diff --git a/hledger/Hledger/Cli/Commands/Add.txt b/hledger/Hledger/Cli/Commands/Add.txt index 73d5b21d3..ef1e20a90 100644 --- a/hledger/Hledger/Cli/Commands/Add.txt +++ b/hledger/Hledger/Cli/Commands/Add.txt @@ -63,5 +63,8 @@ Saved. 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 -file path ends with a period, as that would cause problems (#1056). +If you enter a number with no commodity symbol, and you have declared a +default commodity with a D directive, you might expect add to add this +symbol for you. It does not do this; we assume that if you are using a D +directive you prefer not to see the commodity symbol repeated on amounts +in the journal. diff --git a/hledger/Hledger/Cli/Commands/Balance.txt b/hledger/Hledger/Cli/Commands/Balance.txt index 9fcd23bc3..28b8a548b 100644 --- a/hledger/Hledger/Cli/Commands/Balance.txt +++ b/hledger/Hledger/Cli/Commands/Balance.txt @@ -332,7 +332,7 @@ Notes: - Accounts (rows) containing all zeroes are not shown, unless -E/--empty is used. - Amounts with many commodities are shown in abbreviated form, unless - --no-elide is used. (experimental) + --no-elide is used. - Average and/or total columns can be added with the -A/--average and -T/--row-total flags. - The --transpose flag can be used to exchange rows and columns. diff --git a/hledger/Hledger/Cli/Commands/Balancesheet.txt b/hledger/Hledger/Cli/Commands/Balancesheet.txt index 7d8196fa8..051687f05 100644 --- a/hledger/Hledger/Cli/Commands/Balancesheet.txt +++ b/hledger/Hledger/Cli/Commands/Balancesheet.txt @@ -41,5 +41,4 @@ 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, tsv, html, and -(experimental) json. +options The output formats supported are txt, csv, tsv, html, and json. diff --git a/hledger/Hledger/Cli/Commands/Cashflow.txt b/hledger/Hledger/Cli/Commands/Cashflow.txt index 598e85795..08d3b3ae3 100644 --- a/hledger/Hledger/Cli/Commands/Cashflow.txt +++ b/hledger/Hledger/Cli/Commands/Cashflow.txt @@ -47,5 +47,4 @@ 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, tsv, html, and -(experimental) json. +options The output formats supported are txt, csv, tsv, html, and json. diff --git a/hledger/Hledger/Cli/Commands/Close.txt b/hledger/Hledger/Cli/Commands/Close.txt index 37c2e8a9a..4207242c1 100644 --- a/hledger/Hledger/Cli/Commands/Close.txt +++ b/hledger/Hledger/Cli/Commands/Close.txt @@ -2,50 +2,76 @@ close (equity) -Generate transactions which transfer account balances to and/or from -another account (typically equity). This can be useful for migrating -balances to a new journal file, or for merging earnings into equity at -end of accounting period. - -By default, it prints a transaction that zeroes out ALE accounts (asset, -liability, equity accounts; this requires account types to be -configured); or if ACCTQUERY is provided, the accounts matched by that. - -(experimental) +A transaction-generating command which generates several kinds of +"closing" and/or "opening" transactions useful in certain situations. It +prints one or two transactions to stdout, but does not write them to the +journal file; you can append or copy them there when you are happy with +the output. _FLAGS -This command has four main modes, corresponding to the most common use -cases: +This command is most often used when migrating balances to a new journal +file, at the start of a new financial year. It can also be used to +"retain earnings" (transfer revenues and expenses to equity), or as a +sort of generic mover of balances from any group of accounts to some +other account. So it currently has six modes, selected by a mode flag. +Use only one of these flags at a time: -1. With --close (default), it prints a "closing balances" transaction - that zeroes out ALE (asset, liability, equity) accounts by default - (this requires account types to be inferred or declared); or, the - accounts matched by the provided ACCTQUERY arguments. +1. With --close (or no mode flag) it prints a "closing balances" + transaction that zeroes out all the asset, liability, and equity + account balances, by default (this requires inferred or declared + account types). Or, it will zero out the accounts matched by any + ACCTQUERY arguments you provide. All of the balances are transferred + to a special "opening/closing balances" equity account. 2. With --open, it prints an opposite "opening balances" transaction - that restores those balances from zero. This is similar to Ledger's - equity command. + that restores the same account balances, starting from zero. This + mode is similar to Ledger's equity command. -3. With --migrate, it prints both the closing and opening transactions. - This is the preferred way to migrate balances to a new file: run - hledger close --migrate, add the closing transaction at the end of - the old file, and add the opening transaction at the start of the - new file. The matching closing/opening transactions cancel each - other out, preserving correct balances during multi-file reporting. +3. With --migrate, it prints both the closing and opening transactions + above. This is a common way to migrate balances to a new file at + year end; run hledger close --migrate -e NEWYEAR (-e influences the + transaction date) and add the closing transaction at the end of the + old file, and the opening transaction at the start of the new file. + Doing this means you can include past year files in your reports at + any time without disturbing asset/liability/equity balances, because + the closing balances transaction cancels out the following opening + balances transaction. You will sometimes need to exclude these + transactions from reports, eg to see an end of year balance sheet; a + not:opening/closing query argument should do. You should probably + also use this query when close-ing, to exclude the "opening/closing + balances" account which might otherwise cause problems. Or you can + just migrate assets and liabilities: hledger close type:AL. Most + people don't need to migrate equity. And revenues and expenses + usually should not be migrated. -4. With --retain, it prints a "retain earnings" transaction that - transfers RX (revenue and expense) balances to - equity:retained earnings. Businesses traditionally do this at the - end of each accounting period; it is less necessary with - computer-based accounting, but it could still be useful if you want - to see the accounting equation (A=L+E) satisfied. +4. With --assert it prints a "closing balances" transaction that just + asserts the current balances, without changing them. This can be + useful as documention and to guard against errors and changes. -In all modes, the defaults can be overridden: +5. With --assign it prints an "opening balances" transaction that + restores the account balances using balance assignments. Balance + assignments work regardless of any previous balance, so a preceding + closing balances transaction is not needed. This is an alternative + to --close and --open: at year end, + hledger close --assert -e NEWYEAR in the old file (optional, but + useful for error checking), and hledger close --assign -e NEWYEAR in + the new file. This might be more convenient, eg if you are often + doing cleanups or fixes which would break closing/opening + transactions. + +6. With --retain, it prints a "retain earnings" transaction that + transfers revenue and expense balances to equity:retained earnings. + This is a traditional end-of-period bookkeeping operation also + called "closing the books"; in personal accounting you probably will + not need this but it could be useful if you want to see the + accounting equation (A=L+E) balanced. + +In all modes, the following things can be overridden: - the transaction descriptions can be changed with --close-desc=DESC and --open-desc=DESC -- the account to transfer to/from can be changed with +- the account to transfer to and from can be changed with --close-acct=ACCT and --open-acct=ACCT - the accounts to be closed/opened can be changed with ACCTQUERY (account query arguments). diff --git a/hledger/Hledger/Cli/Commands/Incomestatement.txt b/hledger/Hledger/Cli/Commands/Incomestatement.txt index e0cbf7cc2..32534573d 100644 --- a/hledger/Hledger/Cli/Commands/Incomestatement.txt +++ b/hledger/Hledger/Cli/Commands/Incomestatement.txt @@ -43,5 +43,4 @@ 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, tsv, html, and -(experimental) json. +options The output formats supported are txt, csv, tsv, html, and json. diff --git a/hledger/Hledger/Cli/Commands/Print.txt b/hledger/Hledger/Cli/Commands/Print.txt index 2341fade7..03ba9ea88 100644 --- a/hledger/Hledger/Cli/Commands/Print.txt +++ b/hledger/Hledger/Cli/Commands/Print.txt @@ -108,8 +108,8 @@ This command also supports the output destination and output format options The output formats supported are txt, beancount, csv, tsv, json and sql. -Experimental: The beancount format tries to produce Beancount-compatible -output, as follows: +The beancount format tries to produce Beancount-compatible output, as +follows: - Transaction and postings with unmarked status are converted to cleared (*) status. diff --git a/hledger/Hledger/Cli/Commands/Register.txt b/hledger/Hledger/Cli/Commands/Register.txt index 7c66448cc..c42a9deb9 100644 --- a/hledger/Hledger/Cli/Commands/Register.txt +++ b/hledger/Hledger/Cli/Commands/Register.txt @@ -125,5 +125,4 @@ $ 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, tsv, and -(experimental) json. +options The output formats supported are txt, csv, tsv, and json.