Let's assume you want to write daily notes named like `2021-02-16.md` in a `journal/daily` sub-directory. This common use case is a good fit for creating a [note group](config-group.md) overriding the default [note creation](note-creation.md) settings.
First, create a `group` entry in the [configuration file](config.md) to set the note settings for this directory. Refer to the [template syntax reference](template.md) to understand how to use the `{{date}}` helper.
```toml
[group.daily]
# Directories listed here will automatically use this group when creating notes.
paths = ["journal/daily"]
[group.daily.note]
# %Y-%m-%d is actually the default format, so you could use {{date now}} instead.
filename = "{{date now '%Y-%m-%d'}}"
extension = "md"
template = "daily.md"
```
Next, create a template file under `.zk/templates/daily.md` to render the note content. Here we used the date again to generate a title like "February 16, 2021".
```markdown
# {{date now "long"}}
What did I do today?
```
We are now ready to write today's note! We don't need to set `--title` since the note's title is entirely generated by the template.
```sh
$ zk new journal/daily
```
That is a bit of a mouthful for a command called every day. Would it not be better to just write `zk daily`? We can, by defining a [command alias](config-alias.md) in the [configuration file](config.md).
*`zk new` will refuse to overwrite notes. If you already created today's note, it will instead ask you if you wish to edit it. Using `--no-input` skips the prompt and edit the existing note right away.
*`$ZK_NOTEBOOK_DIR` is set to the absolute path of the current [notebook](notebook.md) when running an alias. Using it allows you to run `zk daily` no matter where you are in the notebook folder hierarchy.
* We need to use double quotes around `$ZK_NOTEBOOK_DIR`, otherwise it will not be expanded.
