*denote.txt*	For Vim version 9.0.  Last change: 2026 Feb 26

This is the documentation for the denote plugin.

==============================================================================
CONTENTS						*vim-denote* *denote*

1. Introduction		|denote-intro|
2. Commands		|denote-commands|
3. Settings		|denote-settings|
4. Keys			|denote-keys|

==============================================================================
								*denote-intro*
Introduction ~

Denote is a file-naming scheme developed by Protesilaos Stavrou and an Emacs
tool for handling such files. Notes and other files that follow this scheme
can be linked, and the links are preserved even when the files are renamed due
do adjusting the tags or changing the title of a note. The official manual is
available online:
	https://protesilaos.com/emacs/denote

The denote plugin adds denote functionality to vim --- the vim way. We are
aware of two other plugins, but we fear that these plugins are not flexible
enough, and more importantly, do not follow the vim philosophy for handling
denote notes. These mentioned plugins are available here:
	https://github.com/shuckster/denote-md
	https://git.sr.ht/~ashton314/vim-denote

In contrast to these plugins, the present package relies on the
|location-list| features for displaying denote entries, and on the options
|'quickfixtextfunc'|, |'includeexpr'|, and |'omnifunc'|. With these, denote
links can be followed using |gf|, and completed using omni comletion (see,
|compl-omni|). For link completion, press |i_CTRL-X_CTRL-O| after typing any
prefix of a denote link. This completion also works with titles: by invoking
omni completion after typing "denote:foo", denote links are completed for
entries containing "foo" in the title.

							    *denote-commands*
Commands ~
						*:DenoteDirectory*
						*:DenoteDirectory!*
:DenoteDirectory[!] {path}
	Set the provided {path} as the denote directory that will be used by
	all following commands. The {path} argument is autocompleted. With the
	bang, the autocompletion works for all directories available on your
	system. Without the bang, only directories listed in the
	|g:denote_directories| variable are autocompleted.

						*:Denote*
:Denote [{keyword ..}]
	Populate the location list of the current window with the denote
	entries present in the current directory. This command may be
	supplemented with any number of arguments that filter the entries
	according to the appearance of the keywords in the file name.

						*:DenoteTag*
:DenoteTag {tag}
	This command takes as argument a tag, and populates the location list
	with all denote entries of that are tagged accordingly. The tags are
	autocompleted (see, |c_<Tab>|). Also fuzzy matching is possible when
	"fuzzy" is contained in |'wildoptions'|.

						*:DenoteGrep*
:DenoteGrep /{pattern}/[g][j][f]
	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*
:DenoteNew {title}
	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*
:DenoteBackReferences
	This command populates the location list with all references to the
	current note. This command can only be called from an opened denote
	note. 

							    *denote-settings*
Settings ~
						*g:denote_directories*
g:denote_directories		list
	With this option, may may specify a list of your denote directories.
	This list is used for the autocompletion of the |:DenoteDirectory|
	command. The default value is
>
	let g:denote_directories = []
<

						*g:denote_note_file_extension*
g:denote_note_file_extension	list
	With this setting, you may specify the file extensions of all denote
	entries within which |:DenoteGrep| will search, and for which files
	denote link completion and the |:DenoteBackReferences| command will be
	available. If left unspecified, it is set to the following default
	value:
>
	let g:denote_note_file_extension = ['md', 'org', 'txt']
<

						*g:denote_loc_title_columns*
g:denote_loc_title_columns	number
	This integer specifies the number of columns used to display the
	titles of denote entries. Per default, it is set to:
>
	let g:denote_loc_title_columns = 60
<

						*g:denote_new_ft*
g:denote_new_ft			string
	Newly created notes are of this file type. Possible values are 'md',
	'org', or 'txt', with the following default:
>
	let g:denote_new_ft = 'md'
<

						*g:denote_fm_md_type*
g:denote_fm_md_type		string
	The front matter of 'md' notes is given as 'yaml' or as 'toml'. By
	default, this package uses 'yaml':
>
	let g:denote_fm_md_type = 'yaml'
<

						*g:Denote_identifier_fun*
g:Denote_identifier_fun		Funcref
	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. By default,
	the variable set as
>
	let g:Denote_identifier_fun = function('denote#meta#identifier_generate')
<
which calls |strftime('%Y%m%dT%H%M%S')| if |strftime()| is available, and
|rand()| otherwise. Another reasonable setting would be to use some uuid
generator and to specify, e.g.,
>
	let g:Denote_identifier_fun = { -> system('uuidgen')
				\ ->substitute('[^[:xdigit:]]', '', 'g') }
<


								*denote-keys*
Keys ~

The location windows generated by the present package, e.g., through the
command |:DenoteGrep| or |:DenoteByTag|,  has the following key key-bindings.

						*denote-r*
r	Reload the location list.

						*denote-q*
q	Close the location list.

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