diff --git a/hledger-ui/hledger-ui.1 b/hledger-ui/hledger-ui.1 index a34e3fc41..a3f5283a8 100644 --- a/hledger-ui/hledger-ui.1 +++ b/hledger-ui/hledger-ui.1 @@ -521,19 +521,29 @@ Default: the full terminal width. .PP \f[B]LEDGER_FILE\f[R] The journal file path when not specified with \f[C]-f\f[R]. -Default: \f[C]\[ti]/.hledger.journal\f[R] (on windows, perhaps -\f[C]C:/Users/USER/.hledger.journal\f[R]). .PP -A typical value is \f[C]\[ti]/DIR/YYYY.journal\f[R], where DIR is a +On unix computers, the default value is: +\f[C]\[ti]/.hledger.journal\f[R]. +.PP +A more typical value is something like +\f[C]\[ti]/finance/YYYY.journal\f[R], where \f[C]\[ti]/finance\f[R] is a version-controlled finance directory and YYYY is the current year. -Or \f[C]\[ti]/DIR/current.journal\f[R], where current.journal is a +Or, \f[C]\[ti]/finance/current.journal\f[R], where current.journal is a symbolic link to YYYY.journal. .PP -On Mac computers, you can set this and other environment variables in a -more thorough way that also affects applications started from the GUI -(say, an Emacs dock icon). -Eg on MacOS Catalina I have a \f[C]\[ti]/.MacOSX/environment.plist\f[R] -file containing +The usual way to set this permanently is to add a command to one of your +shell\[aq]s startup files (eg \f[C]\[ti]/.profile\f[R]): +.IP +.nf +\f[C] +export LEDGER_FILE=\[ti]/finance/current.journal\[ga] +\f[R] +.fi +.PP +On some Mac computers, there is a more thorough way to set environment +variables, that will also affect applications started from the GUI (eg, +Emacs started from a dock icon): In +\f[C]\[ti]/.MacOSX/environment.plist\f[R], add an entry like: .IP .nf \f[C] @@ -543,7 +553,22 @@ file containing \f[R] .fi .PP -To see the effect you may need to \f[C]killall Dock\f[R], or reboot. +For this to take effect you might need to \f[C]killall Dock\f[R], or +reboot. +.PP +On Windows computers, the default value is probably +\f[C]C:\[rs]Users\[rs]MyUserName\[rs].hledger.journal\f[R]. +You can change this by running a command like this in a powershell +window: +.IP +.nf +\f[C] +> setx LEDGER_FILE \[dq]C:\[rs]Users\[rs]MyUserName\[rs]finance\[rs]2021.journal\[dq] +\f[R] +.fi +.PP +(Let us know if you need to be an Administrator, and if this persists +across a reboot.) .SH FILES .PP Reads data from one or more files in hledger journal, timeclock, diff --git a/hledger-ui/hledger-ui.info b/hledger-ui/hledger-ui.info index 046b05d4f..2c33d3e39 100644 --- a/hledger-ui/hledger-ui.info +++ b/hledger-ui/hledger-ui.info @@ -564,24 +564,38 @@ File: hledger-ui.info, Node: ENVIRONMENT, Next: FILES, Prev: TIPS, Up: Top *COLUMNS* The screen width to use. Default: the full terminal width. *LEDGER_FILE* The journal file path when not specified with '-f'. -Default: '~/.hledger.journal' (on windows, perhaps -'C:/Users/USER/.hledger.journal'). - A typical value is '~/DIR/YYYY.journal', where DIR is a -version-controlled finance directory and YYYY is the current year. Or -'~/DIR/current.journal', where current.journal is a symbolic link to -YYYY.journal. + On unix computers, the default value is: '~/.hledger.journal'. - On Mac computers, you can set this and other environment variables in -a more thorough way that also affects applications started from the GUI -(say, an Emacs dock icon). Eg on MacOS Catalina I have a -'~/.MacOSX/environment.plist' file containing + A more typical value is something like '~/finance/YYYY.journal', +where '~/finance' is a version-controlled finance directory and YYYY is +the current year. Or, '~/finance/current.journal', where +current.journal is a symbolic link to YYYY.journal. + + The usual way to set this permanently is to add a command to one of +your shell's startup files (eg '~/.profile'): + +export LEDGER_FILE=~/finance/current.journal` + + On some Mac computers, there is a more thorough way to set +environment variables, that will also affect applications started from +the GUI (eg, Emacs started from a dock icon): In +'~/.MacOSX/environment.plist', add an entry like: { "LEDGER_FILE" : "~/finance/current.journal" } - To see the effect you may need to 'killall Dock', or reboot. + For this to take effect you might need to 'killall Dock', or reboot. + + On Windows computers, the default value is probably +'C:\Users\MyUserName\.hledger.journal'. You can change this by running +a command like this in a powershell window: + +> setx LEDGER_FILE "C:\Users\MyUserName\finance\2021.journal" + + (Let us know if you need to be an Administrator, and if this persists +across a reboot.)  File: hledger-ui.info, Node: FILES, Next: BUGS, Prev: ENVIRONMENT, Up: Top @@ -649,10 +663,10 @@ Node: Watch mode limitations18399 Ref: #watch-mode-limitations18540 Node: ENVIRONMENT19676 Ref: #environment19787 -Node: FILES20594 -Ref: #files20693 -Node: BUGS20906 -Ref: #bugs20983 +Node: FILES21095 +Ref: #files21194 +Node: BUGS21407 +Ref: #bugs21484  End Tag Table diff --git a/hledger-ui/hledger-ui.txt b/hledger-ui/hledger-ui.txt index 7999354ff..af47b041b 100644 --- a/hledger-ui/hledger-ui.txt +++ b/hledger-ui/hledger-ui.txt @@ -464,24 +464,39 @@ TIPS ENVIRONMENT COLUMNS The screen width to use. Default: the full terminal width. - LEDGER_FILE The journal file path when not specified with -f. Default: - ~/.hledger.journal (on windows, perhaps C:/Users/USER/.hledger.jour- - nal). + LEDGER_FILE The journal file path when not specified with -f. - A typical value is ~/DIR/YYYY.journal, where DIR is a version-con- - trolled finance directory and YYYY is the current year. Or ~/DIR/cur- - rent.journal, where current.journal is a symbolic link to YYYY.journal. + On unix computers, the default value is: ~/.hledger.journal. - On Mac computers, you can set this and other environment variables in a - more thorough way that also affects applications started from the GUI - (say, an Emacs dock icon). Eg on MacOS Catalina I have a - ~/.MacOSX/environment.plist file containing + A more typical value is something like ~/finance/YYYY.journal, where + ~/finance is a version-controlled finance directory and YYYY is the + current year. Or, ~/finance/current.journal, where current.journal is + a symbolic link to YYYY.journal. + + The usual way to set this permanently is to add a command to one of + your shell's startup files (eg ~/.profile): + + export LEDGER_FILE=~/finance/current.journal` + + On some Mac computers, there is a more thorough way to set environment + variables, that will also affect applications started from the GUI (eg, + Emacs started from a dock icon): In ~/.MacOSX/environment.plist, add an + entry like: { "LEDGER_FILE" : "~/finance/current.journal" } - To see the effect you may need to killall Dock, or reboot. + For this to take effect you might need to killall Dock, or reboot. + + On Windows computers, the default value is probably C:\Users\MyUser- + Name\.hledger.journal. You can change this by running a command like + this in a powershell window: + + > setx LEDGER_FILE "C:\Users\MyUserName\finance\2021.journal" + + (Let us know if you need to be an Administrator, and if this persists + across a reboot.) FILES Reads data from one or more files in hledger journal, timeclock, time- diff --git a/hledger-web/hledger-web.1 b/hledger-web/hledger-web.1 index ea9d1c5b7..ea45f523e 100644 --- a/hledger-web/hledger-web.1 +++ b/hledger-web/hledger-web.1 @@ -579,19 +579,29 @@ $ curl http://127.0.0.1:5000/add -X PUT -H \[aq]Content-Type: application/json\[ .PP \f[B]LEDGER_FILE\f[R] The journal file path when not specified with \f[C]-f\f[R]. -Default: \f[C]\[ti]/.hledger.journal\f[R] (on windows, perhaps -\f[C]C:/Users/USER/.hledger.journal\f[R]). .PP -A typical value is \f[C]\[ti]/DIR/YYYY.journal\f[R], where DIR is a +On unix computers, the default value is: +\f[C]\[ti]/.hledger.journal\f[R]. +.PP +A more typical value is something like +\f[C]\[ti]/finance/YYYY.journal\f[R], where \f[C]\[ti]/finance\f[R] is a version-controlled finance directory and YYYY is the current year. -Or \f[C]\[ti]/DIR/current.journal\f[R], where current.journal is a +Or, \f[C]\[ti]/finance/current.journal\f[R], where current.journal is a symbolic link to YYYY.journal. .PP -On Mac computers, you can set this and other environment variables in a -more thorough way that also affects applications started from the GUI -(say, an Emacs dock icon). -Eg on MacOS Catalina I have a \f[C]\[ti]/.MacOSX/environment.plist\f[R] -file containing +The usual way to set this permanently is to add a command to one of your +shell\[aq]s startup files (eg \f[C]\[ti]/.profile\f[R]): +.IP +.nf +\f[C] +export LEDGER_FILE=\[ti]/finance/current.journal\[ga] +\f[R] +.fi +.PP +On some Mac computers, there is a more thorough way to set environment +variables, that will also affect applications started from the GUI (eg, +Emacs started from a dock icon): In +\f[C]\[ti]/.MacOSX/environment.plist\f[R], add an entry like: .IP .nf \f[C] @@ -601,7 +611,22 @@ file containing \f[R] .fi .PP -To see the effect you may need to \f[C]killall Dock\f[R], or reboot. +For this to take effect you might need to \f[C]killall Dock\f[R], or +reboot. +.PP +On Windows computers, the default value is probably +\f[C]C:\[rs]Users\[rs]MyUserName\[rs].hledger.journal\f[R]. +You can change this by running a command like this in a powershell +window: +.IP +.nf +\f[C] +> setx LEDGER_FILE \[dq]C:\[rs]Users\[rs]MyUserName\[rs]finance\[rs]2021.journal\[dq] +\f[R] +.fi +.PP +(Let us know if you need to be an Administrator, and if this persists +across a reboot.) .SH FILES .PP Reads data from one or more files in hledger journal, timeclock, diff --git a/hledger-web/hledger-web.info b/hledger-web/hledger-web.info index f2cb3f91b..ee9353973 100644 --- a/hledger-web/hledger-web.info +++ b/hledger-web/hledger-web.info @@ -567,24 +567,38 @@ File: hledger-web.info, Node: ENVIRONMENT, Next: FILES, Prev: JSON API, Up: ************* *LEDGER_FILE* The journal file path when not specified with '-f'. -Default: '~/.hledger.journal' (on windows, perhaps -'C:/Users/USER/.hledger.journal'). - A typical value is '~/DIR/YYYY.journal', where DIR is a -version-controlled finance directory and YYYY is the current year. Or -'~/DIR/current.journal', where current.journal is a symbolic link to -YYYY.journal. + On unix computers, the default value is: '~/.hledger.journal'. - On Mac computers, you can set this and other environment variables in -a more thorough way that also affects applications started from the GUI -(say, an Emacs dock icon). Eg on MacOS Catalina I have a -'~/.MacOSX/environment.plist' file containing + A more typical value is something like '~/finance/YYYY.journal', +where '~/finance' is a version-controlled finance directory and YYYY is +the current year. Or, '~/finance/current.journal', where +current.journal is a symbolic link to YYYY.journal. + + The usual way to set this permanently is to add a command to one of +your shell's startup files (eg '~/.profile'): + +export LEDGER_FILE=~/finance/current.journal` + + On some Mac computers, there is a more thorough way to set +environment variables, that will also affect applications started from +the GUI (eg, Emacs started from a dock icon): In +'~/.MacOSX/environment.plist', add an entry like: { "LEDGER_FILE" : "~/finance/current.journal" } - To see the effect you may need to 'killall Dock', or reboot. + For this to take effect you might need to 'killall Dock', or reboot. + + On Windows computers, the default value is probably +'C:\Users\MyUserName\.hledger.journal'. You can change this by running +a command like this in a powershell window: + +> setx LEDGER_FILE "C:\Users\MyUserName\finance\2021.journal" + + (Let us know if you need to be an Administrator, and if this persists +across a reboot.)  File: hledger-web.info, Node: FILES, Next: BUGS, Prev: ENVIRONMENT, Up: Top @@ -629,10 +643,10 @@ Node: JSON API12838 Ref: #json-api12952 Node: ENVIRONMENT18442 Ref: #environment18558 -Node: FILES19291 -Ref: #files19391 -Node: BUGS19604 -Ref: #bugs19682 +Node: FILES19792 +Ref: #files19892 +Node: BUGS20105 +Ref: #bugs20183  End Tag Table diff --git a/hledger-web/hledger-web.txt b/hledger-web/hledger-web.txt index a2067ed9a..56a91a7b9 100644 --- a/hledger-web/hledger-web.txt +++ b/hledger-web/hledger-web.txt @@ -512,24 +512,39 @@ JSON API $ curl http://127.0.0.1:5000/add -X PUT -H 'Content-Type: application/json' --data-binary @txn.json ENVIRONMENT - LEDGER_FILE The journal file path when not specified with -f. Default: - ~/.hledger.journal (on windows, perhaps C:/Users/USER/.hledger.jour- - nal). + LEDGER_FILE The journal file path when not specified with -f. - A typical value is ~/DIR/YYYY.journal, where DIR is a version-con- - trolled finance directory and YYYY is the current year. Or ~/DIR/cur- - rent.journal, where current.journal is a symbolic link to YYYY.journal. + On unix computers, the default value is: ~/.hledger.journal. - On Mac computers, you can set this and other environment variables in a - more thorough way that also affects applications started from the GUI - (say, an Emacs dock icon). Eg on MacOS Catalina I have a - ~/.MacOSX/environment.plist file containing + A more typical value is something like ~/finance/YYYY.journal, where + ~/finance is a version-controlled finance directory and YYYY is the + current year. Or, ~/finance/current.journal, where current.journal is + a symbolic link to YYYY.journal. + + The usual way to set this permanently is to add a command to one of + your shell's startup files (eg ~/.profile): + + export LEDGER_FILE=~/finance/current.journal` + + On some Mac computers, there is a more thorough way to set environment + variables, that will also affect applications started from the GUI (eg, + Emacs started from a dock icon): In ~/.MacOSX/environment.plist, add an + entry like: { "LEDGER_FILE" : "~/finance/current.journal" } - To see the effect you may need to killall Dock, or reboot. + For this to take effect you might need to killall Dock, or reboot. + + On Windows computers, the default value is probably C:\Users\MyUser- + Name\.hledger.journal. You can change this by running a command like + this in a powershell window: + + > setx LEDGER_FILE "C:\Users\MyUserName\finance\2021.journal" + + (Let us know if you need to be an Administrator, and if this persists + across a reboot.) FILES Reads data from one or more files in hledger journal, timeclock, time- diff --git a/hledger/hledger.1 b/hledger/hledger.1 index 7584e05a3..1bae4ae5d 100644 --- a/hledger/hledger.1 +++ b/hledger/hledger.1 @@ -507,19 +507,29 @@ See Special characters. .PP \f[B]LEDGER_FILE\f[R] The journal file path when not specified with \f[C]-f\f[R]. -Default: \f[C]\[ti]/.hledger.journal\f[R] (on windows, perhaps -\f[C]C:/Users/USER/.hledger.journal\f[R]). .PP -A typical value is \f[C]\[ti]/DIR/YYYY.journal\f[R], where DIR is a +On unix computers, the default value is: +\f[C]\[ti]/.hledger.journal\f[R]. +.PP +A more typical value is something like +\f[C]\[ti]/finance/YYYY.journal\f[R], where \f[C]\[ti]/finance\f[R] is a version-controlled finance directory and YYYY is the current year. -Or \f[C]\[ti]/DIR/current.journal\f[R], where current.journal is a +Or, \f[C]\[ti]/finance/current.journal\f[R], where current.journal is a symbolic link to YYYY.journal. .PP -On Mac computers, you can set this and other environment variables in a -more thorough way that also affects applications started from the GUI -(say, an Emacs dock icon). -Eg on MacOS Catalina I have a \f[C]\[ti]/.MacOSX/environment.plist\f[R] -file containing +The usual way to set this permanently is to add a command to one of your +shell\[aq]s startup files (eg \f[C]\[ti]/.profile\f[R]): +.IP +.nf +\f[C] +export LEDGER_FILE=\[ti]/finance/current.journal\[ga] +\f[R] +.fi +.PP +On some Mac computers, there is a more thorough way to set environment +variables, that will also affect applications started from the GUI (eg, +Emacs started from a dock icon): In +\f[C]\[ti]/.MacOSX/environment.plist\f[R], add an entry like: .IP .nf \f[C] @@ -529,7 +539,22 @@ file containing \f[R] .fi .PP -To see the effect you may need to \f[C]killall Dock\f[R], or reboot. +For this to take effect you might need to \f[C]killall Dock\f[R], or +reboot. +.PP +On Windows computers, the default value is probably +\f[C]C:\[rs]Users\[rs]MyUserName\[rs].hledger.journal\f[R]. +You can change this by running a command like this in a powershell +window: +.IP +.nf +\f[C] +> setx LEDGER_FILE \[dq]C:\[rs]Users\[rs]MyUserName\[rs]finance\[rs]2021.journal\[dq] +\f[R] +.fi +.PP +(Let us know if you need to be an Administrator, and if this persists +across a reboot.) .PP \f[B]COLUMNS\f[R] The screen width used by the register command. Default: the full terminal width. @@ -2520,6 +2545,10 @@ the file extension, if needed: $ hledger balancesheet -o foo.txt -O csv # write CSV to foo.txt \f[R] .fi +.SS CSV output +.IP \[bu] 2 +In CSV output, digit group marks (such as thousands separators) are +disabled automatically. .SS HTML output .IP \[bu] 2 HTML output can be styled by an optional \f[C]hledger.css\f[R] file in @@ -8706,6 +8735,9 @@ comma). Field names may not contain spaces. Spaces before/after field names are optional. .IP \[bu] 2 +Field names may contain \f[C]_\f[R] (underscore) or \f[C]-\f[R] +(hyphen). +.IP \[bu] 2 If the CSV contains column headings, it\[aq]s a good idea to use these, suitably modified, as the basis for your field names (eg lower-cased, with underscores instead of spaces). @@ -8782,10 +8814,13 @@ Assigning to \f[C]date\f[R] sets the transaction date. \f[C]commentN\f[R], where N is a number, sets the Nth posting\[aq]s comment. .PP -Tips: - You can assign multi-line comments by writing literal -\f[C]\[rs]n\f[R] in the code. +Tips: +.IP \[bu] 2 +You can assign multi-line comments by writing literal \f[C]\[rs]n\f[R] +in the code. A comment starting with \f[C]\[rs]n\f[R] will begin on a new line. -- Comments can contain tags, as usual. +.IP \[bu] 2 +Comments can contain tags, as usual. .SS account field .PP Assigning to \f[C]accountN\f[R], where N is 1 to 99, sets the account diff --git a/hledger/hledger.info b/hledger/hledger.info index 10d2609ad..72d9e5653 100644 --- a/hledger/hledger.info +++ b/hledger/hledger.info @@ -503,24 +503,38 @@ File: hledger.info, Node: ENVIRONMENT, Next: DATA FILES, Prev: OPTIONS, Up: ************* *LEDGER_FILE* The journal file path when not specified with '-f'. -Default: '~/.hledger.journal' (on windows, perhaps -'C:/Users/USER/.hledger.journal'). - A typical value is '~/DIR/YYYY.journal', where DIR is a -version-controlled finance directory and YYYY is the current year. Or -'~/DIR/current.journal', where current.journal is a symbolic link to -YYYY.journal. + On unix computers, the default value is: '~/.hledger.journal'. - On Mac computers, you can set this and other environment variables in -a more thorough way that also affects applications started from the GUI -(say, an Emacs dock icon). Eg on MacOS Catalina I have a -'~/.MacOSX/environment.plist' file containing + A more typical value is something like '~/finance/YYYY.journal', +where '~/finance' is a version-controlled finance directory and YYYY is +the current year. Or, '~/finance/current.journal', where +current.journal is a symbolic link to YYYY.journal. + + The usual way to set this permanently is to add a command to one of +your shell's startup files (eg '~/.profile'): + +export LEDGER_FILE=~/finance/current.journal` + + On some Mac computers, there is a more thorough way to set +environment variables, that will also affect applications started from +the GUI (eg, Emacs started from a dock icon): In +'~/.MacOSX/environment.plist', add an entry like: { "LEDGER_FILE" : "~/finance/current.journal" } - To see the effect you may need to 'killall Dock', or reboot. + For this to take effect you might need to 'killall Dock', or reboot. + + On Windows computers, the default value is probably +'C:\Users\MyUserName\.hledger.journal'. You can change this by running +a command like this in a powershell window: + +> setx LEDGER_FILE "C:\Users\MyUserName\finance\2021.journal" + + (Let us know if you need to be an Administrator, and if this persists +across a reboot.) *COLUMNS* The screen width used by the register command. Default: the full terminal width. @@ -1908,14 +1922,24 @@ $ hledger balancesheet -o foo.txt -O csv # write CSV to foo.txt * Menu: +* CSV output:: * HTML output:: * JSON output:: * SQL output::  -File: hledger.info, Node: HTML output, Next: JSON output, Up: Output format +File: hledger.info, Node: CSV output, Next: HTML output, Up: Output format -10.3.1 HTML output +10.3.1 CSV output +----------------- + + * In CSV output, digit group marks (such as thousands separators) are + disabled automatically. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: HTML output, Next: JSON output, Prev: CSV output, Up: Output format + +10.3.2 HTML output ------------------ * HTML output can be styled by an optional 'hledger.css' file in the @@ -1924,7 +1948,7 @@ File: hledger.info, Node: HTML output, Next: JSON output, Up: Output format  File: hledger.info, Node: JSON output, Next: SQL output, Prev: HTML output, Up: Output format -10.3.2 JSON output +10.3.3 JSON output ------------------ * Not yet much used; real-world feedback is welcome. @@ -1946,7 +1970,7 @@ File: hledger.info, Node: JSON output, Next: SQL output, Prev: HTML output,  File: hledger.info, Node: SQL output, Prev: JSON output, Up: Output format -10.3.3 SQL output +10.3.4 SQL output ----------------- * Not yet much used; real-world feedback is welcome. @@ -7444,6 +7468,7 @@ fields date, description, , amount, , , somefield, anotherfield comma). * Field names may not contain spaces. Spaces before/after field names are optional. + * Field names may contain '_' (underscore) or '-' (hyphen). * If the CSV contains column headings, it's a good idea to use these, suitably modified, as the basis for your field names (eg lower-cased, with underscores instead of spaces). @@ -7560,9 +7585,11 @@ File: hledger.info, Node: comment field, Next: account field, Prev: descripti 'commentN', where N is a number, sets the Nth posting's comment. - Tips: - 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. + Tips: + + * 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.  File: hledger.info, Node: account field, Next: amount field, Prev: comment field, Up: Field names @@ -9106,500 +9133,502 @@ Node: Regular expressions13741 Ref: #regular-expressions13881 Node: ENVIRONMENT15617 Ref: #environment15733 -Node: DATA FILES16724 -Ref: #data-files16843 -Node: Data formats17382 -Ref: #data-formats17500 -Node: Multiple files18894 -Ref: #multiple-files19036 -Node: Strict mode19505 -Ref: #strict-mode19620 -Node: TIME PERIODS20326 -Ref: #time-periods20443 -Node: Smart dates20541 -Ref: #smart-dates20667 -Node: Report start & end date22204 -Ref: #report-start-end-date22379 -Node: Report intervals24046 -Ref: #report-intervals24214 -Node: Period expressions25953 -Ref: #period-expressions26093 -Node: Period expressions with a report interval27824 -Ref: #period-expressions-with-a-report-interval28056 -Node: More complex report intervals29137 -Ref: #more-complex-report-intervals29386 -Node: Intervals with custom start date30021 -Ref: #intervals-with-custom-start-date30253 -Node: Periods or dates ?31827 -Ref: #periods-or-dates32029 -Node: Events on multiple weekdays32471 -Ref: #events-on-multiple-weekdays32650 -Node: DEPTH33513 -Ref: #depth33613 -Node: QUERIES33947 -Ref: #queries34046 -Node: Query types34987 -Ref: #query-types35106 -Node: Combining query terms37778 -Ref: #combining-query-terms37953 -Node: Queries and command options38756 -Ref: #queries-and-command-options38959 -Node: Queries and account aliases39208 -Ref: #queries-and-account-aliases39411 -Node: Queries and valuation39531 -Ref: #queries-and-valuation39724 -Node: Querying with account aliases39953 -Ref: #querying-with-account-aliases40162 -Node: Querying with cost or value40292 -Ref: #querying-with-cost-or-value40467 -Node: COSTING40768 -Ref: #costing40871 -Node: VALUATION41145 -Ref: #valuation41253 -Node: -V Value42020 -Ref: #v-value42144 -Node: -X Value in specified commodity42339 -Ref: #x-value-in-specified-commodity42532 -Node: Valuation date42681 -Ref: #valuation-date42843 -Node: Market prices43280 -Ref: #market-prices43462 -Node: --infer-market-prices market prices from transactions44645 -Ref: #infer-market-prices-market-prices-from-transactions44912 -Node: Valuation commodity46268 -Ref: #valuation-commodity46479 -Node: Simple valuation examples47705 -Ref: #simple-valuation-examples47901 -Node: --value Flexible valuation48560 -Ref: #value-flexible-valuation48762 -Node: More valuation examples50406 -Ref: #more-valuation-examples50613 -Node: Interaction of valuation and queries52612 -Ref: #interaction-of-valuation-and-queries52851 -Node: Effect of valuation on reports53323 -Ref: #effect-of-valuation-on-reports53518 -Node: PIVOTING61215 -Ref: #pivoting61320 -Node: OUTPUT62996 -Ref: #output63098 -Node: Output destination63189 -Ref: #output-destination63323 -Node: Output styling63980 -Ref: #output-styling64128 -Node: Output format64885 -Ref: #output-format65029 -Node: HTML output66378 -Ref: #html-output66499 -Node: JSON output66593 -Ref: #json-output66733 -Node: SQL output67650 -Ref: #sql-output67768 -Node: Commodity styles68269 -Ref: #commodity-styles68396 -Node: COMMANDS69172 -Ref: #commands69284 -Node: accounts72649 -Ref: #accounts72749 -Node: activity73445 -Ref: #activity73557 -Node: add73940 -Ref: #add74043 -Node: aregister76836 -Ref: #aregister76950 -Node: aregister and custom posting dates79315 -Ref: #aregister-and-custom-posting-dates79481 -Node: balance80033 -Ref: #balance80152 -Node: balance features81145 -Ref: #balance-features81285 -Node: Simple balance report83209 -Ref: #simple-balance-report83391 -Node: Filtered balance report84871 -Ref: #filtered-balance-report85058 -Node: List or tree mode85385 -Ref: #list-or-tree-mode85553 -Node: Depth limiting86898 -Ref: #depth-limiting87064 -Node: Dropping top-level accounts87665 -Ref: #dropping-top-level-accounts87867 -Node: Multi-period balance report88177 -Ref: #multi-period-balance-report88390 -Node: Showing declared accounts90665 -Ref: #showing-declared-accounts90858 -Node: Data layout91389 -Ref: #data-layout91544 -Node: Sorting by amount99484 -Ref: #sorting-by-amount99639 -Node: Percentages100309 -Ref: #percentages100467 -Node: Balance change end balance101428 -Ref: #balance-change-end-balance101621 -Node: Balance report types103049 -Ref: #balance-report-types103239 -Node: Useful balance reports107518 -Ref: #useful-balance-reports107699 -Node: Budget report108784 -Ref: #budget-report108968 -Node: Budget report start date114243 -Ref: #budget-report-start-date114421 -Node: Budgets and subaccounts115753 -Ref: #budgets-and-subaccounts115960 -Node: Selecting budget goals119400 -Ref: #selecting-budget-goals119572 -Node: Customising single-period balance reports120606 -Ref: #customising-single-period-balance-reports120815 -Node: balancesheet122990 -Ref: #balancesheet123128 -Node: balancesheetequity124427 -Ref: #balancesheetequity124578 -Node: cashflow125958 -Ref: #cashflow126082 -Node: check127228 -Ref: #check127333 -Node: Basic checks127967 -Ref: #basic-checks128085 -Node: Strict checks128636 -Ref: #strict-checks128777 -Node: Other checks129213 -Ref: #other-checks129353 -Node: Custom checks129710 -Ref: #custom-checks129830 -Node: close130247 -Ref: #close130351 -Node: close and prices132442 -Ref: #close-and-prices132571 -Node: close date132966 -Ref: #close-date133150 -Node: Example close asset/liability accounts for file transition133907 -Ref: #example-close-assetliability-accounts-for-file-transition134208 -Node: Hiding opening/closing transactions135067 -Ref: #hiding-openingclosing-transactions135338 -Node: close and balance assertions136715 -Ref: #close-and-balance-assertions136973 -Node: Example close revenue/expense accounts to retained earnings138327 -Ref: #example-close-revenueexpense-accounts-to-retained-earnings138605 -Node: codes139495 -Ref: #codes139605 -Node: commodities140317 -Ref: #commodities140446 -Node: descriptions140528 -Ref: #descriptions140658 -Node: diff140962 -Ref: #diff141070 -Node: files142117 -Ref: #files142219 -Node: help142366 -Ref: #help142468 -Node: import143286 -Ref: #import143402 -Node: Deduplication144267 -Ref: #deduplication144392 -Node: Import testing146286 -Ref: #import-testing146451 -Node: Importing balance assignments146939 -Ref: #importing-balance-assignments147145 -Node: Commodity display styles147794 -Ref: #commodity-display-styles147967 -Node: incomestatement148096 -Ref: #incomestatement148231 -Node: notes149536 -Ref: #notes149651 -Node: payees150019 -Ref: #payees150127 -Node: prices150653 -Ref: #prices150761 -Node: print151130 -Ref: #print151242 -Node: print-unique156557 -Ref: #print-unique156685 -Node: register156970 -Ref: #register157099 -Node: Custom register output161545 -Ref: #custom-register-output161676 -Node: register-match163013 -Ref: #register-match163149 -Node: rewrite163500 -Ref: #rewrite163617 -Node: Re-write rules in a file165523 -Ref: #re-write-rules-in-a-file165686 -Node: Diff output format166835 -Ref: #diff-output-format167018 -Node: rewrite vs print --auto168110 -Ref: #rewrite-vs.-print---auto168270 -Node: roi168826 -Ref: #roi168926 -Node: Spaces and special characters in --inv and --pnl170612 -Ref: #spaces-and-special-characters-in---inv-and---pnl170852 -Node: Semantics of --inv and --pnl171340 -Ref: #semantics-of---inv-and---pnl171579 -Node: IRR and TWR explained173429 -Ref: #irr-and-twr-explained173589 -Node: stats176657 -Ref: #stats176758 -Node: tags178138 -Ref: #tags178238 -Node: test178757 -Ref: #test178873 -Node: About add-on commands179620 -Ref: #about-add-on-commands179757 -Node: JOURNAL FORMAT180888 -Ref: #journal-format181016 -Node: Transactions183243 -Ref: #transactions183358 -Node: Dates184372 -Ref: #dates184488 -Node: Simple dates184553 -Ref: #simple-dates184673 -Node: Secondary dates185182 -Ref: #secondary-dates185330 -Node: Posting dates186666 -Ref: #posting-dates186789 -Node: Status188161 -Ref: #status188271 -Node: Code189979 -Ref: #code190091 -Node: Description190323 -Ref: #description190451 -Node: Payee and note190771 -Ref: #payee-and-note190879 -Node: Comments191214 -Ref: #comments191336 -Node: Tags192530 -Ref: #tags-1192641 -Node: Postings194034 -Ref: #postings194158 -Node: Virtual postings195184 -Ref: #virtual-postings195295 -Node: Account names196600 -Ref: #account-names196737 -Node: Amounts197225 -Ref: #amounts197362 -Node: Decimal marks digit group marks198347 -Ref: #decimal-marks-digit-group-marks198524 -Node: Commodity199545 -Ref: #commodity199734 -Node: Directives influencing number parsing and display200686 -Ref: #directives-influencing-number-parsing-and-display200947 -Node: Commodity display style201440 -Ref: #commodity-display-style201648 -Node: Rounding203843 -Ref: #rounding203963 -Node: Transaction prices204375 -Ref: #transaction-prices204541 -Node: Lot prices lot dates206972 -Ref: #lot-prices-lot-dates207155 -Node: Balance assertions207643 -Ref: #balance-assertions207821 -Node: Assertions and ordering208854 -Ref: #assertions-and-ordering209036 -Node: Assertions and included files209736 -Ref: #assertions-and-included-files209973 -Node: Assertions and multiple -f options210306 -Ref: #assertions-and-multiple--f-options210556 -Node: Assertions and commodities210688 -Ref: #assertions-and-commodities210914 -Node: Assertions and prices212071 -Ref: #assertions-and-prices212279 -Node: Assertions and subaccounts212719 -Ref: #assertions-and-subaccounts212942 -Node: Assertions and virtual postings213266 -Ref: #assertions-and-virtual-postings213502 -Node: Assertions and precision213644 -Ref: #assertions-and-precision213831 -Node: Balance assignments214098 -Ref: #balance-assignments214268 -Node: Balance assignments and prices215432 -Ref: #balance-assignments-and-prices215598 -Node: Directives215822 -Ref: #directives215985 -Node: Directives and multiple files220477 -Ref: #directives-and-multiple-files220673 -Node: Comment blocks221365 -Ref: #comment-blocks221542 -Node: Including other files221718 -Ref: #including-other-files221892 -Node: Default year222816 -Ref: #default-year222974 -Node: Declaring payees223381 -Ref: #declaring-payees223552 -Node: Declaring the decimal mark223798 -Ref: #declaring-the-decimal-mark223998 -Node: Declaring commodities224395 -Ref: #declaring-commodities224586 -Node: Commodity error checking227104 -Ref: #commodity-error-checking227254 -Node: Default commodity227511 -Ref: #default-commodity227691 -Node: Declaring market prices228807 -Ref: #declaring-market-prices228996 -Node: Declaring accounts229809 -Ref: #declaring-accounts229989 -Node: Account error checking231191 -Ref: #account-error-checking231357 -Node: Account comments232536 -Ref: #account-comments232720 -Node: Account subdirectives233144 -Ref: #account-subdirectives233329 -Node: Account types233642 -Ref: #account-types233816 -Node: Auto-detected account types235139 -Ref: #auto-detected-account-types235294 -Node: Account display order236529 -Ref: #account-display-order236689 -Node: Rewriting accounts237840 -Ref: #rewriting-accounts238019 -Node: Basic aliases238776 -Ref: #basic-aliases238912 -Node: Regex aliases239656 -Ref: #regex-aliases239818 -Node: Combining aliases240537 -Ref: #combining-aliases240720 -Node: Aliases and multiple files241996 -Ref: #aliases-and-multiple-files242195 -Node: end aliases242774 -Ref: #end-aliases242921 -Node: Default parent account243070 -Ref: #default-parent-account243260 -Node: Periodic transactions244144 -Ref: #periodic-transactions244327 -Node: Periodic rule syntax246244 -Ref: #periodic-rule-syntax246444 -Node: Two spaces between period expression and description!247148 -Ref: #two-spaces-between-period-expression-and-description247461 -Node: Forecasting with periodic transactions248145 -Ref: #forecasting-with-periodic-transactions248444 -Node: Budgeting with periodic transactions251215 -Ref: #budgeting-with-periodic-transactions251448 -Node: Auto postings251857 -Ref: #auto-postings251993 -Node: Auto postings and multiple files254172 -Ref: #auto-postings-and-multiple-files254370 -Node: Auto postings and dates254579 -Ref: #auto-postings-and-dates254847 -Node: Auto postings and transaction balancing / inferred amounts / balance assertions255022 -Ref: #auto-postings-and-transaction-balancing-inferred-amounts-balance-assertions255367 -Node: Auto posting tags255870 -Ref: #auto-posting-tags256079 -Node: CSV FORMAT256715 -Ref: #csv-format256843 -Node: Examples259472 -Ref: #examples259575 -Node: Basic259783 -Ref: #basic259885 -Node: Bank of Ireland260427 -Ref: #bank-of-ireland260564 -Node: Amazon262026 -Ref: #amazon262146 -Node: Paypal263865 -Ref: #paypal263961 -Node: CSV rules271605 -Ref: #csv-rules271723 -Node: skip272056 -Ref: #skip272156 -Node: fields list272531 -Ref: #fields-list272670 -Node: field assignment274173 -Ref: #field-assignment274325 -Node: Field names275360 -Ref: #field-names275500 -Node: date field275880 -Ref: #date-field276000 -Node: date2 field276048 -Ref: #date2-field276191 -Node: status field276247 -Ref: #status-field276392 -Node: code field276441 -Ref: #code-field276588 -Node: description field276633 -Ref: #description-field276795 -Node: comment field276854 -Ref: #comment-field277011 -Node: account field277311 -Ref: #account-field277463 -Node: amount field278038 -Ref: #amount-field278189 -Node: currency field279434 -Ref: #currency-field279589 -Node: balance field279846 -Ref: #balance-field279980 -Node: separator280352 -Ref: #separator280484 -Node: if block281024 -Ref: #if-block281151 -Node: Matching the whole record281552 -Ref: #matching-the-whole-record281729 -Node: Matching individual fields282532 -Ref: #matching-individual-fields282738 -Node: Combining matchers282962 -Ref: #combining-matchers283160 -Node: Rules applied on successful match283473 -Ref: #rules-applied-on-successful-match283666 -Node: if table284320 -Ref: #if-table284441 -Node: end286179 -Ref: #end286293 -Node: date-format286517 -Ref: #date-format286651 -Node: decimal-mark287647 -Ref: #decimal-mark287794 -Node: newest-first288133 -Ref: #newest-first288276 -Node: include288959 -Ref: #include289092 -Node: balance-type289536 -Ref: #balance-type289658 -Node: Tips290358 -Ref: #tips290449 -Node: Rapid feedback290748 -Ref: #rapid-feedback290867 -Node: Valid CSV291319 -Ref: #valid-csv291451 -Node: File Extension291643 -Ref: #file-extension291797 -Node: Reading multiple CSV files292226 -Ref: #reading-multiple-csv-files292413 -Node: Valid transactions292654 -Ref: #valid-transactions292834 -Node: Deduplicating importing293462 -Ref: #deduplicating-importing293643 -Node: Setting amounts294676 -Ref: #setting-amounts294833 -Node: Amount signs297274 -Ref: #amount-signs297428 -Node: Setting currency/commodity298115 -Ref: #setting-currencycommodity298303 -Node: Amount decimal places299477 -Ref: #amount-decimal-places299669 -Node: Referencing other fields299981 -Ref: #referencing-other-fields300180 -Node: How CSV rules are evaluated301077 -Ref: #how-csv-rules-are-evaluated301252 -Node: TIMECLOCK FORMAT302703 -Ref: #timeclock-format302843 -Node: TIMEDOT FORMAT304904 -Ref: #timedot-format305042 -Node: COMMON TASKS309604 -Ref: #common-tasks309733 -Node: Getting help310140 -Ref: #getting-help310274 -Node: Constructing command lines310827 -Ref: #constructing-command-lines311021 -Node: Starting a journal file311718 -Ref: #starting-a-journal-file311918 -Node: Setting opening balances313106 -Ref: #setting-opening-balances313304 -Node: Recording transactions316445 -Ref: #recording-transactions316627 -Node: Reconciling317183 -Ref: #reconciling317328 -Node: Reporting319585 -Ref: #reporting319727 -Node: Migrating to a new file323726 -Ref: #migrating-to-a-new-file323876 -Node: LIMITATIONS324175 -Ref: #limitations324303 -Node: TROUBLESHOOTING325046 -Ref: #troubleshooting325161 +Node: DATA FILES17225 +Ref: #data-files17344 +Node: Data formats17883 +Ref: #data-formats18001 +Node: Multiple files19395 +Ref: #multiple-files19537 +Node: Strict mode20006 +Ref: #strict-mode20121 +Node: TIME PERIODS20827 +Ref: #time-periods20944 +Node: Smart dates21042 +Ref: #smart-dates21168 +Node: Report start & end date22705 +Ref: #report-start-end-date22880 +Node: Report intervals24547 +Ref: #report-intervals24715 +Node: Period expressions26454 +Ref: #period-expressions26594 +Node: Period expressions with a report interval28325 +Ref: #period-expressions-with-a-report-interval28557 +Node: More complex report intervals29638 +Ref: #more-complex-report-intervals29887 +Node: Intervals with custom start date30522 +Ref: #intervals-with-custom-start-date30754 +Node: Periods or dates ?32328 +Ref: #periods-or-dates32530 +Node: Events on multiple weekdays32972 +Ref: #events-on-multiple-weekdays33151 +Node: DEPTH34014 +Ref: #depth34114 +Node: QUERIES34448 +Ref: #queries34547 +Node: Query types35488 +Ref: #query-types35607 +Node: Combining query terms38279 +Ref: #combining-query-terms38454 +Node: Queries and command options39257 +Ref: #queries-and-command-options39460 +Node: Queries and account aliases39709 +Ref: #queries-and-account-aliases39912 +Node: Queries and valuation40032 +Ref: #queries-and-valuation40225 +Node: Querying with account aliases40454 +Ref: #querying-with-account-aliases40663 +Node: Querying with cost or value40793 +Ref: #querying-with-cost-or-value40968 +Node: COSTING41269 +Ref: #costing41372 +Node: VALUATION41646 +Ref: #valuation41754 +Node: -V Value42521 +Ref: #v-value42645 +Node: -X Value in specified commodity42840 +Ref: #x-value-in-specified-commodity43033 +Node: Valuation date43182 +Ref: #valuation-date43344 +Node: Market prices43781 +Ref: #market-prices43963 +Node: --infer-market-prices market prices from transactions45146 +Ref: #infer-market-prices-market-prices-from-transactions45413 +Node: Valuation commodity46769 +Ref: #valuation-commodity46980 +Node: Simple valuation examples48206 +Ref: #simple-valuation-examples48402 +Node: --value Flexible valuation49061 +Ref: #value-flexible-valuation49263 +Node: More valuation examples50907 +Ref: #more-valuation-examples51114 +Node: Interaction of valuation and queries53113 +Ref: #interaction-of-valuation-and-queries53352 +Node: Effect of valuation on reports53824 +Ref: #effect-of-valuation-on-reports54019 +Node: PIVOTING61716 +Ref: #pivoting61821 +Node: OUTPUT63497 +Ref: #output63599 +Node: Output destination63690 +Ref: #output-destination63824 +Node: Output styling64481 +Ref: #output-styling64629 +Node: Output format65386 +Ref: #output-format65530 +Node: CSV output66894 +Ref: #csv-output67012 +Node: HTML output67115 +Ref: #html-output67255 +Node: JSON output67349 +Ref: #json-output67489 +Node: SQL output68406 +Ref: #sql-output68524 +Node: Commodity styles69025 +Ref: #commodity-styles69152 +Node: COMMANDS69928 +Ref: #commands70040 +Node: accounts73405 +Ref: #accounts73505 +Node: activity74201 +Ref: #activity74313 +Node: add74696 +Ref: #add74799 +Node: aregister77592 +Ref: #aregister77706 +Node: aregister and custom posting dates80071 +Ref: #aregister-and-custom-posting-dates80237 +Node: balance80789 +Ref: #balance80908 +Node: balance features81901 +Ref: #balance-features82041 +Node: Simple balance report83965 +Ref: #simple-balance-report84147 +Node: Filtered balance report85627 +Ref: #filtered-balance-report85814 +Node: List or tree mode86141 +Ref: #list-or-tree-mode86309 +Node: Depth limiting87654 +Ref: #depth-limiting87820 +Node: Dropping top-level accounts88421 +Ref: #dropping-top-level-accounts88623 +Node: Multi-period balance report88933 +Ref: #multi-period-balance-report89146 +Node: Showing declared accounts91421 +Ref: #showing-declared-accounts91614 +Node: Data layout92145 +Ref: #data-layout92300 +Node: Sorting by amount100240 +Ref: #sorting-by-amount100395 +Node: Percentages101065 +Ref: #percentages101223 +Node: Balance change end balance102184 +Ref: #balance-change-end-balance102377 +Node: Balance report types103805 +Ref: #balance-report-types103995 +Node: Useful balance reports108274 +Ref: #useful-balance-reports108455 +Node: Budget report109540 +Ref: #budget-report109724 +Node: Budget report start date114999 +Ref: #budget-report-start-date115177 +Node: Budgets and subaccounts116509 +Ref: #budgets-and-subaccounts116716 +Node: Selecting budget goals120156 +Ref: #selecting-budget-goals120328 +Node: Customising single-period balance reports121362 +Ref: #customising-single-period-balance-reports121571 +Node: balancesheet123746 +Ref: #balancesheet123884 +Node: balancesheetequity125183 +Ref: #balancesheetequity125334 +Node: cashflow126714 +Ref: #cashflow126838 +Node: check127984 +Ref: #check128089 +Node: Basic checks128723 +Ref: #basic-checks128841 +Node: Strict checks129392 +Ref: #strict-checks129533 +Node: Other checks129969 +Ref: #other-checks130109 +Node: Custom checks130466 +Ref: #custom-checks130586 +Node: close131003 +Ref: #close131107 +Node: close and prices133198 +Ref: #close-and-prices133327 +Node: close date133722 +Ref: #close-date133906 +Node: Example close asset/liability accounts for file transition134663 +Ref: #example-close-assetliability-accounts-for-file-transition134964 +Node: Hiding opening/closing transactions135823 +Ref: #hiding-openingclosing-transactions136094 +Node: close and balance assertions137471 +Ref: #close-and-balance-assertions137729 +Node: Example close revenue/expense accounts to retained earnings139083 +Ref: #example-close-revenueexpense-accounts-to-retained-earnings139361 +Node: codes140251 +Ref: #codes140361 +Node: commodities141073 +Ref: #commodities141202 +Node: descriptions141284 +Ref: #descriptions141414 +Node: diff141718 +Ref: #diff141826 +Node: files142873 +Ref: #files142975 +Node: help143122 +Ref: #help143224 +Node: import144042 +Ref: #import144158 +Node: Deduplication145023 +Ref: #deduplication145148 +Node: Import testing147042 +Ref: #import-testing147207 +Node: Importing balance assignments147695 +Ref: #importing-balance-assignments147901 +Node: Commodity display styles148550 +Ref: #commodity-display-styles148723 +Node: incomestatement148852 +Ref: #incomestatement148987 +Node: notes150292 +Ref: #notes150407 +Node: payees150775 +Ref: #payees150883 +Node: prices151409 +Ref: #prices151517 +Node: print151886 +Ref: #print151998 +Node: print-unique157313 +Ref: #print-unique157441 +Node: register157726 +Ref: #register157855 +Node: Custom register output162301 +Ref: #custom-register-output162432 +Node: register-match163769 +Ref: #register-match163905 +Node: rewrite164256 +Ref: #rewrite164373 +Node: Re-write rules in a file166279 +Ref: #re-write-rules-in-a-file166442 +Node: Diff output format167591 +Ref: #diff-output-format167774 +Node: rewrite vs print --auto168866 +Ref: #rewrite-vs.-print---auto169026 +Node: roi169582 +Ref: #roi169682 +Node: Spaces and special characters in --inv and --pnl171368 +Ref: #spaces-and-special-characters-in---inv-and---pnl171608 +Node: Semantics of --inv and --pnl172096 +Ref: #semantics-of---inv-and---pnl172335 +Node: IRR and TWR explained174185 +Ref: #irr-and-twr-explained174345 +Node: stats177413 +Ref: #stats177514 +Node: tags178894 +Ref: #tags178994 +Node: test179513 +Ref: #test179629 +Node: About add-on commands180376 +Ref: #about-add-on-commands180513 +Node: JOURNAL FORMAT181644 +Ref: #journal-format181772 +Node: Transactions183999 +Ref: #transactions184114 +Node: Dates185128 +Ref: #dates185244 +Node: Simple dates185309 +Ref: #simple-dates185429 +Node: Secondary dates185938 +Ref: #secondary-dates186086 +Node: Posting dates187422 +Ref: #posting-dates187545 +Node: Status188917 +Ref: #status189027 +Node: Code190735 +Ref: #code190847 +Node: Description191079 +Ref: #description191207 +Node: Payee and note191527 +Ref: #payee-and-note191635 +Node: Comments191970 +Ref: #comments192092 +Node: Tags193286 +Ref: #tags-1193397 +Node: Postings194790 +Ref: #postings194914 +Node: Virtual postings195940 +Ref: #virtual-postings196051 +Node: Account names197356 +Ref: #account-names197493 +Node: Amounts197981 +Ref: #amounts198118 +Node: Decimal marks digit group marks199103 +Ref: #decimal-marks-digit-group-marks199280 +Node: Commodity200301 +Ref: #commodity200490 +Node: Directives influencing number parsing and display201442 +Ref: #directives-influencing-number-parsing-and-display201703 +Node: Commodity display style202196 +Ref: #commodity-display-style202404 +Node: Rounding204599 +Ref: #rounding204719 +Node: Transaction prices205131 +Ref: #transaction-prices205297 +Node: Lot prices lot dates207728 +Ref: #lot-prices-lot-dates207911 +Node: Balance assertions208399 +Ref: #balance-assertions208577 +Node: Assertions and ordering209610 +Ref: #assertions-and-ordering209792 +Node: Assertions and included files210492 +Ref: #assertions-and-included-files210729 +Node: Assertions and multiple -f options211062 +Ref: #assertions-and-multiple--f-options211312 +Node: Assertions and commodities211444 +Ref: #assertions-and-commodities211670 +Node: Assertions and prices212827 +Ref: #assertions-and-prices213035 +Node: Assertions and subaccounts213475 +Ref: #assertions-and-subaccounts213698 +Node: Assertions and virtual postings214022 +Ref: #assertions-and-virtual-postings214258 +Node: Assertions and precision214400 +Ref: #assertions-and-precision214587 +Node: Balance assignments214854 +Ref: #balance-assignments215024 +Node: Balance assignments and prices216188 +Ref: #balance-assignments-and-prices216354 +Node: Directives216578 +Ref: #directives216741 +Node: Directives and multiple files221233 +Ref: #directives-and-multiple-files221429 +Node: Comment blocks222121 +Ref: #comment-blocks222298 +Node: Including other files222474 +Ref: #including-other-files222648 +Node: Default year223572 +Ref: #default-year223730 +Node: Declaring payees224137 +Ref: #declaring-payees224308 +Node: Declaring the decimal mark224554 +Ref: #declaring-the-decimal-mark224754 +Node: Declaring commodities225151 +Ref: #declaring-commodities225342 +Node: Commodity error checking227860 +Ref: #commodity-error-checking228010 +Node: Default commodity228267 +Ref: #default-commodity228447 +Node: Declaring market prices229563 +Ref: #declaring-market-prices229752 +Node: Declaring accounts230565 +Ref: #declaring-accounts230745 +Node: Account error checking231947 +Ref: #account-error-checking232113 +Node: Account comments233292 +Ref: #account-comments233476 +Node: Account subdirectives233900 +Ref: #account-subdirectives234085 +Node: Account types234398 +Ref: #account-types234572 +Node: Auto-detected account types235895 +Ref: #auto-detected-account-types236050 +Node: Account display order237285 +Ref: #account-display-order237445 +Node: Rewriting accounts238596 +Ref: #rewriting-accounts238775 +Node: Basic aliases239532 +Ref: #basic-aliases239668 +Node: Regex aliases240412 +Ref: #regex-aliases240574 +Node: Combining aliases241293 +Ref: #combining-aliases241476 +Node: Aliases and multiple files242752 +Ref: #aliases-and-multiple-files242951 +Node: end aliases243530 +Ref: #end-aliases243677 +Node: Default parent account243826 +Ref: #default-parent-account244016 +Node: Periodic transactions244900 +Ref: #periodic-transactions245083 +Node: Periodic rule syntax247000 +Ref: #periodic-rule-syntax247200 +Node: Two spaces between period expression and description!247904 +Ref: #two-spaces-between-period-expression-and-description248217 +Node: Forecasting with periodic transactions248901 +Ref: #forecasting-with-periodic-transactions249200 +Node: Budgeting with periodic transactions251971 +Ref: #budgeting-with-periodic-transactions252204 +Node: Auto postings252613 +Ref: #auto-postings252749 +Node: Auto postings and multiple files254928 +Ref: #auto-postings-and-multiple-files255126 +Node: Auto postings and dates255335 +Ref: #auto-postings-and-dates255603 +Node: Auto postings and transaction balancing / inferred amounts / balance assertions255778 +Ref: #auto-postings-and-transaction-balancing-inferred-amounts-balance-assertions256123 +Node: Auto posting tags256626 +Ref: #auto-posting-tags256835 +Node: CSV FORMAT257471 +Ref: #csv-format257599 +Node: Examples260228 +Ref: #examples260331 +Node: Basic260539 +Ref: #basic260641 +Node: Bank of Ireland261183 +Ref: #bank-of-ireland261320 +Node: Amazon262782 +Ref: #amazon262902 +Node: Paypal264621 +Ref: #paypal264717 +Node: CSV rules272361 +Ref: #csv-rules272479 +Node: skip272812 +Ref: #skip272912 +Node: fields list273287 +Ref: #fields-list273426 +Node: field assignment274992 +Ref: #field-assignment275144 +Node: Field names276179 +Ref: #field-names276319 +Node: date field276699 +Ref: #date-field276819 +Node: date2 field276867 +Ref: #date2-field277010 +Node: status field277066 +Ref: #status-field277211 +Node: code field277260 +Ref: #code-field277407 +Node: description field277452 +Ref: #description-field277614 +Node: comment field277673 +Ref: #comment-field277830 +Node: account field278141 +Ref: #account-field278293 +Node: amount field278868 +Ref: #amount-field279019 +Node: currency field280264 +Ref: #currency-field280419 +Node: balance field280676 +Ref: #balance-field280810 +Node: separator281182 +Ref: #separator281314 +Node: if block281854 +Ref: #if-block281981 +Node: Matching the whole record282382 +Ref: #matching-the-whole-record282559 +Node: Matching individual fields283362 +Ref: #matching-individual-fields283568 +Node: Combining matchers283792 +Ref: #combining-matchers283990 +Node: Rules applied on successful match284303 +Ref: #rules-applied-on-successful-match284496 +Node: if table285150 +Ref: #if-table285271 +Node: end287009 +Ref: #end287123 +Node: date-format287347 +Ref: #date-format287481 +Node: decimal-mark288477 +Ref: #decimal-mark288624 +Node: newest-first288963 +Ref: #newest-first289106 +Node: include289789 +Ref: #include289922 +Node: balance-type290366 +Ref: #balance-type290488 +Node: Tips291188 +Ref: #tips291279 +Node: Rapid feedback291578 +Ref: #rapid-feedback291697 +Node: Valid CSV292149 +Ref: #valid-csv292281 +Node: File Extension292473 +Ref: #file-extension292627 +Node: Reading multiple CSV files293056 +Ref: #reading-multiple-csv-files293243 +Node: Valid transactions293484 +Ref: #valid-transactions293664 +Node: Deduplicating importing294292 +Ref: #deduplicating-importing294473 +Node: Setting amounts295506 +Ref: #setting-amounts295663 +Node: Amount signs298104 +Ref: #amount-signs298258 +Node: Setting currency/commodity298945 +Ref: #setting-currencycommodity299133 +Node: Amount decimal places300307 +Ref: #amount-decimal-places300499 +Node: Referencing other fields300811 +Ref: #referencing-other-fields301010 +Node: How CSV rules are evaluated301907 +Ref: #how-csv-rules-are-evaluated302082 +Node: TIMECLOCK FORMAT303533 +Ref: #timeclock-format303673 +Node: TIMEDOT FORMAT305734 +Ref: #timedot-format305872 +Node: COMMON TASKS310434 +Ref: #common-tasks310563 +Node: Getting help310970 +Ref: #getting-help311104 +Node: Constructing command lines311657 +Ref: #constructing-command-lines311851 +Node: Starting a journal file312548 +Ref: #starting-a-journal-file312748 +Node: Setting opening balances313936 +Ref: #setting-opening-balances314134 +Node: Recording transactions317275 +Ref: #recording-transactions317457 +Node: Reconciling318013 +Ref: #reconciling318158 +Node: Reporting320415 +Ref: #reporting320557 +Node: Migrating to a new file324556 +Ref: #migrating-to-a-new-file324706 +Node: LIMITATIONS325005 +Ref: #limitations325133 +Node: TROUBLESHOOTING325876 +Ref: #troubleshooting325991  End Tag Table diff --git a/hledger/hledger.txt b/hledger/hledger.txt index 2ec1a2e18..31d17e911 100644 --- a/hledger/hledger.txt +++ b/hledger/hledger.txt @@ -404,24 +404,39 @@ OPTIONS cial characters. ENVIRONMENT - LEDGER_FILE The journal file path when not specified with -f. Default: - ~/.hledger.journal (on windows, perhaps C:/Users/USER/.hledger.jour- - nal). + LEDGER_FILE The journal file path when not specified with -f. - A typical value is ~/DIR/YYYY.journal, where DIR is a version-con- - trolled finance directory and YYYY is the current year. Or ~/DIR/cur- - rent.journal, where current.journal is a symbolic link to YYYY.journal. + On unix computers, the default value is: ~/.hledger.journal. - On Mac computers, you can set this and other environment variables in a - more thorough way that also affects applications started from the GUI - (say, an Emacs dock icon). Eg on MacOS Catalina I have a - ~/.MacOSX/environment.plist file containing + A more typical value is something like ~/finance/YYYY.journal, where + ~/finance is a version-controlled finance directory and YYYY is the + current year. Or, ~/finance/current.journal, where current.journal is + a symbolic link to YYYY.journal. + + The usual way to set this permanently is to add a command to one of + your shell's startup files (eg ~/.profile): + + export LEDGER_FILE=~/finance/current.journal` + + On some Mac computers, there is a more thorough way to set environment + variables, that will also affect applications started from the GUI (eg, + Emacs started from a dock icon): In ~/.MacOSX/environment.plist, add an + entry like: { "LEDGER_FILE" : "~/finance/current.journal" } - To see the effect you may need to killall Dock, or reboot. + For this to take effect you might need to killall Dock, or reboot. + + On Windows computers, the default value is probably C:\Users\MyUser- + Name\.hledger.journal. You can change this by running a command like + this in a powershell window: + + > setx LEDGER_FILE "C:\Users\MyUserName\finance\2021.journal" + + (Let us know if you need to be an Administrator, and if this persists + across a reboot.) COLUMNS The screen width used by the register command. Default: the full terminal width. @@ -462,6 +477,8 @@ DATA FILES clock ging timedot timedot files, for approximate time .timedot logging + + csv comma/semicolon/tab/other-separated .csv .ssv .tsv values, for data import @@ -599,6 +616,7 @@ TIME PERIODS -p thismonth all transactions in the current month date:2016/3/17.. the above written as queries instead (.. can also be replaced with -) + date:..12/1 date:thismonth.. date:thismonth @@ -685,7 +703,6 @@ TIME PERIODS earliest or latest transaction in your journal: - -p "from 2009/1/1" everything after january 1, 2009 -p "from 2009/1" the same @@ -736,6 +753,8 @@ TIME PERIODS -p "weekly from 2009/1/1 starts on 2008/12/29, closest preceding Mon- to 2009/4/1" day + + -p "monthly in starts on 2018/11/01 2008/11/25" -p "quarterly from starts on 2009/04/01, ends on 2009/06/30, @@ -804,6 +823,7 @@ TIME PERIODS month -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 November -p "every 5th November" same @@ -1358,6 +1378,9 @@ VALUATION starting bal- cost value at valued at day value at value at ance (-H) report or each historical report or DATE/today journal end posting was made journal end + + + starting bal- cost value at day valued at day value at day value at ance (-H) before each historical before DATE/today with report report or posting was made report or @@ -1392,11 +1415,6 @@ VALUATION bse, cf, is) with report interval - - - - - starting bal- sums of value at sums of values of value at sums of post- ances (-H) costs of report start postings before report start ings before postings of sums of report start at of sums of report start @@ -1588,6 +1606,10 @@ OUTPUT $ hledger balancesheet -o foo.txt -O csv # write CSV to foo.txt + CSV output + o In CSV output, digit group marks (such as thousands separators) are + disabled automatically. + HTML output o HTML output can be styled by an optional hledger.css file in the same directory. @@ -1595,19 +1617,19 @@ OUTPUT JSON output o Not yet much used; real-world feedback is welcome. - o Our JSON is rather large and verbose, as it is quite a faithful rep- - resentation of hledger's internal data types. To understand the + o Our JSON is rather large and verbose, as it is quite a faithful rep- + resentation of hledger's internal data types. To understand the JSON, read the Haskell type definitions, which are mostly in https://github.com/simonmichael/hledger/blob/master/hledger- lib/Hledger/Data/Types.hs. - o hledger represents quantities as Decimal values storing up to 255 - significant digits, eg for repeating decimals. Such numbers can + o hledger represents quantities as Decimal values storing up to 255 + significant digits, eg for repeating decimals. Such numbers can arise in practice (from automatically-calculated transaction prices), - and would break most JSON consumers. So in JSON, we show quantities + and would break most JSON consumers. So in JSON, we show quantities as simple Numbers with at most 10 decimal places. We don't limit the - number of integer digits, but that part is under your control. We - hope this approach will not cause problems in practice; if you find + number of integer digits, but that part is under your control. We + hope this approach will not cause problems in practice; if you find otherwise, please let us know. (Cf #1195) SQL output @@ -1615,33 +1637,33 @@ OUTPUT o SQL output is expected to work with sqlite, MySQL and PostgreSQL - o SQL output is structured with the expectations that statements will - be executed in the empty database. If you already have tables cre- - ated via SQL output of hledger, you would probably want to either + o SQL output is structured with the expectations that statements will + be executed in the empty database. If you already have tables cre- + ated via SQL output of hledger, you would probably want to either clear tables of existing data (via delete or truncate SQL statements) or drop tables completely as otherwise your postings will be duped. Commodity styles - The display style of a commodity/currency is inferred according to the + The display style of a commodity/currency is inferred according to the rules described in Commodity display style. The inferred display style - can be overridden by an optional -c/--commodity-style option (Excep- - tions: as is the case for inferred styles, price amounts, and all - amounts displayed by the print command, will be displayed with all of - their decimal digits visible, regardless of the specified precision). + can be overridden by an optional -c/--commodity-style option (Excep- + tions: as is the case for inferred styles, price amounts, and all + amounts displayed by the print command, will be displayed with all of + their decimal digits visible, regardless of the specified precision). For example, the following will override the display style for dollars. $ hledger print -c '$1.000,0' - The format specification of the style is identical to the commodity - display style specification for the commodity directive. The command - line option can be supplied repeatedly to override the display style + The format specification of the style is identical to the commodity + display style specification for the commodity directive. The command + line option can be supplied repeatedly to override the display style for multiple commodity/currency symbols. COMMANDS - hledger provides a number of commands for producing reports and manag- - ing your data. Run hledger with no arguments to list the commands - available, and hledger CMD to run a command. CMD can be the full com- - mand name, or its standard abbreviation shown in the commands list, or + hledger provides a number of commands for producing reports and manag- + ing your data. Run hledger with no arguments to list the commands + available, and hledger CMD to run a command. CMD can be the full com- + mand name, or its standard abbreviation shown in the commands list, or any unambiguous prefix of the name. Eg: hledger bal. Here are the built-in commands, with the most often-used in bold: @@ -1685,7 +1707,7 @@ COMMANDS o activity - show postings-per-interval bar charts - o balance (bal) - show balance changes/end balances/budgets in any + o balance (bal) - show balance changes/end balances/budgets in any accounts o codes - show transaction codes @@ -1708,10 +1730,10 @@ COMMANDS o print-unique - show only transactions with unique descriptions - o register (reg) - show postings in one or more accounts & running + o register (reg) - show postings in one or more accounts & running total - o register-match - show a recent posting that best matches a descrip- + o register-match - show a recent posting that best matches a descrip- tion o stats - show journal statistics @@ -1722,8 +1744,8 @@ COMMANDS Add-on commands: - Programs or scripts named hledger-SOMETHING in your PATH are add-on - commands; these appear in the commands list with a + mark. Two of + Programs or scripts named hledger-SOMETHING in your PATH are add-on + commands; these appear in the commands list with a + mark. Two of these are maintained and released with hledger: o ui - an efficient terminal interface (TUI) for hledger @@ -1734,10 +1756,10 @@ COMMANDS o iadd - a more interactive alternative for the add command - o interest - generates interest transactions according to various + o interest - generates interest transactions according to various schemes - o stockquotes - downloads market prices for your commodities from + o stockquotes - downloads market prices for your commodities from AlphaVantage (experimental) Next, the detailed command docs, in alphabetical order. @@ -1746,13 +1768,13 @@ COMMANDS accounts Show account names. - This command lists account names, either declared with account direc- - tives (--declared), posted to (--used), or both (the default). With - query arguments, only matched account names and account names refer- - enced by matched postings are shown. 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 com- - ponents. Account names can be depth-clipped with depth:N or --depth N + This command lists account names, either declared with account direc- + tives (--declared), posted to (--used), or both (the default). With + query arguments, only matched account names and account names refer- + enced by matched postings are shown. 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 com- + ponents. Account names can be depth-clipped with depth:N or --depth N or -N. Examples: @@ -1771,8 +1793,8 @@ COMMANDS activity Show an ascii barchart of posting counts per interval. - 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: @@ -1785,25 +1807,25 @@ COMMANDS add add - Prompt for transactions and add them to the journal. Any arguments + Prompt for transactions and add them to the journal. Any arguments will be used as default inputs for the first N prompts. - Many hledger users edit their journals directly with a text editor, or - generate them from CSV. For more interactive data entry, there is the - add command, which prompts interactively on the console for new trans- + Many hledger users edit their journals directly with a text editor, or + generate them from CSV. For more interactive data entry, there is the + add command, which prompts interactively on the console for new trans- actions, and appends them to the journal file (if there are multiple -f - FILE options, the first file is used.) Existing transactions are not - changed. This is the only hledger command that writes to the journal + FILE options, the first file is used.) Existing transactions are not + changed. This is the only hledger command that writes to the journal file. To use it, just run hledger add and follow the prompts. You can add as - many transactions as you like; when you are finished, enter . or press + many transactions as you like; when you are finished, enter . or press control-d or control-c to exit. Features: - o add tries to provide useful defaults, using the most similar (by - description) recent transaction (filtered by the query, if any) as a + o add tries to provide useful defaults, using the most similar (by + description) recent transaction (filtered by the query, if any) as a template. o You can also set the initial defaults with command line arguments. @@ -1811,10 +1833,10 @@ COMMANDS o Readline-style edit keys can be used during data entry. o The tab key will auto-complete whenever possible - accounts, descrip- - tions, dates (yesterday, today, tomorrow). If the input area is + tions, dates (yesterday, today, tomorrow). If the input area is empty, it will insert the default value. - o If the journal defines a default commodity, it will be added to any + o If the journal defines a default commodity, it will be added to any bare numbers entered. o A parenthesised transaction code may be entered following a date. @@ -1823,7 +1845,7 @@ COMMANDS o If you make a mistake, enter < at any prompt to go one step backward. - o Input prompts are displayed in a different colour when the terminal + o Input prompts are displayed in a different colour when the terminal supports it. Example (see the tutorial for a detailed explanation): @@ -1853,91 +1875,91 @@ COMMANDS Starting the next transaction (. or ctrl-D/ctrl-C to quit) Date [2015/05/22]: $ - On Microsoft Windows, the add command makes sure that no part of the + On Microsoft Windows, the add command makes sure that no part of the file path ends with a period, as that would cause problems (#1056). aregister aregister, areg - Show the transactions and running historical balance of a single + Show the transactions and running historical balance of a single account, with each transaction displayed as one line. 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 always + (and any subaccounts). Each report line represents one transaction in + this account. Transactions before the report start date are always included in the running balance (--historical mode is always on). - 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 - expression which will select the alphabetically first matched account. - (Eg if you have assets:aaa:checking and assets:bbb:checking accounts, + 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. + (Eg if you have assets:aaa:checking and assets:bbb:checking accounts, hledger areg checking would select assets:aaa:checking.) - Transactions involving subaccounts of this account will also be shown. - aregister ignores depth limits, so its final total will always match a + Transactions involving subaccounts of this account will also be shown. + aregister ignores depth limits, so its final total will always match a balance report with similar arguments. - Any additional arguments form a query which will filter the transac- + 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. - 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. - This command also supports the output destination and output format + This command also supports the output destination and output format options. The output formats supported are txt, csv, and json. aregister and custom posting dates - Transactions whose date is outside the report period can still be - shown, if they have a posting to this account dated inside the report - period. (And in this case it's the posting date that is shown.) This + Transactions whose date is outside the report period can still be + shown, if they have a posting to this account dated inside the report + period. (And in this case it's the posting date that is shown.) This ensures that aregister can show an accurate historical running balance, matching the one shown by register -H with the same arguments. - To filter strictly by transaction date instead, add the --txn-dates - flag. If you use this flag and some of your postings have custom + To filter strictly by transaction date instead, add the --txn-dates + flag. If you use this flag and some of your postings have custom dates, it's probably best to assume the running balance is wrong. balance balance, bal Show accounts and their balances. - 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 higher-level variants of the balance command with - convenient defaults, which can be simpler to use: balancesheet, bal- + Note there are some higher-level variants of the balance command with + convenient defaults, which can be simpler to use: balancesheet, bal- ancesheetequity, cashflow and incomestatement. When you need more con- trol, 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 higher-level commands as well. balance can show.. @@ -1988,7 +2010,7 @@ COMMANDS ..with.. - o totals (-T), averages (-A), percentages (-%), inverted sign + o totals (-T), averages (-A), percentages (-%), inverted sign (--invert) o rows and columns swapped (--transpose) @@ -2000,21 +2022,21 @@ COMMANDS o commodities displayed on the same line or multiple lines (--layout) This command supports the output destination and output format options, - with output formats txt, csv, json, and (multi-period reports only:) - html. In txt output in a colour-supporting terminal, negative amounts + with output formats txt, csv, json, and (multi-period reports only:) + html. In txt output in a colour-supporting terminal, negative amounts are shown in red. - The --related/-r flag shows the balance of the other postings in the + The --related/-r flag shows the balance of the other postings in the transactions of the postings which would normally be shown. 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. For real-world - accounts, this should also match their end balance at the end of the + 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. For real-world + accounts, this should also match their end balance 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 @@ -2029,7 +2051,7 @@ 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 + - see below) are hidden by default. Use -E/--empty to show them (revealing assets:bank:checking here): $ hledger -f examples/sample.journal bal -E @@ -2044,11 +2066,11 @@ 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. 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: @@ -2058,10 +2080,10 @@ 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 @@ -2081,26 +2103,26 @@ 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 @@ -2112,7 +2134,7 @@ 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: @@ -2124,9 +2146,9 @@ COMMANDS 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 @@ -2147,21 +2169,21 @@ 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. (experimental) - 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. Multi-period reports with many periods can be too wide for easy viewing @@ -2175,32 +2197,32 @@ 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 Showing declared accounts - With --declared, accounts which have been declared with an account - directive will be included in the balance report, even if they have no + With --declared, accounts which have been declared with an account + directive 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 - report, even when you don't have transactions in all of your declared + The idea of this is to be able to see a useful "complete" balance + report, even when you don't have transactions in all of your declared accounts yet. Data layout - The --layout option affects how multi-commodity amounts are displayed, - and some other things, influencing the overall layout of the report + The --layout option affects how multi-commodity amounts are displayed, + and some other things, influencing the overall layout of the report data: o --layout=wide[,WIDTH]: commodities are shown on a single line, possi- @@ -2212,20 +2234,20 @@ COMMANDS bols in a separate column o --layout=tidy: data is normalised to tidy form, with one row per data - value. We currently support this with CSV output only. In tidy - mode, totals and row averages are disabled (-N/--no-total is implied + value. We currently support this with CSV output only. In tidy + mode, totals and row averages are disabled (-N/--no-total is implied and -T/--row-total and -A/--average will be ignored). - These --layout modes are supported with some but not all of the output + These --layout modes are supported with some but not all of the output formats: - - txt csv html json sql ------------------------------------- wide Y Y Y tall Y Y Y bare Y Y Y + tidy Y Examples: @@ -2241,7 +2263,7 @@ COMMANDS ------------------++-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- || 10.00 ITOT, 337.18 USD, 12.00 VEA, 106.00 VHT 70.00 GLD, 18.00 ITOT, -98.12 USD, 10.00 VEA, 18.00 VHT -11.00 ITOT, 4881.44 USD, 14.00 VEA, 170.00 VHT 70.00 GLD, 17.00 ITOT, 5120.50 USD, 36.00 VEA, 294.00 VHT - o Limited wide layout. A width limit reduces the width, but some com- + o Limited wide layout. A width limit reduces the width, but some com- modities will be hidden: $ hledger -f examples/bcexample.hledger bal assets:us:etrade -3 -T -Y --layout=wide,32 @@ -2253,7 +2275,7 @@ 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.. - o Tall layout. Each commodity gets a new line (may be different in + o Tall layout. 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 @@ -2273,7 +2295,7 @@ COMMANDS || 106.00 VHT 10.00 VEA 170.00 VHT 36.00 VEA || 18.00 VHT 294.00 VHT - o Bare layout. Commodity symbols are kept in one column, each commod- + o Bare layout. Commodity symbols are kept in one column, each commod- ity gets its own report row, account names are repeated: $ hledger -f examples/bcexample.hledger bal assets:us:etrade -3 -T -Y --layout=bare @@ -2293,7 +2315,7 @@ COMMANDS || VEA 12.00 10.00 14.00 36.00 || VHT 106.00 18.00 170.00 294.00 - o Bare layout also affects CSV output, which is useful for producing + o Bare layout also affects CSV output, which is useful for producing data that is easier to consume, eg when making charts: $ hledger -f examples/bcexample.hledger bal assets:us:etrade -3 -O csv --layout=bare @@ -2309,10 +2331,10 @@ COMMANDS "total","VEA","36.00" "total","VHT","294.00" - o Tidy layout produces normalised "tidy data", where every variable is - a column and each row represents a single data point (see + o Tidy layout produces normalised "tidy data", where every variable is + a column and each row represents a single data point (see https://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/tidyr/vignettes/tidy- - data.html). This kind of data is the easiest to process with other + data.html). This kind of data is the easiest to process with other software: $ hledger -f examples/bcexample.hledger bal assets:us:etrade -3 -Y -O csv --layout=tidy @@ -2334,21 +2356,21 @@ COMMANDS "Assets:US:ETrade","2014","2014-01-01","2014-12-31","VHT","170.00" 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 big- - gest averaged monthly expenses first. When more than one commodity is - present, they will be sorted by the alphabetically earliest commodity - first, and then by subsequent commodities (if an amount is missing a + With -S/--sort-amount, accounts with the largest (most positive) bal- + ances are shown first. Eg: hledger bal expenses -MAS shows your big- + gest averaged monthly expenses first. When more than one commodity is + present, they will be sorted by the alphabetically earliest commodity + 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 - --invert to flip the signs. (Or, use one of the higher-level reports, - which flip the sign automatically. Eg: hledger incomestatement -MAS). + Revenues and liability balances are typically negative, however, so -S + shows these in reverse order. To work around this, you can add + --invert to flip the signs. (Or, use one of the higher-level reports, + which flip the sign automatically. Eg: hledger incomestatement -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: $ hledger -f examples/sample.journal bal expenses -Q -% @@ -2362,62 +2384,62 @@ COMMANDS || 0 100.0 % 0 0 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:EUR 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 + A balance change is the net amount added to, or removed from, an account 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 types For more flexible reporting, there are three important option groups: - hledger balance [CALCULATIONTYPE] [ACCUMULATIONTYPE] [VALUATIONTYPE] + hledger balance [CALCULATIONTYPE] [ACCUMULATIONTYPE] [VALUATIONTYPE] ... - The first two are the most important: calculation type selects the - basic calculation to perform for each table cell, while accumulation + The first two are the most important: calculation type selects the + basic calculation to perform for each table cell, while accumulation type says which postings should be included in each cell's calculation. - Typically one or both of these are selected by default, so you don't - need to write them explicitly. A valuation type can be added if you + Typically one or both of these are selected by default, so you don't + need to write them explicitly. A valuation type can be added if you want to convert the basic report to value or cost. Calculation type: @@ -2428,27 +2450,27 @@ COMMANDS o --budget : like --sum but also show a goal amount 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) Accumulation type: - Which postings should be included in each cell's calculation. It is + Which postings should be included in each cell's calculation. It is one of: - o --change : postings from column start to column end, ie within the - cell's period. Typically used to see revenues/expenses. (default + o --change : postings from column start to column end, ie within the + cell's period. Typically used to see revenues/expenses. (default for balance, incomestatement) - o --cumulative : postings from report start to column end, eg to show + o --cumulative : postings from report start to column end, eg to show changes accumulated since the report's start date. Rarely used. - o --historical/-H : postings from journal start to column end, ie all + o --historical/-H : postings from journal start to column end, ie all postings from account creation to the end of the cell's period. Typ- ically used to see historical end balances of assets/liabili- - ties/equity. (default for balancesheet, balancesheetequity, cash- + ties/equity. (default for balancesheet, balancesheetequity, cash- flow) Valuation type: @@ -2461,7 +2483,7 @@ COMMANDS o --value=then[,COMM] : show value at transaction dates - o --value=end[,COMM] : show value at period end date(s) (default with + o --value=end[,COMM] : show value at period end date(s) (default with --valuechange, --gain) o --value=now[,COMM] : show value at today's date @@ -2470,13 +2492,13 @@ COMMANDS or one of their aliases: --cost/-B, --market/-V or --exchange/-X. - Most combinations of these options should produce reasonable reports, - but if you find any that seem wrong or misleading, let us know. The + Most combinations of these options should produce reasonable reports, + but if you find any that seem wrong or misleading, let us know. The following 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 @@ -2492,16 +2514,16 @@ COMMANDS v ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ --change change in period sum of posting- period-end DATE-value of - date market val- value of change change in + date market val- value of change change in ues in period in period period --cumu- change from sum of posting- period-end DATE-value of - lative report start to date market val- value of change change from + lative report start to date market val- value of change change from period end ues from report from report report start start to period start to period to period end end end --his- change from sum of posting- period-end DATE-value of - torical journal start to date market val- value of change change from - /-H period end (his- ues from journal from journal journal start + torical journal start to date market val- value of change change from + /-H period end (his- ues from journal from journal journal start torical end bal- start to period start to period to period end ance) end end @@ -2509,25 +2531,25 @@ COMMANDS 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 @@ -2541,12 +2563,12 @@ COMMANDS Show top gainers [or losers] last week Budget report - The --budget report type activates extra columns showing any budget - goals for each account and period. The budget goals are defined by - periodic transactions. This is very useful for comparing planned and + The --budget report type activates extra columns showing any budget + goals for each account and period. The budget goals are defined by + periodic transactions. This is very useful for comparing planned and actual income, expenses, time usage, etc. - For example, you can take average monthly expenses in the common + For example, you can take average monthly expenses in the common expense categories to construct a minimal monthly budget: ;; Budget @@ -2593,26 +2615,26 @@ COMMANDS This is different from a normal balance report in several ways: - o Only accounts with budget goals during the report period are shown, + o Only accounts with budget goals during the report period are shown, by default. - o In each column, in square brackets after the actual amount, budget - goal amounts are shown, and the actual/goal percentage. (Note: bud- + o In each column, in square brackets after the actual amount, budget + goal amounts are shown, and the actual/goal percentage. (Note: bud- get goals should be in the same commodity as the actual amount.) - o All parent accounts are always shown, even in list mode. Eg assets, + o All parent accounts are always shown, even in list mode. Eg assets, assets:bank, and expenses above. - o Amounts always include all subaccounts, budgeted or unbudgeted, even + o Amounts always include all subaccounts, budgeted or unbudgeted, even in list mode. This means that the numbers displayed will not always add up! Eg above, - the expenses actual amount includes the gifts and supplies transac- - tions, but the expenses:gifts and expenses:supplies accounts are not + the expenses actual amount includes the gifts and supplies transac- + tions, but the expenses:gifts and expenses:supplies accounts are not shown, as they have no budget amounts declared. - This can be confusing. When you need to make things clearer, use the - -E/--empty flag, which will reveal all accounts including unbudgeted + This can be confusing. When you need to make things clearer, use the + -E/--empty flag, which will reveal all accounts including unbudgeted ones, giving the full picture. Eg: $ hledger balance -M --budget --empty @@ -2654,12 +2676,12 @@ COMMANDS For more examples and notes, see Budgeting. Budget report start date - This might be a bug, but for now: when making budget reports, it's a + This might be a bug, but for now: when making budget reports, it's a good idea to explicitly set the report's start date to the first day of - a reporting period, because a periodic rule like ~ monthly generates - its transactions on the 1st of each month, and if your journal has no - regular transactions on the 1st, the default report start date could - exclude that budget goal, which can be a little surprising. Eg here + a reporting period, because a periodic rule like ~ monthly generates + its transactions on the 1st of each month, and if your journal has no + regular transactions on the 1st, the default report start date could + exclude that budget goal, which can be a little surprising. Eg here the default report period is just the day of 2020-01-15: ~ monthly in 2020 @@ -2678,9 +2700,9 @@ COMMANDS --------------++------------ || $400 - To avoid this, specify the budget report's period, or at least the - start date, with -b/-e/-p/date:, to ensure it includes the budget goal - transactions (periodic transactions) that you want. Eg, adding -b + To avoid this, specify the budget report's period, or at least the + start date, with -b/-e/-p/date:, to ensure it includes the budget goal + transactions (periodic transactions) that you want. Eg, adding -b 2020/1/1 to the above: $ hledger bal expenses --budget -b 2020/1/1 @@ -2693,12 +2715,12 @@ COMMANDS || $400 [80% of $500] Budgets and subaccounts - You can add budgets to any account in your account hierarchy. If you + You can add budgets to any account in your account hierarchy. If you have budgets on both parent account and some of its children, then bud- - get(s) of the child account(s) would be added to the budget of their + get(s) of the child account(s) would be added to the budget of their parent, much like account balances behave. - In the most simple case this means that once you add a budget to any + In the most simple case this means that once you add a budget to any account, all its parents would have budget as well. To illustrate this, consider the following budget: @@ -2708,13 +2730,13 @@ COMMANDS expenses:personal:electronics $100.00 liabilities - With this, monthly budget for electronics is defined to be $100 and - budget for personal expenses is an additional $1000, which implicitly + With this, monthly budget for electronics is defined to be $100 and + budget for personal expenses is an additional $1000, which implicitly means that budget for both expenses:personal and expenses is $1100. - Transactions in expenses:personal:electronics will be counted both - towards its $100 budget and $1100 of expenses:personal , and transac- - tions in any other subaccount of expenses:personal would be counted + Transactions in expenses:personal:electronics will be counted both + towards its $100 budget and $1100 of expenses:personal , and transac- + tions in any other subaccount of expenses:personal would be counted towards only towards the budget of expenses:personal. For example, let's consider these transactions: @@ -2740,9 +2762,9 @@ COMMANDS expenses:personal $30.00 liabilities - As you can see, we have transactions in expenses:personal:electron- - ics:upgrades and expenses:personal:train tickets, and since both of - these accounts are without explicitly defined budget, these transac- + As you can see, we have transactions in expenses:personal:electron- + ics:upgrades and expenses:personal:train tickets, and since both of + these accounts are without explicitly defined budget, these transac- tions would be counted towards budgets of expenses:personal:electronics and expenses:personal accordingly: @@ -2758,7 +2780,7 @@ COMMANDS -------------------------------++------------------------------- || 0 [ 0] - And with --empty, we can get a better picture of budget allocation and + And with --empty, we can get a better picture of budget allocation and consumption: $ hledger balance --budget -M --empty @@ -2777,28 +2799,28 @@ COMMANDS Selecting budget goals The budget report evaluates periodic transaction rules to generate spe- - cial "goal transactions", which generate the goal amounts for each - account in each report subperiod. When troubleshooting, you can use + cial "goal transactions", which generate the goal amounts for each + account in each report subperiod. When troubleshooting, you can use the print command to show these as forecasted transactions: $ hledger print --forecast=BUDGETREPORTPERIOD tag:generated - 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), and then + regular expression or query). This means you can give your periodic + rules descriptions (remember that two spaces are needed), and then select from multiple budgets defined in your journal. Customising single-period balance reports 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)" @@ -2816,7 +2838,7 @@ COMMANDS 0 The FMT format string (plus a newline) specifies the formatting applied - to each account/balance pair. It may contain any suitable text, with + to each account/balance pair. It may contain any suitable text, with data fields interpolated like so: %[MIN][.MAX](FIELDNAME) @@ -2827,14 +2849,14 @@ 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) @@ -2843,34 +2865,34 @@ COMMANDS o %, - render on one line, comma-separated - There are some quirks. Eg in one-line mode, %(depth_spacer) has no - effect, instead %(account) has indentation built in. Experimentation + There are some quirks. Eg in one-line mode, %(depth_spacer) has no + effect, 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 balancesheet balancesheet, bs - 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.) Amounts are shown with normal positive + balancesheetequity command.) Amounts are shown with normal positive sign, as in conventional financial statements. The asset and liability accounts shown are those accounts declared with - the Asset or Cash or Liability type, or otherwise all accounts under a - top-level asset or liability account (case insensitive, plurals + the Asset or Cash or Liability type, or otherwise all accounts under a + top-level asset or liability account (case insensitive, plurals allowed). Example: @@ -2895,23 +2917,23 @@ COMMANDS 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 - options The output formats supported are txt, csv, html, and (experi- + This command also supports the output destination and output format + options The output formats supported are txt, csv, html, and (experi- mental) json. balancesheetequity 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. - The asset, liability and equity accounts shown are those accounts - declared with the Asset, Cash, Liability or Equity type, or otherwise + The asset, liability and equity accounts shown are those accounts + declared with the Asset, Cash, Liability or Equity type, or otherwise all accounts under a top-level asset, liability or equity account (case insensitive, plurals allowed). @@ -2942,24 +2964,24 @@ COMMANDS 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 command also supports the output destination and output format - options The output formats supported are txt, csv, html, and (experi- + This command also supports the output destination and output format + options The output formats supported are txt, csv, html, and (experi- mental) json. cashflow cashflow, cf - This command displays a cashflow statement, showing the inflows and - outflows affecting "cash" (ie, liquid) assets. Amounts are shown with + This command displays a cashflow statement, showing the inflows and + outflows affecting "cash" (ie, liquid) assets. Amounts are shown with normal positive sign, as in conventional financial statements. - The "cash" accounts shown are those accounts declared with the Cash - type, or otherwise all accounts under a top-level asset account (case - insensitive, plural allowed) which do not have fixed, investment, + The "cash" accounts shown are those accounts declared with the Cash + type, or otherwise all accounts under a top-level asset account (case + insensitive, plural allowed) which do not have fixed, investment, receivable or A/R in their name. Example: @@ -2979,22 +3001,22 @@ 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 - options The output formats supported are txt, csv, html, and (experi- + This command also supports the output destination and output format + options The output formats supported are txt, csv, html, and (experi- mental) json. check check Check for various kinds of errors in your data. - hledger provides a number of built-in error checks to help prevent - problems in your data. Some of these are run automatically; or, you - can use this check command to run them on demand, with no output and a - zero exit code if all is well. Specify their names (or a prefix) as + hledger provides a number of built-in error checks to help prevent + problems in your data. Some of these are run automatically; or, you + can use this check command to run them on demand, with no output and a + zero exit code if all is well. Specify their names (or a prefix) as argument(s). Some examples: @@ -3012,27 +3034,27 @@ COMMANDS o parseable - data files are well-formed and can be successfully parsed o balancedwithautoconversion - all transactions are balanced, inferring - missing amounts where necessary, and possibly converting commodities + missing amounts where necessary, and possibly converting commodities using transaction prices or automatically-inferred transaction prices - o assertions - all balance assertions in the journal are passing. + o assertions - all balance assertions in the journal are passing. (This check can be disabled with -I/--ignore-assertions.) Strict checks These additional checks are run when the -s/--strict (strict mode) flag - is used. Or, they can be run by giving their names as arguments to + is used. Or, they can be run by giving their names as arguments to check: o accounts - all account names used by transactions have been declared o commodities - all commodity symbols used have been declared - o balancednoautoconversion - transactions are balanced, possibly using + o balancednoautoconversion - transactions are balanced, possibly using explicit transaction prices but not inferred ones Other checks - These checks can be run only by giving their names as arguments to - check. They are more specialised and not desirable for everyone, + These checks can be run only by giving their names as arguments to + check. They are more specialised and not desirable for everyone, therefore optional: o ordereddates - transactions are ordered by date within each file @@ -3042,13 +3064,13 @@ COMMANDS o uniqueleafnames - all account leaf names are unique Custom checks - A few more checks are are available as separate add-on commands, in + A few more checks are are available as separate add-on commands, in https://github.com/simonmichael/hledger/tree/master/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 You could make similar scripts to perform your own custom checks. See: @@ -3056,38 +3078,38 @@ COMMANDS close close, equity - Prints a sample "closing" transaction bringing specified account bal- - ances to zero, and an inverse "opening" transaction restoring the same + Prints a sample "closing" transaction bringing specified account bal- + ances to zero, and an inverse "opening" transaction restoring the same account balances. - If like most people you split your journal files by time, eg by year: - at the end of the year you can use this command to "close out" your - asset and liability (and perhaps equity) balances in the old file, and - reinitialise them in the new file. This helps ensure that report bal- - ances remain correct whether you are including old files or not. - (Because all closing/opening transactions except the very first will + If like most people you split your journal files by time, eg by year: + at the end of the year you can use this command to "close out" your + asset and liability (and perhaps equity) balances in the old file, and + reinitialise them in the new file. This helps ensure that report bal- + ances remain correct whether you are including old files or not. + (Because all closing/opening transactions except the very first will cancel out - see example below.) Some people also use this command to close out revenue and expense bal- - ances at the end of an accounting period. This properly records the - period's profit/loss as "retained earnings" (part of equity), and + ances at the end of an accounting period. This properly records the + period's profit/loss as "retained earnings" (part of equity), and allows the accounting equation (A-L=E) to balance, which you could then check by the bse report's zero total. - You can print just the closing transaction by using the --close flag, + You can print just the closing transaction by using the --close flag, or just the opening transaction with the --open flag. Their descriptions are closing balances and opening balances by - default; you can customise these with the --close-desc and --open-desc + default; you can customise these with the --close-desc and --open-desc options. - Just one balancing equity posting is used by default, with the amount + Just one balancing equity posting is used by default, with the amount left implicit. The default account name is equity:opening/closing bal- - ances. You can customise the account name(s) with --close-acct and - --open-acct. (If you specify only one of these, it will be used for + ances. You can customise the account name(s) with --close-acct and + --open-acct. (If you specify only one of these, it will be used for both.) - With --x/--explicit, the equity posting's amount will be shown explic- + With --x/--explicit, the equity posting's amount will be shown explic- itly, and if it involves multiple commodities, there will be a separate equity posting for each commodity (as in the print command). @@ -3095,29 +3117,29 @@ COMMANDS balances (good for troubleshooting). close and prices - Transaction prices are ignored (and discarded) by closing/opening + Transaction prices are ignored (and discarded) by closing/opening transactions, by default. With --show-costs, they are preserved; there - will be a separate equity posting for each cost in each commodity. - This means balance -B reports will look the same after the transition. + will be a separate equity posting for each cost in each commodity. + This means balance -B reports will look the same after the transition. Note if you have many foreign currency or investment transactions, this will generate very large journal entries. close date - The default closing date is yesterday, or the journal's end date, + The default closing date is yesterday, or the journal's end date, whichever is later. - Unless you are running close on exactly the first day of the new - period, you'll want to override the closing date. This is done by - specifying a report end date, where "last day of the report period" - will be the closing date. The opening date is always the following - day. So to close on (end of) 2020-12-31 and open on (start of) + Unless you are running close on exactly the first day of the new + period, you'll want to override the closing date. This is done by + specifying a report end date, where "last day of the report period" + will be the closing date. The opening date is always the following + day. So to close on (end of) 2020-12-31 and open on (start of) 2021-01-01, any of these will work: end date argument explanation ----------------------------------------------- -e 2021-01-01 end dates are exclusive - -e 2021 equivalent, per smart + -e 2021 equivalent, per smart dates -p 2020 equivalent, the period's begin date is ignored @@ -3145,17 +3167,17 @@ COMMANDS Hiding opening/closing transactions Although the closing/opening transactions cancel out, they will be vis- - ible in reports like print and register, creating some visual clutter. + ible in reports like print and register, creating some visual clutter. You can exclude them all with a query, like: $ hledger print not:desc:'opening|closing' # less typing $ hledger print not:'equity:opening/closing balances' # more precise - But when reporting on multiple files, this can get a bit tricky; you + But when reporting on multiple files, this can get a bit tricky; you may need to keep the earliest opening balances, for a historical regis- - ter report; or you may need to suppress a closing transaction, to see - year-end balances. If you find yourself needing more precise queries, - here's one solution: add more easily-matched tags to opening/closing + ter report; or you may need to suppress a closing transaction, to see + year-end balances. If you find yourself needing more precise queries, + here's one solution: add more easily-matched tags to opening/closing transactions, like this: ; 2019.journal @@ -3190,18 +3212,18 @@ COMMANDS # 2020 year end balances, suppressing 2020 closing txn close and balance assertions - The closing and opening transactions will include balance assertions, - verifying that the accounts have first been reset to zero and then - restored to their previous balance. These provide valuable error - checking, alerting you when things get out of line, but you can ignore + The closing and opening transactions will include balance assertions, + verifying that the accounts have first been reset to zero and then + restored to their previous balance. These provide valuable error + checking, alerting you when things get out of line, but you can ignore them temporarily with -I or just remove them if you prefer. You probably shouldn't use status or realness filters (like -C or -R or status:) with close, or the generated balance assertions will depend on - these flags. Likewise, if you run this command with --auto, the bal- + these flags. Likewise, if you run this command with --auto, the bal- ance assertions would probably always require --auto. - Multi-day transactions (where some postings have a different date) + Multi-day transactions (where some postings have a different date) break the balance assertions, because the money is temporarily "invisi- ble" while in transit: @@ -3209,8 +3231,8 @@ COMMANDS expenses:food 5 assets:bank:checking -5 ; date: 2021/1/2 - To fix the assertions, you can add a temporary account to track such - in-transit money (splitting the multi-day transaction into two single- + To fix the assertions, you can add a temporary account to track such + in-transit money (splitting the multi-day transaction into two single- day transactions): ; in 2020.journal: @@ -3224,8 +3246,8 @@ COMMANDS assets:bank:checking Example: close revenue/expense accounts to retained earnings - For this, use --close to suppress the opening transaction, as it's not - needed. Also you'll want to change the equity account name to your + For this, use --close to suppress the opening transaction, as it's not + needed. Also you'll want to change the equity account name to your equivalent of "equity:retained earnings". Closing 2021's first quarter revenues/expenses: @@ -3238,13 +3260,13 @@ COMMANDS $ hledger close --close revenues expenses -p Q1 \ --close-acct='equity:retained earnings' >> $LEDGER_FILE - Now, the first quarter's balance sheet should show a zero (unless you + Now, the first quarter's balance sheet should show a zero (unless you are using @/@@ notation without equity postings): $ hledger bse -p Q1 And we must suppress the closing transaction to see the first quarter's - income statement (using the description; not:'retained earnings' won't + income statement (using the description; not:'retained earnings' won't work here): $ hledger is -p Q1 not:desc:'closing balances' @@ -3253,13 +3275,13 @@ COMMANDS codes List the codes seen in transactions, in the order parsed. - This command prints the value of each transaction's code field, in the - order transactions were parsed. The transaction code is an optional - value written in parentheses between the date and description, often + This command prints the value of each transaction's code field, in the + order transactions were parsed. The transaction code is an optional + value written in parentheses between the date and description, often used to store a cheque number, order number or similar. Transactions aren't required to have a code, and missing or empty codes - will not be shown by default. With the -E/--empty flag, they will be + will not be shown by default. With the -E/--empty flag, they will be printed as blank lines. You can add a query to select a subset of transactions. @@ -3299,7 +3321,7 @@ COMMANDS List the unique descriptions that appear in transactions. 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: @@ -3311,18 +3333,18 @@ COMMANDS diff 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. More precisely, for each posting affecting this account in either file, - it looks for a corresponding posting in the other file which posts the - same amount to the same account (ignoring date, description, etc.) + it looks for a corresponding posting in the other file which posts the + same amount to the same account (ignoring date, description, etc.) Since postings not transactions are compared, this also works when mul- tiple bank transactions have been combined into a single journal entry. This is useful eg if you have downloaded an account's transactions from - your bank (eg as CSV data). When hledger and your bank disagree about + your bank (eg as CSV data). When hledger and your bank disagree about the account balance, you can compare the bank data with your journal to find out the cause. @@ -3340,22 +3362,22 @@ COMMANDS files files - List all files included in the journal. With a REGEX argument, only - file names matching the regular expression (case sensitive) are shown. + List all files included in the journal. With a REGEX argument, only + file names matching the regular expression (case sensitive) are shown. help help - Show the hledger user manual in one of several formats, optionally + Show the hledger user manual in one of several formats, optionally positioned at a given TOPIC (if possible). - TOPIC is any heading in the manual, or the start of any heading (but + TOPIC is any heading in the manual, or the start of any heading (but not the middle). It is case insensitive. - Some examples: commands, print, forecast, "auto postings", "commodity + Some examples: commands, print, forecast, "auto postings", "commodity column". - This command shows the user manual built in to this hledger version. - It can be useful if the correct version of the hledger manual, or the + This command shows the user manual built in to this hledger version. + It can be useful if the correct version of the hledger manual, or the usual viewing tools, are not installed on your system. By default it uses the best viewer it can find in $PATH, in this order: @@ -3365,66 +3387,66 @@ COMMANDS import import - Read new transactions added to each FILE since last run, and add them - to the main journal file. Or with --dry-run, just print the transac- - tions that would be added. Or with --catchup, just mark all of the + Read new transactions added to each FILE since last run, and add them + to the main journal file. Or with --dry-run, just print the transac- + tions that would be added. Or with --catchup, just mark all of the FILEs' transactions as imported, without actually importing any. - Unlike other hledger commands, with import the journal file is an out- + Unlike other hledger commands, with import the journal file is an out- put file, and will be modified, though only by appending (existing data - will not be changed). The input files are specified as arguments, so - to import one or more CSV files to your main journal, you will run + will not be changed). The input files are specified as arguments, so + to import one or more CSV files to your main journal, you will run hledger import bank.csv or perhaps hledger import *.csv. Note you can import from any file format, though CSV files are the most common import source, and these docs focus on that case. Deduplication - As a convenience import does deduplication while reading transactions. + As a convenience import does deduplication while reading transactions. This does not mean "ignore transactions that look the same", but rather "ignore transactions that have been seen before". This is intended for - when you are periodically importing foreign data which may contain - already-imported transactions. So eg, if every day you download bank - CSV files containing redundant data, you can safely run hledger import - bank.csv and only new transactions will be imported. (import is idem- + when you are periodically importing foreign data which may contain + already-imported transactions. So eg, if every day you download bank + CSV files containing redundant data, you can safely run hledger import + bank.csv and only new transactions will be imported. (import is idem- potent.) - Since the items being read (CSV records, eg) often do not come with - unique identifiers, hledger detects new transactions by date, assuming + Since the items being read (CSV records, eg) often do not come with + unique identifiers, hledger detects new transactions by date, assuming that: 1. new items always have the newest dates 2. item dates do not change across reads - 3. and items with the same date remain in the same relative order + 3. and items with the same date remain in the same relative order across reads. - These are often true of CSV files representing transactions, or true - enough so that it works pretty well in practice. 1 is important, but + These are often true of CSV files representing transactions, or true + enough so that it works pretty well in practice. 1 is important, but violations of 2 and 3 amongst the old transactions won't matter (and if - you import often, the new transactions will be few, so less likely to + you import often, the new transactions will be few, so less likely to be the ones affected). - hledger remembers the latest date processed in each input file by sav- + hledger remembers the latest date processed in each input file by sav- ing a hidden ".latest" state file in the same directory. Eg when read- - ing finance/bank.csv, it will look for and update the finance/.lat- - est.bank.csv state file. The format is simple: one or more lines con- - taining the same ISO-format date (YYYY-MM-DD), meaning "I have pro- - cessed transactions up to this date, and this many of them on that + ing finance/bank.csv, it will look for and update the finance/.lat- + est.bank.csv state file. The format is simple: one or more lines con- + taining the same ISO-format date (YYYY-MM-DD), meaning "I have pro- + cessed transactions up to this date, and this many of them on that date." Normally you won't see or manipulate these state files yourself. - But if needed, you can delete them to reset the state (making all - transactions "new"), or you can construct them to "catch up" to a cer- + But if needed, you can delete them to reset the state (making all + transactions "new"), or you can construct them to "catch up" to a cer- tain date. - Note deduplication (and updating of state files) can also be done by + Note deduplication (and updating of state files) can also be done by print --new, but this is less often used. Import testing - With --dry-run, the transactions that will be imported are printed to + With --dry-run, the transactions that will be imported are printed to the terminal, without updating your journal or state files. The output - is valid journal format, like the print command, so you can re-parse - it. Eg, to see any importable transactions which CSV rules have not + is valid journal format, like the print command, so you can re-parse + it. Eg, to see any importable transactions which CSV rules have not categorised: $ hledger import --dry bank.csv | hledger -f- -I print unknown @@ -3434,17 +3456,17 @@ COMMANDS $ ls bank.csv* | entr bash -c 'echo ====; hledger import --dry bank.csv | hledger -f- -I print unknown' Importing balance assignments - Entries added by import will have their posting amounts made explicit - (like hledger print -x). This means that any balance assignments in - imported files must be evaluated; but, imported files don't get to see - the main file's account balances. As a result, importing entries with + Entries added by import will have their posting amounts made explicit + (like hledger print -x). This means that any balance assignments in + imported files must be evaluated; but, imported files don't get to see + the main file's account balances. As a result, importing entries with balance assignments (eg from an institution that provides only balances - and not posting amounts) will probably generate incorrect posting + and not posting amounts) will probably generate incorrect posting amounts. To avoid this problem, use print instead of import: $ hledger print IMPORTFILE [--new] >> $LEDGER_FILE - (If you think import should leave amounts implicit like print does, + (If you think import should leave amounts implicit like print does, please test it and send a pull request.) Commodity display styles @@ -3455,12 +3477,12 @@ COMMANDS incomestatement, is This command displays an income statement, showing revenues and - expenses during one or more periods. Amounts are shown with normal + expenses during one or more periods. Amounts are shown with normal positive sign, as in conventional financial statements. The revenue and expense accounts shown are those accounts declared with - the Revenue or Expense type, or otherwise all accounts under a top- - level revenue or income or expense account (case insensitive, plurals + the Revenue or Expense type, or otherwise all accounts under a top- + level revenue or income or expense account (case insensitive, plurals allowed). Example: @@ -3487,22 +3509,22 @@ COMMANDS 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 - options The output formats supported are txt, csv, html, and (experi- + This command also supports the output destination and output format + options The output formats supported are txt, csv, html, and (experi- mental) json. notes notes List the unique notes that appear in transactions. - This command lists the unique notes that appear in transactions, in - alphabetic order. You can add a query to select a subset of transac- - tions. The note is the part of the transaction description after a | + This command lists the unique notes that appear in transactions, in + alphabetic 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: @@ -3515,14 +3537,14 @@ COMMANDS payees List the unique payee/payer names that appear in transactions. - This command lists unique payee/payer names which have been declared - with payee directives (--declared), used in transaction descriptions + This command lists unique payee/payer names which have been declared + with payee directives (--declared), used in transaction descriptions (--used), or both (the default). - The payee/payer is the part of the transaction description before a | + The payee/payer is the part of the transaction description before a | character (or if there is no |, the whole description). - You can add query arguments to select a subset of transactions. This + You can add query arguments to select a subset of transactions. This implies --used. Example: @@ -3534,11 +3556,11 @@ COMMANDS prices prices - Print market price directives from the journal. With --infer-market- - prices, generate additional market prices from transaction prices. - With --infer-reverse-prices, also generate market prices by inverting + Print market price directives from the journal. With --infer-market- + prices, generate additional market prices from transaction prices. + With --infer-reverse-prices, also generate market prices by inverting transaction prices. Prices (and postings providing transaction prices) - can be filtered by a query. Price amounts are displayed with their + can be filtered by a query. Price amounts are displayed with their full precision. print @@ -3548,17 +3570,17 @@ COMMANDS The print command displays full journal entries (transactions) from the journal file, sorted by date (or with --date2, by secondary date). - Amounts are shown mostly normalised to commodity display style, eg the - placement of commodity symbols will be consistent. All of their deci- + Amounts are shown mostly normalised to commodity display style, eg the + placement of commodity symbols will be consistent. All of their deci- mal places are shown, as in the original journal entry (with one alter- ation: in some cases trailing zeroes are added.) Amounts are shown right-aligned within each transaction (but not across all transactions). - Directives and inter-transaction comments are not shown, currently. + Directives and inter-transaction comments are not shown, currently. This means the print command is somewhat lossy, and if you are using it - to reformat your journal you should take care to also copy over the + to reformat your journal you should take care to also copy over the directives and file-level comments. Eg: @@ -3585,7 +3607,7 @@ COMMANDS liabilities:debts $1 assets:bank:checking $-1 - print's output is usually a valid hledger journal, and you can process + 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, eg: @@ -3595,39 +3617,39 @@ COMMANDS There are some situations where print's output can become unparseable: - o Valuation affects posting amounts but not balance assertion or bal- + o Valuation affects posting amounts but not balance assertion or bal- ance assignment amounts, potentially causing those to fail. o Auto postings can generate postings with too many missing amounts. Normally, the journal entry's explicit or implicit amount style is pre- served. For example, when an amount is omitted in the journal, it will - not appear in the output. Similarly, when a transaction price is + not appear in the output. Similarly, when a transaction price is implied but not written, it will not appear in the output. You can use - the -x/--explicit flag to make all amounts and transaction prices - explicit, which can be useful for troubleshooting or for making your + the -x/--explicit flag to make all amounts and transaction prices + explicit, which can be useful for troubleshooting or for making your journal more readable and robust against data entry errors. -x is also implied by using any of -B,-V,-X,--value. - Note, -x/--explicit will cause postings with a multi-commodity amount - (these can arise when a multi-commodity transaction has an implicit - amount) to be split into multiple single-commodity postings, keeping + Note, -x/--explicit will cause postings with a multi-commodity amount + (these can arise when a multi-commodity transaction has an implicit + amount) to be split into multiple single-commodity postings, keeping the output parseable. - With -B/--cost, amounts with transaction prices are converted to cost + With -B/--cost, amounts with transaction prices are converted to cost using that price. This can be used for troubleshooting. - With -m/--match and a STR argument, print will show at most one trans- - action: the one one whose description is most similar to STR, and is - most recent. STR should contain at least two characters. If there is + With -m/--match and a STR argument, print will show at most one trans- + action: the one one whose description is most similar to STR, and is + most recent. STR should contain at least two characters. If there is no similar-enough match, no transaction will be shown. - With --new, hledger prints only transactions it has not seen on a pre- - vious run. This uses the same deduplication system as the import com- + With --new, hledger prints only transactions it has not seen on a pre- + vious run. This uses the same deduplication system as the import com- mand. (See import's docs for details.) - This command also supports the output destination and output format - options The output formats supported are txt, csv, and (experimental) + This command also supports the output destination and output format + options The output formats supported are txt, csv, and (experimental) json and sql. Here's an example of print's CSV output: @@ -3646,20 +3668,20 @@ 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.) print-unique @@ -3683,14 +3705,14 @@ COMMANDS Show postings and their running total. 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 @@ -3701,8 +3723,8 @@ COMMANDS With --date2, it shows and sorts by secondary date instead. - 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 @@ -3712,30 +3734,30 @@ 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 + the whole report period). This flag implies --empty (see below). It + is affected by --historical. It works best when showing just one account 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 + bers. It's also useful to show postings on the checking account together with the related account: $ hledger register --related --invert assets:checking - With a reporting interval, register shows summary postings, one per + With a reporting interval, register shows summary postings, one per interval, aggregating the postings to each account: $ hledger register --monthly income 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 @@ -3752,7 +3774,7 @@ COMMANDS 2008/11 0 $-2 2008/12 0 $-2 - Often, you'll want to see just one line per interval. The --depth + Often, you'll want to see just one line per interval. The --depth option helps with this, causing subaccounts to be aggregated: $ hledger register --monthly assets --depth 1h @@ -3760,19 +3782,19 @@ 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 - intervals. 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 + intervals. This ensures that the first and last intervals are full length and comparable to the others in the report. Custom register output - register uses the full terminal width by default, except on windows. - You can override this by setting the COLUMNS environment variable (not + register uses the full terminal width by default, except on windows. + You can override this by setting the COLUMNS environment variable (not a bash shell variable) or by using the --width/-w option. - The description and account columns normally share the space equally - (about half of (width - 40) each). You can adjust this by adding a - description width as part of --width's argument, comma-separated: + The description and account columns normally share the space equally + (about half of (width - 40) each). You can adjust this by adding a + description width as part of --width's argument, comma-separated: --width W,D . Here's a diagram (won't display correctly in --help): <--------------------------------- width (W) ----------------------------------> @@ -3788,28 +3810,28 @@ COMMANDS $ hledger reg -w 100,40 # set overall width 100, description width 40 $ hledger reg -w $COLUMNS,40 # use terminal width, & description width 40 - This command also supports the output destination and output format - options The output formats supported are txt, csv, and (experimental) + This command also supports the output destination and output format + options The output formats supported are txt, csv, and (experimental) json. register-match register-match Print the one posting whose transaction description is closest to DESC, - in the style of the register command. If there are multiple equally - good matches, it shows the most recent. Query options (options, not - arguments) can be used to restrict the search space. Helps ledger- + in the style of the register command. If there are multiple equally + good matches, it shows the most recent. Query options (options, not + arguments) can be used to restrict the search space. Helps ledger- autosync detect already-seen transactions when importing. rewrite 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. 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: @@ -3825,7 +3847,7 @@ 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: @@ -3835,16 +3857,16 @@ 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 - includes a commodity name, the new posting amount will be in the new - commodity; otherwise, it will be in the matched posting amount's com- + factor for an amount of original matched posting. If the amount + includes a commodity name, the new posting amount will be in the new + commodity; otherwise, it will be in the matched posting amount's com- modity. 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. @@ -3859,7 +3881,7 @@ 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. @@ -3872,12 +3894,12 @@ 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' @@ -3901,10 +3923,10 @@ 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: @@ -3912,54 +3934,54 @@ 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. roi 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. - At a minimum, you need to supply a query (which could be just an - account name) to select your investment(s) with --inv, and another + At a minimum, you need to supply a query (which could be just an + account 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) and time-weighted rate of return (TWR) for your investments for - the time period requested. Both rates of return are annualized before + This command will compute and display the internalized rate of return + (IRR) and time-weighted rate of return (TWR) for your investments for + the time period requested. Both rates of return are annualized before display, regardless of the length of reporting interval. - 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 + o Error (NotBracketed): No solution for Internal Rate of Return (IRR). + Possible causes: IRR is huge (>1000000%), balance of investment becomes 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/roi- unrealised.ledger @@ -3969,27 +3991,27 @@ 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 + o "Cash flow" is depositing or withdrawing money, buying or selling assets, or otherwise converting between your investment commodity and any other commodity. Example: @@ -4007,12 +4029,12 @@ 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 + 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 return. - 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 @@ -4029,76 +4051,76 @@ 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. + Internal rate of return, or "IRR" (also called "money-weighted rate of + return") takes into account effects of in-flows and out-flows. Naively, if you are withdrawing from your investment, your future gains - would be smaller (in absolute numbers), and will be a smaller percent- - age of your initial investment, and if you are adding to your invest- - ment, you will receive bigger absolute gains (but probably at the same - rate of return). IRR is a way to compute rate of return for each + would be smaller (in absolute numbers), and will be a smaller percent- + age of your initial investment, and if you are adding to your invest- + ment, you will receive bigger absolute gains (but probably at the same + rate of return). IRR is a way to compute rate of return for each period between in-flow or out-flow of money, and then combine them in a - way that gives you a compound annual rate of return that investment is + way that gives you a compound annual rate of return that investment is expected to generate. - 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 + Second way to compute rate of return that roi command implements is called "time-weighted rate of return" or "TWR". Like IRR, it will also - break the history of your investment into periods between in-flows, - out-flows and value changes, to compute rate of return per each period - and then a compound rate of return. However, internal workings of TWR + break the history of your investment into periods between in-flows, + out-flows and value changes, to compute rate of return per each period + and then a compound rate of return. However, internal workings of TWR are quite different. - TWR represents your investment as an imaginary "unit fund" where in- - flows/ out-flows lead to buying or selling "units" 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 investment and changes in its value change the value of "investment unit". Change - in "unit price" over the reporting period gives you rate of return of + in "unit price" over the reporting period gives you rate of return of your investment. - References: * Explanation of rate of return * Explanation of IRR * - Explanation of TWR * Examples of computing IRR and TWR and discussion + References: * Explanation of rate of return * Explanation of IRR * + Explanation of TWR * Examples of computing IRR and TWR and discussion of the limitations of both metrics stats stats Show journal and performance statistics. - The stats command displays summary information for the whole journal, - or a matched part of it. With a reporting interval, it shows a report + The stats command displays summary information for the whole journal, + or a matched part of it. With a reporting interval, it shows a report for each report period. - At the end, it shows (in the terminal) the overall run time and number - of transactions processed per second. Note these are approximate and - will vary based on machine, current load, data size, hledger version, - haskell lib versions, GHC version.. but they may be of interest. The - stats command's run time is similar to that of a single-column balance + At the end, it shows (in the terminal) the overall run time and number + of transactions processed per second. Note these are approximate and + will vary based on machine, current load, data size, hledger version, + haskell lib versions, GHC version.. but they may be of interest. The + stats command's run time is similar to that of a single-column balance report. Example: @@ -4119,35 +4141,35 @@ COMMANDS Run time : 0.12 s Throughput : 8342 txns/s - This command also supports output destination and output format selec- + This command also supports output destination and output format selec- tion. tags tags - List the unique tag names used in the journal. With a TAGREGEX argu- + List the unique tag names used in the journal. With a TAGREGEX argu- ment, only tag names matching the regular expression (case insensitive) - are shown. With QUERY arguments, only transactions matching the query + are shown. With QUERY arguments, only transactions matching the query are considered. With the --values flag, the tags' unique values are listed instead. - With --parsed flag, all tags or values are shown in the order they are + With --parsed flag, all tags or values are shown in the order they are parsed from the input data, including duplicates. - With -E/--empty, any blank/empty values will also be shown, otherwise + With -E/--empty, any blank/empty values will also be shown, otherwise they are omitted. test test Run built-in unit tests. - 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! This command also accepts tasty test runner options, written after a -- @@ -4156,7 +4178,7 @@ COMMANDS $ hledger test -- -pData.Amount --color=never - For help on these, see https://github.com/feuerbach/tasty#options (-- + For help on these, see https://github.com/feuerbach/tasty#options (-- --help currently doesn't show them). About add-on commands @@ -4164,16 +4186,16 @@ COMMANDS o whose name starts with hledger- - o whose name ends with a recognised file extension: .bat,.com,.exe, + o whose name ends with a recognised file extension: .bat,.com,.exe, .hs,.lhs,.pl,.py,.rb,.rkt,.sh or none o and (on unix, mac) which are executable by the current user. - Add-ons are a relatively easy way to add local features or experiment - with new ideas. They can be written in any language, but haskell - scripts have a big advantage: they can use the same hledger library - functions that built-in commands use for command-line options, parsing - and reporting. Some experimental/example add-on scripts can be found + Add-ons are a relatively easy way to add local features or experiment + with new ideas. They can be written in any language, but haskell + scripts have a big advantage: they can use the same hledger library + functions that built-in commands use for command-line options, parsing + and reporting. Some experimental/example add-on scripts can be found in the hledger repo's bin/ directory. Note in a hledger command line, add-on command flags must have a double @@ -4197,17 +4219,17 @@ COMMANDS JOURNAL FORMAT hledger's default file format, representing a General Journal. - hledger's usual data source is a plain text file containing journal - entries in hledger journal format. This file represents a standard - accounting general journal. I use file names ending in .journal, but + hledger's usual data source is a plain text file containing journal + entries in hledger journal format. This file represents a standard + accounting general journal. I use file names ending in .journal, but that's not required. The journal file contains a number of transaction entries, each describing a transfer of money (or any commodity) between two or more named accounts, in a simple format readable by both hledger and humans. - hledger's journal format is a compatible subset, mostly, of ledger's - journal format, so hledger can work with compatible ledger journal - files as well. It's safe, and encouraged, to run both hledger and + hledger's journal format is a compatible subset, mostly, of ledger's + journal format, so hledger can work with compatible ledger journal + files as well. It's safe, and encouraged, to run both hledger and ledger on the same journal file, eg to validate the results you're get- ting. @@ -4215,25 +4237,25 @@ JOURNAL FORMAT the add or web or import commands to create and update it. Many users, though, edit the journal file with a text editor, and track - changes with a version control system such as git. Editor addons such - as ledger-mode or hledger-mode for Emacs, vim-ledger for Vim, and + changes with a version control system such as git. Editor addons such + 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 Editor configura- tion at hledger.org for the full list. - Here's a description of each part of the file format (and hledger's - data model). These are mostly in the order you'll use them, but in - some cases related concepts have been grouped together for easy refer- - ence, or linked before they are introduced, so feel free to skip over + Here's a description of each part of the file format (and hledger's + data model). These are mostly in the order you'll use them, but in + some cases related concepts have been grouped together for easy refer- + ence, or linked before they are introduced, so feel free to skip over anything that looks unnecessary right now. 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- - ple date in column 0. This can be followed by any of the following + 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 optional fields, separated by spaces: o a status character (empty, !, or *) @@ -4242,11 +4264,11 @@ JOURNAL FORMAT 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: @@ -4257,35 +4279,35 @@ JOURNAL FORMAT 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 default year directive, - or the current date when the command is run. Some examples: + omitted, in which case it will be inferred from the context: the cur- + rent transaction, the default year set with a default year directive, + or the current 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.) Secondary dates - Real-life transactions sometimes involve more than one date - eg the + Real-life transactions sometimes involve more than one date - eg the date you write a cheque, and the date it clears in your bank. When you - want to model this, for more accurate daily balances, you can specify + want to model this, for more accurate daily balances, you can specify individual posting dates. - Or, you can use the older secondary date feature (Ledger calls it aux- - iliary date or effective date). Note: we support this for compatibil- - ity, but I usually recommend avoiding this feature; posting dates are + Or, you can use the older secondary date feature (Ledger calls it aux- + iliary date or effective date). Note: we support this for compatibil- + ity, but I usually recommend avoiding this feature; posting dates are almost always clearer and simpler. A secondary date is written after the primary date, following an equals - sign. If the year is omitted, the primary date's year is assumed. - When running reports, the primary (left) date is used by default, but - with the --date2 flag (or --aux-date or --effective), the secondary + sign. If the year is omitted, the primary date's year is assumed. + When running reports, the primary (left) date is used by default, but + with the --date2 flag (or --aux-date or --effective), the secondary (right) date will be used instead. - The meaning of secondary dates is up to you, but it's best to follow a - consistent rule. Eg "primary = the bank's clearing date, secondary = + The meaning of secondary dates is up to you, but it's best to follow a + consistent rule. Eg "primary = the bank's clearing date, secondary = date the transaction was initiated, if different", as shown here: 2010/2/23=2/19 movie ticket @@ -4299,11 +4321,11 @@ JOURNAL FORMAT 2010-02-19 movie ticket assets:checking $-10 $-10 Posting dates - You can give individual postings a different date from their parent - transaction, by adding a posting comment containing a tag (see below) + 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. This is probably the best way to control posting dates - precisely. Eg in this example the expense should appear in May - reports, and the deduction from checking should be reported on 6/1 for + precisely. Eg in this example the expense should appear in May + reports, and the deduction from checking should be reported on 6/1 for easy bank reconciliation: 2015/5/30 @@ -4316,22 +4338,22 @@ JOURNAL FORMAT $ 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 - the year of the transaction's date. You can set the secondary date - similarly, with date2:DATE2. The date: or date2: tags must have a - valid simple date value if they are present, eg a date: tag with no + DATE should be a simple date; if the year is not specified it will use + the year of the transaction's date. You can set the secondary date + similarly, with date2:DATE2. The date: or date2: tags must have a + valid simple date value if they are present, eg a date: tag with no value is not allowed. Ledger's earlier, more compact bracketed date syntax is also supported: - [DATE], [DATE=DATE2] or [=DATE2]. hledger will attempt to parse any + [DATE], [DATE=DATE2] or [=DATE2]. hledger will attempt to parse any square-bracketed sequence of the 0123456789/-.= characters in this way. - With this syntax, DATE infers its year from the transaction and DATE2 + With this syntax, DATE infers its year from the transaction and DATE2 infers its year from DATE. Status - Transactions, or individual postings within a transaction, can have a - status mark, which is a single character before the transaction - description or posting account name, separated from it by a space, + Transactions, or individual postings within a transaction, can have a + status mark, which is a single character before the transaction + description or posting account name, separated from it by a space, indicating one of three statuses: @@ -4341,23 +4363,23 @@ JOURNAL FORMAT ! pending * cleared - When reporting, you can filter by status with the -U/--unmarked, - -P/--pending, and -C/--cleared flags; or the status:, status:!, and + When reporting, you can filter by status with the -U/--unmarked, + -P/--pending, and -C/--cleared flags; or the status:, status:!, and status:* queries; or the U, P, C keys in hledger-ui. - Note, in Ledger and in older versions of hledger, the "unmarked" state - is called "uncleared". As of hledger 1.3 we have renamed it to + Note, in Ledger and in older versions of hledger, the "unmarked" state + is called "uncleared". As of hledger 1.3 we have renamed it to unmarked for clarity. - To replicate Ledger and old hledger's behaviour of also matching pend- + To replicate Ledger and old hledger's behaviour of also matching pend- ing, combine -U and -P. - 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: @@ -4369,41 +4391,41 @@ JOURNAL FORMAT 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 - bank, -U to see things which will probably hit your bank soon (like + 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 uncashed 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 - A transaction's description is the rest of the line following the date - and status mark (or until a comment begins). Sometimes called the + A transaction's description is the rest of the line following the date + and status mark (or until a comment begins). Sometimes called the "narration" in traditional bookkeeping, it can be used for whatever you - wish, or left blank. Transaction descriptions can be queried, unlike + wish, or left blank. Transaction descriptions can be queried, unlike comments. Payee and note You can optionally include a | (pipe) character in descriptions to sub- divide the description into separate fields for payee/payer name on the - left (up to the first |) and an additional note field on the right - (after the first |). This may be worthwhile if you need to do more + left (up to the first |) and an additional note field on the right + (after the first |). This may be worthwhile if you need to do more precise querying and pivoting by payee or by note. Comments Lines in the journal beginning with a semicolon (;) or hash (#) or star - (*) are comments, and will be ignored. (Star comments cause org-mode - nodes to be ignored, allowing emacs users to fold and navigate their + (*) are comments, and will be ignored. (Star comments cause org-mode + nodes to be ignored, allowing emacs users to fold and navigate their journals with org-mode or orgstruct-mode.) - You can attach comments to a transaction by writing them after the - description and/or indented on the following lines (before the post- - ings). Similarly, you can attach comments to an individual posting by - writing them after the amount and/or indented on the following lines. + You can attach comments to a transaction by writing them after the + description and/or indented on the following lines (before the post- + ings). Similarly, you can attach comments to an individual posting by + writing them after the amount and/or indented on the following lines. Transaction and posting comments must begin with a semicolon (;). Some examples: @@ -4426,24 +4448,24 @@ JOURNAL FORMAT ; another comment line for posting 2 ; a file comment (because not indented) - You can also comment larger regions of a file using comment and end + You can also comment larger regions of a file using comment and end comment directives. Tags - Tags are a way to add extra labels or labelled data to postings and + Tags are a way to add extra labels or labelled data to postings and transactions, which you can then search or pivot on. - A simple tag is a word (which may contain hyphens) followed by a full + A simple tag is a word (which may contain hyphens) followed by a full colon, written inside a transaction or posting comment line: 2017/1/16 bought groceries ; sometag: - Tags can have a value, which is the text after the colon, up to the + Tags can have a value, which is the text after the colon, up to the next comma or end of line, with leading/trailing whitespace removed: expenses:food $10 ; a-posting-tag: the tag value - Note this means hledger's tag values can not contain commas or new- + Note this means hledger's tag values can not contain commas or new- lines. Ending at commas means you can write multiple short tags on one line, comma separated: @@ -4457,57 +4479,57 @@ JOURNAL FORMAT o "tag2" is another tag, whose value is "some value ..." - Tags in a transaction comment affect the transaction and all of its - postings, while tags in a posting comment affect only that posting. - For example, the following transaction has three tags (A, TAG2, third- + Tags in a transaction comment affect the transaction and all of its + postings, 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 (those plus posting-tag): 1/1 a transaction ; A:, TAG2: ; third-tag: a third transaction tag, <- with a value (a) $1 ; posting-tag: - Tags are like Ledger's metadata feature, except hledger's tag values + Tags are like Ledger's metadata feature, except hledger's tag values are simple strings. 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 containing single + o (required) an account name (any text, optionally containing single spaces, until end of line or a double space) o (optional) two or more spaces or tabs followed by an amount. - Positive amounts are being added to the account, negative amounts are + Positive amounts are being added to the account, negative amounts are being removed. The amounts within a transaction must always sum up to zero. As a con- - venience, one amount may be left blank; it will be inferred so as to + venience, one amount may be left blank; it will be inferred so as to balance the transaction. - Be sure to note the unusual two-space delimiter between account name - and amount. This makes it easy to write account names containing spa- - ces. But if you accidentally leave only one space (or tab) before the + Be sure to note the unusual two-space delimiter between account name + and amount. This makes it easy to write account names containing spa- + ces. But if you accidentally leave only one space (or tab) before the amount, the amount will be considered part of the account name. Virtual postings A posting with a parenthesised account name is called a virtual posting - or unbalanced posting, which means it is exempt from the usual rule + or unbalanced posting, which means it is exempt from the usual rule that a transaction's postings must balance add up to zero. - This is not part of double entry accounting, so you might choose to - avoid this feature. Or you can use it sparingly for certain special - cases where it can be convenient. Eg, you could set opening balances + This is not part of double entry accounting, so you might choose to + avoid this feature. Or you can use it sparingly for certain special + cases where it can be convenient. Eg, you could set opening balances without using a balancing equity account: 1/1 opening balances (assets:checking) $1000 (assets:savings) $2000 - A posting with a bracketed account name is called a balanced virtual + A posting with a bracketed account name is called a balanced virtual posting. The balanced virtual postings in a transaction must add up to zero (separately from other postings). Eg: @@ -4519,34 +4541,34 @@ JOURNAL FORMAT [assets:checking:available] $10 ; <- (something:else) $5 ; <- not required to balance - Ordinary non-parenthesised, non-bracketed postings are called real - postings. You can exclude virtual postings from reports with the + Ordinary non-parenthesised, non-bracketed postings are called real + postings. You can exclude virtual postings from reports with the -R/--real flag or real:1 query. Account names - Account names typically have several parts separated by a full colon, - from which hledger derives a hierarchical chart of accounts. They can - be anything you like, but in finance there are traditionally five top- + Account names typically have several parts separated by a full colon, + from which hledger derives a hierarchical chart of accounts. They can + be anything you like, but in finance there are traditionally five top- level accounts: assets, liabilities, revenue, expenses, and equity. - Account names may contain single spaces, eg: assets:accounts receiv- - able. Because of this, they must always be followed by two or more + Account names may contain single spaces, eg: assets:accounts receiv- + able. Because of this, they must always be followed by two or more spaces (or newline). Account names can be aliased. Amounts - After the account name, there is usually an amount. (Important: + After the account name, there is usually an amount. (Important: 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 @@ -4554,13 +4576,13 @@ JOURNAL FORMAT 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 @@ -4577,8 +4599,8 @@ JOURNAL FORMAT 1.23 1,23456780000009 - In the integer part of the quantity (left of the decimal mark), groups - of digits can optionally be separated by a digit group mark - a space, + In the integer part of the quantity (left of the decimal mark), groups + of digits can optionally be separated by a digit group mark - a space, comma, or period (different from the decimal mark): $1,000,000.00 @@ -4592,41 +4614,41 @@ JOURNAL FORMAT 1,000 1.000 - If you don't tell it otherwise, hledger will assume both of the above + If you don't tell it otherwise, hledger will assume both of the above are decimal marks, parsing both numbers as 1. - To prevent confusing parsing mistakes and undetected typos, especially - if your data contains digit group marks (eg, thousands separators), we + To prevent confusing parsing mistakes and undetected typos, especially + if your data contains digit group marks (eg, thousands separators), we recommend explicitly declaring the decimal mark character in each jour- - nal file, using a directive at the top of the file. The decimal-mark - directive is best, otherwise commodity directives will also work. + nal file, using a directive at the top of the file. The decimal-mark + directive is best, otherwise commodity directives will also work. These are described detail below. 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. - (If you are writing scripts or working with hledger's internals, these + (If you are writing scripts or working with hledger's internals, these are the Amount and MixedAmount types.) Directives influencing number parsing and display - You can add decimal-mark and commodity directives to the journal, to - declare and control these things more explicitly and precisely. These - are described below, in JOURNAL FORMAT -> Declaring commodities. + You can add decimal-mark and commodity directives to the journal, to + declare and control these things more explicitly and precisely. These + are described below, in JOURNAL FORMAT -> Declaring commodities. Here's a quick example: # the decimal mark character used by all amounts in this file (all commodities) @@ -4641,48 +4663,48 @@ JOURNAL FORMAT Commodity display style For the amounts in each commodity, hledger chooses a consistent display - style to use in most reports. (Exceptions: price amounts, and all + style to use in most reports. (Exceptions: price amounts, and all amounts displayed by the print command, are displayed with all of their decimal digits visible.) A commodity's display style is inferred as follows. - First, if a default commodity is declared with D, this commodity and + First, if a default commodity is declared with D, this commodity and its style is applied to any no-symbol amounts in the journal. - Then each commodity's style is inferred from one of the following, in + Then each commodity's style is inferred from one of the following, in order of preference: - o The commodity directive for that commodity (including the no-symbol + o The commodity directive for that commodity (including the no-symbol commodity), if any. - o The amounts in that commodity seen in the journal's transactions. + o The amounts in that commodity seen in the journal's transactions. (Posting amounts only; prices and periodic or auto rules are ignored, currently.) - o The built-in fallback style, which looks like this: $1000.00. (Sym- + o The built-in fallback style, which looks like this: $1000.00. (Sym- bol on the left, period decimal mark, two decimal places.) A style is inferred from journal amounts as follows: - o Use the general style (decimal mark, symbol placement) of the first + o Use the general style (decimal mark, symbol placement) of the first amount - o Use the first-seen digit group style (digit group mark, digit group + o Use the first-seen digit group style (digit group mark, digit group sizes), if any o Use the maximum number of decimal places of all. - Transaction price amounts don't affect the commodity display style - directly, but occasionally they can do so indirectly (eg when a post- - ing's amount is inferred using a transaction price). If you find this + Transaction price amounts don't affect the commodity display style + directly, but occasionally they can do so indirectly (eg when a post- + ing's amount is inferred using a transaction price). If you find this causing problems, use a commodity directive to fix the display style. - To summarise: each commodity's amounts will be normalised to (a) the - style declared by a commodity directive, or (b) the style of the first - posting amount in the journal, with the first-seen digit group style - and the maximum-seen number of decimal places. So if your reports are - showing amounts in a way you don't like, eg with too many decimal + To summarise: each commodity's amounts will be normalised to (a) the + style declared by a commodity directive, or (b) the style of the first + posting amount in the journal, with the first-seen digit group style + and the maximum-seen number of decimal places. So if your reports are + showing amounts in a way you don't like, eg with too many decimal places, use a commodity directive. Some examples: # declare euro, dollar, bitcoin and no-symbol commodities and set their @@ -4692,22 +4714,22 @@ JOURNAL FORMAT commodity 1000.00000000 BTC commodity 1 000. - The inferred commodity style can be overridden by supplying a command + The inferred commodity style can be overridden by supplying a command line option. Rounding Amounts are stored internally as decimal numbers with up to 255 decimal - places, and displayed with the number of decimal places specified by - the commodity display style. Note, hledger uses banker's rounding: it - rounds to the nearest even number, eg 0.5 displayed with zero decimal - places is "0"). (Guaranteed since hledger 1.17.1; in older versions + places, and displayed with the number of decimal places specified by + the commodity display style. Note, hledger uses banker's rounding: it + rounds to the nearest even number, eg 0.5 displayed with zero decimal + places is "0"). (Guaranteed since hledger 1.17.1; in older versions this could vary if hledger was built with Decimal < 0.5.1.) Transaction prices Within a transaction, you can note an amount's price in another commod- - ity. This can be used to document the cost (in a purchase) or selling - price (in a sale). For example, transaction prices are useful to - record purchases of a foreign currency. Note transaction prices are + ity. This can be used to document the cost (in a purchase) or selling + price (in a sale). For example, transaction prices are useful to + record purchases of a foreign currency. Note transaction prices are fixed at the time of the transaction, and do not change over time. See also market prices, which represent prevailing exchange rates on a cer- tain date. @@ -4733,14 +4755,14 @@ JOURNAL FORMAT assets:euros EUR100 ; one hundred euros purchased assets:dollars $-135 ; for $135 - 4. Like 1, but the @ is parenthesised, i.e. (@); this is for compati- - bility with Ledger journals (Virtual posting costs), and is equiva- + 4. Like 1, but the @ is parenthesised, i.e. (@); this is for compati- + bility with Ledger journals (Virtual posting costs), and is equiva- lent to 1 in hledger. 5. Like 2, but as in 4 the @@ is parenthesised, i.e. (@@); in hledger, this is equivalent to 2. - Use the -B/--cost flag to convert amounts to their transaction price's + Use the -B/--cost flag to convert amounts to their transaction price's commodity, if any. (mnemonic: "B" is from "cost Basis", as in Ledger). Eg here is how -B affects the balance report for the example above: @@ -4751,8 +4773,8 @@ JOURNAL FORMAT $-135 assets:dollars $135 assets:euros # <- the euros' cost - Note -B is sensitive to the order of postings when a transaction price - is inferred: the inferred price will be in the commodity of the last + Note -B is sensitive to the order of postings when a transaction price + is inferred: the inferred price will be in the commodity of the last amount. So if example 3's postings are reversed, while the transaction is equivalent, -B shows something different: @@ -4765,18 +4787,18 @@ JOURNAL FORMAT EUR100 assets:euros Lot prices, lot dates - Ledger allows another kind of price, lot price (four variants: {UNIT- + Ledger allows another kind of price, lot price (four variants: {UNIT- PRICE}, {{TOTALPRICE}}, {=FIXEDUNITPRICE}, {{=FIXEDTOTALPRICE}}), and/or a lot date ([DATE]) to be specified. These are normally used to - select a lot when selling investments. hledger will parse these, for - compatibility with Ledger journals, but currently ignores them. A - transaction price, lot price and/or lot date may appear in any order, + select a lot when selling investments. hledger will parse these, for + compatibility with Ledger journals, but currently ignores them. A + transaction price, lot price and/or lot date may appear in any order, after the posting amount and before the balance assertion if any. 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 @@ -4788,32 +4810,32 @@ JOURNAL FORMAT 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, below). Assertions and ordering - hledger sorts an account's postings and assertions first by date and - then (for postings on the same day) by parse order. Note this is dif- + hledger sorts an account's postings and assertions first by date and + then (for postings on the same day) by parse order. Note this is dif- ferent from Ledger, which sorts assertions only by parse order. (Also, - Ledger assertions do not see the accumulated effect of repeated post- + Ledger assertions do not see the accumulated effect of repeated post- ings to the same account within a transaction.) So, hledger balance assertions keep working if you reorder differently- - dated transactions within the journal. But if you reorder same-dated - transactions or postings, assertions might break and require updating. + dated transactions within the journal. But if you reorder same-dated + transactions or postings, assertions might break and require updating. This order dependence does bring an advantage: precise control over the order of postings and assertions within a day, so you can assert intra- day balances. Assertions and included files - With included files, things are a little more complicated. Including - preserves the ordering of postings and assertions. If you have multi- - ple postings to an account on the same day, split across different - files, and you also want to assert the account's balance on the same + With included files, things are a little more complicated. Including + preserves the ordering of postings and assertions. If you have multi- + ple postings to an account on the same day, split across different + files, and you also want to assert the account's balance on the same day, you'll have to put the assertion in the right file. Assertions and multiple -f options @@ -4821,15 +4843,15 @@ JOURNAL FORMAT -f options. Use include or concatenate the files instead. Assertions and commodities - The asserted balance must be a simple single-commodity amount, and in - fact the assertion checks only this commodity's balance within the - (possibly multi-commodity) account balance. This is how assertions + The asserted balance must be a simple single-commodity amount, and in + fact the assertion checks only this commodity's balance within the + (possibly multi-commodity) account balance. This is how assertions work in Ledger also. We could call this a "partial" balance assertion. To assert the balance of more than one commodity in an account, you can write multiple postings, each asserting one commodity's balance. - You can make a stronger "total" balance assertion by writing a double + You can make a stronger "total" balance assertion by writing a double equals sign (== EXPECTEDBALANCE). This asserts that there are no other unasserted commodities in the account (or, that their balance is 0). @@ -4849,7 +4871,7 @@ JOURNAL FORMAT a 0 == $1 It's not yet possible to make a complete assertion about a balance that - has multiple commodities. One workaround is to isolate each commodity + has multiple commodities. One workaround is to isolate each commodity into its own subaccount: 2013/1/1 @@ -4863,21 +4885,21 @@ JOURNAL FORMAT a:euro 0 == 1EUR Assertions and prices - Balance assertions ignore transaction prices, and should normally be + Balance assertions ignore transaction prices, and should normally be written without one: 2019/1/1 (a) $1 @ EUR1 = $1 - We do allow prices to be written there, however, and print shows them, - even though 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 prices), and because balance assign- + We do allow prices to be written there, however, and print shows them, + even though 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 prices), and because balance assign- ments do use them (see below). Assertions and subaccounts - The balance assertions above (= and ==) do not count the balance from - subaccounts; they check the account's exclusive balance only. You can + The balance assertions above (= and ==) do not count the balance from + subaccounts; they check the account's exclusive balance only. You can assert the balance including subaccounts by writing =* or ==*, eg: 2019/1/1 @@ -4891,16 +4913,16 @@ JOURNAL FORMAT tual. They are not affected by the --real/-R flag or real: query. 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. 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 @@ -4918,14 +4940,14 @@ JOURNAL FORMAT 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). Note that using balance assignments makes your journal a little less explicit; to know the exact amount posted, you have to run hledger or do the calculations yourself, instead of just reading it. Balance assignments and prices - A transaction price in a balance assignment will cause the calculated + A transaction price in a balance assignment will cause the calculated amount to have that price attached: 2019/1/1 @@ -4936,24 +4958,24 @@ JOURNAL FORMAT (a) $1 @ EUR2 = $1 @ EUR2 Directives - A directive is a line in the journal beginning with a special keyword, + A directive is a line in the journal beginning with a special keyword, that influences how the journal is processed, how things are displayed, - and so on. hledger's directives are based on (a subset of) Ledger's, - but there are many differences, and also some differences between + and so on. hledger's directives are based on (a subset of) Ledger's, + but there are many differences, and also some differences between hledger versions. Here are some more definitions: - o subdirective - Some directives support subdirectives, written + o subdirective - Some directives support subdirectives, written indented below the parent directive. - o decimal mark - The character to interpret as a decimal mark (period + o decimal mark - The character to interpret as a decimal mark (period or comma) when parsing amounts of a commodity. o display style - How to display amounts of a commodity in output: sym- bol side and spacing, digit groups, decimal mark, and number of deci- mal places. - Directives are not required when starting out with hledger, but you - will probably add some as your needs grow. Here is an overview of + Directives are not required when starting out with hledger, but you + will probably add some as your needs grow. Here is an overview of directives by purpose: @@ -4963,17 +4985,17 @@ JOURNAL FORMAT ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- READING/GENERATING DATA: Declare a commodity's or file's commodity, D, decimal- - decimal mark to help parse mark + decimal mark to help parse mark amounts accurately - Apply changes to the data while alias, apply account, --alias + Apply changes to the data while alias, apply account, --alias parsing comment, D, Y Inline extra data files include multiple -f/--file's - Generate extra transactions or ~ + Generate extra transactions or ~ budget goals Generate extra postings = CHECKING FOR ERRORS: - Define valid entities to allow account, commodity, + Define valid entities to allow account, commodity, stricter error checking payee DISPLAYING REPORTS: Declare accounts' display order account @@ -4984,78 +5006,79 @@ JOURNAL FORMAT And here are all the directives and their precise effects: + direc- effects ends tive at file end? ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - account Declares an account, for checking all entries in all files; - and its display order and type, for reports. Subdirectives: + account Declares an account, for checking all entries in all files; + and its display order and type, for reports. Subdirectives: any text, ignored. - alias Rewrites account names, in following entries until end of Y + alias Rewrites account names, in following entries until end of Y current file or end aliases. - apply Prepends a common parent account to all account names, in Y - account following entries until end of current file or end apply + apply Prepends a common parent account to all account names, in Y + account following entries until end of current file or end apply account. - comment Ignores part of the journal file, until end of current file Y + comment Ignores part of the journal file, until end of current file Y or end comment. - commod- Declares a commodity, for checking all entries in all files; N, Y - ity the decimal mark for parsing amounts of this commodity, for - following entries until end of current file; and its display + commod- Declares a commodity, for checking all entries in all files; N, Y + ity the decimal mark for parsing amounts of this commodity, for + following entries until end of current file; and its display style, for reports. Takes precedence over D. Subdirectives: format (alternate syntax). - D Sets a default commodity to use for no-symbol amounts, and Y - its decimal mark for parsing amounts of this commodity in - following entries until end of current file; and its display + D Sets a default commodity to use for no-symbol amounts, and Y + its decimal mark for parsing amounts of this commodity in + following entries until end of current file; and its display style, for reports. - deci- Declares the decimal mark, for parsing amounts of all com- Y - mal- modities in following entries until next decimal-mark or end - mark of current file. Included files can override. Takes prece- + deci- Declares the decimal mark, for parsing amounts of all com- Y + mal- modities in following entries until next decimal-mark or end + mark of current file. Included files can override. Takes prece- dence over commodity and D. include Includes entries and directives from another file, as if they were written inline. payee Declares a payee name, for checking all entries in all files. - P Declares a market price for a commodity on some date, for + P Declares a market price for a commodity on some date, for valuation reports. - Y Declares a year for yearless dates, for following entries Y + Y Declares a year for yearless dates, for following entries Y until end of current file. - ~ Declares a periodic transaction rule that generates future - (tilde) transactions with --forecast and budget goals with balance + ~ Declares a periodic transaction rule that generates future + (tilde) transactions with --forecast and budget goals with balance --budget. - = Declares an auto posting rule that generates extra postings partly - (equals) on matched transactions with --auto, in current, parent, and + = Declares an auto posting rule that generates extra postings partly + (equals) on matched transactions with --auto, in current, parent, and child files (but not sibling files, see #1212). Directives and multiple files - If you use multiple -f/--file options, or the include directive, + If you use multiple -f/--file options, or the include directive, hledger will process multiple input files. But directives which affect - input typically have effect only until the end of the file in which + input typically have effect only until the end of the file in which they occur (and on any included files in that region). This may seem inconvenient, but it's intentional; it makes reports sta- - ble and deterministic, independent of the order of input. Otherwise - you could see different numbers if you happened to write -f options in - a different order, or if you moved includes around while cleaning up + ble and deterministic, independent of the order of input. Otherwise + you could see different numbers if you happened to write -f options in + a different order, or if you moved includes around while cleaning up your files. - It can be surprising though; for example, it means that alias direc- + It can be surprising though; for example, it means that alias direc- tives do not affect parent or sibling files (see below). Comment blocks - A line containing just comment starts a commented region of the file, + A line containing just comment starts a commented region of the file, and a line containing just end comment (or the end of the current file) ends it. See also comments. Including other files - 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 FILEPATH - Only journal files can include, and only journal, timeclock or timedot + Only journal files can include, and only journal, timeclock or timedot files can be included (not CSV files, currently). - If the file path does not begin with a slash, it is relative to the + If the file path does not begin with a slash, it is relative to the current file's folder. A tilde means home directory, eg: include ~/main.journal. @@ -5063,18 +5086,18 @@ JOURNAL FORMAT The path may contain glob patterns to match multiple files, eg: include *.journal. - There is limited support for recursive wildcards: **/ (the slash is - required) matches 0 or more subdirectories. It's not super convenient - since you have to avoid include cycles and including directories, but + There is limited support for recursive wildcards: **/ (the slash is + required) matches 0 or more subdirectories. It's not super convenient + since you have to avoid include cycles and including directories, but this can be done, eg: include */**/*.journal. The path may also be prefixed to force a specific file format, overrid- - ing the file extension (as described in hledger.1 -> Input files): + ing the file extension (as described in hledger.1 -> Input files): include timedot:~/notes/2020*.md. Default year - You can set a default year to be used for subsequent dates which don't - specify a year. This is a line beginning with Y followed by the year. + You can set a default year to be used for subsequent dates which don't + specify a year. This is a line beginning with Y followed by the year. Eg: Y2009 ; set default year to 2009 @@ -5094,9 +5117,9 @@ JOURNAL FORMAT assets Declaring payees - The payee 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 + The payee 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. Eg: payee Whole Foods @@ -5112,36 +5135,36 @@ JOURNAL FORMAT 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). Declaring commodities - You can use commodity directives to declare your commodities. In fact + You can use commodity directives to declare your commodities. In fact the commodity directive performs several functions at once: - 1. It declares commodities which may be used in the journal. This can - optionally be enforced, providing useful error checking. (Cf Com- + 1. It declares commodities which may be used in the journal. This can + optionally be enforced, providing useful error checking. (Cf Com- modity error checking) - 2. It declares which decimal mark character (period or comma), to - expect when parsing input - useful to disambiguate international - number formats in your data. Without this, hledger will parse both + 2. It declares which decimal mark character (period or comma), to + expect when parsing input - useful to disambiguate international + number formats in your data. Without this, hledger will parse both 1,000 and 1.000 as 1. (Cf Amounts) - 3. It declares how to render the commodity's amounts when displaying + 3. It declares how to render the commodity's amounts when displaying output - the decimal mark, any digit group marks, the number of dec- - imal places, symbol placement and so on. (Cf Commodity display + imal places, symbol placement and so on. (Cf Commodity display style) - You will run into one of the problems solved by commodity directives + You will run into one of the problems solved by commodity directives sooner or later, so we recommend using them, for robust and predictable parsing and display. - Generally you should put them at the top of your journal file (since + Generally you should put them at the top of your journal file (since for function 2, they affect only following amounts, cf #793). - A commodity directive is just the word commodity followed by a sample + A commodity directive is just the word commodity followed by a sample amount, like this: ;commodity SAMPLEAMOUNT @@ -5149,8 +5172,8 @@ JOURNAL FORMAT commodity $1000.00 commodity 1,000.0000 AAAA ; optional same-line comment - It may also be written on multiple lines, and use the format subdirec- - tive, as in Ledger. Note in this case the commodity symbol appears + It may also be written on multiple lines, and use the format subdirec- + tive, as in Ledger. Note in this case the commodity symbol appears twice; it must be the same in both places: ;commodity SYMBOL @@ -5162,11 +5185,11 @@ JOURNAL FORMAT commodity INR format INR 1,00,00,000.00 - Remember that if the commodity symbol contains spaces, numbers, or + Remember that if the commodity symbol contains spaces, numbers, or punctuation, it must be enclosed in double quotes (cf Commodity). - The amount's quantity does not matter; only the format is significant. - It must include a decimal mark - either a period or a comma - followed + The amount's quantity does not matter; only the format is significant. + It must include a decimal mark - either a period or a comma - followed by 0 or more decimal digits. A few more examples: @@ -5177,29 +5200,29 @@ JOURNAL FORMAT commodity INR 9,99,99,999.0 commodity 1 000 000. - Note hledger normally uses banker's rounding, so 0.5 displayed with + Note hledger normally uses banker's rounding, so 0.5 displayed with zero decimal digits is "0". (More at Commodity display style.) - Even in the presence of commodity directives, the commodity display + Even in the presence of commodity directives, the commodity display style can still be overridden by supplying a command line option. Commodity error checking - In strict mode, enabled with the -s/--strict flag, hledger will report - an error if a commodity symbol is used that has not been declared by a - commodity directive. This works similarly to account error checking, + In strict mode, enabled with the -s/--strict flag, hledger will report + an error if a commodity symbol is used that has not been declared by a + commodity directive. This works similarly to account error checking, see the notes there for more details. Default commodity The D 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 + commodityless amounts (ie, plain numbers) seen while parsing the jour- + nal. This effect lasts until the next D directive, or the end of the journal. - For compatibility/historical reasons, D also acts like a commodity + For compatibility/historical reasons, D also acts like a commodity directive (setting the commodity's decimal mark for parsing and display style for output). - The syntax is D AMOUNT. As with commodity, the amount must include a + The syntax is D AMOUNT. As with commodity, the amount must include a decimal mark (either period or comma). Eg: ; commodity-less amounts should be treated as dollars @@ -5213,23 +5236,23 @@ JOURNAL FORMAT If both commodity and D directives are found for a commodity, commodity takes precedence for setting decimal mark and display style. - If you are using D and also checking commodities, you will need to add + If you are using D and also checking commodities, you will need to add a commodity directive similar to the D. (The hledger check commodities command expects commodity directives, and ignores D). Declaring market prices - The P directive declares a market price, which is an exchange rate + The P directive declares a market price, which is an exchange rate between two commodities on a certain date. (In Ledger, they are called - "historical prices".) These are often obtained from a stock exchange, + "historical prices".) These are often obtained from a stock exchange, cryptocurrency exchange, or the 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) - of commodity 2 that one unit of commodity 1 is worth on this date. + 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. Examples: # one euro was worth $1.35 from 2009-01-01 onward: @@ -5238,69 +5261,69 @@ JOURNAL FORMAT # and $1.40 from 2010-01-01 onward: P 2010-01-01 EUR $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 Valuation. Declaring accounts 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- ence. - o They can help hledger know your accounts' types (asset, liability, - equity, revenue, expense), useful for reports like balancesheet and + o They can help hledger know your accounts' types (asset, liability, + equity, revenue, expense), useful for reports like balancesheet and incomestatement. - o They control account display order in reports, allowing non-alpha- + o They control account display order in reports, allowing non-alpha- betic sorting (eg Revenues to appear above Expenses). - o They can store extra information about accounts (account numbers, + o They can store extra information about accounts (account numbers, notes, etc.) - o They help with account name completion in the add command, hledger- + o They help with account name completion in the add command, hledger- iadd, hledger-web, ledger-mode etc. - o In strict mode, they restrict which accounts may be posted to by + o In strict mode, they restrict which accounts may be posted to by transactions, which helps detect typos. - The simplest form is just the word account followed by a hledger-style + The simplest form is just the word account followed by a hledger-style account name, eg this account directive declares the assets:bank:check- ing account: account assets:bank:checking Account error checking - By default, accounts come into existence when a transaction references - them by name. This is convenient, but it means hledger can't warn you + By default, accounts come into existence when a transaction references + them by name. This is convenient, but it means hledger can't warn you when you mis-spell an account name in the journal. Usually you'll find - the error later, as an extra account in balance reports, or an incor- + the error later, as an extra account in balance reports, or an incor- rect balance when reconciling. - In strict mode, enabled with the -s/--strict flag, hledger will report - an error if any transaction uses an account name that has not been + In strict mode, enabled with the -s/--strict flag, hledger will report + an error if any transaction uses an account name that has not been declared by an account directive. 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 + it includes, but not parent or sibling files. The position of account 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 + o Accounts can only be declared in journal files (but will affect included files in other formats). - 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. Account comments Comments, beginning with a semicolon, can be added: - o on the same line, after two or more spaces (because ; is allowed in + o on the same line, after two or more spaces (because ; is allowed in account names) o on the next lines, indented @@ -5314,7 +5337,7 @@ JOURNAL FORMAT Same-line comments are not supported by Ledger, or hledger <1.13. Account subdirectives - We also allow (and ignore) Ledger-style indented subdirectives, just + We also allow (and ignore) Ledger-style indented subdirectives, just for compatibility.: account assets:bank:checking @@ -5327,8 +5350,8 @@ JOURNAL FORMAT [LEDGER-STYLE SUBDIRECTIVES, IGNORED] Account types - By adding a type tag to the account directive, with value A, L, E, R, - X, C (or if you prefer: Asset, Liability, Equity, Revenue, Expense, + By adding a type tag to the account directive, with value A, L, E, R, + X, C (or if you prefer: Asset, Liability, Equity, Revenue, Expense, Cash), you can declare hledger accounts to be of a certain type: o asset, liability, equity, revenue, expense @@ -5337,15 +5360,15 @@ JOURNAL FORMAT o cash a subtype of asset, used for liquid assets. - Declaring account types is a good idea, since it helps enable the easy + Declaring account types is a good idea, since it helps enable the easy balancesheet, balancesheetequity, incomestatement and cashflow reports, - and probably other things in future. As a convenience, when account - types are not declared, hledger will try to guess them based on + and probably other things in future. As a convenience, when account + types are not declared, hledger will try to guess them based on english-language account names. Here is a typical set of top-level account declarations (because of the aforementioned, with these account names the type tags are not strictly - needed, but with non-english or non-standard account names, they will + needed, but with non-english or non-standard account names, they will be): account assets ; type: A @@ -5357,16 +5380,16 @@ JOURNAL FORMAT account assets:bank ; type: C account assets:cash ; type: C - It's not necessary to declare the type of subaccounts. (You can, if + It's not necessary to declare the type of subaccounts. (You can, if they are different from the parent, but this is not common.) Auto-detected account types More about "guessing" account types: hledger tries to find at least one - top level account in each of the six account types (Asset, Liability, - Equity, Revenue, Expense, Cash). When no accounts have been declared - for a particular type, it tries to auto-detect some accounts by name, + top level account in each of the six account types (Asset, Liability, + Equity, Revenue, Expense, Cash). When no accounts have been declared + for a particular type, it tries to auto-detect some accounts by name, using the regular expressions below. Note: if you declare any - account's type, it's a good idea to declare an account for all six + account's type, it's a good idea to declare an account for all six types, because a mix of declared and auto-detected types can cause con- fusing results. @@ -5383,8 +5406,8 @@ JOURNAL FORMAT ^expenses?(:|$) | Expense Account display order - Account directives also set the order in which accounts are displayed, - eg in reports, the hledger-ui accounts screen, and the hledger-web + Account directives also set the order in which accounts are displayed, + eg in reports, the hledger-ui accounts screen, and the hledger-web sidebar. By default accounts are listed in alphabetical order. But if you have these account directives in the journal: @@ -5406,20 +5429,20 @@ JOURNAL FORMAT Undeclared accounts, if any, are displayed last, in alphabetical order. - Note that sorting is done at each level of the account tree (within - each group of sibling accounts under the same parent). And currently, + Note that sorting is done at each level of the account tree (within + each group of sibling accounts under the same parent). And currently, this directive: account other:zoo - would influence the position of zoo among other's subaccounts, but not + would influence the position of zoo among other's subaccounts, but not the position of other among the top-level accounts. This means: - o you will sometimes declare parent accounts (eg account other above) - that you don't intend to post to, just to customize their display + o you will sometimes declare parent accounts (eg account other above) + that you don't intend to post to, just to customize their display order - o sibling accounts stay together (you couldn't display x:y in between + o sibling accounts stay together (you couldn't display x:y in between a:b and a:c). Rewriting accounts @@ -5437,15 +5460,15 @@ JOURNAL FORMAT o customising reports Account aliases also rewrite account names in account directives. They - do not affect account names being entered via hledger add or hledger- + do not affect account names being entered via hledger add or hledger- web. 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 @@ -5453,49 +5476,49 @@ JOURNAL FORMAT 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 - replace any occurrence of the old account name with the new one. Sub- + OLD and NEW are case sensitive full account names. hledger will + replace any occurrence of the old account name with the new one. Sub- accounts 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, + There is also a more powerful variant that uses a regular expression, indicated by the forward slashes: alias /REGEX/ = REPLACEMENT or --alias '/REGEX/=REPLACEMENT'. - REGEX is a case-insensitive regular expression. Anywhere it matches - inside an account name, the matched part will be replaced by REPLACE- - MENT. If REGEX contains parenthesised match groups, these can be ref- + REGEX is a case-insensitive regular expression. Anywhere it matches + inside an account name, the matched part will be replaced by REPLACE- + MENT. If REGEX contains parenthesised match groups, these can be ref- erenced by the usual numeric backreferences in REPLACEMENT. Eg: alias /^(.+):bank:([^:]+):(.*)/ = \1:\2 \3 ; rewrites "assets:bank:wells fargo:checking" to "assets:wells fargo checking" - Also note that REPLACEMENT continues to the end of line (or on command - line, to end of option argument), so it can contain trailing white- + Also note that REPLACEMENT continues to the end of line (or on command + line, to end of option argument), so it can contain trailing white- space. 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: @@ -5506,15 +5529,15 @@ JOURNAL FORMAT 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 @@ -5547,8 +5570,8 @@ JOURNAL FORMAT end aliases Default parent account - You can specify a parent account which will be prepended to all - accounts within a section of the journal. Use the apply account and + You can specify a parent account which will be prepended to all + accounts within a section of the journal. Use the apply account and end apply account directives like so: apply account home @@ -5565,7 +5588,7 @@ JOURNAL FORMAT home:food $10 home:cash $-10 - If end apply account is omitted, the effect lasts to the end of the + If end apply account is omitted, the effect lasts to the end of the file. Included files are also affected, eg: apply account business @@ -5574,49 +5597,49 @@ JOURNAL FORMAT apply account personal include personal.journal - Prior to hledger 1.0, legacy account and end spellings were also sup- + Prior to hledger 1.0, legacy account and end spellings were also sup- ported. - A default parent account also affects account directives. It does not - affect account names being entered via hledger add or hledger-web. If - account aliases are present, they are applied after the default parent + A default parent account also affects account directives. It does not + affect account names being entered via hledger add or hledger-web. If + account aliases are present, they are applied after the default parent account. Periodic transactions - Periodic transaction rules describe transactions that recur. They - allow hledger to generate temporary future transactions to help with - forecasting, so you don't have to write out each one in the journal, + Periodic transaction rules describe transactions that recur. They + allow hledger to generate temporary future transactions to help with + forecasting, so you don't have to write out each one in the journal, and it's easy to try out different forecasts. - Periodic transactions can be a little tricky, so before you use them, + Periodic transactions can be a little tricky, so before you use them, read this whole section - or at least these 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 + 5. period expressions can be tricky. Their documentation needs improvement, 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 - 2020/01, which is equivalent to ~ every 10th day of month from + inconsistent with the above.) Eg: ~ every 10th day of month from + 2020/01, which is equivalent to ~ every 10th day of month from 2020/01/01, will be adjusted to start on 2019/12/10. Periodic transaction rules also have a second meaning: they are used to @@ -5631,17 +5654,17 @@ JOURNAL FORMAT expenses:rent $2000 assets:bank:checking - There is an additional constraint on the period expression: the start - date must fall on a natural boundary of the interval. Eg monthly from + There is an additional constraint on the period expression: the start + date must fall on a natural boundary of the interval. Eg monthly from 2018/1/1 is valid, but monthly from 2018/1/15 is not. - Partial or relative dates (M/D, D, tomorrow, last week) in the period - expression can work (useful or not). They will be relative to today's - date, unless a Y default year directive is in effect, in which case + Partial or relative dates (M/D, D, tomorrow, last week) in the period + expression can work (useful or not). They will be relative to today's + date, unless a Y default year directive is in effect, in which case they will be relative to Y/1/1. 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: @@ -5655,34 +5678,34 @@ JOURNAL FORMAT 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 + o Don't accidentally write two spaces in the middle of your period expression. Forecasting with periodic transactions - The --forecast flag activates any periodic transaction rules in the - journal. These will generate temporary additional transactions, usu- - ally recurring and in the future, which will appear in all reports. + The --forecast flag activates any periodic transaction rules in the + journal. These will generate temporary additional transactions, usu- + ally recurring and in the future, which will appear in all reports. hledger print --forecast is a good way to see them. - This can be useful for estimating balances into the future, perhaps + This can be useful for estimating balances into the future, perhaps experimenting with different scenarios. - It could also be useful for scripted data entry: you could describe - recurring transactions, and every so often copy the output of print + It could also be useful for scripted data entry: you could describe + recurring transactions, and every so often copy the output of print --forecast into the journal. - The generated transactions will have an extra tag, like generated- - transaction:~ PERIODICEXPR, indicating which periodic rule generated - them. There is also a similar, hidden tag, named _generated-transac- + The generated transactions will have an extra tag, like generated- + transaction:~ PERIODICEXPR, indicating which periodic rule generated + them. There is also a similar, hidden tag, named _generated-transac- tion:, which you can use to reliably match transactions generated "just now" (rather than printed in the past). The forecast transactions are generated within a forecast period, which - is independent of the report period. (Forecast period sets the bounds - for generated transactions, report period controls which transactions + is independent of the report period. (Forecast period sets the bounds + for generated transactions, report period controls which transactions are reported.) The forecast period begins on: o the start date provided within --forecast's argument, if any @@ -5691,7 +5714,7 @@ JOURNAL FORMAT o the report start date, if specified (with -b/-p/date:) - o the day after the latest ordinary transaction in the journal, if + o the day after the latest ordinary transaction in the journal, if any o otherwise today. @@ -5704,17 +5727,17 @@ JOURNAL FORMAT o otherwise 180 days (6 months) from today. - Note, this means that ordinary transactions will suppress periodic - transactions, by default; the periodic transactions will not start + Note, this means that ordinary transactions will suppress periodic + transactions, by default; the periodic transactions will not start until after the last ordinary transaction. This is usually convenient, but you can get around it in two ways: - o If you need to record some transactions in the future, make them - periodic transactions (with a single occurrence, eg: ~ YYYY-MM-DD) - rather than ordinary transactions. That way they won't suppress + o If you need to record some transactions in the future, make them + periodic transactions (with a single occurrence, eg: ~ YYYY-MM-DD) + rather than ordinary transactions. That way they won't suppress other periodic transactions. - o Or give --forecast a period expression argument. A forecast period + o Or give --forecast a period expression argument. A forecast period specified this way can overlap ordinary transactions, and need not be in the future. Some things to note: @@ -5723,25 +5746,25 @@ JOURNAL FORMAT o The period expression can specify the forecast period's start date, end date, or both. See also Report start & end date. - o The period expression should not specify a report interval. (Each + o The period expression should not specify a report interval. (Each periodic transaction rule specifies its own interval.) - Some examples: --forecast=202001-202004, --forecast=jan-, --fore- + Some examples: --forecast=202001-202004, --forecast=jan-, --fore- cast=2021. Budgeting with periodic transactions - With the --budget flag, currently supported by the balance command, - each periodic transaction rule declares recurring budget goals for the - specified accounts. Eg the first example above declares a goal of - spending $2000 on rent (and also, a goal of depositing $2000 into - checking) every month. Goals and actual performance can then be com- + With the --budget flag, currently supported by the balance command, + each periodic transaction rule declares recurring budget goals for the + specified accounts. Eg the first example above declares a goal of + spending $2000 on rent (and also, a goal of depositing $2000 into + checking) every month. Goals and actual performance can then be com- pared in budget reports. See also: Budgeting and Forecasting. Auto postings - "Automated postings" or "auto postings" are extra postings which get + "Automated postings" or "auto postings" are extra postings which get added automatically to transactions which match certain queries, defined by "auto posting rules", when you use the --auto flag. @@ -5752,27 +5775,27 @@ JOURNAL FORMAT ... ACCOUNT [AMOUNT] - except the first line is an equals sign (mnemonic: = suggests match- - ing), followed by a query (which matches existing postings), and each - "posting" line describes a posting to be generated, and the posting + except the first line is an equals sign (mnemonic: = suggests match- + ing), followed by a query (which matches existing postings), and each + "posting" line describes a posting to be generated, and the posting amounts can be: - o a normal amount with a commodity symbol, eg $2. This will be used + o a normal amount with a commodity symbol, eg $2. This will be used as-is. o a number, eg 2. The commodity symbol (if any) from the matched post- ing will be added to this. - o a numeric multiplier, eg *2 (a star followed by a number N). The + o a numeric multiplier, eg *2 (a star followed by a number N). The matched posting's amount (and total price, if any) will be multiplied by N. - o a multiplier with a commodity symbol, eg *$2 (a star, number N, and + o a multiplier with a commodity symbol, eg *$2 (a star, number N, and symbol S). The matched posting's amount will be multiplied by N, and its commodity symbol will be replaced with S. - Any query term containing spaces must be enclosed in single or double - quotes, as on the command line. Eg, note the quotes around the second + Any query term containing spaces must be enclosed in single or double + quotes, as on the command line. Eg, note the quotes around the second query term below: = expenses:groceries 'expenses:dining out' @@ -5811,29 +5834,29 @@ JOURNAL FORMAT 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 @@ -5842,11 +5865,11 @@ JOURNAL FORMAT 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 @@ -5857,64 +5880,63 @@ JOURNAL FORMAT CSV FORMAT How hledger reads CSV data, and the CSV rules file format. - hledger can read CSV files (Character Separated Value - usually comma, - semicolon, or tab) containing dated records as if they were journal + hledger can read CSV files (Character Separated Value - usually comma, + semicolon, or tab) containing dated records as if they were journal files, automatically converting each CSV record into a transaction. (To learn about writing CSV, see CSV output.) We describe each CSV file's format with a corresponding rules file. By - default this is named like the CSV file with a .rules extension added. - Eg when reading FILE.csv, hledger also looks for FILE.csv.rules in the - same directory as FILE.csv. You can specify a different rules file - with the --rules-file option. If a rules file is not found, hledger + default this is named like the CSV file with a .rules extension added. + Eg when reading FILE.csv, hledger also looks for FILE.csv.rules in the + same directory as FILE.csv. You can specify a different rules file + with the --rules-file option. If a rules file is not found, hledger will create a sample rules file, which you'll need to adjust. - This file contains rules describing the CSV data (header line, fields + This file contains rules describing the CSV data (header line, fields layout, date format etc.), and how to construct hledger journal entries (transactions) from it. Often there will also be a list of conditional rules for categorising transactions based on their descriptions. - Here's an overview of the CSV rules; these are described more fully + Here's an overview of the CSV rules; these are described more fully below, after the examples: skip skip one or more header lines or matched CSV records - fields list name CSV fields, assign them to hledger + fields list name CSV fields, assign them to hledger fields - - field assignment assign a value to one hledger field, with + field assignment assign a value to one hledger field, with interpolation Field names hledger field names, used in the fields list and field assignments separator a custom field separator - if block apply some rules to CSV records matched by + if block apply some rules to CSV records matched by patterns - if table apply some rules to CSV records matched by + if table apply some rules to CSV records matched by patterns, alternate syntax end skip the remaining CSV records date-format how to parse dates in CSV records - decimal-mark the decimal mark used in CSV amounts, if + decimal-mark the decimal mark used in CSV amounts, if ambiguous - newest-first disambiguate record order when there's only + newest-first disambiguate record order when there's only one date include inline another CSV rules file - balance-type choose which type of balance assignments to + balance-type choose which type of balance assignments to use - Note, for best error messages when reading CSV files, use a .csv, .tsv + Note, for best error messages when reading CSV files, use a .csv, .tsv or .ssv file extension or file prefix - see File Extension below. There's an introductory Convert CSV files tutorial on hledger.org. Examples - Here are some sample hledger CSV rules files. See also the full col- + Here are some sample hledger CSV rules files. See also the full col- lection at: https://github.com/simonmichael/hledger/tree/master/examples/csv Basic - 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 @@ -5933,8 +5955,8 @@ CSV FORMAT Default account names are chosen, since we didn't set them. 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 @@ -5976,13 +5998,13 @@ CSV FORMAT 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. 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" @@ -6034,7 +6056,7 @@ CSV FORMAT 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" @@ -6189,9 +6211,9 @@ CSV FORMAT skip skip N - The word "skip" followed by a number (or no number, meaning 1) tells - hledger to ignore this many non-empty lines preceding the CSV data. - (Empty/blank lines are skipped automatically.) You'll need this when- + The word "skip" followed by a number (or no number, meaning 1) tells + hledger to ignore this many non-empty lines preceding the CSV data. + (Empty/blank lines are skipped automatically.) You'll need this when- ever your CSV data contains header lines. It also has a second purpose: it can be used inside if blocks to ignore @@ -6200,19 +6222,19 @@ CSV FORMAT fields list fields FIELDNAME1, FIELDNAME2, ... - A fields list (the word "fields" followed by comma-separated field - names) is the quick way to assign CSV field values to hledger fields. - (The other way is field assignments, see below.) A fields list does + A fields list (the word "fields" followed by comma-separated field + names) is the quick way to assign CSV field values to hledger fields. + (The other way is field assignments, see below.) A fields list does does two things: - 1. It names the CSV fields. This is optional, but can be convenient + 1. It names the CSV fields. This is optional, but can be convenient later for interpolating them. - 2. Whenever you use a standard hledger field name (defined below), the + 2. Whenever you use a standard hledger field name (defined below), the CSV value is assigned to that part of the hledger 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 @@ -6222,18 +6244,20 @@ CSV FORMAT o The fields list always use commas, even if your CSV data uses another separator character. - o Currently there must be least two items in the list (at least one + o Currently 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 If the CSV contains column headings, it's a good idea to use these, + o Field names may contain _ (underscore) or - (hyphen). + + o If the CSV contains column headings, it's a good idea to use these, suitably modified, as the basis for your field names (eg lower-cased, with underscores instead of spaces). - o If some heading names match standard hledger fields, but you don't - want to set the hledger fields directly, alter those names, eg by + o If some heading names match standard hledger fields, but you don't + want to set the hledger fields directly, alter those names, eg by appending an underscore. o Fields you don't care about can be given a dummy name (eg: _ ), or no @@ -6242,15 +6266,15 @@ CSV FORMAT field assignment HLEDGERFIELDNAME 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 by their 1-based position in the CSV - record (%N), or by the name they were given in the fields list (%CSV- + 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 by their 1-based position in the CSV + record (%N), or by the name they were given in the fields list (%CSV- FIELDNAME). Some examples: @@ -6263,15 +6287,15 @@ CSV FORMAT Tips: - o Interpolation strips outer whitespace (so a CSV value like " 1 " + o Interpolation strips outer whitespace (so a CSV value like " 1 " becomes 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 Here are the standard hledger field (and pseudo-field) names, which you - can use in a fields list and in field assignments. For more about the + can use in a fields list and in field assignments. For more about the transaction parts they refer to, see Transactions. date field @@ -6294,9 +6318,12 @@ CSV FORMAT commentN, where N is a number, sets the Nth posting's comment. - Tips: - 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. + Tips: + + o You can assign multi-line comments by writing literal \n in the code. + A comment starting with \n will begin on a new line. + + o Comments can contain tags, as usual. account field Assigning to accountN, where N is 1 to 99, sets the account name of the