doc: manual: rewrites & cleanups

Conflicts:
	doc/manual.md

doc/manual.md

@@ -103,28 +103,18 @@ in a certain account.
 To create an initial journal, run `hledger add` and follow the prompts to
 enter some transactions.  Or, save this
 [sample file](https://raw.github.com/simonmichael/hledger/master/data/sample.journal) as
-`.hledger.journal` in your home directory. Now try commands like these:
+`.hledger.journal` in your home directory. Now try some commands, eg like these:
 
-    $ hledger
+    $ hledger                                 # show available commands
-        # show available commands
+    $ hledger add                             # add more transactions to the journal file
-    $ hledger add
+    $ hledger balance                         # all accounts with aggregated balances
-        # add more transactions to the journal file
+    $ hledger balance --help                  # show help for balance command
-    $ hledger balance
+    $ hledger balance --depth 1               # only top-level accounts
-        # all accounts with aggregated balances
+    $ hledger register                        # show account postings, with running total
-    $ hledger balance --help
+    $ hledger reg income                      # show postings to/from income accounts
-        # show help for balance command
+    $ hledger reg 'assets:some bank:checking' # show postings to/from this checking account
-    $ hledger balance --depth 1
+    $ hledger print desc:shop                 # show transactions with shop in the description
-        # only top-level accounts
+    $ hledger activity -W                     # show transaction counts per week as a bar chart
-    $ hledger register
-        # show account postings, with running total
-    $ hledger reg income
-        # show postings to/from income accounts
-    $ hledger reg 'assets:some bank:checking'
-        # show postings to/from this checking account
-    $ hledger print desc:shop
-        # show transactions with shop in the description
-    $ hledger activity -W
-        # show transaction counts per week as a bar chart
 
 ## Data formats
 
@@ -193,8 +183,7 @@ The posting amounts within a transaction must always balance, ie add up to
 
 ##### Simple dates
 
-Within a journal (or timelog) file, dates are written as YYYY/MM/DD (year/month/day).
+Within a journal file, transaction dates use Y/M/D (or Y-M-D or Y.M.D)
-Hyphen (-) and period (.) are also allowed as separators.
 Leading zeroes are optional.
 The year may be omitted, in which case it defaults to the current
 year, or you can set the default year with a
@@ -433,18 +422,19 @@ P 2010/1/1 € $1.40
 
 #### Comments
 
-- A semicolon (`;`) or hash (`#`) or asterisk (`*`) in column 0 starts
+Lines in the journal beginning with a semicolon (`;`) or hash (`#`) or
-  a journal comment line, which hledger will ignore. (Asterisk allows you
+asterisk (`*`) are comments, and will be ignored. (Asterisk comments
-  to embed emacs org/outline-mode nodes and treat your journal like an outline.)
+make it easy to treat your journal like an org-mode outline in emacs.)
 
-- A semicolon after a transaction's description and/or indented on the following lines
+Also, anything between
-starts a transaction comment.
+[`comment` and `end comment` directives](#multi-line-comments) is a
+(multi-line) comment.
 
-- A semicolon after a posting's amount and/or indented on the following lines starts a posting comment.
+You can attach comments to a transaction by writing them after the
-
+description and/or indented on the following lines (before the
-- With the `comment` and `end comment` keywords it is possible to have multiline comments.
+postings).  Similarly, you can attach comments to an individual
-
+posting by writing them after the amount and/or indented on the
-Transaction and posting comments are displayed by [print](#print), can contain [tags](#tags) and can be [queried](#queries).
+following lines.
 
 Some examples:
 
@@ -470,32 +460,31 @@ Some examples:
 
 #### Tags
 
-You can include *tags* (labels), optionally with values,
+A *tag* is a word followed by a full colon inside a transaction or
-in transaction and posting comments, and then [query by tag](manual#queries).
+posting [comment](#comments).  You can write multiple tags, comma
-This is like Ledger's [metadata](http://ledger-cli.org/3.0/doc/ledger3.html#Metadata)
+separated. Eg: `; a comment containing sometag:, anothertag:`.  You can search for tags
-feature, except hledger's tag values are simple strings.
+with the [`tag:` query](manual#queries).
 
-A tag is any unspaced word immediately followed by a full colon, eg: `sometag:` .
+A tag can also have a value, which is any text between the colon and
-A tag's *value* is the characters following the colon, if any, until the next comma or newline,
+the next comma or newline, excluding leading/trailing whitespace.
-with any leading and trailing whitespace removed. 
+(So hledger tag values can not contain commas or newlines).
-Comma may be used to write multiple tags on one line.
 
-For example, here is a transaction with three tags, the posting has
+Tags in a transaction comment affect the transaction and all of its postings,
-one, and all tags have values except TAG1:
+while tags in a posting comment affect only that posting.
+For example, the following transaction has three tags (A, TAG2, third-tag)
+and the posting has four (A, TAG2, third-tag, posting-tag):
 
-    1/1 a transaction    ; TAG1:, TAG2: tag2's value
+    1/1 a transaction  ; A:, TAG2:
-        ; TAG3: a third transaction tag
+        ; third-tag: a third transaction tag, this time with a value
-        a  $1  ; TAG4: a posting tag
+        (a)  $1  ; posting-tag:
 
-**Things to note:**
+Tags are like Ledger's
+[metadata](http://ledger-cli.org/3.0/doc/ledger3.html#Metadata)
+feature, except hledger's tag values are always simple strings.
 
-In the journal file, a hledger tag value can contain: text, internal whitespace, or punctuation, but not: commas, newlines, or leading/trailing whitespace (putting quotes around it doesn't work, but probably should).
+Note: when searching with a `tag:` query, currently tag names must
-
+match exactly (and case sensitively!). (Tag values are matched in the more
-The position of the comment containing the tag determines what is
+usual way, as case-insensitive infix [regular expressions](#regular-expressions)).
-tagged - the whole transaction and all of its postings, or just a
-single posting (cf [transaction comment or posting comment](manual#comments)).
-
-In [tag queries](manual#queries), remember the tag name must match exactly, while the value part is the usual case-insensitive infix regular expression match.
 
 #### Directives
 
@@ -572,6 +561,23 @@ You can clear (forget) all currently defined aliases with the `end aliases` dire
 
     end aliases
 
+##### Multi-line comments
+
+A line containing just `comment` starts a multi-line [comment](#comments),
+and a line containing just `end comment` ends it. Eg:
+
+    1/1
+      a  1
+
+    comment
+    this is ignored
+
+    and so is this
+    end comment
+
+    1/2
+      a  1
+
 ##### Default commodity
 
 You can set a default commodity, to be used for amounts without one.
@@ -617,7 +623,7 @@ within a section of the journal. Use the `account` directive like so:
     
     end
 
-If `!end` is omitted, the effect lasts to the end of the file.
+If `end` is omitted, the effect lasts to the end of the file.
 The above is equivalent to:
 
     2010/01/01
@@ -635,28 +641,34 @@ Included files are also affected, eg:
 
 ##### Default year
 
-You can set a default year, to be used for all subsequent
+You can set a default year to be used for subsequent dates which don't
-[simple dates](#simple-dates) which don't specify a year.
+specify a year. This is a line beginning with `Y` followed by the year. Eg:
-This is a line beginning with `Y` followed by the year, like so:
 
-    Y2009
+    Y2009      ; set default year to 2009
     
     12/15      ; equivalent to 2009/12/15
-      ...
+      expenses  1
+      assets
     
-    Y2010
+    Y2010      ; change default year to 2010
+    
+    2009/1/30  ; specifies the year, not affected
+      expenses  1
+      assets
     
     1/31       ; equivalent to 2010/1/31
-      ...
+      expenses  1
-
+      assets
-This directive can also be used in [timelog files](#timelog).
 
 ##### Including other files
 
-You can pull in the content of additional journal files, by writing lines like this:
+You can pull in the content of additional journal files by writing an
+include directive, like this:
 
     include path/to/file.journal
 
+If the path does not begin with a slash, it is relative to the current file.
+
 The `include` directive may only be used in journal files, and currently
 it may only include other journal files (eg, not CSV or timelog files.)
 
@@ -1002,7 +1014,7 @@ A query term can be any of the following:
 - `desc:REGEX` - match transaction descriptions
 - `date:PERIODEXPR` - match dates within the specified [period](#period-expressions). *Actually, full period syntax is [not yet supported](https://github.com/simonmichael/hledger/issues/141).*
 - `date2:PERIODEXPR` - as above, but match secondary dates
-- `tag:NAME[=REGEX]` - match by (exact, case sensitive) [tag](#tags) name, and optionally match the tag value by regular expression. Note `tag:` will match a transaction if it or any its postings have the tag, and will match posting if it or its parent transaction has the tag.
+- `tag:NAME[=REGEX]` - match by (exact, case sensitive) [tag](#tags) name, and optionally match the tag value by regular expression. Note `tag:` will match a transaction if it or any its postings have the tag, and will match a posting if it or its parent transaction has the tag.
 - `depth:N` - match (or display, depending on command) accounts at or above this [depth](#depth-limiting)
 - `status:*` or `status:!` or `status:` - match cleared, pending, or uncleared/pending transactions respectively
 - `real:1` or `real:0` - match real/virtual-ness