From 77e3e234465344af18f0da7fcaace4ea106dec75 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: bth <git@bth.moi>
Date: Tue, 20 Jan 2026 13:10:47 -0800
Subject: [PATCH] flags : more common help functions, but redefining the
 subcmds in each package is probably wrong, esp. since last had to be deduped

---
 flags/flags.go |  8 ++++++++
 next/last.go   |  5 ++++-
 next/next.go   | 14 ++++++++------
 sort/sort.go   | 10 ++++++----
 tag/tag.go     |  8 +++++---
 5 files changed, 31 insertions(+), 14 deletions(-)

diff --git a/flags/flags.go b/flags/flags.go
index 677bad3..cbf6a0b 100644
--- a/flags/flags.go
+++ b/flags/flags.go
@@ -74,6 +74,14 @@ func ValidateIncrementFetchOrExit(args []string, i int) (int, string) {
 	return i + 1, args[i+1]
 }
 
+func HelpRequired(cmd string, long string) {
+	log.Printf("um %s: %s is required", cmd, long)
+}
+
+func HelpInvalidArg(cmd string, arg string) {
+	log.Printf("um %s: invalid argument: %s", cmd, arg)
+}
+
 // print out help string by reflecting over fields of provided opts struct
 // and os.Exit(0)
 func Help(subcmd string, opts any) {
diff --git a/next/last.go b/next/last.go
index a6c5761..c8e5ad7 100644
--- a/next/last.go
+++ b/next/last.go
@@ -10,6 +10,9 @@ import (
 	"strings"
 )
 
+// but this stinks:
+const lcmd = "last"
+
 const (
 	// NOTE: the -r flag:
 	LS_CMD = `ls -r [0-9]*.md`
@@ -44,7 +47,7 @@ func last() (string, error) {
 func Last() {
 	s, err := last()
 	if err != nil {
-		log.Fatalf("um last: %v", err)
+		log.Fatalf("um %s: %v", lcmd, err)
 	}
 	// send to stdout, not stderr as is default for log.Print:
 	fmt.Println(s)
diff --git a/next/next.go b/next/next.go
index 886b101..03fb680 100644
--- a/next/next.go
+++ b/next/next.go
@@ -10,6 +10,8 @@ import (
 	"github.com/brtholomy/um/go/flags"
 )
 
+const cmd = "next"
+
 type options struct {
 	Descriptor flags.Arg
 	Tags       flags.Arg
@@ -33,10 +35,10 @@ func parseArgs(args []string) options {
 		case i == 1 && !flags.HasDashPrefix(arg):
 			opts.Tags.Val = arg
 		case arg == opts.Help.Long || arg == opts.Help.Short:
-			flags.Help("next", opts)
+			flags.Help(cmd, opts)
 		default:
-			log.Printf("um next: invalid argument: %s", arg)
-			flags.Help("next", opts)
+			flags.HelpInvalidArg(cmd, arg)
+			flags.Help(cmd, opts)
 		}
 	}
 	return opts
@@ -107,13 +109,13 @@ func Next(args []string) {
 	opts := parseArgs(args)
 	l, err := last()
 	if err != nil {
-		log.Fatalf("um next: %v", err)
+		log.Fatalf("um %s: %v", cmd, err)
 	}
 	filename, err := next(l, opts.Descriptor.Val)
 	if err != nil {
-		log.Fatalf("um next: %v", err)
+		log.Fatalf("um %s: %v", cmd, err)
 	}
 	if err := emacsNext(filename, opts.Tags.Val); err != nil {
-		log.Fatalf("um next: %v", err)
+		log.Fatalf("um %s: %v", cmd, err)
 	}
 }
diff --git a/sort/sort.go b/sort/sort.go
index d970a8c..5f3f0f4 100644
--- a/sort/sort.go
+++ b/sort/sort.go
@@ -11,6 +11,8 @@ import (
 	"github.com/brtholomy/um/go/pipe"
 )
 
+const cmd = "sort"
+
 type options struct {
 	Source flags.Flag[string]
 	Key    flags.Flag[string]
@@ -39,15 +41,15 @@ func parseArgs(args []string) options {
 		case arg == opts.Write.Long || arg == opts.Write.Short:
 			opts.Write.Val = true
 		case arg == opts.Help.Long || arg == opts.Help.Short:
-			flags.Help("sort", opts)
+			flags.Help(cmd, opts)
 		default:
 			log.Printf("um sort: invalid argument: %s", arg)
-			flags.Help("sort", opts)
+			flags.Help(cmd, opts)
 		}
 	}
 	if !opts.Key.IsSet() {
-		log.Printf("um sort: %s is required", opts.Key.Long)
-		flags.Help("sort", opts)
+		flags.HelpRequired(cmd, opts.Key.Long)
+		flags.Help(cmd, opts)
 	}
 	return opts
 }
diff --git a/tag/tag.go b/tag/tag.go
index e4267a8..1a9b25d 100644
--- a/tag/tag.go
+++ b/tag/tag.go
@@ -6,6 +6,8 @@ import (
 	"github.com/brtholomy/um/go/flags"
 )
 
+const cmd = "tag"
+
 type options struct {
 	Query   flags.Arg
 	Date    flags.Flag[string]
@@ -38,10 +40,10 @@ func parseArgs(args []string) options {
 		case arg == opts.Date.Long || arg == opts.Date.Short:
 			i, opts.Date.Val = flags.ValidateIncrementFetchOrExit(args, i)
 		case arg == opts.Help.Long || arg == opts.Help.Short:
-			flags.Help("tag", opts)
+			flags.Help(cmd, opts)
 		default:
-			log.Printf("um tag: invalid argument: %s", arg)
-			flags.Help("tag", opts)
+			flags.HelpInvalidArg(cmd, arg)
+			flags.Help(cmd, opts)
 		}
 	}
 	return opts