This is hledger.info, produced by makeinfo version 6.8 from stdin.

INFO-DIR-SECTION User Applications
START-INFO-DIR-ENTRY
* hledger: (hledger).  Command-line plain text accounting tool.
END-INFO-DIR-ENTRY


File: hledger.info,  Node: Top,  Next: OPTIONS,  Up: (dir)

hledger(1)
**********

This is the command-line interface (CLI) for the hledger accounting
tool.  Here we also describe hledger's concepts and file formats.  This
manual is for hledger 1.23.

   'hledger'

   'hledger [-f FILE] COMMAND [OPTIONS] [ARGS]'

   'hledger [-f FILE] ADDONCMD -- [OPTIONS] [ARGS]'

   hledger is a reliable, cross-platform set of programs for tracking
money, time, or any other commodity, using double-entry accounting and a
simple, editable file format.  hledger is inspired by and largely
compatible with ledger(1).

   The basic function of the hledger CLI is to read a plain text file
describing financial transactions (in accounting terms, a general
journal) and print useful reports on standard output, or export them as
CSV. hledger can also read some other file formats such as CSV files,
translating them to journal format.  Additionally, hledger lists other
hledger-* executables found in the user's $PATH and can invoke them as
subcommands.

   hledger reads data from one or more files in hledger journal,
timeclock, timedot, or CSV format specified with '-f', or
'$LEDGER_FILE', or '$HOME/.hledger.journal' (on windows, perhaps
'C:/Users/USER/.hledger.journal').  If using '$LEDGER_FILE', note this
must be a real environment variable, not a shell variable.  You can
specify standard input with '-f-'.

   Transactions are dated movements of money between two (or more) named
accounts, and are recorded with journal entries like this:

2015/10/16 bought food
 expenses:food          $10
 assets:cash

   Most users use a text editor to edit the journal, usually with an
editor mode such as ledger-mode for added convenience.  hledger's
interactive add command is another way to record new transactions.
hledger never changes existing transactions.

   To get started, you can either save some entries like the above in
'~/.hledger.journal', or run 'hledger add' and follow the prompts.  Then
try some commands like 'hledger print' or 'hledger balance'.  Run
'hledger' with no arguments for a list of commands.

* Menu:

* OPTIONS::
* ENVIRONMENT::
* DATA FILES::
* TIME PERIODS::
* DEPTH::
* QUERIES::
* COSTING::
* VALUATION::
* PIVOTING::
* OUTPUT::
* COMMANDS::
* JOURNAL FORMAT::
* CSV FORMAT::
* TIMECLOCK FORMAT::
* TIMEDOT FORMAT::
* COMMON TASKS::
* LIMITATIONS::
* TROUBLESHOOTING::


File: hledger.info,  Node: OPTIONS,  Next: ENVIRONMENT,  Prev: Top,  Up: Top

1 OPTIONS
*********

* Menu:

* General options::
* Command options::
* Command arguments::
* Special characters::
* Unicode characters::
* Regular expressions::


File: hledger.info,  Node: General options,  Next: Command options,  Up: OPTIONS

1.1 General options
===================

To see general usage help, including general options which are supported
by most hledger commands, run 'hledger -h'.

   General help options:

'-h --help'

     show general or COMMAND help
'--man'

     show general or COMMAND user manual with man
'--info'

     show general or COMMAND user manual with info
'--version'

     show general or ADDONCMD version
'--debug[=N]'

     show debug output (levels 1-9, default: 1)

   General input options:

'-f FILE --file=FILE'

     use a different input file.  For stdin, use - (default:
     '$LEDGER_FILE' or '$HOME/.hledger.journal')
'--rules-file=RULESFILE'

     Conversion rules file to use when reading CSV (default: FILE.rules)
'--separator=CHAR'

     Field separator to expect when reading CSV (default: ',')
'--alias=OLD=NEW'

     rename accounts named OLD to NEW
'--anon'

     anonymize accounts and payees
'--pivot FIELDNAME'

     use some other field or tag for the account name
'-I --ignore-assertions'

     disable balance assertion checks (note: does not disable balance
     assignments)
'-s --strict'

     do extra error checking (check that all posted accounts are
     declared)

   General reporting options:

'-b --begin=DATE'

     include postings/txns on or after this date (will be adjusted to
     preceding subperiod start when using a report interval)
'-e --end=DATE'

     include postings/txns before this date (will be adjusted to
     following subperiod end when using a report interval)
'-D --daily'

     multiperiod/multicolumn report by day
'-W --weekly'

     multiperiod/multicolumn report by week
'-M --monthly'

     multiperiod/multicolumn report by month
'-Q --quarterly'

     multiperiod/multicolumn report by quarter
'-Y --yearly'

     multiperiod/multicolumn report by year
'-p --period=PERIODEXP'

     set start date, end date, and/or reporting interval all at once
     using period expressions syntax
'--date2'

     match the secondary date instead (see command help for other
     effects)
'--today=DATE'

     override today's date (affects relative smart dates, for
     tests/examples)
'-U --unmarked'

     include only unmarked postings/txns (can combine with -P or -C)
'-P --pending'

     include only pending postings/txns
'-C --cleared'

     include only cleared postings/txns
'-R --real'

     include only non-virtual postings
'-NUM --depth=NUM'

     hide/aggregate accounts or postings more than NUM levels deep
'-E --empty'

     show items with zero amount, normally hidden (and vice-versa in
     hledger-ui/hledger-web)
'-B --cost'

     convert amounts to their cost/selling amount at transaction time
'-V --market'

     convert amounts to their market value in default valuation
     commodities
'-X --exchange=COMM'

     convert amounts to their market value in commodity COMM
'--value'

     convert amounts to cost or market value, more flexibly than
     -B/-V/-X
'--infer-market-prices'

     use transaction prices (recorded with @ or @@) as additional market
     prices, as if they were P directives
'--auto'

     apply automated posting rules to modify transactions.
'--forecast'

     generate future transactions from periodic transaction rules, for
     the next 6 months or till report end date.  In hledger-ui, also
     make ordinary future transactions visible.
'--commodity-style'

     Override the commodity style in the output for the specified
     commodity.  For example 'EUR1.000,00'.
'--color=WHEN (or --colour=WHEN)'

     Should color-supporting commands use ANSI color codes in text
     output.  'auto' (default): whenever stdout seems to be a
     color-supporting terminal.  'always' or 'yes': always, useful eg
     when piping output into 'less -R'. 'never' or 'no': never.  A
     NO_COLOR environment variable overrides this.
'--pretty[=WHEN]'

     Show prettier output, e.g.  using unicode box-drawing characters.
     Accepts 'yes' (the default) or 'no' ('y', 'n', 'always', 'never'
     also work).  If you provide an argument you must use '=', e.g.
     '-pretty=yes'.

   When a reporting option appears more than once in the command line,
the last one takes precedence.

   Some reporting options can also be written as query arguments.


File: hledger.info,  Node: Command options,  Next: Command arguments,  Prev: General options,  Up: OPTIONS

1.2 Command options
===================

To see options for a particular command, including command-specific
options, run: 'hledger COMMAND -h'.

   Command-specific options must be written after the command name, eg:
'hledger print -x'.

   Additionally, if the command is an add-on, you may need to put its
options after a double-hyphen, eg: 'hledger ui -- --watch'.  Or, you can
run the add-on executable directly: 'hledger-ui --watch'.


File: hledger.info,  Node: Command arguments,  Next: Special characters,  Prev: Command options,  Up: OPTIONS

1.3 Command arguments
=====================

Most hledger commands accept arguments after the command name, which are
often a query, filtering the data in some way.

   You can save a set of command line options/arguments in a file, and
then reuse them by writing '@FILENAME' as a command line argument.  Eg:
'hledger bal @foo.args'.  (To prevent this, eg if you have an argument
that begins with a literal '@', precede it with '--', eg: 'hledger bal
-- @ARG').

   Inside the argument file, each line should contain just one option or
argument.  Avoid the use of spaces, except inside quotes (or you'll see
a confusing error).  Between a flag and its argument, use = (or
nothing).  Bad:

assets depth:2
-X USD

   Good:

assets
depth:2
-X=USD

   For special characters (see below), use one less level of quoting
than you would at the command prompt.  Bad:

-X"$"

   Good:

-X$

   See also: Save frequently used options.


File: hledger.info,  Node: Special characters,  Next: Unicode characters,  Prev: Command arguments,  Up: OPTIONS

1.4 Special characters
======================

* Menu:

* Single escaping shell metacharacters::
* Double escaping regular expression metacharacters::
* Triple escaping for add-on commands::
* Less escaping::


File: hledger.info,  Node: Single escaping shell metacharacters,  Next: Double escaping regular expression metacharacters,  Up: Special characters

1.4.1 Single escaping (shell metacharacters)
--------------------------------------------

In shell command lines, characters significant to your shell - such as
spaces, '<', '>', '(', ')', '|', '$' and '\' - should be "shell-escaped"
if you want hledger to see them.  This is done by enclosing them in
single or double quotes, or by writing a backslash before them.  Eg to
match an account name containing a space:

$ hledger register 'credit card'

   or:

$ hledger register credit\ card

   Windows users should keep in mind that 'cmd' treats single quote as a
regular character, so you should be using double quotes exclusively.
PowerShell treats both single and double quotes as quotes.


File: hledger.info,  Node: Double escaping regular expression metacharacters,  Next: Triple escaping for add-on commands,  Prev: Single escaping shell metacharacters,  Up: Special characters

1.4.2 Double escaping (regular expression metacharacters)
---------------------------------------------------------

Characters significant in regular expressions (described below) - such
as '.', '^', '$', '[', ']', '(', ')', '|', and '\' - may need to be
"regex-escaped" if you don't want them to be interpreted by hledger's
regular expression engine.  This is done by writing backslashes before
them, but since backslash is typically also a shell metacharacter, both
shell-escaping and regex-escaping will be needed.  Eg to match a literal
'$' sign while using the bash shell:

$ hledger balance cur:'\$'

   or:

$ hledger balance cur:\\$


File: hledger.info,  Node: Triple escaping for add-on commands,  Next: Less escaping,  Prev: Double escaping regular expression metacharacters,  Up: Special characters

1.4.3 Triple escaping (for add-on commands)
-------------------------------------------

When you use hledger to run an external add-on command (described
below), one level of shell-escaping is lost from any options or
arguments intended for by the add-on command, so those need an extra
level of shell-escaping.  Eg to match a literal '$' sign while using the
bash shell and running an add-on command ('ui'):

$ hledger ui cur:'\\$'

   or:

$ hledger ui cur:\\\\$

   If you wondered why _four_ backslashes, perhaps this helps:

unescaped:        '$'
escaped:          '\$'
double-escaped:   '\\$'
triple-escaped:   '\\\\$'

   Or, you can avoid the extra escaping by running the add-on executable
directly:

$ hledger-ui cur:\\$


File: hledger.info,  Node: Less escaping,  Prev: Triple escaping for add-on commands,  Up: Special characters

1.4.4 Less escaping
-------------------

Options and arguments are sometimes used in places other than the shell
command line, where shell-escaping is not needed, so there you should
use one less level of escaping.  Those places include:

   * an @argumentfile
   * hledger-ui's filter field
   * hledger-web's search form
   * GHCI's prompt (used by developers).


File: hledger.info,  Node: Unicode characters,  Next: Regular expressions,  Prev: Special characters,  Up: OPTIONS

1.5 Unicode characters
======================

hledger is expected to handle non-ascii characters correctly:

   * they should be parsed correctly in input files and on the command
     line, by all hledger tools (add, iadd, hledger-web's
     search/add/edit forms, etc.)

   * they should be displayed correctly by all hledger tools, and
     on-screen alignment should be preserved.

   This requires a well-configured environment.  Here are some tips:

   * A system locale must be configured, and it must be one that can
     decode the characters being used.  In bash, you can set a locale
     like this: 'export LANG=en_US.UTF-8'.  There are some more details
     in Troubleshooting.  This step is essential - without it, hledger
     will quit on encountering a non-ascii character (as with all
     GHC-compiled programs).

   * your terminal software (eg Terminal.app, iTerm, CMD.exe, xterm..)
     must support unicode

   * the terminal must be using a font which includes the required
     unicode glyphs

   * the terminal should be configured to display wide characters as
     double width (for report alignment)

   * on Windows, for best results you should run hledger in the same
     kind of environment in which it was built.  Eg hledger built in the
     standard CMD.EXE environment (like the binaries on our download
     page) might show display problems when run in a cygwin or msys
     terminal, and vice versa.  (See eg #961).


File: hledger.info,  Node: Regular expressions,  Prev: Unicode characters,  Up: OPTIONS

1.6 Regular expressions
=======================

hledger uses regular expressions in a number of places:

   * query terms, on the command line and in the hledger-web search
     form: 'REGEX', 'desc:REGEX', 'cur:REGEX', 'tag:...=REGEX'
   * CSV rules conditional blocks: 'if REGEX ...'
   * account alias directives and options: 'alias /REGEX/ =
     REPLACEMENT', '--alias /REGEX/=REPLACEMENT'

   hledger's regular expressions come from the regex-tdfa library.  If
they're not doing what you expect, it's important to know exactly what
they support:

  1. they are case insensitive
  2. they are infix matching (they do not need to match the entire thing
     being matched)
  3. they are POSIX ERE (extended regular expressions)
  4. they also support GNU word boundaries ('\b', '\B', '\<', '\>')
  5. they do not support backreferences; if you write '\1', it will
     match the digit '1'.  Except when doing text replacement, eg in
     account aliases, where backreferences can be used in the
     replacement string to reference capturing groups in the search
     regexp.
  6. they do not support mode modifiers ('(?s)'), character classes
     ('\w', '\d'), or anything else not mentioned above.

   Some things to note:

   * In the 'alias' directive and '--alias' option, regular expressions
     must be enclosed in forward slashes ('/REGEX/').  Elsewhere in
     hledger, these are not required.

   * In queries, to match a regular expression metacharacter like '$' as
     a literal character, prepend a backslash.  Eg to search for amounts
     with the dollar sign in hledger-web, write 'cur:\$'.

   * On the command line, some metacharacters like '$' have a special
     meaning to the shell and so must be escaped at least once more.
     See Special characters.


File: hledger.info,  Node: ENVIRONMENT,  Next: DATA FILES,  Prev: OPTIONS,  Up: Top

2 ENVIRONMENT
*************

*LEDGER_FILE* The journal file path when not specified with '-f'.
Default: '~/.hledger.journal' (on windows, perhaps
'C:/Users/USER/.hledger.journal').

   A typical value is '~/DIR/YYYY.journal', where DIR is a
version-controlled finance directory and YYYY is the current year.  Or
'~/DIR/current.journal', where current.journal is a symbolic link to
YYYY.journal.

   On Mac computers, you can set this and other environment variables in
a more thorough way that also affects applications started from the GUI
(say, an Emacs dock icon).  Eg on MacOS Catalina I have a
'~/.MacOSX/environment.plist' file containing

{
  "LEDGER_FILE" : "~/finance/current.journal"
}

   To see the effect you may need to 'killall Dock', or reboot.

   *COLUMNS* The screen width used by the register command.  Default:
the full terminal width.

   *NO_COLOR* If this variable exists with any value, hledger will not
use ANSI color codes in terminal output.  This is overriden by the
-color/-colour option.


File: hledger.info,  Node: DATA FILES,  Next: TIME PERIODS,  Prev: ENVIRONMENT,  Up: Top

3 DATA FILES
************

hledger reads transactions from one or more data files.  The default
data file is '$HOME/.hledger.journal' (or on Windows, something like
'C:/Users/USER/.hledger.journal').

   You can override this with the '$LEDGER_FILE' environment variable:

$ setenv LEDGER_FILE ~/finance/2016.journal
$ hledger stats

   or with one or more '-f/--file' options:

$ hledger -f /some/file -f another_file stats

   The file name '-' means standard input:

$ cat some.journal | hledger -f-

* Menu:

* Data formats::
* Multiple files::
* Strict mode::


File: hledger.info,  Node: Data formats,  Next: Multiple files,  Up: DATA FILES

3.1 Data formats
================

Usually the data file is in hledger's journal format, but it can be in
any of the supported file formats, which currently are:

Reader:  Reads:                                   Used for file
                                                  extensions:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
'journal'hledger journal files and some Ledger    '.journal' '.j'
         journals, for transactions               '.hledger' '.ledger'
'timeclock'timeclock files, for precise time      '.timeclock'
         logging
'timedot'timedot files, for approximate time      '.timedot'
         logging
'csv'    comma/semicolon/tab/other-separated      '.csv' '.ssv' '.tsv'
         values, for data import

   These formats are described in their own sections, below.

   hledger detects the format automatically based on the file extensions
shown above.  If it can't recognise the file extension, it assumes
'journal' format.  So for non-journal files, it's important to use a
recognised file extension, so as to either read successfully or to show
relevant error messages.

   You can also force a specific reader/format by prefixing the file
path with the format and a colon.  Eg, to read a .dat file as csv
format:

$ hledger -f csv:/some/csv-file.dat stats

   Or to read stdin ('-') as timeclock format:

$ echo 'i 2009/13/1 08:00:00' | hledger print -ftimeclock:-


File: hledger.info,  Node: Multiple files,  Next: Strict mode,  Prev: Data formats,  Up: DATA FILES

3.2 Multiple files
==================

You can specify multiple '-f' options, to read multiple files as one big
journal.  There are some limitations with this:

   * most directives do not affect sibling files
   * balance assertions will not see any account balances from previous
     files

   If you need either of those things, you can

   * use a single parent file which includes the others
   * or concatenate the files into one before reading, eg: 'cat
     a.journal b.journal | hledger -f- CMD'.


File: hledger.info,  Node: Strict mode,  Prev: Multiple files,  Up: DATA FILES

3.3 Strict mode
===============

hledger checks input files for valid data.  By default, the most
important errors are detected, while still accepting easy journal files
without a lot of declarations:

   * Are the input files parseable, with valid syntax ?
   * Are all transactions balanced ?
   * Do all balance assertions pass ?

   With the '-s'/'--strict' flag, additional checks are performed:

   * Are all accounts posted to, declared with an 'account' directive ?
     (Account error checking)
   * Are all commodities declared with a 'commodity' directive ?
     (Commodity error checking)
   * Are all commodity conversions declared explicitly ?

   You can also use the check command to run these and some additional
checks.


File: hledger.info,  Node: TIME PERIODS,  Next: DEPTH,  Prev: DATA FILES,  Up: Top

4 TIME PERIODS
**************

* Menu:

* Smart dates::
* Report start & end date::
* Report intervals::
* Period expressions::


File: hledger.info,  Node: Smart dates,  Next: Report start & end date,  Up: TIME PERIODS

4.1 Smart dates
===============

hledger's user interfaces accept a flexible "smart date" syntax.  Smart
dates allow some english words, can be relative to today's date, and can
have less-significant date parts omitted (defaulting to 1).

   Examples:

'2004/10/1',              exact date, several separators allowed.  Year
'2004-01-01',             is 4+ digits, month is 1-12, day is 1-31
'2004.9.1'
'2004'                    start of year
'2004/10'                 start of month
'10/1'                    month and day in current year
'21'                      day in current month
'october, oct'            start of month in current year
'yesterday, today,        -1, 0, 1 days from today
tomorrow'
'last/this/next           -1, 0, 1 periods from the current period
day/week/month/quarter/year'
'20181201'                8 digit YYYYMMDD with valid year month and
                          day
'201812'                  6 digit YYYYMM with valid year and month

   Counterexamples - malformed digit sequences might give surprising
results:

'201813'     6 digits with an invalid month is parsed as start of
             6-digit year
'20181301'   8 digits with an invalid month is parsed as start of
             8-digit year
'20181232'   8 digits with an invalid day gives an error
'201801012'  9+ digits beginning with a valid YYYYMMDD gives an error

   Note "today's date" can be overridden with the '--today' option, in
case it's needed for testing or for recreating old reports.  (Except for
periodic transaction rules; those are not affected by '--today'.)


File: hledger.info,  Node: Report start & end date,  Next: Report intervals,  Prev: Smart dates,  Up: TIME PERIODS

4.2 Report start & end date
===========================

By default, most hledger reports will show the full span of time
represented by the journal data.  The report start date will be the
earliest transaction or posting date, and the report end date will be
the latest transaction, posting, or market price date.

   Often you will want to see a shorter time span, such as the current
month.  You can specify a start and/or end date using '-b/--begin',
'-e/--end', '-p/--period' or a 'date:' query (described below).  All of
these accept the smart date syntax.

   Some notes:

   * End dates are exclusive, as in Ledger, so you should write the date
     _after_ the last day you want to see in the report.
   * As noted in reporting options: among start/end dates specified with
     _options_, the last (i.e.  right-most) option takes precedence.
   * The effective report start and end dates are the intersection of
     the start/end dates from options and that from 'date:' queries.
     That is, 'date:2019-01 date:2019 -p'2000 to 2030'' yields January
     2019, the smallest common time span.
   * A report interval (see below) will adjust start/end dates, when
     needed, so that they fall on subperiod boundaries.

   Examples:

'-b           begin on St. Patrick's day 2016
2016/3/17'
'-e 12/1'     end at the start of december 1st of the current year
              (11/30 will be the last date included)
'-b           all transactions on or after the 1st of the current month
thismonth'
'-p           all transactions in the current month
thismonth'
'date:2016/3/17..'the above written as queries instead ('..' can also be
              replaced with '-')
'date:..12/1'
'date:thismonth..'
'date:thismonth'


File: hledger.info,  Node: Report intervals,  Next: Period expressions,  Prev: Report start & end date,  Up: TIME PERIODS

4.3 Report intervals
====================

A report interval can be specified so that commands like register,
balance and activity become multi-period, showing each subperiod as a
separate row or column.

   The following "standard" report intervals can be enabled by using
their corresponding flag:

   * '-D/--daily'
   * '-W/--weekly'
   * '-M/--monthly'
   * '-Q/--quarterly'
   * '-Y/--yearly'

   These standard intervals always start on natural interval boundaries:
eg '--weekly' starts on mondays, '--monthly' starts on the first of the
month, '--yearly' always starts on January 1st, etc.

   Certain more complex intervals, and more flexible boundary dates, can
be specified by '-p/--period'.  These are described in period
expressions, below.

   Report intervals can only be specified by the flags above, and not by
query arguments, currently.

   Report intervals have another effect: multi-period reports are always
expanded to fill a whole number of subperiods.  So if you use a report
interval (other than '--daily'), and you have specified a start or end
date, you may notice those dates being overridden (ie, the report starts
earlier than your requested start date, or ends later than your
requested end date).  This is done to ensure "full" first and last
subperiods, so that all subperiods' numbers are comparable.

   To summarise:

   * In multiperiod reports, all subperiods are forced to be the same
     length, to simplify reporting.
   * Reports with the standard
     '--weekly'/'--monthly'/'--quarterly'/'--yearly' intervals are
     required to start on the first day of a week/month/quarter/year.
     We'd like more flexibility here but it isn't supported yet.
   * '--period' (below) can specify more complex intervals, starting on
     any date.


File: hledger.info,  Node: Period expressions,  Prev: Report intervals,  Up: TIME PERIODS

4.4 Period expressions
======================

The '-p/--period' option accepts period expressions, a shorthand way of
expressing a start date, end date, and/or report interval all at once.

   Here's a basic period expression specifying the first quarter of
2009.  Note, hledger always treats start dates as inclusive and end
dates as exclusive:

'-p "from 2009/1/1 to 2009/4/1"'

   Keywords like "from" and "to" are optional, and so are the spaces, as
long as you don't run two dates together.  "to" can also be written as
".."  or "-".  These are equivalent to the above:

'-p "2009/1/1 2009/4/1"'
'-p2009/1/1to2009/4/1'
'-p2009/1/1..2009/4/1'

   Dates are smart dates, so if the current year is 2009, the above can
also be written as:

'-p "1/1 4/1"'
'-p "january-apr"'
'-p "this year to 4/1"'

   If you specify only one date, the missing start or end date will be
the earliest or latest transaction in your journal:

'-p "from 2009/1/1"'   everything after january 1, 2009
'-p "from 2009/1"'     the same
'-p "from 2009"'       the same
'-p "to 2009"'         everything before january 1, 2009

   A single date with no "from" or "to" defines both the start and end
date like so:

'-p "2009"'       the year 2009; equivalent to “2009/1/1 to 2010/1/1”
'-p "2009/1"'     the month of jan; equivalent to “2009/1/1 to 2009/2/1”
'-p "2009/1/1"'   just that day; equivalent to “2009/1/1 to 2009/1/2”

   Or you can specify a single quarter like so:

'-p "2009Q1"'   first quarter of 2009, equivalent to “2009/1/1 to 2009/4/1”
'-p "q4"'       fourth quarter of the current year

* Menu:

* Period expressions with a report interval::
* More complex report intervals::
* Intervals with custom start date::
* Periods or dates ?::
* Events on multiple weekdays::


File: hledger.info,  Node: Period expressions with a report interval,  Next: More complex report intervals,  Up: Period expressions

4.4.1 Period expressions with a report interval
-----------------------------------------------

'-p/--period''s argument can also begin with, or entirely consist of, a
report interval.  This should be separated from the start/end dates (if
any) by a space, or the word 'in'.  The basic intervals (which can also
be written as command line flags) are 'daily', 'weekly', 'monthly',
'quarterly', and 'yearly'.  Some examples:

'-p "weekly from 2009/1/1 to 2009/4/1"'
'-p "monthly in 2008"'
'-p "quarterly"'

   As mentioned above, the 'weekly', 'monthly', 'quarterly' and 'yearly'
intervals require a report start date that is the first day of a week,
month, quarter or year.  And, report start/end dates will be expanded if
needed to span a whole number of intervals.

   For example:

'-p "weekly from           starts on 2008/12/29, closest preceding
2009/1/1 to 2009/4/1"'     Monday
'-p "monthly in            starts on 2018/11/01
2008/11/25"'
'-p "quarterly from        starts on 2009/04/01, ends on 2009/06/30,
2009-05-05 to              which are first and last days of Q2 2009
2009-06-01"'
'-p "yearly from           starts on 2009/01/01, first day of 2009
2009-12-29"'


File: hledger.info,  Node: More complex report intervals,  Next: Intervals with custom start date,  Prev: Period expressions with a report interval,  Up: Period expressions

4.4.2 More complex report intervals
-----------------------------------

Some more complex kinds of interval are also supported in period
expressions:

   * 'biweekly'
   * 'fortnightly'
   * 'bimonthly'
   * 'every day|week|month|quarter|year'
   * 'every N days|weeks|months|quarters|years'

   These too will cause report start/end dates to be expanded, if
needed, to span a whole number of intervals.  Examples:

'-p "bimonthly from        periods will have boundaries on 2008/01/01,
2008"'                     2008/03/01, ...
'-p "every 2 weeks"'       starts on closest preceding Monday
'-p "every 5 month from    periods will have boundaries on 2009/03/01,
2009/03"'                  2009/08/01, ...


File: hledger.info,  Node: Intervals with custom start date,  Next: Periods or dates ?,  Prev: More complex report intervals,  Up: Period expressions

4.4.3 Intervals with custom start date
--------------------------------------

All intervals mentioned above are required to start on their natural
calendar boundaries, but the following intervals can start on any date:

   Weekly on custom day:

   * 'every Nth day of week' ('th', 'nd', 'rd', or 'st' are all accepted
     after the number)
   * 'every WEEKDAYNAME' (full or three-letter english weekday name,
     case insensitive)

   Monthly on custom day:

   * 'every Nth day [of month]'
   * 'every Nth WEEKDAYNAME [of month]'

   Yearly on custom day:

   * 'every MM/DD [of year]' (month number and day of month number)
   * 'every MONTHNAME DDth [of year]' (full or three-letter english
     month name, case insensitive, and day of month number)
   * 'every DDth MONTHNAME [of year]' (equivalent to the above)

   Examples:

'-p "every 2nd day of    periods will go from Tue to Tue
week"'
'-p "every Tue"'         same
'-p "every 15th day"'    period boundaries will be on 15th of each
                         month
'-p "every 2nd           period boundaries will be on second Monday of
Monday"'                 each month
'-p "every 11/05"'       yearly periods with boundaries on 5th of
                         November
'-p "every 5th           same
November"'
'-p "every Nov 5th"'     same

   Show historical balances at end of the 15th day of each month (N is
an end date, exclusive as always):

$ hledger balance -H -p "every 16th day"

   Group postings from the start of wednesday to end of the following
tuesday (N is both (inclusive) start date and (exclusive) end date):

$ hledger register checking -p "every 3rd day of week"


File: hledger.info,  Node: Periods or dates ?,  Next: Events on multiple weekdays,  Prev: Intervals with custom start date,  Up: Period expressions

4.4.4 Periods or dates ?
------------------------

Report intervals like the above are most often used with '-p|--period',
to divide reports into multiple subperiods - each generated date marks a
subperiod boundary.  Here, the periods between the dates are what's
important.

   But report intervals can also be used with '--forecast' to generate
future transactions, or with 'balance --budget' to generate budget
goal-setting transactions.  For these, the dates themselves are what
matters.


File: hledger.info,  Node: Events on multiple weekdays,  Prev: Periods or dates ?,  Up: Period expressions

4.4.5 Events on multiple weekdays
---------------------------------

The 'every WEEKDAYNAME' form has a special variant with multiple day
names, comma-separated.  Eg: 'every mon,thu,sat'.  Also, 'weekday' and
'weekendday' are shorthand for 'mon,tue,wed,thu,fri' and 'sat,sun'
respectively.

   This form is mainly intended for use with '--forecast', to generate
periodic transactions on arbitrary days of the week.  It may be less
useful with '-p', since it divides each week into subperiods of unequal
length.  (Because gaps between periods are not allowed; if you'd like to
change this, see #1632.)

   Examples:

'-p "every         dates will be Mon, Wed, Fri; periods will be
mon,wed,fri"'      Mon-Tue, Wed-Thu, Fri-Sun
'-p "every         dates will be Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri; periods will
weekday"'          be Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri-Sun
'-p "every         dates will be Sat, Sun; periods will be Sat, Sun-Fri
weekendday"'


File: hledger.info,  Node: DEPTH,  Next: QUERIES,  Prev: TIME PERIODS,  Up: Top

5 DEPTH
*******

With the '--depth NUM' option (short form: '-NUM'), commands like
account, balance and register will show only the uppermost accounts in
the account tree, down to level NUM. Use this when you want a summary
with less detail.  This flag has the same effect as a 'depth:' query
argument: 'depth:2', '--depth=2' or '-2' are equivalent.


File: hledger.info,  Node: QUERIES,  Next: COSTING,  Prev: DEPTH,  Up: Top

6 QUERIES
*********

One of hledger's strengths is being able to quickly report on a precise
subset of your data.  Most hledger commands accept optional query
arguments to restrict their scope.  The syntax is as follows:

   * Zero or more space-separated query terms.  These are most often
     account name substrings:

     'utilities food:groceries'

   * Terms with spaces or other special characters should be enclosed in
     quotes:

     '"personal care"'

   * Regular expressions are also supported:

     '"^expenses\b" "accounts (payable|receivable)"'

   * Add a query type prefix to match other parts of the data:

     'date:202012- desc:amazon cur:USD amt:">100" status:'

   * Add a 'not:' prefix to negate a term:

     'not:cur:USD'

* Menu:

* Query types::
* Combining query terms::
* Queries and command options::
* Queries and account aliases::
* Queries and valuation::
* Querying with account aliases::
* Querying with cost or value::


File: hledger.info,  Node: Query types,  Next: Combining query terms,  Up: QUERIES

6.1 Query types
===============

Here are the types of query term available.  Remember these can also be
prefixed with *'not:'* to convert them into a negative match.

   *'acct:REGEX', 'REGEX'*
Match account names containing this (case insensitive) regular
expression.  This is the default query type when there is no prefix, and
regular expression syntax is typically not needed, so usually we just
write an account name substring, like 'expenses' or 'food'.

   *'amt:N, amt:<N, amt:<=N, amt:>N, amt:>=N'*
Match postings with a single-commodity amount equal to, less than, or
greater than N. (Postings with multi-commodity amounts are not tested
and will always match.)  The comparison has two modes: if N is preceded
by a + or - sign (or is 0), the two signed numbers are compared.
Otherwise, the absolute magnitudes are compared, ignoring sign.

   *'code:REGEX'*
Match by transaction code (eg check number).

   *'cur:REGEX'*
Match postings or transactions including any amounts whose
currency/commodity symbol is fully matched by REGEX. (For a partial
match, use '.*REGEX.*').  Note, to match special characters which are
regex-significant, you need to escape them with '\'.  And for characters
which are significant to your shell you may need one more level of
escaping.  So eg to match the dollar sign:
'hledger print cur:\\$'.

   *'desc:REGEX'*
Match transaction descriptions.

   *'date:PERIODEXPR'*
Match dates (or with the '--date2' flag, secondary dates) within the
specified period.  PERIODEXPR is a period expression with no report
interval.  Examples:
'date:2016', 'date:thismonth', 'date:2/1-2/15',
'date:2021-07-27..nextquarter'.

   *'date2:PERIODEXPR'*
Match secondary dates within the specified period (independent of the
'--date2' flag).

   *'depth:N'*
Match (or display, depending on command) accounts at or above this
depth.

   *'note:REGEX'*
Match transaction notes (the part of the description right of '|', or
the whole description if there's no '|').

   *'payee:REGEX'*
Match transaction payee/payer names (the part of the description left of
'|', or the whole description if there's no '|').

   *'real:, real:0'*
Match real or virtual postings respectively.

   *'status:, status:!, status:*'*
Match unmarked, pending, or cleared transactions respectively.

   *'tag:REGEX[=REGEX]'*
Match by tag name, and optionally also by tag value.  (To match only by
value, use 'tag:.=REGEX'.)  Note that postings also inherit tags from
their transaction, and transactions also acquire tags from their
postings, when querying.

   (*'inacct:ACCTNAME'*
A special query term used automatically in hledger-web only: tells
hledger-web to show the transaction register for an account.)


File: hledger.info,  Node: Combining query terms,  Next: Queries and command options,  Prev: Query types,  Up: QUERIES

6.2 Combining query terms
=========================

Most commands select things which match:

   * any of the description terms AND
   * any of the account terms AND
   * any of the status terms AND
   * all the other terms.

   while the print command shows transactions which:

   * match any of the description terms AND
   * have any postings matching any of the positive account terms AND
   * have no postings matching any of the negative account terms AND
   * match all the other terms.

   You can do more powerful queries (such as AND-ing two like terms) by
running a first query with 'print', and piping the result into a second
hledger command.  Eg: how much of food expenses was paid with cash ?

$ hledger print assets:cash | hledger -f- -I balance expenses:food

   If you are interested in full boolean expressions for queries, see
#203.


File: hledger.info,  Node: Queries and command options,  Next: Queries and account aliases,  Prev: Combining query terms,  Up: QUERIES

6.3 Queries and command options
===============================

Some queries can also be expressed as command-line options: 'depth:2' is
equivalent to '--depth 2', 'date:2020' is equivalent to '-p 2020', etc.
When you mix command options and query arguments, generally the
resulting query is their intersection.


File: hledger.info,  Node: Queries and account aliases,  Next: Queries and valuation,  Prev: Queries and command options,  Up: QUERIES

6.4 Queries and account aliases
===============================

When account names are rewritten with '--alias' or 'alias', 'acct:' will
match either the old or the new account name.


File: hledger.info,  Node: Queries and valuation,  Next: Querying with account aliases,  Prev: Queries and account aliases,  Up: QUERIES

6.5 Queries and valuation
=========================

When amounts are converted to other commodities in cost or value
reports, 'cur:' and 'amt:' match the old commodity symbol and the old
amount quantity, not the new ones (except in hledger 1.22.0 where it's
reversed, see #1625).


File: hledger.info,  Node: Querying with account aliases,  Next: Querying with cost or value,  Prev: Queries and valuation,  Up: QUERIES

6.6 Querying with account aliases
=================================

When account names are rewritten with '--alias' or 'alias', note that
'acct:' will match either the old or the new account name.


File: hledger.info,  Node: Querying with cost or value,  Prev: Querying with account aliases,  Up: QUERIES

6.7 Querying with cost or value
===============================

When amounts are converted to other commodities in cost or value
reports, note that 'cur:' matches the new commodity symbol, and not the
old one, and 'amt:' matches the new quantity, and not the old one.
Note: this changed in hledger 1.22, previously it was the reverse, see
the discussion at #1625.


File: hledger.info,  Node: COSTING,  Next: VALUATION,  Prev: QUERIES,  Up: Top

7 COSTING
*********

The '-B/--cost' flag converts amounts to their cost or sale amount at
transaction time, if they have a transaction price specified.  If this
flag is supplied, hledger will perform cost conversion first, and will
apply any market price valuations (if requested) afterwards.


File: hledger.info,  Node: VALUATION,  Next: PIVOTING,  Prev: COSTING,  Up: Top

8 VALUATION
***********

Instead of reporting amounts in their original commodity, hledger can
convert them to cost/sale amount (using the conversion rate recorded in
the transaction), and/or to market value (using some market price on a
certain date).  This is controlled by the '--value=TYPE[,COMMODITY]'
option, which will be described below.  We also provide the simpler '-V'
and '-X COMMODITY' options, and often one of these is all you need:

* Menu:

* -V Value::
* -X Value in specified commodity::
* Valuation date::
* Market prices::
* --infer-market-prices market prices from transactions::
* Valuation commodity::
* Simple valuation examples::
* --value Flexible valuation::
* More valuation examples::
* Effect of valuation on reports::


File: hledger.info,  Node: -V Value,  Next: -X Value in specified commodity,  Up: VALUATION

8.1 -V: Value
=============

The '-V/--market' flag converts amounts to market value in their default
_valuation commodity_, using the market prices in effect on the
_valuation date(s)_, if any.  More on these in a minute.


File: hledger.info,  Node: -X Value in specified commodity,  Next: Valuation date,  Prev: -V Value,  Up: VALUATION

8.2 -X: Value in specified commodity
====================================

The '-X/--exchange=COMM' option is like '-V', except you tell it which
currency you want to convert to, and it tries to convert everything to
that.


File: hledger.info,  Node: Valuation date,  Next: Market prices,  Prev: -X Value in specified commodity,  Up: VALUATION

8.3 Valuation date
==================

Since market prices can change from day to day, market value reports
have a valuation date (or more than one), which determines which market
prices will be used.

   For single period reports, if an explicit report end date is
specified, that will be used as the valuation date; otherwise the
valuation date is the journal's end date.

   For multiperiod reports, each column/period is valued on the last day
of the period, by default.


File: hledger.info,  Node: Market prices,  Next: --infer-market-prices market prices from transactions,  Prev: Valuation date,  Up: VALUATION

8.4 Market prices
=================

To convert a commodity A to its market value in another commodity B,
hledger looks for a suitable market price (exchange rate) as follows, in
this order of preference :

  1. A _declared market price_ or _inferred market price_: A's latest
     market price in B on or before the valuation date as declared by a
     P directive, or (with the '--infer-market-prices' flag) inferred
     from transaction prices.

  2. A _reverse market price_: the inverse of a declared or inferred
     market price from B to A.

  3. A _forward chain of market prices_: a synthetic price formed by
     combining the shortest chain of "forward" (only 1 above) market
     prices, leading from A to B.

  4. _Any chain of market prices_: a chain of any market prices,
     including both forward and reverse prices (1 and 2 above), leading
     from A to B.

   There is a limit to the length of these price chains; if hledger
reaches that length without finding a complete chain or exhausting all
possibilities, it will give up (with a "gave up" message visible in
'--debug=2' output).  That limit is currently 1000.

   Amounts for which no suitable market price can be found, are not
converted.


File: hledger.info,  Node: --infer-market-prices market prices from transactions,  Next: Valuation commodity,  Prev: Market prices,  Up: VALUATION

8.5 -infer-market-prices: market prices from transactions
=========================================================

Normally, market value in hledger is fully controlled by, and requires,
P directives in your journal.  Since adding and updating those can be a
chore, and since transactions usually take place at close to market
value, why not use the recorded transaction prices as additional market
prices (as Ledger does) ?  We could produce value reports without
needing P directives at all.

   Adding the '--infer-market-prices' flag to '-V', '-X' or '--value'
enables this.  So for example, 'hledger bs -V --infer-market-prices'
will get market prices both from P directives and from transactions.
(And if both occur on the same day, the P directive takes precedence).

   There is a downside: value reports can sometimes be affected in
confusing/undesired ways by your journal entries.  If this happens to
you, read all of this Valuation section carefully, and try adding
'--debug' or '--debug=2' to troubleshoot.

   '--infer-market-prices' can infer market prices from:

   * multicommodity transactions with explicit prices ('@'/'@@')

   * multicommodity transactions with implicit prices (no '@', two
     commodities, unbalanced).  (With these, the order of postings
     matters.  'hledger print -x' can be useful for troubleshooting.)

   * but not, currently, from "more correct" multicommodity transactions
     (no '@', multiple commodities, balanced).


File: hledger.info,  Node: Valuation commodity,  Next: Simple valuation examples,  Prev: --infer-market-prices market prices from transactions,  Up: VALUATION

8.6 Valuation commodity
=======================

*When you specify a valuation commodity ('-X COMM' or '--value
TYPE,COMM'):*
hledger will convert all amounts to COMM, wherever it can find a
suitable market price (including by reversing or chaining prices).

   *When you leave the valuation commodity unspecified ('-V' or '--value
TYPE'):*
For each commodity A, hledger picks a default valuation commodity as
follows, in this order of preference:

  1. The price commodity from the latest P-declared market price for A
     on or before valuation date.

  2. The price commodity from the latest P-declared market price for A
     on any date.  (Allows conversion to proceed when there are inferred
     prices before the valuation date.)

  3. If there are no P directives at all (any commodity or date) and the
     '--infer-market-prices' flag is used: the price commodity from the
     latest transaction-inferred price for A on or before valuation
     date.

   This means:

   * If you have P directives, they determine which commodities '-V'
     will convert, and to what.

   * If you have no P directives, and use the '--infer-market-prices'
     flag, transaction prices determine it.

   Amounts for which no valuation commodity can be found are not
converted.


File: hledger.info,  Node: Simple valuation examples,  Next: --value Flexible valuation,  Prev: Valuation commodity,  Up: VALUATION

8.7 Simple valuation examples
=============================

Here are some quick examples of '-V':

; one euro is worth this many dollars from nov 1
P 2016/11/01 € $1.10

; purchase some euros on nov 3
2016/11/3
    assets:euros        €100
    assets:checking

; the euro is worth fewer dollars by dec 21
P 2016/12/21 € $1.03

   How many euros do I have ?

$ hledger -f t.j bal -N euros
                €100  assets:euros

   What are they worth at end of nov 3 ?

$ hledger -f t.j bal -N euros -V -e 2016/11/4
             $110.00  assets:euros

   What are they worth after 2016/12/21 ?  (no report end date
specified, defaults to today)

$ hledger -f t.j bal -N euros -V
             $103.00  assets:euros


File: hledger.info,  Node: --value Flexible valuation,  Next: More valuation examples,  Prev: Simple valuation examples,  Up: VALUATION

8.8 -value: Flexible valuation
==============================

'-V' and '-X' are special cases of the more general '--value' option:

 --value=TYPE[,COMM]  TYPE is then, end, now or YYYY-MM-DD.
                      COMM is an optional commodity symbol.
                      Shows amounts converted to:
                      - default valuation commodity (or COMM) using market prices at posting dates
                      - default valuation commodity (or COMM) using market prices at period end(s)
                      - default valuation commodity (or COMM) using current market prices
                      - default valuation commodity (or COMM) using market prices at some date

   The TYPE part selects cost or value and valuation date:

'--value=then'

     Convert amounts to their value in the default valuation commodity,
     using market prices on each posting's date.
'--value=end'

     Convert amounts to their value in the default valuation commodity,
     using market prices on the last day of the report period (or if
     unspecified, the journal's end date); or in multiperiod reports,
     market prices on the last day of each subperiod.
'--value=now'

     Convert amounts to their value in the default valuation commodity
     using current market prices (as of when report is generated).
'--value=YYYY-MM-DD'

     Convert amounts to their value in the default valuation commodity
     using market prices on this date.

   To select a different valuation commodity, add the optional ',COMM'
part: a comma, then the target commodity's symbol.  Eg:
*'--value=now,EUR'*.  hledger will do its best to convert amounts to
this commodity, deducing market prices as described above.


File: hledger.info,  Node: More valuation examples,  Next: Effect of valuation on reports,  Prev: --value Flexible valuation,  Up: VALUATION

8.9 More valuation examples
===========================

Here are some examples showing the effect of '--value', as seen with
'print':

P 2000-01-01 A  1 B
P 2000-02-01 A  2 B
P 2000-03-01 A  3 B
P 2000-04-01 A  4 B

2000-01-01
  (a)      1 A @ 5 B

2000-02-01
  (a)      1 A @ 6 B

2000-03-01
  (a)      1 A @ 7 B

   Show the cost of each posting:

$ hledger -f- print --cost
2000-01-01
    (a)             5 B

2000-02-01
    (a)             6 B

2000-03-01
    (a)             7 B

   Show the value as of the last day of the report period (2000-02-29):

$ hledger -f- print --value=end date:2000/01-2000/03
2000-01-01
    (a)             2 B

2000-02-01
    (a)             2 B

   With no report period specified, that shows the value as of the last
day of the journal (2000-03-01):

$ hledger -f- print --value=end
2000-01-01
    (a)             3 B

2000-02-01
    (a)             3 B

2000-03-01
    (a)             3 B

   Show the current value (the 2000-04-01 price is still in effect
today):

$ hledger -f- print --value=now
2000-01-01
    (a)             4 B

2000-02-01
    (a)             4 B

2000-03-01
    (a)             4 B

   Show the value on 2000/01/15:

$ hledger -f- print --value=2000-01-15
2000-01-01
    (a)             1 B

2000-02-01
    (a)             1 B

2000-03-01
    (a)             1 B

   You may need to explicitly set a commodity's display style, when
reverse prices are used.  Eg this output might be surprising:

P 2000-01-01 A 2B

2000-01-01
  a  1B
  b

$ hledger print -x -X A
2000-01-01
    a               0
    b               0

   Explanation: because there's no amount or commodity directive
specifying a display style for A, 0.5A gets the default style, which
shows no decimal digits.  Because the displayed amount looks like zero,
the commodity symbol and minus sign are not displayed either.  Adding a
commodity directive sets a more useful display style for A:

P 2000-01-01 A 2B
commodity 0.00A

2000-01-01
  a  1B
  b

$ hledger print -X A
2000-01-01
    a           0.50A
    b          -0.50A


File: hledger.info,  Node: Effect of valuation on reports,  Prev: More valuation examples,  Up: VALUATION

8.10 Effect of valuation on reports
===================================

Here is a reference for how valuation is supposed to affect each part of
hledger's reports (and a glossary).  (It's wide, you'll have to scroll
sideways.)  It may be useful when troubleshooting.  If you find
problems, please report them, ideally with a reproducible example.
Related: #329, #1083.

Report     '-B',        '-V', '-X'   '--value=then'     '--value=end''--value=DATE',
type       '--cost'                                                  '--value=now'
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*print*
posting    cost         value at     value at posting   value at     value
amounts                 report end   date               report or    at
                        or today                        journal      DATE/today
                                                        end
balance    unchanged    unchanged    unchanged          unchanged    unchanged
assertions/assignments
*register*
starting   cost         value at     valued at day      value at     value
balance                 day before   each historical    day before   at
(-H)                    report or    posting was made   report or    DATE/today
                        journal                         journal
                        start                           start
posting    cost         value at     value at posting   value at     value
amounts                 report end   date               report or    at
                        or today                        journal      DATE/today
                                                        end
summary    summarised   value at     sum of postings    value at     value
posting    cost         period       in interval,       period       at
amounts                 ends         valued at          ends         DATE/today
with                                 interval start
report
interval
running    sum/average  sum/average  sum/average of     sum/average  sum/average
total/averageof         of           displayed values   of           of
           displayed    displayed                       displayed    displayed
           values       values                          values       values
*balance
(bs,
bse, cf,
is)*
balance    sums of      value at     value at posting   value at     value
changes    costs        report end   date               report or    at
                        or today                        journal      DATE/today
                        of sums of                      end of       of
                        postings                        sums of      sums
                                                        postings     of
                                                                     postings
budget     like         like         like balance       like         like
amounts    balance      balance      changes            balances     balance
(-budget)  changes      changes                                      changes
grand      sum of       sum of       sum of displayed   sum of       sum of
total      displayed    displayed    valued             displayed    displayed
           values       values                          values       values
*balance
(bs,
bse, cf,
is) with
report
interval*
starting   sums of      value at     sums of values     value at     sums
balances   costs of     report       of postings        report       of
(-H)       postings     start of     before report      start of     postings
           before       sums of      start at           sums of      before
           report       all          respective         all          report
           start        postings     posting dates      postings     start
                        before                          before
                        report                          report
                        start                           start
balance    sums of      same as      sums of values     balance      value
changes    costs of     -value=end   of postings in     change in    at
(bal,      postings                  period at          each         DATE/today
is, bs     in period                 respective         period,      of
-change,                             posting dates      valued at    sums
cf                                                      period       of
-change)                                                ends         postings
end        sums of      same as      sums of values     period end   value
balances   costs of     -value=end   of postings from   balances,    at
(bal -H,   postings                  before period      valued at    DATE/today
is -H,     from                      start to period    period       of
bs, cf)    before                    end at             ends         sums
           report                    respective                      of
           start to                  posting dates                   postings
           period end
budget     like         like         like balance       like         like
amounts    balance      balance      changes/end        balances     balance
(-budget)  changes/end  changes/end  balances                        changes/end
           balances     balances                                     balances
row        sums,        sums,        sums, averages     sums,        sums,
totals,    averages     averages     of displayed       averages     averages
row        of           of           values             of           of
averages   displayed    displayed                       displayed    displayed
(-T, -A)   values       values                          values       values
column     sums of      sums of      sums of            sums of      sums
totals     displayed    displayed    displayed values   displayed    of
           values       values                          values       displayed
                                                                     values
grand      sum,         sum,         sum, average of    sum,         sum,
total,     average of   average of   column totals      average of   average
grand      column       column                          column       of
average    totals       totals                          totals       column
                                                                     totals

   '--cumulative' is omitted to save space, it works like '-H' but with
a zero starting balance.

   *Glossary:*

_cost_

     calculated using price(s) recorded in the transaction(s).
_value_

     market value using available market price declarations, or the
     unchanged amount if no conversion rate can be found.
_report start_

     the first day of the report period specified with -b or -p or
     date:, otherwise today.
_report or journal start_

     the first day of the report period specified with -b or -p or
     date:, otherwise the earliest transaction date in the journal,
     otherwise today.
_report end_

     the last day of the report period specified with -e or -p or date:,
     otherwise today.
_report or journal end_

     the last day of the report period specified with -e or -p or date:,
     otherwise the latest transaction date in the journal, otherwise
     today.
_report interval_

     a flag (-D/-W/-M/-Q/-Y) or period expression that activates the
     report's multi-period mode (whether showing one or many
     subperiods).


File: hledger.info,  Node: PIVOTING,  Next: OUTPUT,  Prev: VALUATION,  Up: Top

9 PIVOTING
**********

Normally hledger sums amounts, and organizes them in a hierarchy, based
on account name.  The '--pivot FIELD' option causes it to sum and
organize hierarchy based on the value of some other field instead.
FIELD can be: 'code', 'description', 'payee', 'note', or the full name
(case insensitive) of any tag.  As with account names, values containing
'colon:separated:parts' will be displayed hierarchically in reports.

   '--pivot' is a general option affecting all reports; you can think of
hledger transforming the journal before any other processing, replacing
every posting's account name with the value of the specified field on
that posting, inheriting it from the transaction or using a blank value
if it's not present.

   An example:

2016/02/16 Member Fee Payment
    assets:bank account                    2 EUR
    income:member fees                    -2 EUR  ; member: John Doe

   Normal balance report showing account names:

$ hledger balance
               2 EUR  assets:bank account
              -2 EUR  income:member fees
--------------------
                   0

   Pivoted balance report, using member: tag values instead:

$ hledger balance --pivot member
               2 EUR
              -2 EUR  John Doe
--------------------
                   0

   One way to show only amounts with a member: value (using a query,
described below):

$ hledger balance --pivot member tag:member=.
              -2 EUR  John Doe
--------------------
              -2 EUR

   Another way (the acct: query matches against the pivoted "account
name"):

$ hledger balance --pivot member acct:.
              -2 EUR  John Doe
--------------------
              -2 EUR


File: hledger.info,  Node: OUTPUT,  Next: COMMANDS,  Prev: PIVOTING,  Up: Top

10 OUTPUT
*********

* Menu:

* Output destination::
* Output styling::
* Output format::
* Commodity styles::


File: hledger.info,  Node: Output destination,  Next: Output styling,  Up: OUTPUT

10.1 Output destination
=======================

hledger commands send their output to the terminal by default.  You can
of course redirect this, eg into a file, using standard shell syntax:

$ hledger print > foo.txt

   Some commands (print, register, stats, the balance commands) also
provide the '-o/--output-file' option, which does the same thing without
needing the shell.  Eg:

$ hledger print -o foo.txt
$ hledger print -o -        # write to stdout (the default)

   hledger can optionally produce debug output (if enabled with
'--debug=N'); this goes to stderr, and is not affected by
'-o/--output-file'.  If you need to capture it, use shell redirects, eg:
'hledger bal --debug=3 >file 2>&1'.


File: hledger.info,  Node: Output styling,  Next: Output format,  Prev: Output destination,  Up: OUTPUT

10.2 Output styling
===================

hledger commands can produce colour output when the terminal supports
it.  This is controlled by the '--color/--colour' option: - if the
'--color/--colour' option is given a value of 'yes' or 'always' (or 'no'
or 'never'), colour will (or will not) be used; - otherwise, if the
'NO_COLOR' environment variable is set, colour will not be used; -
otherwise, colour will be used if the output (terminal or file) supports
it.

   hledger commands can also use unicode box-drawing characters to
produce prettier tables and output.  This is controlled by the
'--pretty' option: - if the '--pretty' option is given a value of 'yes'
or 'always' (or 'no' or 'never'), unicode characters will (or will not)
be used; - otherwise, unicode characters will not be used.


File: hledger.info,  Node: Output format,  Next: Commodity styles,  Prev: Output styling,  Up: OUTPUT

10.3 Output format
==================

Some commands (print, register, the balance commands) offer a choice of
output format.  In addition to the usual plain text format ('txt'),
there are CSV ('csv'), HTML ('html'), JSON ('json') and SQL ('sql').
This is controlled by the '-O/--output-format' option:

$ hledger print -O csv

   or, by a file extension specified with '-o/--output-file':

$ hledger balancesheet -o foo.html   # write HTML to foo.html

   The '-O' option can be used to override the file extension if needed:

$ hledger balancesheet -o foo.txt -O html   # write HTML to foo.txt

   Some notes about JSON output:

   * This feature is marked experimental, and not yet much used; you
     should expect our JSON to evolve.  Real-world feedback is welcome.

   * Our JSON is rather large and verbose, as it is quite a faithful
     representation of hledger's internal data types.  To understand the
     JSON, read the Haskell type definitions, which are mostly in
     https://github.com/simonmichael/hledger/blob/master/hledger-lib/Hledger/Data/Types.hs.

   * hledger represents quantities as Decimal values storing up to 255
     significant digits, eg for repeating decimals.  Such numbers can
     arise in practice (from automatically-calculated transaction
     prices), and would break most JSON consumers.  So in JSON, we show
     quantities as simple Numbers with at most 10 decimal places.  We
     don't limit the number of integer digits, but that part is under
     your control.  We hope this approach will not cause problems in
     practice; if you find otherwise, please let us know.  (Cf #1195)

   Notes about SQL output:

   * SQL output is also marked experimental, and much like JSON could
     use real-world feedback.

   * SQL output is expected to work with sqlite, MySQL and PostgreSQL

   * SQL output is structured with the expectations that statements will
     be executed in the empty database.  If you already have tables
     created via SQL output of hledger, you would probably want to
     either clear tables of existing data (via 'delete' or 'truncate'
     SQL statements) or drop tables completely as otherwise your
     postings will be duped.


File: hledger.info,  Node: Commodity styles,  Prev: Output format,  Up: OUTPUT

10.4 Commodity styles
=====================

The display style of a commodity/currency is inferred according to the
rules described in Commodity display style.  The inferred display style
can be overridden by an optional '-c/--commodity-style' option
(Exceptions: as is the case for inferred styles, price amounts, and all
amounts displayed by the 'print' command, will be displayed with all of
their decimal digits visible, regardless of the specified precision).
For example, the following will override the display style for dollars.

$ hledger print -c '$1.000,0'

   The format specification of the style is identical to the commodity
display style specification for the commodity directive.  The command
line option can be supplied repeatedly to override the display style for
multiple commodity/currency symbols.


File: hledger.info,  Node: COMMANDS,  Next: JOURNAL FORMAT,  Prev: OUTPUT,  Up: Top

11 COMMANDS
***********

hledger provides a number of commands for producing reports and managing
your data.  Run 'hledger' with no arguments to list the commands
available, and 'hledger CMD' to run a command.  CMD can be the full
command name, or its standard abbreviation shown in the commands list,
or any unambiguous prefix of the name.  Eg: 'hledger bal'.

   Here are the built-in commands, with the most often-used in bold:

   *Data entry:*

   These data entry commands are the only ones which can modify your
journal file.

   * *add* - add transactions using guided prompts
   * *import* - add any new transactions from other files (eg csv)

   *Data management:*

   * check - check for various kinds of issue in the data
   * close (equity) - generate balance-resetting transactions
   * diff - compare account transactions in two journal files
   * rewrite - generate extra postings, similar to print -auto

   *Financial statements:*

   * *aregister (areg)* - show transactions in a particular account
   * *balancesheet (bs)* - show assets, liabilities and net worth
   * balancesheetequity (bse) - show assets, liabilities and equity
   * cashflow (cf) - show changes in liquid assets
   * *incomestatement (is)* - show revenues and expenses
   * roi - show return on investments

   *Miscellaneous reports:*

   * accounts - show account names
   * activity - show postings-per-interval bar charts
   * *balance (bal)* - show balance changes/end balances/budgets in any
     accounts
   * codes - show transaction codes
   * commodities - show commodity/currency symbols
   * descriptions - show unique transaction descriptions
   * files - show input file paths
   * help - show hledger user manuals in several formats
   * notes - show unique note segments of transaction descriptions
   * payees - show unique payee segments of transaction descriptions
   * prices - show market price records
   * *print* - show transactions (journal entries)
   * print-unique - show only transactions with unique descriptions
   * *register (reg)* - show postings in one or more accounts & running
     total
   * register-match - show a recent posting that best matches a
     description
   * stats - show journal statistics
   * tags - show tag names
   * test - run self tests

   *Add-on commands:*

   Programs or scripts named 'hledger-SOMETHING' in your PATH are add-on
commands; these appear in the commands list with a '+' mark.  Two of
these are maintained and released with hledger:

   * *ui* - an efficient terminal interface (TUI) for hledger
   * *web* - a simple web interface (WUI) for hledger

   And these add-ons are maintained separately:

   * iadd - a more interactive alternative for the add command
   * interest - generates interest transactions according to various
     schemes
   * stockquotes - downloads market prices for your commodities from
     AlphaVantage _(experimental)_

   Next, the detailed command docs, in alphabetical order.

* Menu:

* accounts::
* activity::
* add::
* aregister::
* balance::
* balancesheet::
* balancesheetequity::
* cashflow::
* check::
* close::
* codes::
* commodities::
* descriptions::
* diff::
* files::
* help::
* import::
* incomestatement::
* notes::
* payees::
* prices::
* print::
* print-unique::
* register::
* register-match::
* rewrite::
* roi::
* stats::
* tags::
* test::
* About add-on commands::


File: hledger.info,  Node: accounts,  Next: activity,  Up: COMMANDS

11.1 accounts
=============

accounts
Show account names.

   This command lists account names, either declared with account
directives (-declared), posted to (-used), or both (the default).  With
query arguments, only matched account names and account names referenced
by matched postings are shown.  It shows a flat list by default.  With
'--tree', it uses indentation to show the account hierarchy.  In flat
mode you can add '--drop N' to omit the first few account name
components.  Account names can be depth-clipped with 'depth:N' or
'--depth N' or '-N'.

   Examples:

$ hledger accounts
assets:bank:checking
assets:bank:saving
assets:cash
expenses:food
expenses:supplies
income:gifts
income:salary
liabilities:debts


File: hledger.info,  Node: activity,  Next: add,  Prev: accounts,  Up: COMMANDS

11.2 activity
=============

activity
Show an ascii barchart of posting counts per interval.

   The activity command displays an ascii histogram showing transaction
counts by day, week, month or other reporting interval (by day is the
default).  With query arguments, it counts only matched transactions.

   Examples:

$ hledger activity --quarterly
2008-01-01 **
2008-04-01 *******
2008-07-01 
2008-10-01 **


File: hledger.info,  Node: add,  Next: aregister,  Prev: activity,  Up: COMMANDS

11.3 add
========

add
Prompt for transactions and add them to the journal.  Any arguments will
be used as default inputs for the first N prompts.

   Many hledger users edit their journals directly with a text editor,
or generate them from CSV. For more interactive data entry, there is the
'add' command, which prompts interactively on the console for new
transactions, and appends them to the journal file (if there are
multiple '-f FILE' options, the first file is used.)  Existing
transactions are not changed.  This is the only hledger command that
writes to the journal file.

   To use it, just run 'hledger add' and follow the prompts.  You can
add as many transactions as you like; when you are finished, enter '.'
or press control-d or control-c to exit.

   Features:

   * add tries to provide useful defaults, using the most similar (by
     description) recent transaction (filtered by the query, if any) as
     a template.
   * You can also set the initial defaults with command line arguments.
   * Readline-style edit keys can be used during data entry.
   * The tab key will auto-complete whenever possible - accounts,
     descriptions, dates ('yesterday', 'today', 'tomorrow').  If the
     input area is empty, it will insert the default value.
   * If the journal defines a default commodity, it will be added to any
     bare numbers entered.
   * A parenthesised transaction code may be entered following a date.
   * Comments and tags may be entered following a description or amount.
   * If you make a mistake, enter '<' at any prompt to go one step
     backward.
   * Input prompts are displayed in a different colour when the terminal
     supports it.

   Example (see the tutorial for a detailed explanation):

$ hledger add
Adding transactions to journal file /src/hledger/examples/sample.journal
Any command line arguments will be used as defaults.
Use tab key to complete, readline keys to edit, enter to accept defaults.
An optional (CODE) may follow transaction dates.
An optional ; COMMENT may follow descriptions or amounts.
If you make a mistake, enter < at any prompt to go one step backward.
To end a transaction, enter . when prompted.
To quit, enter . at a date prompt or press control-d or control-c.
Date [2015/05/22]: 
Description: supermarket
Account 1: expenses:food
Amount  1: $10
Account 2: assets:checking
Amount  2 [$-10.0]: 
Account 3 (or . or enter to finish this transaction): .
2015/05/22 supermarket
    expenses:food             $10
    assets:checking        $-10.0

Save this transaction to the journal ? [y]: 
Saved.
Starting the next transaction (. or ctrl-D/ctrl-C to quit)
Date [2015/05/22]: <CTRL-D> $

   On Microsoft Windows, the add command makes sure that no part of the
file path ends with a period, as that would cause problems (#1056).


File: hledger.info,  Node: aregister,  Next: balance,  Prev: add,  Up: COMMANDS

11.4 aregister
==============

aregister, areg

   Show the transactions and running historical balance of a single
account, with each transaction displayed as one line.

   'aregister' shows the overall transactions affecting a particular
account (and any subaccounts).  Each report line represents one
transaction in this account.  Transactions before the report start date
are always included in the running balance ('--historical' mode is
always on).

   This is a more "real world", bank-like view than the 'register'
command (which shows individual postings, possibly from multiple
accounts, not necessarily in historical mode).  As a quick rule of
thumb: - use 'aregister' for reviewing and reconciling real-world
asset/liability accounts - use 'register' for reviewing detailed
revenues/expenses.

   'aregister' requires one argument: the account to report on.  You can
write either the full account name, or a case-insensitive regular
expression which will select the alphabetically first matched account.
(Eg if you have 'assets:aaa:checking' and 'assets:bbb:checking'
accounts, 'hledger areg checking' would select 'assets:aaa:checking'.)

   Transactions involving subaccounts of this account will also be
shown.  'aregister' ignores depth limits, so its final total will always
match a balance report with similar arguments.

   Any additional arguments form a query which will filter the
transactions shown.  Note some queries will disturb the running balance,
causing it to be different from the account's real-world running
balance.

   An example: this shows the transactions and historical running
balance during july, in the first account whose name contains
"checking":

$ hledger areg checking date:jul

   Each 'aregister' line item shows:

   * the transaction's date (or the relevant posting's date if
     different, see below)
   * the names of all the other account(s) involved in this transaction
     (probably abbreviated)
   * the total change to this account's balance from this transaction
   * the account's historical running balance after this transaction.

   Transactions making a net change of zero are not shown by default;
add the '-E/--empty' flag to show them.

   This command also supports the output destination and output format
options.  The output formats supported are 'txt', 'csv', and 'json'.

* Menu:

* aregister and custom posting dates::


File: hledger.info,  Node: aregister and custom posting dates,  Up: aregister

11.4.1 aregister and custom posting dates
-----------------------------------------

Transactions whose date is outside the report period can still be shown,
if they have a posting to this account dated inside the report period.
(And in this case it's the posting date that is shown.)  This ensures
that 'aregister' can show an accurate historical running balance,
matching the one shown by 'register -H' with the same arguments.

   To filter strictly by transaction date instead, add the '--txn-dates'
flag.  If you use this flag and some of your postings have custom dates,
it's probably best to assume the running balance is wrong.


File: hledger.info,  Node: balance,  Next: balancesheet,  Prev: aregister,  Up: COMMANDS

11.5 balance
============

balance, bal
Show accounts and their balances.

   'balance' is one of hledger's oldest and most versatile commands, for
listing account balances, balance changes, values, value changes and
more, during one time period or many.  Generally it shows a table, with
rows representing accounts, and columns representing periods.

   Note there are some higher-level variants of the 'balance' command
with convenient defaults, which can be simpler to use: 'balancesheet',
'balancesheetequity', 'cashflow' and 'incomestatement'.  When you need
more control, then use 'balance'.

* Menu:

* balance features::
* Simple balance report::
* Filtered balance report::
* List or tree mode::
* Depth limiting::
* Dropping top-level accounts::
* Multi-period balance report::
* Commodity column::
* Sorting by amount::
* Percentages::
* Balance change end balance::
* Balance report types::
* Useful balance reports::
* Budget report::
* Customising single-period balance reports::


File: hledger.info,  Node: balance features,  Next: Simple balance report,  Up: balance

11.5.1 balance features
-----------------------

Here's a quick overview of the 'balance' command's features, followed by
more detailed descriptions and examples.  Many of these work with the
higher-level commands as well.

   'balance' can show..

   * accounts as a list ('-l') or a tree ('-t')
   * optionally depth-limited ('-[1-9]')
   * sorted by declaration order and name, or by amount

   ..and their..

   * balance changes (the default)
   * or actual and planned balance changes ('--budget')
   * or value of balance changes ('-V')
   * or change of balance values ('--valuechange')
   * or unrealised capital gain/loss ('--gain')

   ..in..

   * one time period (the whole journal period by default)
   * or multiple periods ('-D', '-W', '-M', '-Q', '-Y', '-p INTERVAL')

   ..either..

   * per period (the default)
   * or accumulated since report start date ('--cumulative')
   * or accumulated since account creation ('--historical/-H')

   ..possibly converted to..

   * cost ('--value=cost[,COMM]'/'--cost'/'-B')
   * or market value, as of transaction dates ('--value=then[,COMM]')
   * or at period ends ('--value=end[,COMM]')
   * or now ('--value=now')
   * or at some other date ('--value=YYYY-MM-DD')

   ..with..

   * totals ('-T'), averages ('-A'), percentages ('-%'), inverted sign
     ('--invert')
   * rows and columns swapped ('--transpose')
   * another field used as account name ('--pivot')
   * custom-formatted line items (single-period reports only)
     ('--format')
   * commodities shown in a separate column, one per row
     ('--commodity-column')

   This command supports the output destination and output format
options, with output formats 'txt', 'csv', 'json', and (multi-period
reports only:) 'html'.  In 'txt' output in a colour-supporting terminal,
negative amounts are shown in red.


File: hledger.info,  Node: Simple balance report,  Next: Filtered balance report,  Prev: balance features,  Up: balance

11.5.2 Simple balance report
----------------------------

With no arguments, 'balance' shows a list of all accounts and their
change of balance - ie, the sum of posting amounts, both inflows and
outflows - during the entire period of the journal.  For real-world
accounts, this should also match their end balance at the end of the
journal period (more on this below).

   Accounts are sorted by declaration order if any, and then
alphabetically by account name.  For instance (using
examples/sample.journal):

$ hledger -f examples/sample.journal bal
                  $1  assets:bank:saving
                 $-2  assets:cash
                  $1  expenses:food
                  $1  expenses:supplies
                 $-1  income:gifts
                 $-1  income:salary
                  $1  liabilities:debts
--------------------
                   0  

   Accounts with a zero balance (and no non-zero subaccounts, in tree
mode - see below) are hidden by default.  Use '-E/--empty' to show them
(revealing 'assets:bank:checking' here):

$ hledger -f examples/sample.journal bal  -E
                   0  assets:bank:checking
                  $1  assets:bank:saving
                 $-2  assets:cash
                  $1  expenses:food
                  $1  expenses:supplies
                 $-1  income:gifts
                 $-1  income:salary
                  $1  liabilities:debts
--------------------
                   0  

   The total of the amounts displayed is shown as the last line, unless
'-N'/'--no-total' is used.


File: hledger.info,  Node: Filtered balance report,  Next: List or tree mode,  Prev: Simple balance report,  Up: balance

11.5.3 Filtered balance report
------------------------------

You can show fewer accounts, a different time period, totals from
cleared transactions only, etc.  by using query arguments or options to
limit the postings being matched.  Eg:

$ hledger -f examples/sample.journal bal --cleared assets date:200806
                 $-2  assets:cash
--------------------
                 $-2  


File: hledger.info,  Node: List or tree mode,  Next: Depth limiting,  Prev: Filtered balance report,  Up: balance

11.5.4 List or tree mode
------------------------

By default, or with '-l/--flat', accounts are shown as a flat list with
their full names visible, as in the examples above.

   With '-t/--tree', the account hierarchy is shown, with subaccounts'
"leaf" names indented below their parent:

$ hledger -f examples/sample.journal balance
                 $-1  assets
                  $1    bank:saving
                 $-2    cash
                  $2  expenses
                  $1    food
                  $1    supplies
                 $-2  income
                 $-1    gifts
                 $-1    salary
                  $1  liabilities:debts
--------------------
                   0

   Notes:

   * "Boring" accounts are combined with their subaccount for more
     compact output, unless '--no-elide' is used.  Boring accounts have
     no balance of their own and just one subaccount (eg 'assets:bank'
     and 'liabilities' above).

   * All balances shown are "inclusive", ie including the balances from
     all subaccounts.  Note this means some repetition in the output,
     which requires explanation when sharing reports with
     non-plaintextaccounting-users.  A tree mode report's final total is
     the sum of the top-level balances shown, not of all the balances
     shown.

   * Each group of sibling accounts (ie, under a common parent) is
     sorted separately.


File: hledger.info,  Node: Depth limiting,  Next: Dropping top-level accounts,  Prev: List or tree mode,  Up: balance

11.5.5 Depth limiting
---------------------

With a 'depth:NUM' query, or '--depth NUM' option, or just '-NUM' (eg:
'-3') balance reports will show accounts only to the specified depth,
hiding the deeper subaccounts.  This can be useful for getting an
overview without too much detail.

   Account balances at the depth limit always include the balances from
any deeper subaccounts (even in list mode).  Eg, limiting to depth 1:

$ hledger -f examples/sample.journal balance -1
                 $-1  assets
                  $2  expenses
                 $-2  income
                  $1  liabilities
--------------------
                   0  


File: hledger.info,  Node: Dropping top-level accounts,  Next: Multi-period balance report,  Prev: Depth limiting,  Up: balance

11.5.6 Dropping top-level accounts
----------------------------------

You can also hide one or more top-level account name parts, using
'--drop NUM'.  This can be useful for hiding repetitive top-level
account names:

$ hledger -f examples/sample.journal bal expenses --drop 1
                  $1  food
                  $1  supplies
--------------------
                  $2  


File: hledger.info,  Node: Multi-period balance report,  Next: Commodity column,  Prev: Dropping top-level accounts,  Up: balance

11.5.7 Multi-period balance report
----------------------------------

With a report interval (set by the '-D/--daily', '-W/--weekly',
'-M/--monthly', '-Q/--quarterly', '-Y/--yearly', or '-p/--period' flag),
'balance' shows a tabular report, with columns representing successive
time periods (and a title):

$ hledger -f examples/sample.journal bal --quarterly income expenses -E
Balance changes in 2008:

                   ||  2008q1  2008q2  2008q3  2008q4 
===================++=================================
 expenses:food     ||       0      $1       0       0 
 expenses:supplies ||       0      $1       0       0 
 income:gifts      ||       0     $-1       0       0 
 income:salary     ||     $-1       0       0       0 
-------------------++---------------------------------
                   ||     $-1      $1       0       0 

   Notes:

   * The report's start/end dates will be expanded, if necessary, to
     fully encompass the displayed subperiods (so that the first and
     last subperiods have the same duration as the others).
   * Leading and trailing periods (columns) containing all zeroes are
     not shown, unless '-E/--empty' is used.
   * Accounts (rows) containing all zeroes are not shown, unless
     '-E/--empty' is used.
   * Amounts with many commodities are shown in abbreviated form, unless
     '--no-elide' is used.  _(experimental)_
   * Average and/or total columns can be added with the '-A/--average'
     and '-T/--row-total' flags.
   * The '--transpose' flag can be used to exchange rows and columns.
   * The '--pivot FIELD' option causes a different transaction field to
     be used as "account name".  See PIVOTING.

   Multi-period reports with many periods can be too wide for easy
viewing in the terminal.  Here are some ways to handle that:

   * Hide the totals row with '-N/--no-total'
   * Convert to a single currency with '-V'
   * Maximize the terminal window
   * Reduce the terminal's font size
   * View with a pager like less, eg: 'hledger bal -D --color=yes | less
     -RS'
   * Output as CSV and use a CSV viewer like visidata ('hledger bal -D
     -O csv | vd -f csv'), Emacs' csv-mode ('M-x csv-mode, C-c C-a'), or
     a spreadsheet ('hledger bal -D -o a.csv && open a.csv')
   * Output as HTML and view with a browser: 'hledger bal -D -o a.html
     && open a.html'


File: hledger.info,  Node: Commodity column,  Next: Sorting by amount,  Prev: Multi-period balance report,  Up: balance

11.5.8 Commodity column
-----------------------

With '--commodity-column', commodity symbols are displayed in a separate
column, and amounts are displayed as bare numbers.  In this mode, each
report row will show amounts for a single commodity, using extra rows
when necessary.  It can be useful for a cleaner display of reports with
many commodities:

$ hledger -f examples/bcexample.hledger bal assets:us:etrade -3 -T -Y
Balance changes in 2012-01-01..2014-12-31:

                  ||                             2012                             2013                   2014                            Total 
==================++===========================================================================================================================
 Assets:US:ETrade || 10.00 ITOT, 337.18 USD, 2 more..  70.00 GLD, 18.00 ITOT, 3 more..  -11.00 ITOT, 3 more..  70.00 GLD, 17.00 ITOT, 3 more.. 
------------------++---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                  || 10.00 ITOT, 337.18 USD, 2 more..  70.00 GLD, 18.00 ITOT, 3 more..  -11.00 ITOT, 3 more..  70.00 GLD, 17.00 ITOT, 3 more.. 

$ hledger -f examples/bcexample.hledger bal assets:us:etrade -3 -T -Y --commodity-column
Balance changes in 2012-01-01..2014-12-31:

                  || Commodity    2012    2013     2014    Total 
==================++=============================================
 Assets:US:ETrade || GLD             0   70.00        0    70.00 
 Assets:US:ETrade || ITOT        10.00   18.00   -11.00    17.00 
 Assets:US:ETrade || USD        337.18  -98.12  4881.44  5120.50 
 Assets:US:ETrade || VEA         12.00   10.00    14.00    36.00 
 Assets:US:ETrade || VHT        106.00   18.00   170.00   294.00 
------------------++---------------------------------------------
                  || GLD             0   70.00        0    70.00 
                  || ITOT        10.00   18.00   -11.00    17.00 
                  || USD        337.18  -98.12  4881.44  5120.50 
                  || VEA         12.00   10.00    14.00    36.00 
                  || VHT        106.00   18.00   170.00   294.00 

   This flag also affects CSV output, which is useful for producing data
that is easier to consume, eg when making charts:

$ hledger -f examples/bcexample.hledger bal assets:us:etrade -3 -O csv
"account","balance"
"Assets:US:ETrade","70.00 GLD, 17.00 ITOT, 5120.50 USD, 36.00 VEA, 294.00 VHT"
"total","70.00 GLD, 17.00 ITOT, 5120.50 USD, 36.00 VEA, 294.00 VHT"

$ hledger -f examples/bcexample.hledger bal assets:us:etrade -3 -O csv --commodity-column
"account","commodity","balance"
"Assets:US:ETrade","GLD","70.00"
"Assets:US:ETrade","ITOT","17.00"
"Assets:US:ETrade","USD","5120.50"
"Assets:US:ETrade","VEA","36.00"
"Assets:US:ETrade","VHT","294.00"
"total","GLD","70.00"
"total","ITOT","17.00"
"total","USD","5120.50"
"total","VEA","36.00"
"total","VHT","294.00"


File: hledger.info,  Node: Sorting by amount,  Next: Percentages,  Prev: Commodity column,  Up: balance

11.5.9 Sorting by amount
------------------------

With '-S/--sort-amount', accounts with the largest (most positive)
balances are shown first.  Eg: 'hledger bal expenses -MAS' shows your
biggest averaged monthly expenses first.  When more than one commodity
is present, they will be sorted by the alphabetically earliest commodity
first, and then by subsequent commodities (if an amount is missing a
commodity, it is treated as 0).

   Revenues and liability balances are typically negative, however, so
'-S' shows these in reverse order.  To work around this, you can add
'--invert' to flip the signs.  (Or, use one of the higher-level reports,
which flip the sign automatically.  Eg: 'hledger incomestatement -MAS').


File: hledger.info,  Node: Percentages,  Next: Balance change end balance,  Prev: Sorting by amount,  Up: balance

11.5.10 Percentages
-------------------

With '-%/--percent', balance reports show each account's value expressed
as a percentage of the (column) total:

$ hledger -f examples/sample.journal bal expenses -Q -%
Balance changes in 2008:

                   || 2008Q1   2008Q2  2008Q3  2008Q4 
===================++=================================
 expenses:food     ||      0   50.0 %       0       0 
 expenses:supplies ||      0   50.0 %       0       0 
-------------------++---------------------------------
                   ||      0  100.0 %       0       0 

   Note it is not useful to calculate percentages if the amounts in a
column have mixed signs.  In this case, make a separate report for each
sign, eg:

$ hledger bal -% amt:`>0`
$ hledger bal -% amt:`<0`

   Similarly, if the amounts in a column have mixed commodities, convert
them to one commodity with '-B', '-V', '-X' or '--value', or make a
separate report for each commodity:

$ hledger bal -% cur:\\$
$ hledger bal -% cur:€


File: hledger.info,  Node: Balance change end balance,  Next: Balance report types,  Prev: Percentages,  Up: balance

11.5.11 Balance change, end balance
-----------------------------------

It's important to be clear on the meaning of the numbers shown in
balance reports.  Here is some terminology we use:

   A *_balance change_* is the net amount added to, or removed from, an
account during some period.

   An *_end balance_* is the amount accumulated in an account as of some
date (and some time, but hledger doesn't store that; assume end of day
in your timezone).  It is the sum of previous balance changes.

   We call it a *_historical end balance_* if it includes all balance
changes since the account was created.  For a real world account, this
means it will match the "historical record", eg the balances reported in
your bank statements or bank web UI. (If they are correct!)

   In general, balance changes are what you want to see when reviewing
revenues and expenses, and historical end balances are what you want to
see when reviewing or reconciling asset, liability and equity accounts.

   'balance' shows balance changes by default.  To see accurate
historical end balances:

  1. Initialise account starting balances with an "opening balances"
     transaction (a transfer from equity to the account), unless the
     journal covers the account's full lifetime.

  2. Include all of of the account's prior postings in the report, by
     not specifying a report start date, or by using the
     '-H/--historical' flag.  ('-H' causes report start date to be
     ignored when summing postings.)


File: hledger.info,  Node: Balance report types,  Next: Useful balance reports,  Prev: Balance change end balance,  Up: balance

11.5.12 Balance report types
----------------------------

For more flexible reporting, there are three important option groups:

   'hledger balance [CALCULATIONTYPE] [ACCUMULATIONTYPE] [VALUATIONTYPE]
...'

   The first two are the most important: calculation type selects the
basic calculation to perform for each table cell, while accumulation
type says which postings should be included in each cell's calculation.
Typically one or both of these are selected by default, so you don't
need to write them explicitly.  A valuation type can be added if you
want to convert the basic report to value or cost.

   *Calculation type:*
The basic calculation to perform for each table cell.  It is one of:

   * '--sum' : sum the posting amounts (*default*)
   * '--budget' : like -sum but also show a goal amount
   * '--valuechange' : show the change in period-end historical balance
     values (caused by deposits, withdrawals, and/or market price
     fluctuations)
   * '--gain' : show the unrealised capital gain/loss, (the current
     valued balance minus each amount's original cost)

   *Accumulation type:*
Which postings should be included in each cell's calculation.  It is one
of:

   * '--change' : postings from column start to column end, ie within
     the cell's period.  Typically used to see revenues/expenses.
     (*default for balance, incomestatement*)

   * '--cumulative' : postings from report start to column end, eg to
     show changes accumulated since the report's start date.  Rarely
     used.

   * '--historical/-H' : postings from journal start to column end, ie
     all postings from account creation to the end of the cell's period.
     Typically used to see historical end balances of
     assets/liabilities/equity.  (*default for balancesheet,
     balancesheetequity, cashflow*)

   *Valuation type:*
Which kind of valuation, valuation date(s) and optionally a target
valuation commodity to use.  It is one of:

   * no valuation, show amounts in their original commodities
     (*default*)
   * '--value=cost[,COMM]' : no valuation, show amounts converted to
     cost
   * '--value=then[,COMM]' : show value at transaction dates
   * '--value=end[,COMM]' : show value at period end date(s) (*default
     with '--valuechange', '--gain'*)
   * '--value=now[,COMM]' : show value at today's date
   * '--value=YYYY-MM-DD[,COMM]' : show value at another date

   or one of their aliases: '--cost/-B', '--market/-V' or
'--exchange/-X'.

   Most combinations of these options should produce reasonable reports,
but if you find any that seem wrong or misleading, let us know.  The
following restrictions are applied:

   * '--valuechange' implies '--value=end'
   * '--valuechange' makes '--change' the default when used with the
     'balancesheet'/'balancesheetequity' commands
   * '--cumulative' or '--historical' disables '--row-total/-T'

   For reference, here is what the combinations of accumulation and
valuation show:

Valuation:no valuation      '--value= then'   '--value= end'   '--value=
>Accumulation:                                                 YYYY-MM-DD
v                                                              /now'
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
'--change'change in         sum of            period-end       DATE-value
          period            posting-date      value of         of change in
                            market values     change in        period
                            in period         period
'--cumulative'change from   sum of            period-end       DATE-value
          report start to   posting-date      value of         of change
          period end        market values     change from      from report
                            from report       report start     start to
                            start to period   to period end    period end
                            end
'--historicalchange from    sum of            period-end       DATE-value
/-H'      journal start     posting-date      value of         of change
          to period end     market values     change from      from journal
          (historical end   from journal      journal start    start to
          balance)          start to period   to period end    period end
                            end


File: hledger.info,  Node: Useful balance reports,  Next: Budget report,  Prev: Balance report types,  Up: balance

11.5.13 Useful balance reports
------------------------------

Some frequently used 'balance' options/reports are:

   * 'bal -M revenues expenses'
     Show revenues/expenses in each month.  Also available as the
     'incomestatement' command.

   * 'bal -M -H assets liabilities'
     Show historical asset/liability balances at each month end.  Also
     available as the 'balancesheet' command.

   * 'bal -M -H assets liabilities equity'
     Show historical asset/liability/equity balances at each month end.
     Also available as the 'balancesheetequity' command.

   * 'bal -M assets not:receivable'
     Show changes to liquid assets in each month.  Also available as the
     'cashflow' command.

   Also:

   * 'bal -M expenses -2 -SA'
     Show monthly expenses summarised to depth 2 and sorted by average
     amount.

   * 'bal -M --budget expenses'
     Show monthly expenses and budget goals.

   * 'bal -M --valuechange investments'
     Show monthly change in market value of investment assets.

   * 'bal investments --valuechange -D date:lastweek amt:'>1000' -STA
     [--invert]'
     Show top gainers [or losers] last week


File: hledger.info,  Node: Budget report,  Next: Customising single-period balance reports,  Prev: Useful balance reports,  Up: balance

11.5.14 Budget report
---------------------

The '--budget' report type activates extra columns showing any budget
goals for each account and period.  The budget goals are defined by
periodic transactions.  This is very useful for comparing planned and
actual income, expenses, time usage, etc.

   For example, you can take average monthly expenses in the common
expense categories to construct a minimal monthly budget:

;; Budget
~ monthly
  income  $2000
  expenses:food    $400
  expenses:bus     $50
  expenses:movies  $30
  assets:bank:checking

;; Two months worth of expenses
2017-11-01
  income  $1950
  expenses:food    $396
  expenses:bus     $49
  expenses:movies  $30
  expenses:supplies  $20
  assets:bank:checking

2017-12-01
  income  $2100
  expenses:food    $412
  expenses:bus     $53
  expenses:gifts   $100
  assets:bank:checking

   You can now see a monthly budget report:

$ hledger balance -M --budget
Budget performance in 2017/11/01-2017/12/31:

                      ||                      Nov                       Dec 
======================++====================================================
 assets               || $-2445 [  99% of $-2480]  $-2665 [ 107% of $-2480] 
 assets:bank          || $-2445 [  99% of $-2480]  $-2665 [ 107% of $-2480] 
 assets:bank:checking || $-2445 [  99% of $-2480]  $-2665 [ 107% of $-2480] 
 expenses             ||   $495 [ 103% of   $480]    $565 [ 118% of   $480] 
 expenses:bus         ||    $49 [  98% of    $50]     $53 [ 106% of    $50] 
 expenses:food        ||   $396 [  99% of   $400]    $412 [ 103% of   $400] 
 expenses:movies      ||    $30 [ 100% of    $30]       0 [   0% of    $30] 
 income               ||  $1950 [  98% of  $2000]   $2100 [ 105% of  $2000] 
----------------------++----------------------------------------------------
                      ||      0 [              0]       0 [              0] 

   This is different from a normal balance report in several ways:

   * Only accounts with budget goals during the report period are shown,
     by default.

   * In each column, in square brackets after the actual amount, budget
     goal amounts are shown, and the actual/goal percentage.  (Note:
     budget goals should be in the same commodity as the actual amount.)

   * All parent accounts are always shown, even in list mode.  Eg
     assets, assets:bank, and expenses above.

   * Amounts always include all subaccounts, budgeted or unbudgeted,
     even in list mode.

   This means that the numbers displayed will not always add up!  Eg
above, the 'expenses' actual amount includes the gifts and supplies
transactions, but the 'expenses:gifts' and 'expenses:supplies' accounts
are not shown, as they have no budget amounts declared.

   This can be confusing.  When you need to make things clearer, use the
'-E/--empty' flag, which will reveal all accounts including unbudgeted
ones, giving the full picture.  Eg:

$ hledger balance -M --budget --empty
Budget performance in 2017/11/01-2017/12/31:

                      ||                      Nov                       Dec 
======================++====================================================
 assets               || $-2445 [  99% of $-2480]  $-2665 [ 107% of $-2480] 
 assets:bank          || $-2445 [  99% of $-2480]  $-2665 [ 107% of $-2480] 
 assets:bank:checking || $-2445 [  99% of $-2480]  $-2665 [ 107% of $-2480] 
 expenses             ||   $495 [ 103% of   $480]    $565 [ 118% of   $480] 
 expenses:bus         ||    $49 [  98% of    $50]     $53 [ 106% of    $50] 
 expenses:food        ||   $396 [  99% of   $400]    $412 [ 103% of   $400] 
 expenses:gifts       ||      0                      $100                   
 expenses:movies      ||    $30 [ 100% of    $30]       0 [   0% of    $30] 
 expenses:supplies    ||    $20                         0                   
 income               ||  $1950 [  98% of  $2000]   $2100 [ 105% of  $2000] 
----------------------++----------------------------------------------------
                      ||      0 [              0]       0 [              0] 

   You can roll over unspent budgets to next period with '--cumulative':

$ hledger balance -M --budget --cumulative
Budget performance in 2017/11/01-2017/12/31:

                      ||                      Nov                       Dec 
======================++====================================================
 assets               || $-2445 [  99% of $-2480]  $-5110 [ 103% of $-4960] 
 assets:bank          || $-2445 [  99% of $-2480]  $-5110 [ 103% of $-4960] 
 assets:bank:checking || $-2445 [  99% of $-2480]  $-5110 [ 103% of $-4960] 
 expenses             ||   $495 [ 103% of   $480]   $1060 [ 110% of   $960] 
 expenses:bus         ||    $49 [  98% of    $50]    $102 [ 102% of   $100] 
 expenses:food        ||   $396 [  99% of   $400]    $808 [ 101% of   $800] 
 expenses:movies      ||    $30 [ 100% of    $30]     $30 [  50% of    $60] 
 income               ||  $1950 [  98% of  $2000]   $4050 [ 101% of  $4000] 
----------------------++----------------------------------------------------
                      ||      0 [              0]       0 [              0] 

   For more examples and notes, see Budgeting.

* Menu:

* Budget report start date::
* Budgets and subaccounts::
* Selecting budget goals::


File: hledger.info,  Node: Budget report start date,  Next: Budgets and subaccounts,  Up: Budget report

11.5.14.1 Budget report start date
..................................

This might be a bug, but for now: when making budget reports, it's a
good idea to explicitly set the report's start date to the first day of
a reporting period, because a periodic rule like '~ monthly' generates
its transactions on the 1st of each month, and if your journal has no
regular transactions on the 1st, the default report start date could
exclude that budget goal, which can be a little surprising.  Eg here the
default report period is just the day of 2020-01-15:

~ monthly in 2020
  (expenses:food)  $500

2020-01-15
  expenses:food    $400
  assets:checking

$ hledger bal expenses --budget
Budget performance in 2020-01-15:

              || 2020-01-15 
==============++============
 <unbudgeted> ||       $400 
--------------++------------
              ||       $400 

   To avoid this, specify the budget report's period, or at least the
start date, with '-b'/'-e'/'-p'/'date:', to ensure it includes the
budget goal transactions (periodic transactions) that you want.  Eg,
adding '-b 2020/1/1' to the above:

$ hledger bal expenses --budget -b 2020/1/1
Budget performance in 2020-01-01..2020-01-15:

               || 2020-01-01..2020-01-15 
===============++========================
 expenses:food ||     $400 [80% of $500] 
---------------++------------------------
               ||     $400 [80% of $500] 


File: hledger.info,  Node: Budgets and subaccounts,  Next: Selecting budget goals,  Prev: Budget report start date,  Up: Budget report

11.5.14.2 Budgets and subaccounts
.................................

You can add budgets to any account in your account hierarchy.  If you
have budgets on both parent account and some of its children, then
budget(s) of the child account(s) would be added to the budget of their
parent, much like account balances behave.

   In the most simple case this means that once you add a budget to any
account, all its parents would have budget as well.

   To illustrate this, consider the following budget:

~ monthly from 2019/01
    expenses:personal             $1,000.00
    expenses:personal:electronics    $100.00
    liabilities

   With this, monthly budget for electronics is defined to be $100 and
budget for personal expenses is an additional $1000, which implicitly
means that budget for both 'expenses:personal' and 'expenses' is $1100.

   Transactions in 'expenses:personal:electronics' will be counted both
towards its $100 budget and $1100 of 'expenses:personal' , and
transactions in any other subaccount of 'expenses:personal' would be
counted towards only towards the budget of 'expenses:personal'.

   For example, let's consider these transactions:

~ monthly from 2019/01
    expenses:personal             $1,000.00
    expenses:personal:electronics    $100.00
    liabilities

2019/01/01 Google home hub
    expenses:personal:electronics          $90.00
    liabilities                           $-90.00

2019/01/02 Phone screen protector
    expenses:personal:electronics:upgrades          $10.00
    liabilities

2019/01/02 Weekly train ticket
    expenses:personal:train tickets       $153.00
    liabilities

2019/01/03 Flowers
    expenses:personal          $30.00
    liabilities

   As you can see, we have transactions in
'expenses:personal:electronics:upgrades' and 'expenses:personal:train
tickets', and since both of these accounts are without explicitly
defined budget, these transactions would be counted towards budgets of
'expenses:personal:electronics' and 'expenses:personal' accordingly:

$ hledger balance --budget -M
Budget performance in 2019/01:

                               ||                           Jan 
===============================++===============================
 expenses                      ||  $283.00 [  26% of  $1100.00] 
 expenses:personal             ||  $283.00 [  26% of  $1100.00] 
 expenses:personal:electronics ||  $100.00 [ 100% of   $100.00] 
 liabilities                   || $-283.00 [  26% of $-1100.00] 
-------------------------------++-------------------------------
                               ||        0 [                 0] 

   And with '--empty', we can get a better picture of budget allocation
and consumption:

$ hledger balance --budget -M --empty
Budget performance in 2019/01:

                                        ||                           Jan 
========================================++===============================
 expenses                               ||  $283.00 [  26% of  $1100.00] 
 expenses:personal                      ||  $283.00 [  26% of  $1100.00] 
 expenses:personal:electronics          ||  $100.00 [ 100% of   $100.00] 
 expenses:personal:electronics:upgrades ||   $10.00                      
 expenses:personal:train tickets        ||  $153.00                      
 liabilities                            || $-283.00 [  26% of $-1100.00] 
----------------------------------------++-------------------------------
                                        ||        0 [                 0] 


File: hledger.info,  Node: Selecting budget goals,  Prev: Budgets and subaccounts,  Up: Budget report

11.5.14.3 Selecting budget goals
................................

The budget report evaluates periodic transaction rules to generate
special "goal transactions", which generate the goal amounts for each
account in each report subperiod.  When troubleshooting, you can use the
print command to show these as forecasted transactions:

$ hledger print --forecast=BUDGETREPORTPERIOD tag:generated

   By default, the budget report uses all available periodic transaction
rules to generate goals.  This includes rules with a different report
interval from your report.  Eg if you have daily, weekly and monthly
periodic rules, all of these will contribute to the goals in a monthly
budget report.

   You can select a subset of periodic rules by providing an argument to
the '--budget' flag.  '--budget=DESCPAT' will match all periodic rules
whose description contains DESCPAT, a case-insensitive substring (not a
regular expression or query).  This means you can give your periodic
rules descriptions (remember that two spaces are needed), and then
select from multiple budgets defined in your journal.


File: hledger.info,  Node: Customising single-period balance reports,  Prev: Budget report,  Up: balance

11.5.15 Customising single-period balance reports
-------------------------------------------------

For single-period balance reports displayed in the terminal (only), you
can use '--format FMT' to customise the format and content of each line.
Eg:

$ hledger -f examples/sample.journal balance --format "%20(account) %12(total)"
              assets          $-1
         bank:saving           $1
                cash          $-2
            expenses           $2
                food           $1
            supplies           $1
              income          $-2
               gifts          $-1
              salary          $-1
   liabilities:debts           $1
---------------------------------
                                0

   The FMT format string (plus a newline) specifies the formatting
applied to each account/balance pair.  It may contain any suitable text,
with data fields interpolated like so:

   '%[MIN][.MAX](FIELDNAME)'

   * MIN pads with spaces to at least this width (optional)

   * MAX truncates at this width (optional)

   * FIELDNAME must be enclosed in parentheses, and can be one of:

        * 'depth_spacer' - a number of spaces equal to the account's
          depth, or if MIN is specified, MIN * depth spaces.
        * 'account' - the account's name
        * 'total' - the account's balance/posted total, right justified

   Also, FMT can begin with an optional prefix to control how
multi-commodity amounts are rendered:

   * '%_' - render on multiple lines, bottom-aligned (the default)
   * '%^' - render on multiple lines, top-aligned
   * '%,' - render on one line, comma-separated

   There are some quirks.  Eg in one-line mode, '%(depth_spacer)' has no
effect, instead '%(account)' has indentation built in.  Experimentation
may be needed to get pleasing results.

   Some example formats:

   * '%(total)' - the account's total
   * '%-20.20(account)' - the account's name, left justified, padded to
     20 characters and clipped at 20 characters
   * '%,%-50(account) %25(total)' - account name padded to 50
     characters, total padded to 20 characters, with multiple
     commodities rendered on one line
   * '%20(total) %2(depth_spacer)%-(account)' - the default format for
     the single-column balance report


File: hledger.info,  Node: balancesheet,  Next: balancesheetequity,  Prev: balance,  Up: COMMANDS

11.6 balancesheet
=================

balancesheet, bs
This command displays a balance sheet, showing historical ending
balances of asset and liability accounts.  (To see equity as well, use
the balancesheetequity command.)  Amounts are shown with normal positive
sign, as in conventional financial statements.

   The asset and liability accounts shown are those accounts declared
with the 'Asset' or 'Cash' or 'Liability' type, or otherwise all
accounts under a top-level 'asset' or 'liability' account (case
insensitive, plurals allowed).

   Example:

$ hledger balancesheet
Balance Sheet

Assets:
                 $-1  assets
                  $1    bank:saving
                 $-2    cash
--------------------
                 $-1

Liabilities:
                  $1  liabilities:debts
--------------------
                  $1

Total:
--------------------
                   0

   This command is a higher-level variant of the 'balance' command, and
supports many of that command's features, such as multi-period reports.
It is similar to 'hledger balance -H assets liabilities', but with
smarter account detection, and liabilities displayed with their sign
flipped.

   This command also supports the output destination and output format
options The output formats supported are 'txt', 'csv', 'html', and
(experimental) 'json'.


File: hledger.info,  Node: balancesheetequity,  Next: cashflow,  Prev: balancesheet,  Up: COMMANDS

11.7 balancesheetequity
=======================

balancesheetequity, bse
This command displays a balance sheet, showing historical ending
balances of asset, liability and equity accounts.  Amounts are shown
with normal positive sign, as in conventional financial statements.

   The asset, liability and equity accounts shown are those accounts
declared with the 'Asset', 'Cash', 'Liability' or 'Equity' type, or
otherwise all accounts under a top-level 'asset', 'liability' or
'equity' account (case insensitive, plurals allowed).

   Example:

$ hledger balancesheetequity
Balance Sheet With Equity

Assets:
                 $-2  assets
                  $1    bank:saving
                 $-3    cash
--------------------
                 $-2

Liabilities:
                  $1  liabilities:debts
--------------------
                  $1

Equity:
          $1  equity:owner
--------------------
          $1

Total:
--------------------
                   0

   This command is a higher-level variant of the 'balance' command, and
supports many of that command's features, such as multi-period reports.
It is similar to 'hledger balance -H assets liabilities equity', but
with smarter account detection, and liabilities/equity displayed with
their sign flipped.

   This command also supports the output destination and output format
options The output formats supported are 'txt', 'csv', 'html', and
(experimental) 'json'.


File: hledger.info,  Node: cashflow,  Next: check,  Prev: balancesheetequity,  Up: COMMANDS

11.8 cashflow
=============

cashflow, cf
This command displays a cashflow statement, showing the inflows and
outflows affecting "cash" (ie, liquid) assets.  Amounts are shown with
normal positive sign, as in conventional financial statements.

   The "cash" accounts shown are those accounts declared with the 'Cash'
type, or otherwise all accounts under a top-level 'asset' account (case
insensitive, plural allowed) which do not have 'fixed', 'investment',
'receivable' or 'A/R' in their name.

   Example:

$ hledger cashflow
Cashflow Statement

Cash flows:
                 $-1  assets
                  $1    bank:saving
                 $-2    cash
--------------------
                 $-1

Total:
--------------------
                 $-1

   This command is a higher-level variant of the 'balance' command, and
supports many of that command's features, such as multi-period reports.
It is similar to 'hledger balance assets not:fixed not:investment
not:receivable', but with smarter account detection.

   This command also supports the output destination and output format
options The output formats supported are 'txt', 'csv', 'html', and
(experimental) 'json'.


File: hledger.info,  Node: check,  Next: close,  Prev: cashflow,  Up: COMMANDS

11.9 check
==========

check
Check for various kinds of errors in your data.

   hledger provides a number of built-in error checks to help prevent
problems in your data.  Some of these are run automatically; or, you can
use this 'check' command to run them on demand, with no output and a
zero exit code if all is well.  Specify their names (or a prefix) as
argument(s).

   Some examples:

hledger check      # basic checks
hledger check -s   # basic + strict checks
hledger check ordereddates payees  # basic + two other checks

   Here are the checks currently available:

* Menu:

* Basic checks::
* Strict checks::
* Other checks::
* Custom checks::


File: hledger.info,  Node: Basic checks,  Next: Strict checks,  Up: check

11.9.1 Basic checks
-------------------

These checks are always run automatically, by (almost) all hledger
commands, including 'check':

   * *parseable* - data files are well-formed and can be successfully
     parsed

   * *balancedwithautoconversion* - all transactions are balanced,
     inferring missing amounts where necessary, and possibly converting
     commodities using transaction prices or automatically-inferred
     transaction prices

   * *assertions* - all balance assertions in the journal are passing.
     (This check can be disabled with '-I'/'--ignore-assertions'.)


File: hledger.info,  Node: Strict checks,  Next: Other checks,  Prev: Basic checks,  Up: check

11.9.2 Strict checks
--------------------

These additional checks are run when the '-s'/'--strict' (strict mode)
flag is used.  Or, they can be run by giving their names as arguments to
'check':

   * *accounts* - all account names used by transactions have been
     declared

   * *commodities* - all commodity symbols used have been declared

   * *balancednoautoconversion* - transactions are balanced, possibly
     using explicit transaction prices but not inferred ones


File: hledger.info,  Node: Other checks,  Next: Custom checks,  Prev: Strict checks,  Up: check

11.9.3 Other checks
-------------------

These checks can be run only by giving their names as arguments to
'check'.  They are more specialised and not desirable for everyone,
therefore optional:

   * *ordereddates* - transactions are ordered by date within each file

   * *payees* - all payees used by transactions have been declared

   * *uniqueleafnames* - all account leaf names are unique


File: hledger.info,  Node: Custom checks,  Prev: Other checks,  Up: check

11.9.4 Custom checks
--------------------

A few more checks are are available as separate add-on commands, in
https://github.com/simonmichael/hledger/tree/master/bin:

   * *hledger-check-tagfiles* - all tag values containing / (a forward
     slash) exist as file paths

   * *hledger-check-fancyassertions* - more complex balance assertions
     are passing

   You could make similar scripts to perform your own custom checks.
See: Cookbook -> Scripting.


File: hledger.info,  Node: close,  Next: codes,  Prev: check,  Up: COMMANDS

11.10 close
===========

close, equity
Prints a sample "closing" transaction bringing specified account
balances to zero, and an inverse "opening" transaction restoring the
same account balances.

   If like most people you split your journal files by time, eg by year:
at the end of the year you can use this command to "close out" your
asset and liability (and perhaps equity) balances in the old file, and
reinitialise them in the new file.  This helps ensure that report
balances remain correct whether you are including old files or not.
(Because all closing/opening transactions except the very first will
cancel out - see example below.)

   Some people also use this command to close out revenue and expense
balances at the end of an accounting period.  This properly records the
period's profit/loss as "retained earnings" (part of equity), and allows
the accounting equation (A-L=E) to balance, which you could then check
by the bse report's zero total.

   You can print just the closing transaction by using the '--close'
flag, or just the opening transaction with the '--open' flag.

   Their descriptions are 'closing balances' and 'opening balances' by
default; you can customise these with the '--close-desc' and
'--open-desc' options.

   Just one balancing equity posting is used by default, with the amount
left implicit.  The default account name is 'equity:opening/closing
balances'.  You can customise the account name(s) with '--close-acct'
and '--open-acct'.  (If you specify only one of these, it will be used
for both.)

   With '--x/--explicit', the equity posting's amount will be shown
explicitly, and if it involves multiple commodities, there will be a
separate equity posting for each commodity (as in the print command).

   With '--interleaved', each equity posting is shown next to the
posting it balances (good for troubleshooting).

* Menu:

* close and prices::
* close date::
* Example close asset/liability accounts for file transition::
* Hiding opening/closing transactions::
* close and balance assertions::
* Example close revenue/expense accounts to retained earnings::


File: hledger.info,  Node: close and prices,  Next: close date,  Up: close

11.10.1 close and prices
------------------------

Transaction prices are ignored (and discarded) by closing/opening
transactions, by default.  With '--show-costs', they are preserved;
there will be a separate equity posting for each cost in each commodity.
This means 'balance -B' reports will look the same after the transition.
Note if you have many foreign currency or investment transactions, this
will generate very large journal entries.


File: hledger.info,  Node: close date,  Next: Example close asset/liability accounts for file transition,  Prev: close and prices,  Up: close

11.10.2 close date
------------------

The default closing date is yesterday, or the journal's end date,
whichever is later.

   Unless you are running 'close' on exactly the first day of the new
period, you'll want to override the closing date.  This is done by
specifying a report end date, where "last day of the report period" will
be the closing date.  The opening date is always the following day.  So
to close on (end of) 2020-12-31 and open on (start of) 2021-01-01, any
of these will work:

end date          explanation
argument
-------------------------------------------------------------------
'-e 2021-01-01'   end dates are exclusive
'-e 2021'         equivalent, per smart dates
'-p 2020'         equivalent, the period's begin date is ignored
'date:2020'       equivalent query


File: hledger.info,  Node: Example close asset/liability accounts for file transition,  Next: Hiding opening/closing transactions,  Prev: close date,  Up: close

11.10.3 Example: close asset/liability accounts for file transition
-------------------------------------------------------------------

Carrying asset/liability balances from 2020.journal into a new file for
2021:

$ hledger close -f 2020.journal -p 2020 assets liabilities
# copy/paste the closing transaction to the end of 2020.journal
# copy/paste the opening transaction to the start of 2021.journal

   Or:

$ hledger close -f 2020.journal -p 2020 assets liabilities --open  >> 2021.journal  # add 2021's first transaction
$ hledger close -f 2020.journal -p 2020 assets liabilities --close >> 2020.journal  # add 2020's last transaction

   Now,

$ hledger bs -f 2021.journal                   # just new file - balances correct
$ hledger bs -f 2020.journal -f 2021.journal   # old and new files - balances correct
$ hledger bs -f 2020.journal                   # just old files - balances are zero ?
                                               # (exclude final closing txn, see below)


File: hledger.info,  Node: Hiding opening/closing transactions,  Next: close and balance assertions,  Prev: Example close asset/liability accounts for file transition,  Up: close

11.10.4 Hiding opening/closing transactions
-------------------------------------------

Although the closing/opening transactions cancel out, they will be
visible in reports like 'print' and 'register', creating some visual
clutter.  You can exclude them all with a query, like:

$ hledger print not:desc:'opening|closing'             # less typing
$ hledger print not:'equity:opening/closing balances'  # more precise

   But when reporting on multiple files, this can get a bit tricky; you
may need to keep the earliest opening balances, for a historical
register report; or you may need to suppress a closing transaction, to
see year-end balances.  If you find yourself needing more precise
queries, here's one solution: add more easily-matched tags to
opening/closing transactions, like this:

; 2019.journal
2019-01-01 opening balances  ; earliest opening txn, no tag here
...
2019-12-31 closing balances  ; clopen:2020
...

; 2020.journal
2020-01-01 opening balances  ; clopen:2020
...
2020-12-31 closing balances  ; clopen:2021
...

; 2021.journal
2021-01-01 opening balances  ; clopen:2021
...

   Now with

; all.journal
include 2019.journal
include 2020.journal
include 2021.journal

   you could do eg:

$ hledger -f all.journal reg -H checking not:tag:clopen
    # all years checking register, hiding non-essential opening/closing txns

$ hledger -f all.journal bs -p 2020 not:tag:clopen=2020
    # 2020 year end balances, suppressing 2020 closing txn


File: hledger.info,  Node: close and balance assertions,  Next: Example close revenue/expense accounts to retained earnings,  Prev: Hiding opening/closing transactions,  Up: close

11.10.5 close and balance assertions
------------------------------------

The closing and opening transactions will include balance assertions,
verifying that the accounts have first been reset to zero and then
restored to their previous balance.  These provide valuable error
checking, alerting you when things get out of line, but you can ignore
them temporarily with '-I' or just remove them if you prefer.

   You probably shouldn't use status or realness filters (like -C or -R
or 'status:') with 'close', or the generated balance assertions will
depend on these flags.  Likewise, if you run this command with '--auto',
the balance assertions would probably always require '--auto'.

   Multi-day transactions (where some postings have a different date)
break the balance assertions, because the money is temporarily
"invisible" while in transit:

2020/12/30 a purchase made in december, cleared in the next year
    expenses:food          5
    assets:bank:checking  -5  ; date: 2021/1/2

   To fix the assertions, you can add a temporary account to track such
in-transit money (splitting the multi-day transaction into two
single-day transactions):

; in 2020.journal:
2020/12/30 a purchase made in december, cleared in the next year
    expenses:food          5
    liabilities:pending

; in 2021.journal:
2021/1/2 clearance of last year's pending transactions
    liabilities:pending    5 = 0
    assets:bank:checking


File: hledger.info,  Node: Example close revenue/expense accounts to retained earnings,  Prev: close and balance assertions,  Up: close

11.10.6 Example: close revenue/expense accounts to retained earnings
--------------------------------------------------------------------

For this, use '--close' to suppress the opening transaction, as it's not
needed.  Also you'll want to change the equity account name to your
equivalent of "equity:retained earnings".

   Closing 2021's first quarter revenues/expenses:

$ hledger close -f 2021.journal --close revenues expenses -p 2021Q1 \
    --close-acct='equity:retained earnings' >> 2021.journal

   The same, using the default journal and current year:

$ hledger close --close revenues expenses -p Q1 \
    --close-acct='equity:retained earnings' >> $LEDGER_FILE

   Now, the first quarter's balance sheet should show a zero (unless you
are using @/@@ notation without equity postings):

$ hledger bse -p Q1

   And we must suppress the closing transaction to see the first
quarter's income statement (using the description; 'not:'retained
earnings'' won't work here):

$ hledger is -p Q1 not:desc:'closing balances'


File: hledger.info,  Node: codes,  Next: commodities,  Prev: close,  Up: COMMANDS

11.11 codes
===========

codes
List the codes seen in transactions, in the order parsed.

   This command prints the value of each transaction's code field, in
the order transactions were parsed.  The transaction code is an optional
value written in parentheses between the date and description, often
used to store a cheque number, order number or similar.

   Transactions aren't required to have a code, and missing or empty
codes will not be shown by default.  With the '-E'/'--empty' flag, they
will be printed as blank lines.

   You can add a query to select a subset of transactions.

   Examples:

1/1 (123)
 (a)  1

1/1 ()
 (a)  1

1/1
 (a)  1

1/1 (126)
 (a)  1

$ hledger codes
123
124
126

$ hledger codes -E
123
124


126


File: hledger.info,  Node: commodities,  Next: descriptions,  Prev: codes,  Up: COMMANDS

11.12 commodities
=================

commodities
List all commodity/currency symbols used or declared in the journal.


File: hledger.info,  Node: descriptions,  Next: diff,  Prev: commodities,  Up: COMMANDS

11.13 descriptions
==================

descriptions
List the unique descriptions that appear in transactions.

   This command lists the unique descriptions that appear in
transactions, in alphabetic order.  You can add a query to select a
subset of transactions.

   Example:

$ hledger descriptions
Store Name
Gas Station | Petrol
Person A


File: hledger.info,  Node: diff,  Next: files,  Prev: descriptions,  Up: COMMANDS

11.14 diff
==========

diff
Compares a particular account's transactions in two input files.  It
shows any transactions to this account which are in one file but not in
the other.

   More precisely, for each posting affecting this account in either
file, it looks for a corresponding posting in the other file which posts
the same amount to the same account (ignoring date, description, etc.)
Since postings not transactions are compared, this also works when
multiple bank transactions have been combined into a single journal
entry.

   This is useful eg if you have downloaded an account's transactions
from your bank (eg as CSV data).  When hledger and your bank disagree
about the account balance, you can compare the bank data with your
journal to find out the cause.

   Examples:

$ hledger diff -f $LEDGER_FILE -f bank.csv assets:bank:giro 
These transactions are in the first file only:

2014/01/01 Opening Balances
    assets:bank:giro              EUR ...
    ...
    equity:opening balances       EUR -...

These transactions are in the second file only:


File: hledger.info,  Node: files,  Next: help,  Prev: diff,  Up: COMMANDS

11.15 files
===========

files
List all files included in the journal.  With a REGEX argument, only
file names matching the regular expression (case sensitive) are shown.


File: hledger.info,  Node: help,  Next: import,  Prev: files,  Up: COMMANDS

11.16 help
==========

help
Show the hledger user manual in one of several formats, optionally
positioned at a given TOPIC (if possible).

   TOPIC is any heading in the manual, or the start of any heading (but
not the middle).  It is case insensitive.

   Some examples: 'commands', 'print', 'forecast', '"auto postings"',
'"commodity column"'.

   This command shows the user manual built in to this hledger version.
It can be useful if the correct version of the hledger manual, or the
usual viewing tools, are not installed on your system.

   By default it uses the best viewer it can find in $PATH, in this
order: 'info', 'man', $PAGER (unless a topic is specified), 'less', or
stdout.  When run non-interactively, it always uses stdout.  Or you can
select a particular viewer with the '-i' (info), '-m' (man), or '-p'
(pager) flags.


File: hledger.info,  Node: import,  Next: incomestatement,  Prev: help,  Up: COMMANDS

11.17 import
============

import
Read new transactions added to each FILE since last run, and add them to
the main journal file.  Or with -dry-run, just print the transactions
that would be added.  Or with -catchup, just mark all of the FILEs'
transactions as imported, without actually importing any.

   Unlike other hledger commands, with 'import' the journal file is an
output file, and will be modified, though only by appending (existing
data will not be changed).  The input files are specified as arguments,
so to import one or more CSV files to your main journal, you will run
'hledger import bank.csv' or perhaps 'hledger import *.csv'.

   Note you can import from any file format, though CSV files are the
most common import source, and these docs focus on that case.

* Menu:

* Deduplication::
* Import testing::
* Importing balance assignments::
* Commodity display styles::


File: hledger.info,  Node: Deduplication,  Next: Import testing,  Up: import

11.17.1 Deduplication
---------------------

As a convenience 'import' does _deduplication_ while reading
transactions.  This does not mean "ignore transactions that look the
same", but rather "ignore transactions that have been seen before".
This is intended for when you are periodically importing foreign data
which may contain already-imported transactions.  So eg, if every day
you download bank CSV files containing redundant data, you can safely
run 'hledger import bank.csv' and only new transactions will be
imported.  ('import' is idempotent.)

   Since the items being read (CSV records, eg) often do not come with
unique identifiers, hledger detects new transactions by date, assuming
that:

  1. new items always have the newest dates
  2. item dates do not change across reads
  3. and items with the same date remain in the same relative order
     across reads.

   These are often true of CSV files representing transactions, or true
enough so that it works pretty well in practice.  1 is important, but
violations of 2 and 3 amongst the old transactions won't matter (and if
you import often, the new transactions will be few, so less likely to be
the ones affected).

   hledger remembers the latest date processed in each input file by
saving a hidden ".latest" state file in the same directory.  Eg when
reading 'finance/bank.csv', it will look for and update the
'finance/.latest.bank.csv' state file.  The format is simple: one or
more lines containing the same ISO-format date (YYYY-MM-DD), meaning "I
have processed transactions up to this date, and this many of them on
that date."  Normally you won't see or manipulate these state files
yourself.  But if needed, you can delete them to reset the state (making
all transactions "new"), or you can construct them to "catch up" to a
certain date.

   Note deduplication (and updating of state files) can also be done by
'print --new', but this is less often used.


File: hledger.info,  Node: Import testing,  Next: Importing balance assignments,  Prev: Deduplication,  Up: import

11.17.2 Import testing
----------------------

With '--dry-run', the transactions that will be imported are printed to
the terminal, without updating your journal or state files.  The output
is valid journal format, like the print command, so you can re-parse it.
Eg, to see any importable transactions which CSV rules have not
categorised:

$ hledger import --dry bank.csv | hledger -f- -I print unknown

   or (live updating):

$ ls bank.csv* | entr bash -c 'echo ====; hledger import --dry bank.csv | hledger -f- -I print unknown'


File: hledger.info,  Node: Importing balance assignments,  Next: Commodity display styles,  Prev: Import testing,  Up: import

11.17.3 Importing balance assignments
-------------------------------------

Entries added by import will have their posting amounts made explicit
(like 'hledger print -x').  This means that any balance assignments in
imported files must be evaluated; but, imported files don't get to see
the main file's account balances.  As a result, importing entries with
balance assignments (eg from an institution that provides only balances
and not posting amounts) will probably generate incorrect posting
amounts.  To avoid this problem, use print instead of import:

$ hledger print IMPORTFILE [--new] >> $LEDGER_FILE

   (If you think import should leave amounts implicit like print does,
please test it and send a pull request.)


File: hledger.info,  Node: Commodity display styles,  Prev: Importing balance assignments,  Up: import

11.17.4 Commodity display styles
--------------------------------

Imported amounts will be formatted according to the canonical commodity
styles (declared or inferred) in the main journal file.


File: hledger.info,  Node: incomestatement,  Next: notes,  Prev: import,  Up: COMMANDS

11.18 incomestatement
=====================

incomestatement, is

   This command displays an income statement, showing revenues and
expenses during one or more periods.  Amounts are shown with normal
positive sign, as in conventional financial statements.

   The revenue and expense accounts shown are those accounts declared
with the 'Revenue' or 'Expense' type, or otherwise all accounts under a
top-level 'revenue' or 'income' or 'expense' account (case insensitive,
plurals allowed).

   Example:

$ hledger incomestatement
Income Statement

Revenues:
                 $-2  income
                 $-1    gifts
                 $-1    salary
--------------------
                 $-2

Expenses:
                  $2  expenses
                  $1    food
                  $1    supplies
--------------------
                  $2

Total:
--------------------
                   0

   This command is a higher-level variant of the 'balance' command, and
supports many of that command's features, such as multi-period reports.
It is similar to 'hledger balance '(revenues|income)' expenses', but
with smarter account detection, and revenues/income displayed with their
sign flipped.

   This command also supports the output destination and output format
options The output formats supported are 'txt', 'csv', 'html', and
(experimental) 'json'.


File: hledger.info,  Node: notes,  Next: payees,  Prev: incomestatement,  Up: COMMANDS

11.19 notes
===========

notes
List the unique notes that appear in transactions.

   This command lists the unique notes that appear in transactions, in
alphabetic order.  You can add a query to select a subset of
transactions.  The note is the part of the transaction description after
a | character (or if there is no |, the whole description).

   Example:

$ hledger notes
Petrol
Snacks


File: hledger.info,  Node: payees,  Next: prices,  Prev: notes,  Up: COMMANDS

11.20 payees
============

payees
List the unique payee/payer names that appear in transactions.

   This command lists unique payee/payer names which have been declared
with payee directives (-declared), used in transaction descriptions
(-used), or both (the default).

   The payee/payer is the part of the transaction description before a |
character (or if there is no |, the whole description).

   You can add query arguments to select a subset of transactions.  This
implies -used.

   Example:

$ hledger payees
Store Name
Gas Station
Person A


File: hledger.info,  Node: prices,  Next: print,  Prev: payees,  Up: COMMANDS

11.21 prices
============

prices
Print market price directives from the journal.  With
-infer-market-prices, generate additional market prices from transaction
prices.  With -infer-reverse-prices, also generate market prices by
inverting transaction prices.  Prices (and postings providing
transaction prices) can be filtered by a query.  Price amounts are
displayed with their full precision.


File: hledger.info,  Node: print,  Next: print-unique,  Prev: prices,  Up: COMMANDS

11.22 print
===========

print
Show transaction journal entries, sorted by date.

   The print command displays full journal entries (transactions) from
the journal file, sorted by date (or with '--date2', by secondary date).

   Amounts are shown mostly normalised to commodity display style, eg
the placement of commodity symbols will be consistent.  All of their
decimal places are shown, as in the original journal entry (with one
alteration: in some cases trailing zeroes are added.)

   Amounts are shown right-aligned within each transaction (but not
across all transactions).

   Directives and inter-transaction comments are not shown, currently.
This means the print command is somewhat lossy, and if you are using it
to reformat your journal you should take care to also copy over the
directives and file-level comments.

   Eg:

$ hledger print
2008/01/01 income
    assets:bank:checking            $1
    income:salary                  $-1

2008/06/01 gift
    assets:bank:checking            $1
    income:gifts                   $-1

2008/06/02 save
    assets:bank:saving              $1
    assets:bank:checking           $-1

2008/06/03 * eat & shop
    expenses:food                $1
    expenses:supplies            $1
    assets:cash                 $-2

2008/12/31 * pay off
    liabilities:debts               $1
    assets:bank:checking           $-1

   print's output is usually a valid hledger journal, and you can
process it again with a second hledger command.  This can be useful for
certain kinds of search, eg:

# Show running total of food expenses paid from cash.
# -f- reads from stdin. -I/--ignore-assertions is sometimes needed.
$ hledger print assets:cash | hledger -f- -I reg expenses:food

   There are some situations where print's output can become
unparseable:

   * Valuation affects posting amounts but not balance assertion or
     balance assignment amounts, potentially causing those to fail.
   * Auto postings can generate postings with too many missing amounts.

   Normally, the journal entry's explicit or implicit amount style is
preserved.  For example, when an amount is omitted in the journal, it
will not appear in the output.  Similarly, when a transaction price is
implied but not written, it will not appear in the output.  You can use
the '-x'/'--explicit' flag to make all amounts and transaction prices
explicit, which can be useful for troubleshooting or for making your
journal more readable and robust against data entry errors.  '-x' is
also implied by using any of '-B','-V','-X','--value'.

   Note, '-x'/'--explicit' will cause postings with a multi-commodity
amount (these can arise when a multi-commodity transaction has an
implicit amount) to be split into multiple single-commodity postings,
keeping the output parseable.

   With '-B'/'--cost', amounts with transaction prices are converted to
cost using that price.  This can be used for troubleshooting.

   With '-m'/'--match' and a STR argument, print will show at most one
transaction: the one one whose description is most similar to STR, and
is most recent.  STR should contain at least two characters.  If there
is no similar-enough match, no transaction will be shown.

   With '--new', hledger prints only transactions it has not seen on a
previous run.  This uses the same deduplication system as the 'import'
command.  (See import's docs for details.)

   This command also supports the output destination and output format
options The output formats supported are 'txt', 'csv', and
(experimental) 'json' and 'sql'.

   Here's an example of print's CSV output:

$ hledger print -Ocsv
"txnidx","date","date2","status","code","description","comment","account","amount","commodity","credit","debit","posting-status","posting-comment"
"1","2008/01/01","","","","income","","assets:bank:checking","1","$","","1","",""
"1","2008/01/01","","","","income","","income:salary","-1","$","1","","",""
"2","2008/06/01","","","","gift","","assets:bank:checking","1","$","","1","",""
"2","2008/06/01","","","","gift","","income:gifts","-1","$","1","","",""
"3","2008/06/02","","","","save","","assets:bank:saving","1","$","","1","",""
"3","2008/06/02","","","","save","","assets:bank:checking","-1","$","1","","",""
"4","2008/06/03","","*","","eat & shop","","expenses:food","1","$","","1","",""
"4","2008/06/03","","*","","eat & shop","","expenses:supplies","1","$","","1","",""
"4","2008/06/03","","*","","eat & shop","","assets:cash","-2","$","2","","",""
"5","2008/12/31","","*","","pay off","","liabilities:debts","1","$","","1","",""
"5","2008/12/31","","*","","pay off","","assets:bank:checking","-1","$","1","","",""

   * There is one CSV record per posting, with the parent transaction's
     fields repeated.
   * The "txnidx" (transaction index) field shows which postings belong
     to the same transaction.  (This number might change if transactions
     are reordered within the file, files are parsed/included in a
     different order, etc.)
   * The amount is separated into "commodity" (the symbol) and "amount"
     (numeric quantity) fields.
   * The numeric amount is repeated in either the "credit" or "debit"
     column, for convenience.  (Those names are not accurate in the
     accounting sense; it just puts negative amounts under credit and
     zero or greater amounts under debit.)


File: hledger.info,  Node: print-unique,  Next: register,  Prev: print,  Up: COMMANDS

11.23 print-unique
==================

print-unique
Print transactions which do not reuse an already-seen description.

   Example:

$ cat unique.journal
1/1 test
 (acct:one)  1
2/2 test
 (acct:two)  2
$ LEDGER_FILE=unique.journal hledger print-unique
(-f option not supported)
2015/01/01 test
    (acct:one)             1


File: hledger.info,  Node: register,  Next: register-match,  Prev: print-unique,  Up: COMMANDS

11.24 register
==============

register, reg
Show postings and their running total.

   The register command displays matched postings, across all accounts,
in date order, with their running total or running historical balance.
(See also the 'aregister' command, which shows matched transactions in a
specific account.)

   register normally shows line per posting, but note that
multi-commodity amounts will occupy multiple lines (one line per
commodity).

   It is typically used with a query selecting a particular account, to
see that account's activity:

$ hledger register checking
2008/01/01 income               assets:bank:checking            $1           $1
2008/06/01 gift                 assets:bank:checking            $1           $2
2008/06/02 save                 assets:bank:checking           $-1           $1
2008/12/31 pay off              assets:bank:checking           $-1            0

   With -date2, it shows and sorts by secondary date instead.

   The '--historical'/'-H' flag adds the balance from any undisplayed
prior postings to the running total.  This is useful when you want to
see only recent activity, with a historically accurate running balance:

$ hledger register checking -b 2008/6 --historical
2008/06/01 gift                 assets:bank:checking            $1           $2
2008/06/02 save                 assets:bank:checking           $-1           $1
2008/12/31 pay off              assets:bank:checking           $-1            0

   The '--depth' option limits the amount of sub-account detail
displayed.

   The '--average'/'-A' flag shows the running average posting amount
instead of the running total (so, the final number displayed is the
average for the whole report period).  This flag implies '--empty' (see
below).  It is affected by '--historical'.  It works best when showing
just one account and one commodity.

   The '--related'/'-r' flag shows the _other_ postings in the
transactions of the postings which would normally be shown.

   The '--invert' flag negates all amounts.  For example, it can be used
on an income account where amounts are normally displayed as negative
numbers.  It's also useful to show postings on the checking account
together with the related account:

$ hledger register --related --invert assets:checking

   With a reporting interval, register shows summary postings, one per
interval, aggregating the postings to each account:

$ hledger register --monthly income
2008/01                 income:salary                          $-1          $-1
2008/06                 income:gifts                           $-1          $-2

   Periods with no activity, and summary postings with a zero amount,
are not shown by default; use the '--empty'/'-E' flag to see them:

$ hledger register --monthly income -E
2008/01                 income:salary                          $-1          $-1
2008/02                                                          0          $-1
2008/03                                                          0          $-1
2008/04                                                          0          $-1
2008/05                                                          0          $-1
2008/06                 income:gifts                           $-1          $-2
2008/07                                                          0          $-2
2008/08                                                          0          $-2
2008/09                                                          0          $-2
2008/10                                                          0          $-2
2008/11                                                          0          $-2
2008/12                                                          0          $-2

   Often, you'll want to see just one line per interval.  The '--depth'
option helps with this, causing subaccounts to be aggregated:

$ hledger register --monthly assets --depth 1h
2008/01                 assets                                  $1           $1
2008/06                 assets                                 $-1            0
2008/12                 assets                                 $-1          $-1

   Note when using report intervals, if you specify start/end dates
these will be adjusted outward if necessary to contain a whole number of
intervals.  This ensures that the first and last intervals are full
length and comparable to the others in the report.

* Menu:

* Custom register output::


File: hledger.info,  Node: Custom register output,  Up: register

11.24.1 Custom register output
------------------------------

register uses the full terminal width by default, except on windows.
You can override this by setting the 'COLUMNS' environment variable (not
a bash shell variable) or by using the '--width'/'-w' option.

   The description and account columns normally share the space equally
(about half of (width - 40) each).  You can adjust this by adding a
description width as part of -width's argument, comma-separated:
'--width W,D' .  Here's a diagram (won't display correctly in -help):

<--------------------------------- width (W) ---------------------------------->
date (10)  description (D)       account (W-41-D)     amount (12)   balance (12)
DDDDDDDDDD dddddddddddddddddddd  aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa  AAAAAAAAAAAA  AAAAAAAAAAAA

   and some examples:

$ hledger reg                     # use terminal width (or 80 on windows)
$ hledger reg -w 100              # use width 100
$ COLUMNS=100 hledger reg         # set with one-time environment variable
$ export COLUMNS=100; hledger reg # set till session end (or window resize)
$ hledger reg -w 100,40           # set overall width 100, description width 40
$ hledger reg -w $COLUMNS,40      # use terminal width, & description width 40

   This command also supports the output destination and output format
options The output formats supported are 'txt', 'csv', and
(experimental) 'json'.


File: hledger.info,  Node: register-match,  Next: rewrite,  Prev: register,  Up: COMMANDS

11.25 register-match
====================

register-match
Print the one posting whose transaction description is closest to DESC,
in the style of the register command.  If there are multiple equally
good matches, it shows the most recent.  Query options (options, not
arguments) can be used to restrict the search space.  Helps
ledger-autosync detect already-seen transactions when importing.


File: hledger.info,  Node: rewrite,  Next: roi,  Prev: register-match,  Up: COMMANDS

11.26 rewrite
=============

rewrite
Print all transactions, rewriting the postings of matched transactions.
For now the only rewrite available is adding new postings, like print
-auto.

   This is a start at a generic rewriter of transaction entries.  It
reads the default journal and prints the transactions, like print, but
adds one or more specified postings to any transactions matching QUERY.
The posting amounts can be fixed, or a multiplier of the existing
transaction's first posting amount.

   Examples:

$ hledger-rewrite.hs ^income --add-posting '(liabilities:tax)  *.33  ; income tax' --add-posting '(reserve:gifts)  $100'
$ hledger-rewrite.hs expenses:gifts --add-posting '(reserve:gifts)  *-1"'
$ hledger-rewrite.hs -f rewrites.hledger

   rewrites.hledger may consist of entries like:

= ^income amt:<0 date:2017
  (liabilities:tax)  *0.33  ; tax on income
  (reserve:grocery)  *0.25  ; reserve 25% for grocery
  (reserve:)  *0.25  ; reserve 25% for grocery

   Note the single quotes to protect the dollar sign from bash, and the
two spaces between account and amount.

   More:

$ hledger rewrite -- [QUERY]        --add-posting "ACCT  AMTEXPR" ...
$ hledger rewrite -- ^income        --add-posting '(liabilities:tax)  *.33'
$ hledger rewrite -- expenses:gifts --add-posting '(budget:gifts)  *-1"'
$ hledger rewrite -- ^income        --add-posting '(budget:foreign currency)  *0.25 JPY; diversify'

   Argument for '--add-posting' option is a usual posting of transaction
with an exception for amount specification.  More precisely, you can use
''*'' (star symbol) before the amount to indicate that that this is a
factor for an amount of original matched posting.  If the amount
includes a commodity name, the new posting amount will be in the new
commodity; otherwise, it will be in the matched posting amount's
commodity.

* Menu:

* Re-write rules in a file::
* Diff output format::
* rewrite vs print --auto::


File: hledger.info,  Node: Re-write rules in a file,  Next: Diff output format,  Up: rewrite

11.26.1 Re-write rules in a file
--------------------------------

During the run this tool will execute so called "Automated Transactions"
found in any journal it process.  I.e instead of specifying this
operations in command line you can put them in a journal file.

$ rewrite-rules.journal

   Make contents look like this:

= ^income
    (liabilities:tax)  *.33

= expenses:gifts
    budget:gifts  *-1
    assets:budget  *1

   Note that ''='' (equality symbol) that is used instead of date in
transactions you usually write.  It indicates the query by which you
want to match the posting to add new ones.

$ hledger rewrite -- -f input.journal -f rewrite-rules.journal > rewritten-tidy-output.journal

   This is something similar to the commands pipeline:

$ hledger rewrite -- -f input.journal '^income' --add-posting '(liabilities:tax)  *.33' \
  | hledger rewrite -- -f - expenses:gifts      --add-posting 'budget:gifts  *-1'       \
                                                --add-posting 'assets:budget  *1'       \
  > rewritten-tidy-output.journal

   It is important to understand that relative order of such entries in
journal is important.  You can re-use result of previously added
postings.


File: hledger.info,  Node: Diff output format,  Next: rewrite vs print --auto,  Prev: Re-write rules in a file,  Up: rewrite

11.26.2 Diff output format
--------------------------

To use this tool for batch modification of your journal files you may
find useful output in form of unified diff.

$ hledger rewrite -- --diff -f examples/sample.journal '^income' --add-posting '(liabilities:tax)  *.33'

   Output might look like:

--- /tmp/examples/sample.journal
+++ /tmp/examples/sample.journal
@@ -18,3 +18,4 @@
 2008/01/01 income
-    assets:bank:checking  $1
+    assets:bank:checking            $1
     income:salary
+    (liabilities:tax)                0
@@ -22,3 +23,4 @@
 2008/06/01 gift
-    assets:bank:checking  $1
+    assets:bank:checking            $1
     income:gifts
+    (liabilities:tax)                0

   If you'll pass this through 'patch' tool you'll get transactions
containing the posting that matches your query be updated.  Note that
multiple files might be update according to list of input files
specified via '--file' options and 'include' directives inside of these
files.

   Be careful.  Whole transaction being re-formatted in a style of
output from 'hledger print'.

   See also:

   https://github.com/simonmichael/hledger/issues/99


File: hledger.info,  Node: rewrite vs print --auto,  Prev: Diff output format,  Up: rewrite

11.26.3 rewrite vs. print -auto
-------------------------------

This command predates print -auto, and currently does much the same
thing, but with these differences:

   * with multiple files, rewrite lets rules in any file affect all
     other files.  print -auto uses standard directive scoping; rules
     affect only child files.

   * rewrite's query limits which transactions can be rewritten; all are
     printed.  print -auto's query limits which transactions are
     printed.

   * rewrite applies rules specified on command line or in the journal.
     print -auto applies rules specified in the journal.


File: hledger.info,  Node: roi,  Next: stats,  Prev: rewrite,  Up: COMMANDS

11.27 roi
=========

roi
Shows the time-weighted (TWR) and money-weighted (IRR) rate of return on
your investments.

   At a minimum, you need to supply a query (which could be just an
account name) to select your investment(s) with '--inv', and another
query to identify your profit and loss transactions with '--pnl'.

   If you do not record changes in the value of your investment
manually, or do not require computation of time-weighted return (TWR),
'--pnl' could be an empty query ('--pnl ""' or '--pnl STR' where 'STR'
does not match any of your accounts).

   This command will compute and display the internalized rate of return
(IRR) and time-weighted rate of return (TWR) for your investments for
the time period requested.  Both rates of return are annualized before
display, regardless of the length of reporting interval.

   Price directives will be taken into account if you supply appropriate
'--cost' or '--value' flags (see VALUATION).

   Note, in some cases this report can fail, for these reasons:

   * Error (NotBracketed): No solution for Internal Rate of Return
     (IRR). Possible causes: IRR is huge (>1000000%), balance of
     investment becomes negative at some point in time.
   * Error (SearchFailed): Failed to find solution for Internal Rate of
     Return (IRR). Either search does not converge to a solution, or
     converges too slowly.

   Examples:

   * Using roi to compute total return of investment in stocks:
     https://github.com/simonmichael/hledger/blob/master/examples/roi-unrealised.ledger

   * Cookbook -> Return on Investment

* Menu:

* Spaces and special characters in --inv and --pnl::
* Semantics of --inv and --pnl::
* IRR and TWR explained::


File: hledger.info,  Node: Spaces and special characters in --inv and --pnl,  Next: Semantics of --inv and --pnl,  Up: roi

11.27.1 Spaces and special characters in '--inv' and
----------------------------------------------------

'--pnl' Note that '--inv' and '--pnl''s argument is a query, and queries
could have several space-separated terms (see QUERIES).

   To indicate that all search terms form single command-line argument,
you will need to put them in quotes (see Special characters):

$ hledger roi --inv 'term1 term2 term3 ...'

   If any query terms contain spaces themselves, you will need an extra
level of nested quoting, eg:

$ hledger roi --inv="'Assets:Test 1'" --pnl="'Equity:Unrealized Profit and Loss'"


File: hledger.info,  Node: Semantics of --inv and --pnl,  Next: IRR and TWR explained,  Prev: Spaces and special characters in --inv and --pnl,  Up: roi

11.27.2 Semantics of '--inv' and '--pnl'
----------------------------------------

Query supplied to '--inv' has to match all transactions that are related
to your investment.  Transactions not matching '--inv' will be ignored.

   In these transactions, ROI will conside postings that match '--inv'
to be "investment postings" and other postings (not matching '--inv')
will be sorted into two categories: "cash flow" and "profit and loss",
as ROI needs to know which part of the investment value is your
contributions and which is due to the return on investment.

   * "Cash flow" is depositing or withdrawing money, buying or selling
     assets, or otherwise converting between your investment commodity
     and any other commodity.  Example:

     2019-01-01 Investing in Snake Oil
       assets:cash          -$100
       investment:snake oil
     
     2020-01-01 Selling my Snake Oil
       assets:cash           $10
       investment:snake oil  = 0

   * "Profit and loss" is change in the value of your investment:

     2019-06-01 Snake Oil falls in value
       investment:snake oil  = $57
       equity:unrealized profit or loss

   All non-investment postings are assumed to be "cash flow", unless
they match '--pnl' query.  Changes in value of your investment due to
"profit and loss" postings will be considered as part of your investment
return.

   Example: if you use '--inv snake --pnl equity:unrealized', then
postings in the example below would be classifed as:

2019-01-01 Snake Oil #1
  assets:cash          -$100   ; cash flow posting
  investment:snake oil         ; investment posting

2019-03-01 Snake Oil #2
  equity:unrealized pnl  -$100 ; profit and loss posting
  snake oil                    ; investment posting

2019-07-01 Snake Oil #3
  equity:unrealized pnl        ; profit and loss posting
  cash          -$100          ; cash flow posting
  snake oil     $50            ; investment posting


File: hledger.info,  Node: IRR and TWR explained,  Prev: Semantics of --inv and --pnl,  Up: roi

11.27.3 IRR and TWR explained
-----------------------------

"ROI" stands for "return on investment".  Traditionally this was
computed as a difference between current value of investment and its
initial value, expressed in percentage of the initial value.

   However, this approach is only practical in simple cases, where
investments receives no in-flows or out-flows of money, and where rate
of growth is fixed over time.  For more complex scenarios you need
different ways to compute rate of return, and this command implements
two of them: IRR and TWR.

   Internal rate of return, or "IRR" (also called "money-weighted rate
of return") takes into account effects of in-flows and out-flows.
Naively, if you are withdrawing from your investment, your future gains
would be smaller (in absolute numbers), and will be a smaller percentage
of your initial investment, and if you are adding to your investment,
you will receive bigger absolute gains (but probably at the same rate of
return).  IRR is a way to compute rate of return for each period between
in-flow or out-flow of money, and then combine them in a way that gives
you a compound annual rate of return that investment is expected to
generate.

   As mentioned before, in-flows and out-flows would be any cash that
you personally put in or withdraw, and for the "roi" command, these are
the postings that match the query in the'--inv' argument and NOT match
the query in the'--pnl' argument.

   If you manually record changes in the value of your investment as
transactions that balance them against "profit and loss" (or "unrealized
gains") account or use price directives, then in order for IRR to
compute the precise effect of your in-flows and out-flows on the rate of
return, you will need to record the value of your investement on or
close to the days when in- or out-flows occur.

   In technical terms, IRR uses the same approach as computation of net
present value, and tries to find a discount rate that makes net present
value of all the cash flows of your investment to add up to zero.  This
could be hard to wrap your head around, especially if you haven't done
discounted cash flow analysis before.  Implementation of IRR in hledger
should produce results that match the 'XIRR' formula in Excel.

   Second way to compute rate of return that 'roi' command implements is
called "time-weighted rate of return" or "TWR". Like IRR, it will also
break the history of your investment into periods between in-flows,
out-flows and value changes, to compute rate of return per each period
and then a compound rate of return.  However, internal workings of TWR
are quite different.

   TWR represents your investment as an imaginary "unit fund" where
in-flows/ out-flows lead to buying or selling "units" of your investment
and changes in its value change the value of "investment unit".  Change
in "unit price" over the reporting period gives you rate of return of
your investment.

   References: * Explanation of rate of return * Explanation of IRR *
Explanation of TWR * Examples of computing IRR and TWR and discussion of
the limitations of both metrics


File: hledger.info,  Node: stats,  Next: tags,  Prev: roi,  Up: COMMANDS

11.28 stats
===========

stats
Show some journal statistics.

   The stats command displays summary information for the whole journal,
or a matched part of it.  With a reporting interval, it shows a report
for each report period.

   Example:

$ hledger stats
Main journal file        : /src/hledger/examples/sample.journal
Included journal files   : 
Transactions span        : 2008-01-01 to 2009-01-01 (366 days)
Last transaction         : 2008-12-31 (2333 days ago)
Transactions             : 5 (0.0 per day)
Transactions last 30 days: 0 (0.0 per day)
Transactions last 7 days : 0 (0.0 per day)
Payees/descriptions      : 5
Accounts                 : 8 (depth 3)
Commodities              : 1 ($)
Market prices            : 12 ($)

   This command also supports output destination and output format
selection.


File: hledger.info,  Node: tags,  Next: test,  Prev: stats,  Up: COMMANDS

11.29 tags
==========

tags
List the unique tag names used in the journal.  With a TAGREGEX
argument, only tag names matching the regular expression (case
insensitive) are shown.  With QUERY arguments, only transactions
matching the query are considered.

   With the -values flag, the tags' unique values are listed instead.

   With -parsed flag, all tags or values are shown in the order they are
parsed from the input data, including duplicates.

   With -E/-empty, any blank/empty values will also be shown, otherwise
they are omitted.


File: hledger.info,  Node: test,  Next: About add-on commands,  Prev: tags,  Up: COMMANDS

11.30 test
==========

test
Run built-in unit tests.

   This command runs the unit tests built in to hledger and hledger-lib,
printing the results on stdout.  If any test fails, the exit code will
be non-zero.

   This is mainly used by hledger developers, but you can also use it to
sanity-check the installed hledger executable on your platform.  All
tests are expected to pass - if you ever see a failure, please report as
a bug!

   This command also accepts tasty test runner options, written after a
- (double hyphen).  Eg to run only the tests in Hledger.Data.Amount,
with ANSI colour codes disabled:

$ hledger test -- -pData.Amount --color=never

   For help on these, see https://github.com/feuerbach/tasty#options
('-- --help' currently doesn't show them).


File: hledger.info,  Node: About add-on commands,  Prev: test,  Up: COMMANDS

11.31 About add-on commands
===========================

Add-on commands are programs or scripts in your PATH

   * whose name starts with 'hledger-'
   * whose name ends with a recognised file extension:
     '.bat','.com','.exe', '.hs','.lhs','.pl','.py','.rb','.rkt','.sh'
     or none
   * and (on unix, mac) which are executable by the current user.

   Add-ons are a relatively easy way to add local features or experiment
with new ideas.  They can be written in any language, but haskell
scripts have a big advantage: they can use the same hledger library
functions that built-in commands use for command-line options, parsing
and reporting.  Some experimental/example add-on scripts can be found in
the hledger repo's bin/ directory.

   Note in a hledger command line, add-on command flags must have a
double dash ('--') preceding them.  Eg you must write:

$ hledger web -- --serve

   and not:

$ hledger web --serve

   (because the '--serve' flag belongs to 'hledger-web', not 'hledger').

   The '-h/--help' and '--version' flags don't require '--'.

   If you have any trouble with this, remember you can always run the
add-on program directly, eg:

$ hledger-web --serve


File: hledger.info,  Node: JOURNAL FORMAT,  Next: CSV FORMAT,  Prev: COMMANDS,  Up: Top

12 JOURNAL FORMAT
*****************

hledger's default file format, representing a General Journal.

   hledger's usual data source is a plain text file containing journal
entries in hledger journal format.  This file represents a standard
accounting general journal.  I use file names ending in '.journal', but
that's not required.  The journal file contains a number of transaction
entries, each describing a transfer of money (or any commodity) between
two or more named accounts, in a simple format readable by both hledger
and humans.

   hledger's journal format is a compatible subset, mostly, of ledger's
journal format, so hledger can work with compatible ledger journal files
as well.  It's safe, and encouraged, to run both hledger and ledger on
the same journal file, eg to validate the results you're getting.

   You can use hledger without learning any more about this file; just
use the add or web or import commands to create and update it.

   Many users, though, edit the journal file with a text editor, and
track changes with a version control system such as git.  Editor addons
such as ledger-mode or hledger-mode for Emacs, vim-ledger for Vim, and
hledger-vscode for Visual Studio Code, make this easier, adding colour,
formatting, tab completion, and useful commands.  See Editor
configuration at hledger.org for the full list.

   Here's a description of each part of the file format (and hledger's
data model).  These are mostly in the order you'll use them, but in some
cases related concepts have been grouped together for easy reference, or
linked before they are introduced, so feel free to skip over anything
that looks unnecessary right now.

* Menu:

* Transactions::
* Dates::
* Status::
* Code::
* Description::
* Comments::
* Tags::
* Postings::
* Account names::
* Amounts::
* Transaction prices::
* Lot prices lot dates::
* Balance assertions::
* Balance assignments::
* Directives::
* Directives and multiple files::
* Comment blocks::
* Including other files::
* Default year::
* Declaring payees::
* Declaring commodities::
* Default commodity::
* Declaring market prices::
* Declaring accounts::
* Rewriting accounts::
* Default parent account::
* Periodic transactions::
* Auto postings::


File: hledger.info,  Node: Transactions,  Next: Dates,  Up: JOURNAL FORMAT

12.1 Transactions
=================

Transactions are the main unit of information in a journal file.  They
represent events, typically a movement of some quantity of commodities
between two or more named accounts.

   Each transaction is recorded as a journal entry, beginning with a
simple date in column 0.  This can be followed by any of the following
optional fields, separated by spaces:

   * a status character (empty, '!', or '*')
   * a code (any short number or text, enclosed in parentheses)
   * a description (any remaining text until end of line or a semicolon)
   * a comment (any remaining text following a semicolon until end of
     line, and any following indented lines beginning with a semicolon)
   * 0 or more indented _posting_ lines, describing what was transferred
     and the accounts involved (indented comment lines are also allowed,
     but not blank lines or non-indented lines).

   Here's a simple journal file containing one transaction:

2008/01/01 income
  assets:bank:checking   $1
  income:salary         $-1


File: hledger.info,  Node: Dates,  Next: Status,  Prev: Transactions,  Up: JOURNAL FORMAT

12.2 Dates
==========

* Menu:

* Simple dates::
* Secondary dates::
* Posting dates::


File: hledger.info,  Node: Simple dates,  Next: Secondary dates,  Up: Dates

12.2.1 Simple dates
-------------------

Dates in the journal file use _simple dates_ format: 'YYYY-MM-DD' or
'YYYY/MM/DD' or 'YYYY.MM.DD', with leading zeros optional.  The year may
be omitted, in which case it will be inferred from the context: the
current transaction, the default year set with a default year directive,
or the current date when the command is run.  Some examples:
'2010-01-31', '2010/01/31', '2010.1.31', '1/31'.

   (The UI also accepts simple dates, as well as the more flexible smart
dates documented in the hledger manual.)


File: hledger.info,  Node: Secondary dates,  Next: Posting dates,  Prev: Simple dates,  Up: Dates

12.2.2 Secondary dates
----------------------

Real-life transactions sometimes involve more than one date - eg the
date you write a cheque, and the date it clears in your bank.  When you
want to model this, for more accurate daily balances, you can specify
individual posting dates.

   Or, you can use the older _secondary date_ feature (Ledger calls it
auxiliary date or effective date).  Note: we support this for
compatibility, but I usually recommend avoiding this feature; posting
dates are almost always clearer and simpler.

   A secondary date is written after the primary date, following an
equals sign.  If the year is omitted, the primary date's year is
assumed.  When running reports, the primary (left) date is used by
default, but with the '--date2' flag (or '--aux-date' or '--effective'),
the secondary (right) date will be used instead.

   The meaning of secondary dates is up to you, but it's best to follow
a consistent rule.  Eg "primary = the bank's clearing date, secondary =
date the transaction was initiated, if different", as shown here:

2010/2/23=2/19 movie ticket
  expenses:cinema                   $10
  assets:checking

$ hledger register checking
2010-02-23 movie ticket         assets:checking                $-10         $-10

$ hledger register checking --date2
2010-02-19 movie ticket         assets:checking                $-10         $-10


File: hledger.info,  Node: Posting dates,  Prev: Secondary dates,  Up: Dates

12.2.3 Posting dates
--------------------

You can give individual postings a different date from their parent
transaction, by adding a posting comment containing a tag (see below)
like 'date:DATE'.  This is probably the best way to control posting
dates precisely.  Eg in this example the expense should appear in May
reports, and the deduction from checking should be reported on 6/1 for
easy bank reconciliation:

2015/5/30
    expenses:food     $10  ; food purchased on saturday 5/30
    assets:checking        ; bank cleared it on monday, date:6/1

$ hledger -f t.j register food
2015-05-30                      expenses:food                  $10           $10

$ hledger -f t.j register checking
2015-06-01                      assets:checking               $-10          $-10

   DATE should be a simple date; if the year is not specified it will
use the year of the transaction's date.  You can set the secondary date
similarly, with 'date2:DATE2'.  The 'date:' or 'date2:' tags must have a
valid simple date value if they are present, eg a 'date:' tag with no
value is not allowed.

   Ledger's earlier, more compact bracketed date syntax is also
supported: '[DATE]', '[DATE=DATE2]' or '[=DATE2]'.  hledger will attempt
to parse any square-bracketed sequence of the '0123456789/-.='
characters in this way.  With this syntax, DATE infers its year from the
transaction and DATE2 infers its year from DATE.


File: hledger.info,  Node: Status,  Next: Code,  Prev: Dates,  Up: JOURNAL FORMAT

12.3 Status
===========

Transactions, or individual postings within a transaction, can have a
status mark, which is a single character before the transaction
description or posting account name, separated from it by a space,
indicating one of three statuses:

mark  status
 
-----------------
      unmarked
'!'   pending
'*'   cleared

   When reporting, you can filter by status with the '-U/--unmarked',
'-P/--pending', and '-C/--cleared' flags; or the 'status:', 'status:!',
and 'status:*' queries; or the U, P, C keys in hledger-ui.

   Note, in Ledger and in older versions of hledger, the "unmarked"
state is called "uncleared".  As of hledger 1.3 we have renamed it to
unmarked for clarity.

   To replicate Ledger and old hledger's behaviour of also matching
pending, combine -U and -P.

   Status marks are optional, but can be helpful eg for reconciling with
real-world accounts.  Some editor modes provide highlighting and
shortcuts for working with status.  Eg in Emacs ledger-mode, you can
toggle transaction status with C-c C-e, or posting status with C-c C-c.

   What "uncleared", "pending", and "cleared" actually mean is up to
you.  Here's one suggestion:

status     meaning
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
uncleared  recorded but not yet reconciled; needs review
pending    tentatively reconciled (if needed, eg during a big
           reconciliation)
cleared    complete, reconciled as far as possible, and considered
           correct

   With this scheme, you would use '-PC' to see the current balance at
your bank, '-U' to see things which will probably hit your bank soon
(like uncashed checks), and no flags to see the most up-to-date state of
your finances.


File: hledger.info,  Node: Code,  Next: Description,  Prev: Status,  Up: JOURNAL FORMAT

12.4 Code
=========

After the status mark, but before the description, you can optionally
write a transaction "code", enclosed in parentheses.  This is a good
place to record a check number, or some other important transaction id
or reference number.


File: hledger.info,  Node: Description,  Next: Comments,  Prev: Code,  Up: JOURNAL FORMAT

12.5 Description
================

A transaction's description is the rest of the line following the date
and status mark (or until a comment begins).  Sometimes called the
"narration" in traditional bookkeeping, it can be used for whatever you
wish, or left blank.  Transaction descriptions can be queried, unlike
comments.

* Menu:

* Payee and note::


File: hledger.info,  Node: Payee and note,  Up: Description

12.5.1 Payee and note
---------------------

You can optionally include a '|' (pipe) character in descriptions to
subdivide the description into separate fields for payee/payer name on
the left (up to the first '|') and an additional note field on the right
(after the first '|').  This may be worthwhile if you need to do more
precise querying and pivoting by payee or by note.


File: hledger.info,  Node: Comments,  Next: Tags,  Prev: Description,  Up: JOURNAL FORMAT

12.6 Comments
=============

Lines in the journal beginning with a semicolon (';') or hash ('#') or
star ('*') are comments, and will be ignored.  (Star comments cause
org-mode nodes to be ignored, allowing emacs users to fold and navigate
their journals with org-mode or orgstruct-mode.)

   You can attach comments to a transaction by writing them after the
description and/or indented on the following lines (before the
postings).  Similarly, you can attach comments to an individual posting
by writing them after the amount and/or indented on the following lines.
Transaction and posting comments must begin with a semicolon (';').

   Some examples:

# a file comment
; another file comment
* also a file comment, useful in org/orgstruct mode

comment
A multiline file comment, which continues
until a line containing just "end comment"
(or end of file).
end comment

2012/5/14 something  ; a transaction comment
    ; the transaction comment, continued
    posting1  1  ; a comment for posting 1
    posting2
    ; a comment for posting 2
    ; another comment line for posting 2
; a file comment (because not indented)

   You can also comment larger regions of a file using 'comment' and
'end comment' directives.


File: hledger.info,  Node: Tags,  Next: Postings,  Prev: Comments,  Up: JOURNAL FORMAT

12.7 Tags
=========

Tags are a way to add extra labels or labelled data to postings and
transactions, which you can then search or pivot on.

   A simple tag is a word (which may contain hyphens) followed by a full
colon, written inside a transaction or posting comment line:

2017/1/16 bought groceries  ; sometag:

   Tags can have a value, which is the text after the colon, up to the
next comma or end of line, with leading/trailing whitespace removed:

    expenses:food    $10 ; a-posting-tag: the tag value

   Note this means hledger's tag values can not contain commas or
newlines.  Ending at commas means you can write multiple short tags on
one line, comma separated:

    assets:checking  ; a comment containing tag1:, tag2: some value ...

   Here,

   * "'a comment containing'" is just comment text, not a tag
   * "'tag1'" is a tag with no value
   * "'tag2'" is another tag, whose value is "'some value ...'"

   Tags in a transaction comment affect the transaction and all of its
postings, while tags in a posting comment affect only that posting.  For
example, the following transaction has three tags ('A', 'TAG2',
'third-tag') and the posting has four (those plus 'posting-tag'):

1/1 a transaction  ; A:, TAG2:
    ; third-tag: a third transaction tag, <- with a value
    (a)  $1  ; posting-tag:

   Tags are like Ledger's metadata feature, except hledger's tag values
are simple strings.


File: hledger.info,  Node: Postings,  Next: Account names,  Prev: Tags,  Up: JOURNAL FORMAT

12.8 Postings
=============

A posting is an addition of some amount to, or removal of some amount
from, an account.  Each posting line begins with at least one space or
tab (2 or 4 spaces is common), followed by:

   * (optional) a status character (empty, '!', or '*'), followed by a
     space
   * (required) an account name (any text, optionally containing *single
     spaces*, until end of line or a double space)
   * (optional) *two or more spaces* or tabs followed by an amount.

   Positive amounts are being added to the account, negative amounts are
being removed.

   The amounts within a transaction must always sum up to zero.  As a
convenience, one amount may be left blank; it will be inferred so as to
balance the transaction.

   Be sure to note the unusual two-space delimiter between account name
and amount.  This makes it easy to write account names containing
spaces.  But if you accidentally leave only one space (or tab) before
the amount, the amount will be considered part of the account name.

* Menu:

* Virtual postings::


File: hledger.info,  Node: Virtual postings,  Up: Postings

12.8.1 Virtual postings
-----------------------

A posting with a parenthesised account name is called a _virtual
posting_ or _unbalanced posting_, which means it is exempt from the
usual rule that a transaction's postings must balance add up to zero.

   This is not part of double entry accounting, so you might choose to
avoid this feature.  Or you can use it sparingly for certain special
cases where it can be convenient.  Eg, you could set opening balances
without using a balancing equity account:

1/1 opening balances
  (assets:checking)   $1000
  (assets:savings)    $2000

   A posting with a bracketed account name is called a _balanced virtual
posting_.  The balanced virtual postings in a transaction must add up to
zero (separately from other postings).  Eg:

1/1 buy food with cash, update budget envelope subaccounts, & something else
  assets:cash                    $-10 ; <- these balance
  expenses:food                    $7 ; <-
  expenses:food                    $3 ; <-
  [assets:checking:budget:food]  $-10    ; <- and these balance
  [assets:checking:available]     $10    ; <-
  (something:else)                 $5       ; <- not required to balance

   Ordinary non-parenthesised, non-bracketed postings are called _real
postings_.  You can exclude virtual postings from reports with the
'-R/--real' flag or 'real:1' query.


File: hledger.info,  Node: Account names,  Next: Amounts,  Prev: Postings,  Up: JOURNAL FORMAT

12.9 Account names
==================

Account names typically have several parts separated by a full colon,
from which hledger derives a hierarchical chart of accounts.  They can
be anything you like, but in finance there are traditionally five
top-level accounts: 'assets', 'liabilities', 'revenue', 'expenses', and
'equity'.

   Account names may contain single spaces, eg: 'assets:accounts
receivable'.  Because of this, they must always be followed by *two or
more spaces* (or newline).

   Account names can be aliased.


File: hledger.info,  Node: Amounts,  Next: Transaction prices,  Prev: Account names,  Up: JOURNAL FORMAT

12.10 Amounts
=============

After the account name, there is usually an amount.  (Important: between
account name and amount, there must be *two or more spaces*.)

   hledger's amount format is flexible, supporting several international
formats.  Here are some examples.  Amounts have a number (the
"quantity"):

1

   ..and usually a currency symbol or commodity name (more on this
below), to the left or right of the quantity, with or without a
separating space:

$1
4000 AAPL
3 "green apples"

   Amounts can be preceded by a minus sign (or a plus sign, though plus
is the default), The sign can be written before or after a left-side
commodity symbol:

-$1
$-1

   One or more spaces between the sign and the number are acceptable
when parsing (but they won't be displayed in output):

+ $1
$-      1

   Scientific E notation is allowed:

1E-6
EUR 1E3

* Menu:

* Decimal marks digit group marks::
* Commodity::
* Commodity directives::
* Commodity display style::
* Rounding::


File: hledger.info,  Node: Decimal marks digit group marks,  Next: Commodity,  Up: Amounts

12.10.1 Decimal marks, digit group marks
----------------------------------------

A decimal mark can be written as a period or a comma:

1.23
1,23456780000009

   In the integer part of the quantity (left of the decimal mark),
groups of digits can optionally be separated by a "digit group mark" - a
space, comma, or period (different from the decimal mark):

     $1,000,000.00
  EUR 2.000.000,00
INR 9,99,99,999.00
      1 000 000.9455

   Note, a number containing a single digit group mark and no decimal
mark is ambiguous.  Are these digit group marks or decimal marks ?

1,000
1.000

   If you don't tell it otherwise, hledger will assume both of the above
are decimal marks, parsing both numbers as 1.  To prevent confusion and
undetected typos, we recommend adding 'commodity' directives at the top
of your journal file to explicitly declare the decimal mark (and
optionally a digit group mark) for each commodity.  Read on for more
about this.


File: hledger.info,  Node: Commodity,  Next: Commodity directives,  Prev: Decimal marks digit group marks,  Up: Amounts

12.10.2 Commodity
-----------------

Amounts in hledger have both a "quantity", which is a signed decimal
number, and a "commodity", which is a currency symbol, stock ticker, or
any word or phrase describing something you are tracking.

   If the commodity name contains non-letters (spaces, numbers, or
punctuation), you must always write it inside double quotes ('"green
apples"', '"ABC123"').

   If you write just a bare number, that too will have a commodity, with
name '""'; we call that the "no-symbol commodity".

   Actually, hledger combines these single-commodity amounts into more
powerful multi-commodity amounts, which are what it works with most of
the time.  A multi-commodity amount could be, eg: '1 USD, 2 EUR, 3.456
TSLA'.  In practice, you will only see multi-commodity amounts in
hledger's output; you can't write them directly in the journal file.

   (If you are writing scripts or working with hledger's internals,
these are the 'Amount' and 'MixedAmount' types.)


File: hledger.info,  Node: Commodity directives,  Next: Commodity display style,  Prev: Commodity,  Up: Amounts

12.10.3 Commodity directives
----------------------------

You can add 'commodity' directives to the journal, preferably at the
top, to declare your commodities and help with number parsing (see
above) and display (see below).  These are optional, but recommended.
They are described in more detail in JOURNAL FORMAT -> Declaring
commodities.  Here's a quick example:

# number format and display style for $, EUR, INR and the no-symbol commodity:
commodity $1,000.00
commodity EUR 1.000,00
commodity INR 9,99,99,999.00
commodity 1 000 000.9455


File: hledger.info,  Node: Commodity display style,  Next: Rounding,  Prev: Commodity directives,  Up: Amounts

12.10.4 Commodity display style
-------------------------------

For the amounts in each commodity, hledger chooses a consistent display
style to use in most reports.  (Exceptions: price amounts, and all
amounts displayed by the 'print' command, are displayed with all of
their decimal digits visible.)

   A commodity's display style is inferred as follows.

   First, if a default commodity is declared with 'D', this commodity
and its style is applied to any no-symbol amounts in the journal.

   Then each commodity's style is inferred from one of the following, in
order of preference:

   * The commodity directive for that commodity (including the no-symbol
     commodity), if any.
   * The amounts in that commodity seen in the journal's transactions.
     (Posting amounts only; prices and periodic or auto rules are
     ignored, currently.)
   * The built-in fallback style, which looks like this: '$1000.00'.
     (Symbol on the left, period decimal mark, two decimal places.)

   A style is inferred from journal amounts as follows:

   * Use the general style (decimal mark, symbol placement) of the first
     amount
   * Use the first-seen digit group style (digit group mark, digit group
     sizes), if any
   * Use the maximum number of decimal places of all.

   Transaction price amounts don't affect the commodity display style
directly, but occasionally they can do so indirectly (eg when a
posting's amount is inferred using a transaction price).  If you find
this causing problems, use a commodity directive to fix the display
style.

   To summarise: each commodity's amounts will be normalised to (a) the
style declared by a 'commodity' directive, or (b) the style of the first
posting amount in the journal, with the first-seen digit group style and
the maximum-seen number of decimal places.  So if your reports are
showing amounts in a way you don't like, eg with too many decimal
places, use a commodity directive.  Some examples:

# declare euro, dollar, bitcoin and no-symbol commodities and set their 
# input number formats and output display styles:
commodity EUR 1.000,
commodity $1000.00
commodity 1000.00000000 BTC
commodity 1 000.

   The inferred commodity style can be overridden by supplying a command
line option.


File: hledger.info,  Node: Rounding,  Prev: Commodity display style,  Up: Amounts

12.10.5 Rounding
----------------

Amounts are stored internally as decimal numbers with up to 255 decimal
places, and displayed with the number of decimal places specified by the
commodity display style.  Note, hledger uses banker's rounding: it
rounds to the nearest even number, eg 0.5 displayed with zero decimal
places is "0").  (Guaranteed since hledger 1.17.1; in older versions
this could vary if hledger was built with Decimal < 0.5.1.)


File: hledger.info,  Node: Transaction prices,  Next: Lot prices lot dates,  Prev: Amounts,  Up: JOURNAL FORMAT

12.11 Transaction prices
========================

Within a transaction, you can note an amount's price in another
commodity.  This can be used to document the cost (in a purchase) or
selling price (in a sale).  For example, transaction prices are useful
to record purchases of a foreign currency.  Note transaction prices are
fixed at the time of the transaction, and do not change over time.  See
also market prices, which represent prevailing exchange rates on a
certain date.

   There are several ways to record a transaction price:

  1. Write the price per unit, as '@ UNITPRICE' after the amount:

     2009/1/1
       assets:euros     €100 @ $1.35  ; one hundred euros purchased at $1.35 each
       assets:dollars                 ; balancing amount is -$135.00

  2. Write the total price, as '@@ TOTALPRICE' after the amount:

     2009/1/1
       assets:euros     €100 @@ $135  ; one hundred euros purchased at $135 for the lot
       assets:dollars

  3. Specify amounts for all postings, using exactly two commodities,
     and let hledger infer the price that balances the transaction:

     2009/1/1
       assets:euros     €100          ; one hundred euros purchased
       assets:dollars  $-135          ; for $135

  4. Like 1, but the '@' is parenthesised, i.e.  '(@)'; this is for
     compatibility with Ledger journals (Virtual posting costs), and is
     equivalent to 1 in hledger.

  5. Like 2, but as in 4 the '@@' is parenthesised, i.e.  '(@@)'; in
     hledger, this is equivalent to 2.

   Use the '-B/--cost' flag to convert amounts to their transaction
price's commodity, if any.  (mnemonic: "B" is from "cost Basis", as in
Ledger).  Eg here is how -B affects the balance report for the example
above:

$ hledger bal -N --flat
               $-135  assets:dollars
                €100  assets:euros
$ hledger bal -N --flat -B
               $-135  assets:dollars
                $135  assets:euros    # <- the euros' cost

   Note -B is sensitive to the order of postings when a transaction
price is inferred: the inferred price will be in the commodity of the
last amount.  So if example 3's postings are reversed, while the
transaction is equivalent, -B shows something different:

2009/1/1
  assets:dollars  $-135              ; 135 dollars sold
  assets:euros     €100              ; for 100 euros

$ hledger bal -N --flat -B
               €-100  assets:dollars  # <- the dollars' selling price
                €100  assets:euros


File: hledger.info,  Node: Lot prices lot dates,  Next: Balance assertions,  Prev: Transaction prices,  Up: JOURNAL FORMAT

12.12 Lot prices, lot dates
===========================

Ledger allows another kind of price, lot price (four variants:
'{UNITPRICE}', '{{TOTALPRICE}}', '{=FIXEDUNITPRICE}',
'{{=FIXEDTOTALPRICE}}'), and/or a lot date ('[DATE]') to be specified.
These are normally used to select a lot when selling investments.
hledger will parse these, for compatibility with Ledger journals, but
currently ignores them.  A transaction price, lot price and/or lot date
may appear in any order, after the posting amount and before the balance
assertion if any.


File: hledger.info,  Node: Balance assertions,  Next: Balance assignments,  Prev: Lot prices lot dates,  Up: JOURNAL FORMAT

12.13 Balance assertions
========================

hledger supports Ledger-style balance assertions in journal files.
These look like, for example, '= EXPECTEDBALANCE' following a posting's
amount.  Eg here we assert the expected dollar balance in accounts a and
b after each posting:

2013/1/1
  a   $1  =$1
  b       =$-1

2013/1/2
  a   $1  =$2
  b  $-1  =$-2

   After reading a journal file, hledger will check all balance
assertions and report an error if any of them fail.  Balance assertions
can protect you from, eg, inadvertently disrupting reconciled balances
while cleaning up old entries.  You can disable them temporarily with
the '-I/--ignore-assertions' flag, which can be useful for
troubleshooting or for reading Ledger files.  (Note: this flag currently
does not disable balance assignments, below).

* Menu:

* Assertions and ordering::
* Assertions and included files::
* Assertions and multiple -f options::
* Assertions and commodities::
* Assertions and prices::
* Assertions and subaccounts::
* Assertions and virtual postings::
* Assertions and precision::


File: hledger.info,  Node: Assertions and ordering,  Next: Assertions and included files,  Up: Balance assertions

12.13.1 Assertions and ordering
-------------------------------

hledger sorts an account's postings and assertions first by date and
then (for postings on the same day) by parse order.  Note this is
different from Ledger, which sorts assertions only by parse order.
(Also, Ledger assertions do not see the accumulated effect of repeated
postings to the same account within a transaction.)

   So, hledger balance assertions keep working if you reorder
differently-dated transactions within the journal.  But if you reorder
same-dated transactions or postings, assertions might break and require
updating.  This order dependence does bring an advantage: precise
control over the order of postings and assertions within a day, so you
can assert intra-day balances.


File: hledger.info,  Node: Assertions and included files,  Next: Assertions and multiple -f options,  Prev: Assertions and ordering,  Up: Balance assertions

12.13.2 Assertions and included files
-------------------------------------

With included files, things are a little more complicated.  Including
preserves the ordering of postings and assertions.  If you have multiple
postings to an account on the same day, split across different files,
and you also want to assert the account's balance on the same day,
you'll have to put the assertion in the right file.


File: hledger.info,  Node: Assertions and multiple -f options,  Next: Assertions and commodities,  Prev: Assertions and included files,  Up: Balance assertions

12.13.3 Assertions and multiple -f options
------------------------------------------

Balance assertions don't work well across files specified with multiple
-f options.  Use include or concatenate the files instead.


File: hledger.info,  Node: Assertions and commodities,  Next: Assertions and prices,  Prev: Assertions and multiple -f options,  Up: Balance assertions

12.13.4 Assertions and commodities
----------------------------------

The asserted balance must be a simple single-commodity amount, and in
fact the assertion checks only this commodity's balance within the
(possibly multi-commodity) account balance.  This is how assertions work
in Ledger also.  We could call this a "partial" balance assertion.

   To assert the balance of more than one commodity in an account, you
can write multiple postings, each asserting one commodity's balance.

   You can make a stronger "total" balance assertion by writing a double
equals sign ('== EXPECTEDBALANCE').  This asserts that there are no
other unasserted commodities in the account (or, that their balance is
0).

2013/1/1
  a   $1
  a    1€
  b  $-1
  c   -1€

2013/1/2  ; These assertions succeed
  a    0  =  $1
  a    0  =   1€
  b    0 == $-1
  c    0 ==  -1€

2013/1/3  ; This assertion fails as 'a' also contains 1€
  a    0 ==  $1

   It's not yet possible to make a complete assertion about a balance
that has multiple commodities.  One workaround is to isolate each
commodity into its own subaccount:

2013/1/1
  a:usd   $1
  a:euro   1€
  b

2013/1/2
  a        0 ==  0
  a:usd    0 == $1
  a:euro   0 ==  1€


File: hledger.info,  Node: Assertions and prices,  Next: Assertions and subaccounts,  Prev: Assertions and commodities,  Up: Balance assertions

12.13.5 Assertions and prices
-----------------------------

Balance assertions ignore transaction prices, and should normally be
written without one:

2019/1/1
  (a)     $1 @ €1 = $1

   We do allow prices to be written there, however, and print shows
them, even though they don't affect whether the assertion passes or
fails.  This is for backward compatibility (hledger's close command used
to generate balance assertions with prices), and because balance
_assignments_ do use them (see below).


File: hledger.info,  Node: Assertions and subaccounts,  Next: Assertions and virtual postings,  Prev: Assertions and prices,  Up: Balance assertions

12.13.6 Assertions and subaccounts
----------------------------------

The balance assertions above ('=' and '==') do not count the balance
from subaccounts; they check the account's exclusive balance only.  You
can assert the balance including subaccounts by writing '=*' or '==*',
eg:

2019/1/1
  equity:opening balances
  checking:a       5
  checking:b       5
  checking         1  ==* 11


File: hledger.info,  Node: Assertions and virtual postings,  Next: Assertions and precision,  Prev: Assertions and subaccounts,  Up: Balance assertions

12.13.7 Assertions and virtual postings
---------------------------------------

Balance assertions are checked against all postings, both real and
virtual.  They are not affected by the '--real/-R' flag or 'real:'
query.


File: hledger.info,  Node: Assertions and precision,  Prev: Assertions and virtual postings,  Up: Balance assertions

12.13.8 Assertions and precision
--------------------------------

Balance assertions compare the exactly calculated amounts, which are not
always what is shown by reports.  Eg a commodity directive may limit the
display precision, but this will not affect balance assertions.  Balance
assertion failure messages show exact amounts.


File: hledger.info,  Node: Balance assignments,  Next: Directives,  Prev: Balance assertions,  Up: JOURNAL FORMAT

12.14 Balance assignments
=========================

Ledger-style balance assignments are also supported.  These are like
balance assertions, but with no posting amount on the left side of the
equals sign; instead it is calculated automatically so as to satisfy the
assertion.  This can be a convenience during data entry, eg when setting
opening balances:

; starting a new journal, set asset account balances
2016/1/1 opening balances
  assets:checking            = $409.32
  assets:savings             = $735.24
  assets:cash                 = $42
  equity:opening balances

   or when adjusting a balance to reality:

; no cash left; update balance, record any untracked spending as a generic expense
2016/1/15
  assets:cash    = $0
  expenses:misc

   The calculated amount depends on the account's balance in the
commodity at that point (which depends on the previously-dated postings
of the commodity to that account since the last balance assertion or
assignment).  Note that using balance assignments makes your journal a
little less explicit; to know the exact amount posted, you have to run
hledger or do the calculations yourself, instead of just reading it.

* Menu:

* Balance assignments and prices::


File: hledger.info,  Node: Balance assignments and prices,  Up: Balance assignments

12.14.1 Balance assignments and prices
--------------------------------------

A transaction price in a balance assignment will cause the calculated
amount to have that price attached:

2019/1/1
  (a)             = $1 @ €2

$ hledger print --explicit
2019-01-01
    (a)         $1 @ €2 = $1 @ €2


File: hledger.info,  Node: Directives,  Next: Directives and multiple files,  Prev: Balance assignments,  Up: JOURNAL FORMAT

12.15 Directives
================

A directive is a line in the journal beginning with a special keyword,
that influences how the journal is processed.  hledger's directives are
based on a subset of Ledger's, but there are many differences (and also
some differences between hledger versions).

   Directives' behaviour and interactions can get a little bit complex,
so here is a table summarising the directives and their effects, with
links to more detailed docs.

directiveend       subdirectivespurpose                  can affect (as of
         directive                                       2018/06)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
'account'          any     document account names,       all entries in
                   text    declare account types &       all files, before
                           display order                 or after
'alias'  'end              rewrite account names         following entries
         aliases'                                        until end of
                                                         current file or
                                                         end directive
'apply   'end              prepend a common parent to    following entries
account' apply             account names                 until end of
         account'                                        current file or
                                                         end directive
'comment''end              ignore part of journal        following entries
         comment'                                        until end of
                                                         current file or
                                                         end directive
'commodity'        'format'declare a commodity and its   number notation:
                           number notation & display     following entries
                           style                         until end of
                                                         current file;
                                                         display style:
                                                         amounts of that
                                                         commodity in
                                                         reports
'D'                        declare a commodity to be     default
                           used for commodityless        commodity:
                           amounts, and its number       following
                           notation & display style      commodityless
                                                         entries until end
                                                         of current file;
                                                         number notation:
                                                         following entries
                                                         in that commodity
                                                         until end of
                                                         current file;
                                                         display style:
                                                         amounts of that
                                                         commodity in
                                                         reports
'include'                  include entries/directives    what the included
                           from another file             directives affect
'payee'                    declare a payee name          following entries
                                                         until end of
                                                         current file
'P'                        declare a market price for    amounts of that
                           a commodity                   commodity in
                                                         reports, when -V
                                                         is used
'Y'                        declare a year for yearless   following entries
                           dates                         until end of
                                                         current file
'='                        declare an auto posting       all entries in
                           rule, adding postings to      parent/current/child
                           other transactions            files (but not
                                                         sibling files,
                                                         see #1212)

   And some definitions:

subdirectiveoptional indented directive line immediately following a parent
       directive
number how to interpret numbers when parsing journal entries (the
notationidentity of the decimal separator character).  (Currently each
       commodity can have its own notation, even in the same file.)
displayhow to display amounts of a commodity in reports (symbol side
style  and spacing, digit groups, decimal separator, decimal places)
directivewhich entries and (when there are multiple files) which files
scope  are affected by a directive

   As you can see, directives vary in which journal entries and files
they affect, and whether they are focussed on input (parsing) or output
(reports).  Some directives have multiple effects.


File: hledger.info,  Node: Directives and multiple files,  Next: Comment blocks,  Prev: Directives,  Up: JOURNAL FORMAT

12.16 Directives and multiple files
===================================

If you use multiple '-f'/'--file' options, or the 'include' directive,
hledger will process multiple input files.  But note that directives
which affect input (see above) typically last only until the end of the
file in which they occur.

   This may seem inconvenient, but it's intentional; it makes reports
stable and deterministic, independent of the order of input.  Otherwise
you could see different numbers if you happened to write -f options in a
different order, or if you moved includes around while cleaning up your
files.

   It can be surprising though; for example, it means that 'alias'
directives do not affect parent or sibling files (see below).


File: hledger.info,  Node: Comment blocks,  Next: Including other files,  Prev: Directives and multiple files,  Up: JOURNAL FORMAT

12.17 Comment blocks
====================

A line containing just 'comment' starts a commented region of the file,
and a line containing just 'end comment' (or the end of the current
file) ends it.  See also comments.


File: hledger.info,  Node: Including other files,  Next: Default year,  Prev: Comment blocks,  Up: JOURNAL FORMAT

12.18 Including other files
===========================

You can pull in the content of additional files by writing an include
directive, like this:

include FILEPATH

   Only journal files can include, and only journal, timeclock or
timedot files can be included (not CSV files, currently).

   If the file path does not begin with a slash, it is relative to the
current file's folder.

   A tilde means home directory, eg: 'include ~/main.journal'.

   The path may contain glob patterns to match multiple files, eg:
'include *.journal'.

   There is limited support for recursive wildcards: '**/' (the slash is
required) matches 0 or more subdirectories.  It's not super convenient
since you have to avoid include cycles and including directories, but
this can be done, eg: 'include */**/*.journal'.

   The path may also be prefixed to force a specific file format,
overriding the file extension (as described in hledger.1 -> Input
files): 'include timedot:~/notes/2020*.md'.


File: hledger.info,  Node: Default year,  Next: Declaring payees,  Prev: Including other files,  Up: JOURNAL FORMAT

12.19 Default year
==================

You can set a default year to be used for subsequent dates which don't
specify a year.  This is a line beginning with 'Y' followed by the year.
Eg:

Y2009  ; set default year to 2009

12/15  ; equivalent to 2009/12/15
  expenses  1
  assets

Y2010  ; change default year to 2010

2009/1/30  ; specifies the year, not affected
  expenses  1
  assets

1/31   ; equivalent to 2010/1/31
  expenses  1
  assets


File: hledger.info,  Node: Declaring payees,  Next: Declaring commodities,  Prev: Default year,  Up: JOURNAL FORMAT

12.20 Declaring payees
======================

The 'payee' directive can be used to declare a limited set of payees
which may appear in transaction descriptions.  The "payees" check will
report an error if any transaction refers to a payee that has not been
declared.  Eg:

payee Whole Foods


File: hledger.info,  Node: Declaring commodities,  Next: Default commodity,  Prev: Declaring payees,  Up: JOURNAL FORMAT

12.21 Declaring commodities
===========================

You can use 'commodity' directives to declare your commodities.  In fact
the 'commodity' directive performs several functions at once:

  1. It declares commodities which may be used in the journal.  This can
     optionally be enforced, providing useful error checking.  (Cf
     Commodity error checking)

  2. It declares which decimal mark character (period or comma), to
     expect when parsing input - useful to disambiguate international
     number formats in your data.  Without this, hledger will parse both
     '1,000' and '1.000' as 1.  (Cf Amounts)

  3. It declares how to render the commodity's amounts when displaying
     output - the decimal mark, any digit group marks, the number of
     decimal places, symbol placement and so on.  (Cf Commodity display
     style)

   You will run into one of the problems solved by commodity directives
sooner or later, so we recommend using them, for robust and predictable
parsing and display.

   Generally you should put them at the top of your journal file (since
for function 2, they affect only following amounts, cf #793).

   A commodity directive is just the word 'commodity' followed by a
sample amount, like this:

;commodity SAMPLEAMOUNT

commodity $1000.00
commodity 1,000.0000 AAAA  ; optional same-line comment

   It may also be written on multiple lines, and use the 'format'
subdirective, as in Ledger.  Note in this case the commodity symbol
appears twice; it must be the same in both places:

;commodity SYMBOL
;  format SAMPLEAMOUNT

; display indian rupees with currency name on the left,
; thousands, lakhs and crores comma-separated,
; period as decimal point, and two decimal places.
commodity INR
  format INR 1,00,00,000.00

   Remember that if the commodity symbol contains spaces, numbers, or
punctuation, it must be enclosed in double quotes (cf Commodity).

   The amount's quantity does not matter; only the format is
significant.  It must include a decimal mark - either a period or a
comma - followed by 0 or more decimal digits.

   A few more examples:

# number formats for $, EUR, INR and the no-symbol commodity:
commodity $1,000.00
commodity EUR 1.000,00
commodity INR 9,99,99,999.0
commodity 1 000 000.

   Note hledger normally uses banker's rounding, so 0.5 displayed with
zero decimal digits is "0".  (More at Commodity display style.)

   Even in the presence of commodity directives, the commodity display
style can still be overridden by supplying a command line option.

* Menu:

* Commodity error checking::


File: hledger.info,  Node: Commodity error checking,  Up: Declaring commodities

12.21.1 Commodity error checking
--------------------------------

In strict mode, enabled with the '-s'/'--strict' flag, hledger will
report an error if a commodity symbol is used that has not been declared
by a 'commodity' directive.  This works similarly to account error
checking, see the notes there for more details.


File: hledger.info,  Node: Default commodity,  Next: Declaring market prices,  Prev: Declaring commodities,  Up: JOURNAL FORMAT

12.22 Default commodity
=======================

The 'D' directive sets a default commodity, to be used for any
subsequent commodityless amounts (ie, plain numbers) seen while parsing
the journal.  This effect lasts until the next 'D' directive, or the end
of the journal.

   For compatibility/historical reasons, 'D' also acts like a
'commodity' directive (setting the commodity's decimal mark for parsing
and display style for output).

   As with 'commodity', the amount must include a decimal mark (either
period or comma).  If both 'commodity' and 'D' directives are used for
the same commodity, the 'commodity' style takes precedence.

   The syntax is 'D AMOUNT'.  Eg:

; commodity-less amounts should be treated as dollars
; (and displayed with the dollar sign on the left, thousands separators and two decimal places)
D $1,000.00

1/1
  a     5  ; <- commodity-less amount, parsed as $5 and displayed as $5.00
  b


File: hledger.info,  Node: Declaring market prices,  Next: Declaring accounts,  Prev: Default commodity,  Up: JOURNAL FORMAT

12.23 Declaring market prices
=============================

The 'P' directive declares a market price, which is an exchange rate
between two commodities on a certain date.  (In Ledger, they are called
"historical prices".)  These are often obtained from a stock exchange,
cryptocurrency exchange, or the foreign exchange market.

   The format is:

P DATE COMMODITY1SYMBOL COMMODITY2AMOUNT

   DATE is a simple date, COMMODITY1SYMBOL is the symbol of the
commodity being priced, and COMMODITY2AMOUNT is the amount (symbol and
quantity) of commodity 2 that one unit of commodity 1 is worth on this
date.  Examples:

# one euro was worth $1.35 from 2009-01-01 onward:
P 2009-01-01 € $1.35

# and $1.40 from 2010-01-01 onward:
P 2010-01-01 € $1.40

   The '-V', '-X' and '--value' flags use these market prices to show
amount values in another commodity.  See Valuation.


File: hledger.info,  Node: Declaring accounts,  Next: Rewriting accounts,  Prev: Declaring market prices,  Up: JOURNAL FORMAT

12.24 Declaring accounts
========================

'account' directives can be used to declare accounts (ie, the places
that amounts are transferred from and to).  Though not required, these
declarations can provide several benefits:

   * They can document your intended chart of accounts, providing a
     reference.
   * They can help hledger know your accounts' types (asset, liability,
     equity, revenue, expense), useful for reports like balancesheet and
     incomestatement.
   * They control account display order in reports, allowing
     non-alphabetic sorting (eg Revenues to appear above Expenses).
   * They can store extra information about accounts (account numbers,
     notes, etc.)
   * They help with account name completion in the add command,
     hledger-iadd, hledger-web, ledger-mode etc.
   * In strict mode, they restrict which accounts may be posted to by
     transactions, which helps detect typos.

   The simplest form is just the word 'account' followed by a
hledger-style account name, eg this account directive declares the
'assets:bank:checking' account:

account assets:bank:checking

* Menu:

* Account error checking::
* Account comments::
* Account subdirectives::
* Account types::
* Account display order::


File: hledger.info,  Node: Account error checking,  Next: Account comments,  Up: Declaring accounts

12.24.1 Account error checking
------------------------------

By default, accounts come into existence when a transaction references
them by name.  This is convenient, but it means hledger can't warn you
when you mis-spell an account name in the journal.  Usually you'll find
the error later, as an extra account in balance reports, or an incorrect
balance when reconciling.

   In strict mode, enabled with the '-s'/'--strict' flag, hledger will
report an error if any transaction uses an account name that has not
been declared by an account directive.  Some notes:

   * The declaration is case-sensitive; transactions must use the
     correct account name capitalisation.
   * The account directive's scope is "whole file and below" (see
     directives).  This means it affects all of the current file, and
     any files it includes, but not parent or sibling files.  The
     position of account directives within the file does not matter,
     though it's usual to put them at the top.
   * Accounts can only be declared in 'journal' files (but will affect
     included files in other formats).
   * It's currently not possible to declare "all possible subaccounts"
     with a wildcard; every account posted to must be declared.


File: hledger.info,  Node: Account comments,  Next: Account subdirectives,  Prev: Account error checking,  Up: Declaring accounts

12.24.2 Account comments
------------------------

Comments, beginning with a semicolon, can be added:

   * on the same line, *after two or more spaces* (because ; is allowed
     in account names)
   * on the next lines, indented

   An example of both:

account assets:bank:checking  ; same-line comment, note 2+ spaces before ;
  ; next-line comment
  ; another with tag, acctno:12345 (not used yet)

   Same-line comments are not supported by Ledger, or hledger <1.13.


File: hledger.info,  Node: Account subdirectives,  Next: Account types,  Prev: Account comments,  Up: Declaring accounts

12.24.3 Account subdirectives
-----------------------------

We also allow (and ignore) Ledger-style indented subdirectives, just for
compatibility.:

account assets:bank:checking
  format blah blah  ; <- subdirective, ignored

   Here is the full syntax of account directives:

account ACCTNAME  [ACCTTYPE] [;COMMENT]
  [;COMMENTS]
  [LEDGER-STYLE SUBDIRECTIVES, IGNORED]


File: hledger.info,  Node: Account types,  Next: Account display order,  Prev: Account subdirectives,  Up: Declaring accounts

12.24.4 Account types
---------------------

hledger recognises five main types of account, corresponding to the
account classes in the accounting equation:

   'Asset', 'Liability', 'Equity', 'Revenue', 'Expense'.

   These account types are important for controlling which accounts
appear in the balancesheet, balancesheetequity, incomestatement reports
(and probably for other things in future).

   Additionally, we recognise the 'Cash' type, which is also an 'Asset',
and which causes accounts to appear in the cashflow report.  ("Cash"
here means liquid assets, eg bank balances but typically not investments
or receivables.)

* Menu:

* Declaring account types::
* Auto-detected account types::


File: hledger.info,  Node: Declaring account types,  Next: Auto-detected account types,  Up: Account types

12.24.4.1 Declaring account types
.................................

To make the balancesheet/balancesheetequity/cashflow/incomestatement
reports work, generally you should declare your top-level accounts, and
their types.  For each top-level account, write an account directive,
with a 'type:' tag.  The tag's value can be any of 'Asset', 'Liability',
'Equity', 'Revenue', 'Expense', 'Cash', or (for short) 'A', 'L', 'E',
'R', 'X', 'C' (case insensitive).  An account's type is inherited by its
subaccounts, unless they declare a different type.  Here's an example,
declaring all six account types:

account assets       ; type: Asset
account assets:bank  ; type: Cash
account assets:cash  ; type: Cash
account liabilities  ; type: Liability
account equity       ; type: Equity
account revenues     ; type: Revenue
account expenses     ; type: Expense

   There is also an older syntax, which is deprecated and will be
dropped soon (A, L, E, R or X separated from the account name by two or
more spaces):

account assets       A
account liabilities  L
account equity       E
account revenues     R
account expenses     X


File: hledger.info,  Node: Auto-detected account types,  Prev: Declaring account types,  Up: Account types

12.24.4.2 Auto-detected account types
.....................................

hledger tries to find at least one top level account in each of the six
account types (Asset, Liability, Equity, Revenue, Expense, Cash).  When
no accounts have been declared for a particular type, hledger tries to
auto-detect some accounts by name, using regular expressions:

 If account's name matches this case insensitive regular expression:| its type is:
------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------
 ^assets?(:|$)                                                      | 
   and does not contain regexp (investment|receivable|:A/R|:fixed)  | Cash
   otherwise                                                        | Asset
 ^(debts?|liabilit(y|ies))(:|$)                                     | Liability
 ^equity(:|$)                                                       | Equity
 ^(income|revenue)s?(:|$)                                           | Revenue
 ^expenses?(:|$)                                                    | Expense

   For people using standard english account names, this feature helps
hledger's high-level reports work out of the box with minimal
configuration.

   If you use non-english account names, you should declare account
types to make these reports work.  And more generally, declaring
accounts and types is usually a good idea, for increased clarity and
predictability (and for the other benefits of account directives: error
checking, display order, etc).

   Notes:

   * When any account is declared as some type, this disables
     auto-detection for that particular type.

   * If you declare any account's type, it's a good idea to declare an
     account for all six types, since a mix of declared and
     auto-detected types can cause confusion.  For example, here
     liabilities is declared to be Equity, but would also be
     auto-detected as Liability, since no Liability account is declared:

     account liabilities  ; type:Equity
     
     2020-01-01
       assets        1
       liabilities   1
       equity       -2


File: hledger.info,  Node: Account display order,  Prev: Account types,  Up: Declaring accounts

12.24.5 Account display order
-----------------------------

Account directives also set the order in which accounts are displayed,
eg in reports, the hledger-ui accounts screen, and the hledger-web
sidebar.  By default accounts are listed in alphabetical order.  But if
you have these account directives in the journal:

account assets
account liabilities
account equity
account revenues
account expenses

   you'll see those accounts displayed in declaration order, not
alphabetically:

$ hledger accounts -1
assets
liabilities
equity
revenues
expenses

   Undeclared accounts, if any, are displayed last, in alphabetical
order.

   Note that sorting is done at each level of the account tree (within
each group of sibling accounts under the same parent).  And currently,
this directive:

account other:zoo

   would influence the position of 'zoo' among 'other''s subaccounts,
but not the position of 'other' among the top-level accounts.  This
means:

   * you will sometimes declare parent accounts (eg 'account other'
     above) that you don't intend to post to, just to customize their
     display order
   * sibling accounts stay together (you couldn't display 'x:y' in
     between 'a:b' and 'a:c').


File: hledger.info,  Node: Rewriting accounts,  Next: Default parent account,  Prev: Declaring accounts,  Up: JOURNAL FORMAT

12.25 Rewriting accounts
========================

You can define account alias rules which rewrite your account names, or
parts of them, before generating reports.  This can be useful for:

   * expanding shorthand account names to their full form, allowing
     easier data entry and a less verbose journal
   * adapting old journals to your current chart of accounts
   * experimenting with new account organisations, like a new hierarchy
     or combining two accounts into one
   * customising reports

   Account aliases also rewrite account names in account directives.
They do not affect account names being entered via hledger add or
hledger-web.

   See also Rewrite account names.

* Menu:

* Basic aliases::
* Regex aliases::
* Combining aliases::
* Aliases and multiple files::
* end aliases::


File: hledger.info,  Node: Basic aliases,  Next: Regex aliases,  Up: Rewriting accounts

12.25.1 Basic aliases
---------------------

To set an account alias, use the 'alias' directive in your journal file.
This affects all subsequent journal entries in the current file or its
included files (but note: not sibling or parent files).  The spaces
around the = are optional:

alias OLD = NEW

   Or, you can use the '--alias 'OLD=NEW'' option on the command line.
This affects all entries.  It's useful for trying out aliases
interactively.

   OLD and NEW are case sensitive full account names.  hledger will
replace any occurrence of the old account name with the new one.
Subaccounts are also affected.  Eg:

alias checking = assets:bank:wells fargo:checking
; rewrites "checking" to "assets:bank:wells fargo:checking", or "checking:a" to "assets:bank:wells fargo:checking:a"


File: hledger.info,  Node: Regex aliases,  Next: Combining aliases,  Prev: Basic aliases,  Up: Rewriting accounts

12.25.2 Regex aliases
---------------------

There is also a more powerful variant that uses a regular expression,
indicated by the forward slashes:

alias /REGEX/ = REPLACEMENT

   or '--alias '/REGEX/=REPLACEMENT''.

   REGEX is a case-insensitive regular expression.  Anywhere it matches
inside an account name, the matched part will be replaced by
REPLACEMENT. If REGEX contains parenthesised match groups, these can be
referenced by the usual numeric backreferences in REPLACEMENT. Eg:

alias /^(.+):bank:([^:]+):(.*)/ = \1:\2 \3
; rewrites "assets:bank:wells fargo:checking" to  "assets:wells fargo checking"

   Also note that REPLACEMENT continues to the end of line (or on
command line, to end of option argument), so it can contain trailing
whitespace.


File: hledger.info,  Node: Combining aliases,  Next: Aliases and multiple files,  Prev: Regex aliases,  Up: Rewriting accounts

12.25.3 Combining aliases
-------------------------

You can define as many aliases as you like, using journal directives
and/or command line options.

   Recursive aliases - where an account name is rewritten by one alias,
then by another alias, and so on - are allowed.  Each alias sees the
effect of previously applied aliases.

   In such cases it can be important to understand which aliases will be
applied and in which order.  For (each account name in) each journal
entry, we apply:

  1. 'alias' directives preceding the journal entry, most recently
     parsed first (ie, reading upward from the journal entry, bottom to
     top)
  2. '--alias' options, in the order they appeared on the command line
     (left to right).

   In other words, for (an account name in) a given journal entry:

   * the nearest alias declaration before/above the entry is applied
     first
   * the next alias before/above that will be be applied next, and so on
   * aliases defined after/below the entry do not affect it.

   This gives nearby aliases precedence over distant ones, and helps
provide semantic stability - aliases will keep working the same way
independent of which files are being read and in which order.

   In case of trouble, adding '--debug=6' to the command line will show
which aliases are being applied when.


File: hledger.info,  Node: Aliases and multiple files,  Next: end aliases,  Prev: Combining aliases,  Up: Rewriting accounts

12.25.4 Aliases and multiple files
----------------------------------

As explained at Directives and multiple files, 'alias' directives do not
affect parent or sibling files.  Eg in this command,

hledger -f a.aliases -f b.journal

   account aliases defined in a.aliases will not affect b.journal.
Including the aliases doesn't work either:

include a.aliases

2020-01-01  ; not affected by a.aliases
  foo  1
  bar

   This means that account aliases should usually be declared at the
start of your top-most file, like this:

alias foo=Foo
alias bar=Bar

2020-01-01  ; affected by aliases above
  foo  1
  bar

include c.journal  ; also affected


File: hledger.info,  Node: end aliases,  Prev: Aliases and multiple files,  Up: Rewriting accounts

12.25.5 'end aliases'
---------------------

You can clear (forget) all currently defined aliases with the 'end
aliases' directive:

end aliases


File: hledger.info,  Node: Default parent account,  Next: Periodic transactions,  Prev: Rewriting accounts,  Up: JOURNAL FORMAT

12.26 Default parent account
============================

You can specify a parent account which will be prepended to all accounts
within a section of the journal.  Use the 'apply account' and 'end apply
account' directives like so:

apply account home

2010/1/1
    food    $10
    cash

end apply account

   which is equivalent to:

2010/01/01
    home:food           $10
    home:cash          $-10

   If 'end apply account' is omitted, the effect lasts to the end of the
file.  Included files are also affected, eg:

apply account business
include biz.journal
end apply account
apply account personal
include personal.journal

   Prior to hledger 1.0, legacy 'account' and 'end' spellings were also
supported.

   A default parent account also affects account directives.  It does
not affect account names being entered via hledger add or hledger-web.
If account aliases are present, they are applied after the default
parent account.


File: hledger.info,  Node: Periodic transactions,  Next: Auto postings,  Prev: Default parent account,  Up: JOURNAL FORMAT

12.27 Periodic transactions
===========================

Periodic transaction rules describe transactions that recur.  They allow
hledger to generate temporary future transactions to help with
forecasting, so you don't have to write out each one in the journal, and
it's easy to try out different forecasts.

   Periodic transactions can be a little tricky, so before you use them,
read this whole section - or at least these tips:

  1. Two spaces accidentally added or omitted will cause you trouble -
     read about this below.
  2. For troubleshooting, show the generated transactions with 'hledger
     print --forecast tag:generated' or 'hledger register --forecast
     tag:generated'.
  3. Forecasted transactions will begin only after the last
     non-forecasted transaction's date.
  4. Forecasted transactions will end 6 months from today, by default.
     See below for the exact start/end rules.
  5. period expressions can be tricky.  Their documentation needs
     improvement, but is worth studying.
  6. Some period expressions with a repeating interval must begin on a
     natural boundary of that interval.  Eg in 'weekly from DATE', DATE
     must be a monday.  '~ weekly from 2019/10/1' (a tuesday) will give
     an error.
  7. Other period expressions with an interval are automatically
     expanded to cover a whole number of that interval.  (This is done
     to improve reports, but it also affects periodic transactions.
     Yes, it's a bit inconsistent with the above.)  Eg: '~ every 10th
     day of month from 2020/01', which is equivalent to '~ every 10th
     day of month from 2020/01/01', will be adjusted to start on
     2019/12/10.

   Periodic transaction rules also have a second meaning: they are used
to define budget goals, shown in budget reports.

* Menu:

* Periodic rule syntax::
* Two spaces between period expression and description!::
* Forecasting with periodic transactions::
* Budgeting with periodic transactions::


File: hledger.info,  Node: Periodic rule syntax,  Next: Two spaces between period expression and description!,  Up: Periodic transactions

12.27.1 Periodic rule syntax
----------------------------

A periodic transaction rule looks like a normal journal entry, with the
date replaced by a tilde ('~') followed by a period expression
(mnemonic: '~' looks like a recurring sine wave.):

~ monthly
    expenses:rent          $2000
    assets:bank:checking

   There is an additional constraint on the period expression: the start
date must fall on a natural boundary of the interval.  Eg 'monthly from
2018/1/1' is valid, but 'monthly from 2018/1/15' is not.

   Partial or relative dates (M/D, D, tomorrow, last week) in the period
expression can work (useful or not).  They will be relative to today's
date, unless a Y default year directive is in effect, in which case they
will be relative to Y/1/1.


File: hledger.info,  Node: Two spaces between period expression and description!,  Next: Forecasting with periodic transactions,  Prev: Periodic rule syntax,  Up: Periodic transactions

12.27.2 Two spaces between period expression and description!
-------------------------------------------------------------

If the period expression is followed by a transaction description, these
must be separated by *two or more spaces*.  This helps hledger know
where the period expression ends, so that descriptions can not
accidentally alter their meaning, as in this example:

; 2 or more spaces needed here, so the period is not understood as "every 2 months in 2020"
;               ||
;               vv
~ every 2 months  in 2020, we will review
    assets:bank:checking   $1500
    income:acme inc

   So,

   * Do write two spaces between your period expression and your
     transaction description, if any.
   * Don't accidentally write two spaces in the middle of your period
     expression.


File: hledger.info,  Node: Forecasting with periodic transactions,  Next: Budgeting with periodic transactions,  Prev: Two spaces between period expression and description!,  Up: Periodic transactions

12.27.3 Forecasting with periodic transactions
----------------------------------------------

The '--forecast' flag activates any periodic transaction rules in the
journal.  These will generate temporary additional transactions, usually
recurring and in the future, which will appear in all reports.  'hledger
print --forecast' is a good way to see them.

   This can be useful for estimating balances into the future, perhaps
experimenting with different scenarios.

   It could also be useful for scripted data entry: you could describe
recurring transactions, and every so often copy the output of 'print
--forecast' into the journal.

   The generated transactions will have an extra tag, like
'generated-transaction:~ PERIODICEXPR', indicating which periodic rule
generated them.  There is also a similar, hidden tag, named
'_generated-transaction:', which you can use to reliably match
transactions generated "just now" (rather than 'print'ed in the past).

   The forecast transactions are generated within a _forecast period_,
which is independent of the report period.  (Forecast period sets the
bounds for generated transactions, report period controls which
transactions are reported.)  The forecast period begins on:

   * the start date provided within '--forecast''s argument, if any
   * otherwise, the later of
        * the report start date, if specified (with '-b'/'-p'/'date:')
        * the day after the latest ordinary transaction in the journal,
          if any

   * otherwise today.

   It ends on:

   * the end date provided within '--forecast''s argument, if any
   * otherwise, the report end date, if specified (with
     '-e'/'-p'/'date:')
   * otherwise 180 days (6 months) from today.

   Note, this means that ordinary transactions will suppress periodic
transactions, by default; the periodic transactions will not start until
after the last ordinary transaction.  This is usually convenient, but
you can get around it in two ways:

   * If you need to record some transactions in the future, make them
     periodic transactions (with a single occurrence, eg: '~
     YYYY-MM-DD') rather than ordinary transactions.  That way they
     won't suppress other periodic transactions.

   * Or give '--forecast' a period expression argument.  A forecast
     period specified this way can overlap ordinary transactions, and
     need not be in the future.  Some things to note:

        * You must use '=' between flag and argument; a space won't
          work.
        * The period expression can specify the forecast period's start
          date, end date, or both.  See also Report start & end date.
        * The period expression should not specify a report interval.
          (Each periodic transaction rule specifies its own interval.)

   Some examples: '--forecast=202001-202004', '--forecast=jan-',
'--forecast=2021'.


File: hledger.info,  Node: Budgeting with periodic transactions,  Prev: Forecasting with periodic transactions,  Up: Periodic transactions

12.27.4 Budgeting with periodic transactions
--------------------------------------------

With the '--budget' flag, currently supported by the balance command,
each periodic transaction rule declares recurring budget goals for the
specified accounts.  Eg the first example above declares a goal of
spending $2000 on rent (and also, a goal of depositing $2000 into
checking) every month.  Goals and actual performance can then be
compared in budget reports.

   See also: Budgeting and Forecasting.


File: hledger.info,  Node: Auto postings,  Prev: Periodic transactions,  Up: JOURNAL FORMAT

12.28 Auto postings
===================

"Automated postings" or "auto postings" are extra postings which get
added automatically to transactions which match certain queries, defined
by "auto posting rules", when you use the '--auto' flag.

   An auto posting rule looks a bit like a transaction:

= QUERY
    ACCOUNT  AMOUNT
    ...
    ACCOUNT  [AMOUNT]

   except the first line is an equals sign (mnemonic: '=' suggests
matching), followed by a query (which matches existing postings), and
each "posting" line describes a posting to be generated, and the posting
amounts can be:

   * a normal amount with a commodity symbol, eg '$2'.  This will be
     used as-is.
   * a number, eg '2'.  The commodity symbol (if any) from the matched
     posting will be added to this.
   * a numeric multiplier, eg '*2' (a star followed by a number N). The
     matched posting's amount (and total price, if any) will be
     multiplied by N.
   * a multiplier with a commodity symbol, eg '*$2' (a star, number N,
     and symbol S). The matched posting's amount will be multiplied by
     N, and its commodity symbol will be replaced with S.

   Any query term containing spaces must be enclosed in single or double
quotes, as on the command line.  Eg, note the quotes around the second
query term below:

= expenses:groceries 'expenses:dining out'
    (budget:funds:dining out)                 *-1

   Some examples:

; every time I buy food, schedule a dollar donation
= expenses:food
    (liabilities:charity)   $-1

; when I buy a gift, also deduct that amount from a budget envelope subaccount
= expenses:gifts
    assets:checking:gifts  *-1
    assets:checking         *1

2017/12/1
  expenses:food    $10
  assets:checking

2017/12/14
  expenses:gifts   $20
  assets:checking

$ hledger print --auto
2017-12-01
    expenses:food              $10
    assets:checking
    (liabilities:charity)      $-1

2017-12-14
    expenses:gifts             $20
    assets:checking
    assets:checking:gifts     -$20
    assets:checking            $20

* Menu:

* Auto postings and multiple files::
* Auto postings and dates::
* Auto postings and transaction balancing / inferred amounts / balance assertions::
* Auto posting tags::


File: hledger.info,  Node: Auto postings and multiple files,  Next: Auto postings and dates,  Up: Auto postings

12.28.1 Auto postings and multiple files
----------------------------------------

An auto posting rule can affect any transaction in the current file, or
in any parent file or child file.  Note, currently it will not affect
sibling files (when multiple '-f'/'--file' are used - see #1212).


File: hledger.info,  Node: Auto postings and dates,  Next: Auto postings and transaction balancing / inferred amounts / balance assertions,  Prev: Auto postings and multiple files,  Up: Auto postings

12.28.2 Auto postings and dates
-------------------------------

A posting date (or secondary date) in the matched posting, or (taking
precedence) a posting date in the auto posting rule itself, will also be
used in the generated posting.


File: hledger.info,  Node: Auto postings and transaction balancing / inferred amounts / balance assertions,  Next: Auto posting tags,  Prev: Auto postings and dates,  Up: Auto postings

12.28.3 Auto postings and transaction balancing / inferred amounts /
--------------------------------------------------------------------

balance assertions Currently, auto postings are added:

   * after missing amounts are inferred, and transactions are checked
     for balancedness,
   * but before balance assertions are checked.

   Note this means that journal entries must be balanced both before and
after auto postings are added.  This changed in hledger 1.12+; see #893
for background.


File: hledger.info,  Node: Auto posting tags,  Prev: Auto postings and transaction balancing / inferred amounts / balance assertions,  Up: Auto postings

12.28.4 Auto posting tags
-------------------------

Automated postings will have some extra tags:

   * 'generated-posting:= QUERY' - shows this was generated by an auto
     posting rule, and the query
   * '_generated-posting:= QUERY' - a hidden tag, which does not appear
     in hledger's output.  This can be used to match postings generated
     "just now", rather than generated in the past and saved to the
     journal.

   Also, any transaction that has been changed by auto posting rules
will have these tags added:

   * 'modified:' - this transaction was modified
   * '_modified:' - a hidden tag not appearing in the comment; this
     transaction was modified "just now".


File: hledger.info,  Node: CSV FORMAT,  Next: TIMECLOCK FORMAT,  Prev: JOURNAL FORMAT,  Up: Top

13 CSV FORMAT
*************

How hledger reads CSV data, and the CSV rules file format.

   hledger can read CSV files (Character Separated Value - usually
comma, semicolon, or tab) containing dated records as if they were
journal files, automatically converting each CSV record into a
transaction.

   (To learn about _writing_ CSV, see CSV output.)

   We describe each CSV file's format with a corresponding _rules file_.
By default this is named like the CSV file with a '.rules' extension
added.  Eg when reading 'FILE.csv', hledger also looks for
'FILE.csv.rules' in the same directory as 'FILE.csv'.  You can specify a
different rules file with the '--rules-file' option.  If a rules file is
not found, hledger will create a sample rules file, which you'll need to
adjust.

   This file contains rules describing the CSV data (header line, fields
layout, date format etc.), and how to construct hledger journal entries
(transactions) from it.  Often there will also be a list of conditional
rules for categorising transactions based on their descriptions.  Here's
an overview of the CSV rules; these are described more fully below,
after the examples:

*'skip'*                    skip one or more header lines or matched
                            CSV records
*'fields' list*             name CSV fields, assign them to hledger
                            fields
*field assignment*          assign a value to one hledger field, with
                            interpolation
*Field names*               hledger field names, used in the fields
                            list and field assignments
*'separator'*               a custom field separator
*'if' block*                apply some rules to CSV records matched by
                            patterns
*'if' table*                apply some rules to CSV records matched by
                            patterns, alternate syntax
*'end'*                     skip the remaining CSV records
*'date-format'*             how to parse dates in CSV records
*'decimal-mark'*            the decimal mark used in CSV amounts, if
                            ambiguous
*'newest-first'*            disambiguate record order when there's only
                            one date
*'include'*                 inline another CSV rules file
*'balance-type'*            choose which type of balance assignments to
                            use

   Note, for best error messages when reading CSV files, use a '.csv',
'.tsv' or '.ssv' file extension or file prefix - see File Extension
below.

   There's an introductory Convert CSV files tutorial on hledger.org.

* Menu:

* Examples::
* CSV rules::
* Tips::


File: hledger.info,  Node: Examples,  Next: CSV rules,  Up: CSV FORMAT

13.1 Examples
=============

Here are some sample hledger CSV rules files.  See also the full
collection at:
https://github.com/simonmichael/hledger/tree/master/examples/csv

* Menu:

* Basic::
* Bank of Ireland::
* Amazon::
* Paypal::


File: hledger.info,  Node: Basic,  Next: Bank of Ireland,  Up: Examples

13.1.1 Basic
------------

At minimum, the rules file must identify the date and amount fields, and
often it also specifies the date format and how many header lines there
are.  Here's a simple CSV file and a rules file for it:

Date, Description, Id, Amount
12/11/2019, Foo, 123, 10.23

# basic.csv.rules
skip         1
fields       date, description, _, amount
date-format  %d/%m/%Y

$ hledger print -f basic.csv
2019-11-12 Foo
    expenses:unknown           10.23
    income:unknown            -10.23

   Default account names are chosen, since we didn't set them.


File: hledger.info,  Node: Bank of Ireland,  Next: Amazon,  Prev: Basic,  Up: Examples

13.1.2 Bank of Ireland
----------------------

Here's a CSV with two amount fields (Debit and Credit), and a balance
field, which we can use to add balance assertions, which is not
necessary but provides extra error checking:

Date,Details,Debit,Credit,Balance
07/12/2012,LODGMENT       529898,,10.0,131.21
07/12/2012,PAYMENT,5,,126

# bankofireland-checking.csv.rules

# skip the header line
skip

# name the csv fields, and assign some of them as journal entry fields
fields  date, description, amount-out, amount-in, balance

# We generate balance assertions by assigning to "balance"
# above, but you may sometimes need to remove these because:
#
# - the CSV balance differs from the true balance,
#   by up to 0.0000000000005 in my experience
#
# - it is sometimes calculated based on non-chronological ordering,
#   eg when multiple transactions clear on the same day

# date is in UK/Ireland format
date-format  %d/%m/%Y

# set the currency
currency  EUR

# set the base account for all txns
account1  assets:bank:boi:checking

$ hledger -f bankofireland-checking.csv print
2012-12-07 LODGMENT       529898
    assets:bank:boi:checking         EUR10.0 = EUR131.2
    income:unknown                  EUR-10.0

2012-12-07 PAYMENT
    assets:bank:boi:checking         EUR-5.0 = EUR126.0
    expenses:unknown                  EUR5.0

   The balance assertions don't raise an error above, because we're
reading directly from CSV, but they will be checked if these entries are
imported into a journal file.


File: hledger.info,  Node: Amazon,  Next: Paypal,  Prev: Bank of Ireland,  Up: Examples

13.1.3 Amazon
-------------

Here we convert amazon.com order history, and use an if block to
generate a third posting if there's a fee.  (In practice you'd probably
get this data from your bank instead, but it's an example.)

"Date","Type","To/From","Name","Status","Amount","Fees","Transaction ID"
"Jul 29, 2012","Payment","To","Foo.","Completed","$20.00","$0.00","16000000000000DGLNJPI1P9B8DKPVHL"
"Jul 30, 2012","Payment","To","Adapteva, Inc.","Completed","$25.00","$1.00","17LA58JSKRD4HDGLNJPI1P9B8DKPVHL"

# amazon-orders.csv.rules

# skip one header line
skip 1

# name the csv fields, and assign the transaction's date, amount and code.
# Avoided the "status" and "amount" hledger field names to prevent confusion.
fields date, _, toorfrom, name, amzstatus, amzamount, fees, code

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

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

# save the status as a tag
comment     status:%amzstatus

# set the base account for all transactions
account1    assets:amazon
# leave amount1 blank so it can balance the other(s).
# I'm assuming amzamount excludes the fees, don't remember

# set a generic account2
account2    expenses:misc
amount2     %amzamount
# and maybe refine it further:
#include categorisation.rules

# add a third posting for fees, but only if they are non-zero.
if %fees [1-9]
 account3    expenses:fees
 amount3     %fees

$ hledger -f amazon-orders.csv print
2012-07-29 (16000000000000DGLNJPI1P9B8DKPVHL) To Foo.  ; status:Completed
    assets:amazon
    expenses:misc          $20.00

2012-07-30 (17LA58JSKRD4HDGLNJPI1P9B8DKPVHL) To Adapteva, Inc.  ; status:Completed
    assets:amazon
    expenses:misc          $25.00
    expenses:fees           $1.00


File: hledger.info,  Node: Paypal,  Prev: Amazon,  Up: Examples

13.1.4 Paypal
-------------

Here's a real-world rules file for (customised) Paypal CSV, with some
Paypal-specific rules, and a second rules file included:

"Date","Time","TimeZone","Name","Type","Status","Currency","Gross","Fee","Net","From Email Address","To Email Address","Transaction ID","Item Title","Item ID","Reference Txn ID","Receipt ID","Balance","Note"
"10/01/2019","03:46:20","PDT","Calm Radio","Subscription Payment","Completed","USD","-6.99","0.00","-6.99","simon@joyful.com","memberships@calmradio.com","60P57143A8206782E","MONTHLY - $1 for the first 2 Months: Me - Order 99309. Item total: $1.00 USD first 2 months, then $6.99 / Month","","I-R8YLY094FJYR","","-6.99",""
"10/01/2019","03:46:20","PDT","","Bank Deposit to PP Account ","Pending","USD","6.99","0.00","6.99","","simon@joyful.com","0TU1544T080463733","","","60P57143A8206782E","","0.00",""
"10/01/2019","08:57:01","PDT","Patreon","PreApproved Payment Bill User Payment","Completed","USD","-7.00","0.00","-7.00","simon@joyful.com","support@patreon.com","2722394R5F586712G","Patreon* Membership","","B-0PG93074E7M86381M","","-7.00",""
"10/01/2019","08:57:01","PDT","","Bank Deposit to PP Account ","Pending","USD","7.00","0.00","7.00","","simon@joyful.com","71854087RG994194F","Patreon* Membership","","2722394R5F586712G","","0.00",""
"10/19/2019","03:02:12","PDT","Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.","Subscription Payment","Completed","USD","-2.00","0.00","-2.00","simon@joyful.com","tle@wikimedia.org","K9U43044RY432050M","Monthly donation to the Wikimedia Foundation","","I-R5C3YUS3285L","","-2.00",""
"10/19/2019","03:02:12","PDT","","Bank Deposit to PP Account ","Pending","USD","2.00","0.00","2.00","","simon@joyful.com","3XJ107139A851061F","","","K9U43044RY432050M","","0.00",""
"10/22/2019","05:07:06","PDT","Noble Benefactor","Subscription Payment","Completed","USD","10.00","-0.59","9.41","noble@bene.fac.tor","simon@joyful.com","6L8L1662YP1334033","Joyful Systems","","I-KC9VBGY2GWDB","","9.41",""

# paypal-custom.csv.rules

# Tips:
# Export from Activity -> Statements -> Custom -> Activity download
# Suggested transaction type: "Balance affecting"
# Paypal's default fields in 2018 were:
# "Date","Time","TimeZone","Name","Type","Status","Currency","Gross","Fee","Net","From Email Address","To Email Address","Transaction ID","Shipping Address","Address Status","Item Title","Item ID","Shipping and Handling Amount","Insurance Amount","Sales Tax","Option 1 Name","Option 1 Value","Option 2 Name","Option 2 Value","Reference Txn ID","Invoice Number","Custom Number","Quantity","Receipt ID","Balance","Address Line 1","Address Line 2/District/Neighborhood","Town/City","State/Province/Region/County/Territory/Prefecture/Republic","Zip/Postal Code","Country","Contact Phone Number","Subject","Note","Country Code","Balance Impact"
# This rules file assumes the following more detailed fields, configured in "Customize report fields":
# "Date","Time","TimeZone","Name","Type","Status","Currency","Gross","Fee","Net","From Email Address","To Email Address","Transaction ID","Item Title","Item ID","Reference Txn ID","Receipt ID","Balance","Note"

fields date, time, timezone, description_, type, status_, currency, grossamount, feeamount, netamount, fromemail, toemail, code, itemtitle, itemid, referencetxnid, receiptid, balance, note

skip  1

date-format  %-m/%-d/%Y

# ignore some paypal events
if
In Progress
Temporary Hold
Update to
 skip

# add more fields to the description
description %description_ %itemtitle

# save some other fields as tags
comment  itemid:%itemid, fromemail:%fromemail, toemail:%toemail, time:%time, type:%type, status:%status_

# convert to short currency symbols
if %currency USD
 currency $
if %currency EUR
 currency E
if %currency GBP
 currency P

# generate postings

# the first posting will be the money leaving/entering my paypal account
# (negative means leaving my account, in all amount fields)
account1 assets:online:paypal
amount1  %netamount

# the second posting will be money sent to/received from other party
# (account2 is set below)
amount2  -%grossamount

# if there's a fee, add a third posting for the money taken by paypal.
if %feeamount [1-9]
 account3 expenses:banking:paypal
 amount3  -%feeamount
 comment3 business:

# choose an account for the second posting

# override the default account names:
# if the amount is positive, it's income (a debit)
if %grossamount ^[^-]
 account2 income:unknown
# if negative, it's an expense (a credit)
if %grossamount ^-
 account2 expenses:unknown

# apply common rules for setting account2 & other tweaks
include common.rules

# apply some overrides specific to this csv

# Transfers from/to bank. These are usually marked Pending,
# which can be disregarded in this case.
if
Bank Account
Bank Deposit to PP Account
 description %type for %referencetxnid %itemtitle
 account2 assets:bank:wf:pchecking
 account1 assets:online:paypal

# Currency conversions
if Currency Conversion
 account2 equity:currency conversion

# common.rules

if
darcs
noble benefactor
 account2 revenues:foss donations:darcshub
 comment2 business:

if
Calm Radio
 account2 expenses:online:apps

if
electronic frontier foundation
Patreon
wikimedia
Advent of Code
 account2 expenses:dues

if Google
 account2 expenses:online:apps
 description google | music

$ hledger -f paypal-custom.csv  print
2019-10-01 (60P57143A8206782E) Calm Radio MONTHLY - $1 for the first 2 Months: Me - Order 99309. Item total: $1.00 USD first 2 months, then $6.99 / Month  ; itemid:, fromemail:simon@joyful.com, toemail:memberships@calmradio.com, time:03:46:20, type:Subscription Payment, status:Completed
    assets:online:paypal          $-6.99 = $-6.99
    expenses:online:apps           $6.99

2019-10-01 (0TU1544T080463733) Bank Deposit to PP Account for 60P57143A8206782E  ; itemid:, fromemail:, toemail:simon@joyful.com, time:03:46:20, type:Bank Deposit to PP Account, status:Pending
    assets:online:paypal               $6.99 = $0.00
    assets:bank:wf:pchecking          $-6.99

2019-10-01 (2722394R5F586712G) Patreon Patreon* Membership  ; itemid:, fromemail:simon@joyful.com, toemail:support@patreon.com, time:08:57:01, type:PreApproved Payment Bill User Payment, status:Completed
    assets:online:paypal          $-7.00 = $-7.00
    expenses:dues                  $7.00

2019-10-01 (71854087RG994194F) Bank Deposit to PP Account for 2722394R5F586712G Patreon* Membership  ; itemid:, fromemail:, toemail:simon@joyful.com, time:08:57:01, type:Bank Deposit to PP Account, status:Pending
    assets:online:paypal               $7.00 = $0.00
    assets:bank:wf:pchecking          $-7.00

2019-10-19 (K9U43044RY432050M) Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. Monthly donation to the Wikimedia Foundation  ; itemid:, fromemail:simon@joyful.com, toemail:tle@wikimedia.org, time:03:02:12, type:Subscription Payment, status:Completed
    assets:online:paypal             $-2.00 = $-2.00
    expenses:dues                     $2.00
    expenses:banking:paypal      ; business:

2019-10-19 (3XJ107139A851061F) Bank Deposit to PP Account for K9U43044RY432050M  ; itemid:, fromemail:, toemail:simon@joyful.com, time:03:02:12, type:Bank Deposit to PP Account, status:Pending
    assets:online:paypal               $2.00 = $0.00
    assets:bank:wf:pchecking          $-2.00

2019-10-22 (6L8L1662YP1334033) Noble Benefactor Joyful Systems  ; itemid:, fromemail:noble@bene.fac.tor, toemail:simon@joyful.com, time:05:07:06, type:Subscription Payment, status:Completed
    assets:online:paypal                       $9.41 = $9.41
    revenues:foss donations:darcshub         $-10.00  ; business:
    expenses:banking:paypal                    $0.59  ; business:


File: hledger.info,  Node: CSV rules,  Next: Tips,  Prev: Examples,  Up: CSV FORMAT

13.2 CSV rules
==============

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

* Menu:

* skip::
* fields list::
* field assignment::
* Field names::
* separator::
* if block::
* if table::
* end::
* date-format::
* decimal-mark::
* newest-first::
* include::
* balance-type::


File: hledger.info,  Node: skip,  Next: fields list,  Up: CSV rules

13.2.1 'skip'
-------------

skip N

   The word "skip" followed by a number (or no number, meaning 1) tells
hledger to ignore this many non-empty lines preceding the CSV data.
(Empty/blank lines are skipped automatically.)  You'll need this
whenever your CSV data contains header lines.

   It also has a second purpose: it can be used inside if blocks to
ignore certain CSV records (described below).


File: hledger.info,  Node: fields list,  Next: field assignment,  Prev: skip,  Up: CSV rules

13.2.2 'fields' list
--------------------

fields FIELDNAME1, FIELDNAME2, ...

   A fields list (the word "fields" followed by comma-separated field
names) is the quick way to assign CSV field values to hledger fields.
(The other way is field assignments, see below.)  A fields list does
does two things:

  1. It names the CSV fields.  This is optional, but can be convenient
     later for interpolating them.

  2. Whenever you use a standard hledger field name (defined below), the
     CSV value is assigned to that part of the hledger transaction.

   Here's an example that says "use the 1st, 2nd and 4th fields as the
transaction's date, description and amount; name the last two fields for
later reference; and ignore the others":

fields date, description, , amount, , , somefield, anotherfield

   Tips:

   * The fields list always use commas, even if your CSV data uses
     another separator character.
   * Currently there must be least two items in the list (at least one
     comma).
   * Field names may not contain spaces.  Spaces before/after field
     names are optional.
   * If the CSV contains column headings, it's a good idea to use these,
     suitably modified, as the basis for your field names (eg
     lower-cased, with underscores instead of spaces).
   * If some heading names match standard hledger fields, but you don't
     want to set the hledger fields directly, alter those names, eg by
     appending an underscore.
   * Fields you don't care about can be given a dummy name (eg: '_' ),
     or no name.


File: hledger.info,  Node: field assignment,  Next: Field names,  Prev: fields list,  Up: CSV rules

13.2.3 field assignment
-----------------------

HLEDGERFIELDNAME FIELDVALUE

   Field assignments are the more flexible way to assign CSV values to
hledger fields.  They can be used instead of or in addition to a fields
list (see above).

   To assign a value to a hledger field, write the field name (any of
the standard hledger field/pseudo-field names, defined below), a space,
followed by a text value on the same line.  This text value may
interpolate CSV fields, referenced by their 1-based position in the CSV
record ('%N'), or by the name they were given in the fields list
('%CSVFIELDNAME').

   Some examples:

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

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

   Tips:

   * Interpolation strips outer whitespace (so a CSV value like '" 1 "'
     becomes '1' when interpolated) (#1051).
   * Interpolations always refer to a CSV field - you can't interpolate
     a hledger field.  (See Referencing other fields below).


File: hledger.info,  Node: Field names,  Next: separator,  Prev: field assignment,  Up: CSV rules

13.2.4 Field names
------------------

Here are the standard hledger field (and pseudo-field) names, which you
can use in a fields list and in field assignments.  For more about the
transaction parts they refer to, see Transactions.

* Menu:

* date field::
* date2 field::
* status field::
* code field::
* description field::
* comment field::
* account field::
* amount field::
* currency field::
* balance field::


File: hledger.info,  Node: date field,  Next: date2 field,  Up: Field names

13.2.4.1 date field
...................

Assigning to 'date' sets the transaction date.


File: hledger.info,  Node: date2 field,  Next: status field,  Prev: date field,  Up: Field names

13.2.4.2 date2 field
....................

'date2' sets the transaction's secondary date, if any.


File: hledger.info,  Node: status field,  Next: code field,  Prev: date2 field,  Up: Field names

13.2.4.3 status field
.....................

'status' sets the transaction's status, if any.


File: hledger.info,  Node: code field,  Next: description field,  Prev: status field,  Up: Field names

13.2.4.4 code field
...................

'code' sets the transaction's code, if any.


File: hledger.info,  Node: description field,  Next: comment field,  Prev: code field,  Up: Field names

13.2.4.5 description field
..........................

'description' sets the transaction's description, if any.


File: hledger.info,  Node: comment field,  Next: account field,  Prev: description field,  Up: Field names

13.2.4.6 comment field
......................

'comment' sets the transaction's comment, if any.

   'commentN', where N is a number, sets the Nth posting's comment.

   Tips: - You can assign multi-line comments by writing literal '\n' in
the code.  A comment starting with '\n' will begin on a new line.  -
Comments can contain tags, as usual.


File: hledger.info,  Node: account field,  Next: amount field,  Prev: comment field,  Up: Field names

13.2.4.7 account field
......................

Assigning to 'accountN', where N is 1 to 99, sets the account name of
the Nth posting, and causes that posting to be generated.

   Most often there are two postings, so you'll want to set 'account1'
and 'account2'.  Typically 'account1' is associated with the CSV file,
and is set once with a top-level assignment, while 'account2' is set
based on each transaction's description, and in conditional blocks.

   If a posting's account name is left unset but its amount is set (see
below), a default account name will be chosen (like "expenses:unknown"
or "income:unknown").


File: hledger.info,  Node: amount field,  Next: currency field,  Prev: account field,  Up: Field names

13.2.4.8 amount field
.....................

'amountN' sets the amount of the Nth posting, and causes that posting to
be generated.  By assigning to 'amount1', 'amount2', ...  etc.  you can
generate up to 99 postings.

   'amountN-in' and 'amountN-out' can be used instead, if the CSV uses
separate fields for debits and credits (inflows and outflows).  hledger
assumes both of these CSV fields are unsigned, and will automatically
negate the "-out" value.  If they are signed, see "Setting amounts"
below.

   'amount', or 'amount-in' and 'amount-out' are a legacy mode, to keep
pre-hledger-1.17 CSV rules files working (and for occasional
convenience).  They are suitable only for two-posting transactions; they
set both posting 1's and posting 2's amount.  Posting 2's amount will be
negated, and also converted to cost if there's a transaction price.

   If you have an existing rules file using the unnumbered form, you
might want to use the numbered form in certain conditional blocks,
without having to update and retest all the old rules.  To facilitate
this, posting 1 ignores 'amount'/'amount-in'/'amount-out' if any of
'amount1'/'amount1-in'/'amount1-out' are assigned, and posting 2 ignores
them if any of 'amount2'/'amount2-in'/'amount2-out' are assigned,
avoiding conflicts.


File: hledger.info,  Node: currency field,  Next: balance field,  Prev: amount field,  Up: Field names

13.2.4.9 currency field
.......................

'currency' sets a currency symbol, to be prepended to all postings'
amounts.  You can use this if the CSV amounts do not have a currency
symbol, eg if it is in a separate column.

   'currencyN' prepends a currency symbol to just the Nth posting's
amount.


File: hledger.info,  Node: balance field,  Prev: currency field,  Up: Field names

13.2.4.10 balance field
.......................

'balanceN' sets a balance assertion amount (or if the posting amount is
left empty, a balance assignment) on posting N.

   'balance' is a compatibility spelling for hledger <1.17; it is
equivalent to 'balance1'.

   You can adjust the type of assertion/assignment with the
'balance-type' rule (see below).

   See Tips below for more about setting amounts and currency.


File: hledger.info,  Node: separator,  Next: if block,  Prev: Field names,  Up: CSV rules

13.2.5 'separator'
------------------

You can use the 'separator' rule to read other kinds of
character-separated data.  The argument is any single separator
character, or the words 'tab' or 'space' (case insensitive).  Eg, for
comma-separated values (CSV):

separator ,

   or for semicolon-separated values (SSV):

separator ;

   or for tab-separated values (TSV):

separator TAB

   If the input file has a '.csv', '.ssv' or '.tsv' file extension (or a
'csv:', 'ssv:', 'tsv:' prefix), the appropriate separator will be
inferred automatically, and you won't need this rule.


File: hledger.info,  Node: if block,  Next: if table,  Prev: separator,  Up: CSV rules

13.2.6 'if' block
-----------------

if MATCHER
 RULE

if
MATCHER
MATCHER
MATCHER
 RULE
 RULE

   Conditional blocks ("if blocks") are a block of rules that are
applied only to CSV records which match certain patterns.  They are
often used for customising account names based on transaction
descriptions.

* Menu:

* Matching the whole record::
* Matching individual fields::
* Combining matchers::
* Rules applied on successful match::


File: hledger.info,  Node: Matching the whole record,  Next: Matching individual fields,  Up: if block

13.2.6.1 Matching the whole record
..................................

Each MATCHER can be a record matcher, which looks like this:

REGEX

   REGEX is a case-insensitive regular expression that tries to match
anywhere within the CSV record.  It is a POSIX ERE (extended regular
expression) that also supports GNU word boundaries ('\b', '\B', '\<',
'\>'), and nothing else.  If you have trouble, be sure to check our doc:
https://hledger.org/hledger.html#regular-expressions

   Important note: the record that is matched is not the original
record, but a synthetic one, with any enclosing double quotes (but not
enclosing whitespace) removed, and always comma-separated (which means
that a field containing a comma will appear like two fields).  Eg, if
the original record is '2020-01-01; "Acme, Inc."; 1,000', the REGEX will
actually see '2020-01-01,Acme, Inc., 1,000').


File: hledger.info,  Node: Matching individual fields,  Next: Combining matchers,  Prev: Matching the whole record,  Up: if block

13.2.6.2 Matching individual fields
...................................

Or, MATCHER can be a field matcher, like this:

%CSVFIELD REGEX

   which matches just the content of a particular CSV field.  CSVFIELD
is a percent sign followed by the field's name or column number, like
'%date' or '%1'.


File: hledger.info,  Node: Combining matchers,  Next: Rules applied on successful match,  Prev: Matching individual fields,  Up: if block

13.2.6.3 Combining matchers
...........................

A single matcher can be written on the same line as the "if"; or
multiple matchers can be written on the following lines, non-indented.
Multiple matchers are OR'd (any one of them can match), unless one
begins with an '&' symbol, in which case it is AND'ed with the previous
matcher.

if
MATCHER
& MATCHER
 RULE


File: hledger.info,  Node: Rules applied on successful match,  Prev: Combining matchers,  Up: if block

13.2.6.4 Rules applied on successful match
..........................................

After the patterns there should be one or more rules to apply, all
indented by at least one space.  Three kinds of rule are allowed in
conditional blocks:

   * field assignments (to set a hledger field)
   * skip (to skip the matched CSV record)
   * end (to skip all remaining CSV records).

   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.info,  Node: if table,  Next: end,  Prev: if block,  Up: CSV rules

13.2.7 'if' table
-----------------

if,CSVFIELDNAME1,CSVFIELDNAME2,...,CSVFIELDNAMEn
MATCHER1,VALUE11,VALUE12,...,VALUE1n
MATCHER2,VALUE21,VALUE22,...,VALUE2n
MATCHER3,VALUE31,VALUE32,...,VALUE3n
<empty line>

   Conditional tables ("if tables") are a different syntax to specify
field assignments that will be applied only to CSV records which match
certain patterns.

   MATCHER could be either field or record matcher, as described above.
When MATCHER matches, values from that row would be assigned to the CSV
fields named on the 'if' line, in the same order.

   Therefore 'if' table is exactly equivalent to a sequence of of 'if'
blocks:

if MATCHER1
  CSVFIELDNAME1 VALUE11
  CSVFIELDNAME2 VALUE12
  ...
  CSVFIELDNAMEn VALUE1n

if MATCHER2
  CSVFIELDNAME1 VALUE21
  CSVFIELDNAME2 VALUE22
  ...
  CSVFIELDNAMEn VALUE2n

if MATCHER3
  CSVFIELDNAME1 VALUE31
  CSVFIELDNAME2 VALUE32
  ...
  CSVFIELDNAMEn VALUE3n

   Each line starting with MATCHER should contain enough (possibly
empty) values for all the listed fields.

   Rules would be checked and applied in the order they are listed in
the table and, like with 'if' blocks, later rules (in the same or
another table) or 'if' blocks could override the effect of any rule.

   Instead of ',' you can use a variety of other non-alphanumeric
characters as a separator.  First character after 'if' is taken to be
the separator for the rest of the table.  It is the responsibility of
the user to ensure that separator does not occur inside MATCHERs and
values - there is no way to escape separator.

   Example:

if,account2,comment
atm transaction fee,expenses:business:banking,deductible? check it
%description groceries,expenses:groceries,
2020/01/12.*Plumbing LLC,expenses:house:upkeep,emergency plumbing call-out


File: hledger.info,  Node: end,  Next: date-format,  Prev: if table,  Up: CSV rules

13.2.8 'end'
------------

This rule can be used inside if blocks (only), to make hledger stop
reading this CSV file and move on to the next input file, or to command
execution.  Eg:

# ignore everything following the first empty record
if ,,,,
 end


File: hledger.info,  Node: date-format,  Next: decimal-mark,  Prev: end,  Up: CSV rules

13.2.9 'date-format'
--------------------

date-format DATEFMT

   This is a helper for the 'date' (and 'date2') fields.  If your CSV
dates are not formatted like 'YYYY-MM-DD', 'YYYY/MM/DD' or 'YYYY.MM.DD',
you'll need to add a date-format rule describing them with a strptime
date parsing pattern, which must parse the CSV date value completely.
Some examples:

# MM/DD/YY
date-format %m/%d/%y

# D/M/YYYY
# The - makes leading zeros optional.
date-format %-d/%-m/%Y

# YYYY-Mmm-DD
date-format %Y-%h-%d

# M/D/YYYY HH:MM AM some other junk
# Note the time and junk must be fully parsed, though only the date is used.
date-format %-m/%-d/%Y %l:%M %p some other junk

   For the supported strptime syntax, see:
https://hackage.haskell.org/package/time/docs/Data-Time-Format.html#v:formatTime

   Note that although you can parse date-times which include a time
zone, that time zone is ignored; it will not change the date that is
parsed.  This means when reading CSV data with times not in your local
time zone, dates can be "off by one".


File: hledger.info,  Node: decimal-mark,  Next: newest-first,  Prev: date-format,  Up: CSV rules

13.2.10 'decimal-mark'
----------------------

decimal-mark .

   or:

decimal-mark ,

   hledger automatically accepts either period or comma as a decimal
mark when parsing numbers (cf Amounts).  However if any numbers in the
CSV contain digit group marks, such as thousand-separating commas, you
should declare the decimal mark explicitly with this rule, to avoid
misparsed numbers.


File: hledger.info,  Node: newest-first,  Next: include,  Prev: decimal-mark,  Up: CSV rules

13.2.11 'newest-first'
----------------------

hledger always sorts the generated transactions by date.  Transactions
on the same date should appear in the same order as their CSV records,
as hledger can usually auto-detect whether the CSV's normal order is
oldest first or newest first.  But if all of the following are true:

   * the CSV might sometimes contain just one day of data (all records
     having the same date)
   * the CSV records are normally in reverse chronological order (newest
     at the top)
   * and you care about preserving the order of same-day transactions

   then, you should add the 'newest-first' rule as a hint.  Eg:

# tell hledger explicitly that the CSV is normally newest first
newest-first


File: hledger.info,  Node: include,  Next: balance-type,  Prev: newest-first,  Up: CSV rules

13.2.12 'include'
-----------------

include RULESFILE

   This includes the contents of another CSV rules file at this point.
'RULESFILE' is an absolute file path or a path relative to the current
file's directory.  This can be useful for sharing common rules between
several rules files, eg:

# someaccount.csv.rules

## someaccount-specific rules
fields   date,description,amount
account1 assets:someaccount
account2 expenses:misc

## common rules
include categorisation.rules


File: hledger.info,  Node: balance-type,  Prev: include,  Up: CSV rules

13.2.13 'balance-type'
----------------------

Balance assertions generated by assigning to balanceN are of the simple
'=' type by default, which is a single-commodity, subaccount-excluding
assertion.  You may find the subaccount-including variants more useful,
eg if you have created some virtual subaccounts of checking to help with
budgeting.  You can select a different type of assertion with the
'balance-type' rule:

# balance assertions will consider all commodities and all subaccounts
balance-type ==*

   Here are the balance assertion types for quick reference:

=    single commodity, exclude subaccounts
=*   single commodity, include subaccounts
==   multi commodity,  exclude subaccounts
==*  multi commodity,  include subaccounts


File: hledger.info,  Node: Tips,  Prev: CSV rules,  Up: CSV FORMAT

13.3 Tips
=========

* Menu:

* Rapid feedback::
* Valid CSV::
* File Extension::
* Reading multiple CSV files::
* Valid transactions::
* Deduplicating importing::
* Setting amounts::
* Amount signs::
* Setting currency/commodity::
* Amount decimal places::
* Referencing other fields::
* How CSV rules are evaluated::


File: hledger.info,  Node: Rapid feedback,  Next: Valid CSV,  Up: Tips

13.3.1 Rapid feedback
---------------------

It's a good idea to get rapid feedback while creating/troubleshooting
CSV rules.  Here's a good way, using entr from eradman.com/entrproject:

$ ls foo.csv* | entr bash -c 'echo ----; hledger -f foo.csv print desc:SOMEDESC'

   A desc: query (eg) is used to select just one, or a few, transactions
of interest.  "bash -c" is used to run multiple commands, so we can echo
a separator each time the command re-runs, making it easier to read the
output.


File: hledger.info,  Node: Valid CSV,  Next: File Extension,  Prev: Rapid feedback,  Up: Tips

13.3.2 Valid CSV
----------------

hledger accepts CSV conforming to RFC 4180.  When CSV values are
enclosed in quotes, note:

   * they must be double quotes (not single quotes)
   * spaces outside the quotes are not allowed


File: hledger.info,  Node: File Extension,  Next: Reading multiple CSV files,  Prev: Valid CSV,  Up: Tips

13.3.3 File Extension
---------------------

To help hledger identify the format and show the right error messages,
CSV/SSV/TSV files should normally be named with a '.csv', '.ssv' or
'.tsv' filename extension.  Or, the file path should be prefixed with
'csv:', 'ssv:' or 'tsv:'.  Eg:

$ hledger -f foo.ssv print

   or:

$ cat foo | hledger -f ssv:- foo

   You can override the file extension with a separator rule if needed.
See also: Input files in the hledger manual.


File: hledger.info,  Node: Reading multiple CSV files,  Next: Valid transactions,  Prev: File Extension,  Up: Tips

13.3.4 Reading multiple CSV files
---------------------------------

If you use multiple '-f' options to read multiple CSV files at once,
hledger will look for a correspondingly-named rules file for each CSV
file.  But if you use the '--rules-file' option, that rules file will be
used for all the CSV files.


File: hledger.info,  Node: Valid transactions,  Next: Deduplicating importing,  Prev: Reading multiple CSV files,  Up: Tips

13.3.5 Valid transactions
-------------------------

After reading a CSV file, hledger post-processes and validates the
generated journal entries as it would for a journal file - balancing
them, applying balance assignments, and canonicalising amount styles.
Any errors at this stage will be reported in the usual way, displaying
the problem entry.

   There is one exception: balance assertions, if you have generated
them, will not be checked, since normally these will work only when the
CSV data is part of the main journal.  If you do need to check balance
assertions generated from CSV right away, pipe into another hledger:

$ hledger -f file.csv print | hledger -f- print


File: hledger.info,  Node: Deduplicating importing,  Next: Setting amounts,  Prev: Valid transactions,  Up: Tips

13.3.6 Deduplicating, importing
-------------------------------

When you download a CSV file periodically, eg to get your latest bank
transactions, the new file may overlap with the old one, containing some
of the same records.

   The import command will (a) detect the new transactions, and (b)
append just those transactions to your main journal.  It is idempotent,
so you don't have to remember how many times you ran it or with which
version of the CSV. (It keeps state in a hidden '.latest.FILE.csv'
file.)  This is the easiest way to import CSV data.  Eg:

# download the latest CSV files, then run this command.
# Note, no -f flags needed here.
$ hledger import *.csv [--dry]

   This method works for most CSV files.  (Where records have a stable
chronological order, and new records appear only at the new end.)

   A number of other tools and workflows, hledger-specific and
otherwise, exist for converting, deduplicating, classifying and managing
CSV data.  See:

   * https://hledger.org -> sidebar -> real world setups
   * https://plaintextaccounting.org -> data import/conversion


File: hledger.info,  Node: Setting amounts,  Next: Amount signs,  Prev: Deduplicating importing,  Up: Tips

13.3.7 Setting amounts
----------------------

Some tips on using the amount-setting rules discussed above.

   Here are the ways to set a posting's amount:

  1. *If the CSV has a single amount field:*
     Assign (via a fields list or a field assignment) to 'amountN'.
     This sets the Nth posting's amount.  N is usually 1 or 2 but can go
     up to 99.

  2. *If the CSV has separate amount fields for debit & credit (in &
     out):*

       a. *If both fields are unsigned:*
          Assign to 'amountN-in' and 'amountN-out'.  This sets posting
          N's amount to whichever of these has a non-zero value, and
          negates the "-out" value.

       b. *If either field is signed (can contain a minus sign):*
          Use a conditional rule to flip the sign (of non-empty values).
          Since hledger always negates amountN-out, if it was already
          negative, we must undo that by negating once more (but only if
          the field is non-empty):

     fields date, description, amount1-in, amount1-out
     if %amount1-out [1-9]
      amount1-out -%amount1-out

       c. *If both fields, or neither field, can contain a non-zero
          value:*
          hledger normally expects exactly one of the fields to have a
          non-zero value.  Eg, the 'amountN-in'/'amountN-out' rules
          would reject value pairs like these:

     "",  ""
     "0", "0"
     "1", "none"

     So, use smarter conditional rules to set the amount from the
     appropriate field.  Eg, these rules would make it use only the
     value containing non-zero digits, handling the above:

     fields date, description, in, out
     if %in [1-9]
      amount1 %in
     if %out [1-9]
      amount1 %out

  3. *If you are stuck with hledger <1.17, or you want posting 2's
     amount converted to cost:*
     Assign to 'amount' (or to 'amount-in' and 'amount-out').  (The old
     numberless syntax, which sets amount1 and amount2.)

  4. *If the CSV has the balance instead of the transaction amount:*
     Assign to 'balanceN', which sets posting N's amount indirectly via
     a balance assignment.  (Old syntax: 'balance', equivalent to
     'balance1'.)

        * *If hledger guesses the wrong default account name:*
          When setting the amount via balance assertion, hledger may
          guess the wrong default account name.  So, set the account
          name explicitly, eg:

          fields date, description, balance1
          account1 assets:checking


File: hledger.info,  Node: Amount signs,  Next: Setting currency/commodity,  Prev: Setting amounts,  Up: Tips

13.3.8 Amount signs
-------------------

There is some special handling for amount signs, to simplify parsing and
sign-flipping:

   * *If an amount value begins with a plus sign:*
     that will be removed: '+AMT' becomes 'AMT'

   * *If an amount value is parenthesised:*
     it will be de-parenthesised and sign-flipped: '(AMT)' becomes
     '-AMT'

   * *If an amount value has two minus signs (or two sets of
     parentheses, or a minus sign and parentheses):*
     they cancel out and will be removed: '--AMT' or '-(AMT)' becomes
     'AMT'

   * *If an amount value contains just a sign (or just a set of
     parentheses):*
     that is removed, making it an empty value.  '"+"' or '"-"' or
     '"()"' becomes '""'.


File: hledger.info,  Node: Setting currency/commodity,  Next: Amount decimal places,  Prev: Amount signs,  Up: Tips

13.3.9 Setting currency/commodity
---------------------------------

If the currency/commodity symbol is included in the CSV's amount
field(s):

2020-01-01,foo,$123.00

   you don't have to do anything special for the commodity symbol, it
will be assigned as part of the amount.  Eg:

fields date,description,amount

2020-01-01 foo
    expenses:unknown         $123.00
    income:unknown          $-123.00

   If the currency is provided as a separate CSV field:

2020-01-01,foo,USD,123.00

   You can assign that to the 'currency' pseudo-field, which has the
special effect of prepending itself to every amount in the transaction
(on the left, with no separating space):

fields date,description,currency,amount

2020-01-01 foo
    expenses:unknown       USD123.00
    income:unknown        USD-123.00

   Or, you can use a field assignment to construct the amount yourself,
with more control.  Eg to put the symbol on the right, and separated by
a space:

fields date,description,cur,amt
amount %amt %cur

2020-01-01 foo
    expenses:unknown        123.00 USD
    income:unknown         -123.00 USD

   Note we used a temporary field name ('cur') that is not 'currency' -
that would trigger the prepending effect, which we don't want here.


File: hledger.info,  Node: Amount decimal places,  Next: Referencing other fields,  Prev: Setting currency/commodity,  Up: Tips

13.3.10 Amount decimal places
-----------------------------

Like amounts in a journal file, the amounts generated by CSV rules like
'amount1' influence commodity display styles, such as the number of
decimal places displayed in reports.

   The original amounts as written in the CSV file do not affect display
style (because we don't yet reliably know their commodity).


File: hledger.info,  Node: Referencing other fields,  Next: How CSV rules are evaluated,  Prev: Amount decimal places,  Up: Tips

13.3.11 Referencing other fields
--------------------------------

In field assignments, you can interpolate only CSV fields, not hledger
fields.  In the example below, there's both a CSV field and a hledger
field named amount1, but %amount1 always means the CSV field, not the
hledger field:

# Name the third CSV field "amount1"
fields date,description,amount1

# Set hledger's amount1 to the CSV amount1 field followed by USD
amount1 %amount1 USD

# Set comment to the CSV amount1 (not the amount1 assigned above)
comment %amount1

   Here, since there's no CSV amount1 field, %amount1 will produce a
literal "amount1":

fields date,description,csvamount
amount1 %csvamount USD
# Can't interpolate amount1 here
comment %amount1

   When there are multiple field assignments to the same hledger field,
only the last one takes effect.  Here, comment's value will be be B, or
C if "something" is matched, but never A:

comment A
comment B
if something
 comment C


File: hledger.info,  Node: How CSV rules are evaluated,  Prev: Referencing other fields,  Up: Tips

13.3.12 How CSV rules are evaluated
-----------------------------------

Here's how to think of CSV rules being evaluated (if you really need
to).  First,

   * 'include' - all includes are inlined, from top to bottom, depth
     first.  (At each include point the file is inlined and scanned for
     further includes, recursively, before proceeding.)

   Then "global" rules are evaluated, top to bottom.  If a rule is
repeated, the last one wins:

   * 'skip' (at top level)
   * 'date-format'
   * 'newest-first'
   * 'fields' - names the CSV fields, optionally sets up initial
     assignments to hledger fields

   Then for each CSV record in turn:

   * test all 'if' blocks.  If any of them contain a 'end' rule, skip
     all remaining CSV records.  Otherwise if any of them contain a
     'skip' rule, skip that many CSV records.  If there are multiple
     matched 'skip' rules, the first one wins.
   * collect all field assignments at top level and in matched 'if'
     blocks.  When there are multiple assignments for a field, keep only
     the last one.
   * compute a value for each hledger field - either the one that was
     assigned to it (and interpolate the %CSVFIELDNAME references), or a
     default
   * generate a synthetic hledger transaction from these values.

   This is all part of the CSV reader, one of several readers hledger
can use to parse input files.  When all files have been read
successfully, the transactions are passed as input to whichever hledger
command the user specified.


File: hledger.info,  Node: TIMECLOCK FORMAT,  Next: TIMEDOT FORMAT,  Prev: CSV FORMAT,  Up: Top

14 TIMECLOCK FORMAT
*******************

The time logging format of timeclock.el, as read by hledger.

   hledger can read time logs in timeclock format.  As with Ledger,
these are (a subset of) timeclock.el's format, containing clock-in and
clock-out entries as in the example below.  The date is a simple date.
The time format is HH:MM[:SS][+-ZZZZ]. Seconds and timezone are
optional.  The timezone, if present, must be four digits and is ignored
(currently the time is always interpreted as a local time).

i 2015/03/30 09:00:00 some:account name  optional description after two spaces
o 2015/03/30 09:20:00
i 2015/03/31 22:21:45 another account
o 2015/04/01 02:00:34

   hledger treats each clock-in/clock-out pair as a transaction posting
some number of hours to an account.  Or if the session spans more than
one day, it is split into several transactions, one for each day.  For
the above time log, 'hledger print' generates these journal entries:

$ hledger -f t.timeclock print
2015-03-30 * optional description after two spaces
    (some:account name)         0.33h

2015-03-31 * 22:21-23:59
    (another account)         1.64h

2015-04-01 * 00:00-02:00
    (another account)         2.01h

   Here is a sample.timeclock to download and some queries to try:

$ hledger -f sample.timeclock balance                               # current time balances
$ hledger -f sample.timeclock register -p 2009/3                    # sessions in march 2009
$ hledger -f sample.timeclock register -p weekly --depth 1 --empty  # time summary by week

   To generate time logs, ie to clock in and clock out, you could:

   * use emacs and the built-in timeclock.el, or the extended
     timeclock-x.el and perhaps the extras in ledgerutils.el

   * at the command line, use these bash aliases: 'shell alias ti="echo
     i `date '+%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S'` \$* >>$TIMELOG" alias to="echo o
     `date '+%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S'` >>$TIMELOG"'

   * or use the old 'ti' and 'to' scripts in the ledger 2.x repository.
     These rely on a "timeclock" executable which I think is just the
     ledger 2 executable renamed.


File: hledger.info,  Node: TIMEDOT FORMAT,  Next: COMMON TASKS,  Prev: TIMECLOCK FORMAT,  Up: Top

15 TIMEDOT FORMAT
*****************

'timedot' format is hledger's human-friendly time logging format.
Compared to 'timeclock' format, it is

   * convenient for quick, approximate, and retroactive time logging
   * readable: you can see at a glance where time was spent.

   A timedot file contains a series of day entries, which might look
like this:

2021-08-04
hom:errands          .... ....
fos:hledger:timedot  ..         ; docs
per:admin:finance    

   hledger reads this as three time transactions on this day, with each
dot representing a quarter-hour spent:

$ hledger -f a.timedot print   # .timedot file extension activates the timedot reader
2021-08-04 *
    (hom:errands)            2.00

2021-08-04 *
    (fos:hledger:timedot)    0.50

2021-08-04 *
    (per:admin:finance)      0

   A day entry begins with a date line:

   * a non-indented *simple date* (Y-M-D, Y/M/D, or Y.M.D).

   Optionally this can be followed on the same line by

   * a common *transaction description* for this day
   * a common *transaction comment* for this day, after a semicolon
     (';').

   After the date line are zero or more optionally-indented time
transaction lines, consisting of:

   * an *account name* - any word or phrase, usually a hledger-style
     account name.
   * *two or more spaces* - a field separator, required if there is an
     amount (as in journal format).
   * a *timedot amount* - dots representing quarter hours, or a number
     representing hours.
   * an optional *comment* beginning with semicolon.  This is ignored.

   In more detail, timedot amounts can be:

   * *dots*: zero or more period characters, each representing one
     quarter-hour.  Spaces are ignored and can be used for grouping.
     Eg: '.... ..'

   * a *number*, representing hours.  Eg: '1.5'

   * a *number immediately followed by a unit symbol* 's', 'm', 'h',
     'd', 'w', 'mo', or 'y', representing seconds, minutes, hours, days
     weeks, months or years.  Eg '1.5h' or '90m'.  The following
     equivalencies are assumed:
     '60s' = '1m', '60m' = '1h', '24h' = '1d', '7d' = '1w', '30d' =
     '1mo', '365d' = '1y'.  (This unit will not be visible in the
     generated transaction amount, which is always in hours.)

   There is some added flexibility to help with keeping time log data in
the same file as your notes, todo lists, etc.:

   * Lines beginning with '#' or ';', and blank lines, are ignored.

   * Lines not ending with a double-space and amount are parsed as
     transactions with zero amount.  (Most hledger reports hide these by
     default; add -E to see them.)

   * One or more stars ('*') followed by a space, at the start of a
     line, is ignored.  So date lines or time transaction lines can also
     be Org-mode headlines.

   * All Org-mode headlines before the first date line are ignored.

   More examples:

# on this day, 6h was spent on client work, 1.5h on haskell FOSS work, etc.
2016/2/1
inc:client1   .... .... .... .... .... ....
fos:haskell   .... ..
biz:research  .

2016/2/2
inc:client1   .... ....
biz:research  .

2016/2/3
inc:client1   4
fos:hledger   3
biz:research  1

* Time log
** 2020-01-01
*** adm:time  .
*** adm:finance  .

* 2020 Work Diary
** Q1
*** 2020-02-29
**** DONE
0700 yoga
**** UNPLANNED
**** BEGUN
hom:chores
 cleaning  ...
 water plants
  outdoor - one full watering can
  indoor - light watering
**** TODO
adm:planning: trip
*** LATER

   Reporting:

$ hledger -f a.timedot print date:2016/2/2
2016-02-02 *
    (inc:client1)          2.00

2016-02-02 *
    (biz:research)          0.25

$ hledger -f a.timedot bal --daily --tree
Balance changes in 2016-02-01-2016-02-03:

            ||  2016-02-01d  2016-02-02d  2016-02-03d 
============++========================================
 biz        ||         0.25         0.25         1.00 
   research ||         0.25         0.25         1.00 
 fos        ||         1.50            0         3.00 
   haskell  ||         1.50            0            0 
   hledger  ||            0            0         3.00 
 inc        ||         6.00         2.00         4.00 
   client1  ||         6.00         2.00         4.00 
------------++----------------------------------------
            ||         7.75         2.25         8.00 

   Using period instead of colon as account name separator:

2016/2/4
fos.hledger.timedot  4
fos.ledger           ..

$ hledger -f a.timedot --alias /\\./=: bal --tree
                4.50  fos
                4.00    hledger:timedot
                0.50    ledger
--------------------
                4.50

   A sample.timedot file.


File: hledger.info,  Node: COMMON TASKS,  Next: LIMITATIONS,  Prev: TIMEDOT FORMAT,  Up: Top

16 COMMON TASKS
***************

Here are some quick examples of how to do some basic tasks with hledger.
For more details, see the reference section below, the
hledger_journal(5) manual, or the more extensive docs at
https://hledger.org.

* Menu:

* Getting help::
* Constructing command lines::
* Starting a journal file::
* Setting opening balances::
* Recording transactions::
* Reconciling::
* Reporting::
* Migrating to a new file::


File: hledger.info,  Node: Getting help,  Next: Constructing command lines,  Up: COMMON TASKS

16.1 Getting help
=================

$ hledger                 # show available commands
$ hledger --help          # show common options
$ hledger CMD --help      # show common and command options, and command help
$ hledger help            # show available manuals/topics
$ hledger help hledger    # show hledger manual as info/man/text (auto-chosen)
$ hledger help journal --man  # show the journal manual as a man page
$ hledger help --help     # show more detailed help for the help command

   Find more docs, chat, mail list, reddit, issue tracker:
https://hledger.org#help-feedback


File: hledger.info,  Node: Constructing command lines,  Next: Starting a journal file,  Prev: Getting help,  Up: COMMON TASKS

16.2 Constructing command lines
===============================

hledger has an extensive and powerful command line interface.  We strive
to keep it simple and ergonomic, but you may run into one of the
confusing real world details described in OPTIONS, below.  If that
happens, here are some tips that may help:

   * command-specific options must go after the command (it's fine to
     put all options there) ('hledger CMD OPTS ARGS')
   * running add-on executables directly simplifies command line parsing
     ('hledger-ui OPTS ARGS')
   * enclose "problematic" args in single quotes
   * if needed, also add a backslash to hide regular expression
     metacharacters from the shell
   * to see how a misbehaving command is being parsed, add '--debug=2'.


File: hledger.info,  Node: Starting a journal file,  Next: Setting opening balances,  Prev: Constructing command lines,  Up: COMMON TASKS

16.3 Starting a journal file
============================

hledger looks for your accounting data in a journal file,
'$HOME/.hledger.journal' by default:

$ hledger stats
The hledger journal file "/Users/simon/.hledger.journal" was not found.
Please create it first, eg with "hledger add" or a text editor.
Or, specify an existing journal file with -f or LEDGER_FILE.

   You can override this by setting the 'LEDGER_FILE' environment
variable.  It's a good practice to keep this important file under
version control, and to start a new file each year.  So you could do
something like this:

$ mkdir ~/finance
$ cd ~/finance
$ git init
Initialized empty Git repository in /Users/simon/finance/.git/
$ touch 2020.journal
$ echo "export LEDGER_FILE=$HOME/finance/2020.journal" >> ~/.bashrc
$ source ~/.bashrc
$ hledger stats
Main file                : /Users/simon/finance/2020.journal
Included files           : 
Transactions span        :  to  (0 days)
Last transaction         : none
Transactions             : 0 (0.0 per day)
Transactions last 30 days: 0 (0.0 per day)
Transactions last 7 days : 0 (0.0 per day)
Payees/descriptions      : 0
Accounts                 : 0 (depth 0)
Commodities              : 0 ()
Market prices            : 0 ()


File: hledger.info,  Node: Setting opening balances,  Next: Recording transactions,  Prev: Starting a journal file,  Up: COMMON TASKS

16.4 Setting opening balances
=============================

Pick a starting date for which you can look up the balances of some
real-world assets (bank accounts, wallet..)  and liabilities (credit
cards..).

   To avoid a lot of data entry, you may want to start with just one or
two accounts, like your checking account or cash wallet; and pick a
recent starting date, like today or the start of the week.  You can
always come back later and add more accounts and older transactions, eg
going back to january 1st.

   Add an opening balances transaction to the journal, declaring the
balances on this date.  Here are two ways to do it:

   * The first way: open the journal in any text editor and save an
     entry like this:

     2020-01-01 * opening balances
         assets:bank:checking                $1000   = $1000
         assets:bank:savings                 $2000   = $2000
         assets:cash                          $100   = $100
         liabilities:creditcard               $-50   = $-50
         equity:opening/closing balances

     These are start-of-day balances, ie whatever was in the account at
     the end of the previous day.

     The * after the date is an optional status flag.  Here it means
     "cleared & confirmed".

     The currency symbols are optional, but usually a good idea as
     you'll be dealing with multiple currencies sooner or later.

     The = amounts are optional balance assertions, providing extra
     error checking.

   * The second way: run 'hledger add' and follow the prompts to record
     a similar transaction:

     $ hledger add
     Adding transactions to journal file /Users/simon/finance/2020.journal
     Any command line arguments will be used as defaults.
     Use tab key to complete, readline keys to edit, enter to accept defaults.
     An optional (CODE) may follow transaction dates.
     An optional ; COMMENT may follow descriptions or amounts.
     If you make a mistake, enter < at any prompt to go one step backward.
     To end a transaction, enter . when prompted.
     To quit, enter . at a date prompt or press control-d or control-c.
     Date [2020-02-07]: 2020-01-01
     Description: * opening balances
     Account 1: assets:bank:checking
     Amount  1: $1000
     Account 2: assets:bank:savings
     Amount  2 [$-1000]: $2000
     Account 3: assets:cash
     Amount  3 [$-3000]: $100
     Account 4: liabilities:creditcard
     Amount  4 [$-3100]: $-50
     Account 5: equity:opening/closing balances
     Amount  5 [$-3050]: 
     Account 6 (or . or enter to finish this transaction): .
     2020-01-01 * opening balances
         assets:bank:checking                      $1000
         assets:bank:savings                       $2000
         assets:cash                                $100
         liabilities:creditcard                     $-50
         equity:opening/closing balances          $-3050
     
     Save this transaction to the journal ? [y]: 
     Saved.
     Starting the next transaction (. or ctrl-D/ctrl-C to quit)
     Date [2020-01-01]: .

   If you're using version control, this could be a good time to commit
the journal.  Eg:

$ git commit -m 'initial balances' 2020.journal


File: hledger.info,  Node: Recording transactions,  Next: Reconciling,  Prev: Setting opening balances,  Up: COMMON TASKS

16.5 Recording transactions
===========================

As you spend or receive money, you can record these transactions using
one of the methods above (text editor, hledger add) or by using the
hledger-iadd or hledger-web add-ons, or by using the import command to
convert CSV data downloaded from your bank.

   Here are some simple transactions, see the hledger_journal(5) manual
and hledger.org for more ideas:

2020/1/10 * gift received
  assets:cash   $20
  income:gifts

2020.1.12 * farmers market
  expenses:food    $13
  assets:cash

2020-01-15 paycheck
  income:salary
  assets:bank:checking    $1000


File: hledger.info,  Node: Reconciling,  Next: Reporting,  Prev: Recording transactions,  Up: COMMON TASKS

16.6 Reconciling
================

Periodically you should reconcile - compare your hledger-reported
balances against external sources of truth, like bank statements or your
bank's website - to be sure that your ledger accurately represents the
real-world balances (and, that the real-world institutions have not made
a mistake!).  This gets easy and fast with (1) practice and (2)
frequency.  If you do it daily, it can take 2-10 minutes.  If you let it
pile up, expect it to take longer as you hunt down errors and
discrepancies.

   A typical workflow:

  1. Reconcile cash.  Count what's in your wallet.  Compare with what
     hledger reports ('hledger bal cash').  If they are different, try
     to remember the missing transaction, or look for the error in the
     already-recorded transactions.  A register report can be helpful
     ('hledger reg cash').  If you can't find the error, add an
     adjustment transaction.  Eg if you have $105 after the above, and
     can't explain the missing $2, it could be:

     2020-01-16 * adjust cash
         assets:cash    $-2 = $105
         expenses:misc

  2. Reconcile checking.  Log in to your bank's website.  Compare
     today's (cleared) balance with hledger's cleared balance ('hledger
     bal checking -C').  If they are different, track down the error or
     record the missing transaction(s) or add an adjustment transaction,
     similar to the above.  Unlike the cash case, you can usually
     compare the transaction history and running balance from your bank
     with the one reported by 'hledger reg checking -C'.  This will be
     easier if you generally record transaction dates quite similar to
     your bank's clearing dates.

  3. Repeat for other asset/liability accounts.

   Tip: instead of the register command, use hledger-ui to see a
live-updating register while you edit the journal: 'hledger-ui --watch
--register checking -C'

   After reconciling, it could be a good time to mark the reconciled
transactions' status as "cleared and confirmed", if you want to track
that, by adding the '*' marker.  Eg in the paycheck transaction above,
insert '*' between '2020-01-15' and 'paycheck'

   If you're using version control, this can be another good time to
commit:

$ git commit -m 'txns' 2020.journal


File: hledger.info,  Node: Reporting,  Next: Migrating to a new file,  Prev: Reconciling,  Up: COMMON TASKS

16.7 Reporting
==============

Here are some basic reports.

   Show all transactions:

$ hledger print
2020-01-01 * opening balances
    assets:bank:checking                      $1000
    assets:bank:savings                       $2000
    assets:cash                                $100
    liabilities:creditcard                     $-50
    equity:opening/closing balances          $-3050

2020-01-10 * gift received
    assets:cash              $20
    income:gifts

2020-01-12 * farmers market
    expenses:food             $13
    assets:cash

2020-01-15 * paycheck
    income:salary
    assets:bank:checking           $1000

2020-01-16 * adjust cash
    assets:cash               $-2 = $105
    expenses:misc

   Show account names, and their hierarchy:

$ hledger accounts --tree
assets
  bank
    checking
    savings
  cash
equity
  opening/closing balances
expenses
  food
  misc
income
  gifts
  salary
liabilities
  creditcard

   Show all account totals:

$ hledger balance
               $4105  assets
               $4000    bank
               $2000      checking
               $2000      savings
                $105    cash
              $-3050  equity:opening/closing balances
                 $15  expenses
                 $13    food
                  $2    misc
              $-1020  income
                $-20    gifts
              $-1000    salary
                $-50  liabilities:creditcard
--------------------
                   0

   Show only asset and liability balances, as a flat list, limited to
depth 2:

$ hledger bal assets liabilities --flat -2
               $4000  assets:bank
                $105  assets:cash
                $-50  liabilities:creditcard
--------------------
               $4055

   Show the same thing without negative numbers, formatted as a simple
balance sheet:

$ hledger bs --flat -2
Balance Sheet 2020-01-16

                        || 2020-01-16 
========================++============
 Assets                 ||            
------------------------++------------
 assets:bank            ||      $4000 
 assets:cash            ||       $105 
------------------------++------------
                        ||      $4105 
========================++============
 Liabilities            ||            
------------------------++------------
 liabilities:creditcard ||        $50 
------------------------++------------
                        ||        $50 
========================++============
 Net:                   ||      $4055 

   The final total is your "net worth" on the end date.  (Or use 'bse'
for a full balance sheet with equity.)

   Show income and expense totals, formatted as an income statement:

hledger is 
Income Statement 2020-01-01-2020-01-16

               || 2020-01-01-2020-01-16 
===============++=======================
 Revenues      ||                       
---------------++-----------------------
 income:gifts  ||                   $20 
 income:salary ||                 $1000 
---------------++-----------------------
               ||                 $1020 
===============++=======================
 Expenses      ||                       
---------------++-----------------------
 expenses:food ||                   $13 
 expenses:misc ||                    $2 
---------------++-----------------------
               ||                   $15 
===============++=======================
 Net:          ||                 $1005 

   The final total is your net income during this period.

   Show transactions affecting your wallet, with running total:

$ hledger register cash
2020-01-01 opening balances     assets:cash                   $100          $100
2020-01-10 gift received        assets:cash                    $20          $120
2020-01-12 farmers market       assets:cash                   $-13          $107
2020-01-16 adjust cash          assets:cash                    $-2          $105

   Show weekly posting counts as a bar chart:

$ hledger activity -W
2019-12-30 *****
2020-01-06 ****
2020-01-13 ****


File: hledger.info,  Node: Migrating to a new file,  Prev: Reporting,  Up: COMMON TASKS

16.8 Migrating to a new file
============================

At the end of the year, you may want to continue your journal in a new
file, so that old transactions don't slow down or clutter your reports,
and to help ensure the integrity of your accounting history.  See the
close command.

   If using version control, don't forget to 'git add' the new file.


File: hledger.info,  Node: LIMITATIONS,  Next: TROUBLESHOOTING,  Prev: COMMON TASKS,  Up: Top

17 LIMITATIONS
**************

The need to precede add-on command options with '--' when invoked from
hledger is awkward.

   When input data contains non-ascii characters, a suitable system
locale must be configured (or there will be an unhelpful error).  Eg on
POSIX, set LANG to something other than C.

   In a Microsoft Windows CMD window, non-ascii characters and colours
are not supported.

   On Windows, non-ascii characters may not display correctly when
running a hledger built in CMD in MSYS/CYGWIN, or vice-versa.

   In a Cygwin/MSYS/Mintty window, the tab key is not supported in
hledger add.

   Not all of Ledger's journal file syntax is supported.  See file
format differences.

   On large data files, hledger is slower and uses more memory than
Ledger.


File: hledger.info,  Node: TROUBLESHOOTING,  Prev: LIMITATIONS,  Up: Top

18 TROUBLESHOOTING
******************

Here are some issues you might encounter when you run hledger (and
remember you can also seek help from the IRC channel, mail list or bug
tracker):

   *Successfully installed, but "No command 'hledger' found"*
stack and cabal install binaries into a special directory, which should
be added to your PATH environment variable.  Eg on unix-like systems,
that is ~/.local/bin and ~/.cabal/bin respectively.

   *I set a custom LEDGER_FILE, but hledger is still using the default
file*
'LEDGER_FILE' should be a real environment variable, not just a shell
variable.  The command 'env | grep LEDGER_FILE' should show it.  You may
need to use 'export'.  Here's an explanation.

   *Getting errors like "Illegal byte sequence" or "Invalid or
incomplete multibyte or wide character" or "commitAndReleaseBuffer:
invalid argument (invalid character)"*
Programs compiled with GHC (hledger, haskell build tools, etc.)  need to
have a UTF-8-aware locale configured in the environment, otherwise they
will fail with these kinds of errors when they encounter non-ascii
characters.

   To fix it, set the LANG environment variable to some locale which
supports UTF-8.  The locale you choose must be installed on your system.

   Here's an example of setting LANG temporarily, on Ubuntu GNU/Linux:

$ file my.journal
my.journal: UTF-8 Unicode text         # the file is UTF8-encoded
$ echo $LANG
C                                      # LANG is set to the default locale, which does not support UTF8
$ locale -a                            # which locales are installed ?
C
en_US.utf8                             # here's a UTF8-aware one we can use
POSIX
$ LANG=en_US.utf8 hledger -f my.journal print   # ensure it is used for this command

   If available, 'C.UTF-8' will also work.  If your preferred locale
isn't listed by 'locale -a', you might need to install it.  Eg on
Ubuntu/Debian:

$ apt-get install language-pack-fr
$ locale -a
C
en_US.utf8
fr_BE.utf8
fr_CA.utf8
fr_CH.utf8
fr_FR.utf8
fr_LU.utf8
POSIX
$ LANG=fr_FR.utf8 hledger -f my.journal print

   Here's how you could set it permanently, if you use a bash shell:

$ echo "export LANG=en_US.utf8" >>~/.bash_profile
$ bash --login

   Exact spelling and capitalisation may be important.  Note the
difference on MacOS ('UTF-8', not 'utf8').  Some platforms (eg ubuntu)
allow variant spellings, but others (eg macos) require it to be exact:

$ locale -a | grep -iE en_us.*utf
en_US.UTF-8
$ LANG=en_US.UTF-8 hledger -f my.journal print


Tag Table:
Node: Top208
Node: OPTIONS2602
Ref: #options2703
Node: General options2845
Ref: #general-options2970
Node: Command options7183
Ref: #command-options7334
Node: Command arguments7734
Ref: #command-arguments7892
Node: Special characters8772
Ref: #special-characters8935
Node: Single escaping shell metacharacters9098
Ref: #single-escaping-shell-metacharacters9339
Node: Double escaping regular expression metacharacters9942
Ref: #double-escaping-regular-expression-metacharacters10253
Node: Triple escaping for add-on commands10779
Ref: #triple-escaping-for-add-on-commands11039
Node: Less escaping11683
Ref: #less-escaping11837
Node: Unicode characters12161
Ref: #unicode-characters12326
Node: Regular expressions13738
Ref: #regular-expressions13878
Node: ENVIRONMENT15614
Ref: #environment15730
Node: DATA FILES16721
Ref: #data-files16840
Node: Data formats17379
Ref: #data-formats17497
Node: Multiple files18891
Ref: #multiple-files19033
Node: Strict mode19502
Ref: #strict-mode19617
Node: TIME PERIODS20323
Ref: #time-periods20440
Node: Smart dates20538
Ref: #smart-dates20664
Node: Report start & end date22201
Ref: #report-start-end-date22376
Node: Report intervals24043
Ref: #report-intervals24211
Node: Period expressions25950
Ref: #period-expressions26090
Node: Period expressions with a report interval27821
Ref: #period-expressions-with-a-report-interval28053
Node: More complex report intervals29134
Ref: #more-complex-report-intervals29383
Node: Intervals with custom start date30018
Ref: #intervals-with-custom-start-date30250
Node: Periods or dates ?31824
Ref: #periods-or-dates32026
Node: Events on multiple weekdays32468
Ref: #events-on-multiple-weekdays32647
Node: DEPTH33510
Ref: #depth33610
Node: QUERIES33944
Ref: #queries34043
Node: Query types34984
Ref: #query-types35103
Node: Combining query terms37775
Ref: #combining-query-terms37950
Node: Queries and command options38753
Ref: #queries-and-command-options38956
Node: Queries and account aliases39205
Ref: #queries-and-account-aliases39408
Node: Queries and valuation39528
Ref: #queries-and-valuation39721
Node: Querying with account aliases39950
Ref: #querying-with-account-aliases40159
Node: Querying with cost or value40289
Ref: #querying-with-cost-or-value40464
Node: COSTING40765
Ref: #costing40868
Node: VALUATION41142
Ref: #valuation41250
Node: -V Value41976
Ref: #v-value42100
Node: -X Value in specified commodity42295
Ref: #x-value-in-specified-commodity42488
Node: Valuation date42637
Ref: #valuation-date42799
Node: Market prices43236
Ref: #market-prices43418
Node: --infer-market-prices market prices from transactions44601
Ref: #infer-market-prices-market-prices-from-transactions44868
Node: Valuation commodity46224
Ref: #valuation-commodity46435
Node: Simple valuation examples47661
Ref: #simple-valuation-examples47857
Node: --value Flexible valuation48516
Ref: #value-flexible-valuation48718
Node: More valuation examples50362
Ref: #more-valuation-examples50563
Node: Effect of valuation on reports52562
Ref: #effect-of-valuation-on-reports52744
Node: PIVOTING60145
Ref: #pivoting60250
Node: OUTPUT61926
Ref: #output62028
Node: Output destination62119
Ref: #output-destination62253
Node: Output styling62910
Ref: #output-styling63058
Node: Output format63815
Ref: #output-format63959
Node: Commodity styles66126
Ref: #commodity-styles66253
Node: COMMANDS67029
Ref: #commands67141
Node: accounts70506
Ref: #accounts70606
Node: activity71302
Ref: #activity71414
Node: add71797
Ref: #add71900
Node: aregister74693
Ref: #aregister74807
Node: aregister and custom posting dates77172
Ref: #aregister-and-custom-posting-dates77338
Node: balance77890
Ref: #balance78009
Node: balance features78977
Ref: #balance-features79117
Node: Simple balance report80907
Ref: #simple-balance-report81089
Node: Filtered balance report82569
Ref: #filtered-balance-report82756
Node: List or tree mode83083
Ref: #list-or-tree-mode83251
Node: Depth limiting84596
Ref: #depth-limiting84762
Node: Dropping top-level accounts85363
Ref: #dropping-top-level-accounts85565
Node: Multi-period balance report85875
Ref: #multi-period-balance-report86079
Node: Commodity column88354
Ref: #commodity-column88526
Node: Sorting by amount91427
Ref: #sorting-by-amount91585
Node: Percentages92255
Ref: #percentages92413
Node: Balance change end balance93374
Ref: #balance-change-end-balance93567
Node: Balance report types94995
Ref: #balance-report-types95185
Node: Useful balance reports99464
Ref: #useful-balance-reports99645
Node: Budget report100730
Ref: #budget-report100914
Node: Budget report start date106189
Ref: #budget-report-start-date106367
Node: Budgets and subaccounts107699
Ref: #budgets-and-subaccounts107906
Node: Selecting budget goals111346
Ref: #selecting-budget-goals111518
Node: Customising single-period balance reports112552
Ref: #customising-single-period-balance-reports112761
Node: balancesheet114936
Ref: #balancesheet115074
Node: balancesheetequity116373
Ref: #balancesheetequity116524
Node: cashflow117904
Ref: #cashflow118028
Node: check119174
Ref: #check119279
Node: Basic checks119913
Ref: #basic-checks120031
Node: Strict checks120582
Ref: #strict-checks120723
Node: Other checks121159
Ref: #other-checks121299
Node: Custom checks121656
Ref: #custom-checks121776
Node: close122193
Ref: #close122297
Node: close and prices124388
Ref: #close-and-prices124517
Node: close date124912
Ref: #close-date125096
Node: Example close asset/liability accounts for file transition125853
Ref: #example-close-assetliability-accounts-for-file-transition126154
Node: Hiding opening/closing transactions127013
Ref: #hiding-openingclosing-transactions127284
Node: close and balance assertions128661
Ref: #close-and-balance-assertions128919
Node: Example close revenue/expense accounts to retained earnings130273
Ref: #example-close-revenueexpense-accounts-to-retained-earnings130551
Node: codes131441
Ref: #codes131551
Node: commodities132263
Ref: #commodities132392
Node: descriptions132474
Ref: #descriptions132604
Node: diff132908
Ref: #diff133016
Node: files134063
Ref: #files134165
Node: help134312
Ref: #help134414
Node: import135232
Ref: #import135348
Node: Deduplication136213
Ref: #deduplication136338
Node: Import testing138232
Ref: #import-testing138397
Node: Importing balance assignments138885
Ref: #importing-balance-assignments139091
Node: Commodity display styles139740
Ref: #commodity-display-styles139913
Node: incomestatement140042
Ref: #incomestatement140177
Node: notes141482
Ref: #notes141597
Node: payees141965
Ref: #payees142073
Node: prices142599
Ref: #prices142707
Node: print143076
Ref: #print143188
Node: print-unique148503
Ref: #print-unique148631
Node: register148916
Ref: #register149045
Node: Custom register output153491
Ref: #custom-register-output153622
Node: register-match154959
Ref: #register-match155095
Node: rewrite155446
Ref: #rewrite155563
Node: Re-write rules in a file157469
Ref: #re-write-rules-in-a-file157632
Node: Diff output format158781
Ref: #diff-output-format158964
Node: rewrite vs print --auto160056
Ref: #rewrite-vs.-print---auto160216
Node: roi160772
Ref: #roi160872
Node: Spaces and special characters in --inv and --pnl162558
Ref: #spaces-and-special-characters-in---inv-and---pnl162798
Node: Semantics of --inv and --pnl163286
Ref: #semantics-of---inv-and---pnl163525
Node: IRR and TWR explained165375
Ref: #irr-and-twr-explained165535
Node: stats168603
Ref: #stats168704
Node: tags169492
Ref: #tags169592
Node: test170111
Ref: #test170227
Node: About add-on commands170974
Ref: #about-add-on-commands171111
Node: JOURNAL FORMAT172242
Ref: #journal-format172370
Node: Transactions174566
Ref: #transactions174681
Node: Dates175695
Ref: #dates175811
Node: Simple dates175876
Ref: #simple-dates175996
Node: Secondary dates176505
Ref: #secondary-dates176653
Node: Posting dates177989
Ref: #posting-dates178112
Node: Status179484
Ref: #status179594
Node: Code181302
Ref: #code181414
Node: Description181646
Ref: #description181774
Node: Payee and note182094
Ref: #payee-and-note182202
Node: Comments182537
Ref: #comments182659
Node: Tags183853
Ref: #tags-1183964
Node: Postings185357
Ref: #postings185481
Node: Virtual postings186507
Ref: #virtual-postings186618
Node: Account names187923
Ref: #account-names188060
Node: Amounts188548
Ref: #amounts188685
Node: Decimal marks digit group marks189641
Ref: #decimal-marks-digit-group-marks189818
Node: Commodity190690
Ref: #commodity190850
Node: Commodity directives191802
Ref: #commodity-directives191976
Node: Commodity display style192463
Ref: #commodity-display-style192642
Node: Rounding194837
Ref: #rounding194957
Node: Transaction prices195369
Ref: #transaction-prices195535
Node: Lot prices lot dates197966
Ref: #lot-prices-lot-dates198149
Node: Balance assertions198637
Ref: #balance-assertions198815
Node: Assertions and ordering199848
Ref: #assertions-and-ordering200030
Node: Assertions and included files200730
Ref: #assertions-and-included-files200967
Node: Assertions and multiple -f options201300
Ref: #assertions-and-multiple--f-options201550
Node: Assertions and commodities201682
Ref: #assertions-and-commodities201908
Node: Assertions and prices203065
Ref: #assertions-and-prices203273
Node: Assertions and subaccounts203713
Ref: #assertions-and-subaccounts203936
Node: Assertions and virtual postings204260
Ref: #assertions-and-virtual-postings204496
Node: Assertions and precision204638
Ref: #assertions-and-precision204825
Node: Balance assignments205092
Ref: #balance-assignments205262
Node: Balance assignments and prices206426
Ref: #balance-assignments-and-prices206592
Node: Directives206816
Ref: #directives206979
Node: Directives and multiple files212333
Ref: #directives-and-multiple-files212529
Node: Comment blocks213193
Ref: #comment-blocks213370
Node: Including other files213546
Ref: #including-other-files213720
Node: Default year214644
Ref: #default-year214802
Node: Declaring payees215209
Ref: #declaring-payees215375
Node: Declaring commodities215621
Ref: #declaring-commodities215802
Node: Commodity error checking218320
Ref: #commodity-error-checking218470
Node: Default commodity218727
Ref: #default-commodity218907
Node: Declaring market prices219783
Ref: #declaring-market-prices219972
Node: Declaring accounts220785
Ref: #declaring-accounts220965
Node: Account error checking222167
Ref: #account-error-checking222333
Node: Account comments223512
Ref: #account-comments223696
Node: Account subdirectives224120
Ref: #account-subdirectives224305
Node: Account types224618
Ref: #account-types224792
Node: Declaring account types225450
Ref: #declaring-account-types225629
Node: Auto-detected account types226683
Ref: #auto-detected-account-types226870
Node: Account display order228888
Ref: #account-display-order229048
Node: Rewriting accounts230199
Ref: #rewriting-accounts230378
Node: Basic aliases231135
Ref: #basic-aliases231271
Node: Regex aliases232015
Ref: #regex-aliases232177
Node: Combining aliases232896
Ref: #combining-aliases233079
Node: Aliases and multiple files234355
Ref: #aliases-and-multiple-files234554
Node: end aliases235133
Ref: #end-aliases235280
Node: Default parent account235381
Ref: #default-parent-account235571
Node: Periodic transactions236455
Ref: #periodic-transactions236638
Node: Periodic rule syntax238555
Ref: #periodic-rule-syntax238755
Node: Two spaces between period expression and description!239459
Ref: #two-spaces-between-period-expression-and-description239772
Node: Forecasting with periodic transactions240456
Ref: #forecasting-with-periodic-transactions240755
Node: Budgeting with periodic transactions243526
Ref: #budgeting-with-periodic-transactions243759
Node: Auto postings244168
Ref: #auto-postings244304
Node: Auto postings and multiple files246483
Ref: #auto-postings-and-multiple-files246681
Node: Auto postings and dates246890
Ref: #auto-postings-and-dates247158
Node: Auto postings and transaction balancing / inferred amounts / balance assertions247333
Ref: #auto-postings-and-transaction-balancing-inferred-amounts-balance-assertions247678
Node: Auto posting tags248020
Ref: #auto-posting-tags248229
Node: CSV FORMAT248865
Ref: #csv-format248993
Node: Examples251622
Ref: #examples251725
Node: Basic251933
Ref: #basic252035
Node: Bank of Ireland252577
Ref: #bank-of-ireland252714
Node: Amazon254176
Ref: #amazon254296
Node: Paypal256015
Ref: #paypal256111
Node: CSV rules263755
Ref: #csv-rules263873
Node: skip264206
Ref: #skip264306
Node: fields list264681
Ref: #fields-list264820
Node: field assignment266323
Ref: #field-assignment266475
Node: Field names267510
Ref: #field-names267650
Node: date field268030
Ref: #date-field268150
Node: date2 field268198
Ref: #date2-field268341
Node: status field268397
Ref: #status-field268542
Node: code field268591
Ref: #code-field268738
Node: description field268783
Ref: #description-field268945
Node: comment field269004
Ref: #comment-field269161
Node: account field269461
Ref: #account-field269613
Node: amount field270188
Ref: #amount-field270339
Node: currency field271584
Ref: #currency-field271739
Node: balance field271996
Ref: #balance-field272130
Node: separator272502
Ref: #separator272634
Node: if block273174
Ref: #if-block273301
Node: Matching the whole record273702
Ref: #matching-the-whole-record273879
Node: Matching individual fields274682
Ref: #matching-individual-fields274888
Node: Combining matchers275112
Ref: #combining-matchers275310
Node: Rules applied on successful match275623
Ref: #rules-applied-on-successful-match275816
Node: if table276470
Ref: #if-table276591
Node: end278329
Ref: #end278443
Node: date-format278667
Ref: #date-format278801
Node: decimal-mark279797
Ref: #decimal-mark279944
Node: newest-first280283
Ref: #newest-first280426
Node: include281109
Ref: #include281242
Node: balance-type281686
Ref: #balance-type281808
Node: Tips282508
Ref: #tips282599
Node: Rapid feedback282898
Ref: #rapid-feedback283017
Node: Valid CSV283469
Ref: #valid-csv283601
Node: File Extension283793
Ref: #file-extension283947
Node: Reading multiple CSV files284376
Ref: #reading-multiple-csv-files284563
Node: Valid transactions284804
Ref: #valid-transactions284984
Node: Deduplicating importing285612
Ref: #deduplicating-importing285793
Node: Setting amounts286826
Ref: #setting-amounts286983
Node: Amount signs289424
Ref: #amount-signs289578
Node: Setting currency/commodity290265
Ref: #setting-currencycommodity290453
Node: Amount decimal places291627
Ref: #amount-decimal-places291819
Node: Referencing other fields292131
Ref: #referencing-other-fields292330
Node: How CSV rules are evaluated293227
Ref: #how-csv-rules-are-evaluated293402
Node: TIMECLOCK FORMAT294853
Ref: #timeclock-format294993
Node: TIMEDOT FORMAT297054
Ref: #timedot-format297192
Node: COMMON TASKS301754
Ref: #common-tasks301883
Node: Getting help302290
Ref: #getting-help302424
Node: Constructing command lines302977
Ref: #constructing-command-lines303171
Node: Starting a journal file303868
Ref: #starting-a-journal-file304068
Node: Setting opening balances305256
Ref: #setting-opening-balances305454
Node: Recording transactions308595
Ref: #recording-transactions308777
Node: Reconciling309333
Ref: #reconciling309478
Node: Reporting311735
Ref: #reporting311877
Node: Migrating to a new file315876
Ref: #migrating-to-a-new-file316026
Node: LIMITATIONS316325
Ref: #limitations316453
Node: TROUBLESHOOTING317196
Ref: #troubleshooting317311

End Tag Table


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