From 43ca9661b0c13377185240af7ff16169cd849a6c Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: lew <lew@ily.rs>
Date: Thu, 2 Apr 2026 01:21:52 +0100
Subject: [PATCH] fix: invalid times take priority over dates in the past for
 error messaging

---
 nag           | 18 +++++++++---------
 test/nag.bats | 26 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 2 files changed, 35 insertions(+), 9 deletions(-)

diff --git a/nag b/nag
index 7c76eb8..7f96f93 100755
--- a/nag
+++ b/nag
@@ -618,7 +618,7 @@ _validate_and_normalise_rules() {
   do
     local _canon
     _canon="$(_normalise_rule "${_rule}")" ||
-      _exit_1 printf "Invalid rule: %s\\n" "${_rule}"
+      _exit_1 printf "Invalid rule: %s.\\n" "${_rule}"
     _normalised+=("${_canon}")
   done
   IFS=$'\n\t'
@@ -854,16 +854,16 @@ _parse_time() {
   local _time_str="${1:-}"
   [[ -n "${_time_str}" ]] || _exit_1 printf "No time specified.\\n"
 
-  local _lower
-  _lower="$(printf "%s" "${_time_str}" | tr '[:upper:]' '[:lower:]')"
-  if [[ "${_lower}" == *"yesterday"* ]] || [[ "${_lower}" == *" ago"* ]]
-  then
-    _exit_1 printf "Time is in the past: %s\\n" "${_time_str}"
-  fi
-
   local _timestamp
   _timestamp="$(date -d "${_time_str}" +%s 2>/dev/null)" ||
-    _exit_1 printf "Invalid time: %s\\n" "${_time_str}"
+    _exit_1 printf "Invalid time: %s. See 'date -d' for accepted formats.\\n" "${_time_str}"
+
+  local _lower
+  _lower="$(printf "%s" "${_time_str}" | tr '[:upper:]' '[:lower:]')"
+  if [[ "${_lower}" == *"yesterday"* ]] || [[ "${_lower}" == *" ago"* ]] || [[ "${_lower}" == "last "* ]]
+  then
+    _exit_1 printf "Time is in the past: %s.\\n" "${_time_str}"
+  fi
 
   local _now
   _now="$(date +%s)"
diff --git a/test/nag.bats b/test/nag.bats
index 07b91d2..ebe92ed 100644
--- a/test/nag.bats
+++ b/test/nag.bats
@@ -74,11 +74,37 @@ load test_helper
 @test "at rejects yesterday" {
   run_nag at "yesterday 3pm" "too late"
   [ "${status}" -eq 1 ]
+  [[ "${output}" =~ "past" ]]
 }
 
 @test "at rejects ago" {
   run_nag at "2 hours ago" "too late"
   [ "${status}" -eq 1 ]
+  [[ "${output}" =~ "past" ]]
+}
+
+@test "at rejects last" {
+  run_nag at "last friday" "too late"
+  [ "${status}" -eq 1 ]
+  [[ "${output}" =~ "past" ]]
+}
+
+@test "invalid time with ago says invalid, not past" {
+  run_nag at "sdjkfhskdjfh ago" "nope"
+  [ "${status}" -eq 1 ]
+  [[ "${output}" =~ "Invalid time" ]]
+}
+
+@test "invalid time with yesterday says invalid, not past" {
+  run_nag at "sdjkfh yesterday blah" "nope"
+  [ "${status}" -eq 1 ]
+  [[ "${output}" =~ "Invalid time" ]]
+}
+
+@test "invalid time with last says invalid, not past" {
+  run_nag at "last sdjkfh" "nope"
+  [ "${status}" -eq 1 ]
+  [[ "${output}" =~ "Invalid time" ]]
 }
 
 @test "at rolls past date forward to next year" {