Stopwatch

Run stopwatch, timer, and lap tracking with precision in terminal. Use when timing tasks, checking durations, running countdowns, analyzing splits.

Stopwatch v2.0.0 — a versatile utility toolkit for logging, tracking, and managing time-related entries from the command line. Each command logs timestamped entries to individual log files, provides history viewing, summary statistics, data export, and full-text search across all records.

Commands

Run stopwatch <command> [args] to use.

Command	Description
run <input>	Log a run entry (or view recent run entries if no input given)
check <input>	Log a check entry (or view recent check entries if no input given)
convert <input>	Log a convert entry (or view recent convert entries if no input given)
analyze <input>	Log an analyze entry (or view recent analyze entries if no input given)
generate <input>	Log a generate entry (or view recent generate entries if no input given)
preview <input>	Log a preview entry (or view recent preview entries if no input given)
batch <input>	Log a batch entry (or view recent batch entries if no input given)
compare <input>	Log a compare entry (or view recent compare entries if no input given)
export <input>	Log an export entry (or view recent export entries if no input given)
config <input>	Log a config entry (or view recent config entries if no input given)
status <input>	Log a status entry (or view recent status entries if no input given)
report <input>	Log a report entry (or view recent report entries if no input given)
stats	Show summary statistics across all log files (entry counts, data size)
export <fmt>	Export all data in json, csv, or txt format
search <term>	Full-text search across all log entries (case-insensitive)
recent	Show the 20 most recent entries from history.log
help	Show usage help
version	Show version (v2.0.0)

How It Works

Every command (run, check, convert, analyze, etc.) works the same way:

• With arguments: Saves a timestamped entry (YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM|input) to <command>.log and writes to history.log.
• Without arguments: Displays the 20 most recent entries from that command's log file.

This gives you a lightweight, file-based logging system for any kind of time-tracking workflow.

Data Storage

All data is stored locally in ~/.local/share/stopwatch/:

~/.local/share/stopwatch/
├── run.log          # Run entries (timestamp|value)
├── check.log        # Check entries
├── convert.log      # Convert entries
├── analyze.log      # Analyze entries
├── generate.log     # Generate entries
├── preview.log      # Preview entries
├── batch.log        # Batch entries
├── compare.log      # Compare entries
├── export.log       # Export entries
├── config.log       # Config entries
├── status.log       # Status entries
├── report.log       # Report entries
├── history.log      # Master activity log
└── export.<fmt>     # Exported data files

Override the data directory by setting STOPWATCH_DIR (if supported) or editing the DATA_DIR variable in the script.

Requirements

• Bash (4.0+)
• Standard POSIX utilities: date, wc, du, tail, grep, sed, cat
• No external dependencies — works on any Linux or macOS system out of the box

When to Use

1. Tracking timed activities — Log start/stop times for tasks, pomodoro sessions, or work intervals throughout the day.
2. Comparing performance across runs — Use compare and analyze to log different attempts, then search or stats to review trends.
3. Batch processing records — Use batch to log bulk operations, then export json to feed results into other tools.
4. Quick status checks in automation — Integrate stopwatch status or stopwatch stats into cron jobs or CI pipelines for operational dashboards.
5. Generating reports from logged data — Use report to log milestones, then export csv to create spreadsheets or feed into reporting tools.

Examples

# Log a run entry
stopwatch run "Morning sprint: 25 minutes"

# Check recent activity
stopwatch recent

# View all run entries
stopwatch run

# Search for a specific term across all logs
stopwatch search "sprint"

# Get summary statistics
stopwatch stats

# Export everything to JSON
stopwatch export json

# Export to CSV for spreadsheet import
stopwatch export csv

Output

All commands output to stdout. Redirect to a file if needed:

stopwatch stats > report.txt
stopwatch export json  # writes to ~/.local/share/stopwatch/export.json

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