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

NAME
       hledger-ui - robust, friendly plain text accounting (TUI version)

SYNOPSIS
       hledger-ui    [OPTS] [QUERYARGS]
       hledger ui -- [OPTS] [QUERYARGS]

DESCRIPTION
       This  manual is for hledger's terminal interface, version 1.32.99.  See
       also the hledger manual for common concepts and file formats.

       hledger is a robust, user-friendly, cross-platform set of programs  for
       tracking  money,  time,  or any other commodity, using double-entry ac-
       counting and a simple, editable file format.  hledger  is  inspired  by
       and  largely  compatible  with  ledger(1), and largely interconvertible
       with beancount(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  com-
       mand-line interface, and sometimes quicker and more convenient than the
       web interface.

       Like  hledger,  it reads from (and appends to) a journal file specified
       by   the    LEDGER_FILE    environment    variable    (defaulting    to
       $HOME/.hledger.journal);  or you can specify files with -f options.  It
       can also read timeclock files, timedot files, or any  CSV/SSV/TSV  file
       with a date field.  (See hledger(1) -> Input for details.)

       Unlike  hledger,  hledger-ui hides all future-dated transactions by de-
       fault.  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
       Any QUERYARGS are interpreted as a hledger search query  which  filters
       the data.

       hledger-ui provides the following options:

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

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

       --menu start in the menu screen

       --cash start in the cash accounts screen

       --bs   start in the balance sheet accounts screen

       --is   start in the income statement accounts screen

       --all  start in the all accounts screen

       --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-ui also supports many of hledger's  general  options  (and  the
       hledger manual's command line tips also apply here):

   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

       --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 de-
              clared)

   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 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 ef-
              fects)

       --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 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-equity
              infer conversion equity postings from costs

       --infer-costs
              infer costs from conversion equity postings

       --infer-market-prices
              use  costs as additional market prices, as if they were P direc-
              tives

       --forecast
              generate transactions from periodic rules,  between  the  latest
              recorded  txn  and  6 months from today, or during the specified
              PERIOD (= is required).  Auto posting rules will be  applied  to
              these  transactions  as  well.   Also,  in  hledger-ui  make fu-
              ture-dated transactions visible.

       --auto generate extra postings by applying auto posting  rules  to  all
              txns (not just forecast txns)

       --verbose-tags
              add  visible tags indicating transactions or postings which have
              been generated/modified

       --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  charac-
              ters.   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.

MOUSE
       In  most  modern terminals, you can navigate through the screens with a
       mouse or touchpad:

       o Use mouse wheel or trackpad to scroll up and down

       o Click on list items to go deeper

       o Click on the left margin (column 0) to go back.

KEYS
       Keyboard gives more control.

       ? 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 ES-
       CAPE, 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/PGUP/PGDN/HOME/END  move  up  and  down
       through  lists.  Emacs-style (CTRL-p/CTRL-n/CTRL-f/CTRL-b) and VI-style
       (k,j,l,h) movement keys are also supported.  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 -w/--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-stan-
       dard period, you can use / and a date: query.

       (Mac  users:  SHIFT-DOWN/UP keys do not work by default in Terminal, as
       of MacOS Monterey.  You can configure them as follows:  open  Terminal,
       press  CMD-comma  to open preferences, click Profiles, select your cur-
       rent terminal profile on the left, click Keyboard on the right, click +
       and add this for Shift-Down:  \033[1;2B,  click  +  and  add  this  for
       Shift-Up:  \033[1;2A.  Press the Escape key to enter the \033 part, you
       can't type it directly.)

       / 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 fu-
       ture/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 en-
       try 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 converted to their cost's  commod-
       ity (see hledger manual > Cost reporting.

       V  toggles  value mode, showing amounts converted to their market value
       (see hledger manual > Valuation flag).  More specifically,

       1. By default, the V key toggles showing end value (--value=end) on  or
          off.   The  valuation date will be the report end date if specified,
          otherwise today.

       2. If you  started  hledger-ui  with  some  other  valuation  (such  as
          --value=then,EUR), the V key toggles that off or on.

       Cost/value  tips:  -  When showing end value, you can change the report
       end date without restarting, by pressing /  and  adding  a  query  like
       date:..YYYY-MM-DD.   -  Either cost mode, or value mode, can be active,
       but not both at once.  Cost mode takes precedence.  - There's  not  yet
       any  visual indicator that cost or value mode is active, other than the
       amount values.

       q quits the application.

       Additional screen-specific keys are described below.

SCREENS
       At startup, hledger-ui shows a menu screen by default.  From  here  you
       can navigate to other screens using the cursor keys: UP/DOWN to select,
       RIGHT  to  move  to the selected screen, LEFT to return to the previous
       screen.  Or you can use ESC to return directly to the top menu screen.

       You can also use a command line flag to specific  a  different  startup
       screen (--cs, --bs, --is, --all, or --register=ACCT).

   Menu
       This  is  the  top-most  screen.  From here you can navigate to several
       screens listing accounts of various types.  Note some of these may  not
       show anything until you have configured account types.

   Cash accounts
       This screen shows "cash" (ie, liquid asset) accounts (like hledger bal-
       ancesheet  type:c).   It  always shows balances (historical ending bal-
       ances on the date shown in the title line).

   Balance sheet accounts
       This screen shows asset, liability and equity  accounts  (like  hledger
       balancesheetequity).  It always shows balances.

   Income statement accounts
       This  screen  shows revenue and expense accounts (like hledger incomes-
       tatement).  It always shows changes  (balance  changes  in  the  period
       shown in the title line).

   All accounts
       This  screen  shows  all accounts in your journal (unless filtered by a
       query; like hledger balance).  It shows balances by  default;  you  can
       toggle showing changes with the H key.

   Register
       This  screen  shows  the  transactions  affecting a particular account.
       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 total after the transaction.  With the H key you can tog-
         gle between

         o the period total, which is from just the transactions displayed

         o or  the  historical  total, which includes any undisplayed transac-
           tions before the start of the report period (and matching the  fil-
           ter  query  if  any).   This will be the running historical balance
           (what you would see on a bank's website, eg) if not disturbed by  a
           query.

       Note,  this  screen combines each transaction's in-period postings to a
       single line item, dated with  the  earliest  in-period  transaction  or
       posting  date  (like hledger's aregister).  So custom posting dates can
       cause the running balance to be temporarily inaccurate.   (See  hledger
       manual > aregister and posting dates.)

       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 to view the selected transaction in detail.

   Transaction
       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,  de-
       scription,  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 de-
       pending on which account register you came from (remember most transac-
       tions 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).

       On this screen (and the register screen), the E key will open your text
       editor  with the cursor positioned at the current transaction if possi-
       ble.

       This screen has a limitation with showing file  updates:  it  will  not
       show  them  until you exit and re-enter it.  So eg to see the effect of
       using the E key, currently you must: - press E, edit and save the file,
       then exit the editor, returning to hledger-ui - press g to  reload  the
       file  (or  use  -w/--watch  mode)  -  press LEFT then RIGHT to exit and
       re-enter the transaction screen.

   Error
       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  -w/--watch
       mode.   With  this flag, it will update the display automatically when-
       ever 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.

       There are currently some limitations with --watch:

       It may not work correctly for you, depending on platform or system con-
       figuration.  (Eg #836.)

       At  least  on mac, there can be a slow build-up of CPU usage over time,
       until the program is restarted  (or,  suspending  and  restarting  with
       CTRL-z fg may be enough).

       It  will  not detect file changes made by certain editors, such as Jet-
       brains IDEs or gedit, or on certain less common filesystems.  (To  work
       around,   press   g   to   reload  manually,  or  try  #1617's  fs.ino-
       tify.max_user_watches workaround and let us know.)

       If you are viewing files  mounted  from  another  machine,  the  system
       clocks on both machines should be roughly in agreement.

   Debug output
       You  can add --debug[=N] to the command line to log debug output.  This
       will be logged to the file hledger-ui.log in the current directory.   N
       ranges from 1 (least output, the default) to 9 (maximum output).

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

       LEDGER_FILE  The  main  journal  file  to  use  when not specified with
       -f/--file.  Default: $HOME/.hledger.journal.

BUGS
       We  welcome  bug  reports  in  the  hledger  issue  tracker  (shortcut:
       http://bugs.hledger.org),  or on the #hledger chat or hledger mail list
       (https://hledger.org/support).

       Some known issues:

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

       If you press g with large files, there could be a noticeable pause.

       The Transaction screen does not update from file changes until you exit
       and re-endter it (see SCREENS > Transaction above).

       --watch is not yet fully  robust  on  all  platforms  (see  Watch  mode
       above).



AUTHORS
       Simon Michael <simon@joyful.com> and contributors.
       See http://hledger.org/CREDITS.html


COPYRIGHT
       Copyright 2007-2023 Simon Michael and contributors.


LICENSE
       Released under GNU GPL v3 or later.


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

hledger-ui-1.32.99               February 2024                   HLEDGER-UI(1)
