Backlinks with System Tiddlers

#1

In my notes system (works a bit like streams) my notes are all stored in the system namespace (start with $:/) and I’d love to use backlinks[] to find topics without recent notes, but backlinks specifically doesn’t work for system tiddlers. I’ve actually run into this limitation a few times over the years and it’s always a pain to work around.

I typically work “the other way around” and either instead filter through all notes:

  • Use links[] but then in filter steps, I lose the <currentTiddler>, and create very complex multi-step filters
  • Use search:text:regexp[] with variables to find the square brackets for hard links

One of two solutions would seem to make sense if I could figure it out:

  1. Add a flag to backlinks[] like backlinks:includesystem[...] or something
  2. Add a parameter to search[] for links like search:links[...]
    1. Swapping links for field is a bit of a kludge as you’d lose specificity of field

Hoping somebody has a creative solution or a plugin that might be close to work from.

#2

At first glance, it looks like relink:backreferences[] operator from Relink plugin works for system tiddlers too.
A thing to bear in mind is that it generates a list of backreferences, not just backlinks, so it will recognize all references that Relink is configured to recognize, e.g. macros.

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#3

Nice find @vilc! You’re right that works and luckily I already use Relink.

Relink really is the gift that keeps on giving (thanks @Flibbles )

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