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;doc:journal: improve virtual postings doc, mention inferring zero

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Simon Michael 2023-05-31 18:42:29 -10:00
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hledger/hledger.m4.md
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@ -2670,22 +2670,17 @@ hledger ignores these.
### Virtual postings
A posting with parentheses around the account name is called a *virtual posting* or *unbalanced posting*,
which means it is exempt from the usual rule that a transaction's postings must balance add up to zero.
A posting with parentheses around the account name (`(some:account)`) is called a *unbalanced virtual posting*.
Such postings do not participate in transaction balancing.
(And if you write them without an amount, a zero amount is always inferred.)
These can occasionally be convenient for special circumstances,
but they violate double entry bookkeeping and make your data less portable across applications,
so many people avoid using them at all.
This is not part of double entry bookkeeping, 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:
```journal
2022-01-01 opening balances
(assets:checking) $1000
(assets:savings) $2000
```
A posting with brackets around the 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:
A posting with brackets around the account name (`[some:account]`) is called a *balanced virtual posting*.
The balanced virtual postings in a transaction must add up to zero, just like ordinary postings,
but separately from them. These are not part of double entry bookkeeping either, but they are at
least balanced. An example:
```journal
2022-01-01 buy food with cash, update budget envelope subaccounts, & something else
@ -2697,14 +2692,9 @@ Eg:
(something:else) $5 ; <- this is not required to balance
```
Postings whose account names are neither parenthesised nor bracketed are called *real postings*.
Ordinary postings, whose account names are neither parenthesised nor bracketed, are called *real postings*.
You can exclude virtual postings from reports with the `-R/--real` flag or a `real:1` query.
Downsides: violates double entry bookkeeping,
can be used to avoid figuring out correct entries,
makes your financial data less portable and less trustworthy in an audit.
### Other Ledger directives
These other Ledger directives are currently accepted but ignored.