a few comments

package.json

@@ -22,19 +22,18 @@
   },
   "dependencies": {
     "argparse": "^2.0.1",
-    "columnify": "^1.6.0",
     "csv-stringify": "^6.5.1",
     "js-yaml": "^4.1.0",
     "matcher": "^5.0.0",
     "mdast-util-from-markdown": "^2.0.1",
     "mdast-util-frontmatter": "^2.0.1",
     "mdast-util-gfm": "^3.0.0",
     "micromark-extension-frontmatter": "^2.0.0",
-    "micromark-extension-gfm": "^3.0.0"
+    "micromark-extension-gfm": "^3.0.0",
+    "simple-wcswidth": "^1.0.1"
   },
   "devDependencies": {
     "@types/argparse": "^2.0.16",
-    "@types/columnify": "^1.5.4",
     "@types/js-yaml": "^4.0.9",
     "@types/node": "^22.7.6",
     "typescript": "^5.6.3"

src/bin.ts

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env node
 
-import type { Item } from './types.js';
+import type { Item, RenderOpts } from './types.js';
 
 import { cwd } from 'node:process';
 import { resolve } from 'node:path';
@@ -49,6 +49,10 @@ arg_parser.add_argument('-o', '--out', {
   choices: ['tabular', 'csv', 'json'],
   help: 'set output format'
 });
+arg_parser.add_argument('-C', '--column-width', {
+  required: false,
+  help: 'set wrapping or truncation for tag: foo(25t)'
+});
 arg_parser.add_argument('path', {
   default: cwd(),
   help: 'working directory',
@@ -67,6 +71,10 @@ const show_tags = cli_args.tags
     ? ['text', 'hours', 'file', 'date'] 
     : ['text', 'done', 'file', 'date'];
 
+const render_opts: RenderOpts = { 
+
+};
+
 const renderItems = (items: Set<Item>) => {
   let as_arr = Array.from(items);
   if (filter) {
@@ -77,14 +85,14 @@ const renderItems = (items: Set<Item>) => {
   }
   switch (cli_args.out) {
     case 'json':
-      console.log(renderJSON(as_arr, show_tags));
+      console.log(renderJSON(as_arr, show_tags, render_opts));
       break;
     case 'csv':
-      console.log(renderCSV(as_arr, show_tags));
+      console.log(renderCSV(as_arr, show_tags, render_opts));
       break;
     case 'tabular':
     default:
-      console.log(renderTabular(as_arr, show_tags));
+      console.log(renderTabular(as_arr, show_tags, render_opts));
   }
 };
 

src/parse.ts

@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ const parseTextNode = (node: Text, ctx: ParseFileContext, curr_task: Task | null
     let match;
     if (!('text' in curr_wlog.internal_tags) && (match = node.value.match(WL_REGEXP))) {
       const [full, hours] = match;
-      const text = node.value.slice(full.length);
+      const text = node.value.slice(full.length).trim();
       curr_wlog.internal_tags.hours = hours;
       curr_wlog.internal_tags.text = text;
       extractTagsFromText(text, curr_wlog.tags);
@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ const parseTextNode = (node: Text, ctx: ParseFileContext, curr_task: Task | null
   }
   if (curr_task) {
     if (!('text' in curr_task.internal_tags)) {
-      curr_task.internal_tags.text = node.value;
+      curr_task.internal_tags.text = node.value.trim();
     }
     extractTagsFromText(node.value, curr_task.tags);
   }

src/render.ts

@@ -1,8 +1,11 @@
 
 import type { Item, RenderItemsFn } from './types.js';
 
+import { EOL } from 'node:os';
+import { wcswidth } from 'simple-wcswidth';
 import { stringify } from 'csv-stringify/sync';
-import columnify from 'columnify';
+
+import { wcslice } from './wcslice.js';
 
 type Row = Record<string, string>;
 
@@ -17,17 +20,69 @@ const toRows = (items: Item[], show_tags: string[]): Row[] => {
   return items.map(item => toRow(item, show_tags));
 };
 
-export const renderTabular: RenderItemsFn = (items, show_tags) => {
-  const rows = toRows(items, show_tags);
-  rows.unshift(show_tags.reduce((acc, col) => { 
-    acc[col] = ''.padStart(col.length, '-');
-    return acc;
-  }, {} as any));
-  return columnify(rows, { 
-    columns: show_tags, 
-    columnSplitter: ' | ',
-    headingTransform: heading => heading,
+const row_delimiter = '-';
+const column_delimiter = ' | ';
+
+/**
+ * This rendering function renders items in tabular / columnar form.
+ * If the "text" tag is selected for display, longer values are truncated and
+ * ellipsed in a best-effort to fit each line within the width of the terminal.
+ */
+export const renderTabular: RenderItemsFn = (items, show_tags, opts) => {
+
+  // Total number of items to go through
+  let items_qty = items.length;
+
+  // Maximum value lengths per tag to be displayed
+  const lengths: number[] = show_tags.map(() => 0);
+
+  // Array of values per tag to be displayed
+  const values: string[][] = show_tags.map(() => new Array(items_qty));
+
+  // Populate lengths and values
+  items.forEach((item, i) => {
+    show_tags.forEach((tag, t) => {
+      const value = item.tags[tag]?.replaceAll(/\r?\n/g, '') ?? '';
+      lengths[t] = Math.max(wcswidth(value), lengths[t]);
+      values[t][i] = value;
+    });
   });
+
+  // Additional rows for headers and header delimiter
+  show_tags.forEach((tag, t) => {
+    const tag_width = wcswidth(tag);
+    lengths[t] = Math.max(tag_width, lengths[t]);
+    values[t].unshift(''.padStart(tag_width, row_delimiter));
+    values[t].unshift(tag);
+  });
+  items_qty += 2;
+
+  // Special processing for values of the "text" tag
+  const text_tag_i = show_tags.findIndex(t => t === 'text');
+  if (text_tag_i > -1) {
+    const line_length = lengths.reduce((acc, l) => acc + l, 0) 
+      + (column_delimiter.length * (lengths.length - 1));
+    if (line_length >= process.stdout.columns) {
+      const text_length = Math.max('text'.length, lengths[text_tag_i]
+        - (line_length - process.stdout.columns));
+      values[text_tag_i] = values[text_tag_i]
+        .map(v => wcswidth(v) > text_length ? wcslice(v, 0, text_length - 1) + '…' : v);
+      lengths[text_tag_i] = text_length;
+    }
+  }
+
+  const lines = new Array(items_qty);
+
+  for (let i = 0; i < items_qty; i += 1) {
+    lines[i] = wcslice(
+      show_tags.map((tag, t) => values[t][i].padEnd(lengths[t], ' '))
+        .join(column_delimiter), 
+      0, 
+      process.stdout.columns,
+    );
+  }
+
+  return lines.join(EOL);
 };
 
 export const renderCSV: RenderItemsFn = (items, show_tags) => {

src/types.ts

@@ -37,6 +37,8 @@ export interface TagSortExpression extends BaseTagExpression {
   order: 'asc' | 'desc';
 }
 
+export interface RenderOpts {}
+
 export interface RenderItemsFn {
-  (items: Item[], show_tags: string[]): string;
-}
+  (items: Item[], show_tags: string[], opts: RenderOpts): string;
+}

src/wcslice.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,49 @@
+
+// Initially vendored from https://github.com/frouriojs/wcslice (MIT)
+// at commit f2d133593b1df46aedbcd92ac9af37886a48c90e
+// https://github.com/frouriojs/wcslice/blob/f2d133593b1df46aedbcd92ac9af37886a48c90e/src/index.ts
+
+import { wcswidth } from 'simple-wcswidth';
+
+/**
+ * This treats last zero-length chars as infinitesimal length.
+ */
+export const wcslice = (str: string, start?: number | undefined, end?: number | undefined) => {
+  const wclens = str.split('').reduce(
+    (c, e) => {
+      c.push(c[c.length - 1] + wcswidth(e));
+      return c;
+    },
+    [0],
+  );
+  const wclen = wclens[wclens.length - 1];
+  if (start === undefined) {
+    start = 0;
+  }
+  if (end === undefined) {
+    end = wclen + 1;
+  }
+  if (end < 0) end = 0;
+  const strStart = (() => {
+    let lo = -1;
+    let hi = str.length;
+    while (lo + 1 < hi) {
+      const mi = (lo + hi + 1) >> 1;
+      if (wclens[mi] >= start) hi = mi;
+      else lo = mi;
+    }
+    return hi;
+  })();
+  const strEnd = (() => {
+    let lo = -1;
+    let hi = str.length;
+    while (lo + 1 < hi) {
+      const mi = (lo + hi + 1) >> 1;
+      if (wclens[mi] >= end) hi = mi;
+      else lo = mi;
+    }
+    if (wcswidth(str.slice(0, hi)) > end) return hi - 1;
+    return hi;
+  })();
+  return str.slice(strStart, strEnd);
+};

tsconfig.json

@@ -45,12 +45,12 @@
     // "noResolve": true,                                /* Disallow 'import's, 'require's or '<reference>'s from expanding the number of files TypeScript should add to a project. */
 
     /* JavaScript Support */
-    // "allowJs": true,                                  /* Allow JavaScript files to be a part of your program. Use the 'checkJS' option to get errors from these files. */
-    // "checkJs": true,                                  /* Enable error reporting in type-checked JavaScript files. */
+    "allowJs": false,                                     /* Allow JavaScript files to be a part of your program. Use the 'checkJS' option to get errors from these files. */
+    "checkJs": false,                                    /* Enable error reporting in type-checked JavaScript files. */
     // "maxNodeModuleJsDepth": 1,                        /* Specify the maximum folder depth used for checking JavaScript files from 'node_modules'. Only applicable with 'allowJs'. */
 
     /* Emit */
-    // "declaration": true,                              /* Generate .d.ts files from TypeScript and JavaScript files in your project. */
+    "declaration": true,                                 /* Generate .d.ts files from TypeScript and JavaScript files in your project. */
     // "declarationMap": true,                           /* Create sourcemaps for d.ts files. */
     // "emitDeclarationOnly": true,                      /* Only output d.ts files and not JavaScript files. */
     // "sourceMap": true,                                /* Create source map files for emitted JavaScript files. */