
hledger_csv(5)               hledger User Manuals               hledger_csv(5)



NAME
       CSV - how hledger reads CSV data, and the CSV rules file format

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

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

       o they describe the layout and format of the CSV data

       o they can customize the generated journal entries using a simple  tem-
         plating language

       o they  can add refinements based on patterns in the CSV data, eg cate-
         gorizing 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 over-
       ride 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.

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.

   skip
       skipN

       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

   date-format
       date-formatDATEFMT

       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

   field list
       fieldsFIELDNAME1, FIELDNAME2...

       This  (a)  names the CSV fields, in order (names may not contain white-
       space; 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

   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).

   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 reg-
       ular 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

   include
       includeRULESFILE

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

              # rules reused with several CSV files
              include common.rules

   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.

CSV TIPS
   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).

   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.

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

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

       o (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 appropri-
       ate sign.  If both contain a value, it might not work so well.

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

       There is some special handling for sign in amounts:

       o If an amount value is parenthesised, it will be de-parenthesised  and
         sign-flipped.

       o 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

   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  gener-
       ate  a  balance  assertion  (or  if the amount is left empty, a balance
       assignment), on the first or second posting, whenever the running  bal-
       ance field is non-empty.  (TODO: #1000)

   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.

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

       Some things to note:

       When quoting fields,

       o you must use double quotes, not single quotes

       o spaces outside the quotes are not allowed.



REPORTING BUGS
       Report  bugs at http://bugs.hledger.org (or on the #hledger IRC channel
       or hledger mail list)


AUTHORS
       Simon Michael <simon@joyful.com> and contributors


COPYRIGHT
       Copyright (C) 2007-2016 Simon Michael.
       Released under GNU GPL v3 or later.


SEE ALSO
       hledger(1),     hledger-ui(1),     hledger-web(1),      hledger-api(1),
       hledger_csv(5), hledger_journal(5), hledger_timeclock(5), hledger_time-
       dot(5), ledger(1)

       http://hledger.org



hledger 1.15.2                  September 2019                  hledger_csv(5)
