nargs=+ DenoteGrep :call <SID>DenoteGrep(<q-args>)
+command -nargs=1 DenoteNew :call <SID>DenoteNew(<q-args>)
 
 " Useful key mappings
 nnoremap <silent> <Plug>DenoteList :Denote<CR>:lclose<CR>:lopen<CR>:resize 20<CR>