This is hledger_csv.info, produced by makeinfo version 6.5 from stdin.


File: hledger_csv.info,  Node: Top,  Next: CSV RULES,  Up: (dir)

hledger_csv(5) hledger 1.15.2
*****************************

hledger can read CSV (comma-separated value) files as if they were
journal files, automatically converting each CSV record into a
transaction.  (To learn about _writing_ CSV, see CSV output.)

   Converting CSV to transactions requires some special conversion
rules.  These do several things:

   * they describe the layout and format of the CSV data
   * they can customize the generated journal entries using a simple
     templating language
   * they can add refinements based on patterns in the CSV data, eg
     categorizing transactions with more detailed account names.

   When reading a CSV file named 'FILE.csv', hledger looks for a
conversion rules file named 'FILE.csv.rules' in the same directory.  You
can override this with the '--rules-file' option.  If the rules file
does not exist, hledger will auto-create one with some example rules,
which you'll need to adjust.

   At minimum, the rules file must identify the date and amount fields.
It's often necessary to specify the date format, and the number of
header lines to skip, also.  Eg:

fields date, _, _, amount
date-format  %d/%m/%Y
skip 1

   A more complete example:

# hledger CSV rules for amazon.com order history

# sample:
# "Date","Type","To/From","Name","Status","Amount","Fees","Transaction ID"
# "Jul 29, 2012","Payment","To","Adapteva, Inc.","Completed","$25.00","$0.00","17LA58JSK6PRD4HDGLNJQPI1PB9N8DKPVHL"

# skip one header line
skip 1

# name the csv fields (and assign the transaction's date, amount and code)
fields date, _, toorfrom, name, amzstatus, amount, fees, code

# how to parse the date
date-format %b %-d, %Y

# combine two fields to make the description
description %toorfrom %name

# save these fields as tags
comment     status:%amzstatus, fees:%fees

# set the base account for all transactions
account1    assets:amazon

# flip the sign on the amount
amount      -%amount

   For more examples, see Convert CSV files.

* Menu:

* CSV RULES::
* CSV TIPS::


File: hledger_csv.info,  Node: CSV RULES,  Next: CSV TIPS,  Prev: Top,  Up: Top

1 CSV RULES
***********

The following seven kinds of rule can appear in the rules file, in any
order.  Blank lines and lines beginning with '#' or ';' are ignored.

* Menu:

* skip::
* date-format::
* field list::
* field assignment::
* conditional block::
* include::
* newest-first::


File: hledger_csv.info,  Node: skip,  Next: date-format,  Up: CSV RULES

1.1 skip
========

'skip'_'N'_

   Skip this number of CSV records at the beginning.  You'll need this
whenever your CSV data contains header lines.  Eg:

# ignore the first CSV line
skip 1


File: hledger_csv.info,  Node: date-format,  Next: field list,  Prev: skip,  Up: CSV RULES

1.2 date-format
===============

'date-format'_'DATEFMT'_

   When your CSV date fields are not formatted like 'YYYY/MM/DD' (or
'YYYY-MM-DD' or 'YYYY.MM.DD'), you'll need to specify the format.
DATEFMT is a strptime-like date parsing pattern, which must parse the
date field values completely.  Examples:

# for dates like "11/06/2013":
date-format %m/%d/%Y

# for dates like "6/11/2013" (note the - to make leading zeros optional):
date-format %-d/%-m/%Y

# for dates like "2013-Nov-06":
date-format %Y-%h-%d

# for dates like "11/6/2013 11:32 PM":
date-format %-m/%-d/%Y %l:%M %p


File: hledger_csv.info,  Node: field list,  Next: field assignment,  Prev: date-format,  Up: CSV RULES

1.3 field list
==============

'fields'_'FIELDNAME1'_, _'FIELDNAME2'_...

   This (a) names the CSV fields, in order (names may not contain
whitespace; uninteresting names may be left blank), and (b) assigns them
to journal entry fields if you use any of these standard field names:
'date', 'date2', 'status', 'code', 'description', 'comment', 'account1',
'account2', 'amount', 'amount-in', 'amount-out', 'currency', 'balance',
'balance1', 'balance2'.  Eg:

# use the 1st, 2nd and 4th CSV fields as the entry's date, description and amount,
# and give the 7th and 8th fields meaningful names for later reference:
#
# CSV field:
#      1     2            3 4       5 6 7          8
# entry field:
fields date, description, , amount, , , somefield, anotherfield


File: hledger_csv.info,  Node: field assignment,  Next: conditional block,  Prev: field list,  Up: CSV RULES

1.4 field assignment
====================

_'ENTRYFIELDNAME'_ _'FIELDVALUE'_

   This sets a journal entry field (one of the standard names above) to
the given text value, which can include CSV field values interpolated by
name ('%CSVFIELDNAME') or 1-based position ('%N').  Eg:

# set the amount to the 4th CSV field with "USD " prepended
amount USD %4

# combine three fields to make a comment (containing two tags)
comment note: %somefield - %anotherfield, date: %1

   Field assignments can be used instead of or in addition to a field
list.

   Note, interpolation strips any outer whitespace, so a CSV value like
'" 1 "' becomes '1' when interpolated (#1051).


File: hledger_csv.info,  Node: conditional block,  Next: include,  Prev: field assignment,  Up: CSV RULES

1.5 conditional block
=====================

'if' _'PATTERN'_
    _'FIELDASSIGNMENTS'_...

   'if'
_'PATTERN'_
_'PATTERN'_...
    _'FIELDASSIGNMENTS'_...

   This applies one or more field assignments, only to those CSV records
matched by one of the PATTERNs.  The patterns are case-insensitive
regular expressions which match anywhere within the whole CSV record
(it's not yet possible to match within a specific field).  When there
are multiple patterns they can be written on separate lines, unindented.
The field assignments are on separate lines indented by at least one
space.  Examples:

# if the CSV record contains "groceries", set account2 to "expenses:groceries"
if groceries
 account2 expenses:groceries

# if the CSV record contains any of these patterns, set account2 and comment as shown
if
monthly service fee
atm transaction fee
banking thru software
 account2 expenses:business:banking
 comment  XXX deductible ? check it


File: hledger_csv.info,  Node: include,  Next: newest-first,  Prev: conditional block,  Up: CSV RULES

1.6 include
===========

'include'_'RULESFILE'_

   Include another rules file at this point.  'RULESFILE' is either an
absolute file path or a path relative to the current file's directory.
Eg:

# rules reused with several CSV files
include common.rules


File: hledger_csv.info,  Node: newest-first,  Prev: include,  Up: CSV RULES

1.7 newest-first
================

'newest-first'

   Consider adding this rule if all of the following are true: you might
be processing just one day of data, your CSV records are in reverse
chronological order (newest first), and you care about preserving the
order of same-day transactions.  It usually isn't needed, because
hledger autodetects the CSV order, but when all CSV records have the
same date it will assume they are oldest first.


File: hledger_csv.info,  Node: CSV TIPS,  Prev: CSV RULES,  Up: Top

2 CSV TIPS
**********

* Menu:

* CSV ordering::
* CSV accounts::
* CSV amounts::
* CSV balance assertions/assignments::
* Reading multiple CSV files::
* Valid CSV::


File: hledger_csv.info,  Node: CSV ordering,  Next: CSV accounts,  Up: CSV TIPS

2.1 CSV ordering
================

The generated journal entries will be sorted by date.  The order of
same-day entries will be preserved (except in the special case where you
might need 'newest-first', see above).


File: hledger_csv.info,  Node: CSV accounts,  Next: CSV amounts,  Prev: CSV ordering,  Up: CSV TIPS

2.2 CSV accounts
================

Each journal entry will have two postings, to 'account1' and 'account2'
respectively.  It's not yet possible to generate entries with more than
two postings.  It's conventional and recommended to use 'account1' for
the account whose CSV we are reading.


File: hledger_csv.info,  Node: CSV amounts,  Next: CSV balance assertions/assignments,  Prev: CSV accounts,  Up: CSV TIPS

2.3 CSV amounts
===============

A transaction amount must be set, in one of these ways:

   * with an 'amount' field assignment, which sets the first posting's
     amount

   * (When the CSV has debit and credit amounts in separate fields:)
     with field assignments for the 'amount-in' and 'amount-out' pseudo
     fields (both of them).  Whichever one has a value will be used,
     with appropriate sign.  If both contain a value, it might not work
     so well.

   * or implicitly by means of a balance assignment (see below).

   There is some special handling for sign in amounts:

   * If an amount value is parenthesised, it will be de-parenthesised
     and sign-flipped.
   * If an amount value begins with a double minus sign, those will
     cancel out and be removed.

   If the currency/commodity symbol is provided as a separate CSV field,
assign it to the 'currency' pseudo field; the symbol will be prepended
to the amount (TODO: when there is an amount).  Or, you can use an
'amount' field assignment for more control, eg:

fields date,description,currency,amount
amount %amount %currency


File: hledger_csv.info,  Node: CSV balance assertions/assignments,  Next: Reading multiple CSV files,  Prev: CSV amounts,  Up: CSV TIPS

2.4 CSV balance assertions/assignments
======================================

If the CSV includes a running balance, you can assign that to one of the
pseudo fields 'balance' (or 'balance1') or 'balance2'.  This will
generate a balance assertion (or if the amount is left empty, a balance
assignment), on the first or second posting, whenever the running
balance field is non-empty.  (TODO: #1000)


File: hledger_csv.info,  Node: Reading multiple CSV files,  Next: Valid CSV,  Prev: CSV balance assertions/assignments,  Up: CSV TIPS

2.5 Reading multiple CSV files
==============================

You can read multiple CSV files at once using multiple '-f' arguments on
the command line, and hledger will look for a correspondingly-named
rules file for each.  Note if you use the '--rules-file' option, this
one rules file will be used for all the CSV files being read.


File: hledger_csv.info,  Node: Valid CSV,  Prev: Reading multiple CSV files,  Up: CSV TIPS

2.6 Valid CSV
=============

hledger follows RFC 4180, with the addition of a customisable separator
character.

   Some things to note:

   When quoting fields,

   * you must use double quotes, not single quotes
   * spaces outside the quotes are not allowed.


Tag Table:
Node: Top72
Node: CSV RULES2165
Ref: #csv-rules2273
Node: skip2536
Ref: #skip2630
Node: date-format2802
Ref: #date-format2929
Node: field list3479
Ref: #field-list3616
Node: field assignment4346
Ref: #field-assignment4501
Node: conditional block5125
Ref: #conditional-block5279
Node: include6175
Ref: #include6305
Node: newest-first6536
Ref: #newest-first6650
Node: CSV TIPS7061
Ref: #csv-tips7155
Node: CSV ordering7299
Ref: #csv-ordering7417
Node: CSV accounts7598
Ref: #csv-accounts7736
Node: CSV amounts7990
Ref: #csv-amounts8148
Node: CSV balance assertions/assignments9228
Ref: #csv-balance-assertionsassignments9446
Node: Reading multiple CSV files9767
Ref: #reading-multiple-csv-files9967
Node: Valid CSV10241
Ref: #valid-csv10364

End Tag Table
