# journal format
This doc is for version **1.13**. []{.docversions}
\$toc\$
## NAME
Journal - hledger's default file format, representing a General Journal
## DESCRIPTION
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](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/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](http://ledger-cli.org/3.0/doc/ledger3.html#Journal-Format), so
hledger can work with
[compatible](https://github.com/simonmichael/hledger/wiki/FAQ#file-formats)
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 getting.
You can use hledger without learning any more about this file; just use
the [add](#add) or [web](#web) commands to create and update it. Many
users, though, also edit the journal file directly with a text editor,
perhaps assisted by the helper modes for emacs or vim.
Here's an example:
``` {.journal}
; A sample journal file. This is a comment.
2008/01/01 income ; <- transaction's first line starts in column 0, contains date and description
assets:bank:checking $1 ; <- posting lines start with whitespace, each contains an account name
income:salary $-1 ; followed by at least two spaces and an amount
2008/06/01 gift
assets:bank:checking $1 ; <- at least two postings in a transaction
income:gifts $-1 ; <- their amounts must balance to 0
2008/06/02 save
assets:bank:saving $1
assets:bank:checking ; <- one amount may be omitted; here $-1 is inferred
2008/06/03 eat & shop ; <- description can be anything
expenses:food $1
expenses:supplies $1 ; <- this transaction debits two expense accounts
assets:cash ; <- $-2 inferred
2008/10/01 take a loan
assets:bank:checking $1
liabilities:debts $-1
2008/12/31 * pay off ; <- an optional * or ! after the date means "cleared" (or anything you want)
liabilities:debts $1
assets:bank:checking
```
## FILE FORMAT
### Transactions
Transactions are movements of some quantity of commodities between named
accounts. Each transaction is represented by a journal entry beginning
with a [simple date](#simple-dates) in column 0. This can be followed by
any of the following, separated by spaces:
- (optional) a [status](#status) character (empty, `!`, or `*`)
- (optional) a transaction code (any short number or text, enclosed in
parentheses)
- (optional) a transaction description (any remaining text until end
of line or a semicolon)
- (optional) a transaction comment (any remaining text following a
semicolon until end of line)
Then comes zero or more (but usually at least 2) indented lines
representing...
### 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
tab (2 or 4 spaces is common), followed by:
- (optional) a [status](#status) character (empty, `!`, or `*`),
followed by a space
- (required) an [account name](#account-names) (any text, optionally
containing **single spaces**, until end of line or a double space)
- (optional) **two or more spaces** or tabs followed by an
[amount](#amounts).
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
convenience, 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 spaces. But
if you accidentally leave only one space (or tab) before the amount, the
amount will be considered part of the account name.
### Dates
#### Simple dates
Within a journal file, transaction dates use Y/M/D (or Y-M-D or Y.M.D)
Leading zeros are optional. The year may be omitted, in which case it
will be inferred from the context - the current transaction, the default
year set with a [default year directive](#default-year), or the current
date when the command is run. Some examples: `2010/01/31`, `1/31`,
`2010-01-31`, `2010.1.31`.
#### Secondary dates
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, eg for more accurate balances, you can specify
individual [posting dates](#posting-dates), which I recommend. Or, you
can use the secondary dates (aka auxiliary/effective dates) feature,
supported for compatibility with Ledger.
A secondary date can be written after the primary date, separated by an
equals sign. The primary date, on the left, is used by default; the
secondary date, on the right, is used when the `--date2` flag is
specified (`--aux-date` or `--effective` also work).
The meaning of secondary dates is up to you, but it's best to follow a
consistent rule. Eg write the bank's clearing date as primary, and when
needed, the date the transaction was initiated as secondary.
Here's an example. Note that a secondary date will use the year of the
primary date if unspecified.
``` {.journal}
2010/2/23=2/19 movie ticket
expenses:cinema $10
assets:checking
```
``` {.shell}
$ hledger register checking
2010/02/23 movie ticket assets:checking $-10 $-10
```
``` {.shell}
$ hledger register checking --date2
2010/02/19 movie ticket assets:checking $-10 $-10
```
Secondary dates require some effort; you must use them consistently in
your journal entries and remember whether to use or not use the
`--date2` flag for your reports. They are included in hledger for Ledger
compatibility, but posting dates are a more powerful and less confusing
alternative.
#### Posting dates
You can give individual postings a different date from their parent
transaction, by adding a [posting comment](#comments) containing a
[tag](#tags) (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 easy bank reconciliation:
``` {.journal}
2015/5/30
expenses:food $10 ; food purchased on saturday 5/30
assets:checking ; bank cleared it on monday, date:6/1
```
``` {.shell}
$ hledger -f t.j register food
2015/05/30 expenses:food $10 $10
```
``` {.shell}
$ hledger -f t.j register checking
2015/06/01 assets:checking $-10 $-10
```
DATE should be a [simple date](#simple-dates); 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 square-bracketed sequence of the `0123456789/-.=` characters in this
way. 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,
indicating one of three statuses:
mark status
-------- ----------
unmarked
`!` pending
`*` cleared
When reporting, you can filter by status with the `-U/--unmarked`,
`-P/--pending`, and `-C/--cleared` flags; or the `status:`, `status:!`,
and `status:*` [queries](/manual.html#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 unmarked
for clarity.
To replicate Ledger and old hledger's behaviour of also matching
pending, combine -U and -P.
Status marks are optional, but can be helpful eg for reconciling with
real-world accounts. Some editor modes provide highlighting and
shortcuts 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.
Here's one suggestion:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
status meaning
----------- -------------------------------------------------------------
uncleared recorded but not yet reconciled; needs review
pending tentatively reconciled (if needed, eg during a big
reconciliation)
cleared complete, reconciled as far as possible, and considered
correct
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
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.
### 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
"narration" in traditional bookkeeping, it can be used for whatever you
wish, or left blank. Transaction descriptions can be queried, unlike
[comments](#comments).
#### Payee and note
You can optionally include a `|` (pipe) character in a description to
subdivide it into a payee/payer name on the left and additional notes on
the right. This may be worthwhile if you need to do more precise
[querying](/hledger.html#queries) and [pivoting](/hledger.html#pivoting)
by payee.
### 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-level
accounts: `assets`, `liabilities`, `income`, `expenses`, and `equity`.
Account names may contain single spaces, eg:
`assets:accounts receivable`. Because of this, they must always be
followed by **two or more spaces** (or newline).
Account names can be [aliased](#rewriting-accounts).
### Amounts
After the account name, there is usually an amount. Important: between
account name and amount, there must be **two or more spaces**.
Amounts consist of a number and (usually) a currency symbol or commodity
name. Some examples:
`2.00001`\
`$1`\
`4000 AAPL`\
`3 "green apples"`\
`-$1,000,000.00`\
`INR 9,99,99,999.00`\
`EUR -2.000.000,00`\
`1 999 999.9455`\
`EUR 1E3`\
`1000E-6s`
As you can see, the amount format is somewhat flexible:
- amounts are a number (the "quantity") and optionally a currency
symbol/commodity name (the "commodity").
- the commodity is a symbol, word, or phrase, on the left or right,
with or without a separating space. If the commodity contains
numbers, spaces or non-word punctuation it must be enclosed in
double quotes.
- negative amounts with a commodity on the left can have the minus
sign before or after it
- digit groups (thousands, or any other grouping) can be separated by
space or comma or period and should be used as separator between all
groups
- decimal part can be separated by comma or period and should be
different from digit groups separator
- scientific E-notation is allowed. Be careful not to use a digit
group separator character in scientific notation, as it's not
supported and it might get mistaken for a decimal point. (Declaring
the digit group separator character explicitly with a commodity
directive will prevent this.)
You can use any of these variations when recording data. However, there
is some ambiguous way of representing numbers like `$1.000` and `$1,000`
both may mean either one thousand or one dollar. By default hledger will
assume that this is sole delimiter is used only for decimals. On the
other hand commodity format declared prior to that line will help to
resolve that ambiguity differently:
``` {.journal}
commodity $1,000.00
2017/12/25 New life of Scrooge
expenses:gifts $1,000
assets
```
Though journal may contain mixed styles to represent amount, when
hledger displays amounts, it will choose a consistent format for each
commodity. (Except for [price amounts](#prices), which are always
formatted as written). The display format is chosen as follows:
- if there is a [commodity directive](#declaring-commodities)
specifying the format, that is used
- otherwise the format is inferred from the first posting amount in
that commodity in the journal, and the precision (number of decimal
places) will be the maximum from all posting amounts in that
commmodity
- or if there are no such amounts in the journal, a default format is
used (like `$1000.00`).
Price amounts and amounts in `D` directives usually don't affect amount
format inference, but in some situations they can do so indirectly. (Eg
when D's default commodity is applied to a commodity-less amount, or
when an amountless posting is balanced using a price's commodity, or
when -V is used.) If you find this causing problems, set the desired
format with a commodity directive.
### Virtual Postings
When you parenthesise the account name in a posting, we call that a
*virtual posting*, which means:
- it is ignored when checking that the transaction is balanced
- it is excluded from reports when the `--real/-R` flag is used, or
the `real:1` query.
You could use this, eg, to set an account's opening balance without
needing to use the `equity:opening balances` account:
``` {.journal}
1/1 special unbalanced posting to set initial balance
(assets:checking) $1000
```
When the account name is bracketed, we call it a *balanced virtual
posting*. This is like an ordinary virtual posting except the balanced
virtual postings in a transaction must balance to 0, like the real
postings (but separately from them). Balanced virtual postings are also
excluded by `--real/-R` or `real:1`.
``` {.journal}
1/1 buy food with cash, and update some budget-tracking subaccounts elsewhere
expenses:food $10
assets:cash $-10
[assets:checking:available] $10
[assets:checking:budget:food] $-10
```
Virtual postings have some legitimate uses, but those are few. You can
usually find an equivalent journal entry using real postings, which is
more correct and provides better error checking.
### Balance Assertions
hledger supports [Ledger-style balance
assertions](http://ledger-cli.org/3.0/doc/ledger3.html#Balance-assertions)
in journal files. These look like `=EXPECTEDBALANCE` following a
posting's amount. Eg in this example we assert the expected dollar
balance in accounts a and b after each posting:
``` {.journal}
2013/1/1
a $1 =$1
b =$-1
2013/1/2
a $1 =$2
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 protect
you from, eg, inadvertently disrupting reconciled balances while
cleaning up old entries. You can disable them temporarily with the
`--ignore-assertions` flag, which can be useful for troubleshooting or
for reading Ledger files.
#### 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
different from Ledger, which sorts assertions only by parse order.
(Also, Ledger assertions do not see the accumulated effect of repeated
postings 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. 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](#including-other-files), things are a little more
complicated. Including preserves the ordering of postings and
assertions. If you have multiple 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
Balance assertions don't work well across files specified with multiple
-f options. Use include or [concatenate the
files](/hledger.html#input-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 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 kind of balance assertion, by writing a double
equals sign (`==EXPECTEDBALANCE`). This "complete" balance assertion
asserts the absence of other commodities (or, that their balance is 0,
which to hledger is equivalent.)
``` {.journal}
2013/1/1
a $1
a 1€
b $-1
c -1€
2013/1/2 ; These assertions succeed
a 0 = $1
a 0 = 1€
b 0 == $-1
c 0 == -1€
2013/1/3 ; This assertion fails as 'a' also contains 1€
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
into its own subaccount:
``` {.journal}
2013/1/1
a:usd $1
a:euro 1€
b
2013/1/2
a 0 == 0
a:usd 0 == $1
a:euro 0 == 1€
```
#### Assertions and prices
Balance assertions ignore [transaction prices](#transaction-prices), and
should normally be written without one:
``` {.journal}
2019/1/1
(a) $1 @ €1 = $1
```
We do allow prices to be written there, however, and
[print](/manual.html#print) shows them, even though they don't affect
whether the assertion passes or fails. This is for backward
compatibility (hledger's [close](/manual.html#close) command used to
generate balance assertions with prices), and because [balance
*assignments*](#balance-assignments) do use them (see below).
#### Assertions and subaccounts
Balance assertions do not count the balance from subaccounts; they check
the posted account's exclusive balance. For example:
``` {.journal}
1/1
checking:fund 1 = 1 ; post to this subaccount, its balance is now 1
checking 1 = 1 ; post to the parent account, its exclusive balance is now 1
equity
```
The balance report's flat mode shows these exclusive balances more
clearly:
``` {.shell}
$ hledger bal checking --flat
1 checking
1 checking:fund
--------------------
2
```
#### Assertions and virtual postings
Balance assertions are checked against all postings, both real and
[virtual](#virtual-postings). 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](http://hledger.org/journal.html#declaring-commodities) may
limit the display precision, but this will not affect balance
assertions. Balance assertion failure messages show exact amounts.
### Balance Assignments
[Ledger-style balance
assignments](http://ledger-cli.org/3.0/doc/ledger3.html#Balance-assignments)
are also supported. These are like [balance
assertions](#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:
``` {.journal}
; starting a new journal, set asset account balances
2016/1/1 opening balances
assets:checking = $409.32
assets:savings = $735.24
assets:cash = $42
equity:opening balances
```
or when adjusting a balance to reality:
``` {.journal}
; no cash left; update balance, record any untracked spending as a generic expense
2016/1/15
assets:cash = $0
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
assignment). 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](#transaction-prices) in a balance assignment will
cause the calculated amount to have that price attached:
``` {.journal}
2019/1/1
(a) = $1 @ €2
```
$ hledger print --explicit
2019/01/01
(a) $1 @ €2 = $1 @ €2
### Transaction prices
Within a transaction, you can note an amount's price in another
commodity. 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](#market-prices), which represent prevailing
exchange rates on a certain date.
There are several ways to record a transaction price:
1. Write the price per unit, as `@ UNITPRICE` after the amount:
``` {.journal}
2009/1/1
assets:euros €100 @ $1.35 ; one hundred euros purchased at $1.35 each
assets:dollars ; balancing amount is -$135.00
```
2. Write the total price, as `@@ TOTALPRICE` after the amount:
``` {.journal}
2009/1/1
assets:euros €100 @@ $135 ; one hundred euros purchased at $135 for the lot
assets:dollars
```
3. Specify amounts for all postings, using exactly two commodities, and
let hledger infer the price that balances the transaction:
``` {.journal}
2009/1/1
assets:euros €100 ; one hundred euros purchased
assets:dollars $-135 ; for $135
```
(Ledger users: Ledger uses a different
[syntax](http://ledger-cli.org/3.0/doc/ledger3.html#Fixing-Lot-Prices)
for fixed prices, `{=UNITPRICE}`, which hledger currently ignores).
Use the [`-B/--cost`](hledger.html#reporting-options) 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:
``` {.shell}
$ hledger bal -N --flat
$-135 assets:dollars
€100 assets:euros
$ hledger bal -N --flat -B
$-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
amount. So if example 3's postings are reversed, while the transaction
is equivalent, -B shows something different:
``` {.journal}
2009/1/1
assets:dollars $-135 ; 135 dollars sold
assets:euros €100 ; for 100 euros
```
``` {.shell}
$ hledger bal -N --flat -B
€-100 assets:dollars # <- the dollars' selling price
€100 assets:euros
```
### 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 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
postings). 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:
``` {.journal}
# a file comment
; also a file comment
comment
This is a multiline file comment,
which continues until a line
where the "end comment" string
appears on its own (or end of file).
end comment
2012/5/14 something ; a transaction comment
; the transaction comment, continued
posting1 1 ; a comment for posting 1
posting2
; a comment for posting 2
; 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 comment` directives](#comment-blocks).
### Tags
Tags are a way to add extra labels or labelled data to postings and
transactions, which you can then [search](/hledger.html#queries) or
[pivot](/hledger.html#pivoting) on.
A simple tag is a word (which may contain hyphens) followed by a full
colon, written inside a transaction or posting [comment](#comments)
line:
``` {.journal}
2017/1/16 bought groceries ; sometag:
```
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:
``` {.journal}
expenses:food $10 ; a-posting-tag: the tag value
```
Note this means hledger's tag values can not contain commas or newlines.
Ending at commas means you can write multiple short tags on one line,
comma separated:
``` {.journal}
assets:checking ; a comment containing tag1:, tag2: some value ...
```
Here,
- "`a comment containing`" is just comment text, not a tag
- "`tag1`" is a tag with no value
- "`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-tag`) and the posting has four (those plus `posting-tag`):
``` {.journal}
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](http://ledger-cli.org/3.0/doc/ledger3.html#Metadata) feature,
except hledger's tag values are simple strings.
### Directives
A directive is a line in the journal beginning with a special keyword,
that influences how the journal is processed. hledger's directives are
based on a subset of Ledger's, but there are many differences (and also
some differences between hledger versions).
Directives' behaviour and interactions can get a little bit
[complex](https://github.com/simonmichael/hledger/issues/793), so here
is a table summarising the directives and their effects, with links to
more detailed docs.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
directive end directive subdirectives purpose can affect (as of
2018/06)
-------------------------------------------- --------------------- --------------- ---------------------------- -------------------
[`account`](#declaring-accounts) any text document account names, all entries in all
declare account types & files, before or
display order after
[`alias`](#rewriting-accounts) `end aliases` rewrite account names following
inline/included
entries until end
of current file or
end directive
[`apply account`](#default-parent-account) `end apply account` prepend a common parent to following
account names inline/included
entries until end
of current file or
end directive
[`comment`](#comment-blocks) `end comment` ignore part of journal following
inline/included
entries until end
of current file or
end directive
[`commodity`](#declaring-commodities) `format` declare a commodity and its number notation:
number notation & display following entries
style in that commodity
in all files;
display style:
amounts of that
commodity in
reports
[`D`](#default-commodity) declare a commodity, number commodity: all
notation & display style for commodityless
commodityless amounts entries in all
files;
number
notation: following
commodityless
entries and entries
in that commodity
in all files;
display style:
amounts of that
commodity in
reports
[`include`](#including-other-files) include entries/directives what the included
from another file directives affect
[`P`](#market-prices) declare a market price for a amounts of that
commodity commodity in
reports, when -V is
used
[`Y`](#default-year) declare a year for yearless following
dates inline/included
entries until end
of current file
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
And some definitions:
-------------- -------------------------------------------------------------
subdirective optional indented directive line immediately following a
parent directive
number how to interpret numbers when parsing journal entries (the
notation identity of the decimal separator character). (Currently each
commodity can have its own notation, even in the same file.)
display style how to display amounts of a commodity in reports (symbol side
and spacing, digit groups, decimal separator, decimal places)
directive which entries and (when there are multiple files) which files
scope are affected by a directive
-------------- -------------------------------------------------------------
As you can see, directives vary in which journal entries and files they
affect, and whether they are focussed on input (parsing) or output
(reports). Some directives have multiple effects.
If you have a journal made up of multiple files, or pass multiple -f
options on the command line, note that directives which affect input
typically last only until the end of their defining file. This provides
more simplicity and predictability, eg reports are not changed by
writing file options in a different order. It can be surprising at times
though.
#### Comment blocks
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](#comments).
#### Including other files
You can pull in the content of additional files by writing an include
directive, like this:
``` {.journal}
include path/to/file.journal
```
If the path does not begin with a slash, it is relative to the current
file. The include file path may contain [common glob
patterns](https://hackage.haskell.org/package/Glob-0.9.2/docs/System-FilePath-Glob.html#v:compile)
(e.g. `*`).
The `include` directive can only be used in journal files. It can
include journal, timeclock or timedot files, but not CSV files.
#### 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.
Eg:
``` {.journal}
Y2009 ; set default year to 2009
12/15 ; equivalent to 2009/12/15
expenses 1
assets
Y2010 ; change default year to 2010
2009/1/30 ; specifies the year, not affected
expenses 1
assets
1/31 ; equivalent to 2010/1/31
expenses 1
assets
```
#### Declaring commodities
The `commodity` directive declares commodities which may be used in the
journal (though currently we do not enforce this). It may be written on
a single line, like this:
``` {.journal}
; commodity EXAMPLEAMOUNT
; display AAAA amounts with the symbol on the right, space-separated,
; using period as decimal point, with four decimal places, and
; separating thousands with comma.
commodity 1,000.0000 AAAA
```
or on multiple lines, using the "format" subdirective. In this case the
commodity symbol appears twice and should be the same in both places:
``` {.journal}
; commodity SYMBOL
; format EXAMPLEAMOUNT
; display indian rupees with currency name on the left,
; thousands, lakhs and crores comma-separated,
; period as decimal point, and two decimal places.
commodity INR
format INR 9,99,99,999.00
```
Commodity directives have a second purpose: they define the standard
display format for amounts in the commodity. Normally the display format
is inferred from journal entries, but this can be unpredictable;
declaring it with a commodity directive overrides this and removes
ambiguity. Towards this end, amounts in commodity directives must always
be written with a decimal point (a period or comma, followed by 0 or
more decimal digits).
#### Default commodity
The `D` directive sets a default commodity (and display format), to be
used for amounts without a commodity symbol (ie, plain numbers). (Note
this differs from Ledger's default commodity directive.) The commodity
and display format will be applied to all subsequent commodity-less
amounts, or until the next `D` directive.
``` {.journal}
# commodity-less amounts should be treated as dollars
# (and displayed with symbol on the left, thousands separators and two decimal places)
D $1,000.00
1/1
a 5 ; <- commodity-less amount, becomes $1
b
```
As with the `commodity` directive, the amount must always be written
with a decimal point.
#### Market prices
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](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stock_exchange), cryptocurrency
exchange, or the [foreign exchange
market](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_exchange_market).
Here is the format:
``` {.journal}
P DATE COMMODITYA COMMODITYBAMOUNT
```
- DATE is a [simple date](#simple-dates)
- COMMODITYA is the symbol of the commodity being priced
- COMMODITYBAMOUNT is an [amount](#amounts) (symbol and quantity) in a
second commodity, giving the price in commodity B of one unit of
commodity A.
These two market price directives say that one euro was worth 1.35 US
dollars during 2009, and \$1.40 from 2010 onward:
``` {.journal}
P 2009/1/1 € $1.35
P 2010/1/1 € $1.40
```
The [`-V/--value`](manual.html#market-value) flag can be used to convert
reported amounts to another commodity using these prices.
#### Declaring accounts
`account` directives can be used to pre-declare accounts. Though not
required, they can provide several benefits:
- They can document your intended chart of accounts, providing a
reference.
- They can store extra information about accounts (account numbers,
notes, etc.)
- They can help hledger know your accounts' types (asset, liability,
equity, revenue, expense), useful for reports like balancesheet and
incomestatement.
- They control account display order in reports, allowing
non-alphabetic sorting (eg Revenues to appear above Expenses).
- They help with account name completion in the add command,
hledger-iadd, hledger-web, ledger-mode etc.
The simplest form is just the word `account` followed by a hledger-style
[account name](manual.html#account-names), eg:
``` {.journal}
account assets:bank:checking
```
##### Account comments
[Comments](#comments), beginning with a semicolon, optionally including
[tags](journal.html#tags), can be written after the account name, and/or
on following lines. Eg:
``` {.journal}
account assets:bank:checking ; a comment
; another comment
; acctno:12345, a tag
```
Tip: comments on the same line require hledger 1.12+. If you need your
journal to be compatible with older hledger versions, write comments on
the next line instead.
##### Account subdirectives
We also allow (and ignore) Ledger-style indented subdirectives, just for
compatibility.:
``` {.journal}
account assets:bank:checking
format blah blah ; <- subdirective, ignored
```
Here is the full syntax of account directives:
``` {.journal}
account ACCTNAME [ACCTTYPE] [;COMMENT]
[;COMMENTS]
[LEDGER-STYLE SUBDIRECTIVES, IGNORED]
```
##### Account types
hledger recognises five types (or classes) of account: Asset, Liability,
Equity, Revenue, Expense. This is used by a few accounting-aware reports
such as [balancesheet](manual.html#balancesheet),
[incomestatement](manual.html#incomestatement) and
[cashflow](manual.html#cashflow).
###### Auto-detected account types
If you name your top-level accounts with some variation of `assets`,
`liabilities`/`debts`, `equity`, `revenues`/`income`, or `expenses`,
their types are detected automatically.
###### Account types declared with tags
More generally, you can declare an account's type with an account
directive, by writing a `type:` [tag](journal.html#tags) in a comment,
followed by one of the words `Asset`, `Liability`, `Equity`, `Revenue`,
`Expense`, or one of the letters `ALERX` (case insensitive):
``` {.journal}
account assets ; type:Asset
account liabilities ; type:Liability
account equity ; type:Equity
account revenues ; type:Revenue
account expenses ; type:Expenses
```
###### Account types declared with account type codes
Or, you can write one of those letters separated from the account name
by two or more spaces, but this should probably be considered deprecated
as of hledger 1.13:
``` {.journal}
account assets A
account liabilities L
account equity E
account revenues R
account expenses X
```
###### Overriding auto-detected types
If you ever override the types of those auto-detected english account
names mentioned above, you might need to help the reports a bit. Eg:
``` {.journal}
; make "liabilities" not have the liability type - who knows why
account liabilities ; type:E
; we need to ensure some other account has the liability type,
; otherwise balancesheet would still show "liabilities" under Liabilities
account - ; type:L
```
##### 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
sidebar. By default accounts are listed in alphabetical order. But if
you have these account directives in the journal:
``` {.journal}
account assets
account liabilities
account equity
account revenues
account expenses
```
you'll see those accounts displayed in declaration order, not
alphabetically:
``` {.shell}
$ hledger accounts -1
assets
liabilities
equity
revenues
expenses
```
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, this
directive:
``` {.journal}
account other:zoo
```
would influence the position of `zoo` among `other`'s subaccounts, but
not the position of `other` among the top-level accounts. This means: -
you will sometimes declare parent accounts (eg `account other` above)
that you don't intend to post to, just to customize their display order
- sibling accounts stay together (you couldn't display `x:y` in between
`a:b` and `a:c`).
#### Rewriting accounts
You can define account alias rules which rewrite your account names, or
parts of them, before generating reports. This can be useful for:
- expanding shorthand account names to their full form, allowing
easier data entry and a less verbose journal
- adapting old journals to your current chart of accounts
- experimenting with new account organisations, like a new hierarchy
or combining two accounts into one
- customising reports
Account aliases also rewrite account names in [account
directives](#declaring-accounts). They do not affect account names being
entered via hledger add or hledger-web.
See also [Cookbook: Rewrite account
names](https://github.com/simonmichael/hledger/wiki/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](#including-other-files). The spaces around the = are
optional:
``` {.journal}
alias OLD = NEW
```
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. Subaccounts are
also affected. Eg:
``` {.journal}
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,
indicated by the forward slashes:
``` {.journal}
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
REPLACEMENT. If REGEX contains parenthesised match groups, these can be
referenced by the usual numeric backreferences in REPLACEMENT. Eg:
``` {.journal}
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 whitespace.
##### Multiple aliases
You can define as many aliases as you like using directives or
command-line options. Aliases are recursive - each alias sees the result
of applying previous ones. (This is different from Ledger, where aliases
are non-recursive by default). Aliases are applied in the following
order:
1. alias directives, most recently seen first (recent directives take
precedence over earlier ones; directives not yet seen are ignored)
2. alias options, in the order they appear on the command line
##### `end aliases`
You can clear (forget) all currently defined aliases with the
`end aliases` directive:
``` {.journal}
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
`end apply account` directives like so:
``` {.journal}
apply account home
2010/1/1
food $10
cash
end apply account
```
which is equivalent to:
``` {.journal}
2010/01/01
home:food $10
home:cash $-10
```
If `end apply account` is omitted, the effect lasts to the end of the
file. Included files are also affected, eg:
``` {.journal}
apply account business
include biz.journal
end apply account
apply account personal
include personal.journal
```
Prior to hledger 1.0, legacy `account` and `end` spellings were also
supported.
A default parent account also affects [account
directives](#declaring-accounts). 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
you to generate future transactions for forecasting, without having to
write them out explicitly in the journal (with `--forecast`). Secondly,
they also can be used to define budget goals (with `--budget`).
A periodic transaction rule looks like a normal journal entry, with the
date replaced by a tilde (`~`) followed by a [period
expression](manual.html#period-expressions) (mnemonic: `~` looks like a
recurring sine wave.):
``` {.journal}
~ monthly
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 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 they
will be relative to Y/1/1.
#### Two spaces after the period expression
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
accidentally alter their meaning, as in this example:
; 2 or more spaces needed here, so the period is not understood as "every 2 months in 2020"
; ||
; vv
~ every 2 months in 2020, we will review
assets:bank:checking $1500
income:acme inc
#### Forecasting with periodic transactions
With the `--forecast` flag, each periodic transaction rule generates
future transactions recurring at the specified interval. These are not
saved in the journal, but appear in all reports. They will look like
normal transactions, but with an extra [tag](manual.html#tags-1) named
`recur`, whose value is the generating period expression.
Forecast transactions start on the first occurrence, and end on the last
occurrence, of their interval within the forecast period. The forecast
period:
- begins on the later of
- the report start date if specified with -b/-p/date:
- the day after the latest normal (non-periodic) transaction in
the journal, or today if there are no normal transactions.
- ends on the report end date if specified with -e/-p/date:, or 180
days from today.
where "today" means the current date at report time. The "later of" rule
ensures that forecast transactions do not overlap normal transactions in
time; they will begin only after normal transactions end.
Forecasting can be useful for estimating balances into the future, and
experimenting with different scenarios. Note the start date logic means
that forecasted transactions are automatically replaced by normal
transactions as you add those.
Forecasting can also help with data entry: describe most of your
transactions with periodic rules, and every so often copy the output of
`print --forecast` to the journal.
You can generate one-time transactions too: just write a period
expression specifying a date with no report interval. (You could also
write a normal transaction with a future date, but remember this
disables forecast transactions on previous dates.)
#### 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 compared
in [budget reports](/manual.html#budget-report).
For more details, see: [balance: Budget
report](manual.html#budget-report) and [Cookbook: Budgeting and
Forecasting](https://github.com/simonmichael/hledger/wiki/Budgeting-and-forecasting).
### Transaction modifiers
Transaction modifier rules describe changes that should be applied
automatically to certain transactions. They can be enabled by using the
`--auto` flag. Currently, just one kind of change is possible: adding
extra postings. These rule-generated postings are known as "automated
postings" or "auto postings".
A transaction modifier rule looks quite like a normal transaction,
except the first line is an equals sign followed by a
[query](manual.html#queries) that matches certain postings (mnemonic:
`=` suggests matching). And each "posting" is actually a
posting-generating rule:
``` {.journal}
= QUERY
ACCT AMT
ACCT [AMT]
...
```
These posting rules look like normal postings, except the amount can be:
- a normal amount with a commodity symbol, eg `$2`. This will be used
as-is.
- a number, eg `2`. The commodity symbol (if any) from the matched
posting will be added to this.
- 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.
- 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.
Some examples:
``` {.journal}
; every time I buy food, schedule a dollar donation
= expenses:food
(liabilities:charity) $-1
; when I buy a gift, also deduct that amount from a budget envelope subaccount
= expenses:gifts
assets:checking:gifts *-1
assets:checking *1
2017/12/1
expenses:food $10
assets:checking
2017/12/14
expenses:gifts $20
assets:checking
```
``` {.shell}
$ hledger print --auto
2017/12/01
expenses:food $10
assets:checking
(liabilities:charity) $-1
2017/12/14
expenses:gifts $20
assets:checking
assets:checking:gifts -$20
assets:checking $20
```
#### Auto postings and transaction balancing / inferred amounts / balance assertions
Currently, transaction modifiers are applied / auto postings are added:
- after [missing amounts are inferred, and transactions are checked
for balancedness](#postings),
- but before [balance assertions](#balance-assertions) are checked.
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](https://github.com/simonmichael/hledger/issues/893) for
background.
## EDITOR SUPPORT
Add-on modes exist for various text editors, to make working with
journal files easier. They add colour, navigation aids and helpful
commands. For hledger users who edit the journal file directly (the
majority), using one of these modes is quite recommended.
These were written with Ledger in mind, but also work with hledger
files:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Editor
------------ --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Emacs
Vim
Sublime Text
Textmate
Text
Wrangler
Visual
Studio Code
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------