hledger/hledger-lib/hledger_journal.m4.md

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% _author_
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_man_({{
# NAME
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Journal - hledger's default file format, representing a General Journal

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

hledger's journal format is a compatible subset, mostly, of [ledger's
journal format](http://ledger-cli.org/3.0/doc/ledger3.html#Journal-Format),
so hledger can work with [compatible](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) or [import](#import) commands to
create and update it.

Many users, though, edit the journal file with a text editor,
and track changes with a version control system such as git.
Editor addons such as
ledger-mode or hledger-mode for Emacs,
vim-ledger for Vim,
and hledger-vscode for Visual Studio Code,
make this easier, adding colour, formatting, tab completion, and useful commands.
See [Editor configuration](editors.html) at hledger.org for the full list.

<!--
Here's an example:

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

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

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

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

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

2008/10/01 take a loan
    assets:bank:checking  $1
    liabilities:debts    $-1

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

_man_({{
# FILE FORMAT
}})

Here's a description of each part of the file format
(and hledger's data model).
These are mostly in the order you'll use them, but in some cases
related concepts have been grouped together for easy reference,
or linked before they are introduced,
so feel free to skip over anything that looks unnecessary right now.

## Transactions

Transactions are the main unit of information in a journal file.
They represent events, typically a movement of some quantity of
commodities between two or more named accounts.

Each transaction is recorded as a journal entry, beginning with a
[simple date](#simple-dates) in column 0. This can be followed by any
of the following optional fields, separated by spaces:

- a [status](#status) character (empty, `!`, or `*`)
- a code (any short number or text, enclosed in parentheses)
- a description (any remaining text until end of line or a semicolon)
- a comment (any remaining text following a semicolon until end of line,
             and any following indented lines beginning with a semicolon)
- 0 or more indented *posting* lines, describing what was transferred
  and the accounts involved.

Here's a simple journal file containing one transaction:
```journal
2008/01/01 income
  assets:bank:checking   $1
  income:salary         $-1
```


## Dates

### Simple dates

Dates in the journal file use *simple dates* format:
`YYYY-MM-DD` or `YYYY/MM/DD` or `YYYY.MM.DD`, with leading zeros 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`, `2010/01/31`, `2010.1.31`, `1/31`.

(The UI also accepts simple dates, as well as the more flexible [smart
dates](hledger.html#smart-dates) documented in the hledger manual.)

### 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, for more accurate daily balances, you can specify individual
[posting dates](#posting-dates).

Or, you can use the older *secondary date* feature
(Ledger calls it auxiliary date or effective date).
Note: we support this for compatibility, but I usually recommend
avoiding this feature; posting dates are almost always clearer and
simpler.
<!-- (Secondary dates require you to remember to use them consistently in -->
<!-- your journal, and to choose them or not for each report.) -->

A secondary date is written after the primary date, following an
equals sign. If the year is omitted, the primary date's year is
assumed. When running reports, the primary (left) date is used by
default, but with the `--date2` flag (or `--aux-date` or
`--effective`), the secondary (right) date will be used instead.

The meaning of secondary dates is up to you, but it's best to follow a
consistent rule.  Eg "primary = the bank's clearing date, secondary =
date the transaction was initiated, if different", as shown here:
```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
```

### Posting dates

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

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

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

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

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

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

## Status

Transactions, or individual postings within a transaction,
can have a status mark, which is a single character before
the transaction description or posting account name,
separated from it by a space, indicating one of three statuses:

| mark   | status   |
|--------|----------|
|        | unmarked |
| `!`    | pending  |
| `*`    | cleared  |

When reporting, you can filter by status with
the `-U/--unmarked`, `-P/--pending`, and `-C/--cleared` flags;
or the `status:`, `status:!`, and `status:*` [queries](hledger.html#queries);
or the U, P, C keys in hledger-ui.

Note, in Ledger and in older versions of hledger, the "unmarked" state is called
"uncleared". As of hledger 1.3 we have renamed it to unmarked for clarity.

To replicate Ledger and old hledger's behaviour of also matching pending, combine -U and -P.

Status marks are optional, but can be helpful eg for reconciling with real-world accounts.
Some editor modes provide highlighting and shortcuts for working with status.
Eg in Emacs ledger-mode, you can toggle transaction status with C-c C-e, or posting status with C-c C-c.

What "uncleared", "pending", and "cleared" actually mean is up to you.
Here's one suggestion:

| status    | meaning                                                            |
|-----------|--------------------------------------------------------------------|
| uncleared | recorded but not yet reconciled; needs review                      |
| pending   | tentatively reconciled (if needed, eg during a big reconciliation) |
| cleared   | complete, reconciled as far as possible, and considered correct    |

With this scheme, you would use
`-PC` to see the current balance at your bank,
`-U` to see things which will probably hit your bank soon (like uncashed checks),
and no flags to see the most up-to-date state of your finances.

## Description

A transaction's description is the rest of the line following the date and status mark (or until a comment begins).
Sometimes called the "narration" in traditional bookkeeping, it can be used for whatever you wish,
or left blank. Transaction descriptions can be queried, unlike [comments](#comments).

### Payee and note

You can optionally include a `|` (pipe) character in descriptions to subdivide the description
into separate fields for payee/payer name on the left (up to the first `|`) and an additional note
field on the right (after the first `|`). This may be worthwhile if you need to do more precise
[querying](hledger.html#queries) and [pivoting](hledger.html#pivoting) by payee or by note.

## Comments

Lines in the journal beginning with a semicolon (`;`) or hash (`#`) or
star (`*`) are comments, and will be ignored. (Star comments cause
org-mode nodes to be ignored, allowing emacs users to fold and navigate
their journals with org-mode or orgstruct-mode.)

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

Some examples:

```journal
# a file comment
; another file comment
* also a file comment, useful in org/orgstruct mode

comment
A multiline file comment, which continues
until a line containing just "end comment"
(or end of file).
end comment

2012/5/14 something  ; a transaction comment
    ; the transaction comment, continued
    posting1  1  ; a comment for posting 1
    posting2
    ; a comment for posting 2
    ; another comment line for posting 2
; a file comment (because not indented)
```

You can also comment larger regions of a file using [`comment` and `end comment` directives](#comment-blocks).


## Tags

Tags are a way to add extra labels or labelled data to postings and transactions,
which you can then [search](hledger.html#queries) or [pivot](hledger.html#pivoting) on.

A simple tag is a word (which may contain hyphens) followed by a full colon,
written inside a transaction or posting [comment](#comments) line:
```journal
2017/1/16 bought groceries  ; sometag:
```

Tags can have a value, which is the text after the colon, up to the next comma or end of line, with leading/trailing whitespace removed:
```journal
    expenses:food    $10 ; a-posting-tag: the tag value
```

Note this means hledger's tag values can not contain commas or newlines.
Ending at commas means you can write multiple short tags on one line, comma separated:
```journal
    assets:checking  ; a comment containing tag1:, tag2: some value ...
```
Here,

- "`a comment containing `" is just comment text, not a tag
- "`tag1`" is a tag with no value
- "`tag2`" is another tag, whose value is "`some value ...`"

Tags in a transaction comment affect the transaction and all of its postings,
while tags in a posting comment affect only that posting.
For example, the following transaction has three tags (`A`, `TAG2`, `third-tag`)
and the posting has four (those plus `posting-tag`):

```journal
1/1 a transaction  ; A:, TAG2:
    ; third-tag: a third transaction tag, <- with a value
    (a)  $1  ; posting-tag:
```

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

## Postings

A posting is an addition of some amount to, or removal of some amount from, an account.
Each posting line begins with at least one space or tab (2 or 4 spaces is common), followed by:

- (optional) a [status](#status) character (empty, `!`, or `*`), followed by a space
- (required) an [account name](#account-names) (any text, optionally containing **single spaces**, until end of line or a double space)
- (optional) **two or more spaces** or tabs followed by an [amount](#amounts).

Positive amounts are being added to the account, negative amounts are being removed.

The amounts within a transaction must always sum up to zero.
As a convenience, one amount may be left blank; it will be inferred so as to balance the transaction.

Be sure to note the unusual two-space delimiter between account name and amount.
This makes it easy to write account names containing spaces.
But if you accidentally leave only one space (or tab) before the amount, the amount will be considered part of the account name.

### Virtual Postings

A posting with a parenthesised account name is called a *virtual posting*
or *unbalanced posting*, which means it is exempt from the usual rule
that a transaction's postings must balance add up to zero.

This is not part of double entry accounting, so you might choose to
avoid this feature. Or you can use it sparingly for certain special
cases where it can be convenient. Eg, you could set opening balances
without using a balancing equity account:

```journal
1/1 opening balances
  (assets:checking)   $1000
  (assets:savings)    $2000
```

A posting with a bracketed account name is called a *balanced virtual
posting*. The balanced virtual postings in a transaction must add up
to zero (separately from other postings). Eg:

```journal
1/1 buy food with cash, update budget envelope subaccounts, & something else
  assets:cash                    $-10 ; <- these balance
  expenses:food                    $7 ; <-
  expenses:food                    $3 ; <-
  [assets:checking:budget:food]  $-10    ; <- and these balance
  [assets:checking:available]     $10    ; <-
  (something:else)                 $5       ; <- not required to balance
```

Ordinary non-parenthesised, non-bracketed postings are called *real postings*.
You can exclude virtual postings from reports with the `-R/--real`
flag or `real:1` query.

## Account names

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

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

Account names can be [aliased](#rewriting-accounts).

## Amounts

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

hledger's amount format is flexible, supporting several international formats.
Here are some examples.
Amounts have a number (the "quantity"):

    1

..and usually a currency or commodity name (the "commodity"). This is
a symbol, word, or phrase, to the left or right of the quantity, with
or without a separating space:

    $1
    4000 AAPL

If the commodity name contains spaces, numbers, or punctuation, it
must be enclosed in double quotes:

    3 "no. 42 green apples"

Amounts can be negative. The minus sign can be written before or after
a left-side commodity symbol:

    -$1
    $-1

Scientific E notation is allowed:

    1E-6
    EUR 1E3

A decimal mark can be written as a period or a comma:

    1.23
    1,23456780000009

### Digit group marks

In the integer part of the quantity (left of the decimal mark), groups
of digits can optionally be separated by a "digit group mark" - a
space, comma, or period (different from the decimal mark):

         $1,000,000.00
      EUR 2.000.000,00
    INR 9,99,99,999.00
          1 000 000.9455

Note, a number containing a single group mark and no decimal mark is ambiguous.
Are these group marks or decimal marks ?

    1,000
    1.000

hledger will treat them both as decimal marks by default (cf
[#793](https://github.com/simonmichael/hledger/issues/793)).
If you use digit group marks,
to prevent confusion and undetected typos
we recommend you write [commodity directives](#declaring-commodities)
at the top of the file to explicitly declare the decimal mark (and
optionally a digit group mark).
Note, these formats ("amount styles") are specific to each commodity,
so if your data uses multiple formats, hledger can handle it:

```journal
commodity $1,000.00
commodity EUR 1.000,00
commodity INR 9,99,99,999.00
commodity       1 000 000.9455
```

### Amount display style

For each commodity, hledger chooses a consistent format to use when
displaying amounts. (Except [price amounts](#prices), which are always
displayed as written). The display style is chosen as follows:

- If there is a [commodity directive](#declaring-commodities) (or
  [default commodity directive](#default-commodity)) for the
  commodity, that format is used (see examples above).

- Otherwise the format of the first posting amount in that commodity
  seen in the journal is used.
  But the number of decimal places ("precision") 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`).

Transaction prices don't affect the amount display style directly, but
occasionally they can do so indirectly (eg when an posting's amount is
inferred using a transaction price). If you find this causing
problems, use a commodity directive to fix the display style.

In summary: amounts will be displayed much as they appear in your
journal, with the max observed number of decimal places. If you want
to see fewer decimal places in reports, use a 
[commodity directive](#declaring-commodities)
to override that.

hledger uses [banker's rounding](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bankers_rounding): 
it rounds to the nearest even number, eg 0.5 displayed with zero
decimal places is "0").
(Note, prior to hledger 1.17.1 this could vary if hledger happened to
be built with an old version of Decimal (<0.5.1); since 1.17.1 it's
guaranteed.)


## Transaction prices

Within a transaction, you can note an amount's price in another commodity.
This can be used to document the cost (in a purchase) or selling price (in a sale).
For example, transaction prices are useful to record purchases of a foreign currency.
Note transaction prices are fixed at the time of the transaction, and do not change over time.
See also [market prices](#market-prices), which represent prevailing exchange rates on a certain date.

There are several ways to record a transaction price:

1. Write the price per unit, as `@ UNITPRICE` after the amount:

    ```journal
    2009/1/1
      assets:euros     €100 @ $1.35  ; one hundred euros purchased at $1.35 each
      assets:dollars                 ; balancing amount is -$135.00
    ```

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

    ```journal
    2009/1/1
      assets:euros     €100 @@ $135  ; one hundred euros purchased at $135 for the lot
      assets:dollars
    ```

3. Specify amounts for all postings, using exactly two commodities,
   and let hledger infer the price that balances the transaction:

    ```journal
    2009/1/1
      assets:euros     €100          ; one hundred euros purchased
      assets:dollars  $-135          ; for $135
    ```

(Ledger users: Ledger uses a different [syntax](http://ledger-cli.org/3.0/doc/ledger3.html#Fixing-Lot-Prices)
for fixed prices, `{=UNITPRICE}`, which hledger currently ignores).

Use the [`-B/--cost`](hledger.html#reporting-options) flag to convert
amounts to their transaction price's commodity, if any.
(mnemonic: "B" is from "cost Basis", as in Ledger).
Eg here is how -B affects the balance report for the example above:

```shell
$ hledger bal -N --flat
               $-135  assets:dollars
                €100  assets:euros
$ hledger bal -N --flat -B
               $-135  assets:dollars
                $135  assets:euros    # <- the euros' cost
```

Note -B is sensitive to the order of postings when a transaction price is inferred:
the inferred price will be in the commodity of the last amount.
So if example 3's postings are reversed, while the transaction
is equivalent, -B shows something different:

```journal
2009/1/1
  assets:dollars  $-135              ; 135 dollars sold
  assets:euros     €100              ; for 100 euros
```
```shell
$ hledger bal -N --flat -B
               €-100  assets:dollars  # <- the dollars' selling price
                €100  assets:euros
```

## 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, for example, `= EXPECTEDBALANCE` following a posting's amount.
Eg here 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 `-I/--ignore-assertions` flag, which can be useful for
troubleshooting or for reading Ledger files.
(Note: this flag currently does not disable balance assignments, below).

### Assertions and ordering

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

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

### Assertions and included files

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

### Assertions and multiple -f options

Balance assertions don't work well across files specified
with multiple -f options. Use include or [concatenate the files](hledger.html#input-files)
instead.

### Assertions and commodities

The asserted balance must be a simple single-commodity amount, and in
fact the assertion checks only this commodity's balance within the
(possibly multi-commodity) account balance.
This is how assertions work in Ledger also.
We could call this a "partial" balance assertion.

To assert the balance of more than one commodity in an account,
you can write multiple postings, each asserting one commodity's balance.

You can make a stronger "total" balance assertion by writing a
double equals sign (`== EXPECTEDBALANCE`).
This asserts that there are no other unasserted commodities in the account
(or, that their balance is 0).

``` journal
2013/1/1
  a   $1
  a    1€
  b  $-1
  c   -1€

2013/1/2  ; These assertions succeed
  a    0  =  $1
  a    0  =   1€
  b    0 == $-1
  c    0 ==  -1€

2013/1/3  ; This assertion fails as 'a' also contains 1€
  a    0 ==  $1
```

It's not yet possible to make a complete assertion about a balance that has multiple commodities.
One workaround is to isolate each commodity into its own subaccount:

``` journal
2013/1/1
  a:usd   $1
  a:euro   1€
  b

2013/1/2
  a        0 ==  0
  a:usd    0 == $1
  a:euro   0 ==  1€
```

### Assertions and prices

Balance assertions ignore [transaction prices](#transaction-prices),
and should normally be written without one:

``` journal
2019/1/1
  (a)     $1 @ €1 = $1
```

We do allow prices to be written there, however, and [print](hledger.html#print) shows them,
even though they don't affect whether the assertion passes or fails.
This is for backward compatibility (hledger's [close](hledger.html#close) command used to generate balance assertions with prices),
and because [balance *assignments*](#balance-assignments) do use them (see below).

### Assertions and subaccounts

The balance assertions above (`=` and `==`) do not count the balance
from subaccounts; they check the account's exclusive balance only.
You can assert the balance including subaccounts by writing `=*` or `==*`, eg:

```journal
2019/1/1
  equity:opening balances
  checking:a       5
  checking:b       5
  checking         1  ==* 11
```

### Assertions and virtual postings

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

### Assertions and precision

Balance assertions compare the exactly calculated amounts,
which are not always what is shown by reports.
Eg a [commodity directive](http://hledger.org/journal.html#declaring-commodities)
may limit the display precision, but this will not affect balance assertions.
Balance assertion failure messages show exact amounts.

## Balance Assignments

[Ledger-style balance assignments](http://ledger-cli.org/3.0/doc/ledger3.html#Balance-assignments) are also supported.
These are like [balance assertions](#balance-assertions), but with no posting amount on the left side of the equals sign;
instead it is calculated automatically so as to satisfy the assertion.
This can be a convenience during data entry, eg when setting opening balances:
```journal
; starting a new journal, set asset account balances
2016/1/1 opening balances
  assets:checking            = $409.32
  assets:savings             = $735.24
  assets:cash                 = $42
  equity:opening balances
```
or when adjusting a balance to reality:
```journal
; no cash left; update balance, record any untracked spending as a generic expense
2016/1/15
  assets:cash    = $0
  expenses:misc
```

The calculated amount depends on the account's balance in the commodity at that point
(which depends on the previously-dated postings of the commodity to that account
since the last balance assertion or assignment).
Note that using balance assignments makes your journal a little less explicit;
to know the exact amount posted, you have to run hledger or do the calculations yourself,
instead of just reading it.

### Balance assignments and prices

A [transaction price](#transaction-prices) in a balance assignment
will cause the calculated amount to have that price attached:

``` journal
2019/1/1
  (a)             = $1 @ €2
```
```
$ hledger print --explicit
2019-01-01
    (a)         $1 @ €2 = $1 @ €2
```

## Directives

A directive is a line in the journal beginning with a special keyword,
that influences how the journal is processed.
hledger's directives are based on a subset of Ledger's, but there are many differences
(and also some differences between hledger versions).

Directives' behaviour and interactions can get a little bit [complex](https://github.com/simonmichael/hledger/issues/793),
so here is a table summarising the directives and their effects, with links to more detailed docs.

<!-- <style> -->
<!-- table a code { white-space:nowrap; } -->
<!-- h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { color:red; } -->
<!-- </style> -->

| directive         | end directive       | subdirectives   | purpose                                                            | can affect (as of 2018/06)
|-------------------|---------------------|-----------------|--------------------------------------------------------------------|----------------------------------------------
| [`account`]       |                     | any text        | document account names, declare account types & display order      | all entries in all files, before or after
| [`alias`]         | `end aliases`       |                 | rewrite account names                                              | following inline/included entries until end of current file or end directive
| [`apply account`] | `end apply account` |                 | prepend a common parent to account names                           | following inline/included entries until end of current file or end directive
| [`comment`]       | `end comment`       |                 | ignore part of journal                                             | following inline/included entries until end of current file or end directive
| [`commodity`]     |                     | `format`        | declare a commodity and its number notation & display style        | number notation: following entries in that commodity in all files; <br>display style: amounts of that commodity in reports
| [`D`]             |                     |                 | declare a commodity to be used for commodityless amounts, and its number notation & display style  | default commodity: following commodityless entries until end of current file; <br>number notation: following entries in that commodity until end of current file; <br>display style: amounts of that commodity in reports
| [`include`]       |                     |                 | include entries/directives from another file                       | what the included directives affect
| [`P`]             |                     |                 | declare a market price for a commodity                             | amounts of that commodity in reports, when -V is used
| [`Y`]             |                     |                 | declare a year for yearless dates                                  | following inline/included entries until end of current file
| [`=`]             |                     |                 | declare an auto posting rule, adding postings to other transactions | all entries in parent/current/child files (but not sibling files, see [#1212](https://github.com/simonmichael/hledger/issues/1212))

[`account`]:       #declaring-accounts
[`alias`]:         #rewriting-accounts
[`apply account`]: #default-parent-account
[`comment`]:       #comment-blocks
[`commodity`]:     #declaring-commodities
[`D`]:             #default-commodity
[`include`]:       #including-other-files
[`P`]:             #market-prices
[`Y`]:             #default-year
[`=`]:             #auto-postings

And some definitions:

|                 |                                                                                                                                                                                       |
|-----------------|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| subdirective    | optional indented directive line immediately following a parent directive                                                                                                             |
| number notation | how to interpret numbers when parsing journal entries (the identity of the decimal separator character). (Currently each commodity can have its own notation, even in the same file.) |
| display style   | how to display amounts of a commodity in reports (symbol side and spacing, digit groups, decimal separator, decimal places)                                                           |
| directive scope | which entries and (when there are multiple files) which files are affected by a directive                                                                                             |

<!-- | **entries affected:**  | -->
<!-- | following     | subsequent entries in the file/parse stream -->
<!-- | delimited     | subsequent entries, until an optional end directive -->
<!-- | all           | all preceding and following entries -->
<!-- | **files affected:**    | -->
<!-- | current       | affects current file only -->
<!-- | children      | affects current file and files included by it -->
<!-- | siblings      | affects current file, included files, and other same-level files, but not higher-level files -->
<!-- | all           | affects all files -->

As you can see, directives vary in which journal entries and files they affect,
and whether they are focussed on input (parsing) or output (reports).
Some directives have multiple effects.

### Directives and multiple files

If you use multiple `-f`/`--file` options, or the `include` directive,
hledger will process multiple input files. But note that directives
which affect input (see above) typically last only until the end of
the file in which they occur. 

This may seem inconvenient, but it's intentional; it makes reports
stable and deterministic, independent of the order of input. Otherwise
you could see different numbers if you happened to write -f options in
a different order, or if you moved includes around while cleaning up
your files.

It can be surprising though; for example, it means that 
[`alias` directives do not affect parent or sibling files](#aliases-and-multiple-files)
(see below).

### Comment blocks

A line containing just `comment` starts a commented region of the file,
and a line containing just `end comment` (or the end of the current file) ends it.
See also [comments](#comments).

### Including other files

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

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

If the path does not begin with a slash, it is relative to the current file.
The include file path may contain
[common glob patterns](https://hackage.haskell.org/package/Glob-0.9.2/docs/System-FilePath-Glob.html#v:compile)
(e.g. `*`).

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

### Default year

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

```journal
Y2009  ; set default year to 2009

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

Y2010  ; change default year to 2010

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

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

### Declaring commodities

The `commodity` directive has several functions:

1. It declares commodities which may be used in the journal.
   This is currently not enforced, but can serve as documentation.

2. It declares what decimal mark character (period or comma) to expect when parsing
   input - useful to disambiguate international number formats in your
   data. (Without this, hledger will parse both `1,000` and `1.000`
   as 1).

3. It declares the [amount display style](#amount-display-style) to
   use in output - decimal and digit group marks, number of decimal
   places, symbol placement etc.

You are likely to run into one of the problems solved by commodity
directives, sooner or later, so it's a good idea to just always use
them to declare your commodities.

A commodity directive is just the word `commodity` followed by an [amount](#amounts).
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 1,00,00,000.00
```

The quantity of the amount does not matter; only the format is
significant. The number must include a decimal mark: either a period
or a comma, followed by 0 or more decimal digits.

Note hledger normally uses 
[banker's rounding](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bankers_rounding), 
so 0.5 displayed with zero decimal digits is "0". 
(More at [Amount display style](#amount-display-style).)

### Default commodity

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

For compatibility/historical reasons, `D` also acts like a [`commodity` directive](#declaring-commodities),
setting the commodity's [display style](#amount-display-format) (for output) and decimal mark (for parsing input).
As with `commodity`, the amount must always be written with a decimal mark (period or comma).
If both directives are used, `commodity`'s style takes precedence.

The syntax is `D AMOUNT`. Eg:
```journal
; commodity-less amounts should be treated as dollars
; (and displayed with the dollar sign on the left, thousands separators and two decimal places)
D $1,000.00

1/1
  a     5  ; <- commodity-less amount, parsed as $5 and displayed as $5.00
  b
```

### Market prices

The `P` directive declares a market price, which is
an exchange rate between two commodities on a certain date.
(In Ledger, they are called "historical prices".)
These are often obtained from a
[stock exchange](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stock_exchange),
cryptocurrency exchange, or the
[foreign exchange market](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_exchange_market).

Here is the format:

```journal
P DATE COMMODITYA COMMODITYBAMOUNT
```
- DATE is a [simple date](#simple-dates)
- COMMODITYA is the symbol of the commodity being priced
- COMMODITYBAMOUNT is an [amount](#amounts) (symbol and quantity) in a
  second commodity, giving the price in commodity B of one unit of commodity A.

These two market price directives say that one euro was worth 1.35 US dollars during 2009,
and $1.40 from 2010 onward:
```journal
P 2009/1/1 € $1.35
P 2010/1/1 € $1.40
```

The [`-V/--value`](hledger.html#v-market-value) flag can be used to convert reported amounts
to another commodity using these prices.

### Declaring accounts

`account` directives can be used to pre-declare accounts.
Though not required, they can provide several benefits:

- They can document your intended chart of accounts, providing a reference.
- They can store extra information about accounts (account numbers, notes, etc.)
- They can help hledger know your accounts' types (asset, liability, equity, revenue, expense),
  useful for reports like balancesheet and incomestatement.
- They control account display order in reports, allowing non-alphabetic sorting
  (eg Revenues to appear above Expenses).
- They help with account name completion
  in the add command, hledger-iadd, hledger-web, ledger-mode etc.

The simplest form is just the word `account` followed by a hledger-style
[account name](journal.html#account-names), eg:
```journal
account assets:bank:checking
```

#### Account comments

[Comments](#comments), beginning with a semicolon, can be added:

- on the same line, **after two or more spaces**
  (because ; is allowed in account names)
- on the next lines, indented

An example of both:
```journal
account assets:bank:checking  ; same-line comment, note 2+ spaces before ;
  ; next-line comment
  ; another with tag, acctno:12345 (not used yet)
```

Same-line comments are not supported by Ledger, or hledger <1.13.

<!-- Account comments may include [tags](journal.html#tags), though we don't yet use them for anything. -->

#### Account subdirectives

We also allow (and ignore) Ledger-style indented subdirectives, just for compatibility.:
```journal
account assets:bank:checking
  format blah blah  ; <- subdirective, ignored
```

Here is the full syntax of account directives:
```journal
account ACCTNAME  [ACCTTYPE] [;COMMENT]
  [;COMMENTS]
  [LEDGER-STYLE SUBDIRECTIVES, IGNORED]
```

#### Account types

hledger recognises five types (or classes) of account: Asset, Liability, Equity, Revenue, Expense.
This is used by a few accounting-aware reports such as [balancesheet][], [incomestatement][] and [cashflow][].

[balancesheet]: hledger.html#balancesheet
[cashflow]: hledger.html#cashflow
[incomestatement]: hledger.html#incomestatement

##### Auto-detected account types

If you name your top-level accounts with some variation of
`assets`, `liabilities`/`debts`, `equity`, `revenues`/`income`, or `expenses`,
their types are detected automatically.

##### Account types declared with tags

More generally, you can declare an account's type with an account directive,
by writing a `type:` [tag](journal.html#tags) in a comment, followed by one of the words
`Asset`, `Liability`, `Equity`, `Revenue`, `Expense`,
or one of the letters `ALERX` (case insensitive):
```journal
account assets       ; type:Asset
account liabilities  ; type:Liability
account equity       ; type:Equity
account revenues     ; type:Revenue
account expenses     ; type:Expense
```

##### Account types declared with account type codes

Or, you can write one of those letters separated from the account name by two or more spaces,
but this should probably be considered deprecated as of hledger 1.13:
```journal
account assets       A
account liabilities  L
account equity       E
account revenues     R
account expenses     X
```

##### Overriding auto-detected types

If you ever override the types of those auto-detected english account names mentioned above,
you might need to help the reports a bit. Eg:
```journal
; make "liabilities" not have the liability type - who knows why
account liabilities  ; type:E

; we need to ensure some other account has the liability type,
; otherwise balancesheet would still show "liabilities" under Liabilities
account -            ; type:L
```

#### Account display order

Account directives also set the order in which accounts are displayed,
eg in reports, the hledger-ui accounts screen, and the hledger-web sidebar.
By default accounts are listed in alphabetical order.
But if you have these account directives in the journal:
```journal
account assets
account liabilities
account equity
account revenues
account expenses
```

you'll see those accounts displayed in declaration order, not alphabetically:
```shell
$ hledger accounts -1
assets
liabilities
equity
revenues
expenses
```

Undeclared accounts, if any, are displayed last, in alphabetical order.

Note that sorting is done at each level of the account tree (within each group of sibling accounts under the same parent).
And currently, this directive:
```journal
account other:zoo
```
would influence the position of `zoo` among `other`'s subaccounts, but not the position of `other` among the top-level accounts.
This means:

- you will sometimes declare parent accounts (eg `account other` above) that you don't intend to post to, just to customize their display order
- sibling accounts stay together (you couldn't display `x:y` in between `a:b` and `a:c`).

### Rewriting accounts

You can define account alias rules which rewrite your account names, or parts of them,
before generating reports.
This can be useful for:

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

Account aliases also rewrite account names in [account directives](#declaring-accounts).
They do not affect account names being entered via hledger add or hledger-web.

See also [Rewrite account names](rewrite-account-names.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 case sensitive full account names.
hledger will replace any occurrence of the old account name with the
new one. Subaccounts are also affected. Eg:

```journal
alias checking = assets:bank:wells fargo:checking
; rewrites "checking" to "assets:bank:wells fargo:checking", or "checking:a" to "assets:bank:wells fargo:checking:a"
```

#### Regex aliases

There is also a more powerful variant that uses a regular expression,
indicated by the forward slashes:

```journal
alias /REGEX/ = REPLACEMENT
```

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

<!-- (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.
Eg:

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

Also note that REPLACEMENT continues to the end of line (or on command line,
to end of option argument), so it can contain trailing whitespace.

#### Combining aliases

You can define as many aliases as you like, using journal directives and/or command line options.

Recursive aliases - where an account name is rewritten by one alias, then by another alias, and so on - are allowed.
Each alias sees the effect of previously applied aliases.

In such cases it can be important to understand which aliases will be applied and in which order.
For (each account name in) each journal entry, we apply:

1. `alias` directives preceding the journal entry, most recently parsed first (ie, reading upward from the journal entry, bottom to top)
2. `--alias` options, in the order they appeared on the command line (left to right).

In other words, for (an account name in) a given journal entry:

- the nearest alias declaration before/above the entry is applied first
- the next alias before/above that will be be applied next, and so on
- aliases defined after/below the entry do not affect it.

This gives nearby aliases precedence over distant ones, and helps
provide semantic stability - aliases will keep working the same way
independent of which files are being read and in which order.

In case of trouble, adding `--debug=6` to the command line will show which aliases are being applied when.

#### Aliases and multiple files

As explained at [Directives and multiple files](#directives-and-multiple-files),
`alias` directives do not affect parent or sibling files. Eg in this command,
```shell
hledger -f a.aliases -f b.journal
```
account aliases defined in a.aliases will not affect b.journal. 
Including the aliases doesn't work either:
```journal
include a.aliases

2020-01-01  ; not affected by a.aliases
  foo  1
  bar
```
This means that account aliases should usually be declared at the
start of your top-most file, like this:
```journal
alias foo=Foo
alias bar=Bar

2020-01-01  ; affected by aliases above
  foo  1
  bar

include c.journal  ; also affected
```

#### `end aliases`

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

```journal
end aliases
```

### Default parent account

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

```journal
apply account home

2010/1/1
    food    $10
    cash

end apply account
```
which is equivalent to:
```journal
2010/01/01
    home:food           $10
    home:cash          $-10
```

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

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

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

A default parent account also affects [account directives](#declaring-accounts).
It does not affect account names being entered via hledger add or hledger-web.
If account aliases are present, they are applied after the default parent account.

## Periodic transactions

Periodic transaction rules describe transactions that recur.
They allow hledger to generate temporary future transactions to help with forecasting,
so you don't have to write out each one in the journal,
and it's easy to try out different forecasts.
Secondly, they are also used to define the budgets shown in budget reports.

Periodic transactions can be a little tricky, so before you use them,
read this whole section - or at least these tips:

1. Two spaces accidentally added or omitted will cause you trouble - read about this below.
2. For troubleshooting, show the generated transactions with `hledger print --forecast tag:generated` or `hledger register --forecast tag:generated`.
3. Forecasted transactions will begin only after the last non-forecasted transaction's date.
4. Forecasted transactions will end 6 months from today, by default. See below for the exact start/end rules.
5. [period expressions](hledger.html#period-expressions) can be tricky. Their documentation needs improvement, but is worth studying.
6. Some period expressions with a repeating interval must begin on a natural boundary of that interval.
   Eg in `weekly from DATE`, DATE must be a monday. `~ weekly from 2019/10/1` (a tuesday) will give an error.
7. Other period expressions with an interval are automatically expanded to cover a whole number of that interval.
   (This is done to improve reports, but it also affects periodic transactions. Yes, it's a bit inconsistent with the above.)
   Eg: <br>
   `~ every 10th day of month from 2020/01`, which is equivalent to <br>
   `~ every 10th day of month from 2020/01/01`, will be adjusted to start on 2019/12/10.

### Periodic rule syntax

A periodic transaction rule looks like a normal journal entry,
with the date replaced by a tilde (`~`) followed by a
[period expression](hledger.html#period-expressions)
(mnemonic: `~` looks like a recurring sine wave.):
```journal
~ monthly
    expenses:rent          $2000
    assets:bank:checking
```
There is an additional constraint on the period expression:
the start date must fall on a natural boundary of the interval.
Eg `monthly from 2018/1/1` is valid, but `monthly from 2018/1/15` is not.

Partial or relative dates (M/D, D, tomorrow, last week) in the period expression
can work (useful or not). They will be relative to today's date, unless
a Y default year directive is in effect, in which case they will be relative to Y/1/1.

### Two spaces between period expression and description!

If the period expression is followed by a transaction description,
these must be separated by **two or more spaces**.
This helps hledger know where the period expression ends, so that descriptions
can not accidentally alter their meaning, as in this example:

```
; 2 or more spaces needed here, so the period is not understood as "every 2 months in 2020"
;               ||
;               vv
~ every 2 months  in 2020, we will review
    assets:bank:checking   $1500
    income:acme inc
```

So,

- Do write two spaces between your period expression and your transaction description, if any.
- Don't accidentally write two spaces in the middle of your period expression.

### Forecasting with periodic transactions

With the `--forecast` flag, each periodic transaction rule generates
future transactions recurring at the specified interval.
These are not saved in the journal, but appear in all reports.
They will look like normal transactions, but with an extra
[tag](journal.html#tags):

- `generated-transaction:~ PERIODICEXPR`  - shows that this was generated by a periodic transaction rule, and the period

There is also a hidden tag, with an underscore prefix, which does not appear in hledger's output:

- `_generated-transaction:~ PERIODICEXPR`

This can be used to match transactions generated "just now",
rather than generated in the past and saved to the journal.

Forecast transactions start on the first occurrence, and end on the last occurrence,
of their interval within the forecast period. The forecast period:

- begins on the later of
  - the report start date if specified with -b/-p/date:
  - the day after the latest normal (non-periodic) transaction in the journal,
    or today if there are no normal transactions.

- ends on the report end date if specified with -e/-p/date:,
  or 180 days from today.

where "today" means the current date at report time.
The "later of" rule ensures that forecast transactions do not overlap normal transactions in time;
they will begin only after normal transactions end.

Forecasting can be useful for estimating balances into the future,
and experimenting with different scenarios.
Note the start date logic means that forecasted transactions are automatically replaced
by normal transactions as you add those.

Forecasting can also help with data entry:
describe most of your transactions with periodic rules,
and every so often copy the output of `print --forecast` to the journal.

You can generate one-time transactions too:
just write a period expression specifying a date with no report interval.
(You could also write a normal transaction with a future date, but remember this disables forecast transactions on previous dates.)

### Budgeting with periodic transactions

With the `--budget` flag, currently supported by the balance command,
each periodic transaction rule declares recurring budget goals for the specified accounts.
Eg the first example above declares a goal of spending $2000 on rent
(and also, a goal of depositing $2000 into checking) every month.
Goals and actual performance can then be compared in [budget reports](hledger.html#budget-report).

For more details, see:
[balance: Budget report](hledger.html#budget-report)
and
[Budgeting and Forecasting](budgeting-and-forecasting.html).


<a name="automated-postings"></a>
<a name="auto-postings"></a>

## Auto postings

"Automated postings" or "auto postings" are extra postings which get
added automatically to transactions which match certain queries,
defined by "auto posting rules", when you use the `--auto` flag.

An auto posting rule looks a bit like a transaction:
```journal
= QUERY
    ACCOUNT  AMOUNT
    ...
    ACCOUNT  [AMOUNT]
```
except the first line is an equals sign (mnemonic: `=` suggests matching),
followed by a [query](hledger.html#queries) (which matches existing postings),
and each "posting" line describes a posting to be generated, 
and the posting amounts can be:

- a normal amount with a commodity symbol, eg `$2`. This will be used as-is.
- a number, eg `2`. The commodity symbol (if any) from the matched
  posting will be added to this.
- a numeric multiplier, eg `*2` (a star followed by a number N). The
  matched posting's amount (and total price, if any) will be
  multiplied by N.
- a multiplier with a commodity symbol, eg `*$2` (a star, number N,
  and symbol S). The matched posting's amount will be multiplied by N,
  and its commodity symbol will be replaced with S.

Any query term containing spaces must be enclosed in single or double
quotes, as on the command line. Eg, note the quotes around the second query term below:
```journal
= expenses:groceries 'expenses:dining out'
    (budget:funds:dining out)                 *-1
```

Some examples:
```journal
; every time I buy food, schedule a dollar donation
= expenses:food
    (liabilities:charity)   $-1

; when I buy a gift, also deduct that amount from a budget envelope subaccount
= expenses:gifts
    assets:checking:gifts  *-1
    assets:checking         *1

2017/12/1
  expenses:food    $10
  assets:checking

2017/12/14
  expenses:gifts   $20
  assets:checking
```
```shell
$ hledger print --auto
2017-12-01
    expenses:food              $10
    assets:checking
    (liabilities:charity)      $-1

2017-12-14
    expenses:gifts             $20
    assets:checking
    assets:checking:gifts     -$20
    assets:checking            $20
```

### Auto postings and multiple files

An auto posting rule can affect any transaction in the current file,
or in any parent file or child file. Note, currently it will not
affect sibling files (when multiple `-f`/`--file` are used - see
[#1212](https://github.com/simonmichael/hledger/issues/1212)).

### Auto postings and dates

A [posting date](#posting-dates) (or secondary date) in the matched posting,
or (taking precedence) a posting date in the auto posting rule itself,
will also be used in the generated posting.

### Auto postings and transaction balancing / inferred amounts / balance assertions

Currently, auto postings are added:

- after [missing amounts are inferred, and transactions are checked for balancedness](#postings),
- but before [balance assertions](#balance-assertions) are checked.

Note this means that journal entries must be balanced both before and
after auto postings are added. This changed in hledger 1.12+; see
[#893](https://github.com/simonmichael/hledger/issues/893) for
background.

### Auto posting tags

Automated postings will have some extra [tags](#tags-1):

- `generated-posting:= QUERY`  - shows this was generated by an auto posting rule, and the query
- `_generated-posting:= QUERY` - a hidden tag, which does not appear in hledger's output.
                                     This can be used to match postings generated "just now",
                                     rather than generated in the past and saved to the journal.

Also, any transaction that has been changed by auto posting rules will have these tags added:

- `modified:` - this transaction was modified
- `_modified:` - a hidden tag not appearing in the comment; this transaction was modified "just now".