1511 lines
57 KiB
Markdown
1511 lines
57 KiB
Markdown
<!-- hledger.org and hledger repo versions last synced: 2014/5/1 -->
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# hledger User Manual
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This reference manual is for
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hledger 0.23.98 (the latest pre-0.24 HEAD).
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<!-- [hledger 0.23](http://hackage.haskell.org/package/hledger-0.23) -->
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and [hledger-web 0.23](http://hackage.haskell.org/package/hledger-web-0.23).
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<!-- Other versions: [[0.22/manual|0.22 Manual]]. -->
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- [[#Introduction]]
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- [[#Usage]]
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- [[#Data format]]
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- [[#Options]]
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- [[#Query arguments]]
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- [[#Commands]]
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- [[#Known limitations]]
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- [[#Troubleshooting]]
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## Introduction
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[[home|hledger]] is a program for tracking money, time,
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or any other commodity, using a simple, editable file format and
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double-entry accounting, inspired by and largely compatible with
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[ledger](http://ledger-cli.org). hledger is Free Software released
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under GPL version 3 or later.
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hledger's basic function is to read a plain text file describing (eg)
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financial transactions, and quickly generate useful reports via the
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command line. It can also help you record transactions, or (via add-ons)
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provide a local web interface for editing, or publish live financial data
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on the web.
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You can use it to, eg:
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- track spending and income
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- track unpaid or due invoices
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- track time and report by day/week/month/project
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- get accurate numbers for client billing and tax filing
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hledger works on linux, mac and windows. People most often build the
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latest release with cabal-install, like so:
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$ cabal update
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$ cabal install hledger [hledger-web]
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...
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$ hledger --version
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hledger 0.22.1
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For more help with this, and other install options, see the [[installing|Installation Guide]].
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## Usage
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Basic usage is:
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$ hledger COMMAND [OPTIONS] [ARGS]
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Most [commands](#commands) query or operate on a
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[journal file](#the-journal-file), which by default is `.hledger.journal`
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in your home directory. You can specify a different file with the `-f`
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option or `LEDGER_FILE` environment variable, or standard input with `-f-`.
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Options are similar across most commands, with some variations; use
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`hledger COMMAND --help` for details. Most options must appear
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somewhere after COMMAND, not before it. These input and help-related
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options can appear anywhere: `-f`, `--rules-file`, `--alias`,
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`--ignore-assertions`, `--help`, `--debug`, `--version`.
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Arguments are also command-specific, but usually they form a
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[query](#queries) which selects a subset of the journal, eg transactions
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in a certain account.
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To create an initial journal, run `hledger add` and follow the prompts to
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enter some transactions. Or, save this
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[sample file](https://raw.github.com/simonmichael/hledger/master/data/sample.journal) as
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`.hledger.journal` in your home directory. Now try commands like these:
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$ hledger # show available commands
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$ hledger add # add more transactions to the journal file
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$ hledger balance # all accounts with aggregated balances
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$ hledger balance --help # show help for balance command
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$ hledger balance --depth 1 # only top-level accounts
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$ hledger register # show a register of postings from all transactions
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$ hledger reg income # show postings to/from income accounts
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$ hledger reg checking # show postings to/from checking account
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$ hledger reg desc:shop # show postings with shop in the description
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$ hledger activity # show transactions per day as a bar chart
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## Data format
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### Journal files
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hledger's usual data source is a plain text file containing journal entries in hledger journal format.
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This file represents a standard accounting [general journal](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_journal).
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I use file names ending in `.journal`, but that's not required.
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The journal file contains a number of transaction entries,
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each describing a transfer of money (or any commodity) between two or more named accounts,
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in a simple format readable by both hledger and humans.
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hledger's journal format is a compatible subset, [mostly](http://hledger.org/faq#file-format-differences),
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of [ledger's journal format](http://ledger-cli.org/3.0/doc/ledger3.html#Journal-Format),
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so hledger can work with [compatible](FAQ.html#what-are-the-file-format-differences) ledger journal files as well.
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It's safe, and encouraged, to run both hledger and ledger on the same journal file,
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eg to validate the results you're getting.
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You can use hledger without learning any more about this file;
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just use the [add](#add) or [web](#web) commands to create and update it.
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Many users, though, also edit the journal file directly with a text editor, perhaps assisted by the helper modes for emacs or vim.
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Here's an example:
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; A sample journal file. This is a comment.
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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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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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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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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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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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Now let's explore the available journal file syntax in detail.
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#### Entries
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Each journal entry begins with a [simple date](#simple-dates) in
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column 0, followed by three optional fields with spaces between them:
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a status flag (`*` or `!` or nothing), a transaction code (eg a check
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number), and/or a description; then two or more postings (of some
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amount to some account), each on their own line.
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The posting amounts within a transaction must always balance, ie add up to
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0. You can leave one amount blank and it will be inferred.
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#### Dates
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##### Simple dates
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Within a journal file, transaction dates always follow a year/month/day
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format, although several different separator characters are accepted. Some
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examples: `2010/01/31`, `2010/1/31`, `2010-1-31`, `2010.1.31`.
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Writing the year is optional if you set a default year with a Y directive.
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This is a line containing `Y` and the year; it affects subsequent
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transactions, like so:
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Y2009
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12/15 ; equivalent to 2009/12/15
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...
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Y2010
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1/31 ; equivalent to 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 date
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you write a cheque, and the date it clears in your bank. When you want to
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model this, eg for more accurate balances, write both dates separated by
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an 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 specified
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(`--aux-date` or `--effective` will also work).
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Their meaning is up to you, but it's best to follow a consistent rule. I
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write the bank's clearing date as primary, and the date I initiated the
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transaction as secondary (if needed).
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Example:
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; PRIMARY=SECONDARY
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; The secondary date's year is optional, defaulting to the primary's
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2010/2/23=2/19 movie ticket
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expenses:cinema $10
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assets:checking
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$ hledger register checking
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2010/02/23 movie ticket assets:checking $-10 $-10
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$ hledger register checking --date2
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2010/02/19 movie ticket assets:checking $-10 $-10
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##### Posting dates
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[Comments and tags](#comments) are covered below, but while we are talking
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about dates: you can give individual postings a different date from their
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parent transaction, by adding a posting tag like `date:DATE`, where DATE is
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a [simple date](#simple-dates). The secondary date can be set with
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`date2:DATE2`. If present, these dates will take precedence in reports.
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Ledger's bracketed posting date syntax (`[DATE]`,
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`[DATE=DATE2]` or `[=DATE2]` in a posting comment)
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is also supported, as an alternate spelling of the date and date2 tags.
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Note: if you do use either of these forms, be sure to give them a valid DATE
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or you'll get a parse error, eg an empty `date:` tag is not allowed.
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#### Accounts
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Account names typically have several parts separated by a full colon, from
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which hledger derives a hierarchical chart of accounts. They can be
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anything you like, but in finance there are traditionally five top-level
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accounts: `assets`, `liabilities`, `income`, `expenses`, and `equity`.
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Account names may contain single spaces, eg: `assets:accounts receivable`.
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#### Amounts
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After the account name, there is usually an amount.
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Important: between account name and amount, there must be **two or more** spaces.
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The amount is a number, optionally with a currency symbol or commodity name on either the left or right.
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Negative amounts may have the minus sign either before or after the currency symbol (`-$1` or `$-1`).
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Commodity names which contain more than just letters should be enclosed in double quotes (`1 "person hours"`).
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##### Decimal points and digit groups
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hledger supports flexible decimal point and digit group separator styles,
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to support international variations. Numbers can use either a period (`.`)
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or a comma (`,`) as decimal point. They can also have digit group
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separators at any position (eg thousands separators) which can be comma or
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period - whichever one you did not use as a decimal point. If you use
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digit group separators, you must also include a decimal point in at least
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one number in the same commodity, so that hledger knows which character is
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which. Eg, write `$1,000.00` or `$1.000,00`.
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##### Amount display styles
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Based on how you format amounts, hledger will infer canonical display
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styles for each commodity, and use these when displaying amounts in that
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commodity. Amount styles include:
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- the position (left or right) and spacing (space or no separator) of the commodity symbol
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- the digit group separator character (comma or period) and digit group sizes, if any
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- the decimal point character (period or comma)
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- the display precision (number of decimal places displayed)
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The canonical style is generally the style of the first posting amount seen in a commodity
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The precision is the highest precision seen among all posting amounts in the commmodity.
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##### Balance Assertions
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hledger supports ledger-style
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[balance assertions](http://ledger-cli.org/3.0/doc/ledger3.html#Balance-assertions)
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in journal files.
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These look like `=EXPECTEDBALANCE` following a posting's amount. Eg in
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this example we assert the expected dollar balance in accounts a and b after
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each posting:
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2013/1/1
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a $1 =$1
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b =$-1
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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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After reading a journal file, hledger will check all balance
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assertions and report an error if any of them fail. Balance assertions
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can protect you from, eg, inadvertently disrupting reconciled balances
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while cleaning up old entries. You can disable them temporarily with
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the `--ignore-assertions` flag, which can be useful for
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troubleshooting or for reading Ledger files.
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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
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different from Ledger, which sorts assertions only by parse
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order. (Also, Ledger assertions do not see the accumulated effect of
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repeated postings to the same account within a transaction.)
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So, hledger balance assertions keep working if you reorder
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differently-dated transactions within the journal. But if you reorder
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same-dated transactions or postings, assertions might break and require
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updating. This order dependence does bring an advantage: precise
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control over the order of postings and assertions within a day, so you
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can assert intra-day balances.
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With [[#including-other-files|included files]], things are a little
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more complicated. Including preserves the ordering of postings and
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assertions. If you have multiple postings to an account on the same
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day, split across different files, and you also want to assert the
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account's balance on the same day, you'll have to put the assertion
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in the right file.
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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. We could call this a
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partial balance assertion. This is compatible with Ledger, and makes
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it possible to make assertions about accounts containing multiple
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commodities.
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To assert each commodity's balance in such a multi-commodity account,
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you can add multiple postings (with amount 0 if necessary). But note
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that no matter how many assertions you add, you can't be sure the
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account does not contain some unexpected commodity. (We'll add support
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for this kind of total balance assertion if there's demand.)
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#### Prices
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<!-- ##### Transaction prices -->
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When recording an amount, you can also record its price in another
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commodity. This documents an exchange rate that was applied within
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this transaction (or to be precise, within the posting). There are
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three ways to specify a transaction price:
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1. Write the unit price (exchange rate) explicitly as `@ UNITPRICE` after the amount:
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2009/1/1
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assets:foreign currency €100 @ $1.35 ; one hundred euros at $1.35 each
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assets:cash
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2. Or write the total price for this amount as `@@ TOTALPRICE`:
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2009/1/1
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assets:foreign currency €100 @@ $135 ; one hundred euros at $135 for the lot
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assets:cash
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3. Or fully specify all posting amounts using exactly two commodities:
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2009/1/1
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assets:foreign currency €100 ; one hundred euros
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assets:cash $-135 ; exchanged for $135
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You can use the `--cost/-B` flag with reporting commands to see such
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amounts converted to their price's commodity. Eg, using any of the above
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examples we get:
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$ hledger print --cost
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2009/01/01
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assets:foreign currency $135.00
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assets $-135.00
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##### Fixed Lot Prices
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ledger has another syntax for
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[fixed lot prices](http://ledger-cli.org/3.0/doc/ledger3.html#Fixing-Lot-Prices).
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(`{=PRICE}`). In ledger, this is equivalent to `@ PRICE`, except you
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can provide both and then ledger generates an automatic Capital Losses
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posting covering the difference.
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hledger will parse this syntax, but ignore it.
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##### Historical prices
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hledger will parse and ignore ledger-style historical price directives:
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<!-- (A time and numeric time zone are allowed but ignored, like ledger.) -->
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; Historical price directives look like: P DATE COMMODITYSYMBOL UNITPRICE
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; These say the euro's exchange rate is $1.35 during 2009 and
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; $1.40 from 2010/1/1 on.
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P 2009/1/1 € $1.35
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P 2010/1/1 € $1.40
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#### Comments
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- A semicolon (`;`) or hash (`#`) in column 0 starts a journal comment line, which hledger will ignore.
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- A semicolon after a transaction's description and/or indented on the following lines
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starts a transaction comment.
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- A semicolon after a posting's amount and/or indented on the following lines starts a posting comment.
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Transaction and posting comments are displayed by [[#print]], can contain [[#tags]] and can be [[#queries|queried]].
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Some examples:
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# a journal comment
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; also a journal comment
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2012/5/14 something ; a transaction comment
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; the transaction comment, continued
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posting1 1 ; a comment for posting 1
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posting2
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; a comment for posting 2
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; another comment line for posting 2
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; a journal comment (because not indented)
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#### Tags
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You can include *tags* (labels), optionally with values,
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in transaction and posting comments, and then [query by tag](#queries).
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This is like Ledger's [metadata](http://ledger-cli.org/3.0/doc/ledger3.html#Metadata)
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feature, except hledger's tag values are simple strings.
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A tag is any unspaced word immediately followed by a full colon, eg: `sometag:` .
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A tag's *value* is the text following the colon, if any, until the next newline or comma,
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with leading and trailing whitespace removed. Comma may be used to write multiple
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tags on one line.
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For example, here is a transaction with three tags, the posting has
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one, and all tags have values except TAG1:
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1/1 a transaction ; TAG1:, TAG2: tag2's value
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; TAG3: a third transaction tag
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a $1 ; TAG4: a posting tag
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#### Directives
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##### Account aliases
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You can define account aliases to rewrite certain account names (and their subaccounts).
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This tends to be a little more reliable than post-processing with sed or similar.
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The directive is `alias ORIG = ALIAS`, where ORIG and ALIAS are full account names.
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Eg:
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alias expenses = equity:draw:personal
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To forget all aliases defined to this point, use:
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end aliases
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You can also specify aliases on the command line:
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$ hledger --alias 'my earning=income:business' ...
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Journal directive aliases are applied first, then command-line aliases,
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and at most one of each will be applied to each account name.
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See also [[How to use account aliases]].
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##### Default commodity
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You can set a default commodity, to be used for amounts without one.
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Use the D directive with a sample amount.
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The commodity (and the sample amount's display style) will be applied to all subsequent commodity-less amounts, up to the next D directive.
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(Note this is different from Ledger's default commodity directive.)
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Also note the directive itself does not influence the commodity's default
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[[#amount-display-styles|display style]], but the amount it is
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applied to might. Here's an example:
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; set £ as the default commodity
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D £1,000.00
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2010/1/1
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a 2340
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b
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2014/1/1
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c £1000
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d
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$ hledger print
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2010/01/01
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a £2,340.00
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b £-2,340.00
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2014/01/01
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c £1,000.00
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d £-1,000.00
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##### Default parent account
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You can specify a parent account which will be prepended to all accounts
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within a section of the journal. Use the `account` directive like so:
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account home
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2010/1/1
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food $10
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cash
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end
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If `!end` is omitted, the effect lasts to the end of the file.
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The above is equivalent to:
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2010/01/01
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home:food $10
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home:cash $-10
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Included files are also affected, eg:
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account business
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include biz.journal
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end
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account personal
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include personal.journal
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end
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##### Including other files
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You can pull in the content of additional journal files, by writing lines like this:
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include path/to/file.journal
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The `include` directive may only be used in journal files, and currently
|
|
it may only include other journal files (eg, not CSV or timelog files.)
|
|
|
|
|
|
### CSV files
|
|
|
|
hledger can also read
|
|
[CSV](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comma-separated_values) files,
|
|
translating the CSV records into journal entries on the fly.
|
|
We must provide some some conversion hints in a "rules file", named
|
|
like the CSV file with an extra `.rules` suffix (you can choose another name with `--rules-file`).
|
|
|
|
If the rules file does not exist, it will be created with default rules, which you'll need to tweak.
|
|
Here's a minimal rules file. It says that the first and second CSV fields
|
|
are the journal entry's date and amount:
|
|
|
|
fields date, amount
|
|
|
|
Lines beginning with `#` or `;` and blank lines are ignored.
|
|
The following kinds of rule can appear in any order:
|
|
|
|
**fields** *CSVFIELDNAME1*, *CSVFIELDNAME1*, ...\\
|
|
(Field list) This names the CSV fields (names may not contain whitespace or `;` or `#`),
|
|
and also assigns them to journal entry fields when you use any of these names:
|
|
|
|
date
|
|
date2
|
|
status
|
|
code
|
|
description
|
|
comment
|
|
account1
|
|
account2
|
|
currency
|
|
amount
|
|
amount-in
|
|
amount-out
|
|
|
|
*JOURNALFIELDNAME* *FIELDVALUE*\\
|
|
(Field assignment) This assigns the given text value
|
|
to a journal entry field (one of the field names above).
|
|
CSV fields can be referenced with `%CSVFIELDNAME` or `%N` (N starts at 1) and will be interpolated.
|
|
|
|
You can use a field list, field assignments, or both.
|
|
At least the `date` and `amount` fields must be assigned.
|
|
|
|
**if** *PATTERNS*\\ (*INDENT*)*FIELDASSIGNMENTS*\\
|
|
(Conditional block) This applies the field assignments only to CSV records matched by one of the PATTERNS.
|
|
|
|
PATTERNS is one or more regular expressions, each on its own line.
|
|
The first pattern can optionally be written on the same line as
|
|
the `if`; patterns on the following lines must start in column 0
|
|
(no indenting). The regular expressions are case insensitive, and
|
|
can match anywhere within the whole CSV record. (It's not yet
|
|
possible to match within a specific field.)
|
|
|
|
FIELDASSIGNMENTS is one or more field assignments (described
|
|
above), each on its own line and indented by at least one
|
|
space. (The indent is required for successful parsing.)
|
|
|
|
Example 1. The simplest conditional block has a single pattern and
|
|
a single field assignment. Here, any CSV record containing the
|
|
pattern `groceries` will have its account2 field set to
|
|
`expenses:groceries`.
|
|
|
|
if groceries
|
|
account2 expenses:groceries
|
|
|
|
Example 2. Here, CSV records containing any of these patterns will
|
|
have their account2 and comment fields set as shown. The
|
|
capitalisation is not required, that's just how I copied them from
|
|
my bank's CSV.
|
|
|
|
if
|
|
MONTHLY SERVICE FEE
|
|
ATM TRANSACTION FEE
|
|
FOREIGN CURR CONV
|
|
OVERDRAFT TRANSFER FEE
|
|
BANKING THRU SOFTWARE:FEE
|
|
INTERNATIONAL PURCHASE TRANSACTION FEE
|
|
WIRE TRANS SVC CHARGE
|
|
FEE FOR TRANSFER
|
|
VISA ISA FEE
|
|
account2 expenses:business:banking
|
|
comment XXX probably deductible, check
|
|
|
|
**skip** [*N*]\\
|
|
Skip this number of CSV records (1 by default).
|
|
Use this to skip CSV header lines.
|
|
<!-- hledger tries to skip initial CSV header lines automatically. -->
|
|
<!-- If it guesses wrong, use this directive to skip exactly N lines. -->
|
|
<!-- This can also be used in a conditional block to ignore certain CSV records. -->
|
|
|
|
**date-format** *DATEFMT*\\
|
|
This is required if the values for `date` or `date2` fields are not in YYYY/MM/DD format (or close to it).
|
|
DATEFMT specifies a strptime-style date parsing pattern containing [year/month/date format codes](http://hackage.haskell.org/packages/archive/time/latest/doc/html/Data-Time-Format.html#v:formatTime).
|
|
Note the pattern must parse the CSV date value completely. Some examples:
|
|
|
|
# "6/11/2013"
|
|
date-format %-d/%-m/%Y
|
|
|
|
# "11/06/2013"
|
|
date-format %m/%d/%Y
|
|
|
|
# "2013-Nov-06"
|
|
date-format %Y-%h-%d
|
|
|
|
# "11/6/2013 11:32 PM"
|
|
date-format %-m/%-d/%Y %l:%M %p
|
|
|
|
**include** *RULESFILE*\\
|
|
Include another rules file at this point. Useful for common rules shared across multiple CSV files.
|
|
|
|
Typically you'll keep one rules file for each account which you
|
|
download as CSV. For an example, see [How to read CSV
|
|
files](CSV.html).
|
|
|
|
Other notes:
|
|
|
|
An amount value that is parenthesised will have the parentheses stripped and its sign flipped.
|
|
|
|
If the `currency` pseudo field is assigned, its value will be prepended to every amount.
|
|
|
|
If the CSV has debit/credit amounts in separate fields, assign the `amount-in` and `amount-out` pseudo fields instead of `amount`.
|
|
|
|
Generating entries with three or more postings is not supported at present.
|
|
|
|
### Timelog files
|
|
|
|
hledger can also read time log files. These are (a subset of) timeclock.el's
|
|
format, containing clock-in and clock-out entries like so:
|
|
|
|
i 2009/03/31 22:21:45 projects:A
|
|
o 2009/04/01 02:00:34
|
|
|
|
hledger treats the clock-in description ("projects:A") as an account name,
|
|
and creates a virtual transaction (or several - one per day) with the
|
|
appropriate amount of hours. From the time log above, hledger print gives:
|
|
|
|
2009/03/31 * 22:21-23:59
|
|
(projects:A) 1.6h
|
|
|
|
2009/04/01 * 00:00-02:00
|
|
(projects:A) 2.0h
|
|
|
|
Here is a
|
|
[sample.timelog](https://raw.github.com/simonmichael/hledger/master/data/sample.timelog) to
|
|
download and some queries to try:
|
|
|
|
hledger -f sample.timelog balance # current time balances
|
|
hledger -f sample.timelog register -p 2009/3 # sessions in march 2009
|
|
hledger -f sample.timelog register -p weekly --depth 1 --empty # time summary by week
|
|
|
|
To generate time logs, ie to clock in and clock out, you could:
|
|
|
|
- use emacs and the built-in timeclock.el, or
|
|
the extended [timeclock-x.el](http://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/timeclock-x.el)
|
|
and perhaps the extras in [ledgerutils.el](http://hub.darcs.net/simon/ledgertools/ledgerutils.el)
|
|
|
|
- at the command line, use these bash aliases:
|
|
```
|
|
alias ti="echo i `date '+%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S'` \$* >>$TIMELOG"
|
|
alias to="echo o `date '+%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S'` >>$TIMELOG"
|
|
```
|
|
- or use the old `ti` and `to` scripts in the [ledger 2.x repository](https://github.com/ledger/ledger/tree/maint/scripts).
|
|
These rely on a "timeclock" executable which I think is just the ledger 2 executable renamed.
|
|
|
|
|
|
## Options
|
|
|
|
Use `hledger COMMAND --help` to list the options available for that
|
|
command. The following general options are common to most commands,
|
|
though not every one is applicable in all cases:
|
|
|
|
```
|
|
General flags:
|
|
-f --file=FILE use a different input file. For stdin, use -
|
|
--rules-file=RFILE CSV conversion rules file (default: FILE.rules)
|
|
--alias=OLD=NEW display accounts named OLD as NEW
|
|
--ignore-assertions ignore any balance assertions in the journal
|
|
-b --begin=DATE include postings/txns on or after this date
|
|
-e --end=DATE include postings/txns before this date
|
|
-D --daily multiperiod/multicolumn report by day
|
|
-W --weekly multiperiod/multicolumn report by week
|
|
-M --monthly multiperiod/multicolumn report by month
|
|
-Q --quarterly multiperiod/multicolumn report by quarter
|
|
-Y --yearly multiperiod/multicolumn report by year
|
|
-p --period=PERIODEXP set start date, end date, and/or reporting interval
|
|
all at once (overrides the flags above)
|
|
--date2 --aux-date use postings/txns' secondary dates instead
|
|
-C --cleared include only cleared postings/txns
|
|
-U --uncleared include only uncleared postings/txns
|
|
-R --real include only non-virtual postings
|
|
--depth=N hide accounts/postings deeper than N
|
|
-E --empty show empty/zero things which are normally omitted
|
|
-B --cost show amounts in their cost price's commodity
|
|
-h --help show general help or (after command) command help
|
|
--debug=N show debug output if N is 1-9 (default: 0)
|
|
--version show version information
|
|
```
|
|
|
|
Read on for some additional notes.
|
|
|
|
### Smart dates
|
|
|
|
Unlike dates in the journal file, hledger's user interfaces accept a
|
|
more flexible date syntax. These "smart" dates allow some english
|
|
words, can be relative to today's date, and assume 1 when less-significant date parts are omitted.
|
|
|
|
Examples:
|
|
|
|
| `2009/1/1`, `2009/01/01`, `2009-1-1`, `2009.1.1` | simple dates, several separators allowed |
|
|
| `2009/1`, `2009` | same as above - a missing day or month defaults to 1 |
|
|
| `1/1`, `january`, `jan`, `this year` | relative dates, meaning january 1 of the current year|
|
|
| `next year` | january 1 of next year |
|
|
| `this month` | the 1st of the current month |
|
|
| `this week` | the most recent monday |
|
|
| `last week` | the monday of the week before this one |
|
|
| `today`, `yesterday`, `tomorrow` | |
|
|
| `-pmonthlyfrom2/1tonextmonth` | the spaces are optional |
|
|
|
|
### Reporting interval
|
|
|
|
A reporting interval can be specified so that commands like
|
|
[[#register]], [[#balance]] and [[#activity]] will divide their
|
|
reports into multiple report periods. The basic intervals can be
|
|
selected with one of `-D/--daily`, `-W/--weekly`, `-M/--monthly`,
|
|
`-Q/--quarterly`, or `-Y/--yearly`. More complex intervals may be
|
|
specified with a period expression.
|
|
|
|
### Period expressions
|
|
|
|
The `-p/--period` option accepts period expressions, a shorthand way
|
|
of expressing a start date, end date, and or reporting interval all at
|
|
once. Note a period expression on the command line will cause any other date
|
|
flags (`-b`/`-e`/`-D`/`-W`/`-M`/`-Q`/`-Y`) to be ignored.
|
|
|
|
hledger's period expressions are similar to Ledger's, though not identical.
|
|
Here's a basic period expression specifying the first quarter of 2009. Note
|
|
hledger always treats start dates as inclusive and end dates as exclusive:
|
|
|
|
-p "from 2009/1/1 to 2009/4/1"
|
|
|
|
Keywords like "from" and "to" are optional, and so are the spaces. Just
|
|
don't run two dates together:
|
|
|
|
-p2009/1/1to2009/4/1
|
|
-p"2009/1/1 2009/4/1"
|
|
|
|
Dates are [smart dates](#smart-dates), so if the current year is 2009, the
|
|
above can also be written as:
|
|
|
|
-p "1/1 to 4/1"
|
|
-p "january to apr"
|
|
-p "this year to 4/1"
|
|
|
|
If you specify only one date, the missing start or end date will be the
|
|
earliest or latest transaction in your journal:
|
|
|
|
-p "from 2009/1/1" (everything after january 1, 2009)
|
|
-p "from 2009/1" (the same)
|
|
-p "from 2009" (the same)
|
|
-p "to 2009" (everything before january 1, 2009)
|
|
|
|
A single date with no "from" or "to" defines both the start and end date
|
|
like so:
|
|
|
|
-p "2009" (the year 2009; equivalent to "2009/1/1 to 2010/1/1")
|
|
-p "2009/1" (the month of jan; equivalent to "2009/1/1 to 2009/2/1")
|
|
-p "2009/1/1" (just that day; equivalent to "2009/1/1 to 2009/1/2")
|
|
|
|
Period expressions can also start with (or be) a reporting interval:
|
|
`daily`, `weekly`, `monthly`, `quarterly`, `yearly`, or one of the
|
|
`every ...` expressions below. Optionally the word `in` may appear
|
|
between the reporting interval and the start/end dates.
|
|
Examples:
|
|
|
|
-p "weekly from 2009/1/1 to 2009/4/1"
|
|
-p "monthly in 2008"
|
|
-p "bimonthly from 2008"
|
|
-p "quarterly"
|
|
-p "every 2 weeks"
|
|
-p "every 5 days from 1/3"
|
|
-p "every 15th day of month"
|
|
-p "every 4th day of week"
|
|
|
|
### Depth limiting
|
|
|
|
With the `--depth N` option, commands like [[#account]], [[#balance]]
|
|
and [[#register]] will show only the uppermost accounts in the account
|
|
tree, down to level N. Use this when you want a summary with less detail.
|
|
|
|
## Query arguments
|
|
|
|
Part of hledger's usefulness is being able to report on just a precise subset of your data.
|
|
Most commands accept an optional query expression, written as arguments after the command name,
|
|
to filter the data by date, account name or other criteria. Query expressions are also used
|
|
in the [[#web|web ui]]'s search form.
|
|
|
|
The query syntax is similar to a Google search expression: one or
|
|
more space-separated search terms, optional prefixes to match specific
|
|
fields, quotes to enclose whitespace, etc.
|
|
A query term can be any of the following:
|
|
|
|
- `REGEX` - match account names by this regular expression
|
|
- `acct:REGEX` - same as above
|
|
- `code:REGEX` - match by transaction code (eg check number)
|
|
- `desc:REGEX` - match transaction descriptions
|
|
- `date:PERIODEXPR` - match dates within the specified [[#period-expressions|period]]. *Actually, full period syntax is [[https://github.com/simonmichael/hledger/issues/141|not yet supported]].*
|
|
- `date2:PERIODEXPR` - as above, but match secondary dates
|
|
- `tag:NAME[=REGEX]` - match by (exact, case sensitive) [[#tags|tag]] name, and optionally match the tag value by regular expression. Note `tag:` will match a transaction if it or any its postings have the tag, and will match posting if it or its parent transaction has the tag.
|
|
- `depth:N` - match (or display, depending on command) accounts at or above this [[#depth-limiting|depth]]
|
|
- `status:1` or `status:0` - match cleared/uncleared transactions
|
|
- `real:1` or `real:0` - match real/virtual-ness
|
|
- `empty:1` or `empty:0` - match if amount is/is not zero
|
|
- `amt:N`, `amt:<N`, `amt:<=N`, `amt:>N`, `amt:>=N` - match postings with a single-commodity
|
|
amount that is equal to, less than, or greater than N.
|
|
(Multi-commodity amounts are not tested, and will always match.)
|
|
The comparison has two modes: if N is preceded by a `+` or `-` sign
|
|
(or is 0), the two signed numbers are compared. Otherwise, the
|
|
absolute magnitudes are compared, ignoring sign.
|
|
- `cur:REGEX` - match postings or transactions including any amounts
|
|
whose currency/commodity symbol is fully matched by REGEX. (For a
|
|
partial match, use `.*REGEX.*`). Note, to match characters which are
|
|
regex-significant, like the dollar sign (`$`), you need to prepend `\`.
|
|
And when using the command line you need to add one more level
|
|
of quoting to hide it from the shell, so eg do: `hledger print cur:'\$'`
|
|
or `hledger print cur:\\$`.
|
|
- `not:` before any of the above negates the match
|
|
|
|
### Combining query arguments
|
|
|
|
hledger query expressions don't support full boolean logic. Instead, multiple query terms
|
|
are combined as follows:
|
|
|
|
- The [[#print]] command selects transactions which:
|
|
- match any of the description terms AND
|
|
- have any postings matching any of the positive account terms AND
|
|
- have no postings matching any of the negative account terms AND
|
|
- match all the other terms.
|
|
|
|
<!-- -->
|
|
|
|
- Other reporting commands (eg [[#register]] and [[#balance]]) select transactions/postings/accounts which match (or negatively match):
|
|
- any of the description terms AND
|
|
- any of the account terms AND
|
|
- all the other terms.
|
|
|
|
### Query arguments vs options
|
|
|
|
On the command line, some of the query terms above can also be expressed as command-line flags.
|
|
Generally you can mix and match query arguments and flags, and the resulting query will be their intersection.
|
|
Remember that a `-p` [[#period-expressions|period]] flag will cause any other `-b`, `-e` or `-p` flags on the command line to be ignored.
|
|
|
|
|
|
## Commands
|
|
|
|
hledger provides a number of subcommands out of the box; run `hledger` with no arguments to see a list.
|
|
More [add-on commands](#add-ons) will appear if you install additional `hledger-*` packages,
|
|
or if you put programs or scripts named `hledger-NAME` in your PATH.
|
|
|
|
To select which command to run, write it as the first command-line
|
|
argument. You can write its full name (eg `balance`), or one of the
|
|
standard short aliases displayed in parentheses in the command list
|
|
(eg `bs`), or any unambiguous prefix of a command (eg `inc`).
|
|
|
|
### Data entry
|
|
|
|
Many hledger users edit their journals directly with a text editor, or generate them from CSV.
|
|
For more interactive data entry, there is the `add` command and also the `web` add-on (below).
|
|
|
|
#### add
|
|
|
|
The add command prompts interactively for new transactions, and appends
|
|
them to the journal file. Just run `hledger add` and follow the prompts.
|
|
You can add as many transactions as you like; when you are finished,
|
|
enter `.` or press control-d or control-c to exit.
|
|
|
|
Additional convenience features:
|
|
|
|
- add tries to provide useful defaults, using the most similar recent
|
|
transaction (by description) as a template.
|
|
|
|
- You can also set the initial defaults with command line arguments.
|
|
|
|
- [Readline-style edit keys](http://tiswww.case.edu/php/chet/readline/rluserman.html#SEC3)
|
|
can be used during data entry.
|
|
|
|
- The tab key will auto-complete whenever possible - accounts,
|
|
descriptions, dates (`yesterday`, `today`, `tomorrow`). If the input
|
|
area is empty, it will insert the default value.
|
|
|
|
- If the journal defines a [[#default-commodity|default commodity]],
|
|
it will be added to any bare numbers entered.
|
|
|
|
- A parenthesised transaction [[#entries|code]] may be entered following a date.
|
|
|
|
- [[#comments|Comments]] and tags may be entered following a description or amount.
|
|
|
|
- If you make a mistake, enter `<` at any prompt to restart the transaction.
|
|
|
|
- Input prompts are displayed in a different colour when the terminal supports it.
|
|
|
|
Here's [[step-by-step#record-a-transaction-with-hledger-add|an example]].
|
|
<!--
|
|
$ hledger add
|
|
(...)
|
|
Starting a new transaction.
|
|
date ? [2013/04/09]:
|
|
description ? : starbucks
|
|
|
|
Using this existing transaction for defaults:
|
|
2012/04/19 * starbucks
|
|
expenses:personal:food:snacks $3.70
|
|
assets:cash:wallet $-3.70
|
|
|
|
account 1 ? [expenses:personal:food:snacks]:
|
|
amount 1 ? [$3.7]:
|
|
account 2 ? [assets:cash:wallet]:
|
|
amount 2 ? [$-3.7]:
|
|
account 3 (or . to complete this transaction) ? : .
|
|
|
|
Transaction entered:
|
|
2013/04/09 starbucks
|
|
expenses:personal:food:snacks $7.7
|
|
assets:cash:wallet $-7.7
|
|
|
|
Accept this transaction ? [y]:
|
|
Added to the journal.
|
|
|
|
Starting a new transaction.
|
|
date ? [2013/04/09]: <CTRL-D>
|
|
$
|
|
-->
|
|
|
|
### Reporting
|
|
|
|
These are the commands for actually querying your ledger.
|
|
|
|
#### accounts
|
|
|
|
This command lists matched account names, in a flat list by default, or in hierarchy
|
|
with the `--tree` flag. With no query arguments, all account names are listed.
|
|
|
|
#### print
|
|
|
|
The print command displays full transactions from the journal file,
|
|
tidily formatted and showing all amounts explicitly. The output of
|
|
print is always a valid hledger journal, but it does always not
|
|
preserve all original content exactly (eg directives).
|
|
|
|
hledger's print command also shows all unit prices in effect, or (with
|
|
-B/--cost) shows cost amounts.
|
|
|
|
Examples:
|
|
|
|
$ hledger print
|
|
$ hledger print employees:bob | hledger -f- register expenses
|
|
|
|
#### register
|
|
|
|
The register command displays postings, one per line, and their running
|
|
total. With no [query terms](#queries), this is not all that different
|
|
from [print](#print):
|
|
|
|
$ hledger register
|
|
|
|
More typically, use it to see a specific account's activity:
|
|
|
|
$ hledger register assets:bank:checking
|
|
|
|
The `--depth` option limits the amount of sub-account detail displayed:
|
|
|
|
$ hledger register assets:bank:checking --depth 2
|
|
|
|
The `--average`/`-A` flag shows the running average posting amount
|
|
instead of the running total (so, the final number displayed is the
|
|
average for the whole report period). This flag implies `--empty` (see below).
|
|
It works best when showing just one account and one commodity.
|
|
|
|
The `--related`/`-r` flag shows the *other* postings in the transactions
|
|
of the postings which would normally be shown.
|
|
|
|
The `--width`/`-w` option adjusts the width of the output. By default,
|
|
this is 80 characters. To allow more space for descriptions and account
|
|
names, use `-w N` to increase the width to N characters (the argument is required).
|
|
|
|
With a [reporting interval](#reporting-interval) register shows
|
|
aggregated summary postings, within each interval:
|
|
|
|
$ hledger register --monthly rent
|
|
$ hledger register --monthly -E food --depth 4
|
|
|
|
One summary posting will be shown for each account in each interval.
|
|
Summary postings with a zero amount are not shown; use the `--empty`/`-E` flag to show them.
|
|
|
|
If necessary, use the `--depth` option to summarise the accounts.
|
|
It's often most useful to see just one line per interval.
|
|
|
|
When using report intervals, the report's normal start/end dates are
|
|
"enlarged" to contain a whole number of intervals, so that the first
|
|
and last intervals will be "full" and comparable to the others.
|
|
|
|
#### balance
|
|
|
|
The balance command displays accounts and their balances.
|
|
|
|
##### Simple balance reports
|
|
|
|
Simple balance reports have no [[#reporting-interval|reporting interval]].
|
|
They show the sum of matched postings in each account.
|
|
(If postings are not date-restricted, this is usually the same as the ending balance).
|
|
|
|
$ hledger balance
|
|
$ hledger balance -p 'last month' expenses:food
|
|
|
|
By default, simple balance reports display the accounts as a
|
|
hierarchy, with subaccounts indented below their parent. Each
|
|
account's balance is the "inclusive" balance - it includes the
|
|
balances of any subaccounts.
|
|
|
|
"Boring parent accounts" (containing a single interesting subaccount
|
|
and no balance of their own) are elided into the following line for
|
|
more compact output. Use `--no-elide` to prevent this.
|
|
|
|
Accounts which have zero balance (and no non-zero subaccounts) are
|
|
omitted. Use `-E/--empty` to show them.
|
|
|
|
A final total is displayed by default; use `--no-total` to suppress it.
|
|
|
|
##### Flat mode
|
|
|
|
To see a flat list of full account names instead of the hierarchy, use `--flat`.
|
|
In this mode, each account's balance is the "exclusive" balance - it excludes subaccount balances
|
|
(except when aggregating deeper accounts at the depth limit, see below).
|
|
Also, you can use `--drop N` to omit the first few account name components.
|
|
|
|
##### Depth limiting
|
|
|
|
With `--depth N`, balance shows accounts only to the specified depth.
|
|
In flat mode, it also aggregates and summarises deeper accounts at the depth limit.
|
|
This is very useful to summarise complex charts of accounts.
|
|
|
|
<!-- $ for y in 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010; do echo; echo $y; hledger -f $y.journal balance ^expenses --depth 2; done -->
|
|
|
|
##### Multi balance reports
|
|
|
|
With a [[#reporting-interval|reporting interval]], multiple balance
|
|
columns will be shown, one for each report period.
|
|
There are three types of multi-column balance report, showing different information:
|
|
|
|
1. By default: each column shows the sum of postings in that period,
|
|
ie the account's change of balance in that period. This is useful eg
|
|
for a monthly income statement.
|
|
<!--
|
|
multi-column income statement:
|
|
|
|
$ hledger balance ^income ^expense -p 'monthly this year' --depth 3
|
|
|
|
or cashflow statement:
|
|
|
|
$ hledger balance ^assets ^liabilities 'not:(receivable|payable)' -p 'weekly this month'
|
|
-->
|
|
|
|
2. With `--cumulative`: each column shows the ending balance for that
|
|
period, accumulating the changes across periods, starting from 0 at
|
|
the report start date. This mode is not often used.
|
|
|
|
3. With `--historical/-H`: each column shows the actual historical
|
|
ending balance for that period, accumulating the changes across
|
|
periods, starting from the actual balance at the report start date.
|
|
This is useful eg for a multi-year balance sheet.
|
|
<!--
|
|
$ hledger balance ^assets ^liabilities -YH
|
|
-->
|
|
|
|
Multi-column balance reports display accounts in flat mode by default;
|
|
to see the hierarchy, use `--tree`.
|
|
|
|
Note that with a reporting interval, the report start/end dates will
|
|
be "enlarged" if necessary so that they encompass the displayed report
|
|
periods. This is so that the first and last periods will be "full" and
|
|
comparable to the others.
|
|
|
|
The `-E/--empty` flag does two things here: first, the report will
|
|
show all columns within the specified report period (without -E,
|
|
leading and trailing columns with all zeroes are not shown). Second,
|
|
all accounts which existed at the report start date will be
|
|
considered, not just the ones with activity during the report period
|
|
(use -E to include low-activity accounts which would otherwise would
|
|
be omitted).
|
|
|
|
##### Custom output formats
|
|
|
|
In simple balance reports (only), the `--format FMT` option will customize
|
|
the format of output lines. `FMT` is like a C printf/strftime-style
|
|
format string, except that field names are enclosed in parentheses:
|
|
|
|
%[-][MIN][.MAX]([FIELD])
|
|
|
|
If the minus sign is given, the text is left justified. The `MIN` field
|
|
specified a minimum number of characters in width. After the value is
|
|
injected into the string, spaces is added to make sure the string is at
|
|
least as long as `MIN`. Similary, the `MAX` field specifies the maximum
|
|
number of characters. The string will be cut if the injected string is too
|
|
long.
|
|
|
|
- `%-(total) ` the total of an account, left justified
|
|
- `%20(total) ` The same, right justified, at least 20 chars wide
|
|
- `%.20(total) ` The same, no more than 20 chars wide
|
|
- `%-.20(total)` Left justified, maximum twenty chars wide
|
|
|
|
The following `FIELD` types are currently supported:
|
|
|
|
- `account` inserts the account name
|
|
- `depth_spacer` inserts a space for each level of an account's
|
|
depth. That is, if an account has two parents, this construct will
|
|
insert two spaces. If a minimum width is specified, that much space is
|
|
inserted for each level of depth. Thus `%5_`, for an account with four
|
|
parents, will insert twenty spaces.
|
|
- `total` inserts the total for the account
|
|
|
|
Examples:
|
|
|
|
If you want the account before the total you can use this format:
|
|
|
|
$ hledger balance --format "%20(account) %-(total)"
|
|
assets $-1
|
|
bank:saving $1
|
|
cash $-2
|
|
expenses $2
|
|
food $1
|
|
supplies $1
|
|
income $-2
|
|
gifts $-1
|
|
salary $-1
|
|
liabilities:debts $1
|
|
--------------------
|
|
0
|
|
|
|
Or, if you'd like to export the balance sheet:
|
|
|
|
$ hledger balance --format "%(total);%(account)" --no-total
|
|
$-1;assets
|
|
$1;bank:saving
|
|
$-2;cash
|
|
$2;expenses
|
|
$1;food
|
|
$1;supplies
|
|
$-2;income
|
|
$-1;gifts
|
|
$-1;salary
|
|
$1;liabilities:debts
|
|
|
|
The default output format is `%20(total) %2(depth_spacer)%-(account)`.
|
|
|
|
|
|
#### incomestatement
|
|
|
|
This command displays a simple
|
|
[income statement](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Income_statement). It
|
|
currently assumes that you have top-level accounts named `income` (or
|
|
`revenue`) and `expense` (plural forms also allowed.)
|
|
|
|
#### balancesheet
|
|
|
|
This command displays a simple
|
|
[balance sheet](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balance_sheet). It currently
|
|
assumes that you have top-level accounts named `asset` and `liability`
|
|
(plural forms also allowed.)
|
|
|
|
#### cashflow
|
|
|
|
This command displays a simplified
|
|
[cashflow statement](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cash_flow_statement)
|
|
(without the traditional segmentation into operating, investing, and
|
|
financing cash flows.) It shows the change in all "cash" accounts for the
|
|
period. It currently assumes that cash accounts are under a top-level
|
|
account named `asset` and do not contain `receivable` or `A/R` (plural
|
|
forms also allowed.)
|
|
|
|
#### activity
|
|
|
|
The activity command displays a simplistic textual bar chart showing
|
|
transaction counts by day, week, month or other reporting interval.
|
|
|
|
Examples:
|
|
|
|
$ hledger activity -p weekly dining
|
|
|
|
#### stats
|
|
|
|
The stats command displays summary information for the whole journal, or
|
|
a matched part of it.
|
|
|
|
Examples:
|
|
|
|
$ hledger stats
|
|
$ hledger stats -p 'monthly in 2009'
|
|
|
|
### Misc.
|
|
|
|
#### test
|
|
|
|
This command runs hledger's built-in unit tests and displays a quick
|
|
report. A pattern can be provided to filter tests by name. It's mainly
|
|
used in development, but it's also nice to be able to check hledger for
|
|
smoke at any time.
|
|
|
|
Examples:
|
|
|
|
$ hledger test
|
|
$ hledger test -v balance
|
|
|
|
### Add-on
|
|
|
|
Add-on commands are executables in your PATH whose name starts with
|
|
`hledger-` and ends with no file extension or one of these common
|
|
executable extensions:
|
|
`.hs`,`.lhs`,`.pl`,`.py`,`.rb`,`.rkt`,`.sh`,`.bat`,`.com`,`.exe`.
|
|
(Also, add-on names may not be the same as any built-in command or alias).
|
|
|
|
hledger will detect these and act as a convenient front end, displaying them in
|
|
the command list and letting you invoke them with `hledger ADDON`.
|
|
There are some tricks when specifying options:
|
|
|
|
- Options appearing before ADDON will be visible only to hledger and not be passed to the add-on.
|
|
Eg: `hledger --help web` shows hledger's help, `hledger web --help` shows hledger-web's help.
|
|
- Options understood only by the add-on must go after a `--` argument so that hledger does not reject them.
|
|
Eg: `hledger web -- --server`.
|
|
|
|
Add-ons which are written in haskell can take advantage of hledger's library API
|
|
for journal parsing, reports, consistent command-line options etc.
|
|
One notable add-on is [[#web|hledger-web]], which is maintained along with
|
|
hledger and supported on the same major platforms. Other add-ons may
|
|
have different release schedules and platform support.
|
|
|
|
#### autosync
|
|
|
|
[ledger-autosync](https://bitbucket.org/egh/ledger-autosync/commits/all),
|
|
which includes a `hledger-autosync` alias, downloads transactions
|
|
from your bank(s) via OFX, and prints just the new ones as journal
|
|
entries which you can add to your journal. It can also operate on .OFX
|
|
files which you've downloaded manually. It can be a nice alternative
|
|
to hledger's built-in CSV reader, especially if your bank supports OFX
|
|
download.
|
|
|
|
#### interest
|
|
|
|
[hledger-interest](http://hackage.haskell.org/package/hledger-interest)
|
|
computes interests for a given account. Using command line flags,
|
|
the program can be configured to use various schemes for day-counting,
|
|
such as act/act, 30/360, 30E/360, and 30/360isda. Furthermore, it
|
|
supports a (small) number of interest schemes, i.e. annual interest
|
|
with a fixed rate and the scheme mandated by the German BGB288
|
|
(Basiszins für Verbrauchergeschäfte). See the package page for more.
|
|
|
|
#### irr
|
|
|
|
[hledger-irr](http://hackage.haskell.org/package/hledger-irr)
|
|
computes the internal rate of return, also known as the effective
|
|
interest rate, of a given investment. After specifying what account
|
|
holds the investment, and what account stores the gains (or losses, or
|
|
fees, or cost), it calculates the hypothetical annual rate of fixed
|
|
rate investment that would have provided the exact same cash flow.
|
|
See the package page for more.
|
|
|
|
#### web
|
|
|
|
[hledger-web](http://hackage.haskell.org/package/hledger-web)
|
|
provides a web-based user interface for viewing and modifying your ledger.
|
|
It includes an account register view that is more useful than the command-line register, and basic data entry and editing.
|
|
Try it out at http://demo.hledger.org.
|
|
|
|
web-specific options:
|
|
|
|
--server log requests, don't exit on inactivity
|
|
--port=N serve on tcp port N (default 5000)
|
|
--base-url=URL use this base url (default http://localhost:PORT/)
|
|
--static-root=URL use this base url for static files (default http://localhost:PORT/static)
|
|
|
|
By default, the web command starts a transient local web app and displays it in your default web browser ("local ui mode").
|
|
With `--server`, it starts the web app, leaves it running, and also logs requests to the console ("server mode").
|
|
|
|
Typically in server mode you'll also want to use
|
|
`--base-url` to set the protocol/hostname/port/path to be used in
|
|
hyperlinks.
|
|
|
|
You can use `--port` to listen on a different TCP port, eg if you are running multiple hledger-web
|
|
instances. Note `--port`'s argument need not be the same as the PORT
|
|
in the base url.
|
|
|
|
The more advanced option `--static-root` allows the static files served from a
|
|
separate base url. This enables the optimization that the static files can be
|
|
served from a generic web server like apache, which is good at handling static
|
|
files and caching. One can also serve the files in a separate domain to reduce
|
|
cookies overhead.
|
|
|
|
**Note:** unlike any other hledger command, `web` can alter existing journal
|
|
data, via the edit form. A numbered backup of the file is saved on
|
|
each edit, normally (ie if file permissions allow, disk is not full, etc.)
|
|
Also, there is no built-in access control. So unless you run it behind an
|
|
authenticating proxy, any visitor to your server will be able to see and
|
|
overwrite the journal file (and included files.)
|
|
|
|
hledger-web disallows edits which would leave the journal file not in
|
|
valid [journal format](#the-journal-file). If the file becomes unparseable
|
|
by other means, hledger-web will show an error until the file has been
|
|
fixed.
|
|
|
|
Examples:
|
|
|
|
$ hledger-web
|
|
$ hledger-web -E -B --depth 2 -f some.journal
|
|
$ hledger-web --server --port 5010 --base-url http://some.vhost.com --debug=1
|
|
|
|
\\
|
|
\\
|
|
\\
|
|
The following add-ons are examples and experiments provided in the
|
|
[extra](https://github.com/simonmichael/hledger/tree/master/extra)
|
|
directory in the hledger source. Add this directory to your PATH to
|
|
make them available. The scripts are designed to run interpreted on
|
|
unix systems (for tweaking), or you can compile them (for speed and
|
|
robustness).
|
|
|
|
#### balance-csv
|
|
|
|
Like the balance command, but with CSV output.
|
|
|
|
#### equity
|
|
|
|
Like ledger's equity command, this prints a single journal entry with
|
|
postings matching the current balance in each account (or the
|
|
specified accounts) in the default journal. An entry like this is
|
|
useful to carry over asset and liability balances when beginning a new
|
|
journal file, eg at the start of the year.
|
|
|
|
You can also use the same entry with signs reversed to close out the
|
|
old file, resetting balances to 0. This means you'll see the correct
|
|
asset/liability balances whether you use one file or a whole sequence
|
|
of files as input to hledger.
|
|
|
|
#### print-unique
|
|
|
|
Prints only journal entries which are unique (by description).
|
|
|
|
#### register-csv
|
|
|
|
Like the register command, but with CSV output.
|
|
|
|
#### rewrite
|
|
|
|
Prints all journal entries, adding specified custom postings to matched entries.
|
|
|
|
|
|
<!-- unmaintained:
|
|
|
|
#### chart
|
|
|
|
The chart command (provided by the hledger-chart package) saves an image
|
|
file, by default "hledger.png", showing a basic pie chart of your top
|
|
account balances. Note that positive and negative balances will not be
|
|
displayed together in the same chart; any balances not matching the sign
|
|
of the first one will be ignored.
|
|
|
|
chart-specific options:
|
|
|
|
-o/--chart-output=IMGFILE output filename (default: hledger.png)
|
|
|
|
You can specify a different output file name with -o/--output. The data
|
|
currently will always be in PNG format.
|
|
|
|
--chart-items=N number of accounts to show (default: 10)
|
|
|
|
The number of top accounts to show (default is 10).
|
|
|
|
--chart-size=WIDTHxHEIGHT image size (default: 600x400)
|
|
|
|
You can adjust the image resolution with --size=WIDTHxHEIGHT (in pixels).
|
|
|
|
To show only accounts above a certain depth, use the --depth option;
|
|
otherwise the chart can include accounts of any depth. When a parent and
|
|
child account both appear in a chart, the parent's balance will be
|
|
exclusive of the child's.
|
|
|
|
Examples:
|
|
|
|
$ hledger chart assets --depth 2
|
|
$ hledger chart liabilities --depth 2
|
|
$ hledger chart ^expenses -o balance.png --size 1000x600 --items 20
|
|
$ for m in 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12; do hledger chart -p 2009/$m ^expenses --depth 2 -o expenses-2009$m.png --size 400x300; done
|
|
|
|
#### vty
|
|
|
|
The vty command (provided by the hledger-vty package) starts a simple
|
|
curses-style (full-screen, text) user interface, which allows interactive
|
|
navigation of the print/register/balance reports. This lets you browse
|
|
around and explore your numbers quickly with less typing.
|
|
|
|
vty-specific options:
|
|
|
|
--debug-vty run with no terminal output, showing console
|
|
|
|
Examples:
|
|
|
|
$ hledger vty
|
|
$ hledger vty -BE food
|
|
|
|
-->
|
|
|
|
|
|
## Known limitations
|
|
|
|
Here are some things to be aware of.
|
|
|
|
### Add-on-specific options must follow --
|
|
|
|
When invoking an add-on via hledger, add-on flags which are not also
|
|
understood by the main hledger executable must have a `--` argument
|
|
preceding them. Eg hledger-web's `--server` flag must be used like so:
|
|
`hledger web -- --server`.
|
|
|
|
### -w/--width and --debug options must be written without whitespace
|
|
|
|
Up to hledger 0.23, these optional-value flags [[https://github.com/simonmichael/hledger/issues/149|did not work]] with whitespace between the flag and value.
|
|
IE these worked: `--debug`, `-w`, `--debug=2`, `-w100`, but these did not: `--debug 2`, `-w 100`.
|
|
From 0.24, a value is required and the whitespace does not matter.
|
|
|
|
### Not all of Ledger's journal file syntax is supported
|
|
|
|
See [[faq#file-format-differences|file format differences]].
|
|
|
|
### balance is less speedy than Ledger's on large data files
|
|
|
|
hledger's balance command (in particular) takes more time, and uses more memory, than Ledger's.
|
|
This becomes more noticeable with large data files.
|
|
|
|
### Windows CMD.EXE
|
|
|
|
Non-ascii characters and colours are not supported.
|
|
|
|
### Windows cygwin/msys/mintty
|
|
|
|
The tab key is not supported in hledger add.
|
|
|
|
|
|
## Troubleshooting
|
|
|
|
Here are some issues you might encounter when you run hledger
|
|
(and remember you can also seek help from the
|
|
[IRC channel](https://github.com/ledger/ledger/wiki/%23ledger-IRC-channel),
|
|
[mail list](http://hledger.org/list) or
|
|
[bug tracker](http://hledger.org/bugs)):
|
|
|
|
### Successfully installed, but "No command 'hledger' found"
|
|
cabal installs binaries into a special directory, which should be added
|
|
to your PATH environment variable. On unix-like systems, it is
|
|
~/.cabal/bin.
|
|
|
|
### "Illegal byte sequence" or "Invalid or incomplete multibyte or wide character" errors
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In order to handle non-ascii letters and symbols (like £), hledger needs
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an appropriate locale. This is usually configured system-wide; you can
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also configure it temporarily. The locale may need to be one that
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supports UTF-8, if you built hledger with GHC < 7.2 (or possibly always,
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I'm not sure yet).
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Here's an example of setting the locale temporarily, on ubuntu gnu/linux:
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$ file my.journal
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my.journal: UTF-8 Unicode text # <- the file is UTF8-encoded
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$ locale -a
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C
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en_US.utf8 # <- a UTF8-aware locale is available
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POSIX
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$ LANG=en_US.utf8 hledger -f my.journal print # <- use it for this command
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Here's one way to set it permanently, there are probably better ways:
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$ echo "export LANG=en_US.UTF-8" >>~/.bash_profile
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$ bash --login
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If we preferred to use eg `fr_FR.utf8`, we might have to install that first:
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$ apt-get install language-pack-fr
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$ locale -a
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C
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en_US.utf8
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fr_BE.utf8
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fr_CA.utf8
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fr_CH.utf8
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fr_FR.utf8
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fr_LU.utf8
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POSIX
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$ LANG=fr_FR.utf8 hledger -f my.journal print
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Note some platforms allow variant locale spellings, but not all (ubuntu
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accepts `fr_FR.UTF8`, mac osx requires exactly `fr_FR.UTF-8`).
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