diff --git a/hledger-lib/Hledger/Read/RulesReader.hs b/hledger-lib/Hledger/Read/RulesReader.hs
index 245e56e49..9dcaa3c96 100644
--- a/hledger-lib/Hledger/Read/RulesReader.hs
+++ b/hledger-lib/Hledger/Read/RulesReader.hs
@@ -635,6 +635,9 @@ conditionaltablep = do
       
 
 -- A single matcher, on one line.
+-- This tries to parse first as a field matcher, then if that fails, as a whole-record matcher;
+-- the goal was to not break legacy whole-record patterns that happened to look a bit like a field matcher
+-- (eg, beginning with %, possibly preceded by & or !), or at least not to raise an error.
 matcherp' :: CsvRulesParser () -> CsvRulesParser Matcher
 matcherp' end = try (fieldmatcherp end) <|> recordmatcherp end
 
@@ -686,6 +689,7 @@ csvfieldreferencep = do
   lift $ dbgparse 8 "trying csvfieldreferencep"
   char '%'
   T.cons '%' . textQuoteIfNeeded <$> fieldnamep
+    -- XXX this parses any generic field name, which may not actually be a valid CSV field name [#2289]
 
 -- A single regular expression
 regexp :: CsvRulesParser () -> CsvRulesParser Regexp
@@ -774,8 +778,8 @@ isBlockActive rules record CB{..} = any (all matcherMatches) $ groupedMatchers c
     -- A matcher's target can be a specific CSV field, or the "whole record".
     --
     -- In the former case, note that the field reference must be either numeric or
-    -- a csv field name declared by a `fields` rule; anything else will raise an error
-    -- (to avoid confusion when a hledger field name doesn't work, see #2289).
+    -- a csv field name declared by a `fields` rule; anything else will emit a warning to stderr
+    -- (to reduce confusion when a hledger field name doesn't work; not an error, to avoid breaking legacy rules; see #2289).
     --
     -- In the latter case, the matched value will be a synthetic CSV record.
     -- Note this will not necessarily be the same as the original CSV record:
@@ -784,14 +788,13 @@ isBlockActive rules record CB{..} = any (all matcherMatches) $ groupedMatchers c
     -- (This means that a field containing a comma will now look like two fields.)
     --
     matcherMatches :: Matcher -> Bool
-    matcherMatches m =
-      case m of
-        RecordMatcher prefix pat -> maybeNegate prefix $ match pat val
-          where val = T.intercalate "," record
-        FieldMatcher prefix csvfieldref pat -> maybeNegate prefix $ match pat val
-          where val = replaceCsvFieldReference rules record csvfieldref
+    matcherMatches = \case
+      RecordMatcher prefix pat -> maybeNegate prefix $ match pat $ T.intercalate "," record
+      FieldMatcher  prefix csvfieldref pat -> maybeNegate prefix $ match pat $
+        fromMaybe (warn "'if %CSVFIELD' should use a name declared with 'fields', or a number" "") $
+        replaceCsvFieldReference rules record csvfieldref
       where
-        match pat val = regexMatchText (dbg7 "regex" pat) (dbg7 "value" val)
+        match p v = regexMatchText (dbg7 "regex" p) (dbg7 "value" v)
 
     -- | Group matchers into associative pairs based on prefix, e.g.:
     --   A
@@ -817,7 +820,7 @@ renderTemplate rules record t =
     (many
       (   literaltextp
       <|> (matchrefp <&> replaceRegexGroupReference rules record)
-      <|> (fieldrefp <&> replaceCsvFieldReference   rules record)
+      <|> (fieldrefp <&> replaceCsvFieldReference   rules record <&> fromMaybe "")
       )
     )
     t
@@ -850,20 +853,18 @@ regexMatchValue rules record sgroup = let
   in atMay matchgroups group
 
 getMatchGroups :: CsvRules -> CsvRecord -> Matcher -> [Text]
-getMatchGroups _ record (RecordMatcher _ regex)  = let
-  txt = T.intercalate "," record -- see caveats of wholecsvline, in `isBlockActive`
-  in regexMatchTextGroups regex txt
-getMatchGroups rules record (FieldMatcher _ fieldref regex) = let
-  txt = replaceCsvFieldReference rules record fieldref
-  in regexMatchTextGroups regex txt
+getMatchGroups _ record (RecordMatcher _ regex) =
+  regexMatchTextGroups regex $ T.intercalate "," record -- see caveats in matcherMatches
+getMatchGroups rules record (FieldMatcher _ fieldref regex) =
+  regexMatchTextGroups regex $ fromMaybe "" $ replaceCsvFieldReference rules record fieldref
 
 -- | Replace something that looks like a reference to a csv field ("%date" or "%1)
 -- with that field's value. If it doesn't look like a field reference, or if we
--- can't find such a field, replace it with the empty string.
-replaceCsvFieldReference :: CsvRules -> CsvRecord -> CsvFieldReference -> Text
+-- can't find a csv field with that name, return nothing.
+replaceCsvFieldReference :: CsvRules -> CsvRecord -> CsvFieldReference -> Maybe Text
 replaceCsvFieldReference rules record s = case T.uncons s of
-    Just ('%', fieldname) -> fromMaybe "" $ csvFieldValue rules record fieldname
-    _                     -> s
+    Just ('%', fieldname) -> csvFieldValue rules record fieldname
+    _                     -> Nothing
 
 -- | Get the (whitespace-stripped) value of a CSV field, identified by its name or
 -- column number, ("date" or "1"), from the given CSV record, if such a field exists.
diff --git a/hledger/hledger.m4.md b/hledger/hledger.m4.md
index f1a1de0f5..64af02625 100644
--- a/hledger/hledger.m4.md
+++ b/hledger/hledger.m4.md
@@ -3655,44 +3655,44 @@ if ,,,,
 
 ## Matchers
 
-There are two kinds:
+There are two kinds of matcher:
 
-1. A record matcher is a word or single-line text fragment or regular expression (`REGEX`), 
-   which hledger will try to match case-insensitively anywhere within the CSV record.\
-   Eg: `whole foods`
+1. A whole record matcher is simplest: it is just a word, single-line text fragment, or other regular expression,
+   which hledger will try to match case-insensitively anywhere within the CSV record. Eg: `whole foods`.
 
-2. A field matcher is preceded with a percent sign and [CSV field name](#field-names) (`%CSVFIELD REGEX`).
-   hledger will try to match these just within the named CSV field.\
-   Eg: `%date 2023`
+2. A field matcher has a percent-prefixed CSV field number or name before the pattern.
+   Eg: `%3 whole foods` or `%description whole foods`.
+   hledger will try to match the pattern just within the named CSV field.
 
-The regular expression is (as usual in hledger) a POSIX extended regular expression,
-that also supports GNU word boundaries (`\b`, `\B`, `\<`, `\>`),
-and nothing else.
-If you have trouble, see "Regular expressions" in the hledger manual (<https://hledger.org/hledger.html#regular-expressions>).
+When using these, there's two things to be aware of:
 
-### What matchers match
+1. Whole record matchers see a synthetic reconstruction or record, not the original data;
+   values will be comma-separated, and quotes enclosing values and whitespace outside those quotes will be removed.\
+   Eg when reading an SSV record like:   `2023-01-01 ; "Acme, Inc. " ;  1,000`\
+   the whole record matcher sees instead: `2023-01-01,Acme, Inc. ,1,000`
 
-With record matchers, it's important to know that the record matched is not the original CSV record, but a modified one:
-separators will be converted to commas, and enclosing double quotes (but not enclosing whitespace) are removed.
-So for example, when reading an SSV file, if the original record was:
-```ssv
-2023-01-01; "Acme, Inc.";  1,000
-```
-the regex would see, and try to match, this modified record text:
-```
-2023-01-01,Acme, Inc.,  1,000
-```
+2. In field matchers you must use either a CSV field number,
+   or a [CSV field name](#field-names) which has been set by a [`fields` list](#fields-list).
+   Anything else will print a warning, to avoid [confusion](https://github.com/simonmichael/hledger/issues/2289);
+   if you see it, you should adjust your matchers. This might become an error in future.
 
-### Combining matchers
+You can also prefix a matcher with `!` (and optional space) to negate it.
+Eg `! whole foods`, `! %3 whole foods`, `!%description whole foods` will match if "whole foods" is not present.
+*Added in 1.32.*
 
-When an if block has multiple matchers, they are combined as follows:
+The pattern is, as usual in hledger, a POSIX extended regular expression
+that also supports GNU word boundaries (`\b`, `\B`, `\<`, `\>`) and nothing else.
+If you have trouble with it, see "Regular expressions" in the hledger manual (<https://hledger.org/hledger.html#regular-expressions>).
 
-- By default they are OR'd (any of them can match)
-- When a matcher is preceded by ampersand (`&`, at the start of the line) it will be AND'ed with the previous matcher (all in the AND'ed group must match)
-- *Added in 1.32* When a matcher is preceded by an exclamation mark (`!`), it is negated (it must not match).
+### Multiple matchers
 
-Note [currently](https://github.com/simonmichael/hledger/pull/2088#issuecomment-1844200398) there is a limitation:
-you can't use both `&` and `!` on the same line (you can't AND a negated matcher).
+When an if block has multiple matchers, each on its own line,
+
+- By default they are OR'd (any of them can match).
+- Matcher lines beginning with `&` (and optional space) are AND'ed with the matcher above (all in the AND'ed group must match).
+
+You can't use both `&` and `!` on the same line (you can't AND a negated matcher),
+[currently](https://github.com/simonmichael/hledger/pull/2088#issuecomment-1844200398).
 
 ### Match groups