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			1308 lines
		
	
	
		
			57 KiB
		
	
	
	
		
			Plaintext
		
	
	
	
	
	
| 
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| hledger_journal(5)           hledger User Manuals           hledger_journal(5)
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| 
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| 
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| 
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| NAME
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|        Journal - hledger's default file format, representing a General Journal
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| 
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| DESCRIPTION
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|        hledger's usual data source is a plain  text  file  containing  journal
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|        entries  in  hledger  journal  format.  This file represents a standard
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|        accounting general journal.  I use file names ending in  .journal,  but
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|        that's not required.  The journal file contains a number of transaction
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|        entries, each describing a transfer of money (or any commodity) between
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|        two or more named accounts, in a simple format readable by both hledger
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|        and humans.
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| 
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|        hledger's journal format is a compatible subset,  mostly,  of  ledger's
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|        journal  format,  so  hledger  can  work with compatible ledger journal
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|        files as well.  It's safe, and encouraged,  to  run  both  hledger  and
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|        ledger on the same journal file, eg to validate the results you're get-
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|        ting.
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| 
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|        You can use hledger without learning any more about this file; just use
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|        the  add  or web commands to create and update it.  Many users, though,
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|        also edit the  journal  file  directly  with  a  text  editor,  perhaps
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|        assisted by the helper modes for emacs or vim.
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| 
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|        Here's an example:
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| 
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|               ; A sample journal file. This is a comment.
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| 
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|               2008/01/01 income             ; <- transaction's first line starts in column 0, contains date and description
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|                   assets:bank:checking  $1  ; <- posting lines start with whitespace, each contains an account name
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|                   income:salary        $-1  ;    followed by at least two spaces and an amount
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| 
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|               2008/06/01 gift
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|                   assets:bank:checking  $1  ; <- at least two postings in a transaction
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|                   income:gifts         $-1  ; <- their amounts must balance to 0
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| 
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|               2008/06/02 save
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|                   assets:bank:saving    $1
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|                   assets:bank:checking      ; <- one amount may be omitted; here $-1 is inferred
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| 
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|               2008/06/03 eat & shop         ; <- description can be anything
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|                   expenses:food         $1
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|                   expenses:supplies     $1  ; <- this transaction debits two expense accounts
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|                   assets:cash               ; <- $-2 inferred
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| 
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|               2008/10/01 take a loan
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|                   assets:bank:checking  $1
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|                   liabilities:debts    $-1
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| 
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|               2008/12/31 * pay off          ; <- an optional * or ! after the date means "cleared" (or anything you want)
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|                   liabilities:debts     $1
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|                   assets:bank:checking
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| 
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| FILE FORMAT
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|    Transactions
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|        Transactions  are  movements  of  some  quantity of commodities between
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|        named accounts.  Each transaction is represented  by  a  journal  entry
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|        beginning  with a simple date in column 0.  This can be followed by any
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|        of the following, separated by spaces:
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| 
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|        o (optional) a status character (empty, !, or *)
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| 
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|        o (optional) a transaction code (any short number or text, enclosed  in
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|          parentheses)
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| 
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|        o (optional) a transaction description (any remaining text until end of
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|          line or a semicolon)
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| 
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|        o (optional) a transaction comment  (any  remaining  text  following  a
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|          semicolon until end of line)
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| 
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|        Then  comes zero or more (but usually at least 2) indented lines repre-
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|        senting...
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| 
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|    Postings
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|        A posting is an addition of some amount to, or removal of  some  amount
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|        from,  an account.  Each posting line begins with at least one space or
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|        tab (2 or 4 spaces is common), followed by:
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| 
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|        o (optional) a status character (empty, !, or *), followed by a space
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| 
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|        o (required) an account name (any text,  optionally  containing  single
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|          spaces, until end of line or a double space)
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| 
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|        o (optional) two or more spaces or tabs followed by an amount.
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| 
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|        Positive  amounts  are being added to the account, negative amounts are
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|        being removed.
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| 
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|        The amounts within a transaction must always sum up to zero.  As a con-
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|        venience,  one  amount  may be left blank; it will be inferred so as to
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|        balance the transaction.
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| 
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|        Be sure to note the unusual two-space delimiter  between  account  name
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|        and  amount.  This makes it easy to write account names containing spa-
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|        ces.  But if you accidentally leave only one space (or tab) before  the
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|        amount, the amount will be considered part of the account name.
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| 
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|    Dates
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|    Simple dates
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|        Within  a journal file, transaction dates use Y/M/D (or Y-M-D or Y.M.D)
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|        Leading zeros are optional.  The year may be omitted, in which case  it
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|        will  be  inferred  from  the  context  -  the current transaction, the
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|        default year set with a default year directive,  or  the  current  date
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|        when  the command is run.  Some examples: 2010/01/31, 1/31, 2010-01-31,
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|        2010.1.31.
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| 
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|    Secondary dates
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|        Real-life transactions sometimes involve more than one date  -  eg  the
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|        date you write a cheque, and the date it clears in your bank.  When you
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|        want to model this, eg for more  accurate  balances,  you  can  specify
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|        individual  posting dates, which I recommend.  Or, you can use the sec-
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|        ondary dates (aka auxiliary/effective  dates)  feature,  supported  for
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|        compatibility with Ledger.
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| 
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|        A secondary date can be written after the primary date, separated by an
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|        equals sign.  The primary date, on the left, is used  by  default;  the
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|        secondary  date,  on the right, is used when the --date2 flag is speci-
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|        fied (--aux-date or --effective also work).
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| 
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|        The meaning of secondary dates is up to you, but it's best to follow  a
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|        consistent  rule.   Eg  write  the bank's clearing date as primary, and
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|        when needed, the date the transaction was initiated as secondary.
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| 
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|        Here's an example.  Note that a secondary date will use the year of the
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|        primary date if unspecified.
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| 
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|               2010/2/23=2/19 movie ticket
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|                 expenses:cinema                   $10
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|                 assets:checking
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| 
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|               $ hledger register checking
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|               2010/02/23 movie ticket         assets:checking                $-10         $-10
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| 
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|               $ hledger register checking --date2
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|               2010/02/19 movie ticket         assets:checking                $-10         $-10
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| 
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|        Secondary  dates require some effort; you must use them consistently in
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|        your journal entries and remember whether to use or not use the --date2
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|        flag for your reports.  They are included in hledger for Ledger compat-
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|        ibility, but posting dates are  a  more  powerful  and  less  confusing
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|        alternative.
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| 
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|    Posting dates
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|        You  can  give  individual  postings a different date from their parent
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|        transaction, by adding a posting comment containing a tag  (see  below)
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|        like date:DATE.  This is probably the best way to control posting dates
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|        precisely.  Eg in  this  example  the  expense  should  appear  in  May
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|        reports,  and the deduction from checking should be reported on 6/1 for
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|        easy bank reconciliation:
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| 
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|               2015/5/30
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|                   expenses:food     $10  ; food purchased on saturday 5/30
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|                   assets:checking        ; bank cleared it on monday, date:6/1
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| 
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|               $ hledger -f t.j register food
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|               2015/05/30                      expenses:food                  $10           $10
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| 
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|               $ hledger -f t.j register checking
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|               2015/06/01                      assets:checking               $-10          $-10
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| 
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|        DATE should be a simple date; if the year is not specified it will  use
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|        the  year  of  the  transaction's date.  You can set the secondary date
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|        similarly, with date2:DATE2.  The date: or  date2:  tags  must  have  a
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|        valid  simple  date  value  if they are present, eg a date: tag with no
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|        value is not allowed.
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| 
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|        Ledger's earlier, more compact bracketed date syntax is also supported:
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|        [DATE],  [DATE=DATE2]  or  [=DATE2].  hledger will attempt to parse any
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|        square-bracketed sequence of the 0123456789/-.= characters in this way.
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|        With  this  syntax, DATE infers its year from the transaction and DATE2
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|        infers its year from DATE.
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| 
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|    Status
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|        Transactions, or individual postings within a transaction, can  have  a
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|        status  mark,  which  is  a  single  character  before  the transaction
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|        description or posting account name, separated  from  it  by  a  space,
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|        indicating one of three statuses:
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| 
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| 
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|        mark     status
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|        ------------------
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|                 unmarked
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|        !        pending
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|        *        cleared
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| 
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|        When  reporting,  you  can  filter  by  status  with the -U/--unmarked,
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|        -P/--pending, and -C/--cleared flags; or  the  status:,  status:!,  and
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|        status:* queries; or the U, P, C keys in hledger-ui.
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| 
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|        Note,  in Ledger and in older versions of hledger, the "unmarked" state
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|        is called "uncleared".  As  of  hledger  1.3  we  have  renamed  it  to
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|        unmarked for clarity.
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| 
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|        To  replicate Ledger and old hledger's behaviour of also matching pend-
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|        ing, combine -U and -P.
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| 
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|        Status marks are optional, but can be helpful eg for  reconciling  with
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|        real-world accounts.  Some editor modes provide highlighting and short-
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|        cuts for working with status.  Eg in Emacs ledger-mode, you can  toggle
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|        transaction status with C-c C-e, or posting status with C-c C-c.
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| 
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|        What  "uncleared", "pending", and "cleared" actually mean is up to you.
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|        Here's one suggestion:
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| 
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| 
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|        status       meaning
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|        --------------------------------------------------------------------------
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|        uncleared    recorded but not yet reconciled; needs review
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|        pending      tentatively reconciled (if needed, eg during a big reconcil-
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|                     iation)
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|        cleared      complete, reconciled as far as possible, and considered cor-
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|                     rect
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| 
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|        With this scheme, you would use -PC to see the current balance at  your
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|        bank,  -U  to  see  things which will probably hit your bank soon (like
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|        uncashed checks), and no flags to see the most up-to-date state of your
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|        finances.
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| 
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|    Description
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|        A  transaction's description is the rest of the line following the date
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|        and status mark (or until a  comment  begins).   Sometimes  called  the
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|        "narration" in traditional bookkeeping, it can be used for whatever you
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|        wish, or left blank.  Transaction descriptions can be  queried,  unlike
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|        comments.
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| 
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|    Payee and note
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|        You  can  optionally  include  a | (pipe) character in a description to
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|        subdivide it into a payee/payer name on the left and  additional  notes
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|        on  the  right.   This may be worthwhile if you need to do more precise
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|        querying and pivoting by payee.
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| 
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|    Account names
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|        Account names typically have several parts separated by a  full  colon,
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|        from  which hledger derives a hierarchical chart of accounts.  They can
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|        be anything you like, but in finance there are traditionally five  top-
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|        level accounts: assets, liabilities, income, expenses, and equity.
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| 
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|        Account  names  may  contain single spaces, eg: assets:accounts receiv-
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|        able.  Because of this, they must always be followed  by  two  or  more
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|        spaces (or newline).
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| 
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|        Account names can be aliased.
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| 
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|    Amounts
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|        After the account name, there is usually an amount.  Important: between
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|        account name and amount, there must be two or more spaces.
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| 
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|        Amounts consist of a number and (usually) a currency symbol or  commod-
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|        ity name.  Some examples:
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| 
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|        2.00001
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|        $1
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|        4000 AAPL
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|        3 "green apples"
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|        -$1,000,000.00
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|        INR 9,99,99,999.00
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|        EUR -2.000.000,00
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|        1 999 999.9455
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|        EUR 1E3
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|        1000E-6s
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| 
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|        As you can see, the amount format is somewhat flexible:
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| 
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|        o amounts  are a number (the "quantity") and optionally a currency sym-
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|          bol/commodity name (the "commodity").
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| 
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|        o the commodity is a symbol, word, or phrase, on  the  left  or  right,
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|          with  or  without a separating space.  If the commodity contains num-
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|          bers, spaces or non-word punctuation it must be  enclosed  in  double
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|          quotes.
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| 
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|        o negative amounts with a commodity on the left can have the minus sign
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|          before or after it
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| 
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|        o digit groups (thousands, or any other grouping) can be  separated  by
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|          space  or comma or period and should be used as separator between all
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|          groups
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| 
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|        o decimal part can be separated by comma or period and should  be  dif-
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|          ferent from digit groups separator
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| 
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|        o scientific  E-notation  is  allowed.   Be  careful not to use a digit
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|          group separator character in scientific notation, as  it's  not  sup-
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|          ported and it might get mistaken for a decimal point.  (Declaring the
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|          digit group separator character explicitly with a commodity directive
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|          will prevent this.)
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| 
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|        You  can  use  any  of  these variations when recording data.  However,
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|        there is some ambiguous way of representing  numbers  like  $1.000  and
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|        $1,000  both  may  mean  either one thousand or one dollar.  By default
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|        hledger will assume that this is sole delimiter is used only for  deci-
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|        mals.   On  the other hand commodity format declared prior to that line
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|        will help to resolve that ambiguity differently:
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| 
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|               commodity $1,000.00
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| 
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|               2017/12/25 New life of Scrooge
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|                   expenses:gifts  $1,000
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|                   assets
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| 
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|        Though journal may contain  mixed  styles  to  represent  amount,  when
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|        hledger  displays  amounts, it will choose a consistent format for each
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|        commodity.  (Except for price amounts, which are  always  formatted  as
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|        written).  The display format is chosen as follows:
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| 
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|        o if there is a commodity directive specifying the format, that is used
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| 
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|        o otherwise the format is inferred from the  first  posting  amount  in
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|          that  commodity  in the journal, and the precision (number of decimal
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|          places) will be the maximum from all posting amounts in that commmod-
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|          ity
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| 
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|        o or  if  there are no such amounts in the journal, a default format is
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|          used (like $1000.00).
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| 
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|        Price amounts and amounts in D directives usually don't  affect  amount
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|        format  inference,  but  in  some situations they can do so indirectly.
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|        (Eg when D's default commodity is applied to a  commodity-less  amount,
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|        or when an amountless posting is balanced using a price's commodity, or
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|        when -V is used.) If you find this causing problems,  set  the  desired
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|        format with a commodity directive.
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| 
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|    Virtual Postings
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|        When  you  parenthesise  the  account name in a posting, we call that a
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|        virtual posting, which means:
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| 
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|        o it is ignored when checking that the transaction is balanced
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| 
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|        o it is excluded from reports when the --real/-R flag is used,  or  the
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|          real:1 query.
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| 
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|        You  could  use  this,  eg, to set an account's opening balance without
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|        needing to use the equity:opening balances account:
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| 
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|               1/1 special unbalanced posting to set initial balance
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|                 (assets:checking)   $1000
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| 
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|        When the account name is bracketed, we call it a balanced virtual post-
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|        ing.  This is like an ordinary virtual posting except the balanced vir-
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|        tual postings in a transaction must balance to 0, like the  real  post-
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|        ings  (but  separately  from them).  Balanced virtual postings are also
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|        excluded by --real/-R or real:1.
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| 
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|               1/1 buy food with cash, and update some budget-tracking subaccounts elsewhere
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|                 expenses:food                   $10
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|                 assets:cash                    $-10
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|                 [assets:checking:available]     $10
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|                 [assets:checking:budget:food]  $-10
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| 
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|        Virtual postings have some legitimate uses, but those are few.  You can
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|        usually  find an equivalent journal entry using real postings, which is
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|        more correct and provides better error checking.
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| 
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|    Balance Assertions
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|        hledger supports Ledger-style  balance  assertions  in  journal  files.
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|        These  look  like, for example, = EXPECTEDBALANCE following a posting's
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|        amount.  Eg here we assert the expected dollar balance  in  accounts  a
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|        and b after each posting:
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| 
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|               2013/1/1
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|                 a   $1  =$1
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|                 b       =$-1
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| 
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|               2013/1/2
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|                 a   $1  =$2
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|                 b  $-1  =$-2
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| 
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|        After reading a journal file, hledger will check all balance assertions
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|        and report an error if any of them fail.  Balance assertions  can  pro-
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|        tect  you  from, eg, inadvertently disrupting reconciled balances while
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|        cleaning up old entries.  You can disable  them  temporarily  with  the
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|        -I/--ignore-assertions flag, which can be useful for troubleshooting or
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|        for reading Ledger files.
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| 
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|    Assertions and ordering
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|        hledger sorts an account's postings and assertions first  by  date  and
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|        then  (for postings on the same day) by parse order.  Note this is dif-
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|        ferent from Ledger, which sorts assertions only by parse order.  (Also,
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|        Ledger  assertions  do not see the accumulated effect of repeated post-
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|        ings to the same account within a transaction.)
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| 
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|        So, hledger balance assertions keep working if you reorder differently-
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|        dated  transactions  within the journal.  But if you reorder same-dated
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|        transactions or postings, assertions might break and require  updating.
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|        This order dependence does bring an advantage: precise control over the
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|        order of postings and assertions within a day, so you can assert intra-
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|        day balances.
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| 
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|    Assertions and included files
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|        With  included  files, things are a little more complicated.  Including
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|        preserves the ordering of postings and assertions.  If you have  multi-
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|        ple  postings  to  an  account  on the same day, split across different
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|        files, and you also want to assert the account's balance  on  the  same
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|        day, you'll have to put the assertion in the right file.
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| 
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|    Assertions and multiple -f options
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|        Balance assertions don't work well across files specified with multiple
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|        -f options.  Use include or concatenate the files instead.
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| 
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|    Assertions and commodities
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|        The asserted balance must be a simple single-commodity amount,  and  in
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|        fact  the  assertion  checks  only  this commodity's balance within the
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|        (possibly multi-commodity) account balance.
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|        This is how assertions work in Ledger also.  We could call this a "par-
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|        tial" balance assertion.
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| 
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|        To assert the balance of more than one commodity in an account, you can
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|        write multiple postings, each asserting one commodity's balance.
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| 
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|        You can make a stronger "total" balance assertion by writing  a  double
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|        equals sign (== EXPECTEDBALANCE).  This asserts that there are no other
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|        unasserted commodities in the account (or, that their balance is 0).
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| 
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|               2013/1/1
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|                 a   $1
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|                 a    1EUR
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|                 b  $-1
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|                 c   -1EUR
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| 
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|               2013/1/2  ; These assertions succeed
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|                 a    0  =  $1
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|                 a    0  =   1EUR
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|                 b    0 == $-1
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|                 c    0 ==  -1EUR
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| 
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|               2013/1/3  ; This assertion fails as 'a' also contains 1EUR
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|                 a    0 ==  $1
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| 
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|        It's not yet possible to make a complete assertion about a balance that
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|        has  multiple commodities.  One workaround is to isolate each commodity
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|        into its own subaccount:
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| 
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|               2013/1/1
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|                 a:usd   $1
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|                 a:euro   1EUR
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|                 b
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| 
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|               2013/1/2
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|                 a        0 ==  0
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|                 a:usd    0 == $1
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|                 a:euro   0 ==  1EUR
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| 
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|    Assertions and prices
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|        Balance assertions ignore transaction prices, and  should  normally  be
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|        written without one:
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| 
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|               2019/1/1
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|                 (a)     $1 @ EUR1 = $1
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| 
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|        We  do allow prices to be written there, however, and print shows them,
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|        even though they don't affect whether the assertion  passes  or  fails.
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|        This  is  for  backward  compatibility (hledger's close command used to
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|        generate balance assertions with prices), and because  balance  assign-
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|        ments do use them (see below).
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| 
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|    Assertions and subaccounts
 | |
|        The  balance  assertions above (= and ==) do not count the balance from
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|        subaccounts; they check the account's exclusive balance only.  You  can
 | |
|        assert the balance including subaccounts by writing =* or ==*, eg:
 | |
| 
 | |
|               2019/1/1
 | |
|                 equity:opening balances
 | |
|                 checking:a       5
 | |
|                 checking:b       5
 | |
|                 checking         1  ==* 11
 | |
| 
 | |
|    Assertions and virtual postings
 | |
|        Balance assertions are checked against all postings, both real and vir-
 | |
|        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-
 | |
|        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
 | |
|        setting opening balances:
 | |
| 
 | |
|               ; 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:
 | |
| 
 | |
|               ; 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 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
 | |
|        amount to have that price attached:
 | |
| 
 | |
|               2019/1/1
 | |
|                 (a)             = $1 @ EUR2
 | |
| 
 | |
|               $ hledger print --explicit
 | |
|               2019/01/01
 | |
|                   (a)         $1 @ EUR2 = $1 @ EUR2
 | |
| 
 | |
|    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
 | |
|        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.
 | |
| 
 | |
|        There are several ways to record a transaction price:
 | |
| 
 | |
|        1. Write the price per unit, as @ UNITPRICE after the amount:
 | |
| 
 | |
|                   2009/1/1
 | |
|                     assets:euros     EUR100 @ $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:
 | |
| 
 | |
|                   2009/1/1
 | |
|                     assets:euros     EUR100 @@ $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:
 | |
| 
 | |
|                   2009/1/1
 | |
|                     assets:euros     EUR100          ; one hundred euros purchased
 | |
|                     assets:dollars  $-135            ; for $135
 | |
| 
 | |
|        (Ledger users: Ledger uses a different syntax for fixed prices, {=UNIT-
 | |
|        PRICE}, which hledger currently ignores).
 | |
| 
 | |
|        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:
 | |
| 
 | |
|               $ hledger bal -N --flat
 | |
|                              $-135  assets:dollars
 | |
|                               EUR100  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:
 | |
| 
 | |
|               2009/1/1
 | |
|                 assets:dollars  $-135                ; 135 dollars sold
 | |
|                 assets:euros     EUR100              ; for 100 euros
 | |
| 
 | |
|               $ hledger bal -N --flat -B
 | |
|                              EUR-100  assets:dollars  # <- the dollars' selling price
 | |
|                               EUR100  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  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:
 | |
| 
 | |
|               # 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.
 | |
| 
 | |
|    Tags
 | |
|        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
 | |
|        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
 | |
|        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-
 | |
|        lines.  Ending at commas means you can write multiple short tags on one
 | |
|        line, comma separated:
 | |
| 
 | |
|                   assets:checking       ; a comment containing tag1:, tag2: some value ...
 | |
| 
 | |
|        Here,
 | |
| 
 | |
|        o "a comment containing" is just comment text, not a tag
 | |
| 
 | |
|        o "tag1" is a tag with no value
 | |
| 
 | |
|        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-
 | |
|        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
 | |
|        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, so
 | |
|        here  is  a  table  summarising  the directives and their effects, with
 | |
|        links to more detailed docs.
 | |
| 
 | |
| 
 | |
|        direc-     end         subdi-    purpose                        can  affect  (as of
 | |
|        tive       directive   rec-                                     2018/06)
 | |
|                               tives
 | |
|        ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 | |
|        account                any       document    account   names,   all  entries in all
 | |
|                               text      declare account types & dis-   files,  before   or
 | |
|                                         play order                     after
 | |
| 
 | |
| 
 | |
| 
 | |
| 
 | |
|        alias      end                   rewrite account names          following
 | |
|                   aliases                                              inline/included
 | |
|                                                                        entries  until  end
 | |
|                                                                        of  current file or
 | |
|                                                                        end directive
 | |
|        apply      end apply             prepend a common  parent  to   following
 | |
|        account    account               account names                  inline/included
 | |
|                                                                        entries  until  end
 | |
|                                                                        of current file  or
 | |
|                                                                        end directive
 | |
|        comment    end  com-             ignore part of journal         following
 | |
|                   ment                                                 inline/included
 | |
|                                                                        entries  until  end
 | |
|                                                                        of  current file or
 | |
|                                                                        end directive
 | |
|        commod-                format    declare  a commodity and its   number    notation:
 | |
|        ity                              number  notation  &  display   following   entries
 | |
|                                         style                          in  that  commodity
 | |
|                                                                        in all files;  dis-
 | |
|                                                                        play style: amounts
 | |
|                                                                        of  that  commodity
 | |
|                                                                        in reports
 | |
|        D                                declare  a commodity, number   commodity: all com-
 | |
|                                         notation & display style for   modityless  entries
 | |
|                                         commodityless amounts          in  all files; num-
 | |
|                                                                        ber notation:  fol-
 | |
|                                                                        lowing   commodity-
 | |
|                                                                        less  entries   and
 | |
|                                                                        entries   in   that
 | |
|                                                                        commodity  in   all
 | |
|                                                                        files;      display
 | |
|                                                                        style:  amounts  of
 | |
|                                                                        that  commodity  in
 | |
|                                                                        reports
 | |
|        include                          include   entries/directives   what  the  included
 | |
|                                         from another file              directives affect
 | |
|        P                                declare a market price for a   amounts   of   that
 | |
|                                         commodity                      commodity        in
 | |
|                                                                        reports, when -V is
 | |
|                                                                        used
 | |
|        Y                                declare a year for  yearless   following
 | |
|                                         dates                          inline/included
 | |
|                                                                        entries  until  end
 | |
|                                                                        of current file
 | |
| 
 | |
|        And some definitions:
 | |
| 
 | |
| 
 | |
|        subdirec-   optional indented directive line immediately following a par-
 | |
|        tive        ent 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     how to display amounts of a commodity in reports (symbol side
 | |
|        style       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 pro-
 | |
|        vides 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.
 | |
| 
 | |
|    Including other files
 | |
|        You can pull in the content of additional files by writing  an  include
 | |
|        directive, like this:
 | |
| 
 | |
|               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  (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:
 | |
| 
 | |
|               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:
 | |
| 
 | |
|               ; 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:
 | |
| 
 | |
|               ; 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 for-
 | |
|        mat 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.
 | |
| 
 | |
|               # 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,
 | |
|        cryptocurrency exchange, or the foreign exchange market.
 | |
| 
 | |
|        Here is the format:
 | |
| 
 | |
|               P DATE COMMODITYA COMMODITYBAMOUNT
 | |
| 
 | |
|        o DATE is a simple date
 | |
| 
 | |
|        o COMMODITYA is the symbol of the commodity being priced
 | |
| 
 | |
|        o COMMODITYBAMOUNT is an amount (symbol and quantity) in a second  com-
 | |
|          modity, 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:
 | |
| 
 | |
|               P 2009/1/1 EUR $1.35
 | |
|               P 2010/1/1 EUR $1.40
 | |
| 
 | |
|        The -V/--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:
 | |
| 
 | |
|        o They can document your intended chart of accounts, providing a refer-
 | |
|          ence.
 | |
| 
 | |
|        o They  can  store  extra  information about accounts (account numbers,
 | |
|          notes, etc.)
 | |
| 
 | |
|        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-
 | |
|          betic sorting (eg Revenues to appear above Expenses).
 | |
| 
 | |
|        o 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, eg:
 | |
| 
 | |
|               account assets:bank:checking
 | |
| 
 | |
|    Account comments
 | |
|        Comments, beginning with a semicolon, optionally including tags, can be
 | |
|        written after the account name, and/or on following lines.  Eg:
 | |
| 
 | |
|               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.:
 | |
| 
 | |
|               account assets:bank:checking
 | |
|                 format blah blah  ; <- subdirective, ignored
 | |
| 
 | |
|        Here is the full syntax of account directives:
 | |
| 
 | |
|               account ACCTNAME  [ACCTTYPE] [;COMMENT]
 | |
|                 [;COMMENTS]
 | |
|                 [LEDGER-STYLE SUBDIRECTIVES, IGNORED]
 | |
| 
 | |
|    Account types
 | |
|        hledger  recognises  five types (or classes) of account: Asset, Liabil-
 | |
|        ity, Equity, Revenue, Expense.  This is used by a few  accounting-aware
 | |
|        reports such as balancesheet, incomestatement and cashflow.
 | |
| 
 | |
|    Auto-detected account types
 | |
|        If you name your top-level accounts with some variation of assets, lia-
 | |
|        bilities/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 in a comment, followed by one of  the
 | |
|        words Asset, Liability, Equity, Revenue, Expense, or one of the letters
 | |
|        ALERX (case insensitive):
 | |
| 
 | |
|               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 depre-
 | |
|        cated as of hledger 1.13:
 | |
| 
 | |
|               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:
 | |
| 
 | |
|               ; 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:
 | |
| 
 | |
|               account assets
 | |
|               account liabilities
 | |
|               account equity
 | |
|               account revenues
 | |
|               account expenses
 | |
| 
 | |
|        you'll see those accounts displayed in declaration order, not alphabet-
 | |
|        ically:
 | |
| 
 | |
|               $ 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:
 | |
| 
 | |
|               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:
 | |
| 
 | |
|        o expanding shorthand account names to their full form, allowing easier
 | |
|          data entry and a less verbose journal
 | |
| 
 | |
|        o adapting old journals to your current chart of accounts
 | |
| 
 | |
|        o experimenting with new account organisations, like a new hierarchy or
 | |
|          combining two accounts into one
 | |
| 
 | |
|        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-
 | |
|        web.
 | |
| 
 | |
|        See also Cookbook: 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.  The spaces around the = are optional:
 | |
| 
 | |
|               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.  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,
 | |
|        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-
 | |
|        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-
 | |
|        space.
 | |
| 
 | |
|    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:
 | |
| 
 | |
|               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:
 | |
| 
 | |
|               apply account home
 | |
| 
 | |
|               2010/1/1
 | |
|                   food    $10
 | |
|                   cash
 | |
| 
 | |
|               end apply account
 | |
| 
 | |
|        which is equivalent to:
 | |
| 
 | |
|               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:
 | |
| 
 | |
|               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 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
 | |
|        account.
 | |
| 
 | |
|    Periodic transactions
 | |
|        Periodic  transaction  rules  describe  transactions  that recur.  They
 | |
|        allow you to generate future transactions for forecasting, without hav-
 | |
|        ing  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 (mnemonic:
 | |
|        ~ looks like a recurring sine wave.):
 | |
| 
 | |
|               ~ 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 acciden-
 | |
|        tally 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 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:
 | |
| 
 | |
|        o begins on the later of
 | |
| 
 | |
|          o the report start date if specified with -b/-p/date:
 | |
| 
 | |
|          o the  day  after the latest normal (non-periodic) transaction in the
 | |
|            journal, or today if there are no normal transactions.
 | |
| 
 | |
|        o 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  transac-
 | |
|        tions 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 trans-
 | |
|        actions  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 expres-
 | |
|        sion  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 com-
 | |
|        pared in budget reports.
 | |
| 
 | |
|        For more details, see: balance: Budget report and  Cookbook:  Budgeting
 | |
|        and Forecasting.
 | |
| 
 | |
| 
 | |
|    Auto postings / transaction modifiers
 | |
|        Transaction modifier rules describe changes to be applied automatically
 | |
|        to certain matched transactions.  Currently just one kind of change  is
 | |
|        possible - adding extra postings, which we call "automated postings" or
 | |
|        just "auto postings".  These rules  become  active  when  you  use  the
 | |
|        --auto flag.
 | |
| 
 | |
|        A transaction modifier, AKA auto posting rule, looks much like a normal
 | |
|        transaction except the first line is an equals sign followed by a query
 | |
|        that  matches  certain  postings  (mnemonic: = suggests matching).  And
 | |
|        each "posting" is actually a posting-generating rule:
 | |
| 
 | |
|               = QUERY
 | |
|                   ACCT  AMT
 | |
|                   ACCT  [AMT]
 | |
|                   ...
 | |
| 
 | |
|        These posting-generating rules look like normal  postings,  except  the
 | |
|        amount can be:
 | |
| 
 | |
|        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
 | |
|          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
 | |
|          symbol S).  The matched posting's amount will be multiplied by N, and
 | |
|          its commodity symbol will be replaced with S.
 | |
| 
 | |
|        These rules have global effect - a rule appearing anywhere in your data
 | |
|        can potentially affect any transaction, including transactions recorded
 | |
|        above it or in another file.
 | |
| 
 | |
|        Some examples:
 | |
| 
 | |
|               ; 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
 | |
| 
 | |
|               $ 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 asser-
 | |
|        tions
 | |
|        Currently, transaction modifiers are applied / auto postings are added:
 | |
| 
 | |
|        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
 | |
|        after auto postings are added.  This changed in hledger 1.12+; see #893
 | |
|        for background.
 | |
| 
 | |
| EDITOR SUPPORT
 | |
|        Helper modes exist for popular text editors, which  make  working  with
 | |
|        journal files easier.  They add colour, formatting, tab completion, and
 | |
|        helpful commands, and are quite recommended if you  edit  your  journal
 | |
|        with  a  text  editor.   They  include  ledger-mode or hledger-mode for
 | |
|        Emacs, vim-ledger for Vim, hledger-vscode for Visual Studio  Code,  and
 | |
|        others.   See  the  [[Cookbook]] at hledger.org for the latest informa-
 | |
|        tion.
 | |
| 
 | |
| 
 | |
| 
 | |
| REPORTING BUGS
 | |
|        Report bugs at http://bugs.hledger.org (or on the #hledger IRC  channel
 | |
|        or hledger mail list)
 | |
| 
 | |
| 
 | |
| AUTHORS
 | |
|        Simon Michael <simon@joyful.com> and contributors
 | |
| 
 | |
| 
 | |
| COPYRIGHT
 | |
|        Copyright (C) 2007-2016 Simon Michael.
 | |
|        Released under GNU GPL v3 or later.
 | |
| 
 | |
| 
 | |
| SEE ALSO
 | |
|        hledger(1),      hledger-ui(1),     hledger-web(1),     hledger-api(1),
 | |
|        hledger_csv(5), hledger_journal(5), hledger_timeclock(5), hledger_time-
 | |
|        dot(5), ledger(1)
 | |
| 
 | |
|        http://hledger.org
 | |
| 
 | |
| 
 | |
| 
 | |
| hledger 1.14.99                   March 2019                hledger_journal(5)
 |