hledger/site/doc/1.0/journal.md

# journal format

This doc is for version **1.0**. <span class="docversions"></span>

-   toc

## NAME

Journal - hledger's default file format, representing a General Journal

## DESCRIPTION

hledger's usual data source is a plain text file containing journal
entries in hledger journal format. This file represents a standard
accounting [general
journal](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_journal). I use file names
ending in `.journal`, but that's not required. The journal file contains
a number of transaction entries, each describing a transfer of money (or
any commodity) between two or more named accounts, in a simple format
readable by both hledger and humans.

hledger's journal format is a compatible subset,
[mostly](faq.html#file-format-differences), of [ledger's journal
format](http://ledger-cli.org/3.0/doc/ledger3.html#Journal-Format), so
hledger can work with [compatible](faq.html#file-format-differences)
ledger journal files as well. It's safe, and encouraged, to run both
hledger and ledger on the same journal file, eg to validate the results
you're getting.

You can use hledger without learning any more about this file; just use
the [add](#add) or [web](#web) commands to create and update it. Many
users, though, also edit the journal file directly with a text editor,
perhaps assisted by the helper modes for emacs or vim.

Here's an example:

``` {.journal}
; A sample journal file. This is a comment.

2008/01/01 income               ; <- transaction's first line starts in column 0, contains date and description
    assets:bank:checking  $1    ; <- posting lines start with whitespace, each contains an account name
    income:salary        $-1    ;    followed by at least two spaces and an amount

2008/06/01 gift
    assets:bank:checking  $1    ; <- at least two postings in a transaction
    income:gifts         $-1    ; <- their amounts must balance to 0

2008/06/02 save
    assets:bank:saving    $1
    assets:bank:checking        ; <- one amount may be omitted; here $-1 is inferred

2008/06/03 eat & shop           ; <- description can be anything
    expenses:food         $1
    expenses:supplies     $1    ; <- this transaction debits two expense accounts
    assets:cash                 ; <- $-2 inferred

2008/12/31 * pay off            ; <- an optional * or ! after the date means "cleared" (or anything you want)
    liabilities:debts     $1
    assets:bank:checking
```

## FILE FORMAT

<!-- Now let's explore the available journal file syntax in detail. -->
### Transactions

Transactions are represented by journal entries. Each begins with a
[simple date](#simple-dates) in column 0, followed by three optional
fields with spaces between them:

-   a status flag, which can be empty or `!` or `*` (meaning
    "uncleared", "pending" and "cleared", or whatever you want)
-   a transaction code (eg a check number),
-   and/or a description

then some number of postings, of some amount to some account. Each
posting is on its own line, consisting of:

-   indentation of one or more spaces (or tabs)
-   optionally, a `!` or `*` status flag followed by a space
-   an account name, optionally containing single spaces
-   optionally, two or more spaces or tabs followed by an amount

Usually there are two or more postings, though one or none is also
possible. The posting amounts within a transaction must always balance,
ie add up to 0. Optionally one amount can be left blank, in which case
it will be inferred.

### Dates

#### Simple dates

Within a journal file, transaction dates use Y/M/D (or Y-M-D or Y.M.D)
Leading zeros are optional. The year may be omitted, in which case it
will be inferred from the context - the current transaction, the default
year set with a [default year directive](#default-year), or the current
date when the command is run. Some examples: `2010/01/31`, `1/31`,
`2010-01-31`, `2010.1.31`.

#### Secondary dates

Real-life transactions sometimes involve more than one date - eg the
date you write a cheque, and the date it clears in your bank. When you
want to model this, eg for more accurate balances, you can specify
individual [posting dates](#posting-dates), which I recommend. Or, you
can use the secondary dates (aka auxiliary/effective dates) feature,
supported for compatibility with Ledger.

A secondary date can be written after the primary date, separated by an
equals sign. The primary date, on the left, is used by default; the
secondary date, on the right, is used when the `--date2` flag is
specified (`--aux-date` or `--effective` also work).

The meaning of secondary dates is up to you, but it's best to follow a
consistent rule. Eg write the bank's clearing date as primary, and when
needed, the date the transaction was initiated as secondary.

Here's an example. Note that a secondary date will use the year of the
primary date if unspecified.

``` {.journal}
2010/2/23=2/19 movie ticket
  expenses:cinema                   $10
  assets:checking
```

``` {.shell}
$ hledger register checking
2010/02/23 movie ticket         assets:checking                $-10         $-10
```

``` {.shell}
$ hledger register checking --date2
2010/02/19 movie ticket         assets:checking                $-10         $-10
```

Secondary dates require some effort; you must use them consistently in
your journal entries and remember whether to use or not use the
`--date2` flag for your reports. They are included in hledger for Ledger
compatibility, but posting dates are a more powerful and less confusing
alternative.

#### Posting dates

You can give individual postings a different date from their parent
transaction, by adding a [posting comment](#comments) containing a
[tag](#tags) (see below) like `date:DATE`. This is probably the best way
to control posting dates precisely. Eg in this example the expense
should appear in May reports, and the deduction from checking should be
reported on 6/1 for easy bank reconciliation:

``` {.journal}
2015/5/30
    expenses:food     $10   ; food purchased on saturday 5/30
    assets:checking         ; bank cleared it on monday, date:6/1
```

``` {.shell}
$ hledger -f t.j register food
2015/05/30                      expenses:food                  $10           $10
```

``` {.shell}
$ hledger -f t.j register checking
2015/06/01                      assets:checking               $-10          $-10
```

DATE should be a [simple date](#simple-dates); if the year is not
specified it will use the year of the transaction's date. You can set
the secondary date similarly, with `date2:DATE2`. The `date:` or
`date2:` tags must have a valid simple date value if they are present,
eg a `date:` tag with no value is not allowed.

Ledger's earlier, more compact bracketed date syntax is also supported:
`[DATE]`, `[DATE=DATE2]` or `[=DATE2]`. hledger will attempt to parse
any square-bracketed sequence of the `0123456789/-.=` characters in this
way. With this syntax, DATE infers its year from the transaction and
DATE2 infers its year from DATE.

### Account names

Account names typically have several parts separated by a full colon,
from which hledger derives a hierarchical chart of accounts. They can be
anything you like, but in finance there are traditionally five top-level
accounts: `assets`, `liabilities`, `income`, `expenses`, and `equity`.

Account names may contain single spaces, eg:
`assets:accounts receivable`. Because of this, they must always be
followed by **two or more spaces** (or newline).

Account names can be [aliased](#account-aliases).

### Amounts

After the account name, there is usually an amount. Important: between
account name and amount, there must be **two or more spaces**.

Amounts consist of a number and (usually) a currency symbol or commodity
name. Some examples:

`2.00001`\
`$1`\
`4000 AAPL`\
`3 "green apples"`\
`-$1,000,000.00`\
`INR 9,99,99,999.00`\
`EUR -2.000.000,00`

As you can see, the amount format is somewhat flexible:

-   amounts are a number (the "quantity") and optionally a currency
    symbol/commodity name (the "commodity").
-   the commodity is a symbol, word, or double-quoted phrase, on the
    left or right, with or without a separating space
-   negative amounts with a commodity on the left can have the minus
    sign before or after it
-   digit groups (thousands, or any other grouping) can be separated by
    commas (in which case period is used for decimal point) or periods
    (in which case comma is used for decimal point)

You can use any of these variations when recording data, but when
hledger displays amounts, it will choose a consistent format for each
commodity. (Except for [price amounts](#prices), which are always
formatted as written). The display format is chosen as follows:

-   if there is a [commodity directive](#commodity-directive) specifying
    the format, that is used
-   otherwise the format is inferred from the first posting amount in
    that commodity in the journal, and the precision (number of
    decimal places) will be the maximum from all posting amounts in that
    commmodity
-   or if there are no such amounts in the journal, a default format is
    used (like `$1000.00`).

Price amounts and amounts in D directives usually don't affect amount
format inference, but in some situations they can do so indirectly. (Eg
when D's default commodity is applied to a commodity-less amount, or
when an amountless posting is balanced using a price's commodity, or
when -V is used.) If you find this causing problems, set the desired
format with a commodity directive.

### Virtual Postings

When you parenthesise the account name in a posting, we call that a
*virtual posting*, which means:

-   it is ignored when checking that the transaction is balanced
-   it is excluded from reports when the `--real/-R` flag is used, or
    the `real:1` query.

You could use this, eg, to set an account's opening balance without
needing to use the `equity:opening balances` account:

``` {.journal}
1/1 special unbalanced posting to set initial balance
  (assets:checking)   $1000
```

When the account name is bracketed, we call it a *balanced virtual
posting*. This is like an ordinary virtual posting except the balanced
virtual postings in a transaction must balance to 0, like the real
postings (but separately from them). Balanced virtual postings are also
excluded by `--real/-R` or `real:1`.

``` {.journal}
1/1 buy food with cash, and update some budget-tracking subaccounts elsewhere
  expenses:food                   $10
  assets:cash                    $-10
  [assets:checking:available]     $10
  [assets:checking:budget:food]  $-10
```

Virtual postings have some legitimate uses, but those are few. You can
usually find an equivalent journal entry using real postings, which is
more correct and provides better error checking.

### Balance Assertions

hledger supports ledger-style [balance
assertions](http://ledger-cli.org/3.0/doc/ledger3.html#Balance-assertions)
in journal files. These look like `=EXPECTEDBALANCE` following a
posting's amount. Eg in this example we assert the expected dollar
balance in accounts a and b after each posting:

``` {.journal}
2013/1/1
  a   $1  =$1
  b       =$-1

2013/1/2
  a   $1  =$2
  b  $-1  =$-2
```

After reading a journal file, hledger will check all balance assertions
and report an error if any of them fail. Balance assertions can protect
you from, eg, inadvertently disrupting reconciled balances while
cleaning up old entries. You can disable them temporarily with the
`--ignore-assertions` flag, which can be useful for troubleshooting or
for reading Ledger files.

#### Assertions and ordering

hledger sorts an account's postings and assertions first by date and
then (for postings on the same day) by parse order. Note this is
different from Ledger, which sorts assertions only by parse order.
(Also, Ledger assertions do not see the accumulated effect of repeated
postings to the same account within a transaction.)

So, hledger balance assertions keep working if you reorder
differently-dated transactions within the journal. But if you reorder
same-dated transactions or postings, assertions might break and require
updating. This order dependence does bring an advantage: precise control
over the order of postings and assertions within a day, so you can
assert intra-day balances.

With [included files](#including-other-files), things are a little more
complicated. Including preserves the ordering of postings and
assertions. If you have multiple postings to an account on the same day,
split across different files, and you also want to assert the account's
balance on the same day, you'll have to put the assertion in the right
file.

#### Assertions and commodities

The asserted balance must be a simple single-commodity amount, and in
fact the assertion checks only this commodity's balance within the
(possibly multi-commodity) account balance. We could call this a partial
balance assertion. This is compatible with Ledger, and makes it possible
to make assertions about accounts containing multiple commodities.

To assert each commodity's balance in such a multi-commodity account,
you can add multiple postings (with amount 0 if necessary). But note
that no matter how many assertions you add, you can't be sure the
account does not contain some unexpected commodity. (We'll add support
for this kind of total balance assertion if there's demand.)

#### Assertions and subaccounts

Balance assertions do not count the balance from subaccounts; they check
the posted account's exclusive balance. For example:

``` {.journal}
1/1
  checking:fund   1 = 1  ; post to this subaccount, its balance is now 1
  checking        1 = 1  ; post to the parent account, its exclusive balance is now 1
  equity
```

The balance report's flat mode shows these exclusive balances more
clearly:

``` {.shell}
$ hledger bal checking --flat
                   1  checking
                   1  checking:fund
--------------------
                   2
```

#### Assertions and virtual postings

Balance assertions are checked against all postings, both real and
[virtual](#virtual-postings). They are not affected by the `--real/-R`
flag or `real:` query.

### Prices

#### Transaction prices

When recording a transaction, you can also record an amount's price in
another commodity. This documents the exchange rate, cost (of a
purchase), or selling price (of a sale) that was in effect within this
particular transaction (or more precisely, within the particular
posting). These transaction prices are fixed, and do not change.

Such priced amounts can be displayed in their transaction price's
commodity, by using the `--cost/-B` flag (B for "cost Basis"), supported
by most hledger commands.

There are three ways to specify a transaction price:

1.  Write the unit price (aka exchange rate), as `@ UNITPRICE` after the
    amount:

    ``` {.journal}
    2009/1/1
      assets:foreign currency   €100 @ $1.35  ; one hundred euros at $1.35 each
      assets:cash
    ```

2.  Or write the total price, as `@@ TOTALPRICE` after the amount:

    ``` {.journal}
    2009/1/1
      assets:foreign currency   €100 @@ $135  ; one hundred euros at $135 for the lot
      assets:cash
    ```

3.  Or let hledger infer the price so as to balance the transaction. To
    permit this, you must fully specify all posting amounts, and their
    sum must have a non-zero amount in exactly two commodities:

    ``` {.journal}
    2009/1/1
      assets:foreign currency   €100          ; one hundred euros
      assets:cash              $-135          ; exchanged for $135
    ```

With any of the above examples we get:

``` {.shell}
$ hledger print -B
2009/01/01
    assets:foreign currency       $135.00
    assets:cash                  $-135.00
```

Example use for transaction prices: recording the effective conversion
rate of purchases made in a foreign currency.

#### Market prices

Market prices are not tied to a particular transaction; they represent
historical exchange rates between two commodities, usually from some
public market which publishes such rates.

When market prices are known, the `-V/--value` option will use them to
convert reported amounts to their market value as of the report end
date. This option is currently available only with the
[balance](#balance) command.

You record market prices (Ledger calls them historical prices) with a P
directive, in the journal or perhaps in a separate
[included](#including-other-files) file. Market price directives have
the format:

``` {.journal}
P DATE COMMODITYSYMBOL UNITPRICE
```

<!-- (A time and numeric time zone are allowed but ignored, like ledger.) -->
For example, the following directives say that the euro's exchange rate
was 1.35 US dollars during 2009, and \$1.40 from 2010 onward (and
unknown before 2009).

``` {.journal}
P 2009/1/1 € $1.35
P 2010/1/1 € $1.40
```

Example use for market prices: tracking the value of stocks.

<!--
This is different from Ledger, where transaction prices fluctuate by
default.  Ledger has a different syntax for specifying
[fixed prices](http://ledger-cli.org/3.0/doc/ledger3.html#Fixing-Lot-Prices):
`{=PRICE}`.  hledger parses that syntax, and (currently) ignores it.
-->
<!-- hledger treats this as an alternate spelling of `@ PRICE`, for greater compatibility with Ledger files. -->
### Comments

Lines in the journal beginning with a semicolon (`;`) or hash (`#`) or
asterisk (`*`) are comments, and will be ignored. (Asterisk comments
make it easy to treat your journal like an org-mode outline in emacs.)

Also, anything between [`comment` and `end comment`
directives](#multi-line-comments) is a (multi-line) comment. If there is
no `end comment`, the comment extends to the end of the file.

You can attach comments to a transaction by writing them after the
description and/or indented on the following lines (before the
postings). Similarly, you can attach comments to an individual posting
by writing them after the amount and/or indented on the following lines.

Some examples:

``` {.journal}
# a journal comment

; also a journal comment

comment
This is a multiline comment,
which continues until a line
where the "end comment" string
appears on its own.
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 journal comment (because not indented)
```

### Tags

A *tag* is a word followed by a full colon inside a transaction or
posting [comment](#comments). You can write multiple tags, comma
separated. Eg: `; a comment containing sometag:, anothertag:`. You can
search for tags with the [`tag:` query](manual#queries).

A tag can also have a value, which is any text between the colon and the
next comma or newline, excluding leading/trailing whitespace. (So
hledger tag values can not contain commas or newlines).

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 (A, TAG2, third-tag, posting-tag):

``` {.journal}
1/1 a transaction  ; A:, TAG2:
    ; third-tag: a third transaction tag, this time with a value
    (a)  $1  ; posting-tag:
```

Tags are like Ledger's
[metadata](http://ledger-cli.org/3.0/doc/ledger3.html#Metadata) feature,
except hledger's tag values are simple strings.

### Directives

#### Account aliases

You can define aliases which rewrite your account names (after reading
the journal, before generating reports). hledger's account aliases can
be useful for:

-   expanding shorthand account names to their full form, allowing
    easier data entry and a less verbose journal
-   adapting old journals to your current chart of accounts
-   experimenting with new account organisations, like a new hierarchy
    or combining two accounts into one
-   customising reports

See also [How to use account aliases](how-to-use-account-aliases.html).

##### Basic aliases

To set an account alias, use the `alias` directive in your journal file.
This affects all subsequent journal entries in the current file or its
[included files](#including-other-files). The spaces around the = are
optional:

``` {.journal}
alias OLD = NEW
```

Or, you can use the `--alias 'OLD=NEW'` option on the command line. This
affects all entries. It's useful for trying out aliases interactively.

OLD and NEW are full account names. hledger will replace any occurrence
of the old account name with the new one. Subaccounts are also affected.
Eg:

``` {.journal}
alias checking = assets:bank:wells fargo:checking
# rewrites "checking" to "assets:bank:wells fargo:checking", or "checking:a" to "assets:bank:wells fargo:checking:a"
```

##### Regex aliases

There is also a more powerful variant that uses a regular expression,
indicated by the forward slashes. (This was the default behaviour in
hledger 0.24-0.25):

``` {.journal}
alias /REGEX/ = REPLACEMENT
```

or `--alias '/REGEX/=REPLACEMENT'`.

<!-- (Can also be written `'/REGEX/REPLACEMENT/'`). -->
REGEX is a case-insensitive regular expression. Anywhere it matches
inside an account name, the matched part will be replaced by
REPLACEMENT. If REGEX contains parenthesised match groups, these can be
referenced by the usual numeric backreferences in REPLACEMENT. Note,
currently regular expression aliases may cause noticeable slow-downs.
(And if you use Ledger on your hledger file, they will be ignored.) Eg:

``` {.journal}
alias /^(.+):bank:([^:]+)(.*)/ = \1:\2 \3
# rewrites "assets:bank:wells fargo:checking" to  "assets:wells fargo checking"
```

##### Multiple aliases

You can define as many aliases as you like using directives or
command-line options. Aliases are recursive - each alias sees the result
of applying previous ones. (This is different from Ledger, where aliases
are non-recursive by default). Aliases are applied in the following
order:

1.  alias directives, most recently seen first (recent directives take
    precedence over earlier ones; directives not yet seen are ignored)
2.  alias options, in the order they appear on the command line

##### end aliases

You can clear (forget) all currently defined aliases with the
`end aliases` directive:

``` {.journal}
end aliases
```

#### account directive

The `account` directive predefines account names, as in Ledger and
Beancount. This may be useful for your own documentation; hledger
doesn't make use of it yet.

``` {.journal}
; account ACCT
;   OPTIONAL COMMENTS/TAGS...

account assets:bank:checking
 a comment
 acct-no:12345

account expenses:food

; etc.
```

#### apply account directive

You can specify a parent account which will be prepended to all accounts
within a section of the journal. Use the `apply account` and
`end apply account` directives like so:

``` {.journal}
apply account home

2010/1/1
    food    $10
    cash

end apply account
```

which is equivalent to:

``` {.journal}
2010/01/01
    home:food           $10
    home:cash          $-10
```

If `end apply account` is omitted, the effect lasts to the end of the
file. Included files are also affected, eg:

``` {.journal}
apply account business
include biz.journal
end apply account
apply account personal
include personal.journal
```

Prior to hledger 1.0, legacy `account` and `end` spellings were also
supported.

#### Multi-line comments

A line containing just `comment` starts a multi-line comment, and a line
containing just `end comment` ends it. See [comments](#comments).

#### commodity directive

The `commodity` directive predefines commodities (currently this is just
informational), and also it may define the display format for amounts in
this commodity (overriding the automatically inferred format).

It may be written on a single line, like this:

``` {.journal}
; commodity EXAMPLEAMOUNT

; display AAAA amounts with the symbol on the right, space-separated,
; using period as decimal point, with four decimal places, and
; separating thousands with comma.
commodity 1,000.0000 AAAA
```

or on multiple lines, using the "format" subdirective. In this case the
commodity symbol appears twice and should be the same in both places:

``` {.journal}
; commodity SYMBOL
;   format EXAMPLEAMOUNT

; display indian rupees with currency name on the left,
; thousands, lakhs and crores comma-separated,
; period as decimal point, and two decimal places.
commodity INR
  format INR 9,99,99,999.00
```

#### Default commodity

The D directive sets a default commodity (and display format), to be
used for amounts without a commodity symbol (ie, plain numbers). (Note
this differs from Ledger's default commodity directive.) The commodity
and display format will be applied to all subsequent commodity-less
amounts, or until the next D directive.

``` {.journal}
# commodity-less amounts should be treated as dollars
# (and displayed with symbol on the left, thousands separators and two decimal places)
D $1,000.00

1/1
  a     5    # <- commodity-less amount, becomes $1
  b
```

#### Default year

You can set a default year to be used for subsequent dates which don't
specify a year. This is a line beginning with `Y` followed by the year.
Eg:

``` {.journal}
Y2009      ; set default year to 2009

12/15      ; equivalent to 2009/12/15
  expenses  1
  assets

Y2010      ; change default year to 2010

2009/1/30  ; specifies the year, not affected
  expenses  1
  assets

1/31       ; equivalent to 2010/1/31
  expenses  1
  assets
```

#### Including other files

You can pull in the content of additional journal files by writing an
include directive, like this:

``` {.journal}
include path/to/file.journal
```

If the path does not begin with a slash, it is relative to the current
file. Glob patterns (`*`) are not currently supported.

The `include` directive can only be used in journal files. It can
include journal, timeclock or timedot files, but not CSV files.

## EDITOR SUPPORT

Add-on modes exist for various text editors, to make working with
journal files easier. They add colour, navigation aids and helpful
commands. For hledger users who edit the journal file directly (the
majority), using one of these modes is quite recommended.

These were written with Ledger in mind, but also work with hledger
files:

  ----------------- -----------------------------------------------------
  Emacs             <http://www.ledger-cli.org/3.0/doc/ledger-mode.html>

  Vim               <https://github.com/ledger/ledger/wiki/Getting-starte
                    d>

  Sublime Text      <https://github.com/ledger/ledger/wiki/Using-Sublime-
                    Text>

  Textmate          <https://github.com/ledger/ledger/wiki/Using-TextMate
                    -2>

  Text Wrangler     <https://github.com/ledger/ledger/wiki/Editing-Ledger
                    -files-with-TextWrangler>
  ----------------- -----------------------------------------------------

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