
HLEDGER-UI(1)                hledger User Manuals                HLEDGER-UI(1)



NAME
       hledger-ui  is  a  terminal  interface (TUI) for the hledger accounting
       tool.  This manual is for hledger-ui 1.22.

SYNOPSIS
       hledger-ui [OPTIONS] [QUERYARGS]
       hledger ui -- [OPTIONS] [QUERYARGS]

DESCRIPTION
       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).

       hledger-ui  is  hledger's  terminal  interface,  providing an efficient
       full-window text UI for viewing accounts  and  transactions,  and  some
       limited  data  entry  capability.  It is easier than hledger's command-
       line interface, and sometimes quicker and more convenient than the  web
       interface.

       Like  hledger, it 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).  For more about this  see  hledger(1),
       hledger_journal(5) etc.

       Unlike  hledger,  hledger-ui  hides  all  future-dated  transactions by
       default.  They can be revealed, along with any rule-generated  periodic
       transactions,  by  pressing  the F key (or starting with --forecast) to
       enable "forecast mode".

OPTIONS
       Note: if invoking hledger-ui as a hledger subcommand, write  --  before
       options as shown above.

       Any  QUERYARGS  are interpreted as a hledger search query which filters
       the data.

       --watch
              watch for data and date changes and reload automatically

       --theme=default|terminal|greenterm
              use this custom display theme

       --register=ACCTREGEX
              start in the (first) matched account's register screen

       --change
              show period balances (changes) at startup instead of  historical
              balances

       -l --flat
              show accounts as a flat list (default)

       -t --tree
              show accounts as a tree

       hledger 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)

       hledger 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 fol-
              lowing 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)

       -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 com-
              modities

       -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.

       --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.

       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.

       hledger 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)

       A @FILE argument will be expanded to the contents of FILE, which should
       contain one command line option/argument per line.  (To  prevent  this,
       insert a -- argument before.)

KEYS
       ?  shows a help dialog listing all keys.  (Some of these also appear in
       the quick help at the bottom of each screen.) Press ? again (or ESCAPE,
       or LEFT, or q) to close it.  The following keys work on most screens:

       The cursor keys navigate: right (or enter) goes deeper, left returns to
       the previous screen, up/down/page up/page  down/home/end  move  up  and
       down through lists.  Emacs-style (ctrl-p/ctrl-n/ctrl-f/ctrl-b) movement
       keys are also supported (but not  vi-style  keys,  since  hledger-1.19,
       sorry!).   A  tip:  movement  speed  is limited by your keyboard repeat
       rate, to move faster you may want to adjust it.  (If you're on  a  mac,
       the karabiner app is one way to do that.)

       With  shift pressed, the cursor keys adjust the report period, limiting
       the transactions to be shown  (by  default,  all  are  shown).   shift-
       down/up  steps downward and upward through these standard report period
       durations: year, quarter, month,  week,  day.   Then,  shift-left/right
       moves  to the previous/next period.  T sets the report period to today.
       With the --watch option, when viewing a "current" period  (the  current
       day, week, month, quarter, or year), the period will move automatically
       to track the current date.  To set a non-standard period, you can use /
       and a date: query.

       /  lets  you  set a general filter query limiting the data shown, using
       the same query terms as in hledger and hledger-web.  While editing  the
       query,  you  can  use CTRL-a/e/d/k, BS, cursor keys; press ENTER to set
       it, or ESCAPEto cancel.  There are also keys for quickly adjusting some
       common  filters  like account depth and transaction status (see below).
       BACKSPACE or DELETE removes all filters, showing all transactions.

       As mentioned above, by default hledger-ui hides future  transactions  -
       both ordinary transactions recorded in the journal, and periodic trans-
       actions  generated  by  rule.   F  toggles  forecast  mode,  in   which
       future/forecasted transactions are shown.

       ESCAPE  resets the UI state and jumps back to the top screen, restoring
       the app's initial state at startup.  Or,  it  cancels  minibuffer  data
       entry or the help dialog.

       CTRL-l redraws the screen and centers the selection if possible (selec-
       tions near the top won't be centered, since we don't scroll  above  the
       top).

       g  reloads from the data file(s) and updates the current screen and any
       previous screens.  (With large files, this  could  cause  a  noticeable
       pause.)

       I  toggles  balance  assertion  checking.  Disabling balance assertions
       temporarily can be useful for troubleshooting.

       a runs command-line hledger's add  command,  and  reloads  the  updated
       file.  This allows some basic data entry.

       A  is like a, but runs the hledger-iadd tool, which provides a terminal
       interface.  This key will be available if hledger-iadd is installed  in
       $path.

       E  runs $HLEDGER_UI_EDITOR, or $EDITOR, or a default (emacsclient -a ""
       -nw) on the journal file.  With some editors (emacs,  vi),  the  cursor
       will  be  positioned  at  the current transaction when invoked from the
       register and transaction screens, and at the error location (if  possi-
       ble) when invoked from the error screen.

       B  toggles cost mode, showing amounts in their transaction price's com-
       modity (like toggling the -B/--cost flag).

       V toggles value mode, showing amounts' current market  value  in  their
       default  valuation  commodity  (like  toggling  the  -V/--market flag).
       Note, "current market value" means the value on the report end date  if
       specified,  otherwise today.  To see the value on another date, you can
       temporarily set that as the report end date.  Eg: to see a  transaction
       as  it  was  valued  on july 30, go to the accounts or register screen,
       press /, and add date:-7/30 to the query.

       At most one of cost or value mode can be active at once.

       There's not yet any visual reminder when cost or value mode is  active;
       for now pressing b b v should reliably reset to normal mode.

       q quits the application.

       Additional screen-specific keys are described below.

SCREENS
   Accounts screen
       This  is  normally  the  first screen displayed.  It lists accounts and
       their balances, like hledger's balance command.  By default,  it  shows
       all  accounts  and their latest ending balances (including the balances
       of subaccounts).  If you specify a query on the command line, it  shows
       just the matched accounts and the balances from matched transactions.

       Account  names  are  shown as a flat list by default; press t to toggle
       tree mode.  In list mode, account  balances  are  exclusive  of  subac-
       counts,  except  where  subaccounts  are  hidden  by a depth limit (see
       below).  In tree mode, all account balances  are  inclusive  of  subac-
       counts.

       To  see  less detail, press a number key, 1 to 9, to set a depth limit.
       Or use - to decrease and +/= to increase the depth limit.  0 shows even
       less  detail, collapsing all accounts to a single total.  To remove the
       depth limit, set it higher than the maximum  account  depth,  or  press
       ESCAPE.

       H toggles between showing historical balances or period balances.  His-
       torical balances (the default) are ending balances at the  end  of  the
       report  period,  taking  into account all transactions before that date
       (filtered by the filter query if any),  including  transactions  before
       the  start  of  the report period.  In other words, historical balances
       are what you would see on a bank statement  for  that  account  (unless
       disturbed  by  a  filter  query).   Period balances ignore transactions
       before the report start date, so they show the change in balance during
       the report period.  They are more useful eg when viewing a time log.

       U toggles filtering by unmarked status, including or excluding unmarked
       postings in the balances.  Similarly, P toggles pending postings, and C
       toggles  cleared postings.  (By default, balances include all postings;
       if you activate one or two status  filters,  only  those  postings  are
       included; and if you activate all three, the filter is removed.)

       R toggles real mode, in which virtual postings are ignored.

       Z  toggles  nonzero  mode, in which only accounts with nonzero balances
       are shown (hledger-ui shows zero items by default, unlike  command-line
       hledger).

       Press right or enter to view an account's transactions register.

   Register screen
       This screen shows the transactions affecting a particular account, like
       a check register.  Each line represents one transaction and shows:

       o the other account(s) involved, in abbreviated form.   (If  there  are
         both  real  and virtual postings, it shows only the accounts affected
         by real postings.)

       o the overall change to the current account's balance; positive for  an
         inflow to this account, negative for an outflow.

       o the running historical total or period total for the current account,
         after the transaction.  This can be toggled with H.  Similar  to  the
         accounts  screen,  the  historical  total is affected by transactions
         (filtered by the filter query) before the report  start  date,  while
         the period total is not.  If the historical total is not disturbed by
         a filter query, it will be the running historical balance  you  would
         see on a bank register for the current account.

       Transactions  affecting  this account's subaccounts will be included in
       the register if the accounts screen is in tree mode, or if it's in list
       mode  but  this  account  has  subaccounts which are not shown due to a
       depth limit.  In other words, the register always  shows  the  transac-
       tions  contributing  to the balance shown on the accounts screen.  Tree
       mode/list mode can be toggled with t here also.

       U toggles filtering by unmarked  status,  showing  or  hiding  unmarked
       transactions.  Similarly, P toggles pending transactions, and C toggles
       cleared transactions.  (By default, transactions with all statuses  are
       shown;  if  you activate one or two status filters, only those transac-
       tions are shown; and if you activate all three, the filter is removed.)

       R toggles real mode, in which virtual postings are ignored.

       Z  toggles  nonzero  mode, in which only transactions posting a nonzero
       change are shown (hledger-ui shows zero items by default,  unlike  com-
       mand-line hledger).

       Press right (or enter) to view the selected transaction in detail.

   Transaction screen
       This  screen  shows  a  single transaction, as a general journal entry,
       similar to hledger's print command and  journal  format  (hledger_jour-
       nal(5)).

       The  transaction's  date(s)  and  any  cleared  flag, transaction code,
       description, comments, along with  all  of  its  account  postings  are
       shown.   Simple  transactions  have two postings, but there can be more
       (or in certain cases, fewer).

       up and down will step through all transactions listed in  the  previous
       account  register screen.  In the title bar, the numbers in parentheses
       show your position  within  that  account  register.   They  will  vary
       depending on which account register you came from (remember most trans-
       actions appear in multiple account registers).  The #N number preceding
       them is the transaction's position within the complete unfiltered jour-
       nal, which is a more stable id (at least until the next reload).

   Error screen
       This screen will appear if there is a problem, such as a  parse  error,
       when  you  press g to reload.  Once you have fixed the problem, press g
       again to reload and resume normal operation.  (Or, you can press escape
       to cancel the reload attempt.)

TIPS
   Watch mode
       One  of  hledger-ui's best features is the auto-reloading --watch mode.
       With this flag, it  will  update  the  display  automatically  whenever
       changes are saved to the data files.

       This  is very useful when reconciling.  A good workflow is to have your
       bank's online register open in a browser  window,  for  reference;  the
       journal  file open in an editor window; and hledger-ui in watch mode in
       a terminal window, eg:

              $ hledger-ui --watch --register checking -C

       As you mark things cleared in the editor, you can see the effect  imme-
       diately  without  having  to  context  switch.  This leaves more mental
       bandwidth for your accounting.  Of course you can still  interact  with
       hledger-ui  when  needed,  eg to toggle cleared mode, or to explore the
       history.

   Watch mode limitations
       There are situations in which it won't work, ie the  display  will  not
       update  when  you save a change (because the underlying inotify library
       does not support it).  Here are some that we know of:

       o Certain editors: saving with gedit, and perhaps  any  Gnome  applica-
         tion,  won't be detected (#1617).  Jetbrains IDEs, such as IDEA, also
         may not work (#911).

       o Certain unusual filesystems might not be supported.  (All  the  usual
         ones on unix, mac and windows are supported.)

       In such cases, the workaround is to switch to the hledger-ui window and
       press g each time you want it to  reload.   (Actually,  see  #1617  for
       another workaround, and let us know if it works for you.)

       If  you leave hledger-ui --watch running for days, on certain platforms
       (?), perhaps with many transactions in your journal (?),  perhaps  with
       large  numbers  of  other  files  present (?), you may see it gradually
       using more and more memory and CPU over time, as seen in top or  Activ-
       ity Monitor or Task Manager.

       A  workaround  is to quit and restart it, or to suspend it (CTRL-z) and
       restart it (fg) if your shell supports that.

ENVIRONMENT
       COLUMNS The screen width to use.  Default: the full terminal width.

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

       A typical value is ~/DIR/YYYY.journal,  where  DIR  is  a  version-con-
       trolled  finance directory and YYYY is the current year.  Or ~/DIR/cur-
       rent.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.

FILES
       Reads data from one or more files in hledger journal, timeclock,  time-
       dot,   or   CSV   format   specified   with  -f,  or  $LEDGER_FILE,  or
       $HOME/.hledger.journal          (on          windows,           perhaps
       C:/Users/USER/.hledger.journal).

BUGS
       The  need  to precede options with -- when invoked from hledger is awk-
       ward.

       -f- doesn't work (hledger-ui can't read from stdin).

       -V affects only the accounts screen.

       When you press g, the current and all previous screens are regenerated,
       which  may cause a noticeable pause with large files.  Also there is no
       visual indication that this is in progress.

       --watch is not yet fully robust.  It works well for normal  usage,  but
       many  file  changes  in  a  short time (eg saving the file thousands of
       times with an editor macro) can cause problems at least on OSX.   Symp-
       toms  include:  unresponsive UI, periodic resetting of the cursor posi-
       tion, momentary display of parse errors, high CPU usage eventually sub-
       siding, and possibly a small but persistent build-up of CPU usage until
       the program is restarted.

       Also, if you are viewing files mounted from  another  machine,  --watch
       requires that both machine clocks are roughly in step.



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


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


COPYRIGHT
       Copyright (C) 2007-2020 Simon Michael.
       Released under GNU GPL v3 or later.


SEE ALSO
       hledger(1), hledger-ui(1), hledger-web(1), ledger(1)



hledger-ui-1.22                    July 2021                     HLEDGER-UI(1)
