This is hledger_csv.5.info, produced by makeinfo version 6.0 from stdin.  File: hledger_csv.5.info, Node: Top, Next: CSV RULES, Up: (dir) hledger_csv(5) hledger 1.2.98 ***************************** hledger can read CSV files, converting each CSV record into a journal entry (transaction), if you provide some conversion hints in a "rules file". This file should be named like the CSV file with an additional '.rules' suffix (eg: 'mybank.csv.rules'); or, you can specify the file with '--rules-file PATH'. hledger will create it if necessary, with some default rules which you'll need to adjust. At minimum, the rules file must specify the 'date' and 'amount' fields. For an example, see Cookbook: convert CSV files. To learn about _exporting_ CSV, see CSV output. * Menu: * CSV RULES:: * CSV TIPS::  File: hledger_csv.5.info, Node: CSV RULES, Next: CSV TIPS, Prev: Top, Up: Top 1 CSV RULES *********** The following six kinds of rule can appear in the rules file, in any order. Blank lines and lines beginning with '#' or ';' are ignored. * Menu: * skip:: * date-format:: * field list:: * field assignment:: * conditional block:: * include::  File: hledger_csv.5.info, Node: skip, Next: date-format, Up: CSV RULES 1.1 skip ======== 'skip'_'N'_ Skip this number of CSV records at the beginning. You'll need this whenever your CSV data contains header lines. Eg: # ignore the first CSV line skip 1  File: hledger_csv.5.info, Node: date-format, Next: field list, Prev: skip, Up: CSV RULES 1.2 date-format =============== 'date-format'_'DATEFMT'_ When your CSV date fields are not formatted like 'YYYY/MM/DD' (or 'YYYY-MM-DD' or 'YYYY.MM.DD'), you'll need to specify the format. DATEFMT is a strptime-like date parsing pattern, which must parse the date field values completely. Examples: # for dates like "6/11/2013": date-format %-d/%-m/%Y # for dates like "11/06/2013": date-format %m/%d/%Y # for dates like "2013-Nov-06": date-format %Y-%h-%d # for dates like "11/6/2013 11:32 PM": date-format %-m/%-d/%Y %l:%M %p  File: hledger_csv.5.info, Node: field list, Next: field assignment, Prev: date-format, Up: CSV RULES 1.3 field list ============== 'fields'_'FIELDNAME1'_, _'FIELDNAME2'_... This (a) names the CSV fields, in order (names may not contain whitespace; uninteresting names may be left blank), and (b) assigns them to journal entry fields if you use any of these standard field names: 'date', 'date2', 'status', 'code', 'description', 'comment', 'account1', 'account2', 'amount', 'amount-in', 'amount-out', 'currency', 'balance'. Eg: # use the 1st, 2nd and 4th CSV fields as the entry's date, description and amount, # and give the 7th and 8th fields meaningful names for later reference: # # CSV field: # 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 # entry field: fields date, description, , amount, , , somefield, anotherfield  File: hledger_csv.5.info, Node: field assignment, Next: conditional block, Prev: field list, Up: CSV RULES 1.4 field assignment ==================== _'ENTRYFIELDNAME'_ _'FIELDVALUE'_ This sets a journal entry field (one of the standard names above) to the given text value, which can include CSV field values interpolated by name ('%CSVFIELDNAME') or 1-based position ('%N'). Eg: # set the amount to the 4th CSV field with "USD " prepended amount USD %4 # combine three fields to make a comment (containing two tags) comment note: %somefield - %anotherfield, date: %1 Field assignments can be used instead of or in addition to a field list.  File: hledger_csv.5.info, Node: conditional block, Next: include, Prev: field assignment, Up: CSV RULES 1.5 conditional block ===================== 'if' _'PATTERN'_ _'FIELDASSIGNMENTS'_... 'if' _'PATTERN'_ _'PATTERN'_... _'FIELDASSIGNMENTS'_... This applies one or more field assignments, only to those CSV records matched by one of the PATTERNs. The patterns are case-insensitive regular expressions which match anywhere within the whole CSV record (it's not yet possible to match within a specific field). When there are multiple patterns they can be written on separate lines, unindented. The field assignments are on separate lines indented by at least one space. Examples: # if the CSV record contains "groceries", set account2 to "expenses:groceries" if groceries account2 expenses:groceries # if the CSV record contains any of these patterns, set account2 and comment as shown if monthly service fee atm transaction fee banking thru software account2 expenses:business:banking comment XXX deductible ? check it  File: hledger_csv.5.info, Node: include, Prev: conditional block, Up: CSV RULES 1.6 include =========== 'include'_'RULESFILE'_ Include another rules file at this point. 'RULESFILE' is either an absolute file path or a path relative to the current file's directory. Eg: # rules reused with several CSV files include common.rules  File: hledger_csv.5.info, Node: CSV TIPS, Prev: CSV RULES, Up: Top 2 CSV TIPS ********** Each generated journal entry will have two postings, to 'account1' and 'account2' respectively. Currently it's not possible to generate entries with more than two postings. If the CSV has debit/credit amounts in separate fields, assign to the 'amount-in' and 'amount-out' pseudo fields instead of 'amount'. If the CSV has the currency in a separate field, assign that to the 'currency' pseudo field which will be automatically prepended to the amount. (Or you can do the same thing with a field assignment.) If the CSV includes a running balance, you can assign that to the 'balance' pseudo field to generate a balance assertion on 'account1' whenever the balance field is non-empty. (Eg to double-check your bank's balance calculation.) If an amount value is parenthesised, it will be de-parenthesised and sign-flipped automatically. The generated journal entries will be sorted by date. The original order of same-day entries will be preserved, usually.  Tag Table: Node: Top74 Node: CSV RULES816 Ref: #csv-rules926 Node: skip1169 Ref: #skip1265 Node: date-format1437 Ref: #date-format1566 Node: field list2072 Ref: #field-list2211 Node: field assignment2916 Ref: #field-assignment3073 Node: conditional block3577 Ref: #conditional-block3733 Node: include4629 Ref: #include4740 Node: CSV TIPS4971 Ref: #csv-tips5067  End Tag Table