
hledger_csv(5)               hledger User Manuals               hledger_csv(5)



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

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

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

       o they describe the layout and format of the CSV data

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

       o they  can add refinements based on patterns in the CSV data, eg cate-
         gorizing transactions with more detailed account names.

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

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

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

       A more complete example:

              # hledger CSV rules for amazon.com order history

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

              # skip one header line
              skip 1

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

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

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

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

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

              # flip the sign on the amount
              amount      -%amount

       For more examples, see Convert CSV files.

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

   skip
       skipN

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

              # ignore the first CSV line
              skip 1

   date-format
       date-formatDATEFMT

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

              # for dates like "6/11/2013":
              date-format %-d/%-m/%Y

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

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

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

   field list
       fieldsFIELDNAME1, FIELDNAME2...

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

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

   field assignment
       ENTRYFIELDNAME FIELDVALUE

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

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

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

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

   conditional block
       if PATTERN
           FIELDASSIGNMENTS...

       if
       PATTERN
       PATTERN...
           FIELDASSIGNMENTS...

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

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

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

   include
       includeRULESFILE

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

              # rules reused with several CSV files
              include common.rules

   newest-first
       newest-first

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

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

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

   CSV amounts
       The amount field sets the amount of the account1 posting.

       If the CSV has debit/credit amounts in separate fields, assign  to  the
       amount-in  and  amount-out pseudo fields instead.  (Whichever one has a
       value will be used, with appropriate sign.  If both contain a value, it
       may not work so well.)

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

       If an amount value begins with a double minus sign, those  will  cancel
       out and be removed.

       If  the CSV has the currency symbol in a separate field, assign that to
       the currency pseudo field to have it prepended to the amount.  Or,  you
       can  use a field assignment to amount that interpolates both CSV fields
       (giving more control, eg to put the currency symbol on the right).

   CSV balance assertions
       If the CSV includes a running balance, you can assign that to the  bal-
       ance  pseudo field; whenever the running balance value is non-empty, it
       will be asserted as the balance after the account1 posting.

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



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


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


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


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

       http://hledger.org



hledger 1.5                      December 2017                  hledger_csv(5)
