Add -l tests, update editmode tape, fix service schedule pattern

5 new tests for -l: service job presence, timer job presence, pipe
alignment, and mutual exclusivity checks. Fix | service | pattern in
edit mode test to handle alignment padding. Add -l demo step to
editmode.tape before opening the editor.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>

README.md

@@ -131,6 +131,9 @@ Disable/enable work the same as for timer jobs — disable stops the service and
 ### Managing jobs
 
 ```bash
+# Print all jobs in crontab-like format to stdout (useful for scripting)
+systab -l
+
 # Edit all jobs in your $EDITOR (crontab-style)
 systab -e
 
@@ -206,6 +209,7 @@ Management (accept hex ID or name):
   -D <id|name>      Disable a job
   -E <id|name>      Enable a disabled job
   -e                Edit jobs in crontab-like format
+  -l                Print jobs in crontab-like format to stdout
   -L [id|name] [filter]  List job logs (optionally for a specific job and/or filtered)
   -S [id|name]      Show status of all managed jobs (or a specific job)
   -C                Clean up completed one-time jobs

badges/tests.json

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "schemaVersion": 1,
   "label": "tests",
-  "message": "83 passed",
+  "message": "88 passed",
   "color": "brightgreen"
 }

demo/editmode.tape

@@ -25,6 +25,18 @@ Type "systab -t daily -c '/home/user/backup.sh' -i"
 Enter
 Sleep 2s
 
+# List jobs in crontab format without opening editor
+Hide
+Type "./demo/note.sh 'Listing jobs in crontab format (-l)'"
+Enter
+Sleep 500ms
+Show
+Sleep 1s
+Type "systab -l"
+Sleep 500ms
+Enter
+Sleep 2s
+
 # Open edit mode with EDITOR=nano for visibility
 Hide
 Type "./demo/note.sh 'Opening edit mode — add notifications, create and modify jobs'"

systab

@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ opt_notify=false
 opt_email=""
 opt_edit=false
 opt_list=false
+opt_print_crontab=false
 opt_clean=false
 opt_status=false
 opt_disable=""
@@ -48,6 +49,7 @@ Management Options (accept hex ID or name):
   -D <id|name>      Disable a job
   -E <id|name>      Enable a disabled job
   -e                Edit jobs in crontab-like format
+  -l                Print jobs in crontab-like format to stdout
   -L [id|name] [filter]  List job logs (optionally for a specific job and/or filtered)
   -S [id|name]      Show status of all managed jobs (or a specific job)
   -C                Clean up completed one-time jobs
@@ -77,6 +79,9 @@ EXAMPLES:
   # Create a persistent service job
   $SCRIPT_NAME -s -n foobar -c "/usr/bin/foobar.sh"
 
+  # Print jobs in crontab-like format (useful for scripting)
+  $SCRIPT_NAME -l
+
   # Edit existing jobs (supports adding notifications via ID:flags syntax)
   $SCRIPT_NAME -e
 
@@ -609,6 +614,70 @@ createJobFromEdit() {
     echo "$_created_id"
 }
 
+# Print aligned job lines to stdout (no header/footer)
+printCrontabContent() {
+    local -a id_fields schedules commands disabled
+    local job
+
+    while IFS= read -r job; do
+        [[ -z "$job" ]] && continue
+        local timer_file="$SYSTEMD_USER_DIR/${job}.timer"
+        local service_file="$SYSTEMD_USER_DIR/${job}.service"
+        if [[ -f "$timer_file" && -f "$service_file" ]]; then
+            local id schedule command flags id_field
+            id=$(jobId "$job")
+            schedule=$(grep "^OnCalendar=" "$timer_file" | cut -d= -f2-)
+            command=$(getJobCommand "$service_file")
+            flags=$(grep "^# SYSTAB_FLAGS=" "$service_file" 2>/dev/null | sed 's/^# SYSTAB_FLAGS=//' || true)
+            [[ -n "$flags" ]] && id_field="$id:$flags" || id_field="$id"
+            id_fields+=("$id_field")
+            schedules+=("$schedule")
+            commands+=("$command")
+            if isJobEnabled "$job"; then disabled+=(false); else disabled+=(true); fi
+        fi
+    done < <(getManagedUnits timer)
+
+    while IFS= read -r job; do
+        [[ -z "$job" ]] && continue
+        local service_file="$SYSTEMD_USER_DIR/${job}.service"
+        if [[ -f "$service_file" ]]; then
+            local id command flags id_field
+            id=$(jobId "$job")
+            command=$(getJobCommand "$service_file")
+            flags=$(grep "^# SYSTAB_FLAGS=" "$service_file" 2>/dev/null | sed 's/^# SYSTAB_FLAGS=//' || true)
+            [[ -n "$flags" ]] && id_field="$id:$flags" || id_field="$id:s"
+            id_fields+=("$id_field")
+            schedules+=("service")
+            commands+=("$command")
+            if isJobEnabled "$job"; then disabled+=(false); else disabled+=(true); fi
+        fi
+    done < <(getManagedServiceJobs)
+
+    # Compute column widths; disabled lines account for the "# " prefix
+    local max_id=0 max_sched=0 i len
+    for i in "${!id_fields[@]}"; do
+        len=${#id_fields[$i]}
+        ${disabled[$i]} && len=$((len + 2))
+        [[ $len -gt $max_id ]] && max_id=$len
+        len=${#schedules[$i]}
+        [[ $len -gt $max_sched ]] && max_sched=$len
+    done
+
+    # Print aligned lines
+    for i in "${!id_fields[@]}"; do
+        if ${disabled[$i]}; then
+            printf '# %-*s | %-*s | %s\n' $((max_id - 2)) "${id_fields[$i]}" "$max_sched" "${schedules[$i]}" "${commands[$i]}"
+        else
+            printf '%-*s | %-*s | %s\n' "$max_id" "${id_fields[$i]}" "$max_sched" "${schedules[$i]}" "${commands[$i]}"
+        fi
+    done
+}
+
+# List jobs in crontab-like format to stdout
+listCrontab() {
+    printCrontabContent
+}
+
 # Edit jobs in crontab-like format
 editJobs() {
     local temp_file orig_file
@@ -617,82 +686,16 @@ editJobs() {
     # shellcheck disable=SC2064
     trap "rm -f '$temp_file' '$orig_file'" EXIT
 
-    # Build crontab content
+    # Build crontab content: jobs first, condensed hint at bottom
     {
-        cat <<'HEADER'
+        printCrontabContent
-# systab jobs — edit schedule/command, enable/disable, add/remove lines
+        cat <<'HINT'
-# Format: ID[:FLAGS] | SCHEDULE | COMMAND  (pipe-separated)
+### ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ #
-# Remove a line to delete a job.
+### format:  ID[:FLAGS] | SCHEDULE | COMMAND  #
-# Add a line with "new" as ID to create a job: new | daily | /path/to/cmd
+### add:     new | daily | cmd                #
-# Comment out a line to disable, uncomment to re-enable.
+### flags:   n=name / i / e=addr / o[=N] / s  #
-#
+### comment out = disable / delete = remove   #
-# Flags (append to ID with ':'): s - service, i - notify desktop, e=addr - send email,
+HINT
-#   o - include output (default 10 lines), o=N - include N lines of output,
-#   n=name = human-readable name (usable in place of hex ID)
-#   a1b2c3:n=backup,i | daily | cmd      named job with desktop notification
-#   a1b2c3:i,e=user@host | daily | cmd   email and desktop notificaton
-#   a1b2c3:s | service | cmd             persistent service (no timer)
-#   new:s,n=name | service | cmd         new persistent service
-#
-# Schedule formats (systemd OnCalendar):
-#   service         persistent service (started on login, auto-restarted)
-#   hourly, daily, weekly, monthly, yearly
-#   *:0/15          every 15 minutes
-#   *-*-* 02:00:00  daily at 2am
-#   Mon *-*-* 09:00 every Monday at 9am
-#   *-*-01 00:00:00 first of every month
-#########################
-### add entries below ###
-#########################
-HEADER
-
-        local job
-        while IFS= read -r job; do
-            [[ -z "$job" ]] && continue
-
-            local timer_file="$SYSTEMD_USER_DIR/${job}.timer"
-            local service_file="$SYSTEMD_USER_DIR/${job}.service"
-
-            if [[ -f "$timer_file" && -f "$service_file" ]]; then
-                local id schedule command flags id_field
-                id=$(jobId "$job")
-                schedule=$(grep "^OnCalendar=" "$timer_file" | cut -d= -f2-)
-                command=$(getJobCommand "$service_file")
-                flags=$(grep "^# SYSTAB_FLAGS=" "$service_file" 2>/dev/null | sed 's/^# SYSTAB_FLAGS=//' || true)
-                if [[ -n "$flags" ]]; then
-                    id_field="$id:$flags"
-                else
-                    id_field="$id"
-                fi
-                if isJobEnabled "$job"; then
-                    printf '%s | %s | %s\n' "$id_field" "$schedule" "$command"
-                else
-                    printf '# %s | %s | %s\n' "$id_field" "$schedule" "$command"
-                fi
-            fi
-        done < <(getManagedUnits timer)
-
-        while IFS= read -r job; do
-            [[ -z "$job" ]] && continue
-
-            local service_file="$SYSTEMD_USER_DIR/${job}.service"
-            if [[ -f "$service_file" ]]; then
-                local id command flags id_field
-                id=$(jobId "$job")
-                command=$(getJobCommand "$service_file")
-                flags=$(grep "^# SYSTAB_FLAGS=" "$service_file" 2>/dev/null | sed 's/^# SYSTAB_FLAGS=//' || true)
-                if [[ -n "$flags" ]]; then
-                    id_field="$id:$flags"
-                else
-                    id_field="$id:s"
-                fi
-                if isJobEnabled "$job"; then
-                    printf '%s | service | %s\n' "$id_field" "$command"
-                else
-                    printf '# %s | service | %s\n' "$id_field" "$command"
-                fi
-            fi
-        done < <(getManagedServiceJobs)
     } > "$temp_file"
 
     # Save original for diffing
@@ -830,7 +833,7 @@ HEADER
     for id in "${!orig_jobs[@]}"; do all_orig_ids["$id"]=1; done
     for id in "${!orig_commented[@]}"; do all_orig_ids["$id"]=1; done
 
-    local created=0 deleted=0 updated=0 enabled=0 disabled=0 needs_reload=false
+    local created=0 deleted=0 updated=0 enabled=0 n_disabled=0 needs_reload=false
 
     # Deletions: IDs in original (active or commented) but absent from edited entirely
     for id in "${!all_orig_ids[@]}"; do
@@ -902,7 +905,7 @@ HEADER
         if ! $was_commented && $now_commented; then
             disableJob "$jname"
             echo "Disabled: $id"
-            disabled=$((disabled + 1))
+            n_disabled=$((n_disabled + 1))
             needs_reload=true
         elif $was_commented && ! $now_commented; then
             enableJob "$jname"
@@ -973,7 +976,7 @@ HEADER
     fi
 
     echo ""
-    echo "Summary: $created created, $updated updated, $deleted deleted, $enabled enabled, $disabled disabled"
+    echo "Summary: $created created, $updated updated, $deleted deleted, $enabled enabled, $n_disabled disabled"
 }
 
 # Build a job list from opt_jobid (single job) or getManagedUnits (all jobs)
@@ -1182,7 +1185,7 @@ cleanJobs() {
 
 # Parse command-line options
 parseOptions() {
-    while getopts "t:sc:f:n:im:oD:E:eLSCh" opt; do
+    while getopts "t:sc:f:n:im:oD:E:elLSCh" opt; do
         case $opt in
             t) opt_time="$OPTARG" ;;
             s) opt_service=true ;;
@@ -1206,6 +1209,7 @@ parseOptions() {
             D) opt_disable="$OPTARG" ;;
             E) opt_enable="$OPTARG" ;;
             e) opt_edit=true ;;
+            l) opt_print_crontab=true ;;
             L) opt_list=true ;;
             S) opt_status=true ;;
             C) opt_clean=true ;;
@@ -1247,16 +1251,17 @@ parseOptions() {
     [[ -n "$opt_disable" ]] && manage_count=$((manage_count + 1))
     [[ -n "$opt_enable" ]] && manage_count=$((manage_count + 1))
     $opt_edit && manage_count=$((manage_count + 1))
+    $opt_print_crontab && manage_count=$((manage_count + 1))
     $opt_list && manage_count=$((manage_count + 1))
     $opt_status && manage_count=$((manage_count + 1))
     $opt_clean && manage_count=$((manage_count + 1))
 
     if [[ $manage_count -gt 1 ]]; then
-        error "Options -D, -E, -e, -L, -S, and -C are mutually exclusive"
+        error "Options -D, -E, -e, -l, -L, -S, and -C are mutually exclusive"
     fi
 
     if [[ $manage_count -gt 0 ]] && { [[ -n "$opt_time$opt_command$opt_file" ]] || $opt_service; }; then
-        error "Management options -D, -E, -e, -L, -S, and -C cannot be used with job creation options"
+        error "Management options -D, -E, -e, -l, -L, -S, and -C cannot be used with job creation options"
     fi
     
     if [[ -n "$opt_command" && -n "$opt_file" ]]; then
@@ -1287,6 +1292,8 @@ main() {
         toggleJobById "$opt_enable" enable
     elif $opt_edit; then
         editJobs
+    elif $opt_print_crontab; then
+        listCrontab
     elif $opt_list; then
         listLogs
     elif $opt_status; then

test.sh

@@ -404,12 +404,46 @@ assert_output "enable already enabled service" "Already enabled:" $SYSTAB -E "$i
 # Edit mode shows service jobs with 'service' in schedule column
 # (mirrors tape: EDITOR=nano systab -e shows "id:s | service | cmd")
 edit_output=$(EDITOR=cat $SYSTAB -e 2>&1 || true)
-if [[ "$edit_output" == *"| service |"* ]]; then
+if [[ "$edit_output" == *"| service"* ]]; then
     pass "edit mode shows service job with 'service' schedule"
 else
     fail "edit mode shows service job with 'service' schedule" "not found in: $edit_output"
 fi
 
+# -l prints crontab format to stdout
+list_output=$($SYSTAB -l 2>&1)
+if [[ "$list_output" == *"| service"* ]]; then
+    pass "-l prints service job with 'service' schedule"
+else
+    fail "-l prints service job with 'service' schedule" "not found in: $list_output"
+fi
+if [[ "$list_output" == *"$id_recurring"* ]]; then
+    pass "-l includes timer job"
+else
+    fail "-l includes timer job" "not found in: $list_output"
+fi
+
+# -l pipe separators are aligned (all first pipes at same column)
+pipe_cols=()
+while IFS= read -r line; do
+    [[ "$line" == *"|"* ]] || continue
+    # skip hint/separator lines (not job entries)
+    [[ "$line" =~ ^# ]] && [[ ! "$line" =~ ^#[[:space:]][0-9a-f]{6} ]] && continue
+    pipe_prefix="${line%%|*}"
+    pipe_cols+=("${#pipe_prefix}")
+done <<< "$list_output"
+if [[ ${#pipe_cols[@]} -gt 1 ]]; then
+    unique_cols=$(printf '%s\n' "${pipe_cols[@]}" | sort -u | wc -l)
+    if [[ "$unique_cols" -eq 1 ]]; then
+        pass "-l pipe separators are aligned"
+    else
+        fail "-l pipe separators are aligned" "first-pipe columns: ${pipe_cols[*]}"
+    fi
+fi
+
+assert_failure "-l and -e are mutually exclusive" $SYSTAB -l -e
+assert_failure "-l cannot be used with job creation options" $SYSTAB -l -t daily -c "echo test"
+
 # Mutually exclusive flags (mirrors tape design: -s conflicts with -t/-i/-m/-o)
 assert_failure "-s and -t are mutually exclusive" $SYSTAB -s -t daily -c "echo test"
 assert_failure "-s and -i are mutually exclusive" $SYSTAB -s -i -c "echo test"