diff --git a/hledger-lib/.date.m4 b/hledger-lib/.date.m4 index 8d1929aa0..29cdeb0d5 100644 --- a/hledger-lib/.date.m4 +++ b/hledger-lib/.date.m4 @@ -1,2 +1,2 @@ m4_dnl Date to show in man pages. Updated by "Shake manuals" -m4_define({{_monthyear_}}, {{September 2025}})m4_dnl +m4_define({{_monthyear_}}, {{October 2025}})m4_dnl diff --git a/hledger-ui/.date.m4 b/hledger-ui/.date.m4 index 8d1929aa0..29cdeb0d5 100644 --- a/hledger-ui/.date.m4 +++ b/hledger-ui/.date.m4 @@ -1,2 +1,2 @@ m4_dnl Date to show in man pages. Updated by "Shake manuals" -m4_define({{_monthyear_}}, {{September 2025}})m4_dnl +m4_define({{_monthyear_}}, {{October 2025}})m4_dnl diff --git a/hledger-ui/hledger-ui.1 b/hledger-ui/hledger-ui.1 index 9a749d078..974e3cecf 100644 --- a/hledger-ui/hledger-ui.1 +++ b/hledger-ui/hledger-ui.1 @@ -1,5 +1,5 @@ -.TH "HLEDGER\-UI" "1" "September 2025" "hledger-ui-1.50.99 " "hledger User Manuals" +.TH "HLEDGER\-UI" "1" "October 2025" "hledger-ui-1.50.99 " "hledger User Manuals" @@ -250,6 +250,9 @@ screen and any previous screens. \f[CR]I\f[R] toggles balance assertion checking. Disabling balance assertions temporarily can be useful for troubleshooting. +(If hledger\-ui was started with a \f[CR]\-\-pivot\f[R] option, +re\-enabling balance assertions with the \f[CR]I\f[R] key also reloads +the journal, like \f[CR]g\f[R].) .PP \f[CR]a\f[R] runs command\-line hledger\[aq]s add command, and reloads the updated file. @@ -442,10 +445,6 @@ On some unix systems, increasing fs.inotify.max_user_watches or fs.file\-max parameters in /etc/sysctl.conf might help. (#836) .IP \[bu] 2 -It may not detect file changes made by certain tools, such as Jetbrains -IDEs or gedit. -(#1617) -.IP \[bu] 2 It may not detect changes made from outside a virtual machine, ie by an editor running on the host system. .IP \[bu] 2 diff --git a/hledger-ui/hledger-ui.info b/hledger-ui/hledger-ui.info index 104964cf1..4058fb6f1 100644 --- a/hledger-ui/hledger-ui.info +++ b/hledger-ui/hledger-ui.info @@ -256,7 +256,9 @@ any previous screens. (With large files, this could cause a noticeable pause.) 'I' toggles balance assertion checking. Disabling balance assertions -temporarily can be useful for troubleshooting. +temporarily can be useful for troubleshooting. (If hledger-ui was +started with a '--pivot' option, re-enabling balance assertions with the +'I' key also reloads the journal, like 'g'.) 'a' runs command-line hledger's add command, and reloads the updated file. This allows some basic data entry. @@ -503,8 +505,6 @@ _However._ There are limitations/unresolved bugs with '--watch': configuration. On some unix systems, increasing fs.inotify.max_user_watches or fs.file-max parameters in /etc/sysctl.conf might help. (#836) - * It may not detect file changes made by certain tools, such as - Jetbrains IDEs or gedit. (#1617) * It may not detect changes made from outside a virtual machine, ie by an editor running on the host system. * It may not detect file changes on certain less common filesystems. @@ -558,19 +558,19 @@ Node: Top221 Node: OPTIONS1869 Node: MOUSE8755 Node: KEYS9087 -Node: SCREENS14091 -Node: Menu screen14831 -Node: Cash accounts screen15147 -Node: Balance sheet accounts screen15508 -Node: Income statement accounts screen15844 -Node: All accounts screen16229 -Node: Register screen16592 -Node: Transaction screen19035 -Node: Error screen20215 -Node: WATCH MODE20581 -Node: --watch problems21479 -Node: ENVIRONMENT22832 -Node: BUGS23065 +Node: SCREENS14229 +Node: Menu screen14969 +Node: Cash accounts screen15285 +Node: Balance sheet accounts screen15646 +Node: Income statement accounts screen15982 +Node: All accounts screen16367 +Node: Register screen16730 +Node: Transaction screen19173 +Node: Error screen20353 +Node: WATCH MODE20719 +Node: --watch problems21617 +Node: ENVIRONMENT22864 +Node: BUGS23097  End Tag Table diff --git a/hledger-ui/hledger-ui.txt b/hledger-ui/hledger-ui.txt index 1b4e28012..adc551948 100644 --- a/hledger-ui/hledger-ui.txt +++ b/hledger-ui/hledger-ui.txt @@ -223,7 +223,9 @@ KEYS pause.) I toggles balance assertion checking. Disabling balance assertions - temporarily can be useful for troubleshooting. + temporarily can be useful for troubleshooting. (If hledger-ui was + started with a --pivot option, re-enabling balance assertions with the + I key also reloads the journal, like g.) a runs command-line hledger's add command, and reloads the updated file. This allows some basic data entry. @@ -398,38 +400,35 @@ WATCH MODE tify.max_user_watches or fs.file-max parameters in /etc/sysctl.conf might help. (#836) - o It may not detect file changes made by certain tools, such as Jet- - brains IDEs or gedit. (#1617) - - o It may not detect changes made from outside a virtual machine, ie by + o It may not detect changes made from outside a virtual machine, ie by an editor running on the host system. o It may not detect file changes on certain less common filesystems. - o It may use increasing CPU and RAM over time, especially with large - files. (This is probably not --watch specific, you may be able to + o It may use increasing CPU and RAM over time, especially with large + files. (This is probably not --watch specific, you may be able to reproduce it by pressing g repeatedly.) (#1825) Tips/workarounds: - o If --watch won't work for you, press g to reload data manually in- + o If --watch won't work for you, press g to reload data manually in- stead. - o If --watch is leaking resources over time, quit and restart (or sus- + o If --watch is leaking resources over time, quit and restart (or sus- pend and resume) hledger-ui when you're not using it. - o When running hledger-ui inside a VM, also make file changes inside + o When running hledger-ui inside a VM, also make file changes inside the VM. - o When working with files mounted from another machine, make sure the + o When working with files mounted from another machine, make sure the system clocks on both machines are roughly in agreement. ENVIRONMENT - LEDGER_FILE The main journal file to use when not specified with + LEDGER_FILE The main journal file to use when not specified with -f/--file. Default: $HOME/.hledger.journal. BUGS - We welcome bug reports in the hledger issue tracker + 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). @@ -437,7 +436,7 @@ BUGS -f- doesn't work (hledger-ui can't read from stdin). - --watch is not robust, especially with large files (see WATCH MODE + --watch is not robust, especially with large files (see WATCH MODE above). If you press g with large files, there could be a noticeable pause with @@ -461,4 +460,4 @@ LICENSE SEE ALSO hledger(1), hledger-ui(1), hledger-web(1), ledger(1) -hledger-ui-1.50.99 September 2025 HLEDGER-UI(1) +hledger-ui-1.50.99 October 2025 HLEDGER-UI(1) diff --git a/hledger-web/.date.m4 b/hledger-web/.date.m4 index 8d1929aa0..29cdeb0d5 100644 --- a/hledger-web/.date.m4 +++ b/hledger-web/.date.m4 @@ -1,2 +1,2 @@ m4_dnl Date to show in man pages. Updated by "Shake manuals" -m4_define({{_monthyear_}}, {{September 2025}})m4_dnl +m4_define({{_monthyear_}}, {{October 2025}})m4_dnl diff --git a/hledger-web/hledger-web.1 b/hledger-web/hledger-web.1 index f33f8a18e..332183b4b 100644 --- a/hledger-web/hledger-web.1 +++ b/hledger-web/hledger-web.1 @@ -1,5 +1,5 @@ -.TH "HLEDGER\-WEB" "1" "September 2025" "hledger-web-1.50.99 " "hledger User Manuals" +.TH "HLEDGER\-WEB" "1" "October 2025" "hledger-web-1.50.99 " "hledger User Manuals" diff --git a/hledger-web/hledger-web.txt b/hledger-web/hledger-web.txt index fa5a59a82..3dbd6baa2 100644 --- a/hledger-web/hledger-web.txt +++ b/hledger-web/hledger-web.txt @@ -480,4 +480,4 @@ LICENSE SEE ALSO hledger(1), hledger-ui(1), hledger-web(1), ledger(1) -hledger-web-1.50.99 September 2025 HLEDGER-WEB(1) +hledger-web-1.50.99 October 2025 HLEDGER-WEB(1) diff --git a/hledger/.date.m4 b/hledger/.date.m4 index 8d1929aa0..29cdeb0d5 100644 --- a/hledger/.date.m4 +++ b/hledger/.date.m4 @@ -1,2 +1,2 @@ m4_dnl Date to show in man pages. Updated by "Shake manuals" -m4_define({{_monthyear_}}, {{September 2025}})m4_dnl +m4_define({{_monthyear_}}, {{October 2025}})m4_dnl diff --git a/hledger/hledger.1 b/hledger/hledger.1 index 33e4003c0..8a0d85354 100644 --- a/hledger/hledger.1 +++ b/hledger/hledger.1 @@ -1,6 +1,6 @@ .\"t -.TH "HLEDGER" "1" "September 2025" "hledger-1.50.99 " "hledger User Manuals" +.TH "HLEDGER" "1" "October 2025" "hledger-1.50.99 " "hledger User Manuals" @@ -458,157 +458,138 @@ Some queries can be expressed either with options or with arguments. Below are more tips for using the command line interface \- feel free to skip these until you need them. .SS Special characters -Here we touch on shell escaping/quoting rules, and give some examples. -This is a slightly complicated topic which you may not need at first, -but you should be aware of it, so you can return here when needed. +In commands you type at the command line, certain characters have +special meaning and sometimes need to be \[dq]escaped\[dq] or +\[dq]quoted\[dq], by prefixing backslashes or enclosing in quotes. .PP If you are able to minimise the use of special characters in your data, -you won\[aq]t need escaping as much, and your command lines will be -simpler. -For example, avoiding spaces in account names, and using an ISO\-4217 -currency code like \f[CR]USD\f[R] instead of the \f[CR]$\f[R] currency -symbol, can be helpful. +you won\[aq]t have to deal with this as much. +For example, you could use hyphen \f[CR]\-\f[R] or underscore +\f[CR]_\f[R] instead of spaces in account names, and you could use the +\f[CR]USD\f[R] currency code instead of the \f[CR]$\f[R] currency symbol +in amounts. .PP -But if you want to use spaced account names and \f[CR]$\f[R], go right -ahead; escaping isn\[aq]t a big deal. +But if you prefer to use spaced account names and \f[CR]$\f[R], it\[aq]s +fine. +Just be aware of this topic so you can check this doc when needed. +(These examples are mostly tested on unix; some details might need to be +adapted if you\[aq]re on Windows.) .SS Escaping shell special characters -At the command line, characters which have special meaning for your -shell must be \[dq]shell\-escaped\[dq] (AKA \[dq]quoted\[dq]) if you -want hledger to see them. -Often these include space, \f[CR]<\f[R], \f[CR]>\f[R], \f[CR](\f[R], -\f[CR])\f[R], \f[CR]|\f[R], \f[CR]\[rs]\f[R], \f[CR]$\f[R] and/or -\f[CR]%\f[R]. +These are some characters which may have special meaning to your shell +(the program which interprets command lines): +.IP \[bu] 2 +SPACE, \f[CR]<\f[R], \f[CR]>\f[R], \f[CR](\f[R], \f[CR])\f[R], +\f[CR]|\f[R], \f[CR]\[rs]\f[R], \f[CR]%\f[R] +.IP \[bu] 2 +\f[CR]$\f[R] if followed by a word character .PP -For example, to match an account name containing the phrase \[dq]credit -card\[dq], don\[aq]t write this: +So for example, to match an account name containing spaces, like +\[dq]credit card\[dq], don\[aq]t write: .IP .EX $ hledger register credit card .EE .PP -In that command, \[dq]credit\[dq] and \[dq]card\[dq] are treated as -separate query arguments (described below), so this would match accounts -containing either word. -Instead, enclose the phrase in double or single quotes: +Instead, enclose the name in single quotes: .IP .EX -$ hledger register \[dq]credit card\[dq] +$ hledger register \[aq]credit card\[aq] .EE .PP -In Unix shells, writing a backslash before the character can also work. -Eg: +On unix or in Windows powershell, if you use double quotes your shell +will silently treat \f[CR]$\f[R] as variable interpolation. +So you should probably avoid double quotes, unless you want that +behaviour, eg in a script: +.IP +.EX +$ hledger register \[dq]assets:$SOMEACCT\[dq] +.EE +.PP +But in an older Windows CMD.EXE window, you must use double quotes: +.IP +.EX +C:\[rs]Users\[rs]Me> hledger register \[dq]credit card\[dq] +.EE +.PP +On unix or in Windows powershell, as an alternative to quotes you can +write a backslash before each special character: .IP .EX $ hledger register credit\[rs] card .EE .PP -Some shell characters still have a special meaning inside double quotes, -such as the dollar sign (\f[CR]$\f[R]). -Eg in \f[CR]\[dq]assets:$account\[dq]\f[R], the bash shell would replace -\f[CR]$account\f[R] with the value of a shell variable with that name. -When you don\[aq]t want that, use single quotes, which escape more -strongly: +Finally, since hledger\[aq]s query arguments are regular expressions +(described below), you could also fill that gap with \f[CR].\f[R] which +matches any character: .IP .EX -$ hledger balance \[aq]assets:$account\[aq] +$ hledger register credit.card .EE -.SS Escaping on Windows -If you are using hledger in a Powershell or Command window on Microsoft -Windows, the escaping rules are different: -.IP \[bu] 2 -In a Powershell window (\f[CR]powershell\f[R], blue background), you -must use double quotes or single quotes (not backslash). -.IP \[bu] 2 -In a Command window (\f[CR]cmd\f[R], black background), you must use -double quotes (not single quotes or backslash). -.PP -The next two sections were written for Unix\-like shells, so might need -to be adapted if you\[aq]re using \f[CR]cmd\f[R] or -\f[CR]powershell\f[R]. -(Edits welcome.) .SS Escaping regular expression special characters -Many hledger arguments are regular expressions (described below), and -these too have characters which cause special effects. -Some of those characters are \f[CR].\f[R], \f[CR]\[ha]\f[R], -\f[CR]$\f[R], \f[CR][\f[R], \f[CR]]\f[R], \f[CR](\f[R], \f[CR])\f[R], -\f[CR]|\f[R], and \f[CR]\[rs]\f[R]. -When you don\[aq]t want these to cause special effects, you can -\[dq]regex\-escape\[dq] them by writing \f[CR]\[rs]\f[R] (a backslash) -before them. -But since backslash is also special to the shell, you may need to also -shell\-escape the backslashes. +Some characters also have special meaning in regular expressions, which +hledger\[aq]s arguments often are. +Those include: +.IP \[bu] 2 +\f[CR].\f[R], \f[CR]\[ha]\f[R], \f[CR]$\f[R], \f[CR][\f[R], +\f[CR]]\f[R], \f[CR](\f[R], \f[CR])\f[R], \f[CR]|\f[R], \f[CR]\[rs]\f[R] .PP -Eg, in the bash shell, to match a literal \f[CR]$\f[R] sign, you could -write: +To escape one of these, write \f[CR]\[rs]\f[R] before it. +But note this is in addition to the shell escaping above. +So for characters which are special to both shell and regular +expressions, like \f[CR]\[rs]\f[R] and \f[CR]$\f[R], you will sometimes +need two levels of escaping. +.PP +For example, a balance report that uses a \f[CR]cur:\f[R] query +restricting it to just the $ currency, should be written like this: .IP .EX $ hledger balance cur:\[rs]\[rs]$ .EE .PP -or: +Explanation: +.IP "1." 3 +Add a backslash \f[CR]\[rs]\f[R] before the dollar sign \f[CR]$\f[R] to +protect it from regular expressions (so it will be matched literally +with no special meaning). +.IP "2." 3 +Add another backslash before that backslash, to protect it from the +shell (so the shell won\[aq]t consume it). +.IP "3." 3 +\f[CR]$\f[R] doesn\[aq]t need to be protected from the shell in this +case, because it\[aq]s not followed by a word character; but it would be +harmless to do so. +.PP +But here\[aq]s another way to write that, which tends to be easier: add +backslashes to escape from regular expressions, then enclose with quotes +to escape from the shell: .IP .EX -$ hledger balance \[aq]cur:\[rs]$\[aq] -.EE -.PP -(The dollar sign is regex\-escaped by the backslash preceding it. -Then that backslash is shell\-escaped by another backslash, or by single -quotes.) -.SS Escaping add\-on arguments -When you run an external add\-on command with \f[CR]hledger\f[R] -(described below), any options or arguments being passed through to the -add\-on executable lose one level of shell\-escaping, so you must add an -extra level of shell\-escaping to compensate. -.PP -Eg, in the bash shell, to run the \f[CR]ui\f[R] add\-on and match a -literal \f[CR]$\f[R] sign, you need to write: -.IP -.EX -$ hledger ui cur:\[aq]\[rs]\[rs]$\[aq] -.EE -.PP -or: -.IP -.EX -$ hledger ui cur:\[rs]\[rs]\[rs]\[rs]$ -.EE -.PP -If you are wondering why \f[I]four\f[R] backslashes: -.IP \[bu] 2 -\f[CR]$\f[R] is unescaped -.IP \[bu] 2 -\f[CR]\[rs]$\f[R] is regex\-escaped -.IP \[bu] 2 -\f[CR]\[rs]\[rs]$\f[R] is regex\-escaped, then shell\-escaped -.IP \[bu] 2 -\f[CR]\[rs]\[rs]\[rs]\[rs]$\f[R] is regex\-escaped, then shell\-escaped, -then both slashes are shell\-escaped once more for hledger argument -pass\-through. -.PP -Or you can avoid such triple\-escaping, by running the add\-on -executable directly: -.IP -.EX -$ hledger\-ui cur:\[rs]\[rs]$ +$ hledger balance cur:\[aq]\[rs]$\[aq] .EE .SS Escaping in other situations hledger options and arguments are sometimes used in places other than -the command line, with different escaping rules. -For example, backslash\-quoting generally does not work there. -Here are some more tips. +the command line, where the escaping/quoting rules are different. +For example, backslash\-quoting may not be available. +Here\[aq]s a quick reference: .PP .TS tab(@); lw(17.5n) lw(52.5n). T{ -In Windows \f[CR]cmd\f[R] +In unix shell T}@T{ -Use double quotes +Use single quotes and/or backslash (or double quotes for variable +interpolation) T} T{ In Windows \f[CR]powershell\f[R] T}@T{ -Use single or double quotes +Use single quotes (or double quotes for variable interpolation) +T} +T{ +In Windows \f[CR]cmd\f[R] +T}@T{ +Use double quotes T} T{ In hledger\-ui\[aq]s filter prompt @@ -623,14 +604,14 @@ T} T{ In an argument file T}@T{ -Don\[aq]t use spaces, don\[aq]t shell\-escape, do regex\-escape when -needed +Don\[aq]t use spaces, don\[aq]t shell\-escape, do regex\-escape, write +one argument/option per line T} T{ In a config file T}@T{ Use single or double quotes, and enclose the whole argument -(\f[CR]\[dq]desc:a b\[dq]\f[R] not \f[CR]desc:\[dq]a b\[dq]\f[R]) +(\f[CR]\[aq]desc:a b\[aq]\f[R] not \f[CR]desc:\[aq]a b\[aq]\f[R]) T} T{ In \f[CR]ghci\f[R] (the Haskell REPL) @@ -638,15 +619,6 @@ T}@T{ Use double quotes, and enclose the whole argument T} .TE -.SS Using a wild card -When escaping a special character is too much hassle (or impossible), -you can often just write \f[CR].\f[R] (period) instead. -In regular expressions, this means \[dq]accept any character here\[dq]. -Eg: -.IP -.EX -$ hledger register credit.card -.EE .SS Unicode characters hledger is expected to handle non\-ascii characters correctly: .IP \[bu] 2 @@ -1866,7 +1838,7 @@ In english they are: .PP These will be discussed more in Account types below. In hledger docs you may see them referred to as A, L, E, R, X for short. -.SS The two space delimiter +.SS Two space delimiter Note the \f[B]two or more spaces\f[R] delimiter that\[aq]s sometimes required after account names. \ hledger\[aq]s account names, inherited from Ledger, are very @@ -2381,46 +2353,139 @@ here.) .RE .SS Tags Tags are a way to add extra labels or data fields to transactions, -postings, or accounts. -They are usually a word or hyphenated word, immediately followed by a -full colon, written within the comment of a transaction, a posting, or -an \f[CR]account\f[R] directive. -(Yes, storing data in comments is slightly weird!) -.PP -You can write each tag on its own comment line, or multiple tags on one -line, separated by commas. -Tags can also have a value, which is any text after the colon until the -next comma or end of line, excluding surrounding whitespace. -(hledger tag values can\[aq]t contain commas.) -If the same tag name appears multiple times in a comment, each -name:value pair is preserved. -.PP -An example: in this journal there are six tags, one of them with a -value: -.IP -.EX -account assets:checking ; accounttag: -account expenses:food - -2017/1/16 bought groceries ; transactiontag: - ; transactiontag2: - assets:checking $\-1 - ; posting\-tag\-1:, (belongs to the posting above) - expenses:food $1 ; posting\-tag\-2:, posting\-tag\-3: with a value -.EE -.SS Querying with tags -Tags are most often used to select a subset of data; you can match -tagged things by tag name and or tag value with a \f[CR]tag:\f[R] query. +postings, or accounts, which you can match with a \f[CR]tag:\f[R] query +in reports. (See queries below.) .PP -When querying for tag names or values, note that postings inherit tags -from their transaction and from their account, and transactions acquire -tags from their postings. -So in the example above, \- the assets:checking posting effectively has -four tags (one of its own, one from the account, two from the -transaction) \- the expenses:food posting effectively has four tags (two -of its own, two from the transaction) \- the transaction effectively has -all six tags (two of its own, and two from each posting) +Tags are a single word or hyphenated word, immediately followed by a +full colon, written within a comment. +(Yes, storing data in comments is slightly weird.) +Here\[aq]s a transaction with a tag: +.IP +.EX +2025\-01\-01 groceries ; some\-tag: + assets:checking + expenses:food $1 +.EE +.PP +A tag can have a value, a single line of text written after the colon. +Tag values can\[aq]t contain newlines.: +.IP +.EX +2025\-01\-01 groceries ; tag1: this is tag1\[aq]s value +.EE +.PP +Multiple tags can be separated by comma. +Tag values can\[aq]t contain commas.: +.IP +.EX +2025\-01\-01 groceries ; tag1:value 1, tag2:value 2, comment text +.EE +.PP +A tag can have multiple values: +.IP +.EX +2025\-01\-01 groceries ; tag1:value 1, tag1:value 2 +.EE +.PP +You can write each tag on its own line of you prefer (but they still +can\[aq]t contain commas): +.IP +.EX +2025\-01\-01 groceries + ; tag1: value 1 + ; tag2: value 2 +.EE +.PP +Tags can be attached to individual postings, rather than the overall +transaction: +.IP +.EX +2025\-01\-01 rent + assets:checking + expenses:rent $1000 ; postingtag: +.EE +.PP +Tags can be attached to accounts, in their account directive: +.IP +.EX +account assets:checking ; acct\-number: 123\-45\-6789 +.EE +.SS Tag propagation +In addition to what they are attached to, tags also affect related data +in a few ways, allowing more powerful queries: +.IP "1." 3 +Accounts \-> postings. +Postings inherit tags from their account. +.IP "2." 3 +Transactions \-> postings. +Postings inherit tags from their transaction. +.IP "3." 3 +Postings \-> transactions. +Transactions also acquire the tags of their postings. +\ +.PP +So when you use a \f[CR]tag:\f[R] query to match whole transactions, +individual postings, or accounts, it\[aq]s good to understand how tags +behave. +Here\[aq]s an example showing all three kinds of propagation: +.IP +.EX +account assets:checking +account expenses:food ; atag: + +2025\-01\-01 groceries ; ttag: + assets:checking ; p1tag: + expenses:food $1 ; p2tag: +.EE +.PP +.TS +tab(@); +lw(13.3n) lw(13.8n) lw(43.0n). +T{ +data part +T}@T{ +has tags +T}@T{ +explanation +T} +_ +T{ +assets:checking\ account +T}@T{ +T}@T{ +no tags attached +T} +T{ +expenses:food account +T}@T{ +atag +T}@T{ +atag: in comment +T} +T{ +assets:checking posting +T}@T{ +p1tag, ttag +T}@T{ +p1tag: in comment, ttag acquired from transaction +T} +T{ +expenses:food posting +T}@T{ +p2tag, atag, ttag +T}@T{ +p2tag: in comment, atag from account, ttag from transaction +T} +T{ +groceries transaction +T}@T{ +ttag, p1tag, p2tag, atag +T}@T{ +ttag: in comment, p1tag from first posting, p2tag and atag from second +posting +T} +.TE .SS Displaying tags You can use the \f[CR]tags\f[R] command to list tag names or values. .PP @@ -2442,19 +2507,18 @@ For example, you could tag trip\-related transactions with categories. .SS Tag names What is allowed in a tag name ? -Currently, most non\-whitespace characters. +Most non\-whitespace characters. Eg \f[CR]😀:\f[R] is a valid tag. .PP For extra error checking, you can declare valid tag names with the \f[CR]tag\f[R] directive, and then enforce these with the \f[CR]check\f[R] command. -.PP But note that tags are detected quite loosely at present, sometimes where you didn\[aq]t intend them. -Eg \f[CR]; see https://foo.com\f[R] contains a \f[CR]https\f[R] tag with -value \f[CR]//foo.com\f[R]. -.SS Special tags -Some tag names have special significance to hledger. +Eg a comment like \f[CR]; see https://foo.com\f[R] adds a +\f[CR]https\f[R] tag. +.PP +There are several tag names which have special significance to hledger. They are explained elsewhere, but here\[aq]s a quick reference: .IP .EX @@ -2964,7 +3028,7 @@ You can list accounts and their types, for troubleshooting: .RS 2 .IP .EX -$ hledger accounts \-\-types [ACCTPAT] [type:TYPECODES] [\-DEPTH] [\-\-positions] +$ hledger accounts \-\-types [ACCTPAT] [type:TYPECODES] [\-DEPTH] .EE .RE .IP \[bu] 2 @@ -7213,8 +7277,8 @@ Some special cases: Colons appearing in PIVOTEXPR or in a pivoted tag value will generate account hierarchy. .IP \[bu] 2 -When pivoting a posting has multiple values for a tag, the pivoted value -of that tag will be the first value. +When pivoting a posting that has multiple values for a tag, the +tag\[aq]s first value will be used as the pivoted value. .IP \[bu] 2 When a posting has multiple commodities, the pivoted value of \[dq]comm\[dq]/\[dq]cur\[dq] will be \[dq]\[dq]. @@ -9400,23 +9464,40 @@ Flags: \-\-unused list accounts declared but not used \-\-find list the first account matched by the first argument (a case\-insensitive infix regexp) - \-\-types also show account types when known - \-\-positions also show where accounts were declared \-\-directives show as account directives, for use in journals + \-\-locations also show where accounts were declared + \-\-types also show account types when known \-l \-\-flat list/tree mode: show accounts as a flat list (default) \-t \-\-tree list/tree mode: show accounts as a tree \-\-drop=N flat mode: omit N leading account name parts .EE .PP -This command lists account names \- all of them by default. -or just the ones which have been used in transactions, or declared with -\f[CR]account\f[R] directives, or used but not declared, or declared but -not used, or just the first account name matched by a pattern. +This command lists account names \- all of them by default, or just the +ones which have been used in transactions (\f[CR]\-u/\-\-used\f[R]), or +declared with \f[CR]account\f[R] directives +(\f[CR]\-d/\-\-declared\f[R]), or used but not declared +(\f[CR]\-\-undeclared\f[R]), or declared but not used +(\f[CR]\-\-unused\f[R]), or just the first one matched by a pattern +(\f[CR]\-\-find\f[R], returning a non\-zero exit code if it fails). .PP You can add query arguments to select a subset of transactions or accounts. .PP +With \f[CR]\-\-directives\f[R], it shows valid account directives which +could be pasted into a journal file. +This is useful together with \f[CR]\-\-undeclared\f[R] when updating +your account declarations to satisfy \f[CR]hledger check accounts\f[R]. +.PP +With \f[CR]\-\-locations\f[R], it also shows the file and line number of +each account\[aq]s declaration, if any, and the account\[aq]s overall +declaration order; these may be useful when troubleshooting account +display order. +.PP +With \f[CR]\-\-types\f[R], it also shows each account\[aq]s type, if +it\[aq]s known. +(See Declaring accounts > Account types.) +.PP It shows a flat list by default. With \f[CR]\-\-tree\f[R], it uses indentation to show the account hierarchy. @@ -9425,25 +9506,6 @@ account name components. Account names can be depth\-clipped with \f[CR]depth:N\f[R] or \f[CR]\-\-depth N\f[R] or \f[CR]\-N\f[R]. .PP -With \f[CR]\-\-types\f[R], it also shows each account\[aq]s type, if -it\[aq]s known. -(See Declaring accounts > Account types.) -.PP -With \f[CR]\-\-positions\f[R], it also shows the file and line number of -each account\[aq]s declaration, if any, and the account\[aq]s overall -declaration order; these may be useful when troubleshooting account -display order. -.PP -With \f[CR]\-\-directives\f[R], it shows valid account directives which -could be pasted into a journal file. -This is useful together with \f[CR]\-\-undeclared\f[R] when updating -your account declarations to satisfy \f[CR]hledger check accounts\f[R]. -.PP -The \f[CR]\-\-find\f[R] flag can be used to look up a single account -name, in the same way that the \f[CR]aregister\f[R] command does. -It returns the alphanumerically\-first matched account name, or if none -can be found, it fails with a non\-zero exit code. -.PP Examples: .IP .EX @@ -9526,14 +9588,19 @@ Flags: \-\-declared list commodities declared \-\-undeclared list commodities used but not declared \-\-unused list commodities declared but not used + \-\-find list the first commodity matched by the first + argument (a case\-insensitive infix regexp) .EE .PP This command lists commodity symbols/names \- all of them by default, or just the ones which have been used in transactions or \f[CR]P\f[R] directives, or declared with \f[CR]commodity\f[R] directives, or used -but not declared, or declared but not used. +but not declared, or declared but not used, or just the first one +matched by a pattern (with \f[CR]\-\-find\f[R], returning a non\-zero +exit code if it fails). .PP -You can add cur: query arguments to further limit the commodities. +You can add \f[CR]cur:\f[R] query arguments to further limit the +commodities. .SS descriptions List the unique descriptions used in transactions. .IP @@ -9593,12 +9660,15 @@ Flags: \-\-declared list payees declared \-\-undeclared list payees used but not declared \-\-unused list payees declared but not used + \-\-find list the first payee matched by the first + argument (a case\-insensitive infix regexp) .EE .PP This command lists unique payee/payer names \- all of them by default, or just the ones which have been used in transaction descriptions, or declared with \f[CR]payee\f[R] directives, or used but not declared, or -declared but not used. +declared but not used, or just the first one matched by a pattern (with +\f[CR]\-\-find\f[R], returning a non\-zero exit code if it fails). .PP The payee/payer name is the part of the transaction description before a | character (or if there is no |, the whole description). @@ -9700,6 +9770,8 @@ Flags: \-\-declared list tags declared \-\-undeclared list tags used but not declared \-\-unused list tags declared but not used + \-\-find list the first tag whose name is matched by the + first argument (a case\-insensitive infix regexp) \-\-values list tag values instead of tag names \-\-parsed show them in the order they were parsed (mostly), including duplicates @@ -9708,13 +9780,14 @@ Flags: This command lists tag names \- all of them by default, or just the ones which have been used on transactions/postings/accounts, or declared with \f[CR]tag\f[R] directives, or used but not declared, or declared but not -used. +used, or just the first one matched by a pattern (with +\f[CR]\-\-find\f[R], returning a non\-zero exit code if it fails). .PP -You can add one TAGREGEX argument, to show only tags whose name is -matched by this case\-insensitive, infix\-matching regular expression. -.PP -After that, you can add query arguments to filter the transactions, -postings, or accounts providing tags. +Note this command\[aq]s non\-standard first argument: it is a +case\-insensitive infix regular expression for matching tag names, which +limits the tags shown. +Any additional arguments are standard query arguments, which limit the +transactions, postings, or accounts providing tags. .PP With \f[CR]\-\-values\f[R], the tags\[aq] unique non\-empty values are listed instead. @@ -9737,15 +9810,11 @@ Show full journal entries, representing transactions. Flags: \-x \-\-explicit show all amounts explicitly \-\-invert display all amounts with reversed sign - \-\-location add tags showing file paths and line numbers + \-\-locations add tags showing file paths and line numbers \-m \-\-match=DESC fuzzy search for one recent transaction with description closest to DESC \-\-new show only newer\-dated transactions added in each file since last run - \-\-no\-lots remove lot subaccounts and their balance - assertions - \-\-no\-lots2 remove lot subaccounts and their costs and - balance assertions (can produce unbalanced entries) \-\-round=TYPE how much rounding or padding should be done when displaying amounts ? none \- show original decimal digits, @@ -9791,7 +9860,7 @@ $ hledger print \-f examples/sample.journal date:200806 expenses:supplies $1 assets:cash $\-2 .EE -.SS print explicitness +.SS print amount explicitness Normally, whether posting amounts are implicit or explicit is preserved. For example, when an amount is omitted in the journal, it will not appear in the output. @@ -9809,19 +9878,20 @@ The \f[CR]\-x\f[R]/\f[CR]\-\-explicit\f[R] flag will cause any postings with a multi\-commodity amount (which can arise when a multi\-commodity transaction has an implicit amount) to be split into multiple single\-commodity postings, keeping the output parseable. -.SS print amount style +.SS print alignment Amounts are shown right\-aligned within each transaction (but not -aligned across all transactions; you can do that with ledger\-mode in -Emacs). +aligned across all transactions; you can achieve that with ledger\-mode +in Emacs). +.SS print amount style +Amounts will be displayed mostly in their commodity\[aq]s display style, +with standardised symbol placement, decimal mark, and digit group marks. +This does not apply to their decimal digits; \f[CR]print\f[R] normally +shows the same decimal digits that are recorded in each journal entry. .PP -Amounts will be (mostly) normalised to their commodity display style: -their symbol placement, decimal mark, and digit group marks will be made -consistent. -By default, decimal digits are shown as they are written in the journal. -.PP -With the \f[CR]\-\-round\f[R] (\f[I]Added in 1.32\f[R]) option, -\f[CR]print\f[R] will try increasingly hard to display decimal digits -according to the commodity display styles: +You can override the decimal precisions with \f[CR]print\f[R]\[aq]s +special \f[CR]\-\-round\f[R] option (\f[I]since 1.32\f[R]). +\f[CR]\-\-round\f[R] tries to show amounts with their commodities\[aq] +standard decimal precisions, increasingly strongly: .IP \[bu] 2 \f[CR]\-\-round=none\f[R] show amounts with original precisions (default) @@ -9834,17 +9904,18 @@ significant digits .IP \[bu] 2 \f[CR]\-\-round=all\f[R] round all amounts and costs .PP -\f[CR]soft\f[R] is good for non\-lossy cleanup, formatting amounts more -consistently where it\[aq]s safe to do so. +\f[CR]soft\f[R] is good for non\-lossy cleanup, displaying more +consistent decimals where possible, without making entries unbalanced. .PP -\f[CR]hard\f[R] and \f[CR]all\f[R] can cause \f[CR]print\f[R] to show -invalid unbalanced journal entries; they may be useful eg for stronger -cleanup, with manual fixups when needed. +\f[CR]hard\f[R] or \f[CR]all\f[R] can be good for stronger cleanup, when +decimal rounding is wanted. +Note rounding can produce unbalanced journal entries, perhaps requiring +manual fixup. .SS print parseability -print\[aq]s output is usually a valid hledger journal, and you can -process it again with a second hledger command. -This can be useful for certain kinds of search (though the same can be -achieved with \f[CR]expr:\f[R] queries now): +Normally, print\[aq]s output is a valid hledger journal, which you can +\[dq]pipe\[dq] to a second hledger command for further processing. +This is sometimes convenient for achieving certain kinds of query +(though less needed now that queries have become more powerful): .IP .EX # Show running total of food expenses paid from cash. @@ -9852,15 +9923,21 @@ achieved with \f[CR]expr:\f[R] queries now): $ hledger print assets:cash | hledger \-f\- \-I reg expenses:food .EE .PP -There are some situations where print\[aq]s output can become +But here are some things which can cause print\[aq]s output to become unparseable: .IP \[bu] 2 -Value reporting affects posting amounts but not balance assertion or -balance assignment amounts, potentially causing those to fail. +\f[CR]\-\-round\f[R] (see above) can disrupt transaction balancing. .IP \[bu] 2 -Auto postings can generate postings with too many missing amounts. +Account aliases or pivoting can disrupt account names, balance +assertions, or balance assignments. .IP \[bu] 2 -Account aliases can generate bad account names. +Value reporting also can disrupt balance assertions or balance +assignments. +.IP \[bu] 2 +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. .SS print, other features With \f[CR]\-B\f[R]/\f[CR]\-\-cost\f[R], amounts with costs are shown converted to cost. @@ -9882,8 +9959,8 @@ DESC should contain at least two characters. If there is no similar\-enough match, no transaction will be shown and the program exit code will be non\-zero. .PP -With \f[CR]\-\-location\f[R], print adds the source file and line number -to every transaction, as a tag. +With \f[CR]\-\-locations\f[R], print adds the source file and line +number to every transaction, as a tag. .SS print output format This command also supports the output destination and output format options The output formats supported are \f[CR]txt\f[R], @@ -10003,25 +10080,21 @@ 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. .PP -\f[CR]aregister\f[R] requires one argument: the account to report on. -You can write either the full account name, or a case\-insensitive -regular expression which will select the alphabetically first matched -account. -.PP -When there are multiple matches, the alphabetically\-first choice can be -surprising; eg if you have \f[CR]assets:per:checking 1\f[R] and -\f[CR]assets:biz:checking 2\f[R] accounts, -\f[CR]hledger areg checking\f[R] would select -\f[CR]assets:biz:checking 2\f[R]. -It\[aq]s just a convenience to save typing, so if in doubt, write the -full account name, or a distinctive substring that matches uniquely. +Note this command\[aq]s non\-standard, and required, first argument; it +specifies the account whose register will be shown. +You can write the account\[aq]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 \f[CR]assets:personal checking\f[R] and +\f[CR]assets:business checking\f[R], \f[CR]hledger areg checking\f[R] +would select \f[CR]assets:business checking\f[R].) .PP Transactions involving subaccounts of this account will also be shown. \f[CR]aregister\f[R] ignores depth limits, so its final total will always match a historical balance report with similar arguments. .PP -Any additional arguments form a query which will filter the transactions -shown. +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\[aq]s real\-world running balance. .PP diff --git a/hledger/hledger.info b/hledger/hledger.info index a79eeb357..0381bc38a 100644 --- a/hledger/hledger.info +++ b/hledger/hledger.info @@ -487,177 +487,135 @@ File: hledger.info, Node: Special characters, Next: Unicode characters, Up: O 4.1 Special characters ====================== -Here we touch on shell escaping/quoting rules, and give some examples. -This is a slightly complicated topic which you may not need at first, -but you should be aware of it, so you can return here when needed. +In commands you type at the command line, certain characters have +special meaning and sometimes need to be "escaped" or "quoted", by +prefixing backslashes or enclosing in quotes. If you are able to minimise the use of special characters in your -data, you won't need escaping as much, and your command lines will be -simpler. For example, avoiding spaces in account names, and using an -ISO-4217 currency code like 'USD' instead of the '$' currency symbol, -can be helpful. +data, you won't have to deal with this as much. For example, you could +use hyphen '-' or underscore '_' instead of spaces in account names, and +you could use the 'USD' currency code instead of the '$' currency symbol +in amounts. - But if you want to use spaced account names and '$', go right ahead; -escaping isn't a big deal. + But if you prefer to use spaced account names and '$', it's fine. +Just be aware of this topic so you can check this doc when needed. +(These examples are mostly tested on unix; some details might need to be +adapted if you're on Windows.) * Menu: * Escaping shell special characters:: -* Escaping on Windows:: * Escaping regular expression special characters:: -* Escaping add-on arguments:: * Escaping in other situations:: -* Using a wild card::  -File: hledger.info, Node: Escaping shell special characters, Next: Escaping on Windows, Up: Special characters +File: hledger.info, Node: Escaping shell special characters, Next: Escaping regular expression special characters, Up: Special characters 4.1.1 Escaping shell special characters --------------------------------------- -At the command line, characters which have special meaning for your -shell must be "shell-escaped" (AKA "quoted") if you want hledger to see -them. Often these include space, '<', '>', '(', ')', '|', '\', '$' -and/or '%'. +These are some characters which may have special meaning to your shell +(the program which interprets command lines): - For example, to match an account name containing the phrase "credit -card", don't write this: + * SPACE, '<', '>', '(', ')', '|', '\', '%' + * '$' if followed by a word character + + So for example, to match an account name containing spaces, like +"credit card", don't write: $ hledger register credit card - In that command, "credit" and "card" are treated as separate query -arguments (described below), so this would match accounts containing -either word. Instead, enclose the phrase in double or single quotes: + Instead, enclose the name in single quotes: -$ hledger register "credit card" +$ hledger register 'credit card' - In Unix shells, writing a backslash before the character can also -work. Eg: + On unix or in Windows powershell, if you use double quotes your shell +will silently treat '$' as variable interpolation. So you should +probably avoid double quotes, unless you want that behaviour, eg in a +script: + +$ hledger register "assets:$SOMEACCT" + + But in an older Windows CMD.EXE window, you must use double quotes: + +C:\Users\Me> hledger register "credit card" + + On unix or in Windows powershell, as an alternative to quotes you can +write a backslash before each special character: $ hledger register credit\ card - Some shell characters still have a special meaning inside double -quotes, such as the dollar sign ('$'). Eg in '"assets:$account"', the -bash shell would replace '$account' with the value of a shell variable -with that name. When you don't want that, use single quotes, which -escape more strongly: + Finally, since hledger's query arguments are regular expressions +(described below), you could also fill that gap with '.' which matches +any character: -$ hledger balance 'assets:$account' +$ hledger register credit.card  -File: hledger.info, Node: Escaping on Windows, Next: Escaping regular expression special characters, Prev: Escaping shell special characters, Up: Special characters +File: hledger.info, Node: Escaping regular expression special characters, Next: Escaping in other situations, Prev: Escaping shell special characters, Up: Special characters -4.1.2 Escaping on Windows -------------------------- - -If you are using hledger in a Powershell or Command window on Microsoft -Windows, the escaping rules are different: - - * In a Powershell window ('powershell', blue background), you must - use double quotes or single quotes (not backslash). - * In a Command window ('cmd', black background), you must use double - quotes (not single quotes or backslash). - - The next two sections were written for Unix-like shells, so might -need to be adapted if you're using 'cmd' or 'powershell'. (Edits -welcome.) - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Escaping regular expression special characters, Next: Escaping add-on arguments, Prev: Escaping on Windows, Up: Special characters - -4.1.3 Escaping regular expression special characters +4.1.2 Escaping regular expression special characters ---------------------------------------------------- -Many hledger arguments are regular expressions (described below), and -these too have characters which cause special effects. Some of those -characters are '.', '^', '$', '[', ']', '(', ')', '|', and '\'. When -you don't want these to cause special effects, you can "regex-escape" -them by writing '\' (a backslash) before them. But since backslash is -also special to the shell, you may need to also shell-escape the -backslashes. +Some characters also have special meaning in regular expressions, which +hledger's arguments often are. Those include: - Eg, in the bash shell, to match a literal '$' sign, you could write: + * '.', '^', '$', '[', ']', '(', ')', '|', '\' + + To escape one of these, write '\' before it. But note this is in +addition to the shell escaping above. So for characters which are +special to both shell and regular expressions, like '\' and '$', you +will sometimes need two levels of escaping. + + For example, a balance report that uses a 'cur:' query restricting it +to just the $ currency, should be written like this: $ hledger balance cur:\\$ - or: + Explanation: -$ hledger balance 'cur:\$' + 1. Add a backslash '\' before the dollar sign '$' to protect it from + regular expressions (so it will be matched literally with no + special meaning). + 2. Add another backslash before that backslash, to protect it from the + shell (so the shell won't consume it). + 3. '$' doesn't need to be protected from the shell in this case, + because it's not followed by a word character; but it would be + harmless to do so. - (The dollar sign is regex-escaped by the backslash preceding it. -Then that backslash is shell-escaped by another backslash, or by single -quotes.) + But here's another way to write that, which tends to be easier: add +backslashes to escape from regular expressions, then enclose with quotes +to escape from the shell: + +$ hledger balance cur:'\$'  -File: hledger.info, Node: Escaping add-on arguments, Next: Escaping in other situations, Prev: Escaping regular expression special characters, Up: Special characters +File: hledger.info, Node: Escaping in other situations, Prev: Escaping regular expression special characters, Up: Special characters -4.1.4 Escaping add-on arguments -------------------------------- - -When you run an external add-on command with 'hledger' (described -below), any options or arguments being passed through to the add-on -executable lose one level of shell-escaping, so you must add an extra -level of shell-escaping to compensate. - - Eg, in the bash shell, to run the 'ui' add-on and match a literal '$' -sign, you need to write: - -$ hledger ui cur:'\\$' - - or: - -$ hledger ui cur:\\\\$ - - If you are wondering why _four_ backslashes: - - * '$' is unescaped - * '\$' is regex-escaped - * '\\$' is regex-escaped, then shell-escaped - * '\\\\$' is regex-escaped, then shell-escaped, then both slashes are - shell-escaped once more for hledger argument pass-through. - - Or you can avoid such triple-escaping, by running the add-on -executable directly: - -$ hledger-ui cur:\\$ - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Escaping in other situations, Next: Using a wild card, Prev: Escaping add-on arguments, Up: Special characters - -4.1.5 Escaping in other situations +4.1.3 Escaping in other situations ---------------------------------- hledger options and arguments are sometimes used in places other than -the command line, with different escaping rules. For example, -backslash-quoting generally does not work there. Here are some more -tips. +the command line, where the escaping/quoting rules are different. For +example, backslash-quoting may not be available. Here's a quick +reference: +In unix shell Use single quotes and/or backslash (or double quotes + for variable interpolation) +In Windows Use single quotes (or double quotes for variable +'powershell' interpolation) In Windows 'cmd' Use double quotes -In Windows Use single or double quotes -'powershell' In hledger-ui's Use single or double quotes filter prompt In hledger-web's Use single or double quotes search form In an argument Don't use spaces, don't shell-escape, do -file regex-escape when needed +file regex-escape, write one argument/option per line In a config file Use single or double quotes, and enclose the whole - argument ('"desc:a b"' not 'desc:"a b"') + argument (''desc:a b'' not 'desc:'a b'') In 'ghci' (the Use double quotes, and enclose the whole argument Haskell REPL) - -File: hledger.info, Node: Using a wild card, Prev: Escaping in other situations, Up: Special characters - -4.1.6 Using a wild card ------------------------ - -When escaping a special character is too much hassle (or impossible), -you can often just write '.' (period) instead. In regular expressions, -this means "accept any character here". Eg: - -$ hledger register credit.card -  File: hledger.info, Node: Unicode characters, Next: Regular expressions, Prev: Special characters, Up: Options @@ -1883,15 +1841,15 @@ you may see them referred to as A, L, E, R, X for short. * Menu: -* The two space delimiter:: +* Two space delimiter:: * Account hierarchy:: * Other account name features::  -File: hledger.info, Node: The two space delimiter, Next: Account hierarchy, Up: Account names +File: hledger.info, Node: Two space delimiter, Next: Account hierarchy, Up: Account names -8.10.1 The two space delimiter ------------------------------- +8.10.1 Two space delimiter +-------------------------- Note the *two or more spaces* delimiter that's sometimes required after account names. hledger's account names, inherited from Ledger, are very @@ -1919,7 +1877,7 @@ but it lets us use expressive account names while still keeping the syntax light.  -File: hledger.info, Node: Account hierarchy, Next: Other account name features, Prev: The two space delimiter, Up: Account names +File: hledger.info, Node: Account hierarchy, Next: Other account name features, Prev: Two space delimiter, Up: Account names 8.10.2 Account hierarchy ------------------------ @@ -2450,59 +2408,97 @@ File: hledger.info, Node: Tags, Next: Directives, Prev: Transaction balancing ========= Tags are a way to add extra labels or data fields to transactions, -postings, or accounts. They are usually a word or hyphenated word, -immediately followed by a full colon, written within the comment of a -transaction, a posting, or an 'account' directive. (Yes, storing data -in comments is slightly weird!) +postings, or accounts, which you can match with a 'tag:' query in +reports. (See queries below.) - You can write each tag on its own comment line, or multiple tags on -one line, separated by commas. Tags can also have a value, which is any -text after the colon until the next comma or end of line, excluding -surrounding whitespace. (hledger tag values can't contain commas.) If -the same tag name appears multiple times in a comment, each name:value -pair is preserved. + Tags are a single word or hyphenated word, immediately followed by a +full colon, written within a comment. (Yes, storing data in comments is +slightly weird.) Here's a transaction with a tag: - An example: in this journal there are six tags, one of them with a -value: +2025-01-01 groceries ; some-tag: + assets:checking + expenses:food $1 -account assets:checking ; accounttag: -account expenses:food + A tag can have a value, a single line of text written after the +colon. Tag values can't contain newlines.: -2017/1/16 bought groceries ; transactiontag: - ; transactiontag2: - assets:checking $-1 - ; posting-tag-1:, (belongs to the posting above) - expenses:food $1 ; posting-tag-2:, posting-tag-3: with a value +2025-01-01 groceries ; tag1: this is tag1's value + + Multiple tags can be separated by comma. Tag values can't contain +commas.: + +2025-01-01 groceries ; tag1:value 1, tag2:value 2, comment text + + A tag can have multiple values: + +2025-01-01 groceries ; tag1:value 1, tag1:value 2 + + You can write each tag on its own line of you prefer (but they still +can't contain commas): + +2025-01-01 groceries + ; tag1: value 1 + ; tag2: value 2 + + Tags can be attached to individual postings, rather than the overall +transaction: + +2025-01-01 rent + assets:checking + expenses:rent $1000 ; postingtag: + + Tags can be attached to accounts, in their account directive: + +account assets:checking ; acct-number: 123-45-6789 * Menu: -* Querying with tags:: +* Tag propagation:: * Displaying tags:: * When to use tags ?:: * Tag names:: -* Special tags::  -File: hledger.info, Node: Querying with tags, Next: Displaying tags, Up: Tags +File: hledger.info, Node: Tag propagation, Next: Displaying tags, Up: Tags -8.15.1 Querying with tags -------------------------- +8.15.1 Tag propagation +---------------------- -Tags are most often used to select a subset of data; you can match -tagged things by tag name and or tag value with a 'tag:' query. (See -queries below.) +In addition to what they are attached to, tags also affect related data +in a few ways, allowing more powerful queries: - When querying for tag names or values, note that postings inherit -tags from their transaction and from their account, and transactions -acquire tags from their postings. So in the example above, - the -assets:checking posting effectively has four tags (one of its own, one -from the account, two from the transaction) - the expenses:food posting -effectively has four tags (two of its own, two from the transaction) - -the transaction effectively has all six tags (two of its own, and two -from each posting) + 1. Accounts -> postings. Postings inherit tags from their account. + 2. Transactions -> postings. Postings inherit tags from their + transaction. + 3. Postings -> transactions. Transactions also acquire the tags of + their postings. + + So when you use a 'tag:' query to match whole transactions, +individual postings, or accounts, it's good to understand how tags +behave. Here's an example showing all three kinds of propagation: + +account assets:checking +account expenses:food ; atag: + +2025-01-01 groceries ; ttag: + assets:checking ; p1tag: + expenses:food $1 ; p2tag: + +data part has tags explanation +--------------------------------------------------------------------------- +assets:checking account no tags attached +expenses:food atag atag: in comment +account +assets:checkingp1tag, ttag p1tag: in comment, ttag acquired from +posting transaction +expenses:food p2tag, atag, p2tag: in comment, atag from account, ttag +posting ttag from transaction +groceries ttag, p1tag, ttag: in comment, p1tag from first +transaction p2tag, atag posting, p2tag and atag from second + posting  -File: hledger.info, Node: Displaying tags, Next: When to use tags ?, Prev: Querying with tags, Up: Tags +File: hledger.info, Node: Displaying tags, Next: When to use tags ?, Prev: Tag propagation, Up: Tags 8.15.2 Displaying tags ---------------------- @@ -2530,29 +2526,22 @@ trip-related transactions with 'trip: YEAR:PLACE', without disturbing your usual account categories.  -File: hledger.info, Node: Tag names, Next: Special tags, Prev: When to use tags ?, Up: Tags +File: hledger.info, Node: Tag names, Prev: When to use tags ?, Up: Tags 8.15.4 Tag names ---------------- -What is allowed in a tag name ? Currently, most non-whitespace -characters. Eg '😀:' is a valid tag. +What is allowed in a tag name ? Most non-whitespace characters. Eg '😀 +:' is a valid tag. For extra error checking, you can declare valid tag names with the -'tag' directive, and then enforce these with the 'check' command. +'tag' directive, and then enforce these with the 'check' command. But +note that tags are detected quite loosely at present, sometimes where +you didn't intend them. Eg a comment like '; see https://foo.com' adds +a 'https' tag. - But note that tags are detected quite loosely at present, sometimes -where you didn't intend them. Eg '; see https://foo.com' contains a -'https' tag with value '//foo.com'. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Special tags, Prev: Tag names, Up: Tags - -8.15.5 Special tags -------------------- - -Some tag names have special significance to hledger. They are explained -elsewhere, but here's a quick reference: + There are several tag names which have special significance to +hledger. They are explained elsewhere, but here's a quick reference: type -- declares an account's type date -- overrides a posting's date @@ -2877,7 +2866,7 @@ incomestatement reports, and querying by type:. * You can list accounts and their types, for troubleshooting: - $ hledger accounts --types [ACCTPAT] [type:TYPECODES] [-DEPTH] [--positions] + $ hledger accounts --types [ACCTPAT] [type:TYPECODES] [-DEPTH] * It's a good idea to declare at least one account for each account type. Having some types declared and some inferred can disrupt @@ -7056,8 +7045,8 @@ grouping and display. PIVOTEXPR can be * Colons appearing in PIVOTEXPR or in a pivoted tag value will generate account hierarchy. - * When pivoting a posting has multiple values for a tag, the pivoted - value of that tag will be the first value. + * When pivoting a posting that has multiple values for a tag, the + tag's first value will be used as the pivoted value. * 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 @@ -9143,43 +9132,40 @@ Flags: --unused list accounts declared but not used --find list the first account matched by the first argument (a case-insensitive infix regexp) - --types also show account types when known - --positions also show where accounts were declared --directives show as account directives, for use in journals + --locations also show where accounts were declared + --types also show account types when known -l --flat list/tree mode: show accounts as a flat list (default) -t --tree list/tree mode: show accounts as a tree --drop=N flat mode: omit N leading account name parts - This command lists account names - all of them by default. or just -the ones which have been used in transactions, or declared with -'account' directives, or used but not declared, or declared but not -used, or just the first account name matched by a pattern. + This command lists account names - all of them by default, or just +the ones which have been used in transactions ('-u/--used'), or declared +with 'account' directives ('-d/--declared'), or used but not declared +('--undeclared'), or declared but not used ('--unused'), or just the +first one matched by a pattern ('--find', returning a non-zero exit code +if it fails). You can add query arguments to select a subset of transactions or accounts. - It shows a flat list by default. With '--tree', it uses indentation -to show the account hierarchy. In flat mode you can add '--drop N' to -omit the first few account name components. Account names can be -depth-clipped with 'depth:N' or '--depth N' or '-N'. - - With '--types', it also shows each account's type, if it's known. -(See Declaring accounts > Account types.) - - With '--positions', it also shows the file and line number of each -account's declaration, if any, and the account's overall declaration -order; these may be useful when troubleshooting account display order. - With '--directives', it shows valid account directives which could be pasted into a journal file. This is useful together with '--undeclared' when updating your account declarations to satisfy 'hledger check accounts'. - The '--find' flag can be used to look up a single account name, in -the same way that the 'aregister' command does. It returns the -alphanumerically-first matched account name, or if none can be found, it -fails with a non-zero exit code. + With '--locations', it also shows the file and line number of each +account's declaration, if any, and the account's overall declaration +order; these may be useful when troubleshooting account display order. + + With '--types', it also shows each account's type, if it's known. +(See Declaring accounts > Account types.) + + It shows a flat list by default. With '--tree', it uses indentation +to show the account hierarchy. In flat mode you can add '--drop N' to +omit the first few account name components. Account names can be +depth-clipped with 'depth:N' or '--depth N' or '-N'. Examples: @@ -9260,13 +9246,16 @@ Flags: --declared list commodities declared --undeclared list commodities used but not declared --unused list commodities declared but not used + --find list the first commodity matched by the first + argument (a case-insensitive infix regexp) This command lists commodity symbols/names - all of them by default, or just the ones which have been used in transactions or 'P' directives, or declared with 'commodity' directives, or used but not declared, or -declared but not used. +declared but not used, or just the first one matched by a pattern (with +'--find', returning a non-zero exit code if it fails). - You can add cur: query arguments to further limit the commodities. + You can add 'cur:' query arguments to further limit the commodities.  File: hledger.info, Node: descriptions, Next: files, Prev: commodities, Up: Basic report commands @@ -9337,11 +9326,14 @@ Flags: --declared list payees declared --undeclared list payees used but not declared --unused list payees declared but not used + --find list the first payee matched by the first + argument (a case-insensitive infix regexp) This command lists unique payee/payer names - all of them by default, or just the ones which have been used in transaction descriptions, or declared with 'payee' directives, or used but not declared, or declared -but not used. +but not used, or just the first one matched by a pattern (with '--find', +returning a non-zero exit code if it fails). The payee/payer name is the part of the transaction description before a | character (or if there is no |, the whole description). @@ -9446,6 +9438,8 @@ Flags: --declared list tags declared --undeclared list tags used but not declared --unused list tags declared but not used + --find list the first tag whose name is matched by the + first argument (a case-insensitive infix regexp) --values list tag values instead of tag names --parsed show them in the order they were parsed (mostly), including duplicates @@ -9453,13 +9447,14 @@ Flags: This command lists tag names - all of them by default, or just the ones which have been used on transactions/postings/accounts, or declared with 'tag' directives, or used but not declared, or declared but not -used. +used, or just the first one matched by a pattern (with '--find', +returning a non-zero exit code if it fails). - You can add one TAGREGEX argument, to show only tags whose name is -matched by this case-insensitive, infix-matching regular expression. - - After that, you can add query arguments to filter the transactions, -postings, or accounts providing tags. + Note this command's non-standard first argument: it is a +case-insensitive infix regular expression for matching tag names, which +limits the tags shown. Any additional arguments are standard query +arguments, which limit the transactions, postings, or accounts providing +tags. With '--values', the tags' unique non-empty values are listed instead. @@ -9501,15 +9496,11 @@ Show full journal entries, representing transactions. Flags: -x --explicit show all amounts explicitly --invert display all amounts with reversed sign - --location add tags showing file paths and line numbers + --locations add tags showing file paths and line numbers -m --match=DESC fuzzy search for one recent transaction with description closest to DESC --new show only newer-dated transactions added in each file since last run - --no-lots remove lot subaccounts and their balance - assertions - --no-lots2 remove lot subaccounts and their costs and - balance assertions (can produce unbalanced entries) --round=TYPE how much rounding or padding should be done when displaying amounts ? none - show original decimal digits, @@ -9554,17 +9545,18 @@ $ hledger print -f examples/sample.journal date:200806 * Menu: -* print explicitness:: +* print amount explicitness:: +* print alignment:: * print amount style:: * print parseability:: * print other features:: * print output format::  -File: hledger.info, Node: print explicitness, Next: print amount style, Up: print +File: hledger.info, Node: print amount explicitness, Next: print alignment, Up: print -28.1.1 print explicitness -------------------------- +28.1.1 print amount explicitness +-------------------------------- Normally, whether posting amounts are implicit or explicit is preserved. For example, when an amount is omitted in the journal, it will not @@ -9582,22 +9574,29 @@ transaction has an implicit amount) to be split into multiple single-commodity postings, keeping the output parseable.  -File: hledger.info, Node: print amount style, Next: print parseability, Prev: print explicitness, Up: print +File: hledger.info, Node: print alignment, Next: print amount style, Prev: print amount explicitness, Up: print -28.1.2 print amount style -------------------------- +28.1.2 print alignment +---------------------- Amounts are shown right-aligned within each transaction (but not aligned -across all transactions; you can do that with ledger-mode in Emacs). +across all transactions; you can achieve that with ledger-mode in +Emacs). - Amounts will be (mostly) normalised to their commodity display style: -their symbol placement, decimal mark, and digit group marks will be made -consistent. By default, decimal digits are shown as they are written in -the journal. + +File: hledger.info, Node: print amount style, Next: print parseability, Prev: print alignment, Up: print - With the '--round' (_Added in 1.32_) option, 'print' will try -increasingly hard to display decimal digits according to the commodity -display styles: +28.1.3 print amount style +------------------------- + +Amounts will be displayed mostly in their commodity's display style, +with standardised symbol placement, decimal mark, and digit group marks. +This does not apply to their decimal digits; 'print' normally shows the +same decimal digits that are recorded in each journal entry. + + You can override the decimal precisions with 'print''s special +'--round' option (_since 1.32_). '--round' tries to show amounts with +their commodities' standard decimal precisions, increasingly strongly: * '--round=none' show amounts with original precisions (default) * '--round=soft' add/remove decimal zeros in amounts (except costs) @@ -9605,40 +9604,44 @@ display styles: significant digits * '--round=all' round all amounts and costs - 'soft' is good for non-lossy cleanup, formatting amounts more -consistently where it's safe to do so. + 'soft' is good for non-lossy cleanup, displaying more consistent +decimals where possible, without making entries unbalanced. - 'hard' and 'all' can cause 'print' to show invalid unbalanced journal -entries; they may be useful eg for stronger cleanup, with manual fixups -when needed. + 'hard' or 'all' can be good for stronger cleanup, when decimal +rounding is wanted. Note rounding can produce unbalanced journal +entries, perhaps requiring manual fixup.  File: hledger.info, Node: print parseability, Next: print other features, Prev: print amount style, Up: print -28.1.3 print parseability +28.1.4 print parseability ------------------------- -print's output is usually a valid hledger journal, and you can process -it again with a second hledger command. This can be useful for certain -kinds of search (though the same can be achieved with 'expr:' queries -now): +Normally, print's output is a valid hledger journal, which you can +"pipe" to a second hledger command for further processing. This is +sometimes convenient for achieving certain kinds of query (though less +needed now that queries have become more powerful): # Show running total of food expenses paid from cash. # -f- reads from stdin. -I/--ignore-assertions is sometimes needed. $ hledger print assets:cash | hledger -f- -I reg expenses:food - There are some situations where print's output can become + But here are some things which can cause print's output to become unparseable: - * Value reporting affects posting amounts but not balance assertion - or balance assignment amounts, potentially causing those to fail. - * Auto postings can generate postings with too many missing amounts. - * Account aliases can generate bad account names. + * '--round' (see above) can disrupt transaction balancing. + * Account aliases or pivoting can disrupt account names, balance + assertions, or balance assignments. + * Value reporting also can disrupt balance assertions or balance + assignments. + * Auto postings can generate too many amountless postings. + * '--infer-costs or --infer-equity' can generate too-complex + redundant costs.  File: hledger.info, Node: print other features, Next: print output format, Prev: print parseability, Up: print -28.1.4 print, other features +28.1.5 print, other features ---------------------------- With '-B'/'--cost', amounts with costs are shown converted to cost. @@ -9656,13 +9659,13 @@ whose description is most similar to DESC. DESC should contain at least two characters. If there is no similar-enough match, no transaction will be shown and the program exit code will be non-zero. - With '--location', print adds the source file and line number to + With '--locations', print adds the source file and line number to every transaction, as a tag.  File: hledger.info, Node: print output format, Prev: print other features, Up: print -28.1.5 print output format +28.1.6 print output format -------------------------- This command also supports the output destination and output format @@ -9769,25 +9772,22 @@ thumb: - use 'aregister' for reviewing and reconciling real-world asset/liability accounts - use 'register' for reviewing detailed revenues/expenses. - 'aregister' requires one argument: the account to report on. You can -write either the full account name, or a case-insensitive regular -expression which will select the alphabetically first matched account. - - When there are multiple matches, the alphabetically-first choice can -be surprising; eg if you have 'assets:per:checking 1' and -'assets:biz:checking 2' accounts, 'hledger areg checking' would select -'assets:biz:checking 2'. It's just a convenience to save typing, so if -in doubt, write the full account name, or a distinctive substring that -matches uniquely. + 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 +'assets:business checking'.) 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 form a query which will filter the -transactions shown. Note some queries will disturb the running balance, -causing it to be different from the account's real-world running -balance. + 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 running balance. An example: this shows the transactions and historical running balance during july, in the first account whose name contains @@ -13103,391 +13103,388 @@ Node: Commands9981 Node: Add-on commands11263 Node: Options12314 Node: Special characters19464 -Node: Escaping shell special characters20414 -Node: Escaping on Windows21658 -Node: Escaping regular expression special characters22391 -Node: Escaping add-on arguments23378 -Node: Escaping in other situations24407 -Node: Using a wild card25366 -Node: Unicode characters25745 -Node: Regular expressions27166 -Node: hledger's regular expressions30425 -Node: Argument files32066 -Node: Config files32769 -Node: Shell completions36038 -Node: Output36527 -Node: Output destination36718 -Node: Output format37276 -Node: Text output39062 -Node: Box-drawing characters40041 -Node: Colour40541 -Node: Paging41127 -Node: HTML output42646 -Node: CSV / TSV output43064 -Node: FODS output43318 -Node: Beancount output44122 -Node: Beancount account names45623 -Node: Beancount commodity names46164 -Node: Beancount virtual postings46811 -Node: Beancount metadata47127 -Node: Beancount costs47907 -Node: Beancount operating currency48323 -Node: SQL output48773 -Node: JSON output49564 -Node: Commodity styles50381 -Node: Debug output51268 -Node: Environment52100 -Node: PART 2 DATA FORMATS52757 -Node: Journal52900 -Node: Journal cheatsheet55365 -Node: Comments61616 -Node: Transactions62560 -Node: Dates63697 -Node: Simple dates63849 -Node: Posting dates64465 -Node: Status65638 -Node: Code67404 -Node: Description67739 -Node: Payee and note68426 -Node: Transaction comments69517 -Node: Postings70033 -Node: Debits and credits71349 -Node: Account names71908 -Node: The two space delimiter72869 -Node: Account hierarchy74286 -Node: Other account name features75173 -Node: Amounts75591 -Node: Decimal marks76620 -Node: Digit group marks77724 -Node: Commodity78359 -Node: Costs79476 -Node: Balance assertions81728 -Node: Assertions and ordering82976 -Node: Assertions and multiple files83695 -Node: Assertions and costs84863 -Node: Assertions and commodities85510 -Node: Assertions and subaccounts87169 -Node: Assertions and status87829 -Node: Assertions and virtual postings88249 -Node: Assertions and auto postings88614 -Node: Assertions and precision89489 -Node: Assertions and hledger add89973 -Node: Posting comments90721 -Node: Transaction balancing91261 -Node: Tags93469 -Node: Querying with tags94763 -Node: Displaying tags95562 -Node: When to use tags ?95958 -Node: Tag names96622 -Node: Special tags97175 -Node: Directives98740 -Node: Directives and multiple files100197 -Node: Directive effects101142 -Node: account directive104298 -Node: Account comments105748 -Node: Account error checking106407 -Node: Account display order107944 -Node: Account types109142 -Node: alias directive112417 -Node: Basic aliases113628 -Node: Regex aliases114503 -Node: Combining aliases115550 -Node: Aliases and multiple files117004 -Node: end aliases directive117787 -Node: Aliases can generate bad account names118155 -Node: Aliases and account types118988 -Node: commodity directive119880 -Node: Commodity directive syntax121467 -Node: Commodity error checking123116 -Node: decimal-mark directive123591 -Node: include directive124170 -Node: P directive126388 -Node: payee directive127422 -Node: tag directive128044 -Node: Periodic transactions128656 -Node: Periodic rule syntax130810 -Node: Periodic rules and relative dates131633 -Node: Two spaces between period expression and description!132410 -Node: Auto postings133371 -Node: Auto postings and multiple files136657 -Node: Auto postings and dates137062 -Node: Auto postings and transaction balancing / inferred amounts / balance assertions137503 -Node: Auto posting tags138349 -Node: Auto postings on forecast transactions only139244 -Node: Other syntax139714 -Node: Balance assignments140486 -Node: Balance assignments and costs142014 -Node: Balance assignments and multiple files142436 -Node: Bracketed posting dates142859 -Node: D directive143557 -Node: apply account directive145330 -Node: Y directive146197 -Node: Secondary dates147185 -Node: Star comments148670 -Node: Valuation expressions149362 -Node: Virtual postings149661 -Node: Other Ledger directives151285 -Node: Other cost/lot notations152047 -Node: CSV154888 -Node: CSV rules cheatsheet157054 -Node: source159153 -Node: Data cleaning / generating commands160552 -Node: archive162414 -Node: encoding163342 -Node: separator164385 -Node: skip165038 -Node: date-format165688 -Node: timezone166633 -Node: newest-first167759 -Node: intra-day-reversed168472 -Node: decimal-mark169074 -Node: fields list169554 -Node: Field assignment171362 -Node: Field names172581 -Node: date field173913 -Node: date2 field174077 -Node: status field174272 -Node: code field174462 -Node: description field174650 -Node: comment field174867 -Node: account field175424 -Node: amount field176142 -Node: currency field178981 -Node: balance field179389 -Node: if block179912 -Node: Matchers181439 -Node: Multiple matchers183429 -Node: Match groups184237 -Node: if table185130 -Node: balance-type187193 -Node: include188020 -Node: Working with CSV188589 -Node: Rapid feedback189141 -Node: Valid CSV189724 -Node: File Extension190600 -Node: Reading CSV from standard input191335 -Node: Reading multiple CSV files191721 -Node: Reading files specified by rule192197 -Node: Valid transactions193594 -Node: Deduplicating importing194419 -Node: Setting amounts195648 -Node: Amount signs198175 -Node: Setting currency/commodity199240 -Node: Amount decimal places200616 -Node: Referencing other fields201873 -Node: How CSV rules are evaluated202981 -Node: Well factored rules205698 -Node: CSV rules examples206188 -Node: Bank of Ireland206386 -Node: Coinbase207983 -Node: Amazon209166 -Node: Paypal211008 -Node: Timeclock218758 -Node: Timedot222811 -Node: Timedot examples226288 -Node: PART 3 REPORTING CONCEPTS228565 -Node: Time periods228729 -Node: Report start & end date229002 -Node: Smart dates230478 -Node: Report intervals232601 -Node: Date adjustments233175 -Node: Start date adjustment233395 -Node: End date adjustment234298 -Node: Period headings235079 -Node: Period expressions236012 -Node: Period expressions with a report interval237917 -Node: More complex report intervals238365 -Node: Multiple weekday intervals240481 -Node: Depth241492 -Node: Queries243072 -Node: Query types245744 -Node: acct query246119 -Node: amt query246430 -Node: code query247127 -Node: cur query247322 -Node: desc query247928 -Node: date query248111 -Node: date2 query248507 -Node: depth query248798 -Node: note query249134 -Node: payee query249400 -Node: real query249681 -Node: status query249886 -Node: type query250126 -Node: tag query250659 -Node: Negative queries251288 -Node: not query251470 -Node: Space-separated queries251757 -Node: Boolean queries252445 -Node: expr query253763 -Node: any query254443 -Node: all query254896 -Node: Queries and command options255478 -Node: Queries and account aliases255926 -Node: Queries and valuation256251 -Node: Pivoting256613 -Node: Generating data258889 -Node: Forecasting260689 -Node: --forecast261345 -Node: Inspecting forecast transactions262446 -Node: Forecast reports263779 -Node: Forecast tags264888 -Node: Forecast period in detail265508 -Node: Forecast troubleshooting266596 -Node: Budgeting267667 -Node: Amount formatting268227 -Node: Commodity display style268471 -Node: Rounding270312 -Node: Trailing decimal marks270917 -Node: Amount parseability271850 -Node: Cost reporting273459 -Node: Recording costs274290 -Node: Reporting at cost276017 -Node: Equity conversion postings276782 -Node: Inferring equity conversion postings279427 -Node: Combining costs and equity conversion postings280569 -Node: Requirements for detecting equity conversion postings281794 -Node: Infer cost and equity by default ?283316 -Node: Value reporting283753 -Node: -V Value284689 -Node: -X Value in specified commodity285016 -Node: Valuation date285366 -Node: Finding market price286199 -Node: --infer-market-prices market prices from transactions287579 -Node: Valuation commodity290623 -Node: --value Flexible valuation292056 -Node: Valuation examples293899 -Node: Interaction of valuation and queries296043 -Node: Effect of valuation on reports296760 -Node: PART 4 COMMANDS304610 -Node: Help commands307399 -Node: commands307585 -Node: demo307793 -Node: help308886 -Node: User interface commands310591 -Node: repl310802 -Node: Examples313066 -Node: run313624 -Node: Examples 2316039 -Node: ui317063 -Node: web317200 -Node: Data entry commands317328 -Node: add317589 -Node: add and balance assertions320163 -Node: add and balance assignments320887 -Node: import321448 -Node: Import dry run322527 -Node: Overlap detection323475 -Node: First import326361 -Node: Importing balance assignments327556 -Node: Import and commodity styles328611 -Node: Import archiving329045 -Node: Import special cases329870 -Node: Deduplication330088 -Node: Varying file name330579 -Node: Multiple versions330963 -Node: Basic report commands332070 -Node: accounts332371 -Node: codes335017 -Node: commodities336039 -Node: descriptions336796 -Node: files337256 -Node: notes337553 -Node: payees338065 -Node: prices338977 -Node: stats339869 -Node: tags341610 -Node: Standard report commands343147 -Node: print343452 -Node: print explicitness346415 -Node: print amount style347335 -Node: print parseability348573 -Node: print other features349492 -Node: print output format350453 -Node: aregister353738 -Node: aregister and posting dates358302 -Node: register359203 -Node: Custom register output366443 -Node: balancesheet367628 -Node: balancesheetequity372593 -Node: cashflow377928 -Node: incomestatement382741 -Node: Advanced report commands387590 -Node: balance387798 -Node: balance features393219 -Node: Simple balance report395322 -Node: Balance report line format397132 -Node: Filtered balance report399492 -Node: List or tree mode400011 -Node: Depth limiting401524 -Node: Dropping top-level accounts402291 -Node: Showing declared accounts402801 -Node: Sorting by amount403531 -Node: Percentages404385 -Node: Multi-period balance report405092 -Node: Balance change end balance407844 -Node: Balance report modes409481 -Node: Calculation mode410160 -Node: Accumulation mode410864 -Node: Valuation mode411965 -Node: Combining balance report modes413309 -Node: Budget report415339 -Node: Using the budget report417639 -Node: Budget date surprises419915 -Node: Selecting budget goals421279 -Node: Budgeting vs forecasting422227 -Node: Balance report layout423904 -Node: Wide layout425109 -Node: Tall layout427514 -Node: Bare layout428820 -Node: Tidy layout430884 -Node: Balance report output432428 -Node: Some useful balance reports433202 -Node: roi434462 -Node: Spaces and special characters in --inv and --pnl436709 -Node: Semantics of --inv and --pnl437435 -Node: IRR and TWR explained439522 -Node: Chart commands442933 -Node: activity443114 -Node: Data generation commands443611 -Node: close443817 -Node: close --clopen446380 -Node: close --close448554 -Node: close --open449078 -Node: close --assert449328 -Node: close --assign449655 -Node: close --retain450334 -Node: close customisation451191 -Node: close and balance assertions452835 -Node: close examples454357 -Node: Retain earnings454594 -Node: Migrate balances to a new file455097 -Node: More detailed close examples456459 -Node: rewrite456681 -Node: Re-write rules in a file459241 -Node: Diff output format460542 -Node: rewrite vs print --auto461812 -Node: Maintenance commands462526 -Node: check462745 -Node: Basic checks463827 -Node: Strict checks464848 -Node: Other checks465785 -Node: Custom checks467537 -Node: diff467992 -Node: setup469200 -Node: test472067 -Node: PART 5 COMMON TASKS472970 -Node: Getting help473203 -Node: Constructing command lines474112 -Node: Starting a journal file474957 -Node: Setting LEDGER_FILE476341 -Node: Setting opening balances477599 -Node: Recording transactions480921 -Node: Reconciling481646 -Node: Reporting484035 -Node: Migrating to a new file488149 -Node: BUGS488598 -Node: Troubleshooting489428 +Node: Escaping shell special characters20454 +Node: Escaping regular expression special characters21813 +Node: Escaping in other situations23328 +Node: Unicode characters24476 +Node: Regular expressions25897 +Node: hledger's regular expressions29156 +Node: Argument files30797 +Node: Config files31500 +Node: Shell completions34769 +Node: Output35258 +Node: Output destination35449 +Node: Output format36007 +Node: Text output37793 +Node: Box-drawing characters38772 +Node: Colour39272 +Node: Paging39858 +Node: HTML output41377 +Node: CSV / TSV output41795 +Node: FODS output42049 +Node: Beancount output42853 +Node: Beancount account names44354 +Node: Beancount commodity names44895 +Node: Beancount virtual postings45542 +Node: Beancount metadata45858 +Node: Beancount costs46638 +Node: Beancount operating currency47054 +Node: SQL output47504 +Node: JSON output48295 +Node: Commodity styles49112 +Node: Debug output49999 +Node: Environment50831 +Node: PART 2 DATA FORMATS51488 +Node: Journal51631 +Node: Journal cheatsheet54096 +Node: Comments60347 +Node: Transactions61291 +Node: Dates62428 +Node: Simple dates62580 +Node: Posting dates63196 +Node: Status64369 +Node: Code66135 +Node: Description66470 +Node: Payee and note67157 +Node: Transaction comments68248 +Node: Postings68764 +Node: Debits and credits70080 +Node: Account names70639 +Node: Two space delimiter71596 +Node: Account hierarchy73001 +Node: Other account name features73884 +Node: Amounts74302 +Node: Decimal marks75331 +Node: Digit group marks76435 +Node: Commodity77070 +Node: Costs78187 +Node: Balance assertions80439 +Node: Assertions and ordering81687 +Node: Assertions and multiple files82406 +Node: Assertions and costs83574 +Node: Assertions and commodities84221 +Node: Assertions and subaccounts85880 +Node: Assertions and status86540 +Node: Assertions and virtual postings86960 +Node: Assertions and auto postings87325 +Node: Assertions and precision88200 +Node: Assertions and hledger add88684 +Node: Posting comments89432 +Node: Transaction balancing89972 +Node: Tags92180 +Node: Tag propagation93699 +Node: Displaying tags95198 +Node: When to use tags ?95591 +Node: Tag names96255 +Node: Directives98236 +Node: Directives and multiple files99693 +Node: Directive effects100638 +Node: account directive103794 +Node: Account comments105244 +Node: Account error checking105903 +Node: Account display order107440 +Node: Account types108638 +Node: alias directive111899 +Node: Basic aliases113110 +Node: Regex aliases113985 +Node: Combining aliases115032 +Node: Aliases and multiple files116486 +Node: end aliases directive117269 +Node: Aliases can generate bad account names117637 +Node: Aliases and account types118470 +Node: commodity directive119362 +Node: Commodity directive syntax120949 +Node: Commodity error checking122598 +Node: decimal-mark directive123073 +Node: include directive123652 +Node: P directive125870 +Node: payee directive126904 +Node: tag directive127526 +Node: Periodic transactions128138 +Node: Periodic rule syntax130292 +Node: Periodic rules and relative dates131115 +Node: Two spaces between period expression and description!131892 +Node: Auto postings132853 +Node: Auto postings and multiple files136139 +Node: Auto postings and dates136544 +Node: Auto postings and transaction balancing / inferred amounts / balance assertions136985 +Node: Auto posting tags137831 +Node: Auto postings on forecast transactions only138726 +Node: Other syntax139196 +Node: Balance assignments139968 +Node: Balance assignments and costs141496 +Node: Balance assignments and multiple files141918 +Node: Bracketed posting dates142341 +Node: D directive143039 +Node: apply account directive144812 +Node: Y directive145679 +Node: Secondary dates146667 +Node: Star comments148152 +Node: Valuation expressions148844 +Node: Virtual postings149143 +Node: Other Ledger directives150767 +Node: Other cost/lot notations151529 +Node: CSV154370 +Node: CSV rules cheatsheet156536 +Node: source158635 +Node: Data cleaning / generating commands160034 +Node: archive161896 +Node: encoding162824 +Node: separator163867 +Node: skip164520 +Node: date-format165170 +Node: timezone166115 +Node: newest-first167241 +Node: intra-day-reversed167954 +Node: decimal-mark168556 +Node: fields list169036 +Node: Field assignment170844 +Node: Field names172063 +Node: date field173395 +Node: date2 field173559 +Node: status field173754 +Node: code field173944 +Node: description field174132 +Node: comment field174349 +Node: account field174906 +Node: amount field175624 +Node: currency field178463 +Node: balance field178871 +Node: if block179394 +Node: Matchers180921 +Node: Multiple matchers182911 +Node: Match groups183719 +Node: if table184612 +Node: balance-type186675 +Node: include187502 +Node: Working with CSV188071 +Node: Rapid feedback188623 +Node: Valid CSV189206 +Node: File Extension190082 +Node: Reading CSV from standard input190817 +Node: Reading multiple CSV files191203 +Node: Reading files specified by rule191679 +Node: Valid transactions193076 +Node: Deduplicating importing193901 +Node: Setting amounts195130 +Node: Amount signs197657 +Node: Setting currency/commodity198722 +Node: Amount decimal places200098 +Node: Referencing other fields201355 +Node: How CSV rules are evaluated202463 +Node: Well factored rules205180 +Node: CSV rules examples205670 +Node: Bank of Ireland205868 +Node: Coinbase207465 +Node: Amazon208648 +Node: Paypal210490 +Node: Timeclock218240 +Node: Timedot222293 +Node: Timedot examples225770 +Node: PART 3 REPORTING CONCEPTS228047 +Node: Time periods228211 +Node: Report start & end date228484 +Node: Smart dates229960 +Node: Report intervals232083 +Node: Date adjustments232657 +Node: Start date adjustment232877 +Node: End date adjustment233780 +Node: Period headings234561 +Node: Period expressions235494 +Node: Period expressions with a report interval237399 +Node: More complex report intervals237847 +Node: Multiple weekday intervals239963 +Node: Depth240974 +Node: Queries242554 +Node: Query types245226 +Node: acct query245601 +Node: amt query245912 +Node: code query246609 +Node: cur query246804 +Node: desc query247410 +Node: date query247593 +Node: date2 query247989 +Node: depth query248280 +Node: note query248616 +Node: payee query248882 +Node: real query249163 +Node: status query249368 +Node: type query249608 +Node: tag query250141 +Node: Negative queries250770 +Node: not query250952 +Node: Space-separated queries251239 +Node: Boolean queries251927 +Node: expr query253245 +Node: any query253925 +Node: all query254378 +Node: Queries and command options254960 +Node: Queries and account aliases255408 +Node: Queries and valuation255733 +Node: Pivoting256095 +Node: Generating data258378 +Node: Forecasting260178 +Node: --forecast260834 +Node: Inspecting forecast transactions261935 +Node: Forecast reports263268 +Node: Forecast tags264377 +Node: Forecast period in detail264997 +Node: Forecast troubleshooting266085 +Node: Budgeting267156 +Node: Amount formatting267716 +Node: Commodity display style267960 +Node: Rounding269801 +Node: Trailing decimal marks270406 +Node: Amount parseability271339 +Node: Cost reporting272948 +Node: Recording costs273779 +Node: Reporting at cost275506 +Node: Equity conversion postings276271 +Node: Inferring equity conversion postings278916 +Node: Combining costs and equity conversion postings280058 +Node: Requirements for detecting equity conversion postings281283 +Node: Infer cost and equity by default ?282805 +Node: Value reporting283242 +Node: -V Value284178 +Node: -X Value in specified commodity284505 +Node: Valuation date284855 +Node: Finding market price285688 +Node: --infer-market-prices market prices from transactions287068 +Node: Valuation commodity290112 +Node: --value Flexible valuation291545 +Node: Valuation examples293388 +Node: Interaction of valuation and queries295532 +Node: Effect of valuation on reports296249 +Node: PART 4 COMMANDS304099 +Node: Help commands306888 +Node: commands307074 +Node: demo307282 +Node: help308375 +Node: User interface commands310080 +Node: repl310291 +Node: Examples312555 +Node: run313113 +Node: Examples 2315528 +Node: ui316552 +Node: web316689 +Node: Data entry commands316817 +Node: add317078 +Node: add and balance assertions319652 +Node: add and balance assignments320376 +Node: import320937 +Node: Import dry run322016 +Node: Overlap detection322964 +Node: First import325850 +Node: Importing balance assignments327045 +Node: Import and commodity styles328100 +Node: Import archiving328534 +Node: Import special cases329359 +Node: Deduplication329577 +Node: Varying file name330068 +Node: Multiple versions330452 +Node: Basic report commands331559 +Node: accounts331860 +Node: codes334372 +Node: commodities335394 +Node: descriptions336402 +Node: files336862 +Node: notes337159 +Node: payees337671 +Node: prices338828 +Node: stats339720 +Node: tags341461 +Node: Standard report commands343285 +Node: print343590 +Node: print amount explicitness346321 +Node: print alignment347259 +Node: print amount style347573 +Node: print parseability348803 +Node: print other features349907 +Node: print output format350869 +Node: aregister354154 +Node: aregister and posting dates358609 +Node: register359510 +Node: Custom register output366750 +Node: balancesheet367935 +Node: balancesheetequity372900 +Node: cashflow378235 +Node: incomestatement383048 +Node: Advanced report commands387897 +Node: balance388105 +Node: balance features393526 +Node: Simple balance report395629 +Node: Balance report line format397439 +Node: Filtered balance report399799 +Node: List or tree mode400318 +Node: Depth limiting401831 +Node: Dropping top-level accounts402598 +Node: Showing declared accounts403108 +Node: Sorting by amount403838 +Node: Percentages404692 +Node: Multi-period balance report405399 +Node: Balance change end balance408151 +Node: Balance report modes409788 +Node: Calculation mode410467 +Node: Accumulation mode411171 +Node: Valuation mode412272 +Node: Combining balance report modes413616 +Node: Budget report415646 +Node: Using the budget report417946 +Node: Budget date surprises420222 +Node: Selecting budget goals421586 +Node: Budgeting vs forecasting422534 +Node: Balance report layout424211 +Node: Wide layout425416 +Node: Tall layout427821 +Node: Bare layout429127 +Node: Tidy layout431191 +Node: Balance report output432735 +Node: Some useful balance reports433509 +Node: roi434769 +Node: Spaces and special characters in --inv and --pnl437016 +Node: Semantics of --inv and --pnl437742 +Node: IRR and TWR explained439829 +Node: Chart commands443240 +Node: activity443421 +Node: Data generation commands443918 +Node: close444124 +Node: close --clopen446687 +Node: close --close448861 +Node: close --open449385 +Node: close --assert449635 +Node: close --assign449962 +Node: close --retain450641 +Node: close customisation451498 +Node: close and balance assertions453142 +Node: close examples454664 +Node: Retain earnings454901 +Node: Migrate balances to a new file455404 +Node: More detailed close examples456766 +Node: rewrite456988 +Node: Re-write rules in a file459548 +Node: Diff output format460849 +Node: rewrite vs print --auto462119 +Node: Maintenance commands462833 +Node: check463052 +Node: Basic checks464134 +Node: Strict checks465155 +Node: Other checks466092 +Node: Custom checks467844 +Node: diff468299 +Node: setup469507 +Node: test472374 +Node: PART 5 COMMON TASKS473277 +Node: Getting help473510 +Node: Constructing command lines474419 +Node: Starting a journal file475264 +Node: Setting LEDGER_FILE476648 +Node: Setting opening balances477906 +Node: Recording transactions481228 +Node: Reconciling481953 +Node: Reporting484342 +Node: Migrating to a new file488456 +Node: BUGS488905 +Node: Troubleshooting489735  End Tag Table diff --git a/hledger/hledger.txt b/hledger/hledger.txt index 80db7e03c..43672db4c 100644 --- a/hledger/hledger.txt +++ b/hledger/hledger.txt @@ -356,143 +356,122 @@ Options skip these until you need them. Special characters - Here we touch on shell escaping/quoting rules, and give some examples. - This is a slightly complicated topic which you may not need at first, - but you should be aware of it, so you can return here when needed. + In commands you type at the command line, certain characters have spe- + cial meaning and sometimes need to be "escaped" or "quoted", by prefix- + ing backslashes or enclosing in quotes. If you are able to minimise the use of special characters in your data, - you won't need escaping as much, and your command lines will be sim- - pler. For example, avoiding spaces in account names, and using an - ISO-4217 currency code like USD instead of the $ currency symbol, can - be helpful. + you won't have to deal with this as much. For example, you could use + hyphen - or underscore _ instead of spaces in account names, and you + could use the USD currency code instead of the $ currency symbol in + amounts. - But if you want to use spaced account names and $, go right ahead; es- - caping isn't a big deal. + But if you prefer to use spaced account names and $, it's fine. Just + be aware of this topic so you can check this doc when needed. (These + examples are mostly tested on unix; some details might need to be + adapted if you're on Windows.) Escaping shell special characters - At the command line, characters which have special meaning for your - shell must be "shell-escaped" (AKA "quoted") if you want hledger to see - them. Often these include space, <, >, (, ), |, \, $ and/or %. + These are some characters which may have special meaning to your shell + (the program which interprets command lines): - For example, to match an account name containing the phrase "credit - card", don't write this: + o SPACE, <, >, (, ), |, \, % + + o $ if followed by a word character + + So for example, to match an account name containing spaces, like + "credit card", don't write: $ hledger register credit card - In that command, "credit" and "card" are treated as separate query ar- - guments (described below), so this would match accounts containing ei- - ther word. Instead, enclose the phrase in double or single quotes: + Instead, enclose the name in single quotes: - $ hledger register "credit card" + $ hledger register 'credit card' - In Unix shells, writing a backslash before the character can also work. - Eg: + On unix or in Windows powershell, if you use double quotes your shell + will silently treat $ as variable interpolation. So you should proba- + bly avoid double quotes, unless you want that behaviour, eg in a + script: + + $ hledger register "assets:$SOMEACCT" + + But in an older Windows CMD.EXE window, you must use double quotes: + + C:\Users\Me> hledger register "credit card" + + On unix or in Windows powershell, as an alternative to quotes you can + write a backslash before each special character: $ hledger register credit\ card - Some shell characters still have a special meaning inside double - quotes, such as the dollar sign ($). Eg in "assets:$account", the bash - shell would replace $account with the value of a shell variable with - that name. When you don't want that, use single quotes, which escape - more strongly: + Finally, since hledger's query arguments are regular expressions (de- + scribed below), you could also fill that gap with . which matches any + character: - $ hledger balance 'assets:$account' - - Escaping on Windows - If you are using hledger in a Powershell or Command window on Microsoft - Windows, the escaping rules are different: - - o In a Powershell window (powershell, blue background), you must use - double quotes or single quotes (not backslash). - - o In a Command window (cmd, black background), you must use double - quotes (not single quotes or backslash). - - The next two sections were written for Unix-like shells, so might need - to be adapted if you're using cmd or powershell. (Edits welcome.) + $ hledger register credit.card Escaping regular expression special characters - Many hledger arguments are regular expressions (described below), and - these too have characters which cause special effects. Some of those - characters are ., ^, $, [, ], (, ), |, and \. When you don't want - these to cause special effects, you can "regex-escape" them by writing - \ (a backslash) before them. But since backslash is also special to - the shell, you may need to also shell-escape the backslashes. + Some characters also have special meaning in regular expressions, which + hledger's arguments often are. Those include: - Eg, in the bash shell, to match a literal $ sign, you could write: + o ., ^, $, [, ], (, ), |, \ + + To escape one of these, write \ before it. But note this is in addi- + tion to the shell escaping above. So for characters which are special + to both shell and regular expressions, like \ and $, you will sometimes + need two levels of escaping. + + For example, a balance report that uses a cur: query restricting it to + just the $ currency, should be written like this: $ hledger balance cur:\\$ - or: + Explanation: - $ hledger balance 'cur:\$' + 1. Add a backslash \ before the dollar sign $ to protect it from regu- + lar expressions (so it will be matched literally with no special + meaning). - (The dollar sign is regex-escaped by the backslash preceding it. Then - that backslash is shell-escaped by another backslash, or by single - quotes.) + 2. Add another backslash before that backslash, to protect it from the + shell (so the shell won't consume it). - Escaping add-on arguments - When you run an external add-on command with hledger (described below), - any options or arguments being passed through to the add-on executable - lose one level of shell-escaping, so you must add an extra level of - shell-escaping to compensate. + 3. $ doesn't need to be protected from the shell in this case, because + it's not followed by a word character; but it would be harmless to + do so. - Eg, in the bash shell, to run the ui add-on and match a literal $ sign, - you need to write: + But here's another way to write that, which tends to be easier: add + backslashes to escape from regular expressions, then enclose with + quotes to escape from the shell: - $ hledger ui cur:'\\$' - - or: - - $ hledger ui cur:\\\\$ - - If you are wondering why four backslashes: - - o $ is unescaped - - o \$ is regex-escaped - - o \\$ is regex-escaped, then shell-escaped - - o \\\\$ is regex-escaped, then shell-escaped, then both slashes are - shell-escaped once more for hledger argument pass-through. - - Or you can avoid such triple-escaping, by running the add-on executable - directly: - - $ hledger-ui cur:\\$ + $ hledger balance cur:'\$' Escaping in other situations - hledger options and arguments are sometimes used in places other than - the command line, with different escaping rules. For example, back- - slash-quoting generally does not work there. Here are some more tips. + hledger options and arguments are sometimes used in places other than + the command line, where the escaping/quoting rules are different. For + example, backslash-quoting may not be available. Here's a quick refer- + ence: + In unix shell Use single quotes and/or backslash (or double quotes + for variable interpolation) + In Windows power- Use single quotes (or double quotes for variable in- + shell terpolation) In Windows cmd Use double quotes - In Windows power- Use single or double quotes - shell In hledger-ui's Use single or double quotes filter prompt In hledger-web's Use single or double quotes search form - In an argument Don't use spaces, don't shell-escape, do regex-es- - file cape when needed - In a config file Use single or double quotes, and enclose the whole - argument ("desc:a b" not desc:"a b") - In ghci (the Use double quotes, and enclose the whole argument + In an argument Don't use spaces, don't shell-escape, do regex-es- + file cape, write one argument/option per line + In a config file Use single or double quotes, and enclose the whole + argument ('desc:a b' not desc:'a b') + In ghci (the Use double quotes, and enclose the whole argument Haskell REPL) - Using a wild card - When escaping a special character is too much hassle (or impossible), - you can often just write . (period) instead. In regular expressions, - this means "accept any character here". Eg: - - $ hledger register credit.card - Unicode characters hledger is expected to handle non-ascii characters correctly: - o they should be parsed correctly in input files and on the command - line, by all hledger tools (add, iadd, hledger-web's search/add/edit + o they should be parsed correctly in input files and on the command + line, by all hledger tools (add, iadd, hledger-web's search/add/edit forms, etc.) o they should be displayed correctly by all hledger tools, and @@ -500,37 +479,37 @@ Options This requires a well-configured environment. Here are some tips: - o A system locale must be configured, which can decode the characters - being used. This is essential - see Text encoding and Install: Text + o A system locale must be configured, which can decode the characters + being used. This is essential - see Text encoding and Install: Text encoding. - o Your terminal software (eg Terminal.app, iTerm, CMD.exe, xterm..) + o Your terminal software (eg Terminal.app, iTerm, CMD.exe, xterm..) must support unicode. On Windows, you may need to use Windows Termi- nal. o The terminal must be using a font which includes the required unicode glyphs. - o The terminal should be configured to display wide characters as dou- + o The terminal should be configured to display wide characters as dou- ble width (for report alignment). - o On Windows, for best results you should run hledger in the same kind - of environment in which it was built. Eg hledger built in the stan- - dard CMD.EXE environment (like the binaries on our download page) - might show display problems when run in a cygwin or msys terminal, + o On Windows, for best results you should run hledger in the same kind + of environment in which it was built. Eg hledger built in the stan- + dard CMD.EXE environment (like the binaries on our download page) + might show display problems when run in a cygwin or msys terminal, and vice versa. (See eg #961). Regular expressions - A regular expression (regexp) is a small piece of text where certain - characters (like ., ^, $, +, *, (), |, [], \) have special meanings, - forming a tiny language for matching text precisely - very useful in - hledger and elsewhere. To learn all about them, visit regular-expres- + A regular expression (regexp) is a small piece of text where certain + characters (like ., ^, $, +, *, (), |, [], \) have special meanings, + forming a tiny language for matching text precisely - very useful in + hledger and elsewhere. To learn all about them, visit regular-expres- sions.info. - hledger supports regexps whenever you are entering a pattern to match - something, eg in query arguments, account aliases, CSV if rules, + hledger supports regexps whenever you are entering a pattern to match + something, eg in query arguments, account aliases, CSV if rules, hledger-web's search form, hledger-ui's / search, etc. You may need to - wrap them in quotes, especially at the command line (see Special char- + wrap them in quotes, especially at the command line (see Special char- acters above). Here are some examples: Account name queries (quoted for command line use): @@ -586,59 +565,59 @@ Options & %date (29|30|31|01|02|03)$ hledger's regular expressions - hledger's regular expressions come from the regex-tdfa library. If - they're not doing what you expect, it's important to know exactly what + hledger's regular expressions come from the regex-tdfa library. If + they're not doing what you expect, it's important to know exactly what they support: 1. they are case insensitive - 2. they are infix matching (they do not need to match the entire thing + 2. they are infix matching (they do not need to match the entire thing being matched) 3. they are POSIX ERE (extended regular expressions) 4. they also support GNU word boundaries (\b, \B, \<, \>) - 5. backreferences are supported when doing text replacement in account - aliases or CSV rules, where backreferences can be used in the re- + 5. backreferences are supported when doing text replacement in account + aliases or CSV rules, where backreferences can be used in the re- placement string to reference capturing groups in the search regexp. Otherwise, if you write \1, it will match the digit 1. - 6. they do not support mode modifiers ((?s)), character classes (\w, + 6. they do not support mode modifiers ((?s)), character classes (\w, \d), or anything else not mentioned above. - 7. they may not (I'm guessing not) properly support right-to-left or + 7. they may not (I'm guessing not) properly support right-to-left or bidirectional text. Some things to note: - o In the alias directive and --alias option, regular expressions must - be enclosed in forward slashes (/REGEX/). Elsewhere in hledger, + o In the alias directive and --alias option, regular expressions must + be enclosed in forward slashes (/REGEX/). Elsewhere in hledger, these are not required. - o In queries, to match a regular expression metacharacter like $ as a - literal character, prepend a backslash. Eg to search for amounts + o In queries, to match a regular expression metacharacter like $ as a + literal character, prepend a backslash. Eg to search for amounts with the dollar sign in hledger-web, write cur:\$. - o On the command line, some metacharacters like $ have a special mean- + o On the command line, some metacharacters like $ have a special mean- ing to the shell and so must be escaped at least once more. See Spe- cial characters. Argument files You can save a set of command line options and arguments in a file, and - then reuse them by writing @FILENAME as a command line argument. Eg: + then reuse them by writing @FILENAME as a command line argument. Eg: hledger bal @foo.args. - An argument file's format is more restrictive than the command line. + An argument file's format is more restrictive than the command line. Each line should contain just one option or argument. Don't use spaces - except inside quotes; write = or nothing between a flag and its argu- - ment. If you use quotes, they must enclose the whole line. For the - special characters mentioned above, use one less level of quoting than + except inside quotes; write = or nothing between a flag and its argu- + ment. If you use quotes, they must enclose the whole line. For the + special characters mentioned above, use one less level of quoting than you would at the command line. Config files - With hledger 1.40+, you can save extra command line options and argu- - ments in a more featureful hledger config file. Here's a small exam- + With hledger 1.40+, you can save extra command line options and argu- + ments in a more featureful hledger config file. Here's a small exam- ple: # General options are listed first, and used with hledger commands that support them. @@ -648,47 +627,47 @@ Options [print] --explicit --infer-costs - To use a config file, specify it with the --conf option. Its options - will be inserted near the start of your command line, so you can over- + To use a config file, specify it with the --conf option. Its options + will be inserted near the start of your command line, so you can over- ride them with command line options if needed. - Or, you can set up an automatic config file that is used whenever you - run hledger, by creating hledger.conf in the current directory or - above, or .hledger.conf in your home directory (~/.hledger.conf), or - hledger.conf in your XDG config directory (~/.con- + Or, you can set up an automatic config file that is used whenever you + run hledger, by creating hledger.conf in the current directory or + above, or .hledger.conf in your home directory (~/.hledger.conf), or + hledger.conf in your XDG config directory (~/.con- fig/hledger/hledger.conf). - Here is another example config you could start with: + Here is another example config you could start with: https://github.com/simonmichael/hledger/blob/master/hledger.conf.sample - You can put not only options, but also arguments in a config file. If - the first word in a config file's top (general) section does not begin - with a dash (eg: print), it is treated as the command argument (over- + You can put not only options, but also arguments in a config file. If + the first word in a config file's top (general) section does not begin + with a dash (eg: print), it is treated as the command argument (over- riding any argument on the command line). - On unix machines, you can add a shebang line at the top of a config - file, set executable permission on the file, and use it like a script. + On unix machines, you can add a shebang line at the top of a config + file, set executable permission on the file, and use it like a script. Eg (the -S is needed on some operating systems): #!/usr/bin/env -S hledger --conf You can ignore config files by adding the -n/--no-conf flag to the com- mand line. This is useful when using hledger in scripts, or when trou- - bleshooting. When both --conf and --no-conf options are used, the + bleshooting. When both --conf and --no-conf options are used, the right-most wins. - To inspect the processing of config files, use --debug or --debug=8. - Or, run the setup command, which will display any active config files. + To inspect the processing of config files, use --debug or --debug=8. + Or, run the setup command, which will display any active config files. (setup is not affected by config files itself, unlike other commands.) Warning! - There aren't many hledger features that need a warning, but this is + There aren't many hledger features that need a warning, but this is one! - Automatic config files, while convenient, also make hledger less pre- - dictable and dependable. It's easy to make a config file that changes - a report's behaviour, or breaks your hledger-using scripts/applica- + Automatic config files, while convenient, also make hledger less pre- + dictable and dependable. It's easy to make a config file that changes + a report's behaviour, or breaks your hledger-using scripts/applica- tions, in ways that will surprise you later. If you don't want this, @@ -698,31 +677,31 @@ Options 2. Also be alert to downloaded directories which may contain a hledger.conf file. - 3. Also if you are sharing scripts or examples or support, consider + 3. Also if you are sharing scripts or examples or support, consider that others may have a hledger.conf file. Conversely, once you decide to use this feature, try to remember: - 1. Whenever a hledger command does not work as expected, try it again + 1. Whenever a hledger command does not work as expected, try it again with -n (--no-conf) to see if a config file was to blame. - 2. Whenever you call hledger from a script, consider whether that call + 2. Whenever you call hledger from a script, consider whether that call should use -n or not. - 3. Be conservative about what you put in your config file; try to con- + 3. Be conservative about what you put in your config file; try to con- sider the effect on all your reports. - 4. To troubleshoot the effect of config files, run with --debug or + 4. To troubleshoot the effect of config files, run with --debug or --debug 8. The config file feature was added in hledger 1.40. Shell completions - If you use the bash or zsh shells, you can optionally set up con- - text-sensitive autocompletion for hledger command lines. Try pressing - hledger (should list all hledger commands) or hledger - reg acct: (should list your top-level account names). If - completions aren't working, or for more details, see Install > Shell + If you use the bash or zsh shells, you can optionally set up con- + text-sensitive autocompletion for hledger command lines. Try pressing + hledger (should list all hledger commands) or hledger + reg acct: (should list your top-level account names). If + completions aren't working, or for more details, see Install > Shell completions. Output @@ -732,15 +711,15 @@ Output $ hledger print > foo.txt - Some commands (print, register, stats, the balance commands) also pro- - vide the -o/--output-file option, which does the same thing without + Some commands (print, register, stats, the balance commands) also pro- + vide the -o/--output-file option, which does the same thing without needing the shell. Eg: $ hledger print -o foo.txt $ hledger print -o - # write to stdout (the default) Output format - Some commands offer other kinds of output, not just text on the termi- + Some commands offer other kinds of output, not just text on the termi- nal. Here are those commands and the formats currently supported: command txt html csv/tsv fods beancount sql json @@ -754,14 +733,14 @@ Output print Y Y Y Y Y Y Y register Y Y Y Y Y - You can also see which output formats a command supports by running + You can also see which output formats a command supports by running hledger CMD -h and looking for the -O/--output-format=FMT option, You can select the output format by using that option: $ hledger print -O csv # print CSV to standard output - or by choosing a suitable filename extension with the -o/--out- + or by choosing a suitable filename extension with the -o/--out- put-file=FILE.FMT option: $ hledger balancesheet -o foo.csv # write CSV to foo.csv @@ -779,95 +758,95 @@ Output unicode or wide characters, you'll need a terminal and font that render those correctly. (This can be challenging on MS Windows.) - Some reports (register, aregister) will normally use the full window - width. If this isn't working or you want to override it, you can use + Some reports (register, aregister) will normally use the full window + width. If this isn't working or you want to override it, you can use the -w/--width option. - Balance reports (balance, balancesheet, incomestatement...) use what- + 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, + 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. Box-drawing characters - hledger draws simple table borders by default, to minimise the risk of - display problems caused by a terminal/font not supporting box-drawing + hledger draws simple table borders by default, to minimise the risk of + display problems caused by a terminal/font not supporting box-drawing characters. - But your terminal and font probably do support them, so we recommend - using the --pretty flag to show prettier tables in the terminal. This + But your terminal and font probably do support them, so we recommend + using the --pretty flag to show prettier tables in the terminal. This is a good flag to add to your hledger config file. Colour hledger tries to automatically detect ANSI colour and text styling sup- - port and use it when appropriate. (Currently, it is used rather mini- - mally: some reports show negative numbers in red, and help output uses + port and use it when appropriate. (Currently, it is used rather mini- + mally: some reports show negative numbers in red, and help output uses bold text for emphasis.) - You can override this by setting the NO_COLOR environment variable to - disable it, or by using the --color/--colour option, perhaps in your + You can override this by setting the NO_COLOR environment variable to + disable it, or by using the --color/--colour option, perhaps in your config file, with a y/yes or n/no value to force it on or off. Paging - In unix-like environments, when displaying large output (in any output + In unix-like environments, when displaying large output (in any output format) in the terminal, hledger tries to use a pager when appropriate. - (You can disable this with the --pager=no option, perhaps in your con- + (You can disable this with the --pager=no option, perhaps in your con- fig file.) - The pager shows one page of text at a time, and lets you scroll around - to see more. While it is active, usually SPACE shows the next page, h - shows help, and q quits. The home/end/page up/page down/cursor keys, + The pager shows one page of text at a time, and lets you scroll around + to see more. While it is active, usually SPACE shows the next page, h + shows help, and q quits. The home/end/page up/page down/cursor keys, and mouse scrolling, may also work. hledger will use the pager specified by the PAGER environment variable, - otherwise less if available, otherwise more if available. (With one - exception: hledger help -p TOPIC will always use less, so that it can + otherwise less if available, otherwise more if available. (With one + exception: hledger help -p TOPIC will always use less, so that it can scroll to the topic.) - The pager is expected to display hledger's ANSI colour and text - styling. If you see junk characters, you might need to configure your - pager to handle ANSI codes. Or you could disable colour as described + The pager is expected to display hledger's ANSI colour and text + styling. If you see junk characters, you might need to configure your + pager to handle ANSI codes. Or you could disable colour as described above. If you are using the less pager, hledger automatically appends a number - of options to the LESS variable to enable ANSI colour and a number of - other conveniences. (At the time of writing: --chop-long-lines + of options to the LESS variable to enable ANSI colour and a number of + other conveniences. (At the time of writing: --chop-long-lines --hilite-unread --ignore-case --no-init --quit-at-eof - --quit-if-one-screen --RAW-CONTROL-CHARS --shift=8 + --quit-if-one-screen --RAW-CONTROL-CHARS --shift=8 --squeeze-blank-lines --use-backslash ). If these don't work well, you can set your preferred options in the HLEDGER_LESS variable, which will be used instead. HTML output - HTML output can be styled by an optional hledger.css file in the same + HTML output can be styled by an optional hledger.css file in the same directory. - HTML output will be a HTML fragment, not a complete HTML document. - Like other hledger output, for non-ascii characters it will use the + HTML output will be a HTML fragment, not a complete HTML document. + Like other hledger output, for non-ascii characters it will use the system locale's text encoding (see Text encoding). CSV / TSV output - In CSV or TSV output, digit group marks (such as thousands separators) + In CSV or TSV output, digit group marks (such as thousands separators) are disabled automatically. FODS output - FODS is the OpenDocument Spreadsheet format as plain XML, as accepted - by LibreOffice and OpenOffice. If you use their spreadsheet applica- + FODS is the OpenDocument Spreadsheet format as plain XML, as accepted + by LibreOffice and OpenOffice. If you use their spreadsheet applica- tions, this is better than CSV because it works across locales (decimal point vs. decimal comma, character encoding stored in XML header, thus - no problems with umlauts), it supports fixed header rows and columns, - cell types (string vs. number vs. date), separation of number and + no problems with umlauts), it supports fixed header rows and columns, + cell types (string vs. number vs. date), separation of number and currency (currency is displayed but the cell type is still a number ac- cessible for computation), styles (bold), borders. Btw. you can still - extract CSV from FODS/ODS using various utilities like libreoffice + extract CSV from FODS/ODS using various utilities like libreoffice --headless or ods2csv. Beancount output - This is Beancount's journal format. You can use this to export your + This is Beancount's journal format. You can use this to export your hledger data to Beancount, eg to use the Fava web app. - hledger will try to adjust your data to suit Beancount, automatically. - Be cautious and check the conversion until you are confident it is + hledger will try to adjust your data to suit Beancount, automatically. + Be cautious and check the conversion until you are confident it is good. If you plan to export to Beancount often, you may want to follow its conventions, for a cleaner conversion: @@ -879,34 +858,34 @@ Output o avoid virtual postings, balance assignments, and secondary dates. - There is one big adjustment you must handle yourself: for Beancount, - the top level account names must be Assets, Liabilities, Equity, In- + There is one big adjustment you must handle yourself: for Beancount, + the top level account names must be Assets, Liabilities, Equity, In- come, and/or Expenses. You can use account aliases to rewrite your ac- - count names temporarily, if needed, as in this hledger2beancount.conf + count names temporarily, if needed, as in this hledger2beancount.conf config file. 2024-12-20: Some more things not yet handled for you: - o P directives are not converted automatically - convert those your- + o P directives are not converted automatically - convert those your- self. - o Balance assignments are not converted (Beancount doesn't support + o Balance assignments are not converted (Beancount doesn't support them) - replace those with explicit amounts. Beancount account names - Aside from the top-level names, hledger will adjust your account names - to make valid Beancount account names, by capitalising each part, re- - placing spaces with -, replacing other unsupported characters with - C, prepending A to account name parts which don't begin with - a letter or digit, and appending :A to account names which have only + Aside from the top-level names, hledger will adjust your account names + to make valid Beancount account names, by capitalising each part, re- + placing spaces with -, replacing other unsupported characters with + C, prepending A to account name parts which don't begin with + a letter or digit, and appending :A to account names which have only one part. Beancount commodity names - hledger will adjust your commodity names to make valid Beancount com- + hledger will adjust your commodity names to make valid Beancount com- modity/currency names, which must be 2-24 uppercase letters, digits, or - ', ., _, -, beginning with a letter and ending with a letter or digit. + ', ., _, -, beginning with a letter and ending with a letter or digit. hledger will convert known currency symbols to ISO 4217 currency codes, - capitalise letters, replace spaces with -, replace other unsupported + capitalise letters, replace spaces with -, replace other unsupported characters with C, and prepend or append C if needed. Beancount virtual postings @@ -914,42 +893,42 @@ Output omitted from beancount output. Beancount metadata - hledger tags will be converted to Beancount metadata (except for tags + hledger tags will be converted to Beancount metadata (except for tags whose name begins with _). Metadata names will be adjusted to be Bean- count-compatible: beginning with a lowercase letter, at least two char- - acters long, and with unsupported characters encoded. Metadata values + acters long, and with unsupported characters encoded. Metadata values will use Beancount's string type. - In hledger, objects can have the same tag repeated with multiple val- + In hledger, objects can have the same tag repeated with multiple val- ues. Eg an assets:cash account might have both type:Asset and - type:Cash tags. For Beancount these will be combined into one, with + type:Cash tags. For Beancount these will be combined into one, with the values combined, comma separated. Eg: type: "Asset, Cash". Beancount costs - Beancount doesn't allow redundant costs and conversion postings as - hledger does. If you have any of these, the conversion postings will - be omitted. Currently we support at most one cost + conversion post- + Beancount doesn't allow redundant costs and conversion postings as + hledger does. If you have any of these, the conversion postings will + be omitted. Currently we support at most one cost + conversion post- ings group per transaction. Beancount operating currency - Declaring an operating currency (or several) improves Beancount and - Fava reports. Currently hledger will declare each currency used in - cost amounts as an operating currency. If needed, replace these with + Declaring an operating currency (or several) improves Beancount and + Fava reports. Currently hledger will declare each currency used in + cost amounts as an operating currency. If needed, replace these with your own declaration, like option "operating_currency" "USD" SQL output - SQL output is expected to work at least with SQLite, MySQL and Post- + SQL output is expected to work at least with SQLite, MySQL and Post- gres. - The SQL statements are expected to be executed in the empty database. + The SQL statements are expected to be executed in the empty database. If you already have tables created via SQL output of hledger, you would - probably want to either clear data from these (via delete or truncate - SQL statements) or drop the tables completely before import; otherwise + probably want to either clear data from these (via delete or truncate + SQL statements) or drop the tables completely before import; otherwise your postings would be duplicated. - For SQLite, it is more useful if you modify the generated id field to + For SQLite, it is more useful if you modify the generated id field to be a PRIMARY KEY. Eg: $ hledger print -O sql | sed 's/id serial/id INTEGER PRIMARY KEY AUTOINCREMENT NOT NULL/g' | ... @@ -957,48 +936,48 @@ Output This is not yet much used; feedback is welcome. JSON output - Our JSON is rather large and verbose, since it is a faithful represen- - tation of hledger's internal data types. To understand its structure, - read the Haskell type definitions, which are mostly in + Our JSON is rather large and verbose, since it is a faithful represen- + tation of hledger's internal data types. To understand its structure, + read the Haskell type definitions, which are mostly in https://github.com/simonmichael/hledger/blob/mas- - ter/hledger-lib/Hledger/Data/Types.hs. hledger-web's OpenAPI specifi- + ter/hledger-lib/Hledger/Data/Types.hs. hledger-web's OpenAPI specifi- cation may also be relevant. - hledger stores numbers with sometimes up to 255 significant digits. - This is too many digits for most JSON consumers, so in JSON output we + hledger stores numbers with sometimes up to 255 significant digits. + This is too many digits for most JSON consumers, so in JSON output we round numbers to at most 10 decimal places. (We don't limit the number - of integer digits.) If you find this causing problems, please let us + of integer digits.) If you find this causing problems, please let us know. Related: #1195 This is not yet much used; feedback is welcome. Commodity styles - When displaying amounts, hledger infers a standard display style for + When displaying amounts, hledger infers a standard display style for each commodity/currency, as described below in Commodity display style. If needed, this can be overridden by a -c/--commodity-style option (ex- cept for cost amounts and amounts displayed by the print command, which - are always displayed with all decimal digits). For example, the fol- + are always displayed with all decimal digits). For example, the fol- lowing will force dollar amounts to be displayed as shown: $ hledger print -c '$1.000,0' - This option can be repeated to set the display style for multiple com- + This option can be repeated to set the display style for multiple com- modities/currencies. Its argument is as described in the commodity di- rective. - In some cases hledger will adjust number formatting to improve their + In some cases hledger will adjust number formatting to improve their parseability (such as adding trailing decimal marks when needed). Debug output We intend hledger to be relatively easy to troubleshoot, introspect and - develop. You can add --debug[=N] to any hledger command line to see - additional debug output. N ranges from 1 (least output, the default) - to 9 (maximum output). Typically you would start with 1 and increase - until you are seeing enough. Debug output goes to stderr, and is not + develop. You can add --debug[=N] to any hledger command line to see + additional debug output. N ranges from 1 (least output, the default) + to 9 (maximum output). Typically you would start with 1 and increase + until you are seeing enough. Debug output goes to stderr, and is not affected by -o/--output-file (unless you redirect stderr to stdout, eg: - 2>&1). It will be interleaved with normal output, which can help re- - veal when parts of the code are evaluated. To capture debug output in + 2>&1). It will be interleaved with normal output, which can help re- + veal when parts of the code are evaluated. To capture debug output in a log file instead, you can usually redirect stderr, eg: hledger bal --debug=3 2>hledger.log @@ -1008,35 +987,35 @@ Output Environment These environment variables affect hledger: - HLEDGER_LESS If less is your pager, this variable specifies the less - options hledger should use. (Otherwise, LESS + custom options are + HLEDGER_LESS If less is your pager, this variable specifies the less + options hledger should use. (Otherwise, LESS + custom options are used.) - LEDGER_FILE The main journal file to use when not specified with + LEDGER_FILE The main journal file to use when not specified with -f/--file. Default: $HOME/.hledger.journal. NO_COLOR If this environment variable exists (with any value, including - empty), hledger will not use ANSI color codes in terminal output, un- + empty), hledger will not use ANSI color codes in terminal output, un- less overridden by an explicit --color=y or --colour=y option. PART 2: DATA FORMATS Journal hledger's usual data source is a plain text file containing journal en- - tries in hledger journal format. If you're looking for a quick refer- - ence, jump ahead to the journal cheatsheet (or use the table of con- + tries in hledger journal format. If you're looking for a quick refer- + ence, jump ahead to the journal cheatsheet (or use the table of con- tents at https://hledger.org/hledger.html). - This file represents an accounting General Journal. The .journal file - extension is most often used, though not strictly required. The jour- - nal file contains a number of transaction entries, each describing a - transfer of money (or any commodity) between two or more named ac- + This file represents an accounting General Journal. The .journal file + extension is most often used, though not strictly required. The jour- + nal file contains a number of transaction entries, each describing a + transfer of money (or any commodity) between two or more named ac- counts, in a simple format readable by both hledger and humans. - hledger's journal format is compatible with most of Ledger's journal + hledger's journal format is compatible with most of Ledger's journal format, but not all of it. The differences and interoperation tips are - described at hledger and Ledger. With some care, and by avoiding in- - compatible features, you can keep your hledger journal readable by - Ledger and vice versa. This can useful eg for comparing the behaviour + described at hledger and Ledger. With some care, and by avoiding in- + compatible features, you can keep your hledger journal readable by + Ledger and vice versa. This can useful eg for comparing the behaviour of one app against the other. You can use hledger without learning any more about this file; just use @@ -1044,16 +1023,16 @@ Journal Many users, though, edit the journal file with a text editor, and track changes with a version control system such as git. Editor add-ons such - as ledger-mode or hledger-mode for Emacs, vim-ledger for Vim, and + as ledger-mode or hledger-mode for Emacs, vim-ledger for Vim, and hledger-vscode for Visual Studio Code, make this easier, adding colour, - formatting, tab completion, and useful commands. See Editors at + formatting, tab completion, and useful commands. See Editors at hledger.org for the full list. A hledger journal file can contain three kinds of thing: comment lines, - transactions, and/or directives (including periodic transaction rules - and auto posting rules). Understanding the journal file format will - also give you a good understanding of hledger's data model. Here's a - quick cheatsheet/overview, followed by detailed descriptions of each + transactions, and/or directives (including periodic transaction rules + and auto posting rules). Understanding the journal file format will + also give you a good understanding of hledger's data model. Here's a + quick cheatsheet/overview, followed by detailed descriptions of each part. Journal cheatsheet @@ -1188,7 +1167,7 @@ Journal Comments Lines in the journal will be ignored if they begin with a hash (#) or a - semicolon (;). (See also Other syntax.) hledger will also ignore re- + semicolon (;). (See also Other syntax.) hledger will also ignore re- gions beginning with a comment line and ending with an end comment line (or file end). Here's a suggestion for choosing between them: @@ -1210,15 +1189,15 @@ Journal end comment Some hledger entries can have same-line comments attached to them, from - ; (semicolon) to end of line. See Transaction comments, Posting com- + ; (semicolon) to end of line. See Transaction comments, Posting com- ments, and Account comments below. Transactions - Transactions are the main unit of information in a journal file. They - represent events, typically a movement of some quantity of commodities + Transactions are the main unit of information in a journal file. They + represent events, typically a movement of some quantity of commodities between two or more named accounts. - Each transaction is recorded as a journal entry, beginning with a sim- + Each transaction is recorded as a journal entry, beginning with a sim- ple date in column 0. This can be followed by any of the following op- tional fields, separated by spaces: @@ -1228,11 +1207,11 @@ Journal o a description (any remaining text until end of line or a semicolon) - o a comment (any remaining text following a semicolon until end of + o a comment (any remaining text following a semicolon until end of line, and any following indented lines beginning with a semicolon) o 0 or more indented posting lines, describing what was transferred and - the accounts involved (indented comment lines are also allowed, but + the accounts involved (indented comment lines are also allowed, but not blank lines or non-indented lines). Here's a simple journal file containing one transaction: @@ -1243,24 +1222,24 @@ Journal Dates Simple dates - Dates in the journal file use simple dates format: YYYY-MM-DD or + Dates in the journal file use simple dates format: YYYY-MM-DD or YYYY/MM/DD or YYYY.MM.DD, with leading zeros optional. The year may be - omitted, in which case it will be inferred from the context: the cur- - rent transaction, the default year set with a Y directive, or the cur- + omitted, in which case it will be inferred from the context: the cur- + rent transaction, the default year set with a Y directive, or the cur- rent date when the command is run. Some examples: 2010-01-31, 2010/01/31, 2010.1.31, 1/31. - (The UI also accepts simple dates, as well as the more flexible smart + (The UI also accepts simple dates, as well as the more flexible smart dates documented in the hledger manual.) Posting dates - You can give individual postings a different date from their parent - transaction, by adding a posting comment containing a tag (see below) - like ; date:DATE. (There's also a Ledger-compatible syntax, ; [DATE], + You can give individual postings a different date from their parent + transaction, by adding a posting comment containing a tag (see below) + like ; date:DATE. (There's also a Ledger-compatible syntax, ; [DATE], which can be convenient.) - This is probably the best way to control posting dates precisely. Eg - in this example the expense should appear in May reports, and the de- + This is probably the best way to control posting dates precisely. Eg + in this example the expense should appear in May reports, and the de- duction from checking should be reported on 6/1 for easy bank reconcil- iation: @@ -1274,15 +1253,15 @@ Journal $ hledger -f t.j register checking 2015-06-01 assets:checking $-10 $-10 - DATE should be a simple date; if the year is not specified it will use + DATE should be a simple date; if the year is not specified it will use the year of the transaction's date. - The date: tag must have a valid simple date value if it is present, eg + The date: tag must have a valid simple date value if it is present, eg a date: tag with no value is not allowed. Status - Transactions (or individual postings within a transaction) can have a - status mark, which is a single character before the transaction de- - scription (or posting account name), separated from it by a space, in- + Transactions (or individual postings within a transaction) can have a + status mark, which is a single character before the transaction de- + scription (or posting account name), separated from it by a space, in- dicating one of three statuses: mark status @@ -1291,20 +1270,20 @@ Journal ! pending * cleared - When reporting, you can filter by status with the -U/--unmarked, + When reporting, you can filter by status with the -U/--unmarked, -P/--pending, and -C/--cleared flags (and you can combine these, eg -UP - to match all except cleared things). Or you can use the status:, sta- + to match all except cleared things). Or you can use the status:, sta- tus:!, and status:* queries, or the U, P, C keys in hledger-ui. (Note: in Ledger the "unmarked" state is called "uncleared"; in hledger we renamed it to "unmarked" for semantic clarity.) - Status marks are optional, but can be helpful eg for reconciling with + Status marks are optional, but can be helpful eg for reconciling with real-world accounts. Some editor modes provide highlighting and short- - cuts for working with status. Eg in Emacs ledger-mode, you can toggle + cuts for working with status. Eg in Emacs ledger-mode, you can toggle transaction status with C-c C-e, or posting status with C-c C-c. - What "uncleared", "pending", and "cleared" actually mean is up to you. + What "uncleared", "pending", and "cleared" actually mean is up to you. Here's one suggestion: status meaning @@ -1315,55 +1294,55 @@ Journal cleared complete, reconciled as far as possible, and considered cor- rect - With this scheme, you would use -PC to see the current balance at your + With this scheme, you would use -PC to see the current balance at your bank, -U to see things which will probably hit your bank soon (like un- - cashed checks), and no flags to see the most up-to-date state of your + cashed checks), and no flags to see the most up-to-date state of your finances. Code - After the status mark, but before the description, you can optionally - write a transaction "code", enclosed in parentheses. This is a good - place to record a check number, or some other important transaction id + After the status mark, but before the description, you can optionally + write a transaction "code", enclosed in parentheses. This is a good + place to record a check number, or some other important transaction id or reference number. Description - After the date, status mark and/or code fields, the rest of the line - (or until a comment is begun with ;) is the transaction's description. + After the date, status mark and/or code fields, the rest of the line + (or until a comment is begun with ;) is the transaction's description. Here you can describe the transaction (called the "narration" in tradi- - tional bookkeeping), or you can record a payee/payer name, or you can + tional bookkeeping), or you can record a payee/payer name, or you can leave it empty. - Transaction descriptions show up in print output and in register re- + Transaction descriptions show up in print output and in register re- ports, and can be listed with the descriptions command. - You can query by description with desc:DESCREGEX, or pivot on descrip- + You can query by description with desc:DESCREGEX, or pivot on descrip- tion with --pivot desc. Payee and note Sometimes people want a dedicated payee/payer field that can be queried - and checked more strictly. If you want that, you can write a | (pipe) - character in the description. This divides it into a "payee" field on + and checked more strictly. If you want that, you can write a | (pipe) + character in the description. This divides it into a "payee" field on the left, and a "note" field on the right. (Either can be empty.) - You can query these with payee:PAYEEREGEX and note:NOTEREGEX, list - their values with the payees and notes commands, or pivot on payee or + You can query these with payee:PAYEEREGEX and note:NOTEREGEX, list + their values with the payees and notes commands, or pivot on payee or note. Note: in transactions with no | character, description, payee, and note all have the same value. Once a | is added, they become distinct. (If - you'd like to change this behaviour, please propose it on the mail + you'd like to change this behaviour, please propose it on the mail list.) If you want more strict error checking, you can declare the valid payee - names with payee directives, and then enforce these with hledger check - payees. (Note: because of the above, for this you'll need to ensure - every transaction description contains a | and therefore a checkable + names with payee directives, and then enforce these with hledger check + payees. (Note: because of the above, for this you'll need to ensure + every transaction description contains a | and therefore a checkable payee name, even if it's empty.) Transaction comments - Text following ;, after a transaction description, and/or on indented - lines immediately below it, form comments for that transaction. They - are reproduced by print but otherwise ignored, except they may contain + Text following ;, after a transaction description, and/or on indented + lines immediately below it, form comments for that transaction. They + are reproduced by print but otherwise ignored, except they may contain tags, which are not ignored. 2012-01-01 something ; a transaction comment @@ -1372,31 +1351,31 @@ Journal assets Postings - A posting is an addition of some amount to, or removal of some amount - from, an account. Each posting line begins with at least one space or + A posting is an addition of some amount to, or removal of some amount + from, an account. Each posting line begins with at least one space or tab (2 or 4 spaces is common), followed by: o (optional) a status character (empty, !, or *), followed by a space - o (required) an account name (any text, optionally including single - spaces. If anything follows the account name on the same line, the + o (required) an account name (any text, optionally including single + spaces. If anything follows the account name on the same line, the account name must be ended by two or more spaces.) o (optional) an amount - o (optional) a same-line posting comment, beginning with a semicolon + o (optional) a same-line posting comment, beginning with a semicolon (;). - If the amount is positive, it is being added to the account; if nega- + If the amount is positive, it is being added to the account; if nega- tive, it is being removed from the account. - The posting amounts in a transaction must sum up to zero, indicating - that the inflows and outflows are equal. We call this a balanced - transaction. (You can read more about the details of transaction bal- + The posting amounts in a transaction must sum up to zero, indicating + that the inflows and outflows are equal. We call this a balanced + transaction. (You can read more about the details of transaction bal- ancing below.) - If no amount is written, it will be calculated automatically from the - other postings in the transaction, so as to balance the transaction. + If no amount is written, it will be calculated automatically from the + other postings in the transaction, so as to balance the transaction. In other words, in any transaction you can leave one posting amountless to save typing. @@ -1405,39 +1384,39 @@ Journal in hledger, but we represent them with numeric sign. Positive and neg- ative posting amounts represent debits and credits respectively. - You don't need to remember that, but if you would like to - eg for - helping newcomers or for talking with your accountant - here's a handy + You don't need to remember that, but if you would like to - eg for + helping newcomers or for talking with your accountant - here's a handy mnemonic: debit / plus / left / short words credit / minus / right / longer words Account names - Accounts are the main way of categorising things in hledger. As in - Double Entry Bookkeeping, they can represent real world accounts (such + Accounts are the main way of categorising things in hledger. As in + Double Entry Bookkeeping, they can represent real world accounts (such as a bank account), or more abstract categories such as "money spent on food" or "money borrowed from Frank". - Account names are flexible. They may be capitalised or not; they may - contain letters, numbers, punctuation, symbols, or single spaces; they + Account names are flexible. They may be capitalised or not; they may + contain letters, numbers, punctuation, symbols, or single spaces; they may be in any language. - Typically we use the five traditional accounting categories as the + Typically we use the five traditional accounting categories as the starting point for account names. In english they are: assets, liabilities, equity, revenues, expenses - These will be discussed more in Account types below. In hledger docs + These will be discussed more in Account types below. In hledger docs you may see them referred to as A, L, E, R, X for short. - The two space delimiter - Note the two or more spaces delimiter that's sometimes required after - account names. hledger's account names, inherited from Ledger, are + Two space delimiter + Note the two or more spaces delimiter that's sometimes required after + account names. hledger's account names, inherited from Ledger, are very permissive; they may contain pretty much any kind of text, includ- ing single spaces and semicolons. Because of this, they must be termi- - nated by two or more spaces if there is anything following them on the + nated by two or more spaces if there is anything following them on the same line. For example, if an amount, balance assignment, or same-line - comment follows an account name, they must be preceded by two or more + comment follows an account name, they must be preceded by two or more spaces, else they would be considered part of the account name: bad: assets:accounts receivable $10 ; <- too close! @@ -1449,18 +1428,18 @@ Journal bad: assets:accounts receivable ; comment. <- too close! good: assets:accounts receivable ; comment - This two-space delimiter appears in a few places in hledger, such as - after account names in postings or account directives; also after the + This two-space delimiter appears in a few places in hledger, such as + after account names in postings or account directives; also after the period expression in periodic transaction rules. When you are starting - out, expect it to catch you out at least once. It's annoying some- - times, but it lets us use expressive account names while still keeping + out, expect it to catch you out at least once. It's annoying some- + times, but it lets us use expressive account names while still keeping the syntax light. Account hierarchy - For more precise reporting, we usually divide accounts into more de- - tailed subaccounts, subsubaccounts, and so on, by writing a full colon + For more precise reporting, we usually divide accounts into more de- + tailed subaccounts, subsubaccounts, and so on, by writing a full colon between account name parts. For example, instead of writing assets and - expenses, we might write assets:bank:checking and expenses:food. From + expenses, we might write assets:bank:checking and expenses:food. From these names hledger will infer this hierarchy of five accounts: assets @@ -1478,30 +1457,30 @@ Journal food hledger reports can summarise the account tree to any depth, so you can - make your subcategories as detailed as you like. But don't go over- - board, especially when getting started; simpler categories can be less + make your subcategories as detailed as you like. But don't go over- + board, especially when getting started; simpler categories can be less work. Other account name features - Enclosing the account name in parentheses or brackets, like (ex- + Enclosing the account name in parentheses or brackets, like (ex- penses:food), enables a non-standard bookkeeping feature: virtual post- ings. - Account names can be rewritten and restructured, temporarily or perma- + Account names can be rewritten and restructured, temporarily or perma- nently, by account aliases. Amounts After the account name, there is usually an amount. (Remember: between account name and amount, there must be two or more spaces.) - hledger's amount format is flexible, supporting several international - formats. Here are some examples. Amounts have a number (the "quan- + hledger's amount format is flexible, supporting several international + formats. Here are some examples. Amounts have a number (the "quan- tity"): 1 ..and usually a currency symbol or commodity name (more on this below), - to the left or right of the quantity, with or without a separating + to the left or right of the quantity, with or without a separating space: $1 @@ -1509,13 +1488,13 @@ Journal 3 "green apples" Amounts can be preceded by a minus sign (or a plus sign, though plus is - the default), The sign can be written before or after a left-side com- + the default), The sign can be written before or after a left-side com- modity symbol: -$1 $-1 - One or more spaces between the sign and the number are acceptable when + One or more spaces between the sign and the number are acceptable when parsing (but they won't be displayed in output): + $1 @@ -1533,31 +1512,31 @@ Journal 1,23 Both of these are common in international number formats, so hledger is - not biased towards one or the other. Because hledger also supports - digit group marks (eg thousands separators), this means that a number - like 1,000 or 1.000 containing just one period or comma is ambiguous. - In such cases, hledger by default assumes it is a decimal mark, and + not biased towards one or the other. Because hledger also supports + digit group marks (eg thousands separators), this means that a number + like 1,000 or 1.000 containing just one period or comma is ambiguous. + In such cases, hledger by default assumes it is a decimal mark, and will parse both of those as 1. - To help hledger parse such ambiguous numbers more accurately, if you - use digit group marks, we recommend declaring the decimal mark explic- - itly. The best way is to add a decimal-mark directive at the top of + To help hledger parse such ambiguous numbers more accurately, if you + use digit group marks, we recommend declaring the decimal mark explic- + itly. The best way is to add a decimal-mark directive at the top of each data file, like this: decimal-mark . - Or you can declare it per commodity with commodity directives, de- + Or you can declare it per commodity with commodity directives, de- scribed below. - hledger also accepts numbers like 10. with no digits after the decimal - mark (and will sometimes display numbers that way to disambiguate them + hledger also accepts numbers like 10. with no digits after the decimal + mark (and will sometimes display numbers that way to disambiguate them - see Trailing decimal marks). Digit group marks - In the integer part of the amount quantity (left of the decimal mark), - groups of digits can optionally be separated by a digit group mark - a - comma or period (whichever is not used as decimal mark), or a space - (several Unicode space variants, like no-break space, are also ac- + In the integer part of the amount quantity (left of the decimal mark), + groups of digits can optionally be separated by a digit group mark - a + comma or period (whichever is not used as decimal mark), or a space + (several Unicode space variants, like no-break space, are also ac- cepted). So these are all valid amounts in a journal file: $1,000,000.00 @@ -1567,46 +1546,46 @@ Journal 1 000 000.00 ; <- no-break space Commodity - Amounts in hledger have both a "quantity", which is a signed decimal + Amounts in hledger have both a "quantity", which is a signed decimal number, and a "commodity", which is a currency symbol, stock ticker, or any word or phrase describing something you are tracking. If the commodity name contains non-letters (spaces, numbers, or punctu- - ation), you must always write it inside double quotes ("green apples", + ation), you must always write it inside double quotes ("green apples", "ABC123"). - If you write just a bare number, that too will have a commodity, with + If you write just a bare number, that too will have a commodity, with name ""; we call that the "no-symbol commodity". - Actually, hledger combines these single-commodity amounts into more - powerful multi-commodity amounts, which are what it works with most of - the time. A multi-commodity amount could be, eg: 1 USD, 2 EUR, 3.456 - TSLA. In practice, you will only see multi-commodity amounts in + Actually, hledger combines these single-commodity amounts into more + powerful multi-commodity amounts, which are what it works with most of + the time. A multi-commodity amount could be, eg: 1 USD, 2 EUR, 3.456 + TSLA. In practice, you will only see multi-commodity amounts in hledger's output; you can't write them directly in the journal file. By default, the format of amounts in the journal influences how hledger - displays them in output. This is explained in Commodity display style + displays them in output. This is explained in Commodity display style below. Costs - After a posting amount, you can note its cost (when buying) or selling - price (when selling) in another commodity, by writing either @ UNIT- - PRICE or @@ TOTALPRICE after it. This indicates a conversion transac- + After a posting amount, you can note its cost (when buying) or selling + price (when selling) in another commodity, by writing either @ UNIT- + PRICE or @@ TOTALPRICE after it. This indicates a conversion transac- tion, where one commodity is exchanged for another. - (You might also see this called "transaction price" in hledger docs, - discussions, or code; that term was directionally neutral and reminded - that it is a price specific to a transaction, but we now just call it + (You might also see this called "transaction price" in hledger docs, + discussions, or code; that term was directionally neutral and reminded + that it is a price specific to a transaction, but we now just call it "cost", with the understanding that the transaction could be a purchase or a sale.) - Costs are usually written explicitly with @ or @@, but can also be in- + Costs are usually written explicitly with @ or @@, but can also be in- ferred automatically for simple multi-commodity transactions. Note, if - costs are inferred, the order of postings is significant; the first + costs are inferred, the order of postings is significant; the first posting will have a cost attached, in the commodity of the second. - As an example, here are several ways to record purchases of a foreign - currency in hledger, using the cost notation either explicitly or im- + As an example, here are several ways to record purchases of a foreign + currency in hledger, using the cost notation either explicitly or im- plicitly: 1. Write the price per unit, as @ UNITPRICE after the amount: @@ -1630,17 +1609,17 @@ Journal assets:euros 100 ; one hundred euros purchased assets:dollars $-135 ; for $135 - Amounts can be converted to cost at report time using the -B/--cost + Amounts can be converted to cost at report time using the -B/--cost flag; this is discussed more in the Cost reporting section. - Note that the cost normally should be a positive amount, though it's - not required to be. This can be a little confusing, see discussion at + Note that the cost normally should be a positive amount, though it's + not required to be. This can be a little confusing, see discussion at --infer-market-prices: market prices from transactions. Balance assertions - hledger supports Ledger-style balance assertions in journal files. - These look like, for example, = EXPECTEDBALANCE following a posting's - amount. Eg here we assert the expected dollar balance in accounts a + hledger supports Ledger-style balance assertions in journal files. + These look like, for example, = EXPECTEDBALANCE following a posting's + amount. Eg here we assert the expected dollar balance in accounts a and b after each posting: 2013/1/1 @@ -1652,22 +1631,22 @@ Journal b $-1 = $-2 After reading a journal file, hledger will check all balance assertions - and report an error if any of them fail. Balance assertions can pro- - tect you from, eg, inadvertently disrupting reconciled balances while - cleaning up old entries. You can disable them temporarily with the + and report an error if any of them fail. Balance assertions can pro- + tect you from, eg, inadvertently disrupting reconciled balances while + cleaning up old entries. You can disable them temporarily with the -I/--ignore-assertions flag, which can be useful for troubleshooting or - for reading Ledger files. (Note: this flag currently does not disable + for reading Ledger files. (Note: this flag currently does not disable balance assignments, described below). Assertions and ordering - hledger calculates and checks an account's balance assertions in date + hledger calculates and checks an account's balance assertions in date order (and when there are multiple assertions on the same day, in parse - order). Note this is different from Ledger, which checks assertions + order). Note this is different from Ledger, which checks assertions always in parse order, ignoring dates. This means in hledger you can freely reorder transactions, postings, or files, and balance assertions will usually keep working. The exception - is when you reorder multiple postings on the same day, to the same ac- + is when you reorder multiple postings on the same day, to the same ac- count, which have balance assertions; those will likely need updating. Assertions and multiple files @@ -1675,20 +1654,20 @@ Journal sertions can still work - but only if those files are part of a hierar- chy made by include directives. - If the same files are specified with two -f options on the command - line, the assertions in the second will not see the balances from the + If the same files are specified with two -f options on the command + line, the assertions in the second will not see the balances from the first. - To work around this, arrange your files in a hierarchy with include. - Or, you could concatenate the files temporarily, and process them like + To work around this, arrange your files in a hierarchy with include. + Or, you could concatenate the files temporarily, and process them like one big file. - Why does it work this way ? It might be related to hledger's goal of - stable predictable reports. File hierarchy is considered "permanent", + Why does it work this way ? It might be related to hledger's goal of + stable predictable reports. File hierarchy is considered "permanent", part of your data, while the order of command line options/arguments is - not. We don't want transient changes to be able to change the meaning - of the data. Eg it would be frustrating if tomorrow all your balance - assertions broke because you wrote command line arguments in a differ- + not. We don't want transient changes to be able to change the meaning + of the data. Eg it would be frustrating if tomorrow all your balance + assertions broke because you wrote command line arguments in a differ- ent order. (Discussion welcome.) Assertions and costs @@ -1698,20 +1677,20 @@ Journal 2019/1/1 (a) $1 @ 1 = $1 - We do allow costs to be written in balance assertion amounts, however, - and print shows them, but they don't affect whether the assertion - passes or fails. This is for backward compatibility (hledger's close - command used to generate balance assertions with costs), and because + We do allow costs to be written in balance assertion amounts, however, + and print shows them, but they don't affect whether the assertion + passes or fails. This is for backward compatibility (hledger's close + command used to generate balance assertions with costs), and because balance assignments do use costs (see below). Assertions and commodities - The balance assertions described so far are "single commodity balance + The balance assertions described so far are "single commodity balance assertions": they assert and check the balance in one commodity, ignor- - ing any others that may be present. This is how balance assertions + ing any others that may be present. This is how balance assertions work in Ledger also. - If an account contains multiple commodities, you can assert their bal- - ances by writing multiple postings with balance assertions, one for + If an account contains multiple commodities, you can assert their bal- + ances by writing multiple postings with balance assertions, one for each commodity: 2013/1/1 @@ -1723,8 +1702,8 @@ Journal both 0 = $1 both 0 = 1 - In hledger you can make a stronger "sole commodity balance assertion" - by writing two equals signs (== EXPECTEDBALANCE). This also asserts + In hledger you can make a stronger "sole commodity balance assertion" + by writing two equals signs (== EXPECTEDBALANCE). This also asserts that there are no other commodities in the account besides the asserted one (or at least, that their current balance is zero): @@ -1734,12 +1713,12 @@ Journal both ;== $1 ; this one would fail because 'both' contains $ and It's less easy to make a "sole commodities balance assertion" (note the - plural) - ie, asserting that an account contains two or more specified + plural) - ie, asserting that an account contains two or more specified commodities and no others. It can be done by 1. isolating each commodity in a subaccount, and asserting those - 2. and also asserting there are no commodities in the parent account + 2. and also asserting there are no commodities in the parent account itself: 2013/1/1 @@ -1751,10 +1730,10 @@ Journal Assertions and subaccounts All of the balance assertions above (both = and ==) are "subaccount-ex- - clusive balance assertions"; they ignore any balances that exist in + clusive balance assertions"; they ignore any balances that exist in deeper subaccounts. - In hledger you can make "subaccount-inclusive balance assertions" by + In hledger you can make "subaccount-inclusive balance assertions" by adding a star after the equals (=* or ==*): 2019/1/1 @@ -1764,8 +1743,8 @@ Journal assets $0 ==* $20 ; assets + subaccounts contains $20 and nothing else Assertions and status - Balance assertions always consider postings of all statuses (unmarked, - pending, or cleared); they are not affected by the -U/--unmarked / + Balance assertions always consider postings of all statuses (unmarked, + pending, or cleared); they are not affected by the -U/--unmarked / -P/--pending / -C/--cleared flags or the status: query. Assertions and virtual postings @@ -1773,10 +1752,10 @@ Journal are not affected by the --real/-R flag or real: query. Assertions and auto postings - Balance assertions are affected by the --auto flag, which generates + Balance assertions are affected by the --auto flag, which generates auto postings, which can alter account balances. Because auto postings are optional in hledger, accounts affected by them effectively have two - balances. But balance assertions can only test one or the other of + balances. But balance assertions can only test one or the other of these. So to avoid making fragile assertions, either: o assert the balance calculated with --auto, and always use --auto with @@ -1789,19 +1768,19 @@ Journal avoid auto postings entirely). Assertions and precision - Balance assertions compare the exactly calculated amounts, which are - not always what is shown by reports. Eg a commodity directive may - limit the display precision, but this will not affect balance asser- + Balance assertions compare the exactly calculated amounts, which are + not always what is shown by reports. Eg a commodity directive may + limit the display precision, but this will not affect balance asser- tions. Balance assertion failure messages show exact amounts. Assertions and hledger add - Balance assertions can be included in the amounts given in add. All - types of assertions are supported, and assertions can be used as in a + Balance assertions can be included in the amounts given in add. All + types of assertions are supported, and assertions can be used as in a normal journal file. - All transactions, not just those that have an explicit assertion, are - validated against the existing assertions in the journal. This means - it is possible for an added transaction to fail even if its assertions + All transactions, not just those that have an explicit assertion, are + validated against the existing assertions in the journal. This means + it is possible for an added transaction to fail even if its assertions are correct as of the transaction date. If this assertion checking is not desired, then it can be disabled with @@ -1810,9 +1789,9 @@ Journal However, balance assignments are currently not supported. Posting comments - Text following ;, at the end of a posting line, and/or on indented - lines immediately below it, form comments for that posting. They are - reproduced by print but otherwise ignored, except they may contain + Text following ;, at the end of a posting line, and/or on indented + lines immediately below it, form comments for that posting. They are + reproduced by print but otherwise ignored, except they may contain tags, which are not ignored. 2012-01-01 @@ -1823,84 +1802,125 @@ Journal Transaction balancing How exactly does hledger decide when a transaction is balanced ? Espe- - cially when it involves costs, which often are not exact, because of + cially when it involves costs, which often are not exact, because of repeating decimals, or imperfect data from financial institutions ? In - each commodity, hledger sums the transaction's posting amounts, after - converting any with costs; then it checks if that sum is zero, when + each commodity, hledger sums the transaction's posting amounts, after + converting any with costs; then it checks if that sum is zero, when rounded to a suitable number of decimal digits - which we call the bal- ancing precision. Since version 1.50, hledger infers balancing precision in each transac- - tion from the amounts in that transaction's journal entry (like - Ledger). Ie, when checking the balance of commodity A, it uses the - highest decimal precision seen for A in the journal entry (excluding + tion from the amounts in that transaction's journal entry (like + Ledger). Ie, when checking the balance of commodity A, it uses the + highest decimal precision seen for A in the journal entry (excluding cost amounts). This makes transaction balancing robust; any imbalances - must be visibly accounted for in the journal entry, display precision - can be freely increased with -c, and compatibility with Ledger and + must be visibly accounted for in the journal entry, display precision + can be freely increased with -c, and compatibility with Ledger and Beancount journals is good. Note that hledger versions before 1.50 worked differently: they allowed - display precision to override the balancing precision. This masked - small imbalances and caused fragility (see issue #2402). As a result, + display precision to override the balancing precision. This masked + small imbalances and caused fragility (see issue #2402). As a result, some journal entries (or CSV rules) that worked with hledger <1.50, are - now rejected with an "unbalanced transaction" error. If you hit this + now rejected with an "unbalanced transaction" error. If you hit this problem, it's easy to fix: - o You can restore the old behaviour, by adding --txn-balancing=old to - the command or to your ~/.hledger.conf file. This lets you keep us- + o You can restore the old behaviour, by adding --txn-balancing=old to + the command or to your ~/.hledger.conf file. This lets you keep us- ing old journals unchanged, though without the above benefits. - o Or you can fix the problem entries (recommended). There are three + o Or you can fix the problem entries (recommended). There are three ways, use whichever seems best: 1. make cost amounts more precise (add more/better decimal digits) - 2. or make non-cost amounts less precise (remove unnecessary decimal + 2. or make non-cost amounts less precise (remove unnecessary decimal digits that are raising the precision) - 3. or add a posting to absorb the imbalance (eg "expenses:rounding". - Remember that one posting may omit the amount; that's convenient + 3. or add a posting to absorb the imbalance (eg "expenses:rounding". + Remember that one posting may omit the amount; that's convenient here.) Tags - Tags are a way to add extra labels or data fields to transactions, - postings, or accounts. They are usually a word or hyphenated word, im- - mediately followed by a full colon, written within the comment of a - transaction, a posting, or an account directive. (Yes, storing data in - comments is slightly weird!) + Tags are a way to add extra labels or data fields to transactions, + postings, or accounts, which you can match with a tag: query in re- + ports. (See queries below.) - You can write each tag on its own comment line, or multiple tags on one - line, separated by commas. Tags can also have a value, which is any - text after the colon until the next comma or end of line, excluding - surrounding whitespace. (hledger tag values can't contain commas.) If - the same tag name appears multiple times in a comment, each name:value - pair is preserved. + Tags are a single word or hyphenated word, immediately followed by a + full colon, written within a comment. (Yes, storing data in comments + is slightly weird.) Here's a transaction with a tag: - An example: in this journal there are six tags, one of them with a - value: + 2025-01-01 groceries ; some-tag: + assets:checking + expenses:food $1 - account assets:checking ; accounttag: - account expenses:food + A tag can have a value, a single line of text written after the colon. + Tag values can't contain newlines.: - 2017/1/16 bought groceries ; transactiontag: - ; transactiontag2: - assets:checking $-1 - ; posting-tag-1:, (belongs to the posting above) - expenses:food $1 ; posting-tag-2:, posting-tag-3: with a value + 2025-01-01 groceries ; tag1: this is tag1's value - Querying with tags - Tags are most often used to select a subset of data; you can match - tagged things by tag name and or tag value with a tag: query. (See - queries below.) + Multiple tags can be separated by comma. Tag values can't contain com- + mas.: - When querying for tag names or values, note that postings inherit tags - from their transaction and from their account, and transactions acquire - tags from their postings. So in the example above, - the assets:check- - ing posting effectively has four tags (one of its own, one from the ac- - count, two from the transaction) - the expenses:food posting effec- - tively has four tags (two of its own, two from the transaction) - the - transaction effectively has all six tags (two of its own, and two from - each posting) + 2025-01-01 groceries ; tag1:value 1, tag2:value 2, comment text + + A tag can have multiple values: + + 2025-01-01 groceries ; tag1:value 1, tag1:value 2 + + You can write each tag on its own line of you prefer (but they still + can't contain commas): + + 2025-01-01 groceries + ; tag1: value 1 + ; tag2: value 2 + + Tags can be attached to individual postings, rather than the overall + transaction: + + 2025-01-01 rent + assets:checking + expenses:rent $1000 ; postingtag: + + Tags can be attached to accounts, in their account directive: + + account assets:checking ; acct-number: 123-45-6789 + + Tag propagation + In addition to what they are attached to, tags also affect related data + in a few ways, allowing more powerful queries: + + 1. Accounts -> postings. Postings inherit tags from their account. + + 2. Transactions -> postings. Postings inherit tags from their transac- + tion. + + 3. Postings -> transactions. Transactions also acquire the tags of + their postings. + + So when you use a tag: query to match whole transactions, individual + postings, or accounts, it's good to understand how tags behave. Here's + an example showing all three kinds of propagation: + + account assets:checking + account expenses:food ; atag: + + 2025-01-01 groceries ; ttag: + assets:checking ; p1tag: + expenses:food $1 ; p2tag: + + data part has tags explanation + ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- + assets:check- no tags attached + ing account + expenses:food atag atag: in comment + account + assets:check- p1tag, ttag p1tag: in comment, ttag acquired from + ing posting transaction + expenses:food p2tag, atag, p2tag: in comment, atag from account, ttag + posting ttag from transaction + groceries ttag, p1tag, ttag: in comment, p1tag from first posting, + transaction p2tag, atag p2tag and atag from second posting Displaying tags You can use the tags command to list tag names or values. @@ -1921,19 +1941,17 @@ Journal account categories. Tag names - What is allowed in a tag name ? Currently, most non-whitespace charac- - ters. Eg : is a valid tag. + What is allowed in a tag name ? Most non-whitespace characters. Eg : + is a valid tag. - For extra error checking, you can declare valid tag names with the tag - directive, and then enforce these with the check command. + For extra error checking, you can declare valid tag names with the tag + directive, and then enforce these with the check command. But note + that tags are detected quite loosely at present, sometimes where you + didn't intend them. Eg a comment like ; see https://foo.com adds a + https tag. - But note that tags are detected quite loosely at present, sometimes - where you didn't intend them. Eg ; see https://foo.com contains a - https tag with value //foo.com. - - Special tags - Some tag names have special significance to hledger. They are ex- - plained elsewhere, but here's a quick reference: + There are several tag names which have special significance to hledger. + They are explained elsewhere, but here's a quick reference: type -- declares an account's type date -- overrides a posting's date @@ -1952,18 +1970,18 @@ Journal and which have an equivalent cost posting in the transaction The second group above (generated-transaction, etc.) are normally hid- - den, with a _ prefix added. This means print doesn't show them by de- - fault; but you can still use them in queries. You can add the --ver- - bose-tags flag to make them visible, which can be useful for trou- + den, with a _ prefix added. This means print doesn't show them by de- + fault; but you can still use them in queries. You can add the --ver- + bose-tags flag to make them visible, which can be useful for trou- bleshooting. Directives - Besides transactions, there is something else you can put in a journal - file: directives. These are declarations, beginning with a keyword, - that modify hledger's behaviour. Some directives can have more spe- - cific subdirectives, indented below them. hledger's directives are + Besides transactions, there is something else you can put in a journal + file: directives. These are declarations, beginning with a keyword, + that modify hledger's behaviour. Some directives can have more spe- + cific subdirectives, indented below them. hledger's directives are similar to Ledger's in many cases, but there are also many differences. - Directives are not required, but can be useful. Here are the main di- + Directives are not required, but can be useful. Here are the main di- rectives: purpose directive @@ -1971,16 +1989,16 @@ Journal READING DATA: Rewrite account names alias Comment out sections of the file comment - Declare file's decimal mark, to help decimal-mark + Declare file's decimal mark, to help decimal-mark parse amounts accurately Include other data files include GENERATING DATA: - Generate recurring transactions or bud- ~ + Generate recurring transactions or bud- ~ get goals - Generate extra postings on existing = + Generate extra postings on existing = transactions CHECKING FOR ERRORS: - Define valid entities to provide more account, commodity, payee, tag + Define valid entities to provide more account, commodity, payee, tag error checking REPORTING: Declare accounts' type and display order account @@ -1988,23 +2006,23 @@ Journal Declare market prices P Directives and multiple files - Directives vary in their scope, ie which journal entries and which in- + Directives vary in their scope, ie which journal entries and which in- put files they affect. Most often, a directive will affect the follow- - ing entries and included files if any, until the end of the current + ing entries and included files if any, until the end of the current file - and no further. You might find this inconvenient! For example, - alias directives do not affect parent or sibling files. But there are + alias directives do not affect parent or sibling files. But there are usually workarounds; for example, put alias directives in your top-most file, before including other files. - The restriction, though it may be annoying at first, is in a good + The restriction, though it may be annoying at first, is in a good cause; it allows reports to be stable and deterministic, independent of - the order of input. Without it, reports could show different numbers - depending on the order of -f options, or the positions of include di- + the order of input. Without it, reports could show different numbers + depending on the order of -f options, or the positions of include di- rectives in your files. Directive effects - Here are all hledger's directives, with their effects and scope sum- - marised - nine main directives, plus four others which we consider + Here are all hledger's directives, with their effects and scope sum- + marised - nine main directives, plus four others which we consider non-essential: di- what it does ends @@ -2012,53 +2030,53 @@ Journal tive file end? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - ac- Declares an account, for checking all entries in all files; and N + ac- Declares an account, for checking all entries in all files; and N count its display order and type. Subdirectives: any text, ignored. - alias Rewrites account names, in following entries until end of cur- Y + alias Rewrites account names, in following entries until end of cur- Y rent file or end aliases. Command line equivalent: --alias - com- Ignores part of the journal file, until end of current file or Y + com- Ignores part of the journal file, until end of current file or Y ment end comment. com- Declares up to four things: 1. a commodity symbol, for checking N,N,Y,Y - mod- all amounts in all files 2. the display style for all amounts - ity of this commodity 3. the decimal mark for parsing amounts of - this commodity, in the rest of this file and its children, if - there is no decimal-mark directive 4. the precision to use for - balanced-transaction checking in this commodity, in this file - and its children. Takes precedence over D. Subdirectives: + mod- all amounts in all files 2. the display style for all amounts + ity of this commodity 3. the decimal mark for parsing amounts of + this commodity, in the rest of this file and its children, if + there is no decimal-mark directive 4. the precision to use for + balanced-transaction checking in this commodity, in this file + and its children. Takes precedence over D. Subdirectives: format (ignored). Command line equivalent: -c/--commodity-style - deci- Declares the decimal mark, for parsing amounts of all commodi- Y + deci- Declares the decimal mark, for parsing amounts of all commodi- Y mal-mark ties in following entries until next decimal-mark or end of cur- - rent file. Included files can override. Takes precedence over + rent file. Included files can override. Takes precedence over commodity and D. - include Includes entries and directives from another file, as if they N - were written inline. Command line alternative: multiple + include Includes entries and directives from another file, as if they N + were written inline. Command line alternative: multiple -f/--file payee Declares a payee name, for checking all entries in all files. N P Declares the market price of a commodity on some date, for value N reports. - ~ Declares a periodic transaction rule that generates future N - (tilde) transactions with --forecast and budget goals with balance + ~ Declares a periodic transaction rule that generates future N + (tilde) transactions with --forecast and budget goals with balance --budget. Other syntax: - apply Prepends a common parent account to all account names, in fol- Y + apply Prepends a common parent account to all account names, in fol- Y account lowing entries until end of current file or end apply account. - D Sets a default commodity to use for no-symbol amounts;and, if Y,Y,N,N - there is no commodity directive for this commodity: its decimal + D Sets a default commodity to use for no-symbol amounts;and, if Y,Y,N,N + there is no commodity directive for this commodity: its decimal mark, balancing precision, and display style, as above. - Y Sets a default year to use for any yearless dates, in following Y + Y Sets a default year to use for any yearless dates, in following Y entries until end of current file. - = Declares an auto posting rule that generates extra postings on partly - (equals) matched transactions with --auto, in current, parent, and child + = Declares an auto posting rule that generates extra postings on partly + (equals) matched transactions with --auto, in current, parent, and child files (but not sibling files, see #1212). - Other Other directives from Ledger's file format are accepted but ig- + Other Other directives from Ledger's file format are accepted but ig- Ledger nored. direc- tives account directive account directives can be used to declare accounts (ie, the places that - amounts are transferred from and to). Though not required, these dec- + amounts are transferred from and to). Though not required, these dec- larations can provide several benefits: o They can document your intended chart of accounts, providing a refer- @@ -2070,17 +2088,17 @@ Journal o They can restrict which accounts may be posted to by transactions, eg in strict mode, which helps prevent errors. - o They influence account display order in reports, allowing non-alpha- + o They influence account display order in reports, allowing non-alpha- betic sorting (eg Revenues to appear above Expenses). - o They can help hledger know your accounts' types (asset, liability, + o They can help hledger know your accounts' types (asset, liability, equity, revenue, expense), enabling reports like balancesheet and in- comestatement. - o They help with account name completion (in hledger add, hledger-web, + o They help with account name completion (in hledger add, hledger-web, hledger-iadd, ledger-mode, etc.) - They are written as the word account followed by a hledger-style ac- + They are written as the word account followed by a hledger-style ac- count name. Eg: account assets:bank:checking @@ -2092,11 +2110,11 @@ Journal Account comments Text following two or more spaces and ; at the end of an account direc- - tive line, and/or following ; on indented lines immediately below it, - form comments for that account. They are ignored except they may con- + tive line, and/or following ; on indented lines immediately below it, + form comments for that account. They are ignored except they may con- tain tags, which are not ignored. - The two-space requirement for same-line account comments is because ; + The two-space requirement for same-line account comments is because ; is allowed in account names. account assets:bank:checking ; same-line comment, at least 2 spaces before the semicolon @@ -2104,38 +2122,38 @@ Journal ; some tags - type:A, acctnum:12345 Account error checking - By default, accounts need not be declared; they come into existence - when a posting references them. This is convenient, but it means - hledger can't warn you when you mis-spell an account name in the jour- + By default, accounts need not be declared; they come into existence + when a posting references them. This is convenient, but it means + hledger can't warn you when you mis-spell an account name in the jour- nal. Usually you'll find that error later, as an extra account in bal- ance reports, or an incorrect balance when reconciling. - In strict mode, enabled with the -s/--strict flag, or when you run + In strict mode, enabled with the -s/--strict flag, or when you run hledger check accounts, hledger will report an error if any transaction - uses an account name that has not been declared by an account direc- + uses an account name that has not been declared by an account direc- tive. Some notes: - o The declaration is case-sensitive; transactions must use the correct + o The declaration is case-sensitive; transactions must use the correct account name capitalisation. - o The account directive's scope is "whole file and below" (see direc- + o The account directive's scope is "whole file and below" (see direc- tives). This means it affects all of the current file, and any files - it includes, but not parent or sibling files. The position of ac- - count directives within the file does not matter, though it's usual + it includes, but not parent or sibling files. The position of ac- + count directives within the file does not matter, though it's usual to put them at the top. - o Accounts can only be declared in journal files, but will affect in- + o Accounts can only be declared in journal files, but will affect in- cluded files of all types. - o It's currently not possible to declare "all possible subaccounts" + o It's currently not possible to declare "all possible subaccounts" with a wildcard; every account posted to must be declared. - o If you use the --infer-equity flag, you will also need declarations + o If you use the --infer-equity flag, you will also need declarations for the account names it generates. Account display order Account directives also cause hledger to display accounts in a particu- - lar order, not just alphabetically. Eg, here is a conventional order- + lar order, not just alphabetically. Eg, here is a conventional order- ing for the top-level accounts: account assets @@ -2153,21 +2171,21 @@ Journal revenues expenses - If there are undeclared accounts, those will be displayed last, in al- + If there are undeclared accounts, those will be displayed last, in al- phabetical order. Sorting is done within each group of sibling accounts, at each level of - the account tree. Eg, a declaration like account parent:child influ- + the account tree. Eg, a declaration like account parent:child influ- ences child's position among its siblings. - Note, it does not affect parent's position; for that, you need an ac- + Note, it does not affect parent's position; for that, you need an ac- count parent declaration. - Sibling accounts are always displayed together; hledger won't display + Sibling accounts are always displayed together; hledger won't display x:y in between a:b and a:c. - An account directive both declares an account as a valid posting tar- - get, and declares its display order; you can't easily do one without + An account directive both declares an account as a valid posting tar- + get, and declares its display order; you can't easily do one without the other. Account types @@ -2176,7 +2194,7 @@ Journal Asset A things you own Liability L things you owe Equity E owner's investment, - balances the two + balances the two above and two more representing changes in these: @@ -2191,12 +2209,12 @@ Journal Conversion V commodity conver- sions equity - As a convenience, hledger will detect these types automatically from - english account names. But it's better to declare them explicitly by - adding a type: tag in the account directives. The tag's value can be + As a convenience, hledger will detect these types automatically from + english account names. But it's better to declare them explicitly by + adding a type: tag in the account directives. The tag's value can be any of the types or one-letter abbreviations above. - Here is a typical set of account type declarations. Subaccounts will + Here is a typical set of account type declarations. Subaccounts will inherit their parent's type, or can override it: account assets ; type: A @@ -2210,22 +2228,22 @@ Journal account equity:conversion ; type: V - This enables the easy balancesheet, balancesheetequity, cashflow and + This enables the easy balancesheet, balancesheetequity, cashflow and incomestatement reports, and querying by type:. Tips: o You can list accounts and their types, for troubleshooting: - $ hledger accounts --types [ACCTPAT] [type:TYPECODES] [-DEPTH] [--positions] + $ hledger accounts --types [ACCTPAT] [type:TYPECODES] [-DEPTH] - o It's a good idea to declare at least one account for each account - type. Having some types declared and some inferred can disrupt cer- + o It's a good idea to declare at least one account for each account + type. Having some types declared and some inferred can disrupt cer- tain reports. - o The rules for inferring types from account names are as follows (us- + o The rules for inferring types from account names are as follows (us- ing Regular expressions). - If they don't work for you, just ignore them and declare your types + If they don't work for you, just ignore them and declare your types with type: tags. If account's name contains this case insensitive regular expression | its type is @@ -2244,12 +2262,12 @@ Journal 1. A type: declaration for this account. - 2. A type: declaration in the parent accounts above it, preferring + 2. A type: declaration in the parent accounts above it, preferring the nearest. 3. An account type inferred from this account's name. - 4. An account type inferred from a parent account's name, preferring + 4. An account type inferred from a parent account's name, preferring the nearest parent. 5. Otherwise, it will have no type. @@ -2273,7 +2291,7 @@ Journal o customising reports Account aliases also rewrite account names in account directives. They - do not affect account names being entered via hledger add or + do not affect account names being entered via hledger add or hledger-web. Account aliases are very powerful. They are generally easy to use cor- @@ -2283,9 +2301,9 @@ Journal See also Rewrite account names. Basic aliases - To set an account alias, use the alias directive in your journal file. - This affects all subsequent journal entries in the current file or its - included files (but note: not sibling or parent files). The spaces + To set an account alias, use the alias directive in your journal file. + This affects all subsequent journal entries in the current file or its + included files (but note: not sibling or parent files). The spaces around the = are optional: alias OLD = NEW @@ -2293,17 +2311,17 @@ Journal Or, you can use the --alias 'OLD=NEW' option on the command line. This affects all entries. It's useful for trying out aliases interactively. - OLD and NEW are case sensitive full account names. hledger will re- - place any occurrence of the old account name with the new one. Subac- + OLD and NEW are case sensitive full account names. hledger will re- + place any occurrence of the old account name with the new one. Subac- counts are also affected. Eg: alias checking = assets:bank:wells fargo:checking ; rewrites "checking" to "assets:bank:wells fargo:checking", or "checking:a" to "assets:bank:wells fargo:checking:a" Regex aliases - There is also a more powerful variant that uses a regular expression, - indicated by wrapping the pattern in forward slashes. (This is the - only place where hledger requires forward slashes around a regular ex- + There is also a more powerful variant that uses a regular expression, + indicated by wrapping the pattern in forward slashes. (This is the + only place where hledger requires forward slashes around a regular ex- pression.) Eg: @@ -2314,13 +2332,13 @@ Journal $ hledger --alias '/REGEX/=REPLACEMENT' ... - Any part of an account name matched by REGEX will be replaced by RE- + Any part of an account name matched by REGEX will be replaced by RE- PLACEMENT. REGEX is case-insensitive as usual. - If you need to match a forward slash, escape it with a backslash, eg + If you need to match a forward slash, escape it with a backslash, eg /\/=:. - If REGEX contains parenthesised match groups, these can be referenced + If REGEX contains parenthesised match groups, these can be referenced by the usual backslash and number in REPLACEMENT: alias /^(.+):bank:([^:]+):(.*)/ = \1:\2 \3 @@ -2330,21 +2348,21 @@ Journal option argument), so it can contain trailing whitespace. Combining aliases - You can define as many aliases as you like, using journal directives + You can define as many aliases as you like, using journal directives and/or command line options. - Recursive aliases - where an account name is rewritten by one alias, - then by another alias, and so on - are allowed. Each alias sees the + Recursive aliases - where an account name is rewritten by one alias, + then by another alias, and so on - are allowed. Each alias sees the effect of previously applied aliases. - In such cases it can be important to understand which aliases will be - applied and in which order. For (each account name in) each journal + In such cases it can be important to understand which aliases will be + applied and in which order. For (each account name in) each journal entry, we apply: - 1. alias directives preceding the journal entry, most recently parsed + 1. alias directives preceding the journal entry, most recently parsed first (ie, reading upward from the journal entry, bottom to top) - 2. --alias options, in the order they appeared on the command line + 2. --alias options, in the order they appeared on the command line (left to right). In other words, for (an account name in) a given journal entry: @@ -2355,20 +2373,20 @@ Journal o aliases defined after/below the entry do not affect it. - This gives nearby aliases precedence over distant ones, and helps pro- - vide semantic stability - aliases will keep working the same way inde- + This gives nearby aliases precedence over distant ones, and helps pro- + vide semantic stability - aliases will keep working the same way inde- pendent of which files are being read and in which order. - In case of trouble, adding --debug=6 to the command line will show + In case of trouble, adding --debug=6 to the command line will show which aliases are being applied when. Aliases and multiple files - As explained at Directives and multiple files, alias directives do not + As explained at Directives and multiple files, alias directives do not affect parent or sibling files. Eg in this command, hledger -f a.aliases -f b.journal - account aliases defined in a.aliases will not affect b.journal. In- + account aliases defined in a.aliases will not affect b.journal. In- cluding the aliases doesn't work either: include a.aliases @@ -2396,7 +2414,7 @@ Journal end aliases Aliases can generate bad account names - Be aware that account aliases can produce malformed account names, + Be aware that account aliases can produce malformed account names, which could cause confusing reports or invalid print output. For exam- ple, you could erase all account names: @@ -2408,8 +2426,8 @@ Journal 2021-01-01 1 - The above print output is not a valid journal. Or you could insert an - illegal double space, causing print output that would give a different + The above print output is not a valid journal. Or you could insert an + illegal double space, causing print output that would give a different journal when reparsed: 2021-01-01 @@ -2426,15 +2444,15 @@ Journal types) is renamed by an alias, normally the account type remains in ef- fect. - However, renaming in a way that reshapes the account tree (eg renaming - parent accounts but not their children, or vice versa) could prevent + However, renaming in a way that reshapes the account tree (eg renaming + parent accounts but not their children, or vice versa) could prevent child accounts from inheriting the account type of their parents. - Secondly, if an account's type is being inferred from its name, renam- + Secondly, if an account's type is being inferred from its name, renam- ing it by an alias could prevent or alter that. - If you are using account aliases and the type: query is not matching - accounts as you expect, try troubleshooting with the accounts command, + If you are using account aliases and the type: query is not matching + accounts as you expect, try troubleshooting with the accounts command, eg something like: $ hledger accounts --types -1 --alias assets=bassetts @@ -2442,37 +2460,37 @@ Journal commodity directive The commodity directive performs several functions: - 1. It declares which commodity symbols may be used in the journal, en- - abling useful error checking with strict mode or the check command. + 1. It declares which commodity symbols may be used in the journal, en- + abling useful error checking with strict mode or the check command. See Commodity error checking below. - 2. It declares how all amounts in this commodity should be displayed, + 2. It declares how all amounts in this commodity should be displayed, eg how many decimals to show. See Commodity display style above. - 3. (If no decimal-mark directive is in effect:) It sets the decimal - mark to expect (period or comma) when parsing amounts in this com- + 3. (If no decimal-mark directive is in effect:) It sets the decimal + mark to expect (period or comma) when parsing amounts in this com- modity, in this file and files it includes, from the directive until end of current file. See Decimal marks above. 4. It declares the precision with which this commodity's amounts should - be compared when checking for balanced transactions, anywhere in + be compared when checking for balanced transactions, anywhere in this file and files it includes, until end of current file. - Declaring commodities solves several common parsing/display problems, + Declaring commodities solves several common parsing/display problems, so we recommend it. Note that effects 3 and 4 above end at the end of the directive's file, - and will not affect sibling or parent files. So if you are relying on - them (especially 4) and using multiple files, placing your commodity - directives in a top-level parent file might be important. Or, keep - your decimal marks unambiguous and your entries well balanced and pre- + and will not affect sibling or parent files. So if you are relying on + them (especially 4) and using multiple files, placing your commodity + directives in a top-level parent file might be important. Or, keep + your decimal marks unambiguous and your entries well balanced and pre- cise. (Related: #793) Commodity directive syntax A commodity directive is normally the word commodity followed by a sam- - ple amount (and optionally a comment). Only the amount's symbol and + ple amount (and optionally a comment). Only the amount's symbol and the number's format is significant. Eg: commodity $1000.00 @@ -2481,19 +2499,19 @@ Journal Commodities do not have tags (tags in the comment will be ignored). - A commodity directive's sample amount must always include a period or - comma decimal mark (this rule helps disambiguate decimal marks and - digit group marks). If you don't want to show any decimal digits, + A commodity directive's sample amount must always include a period or + comma decimal mark (this rule helps disambiguate decimal marks and + digit group marks). If you don't want to show any decimal digits, write the decimal mark at the end: commodity 1000. AAAA ; show AAAA with no decimals - Commodity symbols containing spaces, numbers, or punctuation must be + Commodity symbols containing spaces, numbers, or punctuation must be enclosed in double quotes, as usual: commodity 1.0000 "AAAA 2023" - Commodity directives normally include a sample amount, but can declare + Commodity directives normally include a sample amount, but can declare only a symbol (ie, just function 1 above): commodity $ @@ -2502,7 +2520,7 @@ Journal commodity "" ; the no-symbol commodity Commodity directives may also be written with an indented format subdi- - rective, as in Ledger. The symbol is repeated and must be the same in + rective, as in Ledger. The symbol is repeated and must be the same in both places. Other subdirectives are currently ignored: ; display indian rupees with currency name on the left, @@ -2513,10 +2531,10 @@ Journal an unsupported subdirective ; ignored by hledger Commodity error checking - In strict mode (-s/--strict) (or when you run hledger check commodi- - ties), hledger will report an error if an undeclared commodity symbol - is used. (With one exception: zero amounts are always allowed to have - no commodity symbol.) It works like account error checking (described + In strict mode (-s/--strict) (or when you run hledger check commodi- + ties), hledger will report an error if an undeclared commodity symbol + is used. (With one exception: zero amounts are always allowed to have + no commodity symbol.) It works like account error checking (described above). decimal-mark directive @@ -2530,73 +2548,73 @@ Journal decimal-mark , - This prevents any ambiguity when parsing numbers in the file, so we - recommend it, especially if the file contains digit group marks (eg + This prevents any ambiguity when parsing numbers in the file, so we + recommend it, especially if the file contains digit group marks (eg thousands separators). include directive - You can pull in the content of additional files by writing an include + You can pull in the content of additional files by writing an include directive, like this: include SOMEFILE - This has the same effect as if SOMEFILE's content was inlined at this - point. (With any include directives in SOMEFILE processed similarly, + This has the same effect as if SOMEFILE's content was inlined at this + point. (With any include directives in SOMEFILE processed similarly, recursively.) - Only journal files can include other files. They can include journal, + Only journal files can include other files. They can include journal, timeclock or timedot files, but not CSV files. - If the file path begins with a tilde, that means your home directory: + If the file path begins with a tilde, that means your home directory: include ~/main.journal. - If it begins with a slash, it is an absolute path: include - /home/user/main.journal. Otherwise it is relative to the including + If it begins with a slash, it is an absolute path: include + /home/user/main.journal. Otherwise it is relative to the including file's folder: include ../finances/main.journal. - Also, the path may have a file type prefix to force a specific file - format, overriding the file extension(s) (as described in Data for- + Also, the path may have a file type prefix to force a specific file + format, overriding the file extension(s) (as described in Data for- mats): include timedot:notes/2023.md. - The path may contain glob patterns to match multiple files. hledger's - globs are similar to zsh's: ? to match any character; [a-z] to match - any character in a range; * to match zero or more characters that - aren't a path separator (like /); ** to match zero or more subdirecto- - ries and/or zero or more characters at the start of a file name; etc. - Also, hledger's globs always exclude the including file itself. So, + The path may contain glob patterns to match multiple files. hledger's + globs are similar to zsh's: ? to match any character; [a-z] to match + any character in a range; * to match zero or more characters that + aren't a path separator (like /); ** to match zero or more subdirecto- + ries and/or zero or more characters at the start of a file name; etc. + Also, hledger's globs always exclude the including file itself. So, you can do - o include *.journal to include all other journal files in the current + o include *.journal to include all other journal files in the current directory (excluding dot files) - o include **.journal to include all other journal files in this direc- + o include **.journal to include all other journal files in this direc- tory and below (excluding dot directories/files) o include timelogs/2???.timedot to include all timedot files named like a year number. - There is a limitation: hledger's globs always exclude paths involving + There is a limitation: hledger's globs always exclude paths involving dot files or dot directories. This is a workaround for unavoidable dot - directory traversal; you can disable it and revert to older behaviour + directory traversal; you can disable it and revert to older behaviour with the --old-glob flag, for now. If you are using many, or deeply nested, include files, and have an er- - ror that's hard to pinpoint: a good troubleshooting command is hledger + ror that's hard to pinpoint: a good troubleshooting command is hledger files --debug=6 (or 7). P directive The P directive declares a market price, which is a conversion rate be- - tween two commodities on a certain date. This allows value reports to + tween two commodities on a certain date. This allows value reports to convert amounts of one commodity to their value in another, on or after - that date. These prices are often obtained from a stock exchange, + that date. These prices are often obtained from a stock exchange, cryptocurrency exchange, the or foreign exchange market. The format is: P DATE COMMODITY1SYMBOL COMMODITY2AMOUNT - DATE is a simple date, COMMODITY1SYMBOL is the symbol of the commodity - being priced, and COMMODITY2AMOUNT is the amount (symbol and quantity) + DATE is a simple date, COMMODITY1SYMBOL is the symbol of the commodity + being priced, and COMMODITY2AMOUNT is the amount (symbol and quantity) of commodity 2 that one unit of commodity 1 is worth on this date. Ex- amples: @@ -2606,15 +2624,15 @@ Journal # and $1.40 from 2010-01-01 onward: P 2010-01-01 $1.40 - The -V, -X and --value flags use these market prices to show amount + The -V, -X and --value flags use these market prices to show amount values in another commodity. See Value reporting. payee directive payee PAYEE NAME This directive can be used to declare a limited set of payees which may - appear in transaction descriptions. The "payees" check will report an - error if any transaction refers to a payee that has not been declared. + appear in transaction descriptions. The "payees" check will report an + error if any transaction refers to a payee that has not been declared. Eg: payee Whole Foods ; a comment @@ -2630,58 +2648,58 @@ Journal tag directive tag TAGNAME - This directive can be used to declare a limited set of tag names al- + This directive can be used to declare a limited set of tag names al- lowed in tags. TAGNAME should be a valid tag name (no spaces). Eg: tag item-id Any indented subdirectives are currently ignored. - The "tags" check will report an error if any undeclared tag name is + The "tags" check will report an error if any undeclared tag name is used. It is quite easy to accidentally create a tag through normal use of colons in comments; if you want to prevent this, you can declare and check your tags . Periodic transactions - The ~ directive declares a "periodic rule" which generates temporary + The ~ directive declares a "periodic rule" which generates temporary extra transactions, usually recurring at some interval, when hledger is run with the --forecast flag. These "forecast transactions" are useful - for forecasting future activity. They exist only for the duration of + for forecasting future activity. They exist only for the duration of the report, and only when --forecast is used; they are not saved in the journal file by hledger. - Periodic rules also have a second use: with the --budget flag they set + Periodic rules also have a second use: with the --budget flag they set budget goals for budgeting. - Periodic rules can be a little tricky, so before you use them, read + Periodic rules can be a little tricky, so before you use them, read this whole section, or at least the following tips: - 1. Two spaces accidentally added or omitted will cause you trouble - + 1. Two spaces accidentally added or omitted will cause you trouble - read about this below. - 2. For troubleshooting, show the generated transactions with hledger - print --forecast tag:generated or hledger register --forecast + 2. For troubleshooting, show the generated transactions with hledger + print --forecast tag:generated or hledger register --forecast tag:generated. - 3. Forecasted transactions will begin only after the last non-fore- + 3. Forecasted transactions will begin only after the last non-fore- casted transaction's date. - 4. Forecasted transactions will end 6 months from today, by default. + 4. Forecasted transactions will end 6 months from today, by default. See below for the exact start/end rules. - 5. period expressions can be tricky. Their documentation needs im- + 5. period expressions can be tricky. Their documentation needs im- provement, but is worth studying. - 6. Some period expressions with a repeating interval must begin on a - natural boundary of that interval. Eg in weekly from DATE, DATE - must be a monday. ~ weekly from 2019/10/1 (a tuesday) will give an + 6. Some period expressions with a repeating interval must begin on a + natural boundary of that interval. Eg in weekly from DATE, DATE + must be a monday. ~ weekly from 2019/10/1 (a tuesday) will give an error. 7. Other period expressions with an interval are automatically expanded - to cover a whole number of that interval. (This is done to improve + to cover a whole number of that interval. (This is done to improve reports, but it also affects periodic transactions. Yes, it's a bit - inconsistent with the above.) Eg: ~ every 10th day of month from - 2023/01, which is equivalent to ~ every 10th day of month from + inconsistent with the above.) Eg: ~ every 10th day of month from + 2023/01, which is equivalent to ~ every 10th day of month from 2023/01/01, will be adjusted to start on 2019/12/10. Periodic rule syntax @@ -2699,14 +2717,14 @@ Journal expenses:utilities $400 assets:bank:checking - The period expression is the same syntax used for specifying multi-pe- - riod reports, just interpreted differently; there, it specifies report + The period expression is the same syntax used for specifying multi-pe- + riod reports, just interpreted differently; there, it specifies report periods; here it specifies recurrence dates (the periods' start dates). Periodic rules and relative dates - Partial or relative dates (like 12/31, 25, tomorrow, last week, next - quarter) are usually not recommended in periodic rules, since the re- - sults will change as time passes. If used, they will be interpreted + Partial or relative dates (like 12/31, 25, tomorrow, last week, next + quarter) are usually not recommended in periodic rules, since the re- + sults will change as time passes. If used, they will be interpreted relative to, in order of preference: 1. the first day of the default year specified by a recent Y directive @@ -2715,11 +2733,11 @@ Journal 3. or the date on which you are running the report. - They will not be affected at all by report period or forecast period + They will not be affected at all by report period or forecast period dates. Two spaces between period expression and description! - If the period expression is followed by a transaction description, + If the period expression is followed by a transaction description, these must be separated by two or more spaces. This helps hledger know where the period expression ends, so that descriptions can not acciden- tally alter their meaning, as in this example: @@ -2733,54 +2751,54 @@ Journal So, - o Do write two spaces between your period expression and your transac- + o Do write two spaces between your period expression and your transac- tion description, if any. - o Don't accidentally write two spaces in the middle of your period ex- + o Don't accidentally write two spaces in the middle of your period ex- pression. Auto postings The = directive declares an "auto posting rule", which adds extra post- - ings to existing transactions. (Remember, postings are the account + ings to existing transactions. (Remember, postings are the account name & amount lines below a transaction's date & description.) - In the journal, an auto posting rule looks quite like a transaction, - but instead of date and description it has = (mnemonic: "match") and a + In the journal, an auto posting rule looks quite like a transaction, + but instead of date and description it has = (mnemonic: "match") and a query, like this: = QUERY ACCOUNT AMOUNT ... - Queries are just like command line queries; an account name substring - is most common. Query terms containing spaces should be enclosed in + Queries are just like command line queries; an account name substring + is most common. Query terms containing spaces should be enclosed in single or double quotes. - Each = rule works like this: when hledger is run with the --auto flag, - wherever the QUERY matches a posting in the journal, the rule's post- + Each = rule works like this: when hledger is run with the --auto flag, + wherever the QUERY matches a posting in the journal, the rule's post- ings are added to that transaction, immediately below the matched post- - ing. Note these generated postings are temporary, existing only for - the duration of the report, and only when --auto is used; they are not + ing. Note these generated postings are temporary, existing only for + the duration of the report, and only when --auto is used; they are not saved in the journal file by hledger. - The postings can contain the special string %account which will be ex- + The postings can contain the special string %account which will be ex- panded to the account name of the matched account. Generated postings' amounts can depend on the matched posting's amount. - So auto postings can be useful for, eg, adding tax postings with a + So auto postings can be useful for, eg, adding tax postings with a standard percentage. AMOUNT can be: - o a number with no commodity symbol, like 2. The matched posting's + o a number with no commodity symbol, like 2. The matched posting's commodity symbol will be added to this. - o a normal amount with a commodity symbol, like $2. This will be used + o a normal amount with a commodity symbol, like $2. This will be used as-is. - o an asterisk followed by a number, like *2. This will multiply the + o an asterisk followed by a number, like *2. This will multiply the matched posting's amount (and total price, if any) by the number. - o an asterisk followed by an amount with commodity symbol, like *$2. - This multiplies and also replaces the commodity symbol with this new + o an asterisk followed by an amount with commodity symbol, like *$2. + This multiplies and also replaces the commodity symbol with this new one. Some examples: @@ -2815,38 +2833,38 @@ Journal assets:checking $20 Note that depending fully on generated data such as this has some draw- - backs - it's less portable, less future-proof, less auditable by oth- + backs - it's less portable, less future-proof, less auditable by oth- ers, and less robust (eg your balance assertions will depend on whether - you use or don't use --auto). An alternative is to use auto postings + you use or don't use --auto). An alternative is to use auto postings in "one time" fashion - use them to help build a complex journal entry, - view it with hledger print --auto, and then copy that output into the + view it with hledger print --auto, and then copy that output into the journal file to make it permanent. Auto postings and multiple files An auto posting rule can affect any transaction in the current file, or - in any parent file or child file. Note, currently it will not affect + in any parent file or child file. Note, currently it will not affect sibling files (when multiple -f/--file are used - see #1212). Auto postings and dates - A posting date (or secondary date) in the matched posting, or (taking - precedence) a posting date in the auto posting rule itself, will also + A posting date (or secondary date) in the matched posting, or (taking + precedence) a posting date in the auto posting rule itself, will also be used in the generated posting. Auto postings and transaction balancing / inferred amounts / balance asser- tions Currently, auto postings are added: - o after missing amounts are inferred, and transactions are checked for + o after missing amounts are inferred, and transactions are checked for balancedness, o but before balance assertions are checked. - Note this means that journal entries must be balanced both before and + Note this means that journal entries must be balanced both before and after auto postings are added. This changed in hledger 1.12+; see #893 for background. - This also means that you cannot have more than one auto-posting with a - missing amount applied to a given transaction, as it will be unable to + This also means that you cannot have more than one auto-posting with a + missing amount applied to a given transaction, as it will be unable to infer amounts. Auto posting tags @@ -2855,11 +2873,11 @@ Journal o generated-posting:= QUERY - shows this was generated by an auto post- ing rule, and the query - o _generated-posting:= QUERY - a hidden tag, which does not appear in + o _generated-posting:= QUERY - a hidden tag, which does not appear in hledger's output. This can be used to match postings generated "just now", rather than generated in the past and saved to the journal. - Also, any transaction that has been changed by auto posting rules will + Also, any transaction that has been changed by auto posting rules will have these tags added: o modified: - this transaction was modified @@ -2868,24 +2886,24 @@ Journal tion was modified "just now". Auto postings on forecast transactions only - Tip: you can can make auto postings that will apply to forecast trans- - actions but not recorded transactions, by adding tag:_generated-trans- - action to their QUERY. This can be useful when generating new journal + Tip: you can can make auto postings that will apply to forecast trans- + actions but not recorded transactions, by adding tag:_generated-trans- + action to their QUERY. This can be useful when generating new journal entries to be saved in the journal. Other syntax - hledger journal format supports quite a few other features, mainly to - make interoperating with or converting from Ledger easier. Note some - of the features below are powerful and can be useful in special cases, - but in general, features in this section are considered less important - or even not recommended for most users. Downsides are mentioned to + hledger journal format supports quite a few other features, mainly to + make interoperating with or converting from Ledger easier. Note some + of the features below are powerful and can be useful in special cases, + but in general, features in this section are considered less important + or even not recommended for most users. Downsides are mentioned to help you decide if you want to use them. Balance assignments - Ledger-style balance assignments are also supported. These are like - balance assertions, but with no posting amount on the left side of the - equals sign; instead it is calculated automatically so as to satisfy - the assertion. This can be a convenience during data entry, eg when + Ledger-style balance assignments are also supported. These are like + balance assertions, but with no posting amount on the left side of the + equals sign; instead it is calculated automatically so as to satisfy + the assertion. This can be a convenience during data entry, eg when setting opening balances: ; starting a new journal, set asset account balances @@ -2903,15 +2921,15 @@ Journal expenses:misc The calculated amount depends on the account's balance in the commodity - at that point (which depends on the previously-dated postings of the - commodity to that account since the last balance assertion or assign- + at that point (which depends on the previously-dated postings of the + commodity to that account since the last balance assertion or assign- ment). - Downsides: using balance assignments makes your journal less explicit; + Downsides: using balance assignments makes your journal less explicit; to know the exact amount posted, you have to run hledger or do the cal- - culations yourself, instead of just reading it. Also balance assign- + culations yourself, instead of just reading it. Also balance assign- ments' forcing of balances can hide errors. These things make your fi- - nancial data less portable, less future-proof, and less trustworthy in + nancial data less portable, less future-proof, and less trustworthy in an audit. Balance assignments and costs @@ -2926,31 +2944,31 @@ Journal (a) $1 @ 2 = $1 @ 2 Balance assignments and multiple files - Balance assignments handle multiple files like balance assertions. - They see balance from other files previously included from the current + Balance assignments handle multiple files like balance assertions. + They see balance from other files previously included from the current file, but not from previous sibling or parent files. Bracketed posting dates - For setting posting dates and secondary posting dates, Ledger's brack- + For setting posting dates and secondary posting dates, Ledger's brack- eted date syntax is also supported: [DATE], [DATE=DATE2] or [=DATE2] in - posting comments. hledger will attempt to parse any square-bracketed - sequence of the 0123456789/-.= characters in this way. With this syn- - tax, DATE infers its year from the transaction and DATE2 infers its + posting comments. hledger will attempt to parse any square-bracketed + sequence of the 0123456789/-.= characters in this way. With this syn- + tax, DATE infers its year from the transaction and DATE2 infers its year from DATE. - Downsides: another syntax to learn, redundant with hledger's + Downsides: another syntax to learn, redundant with hledger's date:/date2: tags, and confusingly similar to Ledger's lot date syntax. D directive D AMOUNT - This directive sets a default commodity, to be used for any subsequent - commodityless amounts (ie, plain numbers) seen while parsing the jour- - nal. This effect lasts until the next D directive, or the end of the + This directive sets a default commodity, to be used for any subsequent + commodityless amounts (ie, plain numbers) seen while parsing the jour- + nal. This effect lasts until the next D directive, or the end of the current file. - For compatibility/historical reasons, D also acts like a commodity di- - rective (setting the commodity's decimal mark for parsing and display + For compatibility/historical reasons, D also acts like a commodity di- + rective (setting the commodity's decimal mark for parsing and display style for output). So its argument is not just a commodity symbol, but a full amount demonstrating the style. The amount must include a deci- mal mark (either period or comma). Eg: @@ -2965,23 +2983,23 @@ Journal Interactions with other directives: - For setting a commodity's display style, a commodity directive has + For setting a commodity's display style, a commodity directive has highest priority, then a D directive. - For detecting a commodity's decimal mark during parsing, decimal-mark + For detecting a commodity's decimal mark during parsing, decimal-mark has highest priority, then commodity, then D. - For checking commodity symbols with the check command, a commodity di- + For checking commodity symbols with the check command, a commodity di- rective is required (hledger check commodities ignores D directives). - Downsides: omitting commodity symbols makes your financial data less - explicit, less portable, and less trustworthy in an audit. It is usu- - ally an unsustainable shortcut; sooner or later you will want to track - multiple commodities. D is overloaded with functions redundant with + Downsides: omitting commodity symbols makes your financial data less + explicit, less portable, and less trustworthy in an audit. It is usu- + ally an unsustainable shortcut; sooner or later you will want to track + multiple commodities. D is overloaded with functions redundant with commodity and decimal-mark. And it works differently from Ledger's D. apply account directive - This directive sets a default parent account, which will be prepended + This directive sets a default parent account, which will be prepended to all accounts in following entries, until an end apply account direc- tive or end of current file. Eg: @@ -3003,10 +3021,10 @@ Journal Account names entered via hledger add or hledger-web are not affected. - Account aliases, if any, are applied after the parent account is + Account aliases, if any, are applied after the parent account is prepended. - Downsides: this can make your financial data less explicit, less + Downsides: this can make your financial data less explicit, less portable, and less trustworthy in an audit. Y directive @@ -3016,7 +3034,7 @@ Journal year YEAR apply year YEAR - The space is optional. This sets a default year to be used for subse- + The space is optional. This sets a default year to be used for subse- quent dates which don't specify a year. Eg: Y2009 ; set default year to 2009 @@ -3037,38 +3055,38 @@ Journal Downsides: omitting the year (from primary transaction dates, at least) makes your financial data less explicit, less portable, and less trust- - worthy in an audit. Such dates can get separated from their corre- - sponding Y directive, eg when evaluating a region of the journal in - your editor. A missing Y directive makes reports dependent on today's + worthy in an audit. Such dates can get separated from their corre- + sponding Y directive, eg when evaluating a region of the journal in + your editor. A missing Y directive makes reports dependent on today's date. Secondary dates A secondary date is written after the primary date, following an equals - sign: DATE1=DATE2. If the year is omitted, the primary date's year is + sign: DATE1=DATE2. If the year is omitted, the primary date's year is assumed. When running reports, the primary (left side) date is used by default, but with the --date2 flag (--aux-date or--effective also work, - for Ledger users), the secondary (right side) date will be used in- + for Ledger users), the secondary (right side) date will be used in- stead. - The meaning of secondary dates is up to you. Eg it could be "primary - is the bank's clearing date, secondary is the date the transaction was + The meaning of secondary dates is up to you. Eg it could be "primary + is the bank's clearing date, secondary is the date the transaction was initiated, if different". In practice, this feature usually adds confusion: - o You have to remember the primary and secondary dates' meaning, and + o You have to remember the primary and secondary dates' meaning, and follow that consistently. - o It splits your bookkeeping into two modes, and you have to remember + o It splits your bookkeeping into two modes, and you have to remember which mode is appropriate for a given report. - o Usually your balance assertions will work with only one of these + o Usually your balance assertions will work with only one of these modes. - o It makes your financial data more complicated, less portable, and + o It makes your financial data more complicated, less portable, and less clear in an audit. - o It interacts with every feature, creating an ongoing cost for imple- + o It interacts with every feature, creating an ongoing cost for imple- mentors. o It distracts new users and supporters. @@ -3076,38 +3094,38 @@ Journal o Posting dates are simpler and work better. So secondary dates are officially deprecated in hledger, remaining only - as a Ledger compatibility aid; we recommend using posting dates in- + as a Ledger compatibility aid; we recommend using posting dates in- stead. Star comments - Lines beginning with * (star/asterisk) are also comment lines. This + Lines beginning with * (star/asterisk) are also comment lines. This feature allows Emacs users to insert org headings in their journal, al- lowing them to fold/unfold/navigate it like an outline when viewed with org mode. - Downsides: another, unconventional comment syntax to learn. Decreases - your journal's portability. And switching to Emacs org mode just for - folding/unfolding meant losing the benefits of ledger mode; nowadays - you can add outshine mode to ledger mode to get folding without losing + Downsides: another, unconventional comment syntax to learn. Decreases + your journal's portability. And switching to Emacs org mode just for + folding/unfolding meant losing the benefits of ledger mode; nowadays + you can add outshine mode to ledger mode to get folding without losing ledger mode's features. Valuation expressions - Ledger allows a valuation function or value to be written in double + Ledger allows a valuation function or value to be written in double parentheses after an amount. hledger ignores these. Virtual postings A posting with parentheses around the account name, like (some:account) - 10, is called an unbalanced virtual posting. These postings do not - participate in transaction balancing. (And if you write them without - an amount, a zero amount is always inferred.) These can occasionally - be convenient for special circumstances, but they violate double entry - bookkeeping and make your data less portable across applications, so + 10, is called an unbalanced virtual posting. These postings do not + participate in transaction balancing. (And if you write them without + an amount, a zero amount is always inferred.) These can occasionally + be convenient for special circumstances, but they violate double entry + bookkeeping and make your data less portable across applications, so many people avoid using them at all. - A posting with brackets around the account name ([some:account]) is - called a balanced virtual posting. The balanced virtual postings in a + A posting with brackets around the account name ([some:account]) is + called a balanced virtual posting. The balanced virtual postings in a transaction must add up to zero, just like ordinary postings, but sepa- - rately from them. These are not part of double entry bookkeeping ei- + rately from them. These are not part of double entry bookkeeping ei- ther, but they are at least balanced. An example: 2022-01-01 buy food with cash, update budget envelope subaccounts, & something else @@ -3118,13 +3136,13 @@ Journal [assets:checking:available] $10 ; <- (something:else) $5 ; <- this is not required to balance - Ordinary postings, whose account names are neither parenthesised nor - bracketed, are called real postings. You can exclude virtual postings + Ordinary postings, whose account names are neither parenthesised nor + bracketed, are called real postings. You can exclude virtual postings from reports with the -R/--real flag or a real:1 query. Other Ledger directives These other Ledger directives are currently accepted but ignored. This - allows hledger to read more Ledger files, but be aware that hledger's + allows hledger to read more Ledger files, but be aware that hledger's reports may differ from Ledger's if you use these. apply fixed COMM AMT @@ -3145,7 +3163,7 @@ Journal value EXPR --command-line-flags - See also https://hledger.org/ledger.html for a detailed hledger/Ledger + See also https://hledger.org/ledger.html for a detailed hledger/Ledger syntax comparison. Other cost/lot notations @@ -3157,12 +3175,12 @@ Journal o expresses a conversion rate, as in hledger - o when buying, also creates a lot that can be selected at selling + o when buying, also creates a lot that can be selected at selling time o (@) UNITCOST and (@@) TOTALCOST (virtual cost) - o like the above, but also means "this cost was exceptional, don't + o like the above, but also means "this cost was exceptional, don't use it when inferring market prices". o {=UNITCOST} and {{=TOTALCOST}} (fixed price) @@ -3172,10 +3190,10 @@ Journal o {UNITCOST} and {{TOTALCOST}} (lot price) - o can be used identically to @ UNITCOST and @@ TOTALCOST, also cre- + o can be used identically to @ UNITCOST and @@ TOTALCOST, also cre- ates a lot - o when selling, combined with @ ..., selects an existing lot by its + o when selling, combined with @ ..., selects an existing lot by its cost basis. Does not check if that lot is present. o [YYYY/MM/DD] (lot date) @@ -3206,8 +3224,8 @@ Journal o expresses a cost without creating a lot, as in hledger - o when buying (acquiring) or selling (disposing of) a lot, and com- - bined with {...}: is not used except to document the cost/selling + o when buying (acquiring) or selling (disposing of) a lot, and com- + bined with {...}: is not used except to document the cost/selling price o {UNITCOST} and {{TOTALCOST}} @@ -3224,10 +3242,10 @@ Journal o expresses the selling price for transaction balancing - o {}, {YYYY-MM-DD}, {"LABEL"}, {UNITCOST, "LABEL"}, {UNITCOST, + o {}, {YYYY-MM-DD}, {"LABEL"}, {UNITCOST, "LABEL"}, {UNITCOST, YYYY-MM-DD, "LABEL"} - o when selling, other combinations of date/cost/label, like the + o when selling, other combinations of date/cost/label, like the above, are accepted for selecting the lot. Currently, hledger @@ -3239,28 +3257,28 @@ Journal o and rejects the rest. CSV - hledger can read transactions from CSV (comma-separated values) files. - More precisely, it can read DSV (delimiter-separated values), from a + hledger can read transactions from CSV (comma-separated values) files. + More precisely, it can read DSV (delimiter-separated values), from a file or standard input. Comma-separated, semicolon-separated and - tab-separated are the most common variants, and hledger will recognise - these three automatically based on a .csv, .ssv or .tsv file name ex- + tab-separated are the most common variants, and hledger will recognise + these three automatically based on a .csv, .ssv or .tsv file name ex- tension or a csv:, ssv: or tsv: file path prefix. (To learn about producing CSV or TSV output, see Output format.) - Each CSV file must be described by a corresponding rules file. This - contains rules describing the CSV data (header line, fields layout, - date format etc.), how to construct hledger transactions from it, and - how to categorise transactions based on description or other attrib- + Each CSV file must be described by a corresponding rules file. This + contains rules describing the CSV data (header line, fields layout, + date format etc.), how to construct hledger transactions from it, and + how to categorise transactions based on description or other attrib- utes. - By default, hledger expects this rules file to be named like the CSV - file, with an extra .rules extension added, in the same directory. Eg - when asked to read foo/FILE.csv, hledger looks for foo/FILE.csv.rules. + By default, hledger expects this rules file to be named like the CSV + file, with an extra .rules extension added, in the same directory. Eg + when asked to read foo/FILE.csv, hledger looks for foo/FILE.csv.rules. You can specify a different rules file with the --rules option. - At minimum, the rules file must identify the date and amount fields, - and often it also specifies the date format and how many header lines + At minimum, the rules file must identify the date and amount fields, + and often it also specifies the date format and how many header lines there are. Here's a simple CSV file and a rules file for it: Date, Description, Id, Amount @@ -3276,63 +3294,63 @@ CSV expenses:unknown 10.23 income:unknown -10.23 - There's an introductory Tutorial: Import CSV data on hledger.org, and - more CSV rules examples below, and a larger collection at + There's an introductory Tutorial: Import CSV data on hledger.org, and + more CSV rules examples below, and a larger collection at https://github.com/simonmichael/hledger/tree/master/examples/csv. CSV rules cheatsheet The following kinds of rule can appear in the rules file, in any order. (Blank lines and lines beginning with # or ; or * are ignored.) - source optionally declare which file to read data + source optionally declare which file to read data from archive optionally enable an archive of imported files - encoding optionally declare which text encoding the + encoding optionally declare which text encoding the data has - separator declare the field separator, instead of rely- + 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 + timezone declare the time zone of ambiguous CSV date-times - newest-first improve txn order when: there are multiple + 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 + 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 - fields list name CSV fields for easy reference, and op- + 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 + Field assignment assign a CSV value or interpolated text value to a hledger field if block conditionally assign values to hledger fields, or skip a record or end (skip rest of file) if table conditionally assign values to hledger fields, using compact syntax - balance-type select which type of balance assertions/as- + balance-type select which type of balance assertions/as- signments to generate include inline another CSV rules file - Working with CSV tips can be found below, including How CSV rules are + Working with CSV tips can be found below, including How CSV rules are evaluated. source - If you tell hledger to read a csv file with -f foo.csv, it will look - for rules in foo.csv.rules. Or, you can tell it to read the rules - file, with -f foo.csv.rules, and it will look for data in foo.csv - (since 1.30). These are mostly equivalent, but the second method pro- - vides some extra features. For one, the data file can be missing, + If you tell hledger to read a csv file with -f foo.csv, it will look + for rules in foo.csv.rules. Or, you can tell it to read the rules + file, with -f foo.csv.rules, and it will look for data in foo.csv + (since 1.30). These are mostly equivalent, but the second method pro- + vides some extra features. For one, the data file can be missing, without causing an error; it is just considered empty. - For more flexibility, add a source rule, which lets you specify a dif- + For more flexibility, add a source rule, which lets you specify a dif- ferent data file: source ./Checking1.csv - If the file does not exist, it is just considered empty, without rais- + If the file does not exist, it is just considered empty, without rais- ing an error. - If you specify just a file name with no path, hledger will look for it + If you specify just a file name with no path, hledger will look for it in the ~/Downloads folder: source Checking1.csv @@ -3341,12 +3359,12 @@ CSV source Checking1*.csv - This has another benefit: if the pattern matches multiple files, + This has another benefit: if the pattern matches multiple files, hledger will read the newest (most recently modified) one. This avoids - problems if you have downloaded a file multiple times without cleaning + problems if you have downloaded a file multiple times without cleaning up. - All this enables a convenient workflow where can you just download CSV + All this enables a convenient workflow where can you just download CSV files, then run hledger import rules/*. See also "Working with CSV > Reading files specified by rule". @@ -3354,10 +3372,10 @@ CSV Data cleaning / 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 + 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 + content as standard input, and should output zero or more lines of character-separated-values, suitable for conversion by the CSV rules. Examples: @@ -3369,7 +3387,7 @@ 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: @@ -3381,27 +3399,27 @@ 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. @@ -3412,26 +3430,26 @@ 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 , @@ -3444,32 +3462,32 @@ 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 @@ -3486,39 +3504,39 @@ 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... @@ -3532,9 +3550,9 @@ 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... @@ -3552,10 +3570,10 @@ 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 @@ -3564,17 +3582,17 @@ 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 @@ -3584,35 +3602,35 @@ 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: @@ -3625,26 +3643,26 @@ 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 @@ -3659,7 +3677,7 @@ 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 @@ -3682,7 +3700,7 @@ 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. @@ -3694,99 +3712,99 @@ 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, @@ -3802,11 +3820,11 @@ 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. @@ -3832,39 +3850,39 @@ 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). @@ -3873,28 +3891,28 @@ 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: @@ -3908,8 +3926,8 @@ 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,... @@ -3920,21 +3938,21 @@ 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: @@ -3965,10 +3983,10 @@ 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 @@ -3984,9 +4002,9 @@ 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 @@ -4003,42 +4021,42 @@ 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 @@ -4047,29 +4065,29 @@ 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 @@ -4077,45 +4095,45 @@ 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: @@ -4124,16 +4142,16 @@ 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": @@ -4141,15 +4159,15 @@ 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: @@ -4157,12 +4175,12 @@ 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 @@ -4175,8 +4193,8 @@ 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. @@ -4192,20 +4210,20 @@ 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 @@ -4224,7 +4242,7 @@ 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 @@ -4233,7 +4251,7 @@ 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: @@ -4244,38 +4262,38 @@ 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" @@ -4287,7 +4305,7 @@ 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 @@ -4295,7 +4313,7 @@ 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: @@ -4306,27 +4324,27 @@ 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 @@ -4335,33 +4353,33 @@ 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 @@ -4369,8 +4387,8 @@ 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 @@ -4412,13 +4430,13 @@ 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 @@ -4440,7 +4458,7 @@ 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" @@ -4492,7 +4510,7 @@ 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" @@ -4641,13 +4659,13 @@ 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+: @@ -4666,18 +4684,18 @@ 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 @@ -4688,9 +4706,9 @@ 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: @@ -4739,13 +4757,13 @@ 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 @@ -4764,59 +4782,59 @@ 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 @@ -4924,21 +4942,21 @@ 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: @@ -4966,18 +4984,18 @@ 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 @@ -5014,7 +5032,7 @@ 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 @@ -5022,20 +5040,20 @@ 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 @@ -5048,7 +5066,7 @@ 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 @@ -5059,17 +5077,17 @@ 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 @@ -5080,7 +5098,7 @@ 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 @@ -5092,40 +5110,40 @@ 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" @@ -5137,28 +5155,28 @@ 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" @@ -5181,15 +5199,15 @@ 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] @@ -5198,7 +5216,7 @@ 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) @@ -5211,21 +5229,21 @@ 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" @@ -5236,10 +5254,10 @@ 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) @@ -5248,63 +5266,63 @@ 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: -NUM), reports will show ac- - counts 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: + With the --depth NUM option (short form: -NUM), reports will show ac- + counts 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. - In place of a single number which limits the depth for all accounts, + In place of a single number which limits the depth for all accounts, you can also provide depth limits for specific accounts, by providing a - REGEX=DEPTH argument instead of just a DEPTH (since 1.41). For exam- + REGEX=DEPTH argument instead of just a DEPTH (since 1.41). For exam- ple, --depth assets=2 (or depth:assets=2) will collapse accounts match- ing the regular expression "assets" to depth 2. So assets:bank:savings - would be collapsed to assets:bank, but liabilities:bank:credit card + 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') - Specific depth options and a general depth option can be combined. Eg - --depth assets=3 --depth expenses=2 --depth 1 would collapse accounts + Specific depth options and a general depth option can be combined. Eg + --depth assets=3 --depth expenses=2 --depth 1 would collapse accounts containing "assets" to depth 3, accounts containing "expenses" to depth 2, and all other accounts to depth 1. - If an account is matched by more than one regular expression depth ar- - gument, the most specific (deepest) match will be used. For example, - with --depth assets=1 --depth savings=2, assets:bank:savings will be - collapsed to depth 2, not depth 1 (because "savings" matches a deeper + If an account is matched by more than one regular expression depth ar- + gument, the most specific (deepest) match will be used. For example, + with --depth assets=1 --depth savings=2, assets:bank:savings will be + collapsed to depth 2, not depth 1 (because "savings" matches a deeper part of it than "assets" does). 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$' 'fuel|repair' 'accounts (payable|receivable)' - o To match something other than the account name, you can add a query + o To match something other than the account name, you can add a query type prefix, such as: date:202312- @@ -5313,28 +5331,28 @@ Queries cur:USD cur:\\$ 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. @@ -5347,20 +5365,20 @@ 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. @@ -5373,10 +5391,10 @@ 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 @@ -5385,19 +5403,19 @@ 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. @@ -5408,7 +5426,7 @@ 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 @@ -5421,18 +5439,18 @@ 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$=^fullvalue$ @@ -5450,11 +5468,11 @@ 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 @@ -5478,84 +5496,84 @@ 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 @@ -5567,8 +5585,8 @@ Pivoting o Colons appearing in PIVOTEXPR or in a pivoted tag value will generate account hierarchy. - o When pivoting a posting has multiple values for a tag, the pivoted - value of that tag will be the first value. + 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 "comm"/"cur" will be "". Also when an unrecognised tag name or field @@ -7321,43 +7339,40 @@ Basic report commands --unused list accounts declared but not used --find list the first account matched by the first argument (a case-insensitive infix regexp) - --types also show account types when known - --positions also show where accounts were declared --directives show as account directives, for use in journals + --locations also show where accounts were declared + --types also show account types when known -l --flat list/tree mode: show accounts as a flat list (default) -t --tree list/tree mode: show accounts as a tree --drop=N flat mode: omit N leading account name parts - This command lists account names - all of them by default. or just the - ones which have been used in transactions, or declared with account di- - rectives, or used but not declared, or declared but not used, or just - the first account name matched by a pattern. + This command lists account names - all of them by default, or just the + ones which have been used in transactions (-u/--used), or declared with + account directives (-d/--declared), or used but not declared (--unde- + clared), or declared but not used (--unused), or just the first one + matched by a pattern (--find, returning a non-zero exit code if it + fails). - You can add query arguments to select a subset of transactions or ac- + You can add query arguments to select a subset of transactions or ac- counts. - It shows a flat list by default. With --tree, it uses indentation to - show the account hierarchy. In flat mode you can add --drop N to omit - the first few account name components. Account names can be - depth-clipped with depth:N or --depth N or -N. + With --directives, it shows valid account directives which could be + pasted into a journal file. This is useful together with --undeclared + when updating your account declarations to satisfy hledger check ac- + counts. - With --types, it also shows each account's type, if it's known. (See - Declaring accounts > Account types.) - - With --positions, it also shows the file and line number of each ac- + With --locations, it also shows the file and line number of each ac- count's declaration, if any, and the account's overall declaration or- der; these may be useful when troubleshooting account display order. - With --directives, it shows valid account directives which could be - pasted into a journal file. This is useful together with --undeclared - when updating your account declarations to satisfy hledger check ac- - counts. + With --types, it also shows each account's type, if it's known. (See + Declaring accounts > Account types.) - The --find flag can be used to look up a single account name, in the - same way that the aregister command does. It returns the alphanumeri- - cally-first matched account name, or if none can be found, it fails - with a non-zero exit code. + It shows a flat list by default. With --tree, it uses indentation to + show the account hierarchy. In flat mode you can add --drop N to omit + the first few account name components. Account names can be + depth-clipped with depth:N or --depth N or -N. Examples: @@ -7428,11 +7443,14 @@ Basic report commands --declared list commodities declared --undeclared list commodities used but not declared --unused list commodities declared but not used + --find list the first commodity matched by the first + argument (a case-insensitive infix regexp) This command lists commodity symbols/names - all of them by default, or just the ones which have been used in transactions or P directives, or declared with commodity directives, or used but not declared, or de- - clared but not used. + clared but not used, or just the first one matched by a pattern (with + --find, returning a non-zero exit code if it fails). You can add cur: query arguments to further limit the commodities. @@ -7443,7 +7461,7 @@ Basic report commands no command-specific flags This command lists the unique descriptions that appear in transactions, - in alphabetic order. You can add a query to select a subset of trans- + in alphabetic order. You can add a query to select a subset of trans- actions. Example: @@ -7454,7 +7472,7 @@ Basic report commands Person A files - List all files included in the journal. With a REGEX argument, only + List all files included in the journal. With a REGEX argument, only file names matching the regular expression (case sensitive) are shown. Flags: @@ -7467,8 +7485,8 @@ Basic report commands no command-specific flags This command lists the unique notes that appear in transactions, in al- - phabetic order. You can add a query to select a subset of transac- - tions. The note is the part of the transaction description after a | + phabetic order. You can add a query to select a subset of transac- + tions. The note is the part of the transaction description after a | character (or if there is no |, the whole description). Example: @@ -7485,11 +7503,14 @@ Basic report commands --declared list payees declared --undeclared list payees used but not declared --unused list payees declared but not used + --find list the first payee matched by the first + argument (a case-insensitive infix regexp) - This command lists unique payee/payer names - all of them by default, - or just the ones which have been used in transaction descriptions, or - declared with payee directives, or used but not declared, or declared - but not used. + This command lists unique payee/payer names - all of them by default, + or just the ones which have been used in transaction descriptions, or + declared with payee directives, or used but not declared, or declared + but not used, or just the first one matched by a pattern (with --find, + returning a non-zero exit code if it fails). The payee/payer name is the part of the transaction description before a | character (or if there is no |, the whole description). @@ -7580,6 +7601,8 @@ Basic report commands --declared list tags declared --undeclared list tags used but not declared --unused list tags declared but not used + --find list the first tag whose name is matched by the + first argument (a case-insensitive infix regexp) --values list tag values instead of tag names --parsed show them in the order they were parsed (mostly), including duplicates @@ -7587,13 +7610,13 @@ Basic report commands This command lists tag names - all of them by default, or just the ones which have been used on transactions/postings/accounts, or declared with tag directives, or used but not declared, or declared but not - used. + used, or just the first one matched by a pattern (with --find, return- + ing a non-zero exit code if it fails). - You can add one TAGREGEX argument, to show only tags whose name is - matched by this case-insensitive, infix-matching regular expression. - - After that, you can add query arguments to filter the transactions, - postings, or accounts providing tags. + Note this command's non-standard first argument: it is a case-insensi- + tive infix regular expression for matching tag names, which limits the + tags shown. Any additional arguments are standard query arguments, + which limit the transactions, postings, or accounts providing tags. With --values, the tags' unique non-empty values are listed instead. @@ -7614,15 +7637,11 @@ Standard report commands Flags: -x --explicit show all amounts explicitly --invert display all amounts with reversed sign - --location add tags showing file paths and line numbers + --locations add tags showing file paths and line numbers -m --match=DESC fuzzy search for one recent transaction with description closest to DESC --new show only newer-dated transactions added in each file since last run - --no-lots remove lot subaccounts and their balance - assertions - --no-lots2 remove lot subaccounts and their costs and - balance assertions (can produce unbalanced entries) --round=TYPE how much rounding or padding should be done when displaying amounts ? none - show original decimal digits, @@ -7665,7 +7684,7 @@ Standard report commands expenses:supplies $1 assets:cash $-2 - print explicitness + print amount explicitness Normally, whether posting amounts are implicit or explicit is pre- served. For example, when an amount is omitted in the journal, it will not appear in the output. Similarly, if a conversion cost is implied @@ -7681,97 +7700,105 @@ Standard report commands plicit amount) to be split into multiple single-commodity postings, keeping the output parseable. - print amount style + print alignment Amounts are shown right-aligned within each transaction (but not - aligned across all transactions; you can do that with ledger-mode in - Emacs). + aligned across all transactions; you can achieve that with ledger-mode + in Emacs). - Amounts will be (mostly) normalised to their commodity display style: - their symbol placement, decimal mark, and digit group marks will be - made consistent. By default, decimal digits are shown as they are - written in the journal. + print amount style + Amounts will be displayed mostly in their commodity's display style, + with standardised symbol placement, decimal mark, and digit group + marks. This does not apply to their decimal digits; print normally + shows the same decimal digits that are recorded in each journal entry. - With the --round (Added in 1.32) option, print will try increasingly - hard to display decimal digits according to the commodity display - styles: + You can override the decimal precisions with print's special --round + option (since 1.32). --round tries to show amounts with their commodi- + ties' standard decimal precisions, increasingly strongly: o --round=none show amounts with original precisions (default) o --round=soft add/remove decimal zeros in amounts (except costs) - o --round=hard round amounts (except costs), possibly hiding signifi- + o --round=hard round amounts (except costs), possibly hiding signifi- cant digits o --round=all round all amounts and costs - soft is good for non-lossy cleanup, formatting amounts more consis- - tently where it's safe to do so. + soft is good for non-lossy cleanup, displaying more consistent decimals + where possible, without making entries unbalanced. - hard and all can cause print to show invalid unbalanced journal en- - tries; they may be useful eg for stronger cleanup, with manual fixups - when needed. + hard or all can be good for stronger cleanup, when decimal rounding is + wanted. Note rounding can produce unbalanced journal entries, perhaps + requiring manual fixup. print parseability - print's output is usually a valid hledger journal, and you can process - it again with a second hledger command. This can be useful for certain - kinds of search (though the same can be achieved with expr: queries - now): + Normally, print's output is a valid hledger journal, which you can + "pipe" to a second hledger command for further processing. This is + sometimes convenient for achieving certain kinds of query (though less + needed now that queries have become more powerful): # Show running total of food expenses paid from cash. # -f- reads from stdin. -I/--ignore-assertions is sometimes needed. $ hledger print assets:cash | hledger -f- -I reg expenses:food - There are some situations where print's output can become unparseable: + But here are some things which can cause print's output to become un- + parseable: - o Value reporting affects posting amounts but not balance assertion or - balance assignment amounts, potentially causing those to fail. + o --round (see above) can disrupt transaction balancing. - o Auto postings can generate postings with too many missing amounts. + o Account aliases or pivoting can disrupt account names, balance asser- + tions, or balance assignments. - o Account aliases can generate bad account names. + o Value reporting also can disrupt balance assertions or balance as- + signments. + + o Auto postings can generate too many amountless postings. + + o --infer-costs or --infer-equity can generate too-complex redundant + costs. print, other features With -B/--cost, amounts with costs are shown converted to cost. - With --invert, posting amounts are shown with their sign flipped. It - could be useful if you have accidentally recorded some transactions + With --invert, posting amounts are shown with their sign flipped. It + could be useful if you have accidentally recorded some transactions with the wrong signs. With --new, print shows only transactions it has not seen on a previous - run. This uses the same deduplication system as the import command. + run. This uses the same deduplication system as the import command. (See import's docs for details.) With -m DESC/--match=DESC, print shows one recent transaction whose de- - scription is most similar to DESC. DESC should contain at least two - characters. If there is no similar-enough match, no transaction will + scription is most similar to DESC. DESC should contain at least two + characters. If there is no similar-enough match, no transaction will be shown and the program exit code will be non-zero. - With --location, print adds the source file and line number to every + With --locations, print adds the source file and line number to every transaction, as a tag. print output format This command also supports the output destination and output format op- - tions The output formats supported are txt, beancount (Added in 1.32), + tions The output formats supported are txt, beancount (Added in 1.32), csv, tsv (Added in 1.32), json and sql. - The beancount format tries to produce Beancount-compatible output, as + The beancount format tries to produce Beancount-compatible output, as follows: - o Transaction and postings with unmarked status are converted to + o Transaction and postings with unmarked status are converted to cleared (*) status. - o Transactions' payee and note are backslash-escaped and dou- + o Transactions' payee and note are backslash-escaped and dou- ble-quote-escaped and wrapped in double quotes. o Transaction tags are copied to Beancount #tag format. - o Commodity symbols are converted to upper case, and a small number of - currency symbols like $ are converted to the corresponding currency + o Commodity symbols are converted to upper case, and a small number of + currency symbols like $ are converted to the corresponding currency names. o Account name parts are capitalised and unsupported characters are re- placed with -. If an account name part does not begin with a letter, - or if the first part is not Assets, Liabilities, Equity, Income, or + or if the first part is not Assets, Liabilities, Equity, Income, or Expenses, an error is raised. (Use --alias options to bring your ac- counts into compliance.) @@ -7804,26 +7831,26 @@ Standard report commands "5","2008/12/31","","*","","pay off","","liabilities:debts","1","$","","1","","" "5","2008/12/31","","*","","pay off","","assets:bank:checking","-1","$","1","","","" - o There is one CSV record per posting, with the parent transaction's + o There is one CSV record per posting, with the parent transaction's fields repeated. o The "txnidx" (transaction index) field shows which postings belong to - the same transaction. (This number might change if transactions are - reordered within the file, files are parsed/included in a different + the same transaction. (This number might change if transactions are + reordered within the file, files are parsed/included in a different order, etc.) - o The amount is separated into "commodity" (the symbol) and "amount" + o The amount is separated into "commodity" (the symbol) and "amount" (numeric quantity) fields. o The numeric amount is repeated in either the "credit" or "debit" col- - umn, for convenience. (Those names are not accurate in the account- - ing sense; it just puts negative amounts under credit and zero or + umn, for convenience. (Those names are not accurate in the account- + ing sense; it just puts negative amounts under credit and zero or greater amounts under debit.) aregister (areg) - Show the transactions and running balances in one account, with each + Show the transactions and running balances in one account, with each transaction on one line. Flags: @@ -7847,64 +7874,63 @@ Standard report commands one of the above formats selects that format. aregister shows the overall transactions affecting a particular account - (and any subaccounts). Each report line represents one transaction in - this account. Transactions before the report start date are included - in the running balance (--historical mode is the default). You can + (and any subaccounts). Each report line represents one transaction in + this account. Transactions before the report start date are included + in the running balance (--historical mode is the default). You can suppress this behaviour using the --cumulative option. - This is a more "real world", bank-like view than the register command - (which shows individual postings, possibly from multiple accounts, not + 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. - aregister requires one argument: the account to report on. You can - write either the full account name, or a case-insensitive regular ex- - pression which will select the alphabetically first matched account. - - When there are multiple matches, the alphabetically-first choice can be - surprising; eg if you have assets:per:checking 1 and assets:biz:check- - ing 2 accounts, hledger areg checking would select assets:biz:checking - 2. It's just a convenience to save typing, so if in doubt, write the - full account name, or a distinctive substring that matches uniquely. + 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 historical balance report with similar arguments. - Any additional arguments form a query which will filter the transac- - tions shown. Note some queries will disturb the running balance, caus- - ing it to be different from the account's real-world running balance. + 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- + 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- @@ -7912,13 +7938,13 @@ 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. @@ -7958,14 +7984,14 @@ 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 @@ -7976,14 +8002,14 @@ 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 @@ -7993,25 +8019,25 @@ 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 @@ -8023,7 +8049,7 @@ 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 @@ -8040,7 +8066,7 @@ 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 @@ -8048,21 +8074,21 @@ 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): @@ -8078,14 +8104,14 @@ 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: @@ -8136,13 +8162,13 @@ 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: @@ -8168,20 +8194,20 @@ 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: @@ -8232,9 +8258,9 @@ 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: @@ -8265,14 +8291,14 @@ 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- @@ -8281,9 +8307,9 @@ 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: @@ -8335,10 +8361,10 @@ 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. @@ -8365,19 +8391,19 @@ 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: @@ -8429,12 +8455,12 @@ 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: @@ -8461,20 +8487,20 @@ 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. @@ -8541,19 +8567,19 @@ 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.. @@ -8608,7 +8634,7 @@ 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) @@ -8621,20 +8647,20 @@ 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 @@ -8649,7 +8675,7 @@ 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 @@ -8664,12 +8690,12 @@ 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)" @@ -8686,7 +8712,7 @@ 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: @@ -8698,14 +8724,14 @@ 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) @@ -8715,25 +8741,25 @@ 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: @@ -8743,10 +8769,10 @@ 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 @@ -8766,26 +8792,26 @@ 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 @@ -8797,7 +8823,7 @@ 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: @@ -8808,54 +8834,54 @@ 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 @@ -8876,24 +8902,24 @@ 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). @@ -8912,57 +8938,57 @@ 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 @@ -8974,35 +9000,35 @@ 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. @@ -9010,19 +9036,19 @@ 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 @@ -9035,17 +9061,17 @@ 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 @@ -9058,18 +9084,18 @@ 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 @@ -9080,11 +9106,11 @@ 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 @@ -9126,66 +9152,66 @@ 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 @@ -9205,64 +9231,64 @@ 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 @@ -9270,11 +9296,11 @@ 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 @@ -9310,7 +9336,7 @@ 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 @@ -9331,7 +9357,7 @@ 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 @@ -9367,15 +9393,15 @@ 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: @@ -9398,40 +9424,40 @@ 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 @@ -9445,7 +9471,7 @@ 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: @@ -9455,38 +9481,38 @@ 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 @@ -9496,28 +9522,28 @@ 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 @@ -9534,12 +9560,12 @@ 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 @@ -9556,58 +9582,58 @@ 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: @@ -9620,7 +9646,7 @@ 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 @@ -9630,8 +9656,8 @@ 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: @@ -9646,10 +9672,10 @@ 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: @@ -9680,13 +9706,13 @@ 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 - (--close is the default). They all do much the same operation, but + close has six modes, selected by choosing one of the mode flags + (--close is the default). They all do much the same operation, but with different defaults, useful in different situations. 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 @@ -9697,45 +9723,45 @@ 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. - The generated transactions will have a clopen: tag. If the main jour- - nal's base file name contains a number (eg a year number), the tag's - value will be that base file name with the number incremented. Or you + The generated transactions will have a clopen: tag. If the main jour- + nal's base file name contains a number (eg a year number), the tag's + value will be that base file name with the number incremented. Or you can choose the tag value yourself, by using --clopen=TAGVAL. 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 @@ -9745,29 +9771,29 @@ 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 @@ -9777,57 +9803,57 @@ 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 transaction's tag value, with a --MODE=NEW option argument o the closing/opening dates, with -e OPENDATE - 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: @@ -9848,7 +9874,7 @@ 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' @@ -9860,12 +9886,12 @@ 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: @@ -9881,7 +9907,7 @@ 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: @@ -9895,9 +9921,9 @@ 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: @@ -9913,7 +9939,7 @@ 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: @@ -9923,16 +9949,16 @@ 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. @@ -9947,7 +9973,7 @@ 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. @@ -9960,12 +9986,12 @@ 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' @@ -9989,10 +10015,10 @@ 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: @@ -10000,17 +10026,17 @@ 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 @@ -10020,63 +10046,63 @@ 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- + in the order they are shown here (and only the first failure is 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 + ferring missing amounts and conversion rates and then converting + amounts to cost. This ensures that each transaction's 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 + 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 + to disable it by default (and then use -s/--strict or hledger check assertions 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 + -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. o balanced - like autobalanced, but all conversions between commodities - must use explicit cost notation or equity postings. This prevents + must use explicit 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. Declaring - commodities also sets their precision for display and transaction + o commodities - all commodity symbols used must be declared. This + guards against mistyping or omitting commodity symbols. Declaring + commodities also sets their precision for display and transaction balancing. - o accounts - all account names used must be declared. This prevents + o accounts - all account names used must be declared. This prevents the use of mis-spelled or outdated account names. Other checks - These are not wanted by everyone, but can be run using the check com- + These are not wanted by everyone, but can be run using the check com- mand: o tags - all tags used must be declared. This prevents mis-spelled tag @@ -10086,39 +10112,39 @@ Maintenance commands force you to declare any new payee name before using it. Most people will probably find this a bit too strict. - o ordereddates - within each file, transactions must be ordered by - date. This is a simple and effective error catcher. It's not in- + o ordereddates - within each file, transactions must be ordered by + date. This is a simple and effective error catcher. It's not in- cluded in strict mode, but you can add it by running hledger check -s ordereddates. If enabled, this check is performed before balance as- sertions. o recentassertions - all accounts with balance assertions must have one - that's within the 7 days before their latest posting. This will en- + that's within the 7 days before their latest posting. This will en- 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. + 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). 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 + o hledger-check-tagfiles - all tag values containing / (a forward slash) 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. @@ -10126,16 +10152,16 @@ 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: @@ -10156,18 +10182,18 @@ 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: @@ -10217,17 +10243,17 @@ 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: @@ -10237,7 +10263,7 @@ 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 @@ -10247,37 +10273,37 @@ Getting help $ 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 @@ -10285,9 +10311,9 @@ Starting a journal file 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 @@ -10313,52 +10339,52 @@ Starting a journal file Setting LEDGER_FILE How to set LEDGER_FILE permanently depends on your setup: - On unix and mac, running these commands in the terminal will work for + On unix and mac, running these commands in the terminal will work for many people; adapt as needed: $ echo 'export LEDGER_FILE=~/finance/2023.journal' >> ~/.profile $ source ~/.profile - When correctly configured, in a new terminal window env | grep + When correctly configured, in a new terminal window env | grep LEDGER_FILE will show your file, and so will hledger files. - On mac, this additional step might be helpful for GUI applications - (like Emacs started from the dock): add an entry to ~/.MacOSX/environ- + On mac, this additional step might be helpful for GUI applications + (like Emacs started from the dock): add an entry to ~/.MacOSX/environ- ment.plist like { "LEDGER_FILE" : "~/finance/2023.journal" } - and then run killall Dock in a terminal window (or restart the ma- + and then run killall Dock in a terminal window (or restart the ma- chine). On Windows, see https://www.java.com/en/download/help/path.html, or try - running these commands in a powershell window (let us know if it per- + running these commands in a powershell window (let us know if it per- sists across a reboot, and if you need to be an Administrator): > CD > MKDIR finance > SETX LEDGER_FILE "C:\Users\USERNAME\finance\2023.journal" - When correctly configured, in a new terminal window $env:LEDGER_FILE + When correctly configured, in a new terminal window $env:LEDGER_FILE will show the file path, and so will 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 @@ -10368,19 +10394,19 @@ Setting opening balances 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 @@ -10417,18 +10443,18 @@ Setting opening balances 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 @@ -10444,22 +10470,22 @@ Recording transactions 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: @@ -10469,26 +10495,26 @@ Reconciling 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 @@ -10560,7 +10586,7 @@ Reporting -------------------- 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 @@ -10570,7 +10596,7 @@ Reporting -------------------- $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 @@ -10637,62 +10663,62 @@ Reporting 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. @@ -10713,4 +10739,4 @@ LICENSE SEE ALSO hledger(1), hledger-ui(1), hledger-web(1), ledger(1) -hledger-1.50.99 September 2025 HLEDGER(1) +hledger-1.50.99 October 2025 HLEDGER(1)