From 6c86648e0244fea8b75f75c4b08d2c40f5e5e213 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Simon Michael Date: Tue, 18 Nov 2025 18:25:11 -1000 Subject: [PATCH] ;doc: update embedded manuals --- hledger/hledger.1 | 186 ++- hledger/hledger.info | 947 +++++++-------- hledger/hledger.txt | 2642 +++++++++++++++++++++--------------------- 3 files changed, 1956 insertions(+), 1819 deletions(-) diff --git a/hledger/hledger.1 b/hledger/hledger.1 index a7f99b9d8..5bc10fd99 100644 --- a/hledger/hledger.1 +++ b/hledger/hledger.1 @@ -1122,7 +1122,7 @@ use whatever width they need. Multi\-period multi\-currency reports can often be wider than the window. Besides using a pager, helpful techniques for this situation include -\f[CR]\-\-layout=bare\f[R], \f[CR]\-V\f[R], \f[CR]cur:\f[R], +\f[CR]\-\-layout=bare\f[R], \f[CR]\-X COMM\f[R], \f[CR]cur:\f[R], \f[CR]\-\-transpose\f[R], \f[CR]\-\-tree\f[R], \f[CR]\-\-depth\f[R], \f[CR]\-\-drop\f[R], switching to html output, etc. .SS Box\-drawing characters @@ -1368,9 +1368,20 @@ These environment variables affect hledger: specifies the \f[CR]less\f[R] options hledger should use. (Otherwise, \f[CR]LESS\f[R] + custom options are used.) .PP -\f[B]LEDGER_FILE\f[R] The main journal file to use when not specified -with \f[CR]\-f/\-\-file\f[R]. -Default: \f[CR]$HOME/.hledger.journal\f[R]. +\f[B]LEDGER_FILE\f[R] The default journal file, to be used when no +\f[CR]\-f/\-\-file\f[R] option is provided. +For example, it could be \f[CR]\[ti]/finance/main.journal\f[R]. +This can also be a glob pattern, eg \f[CR]./2???.journal\f[R]. +(If the glob matches multiple files, only the alphanumerically first one +is used.) +If LEDGER_FILE points to a non\-existent file, an error will be raised. +If the value is the empty string, it is ignored. +.PP +If LEDGER_FILE is not set and \f[CR]\-f\f[R] is not provided, the +default journal file is \f[CR]$HOME/.hledger.journal\f[R] (or if a home +directory can\[aq]t be detected, \f[CR]./.hledger.journal\f[R]). +.PP +See also Common tasks > Setting LEDGER_FILE. .PP \f[B]NO_COLOR\f[R] If this environment variable exists (with any value, including empty), hledger will not use ANSI color codes in terminal @@ -4311,9 +4322,9 @@ T}@T{ declare the field separator, instead of relying on file extension T} T{ -\f[B]\f[CB]skip\f[B]\f[R] +\f[B]\f[CB]decimal\-mark\f[B]\f[R] T}@T{ -skip one or more header lines at start of file +declare the decimal mark used in CSV amounts, when ambiguous T} T{ \f[B]\f[CB]date\-format\f[B]\f[R] @@ -4338,9 +4349,9 @@ improve txn order when: same\-day txns are in opposite order to the overall file T} T{ -\f[B]\f[CB]decimal\-mark\f[B]\f[R] +\f[B]\f[CB]skip\f[B]\f[R] T}@T{ -declare the decimal mark used in CSV amounts, when ambiguous +(at top level) skip header line(s) at start of file T} T{ \f[B]\f[CB]fields\f[B] list\f[R] @@ -4365,6 +4376,16 @@ T}@T{ conditionally assign values to hledger fields, using compact syntax T} T{ +\f[B]\f[CB]skip\f[B]\f[R] +T}@T{ +(inside an \f[CR]if\f[R] rule) skip current record(s) +T} +T{ +\f[B]\f[CB]end\f[B]\f[R] +T}@T{ +(inside an \f[CR]if\f[R] rule) skip all remaining records +T} +T{ \f[B]\f[CB]balance\-type\f[B]\f[R] T}@T{ select which type of balance assertions/assignments to generate @@ -4421,9 +4442,9 @@ All this enables a convenient workflow where can you just download CSV files, then run \f[CR]hledger import rules/*\f[R]. .PP See also \[dq]Working with CSV > Reading files specified by rule\[dq]. -.SS Data cleaning / generating commands +.SS Data cleaning / data generating commands After \f[CR]source\f[R]\[aq]s file pattern, you can write \f[CR]|\f[R] -(pipe) and a data cleaning command. +(pipe) and a data cleaning command (or command pipeline). If hledger\[aq]s CSV rules aren\[aq]t enough, you can pre\-process the downloaded data here with a shell command or script, to make it more suitable for conversion. @@ -8019,15 +8040,43 @@ aliases for this, which are often sufficient. The market prices are declared with a special \f[CR]P\f[R] directive, and/or they can be inferred from the costs recorded in transactions, by using the \f[CR]\-\-infer\-market\-prices\f[R] flag. -.SS \-V: Value -The \f[CR]\-V/\-\-market\f[R] flag converts amounts to market value in -their default \f[I]valuation commodity\f[R], using the market prices in -effect on the \f[I]valuation date(s)\f[R], if any. -More on these in a minute. .SS \-X: Value in specified commodity -The \f[CR]\-X/\-\-exchange=COMM\f[R] option is like \f[CR]\-V\f[R], -except you tell it which currency you want to convert to, and it tries -to convert everything to that. +The \f[CR]\-X COMM\f[R] (or \f[CR]\-\-exchange=COMM\f[R]) option +converts amounts to their market value in the specified commodity, using +the market prices in effect on the \f[I]valuation date(s)\f[R], if any. +(More on these in a minute.) +.PP +Use this when you want to (eg) show everything in your base currency as +far as possible. +(Commodities for which no conversion rate can be found, will not be +converted.) +.PP +COMM should be the full commodity symbol or name. +Remember to quote special shell characters, if needed. +Some examples: +.IP \[bu] 2 +\f[CR]\-X€\f[R] +.IP \[bu] 2 +\f[CR]\-X$\f[R] (nothing after $, no quoting needed) +.IP \[bu] 2 +\f[CR]\-X CNY\f[R] (the space after \-X is optional) +.IP \[bu] 2 +\f[CR]\-X \[aq]red apples\[aq]\f[R] +.IP \[bu] 2 +\f[CR]\-X \[aq]r&r\[aq]\f[R] +.SS \-V: Value in default commodity(s) +The \f[CR]\-V/\-\-market\f[R] flag is a variant of \f[CR]\-X\f[R] where +you don\[aq]t have to specify COMM. +Instead it tries to guess a \f[I]default valuation commodity\f[R] for +each original commodity, based on the market prices in effect on the +valuation date(s). +.PP +\f[CR]\-V\f[R] can often be a convenient shortcut for +\f[CR]\-X MYCURRENCY\f[R], but not always; depending on your data it +could guess multiple valuation commodities. +Usually you want to convert to a single commodity, so it\[aq]s better to +use \f[CR]\-X\f[R], unless you\[aq]re sure \f[CR]\-V\f[R] is doing what +you want. .SS Valuation date Market prices can change from day to day. hledger will use the prices on a particular valuation date (or on more @@ -9216,27 +9265,29 @@ Provide answers for the first four prompts: .PP There is a detailed tutorial at https://hledger.org/add.html. .SS add and balance assertions -Since hledger 1.43, whenever you enter a posting amount, \f[CR]add\f[R] -will re\-check all balance assertions in the journal, and if any of them -fail, it will report the problem and ask for the amount again. +Since hledger 1.43, you can add a balance assertion by writing +\f[CR]AMOUNT = BALANCE\f[R] when asked for an amount. +Eg \f[CR]100 = 500\f[R]. .PP -You can also add a new balance assertion, following the amount as in -journal format. -.PP -The new transaction\[aq]s date, and the new posting\[aq]s posting date -if any (entered in a comment following the amount), will influence +Also, each time you enter a new amount, hledger re\-checks all balance +assertions in the journal and rejects the new amount if it would make +any of them fail. +You can run \f[CR]add\f[R] with +\f[CR]\-I\f[R]/\f[CR]\-\-ignore\-assertions\f[R] to disable balance assertion checking. -.PP -You can use \f[CR]\-I\f[R]/\f[CR]\-\-ignore\-assertions\f[R] to disable -assertion checking temporarily. .SS add and balance assignments -Balance assignments are not recalculated during a \f[CR]hledger add\f[R] -session. -When \f[CR]add\f[R] runs, it sees the journal with all balance -assignments already processed and converted to assertions. -So if you add a new posting which is dated earlier than a balance -assignment, it will break the assertion and be rejected. -You can make it work by using \f[CR]hledger add \-I\f[R]. +Since hledger 1.51, you can add a balance assignment by writing +\f[CR]= BALANCE\f[R] (or \f[CR]==\f[R], \f[CR]=*\f[R] etc) when asked +for an amount. +The missing amount will be calculated automatically. +.PP +\f[CR]add\f[R] normally won\[aq]t let you add a new posting which is +dated earlier than an existing balance assignment. +(Because when \f[CR]add\f[R] runs, existing balance assignments have +already been calculated and converted to amounts and balance +assertions.) +You can allow it by disabling balance assertion checking with +\f[CR]\-I\f[R]. .SS import Import new transactions from one or more data files to the main journal. .IP @@ -9977,6 +10028,10 @@ Auto postings can generate too many amountless postings. .IP \[bu] 2 \f[CR]\-\-infer\-costs or \-\-infer\-equity\f[R] can generate too\-complex redundant costs. +.IP \[bu] 2 +Because print always shows transactions in date order, balance +assertions involving non\-date\-ordered transactions (and same\-day +postings) could be disrupted. .SS print, other features With \f[CR]\-B\f[R]/\f[CR]\-\-cost\f[R], amounts with costs are shown converted to cost. @@ -10115,9 +10170,12 @@ option. This is a more \[dq]real world\[dq], bank\-like view than the \f[CR]register\f[R] command (which shows individual postings, possibly from multiple accounts, not necessarily in historical mode). -As a quick rule of thumb: \- use \f[CR]aregister\f[R] for reviewing and -reconciling real\-world asset/liability accounts \- use -\f[CR]register\f[R] for reviewing detailed revenues/expenses. +As a quick rule of thumb: +.IP \[bu] 2 +\f[CR]aregister\f[R] is best when reconciling real\-world +asset/liability accounts +.IP \[bu] 2 +\f[CR]register\f[R] is best when reviewing individual revenues/expenses. .PP Note this command\[aq]s non\-standard, and required, first argument; it specifies the account whose register will be shown. @@ -12672,8 +12730,8 @@ If you are an Emacs user, you can also configure flycheck\-hledger to run these checks, providing instant feedback as you edit the journal. .PP Here are the checks currently available. -Generally, they are performed in the order they are shown here (and only -the first failure is reported). +They are generally checked in the order they are shown here, and only +the first failure will be reported. .SS Basic checks These important checks are performed by default, by almost all hledger commands: @@ -12685,26 +12743,27 @@ This ensures that all files exist and are readable. \f[B]autobalanced\f[R] \- all transactions are balanced, after automatically inferring missing amounts and conversion rates and then converting amounts to cost. -This ensures that each transaction\[aq]s entry is well formed. +This ensures that each transaction\[aq]s journal entry is well formed. .IP \[bu] 2 \f[B]assertions\f[R] \- all balance assertions in the journal are passing. -Balance assertions are a strong defense against errors; they help catch -many problems. -If this check gets in your way, you can disable it with -\f[CR]\-I\f[R]/\f[CR]\-\-ignore\-assertions\f[R]. -Or you can add that to your config file to disable it by default (and -then use \f[CR]\-s\f[R]/\f[CR]\-\-strict\f[R] or -\f[CR]hledger check assertions\f[R] to enable it). +Balance assertions are a strong defense against errors, catching many +problems. +This check is on by default, but if it gets in your way, you can disable +it temporarily with \f[CR]\-I\f[R]/\f[CR]\-\-ignore\-assertions\f[R], or +as a default by adding that flag to your config file. +(Then use \f[CR]\-s\f[R]/\f[CR]\-\-strict\f[R] or +\f[CR]hledger check assertions\f[R] when you want to enable it). .SS Strict checks -These additional checks are performed by all commands when the -\f[CR]\-s\f[R]/\f[CR]\-\-strict\f[R] flag is used (strict mode). -They provide extra error\-catching power to keep your data clean and -correct. -Strict mode also always enables the \f[CR]assertions\f[R] check. +When the \f[CR]\-s\f[R]/\f[CR]\-\-strict\f[R] flag is used (AKA strict +mode), all commands will perform the following additional checks (and +\f[CR]assertions\f[R], above). +These provide extra error\-catching power to help you keep your data +clean and correct: .IP \[bu] 2 -\f[B]balanced\f[R] \- like \f[CR]autobalanced\f[R], but all conversions -between commodities must use explicit cost notation or equity postings. +\f[B]balanced\f[R] \- like \f[CR]autobalanced\f[R], but implicit +conversions between commodities are not allowed; all conversion +transactions must use cost notation or equity postings. This prevents wrong conversions caused by typos. .IP \[bu] 2 \f[B]commodities\f[R] \- all commodity symbols used must be declared. @@ -12737,10 +12796,10 @@ This will encourage adding balance assertions for your active asset/liability accounts, which in turn should encourage you to reconcile regularly with those real world balances \- another strong defense against errors. -\f[CR]hledger close \-\-assert\f[R] can help generate assertion entries. -Over time the older assertions become somewhat redundant, and you can -remove them if you like (they don\[aq]t affect performance much, but -they add some noise to the journal). +(\f[CR]hledger close \-\-assert >>$LEDGER_FILE\f[R] is a convenient way +to add new balance assertions. +Later these become quite redundant, and you might choose to remove them +to reduce clutter.) .IP \[bu] 2 \f[B]uniqueleafnames\f[R] \- no two accounts may have the same last account name part (eg the \f[CR]checking\f[R] in @@ -12752,8 +12811,8 @@ You can build your own custom checks with add\-on command scripts. See also Cookbook > Scripting. Here are some examples from hledger/bin/: .IP \[bu] 2 -\f[B]hledger\-check\-tagfiles\f[R] \- all tag values containing / (a -forward slash) exist as file paths +\f[B]hledger\-check\-tagfiles\f[R] \- all tag values containing +\f[CR]/\f[R] exist as file paths .IP \[bu] 2 \f[B]hledger\-check\-fancyassertions\f[R] \- more complex balance assertions are passing @@ -12986,8 +13045,7 @@ When correctly configured: .IP \[bu] 2 \f[CR]env | grep LEDGER_FILE\f[R] will show your new setting .IP \[bu] 2 -and so should \f[CR]hledger setup\f[R] and (once the file exists) -\f[CR]hledger files\f[R]. +and so should \f[CR]hledger setup\f[R] and \f[CR]hledger files\f[R]. .SS Set LEDGER_FILE on mac In a terminal window, follow the unix procedure above. .PP diff --git a/hledger/hledger.info b/hledger/hledger.info index 54944609b..69857b3dd 100644 --- a/hledger/hledger.info +++ b/hledger/hledger.info @@ -980,9 +980,9 @@ use the '-w'/'--width' option. Balance reports ('balance', 'balancesheet', 'incomestatement'...) use whatever width they need. Multi-period multi-currency reports can often be wider than the window. Besides using a pager, helpful -techniques for this situation include '--layout=bare', '-V', 'cur:', -'--transpose', '--tree', '--depth', '--drop', switching to html output, -etc. +techniques for this situation include '--layout=bare', '-X COMM', +'cur:', '--transpose', '--tree', '--depth', '--drop', switching to html +output, etc. * Menu: @@ -1308,8 +1308,19 @@ These environment variables affect hledger: 'less' options hledger should use. (Otherwise, 'LESS' + custom options are used.) - *LEDGER_FILE* The main journal file to use when not specified with -'-f/--file'. Default: '$HOME/.hledger.journal'. + *LEDGER_FILE* The default journal file, to be used when no +'-f/--file' option is provided. For example, it could be +'~/finance/main.journal'. This can also be a glob pattern, eg +'./2???.journal'. (If the glob matches multiple files, only the +alphanumerically first one is used.) If LEDGER_FILE points to a +non-existent file, an error will be raised. If the value is the empty +string, it is ignored. + + If LEDGER_FILE is not set and '-f' is not provided, the default +journal file is '$HOME/.hledger.journal' (or if a home directory can't +be detected, './.hledger.journal'). + + See also Common tasks > Setting LEDGER_FILE. *NO_COLOR* If this environment variable exists (with any value, including empty), hledger will not use ANSI color codes in terminal @@ -4195,7 +4206,8 @@ The following kinds of rule can appear in the rules file, in any order. data has *'separator'* declare the field separator, instead of relying on file extension -*'skip'* skip one or more header lines at start of file +*'decimal-mark'* declare the decimal mark used in CSV amounts, + when ambiguous *'date-format'* declare how to parse CSV dates/date-times *'timezone'* declare the time zone of ambiguous CSV date-times @@ -4203,8 +4215,8 @@ The following kinds of rule can appear in the rules file, in any order. records, newest first, all with the same date *'intra-day-reversed'* improve txn order when: same-day txns are in opposite order to the overall file -*'decimal-mark'* declare the decimal mark used in CSV amounts, - when ambiguous +*'skip'* (at top level) skip header line(s) at start of + file *'fields' list* name CSV fields for easy reference, and optionally assign their values to hledger fields @@ -4215,6 +4227,9 @@ The following kinds of rule can appear in the rules file, in any order. file) *'if' table* conditionally assign values to hledger fields, using compact syntax +*'skip'* (inside an 'if' rule) skip current record(s) +*'end'* (inside an 'if' rule) skip all remaining + records *'balance-type'* select which type of balance assertions/assignments to generate *'include'* inline another CSV rules file @@ -4265,22 +4280,22 @@ CSV files, then run 'hledger import rules/*'. * Menu: -* Data cleaning / generating commands:: +* Data cleaning / data generating commands::  -File: hledger.info, Node: Data cleaning / generating commands, Up: source +File: hledger.info, Node: Data cleaning / data generating commands, Up: source -9.2.1 Data cleaning / generating commands ------------------------------------------ +9.2.1 Data cleaning / data generating commands +---------------------------------------------- After 'source''s file pattern, you can write '|' (pipe) and a data -cleaning command. If hledger's CSV rules aren't enough, you can -pre-process the downloaded data here with a shell command or script, to -make it more suitable for conversion. The command will be executed by -your default shell, in the directory of the rules file, will receive the -data file's content as standard input, and should output zero or more -lines of character-separated-values, suitable for conversion by the CSV -rules. +cleaning command (or command pipeline). If hledger's CSV rules aren't +enough, you can pre-process the downloaded data here with a shell +command or script, to make it more suitable for conversion. The command +will be executed by your default shell, in the directory of the rules +file, will receive the data file's content as standard input, and should +output zero or more lines of character-separated-values, suitable for +conversion by the CSV rules. Examples: @@ -7793,8 +7808,8 @@ transactions, by using the '--infer-market-prices' flag. * Menu: -* -V Value:: * -X Value in specified commodity:: +* -V Value in default commoditys:: * Valuation date:: * Finding market price:: * --infer-market-prices market prices from transactions:: @@ -7805,27 +7820,46 @@ transactions, by using the '--infer-market-prices' flag. * Effect of valuation on reports::  -File: hledger.info, Node: -V Value, Next: -X Value in specified commodity, Up: Value reporting +File: hledger.info, Node: -X Value in specified commodity, Next: -V Value in default commoditys, Up: Value reporting -22.1 -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: Value reporting - -22.2 -X: Value in specified commodity +22.1 -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. +The '-X COMM' (or '--exchange=COMM') option converts amounts to their +market value in the specified commodity, using the market prices in +effect on the _valuation date(s)_, if any. (More on these in a minute.) + + Use this when you want to (eg) show everything in your base currency +as far as possible. (Commodities for which no conversion rate can be +found, will not be converted.) + + COMM should be the full commodity symbol or name. Remember to quote +special shell characters, if needed. Some examples: + + * '-X€' + * '-X$' (nothing after $, no quoting needed) + * '-X CNY' (the space after -X is optional) + * '-X 'red apples'' + * '-X 'r&r''  -File: hledger.info, Node: Valuation date, Next: Finding market price, Prev: -X Value in specified commodity, Up: Value reporting +File: hledger.info, Node: -V Value in default commoditys, Next: Valuation date, Prev: -X Value in specified commodity, Up: Value reporting + +22.2 -V: Value in default commodity(s) +====================================== + +The '-V/--market' flag is a variant of '-X' where you don't have to +specify COMM. Instead it tries to guess a _default valuation commodity_ +for each original commodity, based on the market prices in effect on the +valuation date(s). + + '-V' can often be a convenient shortcut for '-X MYCURRENCY', but not +always; depending on your data it could guess multiple valuation +commodities. Usually you want to convert to a single commodity, so it's +better to use '-X', unless you're sure '-V' is doing what you want. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Valuation date, Next: Finding market price, Prev: -V Value in default commoditys, Up: Value reporting 22.3 Valuation date =================== @@ -8815,19 +8849,13 @@ File: hledger.info, Node: add and balance assertions, Next: add and balance as 26.2 add and balance assertions =============================== -Since hledger 1.43, whenever you enter a posting amount, 'add' will -re-check all balance assertions in the journal, and if any of them fail, -it will report the problem and ask for the amount again. +Since hledger 1.43, you can add a balance assertion by writing 'AMOUNT = +BALANCE' when asked for an amount. Eg '100 = 500'. - You can also add a new balance assertion, following the amount as in -journal format. - - The new transaction's date, and the new posting's posting date if any -(entered in a comment following the amount), will influence assertion -checking. - - You can use '-I'/'--ignore-assertions' to disable assertion checking -temporarily. + Also, each time you enter a new amount, hledger re-checks all balance +assertions in the journal and rejects the new amount if it would make +any of them fail. You can run 'add' with '-I'/'--ignore-assertions' to +disable balance assertion checking.  File: hledger.info, Node: add and balance assignments, Next: import, Prev: add and balance assertions, Up: Data entry commands @@ -8835,12 +8863,15 @@ File: hledger.info, Node: add and balance assignments, Next: import, Prev: ad 26.3 add and balance assignments ================================ -Balance assignments are not recalculated during a 'hledger add' session. -When 'add' runs, it sees the journal with all balance assignments -already processed and converted to assertions. So if you add a new -posting which is dated earlier than a balance assignment, it will break -the assertion and be rejected. You can make it work by using 'hledger -add -I'. +Since hledger 1.51, you can add a balance assignment by writing '= +BALANCE' (or '==', '=*' etc) when asked for an amount. The missing +amount will be calculated automatically. + + 'add' normally won't let you add a new posting which is dated earlier +than an existing balance assignment. (Because when 'add' runs, existing +balance assignments have already been calculated and converted to +amounts and balance assertions.) You can allow it by disabling balance +assertion checking with '-I'.  File: hledger.info, Node: import, Prev: add and balance assignments, Up: Data entry commands @@ -9664,6 +9695,9 @@ unparseable: * Auto postings can generate too many amountless postings. * '--infer-costs or --infer-equity' can generate too-complex redundant costs. + * Because print always shows transactions in date order, balance + assertions involving non-date-ordered transactions (and same-day + postings) could be disrupted.  File: hledger.info, Node: print other features, Next: print output format, Prev: print parseability, Up: print @@ -9795,9 +9829,11 @@ option. 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. +thumb: + + * 'aregister' is best when reconciling real-world asset/liability + accounts + * 'register' is best when reviewing individual revenues/expenses. Note this command's non-standard, and required, first argument; it specifies the account whose register will be shown. You can write the @@ -12353,9 +12389,9 @@ hledger check ordereddates payees # run basic checks and two others If you are an Emacs user, you can also configure flycheck-hledger to run these checks, providing instant feedback as you edit the journal. - Here are the checks currently available. Generally, they are -performed in the order they are shown here (and only the first failure -is reported). + Here are the checks currently available. They are generally checked +in the order they are shown here, and only the first failure will be +reported. * Menu: @@ -12379,15 +12415,16 @@ commands: * *autobalanced* - all transactions are balanced, after automatically inferring missing amounts and conversion rates and then converting - amounts to cost. This ensures that each transaction's entry is - well formed. + amounts to cost. This ensures that each transaction's journal + entry is well formed. * *assertions* - all balance assertions in the journal are passing. - Balance assertions are a strong defense against errors; they help - catch many problems. If this check gets in your way, you can - disable it with '-I'/'--ignore-assertions'. Or you can add that to - your config file to disable it by default (and then use - '-s'/'--strict' or 'hledger check assertions' to enable it). + Balance assertions are a strong defense against errors, catching + many problems. This check is on by default, but if it gets in your + way, you can disable it temporarily with + '-I'/'--ignore-assertions', or as a default by adding that flag to + your config file. (Then use '-s'/'--strict' or 'hledger check + assertions' when you want to enable it).  File: hledger.info, Node: Strict checks, Next: Other checks, Prev: Basic checks, Up: check @@ -12395,14 +12432,15 @@ File: hledger.info, Node: Strict checks, Next: Other checks, Prev: Basic chec 32.1.2 Strict checks -------------------- -These additional checks are performed by all commands when the -'-s'/'--strict' flag is used (strict mode). They provide extra -error-catching power to keep your data clean and correct. Strict mode -also always enables the 'assertions' check. +When the '-s'/'--strict' flag is used (AKA strict mode), all commands +will perform the following additional checks (and 'assertions', above). +These provide extra error-catching power to help you keep your data +clean and correct: - * *balanced* - like 'autobalanced', but all conversions between - commodities must use explicit cost notation or equity postings. - This prevents wrong conversions caused by typos. + * *balanced* - like 'autobalanced', but implicit conversions between + commodities are not allowed; all conversion transactions must use + cost notation or equity postings. This prevents wrong conversions + caused by typos. * *commodities* - all commodity symbols used must be declared. This guards against mistyping or omitting commodity symbols. @@ -12438,10 +12476,10 @@ command: will encourage adding balance assertions for your active asset/liability accounts, which in turn should encourage you to reconcile regularly with those real world balances - another strong - defense against errors. 'hledger close --assert' can help generate - assertion entries. Over time the older assertions become somewhat - redundant, and you can remove them if you like (they don't affect - performance much, but they add some noise to the journal). + defense against errors. ('hledger close --assert >>$LEDGER_FILE' + is a convenient way to add new balance assertions. Later these + become quite redundant, and you might choose to remove them to + reduce clutter.) * *uniqueleafnames* - no two accounts may have the same last account name part (eg the 'checking' in 'assets:bank:checking'). This @@ -12457,8 +12495,8 @@ File: hledger.info, Node: Custom checks, Prev: Other checks, Up: check You can build your own custom checks with add-on command scripts. See also Cookbook > Scripting. Here are some examples from hledger/bin/: - * *hledger-check-tagfiles* - all tag values containing / (a forward - slash) exist as file paths + * *hledger-check-tagfiles* - all tag values containing '/' exist as + file paths * *hledger-check-fancyassertions* - more complex balance assertions are passing @@ -12727,8 +12765,7 @@ $ source ~/.profile When correctly configured: * 'env | grep LEDGER_FILE' will show your new setting - * and so should 'hledger setup' and (once the file exists) 'hledger - files'. + * and so should 'hledger setup' and 'hledger files'.  File: hledger.info, Node: Set LEDGER_FILE on mac, Next: Set LEDGER_FILE on Windows, Prev: Set LEDGER_FILE on unix, Up: Setting LEDGER_FILE @@ -13220,379 +13257,379 @@ Node: Output35238 Node: Output destination35429 Node: Output format35987 Node: Text output37773 -Node: Box-drawing characters38752 -Node: Colour39252 -Node: Paging39838 -Node: HTML output41357 -Node: CSV / TSV output41775 -Node: FODS output42029 -Node: Beancount output42833 -Node: Beancount account names44334 -Node: Beancount commodity names44875 -Node: Beancount virtual postings45522 -Node: Beancount metadata45838 -Node: Beancount costs46618 -Node: Beancount operating currency47034 -Node: SQL output47484 -Node: JSON output48275 -Node: Commodity styles49092 -Node: Debug output50102 -Node: Environment50934 -Node: PART 2 DATA FORMATS51591 -Node: Journal51734 -Node: Journal cheatsheet54199 -Node: Comments60450 -Node: Transactions61394 -Node: Dates62531 -Node: Simple dates62683 -Node: Posting dates63299 -Node: Status64472 -Node: Code66238 -Node: Description66573 -Node: Payee and note67260 -Node: Transaction comments68351 -Node: Postings68867 -Node: Debits and credits70183 -Node: Account names70742 -Node: Two space delimiter71699 -Node: Account hierarchy73104 -Node: Other account name features73987 -Node: Amounts74405 -Node: Decimal marks75434 -Node: Digit group marks76538 -Node: Commodity77173 -Node: Costs78290 -Node: Balance assertions80542 -Node: Assertions and ordering81790 -Node: Assertions and multiple files82509 -Node: Assertions and costs83677 -Node: Assertions and commodities84324 -Node: Assertions and subaccounts85983 -Node: Assertions and status86643 -Node: Assertions and virtual postings87063 -Node: Assertions and auto postings87428 -Node: Assertions and precision88303 -Node: Assertions and hledger add88787 -Node: Posting comments89535 -Node: Transaction balancing90075 -Node: Tags92283 -Node: Tag propagation93802 -Node: Displaying tags95301 -Node: When to use tags ?95694 -Node: Tag names96358 -Node: Directives98339 -Node: Directives and multiple files99796 -Node: Directive effects100741 -Node: account directive103897 -Node: Account comments105347 -Node: Account error checking106006 -Node: Account display order107543 -Node: Account types108741 -Node: alias directive112016 -Node: Basic aliases113227 -Node: Regex aliases114102 -Node: Combining aliases115149 -Node: Aliases and multiple files116603 -Node: end aliases directive117386 -Node: Aliases can generate bad account names117754 -Node: Aliases and account types118587 -Node: commodity directive119479 -Node: Commodity directive syntax121272 -Node: Commodity error checking122921 -Node: decimal-mark directive123396 -Node: include directive123975 -Node: P directive126193 -Node: payee directive127227 -Node: tag directive127849 -Node: Periodic transactions128461 -Node: Periodic rule syntax130615 -Node: Periodic rules and relative dates131438 -Node: Two spaces between period expression and description!132215 -Node: Auto postings133176 -Node: Auto postings and multiple files136462 -Node: Auto postings and dates136867 -Node: Auto postings and transaction balancing / inferred amounts / balance assertions137308 -Node: Auto posting tags138154 -Node: Auto postings on forecast transactions only139049 -Node: Other syntax139519 -Node: Balance assignments140291 -Node: Balance assignments and costs141819 -Node: Balance assignments and multiple files142241 -Node: Bracketed posting dates142664 -Node: D directive143362 -Node: apply account directive145135 -Node: Y directive146002 -Node: Secondary dates146990 -Node: Star comments148475 -Node: Valuation expressions149167 -Node: Virtual postings149466 -Node: Other Ledger directives151090 -Node: Other cost/lot notations151852 -Node: CSV154693 -Node: CSV rules cheatsheet156859 -Node: source158958 -Node: Data cleaning / generating commands160357 -Node: archive162219 -Node: encoding163147 -Node: separator164190 -Node: skip164843 -Node: date-format165493 -Node: timezone166438 -Node: newest-first167564 -Node: intra-day-reversed168277 -Node: decimal-mark168879 -Node: fields list169359 -Node: Field assignment171167 -Node: Field names172386 -Node: date field173718 -Node: date2 field173882 -Node: status field174077 -Node: code field174267 -Node: description field174455 -Node: comment field174672 -Node: account field175229 -Node: amount field175947 -Node: currency field178786 -Node: balance field179194 -Node: if block179717 -Node: Matchers181244 -Node: Multiple matchers183234 -Node: Match groups184042 -Node: if table184935 -Node: balance-type186998 -Node: include187825 -Node: Working with CSV188394 -Node: Rapid feedback188946 -Node: Valid CSV189529 -Node: File Extension190405 -Node: Reading CSV from standard input191140 -Node: Reading multiple CSV files191526 -Node: Reading files specified by rule192002 -Node: Valid transactions193399 -Node: Deduplicating importing194224 -Node: Setting amounts195453 -Node: Amount signs197980 -Node: Setting currency/commodity199045 -Node: Amount decimal places200421 -Node: Referencing other fields201678 -Node: How CSV rules are evaluated202786 -Node: Well factored rules205503 -Node: CSV rules examples205993 -Node: Bank of Ireland206191 -Node: Coinbase207788 -Node: Amazon208971 -Node: Paypal210813 -Node: Timeclock218563 -Node: Timedot222616 -Node: Timedot examples226093 -Node: PART 3 REPORTING CONCEPTS228370 -Node: Time periods228534 -Node: Report start & end date228807 -Node: Smart dates230283 -Node: Report intervals232406 -Node: Date adjustments232980 -Node: Start date adjustment233200 -Node: End date adjustment234103 -Node: Period headings234884 -Node: Period expressions235817 -Node: Period expressions with a report interval237722 -Node: More complex report intervals238170 -Node: Multiple weekday intervals240286 -Node: Depth241297 -Node: Combining depth options242283 -Node: Queries243233 -Node: Query types245905 -Node: acct query246280 -Node: amt query246591 -Node: code query247288 -Node: cur query247483 -Node: desc query248089 -Node: date query248272 -Node: date2 query248668 -Node: depth query248959 -Node: note query249295 -Node: payee query249561 -Node: real query249842 -Node: status query250047 -Node: type query250287 -Node: tag query250820 -Node: Negative queries251449 -Node: not query251631 -Node: Space-separated queries251918 -Node: Boolean queries252606 -Node: expr query253924 -Node: any query254604 -Node: all query255057 -Node: Queries and command options255639 -Node: Queries and account aliases256087 -Node: Queries and valuation256412 -Node: Pivoting256774 -Node: Generating data259057 -Node: Forecasting260857 -Node: --forecast261513 -Node: Inspecting forecast transactions262614 -Node: Forecast reports263947 -Node: Forecast tags265056 -Node: Forecast period in detail265676 -Node: Forecast troubleshooting266764 -Node: Budgeting267835 -Node: Amount formatting268395 -Node: Commodity display style268639 -Node: Rounding270480 -Node: Trailing decimal marks271085 -Node: Amount parseability272018 -Node: Cost reporting273627 -Node: Recording costs274458 -Node: Reporting at cost276185 -Node: Equity conversion postings276950 -Node: Inferring equity conversion postings279595 -Node: Combining costs and equity conversion postings280737 -Node: Requirements for detecting equity conversion postings281962 -Node: Infer cost and equity by default ?283484 -Node: Value reporting283921 -Node: -V Value284857 -Node: -X Value in specified commodity285184 -Node: Valuation date285534 -Node: Finding market price286367 -Node: --infer-market-prices market prices from transactions287747 -Node: Valuation commodity290791 -Node: --value Flexible valuation292224 -Node: Valuation examples294067 -Node: Interaction of valuation and queries296211 -Node: Effect of valuation on reports296928 -Node: PART 4 COMMANDS304778 -Node: Help commands307567 -Node: commands307753 -Node: demo307961 -Node: help309054 -Node: User interface commands310759 -Node: repl310970 -Node: Examples313234 -Node: run313792 -Node: Examples 2316207 -Node: ui317231 -Node: web317368 -Node: Data entry commands317496 -Node: add317757 -Node: add and balance assertions320331 -Node: add and balance assignments321055 -Node: import321616 -Node: Import dry run322695 -Node: Overlap detection323643 -Node: First import326529 -Node: Importing balance assignments327724 -Node: Import and commodity styles328779 -Node: Import archiving329213 -Node: Import special cases330038 -Node: Deduplication330256 -Node: Varying file name330747 -Node: Multiple versions331131 -Node: Basic report commands332238 -Node: accounts332539 -Node: codes335051 -Node: commodities336073 -Node: descriptions337081 -Node: files337541 -Node: notes337838 -Node: payees338350 -Node: prices339507 -Node: stats340399 -Node: tags342140 -Node: Standard report commands343964 -Node: print344269 -Node: print amount explicitness347000 -Node: print alignment347938 -Node: print amount style348252 -Node: print parseability349482 -Node: print other features350586 -Node: print output format351548 -Node: aregister354833 -Node: aregister and posting dates359288 -Node: register360189 -Node: Custom register output367429 -Node: balancesheet368614 -Node: balancesheetequity373579 -Node: cashflow378914 -Node: incomestatement383727 -Node: Advanced report commands388576 -Node: balance388784 -Node: balance features394205 -Node: Simple balance report396308 -Node: Balance report line format398118 -Node: Filtered balance report400478 -Node: List or tree mode400997 -Node: Depth limiting402510 -Node: Dropping top-level accounts403277 -Node: Showing declared accounts403787 -Node: Sorting by amount404517 -Node: Percentages405371 -Node: Multi-period balance report406078 -Node: Balance change end balance408830 -Node: Balance report modes410467 -Node: Calculation mode411146 -Node: Accumulation mode411850 -Node: Valuation mode412951 -Node: Combining balance report modes414295 -Node: Budget report416325 -Node: Using the budget report418625 -Node: Budget date surprises420901 -Node: Selecting budget goals422265 -Node: Budgeting vs forecasting423213 -Node: Balance report layout424890 -Node: Wide layout426095 -Node: Tall layout428500 -Node: Bare layout429806 -Node: Tidy layout431870 -Node: Balance report output433414 -Node: Some useful balance reports434188 -Node: roi435448 -Node: Spaces and special characters in --inv and --pnl437695 -Node: Semantics of --inv and --pnl438421 -Node: IRR and TWR explained440508 -Node: Chart commands443919 -Node: activity444100 -Node: Data generation commands444597 -Node: close444803 -Node: close --clopen447868 -Node: close --close449764 -Node: close --open450288 -Node: close --assert450538 -Node: close --assign450865 -Node: close --retain451544 -Node: close customisation452401 -Node: close and balance assertions454079 -Node: close examples455601 -Node: Retain earnings455838 -Node: Migrate balances to a new file456341 -Node: More detailed close examples457703 -Node: rewrite457925 -Node: Re-write rules in a file460485 -Node: Diff output format461786 -Node: rewrite vs print --auto463056 -Node: Maintenance commands463770 -Node: check463989 -Node: Basic checks465071 -Node: Strict checks466092 -Node: Other checks466931 -Node: Custom checks468683 -Node: diff469138 -Node: setup470346 -Node: test473213 -Node: PART 5 COMMON TASKS474116 -Node: Getting help474565 -Node: Constructing command lines475466 -Node: Starting a journal file476331 -Node: Setting LEDGER_FILE477735 -Node: Set LEDGER_FILE on unix478023 -Node: Set LEDGER_FILE on mac478568 -Node: Set LEDGER_FILE on Windows479296 -Node: Setting opening balances481019 -Node: Recording transactions484361 -Node: Reconciling485106 -Node: Reporting487515 -Node: Migrating to a new file491649 -Node: BUGS492105 -Node: Troubleshooting492931 +Node: Box-drawing characters38757 +Node: Colour39257 +Node: Paging39843 +Node: HTML output41362 +Node: CSV / TSV output41780 +Node: FODS output42034 +Node: Beancount output42838 +Node: Beancount account names44339 +Node: Beancount commodity names44880 +Node: Beancount virtual postings45527 +Node: Beancount metadata45843 +Node: Beancount costs46623 +Node: Beancount operating currency47039 +Node: SQL output47489 +Node: JSON output48280 +Node: Commodity styles49097 +Node: Debug output50107 +Node: Environment50939 +Node: PART 2 DATA FORMATS52108 +Node: Journal52251 +Node: Journal cheatsheet54716 +Node: Comments60967 +Node: Transactions61911 +Node: Dates63048 +Node: Simple dates63200 +Node: Posting dates63816 +Node: Status64989 +Node: Code66755 +Node: Description67090 +Node: Payee and note67777 +Node: Transaction comments68868 +Node: Postings69384 +Node: Debits and credits70700 +Node: Account names71259 +Node: Two space delimiter72216 +Node: Account hierarchy73621 +Node: Other account name features74504 +Node: Amounts74922 +Node: Decimal marks75951 +Node: Digit group marks77055 +Node: Commodity77690 +Node: Costs78807 +Node: Balance assertions81059 +Node: Assertions and ordering82307 +Node: Assertions and multiple files83026 +Node: Assertions and costs84194 +Node: Assertions and commodities84841 +Node: Assertions and subaccounts86500 +Node: Assertions and status87160 +Node: Assertions and virtual postings87580 +Node: Assertions and auto postings87945 +Node: Assertions and precision88820 +Node: Assertions and hledger add89304 +Node: Posting comments90052 +Node: Transaction balancing90592 +Node: Tags92800 +Node: Tag propagation94319 +Node: Displaying tags95818 +Node: When to use tags ?96211 +Node: Tag names96875 +Node: Directives98856 +Node: Directives and multiple files100313 +Node: Directive effects101258 +Node: account directive104414 +Node: Account comments105864 +Node: Account error checking106523 +Node: Account display order108060 +Node: Account types109258 +Node: alias directive112533 +Node: Basic aliases113744 +Node: Regex aliases114619 +Node: Combining aliases115666 +Node: Aliases and multiple files117120 +Node: end aliases directive117903 +Node: Aliases can generate bad account names118271 +Node: Aliases and account types119104 +Node: commodity directive119996 +Node: Commodity directive syntax121789 +Node: Commodity error checking123438 +Node: decimal-mark directive123913 +Node: include directive124492 +Node: P directive126710 +Node: payee directive127744 +Node: tag directive128366 +Node: Periodic transactions128978 +Node: Periodic rule syntax131132 +Node: Periodic rules and relative dates131955 +Node: Two spaces between period expression and description!132732 +Node: Auto postings133693 +Node: Auto postings and multiple files136979 +Node: Auto postings and dates137384 +Node: Auto postings and transaction balancing / inferred amounts / balance assertions137825 +Node: Auto posting tags138671 +Node: Auto postings on forecast transactions only139566 +Node: Other syntax140036 +Node: Balance assignments140808 +Node: Balance assignments and costs142336 +Node: Balance assignments and multiple files142758 +Node: Bracketed posting dates143181 +Node: D directive143879 +Node: apply account directive145652 +Node: Y directive146519 +Node: Secondary dates147507 +Node: Star comments148992 +Node: Valuation expressions149684 +Node: Virtual postings149983 +Node: Other Ledger directives151607 +Node: Other cost/lot notations152369 +Node: CSV155210 +Node: CSV rules cheatsheet157376 +Node: source159674 +Node: Data cleaning / data generating commands161078 +Node: archive162977 +Node: encoding163905 +Node: separator164948 +Node: skip165601 +Node: date-format166251 +Node: timezone167196 +Node: newest-first168322 +Node: intra-day-reversed169035 +Node: decimal-mark169637 +Node: fields list170117 +Node: Field assignment171925 +Node: Field names173144 +Node: date field174476 +Node: date2 field174640 +Node: status field174835 +Node: code field175025 +Node: description field175213 +Node: comment field175430 +Node: account field175987 +Node: amount field176705 +Node: currency field179544 +Node: balance field179952 +Node: if block180475 +Node: Matchers182002 +Node: Multiple matchers183992 +Node: Match groups184800 +Node: if table185693 +Node: balance-type187756 +Node: include188583 +Node: Working with CSV189152 +Node: Rapid feedback189704 +Node: Valid CSV190287 +Node: File Extension191163 +Node: Reading CSV from standard input191898 +Node: Reading multiple CSV files192284 +Node: Reading files specified by rule192760 +Node: Valid transactions194157 +Node: Deduplicating importing194982 +Node: Setting amounts196211 +Node: Amount signs198738 +Node: Setting currency/commodity199803 +Node: Amount decimal places201179 +Node: Referencing other fields202436 +Node: How CSV rules are evaluated203544 +Node: Well factored rules206261 +Node: CSV rules examples206751 +Node: Bank of Ireland206949 +Node: Coinbase208546 +Node: Amazon209729 +Node: Paypal211571 +Node: Timeclock219321 +Node: Timedot223374 +Node: Timedot examples226851 +Node: PART 3 REPORTING CONCEPTS229128 +Node: Time periods229292 +Node: Report start & end date229565 +Node: Smart dates231041 +Node: Report intervals233164 +Node: Date adjustments233738 +Node: Start date adjustment233958 +Node: End date adjustment234861 +Node: Period headings235642 +Node: Period expressions236575 +Node: Period expressions with a report interval238480 +Node: More complex report intervals238928 +Node: Multiple weekday intervals241044 +Node: Depth242055 +Node: Combining depth options243041 +Node: Queries243991 +Node: Query types246663 +Node: acct query247038 +Node: amt query247349 +Node: code query248046 +Node: cur query248241 +Node: desc query248847 +Node: date query249030 +Node: date2 query249426 +Node: depth query249717 +Node: note query250053 +Node: payee query250319 +Node: real query250600 +Node: status query250805 +Node: type query251045 +Node: tag query251578 +Node: Negative queries252207 +Node: not query252389 +Node: Space-separated queries252676 +Node: Boolean queries253364 +Node: expr query254682 +Node: any query255362 +Node: all query255815 +Node: Queries and command options256397 +Node: Queries and account aliases256845 +Node: Queries and valuation257170 +Node: Pivoting257532 +Node: Generating data259815 +Node: Forecasting261615 +Node: --forecast262271 +Node: Inspecting forecast transactions263372 +Node: Forecast reports264705 +Node: Forecast tags265814 +Node: Forecast period in detail266434 +Node: Forecast troubleshooting267522 +Node: Budgeting268593 +Node: Amount formatting269153 +Node: Commodity display style269397 +Node: Rounding271238 +Node: Trailing decimal marks271843 +Node: Amount parseability272776 +Node: Cost reporting274385 +Node: Recording costs275216 +Node: Reporting at cost276943 +Node: Equity conversion postings277708 +Node: Inferring equity conversion postings280353 +Node: Combining costs and equity conversion postings281495 +Node: Requirements for detecting equity conversion postings282720 +Node: Infer cost and equity by default ?284242 +Node: Value reporting284679 +Node: -X Value in specified commodity285637 +Node: -V Value in default commoditys286497 +Node: Valuation date287234 +Node: Finding market price288066 +Node: --infer-market-prices market prices from transactions289446 +Node: Valuation commodity292490 +Node: --value Flexible valuation293923 +Node: Valuation examples295766 +Node: Interaction of valuation and queries297910 +Node: Effect of valuation on reports298627 +Node: PART 4 COMMANDS306477 +Node: Help commands309266 +Node: commands309452 +Node: demo309660 +Node: help310753 +Node: User interface commands312458 +Node: repl312669 +Node: Examples314933 +Node: run315491 +Node: Examples 2317906 +Node: ui318930 +Node: web319067 +Node: Data entry commands319195 +Node: add319456 +Node: add and balance assertions322030 +Node: add and balance assignments322604 +Node: import323297 +Node: Import dry run324376 +Node: Overlap detection325324 +Node: First import328210 +Node: Importing balance assignments329405 +Node: Import and commodity styles330460 +Node: Import archiving330894 +Node: Import special cases331719 +Node: Deduplication331937 +Node: Varying file name332428 +Node: Multiple versions332812 +Node: Basic report commands333919 +Node: accounts334220 +Node: codes336732 +Node: commodities337754 +Node: descriptions338762 +Node: files339222 +Node: notes339519 +Node: payees340031 +Node: prices341188 +Node: stats342080 +Node: tags343821 +Node: Standard report commands345645 +Node: print345950 +Node: print amount explicitness348681 +Node: print alignment349619 +Node: print amount style349933 +Node: print parseability351163 +Node: print other features352440 +Node: print output format353402 +Node: aregister356687 +Node: aregister and posting dates361152 +Node: register362053 +Node: Custom register output369293 +Node: balancesheet370478 +Node: balancesheetequity375443 +Node: cashflow380778 +Node: incomestatement385591 +Node: Advanced report commands390440 +Node: balance390648 +Node: balance features396069 +Node: Simple balance report398172 +Node: Balance report line format399982 +Node: Filtered balance report402342 +Node: List or tree mode402861 +Node: Depth limiting404374 +Node: Dropping top-level accounts405141 +Node: Showing declared accounts405651 +Node: Sorting by amount406381 +Node: Percentages407235 +Node: Multi-period balance report407942 +Node: Balance change end balance410694 +Node: Balance report modes412331 +Node: Calculation mode413010 +Node: Accumulation mode413714 +Node: Valuation mode414815 +Node: Combining balance report modes416159 +Node: Budget report418189 +Node: Using the budget report420489 +Node: Budget date surprises422765 +Node: Selecting budget goals424129 +Node: Budgeting vs forecasting425077 +Node: Balance report layout426754 +Node: Wide layout427959 +Node: Tall layout430364 +Node: Bare layout431670 +Node: Tidy layout433734 +Node: Balance report output435278 +Node: Some useful balance reports436052 +Node: roi437312 +Node: Spaces and special characters in --inv and --pnl439559 +Node: Semantics of --inv and --pnl440285 +Node: IRR and TWR explained442372 +Node: Chart commands445783 +Node: activity445964 +Node: Data generation commands446461 +Node: close446667 +Node: close --clopen449732 +Node: close --close451628 +Node: close --open452152 +Node: close --assert452402 +Node: close --assign452729 +Node: close --retain453408 +Node: close customisation454265 +Node: close and balance assertions455943 +Node: close examples457465 +Node: Retain earnings457702 +Node: Migrate balances to a new file458205 +Node: More detailed close examples459567 +Node: rewrite459789 +Node: Re-write rules in a file462349 +Node: Diff output format463650 +Node: rewrite vs print --auto464920 +Node: Maintenance commands465634 +Node: check465853 +Node: Basic checks466936 +Node: Strict checks468002 +Node: Other checks468875 +Node: Custom checks470577 +Node: diff471016 +Node: setup472224 +Node: test475091 +Node: PART 5 COMMON TASKS475994 +Node: Getting help476443 +Node: Constructing command lines477344 +Node: Starting a journal file478209 +Node: Setting LEDGER_FILE479613 +Node: Set LEDGER_FILE on unix479901 +Node: Set LEDGER_FILE on mac480418 +Node: Set LEDGER_FILE on Windows481146 +Node: Setting opening balances482869 +Node: Recording transactions486211 +Node: Reconciling486956 +Node: Reporting489365 +Node: Migrating to a new file493499 +Node: BUGS493955 +Node: Troubleshooting494781  End Tag Table diff --git a/hledger/hledger.txt b/hledger/hledger.txt index b92e6d122..bd15af21e 100644 --- a/hledger/hledger.txt +++ b/hledger/hledger.txt @@ -782,8 +782,8 @@ Output Balance reports (balance, balancesheet, incomestatement...) use what- ever width they need. Multi-period multi-currency reports can often be wider than the window. Besides using a pager, helpful techniques for - this situation include --layout=bare, -V, cur:, --transpose, --tree, - --depth, --drop, switching to html output, etc. + this situation include --layout=bare, -X COMM, cur:, --transpose, + --tree, --depth, --drop, switching to html output, etc. Box-drawing characters hledger draws simple table borders by default, to minimise the risk of @@ -1009,8 +1009,18 @@ Environment options hledger should use. (Otherwise, LESS + custom options are used.) - LEDGER_FILE The main journal file to use when not specified with - -f/--file. Default: $HOME/.hledger.journal. + LEDGER_FILE The default journal file, to be used when no -f/--file op- + tion is provided. For example, it could be ~/finance/main.journal. + This can also be a glob pattern, eg ./2???.journal. (If the glob + matches multiple files, only the alphanumerically first one is used.) + If LEDGER_FILE points to a non-existent file, an error will be raised. + If the value is the empty string, it is ignored. + + If LEDGER_FILE is not set and -f is not provided, the default journal + file is $HOME/.hledger.journal (or if a home directory can't be de- + tected, ./.hledger.journal). + + See also Common tasks > Setting LEDGER_FILE. NO_COLOR If this environment variable exists (with any value, including empty), hledger will not use ANSI color codes in terminal output, un- @@ -3333,16 +3343,17 @@ CSV data has separator declare the field separator, instead of rely- ing on file extension - skip skip one or more header lines at start of file - date-format declare how to parse CSV dates/date-times - timezone declare the time zone of ambiguous CSV - date-times - newest-first improve txn order when: there are multiple - records, newest first, all with the same date - intra-day-reversed improve txn order when: same-day txns are in - opposite order to the overall file - decimal-mark declare the decimal mark used in CSV amounts, + decimal-mark declare the decimal mark used in CSV amounts, when ambiguous + date-format declare how to parse CSV dates/date-times + timezone declare the time zone of ambiguous CSV + date-times + newest-first improve txn order when: there are multiple + records, newest first, all with the same date + intra-day-reversed improve txn order when: same-day txns are in + opposite order to the overall file + skip (at top level) skip header line(s) at start of + file fields list name CSV fields for easy reference, and op- tionally assign their values to hledger fields Field assignment assign a CSV value or interpolated text value @@ -3351,6 +3362,8 @@ CSV or skip a record or end (skip rest of file) if table conditionally assign values to hledger fields, using compact syntax + skip (inside an if rule) skip current record(s) + end (inside an if rule) skip all remaining records balance-type select which type of balance assertions/as- signments to generate include inline another CSV rules file @@ -3393,14 +3406,15 @@ CSV See also "Working with CSV > Reading files specified by rule". - Data cleaning / generating commands + Data cleaning / data generating commands After source's file pattern, you can write | (pipe) and a data cleaning - command. If hledger's CSV rules aren't enough, you can pre-process the - downloaded data here with a shell command or script, to make it more - suitable for conversion. The command will be executed by your default - shell, in the directory of the rules file, will receive the data file's - content as standard input, and should output zero or more lines of - character-separated-values, suitable for conversion by the CSV rules. + command (or command pipeline). If hledger's CSV rules aren't enough, + you can pre-process the downloaded data here with a shell command or + script, to make it more suitable for conversion. The command will be + executed by your default shell, in the directory of the rules file, + will receive the data file's content as standard input, and should out- + put zero or more lines of character-separated-values, suitable for con- + version by the CSV rules. Examples: @@ -3411,7 +3425,7 @@ CSV Or, after source you can write | and a data generating command (with no file pattern before the |). This command receives no input, and should - output zero or more lines of character-separated values, suitable for + output zero or more lines of character-separated values, suitable for conversion by the CSV rules. Examples: @@ -3423,27 +3437,27 @@ CSV (paypal* and simplefin* scripts are in bin/) - Whenever hledger runs one of these commands, it will echo the command - on stderr. If the command produces error output, but exits success- + Whenever hledger runs one of these commands, it will echo the command + on stderr. If the command produces error output, but exits success- fully, hledger will show the error output as a warning. If the command - fails, hledger will fail and show the error output in the error mes- + fails, hledger will fail and show the error output in the error mes- sage. Added in 1.50; experimental. archive - With archive added to a rules file, the import command will archive - each successfully processed data file or data command output in a - nearby data/ directory. The archive file name will be based on the - rules file and the data file's modification date and extension (or for - a data-generating command, the current date and the ".csv" extension). + With archive added to a rules file, the import command will archive + each successfully processed data file or data command output in a + nearby data/ directory. The archive file name will be based on the + rules file and the data file's modification date and extension (or for + a data-generating command, the current date and the ".csv" extension). The original data file, if any, will be removed. - Also, in this mode import will prefer the oldest file matched by the - source rule's glob pattern, not the newest. (So if there are multiple + Also, in this mode import will prefer the oldest file matched by the + source rule's glob pattern, not the newest. (So if there are multiple downloads, they will be imported and archived oldest first.) - Archiving is optional, but it can be useful for troubleshooting your + Archiving is optional, but it can be useful for troubleshooting your CSV rules, regenerating entries with improved rules, checking for vari- ations in your bank's CSV, etc. @@ -3454,26 +3468,26 @@ CSV hledger normally expects non-ascii text to be using the system locale's text encoding. If you need to read CSV files which have some other en- - coding, you can do it by adding encoding ENCODING to your CSV rules. + coding, you can do it by adding encoding ENCODING to your CSV rules. Eg: encoding iso-8859-1. The following encodings are supported: ascii, utf-8, utf-16, utf-32, iso-8859-1, iso-8859-2, iso-8859-3, iso-8859-4, iso-8859-5, iso-8859-6, iso-8859-7, iso-8859-8, iso-8859-9, - iso-8859-10, iso-8859-11, iso-8859-13, iso-8859-14, iso-8859-15, - iso-8859-16, cp1250, cp1251, cp1252, cp1253, cp1254, cp1255, cp1256, - cp1257, cp1258, koi8-r, koi8-u, gb18030, macintosh, jis-x-0201, - jis-x-0208, iso-2022-jp, shift-jis, cp437, cp737, cp775, cp850, cp852, - cp855, cp857, cp860, cp861, cp862, cp863, cp864, cp865, cp866, cp869, + iso-8859-10, iso-8859-11, iso-8859-13, iso-8859-14, iso-8859-15, + iso-8859-16, cp1250, cp1251, cp1252, cp1253, cp1254, cp1255, cp1256, + cp1257, cp1258, koi8-r, koi8-u, gb18030, macintosh, jis-x-0201, + jis-x-0208, iso-2022-jp, shift-jis, cp437, cp737, cp775, cp850, cp852, + cp855, cp857, cp860, cp861, cp862, cp863, cp864, cp865, cp866, cp869, cp874, cp932. Added in 1.42. separator - You can use the separator rule to read other kinds of character-sepa- - rated data. The argument is any single separator character, or the - words tab or space (case insensitive). Eg, for comma-separated values + You can use the separator rule to read other kinds of character-sepa- + rated data. The argument is any single separator character, or the + words tab or space (case insensitive). Eg, for comma-separated values (CSV): separator , @@ -3486,32 +3500,32 @@ CSV separator TAB - If the input file has a .csv, .ssv or .tsv file extension (or a csv:, + If the input file has a .csv, .ssv or .tsv file extension (or a csv:, ssv:, tsv: prefix), the appropriate separator will be inferred automat- ically, and you won't need this rule. skip skip N - The word skip followed by a number (or no number, meaning 1) tells - hledger to ignore this many non-empty lines at the start of the input - data. You'll need this whenever your CSV data contains header lines. - Note, empty and blank lines are skipped automatically, so you don't + The word skip followed by a number (or no number, meaning 1) tells + hledger to ignore this many non-empty lines at the start of the input + data. You'll need this whenever your CSV data contains header lines. + Note, empty and blank lines are skipped automatically, so you don't need to count those. - skip has a second meaning: it can be used inside if blocks (described - below), to skip one or more records whenever the condition is true. + skip has a second meaning: it can be used inside if blocks (described + below), to skip one or more records whenever the condition is true. Records skipped in this way are ignored, except they are still required to be valid CSV. 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-style - date parsing pattern - see https://hackage.haskell.org/pack- - age/time/docs/Data-Time-Format.html#v:formatTime. The pattern must + 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-style + date parsing pattern - see https://hackage.haskell.org/pack- + age/time/docs/Data-Time-Format.html#v:formatTime. The pattern must parse the CSV date value completely. Some examples: # MM/DD/YY @@ -3528,39 +3542,39 @@ CSV # 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 - Note currently there is no locale awareness for things like %b, and + Note currently there is no locale awareness for things like %b, and setting LC_TIME won't help. timezone timezone TIMEZONE - When CSV contains date-times that are implicitly in some time zone + When CSV contains date-times that are implicitly in some time zone other than yours, but containing no explicit time zone information, you - can use this rule to declare the CSV's native time zone, which helps + can use this rule to declare the CSV's native time zone, which helps prevent off-by-one dates. - When the CSV date-times do contain time zone information, you don't - need this rule; instead, use %Z in date-format (or %z, %EZ, %Ez; see + When the CSV date-times do contain time zone information, you don't + need this rule; instead, use %Z in date-format (or %z, %EZ, %Ez; see the formatTime link above). In either of these cases, hledger will do a time-zone-aware conversion, localising the CSV date-times to your current system time zone. If you prefer to localise to some other time zone, eg for reproducibility, you - can (on unix at least) set the output timezone with the TZ environment + can (on unix at least) set the output timezone with the TZ environment variable, eg: $ TZ=-1000 hledger print -f foo.csv # or TZ=-1000 hledger import foo.csv - timezone currently does not understand timezone names, except "UTC", - "GMT", "EST", "EDT", "CST", "CDT", "MST", "MDT", "PST", or "PDT". For + timezone currently does not understand timezone names, except "UTC", + "GMT", "EST", "EDT", "CST", "CDT", "MST", "MDT", "PST", or "PDT". For others, use numeric format: +HHMM or -HHMM. newest-first hledger tries to ensure that the generated transactions will be ordered chronologically, including same-day transactions. Usually it can - auto-detect how the CSV records are ordered. But if it encounters CSV + auto-detect how the CSV records are ordered. But if it encounters CSV where all records are on the same date, it assumes that the records are - oldest first. If in fact the CSV's records are normally newest first, + oldest first. If in fact the CSV's records are normally newest first, like: 2022-10-01, txn 3... @@ -3574,9 +3588,9 @@ CSV newest-first intra-day-reversed - If CSV records within a single day are ordered opposite to the overall - record order, you can add the intra-day-reversed rule to improve the - order of journal entries. Eg, here the overall record order is newest + If CSV records within a single day are ordered opposite to the overall + record order, you can add the intra-day-reversed rule to improve the + order of journal entries. Eg, here the overall record order is newest first, but same-day records are oldest first: 2022-10-02, txn 3... @@ -3594,10 +3608,10 @@ CSV 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 + 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. fields list @@ -3606,17 +3620,17 @@ CSV A fields list (the word fields followed by comma-separated field names) is optional, but convenient. It does two things: - 1. It names the CSV field in each column. This can be convenient if - you are referencing them in other rules, so you can say %SomeField + 1. It names the CSV field in each column. This can be convenient if + you are referencing them in other rules, so you can say %SomeField instead of remembering %13. - 2. Whenever you use one of the special hledger field names (described - below), it assigns the CSV value in this position to that hledger - field. This is the quickest way to populate hledger's fields and + 2. Whenever you use one of the special hledger field names (described + below), it assigns the CSV value in this position to that hledger + field. This is the quickest way to populate hledger's fields and build a 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 + 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 @@ -3626,35 +3640,35 @@ CSV o There must be least two items in the list (at least one comma). - o Field names may not contain spaces. Spaces before/after field names + o Field names may not contain spaces. Spaces before/after field names are optional. o Field names may contain _ (underscore) or - (hyphen). - o Fields you don't care about can be given a dummy name or an empty + o Fields you don't care about can be given a dummy name or an empty name. - If the CSV contains column headings, it's convenient to use these for - your field names, suitably modified (eg lower-cased with spaces re- + If the CSV contains column headings, it's convenient to use these for + your field names, suitably modified (eg lower-cased with spaces re- placed by underscores). - Sometimes you may want to alter a CSV field name to avoid assigning to - a hledger field with the same name. Eg you could call the CSV's "bal- - ance" field balance_ to avoid directly setting hledger's balance field + Sometimes you may want to alter a CSV field name to avoid assigning to + a hledger field with the same name. Eg you could call the CSV's "bal- + ance" field balance_ to avoid directly setting hledger's balance field (and generating a balance assertion). Field assignment HLEDGERFIELD FIELDVALUE - Field assignments are the more flexible way to assign CSV values to + 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 inter- - polate CSV fields, referenced either by their 1-based position in the - CSV record (%N) or by the name they were given in the fields list + 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 inter- + polate CSV fields, referenced either by their 1-based position in the + CSV record (%N) or by the name they were given in the fields list (%CSVFIELD), and regular expression match groups (\N). Some examples: @@ -3667,26 +3681,26 @@ CSV Tips: - o Interpolation strips outer whitespace (so a CSV value like " 1 " be- + o Interpolation strips outer whitespace (so a CSV value like " 1 " be- comes 1 when interpolated) (#1051). - o Interpolations always refer to a CSV field - you can't interpolate a + o Interpolations always refer to a CSV field - you can't interpolate a hledger field. (See Referencing other fields below). Field names - Note the two kinds of field names mentioned here, and used only in + Note the two kinds of field names mentioned here, and used only in hledger CSV rules files: - 1. CSV field names (CSVFIELD in these docs): you can optionally name - the CSV columns for easy reference (since hledger doesn't yet auto- + 1. CSV field names (CSVFIELD in these docs): you can optionally name + the CSV columns for easy reference (since hledger doesn't yet auto- matically recognise column headings in a CSV file), by writing arbi- trary names in a fields list, eg: fields When, What, Some_Id, Net, Total, Foo, Bar - 2. Special hledger field names (HLEDGERFIELD in these docs): you must - set at least some of these to generate the hledger transaction from - a CSV record, by writing them as the left hand side of a field as- + 2. Special hledger field names (HLEDGERFIELD in these docs): you must + set at least some of these to generate the hledger transaction from + a CSV record, by writing them as the left hand side of a field as- signment, eg: date %When @@ -3701,7 +3715,7 @@ CSV currency $ comment %Foo %Bar - Here are all the special hledger field names available, and what hap- + Here are all the special hledger field names available, and what hap- pens when you assign values to them: date field @@ -3724,7 +3738,7 @@ CSV commentN, where N is a number, sets the Nth posting's comment. - You can assign multi-line comments by writing literal \n in the code. + 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. @@ -3736,99 +3750,99 @@ CSV 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 + 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, in conditional rules. - 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" + 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"). amount field - There are several ways to set posting amounts from CSV, useful in dif- + There are several ways to set posting amounts from CSV, useful in dif- ferent situations. - 1. amount is the oldest and simplest. Assigning to this sets the + 1. amount is the oldest and simplest. Assigning to this sets the amount of the first and second postings. In the second posting, the - amount will be negated; also, if it has a cost attached, it will be + amount will be negated; also, if it has a cost attached, it will be converted to cost. - 2. amount-in and amount-out work exactly like the above, but should be - used when the CSV has two amount fields (such as "Debit" and + 2. amount-in and amount-out work exactly like the above, but should be + used when the CSV has two amount fields (such as "Debit" and "Credit", or "Inflow" and "Outflow"). Whichever field has a - non-zero value will be used as the amount of the first and second + non-zero value will be used as the amount of the first and second postings. Here are some tips to avoid confusion: - o It's not "amount-in for posting 1 and amount-out for posting 2", - it is "extract a single amount from the amount-in or amount-out + o It's not "amount-in for posting 1 and amount-out for posting 2", + it is "extract a single amount from the amount-in or amount-out field, and use that for posting 1 and (negated) for posting 2". - o Don't use both amount and amount-in/amount-out in the same rules + o Don't use both amount and amount-in/amount-out in the same rules file; choose based on whether the amount is in a single CSV field or spread across two fields. - o In each record, at most one of the two CSV fields should contain - a non-zero amount; the other field must contain a zero or noth- + o In each record, at most one of the two CSV fields should contain + a non-zero amount; the other field must contain a zero or noth- ing. - o hledger assumes both CSV fields contain unsigned numbers, and it + o hledger assumes both CSV fields contain unsigned numbers, and it automatically negates the amount-out values. - o If the data doesn't fit these requirements, you'll probably need + o If the data doesn't fit these requirements, you'll probably need an if rule (see below). 3. amountN (where N is a number from 1 to 99) sets the amount of only a - single posting: the Nth posting in the transaction. You'll usually - need at least two such assignments to make a balanced transaction. + single posting: the Nth posting in the transaction. You'll usually + need at least two such assignments to make a balanced transaction. You can also generate more than two postings, to represent more com- - plex transactions. The posting numbers don't have to be consecu- - tive; with if rules, higher posting numbers can be useful to ensure + plex transactions. The posting numbers don't have to be consecu- + tive; with if rules, higher posting numbers can be useful to ensure a certain order of postings. - 4. amountN-in and amountN-out work exactly like the above, but should - be used when the CSV has two amount fields. This is analogous to + 4. amountN-in and amountN-out work exactly like the above, but should + be used when the CSV has two amount fields. This is analogous to amount-in and amount-out, and those tips also apply here. 5. Remember that a fields list can also do assignments. So in a fields - list if you name a CSV field "amount", that counts as assigning to - amount. (If you don't want that, call it something else in the + list if you name a CSV field "amount", that counts as assigning to + amount. (If you don't want that, call it something else in the fields list, like "amount_".) - 6. The above don't handle every situation; if you need more flexibil- + 6. The above don't handle every situation; if you need more flexibil- ity, use an if rule to set amounts conditionally. See "Working with - CSV > Setting amounts" below for more on this and on amount-setting + CSV > Setting amounts" below for more on this and on amount-setting generally. 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 + 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. balance field - balanceN sets a balance assertion amount (or if the posting amount is + 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 + You can adjust the type of assertion/assignment with the balance-type rule (see below). - See the Working with CSV tips below for more about setting amounts and + See the Working with CSV tips below for more about setting amounts and currency. if block - Rules can be applied conditionally, depending on patterns in the CSV - data. This allows flexibility; in particular, it is how you can cate- - gorise transactions, selecting an appropriate account name based on - their description (for example). There are two ways to write condi- - tional rules: "if blocks", described here, and "if tables", described + Rules can be applied conditionally, depending on patterns in the CSV + data. This allows flexibility; in particular, it is how you can cate- + gorise transactions, selecting an appropriate account name based on + their description (for example). There are two ways to write condi- + tional rules: "if blocks", described here, and "if tables", described below. - An if block is the word if and one or more "matcher" expressions (can + An if block is the word if and one or more "matcher" expressions (can be a word or phrase), one per line, starting either on the same or next line; followed by one or more indented rules. Eg, @@ -3844,11 +3858,11 @@ CSV RULE RULE - If any of the matchers succeeds, all of the indented rules will be ap- - plied. They are usually field assignments, but the following special + If any of the matchers succeeds, all of the indented rules will be ap- + plied. They are usually field assignments, but the following special rules may also be used within an if block: - o skip - skips the matched CSV record (generating no transaction from + o skip - skips the matched CSV record (generating no transaction from it) o end - skips the rest of the current CSV file. @@ -3874,39 +3888,39 @@ CSV Matchers There are two kinds of matcher: - 1. A whole record matcher is simplest: it is just a word, single-line - text fragment, or other regular expression, which hledger will try + 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 has a percent-prefixed CSV field number or name be- + 2. A field matcher has a percent-prefixed CSV field number or name be- fore the pattern. Eg: %3 whole foods or %description whole foods. hledger will try to match the pattern just within the named CSV field. When using these, there's two things to be aware of: - 1. Whole record matchers don't see the exact original record; they see - a reconstruction of it, in which values are comma-separated, and - quotes enclosing values and whitespace outside those quotes are re- + 1. Whole record matchers don't see the exact original record; they see + a reconstruction of it, in which values are comma-separated, and + quotes enclosing values and whitespace outside those quotes are re- moved. 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 2. Field matchers expect either a CSV field number, or a CSV field name - declared with fields. (Don't use a hledger field name here, unless - it is also a CSV field name.) A non-CSV field name will cause the - matcher to match against "" (the empty string), and does not raise - an error, allowing easier reuse of common rules with different CSV + declared with fields. (Don't use a hledger field name here, unless + it is also a CSV field name.) A non-CSV field name will cause the + matcher to match against "" (the empty string), and does not raise + an error, allowing easier reuse of common rules with different CSV files. You can also prefix a matcher with ! (and optional space) to negate it. - Eg ! whole foods, ! %3 whole foods, !%description whole foods will + Eg ! whole foods, ! %3 whole foods, !%description whole foods will match if "whole foods" is NOT present. Added in 1.32. - The pattern is, as usual in hledger, a POSIX extended regular expres- - sion that also supports GNU word boundaries (\b, \B, \<, \>) and noth- - ing else. If you have trouble with it, see "Regular expressions" in + The pattern is, as usual in hledger, a POSIX extended regular expres- + sion that also supports GNU word boundaries (\b, \B, \<, \>) and noth- + ing else. If you have trouble with it, see "Regular expressions" in the hledger manual (https://hledger.org/hledger.html#regular-expres- sions). @@ -3915,28 +3929,28 @@ CSV o By default they are OR'd (any of them can match). - o Matcher lines beginning with & (or &&, since 1.42) are AND'ed with + o Matcher lines beginning with & (or &&, since 1.42) are AND'ed with the matcher above (all in the AND'ed group must match). - o Matcher lines beginning with & ! (since 1.41, or && !, since 1.42) + o Matcher lines beginning with & ! (since 1.41, or && !, since 1.42) are first negated and then AND'ed with the matcher above. - You can also combine multiple matchers one the same line separated by + You can also combine multiple matchers one the same line separated by && (AND) or && ! (AND NOT). Eg %description amazon && %date 2025-01-01 - will match only when the description field contains "amazon" and the + will match only when the description field contains "amazon" and the date field contains "2025-01-01". Added in 1.42. Match groups Added in 1.32 Matchers can define match groups: parenthesised portions of the regular - expression which are available for reference in field assignments. + expression which are available for reference in field assignments. Groups are enclosed in regular parentheses (( and )) and can be nested. - Each group is available in field assignments using the token \N, where - N is an index into the match groups for this conditional block (e.g. + Each group is available in field assignments using the token \N, where + N is an index into the match groups for this conditional block (e.g. \1, \2, etc.). - Example: Warp credit card payment postings to the beginning of the + Example: Warp credit card payment postings to the beginning of the billing period (Month start), to match how they are presented in state- ments, using posting dates: @@ -3950,8 +3964,8 @@ CSV account1 \1 if table - "if tables" are an alternative to if blocks; they can express many - matchers and field assignments in a more compact tabular format, like + "if tables" are an alternative to if blocks; they can express many + matchers and field assignments in a more compact tabular format, like this: if,HLEDGERFIELD1,HLEDGERFIELD2,... @@ -3962,21 +3976,21 @@ CSV The first character after if is taken to be this if table's field sepa- - rator. It is unrelated to the separator used in the CSV file. It + rator. It is unrelated to the separator used in the CSV file. It should be a non-alphanumeric character like , or | that does not appear - anywhere else in the table (it should not be used in field names or + anywhere else in the table (it should not be used in field names or matchers or values, and it cannot be escaped with a backslash). - Each line must contain the same number of separators; empty values are - allowed. Whitespace can be used in the matcher lines for readability - (but not in the if line, currently). You can use the comment lines in - the table body. The table must be terminated by an empty line (or end + Each line must contain the same number of separators; empty values are + allowed. Whitespace can be used in the matcher lines for readability + (but not in the if line, currently). You can use the comment lines in + the table body. The table must be terminated by an empty line (or end of file). - An if table like the above is interpreted as follows: try all of the + An if table like the above is interpreted as follows: try all of the lines with matchers; whenever a line with matchers succeeds, assign all of the values on that line to the corresponding hledger fields; If mul- - tiple lines match, later lines will override fields assigned by the + tiple lines match, later lines will override fields assigned by the earlier ones - just like the sequence of if blocks would behave. If table presented above is equivalent to this sequence of if blocks: @@ -4007,10 +4021,10 @@ CSV balance-type Balance assertions generated by assigning to balanceN are of the simple - = type by default, which is a single-commodity, subaccount-excluding + = 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 + 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 @@ -4026,9 +4040,9 @@ CSV 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 + 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 @@ -4045,42 +4059,42 @@ CSV Some tips: Rapid feedback - It's a good idea to get rapid feedback while creating/troubleshooting + 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 + 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. Valid CSV - Note that hledger will only accept valid CSV conforming to RFC 4180, + Note that hledger will only accept valid CSV conforming to RFC 4180, and equivalent SSV and TSV formats (like RFC 4180 but with semicolon or tab as separators). This means, eg: o Values may be enclosed in double quotes, or not. Enclosing in single quotes is not allowed. (Eg 'A','B' is rejected.) - o When values are enclosed in double quotes, spaces outside the quotes + o When values are enclosed in double quotes, spaces outside the quotes are not allowed. (Eg "A", "B" is rejected.) - o When values are not enclosed in quotes, they may not contain double + o When values are not enclosed in quotes, they may not contain double quotes. (Eg A"A, B is rejected.) - If your CSV/SSV/TSV is not valid in this sense, you'll need to trans- - form it before reading with hledger. Try using sed, or a more permis- + If your CSV/SSV/TSV is not valid in this sense, you'll need to trans- + form it before reading with hledger. Try using sed, or a more permis- sive CSV parser like python's csv lib. File Extension - To help hledger choose the CSV file reader and show the right error - messages (and choose the right field separator character by default), - it's best if CSV/SSV/TSV files are named with a .csv, .ssv or .tsv + To help hledger choose the CSV file reader and show the right error + messages (and choose the right field separator character by default), + it's best if CSV/SSV/TSV files are named with a .csv, .ssv or .tsv filename extension. (More about this at Data formats.) - When reading files with the "wrong" extension, you can ensure the CSV - reader (and the default field separator) by prefixing the file path + When reading files with the "wrong" extension, you can ensure the CSV + reader (and the default field separator) by prefixing the file path with csv:, ssv: or tsv:: Eg: $ hledger -f ssv:foo.dat print @@ -4089,29 +4103,29 @@ CSV if needed. Reading CSV from standard input - You'll need the file format prefix when reading CSV from stdin also, + You'll need the file format prefix when reading CSV from stdin also, since hledger assumes journal format by default. Eg: $ cat foo.dat | hledger -f ssv:- print 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 specify a rules file with --rules, that rules file + 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 specify a rules file with --rules, that rules file will be used for all the CSV files. Reading files specified by rule Instead of specifying a CSV file in the command line, you can specify a - rules file, as in hledger -f foo.csv.rules CMD. By default this will - read data from foo.csv in the same directory, but you can add a source - rule to specify a different data file, perhaps located in your web + rules file, as in hledger -f foo.csv.rules CMD. By default this will + read data from foo.csv in the same directory, but you can add a source + rule to specify a different data file, perhaps located in your web browser's download directory. This feature was added in hledger 1.30, so you won't see it in most CSV - rules examples. But it helps remove some of the busywork of managing + rules examples. But it helps remove some of the busywork of managing CSV downloads. Most of your financial institutions's default CSV file- - names are different and can be recognised by a glob pattern. So you - can put a rule like source Checking1*.csv in foo-checking.csv.rules, + names are different and can be recognised by a glob pattern. So you + can put a rule like source Checking1*.csv in foo-checking.csv.rules, and then periodically follow a workflow like: 1. Download CSV from Foo's website, using your browser's defaults @@ -4119,45 +4133,45 @@ CSV 2. Run hledger import foo-checking.csv.rules to import any new transac- tions - After import, you can: discard the CSV, or leave it where it is for a - while, or move it into your archives, as you prefer. If you do noth- - ing, next time your browser will save something like Checking1-2.csv, - and hledger will use that because of the * wild card and because it is + After import, you can: discard the CSV, or leave it where it is for a + while, or move it into your archives, as you prefer. If you do noth- + ing, next time your browser will save something like Checking1-2.csv, + and hledger will use that because of the * wild card and because it is the most recent. Valid transactions After reading a CSV file, hledger post-processes and validates the gen- erated 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 + 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 as- + 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 as- sertions generated from CSV right away, pipe into another hledger: $ hledger -f file.csv print | hledger -f- print 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 + 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 + 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 + 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, + A number of other tools and workflows, hledger-specific and otherwise, exist for converting, deduplicating, classifying and managing CSV data. See: @@ -4166,16 +4180,16 @@ CSV o https://plaintextaccounting.org -> data import/conversion Setting amounts - Continuing from amount field above, here are more tips for amount-set- + Continuing from amount field above, here are more tips for amount-set- ting: 1. If the amount is in a single CSV field: a. If its sign indicates direction of flow: - Assign it to amountN, to set the Nth posting's amount. N is usu- + Assign it to amountN, to set the Nth posting's amount. N is usu- ally 1 or 2 but can go up to 99. b. If another field indicates direction of flow: - Use one or more conditional rules to set the appropriate amount + Use one or more conditional rules to set the appropriate amount sign. Eg: # assume a withdrawal unless Type contains "deposit": @@ -4183,15 +4197,15 @@ CSV if %Type deposit amount1 %Amount - 2. If the amount is in two CSV fields (such as Debit and Credit, or In + 2. If the amount is in two CSV fields (such as Debit and Credit, or In and Out): a. If both fields are unsigned: - Assign one field to amountN-in and the other to amountN-out. - hledger will automatically negate the "out" field, and will use + Assign one field to amountN-in and the other to amountN-out. + hledger will automatically negate the "out" field, and will use whichever field value is non-zero as posting N's amount. b. If either field is signed: - You will probably need to override hledger's sign for one or the + You will probably need to override hledger's sign for one or the other field, as in the following example: # Negate the -out value, but only if it is not empty: @@ -4199,12 +4213,12 @@ CSV if %amount1-out [1-9] amount1-out -%amount1-out - c. If both fields can contain a non-zero value (or both can be + c. If both fields can contain a non-zero value (or both can be empty): - The -in/-out rules normally choose the value which is - non-zero/non-empty. Some value pairs can be ambiguous, such as 1 + The -in/-out rules normally choose the value which is + non-zero/non-empty. Some value pairs can be ambiguous, such as 1 and none. For such cases, use conditional rules to help select the - amount. Eg, to handle the above you could select the value con- + amount. Eg, to handle the above you could select the value con- taining non-zero digits: fields date, description, in, out @@ -4217,8 +4231,8 @@ CSV Use the unnumbered amount (or amount-in and amount-out) syntax. 4. If the CSV has only balance amounts, not transaction amounts: - Assign to balanceN, to set a balance assignment on the Nth posting, - causing the posting's amount to be calculated automatically. balance + Assign to balanceN, to set a balance assignment on the Nth posting, + causing the posting's amount to be calculated automatically. balance with no number is equivalent to balance1. In this situation hledger is more likely to guess the wrong default account name, so you may need to set that explicitly. @@ -4234,20 +4248,20 @@ CSV o If an amount value is parenthesised: it will be de-parenthesised and sign-flipped: (AMT) becomes -AMT - o If an amount value has two minus signs (or two sets of parentheses, + o 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 - o If an amount value contains just a sign (or just a set of parenthe- + o If an amount value contains just a sign (or just a set of parenthe- ses): - that is removed, making it an empty value. "+" or "-" or "()" becomes + that is removed, making it an empty value. "+" or "-" or "()" becomes "". - It's not possible (without preprocessing the CSV) to set an amount to + It's not possible (without preprocessing the CSV) to set an amount to its absolute value, ie discard its sign. Setting currency/commodity - If the currency/commodity symbol is included in the CSV's amount + If the currency/commodity symbol is included in the CSV's amount field(s): 2023-01-01,foo,$123.00 @@ -4266,7 +4280,7 @@ CSV 2023-01-01,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 + effect of prepending itself to every amount in the transaction (on the left, with no separating space): fields date,description,currency,amount @@ -4275,7 +4289,7 @@ CSV expenses:unknown USD123.00 income:unknown USD-123.00 - Or, you can use a field assignment to construct the amount yourself, + 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: @@ -4286,38 +4300,38 @@ CSV expenses:unknown 123.00 USD income:unknown -123.00 USD - Note we used a temporary field name (cur) that is not currency - that + Note we used a temporary field name (cur) that is not currency - that would trigger the prepending effect, which we don't want here. Amount decimal places - When you are reading CSV data, eg with a command like hledger -f - foo.csv print, hledger will infer each commodity's decimal precision - (and other commodity display styles) from the amounts - much as when + When you are reading CSV data, eg with a command like hledger -f + foo.csv print, hledger will infer each commodity's decimal precision + (and other commodity display styles) from the amounts - much as when reading a journal file without commodity directives (see the link). - Note, the commodity styles are not inferred from the numbers in the + Note, the commodity styles are not inferred from the numbers in the original CSV data; rather, they are inferred from the amounts generated by the CSV rules. When you are importing CSV data with the import command, eg hledger im- - port foo.csv, there's another step: import tries to make the new en- - tries conform to the journal's existing styles. So for each commodity + port foo.csv, there's another step: import tries to make the new en- + tries conform to the journal's existing styles. So for each commodity - let's say it's EUR - import will choose: 1. the style declared for EUR by a commodity directive in the journal 2. otherwise, the style inferred from EUR amounts in the journal - 3. otherwise, the style inferred from EUR amounts generated by the CSV + 3. otherwise, the style inferred from EUR amounts generated by the CSV rules. - TLDR: if import is not generating the precisions or styles you want, + TLDR: if import is not generating the precisions or styles you want, add a commodity directive to specify them. 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 + 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" @@ -4329,7 +4343,7 @@ CSV # 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 lit- + Here, since there's no CSV amount1 field, %amount1 will produce a lit- eral "amount1": fields date,description,csvamount @@ -4337,7 +4351,7 @@ CSV # Can't interpolate amount1 here comment %amount1 - When there are multiple field assignments to the same hledger field, + 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: @@ -4348,27 +4362,27 @@ CSV How CSV rules are evaluated Here's how to think of CSV rules being evaluated. If you get a confus- - ing error while reading a CSV file, it may help to try to understand + ing error while reading a CSV file, it may help to try to understand which of these steps is failing: - 1. Any included rules files are inlined, from top to bottom, depth - first (scanning each included file for further includes, recur- + 1. Any included rules files are inlined, from top to bottom, depth + first (scanning each included file for further includes, recur- sively, before proceeding). - 2. Top level rules (date-format, fields, newest-first, skip etc) are + 2. Top level rules (date-format, fields, newest-first, skip etc) are read, top to bottom. "Top level rules" means non-conditional rules. - If a rule occurs more than once, the last one wins; except for + If a rule occurs more than once, the last one wins; except for skip/end rules, where the first one wins. - 3. The CSV file is read as text. Any non-ascii characters will be de- + 3. The CSV file is read as text. Any non-ascii characters will be de- coded using the text encoding specified by the encoding rule, other- wise the system locale's text encoding. - 4. Any top-level skip or end rule is applied. skip [N] immediately - skips the current or next N CSV records; end immediately skips all + 4. Any top-level skip or end rule is applied. skip [N] immediately + skips the current or next N CSV records; end immediately skips all remaining CSV records (not normally used at top level). - 5. Now any remaining CSV records are processed. For each CSV record, + 5. Now any remaining CSV records are processed. For each CSV record, in file order: o Is there a conditional skip/end rule that applies for this record @@ -4377,33 +4391,33 @@ CSV ber of CSV records, then continue at 5. Otherwise... - o Do some basic validation on this CSV record (eg, check that it + o Do some basic validation on this CSV record (eg, check that it has at least two fields). o For each hledger field (date, description, account1, etc.): - 1. Get the field's assigned value, first searching top level as- - signments, made directly or by the fields rule, then assign- - ments made inside succeeding if blocks. If there are more + 1. Get the field's assigned value, first searching top level as- + signments, made directly or by the fields rule, then assign- + ments made inside succeeding if blocks. If there are more than one, the last one wins. - 2. Compute the field's actual value (as text), by interpolating - any %CSVFIELD references within the assigned value; or by + 2. Compute the field's actual value (as text), by interpolating + any %CSVFIELD references within the assigned value; or by choosing a default value if there was no assignment. - o Generate a hledger transaction from the hledger field values, + o Generate a hledger transaction from the hledger field values, parsing them if needed (eg from text to an amount). - This is all done by the CSV reader, one of several readers hledger can + This is all done by the CSV reader, one of several readers hledger can use to read transactions from an input file. When all input files have - been read successfully, their transactions are passed to whichever + been read successfully, their transactions are passed to whichever hledger command the user specified. Well factored rules - Some things than can help reduce duplication and complexity in rules + Some things than can help reduce duplication and complexity in rules files: - o Extracting common rules usable with multiple CSV files into a com- + o Extracting common rules usable with multiple CSV files into a com- mon.rules, and adding include common.rules to each CSV's rules file. o Splitting if blocks into smaller if blocks, extracting the frequently @@ -4411,8 +4425,8 @@ CSV CSV rules examples 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 neces- + 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 neces- sary but provides extra error checking: Date,Details,Debit,Credit,Balance @@ -4454,13 +4468,13 @@ CSV 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 read- - ing directly from CSV, but they will be checked if these entries are + The balance assertions don't raise an error above, because we're read- + ing directly from CSV, but they will be checked if these entries are imported into a journal file. Coinbase - A simple example with some CSV from Coinbase. The spot price is - recorded using cost notation. The legacy amount field name conve- + A simple example with some CSV from Coinbase. The spot price is + recorded using cost notation. The legacy amount field name conve- niently sets amount 2 (posting 2's amount) to the total cost. # Timestamp,Transaction Type,Asset,Quantity Transacted,Spot Price Currency,Spot Price at Transaction,Subtotal,Total (inclusive of fees and/or spread),Fees and/or Spread,Notes @@ -4482,7 +4496,7 @@ CSV Amazon Here we convert amazon.com order history, and use an if block to gener- - ate a third posting if there's a fee. (In practice you'd probably get + ate 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" @@ -4534,7 +4548,7 @@ CSV expenses:fees $1.00 Paypal - Here's a real-world rules file for (customised) Paypal CSV, with some + 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" @@ -4683,13 +4697,13 @@ CSV expenses:banking:paypal $0.59 ; business: Timeclock - hledger can read time logs in the timeclock time logging format of - timeclock.el. As with Ledger, hledger's timeclock format is a sub- + hledger can read time logs in the timeclock time logging format of + timeclock.el. As with Ledger, hledger's timeclock format is a sub- set/variant of timeclock.el's. - hledger's timeclock format was updated in hledger 1.43 and 1.50. If - your old time logs are rejected, you should adapt them to modern - hledger; for now, you can restore the pre-1.43 behaviour with the + hledger's timeclock format was updated in hledger 1.43 and 1.50. If + your old time logs are rejected, you should adapt them to modern + hledger; for now, you can restore the pre-1.43 behaviour with the --old-timeclock flag. Here the timeclock format in hledger 1.50+: @@ -4708,18 +4722,18 @@ Timeclock i SIMPLEDATE HH:MM[:SS][+-ZZZZ] ACCOUNT[ DESCRIPTION][;COMMENT]] o SIMPLEDATE HH:MM[:SS][+-ZZZZ][ ACCOUNT][;COMMENT] - The date is a hledger simple date (YYYY-MM-DD or similar). The time - parts must use two digits. The seconds are optional. A + or - - four-digit time zone is accepted for compatibility, but currently ig- + The date is a hledger simple date (YYYY-MM-DD or similar). The time + parts must use two digits. The seconds are optional. A + or - + four-digit time zone is accepted for compatibility, but currently ig- nored; times are always interpreted as a local time. - In clock-in entries (i), the account name is required. A transaction + In clock-in entries (i), the account name is required. A transaction description, separated from the account name by 2+ spaces, is optional. - A transaction comment, beginning with ;, is also optional. (Indented + A transaction comment, beginning with ;, is also optional. (Indented following comment lines are also allowed, as in journal format.) In clock-out entries (o) have no description, but can have a comment if - you wish. A clock-in and clock-out pair form a "transaction" posting + you wish. A clock-in and clock-out pair form a "transaction" posting some number of hours to an account - also known as a session. Eg: i 2015/03/30 09:00:00 session1 @@ -4730,9 +4744,9 @@ Timeclock (session1) 1.00h Clock-ins and clock-outs are matched by their account/session name. If - a clock-out does not specify a name, the most recent unclosed clock-in - is closed. You can have multiple sessions active simultaneously. En- - tries are processed in the order they are parsed. Sessions spanning + a clock-out does not specify a name, the most recent unclosed clock-in + is closed. You can have multiple sessions active simultaneously. En- + tries are processed in the order they are parsed. Sessions spanning more than one day are automatically split at day boundaries. Eg, the following time log: @@ -4781,13 +4795,13 @@ Timeclock perhaps the extras in ledgerutils.el o 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 + rely on a "timeclock" executable which I think is just the ledger 2 executable renamed. Timedot - timedot format is hledger's human-friendly time logging format. Com- - pared to timeclock format, it is more convenient for quick, approxi- - mate, and retroactive time logging, and more human-readable (you can + timedot format is hledger's human-friendly time logging format. Com- + pared to timeclock format, it is more convenient for quick, approxi- + mate, and retroactive time logging, and more human-readable (you can see at a glance where time was spent). A quick example: 2023-05-01 @@ -4806,59 +4820,59 @@ Timedot (per:admin:finance) 0 A timedot file contains a series of transactions (usually one per day). - Each begins with a simple date (Y-M-D, Y/M/D, or Y.M.D), optionally be + Each begins with a simple date (Y-M-D, Y/M/D, or Y.M.D), optionally be followed on the same line by a transaction description, and/or a trans- action comment following a semicolon. After the date line are zero or more time postings, consisting of: - o An account name - any hledger-style account name, optionally in- + o An account name - any hledger-style account name, optionally in- dented. - o Two or more spaces - required if there is an amount (as in journal + o Two or more spaces - required if there is an amount (as in journal format). o A timedot amount, which can be o empty (representing zero) - o a number, optionally followed by a unit s, m, h, d, w, mo, or y, - representing a precise number of seconds, minutes, hours, days + o a number, optionally followed by a unit s, m, h, d, w, mo, or y, + representing a precise number of seconds, minutes, hours, days weeks, months or years (hours is assumed by default), which will be - converted to hours according to 60s = 1m, 60m = 1h, 24h = 1d, 7d = + converted to hours according to 60s = 1m, 60m = 1h, 24h = 1d, 7d = 1w, 30d = 1mo, 365d = 1y. - o one or more dots (period characters), each representing 0.25. - These are the dots in "timedot". Spaces are ignored and can be + o one or more dots (period characters), each representing 0.25. + These are the dots in "timedot". Spaces are ignored and can be used for grouping/alignment. - o Added in 1.32 one or more letters. These are like dots but they - also generate a tag t: (short for "type") with the letter as its - value, and a separate posting for each of the values. This pro- - vides a second dimension of categorisation, viewable in reports + o Added in 1.32 one or more letters. These are like dots but they + also generate a tag t: (short for "type") with the letter as its + value, and a separate posting for each of the values. This pro- + vides a second dimension of categorisation, viewable in reports with --pivot t. - o An optional comment following a semicolon (a hledger-style posting + o An optional comment following a semicolon (a hledger-style posting comment). - There is some flexibility to help with keeping time log data and notes + There is some flexibility to help with keeping time log data and notes in the same file: o Blank lines and lines beginning with # or ; are ignored. - o After the first date line, lines which do not contain a double space + o After the first date line, lines which do not contain a double space are parsed as postings with zero amount. (hledger's register reports will show these if you add -E). - o Before the first date line, lines beginning with * (eg org headings) - are ignored. And from the first date line onward, Emacs org mode + o Before the first date line, lines beginning with * (eg org headings) + are ignored. And from the first date line onward, Emacs org mode heading prefixes at the start of lines (one or more *'s followed by a - space) will be ignored. This means the time log can also be a org + space) will be ignored. This means the time log can also be a org outline. Timedot files don't support directives like journal files. So a common - pattern is to have a main journal file (eg time.journal) that contains - any needed directives, and then includes the timedot file (include + pattern is to have a main journal file (eg time.journal) that contains + any needed directives, and then includes the timedot file (include time.timedot). Timedot examples @@ -4966,21 +4980,21 @@ Timedot PART 3: REPORTING CONCEPTS Time periods Report start & end date - Most hledger reports will by default show the full time period repre- - sented by the journal. The report start date will be the earliest + Most hledger reports will by default show the full time period repre- + sented by the journal. 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 period, such as the current month. - You can specify a start and/or end date with the -b/--begin, -e/--end, - or -p/--period options, or a date: query argument, described below. + You can specify a start and/or end date with the -b/--begin, -e/--end, + or -p/--period options, or a date: query argument, described below. All of these accept the smart date syntax, also described below. End dates are exclusive; specify the day after the last day you want to see in the report. When dates are specified by multiple options, the last (right-most) op- - tion wins. And when date: queries and date options are combined, the + tion wins. And when date: queries and date options are combined, the report period will be their intersection. Examples: @@ -5008,18 +5022,18 @@ Time periods -b and -e) Smart dates - In hledger's user interfaces (though not in the journal file), you can - optionally use "smart date" syntax. Smart dates can be written with - english words, can be relative, and can have parts omitted. Missing - parts are inferred as 1, when needed. Smart dates can be interpreted + In hledger's user interfaces (though not in the journal file), you can + optionally use "smart date" syntax. Smart dates can be written with + english words, can be relative, and can have parts omitted. Missing + parts are inferred as 1, when needed. Smart dates can be interpreted as dates or periods depending on the context. Examples: 2004-01-01, 2004/10/1, 2004.9.1, 20240504, 2024Q1 : - Exact dates. The year must have at least four digits, the month must - be 1-12, the day must be 1-31, the separator can be - or / or . or - nothing. The q can be upper or lower case and the quarter number must + Exact dates. The year must have at least four digits, the month must + be 1-12, the day must be 1-31, the separator can be - or / or . or + nothing. The q can be upper or lower case and the quarter number must be 1-4. 2004-10 @@ -5056,7 +5070,7 @@ Time periods 201812 6 digit YYYYMM with valid year and month - Dates with no separators are allowed but might give surprising results + Dates with no separators are allowed but might give surprising results if mistyped: o 20181301 (YYYYMMDD with an invalid month) is parsed as an eight-digit @@ -5064,20 +5078,20 @@ Time periods o 20181232 (YYYYMMDD with an invalid day) gives a parse error - o 201801012 (a valid YYYYMMDD followed by additional digits) gives a + o 201801012 (a valid YYYYMMDD followed by additional digits) gives a parse error - The meaning of relative dates depends on today's date. If you need to - test or reproduce old reports, you can use the --today option to over- - ride that. (Except for periodic transaction rules, which are not af- + The meaning of relative dates depends on today's date. If you need to + test or reproduce old reports, you can use the --today option to over- + ride that. (Except for periodic transaction rules, which are not af- fected by --today.) Report intervals - A report interval can be specified so that reports like register, bal- + A report interval can be specified so that reports like register, bal- ance or activity become multi-period, showing each subperiod as a sepa- rate row or column. - The following standard intervals can be enabled with command-line + The following standard intervals can be enabled with command-line flags: o -D/--daily @@ -5090,7 +5104,7 @@ Time periods o -Y/--yearly - More complex intervals can be specified using -p/--period, described + More complex intervals can be specified using -p/--period, described below. Date adjustments @@ -5101,17 +5115,17 @@ Time periods For example, if the journal's first transaction is on january 10th, - o hledger register (no report interval) will start the report on janu- + o hledger register (no report interval) will start the report on janu- ary 10th. - o hledger register --monthly will start the report on the previous + o hledger register --monthly will start the report on the previous month boundary, january 1st. o hledger register --monthly --begin 1/5 will start the report on janu- ary 5th [1]. - Also if you are generating transactions or budget goals with periodic - transaction rules, their start date may be adjusted in a similar way + Also if you are generating transactions or budget goals with periodic + transaction rules, their start date may be adjusted in a similar way (in certain situations). End date adjustment @@ -5122,7 +5136,7 @@ Time periods o hledger register will end the report on february 20th. - o hledger register --monthly will end the report at the end of febru- + o hledger register --monthly will end the report at the end of febru- ary. o hledger register --monthly --end 2/14 also will end the report at the @@ -5134,40 +5148,40 @@ Time periods [1] Since hledger 1.29. Period headings - With non-standard subperiods, hledger will show "STARTDATE..ENDDATE" + With non-standard subperiods, hledger will show "STARTDATE..ENDDATE" headings. With standard subperiods (ie, starting on a natural interval - boundary), you'll see more compact headings, which are usually prefer- + boundary), you'll see more compact headings, which are usually prefer- able. (Though month names will be in english, currently.) - So if you are specifying a start date and you want compact headings: + So if you are specifying a start date and you want compact headings: choose a start of year for yearly reports, a start of quarter for quar- - terly reports, a start of month for monthly reports, etc. (Remember, - you can write eg -b 2024 or 1/1 as a shortcut for a start of year, or + terly reports, a start of month for monthly reports, etc. (Remember, + you can write eg -b 2024 or 1/1 as a shortcut for a start of year, or 2024-04 or 202404 or Apr for a start of month or quarter.) - For weekly reports, choose a date that's a Monday. (You can try dif- - ferent dates until you see the short headings, or write eg -b '3 weeks + For weekly reports, choose a date that's a Monday. (You can try dif- + ferent dates until you see the short headings, or write eg -b '3 weeks ago'.) Period expressions - The -p/--period option specifies a period expression, which is a com- + The -p/--period option specifies a period expression, which is a com- pact way of expressing a start date, end date, and/or report interval. - Here's a period expression with a start and end date (specifying the + Here's a period expression with a start and end date (specifying the first quarter of 2009): -p "from 2009/1/1 to 2009/4/1" - Several keywords like "from" and "to" are supported for readability; - these are optional. "to" can also be written as ".." or "-". The - spaces are also optional, as long as you don't run two dates together. + Several keywords like "from" and "to" are supported for readability; + these are optional. "to" can also be written as ".." or "-". The + spaces are also optional, as long as you don't run two dates together. So the following 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, these are also + Dates are smart dates, so if the current year is 2009, these are also equivalent to the above: -p "1/1 4/1" @@ -5179,28 +5193,28 @@ Time periods -p "from 2009/1/1" everything after january 1, 2009 - -p "since 2009/1" the same, since is a syn- + -p "since 2009/1" the same, since is a syn- onym -p "from 2009" the same - -p "to 2009" everything before january + -p "to 2009" everything before january 1, 2009 You can also specify a period by writing a single partial or full date: -p "2009" the year 2009; equivalent to "2009/1/1 to 2010/1/1" - -p "2009/1" the month of january 2009; equivalent to "2009/1/1 to + -p "2009/1" the month of january 2009; equivalent to "2009/1/1 to 2009/2/1" - -p "2009/1/1" the first day of 2009; equivalent to "2009/1/1 to + -p "2009/1/1" the first day of 2009; equivalent to "2009/1/1 to 2009/1/2" or by using the "Q" quarter-year syntax (case insensitive): - -p "2009Q1" first quarter of 2009, equivalent to "2009/1/1 to + -p "2009Q1" first quarter of 2009, equivalent to "2009/1/1 to 2009/4/1" -p "q4" fourth quarter of the current year Period expressions with a report interval - A period expression can also begin with a report interval, separated + A period expression can also begin with a report interval, separated from the start/end dates (if any) by a space or the word in: -p "weekly from 2009/1/1 to 2009/4/1" @@ -5223,15 +5237,15 @@ Time periods Weekly on a custom day: - o every Nth day of week (th, nd, rd, or st are all accepted after the + o every Nth day of week (th, nd, rd, or st are all accepted after the number) - o every WEEKDAYNAME (full or three-letter english weekday name, case + o every WEEKDAYNAME (full or three-letter english weekday name, case insensitive) Monthly on a custom day: - o every Nth day [of month] (31st day will be adjusted to each month's + o every Nth day [of month] (31st day will be adjusted to each month's last day) o every Nth WEEKDAYNAME [of month] @@ -5240,7 +5254,7 @@ Time periods o every MM/DD [of year] (month number and day of month number) - o every MONTHNAME DDth [of year] (full or three-letter english month + o every MONTHNAME DDth [of year] (full or three-letter english month name, case insensitive, and day of month number) o every DDth MONTHNAME [of year] (equivalent to the above) @@ -5253,21 +5267,21 @@ Time periods 2009/03" -p "every 2nd day of week" periods will go from Tue to Tue -p "every Tue" same - -p "every 15th day" period boundaries will be on 15th of each + -p "every 15th day" period boundaries will be on 15th of each month - -p "every 2nd Monday" period boundaries will be on second Monday + -p "every 2nd Monday" period boundaries will be on second Monday of each month - -p "every 11/05" yearly periods with boundaries on 5th of + -p "every 11/05" yearly periods with boundaries on 5th of November -p "every 5th November" same -p "every Nov 5th" same - Show historical balances at end of the 15th day of each month (N is an + 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 + 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" @@ -5278,10 +5292,10 @@ Time periods o every WEEKDAYNAME,WEEKDAYNAME,... (full or three-letter english week- day names, case insensitive) - Also, weekday and weekendday are shorthand for mon,tue,wed,thu,fri and + Also, weekday and weekendday are shorthand for mon,tue,wed,thu,fri and sat,sun. - This is mainly intended for use with --forecast, to generate periodic + This 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, which is unusual. (Related: #1632) @@ -5290,70 +5304,70 @@ Time periods -p "every dates will be Mon, Wed, Fri; periods will be mon,wed,fri" Mon-Tue, Wed-Thu, Fri-Sun - -p "every weekday" dates will be Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri; periods will + -p "every weekday" dates will be Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri; periods will be Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri-Sun -p "every weekend- dates will be Sat, Sun; periods will be Sat, Sun-Fri day" Depth - With the --depth NUM option (short form, usually preferred: -NUM), re- - ports will show accounts only to the specified depth, hiding deeper - subaccounts. Use this when you want a summary with less detail. This - flag has the same effect as a depth: query argument. So all of these + With the --depth NUM option (short form, usually preferred: -NUM), re- + ports will show accounts only to the specified depth, hiding deeper + subaccounts. Use this when you want a summary with less detail. This + flag has the same effect as a depth: query argument. So all of these are equivalent: depth:2, --depth=2, -2. - You can also provide custom depths for specific accounts, by providing - a REGEX=NUM argument instead of just NUM (since 1.41). For example, - --depth assets=2 (or depth:assets=2) will collapse accounts matching - the regular expression "assets" to depth 2. So assets:bank:savings - would be collapsed to assets:bank, but liabilities:bank:credit card + You can also provide custom depths for specific accounts, by providing + a REGEX=NUM argument instead of just NUM (since 1.41). For example, + --depth assets=2 (or depth:assets=2) will collapse accounts matching + the regular expression "assets" to depth 2. So assets:bank:savings + would be collapsed to assets:bank, but liabilities:bank:credit card would not be affected. - If REGEX contains spaces or other special characters, enclose it in + If REGEX contains spaces or other special characters, enclose it in quotes in the usual way. Eg: --depth 'credit card=2' Combining depth options If a command line contains multiple general depth options, the last one wins. (Useful for overriding a depth specified by scripts.) - Or a command may contain a combination of general and custom depth op- - tions. In this case, the most specifically (deepest) matching option + Or a command may contain a combination of general and custom depth op- + tions. In this case, the most specifically (deepest) matching option wins. Some examples: o --depth assets=3 --depth expenses=2 --depth 1 would collapse accounts - containing "assets" to depth 3, accounts containing "expenses" to + containing "assets" to depth 3, accounts containing "expenses" to depth 2, and all other accounts to depth 1. o --depth assets=1 --depth savings=2 would collapse assets:bank:savings - to depth 2 (not depth 1; because "savings" matches a deeper part of + to depth 2 (not depth 1; because "savings" matches a deeper part of the account name than "assets"). - Note currently, to override a custom depth option --depth REGEX=NUM + Note currently, to override a custom depth option --depth REGEX=NUM with a later option, the later option must use the same REGEX. Queries - Many hledger commands accept query arguments, which restrict their - scope and let you report on a precise subset of your data. Here's a + Many hledger commands accept query arguments, which restrict their + scope and let you report on a precise subset of your data. Here's a quick overview of hledger's queries: - o By default, a query argument is treated as a case-insensitive sub- + o By default, a query argument is treated as a case-insensitive sub- string pattern for matching account names. Eg: dining groceries car:fuel - o Patterns containing spaces or other special characters must be en- + o Patterns containing spaces or other special characters must be en- closed in single or double quotes: 'personal care' - o Patterns are actually regular expressions, so you can add regexp - metacharacters for more precision (or you may need to backslash-es- + o Patterns are actually regular expressions, so you can add regexp + metacharacters for more precision (or you may need to backslash-es- cape certain characters; see "Regular expressions" above): '^expenses\b' 'food$' 'fuel|repair' 'accounts (payable|receivable)' - o To match something other than the account name, you can add a query + o To match something other than the account name, you can add a query type prefix, such as: date:202312- @@ -5362,28 +5376,28 @@ Queries cur:USD cur:\\$ amt:'>0' - acct:groceries (but acct: is the default, so we usually don't bother + acct:groceries (but acct: is the default, so we usually don't bother writing it) o To negate a query, add a not: prefix: not:status:'*' not:desc:'opening|closing' not:cur:USD - o Multiple query terms can be combined, as space-separated queries Eg: - hledger print date:2022 desc:amazon desc:amzn (show transactions + o Multiple query terms can be combined, as space-separated queries Eg: + hledger print date:2022 desc:amazon desc:amzn (show transactions dated in 2022 whose description contains "amazon" or "amzn"). - o Or more flexibly as boolean queries. Eg: hledger print + o Or more flexibly as boolean queries. Eg: hledger print expr:'date:2022 and (desc:amazon or desc:amzn) and not date:202210' - All hledger commands use the same query language, but different com- - mands may interpret the query in different ways. We haven't described - the commands yet (that's coming in PART 4: COMMANDS below) but here's + All hledger commands use the same query language, but different com- + mands may interpret the query in different ways. We haven't described + the commands yet (that's coming in PART 4: COMMANDS below) but here's the gist of it: - o Transaction-oriented commands (print, aregister, close, import, de- + o Transaction-oriented commands (print, aregister, close, import, de- scriptions..) try to match transactions (including the transaction's postings). - o Posting-oriented commands (register, balance, balancesheet, incomes- + o Posting-oriented commands (register, balance, balancesheet, incomes- tatement, accounts..) try to match postings. Postings inherit their transaction's attributes for querying purposes, so transaction fields like date or description can still be referenced in a posting query. @@ -5396,20 +5410,20 @@ Queries acct: query acct:REGEX, or just REGEX - Match account names containing this case insensitive regular expres- + Match account names containing this case insensitive regular expres- sion. - This is the default query type, so we usually don't bother writing the + This is the default query type, so we usually don't bother writing the "acct:" prefix. amt: query 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.) amt: needs quotes to hide the less + 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.) amt: needs quotes to hide the less than/greater than sign from the command line shell. - 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 mag- + 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 mag- nitudes are compared, ignoring sign. Keep in mind that amt: matches posting amounts, not account balances. @@ -5422,10 +5436,10 @@ Queries cur:REGEX Match postings or transactions including any amounts whose cur- rency/commodity symbol is fully matched by REGEX. (Contrary to - hledger's usual infix matching. To do infix matching, write + hledger's usual infix matching. To do infix matching, write .*REGEX.*.) Note, to match special characters which are regex-signifi- - cant, you need to escape them with \. And for characters which are - significant to your shell you will usually need one more level of es- + cant, you need to escape them with \. And for characters which are + significant to your shell you will usually need one more level of es- caping. Eg to match the dollar sign: cur:\\$ or cur:'\$' desc: query @@ -5434,19 +5448,19 @@ Queries date: query date:PERIODEXPR - Match dates (or with the --date2 flag, secondary dates) within the + Match dates (or with the --date2 flag, secondary dates) within the specified period. PERIODEXPR is a period expression with no report in- terval. Examples: date:2016, date:thismonth, date:2/1-2/15, date:2021-07-27..nextquarter. date2: query date2:PERIODEXPR - If you use secondary dates: this matches secondary dates within the + If you use secondary dates: this matches secondary dates within the specified period. It is not affected by the --date2 flag. depth: query depth:[REGEXP=]N - Match (or display, depending on command) accounts at or above this + Match (or display, depending on command) accounts at or above this depth, optionally only for accounts matching a provided regular expres- sion. See Depth for detailed rules. @@ -5457,7 +5471,7 @@ Queries payee: query payee:REGEX - Match transaction payee/payer names (the part of the description left + Match transaction payee/payer names (the part of the description left of |, or the whole description if there's no |). real: query @@ -5470,18 +5484,18 @@ Queries type: query type:TYPECODES - Match by account type (see Declaring accounts > Account types). TYPE- - CODES is one or more of the single-letter account type codes ALERXCV, + Match by account type (see Declaring accounts > Account types). TYPE- + CODES is one or more of the single-letter account type codes ALERXCV, case insensitive. Note type:A and type:E will also match their respec- - tive subtypes C (Cash) and V (Conversion). Certain kinds of account - alias can disrupt account types, see Rewriting accounts > Aliases and + tive subtypes C (Cash) and V (Conversion). Certain kinds of account + alias can disrupt account types, see Rewriting accounts > Aliases and account types. tag: query tag:NAMEREGEX[=VALREGEX] Match by tag name, and optionally also by tag value. Note: - o Both regular expressions do infix matching. If you need a complete + o Both regular expressions do infix matching. If you need a complete match, use ^ and $. Eg: tag:'^fullname$', tag:'^fullname$=^fullvalue$ @@ -5499,11 +5513,11 @@ Queries not:QUERY You can prepend not: to a query to negate the match. Eg: not:equity, not:desc:apple - (Also, a trick: not:not:... can sometimes solve query problems conve- + (Also, a trick: not:not:... can sometimes solve query problems conve- niently.) Space-separated queries - When given multiple space-separated query terms, most commands select + When given multiple space-separated query terms, most commands select things which match: o any of the description terms AND @@ -5527,84 +5541,84 @@ Queries Boolean queries You can write more complicated "boolean" query expressions, enclosed in quotes and prefixed with expr:. These can combine subqueries with NOT, - AND, OR operators (case insensitive), and parentheses for grouping. + AND, OR operators (case insensitive), and parentheses for grouping. Eg, to show transactions involving both cash and expense accounts: hledger print expr:'cash AND expenses' - The prefix and enclosing quotes are required, so don't write hledger + The prefix and enclosing quotes are required, so don't write hledger print cash AND expenses. That would be a space-separated query showing - transactions involving accounts with any of "cash", "and", "expenses" + transactions involving accounts with any of "cash", "and", "expenses" in their names. - You can write space-separated queries inside a boolean query, and they - will combine as described above, but it might be confusing and best - avoided. Eg these are equivalent, showing transactions involving cash + You can write space-separated queries inside a boolean query, and they + will combine as described above, but it might be confusing and best + avoided. Eg these are equivalent, showing transactions involving cash or expenses accounts: hledger print expr:'cash expenses' hledger print cash expenses - There is a restriction with date: queries: they may not be used inside + There is a restriction with date: queries: they may not be used inside OR expressions. - Actually, there are three types of boolean query: expr: for general + Actually, there are three types of boolean query: expr: for general use, and any: and all: variants which can be useful with print. expr: query expr:'QUERYEXPR' - For example, expr:'date:lastmonth AND NOT (food OR rent)' means "match - things which are dated in the last month and do not have food or rent + For example, expr:'date:lastmonth AND NOT (food OR rent)' means "match + things which are dated in the last month and do not have food or rent in the account name". - When using expr: with transaction-oriented commands like print, post- - ing-oriented query terms like acct: and amt: are considered to match + When using expr: with transaction-oriented commands like print, post- + ing-oriented query terms like acct: and amt: are considered to match the transaction if they match any of its postings. - So, hledger print expr:'cash and amt:>0' means "show transactions with + So, hledger print expr:'cash and amt:>0' means "show transactions with (at least one posting involving a cash account) and (at least one post- ing with a positive amount)". any: query any:'QUERYEXPR' - Like expr:, but when used with transaction-oriented commands like - print, it matches the transaction only if a posting can be matched by + Like expr:, but when used with transaction-oriented commands like + print, it matches the transaction only if a posting can be matched by all of QUERYEXPR. - So, hledger print any:'cash and amt:>0' means "show transactions where + So, hledger print any:'cash and amt:>0' means "show transactions where at least one posting posts a positive amount to a cash account". all: query all:'QUERYEXPR' - Like expr:, but when used with transaction-oriented commands like - print, it matches the transaction only if all postings are matched by + Like expr:, but when used with transaction-oriented commands like + print, it matches the transaction only if all postings are matched by all of QUERYEXPR (and there is at least one posting). - So, hledger print all:'cash and amt:0' means "show transactions where + So, hledger print all:'cash and amt:0' means "show transactions where all postings involve a cash account and have a zero amount". Or, hledger print all:'cash or checking' means "show transactions which touch only cash and/or checking accounts". Queries and command options - Some queries can also be expressed as command-line options: depth:2 is + Some queries can also be expressed as command-line options: depth:2 is equivalent to --depth 2, date:2023 is equivalent to -p 2023, etc. When - you mix command options and query arguments, generally the resulting + you mix command options and query arguments, generally the resulting query is their intersection. Queries and account aliases - When account names are rewritten with --alias or alias, acct: will + When account names are rewritten with --alias or alias, acct: will match either the old or the new account name. Queries and valuation - When amounts are converted to other commodities in cost or value re- - ports, cur: and amt: match the old commodity symbol and the old amount + When amounts are converted to other commodities in cost or value re- + ports, cur: and amt: match the old commodity symbol and the old amount quantity, not the new ones. (Except in hledger 1.22, #1625.) Pivoting - Normally, hledger groups amounts and displays their totals by account - (name). With --pivot PIVOTEXPR, some other field's (or multiple - fields') value is used as a synthetic account name, causing different + Normally, hledger groups amounts and displays their totals by account + (name). With --pivot PIVOTEXPR, some other field's (or multiple + fields') value is used as a synthetic account name, causing different grouping and display. PIVOTEXPR can be - o any of these standard transaction or posting fields (their value is - substituted): status, code, desc, payee, note, acct, comm/cur, amt, + o any of these standard transaction or posting fields (their value is + substituted): status, code, desc, payee, note, acct, comm/cur, amt, cost o or a tag name @@ -5619,7 +5633,7 @@ Pivoting o When pivoting a posting that has multiple values for a tag, the tag's first value will be used as the pivoted value. - o When a posting has multiple commodities, the pivoted value of + o When a posting has multiple commodities, the pivoted value of "comm"/"cur" will be "". Also when an unrecognised tag name or field is provided, its pivoted value will be "". (If this causes confusing output, consider excluding those postings from the report.) @@ -5653,7 +5667,7 @@ Pivoting -------------------- -2 EUR - Another way (the acct: query matches against the pivoted "account + Another way (the acct: query matches against the pivoted "account name"): $ hledger balance --pivot member acct:. @@ -5669,78 +5683,78 @@ Pivoting -2 EUR Generating data - hledger can enrich the data provided to it, or generate new data, in a + hledger can enrich the data provided to it, or generate new data, in a number of ways. Mostly, this is done only if you request it: - o Missing amounts or missing costs in transactions are inferred auto- + o Missing amounts or missing costs in transactions are inferred auto- matically when possible. - o The --infer-equity flag infers missing conversion equity postings + o The --infer-equity flag infers missing conversion equity postings from @/@@ costs. - o The --infer-costs flag infers missing costs from conversion equity + o The --infer-costs flag infers missing costs from conversion equity postings. o The --infer-market-prices flag infers P price directives from costs. - o The --auto flag adds extra postings to transactions matched by auto + o The --auto flag adds extra postings to transactions matched by auto posting rules. - o The --forecast option generates transactions from periodic transac- + o The --forecast option generates transactions from periodic transac- tion rules. - o The balance --budget report infers budget goals from periodic trans- + o The balance --budget report infers budget goals from periodic trans- action rules. - o Commands like close, rewrite, and hledger-interest generate transac- + o Commands like close, rewrite, and hledger-interest generate transac- tions or postings. - o CSV data is converted to transactions by applying CSV conversion + o CSV data is converted to transactions by applying CSV conversion rules.. etc. - Such generated data is temporary, existing only at report time. You - can convert it to permanent recorded data by, eg, capturing the output - of hledger print and saving it in your journal file. This can some- + Such generated data is temporary, existing only at report time. You + can convert it to permanent recorded data by, eg, capturing the output + of hledger print and saving it in your journal file. This can some- times be useful as a data entry aid. - If you are curious what data is being generated and why, run hledger - print -x --verbose-tags. -x/--explicit shows inferred amounts and - --verbose-tags adds tags like generated-transaction (from periodic + If you are curious what data is being generated and why, run hledger + print -x --verbose-tags. -x/--explicit shows inferred amounts and + --verbose-tags adds tags like generated-transaction (from periodic rules) and generated-posting, modified (from auto posting rules). Sim- - ilar hidden tags (with an underscore prefix) are always present, also, - so you can always match such data with queries like tag:generated or + ilar hidden tags (with an underscore prefix) are always present, also, + so you can always match such data with queries like tag:generated or tag:modified. Forecasting - Forecasting, or speculative future reporting, can be useful for esti- + Forecasting, or speculative future reporting, can be useful for esti- mating future balances, or for exploring different future scenarios. The simplest and most flexible way to do it with hledger is to manually record a bunch of future-dated transactions. You could keep these in a - separate future.journal and include that with -f only when you want to + separate future.journal and include that with -f only when you want to see them. --forecast - There is another way: with the --forecast option, hledger can generate - temporary "forecast transactions" for reporting purposes, according to - periodic transaction rules defined in the journal. Each rule can gen- - erate multiple recurring transactions, so by changing one rule you can + There is another way: with the --forecast option, hledger can generate + temporary "forecast transactions" for reporting purposes, according to + periodic transaction rules defined in the journal. Each rule can gen- + erate multiple recurring transactions, so by changing one rule you can change many forecasted transactions. - Forecast transactions usually start after ordinary transactions end. + Forecast transactions usually start after ordinary transactions end. By default, they begin after your latest-dated ordinary transaction, or - today, whichever is later, and they end six months from today. (The + today, whichever is later, and they end six months from today. (The exact rules are a little more complicated, and are given below.) This is the "forecast period", which need not be the same as the report - period. You can override it - eg to forecast farther into the future, + period. You can override it - eg to forecast farther into the future, or to force forecast transactions to overlap your ordinary transactions - - by giving the --forecast option a period expression argument, like - --forecast=..2099 or --forecast=2023-02-15... Note that the = is re- + - by giving the --forecast option a period expression argument, like + --forecast=..2099 or --forecast=2023-02-15... Note that the = is re- quired. Inspecting forecast transactions - print is the best command for inspecting and troubleshooting forecast + print is the best command for inspecting and troubleshooting forecast transactions. Eg: ~ monthly from 2022-12-20 rent @@ -5774,7 +5788,7 @@ Forecasting expenses:rent $1000 Here there are no ordinary transactions, so the forecasted transactions - begin on the first occurrence after today's date. (You won't normally + begin on the first occurrence after today's date. (You won't normally use --today; it's just to make these examples reproducible.) Forecast reports @@ -5798,19 +5812,19 @@ Forecasting || $1000 $1000 $1000 $1000 $1000 Forecast tags - Forecast transactions generated by --forecast have a hidden tag, _gen- - erated-transaction. So if you ever need to match forecast transac- + Forecast transactions generated by --forecast have a hidden tag, _gen- + erated-transaction. So if you ever need to match forecast transac- tions, you could use tag:_generated-transaction (or just tag:generated) in a query. - For troubleshooting, you can add the --verbose-tags flag. Then, visi- + For troubleshooting, you can add the --verbose-tags flag. Then, visi- ble generated-transaction tags will be added also, so you can view them - with the print command. Their value indicates which periodic rule was + with the print command. Their value indicates which periodic rule was responsible. Forecast period, in detail Forecast start/end dates are chosen so as to do something useful by de- - fault in almost all situations, while also being flexible. Here are + fault in almost all situations, while also being flexible. Here are (with luck) the exact rules, to help with troubleshooting: The forecast period starts on: @@ -5842,7 +5856,7 @@ Forecasting o otherwise: 180 days (~6 months) from today. Forecast troubleshooting - When --forecast is not doing what you expect, one of these tips should + When --forecast is not doing what you expect, one of these tips should help: o Remember to use the --forecast option. @@ -5852,22 +5866,22 @@ Forecasting o Test with print --forecast. - o Check for typos or too-restrictive start/end dates in your periodic + o Check for typos or too-restrictive start/end dates in your periodic transaction rule. - o Leave at least 2 spaces between the rule's period expression and de- + o Leave at least 2 spaces between the rule's period expression and de- scription fields. - o Check for future-dated ordinary transactions suppressing forecasted + o Check for future-dated ordinary transactions suppressing forecasted transactions. o Try setting explicit report start and/or end dates with -b, -e, -p or date: - o Try adding the -E flag to encourage display of empty periods/zero + o Try adding the -E flag to encourage display of empty periods/zero transactions. - o Try setting explicit forecast start and/or end dates with --fore- + o Try setting explicit forecast start and/or end dates with --fore- cast=START..END o Consult Forecast period, in detail, above. @@ -5875,13 +5889,13 @@ Forecasting o Check inside the engine: add --debug=2 (eg). Budgeting - With the balance command's --budget report, each periodic transaction - rule generates recurring budget goals in specified accounts, and goals - and actual performance can be compared. See the balance command's doc + With the balance command's --budget report, each periodic transaction + rule generates recurring budget goals in specified accounts, and goals + and actual performance can be compared. See the balance command's doc below. - You can generate budget goals and forecast transactions at the same - time, from the same or different periodic transaction rules: hledger + You can generate budget goals and forecast transactions at the same + time, from the same or different periodic transaction rules: hledger bal -M --budget --forecast ... See also: Budgeting and Forecasting. @@ -5889,17 +5903,17 @@ Budgeting Amount formatting Commodity display style For the amounts in each commodity, hledger chooses a consistent display - style (symbol placement, decimal mark and digit group marks, number of + style (symbol placement, decimal mark and digit group marks, number of decimal digits) to use in most reports. This is inferred as follows: - First, if there's a D directive declaring a default commodity, that - commodity symbol and amount format is applied to all no-symbol amounts + First, if there's a D directive declaring a default commodity, that + commodity symbol and amount format is applied to all no-symbol amounts in the journal. - Then each commodity's display style is determined from its commodity - directive. We recommend always declaring commodities with commodity + Then each commodity's display style is determined from its commodity + directive. We recommend always declaring commodities with commodity directives, since they help ensure consistent display styles and preci- - sions, and bring other benefits such as error checking for commodity + sions, and bring other benefits such as error checking for commodity symbols. Here's an example: # Set display styles (and decimal marks, for parsing, if there is no decimal-mark directive) @@ -5909,9 +5923,9 @@ Amount formatting commodity INR 9,99,99,999.00 commodity 1 000 000.9455 - But for convenience, if a commodity directive is not present, hledger - infers a commodity's display styles from its amounts as they are writ- - ten in the journal (excluding cost amounts and amounts in periodic + But for convenience, if a commodity directive is not present, hledger + infers a commodity's display styles from its amounts as they are writ- + ten in the journal (excluding cost amounts and amounts in periodic transaction rules or auto posting rules). It uses o the symbol placement and decimal mark of the first amount seen @@ -5920,7 +5934,7 @@ Amount formatting o and the maximum number of decimal digits seen across all amounts. - And as fallback if no applicable amounts are found, it would use a de- + And as fallback if no applicable amounts are found, it would use a de- fault style, like $1000.00 (symbol on the left with no space, period as decimal mark, and two decimal digits). @@ -5929,16 +5943,16 @@ Amount formatting Rounding Amounts are stored internally as decimal numbers with up to 255 decimal - places. They are displayed with their original journal precisions by - print and print-like reports, and rounded to their display precision + places. They are displayed with their original journal precisions by + print and print-like reports, and rounded to their display precision (the number of decimal digits specified by the commodity display style) - by other reports. When rounding, hledger uses banker's rounding (it + by other reports. When rounding, hledger uses banker's rounding (it rounds to the nearest even digit). So eg 0.5 displayed with zero deci- mal digits appears as "0". Trailing decimal marks If you're wondering why your print report sometimes shows trailing dec- - imal marks, with no decimal digits; it does this when showing amounts + imal marks, with no decimal digits; it does this when showing amounts that have digit group marks but no decimal digits, to disambiguate them and allow them to be re-parsed reliably (see Decimal marks). Eg: @@ -5952,7 +5966,7 @@ Amount formatting (a) $1,000. If this is a problem (eg when exporting to Ledger), you can avoid it by - disabling digit group marks, eg with -c/--commodity (for each affected + disabling digit group marks, eg with -c/--commodity (for each affected commodity): $ hledger print -c '$1000.00' @@ -5969,19 +5983,19 @@ Amount formatting More generally, hledger output falls into three rough categories, which format amounts a little bit differently to suit different consumers: - 1. "hledger-readable output" - should be readable by hledger (and by + 1. "hledger-readable output" - should be readable by hledger (and by humans) - o This is produced by reports that show full journal entries: print, + o This is produced by reports that show full journal entries: print, import, close, rewrite etc. - o It shows amounts with their original journal precisions, which may + o It shows amounts with their original journal precisions, which may not be consistent from one amount to the next. - o It adds a trailing decimal mark when needed to avoid showing ambigu- + o It adds a trailing decimal mark when needed to avoid showing ambigu- ous amounts. - o It can be parsed reliably (by hledger and ledger2beancount at least, + o It can be parsed reliably (by hledger and ledger2beancount at least, but perhaps not by Ledger..) 2. "human-readable output" - usually for humans @@ -5993,13 +6007,13 @@ Amount formatting o It shows ambiguous amounts unmodified. - o It can be parsed reliably in the context of a known report (when you + o It can be parsed reliably in the context of a known report (when you know decimals are consistently not being shown, you can assume a sin- gle mark is a digit group mark). 3. "machine-readable output" - usually for other software - o This is produced by all reports when an output format like csv, tsv, + o This is produced by all reports when an output format like csv, tsv, json, or sql is selected. o It shows amounts as 1 or 2 do, but without digit group marks. @@ -6009,17 +6023,17 @@ Amount formatting Cost reporting In some transactions - for example a currency conversion, or a purchase - or sale of stock - one commodity is exchanged for another. In these - transactions there is a conversion rate, also called the cost (when - buying) or selling price (when selling). (In hledger docs we just say - "cost" generically for convenience.) With the -B/--cost flag, hledger + or sale of stock - one commodity is exchanged for another. In these + transactions there is a conversion rate, also called the cost (when + buying) or selling price (when selling). (In hledger docs we just say + "cost" generically for convenience.) With the -B/--cost flag, hledger can show amounts "at cost", converted to the cost's commodity. Recording costs - We'll explore several ways of recording transactions involving costs. + We'll explore several ways of recording transactions involving costs. These are also summarised at hledger Cookbook > Cost notation. - Costs can be recorded explicitly in the journal, using the @ UNITCOST + Costs can be recorded explicitly in the journal, using the @ UNITCOST or @@ TOTALCOST notation described in Journal > Costs: Variant 1 @@ -6034,11 +6048,11 @@ Cost reporting assets:dollars $-135 assets:euros 100 @@ $135 ; $135 total cost - Typically, writing the unit cost (variant 1) is preferable; it can be + Typically, writing the unit cost (variant 1) is preferable; it can be more effort, requiring more attention to decimal digits; but it reveals the per-unit cost basis, and makes stock sales easier. - Costs can also be left implicit, and hledger will infer the cost that + Costs can also be left implicit, and hledger will infer the cost that is consistent with a balanced transaction: Variant 3 @@ -6047,49 +6061,49 @@ Cost reporting assets:dollars $-135 assets:euros 100 - Here, hledger will attach a @@ 100 cost to the first amount (you can - see it with hledger print -x). This form looks convenient, but there + Here, hledger will attach a @@ 100 cost to the first amount (you can + see it with hledger print -x). This form looks convenient, but there are downsides: - o It sacrifices some error checking. For example, if you accidentally + o It sacrifices some error checking. For example, if you accidentally wrote 10 instead of 100, hledger would not be able to detect the mis- take. - o It is sensitive to the order of postings - if they were reversed, a + o It is sensitive to the order of postings - if they were reversed, a different entry would be inferred and reports would be different. o The per-unit cost basis is not easy to read. - So generally this kind of entry is not recommended. You can make sure + So generally this kind of entry is not recommended. You can make sure you have none of these by using -s (strict mode), or by running hledger check balanced. Reporting at cost - Now when you add the -B/--cost flag to reports ("B" is from Ledger's - -B/--basis/--cost flag), any amounts which have been annotated with - costs will be converted to their cost's commodity (in the report out- + Now when you add the -B/--cost flag to reports ("B" is from Ledger's + -B/--basis/--cost flag), any amounts which have been annotated with + costs will be converted to their cost's commodity (in the report out- put). Ie they will be displayed "at cost" or "at sale price". Some things to note: - o Costs are attached to specific posting amounts in specific transac- - tions, and once recorded they do not change. This contrasts with + o Costs are attached to specific posting amounts in specific transac- + tions, and once recorded they do not change. This contrasts with market prices, which are ambient and fluctuating. - o Conversion to cost is performed before conversion to market value + o Conversion to cost is performed before conversion to market value (described below). Equity conversion postings - There is a problem with the entries above - they are not conventional - Double Entry Bookkeeping (DEB) notation, and because of the "magical" - transformation of one commodity into another, they cause an imbalance + There is a problem with the entries above - they are not conventional + Double Entry Bookkeeping (DEB) notation, and because of the "magical" + transformation of one commodity into another, they cause an imbalance in the Accounting Equation. This shows up as a non-zero grand total in balance reports like hledger bse. - For most hledger users, this doesn't matter in practice and can safely + For most hledger users, this doesn't matter in practice and can safely be ignored ! But if you'd like to learn more, keep reading. - Conventional DEB uses an extra pair of equity postings to balance the + Conventional DEB uses an extra pair of equity postings to balance the transaction. Of course you can do this in hledger as well: Variant 4 @@ -6100,10 +6114,10 @@ Cost reporting equity:conversion $135 equity:conversion -100 - Now the transaction is perfectly balanced according to standard DEB, + Now the transaction is perfectly balanced according to standard DEB, and hledger bse's total will not be disrupted. - And, hledger can still infer the cost for cost reporting, but it's not + And, hledger can still infer the cost for cost reporting, but it's not done by default - you must add the --infer-costs flag like so: $ hledger print --infer-costs @@ -6125,14 +6139,14 @@ Cost reporting o Instead of -B you must remember to type -B --infer-costs. - o --infer-costs works only where hledger can identify the two eq- - uity:conversion postings and match them up with the two non-equity - postings. So writing the journal entry in a particular format be- + o --infer-costs works only where hledger can identify the two eq- + uity:conversion postings and match them up with the two non-equity + postings. So writing the journal entry in a particular format be- comes more important. More on this below. Inferring equity conversion postings Can we go in the other direction ? Yes, if you have transactions writ- - ten with the @/@@ cost notation, hledger can infer the missing equity + ten with the @/@@ cost notation, hledger can infer the missing equity postings, if you add the --infer-equity flag. Eg: 2022-01-01 @@ -6146,18 +6160,18 @@ Cost reporting equity:conversion:$-: -100 equity:conversion:$-:$ $135.00 - The equity account names will be "equity:conversion:A-B:A" and "eq- - uity:conversion:A-B:B" where A is the alphabetically first commodity + The equity account names will be "equity:conversion:A-B:A" and "eq- + uity:conversion:A-B:B" where A is the alphabetically first commodity symbol. You can customise the "equity:conversion" part by declaring an account with the V/Conversion account type. - Note you will need to add account declarations for these to your jour- + Note you will need to add account declarations for these to your jour- nal, if you use check accounts or check --strict. Combining costs and equity conversion postings Finally, you can use both the @/@@ cost notation and equity postings at - the same time. This in theory gives the best of all worlds - preserv- - ing the accounting equation, revealing the per-unit cost basis, and + the same time. This in theory gives the best of all worlds - preserv- + ing the accounting equation, revealing the per-unit cost basis, and providing more flexibility in how you write the entry: Variant 5 @@ -6168,15 +6182,15 @@ Cost reporting equity:conversion -100 assets:euros 100 @ $1.35 - All the other variants above can (usually) be rewritten to this final + All the other variants above can (usually) be rewritten to this final form with: $ hledger print -x --infer-costs --infer-equity Downsides: - o The precise format of the journal entry becomes more important. If - hledger can't detect and match up the cost and equity postings, it + o The precise format of the journal entry becomes more important. If + hledger can't detect and match up the cost and equity postings, it will give a transaction balancing error. o The add command does not yet accept this kind of entry (#2056). @@ -6184,34 +6198,34 @@ Cost reporting o This is the most verbose form. Requirements for detecting equity conversion postings - --infer-costs has certain requirements (unlike --infer-equity, which + --infer-costs has certain requirements (unlike --infer-equity, which always works). It will infer costs only in transactions with: - o Two non-equity postings, in different commodities. Their order is + o Two non-equity postings, in different commodities. Their order is significant: the cost will be added to the first of them. - o Two postings to equity conversion accounts, next to one another, + o Two postings to equity conversion accounts, next to one another, which balance the two non-equity postings. This balancing is checked - to the same precision (number of decimal places) used in the conver- + to the same precision (number of decimal places) used in the conver- sion posting's amount. Equity conversion accounts are: o any accounts declared with account type V/Conversion, or their sub- accounts - o otherwise, accounts named equity:conversion, equity:trade, or eq- + o otherwise, accounts named equity:conversion, equity:trade, or eq- uity:trading, or their subaccounts. - And multiple such four-posting groups can coexist within a single - transaction. When --infer-costs fails, it does not infer a cost in - that transaction, and does not raise an error (ie, it infers costs + And multiple such four-posting groups can coexist within a single + transaction. When --infer-costs fails, it does not infer a cost in + that transaction, and does not raise an error (ie, it infers costs where it can). - Reading variant 5 journal entries, combining cost notation and equity - postings, has all the same requirements. When reading such an entry + Reading variant 5 journal entries, combining cost notation and equity + postings, has all the same requirements. When reading such an entry fails, hledger raises an "unbalanced transaction" error. Infer cost and equity by default ? - Should --infer-costs and --infer-equity be enabled by default ? Try + Should --infer-costs and --infer-equity be enabled by default ? Try using them always, eg with a shell alias: alias h="hledger --infer-equity --infer-costs" @@ -6219,102 +6233,125 @@ Cost reporting and let us know what problems you find. Value reporting - hledger can also show amounts "at market value", converted to some - other commodity using the market price or conversion rate on a certain + hledger can also show amounts "at market value", converted to some + other commodity using the market price or conversion rate on a certain date. - This is controlled by the --value=TYPE[,COMMODITY] option. We also - provide simpler -V and -X COMMODITY aliases for this, which are often + This is controlled by the --value=TYPE[,COMMODITY] option. We also + provide simpler -V and -X COMMODITY aliases for this, which are often sufficient. The market prices are declared with a special P directive, and/or they can be inferred from the costs recorded in transactions, by using the --infer-market-prices flag. - -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. - -X: Value in specified commodity - The -X/--exchange=COMM option is like -V, except you tell it which cur- - rency you want to convert to, and it tries to convert everything to - that. + The -X COMM (or --exchange=COMM) option converts amounts to their mar- + ket value in the specified commodity, using the market prices in effect + on the valuation date(s), if any. (More on these in a minute.) + + Use this when you want to (eg) show everything in your base currency as + far as possible. (Commodities for which no conversion rate can be + found, will not be converted.) + + COMM should be the full commodity symbol or name. Remember to quote + special shell characters, if needed. Some examples: + + o -X + + o -X$ (nothing after $, no quoting needed) + + o -X CNY (the space after -X is optional) + + o -X 'red apples' + + o -X 'r&r' + + -V: Value in default commodity(s) + The -V/--market flag is a variant of -X where you don't have to specify + COMM. Instead it tries to guess a default valuation commodity for each + original commodity, based on the market prices in effect on the valua- + tion date(s). + + -V can often be a convenient shortcut for -X MYCURRENCY, but not al- + ways; depending on your data it could guess multiple valuation commodi- + ties. Usually you want to convert to a single commodity, so it's bet- + ter to use -X, unless you're sure -V is doing what you want. Valuation date - Market prices can change from day to day. hledger will use the prices - on a particular valuation date (or on more than one date). By default + Market prices can change from day to day. hledger will use the prices + on a particular valuation date (or on more than one date). By default hledger uses "end" dates for valuation. More specifically: - o For single period reports (including normal print and register re- + o For single period reports (including normal print and register re- ports): o If an explicit report end date is specified, that is used. - o Otherwise the latest transaction date or non-future P directive + o Otherwise the latest transaction date or non-future P directive date is used. o For multiperiod reports, each period is valued on its last day. - This can be customised with the --value option described below, which + This can be customised with the --value option described below, which can select either "then", "end", "now", or "custom" dates. Finding market price - To convert a commodity A to its market value in another commodity B, - hledger looks for a suitable market price (exchange rate) as follows, + 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 + 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 direc- tive, or (with the --infer-market-prices flag) inferred from costs. 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 com- + 3. A forward chain of market prices: a synthetic price formed by com- bining 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 + 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 + 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 con- + Amounts for which no suitable market price can be found, are not con- verted. --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 costs as additional market prices (as - Ledger does) ? Adding the --infer-market-prices flag to -V, -X or + chore, and since transactions usually take place at close to market + value, why not use the recorded costs as additional market prices (as + Ledger does) ? 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. If both occur on + So for example, hledger bs -V --infer-market-prices will get market + prices both from P directives and from transactions. If both occur on the same day, the P directive takes precedence. There is a downside: value reports can sometimes be affected in confus- - ing/undesired ways by your journal entries. If this happens to you, - read all of this Value reporting section carefully, and try adding + ing/undesired ways by your journal entries. If this happens to you, + read all of this Value reporting section carefully, and try adding --debug or --debug=2 to troubleshoot. --infer-market-prices can infer market prices from: o multicommodity transactions with explicit prices (@/@@) - o multicommodity transactions with implicit prices (no @, two commodi- - ties, unbalanced). (With these, the order of postings matters. + o multicommodity transactions with implicit prices (no @, two commodi- + ties, unbalanced). (With these, the order of postings matters. hledger print -x can be useful for troubleshooting.) o multicommodity transactions with equity postings, if cost is inferred with --infer-costs. - There is a limitation (bug) currently: when a valuation commodity is - not specified, prices inferred with --infer-market-prices do not help + There is a limitation (bug) currently: when a valuation commodity is + not specified, prices inferred with --infer-market-prices do not help select a default valuation commodity, as P prices would. So conversion might not happen because no valuation commodity was detected (--debug=2 will show this). To be safe, specify the valuation commmodity, eg: @@ -6324,8 +6361,8 @@ Value reporting o --value=then,EUR --infer-market-prices, not --value=then --infer-mar- ket-prices - Signed costs and market prices can be confusing. For reference, here - is the current behaviour, since hledger 1.25. (If you think it should + Signed costs and market prices can be confusing. For reference, here + is the current behaviour, since hledger 1.25. (If you think it should work differently, see #1870.) 2022-01-01 Positive Unit prices @@ -6355,7 +6392,7 @@ Value reporting b B -1 @@ A -1 All of the transactions above are considered balanced (and on each day, - the two transactions are considered equivalent). Here are the market + the two transactions are considered equivalent). Here are the market prices inferred for B: $ hledger -f- --infer-market-prices prices @@ -6368,34 +6405,34 @@ Value reporting 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 suit- + hledger will convert all amounts to COMM, wherever it can find a suit- able market price (including by reversing or chaining prices). - When you leave the valuation commodity unspecified (-V or --value + When you leave the valuation commodity unspecified (-V or --value TYPE): - For each commodity A, hledger picks a default valuation commodity as + 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 + 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 + 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: - o If you have P directives, they determine which commodities -V will + o If you have P directives, they determine which commodities -V will convert, and to what. - o If you have no P directives, and use the --infer-market-prices flag, + o If you have no P directives, and use the --infer-market-prices flag, costs determine it. - Amounts for which no valuation commodity can be found are not con- + Amounts for which no valuation commodity can be found are not con- verted. --value: Flexible valuation @@ -6412,26 +6449,26 @@ Value reporting The TYPE part selects cost or value and valuation date: --value=then - Convert amounts to their value in the default valuation commod- + Convert amounts to their value in the default valuation commod- ity, using market prices on each posting's date. --value=end - Convert amounts to their value in the default valuation commod- - ity, using market prices on the last day of the report period - (or if unspecified, the journal's end date); or in multiperiod + Convert amounts to their value in the default valuation commod- + ity, 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 commod- - ity using current market prices (as of when report is gener- + Convert amounts to their value in the default valuation commod- + ity using current market prices (as of when report is gener- ated). --value=YYYY-MM-DD - Convert amounts to their value in the default valuation commod- + Convert amounts to their value in the default valuation commod- ity 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. + 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. @@ -6459,13 +6496,13 @@ Value reporting $ 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, + 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 - Here are some examples showing the effect of --value, as seen with + Here are some examples showing the effect of --value, as seen with print: P 2000-01-01 A 1 B @@ -6503,7 +6540,7 @@ Value reporting 2000-02-01 (a) 2 B - With no report period specified, the latest transaction date or price + With no report period specified, the latest transaction date or price date is used as valuation date (2000-04-01): $ hledger -f- print --value=end @@ -6541,7 +6578,7 @@ Value reporting (a) 1 B Interaction of valuation and queries - When matching postings based on queries in the presence of valuation, + When matching postings based on queries in the presence of valuation, the following happens: 1. The query is separated into two parts: @@ -6555,14 +6592,14 @@ Value reporting 3. Valuation is applied to the postings. - 4. The postings are matched to the other parts of the query based on + 4. The postings are matched to the other parts of the query based on post-valued amounts. Related: #1625 Effect of valuation on reports - Here is a reference for how valuation is supposed to affect each part - of hledger's reports. It may be useful when troubleshooting. If you + Here is a reference for how valuation is supposed to affect each part + of hledger's reports. It may be useful when troubleshooting. If you find problems, please report them, ideally with a reproducible example. Related: #329, #1083. @@ -6570,29 +6607,29 @@ Value reporting cost calculated using price(s) recorded in the transaction(s). - value market value using available market price declarations, or the + 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 + 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, + 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 + 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, + 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 + a flag (-D/-W/-M/-Q/-Y) or period expression that activates the report's multi-period mode (whether showing one or many subperi- ods). @@ -6600,8 +6637,8 @@ Value reporting type --value=now -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- print - posting cost value at re- value at posting value at re- value at - amounts port end or date port or DATE/today + posting cost value at re- value at posting value at re- value at + amounts port end or date port or DATE/today today journal end balance unchanged unchanged unchanged unchanged unchanged asser- @@ -6617,7 +6654,7 @@ Value reporting (-H) with port or posting was made port or report journal journal interval start start - posting cost value at re- value at posting value at re- value at + posting cost value at re- value at posting value at re- value at amounts port or date port or DATE/today journal end journal end summary summarised value at pe- sum of postings value at pe- value at @@ -6633,8 +6670,8 @@ Value reporting balance (bs, bse, cf, is) - balance sums of value at re- value at posting value at re- value at - changes costs port end or date port or DATE/today of + balance sums of value at re- value at posting value at re- value at + changes costs port end or date port or DATE/today of today of journal end sums of post- sums of of sums of ings postings postings @@ -6642,7 +6679,7 @@ Value reporting amounts changes changes changes ances changes (--bud- get) - grand to- sum of dis- sum of dis- sum of displayed sum of dis- sum of dis- + grand to- sum of dis- sum of dis- sum of displayed sum of dis- sum of dis- tal played val- played val- valued played val- played values ues ues ues @@ -6668,7 +6705,7 @@ Value reporting end bal- sums of same as sums of values of period end value at ances costs of --value=end postings from be- balances, DATE/today of (bal -H, postings fore period start valued at sums of post- - is --H, from before to period end at period ends ings + is --H, from before to period end at period ends ings bs, cf) report start respective post- to period ing dates end @@ -6677,10 +6714,10 @@ Value reporting (--bud- balances balances ances balances get) row to- sums, aver- sums, aver- sums, averages of sums, aver- sums, aver- - tals, row ages of dis- ages of dis- displayed values ages of dis- ages of dis- + tals, row ages of dis- ages of dis- displayed values ages of dis- ages of dis- averages played val- played val- played val- played values (-T, -A) ues ues ues - column sums of dis- sums of dis- sums of displayed sums of dis- sums of dis- + column sums of dis- sums of dis- sums of displayed sums of dis- sums of dis- totals played val- played val- values played val- played values ues ues ues grand to- sum, average sum, average sum, average of sum, average sum, average @@ -6697,10 +6734,10 @@ PART 4: COMMANDS hledger. If you have installed more add-on commands, they also will be listed. - In the following command docs, each command's specific options are + In the following command docs, each command's specific options are shown. Most commands also support the general options described above, though some of them might have no effect. (Usually if there's a sensi- - ble way for a general option to affect a command, it will.) You can + ble way for a general option to affect a command, it will.) You can list all of a command's options by running hledger CMD -h. Help commands @@ -6755,7 +6792,7 @@ PART 4: COMMANDS o aregister (areg) - show transactions in a particular account - o register (reg) - show postings in one or more accounts & running to- + o register (reg) - show postings in one or more accounts & running to- tal o balancesheet (bs) - show assets, liabilities and net worth @@ -6808,16 +6845,16 @@ Help commands -s --speed=SPEED playback speed (1 is original speed, .5 is half, 2 is double, etc (default: 2)) - Run this command with no argument to list the demos. To play a demo, + Run this command with no argument to list the demos. To play a demo, write its number or a prefix or substring of its title. Tips: Make your terminal window large enough to see the demo clearly. - Use the -s/--speed SPEED option to set your preferred playback speed, + Use the -s/--speed SPEED option to set your preferred playback speed, eg -s4 to play at 4x original speed or -s.5 to play at half speed. The default speed is 2x. - During playback, several keys are available: SPACE to pause/unpause, . + During playback, several keys are available: SPACE to pause/unpause, . to step forward (while paused), CTRL-c quit. Examples: @@ -6829,7 +6866,7 @@ Help commands This command is experimental: there aren't many useful demos yet. help - Show the hledger user manual with info, man, or a pager. With a (case + Show the hledger user manual with info, man, or a pager. With a (case insensitive) TOPIC argument, try to open it at that section heading. Flags: @@ -6838,23 +6875,23 @@ Help commands -p show the manual with $PAGER or less (less is always used if TOPIC is specified) - This command shows the hledger manual built in to your hledger exe- - cutable. It can be useful when offline, or when you prefer the termi- + This command shows the hledger manual built in to your hledger exe- + cutable. It can be useful when offline, or when you prefer the termi- nal to a web browser, or when the appropriate hledger manual or viewers are not installed properly on your system. - By default it chooses the best viewer found in $PATH, trying in this - order: info, man, $PAGER, less, more, stdout. (If a TOPIC is speci- - fied, $PAGER and more are not tried.) You can force the use of info, - man, or a pager with the -i, -m, or -p flags. If no viewer can be - found, or if running non-interactively, it just prints the manual to + By default it chooses the best viewer found in $PATH, trying in this + order: info, man, $PAGER, less, more, stdout. (If a TOPIC is speci- + fied, $PAGER and more are not tried.) You can force the use of info, + man, or a pager with the -i, -m, or -p flags. If no viewer can be + found, or if running non-interactively, it just prints the manual to stdout. - When using info, TOPIC can match either the full heading or a prefix. + When using info, TOPIC can match either the full heading or a prefix. If your info --version is < 6, you'll need to upgrade it, eg with 'brew install texinfo' on mac. - When using man or less, TOPIC must match the full heading. For a pre- + When using man or less, TOPIC must match the full heading. For a pre- fix match, you can write 'TOPIC.*'. Examples @@ -6866,7 +6903,7 @@ Help commands User interface commands repl - Start an interactive prompt, where you can run any of hledger's com- + Start an interactive prompt, where you can run any of hledger's com- mands. Data files are parsed just once, so the commands run faster. Flags: @@ -6874,21 +6911,21 @@ User interface commands This command is experimental and could change in the future. - hledger repl starts a read-eval-print loop (REPL) where you can enter - commands interactively. As with the run command, each input file (or + hledger repl starts a read-eval-print loop (REPL) where you can enter + commands interactively. As with the run command, each input file (or each input file/input options combination) is parsed just once, so com- - mands will run more quickly than if you ran them individually at the + mands will run more quickly than if you ran them individually at the command line. Also like run, the input file(s) specified for the repl command will be - the default input for all interactive commands. You can override this - temporarily by specifying an -f option in particular commands. But - note that commands will not see any changes made to input files (eg by + the default input for all interactive commands. You can override this + temporarily by specifying an -f option in particular commands. But + note that commands will not see any changes made to input files (eg by add) until you exit and restart the REPL. The command syntax is the same as with run: - o enter one hledger command at a time, without the usual hledger first + o enter one hledger command at a time, without the usual hledger first word o empty lines and comment text from # to end of line are ignored @@ -6897,7 +6934,7 @@ User interface commands o type exit or quit or control-D to exit the REPL. - While it is running, the REPL remembers your command history, and you + While it is running, the REPL remembers your command history, and you can navigate in the usual ways: o Keypad or Emacs navigation keys to edit the current command line @@ -6908,9 +6945,9 @@ User interface commands o TAB to complete file paths. - Generally repl command lines should feel much like the normal hledger - CLI, but you may find differences. repl is a little stricter; eg it - requires full command names or official abbreviations (as seen in the + Generally repl command lines should feel much like the normal hledger + CLI, but you may find differences. repl is a little stricter; eg it + requires full command names or official abbreviations (as seen in the commands list). The commands and help commands, and the command help flags (CMD --tldr, @@ -6919,7 +6956,7 @@ User interface commands You can type control-C to cancel a long-running command (but only once; typing it a second time will exit the REPL). - And in most shells you can type control-Z to temporarily exit to the + And in most shells you can type control-Z to temporarily exit to the shell (and then fg to return to the REPL). Examples @@ -6949,8 +6986,8 @@ User interface commands ... run - Run a sequence of hledger commands, provided as files or command line - arguments. Data files are parsed just once, so the commands run + Run a sequence of hledger commands, provided as files or command line + arguments. Data files are parsed just once, so the commands run faster. Flags: @@ -6960,52 +6997,52 @@ User interface commands You can use run in three ways: - o hledger run -- CMD1 -- CMD2 -- CMD3 - read commands from the command + o hledger run -- CMD1 -- CMD2 -- CMD3 - read commands from the command line, separated by -- - o hledger run SCRIPTFILE1 SCRIPTFILE2 - read commands from one or more + o hledger run SCRIPTFILE1 SCRIPTFILE2 - read commands from one or more files o cat SCRIPTFILE1 | hledger run - read commands from standard input. run first loads the input file(s) specified by LEDGER_FILE or by -f op- tions, in the usual way. Then it runs each command in turn, each using - the same input data. But if you want a particular command to use dif- - ferent input, you can specify an -f option within that command. This + the same input data. But if you want a particular command to use dif- + ferent input, you can specify an -f option within that command. This will override (not add to) the default input, just for that command. Each input file (more precisely, each combination of input file and in- - put options) is parsed only once. This means that commands will not - see any changes made to these files, until the next run. But the com- - mands will run more quickly than if run individually (typically about + put options) is parsed only once. This means that commands will not + see any changes made to these files, until the next run. But the com- + mands will run more quickly than if run individually (typically about twice as fast). Command scripts, whether in a file or written on the command line, have a simple syntax: - o each line may contain a single hledger command and its arguments, + o each line may contain a single hledger command and its arguments, without the usual hledger first word o empty lines are ignored o text from # to end of line is a comment, and ignored - o you can use single or double quotes to quote arguments when needed, + o you can use single or double quotes to quote arguments when needed, as on the command line - o these extra commands are available: echo TEXT prints some text, and + o these extra commands are available: echo TEXT prints some text, and exit or quit ends the run. - On unix systems you can use #!/usr/bin/env hledger run in the first - line of a command file to make it a runnable script. If that gives an + On unix systems you can use #!/usr/bin/env hledger run in the first + line of a command file to make it a runnable script. If that gives an error, use #!/usr/bin/env -S hledger run. It's ok to use the run command recursively within a command script. - You may find some differences in behaviour between run command lines - and normal hledger command lines. run is a little stricter; eg it re- - quires full command names or official abbreviations (as seen in the - commands list), and command options must be written after the command + You may find some differences in behaviour between run command lines + and normal hledger command lines. run is a little stricter; eg it re- + quires full command names or official abbreviations (as seen in the + commands list), and command options must be written after the command name. Examples @@ -7013,8 +7050,8 @@ User interface commands hledger -f some.journal run -- balance assets --depth 2 -- balance liabilities -f /some/other.journal --depth 3 --transpose -- stats - This would load some.journal, run balance assets --depth 2 on it, then - run balance liabilities --depth 3 --transpose on /some/other.journal, + This would load some.journal, run balance assets --depth 2 on it, then + run balance liabilities --depth 3 --transpose on /some/other.journal, and finally run stats on some.journal Run commands from standard input: @@ -7056,30 +7093,30 @@ Data entry commands Flags: --no-new-accounts don't allow creating new accounts - 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 trans- - actions, and appends them to the main journal file (which should be in - journal format). Existing transactions are not changed. This is one - of the few hledger commands that writes to the journal file (see also + 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 trans- + actions, and appends them to the main journal file (which should be in + journal format). Existing transactions are not changed. This is one + of the few hledger commands that writes to the journal file (see also import). 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 + many transactions as you like; when you are finished, enter . or press control-d or control-c to exit. Features: - o add tries to provide useful defaults, using the most similar (by de- - scription) recent transaction (filtered by the query, if any) as a + o add tries to provide useful defaults, using the most similar (by de- + scription) recent transaction (filtered by the query, if any) as a template. o You can also set the initial defaults with command line arguments. o Readline-style edit keys can be used during data entry. - o The tab key will auto-complete whenever possible - accounts, pay- - ees/descriptions, dates (yesterday, today, tomorrow). If the input + o The tab key will auto-complete whenever possible - accounts, pay- + ees/descriptions, dates (yesterday, today, tomorrow). If the input area is empty, it will insert the default value. o A parenthesised transaction code may be entered following a date. @@ -7088,18 +7125,18 @@ Data entry commands o If you make a mistake, enter < at any prompt to go one step backward. - o Input prompts are displayed in a different colour when the terminal + o Input prompts are displayed in a different colour when the terminal supports it. Notes: o If you enter a number with no commodity symbol, and you have declared - a default commodity with a D directive, you might expect add to add - this symbol for you. It does not do this; we assume that if you are - using a D directive you prefer not to see the commodity symbol re- + a default commodity with a D directive, you might expect add to add + this symbol for you. It does not do this; we assume that if you are + using a D directive you prefer not to see the commodity symbol re- peated on amounts in the journal. - o add creates entries in journal format; it won't work with timeclock + o add creates entries in journal format; it won't work with timeclock or timedot files. Examples: @@ -7120,26 +7157,24 @@ Data entry commands There is a detailed tutorial at https://hledger.org/add.html. add and balance assertions - Since hledger 1.43, whenever you enter a posting amount, add will - re-check all balance assertions in the journal, and if any of them - fail, it will report the problem and ask for the amount again. + Since hledger 1.43, you can add a balance assertion by writing AMOUNT = + BALANCE when asked for an amount. Eg 100 = 500. - You can also add a new balance assertion, following the amount as in - journal format. - - The new transaction's date, and the new posting's posting date if any - (entered in a comment following the amount), will influence assertion - checking. - - You can use -I/--ignore-assertions to disable assertion checking tem- - porarily. + Also, each time you enter a new amount, hledger re-checks all balance + assertions in the journal and rejects the new amount if it would make + any of them fail. You can run add with -I/--ignore-assertions to dis- + able balance assertion checking. add and balance assignments - Balance assignments are not recalculated during a hledger add session. - When add runs, it sees the journal with all balance assignments already - processed and converted to assertions. So if you add a new posting - which is dated earlier than a balance assignment, it will break the as- - sertion and be rejected. You can make it work by using hledger add -I. + Since hledger 1.51, you can add a balance assignment by writing = BAL- + ANCE (or ==, =* etc) when asked for an amount. The missing amount will + be calculated automatically. + + add normally won't let you add a new posting which is dated earlier + than an existing balance assignment. (Because when add runs, existing + balance assignments have already been calculated and converted to + amounts and balance assertions.) You can allow it by disabling balance + assertion checking with -I. import Import new transactions from one or more data files to the main jour- @@ -7788,6 +7823,10 @@ Standard report commands o --infer-costs or --infer-equity can generate too-complex redundant costs. + o Because print always shows transactions in date order, balance asser- + tions involving non-date-ordered transactions (and same-day postings) + could be disrupted. + print, other features With -B/--cost, amounts with costs are shown converted to cost. @@ -7912,56 +7951,59 @@ Standard report commands 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 areg- - ister for reviewing and reconciling real-world asset/liability accounts - - use register for reviewing detailed revenues/expenses. + necessarily in historical mode). As a quick rule of thumb: - Note this command's non-standard, and required, first argument; it - specifies the account whose register will be shown. You can write the - account's name, or (to save typing) a case-insensitive infix regular - expression matching the name, which selects the alphabetically first - matched account. (For example, if you have assets:personal checking - and assets:business checking, hledger areg checking would select as- + o aregister is best when reconciling real-world asset/liability ac- + counts + + o register is best when reviewing individual revenues/expenses. + + Note this command's non-standard, and required, first argument; it + specifies the account whose register will be shown. You can write the + account's name, or (to save typing) a case-insensitive infix regular + expression matching the name, which selects the alphabetically first + matched account. (For example, if you have assets:personal checking + and assets:business checking, hledger areg checking would select as- sets:business checking.) - Transactions involving subaccounts of this account will also be shown. - aregister ignores depth limits, so its final total will always match a + Transactions involving subaccounts of this account will also be shown. + aregister ignores depth limits, so its final total will always match a historical balance report with similar arguments. Any additional arguments are standard query arguments, which will limit - the transactions shown. Note some queries will disturb the running - balance, causing it to be different from the account's real-world run- + the transactions shown. Note some queries will disturb the running + balance, causing it to be different from the account's real-world run- ning balance. - An example: this shows the transactions and historical 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: - o the transaction's date (or the relevant posting's date if different, + o the transaction's date (or the relevant posting's date if different, see below) - o the names of all the other account(s) involved in this transaction + o the names of all the other account(s) involved in this transaction (probably abbreviated) o the total change to this account's balance from this transaction o the account's historical running balance after this transaction. - Transactions making a net change of zero are not shown by default; add + Transactions making a net change of zero are not shown by default; add the -E/--empty flag to show them. - For performance reasons, column widths are chosen based on the first - 1000 lines; this means unusually wide values in later lines can cause - visual discontinuities as column widths are adjusted. If you want to - ensure perfect alignment, at the cost of more time and memory, use the + For performance reasons, column widths are chosen based on the first + 1000 lines; this means unusually wide values in later lines can cause + visual discontinuities as column widths are adjusted. If you want to + ensure perfect alignment, at the cost of more time and memory, use the --align-all flag. - By default, aregister shows a heading above the data. However, when - reporting in a language different from English, it is easier to omit - this heading and prepend your own one. For this purpose, use the + By default, aregister shows a heading above the data. However, when + reporting in a language different from English, it is easier to omit + this heading and prepend your own one. For this purpose, use the --heading=no option. This command also supports the output destination and output format op- @@ -7969,13 +8011,13 @@ Standard report commands html, fods (Added in 1.41) and json. aregister and posting dates - aregister always shows one line (and date and amount) per transaction. - But sometimes transactions have postings with different dates. Also, - not all of a transaction's postings may be within the report period. + aregister always shows one line (and date and amount) per transaction. + But sometimes transactions have postings with different dates. Also, + not all of a transaction's postings may be within the report period. To resolve this, aregister shows the earliest of the transaction's date and posting dates that is in-period, and the sum of the in-period post- - ings. In other words it will show a combined line item with just the - earliest date, and the running balance will (temporarily, until the + ings. In other words it will show a combined line item with just the + earliest date, and the running balance will (temporarily, until the transaction's last posting) be inaccurate. Use register -H if you need to see the individual postings. @@ -8015,14 +8057,14 @@ Standard report commands one of the above formats selects that format. 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 + 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 + It is typically used with a query selecting a particular account, to see that account's activity: $ hledger register checking @@ -8033,14 +8075,14 @@ Standard report commands With --date2, it shows and sorts by secondary date instead. - For performance reasons, column widths are chosen based on the first - 1000 lines; this means unusually wide values in later lines can cause - visual discontinuities as column widths are adjusted. If you want to - ensure perfect alignment, at the cost of more time and memory, use the + For performance reasons, column widths are chosen based on the first + 1000 lines; this means unusually wide values in later lines can cause + visual discontinuities as column widths are adjusted. If you want to + ensure perfect alignment, at the cost of more time and memory, use the --align-all flag. - The --historical/-H flag adds the balance from any undisplayed prior - postings to the running total. This is useful when you want to see + 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 @@ -8050,25 +8092,25 @@ Standard report commands The --depth option limits the amount of sub-account detail displayed. - The --average/-A flag shows the running average posting amount instead + 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 ac- + the whole report period). This flag implies --empty (see below). It + is affected by --historical. It works best when showing just one ac- count and one commodity. - The --related/-r flag shows the other postings in the transactions of + 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 + The --invert flag negates all amounts. For example, it can be used on an income account where amounts are normally displayed as negative num- - bers. It's also useful to show postings on the checking account to- + bers. It's also useful to show postings on the checking account to- gether with the related account: - The --sort=FIELDS flag sorts by the fields given, which can be any of + The --sort=FIELDS flag sorts by the fields given, which can be any of account, amount, absamount, date, or desc/description, optionally sepa- - rated by commas. For example, --sort account,amount will group all + rated by commas. For example, --sort account,amount will group all transactions in each account, sorted by transaction amount. Each field - can be negated by a preceding -, so --sort -amount will show transac- + can be negated by a preceding -, so --sort -amount will show transac- tions ordered from smallest amount to largest amount. $ hledger register --related --invert assets:checking @@ -8080,7 +8122,7 @@ Standard report commands 2008/01 income:salary $-1 $-1 2008/06 income:gifts $-1 $-2 - Periods with no activity, and summary postings with a zero amount, are + 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 @@ -8097,7 +8139,7 @@ Standard report commands 2008/11 0 $-2 2008/12 0 $-2 - Often, you'll want to see just one line per interval. The --depth op- + Often, you'll want to see just one line per interval. The --depth op- tion helps with this, causing subaccounts to be aggregated: $ hledger register --monthly assets --depth 1 @@ -8105,21 +8147,21 @@ Standard report commands 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 in- - tervals. This ensures that the first and last intervals are full + Note when using report intervals, if you specify start/end dates these + will be adjusted outward if necessary to contain a whole number of in- + tervals. This ensures that the first and last intervals are full length and comparable to the others in the report. - With -m DESC/--match=DESC, register does a fuzzy search for one recent + With -m DESC/--match=DESC, register does a fuzzy search for one recent posting whose description is most similar to DESC. DESC should contain at least two characters. If there is no similar-enough match, no post- ing will be shown and the program exit code will be non-zero. Custom register output - register normally uses the full terminal width (or 80 columns if it + register normally uses the full terminal width (or 80 columns if it can't detect that). You can override this with the --width/-w option. - The description and account columns normally share the space equally + The description and account columns normally share the space equally (about half of (width - 40) each). You can adjust this by adding a de- scription width as part of --width's argument, comma-separated: --width W,D . Here's a diagram (won't display correctly in --help): @@ -8135,14 +8177,14 @@ Standard report commands $ hledger reg -w 100,40 # set overall width 100, description width 40 This command also supports the output destination and output format op- - tions The output formats supported are txt, csv, tsv (Added in 1.32), + tions The output formats supported are txt, csv, tsv (Added in 1.32), and json. balancesheet (bs) - Show the end balances in asset and liability accounts. Amounts are - shown with normal positive sign, as in conventional financial state- + Show the end balances in asset and liability accounts. Amounts are + shown with normal positive sign, as in conventional financial state- ments. Flags: @@ -8193,13 +8235,13 @@ Standard report commands -o --output-file=FILE write output to FILE. A file extension matching one of the above formats selects that format. - This command displays a balance sheet, showing historical ending bal- + This command displays a balance sheet, showing historical ending bal- ances of asset and liability accounts. (To see equity as well, use the balancesheetequity command.) Accounts declared with the Asset, Cash or Liability type are shown (see - account types). Or if no such accounts are declared, it shows - top-level accounts named asset or liability (case insensitive, plurals + account types). Or if no such accounts are declared, it shows + top-level accounts named asset or liability (case insensitive, plurals allowed) and their subaccounts. Example: @@ -8225,20 +8267,20 @@ Standard report commands Net: || 0 This command is a higher-level variant of the balance command, and sup- - ports 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 + ports 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 op- - tions The output formats supported are txt, csv, tsv (Added in 1.32), + tions The output formats supported are txt, csv, tsv (Added in 1.32), html, and json. balancesheetequity (bse) - This command displays a balance sheet, showing historical ending bal- - ances of asset, liability and equity accounts. Amounts are shown with + This command displays a balance sheet, showing historical ending bal- + ances of asset, liability and equity accounts. Amounts are shown with normal positive sign, as in conventional financial statements. Flags: @@ -8289,9 +8331,9 @@ Standard report commands -o --output-file=FILE write output to FILE. A file extension matching one of the above formats selects that format. - This report shows accounts declared with the Asset, Cash, Liability or - Equity type (see account types). Or if no such accounts are declared, - it shows top-level accounts named asset, liability or equity (case in- + This report shows accounts declared with the Asset, Cash, Liability or + Equity type (see account types). Or if no such accounts are declared, + it shows top-level accounts named asset, liability or equity (case in- sensitive, plurals allowed) and their subaccounts. Example: @@ -8322,14 +8364,14 @@ Standard report commands Net: || 0 This command is a higher-level variant of the balance command, and sup- - ports many of that command's features, such as multi-period reports. + ports 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 + smarter account detection, and liabilities/equity displayed with their sign flipped. This report is the easiest way to see if the accounting equation (A+L+E - = 0) is satisfied (after you have done a close --retain to merge rev- - enues and expenses with equity, and perhaps added --infer-equity to + = 0) is satisfied (after you have done a close --retain to merge rev- + enues and expenses with equity, and perhaps added --infer-equity to balance your commodity conversions). This command also supports the output destination and output format op- @@ -8338,9 +8380,9 @@ Standard report commands cashflow (cf) - This command displays a (simple) cashflow statement, showing the in- - flows and outflows affecting "cash" (ie, liquid, easily convertible) - assets. Amounts are shown with normal positive sign, as in conven- + This command displays a (simple) cashflow statement, showing the in- + flows and outflows affecting "cash" (ie, liquid, easily convertible) + assets. Amounts are shown with normal positive sign, as in conven- tional financial statements. Flags: @@ -8392,10 +8434,10 @@ Standard report commands -o --output-file=FILE write output to FILE. A file extension matching one of the above formats selects that format. - This report shows accounts declared with the Cash type (see account + This report shows accounts declared with the Cash type (see account types). Or if no such accounts are declared, it shows accounts - o under a top-level account named asset (case insensitive, plural al- + o under a top-level account named asset (case insensitive, plural al- lowed) o whose name contains some variation of cash, bank, checking or saving. @@ -8422,19 +8464,19 @@ Standard report commands || $-1 This command is a higher-level variant of the balance command, and sup- - ports many of that command's features, such as multi-period reports. - It is similar to hledger balance assets not:fixed not:investment + ports 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 op- - tions The output formats supported are txt, csv, tsv (Added in 1.32), + tions The output formats supported are txt, csv, tsv (Added in 1.32), html, and json. incomestatement (is) - Show revenue inflows and expense outflows during the report period. - Amounts are shown with normal positive sign, as in conventional finan- + Show revenue inflows and expense outflows during the report period. + Amounts are shown with normal positive sign, as in conventional finan- cial statements. Flags: @@ -8486,12 +8528,12 @@ Standard report commands -o --output-file=FILE write output to FILE. A file extension matching one of the above formats selects that format. - This command displays an income statement, showing revenues and ex- + This command displays an income statement, showing revenues and ex- penses during one or more periods. - It shows accounts declared with the Revenue or Expense type (see ac- - count types). Or if no such accounts are declared, it shows top-level - accounts named revenue or income or expense (case insensitive, plurals + It shows accounts declared with the Revenue or Expense type (see ac- + count types). Or if no such accounts are declared, it shows top-level + accounts named revenue or income or expense (case insensitive, plurals allowed) and their subaccounts. Example: @@ -8518,20 +8560,20 @@ Standard report commands Net: || 0 This command is a higher-level variant of the balance command, and sup- - ports many of that command's features, such as multi-period reports. + ports 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 + smarter account detection, and revenues/income displayed with their sign flipped. This command also supports the output destination and output format op- - tions The output formats supported are txt, csv, tsv (Added in 1.32), + tions The output formats supported are txt, csv, tsv (Added in 1.32), html, and json. Advanced report commands balance (bal) - A flexible, general purpose "summing" report that shows accounts with + A flexible, general purpose "summing" report that shows accounts with some kind of numeric data. This can be balance changes per period, end balances, budget performance, unrealised capital gains, etc. @@ -8598,19 +8640,19 @@ Advanced report commands -o --output-file=FILE write output to FILE. A file extension matching one of the above formats selects that format. - balance is one of hledger's oldest and most versatile commands, for - listing account balances, balance changes, values, value changes and + 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 variants of the balance command with convenient de- - faults, which are simpler to use: balancesheet, balancesheetequity, - cashflow and incomestatement. When you need more control, then use + faults, which are simpler to use: balancesheet, balancesheetequity, + cashflow and incomestatement. When you need more control, then use balance. 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 + Here's a quick overview of the balance command's features, followed by + more detailed descriptions and examples. Many of these work with the other balance-like commands as well (bs, cf, is..). balance can show.. @@ -8665,7 +8707,7 @@ Advanced report commands ..with.. - o totals (-T), averages (-A), percentages (-%), inverted sign (--in- + o totals (-T), averages (-A), percentages (-%), inverted sign (--in- vert) o rows and columns swapped (--transpose) @@ -8678,20 +8720,20 @@ Advanced report commands This command supports the output destination and output format options, with output formats txt, csv, tsv (Added in 1.32), json, and (multi-pe- - riod reports only:) html, fods (Added in 1.40). In txt output in a + riod reports only:) html, fods (Added in 1.40). In txt output in a colour-supporting terminal, negative amounts are shown in red. 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. ("Simple" here - means just one column of numbers, covering a single period. You can + 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. ("Simple" here + means just one column of numbers, covering a single period. You can also have multi-period reports, described later.) - For real-world accounts, these numbers will normally be their end bal- + For real-world accounts, these numbers will normally be their end bal- ance at the end of the journal period; more on this below. - Accounts are sorted by declaration order if any, and then alphabeti- + Accounts are sorted by declaration order if any, and then alphabeti- cally by account name. For instance (using examples/sample.journal): $ hledger -f examples/sample.journal bal @@ -8706,7 +8748,7 @@ Advanced report commands 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 (re- + - see below) are hidden by default. Use -E/--empty to show them (re- vealing assets:bank:checking here): $ hledger -f examples/sample.journal bal -E @@ -8721,12 +8763,12 @@ Advanced report commands -------------------- 0 - The total of the amounts displayed is shown as the last line, unless + The total of the amounts displayed is shown as the last line, unless -N/--no-total is used. Balance report line format For single-period balance reports displayed in the terminal (only), you - can use --format FMT to customise the format and content of each line. + 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)" @@ -8743,7 +8785,7 @@ Advanced report commands --------------------------------- 0 - The FMT format string specifies the formatting applied to each ac- + The FMT format string specifies the formatting applied to each ac- count/balance pair. It may contain any suitable text, with data fields interpolated like so: @@ -8755,14 +8797,14 @@ Advanced report commands o FIELDNAME must be enclosed in parentheses, and can be one of: - o depth_spacer - a number of spaces equal to the account's depth, or + o depth_spacer - a number of spaces equal to the account's depth, or if MIN is specified, MIN * depth spaces. o account - the account's name o total - the account's balance/posted total, right justified - Also, FMT can begin with an optional prefix to control how multi-com- + Also, FMT can begin with an optional prefix to control how multi-com- modity amounts are rendered: o %_ - render on multiple lines, bottom-aligned (the default) @@ -8772,25 +8814,25 @@ Advanced report commands o %, - render on one line, comma-separated There are some quirks. Eg in one-line mode, %(depth_spacer) has no ef- - fect, instead %(account) has indentation built in. Experimentation + fect, instead %(account) has indentation built in. Experimentation may be needed to get pleasing results. Some example formats: o %(total) - the account's total - o %-20.20(account) - the account's name, left justified, padded to 20 + o %-20.20(account) - the account's name, left justified, padded to 20 characters and clipped at 20 characters - o %,%-50(account) %25(total) - account name padded to 50 characters, - total padded to 20 characters, with multiple commodities rendered on + o %,%-50(account) %25(total) - account name padded to 50 characters, + total padded to 20 characters, with multiple commodities rendered on one line - o %20(total) %2(depth_spacer)%-(account) - the default format for the + o %20(total) %2(depth_spacer)%-(account) - the default format for the single-column balance report Filtered balance report - You can show fewer accounts, a different time period, totals from + 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: @@ -8800,10 +8842,10 @@ Advanced report commands $-2 List or tree mode - By default, or with -l/--flat, accounts are shown as a flat list with + 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' + With -t/--tree, the account hierarchy is shown, with subaccounts' "leaf" names indented below their parent: $ hledger -f examples/sample.journal balance @@ -8823,26 +8865,26 @@ Advanced report commands Notes: o "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 + output, unless --no-elide is used. Boring accounts have no balance + of their own and just one subaccount (eg assets:bank and liabilities above). - o All balances shown are "inclusive", ie including the balances from - all subaccounts. Note this means some repetition in the output, + o 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-plaintextac- - counting-users. A tree mode report's final total is the sum of the + counting-users. A tree mode report's final total is the sum of the top-level balances shown, not of all the balances shown. - o Each group of sibling accounts (ie, under a common parent) is sorted + o Each group of sibling accounts (ie, under a common parent) is sorted separately. 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 + 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 + 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 @@ -8854,7 +8896,7 @@ Advanced report commands 0 Dropping top-level accounts - You can also hide one or more top-level account name parts, using + 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: @@ -8865,54 +8907,54 @@ Advanced report commands $2 Showing declared accounts - With --declared, accounts which have been declared with an account di- - rective will be included in the balance report, even if they have no + With --declared, accounts which have been declared with an account di- + rective will be included in the balance report, even if they have no transactions. (Since they will have a zero balance, you will also need -E/--empty to see them.) - More precisely, leaf declared accounts (with no subaccounts) will be + More precisely, leaf declared accounts (with no subaccounts) will be included, since those are usually the more useful in reports. - The idea of this is to be able to see a useful "complete" balance re- + The idea of this is to be able to see a useful "complete" balance re- port, even when you don't have transactions in all of your declared ac- counts yet. Sorting by amount - With -S/--sort-amount, accounts with the largest (most positive) bal- - ances 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 commod- - ity first, and then by subsequent commodities (if an amount is missing + With -S/--sort-amount, accounts with the largest (most positive) bal- + ances 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 commod- + ity 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 --in- - vert to flip the signs. Or you could use one of the higher-level bal- + Revenues and liability balances are typically negative, however, so -S + shows these in reverse order. To work around this, you can add --in- + vert to flip the signs. Or you could use one of the higher-level bal- ance reports (bs, is..), which flip the sign automatically (eg: hledger is -MAS). Percentages - With -%/--percent, balance reports show each account's value expressed + With -%/--percent, balance reports show each account's value expressed as a percentage of the (column) total. Note it is not useful to calculate percentages if the amounts in a col- - umn have mixed signs. In this case, make a separate report for each + umn 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 + 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: 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), bal- - ance shows a tabular report, with columns representing successive time + With a report interval (set by the -D/--daily, -W/--weekly, + -M/--monthly, -Q/--quarterly, -Y/--yearly, or -p/--period flag), bal- + ance shows a tabular report, with columns representing successive time periods (and a title): $ hledger -f examples/sample.journal bal --quarterly income expenses -E @@ -8933,24 +8975,24 @@ Advanced report commands encompass the displayed subperiods (so that the first and last subpe- riods have the same duration as the others). - o Leading and trailing periods (columns) containing all zeroes are not + o Leading and trailing periods (columns) containing all zeroes are not shown, unless -E/--empty is used. - o Accounts (rows) containing all zeroes are not shown, unless + o Accounts (rows) containing all zeroes are not shown, unless -E/--empty is used. - o Amounts with many commodities are shown in abbreviated form, unless + o Amounts with many commodities are shown in abbreviated form, unless --no-elide is used. - o Average and/or total columns can be added with the -A/--average and + o Average and/or total columns can be added with the -A/--average and -T/--row-total flags. o The --transpose flag can be used to exchange rows and columns. - o The --pivot FIELD option causes a different transaction field to be + o The --pivot FIELD option causes a different transaction field to be used as "account name". See PIVOTING. - o The --summary-only flag (--summary also works) hides all but the To- + o The --summary-only flag (--summary also works) hides all but the To- tal and Average columns (those should be enabled with --row-total and -A/--average). @@ -8969,57 +9011,57 @@ Advanced report commands o Reduce the terminal's font size - o View with a pager like less, eg: hledger bal -D --color=yes | less + o View with a pager like less, eg: hledger bal -D --color=yes | less -RS - o 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 + o 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) - o Output as HTML and view with a browser: hledger bal -D -o a.html && + o Output as HTML and view with a browser: hledger bal -D -o a.html && open a.html Balance change, end balance - It's important to be clear on the meaning of the numbers shown in bal- + It's important to be clear on the meaning of the numbers shown in bal- ance reports. Here is some terminology we use: - A balance change is the net amount added to, or removed from, an ac- + A balance change is the net amount added to, or removed from, an ac- count 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 + 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 + 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 + 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 + 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 + 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 + 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 + specifying a report start date, or by using the -H/--historical flag. (-H causes report start date to be ignored when summing post- ings.) Balance report modes - The balance command is quite flexible; here is the full detail on how - to control what it reports. If the following seems complicated, don't - worry - this is for advanced reporting, and it does take time and ex- + The balance command is quite flexible; here is the full detail on how + to control what it reports. If the following seems complicated, don't + worry - this is for advanced reporting, and it does take time and ex- perimentation to get familiar with all the report modes. There are three important option groups: - hledger balance [CALCULATIONMODE] [ACCUMULATIONMODE] [VALUATIONMODE] + hledger balance [CALCULATIONMODE] [ACCUMULATIONMODE] [VALUATIONMODE] ... Calculation mode @@ -9031,35 +9073,35 @@ Advanced report commands each account/period) o --valuechange : show the change in period-end historical balance val- - ues (caused by deposits, withdrawals, and/or market price fluctua- + ues (caused by deposits, withdrawals, and/or market price fluctua- tions) - o --gain : show the unrealised capital gain/loss, (the current valued + o --gain : show the unrealised capital gain/loss, (the current valued balance minus each amount's original cost) o --count : show the count of postings Accumulation mode - How amounts should accumulate across a report's subperiods/columns. - Another way to say it: which time period's postings should contribute + How amounts should accumulate across a report's subperiods/columns. + Another way to say it: which time period's postings should contribute to each cell's calculation. It is one of: - o --change : calculate with postings from column start to column end, - ie "just this column". Typically used to see revenues/expenses. + o --change : calculate with postings from column start to column end, + ie "just this column". Typically used to see revenues/expenses. (default for balance, cashflow, incomestatement) - o --cumulative : calculate with postings from report start to column - end, ie "previous columns plus this column". Typically used to show + o --cumulative : calculate with postings from report start to column + end, ie "previous columns plus this column". Typically used to show changes accumulated since the report's start date. Not often used. - o --historical/-H : calculate with postings from journal start to col- - umn end, ie "all postings from before report start date until this - column's end". Typically used to see historical end balances of as- - sets/liabilities/equity. (default for balancesheet, balancesheete- + o --historical/-H : calculate with postings from journal start to col- + umn end, ie "all postings from before report start date until this + column's end". Typically used to see historical end balances of as- + sets/liabilities/equity. (default for balancesheet, balancesheete- quity) Valuation mode - Which kind of value or cost conversion should be applied, if any, be- + Which kind of value or cost conversion should be applied, if any, be- fore displaying the report. See Cost reporting and Value reporting for more about conversions. @@ -9067,19 +9109,19 @@ Advanced report commands o no conversion : don't convert to cost or value (default) - o --value=cost[,COMM] : convert amounts to cost (then optionally to + o --value=cost[,COMM] : convert amounts to cost (then optionally to some other commodity) - o --value=then[,COMM] : convert amounts to market value on transaction + o --value=then[,COMM] : convert amounts to market value on transaction dates - o --value=end[,COMM] : convert amounts to market value on period end + o --value=end[,COMM] : convert amounts to market value on period end date(s) (default with --valuechange, --gain) o --value=now[,COMM] : convert amounts to market value on today's date - o --value=YYYY-MM-DD[,COMM] : convert amounts to market value on an- + o --value=YYYY-MM-DD[,COMM] : convert amounts to market value on an- other date or with the legacy -B/-V/-X options, which are equivalent and easier to @@ -9092,17 +9134,17 @@ Advanced report commands o -X COMM/--exchange COMM : like --value=end,COMM Note that --value can also convert to cost, as a convenience; but actu- - ally --cost and --value are independent options, and could be used to- + ally --cost and --value are independent options, and could be used to- gether. Combining balance report modes Most combinations of these modes should produce reasonable reports, but - if you find any that seem wrong or misleading, let us know. The fol- + if you find any that seem wrong or misleading, let us know. The fol- lowing restrictions are applied: o --valuechange implies --value=end - o --valuechange makes --change the default when used with the bal- + o --valuechange makes --change the default when used with the bal- ancesheet/balancesheetequity commands o --cumulative or --historical disables --row-total/-T @@ -9115,18 +9157,18 @@ Advanced report commands Accumu- /now lation:v ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - --change change in period sum of post- period-end DATE-value of - ing-date market value of change change in pe- + --change change in period sum of post- period-end DATE-value of + ing-date market value of change change in pe- values in period in period riod - --cumu- change from re- sum of post- period-end DATE-value of - lative port start to ing-date market value of change change from + --cumu- change from re- sum of post- period-end DATE-value of + lative port start to ing-date market value of change change from period end values from re- from report report start port start to pe- start to period to period end riod end end - --his- change from sum of post- period-end DATE-value of + --his- change from sum of post- period-end DATE-value of torical journal start to ing-date market value of change change from /-H period end (his- values from jour- from journal journal start - torical end bal- nal start to pe- start to period to period end + torical end bal- nal start to pe- start to period to period end ance) riod end end Budget report @@ -9137,11 +9179,11 @@ Advanced report commands o Accounts which don't have budget goals are hidden by default. - This is useful for comparing planned and actual income, expenses, time + This is useful for comparing planned and actual income, expenses, time usage, etc. - Periodic transaction rules are used to define budget goals. For exam- - ple, here's a periodic rule defining monthly goals for bus travel and + Periodic transaction rules are used to define budget goals. For exam- + ple, here's a periodic rule defining monthly goals for bus travel and food expenses: ;; Budget @@ -9183,66 +9225,66 @@ Advanced report commands || 0 [ 0% of $430] 0 [ 0% of $430] This is "goal-based budgeting"; you define goals for accounts and peri- - ods, often recurring, and hledger shows performance relative to the - goals. This contrasts with "envelope budgeting", which is more de- - tailed and strict - useful when cash is tight, but also quite a bit - more work. https://plaintextaccounting.org/Budgeting has more on this + ods, often recurring, and hledger shows performance relative to the + goals. This contrasts with "envelope budgeting", which is more de- + tailed and strict - useful when cash is tight, but also quite a bit + more work. https://plaintextaccounting.org/Budgeting has more on this topic. Using the budget report - Historically this report has been confusing and fragile. hledger's - version should be relatively robust and intuitive, but you may still - find surprises. Here are more notes to help with learning and trou- + Historically this report has been confusing and fragile. hledger's + version should be relatively robust and intuitive, but you may still + find surprises. Here are more notes to help with learning and trou- bleshooting. - o In the above example, expenses:bus and expenses:food are shown be- + o In the above example, expenses:bus and expenses:food are shown be- cause they have budget goals during the report period. - o Their parent expenses is also shown, with budget goals aggregated + o Their parent expenses is also shown, with budget goals aggregated from the children. - o The subaccounts expenses:food:groceries and expenses:food:dining are - not shown since they have no budget goal of their own, but they con- + o The subaccounts expenses:food:groceries and expenses:food:dining are + not shown since they have no budget goal of their own, but they con- tribute to expenses:food's actual amount. - o Unbudgeted accounts expenses:movies and expenses:gifts are also not + o Unbudgeted accounts expenses:movies and expenses:gifts are also not shown, but they contribute to expenses's actual amount. - o The other unbudgeted accounts income and assets:bank:checking are + o The other unbudgeted accounts income and assets:bank:checking are grouped as . - o --depth or depth: can be used to limit report depth in the usual way + o --depth or depth: can be used to limit report depth in the usual way (but will not reveal unbudgeted subaccounts). o Amounts are always inclusive of subaccounts (even in -l/--list mode). o Numbers displayed in a --budget report will not always agree with the - totals, because of hidden unbudgeted accounts; this is normal. + totals, because of hidden unbudgeted accounts; this is normal. -E/--empty can be used to reveal the hidden accounts. o In the periodic rules used for setting budget goals, unbalanced post- ings are convenient. - o You can filter budget reports with the usual queries, eg to focus on - particular accounts. It's common to restrict them to just expenses. - (The account is occasionally hard to exclude; this is + o You can filter budget reports with the usual queries, eg to focus on + particular accounts. It's common to restrict them to just expenses. + (The account is occasionally hard to exclude; this is because of date surprises, discussed below.) - o When you have multiple currencies, you may want to convert them to - one (-X COMM --infer-market-prices) and/or show just one at a time - (cur:COMM). If you do need to show multiple currencies at once, + o When you have multiple currencies, you may want to convert them to + one (-X COMM --infer-market-prices) and/or show just one at a time + (cur:COMM). If you do need to show multiple currencies at once, --layout bare can be helpful. - o You can "roll over" amounts (actual and budgeted) to the next period + o You can "roll over" amounts (actual and budgeted) to the next period with --cumulative. See also: https://hledger.org/budgeting.html. Budget date surprises - With small data, or when starting out, some of the generated budget - goal transaction dates might fall outside the report periods. Eg with - the following journal and report, the first period appears to have no - expenses:food budget. (Also the account should be ex- + With small data, or when starting out, some of the generated budget + goal transaction dates might fall outside the report periods. Eg with + the following journal and report, the first period appears to have no + expenses:food budget. (Also the account should be ex- cluded by the expenses query, but isn't.): ~ monthly in 2020 @@ -9262,64 +9304,64 @@ Advanced report commands ---------------++-------------------- || $400 [80% of $500] - In this case, the budget goal transactions are generated on first days - of of month (this can be seen with hledger print --forecast tag:gener- - ated expenses). Whereas the report period defaults to just the 15th - day of january (this can be seen from the report table's column head- + In this case, the budget goal transactions are generated on first days + of of month (this can be seen with hledger print --forecast tag:gener- + ated expenses). Whereas the report period defaults to just the 15th + day of january (this can be seen from the report table's column head- ings). - To fix this kind of thing, be more explicit about the report period - (and/or the periodic rules' dates). In this case, adding -b 2020 does + To fix this kind of thing, be more explicit about the report period + (and/or the periodic rules' dates). In this case, adding -b 2020 does the trick. Selecting budget goals - 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 + 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 + 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 between period - expression and description), and then select from multiple budgets de- + regular expression or query). This means you can give your periodic + rules descriptions (remember that two spaces are needed between period + expression and description), and then select from multiple budgets de- fined in your journal. Budgeting vs forecasting - --forecast and --budget both use the periodic transaction rules in the - journal to generate temporary transactions for reporting purposes. - However they are separate features - though you can use both at the + --forecast and --budget both use the periodic transaction rules in the + journal to generate temporary transactions for reporting purposes. + However they are separate features - though you can use both at the same time if you want. Here are some differences between them: --forecast --budget -------------------------------------------------------------------------- - is a general option; it enables fore- is a balance command option; it - casting with all reports selects the balance report's + is a general option; it enables fore- is a balance command option; it + casting with all reports selects the balance report's budget mode - generates visible transactions which generates invisible transactions + generates visible transactions which generates invisible transactions appear in reports which produce goal amounts - generates forecast transactions from generates budget goal transac- - after the last regular transaction, to tions throughout the report pe- - the end of the report period; or with riod, optionally restricted by - an argument --forecast=PERIODEXPR gen- periods specified in the peri- - erates them throughout the specified odic transaction rules - period, both optionally restricted by - periods specified in the periodic + generates forecast transactions from generates budget goal transac- + after the last regular transaction, to tions throughout the report pe- + the end of the report period; or with riod, optionally restricted by + an argument --forecast=PERIODEXPR gen- periods specified in the peri- + erates them throughout the specified odic transaction rules + period, both optionally restricted by + periods specified in the periodic transaction rules uses all periodic rules uses all periodic rules; or with an argument --budget=DESCPAT - uses just the rules matched by + uses just the rules matched by DESCPAT Balance report layout The --layout option affects how balance and the other balance-like com- - mands show multi-commodity amounts and commodity symbols. It can im- + mands show multi-commodity amounts and commodity symbols. It can im- prove readability, for humans and/or machines (other software). It has four possible values: - o --layout=wide[,WIDTH]: commodities are shown on a single line, op- + o --layout=wide[,WIDTH]: commodities are shown on a single line, op- tionally elided to WIDTH o --layout=tall: each commodity is shown on a separate line @@ -9327,11 +9369,11 @@ Advanced report commands o --layout=bare: commodity symbols are in their own column, amounts are bare numbers - o --layout=tidy: data is normalised to easily-consumed "tidy" form, - with one row per data value. (This one is currently supported only + o --layout=tidy: data is normalised to easily-consumed "tidy" form, + with one row per data value. (This one is currently supported only by the balance command.) - Here are the --layout modes supported by each output format Only CSV + Here are the --layout modes supported by each output format Only CSV output supports all of them: - txt csv html json sql @@ -9367,7 +9409,7 @@ Advanced report commands || 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.. Tall layout - Each commodity gets a new line (may be different in each column), and + Each commodity gets a new line (may be different in each column), and account names are repeated: $ hledger -f examples/bcexample.hledger bal assets:us:etrade -3 -T -Y --layout=tall @@ -9388,7 +9430,7 @@ Advanced report commands || 18.00 VHT 294.00 VHT Bare layout - Commodity symbols are kept in one column, each commodity has its own + Commodity symbols are kept in one column, each commodity has its own row, amounts are bare numbers, account names are repeated: $ hledger -f examples/bcexample.hledger bal assets:us:etrade -3 -T -Y --layout=bare @@ -9424,15 +9466,15 @@ Advanced report commands "Total:","VEA","36.00" "Total:","VHT","294.00" - Bare layout will sometimes display an extra row for the no-symbol com- - modity, because of zero amounts (hledger treats zeroes as commod- + Bare layout will sometimes display an extra row for the no-symbol com- + modity, because of zero amounts (hledger treats zeroes as commod- ity-less, usually). This can break hledger-bar confusingly (workaround: add a cur: query to exclude the no-symbol row). Tidy layout This produces normalised "tidy data" (see https://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/tidyr/vignettes/tidy-data.html) - where every variable has its own column and each row represents a sin- + where every variable has its own column and each row represents a sin- gle data point. This is the easiest kind of data for other software to consume: @@ -9455,40 +9497,40 @@ Advanced report commands "Assets:US:ETrade","2014","2014-01-01","2014-12-31","VHT","170.00" Balance report output - As noted in Output format, if you choose HTML output (by using -O html + As noted in Output format, if you choose HTML output (by using -O html or -o somefile.html), you can create a hledger.css file in the same di- rectory to customise the report's appearance. The HTML and FODS output formats can generate hyperlinks to a - hledger-web register view for each account and period. E.g. if your + hledger-web register view for each account and period. E.g. if your hledger-web server is reachable at http://localhost:5000 then you might - run the balance command with the extra option --base-url=http://local- - host:5000. You can also produce relative links, like + run the balance command with the extra option --base-url=http://local- + host:5000. You can also produce relative links, like --base-url="some/path" or --base-url="".) Some useful balance reports Some frequently used balance options/reports are: o bal -M revenues expenses - Show revenues/expenses in each month. Also available as the incomes- + Show revenues/expenses in each month. Also available as the incomes- tatement command. o bal -M -H assets liabilities - Show historical asset/liability balances at each month end. Also + Show historical asset/liability balances at each month end. Also available as the balancesheet command. o bal -M -H assets liabilities equity - Show historical asset/liability/equity balances at each month end. + Show historical asset/liability/equity balances at each month end. Also available as the balancesheetequity command. o bal -M assets not:receivable - Show changes to liquid assets in each month. Also available as the + Show changes to liquid assets in each month. Also available as the cashflow command. Also: o bal -M expenses -2 -SA - Show monthly expenses summarised to depth 2 and sorted by average + Show monthly expenses summarised to depth 2 and sorted by average amount. o bal -M --budget expenses @@ -9502,7 +9544,7 @@ Advanced report commands Show top gainers [or losers] last week roi - Shows the time-weighted (TWR) and money-weighted (IRR) rate of return + Shows the time-weighted (TWR) and money-weighted (IRR) rate of return on your investments. Flags: @@ -9512,38 +9554,38 @@ Advanced report commands --profit-loss=QUERY --pnl query to select profit-and-loss or appreciation/valuation transactions - At a minimum, you need to supply a query (which could be just an ac- - count name) to select your investment(s) with --inv, and another query + At a minimum, you need to supply a query (which could be just an ac- + count 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 + 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, also known as money-weighted rate of return) and time-weighted - rate of return (TWR) for your investments for the time period re- - quested. IRR is always annualized due to the way it is computed, but - TWR is reported both as a rate over the chosen reporting period and as + This command will compute and display the internalized rate of return + (IRR, also known as money-weighted rate of return) and time-weighted + rate of return (TWR) for your investments for the time period re- + quested. IRR is always annualized due to the way it is computed, but + TWR is reported both as a rate over the chosen reporting period and as an annual rate. - Price directives will be taken into account if you supply appropriate + 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: - o Error (NotBracketed): No solution for Internal Rate of Return (IRR). - Possible causes: IRR is huge (>1000000%), balance of investment be- + o Error (NotBracketed): No solution for Internal Rate of Return (IRR). + Possible causes: IRR is huge (>1000000%), balance of investment be- comes negative at some point in time. - o Error (SearchFailed): Failed to find solution for Internal Rate of + o Error (SearchFailed): Failed to find solution for Internal Rate of Return (IRR). Either search does not converge to a solution, or con- verges too slowly. Examples: - o Using roi to compute total return of investment in stocks: + o Using roi to compute total return of investment in stocks: https://github.com/simonmichael/hledger/blob/master/examples/invest- ing/roi-unrealised.ledger @@ -9553,28 +9595,28 @@ Advanced report commands 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, + 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 + 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'" Semantics of --inv and --pnl - Query supplied to --inv has to match all transactions that are related + 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 + "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. o "Cash flow" is depositing or withdrawing money, buying or selling as- - sets, or otherwise converting between your investment commodity and + sets, or otherwise converting between your investment commodity and any other commodity. Example: 2019-01-01 Investing in Snake Oil @@ -9591,12 +9633,12 @@ Advanced report commands 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 re- + 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 re- turn. - Example: if you use --inv snake --pnl equity:unrealized, then postings + 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 @@ -9613,58 +9655,58 @@ Advanced report commands snake oil $50 ; investment posting IRR and TWR explained - "ROI" stands for "return on investment". Traditionally this was com- - puted as a difference between current value of investment and its ini- + "ROI" stands for "return on investment". Traditionally this was com- + puted as a difference between current value of investment and its ini- tial value, expressed in percentage of the initial value. However, this approach is only practical in simple cases, where invest- - ments receives no in-flows or out-flows of money, and where rate of + ments receives no in-flows or out-flows of money, and where rate of growth is fixed over time. For more complex scenarios you need differ- - ent ways to compute rate of return, and this command implements two of + ent 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, and the - time between them. Investment at a particular fixed interest rate is - going to give you more interest than the same amount invested at the - same interest rate, but made later in time. 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, + Internal rate of return, or "IRR" (also called "money-weighted rate of + return") takes into account effects of in-flows and out-flows, and the + time between them. Investment at a particular fixed interest rate is + going to give you more interest than the same amount invested at the + same interest rate, but made later in time. 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, so your IRR will be smaller. And if you are adding to your investment, you will receive bigger absolute gains, which will be a bigger percent- age of your initial investment, so your IRR will be larger. - As mentioned before, in-flows and out-flows would be any cash that you + 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 + 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 "unreal- - ized 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 + If you manually record changes in the value of your investment as + transactions that balance them against "profit and loss" (or "unreal- + ized 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 + 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 + 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 ac- - count for the effect of your in-flows and out-flows, but unlike IRR it - will try to compute the true rate of return of the underlying asset, - compensating for the effect that deposits and withdrawas have on the + Second way to compute rate of return that roi command implements is + called "time-weighted rate of return" or "TWR". Like IRR, it will ac- + count for the effect of your in-flows and out-flows, but unlike IRR it + will try to compute the true rate of return of the underlying asset, + compensating for the effect that deposits and withdrawas have on the apparent rate of growth of your investment. - TWR represents your investment as an imaginary "unit fund" where - in-flows/ out-flows lead to buying or selling "units" of your invest- - ment and changes in its value change the value of "investment unit". - Change in "unit price" over the reporting period gives you rate of re- - turn of your investment, and make TWR less sensitive than IRR to the + TWR represents your investment as an imaginary "unit fund" where + in-flows/ out-flows lead to buying or selling "units" of your invest- + ment and changes in its value change the value of "investment unit". + Change in "unit price" over the reporting period gives you rate of re- + turn of your investment, and make TWR less sensitive than IRR to the effects of cash in-flows and out-flows. References: @@ -9677,7 +9719,7 @@ Advanced report commands o IRR vs TWR - o Examples of computing IRR and TWR and discussion of the limitations + o Examples of computing IRR and TWR and discussion of the limitations of both metrics Chart commands @@ -9687,8 +9729,8 @@ Chart commands Flags: no command-specific flags - The activity command displays an ascii histogram showing transaction - counts by day, week, month or other reporting interval (by day is the + 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: @@ -9703,10 +9745,10 @@ Data generation commands close (equity) - close prints several kinds of "closing" and/or "opening" transactions, + close prints several kinds of "closing" and/or "opening" transactions, useful in various situations: migrating balances to a new journal file, - retaining earnings into equity, consolidating balances, viewing lot - costs.. Like print, it prints valid journal entries. You can copy + retaining earnings into equity, consolidating balances, viewing lot + costs.. Like print, it prints valid journal entries. You can copy these into your journal file(s) when you are happy with how they look. Flags: @@ -9737,22 +9779,22 @@ Data generation commands all - also round cost amounts to precision (can unbalance transactions) - close has six modes, selected by choosing one of the mode flags: - --clopen, --close (default), --open, --assert, --assign, or --retain. - They are all doing the same kind of operation, but with different de- + close has six modes, selected by choosing one of the mode flags: + --clopen, --close (default), --open, --assert, --assign, or --retain. + They are all doing the same kind of operation, but with different de- faults for different situations. - The journal entries generated by close will have a clopen: tag, which - is helpful when you want to exclude them from reports. If the main - journal file name contains a number, the tag's value will be that base - file name with the number incremented. Eg if the journal file is - 2025.journal, the tag will be clopen:2026. Or you can set the tag - value by providing an argument to the mode flag. Eg --close=foo or + The journal entries generated by close will have a clopen: tag, which + is helpful when you want to exclude them from reports. If the main + journal file name contains a number, the tag's value will be that base + file name with the number incremented. Eg if the journal file is + 2025.journal, the tag will be clopen:2026. Or you can set the tag + value by providing an argument to the mode flag. Eg --close=foo or --clopen=2025-main. close --clopen This is useful if migrating balances to a new journal file at the start - of a new year. It prints a "closing balances" transaction that zeroes + of a new year. It prints a "closing balances" transaction that zeroes out account balances (Asset and Liability accounts, by default), and an opposite "opening balances" transaction that restores them again. Typ- ically, you would run @@ -9763,40 +9805,40 @@ Data generation commands (and probably also update your LEDGER_FILE environment variable). Why might you do this ? If your reports are fast, you may not need it. - But at some point you will probably want to partition your data by - time, for performance or data integrity or regulatory reasons. A new - file or set of files per year is common. Then, having each file/file- - set "bookended" with opening and closing balance transactions will al- - low you to freely pick and choose which files to read - just the cur- + But at some point you will probably want to partition your data by + time, for performance or data integrity or regulatory reasons. A new + file or set of files per year is common. Then, having each file/file- + set "bookended" with opening and closing balance transactions will al- + low you to freely pick and choose which files to read - just the cur- rent year, any past year, any sequence of years, or all of them - while - showing correct account balances in each case. The earliest opening - balances transaction sets correct starting balances, and any later + showing correct account balances in each case. The earliest opening + balances transaction sets correct starting balances, and any later closing/opening pairs will harmlessly cancel each other out. - The balances will be transferred to and from equity:opening/closing - balances by default. You can override this by using --close-acct + The balances will be transferred to and from equity:opening/closing + balances by default. You can override this by using --close-acct and/or --open-acct. - You can select a different set of accounts to close/open by providing - an account query. Eg to add Equity accounts, provide arguments like - assets liabilities equity or type:ALE. When migrating to a new file, - you'll usually want to bring along the AL or ALE accounts, but not the + You can select a different set of accounts to close/open by providing + an account query. Eg to add Equity accounts, provide arguments like + assets liabilities equity or type:ALE. When migrating to a new file, + you'll usually want to bring along the AL or ALE accounts, but not the RX accounts (Revenue, Expense). - Assertions will be added indicating and checking the new balances of + Assertions will be added indicating and checking the new balances of the closed/opened accounts. close --close - This prints just the closing balances transaction of --clopen. It is + This prints just the closing balances transaction of --clopen. It is the default if you don't specify a mode. - More customisation options are described below. Among other things, + More customisation options are described below. Among other things, you can use close --close to generate a transaction moving the balances from any set of accounts, to a different account. (If you need to move just a portion of the balance, see hledger-move.) close --open - This prints just the opening balances transaction of --clopen. (It is + This prints just the opening balances transaction of --clopen. (It is similar to Ledger's equity command.) close --assert @@ -9806,29 +9848,29 @@ Data generation commands close --assign This prints a transaction that assigns the account balances as they are - on the end date (and adds an "assign:" tag). Unlike balance asser- + on the end date (and adds an "assign:" tag). Unlike balance asser- tions, assignments will post changes to balances as needed to reach the specified amounts. - This is another way to set starting balances when migrating to a new - file, and it will set them correctly even in the presence of earlier - files which do not have a closing balances transaction. However, it - can hide errors, and disturb the accounting equation, so --clopen is + This is another way to set starting balances when migrating to a new + file, and it will set them correctly even in the presence of earlier + files which do not have a closing balances transaction. However, it + can hide errors, and disturb the accounting equation, so --clopen is usually recommended. close --retain - This is like --close, but it closes Revenue and Expense account bal- - ances by default. They will be transferred to equity:retained earn- + This is like --close, but it closes Revenue and Expense account bal- + ances by default. They will be transferred to equity:retained earn- ings, or another account specified with --close-acct. - Revenues and expenses correspond to changes in equity. They are cate- + Revenues and expenses correspond to changes in equity. They are cate- gorised separately for reporting purposes, but traditionally at the end - of each accounting period, businesses consolidate them into equity, + of each accounting period, businesses consolidate them into equity, This is called "retaining earnings", or "closing the books". - In personal accounting, there's not much reason to do this, and most - people don't. (One reason to do it is to help the balancesheetequity - report show a zero total, demonstrating that the accounting equation + In personal accounting, there's not much reason to do this, and most + people don't. (One reason to do it is to help the balancesheetequity + report show a zero total, demonstrating that the accounting equation (A-L=E) is satisfied.) close customisation @@ -9840,56 +9882,56 @@ Data generation commands o the balancing account, with --close-acct=ACCT and/or --open-acct=ACCT - o the transaction descriptions, with --close-desc=DESC and + o the transaction descriptions, with --close-desc=DESC and --open-desc=DESC - o the transactions' clopen tag value, with a TAGVAL argument for the + o the transactions' clopen tag value, with a TAGVAL argument for the mode flag (see above). - By default, the closing date is yesterday, or the journal's end date, - whichever is later; and the opening date is always one day after the - closing date. You can change these by specifying a report end date; + By default, the closing date is yesterday, or the journal's end date, + whichever is later; and the opening date is always one day after the + closing date. You can change these by specifying a report end date; the closing date will be the last day of the report period. Eg -e 2024 means "close on 2023-12-31, open on 2024-01-01". With --x/--explicit, the balancing amount will be shown explicitly, and - if it involves multiple commodities, a separate posting will be gener- + if it involves multiple commodities, a separate posting will be gener- ated for each of them (similar to print -x). - With --interleaved, each individual transfer is shown with source and - destination postings next to each other (perhaps useful for trou- + With --interleaved, each individual transfer is shown with source and + destination postings next to each other (perhaps useful for trou- bleshooting). With --show-costs, balances' costs are also shown, with different costs - kept separate. This may generate very large journal entries, if you - have many currency conversions or investment transactions. close - --show-costs is currently the best way to view investment lots with - hledger. (To move or dispose of lots, see the more capable + kept separate. This may generate very large journal entries, if you + have many currency conversions or investment transactions. close + --show-costs is currently the best way to view investment lots with + hledger. (To move or dispose of lots, see the more capable hledger-move script.) close and balance assertions close adds balance assertions verifying that the accounts have been re- set to zero in a closing transaction or restored to their previous bal- - ances in an opening transaction. These provide useful error checking, + ances in an opening transaction. These provide useful error checking, but you can ignore them temporarily with -I, or remove them if you pre- fer. - Single-commodity, subaccount-exclusive balance assertions (=) are gen- - erated by default. This can be changed with --assertion-type='==*' + Single-commodity, subaccount-exclusive balance assertions (=) are gen- + erated by default. This can be changed with --assertion-type='==*' (eg). - When running close you should probably avoid using -C, -R, status: - (filtering by status or realness) or --auto (generating postings), + When running close you should probably avoid using -C, -R, status: + (filtering by status or realness) or --auto (generating postings), since the generated balance assertions would then require these. - Transactions with multiple dates (eg posting dates) spanning the file + Transactions with multiple dates (eg posting dates) spanning the file boundary also can disrupt the balance assertions: 2023-12-30 a purchase made in december, cleared in january expenses:food 5 assets:bank:checking -5 ; date: 2023-01-02 - To solve this you can transfer the money to and from a temporary ac- + To solve this you can transfer the money to and from a temporary ac- count, splitting the multi-day transaction into two single-day transac- tions: @@ -9910,7 +9952,7 @@ Data generation commands $ hledger close --retain -f 2022.journal -p 2022 >> 2022.journal - After this, to see 2022's revenues and expenses you must exclude the + After this, to see 2022's revenues and expenses you must exclude the retain earnings transaction: $ hledger -f 2022.journal is not:desc:'retain earnings' @@ -9922,12 +9964,12 @@ Data generation commands # copy/paste the closing transaction to the end of 2022.journal # copy/paste the opening transaction to the start of 2023.journal - After this, to see 2022's end-of-year balances you must exclude the + After this, to see 2022's end-of-year balances you must exclude the closing balances transaction: $ hledger -f 2022.journal bs not:desc:'closing balances' - For more flexibility, it helps to tag closing and opening transactions + For more flexibility, it helps to tag closing and opening transactions with eg clopen:NEWYEAR, then you can ensure correct balances by exclud- ing all opening/closing transactions except the first, like so: @@ -9943,7 +9985,7 @@ Data generation commands rewrite Print all transactions, rewriting the postings of matched transactions. - For now the only rewrite available is adding new postings, like print + For now the only rewrite available is adding new postings, like print --auto. Flags: @@ -9957,9 +9999,9 @@ Data generation commands patch tool This is a start at a generic rewriter of transaction entries. It reads - the default journal and prints the transactions, like print, but adds + 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 transac- + posting amounts can be fixed, or a multiplier of the existing transac- tion's first posting amount. Examples: @@ -9975,7 +10017,7 @@ Data generation commands (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 + Note the single quotes to protect the dollar sign from bash, and the two spaces between account and amount. More: @@ -9985,16 +10027,16 @@ Data generation commands $ 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 + 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 in- + factor for an amount of original matched posting. If the amount in- cludes a commodity name, the new posting amount will be in the new com- - modity; otherwise, it will be in the matched posting amount's commod- + modity; otherwise, it will be in the matched posting amount's commod- ity. Re-write rules in a file - During the run this tool will execute so called "Automated Transac- + During the run this tool will execute so called "Automated Transac- tions" found in any journal it process. I.e instead of specifying this operations in command line you can put them in a journal file. @@ -10009,7 +10051,7 @@ Data generation commands budget:gifts *-1 assets:budget *1 - Note that '=' (equality symbol) that is used instead of date in trans- + Note that '=' (equality symbol) that is used instead of date in trans- actions you usually write. It indicates the query by which you want to match the posting to add new ones. @@ -10022,12 +10064,12 @@ Data generation commands --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 post- + It is important to understand that relative order of such entries in + journal is important. You can re-use result of previously added post- ings. Diff output format - To use this tool for batch modification of your journal files you may + 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' @@ -10051,10 +10093,10 @@ Data generation commands If you'll pass this through patch tool you'll get transactions contain- ing the posting that matches your query be updated. Note that multiple - files might be update according to list of input files specified via + 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 + Be careful. Whole transaction being re-formatted in a style of output from hledger print. See also: @@ -10062,17 +10104,17 @@ Data generation commands https://github.com/simonmichael/hledger/issues/99 rewrite vs. print --auto - This command predates print --auto, and currently does much the same + This command predates print --auto, and currently does much the same thing, but with these differences: - o with multiple files, rewrite lets rules in any file affect all other - files. print --auto uses standard directive scoping; rules affect + o with multiple files, rewrite lets rules in any file affect all other + files. print --auto uses standard directive scoping; rules affect only child files. - o rewrite's query limits which transactions can be rewritten; all are + o rewrite's query limits which transactions can be rewritten; all are printed. print --auto's query limits which transactions are printed. - o rewrite applies rules specified on command line or in the journal. + o rewrite applies rules specified on command line or in the journal. print --auto applies rules specified in the journal. Maintenance commands @@ -10082,52 +10124,53 @@ Maintenance commands Flags: no command-specific flags - hledger provides a number of built-in correctness checks to help vali- - date your data and prevent errors. Some are run automatically, some - when you enable --strict mode; or you can run any of them on demand by - providing them as arguments to the check command. check produces no + hledger provides a number of built-in correctness checks to help vali- + date your data and prevent errors. Some are run automatically, some + when you enable --strict mode; or you can run any of them on demand by + providing them as arguments to the check command. check produces no output and a zero exit code if all is well. Eg: hledger check # run basic checks hledger check -s # run basic and strict checks hledger check ordereddates payees # run basic checks and two others - If you are an Emacs user, you can also configure flycheck-hledger to + If you are an Emacs user, you can also configure flycheck-hledger to run these checks, providing instant feedback as you edit the journal. - Here are the checks currently available. Generally, they are performed - in the order they are shown here (and only the first failure is re- - ported). + Here are the checks currently available. They are generally checked in + the order they are shown here, and only the first failure will be re- + ported. Basic checks - These important checks are performed by default, by almost all hledger + These important checks are performed by default, by almost all hledger commands: - o parseable - data files are in a supported format, with no syntax er- - rors and no invalid include directives. This ensures that all files + o parseable - data files are in a supported format, with no syntax er- + rors and no invalid include directives. This ensures that all files exist and are readable. o autobalanced - all transactions are balanced, after automatically in- - ferring missing amounts and conversion rates and then converting - amounts to cost. This ensures that each transaction's entry is well - formed. + ferring missing amounts and conversion rates and then converting + amounts to cost. This ensures that each transaction's journal entry + is well formed. o assertions - all balance assertions in the journal are passing. Bal- - ance assertions are a strong defense against errors; they help catch - many problems. If this check gets in your way, you can disable it - with -I/--ignore-assertions. Or you can add that to your config file - to disable it by default (and then use -s/--strict or hledger check - assertions to enable it). + ance assertions are a strong defense against errors, catching many + problems. This check is on by default, but if it gets in your way, + you can disable it temporarily with -I/--ignore-assertions, or as a + default by adding that flag to your config file. (Then use + -s/--strict or hledger check assertions when you want to enable it). Strict checks - These additional checks are performed by all commands when the - -s/--strict flag is used (strict mode). They provide extra er- - ror-catching power to keep your data clean and correct. Strict mode - also always enables the assertions check. + When the -s/--strict flag is used (AKA strict mode), all commands will + perform the following additional checks (and assertions, above). These + provide extra error-catching power to help you keep your data clean and + correct: - o balanced - like autobalanced, but all conversions between commodities - must use explicit cost notation or equity postings. This prevents - wrong conversions caused by typos. + o balanced - like autobalanced, but implicit conversions between com- + modities are not allowed; all conversion transactions must use cost + notation or equity postings. This prevents wrong conversions caused + by typos. o commodities - all commodity symbols used must be declared. This guards against mistyping or omitting commodity symbols. @@ -10157,28 +10200,27 @@ Maintenance commands courage adding balance assertions for your active asset/liability ac- counts, which in turn should encourage you to reconcile regularly with those real world balances - another strong defense against er- - rors. hledger close --assert can help generate assertion entries. - Over time the older assertions become somewhat redundant, and you can - remove them if you like (they don't affect performance much, but they - add some noise to the journal). + rors. (hledger close --assert >>$LEDGER_FILE is a convenient way to + add new balance assertions. Later these become quite redundant, and + you might choose to remove them to reduce clutter.) o uniqueleafnames - no two accounts may have the same last account name - part (eg the checking in assets:bank:checking). This ensures each + part (eg the checking in assets:bank:checking). This ensures each account can be matched by a unique short name, easier to remember and to type. Custom checks - You can build your own custom checks with add-on command scripts. See + You can build your own custom checks with add-on command scripts. See also Cookbook > Scripting. Here are some examples from hledger/bin/: - o hledger-check-tagfiles - all tag values containing / (a forward - slash) exist as file paths + o hledger-check-tagfiles - all tag values containing / exist as file + paths - o hledger-check-fancyassertions - more complex balance assertions are + o hledger-check-fancyassertions - more complex balance assertions are passing diff - Compares a particular account's transactions in two input files. It + 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. @@ -10186,16 +10228,16 @@ Maintenance commands no command-specific flags More precisely: for each posting affecting this account in either file, - this command looks for a corresponding posting in the other file which - posts the same amount to the same account (ignoring date, description, + this command looks for a corresponding posting in the other file which + posts the same amount to the same account (ignoring date, description, etc). Since it compares postings, not transactions, this also works when mul- tiple bank transactions have been combined into a single journal entry. - This command is useful eg if you have downloaded an account's transac- - tions from your bank (eg as CSV data): when hledger and your bank dis- - agree about the account balance, you can compare the bank data with + This command is useful eg if you have downloaded an account's transac- + tions from your bank (eg as CSV data): when hledger and your bank dis- + agree about the account balance, you can compare the bank data with your journal to find out the cause. Examples: @@ -10216,18 +10258,18 @@ Maintenance commands Flags: no command-specific flags - setup tests your hledger installation and prints a list of results, - sometimes with helpful hints. This is a good first command to run af- - ter installing hledger. Also after upgrading, or when something's not + setup tests your hledger installation and prints a list of results, + sometimes with helpful hints. This is a good first command to run af- + ter installing hledger. Also after upgrading, or when something's not working, or just when you want a reminder of where things are. - It makes one network request to detect the latest hledger release ver- - sion. It's ok if this fails or times out. It will use ANSI color by - default, unless disabled by NO_COLOR or --color=n. It does not use a + It makes one network request to detect the latest hledger release ver- + sion. It's ok if this fails or times out. It will use ANSI color by + default, unless disabled by NO_COLOR or --color=n. It does not use a pager or a config file. - It expects that the hledger version you are running is installed in - your PATH. If not, it will stop until you have done that (to keep + It expects that the hledger version you are running is installed in + your PATH. If not, it will stop until you have done that (to keep things simple). Example: @@ -10277,17 +10319,17 @@ Maintenance commands Flags: no command-specific flags - 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 + 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 + 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! - Any arguments before a -- argument will be passed to the tasty test - runner as test-selecting -p patterns, and any arguments after -- will + Any arguments before a -- argument will be passed to the tasty test + runner as test-selecting -p patterns, and any arguments after -- will be passed to tasty unchanged. Examples: @@ -10297,7 +10339,7 @@ Maintenance commands $ hledger test -- -h # show tasty's options PART 5: COMMON TASKS - Here are some quick examples of how to do some basic tasks with + Here are some quick examples of how to do some basic tasks with hledger. Getting help @@ -10307,37 +10349,37 @@ PART 5: COMMON TASKS $ hledger --help # show common options $ hledger CMD --help # show CMD's options, common options and CMD's documentation - You can also view your hledger version's manual in several formats by + You can also view your hledger version's manual in several formats by using the help command. Eg: $ hledger help # show the hledger manual with info, man or $PAGER (best available) $ hledger help journal # show the journal topic in the hledger manual $ hledger help --help # find out more about the help command - To view manuals and introductory docs on the web, visit - https://hledger.org. Chat and mail list support and discussion + To view manuals and introductory docs on the web, visit + https://hledger.org. Chat and mail list support and discussion archives can be found at https://hledger.org/support. Constructing command lines - hledger has a flexible command line interface. We strive to keep it - simple and ergonomic, but if you run into one of the sharp edges de- + hledger has a flexible command line interface. We strive to keep it + simple and ergonomic, but if you run into one of the sharp edges de- scribed in OPTIONS, here are some tips that might help: - o command-specific options must go after the command (it's fine to put + o command-specific options must go after the command (it's fine to put common options there too: hledger CMD OPTS ARGS) - o you can run addon commands via hledger (hledger ui [ARGS]) or di- + o you can run addon commands via hledger (hledger ui [ARGS]) or di- rectly (hledger-ui [ARGS]) o enclose "problematic" arguments in single quotes - o if needed, also add a backslash to hide regular expression metachar- + o if needed, also add a backslash to hide regular expression metachar- acters from the shell o to see how a misbehaving command line is being parsed, add --debug=2. Starting a journal file - hledger looks for your accounting data in a journal file, + hledger looks for your accounting data in a journal file, $HOME/.hledger.journal by default: $ hledger stats @@ -10345,9 +10387,9 @@ PART 5: COMMON TASKS 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 - (see below). 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 + You can override this by setting the LEDGER_FILE environment variable + (see below). 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 @@ -10372,7 +10414,7 @@ PART 5: COMMON TASKS Setting LEDGER_FILE Set LEDGER_FILE on unix - It depends on your shell, but running these commands in the terminal + It depends on your shell, but running these commands in the terminal will work for many people; adapt if needed: $ echo 'export LEDGER_FILE=~/finance/my.journal' >> ~/.profile @@ -10382,7 +10424,7 @@ PART 5: COMMON TASKS o env | grep LEDGER_FILE will show your new setting - o and so should hledger setup and (once the file exists) hledger files. + o and so should hledger setup and hledger files. Set LEDGER_FILE on mac In a terminal window, follow the unix procedure above. @@ -10395,38 +10437,38 @@ PART 5: COMMON TASKS "LEDGER_FILE" : "~/finance/my.journal" } - 2. Run killall Dock in a terminal window (or restart the machine), to + 2. Run killall Dock in a terminal window (or restart the machine), to complete the change. When correctly configured for GUI applications: - o apps started from the dock or a spotlight search, such as a GUI + o apps started from the dock or a spotlight search, such as a GUI Emacs, will be aware of the new LEDGER_FILE setting. Set LEDGER_FILE on Windows Using the gui is easiest: - 1. In task bar, search for environment variables, and choose "Edit en- + 1. In task bar, search for environment variables, and choose "Edit en- vironment variables for your account". - 2. Create or change a LEDGER_FILE setting in the User variables pane. + 2. Create or change a LEDGER_FILE setting in the User variables pane. A typical value would be C:\Users\USERNAME\finance\my.journal. 3. Click OK to complete the change. - 4. And open a new powershell window. (Existing windows won't see the + 4. And open a new powershell window. (Existing windows won't see the change.) Or at the command line, you can do it this way: - 1. In a powershell window, run [Environment]::SetEnvironmentVari- + 1. In a powershell window, run [Environment]::SetEnvironmentVari- able("LEDGER_FILE", "C:\User\USERNAME\finance\my.journal", [Sys- tem.EnvironmentVariableTarget]::User) - 2. And open a new powershell window. (Existing windows won't see the + 2. And open a new powershell window. (Existing windows won't see the change.) - Warning, doing this from the Windows command line can be tricky; other + Warning, doing this from the Windows command line can be tricky; other methods you may find online: o may not affect the current window @@ -10449,26 +10491,26 @@ PART 5: COMMON TASKS When correctly configured: - o in a new powershell window, $env:LEDGER_FILE will show your new set- + o in a new powershell window, $env:LEDGER_FILE will show your new set- ting o and so should hledger setup and (once the file exists) hledger files. 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 + 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 + 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 re- - cent starting date, like today or the start of the week. You can al- - ways come back later and add more accounts and older transactions, eg + cent starting date, like today or the start of the week. You can al- + ways 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 bal- + Add an opening balances transaction to the journal, declaring the bal- ances on this date. Here are two ways to do it: - o The first way: open the journal in any text editor and save an entry + o The first way: open the journal in any text editor and save an entry like this: 2023-01-01 * opening balances @@ -10478,19 +10520,19 @@ PART 5: COMMON TASKS liabilities:creditcard $-50 = $-50 equity:opening/closing balances - These are start-of-day balances, ie whatever was in the account at + 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 + 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 + 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 + The = amounts are optional balance assertions, providing extra error checking. - o The second way: run hledger add and follow the prompts to record a + o The second way: run hledger add and follow the prompts to record a similar transaction: $ hledger add @@ -10527,18 +10569,18 @@ PART 5: COMMON TASKS Starting the next transaction (. or ctrl-D/ctrl-C to quit) Date [2023-01-01]: . - If you're using version control, this could be a good time to commit + If you're using version control, this could be a good time to commit the journal. Eg: $ git commit -m 'initial balances' 2023.journal 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 + 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 + Here are some simple transactions, see the hledger_journal(5) manual and hledger.org for more ideas: 2023/1/10 * gift received @@ -10554,22 +10596,22 @@ PART 5: COMMON TASKS assets:bank:checking $1000 Reconciling - Periodically you should reconcile - compare your hledger-reported bal- - ances 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 dis- + Periodically you should reconcile - compare your hledger-reported bal- + ances 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 dis- crepancies. 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 al- - ready-recorded transactions. A register report can be helpful - (hledger reg cash). If you can't find the error, add an adjustment + 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 al- + ready-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: @@ -10579,26 +10621,26 @@ PART 5: COMMON TASKS 2. Reconcile checking. Log in to your bank's website. Compare today's (cleared) balance with hledger's cleared balance (hledger bal check- - ing -C). If they are different, track down the error or record the - missing transaction(s) or add an adjustment transaction, similar to + ing -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 trans- - action history and running balance from your bank with the one re- - ported by hledger reg checking -C. This will be easier if you gen- - erally record transaction dates quite similar to your bank's clear- + action history and running balance from your bank with the one re- + ported by hledger reg checking -C. This will be easier if you gen- + erally record transaction dates quite similar to your bank's clear- ing dates. 3. Repeat for other asset/liability accounts. - Tip: instead of the register command, use hledger-ui to see a live-up- + Tip: instead of the register command, use hledger-ui to see a live-up- dating register while you edit the journal: hledger-ui --watch --regis- ter 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, + 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 2023-01-15 and paycheck - If you're using version control, this can be another good time to com- + If you're using version control, this can be another good time to com- mit: $ git commit -m 'txns' 2023.journal @@ -10670,7 +10712,7 @@ PART 5: COMMON TASKS -------------------- 0 - Show only asset and liability balances, as a flat list, limited to + Show only asset and liability balances, as a flat list, limited to depth 2: $ hledger bal assets liabilities -2 @@ -10680,7 +10722,7 @@ PART 5: COMMON TASKS -------------------- $4055 - Show the same thing without negative numbers, formatted as a simple + Show the same thing without negative numbers, formatted as a simple balance sheet: $ hledger bs -2 @@ -10747,62 +10789,62 @@ PART 5: COMMON TASKS 2023-01-13 **** Migrating to a new file - At the end of the year, you may want to continue your journal in a new + 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 + 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. BUGS - We welcome bug reports in the hledger issue tracker + We welcome bug reports in the hledger issue tracker (https://bugs.hledger.org), or on the hledger chat or mail list (https://hledger.org/support). Some known issues and limitations: - hledger uses the system's text encoding when reading non-ascii text. - If no system encoding is configured, or if the data's encoding is dif- - ferent, hledger will give an error. (See Text encoding, Troubleshoot- + hledger uses the system's text encoding when reading non-ascii text. + If no system encoding is configured, or if the data's encoding is dif- + ferent, hledger will give an error. (See Text encoding, Troubleshoot- ing.) - On Microsoft Windows, depending what kind of terminal window you use, - non-ascii characters, ANSI text formatting, and/or the add command's - TAB key, may not be fully supported. (For best results, try a power- + On Microsoft Windows, depending what kind of terminal window you use, + non-ascii characters, ANSI text formatting, and/or the add command's + TAB key, may not be fully supported. (For best results, try a power- shell window.) When processing large data files, hledger uses more memory than Ledger. Troubleshooting - Here are some common issues you might encounter when you run hledger, - and how to resolve them (and remember also you can usually get quick + Here are some common issues you might encounter when you run hledger, + and how to resolve them (and remember also you can usually get quick Support): PATH issues: I get an error like "No command 'hledger' found" Depending how you installed hledger, the executables may not be in your - shell's PATH. Eg on unix systems, stack installs hledger in ~/.lo- + shell's PATH. Eg on unix systems, stack installs hledger in ~/.lo- cal/bin and cabal installs it in ~/.cabal/bin. You may need to add one - of these directories to your shell's PATH, and/or open a new terminal + of these directories to your shell's PATH, and/or open a new terminal window. - LEDGER_FILE issues: I configured LEDGER_FILE but hledger is not using + LEDGER_FILE issues: I configured LEDGER_FILE but hledger is not using it - o LEDGER_FILE should be a real environment variable, not just a shell + o LEDGER_FILE should be a real environment variable, not just a shell variable. Eg on unix, the command env | grep LEDGER_FILE should show - it. You may need to use export (see https://stackover- + it. You may need to use export (see https://stackover- flow.com/a/7411509). On Windows, $env:LEDGER_FILE should show it. - o You may need to force your shell to see the new configuration. A + o You may need to force your shell to see the new configuration. A simple way is to close your terminal window and open a new one. Text decoding issues: I get errors like "Illegal byte sequence" or "In- - valid or incomplete multibyte or wide character" or "commitAndRelease- + valid or incomplete multibyte or wide character" or "commitAndRelease- Buffer: invalid argument (invalid character)" - hledger usually needs its input to be decodable with the system lo- + hledger usually needs its input to be decodable with the system lo- cale's text encoding. See Text encoding and Install: Text encoding. COMPATIBILITY ISSUES: hledger gives an error with my Ledger file - Not all of Ledger's journal file syntax or feature set is supported. + Not all of Ledger's journal file syntax or feature set is supported. See hledger and Ledger for full details.