hledger/hledger/hledger.1

.\"t

.TH "HLEDGER" "1" "June 2023" "hledger-1.30.99 " "hledger User Manuals"



.SH NAME
.PP
hledger - robust, friendly plain text accounting (CLI version)
.SH SYNOPSIS
.PP
\f[V]hledger\f[R]
.PD 0
.P
.PD
\f[V]hledger COMMAND     [OPTS] [ARGS]\f[R]
.PD 0
.P
.PD
\f[V]hledger ADDONCMD -- [OPTS] [ARGS]\f[R]
.SH DESCRIPTION
.PP
hledger is a robust, user-friendly, cross-platform set of programs for
tracking money, time, or any other commodity, using double-entry
accounting and a simple, editable file format.
hledger is inspired by and largely compatible with ledger(1), and
largely interconvertible with beancount(1).
.PP
This manual is for hledger\[aq]s command line interface, version
1.30.99.
It also describes the common options, file formats and concepts used by
all hledger programs.
It might accidentally teach you some bookkeeping/accounting as well!
You don\[aq]t need to know everything in here to use hledger
productively, but when you have a question about functionality, this doc
should answer it.
It is detailed, so do skip ahead or skim when needed.
You can read it on hledger.org, or as an info manual or man page on your
system.
You can also get it from hledger itself with
.PD 0
.P
.PD
\f[V]hledger --man\f[R], \f[V]hledger --info\f[R] or
\f[V]hledger help [TOPIC]\f[R].
.PP
The main function of the hledger CLI is to read plain text files
describing financial transactions, crunch the numbers, and print a
useful report on the terminal (or save it as HTML, CSV, JSON or SQL).
Many reports are available, as subcommands.
hledger will also detect other \f[V]hledger-*\f[R] executables as extra
subcommands.
.PP
hledger usually reads from (and appends to) a journal file specified by
the \f[V]LEDGER_FILE\f[R] environment variable (defaulting to
\f[V]$HOME/.hledger.journal\f[R]); or you can specify files with
\f[V]-f\f[R] options.
It can also read timeclock files, timedot files, or any CSV/SSV/TSV file
with a date field.
.PP
Here is a small journal file describing one transaction:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
2015-10-16 bought food
  expenses:food          $10
  assets:cash
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
Transactions are dated movements of money (etc.)
between two or more \f[I]accounts\f[R]: bank accounts, your wallet,
revenue/expense categories, people, etc.
You can choose any account names you wish, using \f[V]:\f[R] to indicate
subaccounts.
There must be at least two spaces between account name and amount.
Positive amounts are inflow to that account (\f[I]debit\f[R]), negatives
are outflow from it (\f[I]credit\f[R]).
(Some reports show revenue, liability and equity account balances as
negative numbers as a result; this is normal.)
.PP
hledger\[cq]s add command can help you add transactions, or you can
install other data entry UIs like hledger-web or hledger-iadd.
For more extensive/efficient changes, use a text editor: Emacs +
ledger-mode, VIM + vim-ledger, or VS Code + hledger-vscode are some good
choices (see https://hledger.org/editors.html).
.PP
To get started, run \f[V]hledger add\f[R] and follow the prompts, or
save some entries like the above in \f[V]$HOME/.hledger.journal\f[R],
then try commands like:
.PD 0
.P
.PD
\f[V]hledger print -x\f[R]
.PD 0
.P
.PD
\f[V]hledger aregister assets\f[R]
.PD 0
.P
.PD
\f[V]hledger balance\f[R]
.PD 0
.P
.PD
\f[V]hledger balancesheet\f[R]
.PD 0
.P
.PD
\f[V]hledger incomestatement\f[R].
.PD 0
.P
.PD
Run \f[V]hledger\f[R] to list the commands.
See also the \[dq]Starting a journal file\[dq] and \[dq]Setting opening
balances\[dq] sections in PART 5: COMMON TASKS.
.SH PART 1: USER INTERFACE
.SH Input
.PP
hledger reads one or more data files, each time you run it.
You can specify a file with \f[V]-f\f[R], like so
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger -f FILE print
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
Files are most often in hledger\[aq]s journal format, with the
\f[V].journal\f[R] file extension (\f[V].hledger\f[R] or \f[V].j\f[R]
also work); these files describe transactions, like an accounting
general journal.
.PP
When no file is specified, hledger looks for \f[V].hledger.journal\f[R]
in your home directory.
.PP
But most people prefer to keep financial files in a dedicated folder,
perhaps with version control.
Also, starting a new journal file each year is common (it\[aq]s not
required, but helps keep things fast and organised).
So we usually configure a different journal file, by setting the
\f[V]LEDGER_FILE\f[R] environment variable, to something like
\f[V]\[ti]/finance/2023.journal\f[R].
For more about how to do that on your system, see Common tasks > Setting
LEDGER_FILE.
.SS Data formats
.PP
Usually the data file is in hledger\[aq]s journal format, but it can be
in any of the supported file formats, which currently are:
.PP
.TS
tab(@);
lw(7.8n) lw(39.5n) lw(22.7n).
T{
Reader:
T}@T{
Reads:
T}@T{
Used for file extensions:
T}
_
T{
\f[V]journal\f[R]
T}@T{
hledger journal files and some Ledger journals, for transactions
T}@T{
\f[V].journal\f[R] \f[V].j\f[R] \f[V].hledger\f[R] \f[V].ledger\f[R]
T}
T{
\f[V]timeclock\f[R]
T}@T{
timeclock files, for precise time logging
T}@T{
\f[V].timeclock\f[R]
T}
T{
\f[V]timedot\f[R]
T}@T{
timedot files, for approximate time logging
T}@T{
\f[V].timedot\f[R]
T}
T{
\f[V]csv\f[R]
T}@T{
CSV/SSV/TSV/character-separated values, for data import
T}@T{
\f[V].csv\f[R] \f[V].ssv\f[R] \f[V].tsv\f[R] \f[V].csv.rules\f[R]
\f[V].ssv.rules\f[R] \f[V].tsv.rules\f[R]
T}
.TE
.PP
These formats are described in more detail below.
.PP
hledger detects the format automatically based on the file extensions
shown above.
If it can\[aq]t recognise the file extension, it assumes
\f[V]journal\f[R] format.
So for non-journal files, it\[aq]s important to use a recognised file
extension, so as to either read successfully or to show relevant error
messages.
.PP
You can also force a specific reader/format by prefixing the file path
with the format and a colon.
Eg, to read a .dat file as csv format:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger -f csv:/some/csv-file.dat stats
\f[R]
.fi
.SS Standard input
.PP
The file name \f[V]-\f[R] means standard input:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ cat FILE | hledger -f- print
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
If reading non-journal data in this way, you\[aq]ll need to add a file
format prefix, like:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ echo \[aq]i 2009/13/1 08:00:00\[aq] | hledger print -f timeclock:-
\f[R]
.fi
.SS Multiple files
.PP
You can specify multiple \f[V]-f\f[R] options, to read multiple files as
one big journal.
When doing this, note that certain features (described below) will be
affected:
.IP \[bu] 2
Balance assertions will not see the effect of transactions in previous
files.
(Usually this doesn\[aq]t matter as each file will set the corresponding
opening balances.)
.IP \[bu] 2
Some directives will not affect previous or subsequent files.
.PP
If needed, you can work around these by using a single parent file which
includes the others, or concatenating the files into one, eg:
\f[V]cat a.journal b.journal | hledger -f- CMD\f[R].
.SS Strict mode
.PP
hledger checks input files for valid data.
By default, the most important errors are detected, while still
accepting easy journal files without a lot of declarations:
.IP \[bu] 2
Are the input files parseable, with valid syntax ?
.IP \[bu] 2
Are all transactions balanced ?
.IP \[bu] 2
Do all balance assertions pass ?
.PP
With the \f[V]-s\f[R]/\f[V]--strict\f[R] flag, additional checks are
performed:
.IP \[bu] 2
Are all accounts posted to, declared with an \f[V]account\f[R] directive
?
(Account error checking)
.IP \[bu] 2
Are all commodities declared with a \f[V]commodity\f[R] directive ?
(Commodity error checking)
.IP \[bu] 2
Are all commodity conversions declared explicitly ?
.PP
You can use the check command to run individual checks -- the ones
listed above and some more.
.SH Commands
.PP
hledger provides various subcommands for getting things done.
Most of these commands do not change the journal file; they just read it
and output a report.
A few commands assist with adding data and file management.
.PP
To show the commands list, run \f[V]hledger\f[R] with no arguments.
The commands are described in detail in PART 4: COMMANDS, below.
.PP
To use a particular command, run
\f[V]hledger CMD [CMDOPTS] [CMDARGS]\f[R],
.IP \[bu] 2
CMD is the full command name, or its standard abbreviation shown in the
commands list, or any unambiguous prefix of the name.
.IP \[bu] 2
CMDOPTS are command-specific options, if any.
Command-specific options must be written after the command name.
Eg: \f[V]hledger print -x\f[R].
.IP \[bu] 2
CMDARGS are additional arguments to the command, if any.
Most hledger commands accept arguments representing a query, to limit
the data in some way.
Eg: \f[V]hledger reg assets:checking\f[R].
.PP
To list a command\[aq]s options, arguments, and documentation in the
terminal, run \f[V]hledger CMD -h\f[R].
Eg: \f[V]hledger bal -h\f[R].
.SS Add-on commands
.PP
In addition to the built-in commands, you can install \f[I]add-on
commands\f[R]: programs or scripts named \[dq]hledger-SOMETHING\[dq],
which will also appear in hledger\[aq]s commands list.
If you used the hledger-install script, you will have several add-ons
installed already.
Some more can be found in hledger\[aq]s bin/ directory, documented at
https://hledger.org/scripts.html.
.PP
More precisely, add-on commands are programs or scripts in your
shell\[aq]s PATH, whose name starts with \[dq]hledger-\[dq] and ends
with no extension or a recognised extension (\[dq].bat\[dq],
\[dq].com\[dq], \[dq].exe\[dq], \[dq].hs\[dq], \[dq].js\[dq],
\[dq].lhs\[dq], \[dq].lua\[dq], \[dq].php\[dq], \[dq].pl\[dq],
\[dq].py\[dq], \[dq].rb\[dq], \[dq].rkt\[dq], or \[dq].sh\[dq]), and (on
unix and mac) which has executable permission for the current user.
.PP
You can run add-on commands using hledger, much like built-in commands:
\f[V]hledger ADDONCMD [-- ADDONCMDOPTS] [ADDONCMDARGS]\f[R].
But note the double hyphen argument, required before add-on-specific
options.
Eg: \f[V]hledger ui -- --watch\f[R] or \f[V]hledger web -- --serve\f[R].
If this causes difficulty, you can always run the add-on directly,
without using \f[V]hledger\f[R]: \f[V]hledger-ui --watch\f[R] or
\f[V]hledger-web --serve\f[R].
.SH Options
.PP
Run \f[V]hledger -h\f[R] to see general command line help, and general
options which are common to most hledger commands.
These options can be written anywhere on the command line.
They can be grouped into help, input, and reporting options:
.SS General help options
.TP
\f[V]-h --help\f[R]
show general or COMMAND help
.TP
\f[V]--man\f[R]
show general or COMMAND user manual with man
.TP
\f[V]--info\f[R]
show general or COMMAND user manual with info
.TP
\f[V]--version\f[R]
show general or ADDONCMD version
.TP
\f[V]--debug[=N]\f[R]
show debug output (levels 1-9, default: 1)
.SS General input options
.TP
\f[V]-f FILE --file=FILE\f[R]
use a different input file.
For stdin, use - (default: \f[V]$LEDGER_FILE\f[R] or
\f[V]$HOME/.hledger.journal\f[R])
.TP
\f[V]--rules-file=RULESFILE\f[R]
Conversion rules file to use when reading CSV (default: FILE.rules)
.TP
\f[V]--separator=CHAR\f[R]
Field separator to expect when reading CSV (default: \[aq],\[aq])
.TP
\f[V]--alias=OLD=NEW\f[R]
rename accounts named OLD to NEW
.TP
\f[V]--anon\f[R]
anonymize accounts and payees
.TP
\f[V]--pivot FIELDNAME\f[R]
use some other field or tag for the account name
.TP
\f[V]-I --ignore-assertions\f[R]
disable balance assertion checks (note: does not disable balance
assignments)
.TP
\f[V]-s --strict\f[R]
do extra error checking (check that all posted accounts are declared)
.SS General reporting options
.TP
\f[V]-b --begin=DATE\f[R]
include postings/txns on or after this date (will be adjusted to
preceding subperiod start when using a report interval)
.TP
\f[V]-e --end=DATE\f[R]
include postings/txns before this date (will be adjusted to following
subperiod end when using a report interval)
.TP
\f[V]-D --daily\f[R]
multiperiod/multicolumn report by day
.TP
\f[V]-W --weekly\f[R]
multiperiod/multicolumn report by week
.TP
\f[V]-M --monthly\f[R]
multiperiod/multicolumn report by month
.TP
\f[V]-Q --quarterly\f[R]
multiperiod/multicolumn report by quarter
.TP
\f[V]-Y --yearly\f[R]
multiperiod/multicolumn report by year
.TP
\f[V]-p --period=PERIODEXP\f[R]
set start date, end date, and/or reporting interval all at once using
period expressions syntax
.TP
\f[V]--date2\f[R]
match the secondary date instead (see command help for other effects)
.TP
\f[V]--today=DATE\f[R]
override today\[aq]s date (affects relative smart dates, for
tests/examples)
.TP
\f[V]-U --unmarked\f[R]
include only unmarked postings/txns (can combine with -P or -C)
.TP
\f[V]-P --pending\f[R]
include only pending postings/txns
.TP
\f[V]-C --cleared\f[R]
include only cleared postings/txns
.TP
\f[V]-R --real\f[R]
include only non-virtual postings
.TP
\f[V]-NUM --depth=NUM\f[R]
hide/aggregate accounts or postings more than NUM levels deep
.TP
\f[V]-E --empty\f[R]
show items with zero amount, normally hidden (and vice-versa in
hledger-ui/hledger-web)
.TP
\f[V]-B --cost\f[R]
convert amounts to their cost/selling amount at transaction time
.TP
\f[V]-V --market\f[R]
convert amounts to their market value in default valuation commodities
.TP
\f[V]-X --exchange=COMM\f[R]
convert amounts to their market value in commodity COMM
.TP
\f[V]--value\f[R]
convert amounts to cost or market value, more flexibly than -B/-V/-X
.TP
\f[V]--infer-equity\f[R]
infer conversion equity postings from costs
.TP
\f[V]--infer-costs\f[R]
infer costs from conversion equity postings
.TP
\f[V]--infer-market-prices\f[R]
use costs as additional market prices, as if they were P directives
.TP
\f[V]--forecast\f[R]
generate transactions from periodic rules,
between the latest recorded txn and 6 months from today,
or during the specified PERIOD (= is required).
Auto posting rules will be applied to these transactions as well.
Also, in hledger-ui make future-dated transactions visible.
.TP
\f[V]--auto\f[R]
generate extra postings by applying auto posting rules to all txns (not
just forecast txns)
.TP
\f[V]--verbose-tags\f[R]
add visible tags indicating transactions or postings which have been
generated/modified
.TP
\f[V]--commodity-style\f[R]
Override the commodity style in the output for the specified commodity.
For example \[aq]EUR1.000,00\[aq].
.TP
\f[V]--color=WHEN (or --colour=WHEN)\f[R]
Should color-supporting commands use ANSI color codes in text output.
\[aq]auto\[aq] (default): whenever stdout seems to be a color-supporting
terminal.
\[aq]always\[aq] or \[aq]yes\[aq]: always, useful eg when piping output
into \[aq]less -R\[aq].
\[aq]never\[aq] or \[aq]no\[aq]: never.
A NO_COLOR environment variable overrides this.
.TP
\f[V]--pretty[=WHEN]\f[R]
Show prettier output, e.g.
using unicode box-drawing characters.
Accepts \[aq]yes\[aq] (the default) or \[aq]no\[aq] (\[aq]y\[aq],
\[aq]n\[aq], \[aq]always\[aq], \[aq]never\[aq] also work).
If you provide an argument you must use \[aq]=\[aq], e.g.
\[aq]--pretty=yes\[aq].
.PP
When a reporting option appears more than once in the command line, the
last one takes precedence.
.PP
Some reporting options can also be written as query arguments.
.SH Command line tips
.PP
Here are some details useful to know about for hledger command lines
(and elsewhere).
Feel free to skip this section until you need it.
.SS Option repetition
.PP
If options are repeated in a command line, hledger will generally use
the last (right-most) occurence.
.SS Special characters
.SS Single escaping (shell metacharacters)
.PP
In shell command lines, characters significant to your shell - such as
spaces, \f[V]<\f[R], \f[V]>\f[R], \f[V](\f[R], \f[V])\f[R], \f[V]|\f[R],
\f[V]$\f[R] and \f[V]\[rs]\f[R] - should be \[dq]shell-escaped\[dq] if
you want hledger to see them.
This is done by enclosing them in single or double quotes, or by writing
a backslash before them.
Eg to match an account name containing a space:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger register \[aq]credit card\[aq]
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
or:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger register credit\[rs] card
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
Windows users should keep in mind that \f[V]cmd\f[R] treats single quote
as a regular character, so you should be using double quotes
exclusively.
PowerShell treats both single and double quotes as quotes.
.SS Double escaping (regular expression metacharacters)
.PP
Characters significant in regular expressions (described below) - such
as \f[V].\f[R], \f[V]\[ha]\f[R], \f[V]$\f[R], \f[V][\f[R], \f[V]]\f[R],
\f[V](\f[R], \f[V])\f[R], \f[V]|\f[R], and \f[V]\[rs]\f[R] - may need to
be \[dq]regex-escaped\[dq] if you don\[aq]t want them to be interpreted
by hledger\[aq]s regular expression engine.
This is done by writing backslashes before them, but since backslash is
typically also a shell metacharacter, both shell-escaping and
regex-escaping will be needed.
Eg to match a literal \f[V]$\f[R] sign while using the bash shell:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger balance cur:\[aq]\[rs]$\[aq]
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
or:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger balance cur:\[rs]\[rs]$
\f[R]
.fi
.SS Triple escaping (for add-on commands)
.PP
When you use hledger to run an external add-on command (described
below), one level of shell-escaping is lost from any options or
arguments intended for by the add-on command, so those need an extra
level of shell-escaping.
Eg to match a literal \f[V]$\f[R] sign while using the bash shell and
running an add-on command (\f[V]ui\f[R]):
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger ui cur:\[aq]\[rs]\[rs]$\[aq]
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
or:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger ui cur:\[rs]\[rs]\[rs]\[rs]$
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
If you wondered why \f[I]four\f[R] backslashes, perhaps this helps:
.PP
.TS
tab(@);
l l.
T{
unescaped:
T}@T{
\f[V]$\f[R]
T}
T{
escaped:
T}@T{
\f[V]\[rs]$\f[R]
T}
T{
double-escaped:
T}@T{
\f[V]\[rs]\[rs]$\f[R]
T}
T{
triple-escaped:
T}@T{
\f[V]\[rs]\[rs]\[rs]\[rs]$\f[R]
T}
.TE
.PP
Or, you can avoid the extra escaping by running the add-on executable
directly:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger-ui cur:\[rs]\[rs]$
\f[R]
.fi
.SS Less escaping
.PP
Options and arguments are sometimes used in places other than the shell
command line, where shell-escaping is not needed, so there you should
use one less level of escaping.
Those places include:
.IP \[bu] 2
an \[at]argumentfile
.IP \[bu] 2
hledger-ui\[aq]s filter field
.IP \[bu] 2
hledger-web\[aq]s search form
.IP \[bu] 2
GHCI\[aq]s prompt (used by developers).
.SS Unicode characters
.PP
hledger is expected to handle non-ascii characters correctly:
.IP \[bu] 2
they should be parsed correctly in input files and on the command line,
by all hledger tools (add, iadd, hledger-web\[aq]s search/add/edit
forms, etc.)
.IP \[bu] 2
they should be displayed correctly by all hledger tools, and on-screen
alignment should be preserved.
.PP
This requires a well-configured environment.
Here are some tips:
.IP \[bu] 2
A system locale must be configured, and it must be one that can decode
the characters being used.
In bash, you can set a locale like this:
\f[V]export LANG=en_US.UTF-8\f[R].
There are some more details in Troubleshooting.
This step is essential - without it, hledger will quit on encountering a
non-ascii character (as with all GHC-compiled programs).
.IP \[bu] 2
your terminal software (eg Terminal.app, iTerm, CMD.exe, xterm..)
must support unicode
.IP \[bu] 2
the terminal must be using a font which includes the required unicode
glyphs
.IP \[bu] 2
the terminal should be configured to display wide characters as double
width (for report alignment)
.IP \[bu] 2
on Windows, for best results you should run hledger in the same kind of
environment in which it was built.
Eg hledger built in the standard CMD.EXE environment (like the binaries
on our download page) might show display problems when run in a cygwin
or msys terminal, and vice versa.
(See eg #961).
.SS Regular expressions
.PP
hledger uses regular expressions in a number of places:
.IP \[bu] 2
query terms, on the command line and in the hledger-web search form:
\f[V]REGEX\f[R], \f[V]desc:REGEX\f[R], \f[V]cur:REGEX\f[R],
\f[V]tag:...=REGEX\f[R]
.IP \[bu] 2
CSV rules conditional blocks: \f[V]if REGEX ...\f[R]
.IP \[bu] 2
account alias directive and \f[V]--alias\f[R] option:
\f[V]alias /REGEX/ = REPLACEMENT\f[R],
\f[V]--alias /REGEX/=REPLACEMENT\f[R]
.PP
hledger\[aq]s regular expressions come from the regex-tdfa library.
If they\[aq]re not doing what you expect, it\[aq]s important to know
exactly what they support:
.IP "1." 3
they are case insensitive
.IP "2." 3
they are infix matching (they do not need to match the entire thing
being matched)
.IP "3." 3
they are POSIX ERE (extended regular expressions)
.IP "4." 3
they also support GNU word boundaries (\f[V]\[rs]b\f[R],
\f[V]\[rs]B\f[R], \f[V]\[rs]<\f[R], \f[V]\[rs]>\f[R])
.IP "5." 3
they do not support backreferences; if you write \f[V]\[rs]1\f[R], it
will match the digit \f[V]1\f[R].
Except when doing text replacement, eg in account aliases, where
backreferences can be used in the replacement string to reference
capturing groups in the search regexp.
.IP "6." 3
they do not support mode modifiers (\f[V](?s)\f[R]), character classes
(\f[V]\[rs]w\f[R], \f[V]\[rs]d\f[R]), or anything else not mentioned
above.
.PP
Some things to note:
.IP \[bu] 2
In the \f[V]alias\f[R] directive and \f[V]--alias\f[R] option, regular
expressions must be enclosed in forward slashes (\f[V]/REGEX/\f[R]).
Elsewhere in hledger, these are not required.
.IP \[bu] 2
In queries, to match a regular expression metacharacter like \f[V]$\f[R]
as a literal character, prepend a backslash.
Eg to search for amounts with the dollar sign in hledger-web, write
\f[V]cur:\[rs]$\f[R].
.IP \[bu] 2
On the command line, some metacharacters like \f[V]$\f[R] have a special
meaning to the shell and so must be escaped at least once more.
See Special characters.
.SS Argument files
.PP
You can save a set of command line options and arguments in a file, and
then reuse them by writing \f[V]\[at]FILENAME\f[R] as a command line
argument.
Eg: \f[V]hledger bal \[at]foo.args\f[R].
.PP
Inside the argument file, each line should contain just one option or
argument.
Don\[aq]t use spaces except inside quotes (or you\[aq]ll see a confusing
error); write \f[V]=\f[R] (or nothing) between a flag and its argument.
For the special characters mentioned above, use one less level of
quoting than you would at the command prompt.
.SH Output
.SS Output destination
.PP
hledger commands send their output to the terminal by default.
You can of course redirect this, eg into a file, using standard shell
syntax:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger print > foo.txt
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
Some commands (print, register, stats, the balance commands) also
provide the \f[V]-o/--output-file\f[R] option, which does the same thing
without needing the shell.
Eg:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger print -o foo.txt
$ hledger print -o -        # write to stdout (the default)
\f[R]
.fi
.SS Output format
.PP
Some commands offer other kinds of output, not just text on the
terminal.
Here are those commands and the formats currently supported:
.PP
.TS
tab(@);
lw(25.9n) lw(9.1n) lw(9.1n) lw(11.7n) lw(7.8n) lw(6.5n).
T{
-
T}@T{
txt
T}@T{
csv
T}@T{
html
T}@T{
json
T}@T{
sql
T}
_
T{
aregister
T}@T{
Y
T}@T{
Y
T}@T{
Y
T}@T{
Y
T}@T{
T}
T{
balance
T}@T{
Y \f[I]1\f[R]
T}@T{
Y \f[I]1\f[R]
T}@T{
Y \f[I]1,2\f[R]
T}@T{
Y
T}@T{
T}
T{
balancesheet
T}@T{
Y \f[I]1\f[R]
T}@T{
Y \f[I]1\f[R]
T}@T{
Y \f[I]1\f[R]
T}@T{
Y
T}@T{
T}
T{
balancesheetequity
T}@T{
Y \f[I]1\f[R]
T}@T{
Y \f[I]1\f[R]
T}@T{
Y \f[I]1\f[R]
T}@T{
Y
T}@T{
T}
T{
cashflow
T}@T{
Y \f[I]1\f[R]
T}@T{
Y \f[I]1\f[R]
T}@T{
Y \f[I]1\f[R]
T}@T{
Y
T}@T{
T}
T{
incomestatement
T}@T{
Y \f[I]1\f[R]
T}@T{
Y \f[I]1\f[R]
T}@T{
Y \f[I]1\f[R]
T}@T{
Y
T}@T{
T}
T{
print
T}@T{
Y
T}@T{
Y
T}@T{
T}@T{
Y
T}@T{
Y
T}
T{
register
T}@T{
Y
T}@T{
Y
T}@T{
T}@T{
Y
T}@T{
T}
.TE
.IP \[bu] 2
\f[I]1 Also affected by the balance commands\[aq] \f[VI]--layout\f[I]
option.\f[R]
.IP \[bu] 2
\f[I]2 \f[VI]balance\f[I] does not support html output without a report
interval or with \f[VI]--budget\f[I].\f[R]
.PP
The output format is selected by the \f[V]-O/--output-format=FMT\f[R]
option:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger print -O csv    # print CSV on stdout
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
or by the filename extension of an output file specified with the
\f[V]-o/--output-file=FILE.FMT\f[R] option:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger balancesheet -o foo.csv    # write CSV to foo.csv
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
The \f[V]-O\f[R] option can be combined with \f[V]-o\f[R] to override
the file extension, if needed:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger balancesheet -o foo.txt -O csv    # write CSV to foo.txt
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
Some notes about the various output formats:
.SS CSV output
.IP \[bu] 2
In CSV output, digit group marks (such as thousands separators) are
disabled automatically.
.SS HTML output
.IP \[bu] 2
HTML output can be styled by an optional \f[V]hledger.css\f[R] file in
the same directory.
.SS JSON output
.IP \[bu] 2
This is not yet much used; real-world feedback is welcome.
.IP \[bu] 2
Our JSON is rather large and verbose, since it is a faithful
representation of hledger\[aq]s internal data types.
To understand the JSON, read the Haskell type definitions, which are
mostly in
https://github.com/simonmichael/hledger/blob/master/hledger-lib/Hledger/Data/Types.hs.
.IP \[bu] 2
hledger represents quantities as Decimal values storing up to 255
significant digits, eg for repeating decimals.
Such numbers can arise in practice (from automatically-calculated
transaction prices), and would break most JSON consumers.
So in JSON, we show quantities as simple Numbers with at most 10 decimal
places.
We don\[aq]t limit the number of integer digits, but that part is under
your control.
We hope this approach will not cause problems in practice; if you find
otherwise, please let us know.
(Cf #1195)
.SS SQL output
.IP \[bu] 2
This is not yet much used; real-world feedback is welcome.
.IP \[bu] 2
SQL output is expected to work at least with SQLite, MySQL and Postgres.
.IP \[bu] 2
For SQLite, it will be more useful if you modify the generated
\f[V]id\f[R] field to be a PRIMARY KEY.
Eg:
.RS 2
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger print -O sql | sed \[aq]s/id serial/id INTEGER PRIMARY KEY AUTOINCREMENT NOT NULL/g\[aq] | ...
\f[R]
.fi
.RE
.IP \[bu] 2
SQL output is structured with the expectations that statements will be
executed in the empty database.
If you already have tables created via SQL output of hledger, you would
probably want to either clear tables of existing data (via
\f[V]delete\f[R] or \f[V]truncate\f[R] SQL statements) or drop tables
completely as otherwise your postings will be duped.
.SS Commodity styles
.PP
When displaying amounts, hledger infers a standard display style for
each commodity/currency, as described below in Commodity display style.
.PP
If needed, this can be overridden by a \f[V]-c/--commodity-style\f[R]
option (except for cost amounts and amounts displayed by the
\f[V]print\f[R] command, which are always displayed with all decimal
digits).
For example, the following will force dollar amounts to be displayed as
shown:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger print -c \[aq]$1.000,0\[aq]
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
This option can repeated to set the display style for multiple
commodities/currencies.
Its argument is as described in the commodity directive.
.SS Colour
.PP
In terminal output, some commands can produce colour when the terminal
supports it:
.IP \[bu] 2
if the \f[V]--color/--colour\f[R] option is given a value of
\f[V]yes\f[R] or \f[V]always\f[R] (or \f[V]no\f[R] or \f[V]never\f[R]),
colour will (or will not) be used;
.IP \[bu] 2
otherwise, if the \f[V]NO_COLOR\f[R] environment variable is set, colour
will not be used;
.IP \[bu] 2
otherwise, colour will be used if the output (terminal or file) supports
it.
.SS Box-drawing
.PP
In terminal output, you can enable unicode box-drawing characters to
render prettier tables:
.IP \[bu] 2
if the \f[V]--pretty\f[R] option is given a value of \f[V]yes\f[R] or
\f[V]always\f[R] (or \f[V]no\f[R] or \f[V]never\f[R]), unicode
characters will (or will not) be used;
.IP \[bu] 2
otherwise, unicode characters will not be used.
.SS Paging
.PP
When showing long output in the terminal, hledger will try to use the
pager specified by the \f[V]PAGER\f[R] environment variable, or
\f[V]less\f[R], or \f[V]more\f[R].
(A pager is a helper program that shows one page at a time rather than
scrolling everything off screen).
Currently it does this only for help output, not for reports;
specifically,
.IP \[bu] 2
when listing commands, with \f[V]hledger\f[R]
.IP \[bu] 2
when showing help with \f[V]hledger [CMD] --help\f[R],
.IP \[bu] 2
when viewing manuals with \f[V]hledger help\f[R] or
\f[V]hledger --man\f[R].
.PP
Note the pager is expected to handle ANSI codes, which hledger uses eg
for bold emphasis.
For the common pager \f[V]less\f[R] (and its \f[V]more\f[R]
compatibility mode), we add \f[V]R\f[R] to the \f[V]LESS\f[R] and
\f[V]MORE\f[R] environment variables to make this work.
If you use a different pager, you might need to configure it similarly,
to avoid seeing junk on screen (let us know).
Otherwise, you can set the \f[V]NO_COLOR\f[R] environment variable to 1
to disable all ANSI output (see Colour).
.SS Debug output
.PP
We intend hledger to be relatively easy to troubleshoot, introspect and
develop.
You can add \f[V]--debug[=N]\f[R] to any hledger command line to see
additional debug output.
N ranges from 1 (least output, the default) to 9 (maximum output).
Typically you would start with 1 and increase until you are seeing
enough.
Debug output goes to stderr, and is not affected by
\f[V]-o/--output-file\f[R] (unless you redirect stderr to stdout, eg:
\f[V]2>&1\f[R]).
It will be interleaved with normal output, which can help reveal when
parts of the code are evaluated.
To capture debug output in a log file instead, you can usually redirect
stderr, eg:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
hledger bal --debug=3 2>hledger.log
\f[R]
.fi
.SH Environment
.PP
These environment variables affect hledger:
.PP
\f[B]COLUMNS\f[R] This is normally set by your terminal; some hledger
commands (\f[V]register\f[R]) will format their output to this width.
If not set, they will try to use the available terminal width.
.PP
\f[B]LEDGER_FILE\f[R] The main journal file to use when not specified
with \f[V]-f/--file\f[R].
Default: \f[V]$HOME/.hledger.journal\f[R].
.PP
\f[B]NO_COLOR\f[R] If this environment variable is set (with any value),
hledger will not use ANSI color codes in terminal output, unless
overridden by an explicit \f[V]--color/--colour\f[R] option.
.SH PART 2: DATA FORMATS
.PP
.SH Journal
.PP
hledger\[aq]s default file format, representing a General Journal.
Here\[aq]s a cheatsheet/mini-tutorial, or you can skip ahead to About
journal format.
.SS Journal cheatsheet
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
# Here is the main syntax of hledger\[aq]s journal format
# (omitting extra Ledger compatibility syntax).
# hledger journals contain comments, directives, and transactions, in any order:

###############################################################################
# 1. Comment lines are for notes or temporarily disabling things.
# They begin with #, ;, or a line containing the word \[dq]comment\[dq].

# hash comment line
; semicolon comment line
comment
These lines
are commented.
end comment

# Some but not all hledger entries can have same-line comments attached to them,
# from ; (semicolon) to end of line.

###############################################################################
# 2. Directives modify parsing or reports in some way.
# They begin with a word or letter (or symbol).

account actifs     ; type:A, declare an account that is an Asset. 2+ spaces before ;.
account passifs    ; type:L, declare an account that is a Liability, and so on.. (ALERX)
alias chkg = assets:checking
commodity $0.00
decimal-mark .
include /dev/null
payee Whole Foods
P 2022-01-01 AAAA $1.40
\[ti] monthly    budget goals  ; <- 2+ spaces between period expression and description
    expenses:food       $400
    expenses:home      $1000
    budgeted

###############################################################################
# 3. Transactions are what it\[aq]s all about; they are dated events,
# usually describing movements of money.
# They begin with a date.

# DATE DESCRIPTION           ; This is a transaction comment.
#   ACCOUNT NAME 1  AMOUNT1  ; <- posting 1. This is a posting comment.
#   ACCOUNT NAME 2  AMOUNT2  ; <- posting 2. Postings must be indented.
#               ; \[ha]\[ha] At least 2 spaces between account and amount.
#   ...  ; Any number of postings is allowed. The amounts must balance (sum to 0).

2022-01-01 opening balances are declared this way
    assets:checking          $1000  ; Account names can be anything. lower case is easy to type.
    assets:savings           $1000  ; assets, liabilities, equity, revenues, expenses are common.
    assets:cash:wallet        $100  ; : indicates subaccounts.
    liabilities:credit card  $-200  ; liabilities, equity, revenues balances are usually negative.
    equity                          ; One amount can be left blank; $-1900 is inferred here.

2022-04-15 * (#12345) pay taxes
    ; There can be a ! or * after the date meaning \[dq]pending\[dq] or \[dq]cleared\[dq].
    ; There can be a transaction code (text in parentheses) after the date/status.
    ; Amounts\[aq] sign represents direction of flow, or credit/debit:
    assets:checking          $-500  ; minus means removed from this account (credit)
    expenses:tax:us:2021      $500  ; plus  means added to this account (debit)
                                    ; revenue/expense categories are also \[dq]accounts\[dq]

2022-01-01                          ; The description is optional.
    ; Any currency/commodity symbols are allowed, on either side.
    assets:cash:wallet     GBP -10
    expenses:clothing       GBP 10
    assets:gringotts           -10 gold
    assets:pouch                10 gold
    revenues:gifts              -2 \[dq]Liquorice Wands\[dq]  ; Complex symbols
    assets:bag                   2 \[dq]Liquorice Wands\[dq]  ; must be double-quoted.

2022-01-01 Cost in another commodity can be noted with \[at] or \[at]\[at]
    assets:investments           2.0 AAAA \[at] $1.50  ; \[at]  means per-unit cost
    assets:investments           3.0 AAAA \[at]\[at] $4    ; \[at]\[at] means total cost
    assets:checking            $-7.00

2022-01-02 assert balances
    ; Balances can be asserted for extra error checking, in any transaction.
    assets:investments           0 AAAA = 5.0 AAAA
    assets:pouch                 0 gold = 10 gold
    assets:savings              $0      = $1000

1999-12-31 Ordering transactions by date is recommended but not required.
    ; Postings are not required.

2022.01.01 These date
2022/1/1   formats are
12/31      also allowed (but consistent YYYY-MM-DD is recommended).
\f[R]
.fi
.SS About journal format
.PP
hledger\[aq]s usual data source is a plain text file containing journal
entries in hledger journal format.
This file represents a standard accounting general journal.
I use file names ending in \f[V].journal\f[R], but that\[aq]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.
.PP
hledger\[aq]s journal format is compatible with most of Ledger\[aq]s
journal format, but not all of it.
The differences and interoperation tips are described at hledger and
Ledger.
With some care, and by avoiding incompatible features, you can keep your
hledger journal readable by Ledger and vice versa.
This can useful eg for comparing the behaviour of one app against the
other.
.PP
You can use hledger without learning any more about this file; just use
the add or web or import commands to create and update it.
.PP
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 at hledger.org for the full list.
.PP
Here\[aq]s a description of each part of the file format (and
hledger\[aq]s data model).
.PP
A hledger journal file can contain three kinds of thing: file comments,
transactions, and/or directives (counting periodic transaction rules and
auto posting rules as directives).
.SS Comments
.PP
Lines in the journal will be ignored if they begin with a hash
(\f[V]#\f[R]) or a semicolon (\f[V];\f[R]).
(See also Other syntax.)
hledger will also ignore regions beginning with a \f[V]comment\f[R] line
and ending with an \f[V]end comment\f[R] line (or file end).
Here\[aq]s a suggestion for choosing between them:
.IP \[bu] 2
\f[V]#\f[R] for top-level notes
.IP \[bu] 2
\f[V];\f[R] for commenting out things temporarily
.IP \[bu] 2
\f[V]comment\f[R] for quickly commenting large regions (remember
it\[aq]s there, or you might get confused)
.PP
Eg:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
# a comment line
; another commentline
comment
A multi-line comment block,
continuing until \[dq]end comment\[dq] directive
or the end of the current file.
end comment
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
Some hledger entries can have same-line comments attached to them, from
; (semicolon) to end of line.
See Transaction comments, Posting comments, and Account comments below.
.SS Transactions
.PP
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.
.PP
Each transaction is recorded as a journal entry, beginning with a simple
date in column 0.
This can be followed by any of the following optional fields, separated
by spaces:
.IP \[bu] 2
a status character (empty, \f[V]!\f[R], or \f[V]*\f[R])
.IP \[bu] 2
a code (any short number or text, enclosed in parentheses)
.IP \[bu] 2
a description (any remaining text until end of line or a semicolon)
.IP \[bu] 2
a comment (any remaining text following a semicolon until end of line,
and any following indented lines beginning with a semicolon)
.IP \[bu] 2
0 or more indented \f[I]posting\f[R] lines, describing what was
transferred and the accounts involved (indented comment lines are also
allowed, but not blank lines or non-indented lines).
.PP
Here\[aq]s a simple journal file containing one transaction:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
2008/01/01 income
  assets:bank:checking   $1
  income:salary         $-1
\f[R]
.fi
.SS Dates
.SS Simple dates
.PP
Dates in the journal file use \f[I]simple dates\f[R] format:
\f[V]YYYY-MM-DD\f[R] or \f[V]YYYY/MM/DD\f[R] or \f[V]YYYY.MM.DD\f[R],
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
\f[V]Y\f[R] directive, or the current date when the command is run.
Some examples: \f[V]2010-01-31\f[R], \f[V]2010/01/31\f[R],
\f[V]2010.1.31\f[R], \f[V]1/31\f[R].
.PP
(The UI also accepts simple dates, as well as the more flexible smart
dates documented in the hledger manual.)
.SS Posting dates
.PP
You can give individual postings a different date from their parent
transaction, by adding a posting comment containing a tag (see below)
like \f[V]date:DATE\f[R].
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:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
2015/5/30
    expenses:food     $10  ; food purchased on saturday 5/30
    assets:checking        ; bank cleared it on monday, date:6/1
\f[R]
.fi
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger -f t.j register food
2015-05-30                      expenses:food                  $10           $10
\f[R]
.fi
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger -f t.j register checking
2015-06-01                      assets:checking               $-10          $-10
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
DATE should be a simple date; if the year is not specified it will use
the year of the transaction\[aq]s date.
.PD 0
.P
.PD
The \f[V]date:\f[R] tag must have a valid simple date value if it is
present, eg a \f[V]date:\f[R] tag with no value is not allowed.
.SS Status
.PP
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:
.PP
.TS
tab(@);
l l.
T{
mark \ 
T}@T{
status
T}
_
T{
\ 
T}@T{
unmarked
T}
T{
\f[V]!\f[R]
T}@T{
pending
T}
T{
\f[V]*\f[R]
T}@T{
cleared
T}
.TE
.PP
When reporting, you can filter by status with the
\f[V]-U/--unmarked\f[R], \f[V]-P/--pending\f[R], and
\f[V]-C/--cleared\f[R] flags; or the \f[V]status:\f[R],
\f[V]status:!\f[R], and \f[V]status:*\f[R] queries; or the U, P, C keys
in hledger-ui.
.PP
Note, in Ledger and in older versions of hledger, the \[dq]unmarked\[dq]
state is called \[dq]uncleared\[dq].
As of hledger 1.3 we have renamed it to unmarked for clarity.
.PP
To replicate Ledger and old hledger\[aq]s behaviour of also matching
pending, combine -U and -P.
.PP
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.
.PP
What \[dq]uncleared\[dq], \[dq]pending\[dq], and \[dq]cleared\[dq]
actually mean is up to you.
Here\[aq]s one suggestion:
.PP
.TS
tab(@);
lw(9.7n) lw(60.3n).
T{
status
T}@T{
meaning
T}
_
T{
uncleared
T}@T{
recorded but not yet reconciled; needs review
T}
T{
pending
T}@T{
tentatively reconciled (if needed, eg during a big reconciliation)
T}
T{
cleared
T}@T{
complete, reconciled as far as possible, and considered correct
T}
.TE
.PP
With this scheme, you would use \f[V]-PC\f[R] to see the current balance
at your bank, \f[V]-U\f[R] 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.
.SS Code
.PP
After the status mark, but before the description, you can optionally
write a transaction \[dq]code\[dq], enclosed in parentheses.
This is a good place to record a check number, or some other important
transaction id or reference number.
.SS Description
.PP
A transaction\[aq]s description is the rest of the line following the
date and status mark (or until a comment begins).
Sometimes called the \[dq]narration\[dq] in traditional bookkeeping, it
can be used for whatever you wish, or left blank.
Transaction descriptions can be queried, unlike comments.
.SS Payee and note
.PP
You can optionally include a \f[V]|\f[R] (pipe) character in
descriptions to subdivide the description into separate fields for
payee/payer name on the left (up to the first \f[V]|\f[R]) and an
additional note field on the right (after the first \f[V]|\f[R]).
This may be worthwhile if you need to do more precise querying and
pivoting by payee or by note.
.SS Transaction comments
.PP
Text following \f[V];\f[R], after a transaction description, and/or on
indented lines immediately below it, form comments for that transaction.
They are reproduced by \f[V]print\f[R] but otherwise ignored, except
they may contain tags, which are not ignored.
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
2012-01-01 something  ; a transaction comment
    ; a second line of transaction comment
    expenses   1
    assets
\f[R]
.fi
.SS Postings
.PP
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:
.IP \[bu] 2
(optional) a status character (empty, \f[V]!\f[R], or \f[V]*\f[R]),
followed by a space
.IP \[bu] 2
(required) an account name (any text, optionally containing \f[B]single
spaces\f[R], until end of line or a double space)
.IP \[bu] 2
(optional) \f[B]two or more spaces\f[R] or tabs followed by an amount.
.PP
Positive amounts are being added to the account, negative amounts are
being removed.
.PP
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.
.PP
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.
.SS Account names
.PP
Accounts are the main way of categorising things in hledger.
As in Double Entry Bookkeeping, they can represent real world accounts
(such as a bank account), or more abstract categories such as \[dq]money
borrowed from Frank\[dq] or \[dq]money spent on electricity\[dq].
.PP
You can use any account names you like, but we usually start with the
traditional accounting categories, which in english are
\f[V]assets\f[R], \f[V]liabilities\f[R], \f[V]equity\f[R],
\f[V]revenues\f[R], \f[V]expenses\f[R].
(You might see these referred to as A, L, E, R, X for short.)
.PP
For more precise reporting, we usually divide the top level accounts
into more detailed subaccounts, by writing a full colon between account
name parts.
For example, from the account names \f[V]assets:bank:checking\f[R] and
\f[V]expenses:food\f[R], hledger will infer this hierarchy of five
accounts:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
assets
assets:bank
assets:bank:checking
expenses
expenses:food
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
Shown as an outline, the hierarchical tree structure is more clear:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
assets
 bank
  checking
expenses
 food
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
hledger reports can summarise the account tree to any depth, so you can
go as deep as you like with subcategories, but keeping your account
names relatively simple may be best when starting out.
.PP
Account names may be capitalised or not; they may contain letters,
numbers, symbols, or single spaces.
Note, when an account name and an amount are written on the same line,
they must be separated by \f[B]two or more spaces\f[R] (or tabs).
.PP
Parentheses or brackets enclosing the full account name indicate virtual
postings, described below.
Parentheses or brackets internal to the account name have no special
meaning.
.PP
Account names can be altered temporarily or permanently by account
aliases.
.SS Amounts
.PP
After the account name, there is usually an amount.
(Important: between account name and amount, there must be \f[B]two or
more spaces\f[R].)
.PP
hledger\[aq]s amount format is flexible, supporting several
international formats.
Here are some examples.
Amounts have a number (the \[dq]quantity\[dq]):
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
1
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
\&..and usually a currency symbol or commodity name (more on this
below), to the left or right of the quantity, with or without a
separating space:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$1
4000 AAPL
3 \[dq]green apples\[dq]
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
Amounts can be preceded by a minus sign (or a plus sign, though plus is
the default), The sign can be written before or after a left-side
commodity symbol:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
-$1
$-1
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
One or more spaces between the sign and the number are acceptable when
parsing (but they won\[aq]t be displayed in output):
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
+ $1
$-      1
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
Scientific E notation is allowed:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
1E-6
EUR 1E3
\f[R]
.fi
.SS Decimal marks, digit group marks
.PP
A \f[I]decimal mark\f[R] can be written as a period or a comma:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
1.23
1,23456780000009
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
In the integer part of the quantity (left of the decimal mark), groups
of digits can optionally be separated by a \f[I]digit group mark\f[R] -
a space, comma, or period (different from the decimal mark):
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
     $1,000,000.00
  EUR 2.000.000,00
INR 9,99,99,999.00
      1 000 000.9455
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
Note, a number containing a single digit group mark and no decimal mark
is ambiguous.
Are these digit group marks or decimal marks ?
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
1,000
1.000
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
If you don\[aq]t tell it otherwise, hledger will assume both of the
above are decimal marks, parsing both numbers as 1.
.PP
To prevent confusing parsing mistakes and undetected typos, especially
if your data contains digit group marks (eg, thousands separators), we
recommend explicitly declaring the decimal mark character in each
journal file, using a directive at the top of the file.
The \f[V]decimal-mark\f[R] directive is best, otherwise
\f[V]commodity\f[R] directives will also work.
These are described below.
.SS Commodity
.PP
Amounts in hledger have both a \[dq]quantity\[dq], which is a signed
decimal number, and a \[dq]commodity\[dq], which is a currency symbol,
stock ticker, or any word or phrase describing something you are
tracking.
.PP
If the commodity name contains non-letters (spaces, numbers, or
punctuation), you must always write it inside double quotes
(\f[V]\[dq]green apples\[dq]\f[R], \f[V]\[dq]ABC123\[dq]\f[R]).
.PP
If you write just a bare number, that too will have a commodity, with
name \f[V]\[dq]\[dq]\f[R]; we call that the \[dq]no-symbol
commodity\[dq].
.PP
Actually, hledger combines these single-commodity amounts into more
powerful multi-commodity amounts, which are what it works with most of
the time.
A multi-commodity amount could be, eg:
\f[V]1 USD, 2 EUR, 3.456 TSLA\f[R].
In practice, you will only see multi-commodity amounts in hledger\[aq]s
output; you can\[aq]t write them directly in the journal file.
.PP
(If you are writing scripts or working with hledger\[aq]s internals,
these are the \f[V]Amount\f[R] and \f[V]MixedAmount\f[R] types.)
.SS Directives influencing number parsing and display
.PP
You can add \f[V]decimal-mark\f[R] and \f[V]commodity\f[R] directives to
the journal, to declare and control these things more explicitly and
precisely.
These are described below, but here\[aq]s a quick example:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
# the decimal mark character used by all amounts in this file (all commodities)
decimal-mark .

# display styles for the $, EUR, INR and no-symbol commodities:
commodity $1,000.00
commodity EUR 1.000,00
commodity INR 9,99,99,999.00
commodity 1 000 000.9455
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
.SS Commodity display style
.PP
For the amounts in each commodity, hledger chooses a consistent display
style to use in most reports.
(Exceptions: price amounts, and all amounts displayed by the
\f[V]print\f[R] command, are displayed with all of their decimal digits
visible.)
.PP
A commodity\[aq]s display style is inferred as follows.
.PP
First, if a default commodity is declared with \f[V]D\f[R], this
commodity and its style is applied to any no-symbol amounts in the
journal.
.PP
Then each commodity\[aq]s style is inferred from one of the following,
in order of preference:
.IP \[bu] 2
The commodity directive for that commodity (including the no-symbol
commodity), if any.
.IP \[bu] 2
The amounts in that commodity seen in the journal\[aq]s transactions.
(Posting amounts only; prices and periodic or auto rules are ignored,
currently.)
.IP \[bu] 2
The built-in fallback style, which looks like this: \f[V]$1000.00\f[R].
(Symbol on the left, period decimal mark, two decimal places.)
.PP
A style is inferred from journal amounts as follows:
.IP \[bu] 2
Use the general style (decimal mark, symbol placement) of the first
amount
.IP \[bu] 2
Use the first-seen digit group style (digit group mark, digit group
sizes), if any
.IP \[bu] 2
Use the maximum number of decimal places of all.
.PP
Cost amounts don\[aq]t affect the commodity display style directly, but
occasionally they can do so indirectly (eg when a posting\[aq]s amount
is inferred using a cost).
If you find this causing problems, use a commodity directive to fix the
display style.
.PP
To summarise: each commodity\[aq]s amounts will be normalised to (a) the
style declared by a \f[V]commodity\f[R] directive, or (b) the style of
the first posting amount in the journal, with the first-seen digit group
style and the maximum-seen number of decimal places.
So if your reports are showing amounts in a way you don\[aq]t like, eg
with too many decimal places, use a commodity directive.
Some examples:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
# declare euro, dollar, bitcoin and no-symbol commodities and set their 
# input number formats and output display styles:
commodity EUR 1.000,
commodity $1000.00
commodity 1000.00000000 BTC
commodity 1 000.
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
The inferred commodity style can be overridden by supplying a command
line option.
.SS Rounding
.PP
Amounts are stored internally as decimal numbers with up to 255 decimal
places, and displayed with the number of decimal places specified by the
commodity display style.
Note, hledger uses banker\[aq]s rounding: it rounds to the nearest even
number, eg 0.5 displayed with zero decimal places is \[dq]0\[dq]).
.PP
.SS Costs
.PP
After a posting amount, you can note its cost (when buying) or selling
price (when selling) in another commodity, by writing either
\f[V]\[at] UNITPRICE\f[R] or \f[V]\[at]\[at] TOTALPRICE\f[R] after it.
This indicates a conversion transaction, where one commodity is
exchanged for another.
.PP
(You might also see this called \[dq]transaction price\[dq] in hledger
docs, discussions, or code; that term was directionally neutral and
reminded that it is a price specific to a transaction, but we now just
call it \[dq]cost\[dq], with the understanding that the transaction
could be a purchase or a sale.)
.PP
Costs are usually written explicitly with \f[V]\[at]\f[R] or
\f[V]\[at]\[at]\f[R], but can also be inferred automatically for simple
multi-commodity transactions.
Note, if costs are inferred, the order of postings is significant; the
first posting will have a cost attached, in the commodity of the second.
.PP
As an example, here are several ways to record purchases of a foreign
currency in hledger, using the cost notation either explicitly or
implicitly:
.IP "1." 3
Write the price per unit, as \f[V]\[at] UNITPRICE\f[R] after the amount:
.RS 4
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
2009/1/1
  assets:euros     €100 \[at] $1.35  ; one hundred euros purchased at $1.35 each
  assets:dollars                 ; balancing amount is -$135.00
\f[R]
.fi
.RE
.IP "2." 3
Write the total price, as \f[V]\[at]\[at] TOTALPRICE\f[R] after the
amount:
.RS 4
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
2009/1/1
  assets:euros     €100 \[at]\[at] $135  ; one hundred euros purchased at $135 for the lot
  assets:dollars
\f[R]
.fi
.RE
.IP "3." 3
Specify amounts for all postings, using exactly two commodities, and let
hledger infer the price that balances the transaction.
Note the effect of posting order: the price is added to first posting,
making it \f[V]€100 \[at]\[at] $135\f[R], as in example 2:
.RS 4
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
2009/1/1
  assets:euros     €100          ; one hundred euros purchased
  assets:dollars  $-135          ; for $135
\f[R]
.fi
.RE
.PP
Amounts can be converted to cost at report time using the
\f[V]-B/--cost\f[R] flag; this is discussed more in the ˜COST REPORTING
section.
.PP
Note that the cost normally should be a positive amount, though it\[aq]s
not required to be.
This can be a little confusing, see discussion at --infer-market-prices:
market prices from transactions.
.SS Other cost/lot notations
.PP
A slight digression for Ledger and Beancount users.
Ledger has a number of cost/lot-related notations:
.IP \[bu] 2
\f[V]\[at] UNITCOST\f[R] and \f[V]\[at]\[at] TOTALCOST\f[R]
.RS 2
.IP \[bu] 2
expresses a conversion rate, as in hledger
.IP \[bu] 2
when buying, also creates a lot than can be selected at selling time
.RE
.IP \[bu] 2
\f[V](\[at]) UNITCOST\f[R] and \f[V](\[at]\[at]) TOTALCOST\f[R] (virtual
cost)
.RS 2
.IP \[bu] 2
like the above, but also means \[dq]this cost was exceptional, don\[aq]t
use it when inferring market prices\[dq].
.RE
.PP
Currently, hledger treats the above like \f[V]\[at]\f[R] and
\f[V]\[at]\[at]\f[R]; the parentheses are ignored.
.IP \[bu] 2
\f[V]{=FIXEDUNITCOST}\f[R] and \f[V]{{=FIXEDTOTALCOST}}\f[R] (fixed
price)
.RS 2
.IP \[bu] 2
when buying, means \[dq]this cost is also the fixed price, don\[aq]t let
it fluctuate in value reports\[dq]
.RE
.IP \[bu] 2
\f[V]{UNITCOST}\f[R] and \f[V]{{TOTALCOST}}\f[R] (lot price)
.RS 2
.IP \[bu] 2
can be used identically to \f[V]\[at] UNITCOST\f[R] and
\f[V]\[at]\[at] TOTALCOST\f[R], also creates a lot
.IP \[bu] 2
when selling, combined with \f[V]\[at] ...\f[R], specifies an investment
lot by its cost basis; does not check if that lot is present
.RE
.IP \[bu] 2
and related: \f[V][YYYY/MM/DD]\f[R] (lot date)
.RS 2
.IP \[bu] 2
when buying, attaches this acquisition date to the lot
.IP \[bu] 2
when selling, selects a lot by its acquisition date
.RE
.IP \[bu] 2
\f[V](SOME TEXT)\f[R] (lot note)
.RS 2
.IP \[bu] 2
when buying, attaches this note to the lot
.IP \[bu] 2
when selling, selects a lot by its note
.RE
.PP
Currently, hledger accepts any or all of the above in any order after
the posting amount, but ignores them.
(This can break transaction balancing.)
.PP
For Beancount users, the notation and behaviour is different:
.IP \[bu] 2
\f[V]\[at] UNITCOST\f[R] and \f[V]\[at]\[at] TOTALCOST\f[R]
.RS 2
.IP \[bu] 2
expresses a cost without creating a lot, as in hledger
.IP \[bu] 2
when buying (augmenting) or selling (reducing) a lot, combined with
\f[V]{...}\f[R]: documents the cost/selling price (not used for
transaction balancing)
.RE
.IP \[bu] 2
\f[V]{UNITCOST}\f[R] and \f[V]{{TOTALCOST}}\f[R]
.RS 2
.IP \[bu] 2
when buying (augmenting), expresses the cost for transaction balancing,
and also creates a lot with this cost basis attached
.IP \[bu] 2
when selling (reducing),
.RS 2
.IP \[bu] 2
selects a lot by its cost basis
.IP \[bu] 2
raises an error if that lot is not present or can not be selected
unambiguously (depending on booking method configured)
.IP \[bu] 2
expresses the selling price for transaction balancing
.RE
.RE
.PP
Currently, hledger accepts the
\f[V]{UNITCOST}\f[R]/\f[V]{{TOTALCOST}}\f[R] notation but ignores it.
.IP \[bu] 2
variations: \f[V]{}\f[R], \f[V]{YYYY-MM-DD}\f[R],
\f[V]{\[dq]LABEL\[dq]}\f[R], \f[V]{UNITCOST, \[dq]LABEL\[dq]}\f[R],
\f[V]{UNITCOST, YYYY-MM-DD, \[dq]LABEL\[dq]}\f[R] etc.
.PP
Currently, hledger rejects these.
.SS Balance assertions
.PP
hledger supports Ledger-style balance assertions in journal files.
These look like, for example, \f[V]= EXPECTEDBALANCE\f[R] following a
posting\[aq]s amount.
Eg here we assert the expected dollar balance in accounts a and b after
each posting:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
2013/1/1
  a   $1  =$1
  b       =$-1

2013/1/2
  a   $1  =$2
  b  $-1  =$-2
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
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
\f[V]-I/--ignore-assertions\f[R] flag, which can be useful for
troubleshooting or for reading Ledger files.
(Note: this flag currently does not disable balance assignments,
described below).
.SS Assertions and ordering
.PP
hledger sorts an account\[aq]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.)
.PP
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.
.SS Assertions and multiple included files
.PP
Multiple files included with the \f[V]include\f[R] directive are
processed as if concatenated into one file, preserving their order and
the posting order within each file.
It means that balance assertions in later files will see balance from
earlier files.
.PP
And if you have multiple postings to an account on the same day, split
across multiple files, and you want to assert the account\[aq]s balance
on that day, you\[aq]ll need to put the assertion in the right file -
the last one in the sequence, probably.
.SS Assertions and multiple -f files
.PP
Unlike \f[V]include\f[R], when multiple files are specified on the
command line with multiple \f[V]-f/--file\f[R] options, balance
assertions will not see balance from earlier files.
This can be useful when you do not want problems in earlier files to
disrupt valid assertions in later files.
.PP
If you do want assertions to see balance from earlier files, use
\f[V]include\f[R], or concatenate the files temporarily.
.SS Assertions and commodities
.PP
The asserted balance must be a simple single-commodity amount, and in
fact the assertion checks only this commodity\[aq]s balance within the
(possibly multi-commodity) account balance.
This is how assertions work in Ledger also.
We could call this a \[dq]partial\[dq] balance assertion.
.PP
To assert the balance of more than one commodity in an account, you can
write multiple postings, each asserting one commodity\[aq]s balance.
.PP
You can make a stronger \[dq]total\[dq] balance assertion by writing a
double equals sign (\f[V]== EXPECTEDBALANCE\f[R]).
This asserts that there are no other commodities in the account besides
the asserted one (or at least, that their balance is 0).
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
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 \[aq]a\[aq] also contains 1€
  a    0 ==  $1
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
It\[aq]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:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
2013/1/1
  a:usd   $1
  a:euro   1€
  b

2013/1/2
  a        0 ==  0
  a:usd    0 == $1
  a:euro   0 ==  1€
\f[R]
.fi
.SS Assertions and prices
.PP
Balance assertions ignore costs, and should normally be written without
one:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
2019/1/1
  (a)     $1 \[at] €1 = $1
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
We do allow prices to be written there, however, and print shows them,
even though they don\[aq]t affect whether the assertion passes or fails.
This is for backward compatibility (hledger\[aq]s close command used to
generate balance assertions with prices), and because balance
\f[I]assignments\f[R] do use them (see below).
.SS Assertions and subaccounts
.PP
The balance assertions above (\f[V]=\f[R] and \f[V]==\f[R]) do not count
the balance from subaccounts; they check the account\[aq]s exclusive
balance only.
You can assert the balance including subaccounts by writing \f[V]=*\f[R]
or \f[V]==*\f[R], eg:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
2019/1/1
  equity:opening balances
  checking:a       5
  checking:b       5
  checking         1  ==* 11
\f[R]
.fi
.SS Assertions and virtual postings
.PP
Balance assertions always consider both real and virtual postings; they
are not affected by the \f[V]--real/-R\f[R] flag or \f[V]real:\f[R]
query.
.SS Assertions and auto postings
.PP
Balance assertions \f[I]are\f[R] affected by the \f[V]--auto\f[R] flag,
which generates auto postings, which can alter account balances.
Because auto postings are optional in hledger, accounts affected by them
effectively have two balances.
But balance assertions can only test one or the other of these.
So to avoid making fragile assertions, either:
.IP \[bu] 2
assert the balance calculated with \f[V]--auto\f[R], and always use
\f[V]--auto\f[R] with that file
.IP \[bu] 2
or assert the balance calculated without \f[V]--auto\f[R], and never use
\f[V]--auto\f[R] with that file
.IP \[bu] 2
or avoid balance assertions on accounts affected by auto postings (or
avoid auto postings entirely).
.SS Assertions and precision
.PP
Balance assertions compare the exactly calculated amounts, which are not
always what is shown by reports.
Eg a commodity directive may limit the display precision, but this will
not affect balance assertions.
Balance assertion failure messages show exact amounts.
.SS Posting comments
.PP
Text following \f[V];\f[R], at the end of a posting line, and/or on
indented lines immediately below it, form comments for that posting.
They are reproduced by \f[V]print\f[R] but otherwise ignored, except
they may contain tags, which are not ignored.
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
2012-01-01
    expenses   1  ; a comment for posting 1
    assets
    ; a comment for posting 2
    ; a second comment line for posting 2
\f[R]
.fi
.SS Tags
.PP
Tags are a way to add extra labels or labelled data to transactions,
postings, or accounts, which you can then search or pivot on.
.PP
They are written as a word (optionally hyphenated) immediately followed
by a full colon, in a transaction or posting or account directive\[aq]s
comment.
(This is an exception to the usual rule that things in comments are
ignored.)
Eg, here four different tags are recorded: one on the checking account,
two on the transaction, and one on the expenses posting:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
account assets:checking         ; accounttag:

2017/1/16 bought groceries      ; transactiontag-1:
    ; transactiontag-2:
    assets:checking        $-1
    expenses:food           $1  ; postingtag:
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
Postings also inherit tags from their transaction and their account.
And transactions also acquire tags from their postings (and
postings\[aq] accounts).
So in the example above, the expenses posting effectively has all four
tags (by inheriting from account and transaction), and the transaction
also has all four tags (by acquiring from the expenses posting).
.PP
You can list tag names with \f[V]hledger tags [NAMEREGEX]\f[R], or match
by tag name with a \f[V]tag:NAMEREGEX\f[R] query.
.SS Tag values
.PP
Tags can have a value, which is any text after the colon up until a
comma or end of line (with surrounding whitespace removed).
Note this means that hledger tag values can not contain commas.
Eg in the following posting, the three tags\[aq] values are \[dq]value
1\[dq], \[dq]value 2\[dq], and \[dq]\[dq] (empty) respectively:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
    expenses:food   $10    ; foo, tag1: value 1 , tag2:value 2, bar tag3: , baz
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
Note that tags can be repeated, and are additive rather than overriding:
when the same tag name is seen again with a new value, the new
name:value pair is added to the tags.
(It is not possible to override a tag\[aq]s value or remove a tag.)
.PP
You can list a tag\[aq]s values with
\f[V]hledger tags TAGNAME --values\f[R], or match by tag value with a
\f[V]tag:NAMEREGEX=VALUEREGEX\f[R] query.
.SS Directives
.PP
Besides transactions, there is something else you can put in a
\f[V]journal\f[R] file: directives.
These are declarations, beginning with a keyword, that modify
hledger\[aq]s behaviour.
Some directives can have more specific subdirectives, indented below
them.
hledger\[aq]s directives are similar to Ledger\[aq]s in many cases, but
there are also many differences.
Directives are not required, but can be useful.
Here are the main directives:
.PP
.TS
tab(@);
lw(39.7n) lw(30.3n).
T{
purpose
T}@T{
directive
T}
_
T{
\f[B]READING DATA:\f[R]
T}@T{
T}
T{
Rewrite account names
T}@T{
\f[V]alias\f[R]
T}
T{
Comment out sections of the file
T}@T{
\f[V]comment\f[R]
T}
T{
Declare file\[aq]s decimal mark, to help parse amounts accurately
T}@T{
\f[V]decimal-mark\f[R]
T}
T{
Include other data files
T}@T{
\f[V]include\f[R]
T}
T{
\f[B]GENERATING DATA:\f[R]
T}@T{
T}
T{
Generate recurring transactions or budget goals
T}@T{
\f[V]\[ti]\f[R]
T}
T{
Generate extra postings on existing transactions
T}@T{
\f[V]=\f[R]
T}
T{
\f[B]CHECKING FOR ERRORS:\f[R]
T}@T{
T}
T{
Define valid entities to provide more error checking
T}@T{
\f[V]account\f[R], \f[V]commodity\f[R], \f[V]payee\f[R], \f[V]tag\f[R]
T}
T{
\f[B]REPORTING:\f[R]
T}@T{
T}
T{
Declare accounts\[aq] type and display order
T}@T{
\f[V]account\f[R]
T}
T{
Declare commodity display styles
T}@T{
\f[V]commodity\f[R]
T}
T{
Declare market prices
T}@T{
\f[V]P\f[R]
T}
.TE
.SS Directives and multiple files
.PP
Directives vary in their scope, ie which journal entries and which input
files they affect.
Most often, a directive will affect the following entries and included
files if any, until the end of the current file - and no further.
You might find this inconvenient!
For example, \f[V]alias\f[R] directives do not affect parent or sibling
files.
But there are usually workarounds; for example, put \f[V]alias\f[R]
directives in your top-most file, before including other files.
.PP
The restriction, though it may be annoying at first, is in a good cause;
it allows reports to be stable and deterministic, independent of the
order of input.
Without it, reports could show different numbers depending on the order
of -f options, or the positions of include directives in your files.
.SS Directive effects
.PP
Here are all hledger\[aq]s directives, with their effects and scope
summarised - nine main directives, plus four others which we consider
non-essential:
.PP
.TS
tab(@);
lw(3.5n) lw(64.1n) lw(2.4n).
T{
directive
T}@T{
what it does
T}@T{
ends at file end?
T}
_
T{
\f[B]\f[VB]account\f[B]\f[R]
T}@T{
Declares an account, for checking all entries in all files; and its
display order and type.
Subdirectives: any text, ignored.
T}@T{
N
T}
T{
\f[B]\f[VB]alias\f[B]\f[R]
T}@T{
Rewrites account names, in following entries until end of current file
or \f[V]end aliases\f[R].
Command line equivalent: \f[V]--alias\f[R]
T}@T{
Y
T}
T{
\f[B]\f[VB]comment\f[B]\f[R]
T}@T{
Ignores part of the journal file, until end of current file or
\f[V]end comment\f[R].
T}@T{
Y
T}
T{
\f[B]\f[VB]commodity\f[B]\f[R]
T}@T{
Declares up to four things: 1.
a commodity symbol, for checking all amounts in all files 2.
the decimal mark for parsing amounts of this commodity, in the following
entries until end of current file (if there is no \f[V]decimal-mark\f[R]
directive) 3.
and the display style for amounts of this commodity 4.
which is also the precision to use for balanced-transaction checking in
this commodity.
Takes precedence over \f[V]D\f[R].
Subdirectives: \f[V]format\f[R] (Ledger-compatible syntax).
Command line equivalent: \f[V]-c/--commodity-style\f[R]
T}@T{
N,Y,N,N
T}
T{
\f[B]\f[VB]decimal-mark\f[B]\f[R]
T}@T{
Declares the decimal mark, for parsing amounts of all commodities in
following entries until next \f[V]decimal-mark\f[R] or end of current
file.
Included files can override.
Takes precedence over \f[V]commodity\f[R] and \f[V]D\f[R].
T}@T{
Y
T}
T{
\f[B]\f[VB]include\f[B]\f[R]
T}@T{
Includes entries and directives from another file, as if they were
written inline.
Command line alternative: multiple \f[V]-f/--file\f[R]
T}@T{
N
T}
T{
\f[B]\f[VB]payee\f[B]\f[R]
T}@T{
Declares a payee name, for checking all entries in all files.
T}@T{
N
T}
T{
\f[B]\f[VB]P\f[B]\f[R]
T}@T{
Declares the market price of a commodity on some date, for value
reports.
T}@T{
N
T}
T{
\f[B]\f[VB]\[ti]\f[B]\f[R] (tilde)
T}@T{
Declares a periodic transaction rule that generates future transactions
with \f[V]--forecast\f[R] and budget goals with
\f[V]balance --budget\f[R].
T}@T{
N
T}
T{
Other syntax:
T}@T{
T}@T{
T}
T{
\f[B]\f[VB]apply account\f[B]\f[R]
T}@T{
Prepends a common parent account to all account names, in following
entries until end of current file or \f[V]end apply account\f[R].
T}@T{
Y
T}
T{
\f[B]\f[VB]D\f[B]\f[R]
T}@T{
Sets a default commodity to use for no-symbol amounts;and, if there is
no \f[V]commodity\f[R] directive for this commodity: its decimal mark,
balancing precision, and display style, as above.
T}@T{
Y,Y,N,N
T}
T{
\f[B]\f[VB]Y\f[B]\f[R]
T}@T{
Sets a default year to use for any yearless dates, in following entries
until end of current file.
T}@T{
Y
T}
T{
\f[B]\f[VB]=\f[B]\f[R] (equals)
T}@T{
Declares an auto posting rule that generates extra postings on matched
transactions with \f[V]--auto\f[R], in current, parent, and child files
(but not sibling files, see #1212).
T}@T{
partly
T}
T{
\f[B]Other Ledger directives\f[R]
T}@T{
Other directives from Ledger\[aq]s file format are accepted but ignored.
T}@T{
T}
.TE
.SS \f[V]account\f[R] directive
.PP
\f[V]account\f[R] directives can be used to declare accounts (ie, the
places that amounts are transferred from and to).
Though not required, these declarations can provide several benefits:
.IP \[bu] 2
They can document your intended chart of accounts, providing a
reference.
.IP \[bu] 2
In strict mode, they restrict which accounts may be posted to by
transactions, which helps detect typos.
.IP \[bu] 2
They control account display order in reports, allowing non-alphabetic
sorting (eg Revenues to appear above Expenses).
.IP \[bu] 2
They help with account name completion (in hledger add, hledger-web,
hledger-iadd, ledger-mode, etc.)
.IP \[bu] 2
They can store additional account information as comments, or as tags
which can be used to filter or pivot reports.
.IP \[bu] 2
They can help hledger know your accounts\[aq] types (asset, liability,
equity, revenue, expense), affecting reports like balancesheet and
incomestatement.
.PP
They are written as the word \f[V]account\f[R] followed by a
hledger-style account name, eg:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
account assets:bank:checking
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
Note, however, that accounts declared in account directives are not
allowed to have surrounding brackets and parentheses, unlike accounts
used in postings.
So the following journal will not parse:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
account (assets:bank:checking)
\f[R]
.fi
.SS Account comments
.PP
Text following \f[B]two or more spaces\f[R] and \f[V];\f[R] at the end
of an account directive line, and/or following \f[V];\f[R] on indented
lines immediately below it, form comments for that account.
They are ignored except they may contain tags, which are not ignored.
.PP
The two-space requirement for same-line account comments is because
\f[V];\f[R] is allowed in account names.
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
account assets:bank:checking    ; same-line comment, at least 2 spaces before the semicolon
  ; next-line comment
  ; some tags - type:A, acctnum:12345
\f[R]
.fi
.SS Account subdirectives
.PP
Ledger-style indented subdirectives are also accepted, but currently
ignored:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
account assets:bank:checking
  format subdirective is ignored
\f[R]
.fi
.SS Account error checking
.PP
By default, accounts need not be declared; they come into existence when
a posting references them.
This is convenient, but it means hledger can\[aq]t warn you when you
mis-spell an account name in the journal.
Usually you\[aq]ll find that error later, as an extra account in balance
reports, or an incorrect balance when reconciling.
.PP
In strict mode, enabled with the \f[V]-s\f[R]/\f[V]--strict\f[R] flag,
hledger will report an error if any transaction uses an account name
that has not been declared by an account directive.
Some notes:
.IP \[bu] 2
The declaration is case-sensitive; transactions must use the correct
account name capitalisation.
.IP \[bu] 2
The account directive\[aq]s scope is \[dq]whole file and below\[dq] (see
directives).
This means it affects all of the current file, and any files it
includes, but not parent or sibling files.
The position of account directives within the file does not matter,
though it\[aq]s usual to put them at the top.
.IP \[bu] 2
Accounts can only be declared in \f[V]journal\f[R] files, but will
affect included files of all types.
.IP \[bu] 2
It\[aq]s currently not possible to declare \[dq]all possible
subaccounts\[dq] with a wildcard; every account posted to must be
declared.
.SS Account display order
.PP
The order in which account directives are written influences the order
in which accounts appear in reports, hledger-ui, hledger-web etc.
By default accounts appear in alphabetical order, but if you add these
account directives to the journal file:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
account assets
account liabilities
account equity
account revenues
account expenses
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
those accounts will be displayed in declaration order:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger accounts -1
assets
liabilities
equity
revenues
expenses
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
Any undeclared accounts are displayed last, in alphabetical order.
.PP
Sorting is done at each level of the account tree, within each group of
sibling accounts under the same parent.
And currently, this directive:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
account other:zoo
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
would influence the position of \f[V]zoo\f[R] among
\f[V]other\f[R]\[aq]s subaccounts, but not the position of
\f[V]other\f[R] among the top-level accounts.
This means:
.IP \[bu] 2
you will sometimes declare parent accounts (eg \f[V]account other\f[R]
above) that you don\[aq]t intend to post to, just to customize their
display order
.IP \[bu] 2
sibling accounts stay together (you couldn\[aq]t display \f[V]x:y\f[R]
in between \f[V]a:b\f[R] and \f[V]a:c\f[R]).
.SS Account types
.PP
hledger knows that accounts come in several types: assets, liabilities,
expenses and so on.
This enables easy reports like balancesheet and incomestatement, and
filtering by account type with the \f[V]type:\f[R] query.
.PP
As a convenience, hledger will detect these account types automatically
if you are using common english-language top-level account names
(described below).
But generally we recommend you declare types explicitly, by adding a
\f[V]type:\f[R] tag to your top-level account directives.
Subaccounts will inherit the type of their parent.
The tag\[aq]s value should be one of the five main account types:
.IP \[bu] 2
\f[V]A\f[R] or \f[V]Asset\f[R] (things you own)
.IP \[bu] 2
\f[V]L\f[R] or \f[V]Liability\f[R] (things you owe)
.IP \[bu] 2
\f[V]E\f[R] or \f[V]Equity\f[R] (investment/ownership; balanced
counterpart of assets & liabilities)
.IP \[bu] 2
\f[V]R\f[R] or \f[V]Revenue\f[R] (what you received money from, AKA
income; technically part of Equity)
.IP \[bu] 2
\f[V]X\f[R] or \f[V]Expense\f[R] (what you spend money on; technically
part of Equity)
.PP
or, it can be (these are used less often):
.IP \[bu] 2
\f[V]C\f[R] or \f[V]Cash\f[R] (a subtype of Asset, indicating liquid
assets for the cashflow report)
.IP \[bu] 2
\f[V]V\f[R] or \f[V]Conversion\f[R] (a subtype of Equity, for
conversions (see COST REPORTING).)
.PP
Here is a typical set of account type declarations:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
account assets             ; type: A
account liabilities        ; type: L
account equity             ; type: E
account revenues           ; type: R
account expenses           ; type: X

account assets:bank        ; type: C
account assets:cash        ; type: C

account equity:conversion  ; type: V
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
Here are some tips for working with account types.
.IP \[bu] 2
The rules for inferring types from account names are as follows.
These are just a convenience that sometimes help new users get going; if
they don\[aq]t work for you, just ignore them and declare your account
types.
See also Regular expressions.
.RS 2
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
If account\[aq]s name contains this (CI) regular expression:            | its type is:
--------------------------------------------------------------------|-------------
\[ha]assets?(:.+)?:(cash|bank|che(ck|que?)(ing)?|savings?|current)(:|$) | Cash
\[ha]assets?(:|$)                                                       | Asset
\[ha](debts?|liabilit(y|ies))(:|$)                                      | Liability
\[ha]equity:(trad(e|ing)|conversion)s?(:|$)                             | Conversion
\[ha]equity(:|$)                                                        | Equity
\[ha](income|revenue)s?(:|$)                                            | Revenue
\[ha]expenses?(:|$)                                                     | Expense
\f[R]
.fi
.RE
.IP \[bu] 2
If you declare any account types, it\[aq]s a good idea to declare an
account for all of the account types, because a mixture of declared and
name-inferred types can disrupt certain reports.
.IP \[bu] 2
Certain uses of account aliases can disrupt account types.
See Rewriting accounts > Aliases and account types.
.IP \[bu] 2
As mentioned above, subaccounts will inherit a type from their parent
account.
More precisely, an account\[aq]s type is decided by the first of these
that exists:
.RS 2
.IP "1." 3
A \f[V]type:\f[R] declaration for this account.
.IP "2." 3
A \f[V]type:\f[R] declaration in the parent accounts above it,
preferring the nearest.
.IP "3." 3
An account type inferred from this account\[aq]s name.
.IP "4." 3
An account type inferred from a parent account\[aq]s name, preferring
the nearest parent.
.IP "5." 3
Otherwise, it will have no type.
.RE
.IP \[bu] 2
For troubleshooting, you can list accounts and their types with:
.RS 2
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger accounts --types [ACCTPAT] [-DEPTH] [type:TYPECODES]
\f[R]
.fi
.RE
.SS \f[V]alias\f[R] directive
.PP
You can define account alias rules which rewrite your account names, or
parts of them, before generating reports.
This can be useful for:
.IP \[bu] 2
expanding shorthand account names to their full form, allowing easier
data entry and a less verbose journal
.IP \[bu] 2
adapting old journals to your current chart of accounts
.IP \[bu] 2
experimenting with new account organisations, like a new hierarchy
.IP \[bu] 2
combining two accounts into one, eg to see their sum or difference on
one line
.IP \[bu] 2
customising reports
.PP
Account aliases also rewrite account names in account directives.
They do not affect account names being entered via hledger add or
hledger-web.
.PP
Account aliases are very powerful.
They are generally easy to use correctly, but you can also generate
invalid account names with them; more on this below.
.PP
See also Rewrite account names.
.SS Basic aliases
.PP
To set an account alias, use the \f[V]alias\f[R] directive in your
journal file.
This affects all subsequent journal entries in the current file or its
included files (but note: not sibling or parent files).
The spaces around the = are optional:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
alias OLD = NEW
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
Or, you can use the \f[V]--alias \[aq]OLD=NEW\[aq]\f[R] option on the
command line.
This affects all entries.
It\[aq]s useful for trying out aliases interactively.
.PP
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:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
alias checking = assets:bank:wells fargo:checking
; rewrites \[dq]checking\[dq] to \[dq]assets:bank:wells fargo:checking\[dq], or \[dq]checking:a\[dq] to \[dq]assets:bank:wells fargo:checking:a\[dq]
\f[R]
.fi
.SS Regex aliases
.PP
There is also a more powerful variant that uses a regular expression,
indicated by wrapping the pattern in forward slashes.
(This is the only place where hledger requires forward slashes around a
regular expression.)
.PP
Eg:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
alias /REGEX/ = REPLACEMENT
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
or:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger --alias \[aq]/REGEX/=REPLACEMENT\[aq] ...
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
Any part of an account name matched by REGEX will be replaced by
REPLACEMENT.
REGEX is case-insensitive as usual.
.PP
If you need to match a forward slash, escape it with a backslash, eg
\f[V]/\[rs]/=:\f[R].
.PP
If REGEX contains parenthesised match groups, these can be referenced by
the usual backslash and number in REPLACEMENT:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
alias /\[ha](.+):bank:([\[ha]:]+):(.*)/ = \[rs]1:\[rs]2 \[rs]3
; rewrites \[dq]assets:bank:wells fargo:checking\[dq] to  \[dq]assets:wells fargo checking\[dq]
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
REPLACEMENT continues to the end of line (or on command line, to end of
option argument), so it can contain trailing whitespace.
.SS Combining aliases
.PP
You can define as many aliases as you like, using journal directives
and/or command line options.
.PP
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.
.PP
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:
.IP "1." 3
\f[V]alias\f[R] directives preceding the journal entry, most recently
parsed first (ie, reading upward from the journal entry, bottom to top)
.IP "2." 3
\f[V]--alias\f[R] options, in the order they appeared on the command
line (left to right).
.PP
In other words, for (an account name in) a given journal entry:
.IP \[bu] 2
the nearest alias declaration before/above the entry is applied first
.IP \[bu] 2
the next alias before/above that will be be applied next, and so on
.IP \[bu] 2
aliases defined after/below the entry do not affect it.
.PP
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.
.PP
In case of trouble, adding \f[V]--debug=6\f[R] to the command line will
show which aliases are being applied when.
.SS Aliases and multiple files
.PP
As explained at Directives and multiple files, \f[V]alias\f[R]
directives do not affect parent or sibling files.
Eg in this command,
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
hledger -f a.aliases -f b.journal
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
account aliases defined in a.aliases will not affect b.journal.
Including the aliases doesn\[aq]t work either:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
include a.aliases

2023-01-01  ; not affected by a.aliases
  foo  1
  bar
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
This means that account aliases should usually be declared at the start
of your top-most file, like this:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
alias foo=Foo
alias bar=Bar

2023-01-01  ; affected by aliases above
  foo  1
  bar

include c.journal  ; also affected
\f[R]
.fi
.SS \f[V]end aliases\f[R] directive
.PP
You can clear (forget) all currently defined aliases (seen in the
journal so far, or defined on the command line) with this directive:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
end aliases
\f[R]
.fi
.SS Aliases can generate bad account names
.PP
Be aware that account aliases can produce malformed account names, which
could cause confusing reports or invalid \f[V]print\f[R] output.
For example, you could erase all account names:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
2021-01-01
  a:aa     1
  b
\f[R]
.fi
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger print --alias \[aq]/.*/=\[aq]
2021-01-01
                   1
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
The above \f[V]print\f[R] output is not a valid journal.
Or you could insert an illegal double space, causing \f[V]print\f[R]
output that would give a different journal when reparsed:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
2021-01-01
  old    1
  other
\f[R]
.fi
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger print --alias old=\[dq]new  USD\[dq] | hledger -f- print
2021-01-01
    new             USD 1
    other
\f[R]
.fi
.SS Aliases and account types
.PP
If an account with a type declaration (see Declaring accounts > Account
types) is renamed by an alias, normally the account type remains in
effect.
.PP
However, renaming in a way that reshapes the account tree (eg renaming
parent accounts but not their children, or vice versa) could prevent
child accounts from inheriting the account type of their parents.
.PP
Secondly, if an account\[aq]s type is being inferred from its name,
renaming it by an alias could prevent or alter that.
.PP
If you are using account aliases and the \f[V]type:\f[R] query is not
matching accounts as you expect, try troubleshooting with the accounts
command, eg something like:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger accounts --alias assets=bassetts type:a
\f[R]
.fi
.SS \f[V]commodity\f[R] directive
.PP
You can use \f[V]commodity\f[R] directives to declare your commodities.
In fact the \f[V]commodity\f[R] directive performs several functions at
once:
.IP "1." 3
It declares commodities which may be used in the journal.
This can optionally be enforced, providing useful error checking.
(Cf Commodity error checking)
.IP "2." 3
It declares which 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 \f[V]1,000\f[R] and
\f[V]1.000\f[R] as 1.
(Cf Amounts)
.IP "3." 3
It declares how to render the commodity\[aq]s amounts when displaying
output - the decimal mark, any digit group marks, the number of decimal
places, symbol placement and so on.
(Cf Commodity display style)
.PP
You will run into one of the problems solved by commodity directives
sooner or later, so we recommend using them, for robust and predictable
parsing and display.
.PP
Generally you should put them at the top of your journal file (since for
function 2, they affect only following amounts, cf #793).
.PP
A commodity directive is just the word \f[V]commodity\f[R] followed by a
sample amount, like this:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
;commodity SAMPLEAMOUNT

commodity $1000.00
commodity 1,000.0000 AAAA  ; optional same-line comment
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
It may also be written on multiple lines, and use the \f[V]format\f[R]
subdirective, as in Ledger.
Note in this case the commodity symbol appears twice; it must be the
same in both places:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
;commodity SYMBOL
;  format SAMPLEAMOUNT

; 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
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
Other indented subdirectives are currently ignored.
.PP
Remember that if the commodity symbol contains spaces, numbers, or
punctuation, it must be enclosed in double quotes (cf Commodity).
.PP
The amount\[aq]s quantity does not matter; only the format is
significant.
It must include a decimal mark - either a period or a comma - followed
by 0 or more decimal digits.
.PP
A few more examples:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
# number formats for $, EUR, INR and the no-symbol commodity:
commodity $1,000.00
commodity EUR 1.000,00
commodity INR 9,99,99,999.0
commodity 1 000 000.
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
Note hledger normally uses banker\[aq]s rounding, so 0.5 displayed with
zero decimal digits is \[dq]0\[dq].
(More at Commodity display style.)
.PP
Even in the presence of commodity directives, the commodity display
style can still be overridden by supplying a command line option.
.SS Commodity error checking
.PP
In strict mode, enabled with the \f[V]-s\f[R]/\f[V]--strict\f[R] flag,
hledger will report an error if a commodity symbol is used that has not
been declared by a \f[V]commodity\f[R] directive.
This works similarly to account error checking, see the notes there for
more details.
.PP
Note, this disallows amounts without a commodity symbol, because
currently it\[aq]s not possible (?)
to declare the \[dq]no-symbol\[dq] commodity with a directive.
This is one exception for convenience: zero amounts are always allowed
to have no commodity symbol.
.SS \f[V]decimal-mark\f[R] directive
.PP
You can use a \f[V]decimal-mark\f[R] directive - usually one per file,
at the top of the file - to declare which character represents a decimal
mark when parsing amounts in this file.
It can look like
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
decimal-mark .
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
or
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
decimal-mark ,
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
This prevents any ambiguity when parsing numbers in the file, so we
recommend it, especially if the file contains digit group marks (eg
thousands separators).
.SS \f[V]include\f[R] directive
.PP
You can pull in the content of additional files by writing an include
directive, like this:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
include FILEPATH
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
Only journal files can include, and only journal, timeclock or timedot
files can be included (not CSV files, currently).
.PP
If the file path does not begin with a slash, it is relative to the
current file\[aq]s folder.
.PP
A tilde means home directory, eg: \f[V]include \[ti]/main.journal\f[R].
.PP
The path may contain glob patterns to match multiple files, eg:
\f[V]include *.journal\f[R].
.PP
There is limited support for recursive wildcards: \f[V]**/\f[R] (the
slash is required) matches 0 or more subdirectories.
It\[aq]s not super convenient since you have to avoid include cycles and
including directories, but this can be done, eg:
\f[V]include */**/*.journal\f[R].
.PP
The path may also be prefixed to force a specific file format,
overriding the file extension (as described in hledger.1 -> Input
files): \f[V]include timedot:\[ti]/notes/2023*.md\f[R].
.SS \f[V]P\f[R] directive
.PP
The \f[V]P\f[R] directive declares a market price, which is a conversion
rate between two commodities on a certain date.
This allows value reports to convert amounts of one commodity to their
value in another, on or after that date.
These prices are often obtained from a stock exchange, cryptocurrency
exchange, the or foreign exchange market.
.PP
The format is:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
P DATE COMMODITY1SYMBOL COMMODITY2AMOUNT
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
DATE is a simple date, COMMODITY1SYMBOL is the symbol of the commodity
being priced, and COMMODITY2AMOUNT is the amount (symbol and quantity)
of commodity 2 that one unit of commodity 1 is worth on this date.
Examples:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
# one euro was worth $1.35 from 2009-01-01 onward:
P 2009-01-01 € $1.35

# and $1.40 from 2010-01-01 onward:
P 2010-01-01 € $1.40
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
The \f[V]-V\f[R], \f[V]-X\f[R] and \f[V]--value\f[R] flags use these
market prices to show amount values in another commodity.
See Valuation.
.PP
.SS \f[V]payee\f[R] directive
.PP
\f[V]payee PAYEE NAME\f[R]
.PP
This directive can be used to declare a limited set of payees which may
appear in transaction descriptions.
The \[dq]payees\[dq] check will report an error if any transaction
refers to a payee that has not been declared.
Eg:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
payee Whole Foods
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
Any indented subdirectives are currently ignored.
.SS \f[V]tag\f[R] directive
.PP
\f[V]tag TAGNAME\f[R]
.PP
This directive can be used to declare a limited set of tag names allowed
in tags.
TAGNAME should be a valid tag name (no spaces).
Eg:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
tag  item-id
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
Any indented subdirectives are currently ignored.
.PP
The \[dq]tags\[dq] check will report an error if any undeclared tag name
is used.
It is quite easy to accidentally create a tag through normal use of
colons in comments(#comments]; if you want to prevent this, you can
declare and check your tags .
.SS Periodic transactions
.PP
The \f[V]\[ti]\f[R] directive declares recurring transactions.
Such directives allow hledger to generate temporary future transactions
(visible in reports, not in the journal file) to help with forecasting
or budgeting.
.PP
Periodic transactions can be a little tricky, so before you use them,
read this whole section, or at least these tips:
.IP "1." 3
Two spaces accidentally added or omitted will cause you trouble - read
about this below.
.IP "2." 3
For troubleshooting, show the generated transactions with
\f[V]hledger print --forecast tag:generated\f[R] or
\f[V]hledger register --forecast tag:generated\f[R].
.IP "3." 3
Forecasted transactions will begin only after the last non-forecasted
transaction\[aq]s date.
.IP "4." 3
Forecasted transactions will end 6 months from today, by default.
See below for the exact start/end rules.
.IP "5." 3
period expressions can be tricky.
Their documentation needs improvement, but is worth studying.
.IP "6." 3
Some period expressions with a repeating interval must begin on a
natural boundary of that interval.
Eg in \f[V]weekly from DATE\f[R], DATE must be a monday.
\f[V]\[ti] weekly from 2019/10/1\f[R] (a tuesday) will give an error.
.IP "7." 3
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\[aq]s a bit inconsistent with the above.)
Eg: \f[V]\[ti] every 10th day of month from 2023/01\f[R], which is
equivalent to \f[V]\[ti] every 10th day of month from 2023/01/01\f[R],
will be adjusted to start on 2019/12/10.
.SS Periodic rule syntax
.PP
A periodic transaction rule looks like a normal journal entry, with the
date replaced by a tilde (\f[V]\[ti]\f[R]) followed by a period
expression (mnemonic: \f[V]\[ti]\f[R] looks like a recurring sine
wave.):
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
# every first of month
\[ti] monthly
    expenses:rent          $2000
    assets:bank:checking

# every 15th of month in 2023\[aq]s first quarter:
\[ti] monthly from 2023-04-15 to 2023-06-16
    expenses:utilities          $400
    assets:bank:checking
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
The period expression is the same syntax used for specifying
multi-period reports, just interpreted differently; there, it specifies
report periods; here it specifies recurrence dates (the periods\[aq]
start dates).
.SS Periodic rules and relative dates
.PP
Partial or relative dates (like \f[V]12/31\f[R], \f[V]25\f[R],
\f[V]tomorrow\f[R], \f[V]last week\f[R], \f[V]next quarter\f[R]) are
usually not recommended in periodic rules, since the results will change
as time passes.
If used, they will be interpreted relative to, in order of preference:
.IP "1." 3
the first day of the default year specified by a recent \f[V]Y\f[R]
directive
.IP "2." 3
or the date specified with \f[V]--today\f[R]
.IP "3." 3
or the date on which you are running the report.
.PP
They will not be affected at all by report period or forecast period
dates.
.SS Two spaces between period expression and description!
.PP
If the period expression is followed by a transaction description, these
must be separated by \f[B]two or more spaces\f[R].
This helps hledger know where the period expression ends, so that
descriptions can not accidentally alter their meaning, as in this
example:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
; 2 or more spaces needed here, so the period is not understood as \[dq]every 2 months in 2023\[dq]
;               ||
;               vv
\[ti] every 2 months  in 2023, we will review
    assets:bank:checking   $1500
    income:acme inc
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
So,
.IP \[bu] 2
Do write two spaces between your period expression and your transaction
description, if any.
.IP \[bu] 2
Don\[aq]t accidentally write two spaces in the middle of your period
expression.
.SS Auto postings
.PP
The \f[V]=\f[R] directive declares a rule for generating temporary extra
postings on transactions.
Wherever the rule matches an existing posting, it can add one or more
companion postings below that one, optionally influenced by the matched
posting\[aq]s amount.
This can be useful for generating tax postings with a standard
percentage, for example.
.PP
Note that depending on generated data is not ideal for financial records
(it\[aq]s less portable, less future-proof, less auditable by others,
and less robust, since other features like balance assertions will
depend on using or not using \f[V]--auto\f[R]).
.PP
An auto posting rule looks a bit like a transaction:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
= QUERY
    ACCOUNT  AMOUNT
    ...
    ACCOUNT  [AMOUNT]
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
except the first line is an equals sign (mnemonic: \f[V]=\f[R] suggests
matching), followed by a query (which matches existing postings), and
each \[dq]posting\[dq] line describes a posting to be generated, and the
posting amounts can be:
.IP \[bu] 2
a normal amount with a commodity symbol, eg \f[V]$2\f[R].
This will be used as-is.
.IP \[bu] 2
a number, eg \f[V]2\f[R].
The commodity symbol (if any) from the matched posting will be added to
this.
.IP \[bu] 2
a numeric multiplier, eg \f[V]*2\f[R] (a star followed by a number N).
The matched posting\[aq]s amount (and total price, if any) will be
multiplied by N.
.IP \[bu] 2
a multiplier with a commodity symbol, eg \f[V]*$2\f[R] (a star, number
N, and symbol S).
The matched posting\[aq]s amount will be multiplied by N, and its
commodity symbol will be replaced with S.
.PP
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:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
= expenses:groceries \[aq]expenses:dining out\[aq]
    (budget:funds:dining out)                 *-1
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
Some examples:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
; 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
\f[R]
.fi
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ 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
\f[R]
.fi
.SS Auto postings and multiple files
.PP
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[V]-f\f[R]/\f[V]--file\f[R] are used - see #1212).
.SS Auto postings and dates
.PP
A posting date (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.
.SS Auto postings and transaction balancing / inferred amounts / balance assertions
.PP
Currently, auto postings are added:
.IP \[bu] 2
after missing amounts are inferred, and transactions are checked for
balancedness,
.IP \[bu] 2
but before balance assertions are checked.
.PP
Note this means that journal entries must be balanced both before and
after auto postings are added.
This changed in hledger 1.12+; see #893 for background.
.PP
This also means that you cannot have more than one auto-posting with a
missing amount applied to a given transaction, as it will be unable to
infer amounts.
.SS Auto posting tags
.PP
Automated postings will have some extra tags:
.IP \[bu] 2
\f[V]generated-posting:= QUERY\f[R] - shows this was generated by an
auto posting rule, and the query
.IP \[bu] 2
\f[V]_generated-posting:= QUERY\f[R] - a hidden tag, which does not
appear in hledger\[aq]s output.
This can be used to match postings generated \[dq]just now\[dq], rather
than generated in the past and saved to the journal.
.PP
Also, any transaction that has been changed by auto posting rules will
have these tags added:
.IP \[bu] 2
\f[V]modified:\f[R] - this transaction was modified
.IP \[bu] 2
\f[V]_modified:\f[R] - a hidden tag not appearing in the comment; this
transaction was modified \[dq]just now\[dq].
.SS Auto postings on forecast transactions only
.PP
Tip: you can can make auto postings that will apply to forecast
transactions but not recorded transactions, by adding
\f[V]tag:_generated-transaction\f[R] to their QUERY.
This can be useful when generating new journal entries to be saved in
the journal.
.SS Other syntax
.PP
hledger journal format supports quite a few other features, mainly to
make interoperating with or converting from Ledger easier.
Note some of the features below are powerful and can be useful in
special cases, but in general, features in this section are considered
less important or even not recommended for most users.
Downsides are mentioned to help you decide if you want to use them.
.SS Balance assignments
.PP
Ledger-style balance assignments are also supported.
These are like balance assertions, but with no posting amount on the
left side of the equals sign; instead it is calculated automatically so
as to satisfy the assertion.
This can be a convenience during data entry, eg when setting opening
balances:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
; 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
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
or when adjusting a balance to reality:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
; no cash left; update balance, record any untracked spending as a generic expense
2016/1/15
  assets:cash    = $0
  expenses:misc
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
The calculated amount depends on the account\[aq]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).
.PP
Downsides: using balance assignments makes your journal less explicit;
to know the exact amount posted, you have to run hledger or do the
calculations yourself, instead of just reading it.
Also balance assignments\[aq] forcing of balances can hide errors.
These things make your financial data less portable, less future-proof,
and less trustworthy in an audit.
.SS Balance assignments and prices
.PP
A cost in a balance assignment will cause the calculated amount to have
that price attached:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
2019/1/1
  (a)             = $1 \[at] €2
\f[R]
.fi
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger print --explicit
2019-01-01
    (a)         $1 \[at] €2 = $1 \[at] €2
\f[R]
.fi
.SS Bracketed posting dates
.PP
For setting posting dates and secondary posting dates, Ledger\[aq]s
bracketed date syntax is also supported: \f[V][DATE]\f[R],
\f[V][DATE=DATE2]\f[R] or \f[V][=DATE2]\f[R] in posting comments.
hledger will attempt to parse any square-bracketed sequence of the
\f[V]0123456789/-.=\f[R] characters in this way.
With this syntax, DATE infers its year from the transaction and DATE2
infers its year from DATE.
.PP
Downsides: another syntax to learn, redundant with hledger\[aq]s
\f[V]date:\f[R]/\f[V]date2:\f[R] tags, and confusingly similar to
Ledger\[aq]s lot date syntax.
.SS \f[V]D\f[R] directive
.PP
\f[V]D AMOUNT\f[R]
.PP
This directive sets a default commodity, to be used for any subsequent
commodityless amounts (ie, plain numbers) seen while parsing the
journal.
This effect lasts until the next \f[V]D\f[R] directive, or the end of
the journal.
.PP
For compatibility/historical reasons, \f[V]D\f[R] also acts like a
\f[V]commodity\f[R] directive (setting the commodity\[aq]s decimal mark
for parsing and display style for output).
So its argument is not just a commodity symbol, but a full amount
demonstrating the style.
The amount must include a decimal mark (either period or comma).
Eg:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
; 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
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
Interactions with other directives:
.PP
For setting a commodity\[aq]s display style, a \f[V]commodity\f[R]
directive has highest priority, then a \f[V]D\f[R] directive.
.PP
For detecting a commodity\[aq]s decimal mark during parsing,
\f[V]decimal-mark\f[R] has highest priority, then \f[V]commodity\f[R],
then \f[V]D\f[R].
.PP
For checking commodity symbols with the check command, a
\f[V]commodity\f[R] directive is required
(\f[V]hledger check commodities\f[R] ignores \f[V]D\f[R] directives).
.PP
Downsides: omitting commodity symbols makes your financial data less
explicit, less portable, and less trustworthy in an audit.
It is usually an unsustainable shortcut; sooner or later you will want
to track multiple commodities.
D is overloaded with functions redundant with \f[V]commodity\f[R] and
\f[V]decimal-mark\f[R].
And it works differently from Ledger\[aq]s \f[V]D\f[R].
.SS \f[V]apply account\f[R] directive
.PP
This directive sets a default parent account, which will be prepended to
all accounts in following entries, until an \f[V]end apply account\f[R]
directive or end of current file.
Eg:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
apply account home

2010/1/1
    food    $10
    cash

end apply account
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
is equivalent to:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
2010/01/01
    home:food           $10
    home:cash          $-10
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
\f[V]account\f[R] directives are also affected, and so is any
\f[V]include\f[R]d content.
.PP
Account names entered via hledger add or hledger-web are not affected.
.PP
Account aliases, if any, are applied after the parent account is
prepended.
.PP
Downsides: this can make your financial data less explicit, less
portable, and less trustworthy in an audit.
.SS \f[V]Y\f[R] directive
.PP
\f[V]Y YEAR\f[R]
.PP
or (deprecated backward-compatible forms):
.PP
\f[V]year YEAR\f[R] \f[V]apply year YEAR\f[R]
.PP
The space is optional.
This sets a default year to be used for subsequent dates which don\[aq]t
specify a year.
Eg:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
Y2009  ; set default year to 2009

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

year 2010  ; 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
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
Downsides: omitting the year (from primary transaction dates, at least)
makes your financial data less explicit, less portable, and less
trustworthy in an audit.
Such dates can get separated from their corresponding Y directive, eg
when evaluating a region of the journal in your editor.
A missing Y directive makes reports dependent on today\[aq]s date.
.SS Secondary dates
.PP
A secondary date is written after the primary date, following an equals
sign.
If the year is omitted, the primary date\[aq]s year is assumed.
When running reports, the primary (left) date is used by default, but
with the \f[V]--date2\f[R] flag (or \f[V]--aux-date\f[R] or
\f[V]--effective\f[R]), the secondary (right) date will be used instead.
.PP
The meaning of secondary dates is up to you, but it\[aq]s best to follow
a consistent rule.
Eg \[dq]primary = the bank\[aq]s clearing date, secondary = date the
transaction was initiated, if different\[dq].
.PP
Downsides: makes your financial data more complicated, less portable,
and less trustworthy in an audit.
Keeping the meaning of the two dates consistent requires discipline, and
you have to remember which reporting mode is appropriate for a given
report.
Posting dates are simpler and better.
.SS Star comments
.PP
Lines beginning with \f[V]*\f[R] (star/asterisk) are also comment lines.
This feature allows Emacs users to insert org headings in their journal,
allowing them to fold/unfold/navigate it like an outline when viewed
with org mode.
.PP
Downsides: another, unconventional comment syntax to learn.
Decreases your journal\[aq]s portability.
And switching to Emacs org mode just for folding/unfolding meant losing
the benefits of ledger mode; nowadays you can add outshine mode to
ledger mode to get folding without losing ledger mode\[aq]s features.
.SS Valuation expressions
.PP
Ledger allows a valuation function or value to be written in double
parentheses after an amount.
hledger ignores these.
.SS Virtual postings
.PP
A posting with parentheses around the account name
(\f[V](some:account)\f[R]) is called a \f[I]unbalanced virtual
posting\f[R].
Such postings do not participate in transaction balancing.
(And if you write them without an amount, a zero amount is always
inferred.)
These can occasionally be convenient for special circumstances, but they
violate double entry bookkeeping and make your data less portable across
applications, so many people avoid using them at all.
.PP
A posting with brackets around the account name
(\f[V][some:account]\f[R]) is called a \f[I]balanced virtual
posting\f[R].
The balanced virtual postings in a transaction must add up to zero, just
like ordinary postings, but separately from them.
These are not part of double entry bookkeeping either, but they are at
least balanced.
An example:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
2022-01-01 buy food with cash, update budget envelope subaccounts, & something else
  assets:cash                    $-10  ; <- these balance each other
  expenses:food                    $7  ; <-
  expenses:food                    $3  ; <-
  [assets:checking:budget:food]  $-10  ;   <- and these balance each other
  [assets:checking:available]     $10  ;   <-
  (something:else)                 $5  ;     <- this is not required to balance
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
Ordinary postings, whose account names are neither parenthesised nor
bracketed, are called \f[I]real postings\f[R].
You can exclude virtual postings from reports with the
\f[V]-R/--real\f[R] flag or a \f[V]real:1\f[R] query.
.SS Other Ledger directives
.PP
These other Ledger directives are currently accepted but ignored.
This allows hledger to read more Ledger files, but be aware that
hledger\[aq]s reports may differ from Ledger\[aq]s if you use these.
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
apply fixed COMM AMT
apply tag   TAG
assert      EXPR
bucket / A  ACCT
capture     ACCT REGEX
check       EXPR
define      VAR=EXPR
end apply fixed
end apply tag
end apply year
end tag
eval / expr EXPR
python
  PYTHONCODE
tag         NAME
value       EXPR
--command-line-flags
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
See also https://hledger.org/ledger.html for a detailed hledger/Ledger
syntax comparison.
.PP
.SH CSV
.PP
hledger can read CSV files (Character Separated Value - usually comma,
semicolon, or tab) containing dated records, automatically converting
each record into a transaction.
.PP
(To learn about \f[I]writing\f[R] CSV, see CSV output.)
.PP
For best error messages when reading CSV/TSV/SSV files, make sure they
have a corresponding \f[V].csv\f[R], \f[V].tsv\f[R] or \f[V].ssv\f[R]
file extension or use a hledger file prefix (see File Extension below).
.PP
Each CSV file must be described by a corresponding \f[I]rules file\f[R].
.PD 0
.P
.PD
This contains rules describing the CSV data (header line, fields layout,
date format etc.), how to construct hledger transactions from it, and
how to categorise transactions based on description or other attributes.
.PP
By default hledger looks for a rules file named like the CSV file with
an extra \f[V].rules\f[R] extension, in the same directory.
Eg when asked to read \f[V]foo/FILE.csv\f[R], hledger looks for
\f[V]foo/FILE.csv.rules\f[R].
You can specify a different rules file with the \f[V]--rules-file\f[R]
option.
If no rules file is found, hledger will create a sample rules file,
which you\[aq]ll need to adjust.
.PP
At minimum, the rules file must identify the date and amount fields, and
often it also specifies the date format and how many header lines there
are.
Here\[aq]s a simple CSV file and a rules file for it:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
Date, Description, Id, Amount
12/11/2019, Foo, 123, 10.23
\f[R]
.fi
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
# basic.csv.rules
skip         1
fields       date, description, , amount
date-format  %d/%m/%Y
\f[R]
.fi
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger print -f basic.csv
2019-11-12 Foo
    expenses:unknown           10.23
    income:unknown            -10.23
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
There\[aq]s an introductory Importing CSV data tutorial on hledger.org,
and more CSV rules examples below, and a larger collection at
https://github.com/simonmichael/hledger/tree/master/examples/csv.
.SS CSV rules cheatsheet
.PP
The following kinds of rule can appear in the rules file, in any order.
(Blank lines and lines beginning with \f[V]#\f[R] or \f[V];\f[R] or
\f[V]*\f[R] are ignored.)
.PP
.TS
tab(@);
lw(23.7n) lw(46.3n).
T{
\f[B]\f[VB]source\f[B]\f[R]
T}@T{
optionally declare which file to read data from
T}
T{
\f[B]\f[VB]separator\f[B]\f[R]
T}@T{
declare the field separator, instead of relying on file extension
T}
T{
\f[B]\f[VB]skip\f[B]\f[R]
T}@T{
skip one or more header lines at start of file
T}
T{
\f[B]\f[VB]date-format\f[B]\f[R]
T}@T{
declare how to parse CSV dates/date-times
T}
T{
\f[B]\f[VB]timezone\f[B]\f[R]
T}@T{
declare the time zone of ambiguous CSV date-times
T}
T{
\f[B]\f[VB]newest-first\f[B]\f[R]
T}@T{
improve txn order when: there are multiple records, newest first, all
with the same date
T}
T{
\f[B]\f[VB]intra-day-reversed\f[B]\f[R]
T}@T{
improve txn order when: same-day txns are in opposite order to the
overall file
T}
T{
\f[B]\f[VB]decimal-mark\f[B]\f[R]
T}@T{
declare the decimal mark used in CSV amounts, when ambiguous
T}
T{
\f[B]\f[VB]fields\f[B] list\f[R]
T}@T{
name CSV fields for easy reference, and optionally assign their values
to hledger fields
T}
T{
\f[B]Field assignment\f[R]
T}@T{
assign a CSV value or interpolated text value to a hledger field
T}
T{
\f[B]\f[VB]if\f[B] block\f[R]
T}@T{
conditionally assign values to hledger fields, or \f[V]skip\f[R] a
record or \f[V]end\f[R] (skip rest of file)
T}
T{
\f[B]\f[VB]if\f[B] table\f[R]
T}@T{
conditionally assign values to hledger fields, using compact syntax
T}
T{
\f[B]\f[VB]balance-type\f[B]\f[R]
T}@T{
select which type of balance assertions/assignments to generate
T}
T{
\f[B]\f[VB]include\f[B]\f[R]
T}@T{
inline another CSV rules file
T}
.TE
.PP
Working with CSV tips can be found below, including How CSV rules are
evaluated.
.SS \f[V]source\f[R]
.PP
If you tell hledger to read a csv file with \f[V]-f foo.csv\f[R], it
will look for rules in \f[V]foo.csv.rules\f[R].
Or, you can tell it to read the rules file, with
\f[V]-f foo.csv.rules\f[R], and it will look for data in
\f[V]foo.csv\f[R] (since 1.30).
.PP
These are mostly equivalent, but the second method provides some extra
features.
For one, the data file can be missing, without causing an error; it is
just considered empty.
And, you can specify a different data file by adding a \[dq]source\[dq]
rule:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
source ./Checking1.csv
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
If you specify just a file name with no path, hledger will look for it
in your system\[aq]s downloads directory (\f[V]\[ti]/Downloads\f[R],
currently):
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
source Checking1.csv
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
And if you specify a glob pattern, hledger will read the most recent of
the matched files (useful with repeated downloads):
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
source Checking1*.csv
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
See also \[dq]Working with CSV > Reading files specified by rule\[dq].
.SS \f[V]separator\f[R]
.PP
You can use the \f[V]separator\f[R] rule to read other kinds of
character-separated data.
The argument is any single separator character, or the words
\f[V]tab\f[R] or \f[V]space\f[R] (case insensitive).
Eg, for comma-separated values (CSV):
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
separator ,
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
or for semicolon-separated values (SSV):
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
separator ;
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
or for tab-separated values (TSV):
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
separator TAB
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
If the input file has a \f[V].csv\f[R], \f[V].ssv\f[R] or \f[V].tsv\f[R]
file extension (or a \f[V]csv:\f[R], \f[V]ssv:\f[R], \f[V]tsv:\f[R]
prefix), the appropriate separator will be inferred automatically, and
you won\[aq]t need this rule.
.SS \f[V]skip\f[R]
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
skip N
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
The word \f[V]skip\f[R] followed by a number (or no number, meaning 1)
tells hledger to ignore this many non-empty lines at the start of the
input data.
You\[aq]ll need this whenever your CSV data contains header lines.
Note, empty and blank lines are skipped automatically, so you don\[aq]t
need to count those.
.PP
\f[V]skip\f[R] has a second meaning: it can be used inside if blocks
(described below), to skip one or more records whenever the condition is
true.
Records skipped in this way are ignored, except they are still required
to be valid CSV.
.SS \f[V]date-format\f[R]
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
date-format DATEFMT
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
This is a helper for the \f[V]date\f[R] (and \f[V]date2\f[R]) fields.
If your CSV dates are not formatted like \f[V]YYYY-MM-DD\f[R],
\f[V]YYYY/MM/DD\f[R] or \f[V]YYYY.MM.DD\f[R], you\[aq]ll need to add a
date-format rule describing them with a strptime-style date parsing
pattern - see
https://hackage.haskell.org/package/time/docs/Data-Time-Format.html#v:formatTime.
The pattern must parse the CSV date value completely.
Some examples:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
# MM/DD/YY
date-format %m/%d/%y
\f[R]
.fi
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
# D/M/YYYY
# The - makes leading zeros optional.
date-format %-d/%-m/%Y
\f[R]
.fi
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
# YYYY-Mmm-DD
date-format %Y-%h-%d
\f[R]
.fi
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
# M/D/YYYY HH:MM AM some other junk
# Note the time and junk must be fully parsed, though only the date is used.
date-format %-m/%-d/%Y %l:%M %p some other junk
\f[R]
.fi
.SS \f[V]timezone\f[R]
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
timezone TIMEZONE
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
When CSV contains date-times that are implicitly in some time zone other
than yours, but containing no explicit time zone information, you can
use this rule to declare the CSV\[aq]s native time zone, which helps
prevent off-by-one dates.
.PP
When the CSV date-times do contain time zone information, you don\[aq]t
need this rule; instead, use \f[V]%Z\f[R] in \f[V]date-format\f[R] (or
\f[V]%z\f[R], \f[V]%EZ\f[R], \f[V]%Ez\f[R]; see the formatTime link
above).
.PP
In either of these cases, hledger will do a time-zone-aware conversion,
localising the CSV date-times to your current system time zone.
If you prefer to localise to some other time zone, eg for
reproducibility, you can (on unix at least) set the output timezone with
the TZ environment variable, eg:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ TZ=-1000 hledger print -f foo.csv  # or TZ=-1000 hledger import foo.csv
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
\f[V]timezone\f[R] currently does not understand timezone names, except
\[dq]UTC\[dq], \[dq]GMT\[dq], \[dq]EST\[dq], \[dq]EDT\[dq],
\[dq]CST\[dq], \[dq]CDT\[dq], \[dq]MST\[dq], \[dq]MDT\[dq],
\[dq]PST\[dq], or \[dq]PDT\[dq].
For others, use numeric format: +HHMM or -HHMM.
.SS \f[V]newest-first\f[R]
.PP
hledger tries to ensure that the generated transactions will be ordered
chronologically, including intra-day transactions.
Usually it can auto-detect how the CSV records are ordered.
But if it encounters CSV where all records are on the same date, it
assumes that the records are oldest first.
If in fact the CSV\[aq]s records are normally newest first, like:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
2022-10-01, txn 3...
2022-10-01, txn 2...
2022-10-01, txn 1...
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
you can add the \f[V]newest-first\f[R] rule to help hledger generate the
transactions in correct order.
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
# same-day CSV records are newest first
newest-first
\f[R]
.fi
.SS \f[V]intra-day-reversed\f[R]
.PP
CSV records for each day are sometimes ordered in reverse compared to
the overall date order.
Eg, here dates are newest first, but the transactions on each date are
oldest first:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
2022-10-02, txn 3...
2022-10-02, txn 4...
2022-10-01, txn 1...
2022-10-01, txn 2...
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
In this situation, add the \f[V]intra-day-reversed\f[R] rule, and
hledger will compensate, improving the order of transactions.
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
# transactions within each day are reversed with respect to the overall date order
intra-day-reversed
\f[R]
.fi
.SS \f[V]decimal-mark\f[R]
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
decimal-mark .
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
or:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
decimal-mark ,
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
hledger automatically accepts either period or comma as a decimal mark
when parsing numbers (cf Amounts).
However if any numbers in the CSV contain digit group marks, such as
thousand-separating commas, you should declare the decimal mark
explicitly with this rule, to avoid misparsed numbers.
.SS \f[V]fields\f[R] list
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
fields FIELDNAME1, FIELDNAME2, ...
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
A fields list (the word \f[V]fields\f[R] followed by comma-separated
field names) is optional, but convenient.
It does two things:
.IP "1." 3
It names the CSV field in each column.
This can be convenient if you are referencing them in other rules, so
you can say \f[V]%SomeField\f[R] instead of remembering \f[V]%13\f[R].
.IP "2." 3
Whenever you use one of the special hledger field names (described
below), it assigns the CSV value in this position to that hledger field.
This is the quickest way to populate hledger\[aq]s fields and build a
transaction.
.PP
Here\[aq]s an example that says \[dq]use the 1st, 2nd and 4th fields as
the transaction\[aq]s date, description and amount; name the last two
fields for later reference; and ignore the others\[dq]:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
fields date, description, , amount, , , somefield, anotherfield
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
In a fields list, the separator is always comma; it is unrelated to the
CSV file\[aq]s separator.
Also:
.IP \[bu] 2
There must be least two items in the list (at least one comma).
.IP \[bu] 2
Field names may not contain spaces.
Spaces before/after field names are optional.
.IP \[bu] 2
Field names may contain \f[V]_\f[R] (underscore) or \f[V]-\f[R]
(hyphen).
.IP \[bu] 2
Fields you don\[aq]t care about can be given a dummy name or an empty
name.
.PP
If the CSV contains column headings, it\[aq]s convenient to use these
for your field names, suitably modified (eg lower-cased with spaces
replaced by underscores).
.PP
Sometimes you may want to alter a CSV field name to avoid assigning to a
hledger field with the same name.
Eg you could call the CSV\[aq]s \[dq]balance\[dq] field
\f[V]balance_\f[R] to avoid directly setting hledger\[aq]s
\f[V]balance\f[R] field (and generating a balance assertion).
.SS Field assignment
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
HLEDGERFIELD FIELDVALUE
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
Field assignments are the more flexible way to assign CSV values to
hledger fields.
They can be used instead of or in addition to a fields list (see above).
.PP
To assign a value to a hledger field, write the field name (any of the
standard hledger field/pseudo-field names, defined below), a space,
followed by a text value on the same line.
This text value may interpolate CSV fields, referenced by their 1-based
position in the CSV record (\f[V]%N\f[R]), or by the name they were
given in the fields list (\f[V]%CSVFIELD\f[R]).
.PP
Some examples:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
# set the amount to the 4th CSV field, with \[dq] USD\[dq] appended
amount %4 USD

# combine three fields to make a comment, containing note: and date: tags
comment note: %somefield - %anotherfield, date: %1
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
Tips:
.IP \[bu] 2
Interpolation strips outer whitespace (so a CSV value like
\f[V]\[dq] 1 \[dq]\f[R] becomes \f[V]1\f[R] when interpolated) (#1051).
.IP \[bu] 2
Interpolations always refer to a CSV field - you can\[aq]t interpolate a
hledger field.
(See Referencing other fields below).
.SS Field names
.PP
Note the two kinds of field names mentioned here, and used only in
hledger CSV rules files:
.IP "1." 3
\f[B]CSV field names\f[R] (\f[V]CSVFIELD\f[R] in these docs): you can
optionally name the CSV columns for easy reference (since hledger
doesn\[aq]t yet automatically recognise column headings in a CSV file),
by writing arbitrary names in a \f[V]fields\f[R] list, eg:
.RS 4
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
fields When, What, Some_Id, Net, Total, Foo, Bar
\f[R]
.fi
.RE
.IP "2." 3
Special \f[B]hledger field names\f[R] (\f[V]HLEDGERFIELD\f[R] in these
docs): you must set at least some of these to generate the hledger
transaction from a CSV record, by writing them as the left hand side of
a field assignment, eg:
.RS 4
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
date        %When
code        %Some_Id
description %What
comment     %Foo %Bar
amount1     $ %Total
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
or directly in a \f[V]fields\f[R] list:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
fields date, description, code, , amount1, Foo, Bar
currency $
comment  %Foo %Bar
\f[R]
.fi
.RE
.PP
Here are all the special hledger field names available, and what happens
when you assign values to them:
.SS date field
.PP
Assigning to \f[V]date\f[R] sets the transaction date.
.SS date2 field
.PP
\f[V]date2\f[R] sets the transaction\[aq]s secondary date, if any.
.SS status field
.PP
\f[V]status\f[R] sets the transaction\[aq]s status, if any.
.SS code field
.PP
\f[V]code\f[R] sets the transaction\[aq]s code, if any.
.SS description field
.PP
\f[V]description\f[R] sets the transaction\[aq]s description, if any.
.SS comment field
.PP
\f[V]comment\f[R] sets the transaction\[aq]s comment, if any.
.PP
\f[V]commentN\f[R], where N is a number, sets the Nth posting\[aq]s
comment.
.PP
You can assign multi-line comments by writing literal \f[V]\[rs]n\f[R]
in the code.
A comment starting with \f[V]\[rs]n\f[R] will begin on a new line.
.PP
Comments can contain tags, as usual.
.SS account field
.PP
Assigning to \f[V]accountN\f[R], where N is 1 to 99, sets the account
name of the Nth posting, and causes that posting to be generated.
.PP
Most often there are two postings, so you\[aq]ll want to set
\f[V]account1\f[R] and \f[V]account2\f[R].
Typically \f[V]account1\f[R] is associated with the CSV file, and is set
once with a top-level assignment, while \f[V]account2\f[R] is set based
on each transaction\[aq]s description, in conditional rules.
.PP
If a posting\[aq]s account name is left unset but its amount is set (see
below), a default account name will be chosen (like
\[dq]expenses:unknown\[dq] or \[dq]income:unknown\[dq]).
.SS amount field
.PP
Amount setting can get a bit complex.
Assigning to \f[V]amount\f[R] is sufficient for simple transactions, but
there are four field name variants you can use for different situations:
.IP \[bu] 2
\f[B]\f[VB]amountN\f[B] sets a specific posting\[aq]s amount from one
CSV field or arbitrary value.\f[R]
.PD 0
.P
.PD
Assigning to \f[V]amountN\f[R] sets the amount of the Nth posting - and
also causes that posting to be generated.
N is most often 1 or 2 but can go up to 99, potentially generating a
99-posting transaction.
(Posting numbers don\[aq]t have to be consecutive; higher posting
numbers can sometimes be useful with conditional rules, to ensure a
certain ordering of postings.)
.IP \[bu] 2
\f[B]\f[VB]amountN-in/-out\f[B] sets a specific posting\[aq]s amount
from two CSV fields.\f[R]
.PD 0
.P
.PD
When the amount is provided as two CSV fields -
\[dq]Debit\[dq]/\[dq]Credit\[dq],
\[dq]Deposit\[dq]/\[dq]Withdrawal\[dq], \[dq]Money In\[dq]/\[dq]Money
Out\[dq] or similar - assign those fields to \f[V]amountN-in\f[R] and
\f[V]amountN-out\f[R] respectively (or possibly the other way round,
depending on signs).
This will set the Nth posting\[aq]s amount to whichever of the two CSV
field values is non-zero.
Some notes:
.RS 2
.IP \[bu] 2
Don\[aq]t mix \f[V]amountN\f[R] and \f[V]amountN-in\f[R]/\f[V]-out\f[R].
When you have one CSV amount field, use \f[V]amountN\f[R].
When you have two CSV amount fields, use
\f[V]amountN-in\f[R]/\f[V]amountN-out\f[R].
.IP \[bu] 2
\f[V]amountN-in\f[R] and \f[V]amountN-out\f[R] are always used together,
as a pair.
Assign to both of them.
.IP \[bu] 2
They do not generate two separate postings; rather, they generate the
Nth posting\[aq]s single amount, from the value found in one or other of
the two CSV fields.
.IP \[bu] 2
In each record, at least one of the two CSV fields must contain a zero
amount or be empty.
.IP \[bu] 2
hledger assumes the two CSV fields contain unsigned numbers, and it will
automatically negate the -out amount.
.IP \[bu] 2
This variant can be convenient, but it doesn\[aq]t handle every
two-amount-field situation; if you need more flexibility, use an
\f[V]if\f[R] rule (see \[dq]Setting amounts\[dq] below).
.RE
.PP
The other two variants are older and considered legacy syntax, but can
still be convenient sometimes:
.IP \[bu] 2
\f[B]\f[VB]amount\f[B] sets posting 1 and 2\[aq]s amounts from one CSV
field or value.\f[R]
.PD 0
.P
.PD
Assigning to \f[V]amount\f[R], with no posting number,
.RS 2
.IP \[bu] 2
sets posting 1\[aq]s amount (like \f[V]amount1\f[R])
.IP \[bu] 2
sets posting 2\[aq]s amount to the same amount but with opposite sign;
and also converts it to cost if it has a cost price
.IP \[bu] 2
can be overridden by \f[V]amount1\f[R] and/or \f[V]amount2\f[R]
assignments.
(This helps with incremental migration of old rules files to the newer
syntax.)
.RE
.IP \[bu] 2
\f[B]\f[VB]amount-in/-out\f[B] sets posting 1 and 2\[aq]s amounts from
two CSV fields.\f[R]
.PD 0
.P
.PD
Assigning \f[V]amount-in\f[R] and \f[V]amount-out\f[R], with no posting
numbers, to two CSV fields reads whichever of the two values is non-zero
as the amount, and then sets the first two posting amounts as above.
.PP
We recommend using only one of these variants within a rules file,
rather than mixing them.
And remember that a \f[V]fields\f[R] list can also do assignments, so eg
naming a CSV field \[dq]amount\[dq] counts as an assignment to
\f[V]amount\f[R]; if you don\[aq]t want that, call it something else,
like \[dq]amount_\[dq].
.PP
In addition to this section, please see also the tips beginning at
\[dq]Working with CSV > Setting amounts\[dq] below.
.SS currency field
.PP
\f[V]currency\f[R] sets a currency symbol, to be prepended to all
postings\[aq] amounts.
You can use this if the CSV amounts do not have a currency symbol, eg if
it is in a separate column.
.PP
\f[V]currencyN\f[R] prepends a currency symbol to just the Nth
posting\[aq]s amount.
.SS balance field
.PP
\f[V]balanceN\f[R] sets a balance assertion amount (or if the posting
amount is left empty, a balance assignment) on posting N.
.PP
\f[V]balance\f[R] is a compatibility spelling for hledger <1.17; it is
equivalent to \f[V]balance1\f[R].
.PP
You can adjust the type of assertion/assignment with the
\f[V]balance-type\f[R] rule (see below).
.PP
See Tips below for more about setting amounts and currency.
.SS \f[V]if\f[R] block
.PP
Rules can be applied conditionally, depending on patterns in the CSV
data.
This allows flexibility; in particular, it is how you can categorise
transactions, selecting an appropriate account name based on their
description (for example).
There are two ways to write conditional rules: \[dq]if blocks\[dq],
described here, and \[dq]if tables\[dq], described below.
.PP
An if block is the word \f[V]if\f[R] and one or more \[dq]matcher\[dq]
expressions (can be a word or phrase), one per line, starting either on
the same or next line; followed by one or more indented rules.
Eg,
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
if MATCHER
 RULE
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
or
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
if
MATCHER
MATCHER
MATCHER
 RULE
 RULE
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
If any of the matchers succeeds, all of the indented rules will be
applied.
They are usually field assignments, but the following special rules may
also be used within an if block:
.IP \[bu] 2
\f[V]skip\f[R] - skips the matched CSV record (generating no transaction
from it)
.IP \[bu] 2
\f[V]end\f[R] - skips the rest of the current CSV file.
.PP
Some examples:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
# if the record contains \[dq]groceries\[dq], set account2 to \[dq]expenses:groceries\[dq]
if groceries
 account2 expenses:groceries
\f[R]
.fi
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
# if the record contains any of these phrases, set account2 and a transaction comment as shown
if
monthly service fee
atm transaction fee
banking thru software
 account2 expenses:business:banking
 comment  XXX deductible ? check it
\f[R]
.fi
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
# if an empty record is seen (assuming five fields), ignore the rest of the CSV file
if ,,,,
 end
\f[R]
.fi
.SS Matchers
.PP
There are two kinds:
.IP "1." 3
A record matcher is a word or single-line text fragment or regular
expression (\f[V]REGEX\f[R]), which hledger will try to match
case-insensitively anywhere within the CSV record.
.PD 0
.P
.PD
Eg: \f[V]whole foods\f[R]
.IP "2." 3
A field matcher is preceded with a percent sign and CSV field name
(\f[V]%CSVFIELD REGEX\f[R]).
hledger will try to match these just within the named CSV field.
.PD 0
.P
.PD
Eg: \f[V]%date 2023\f[R]
.PP
The regular expression is (as usual in hledger) a POSIX extended regular
expression, that also supports GNU word boundaries (\f[V]\[rs]b\f[R],
\f[V]\[rs]B\f[R], \f[V]\[rs]<\f[R], \f[V]\[rs]>\f[R]), and nothing else.
If you have trouble, see \[dq]Regular expressions\[dq] in the hledger
manual (https://hledger.org/hledger.html#regular-expressions).
.PP
With record matchers, it\[aq]s important to know that the record matched
is not the original CSV record, but a modified one: separators will be
converted to commas, and enclosing double quotes (but not enclosing
whitespace) are removed.
So for example, when reading an SSV file, if the original record was:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
2023-01-01; \[dq]Acme, Inc.\[dq];  1,000
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
the regex would see, and try to match, this modified record text:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
2023-01-01,Acme, Inc.,  1,000
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
When an if block has multiple matchers, they are combined as follows:
.IP \[bu] 2
By default they are OR\[aq]d (any one of them can match)
.IP \[bu] 2
When a matcher is preceded by ampersand (\f[V]&\f[R]) it will be
AND\[aq]ed with the previous matcher (both of them must match).
.PP
There\[aq]s not yet an easy syntax to negate a matcher.
.SS \f[V]if\f[R] table
.PP
\[dq]if tables\[dq] are an alternative to if blocks; they can express
many matchers and field assignments in a more compact tabular format,
like this:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
if,HLEDGERFIELD1,HLEDGERFIELD2,...
MATCHERA,VALUE1,VALUE2,...
MATCHERB,VALUE1,VALUE2,...
MATCHERC,VALUE1,VALUE2,...
<empty line>
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
The first character after \f[V]if\f[R] is taken to be the separator for
the rest of the table.
It should be a non-alphanumeric character like \f[V],\f[R] or
\f[V]|\f[R] that does not appear anywhere else in the table.
(Note: it is unrelated to the CSV file\[aq]s separator.)
Whitespace can be used in the matcher lines for readability, but not in
the if line currently.
The table must be terminated by an empty line (or end of file).
Each line must contain the same number of separators; empty values are
allowed.
.PP
The above means: try all of the matchers; whenever a matcher succeeds,
assign all of the values on that line to the corresponding hledger
fields; later lines can overrider earlier ones.
It is equivalent to this sequence of if blocks:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
if MATCHERA
  HLEDGERFIELD1 VALUE1
  HLEDGERFIELD2 VALUE2
  ...

if MATCHERB
  HLEDGERFIELD1 VALUE1
  HLEDGERFIELD2 VALUE2
  ...

if MATCHERC
  HLEDGERFIELD1 VALUE1
  HLEDGERFIELD2 VALUE2
  ...
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
Example:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
if,account2,comment
atm transaction fee,expenses:business:banking,deductible? check it
%description groceries,expenses:groceries,
2023/01/12.*Plumbing LLC,expenses:house:upkeep,emergency plumbing call-out
\f[R]
.fi
.SS \f[V]balance-type\f[R]
.PP
Balance assertions generated by assigning to balanceN are of the simple
\f[V]=\f[R] type by default, which is a single-commodity,
subaccount-excluding assertion.
You may find the subaccount-including variants more useful, eg if you
have created some virtual subaccounts of checking to help with
budgeting.
You can select a different type of assertion with the
\f[V]balance-type\f[R] rule:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
# balance assertions will consider all commodities and all subaccounts
balance-type ==*
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
Here are the balance assertion types for quick reference:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
=    single commodity, exclude subaccounts
=*   single commodity, include subaccounts
==   multi commodity,  exclude subaccounts
==*  multi commodity,  include subaccounts
\f[R]
.fi
.SS \f[V]include\f[R]
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
include RULESFILE
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
This includes the contents of another CSV rules file at this point.
\f[V]RULESFILE\f[R] is an absolute file path or a path relative to the
current file\[aq]s directory.
This can be useful for sharing common rules between several rules files,
eg:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
# someaccount.csv.rules

## someaccount-specific rules
fields   date,description,amount
account1 assets:someaccount
account2 expenses:misc

## common rules
include categorisation.rules
\f[R]
.fi
.SS Working with CSV
.PP
Some tips:
.SS Rapid feedback
.PP
It\[aq]s a good idea to get rapid feedback while
creating/troubleshooting CSV rules.
Here\[aq]s a good way, using entr from eradman.com/entrproject:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ ls foo.csv* | entr bash -c \[aq]echo ----; hledger -f foo.csv print desc:SOMEDESC\[aq]
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
A desc: query (eg) is used to select just one, or a few, transactions of
interest.
\[dq]bash -c\[dq] is used to run multiple commands, so we can echo a
separator each time the command re-runs, making it easier to read the
output.
.SS Valid CSV
.PP
Note that hledger will only accept valid CSV conforming to RFC 4180, and
equivalent SSV and TSV formats (like RFC 4180 but with semicolon or tab
as separators).
This means, eg:
.IP \[bu] 2
Values may be enclosed in double quotes, or not.
Enclosing in single quotes is not allowed.
(Eg \f[V]\[aq]A\[aq],\[aq]B\[aq]\f[R] is rejected.)
.IP \[bu] 2
When values are enclosed in double quotes, spaces outside the quotes are
not allowed.
(Eg \f[V]\[dq]A\[dq], \[dq]B\[dq]\f[R] is rejected.)
.IP \[bu] 2
When values are not enclosed in quotes, they may not contain double
quotes.
(Eg \f[V]A\[dq]A, B\f[R] is rejected.)
.PP
If your CSV/SSV/TSV is not valid in this sense, you\[aq]ll need to
transform it before reading with hledger.
Try using sed, or a more permissive CSV parser like python\[aq]s csv
lib.
.SS File Extension
.PP
To help hledger choose the CSV file reader and show the right error
messages (and choose the right field separator character by default),
it\[aq]s best if CSV/SSV/TSV files are named with a \f[V].csv\f[R],
\f[V].ssv\f[R] or \f[V].tsv\f[R] filename extension.
(More about this at Data formats.)
.PP
When reading files with the \[dq]wrong\[dq] extension, you can ensure
the CSV reader (and the default field separator) by prefixing the file
path with \f[V]csv:\f[R], \f[V]ssv:\f[R] or \f[V]tsv:\f[R]: Eg:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger -f ssv:foo.dat print
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
You can also override the default field separator with a separator rule
if needed.
.SS Reading CSV from standard input
.PP
You\[aq]ll need the file format prefix when reading CSV from stdin also,
since hledger assumes journal format by default.
Eg:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ cat foo.dat | hledger -f ssv:- print
\f[R]
.fi
.SS Reading multiple CSV files
.PP
If you use multiple \f[V]-f\f[R] options to read multiple CSV files at
once, hledger will look for a correspondingly-named rules file for each
CSV file.
But if you use the \f[V]--rules-file\f[R] option, that rules file will
be used for all the CSV files.
.SS Reading files specified by rule
.PP
Instead of specifying a CSV file in the command line, you can specify a
rules file, as in \f[V]hledger -f foo.csv.rules CMD\f[R].
By default this will read data from foo.csv in the same directory, but
you can add a source rule to specify a different data file, perhaps
located in your web browser\[aq]s download directory.
.PP
This feature was added in hledger 1.30, so you won\[aq]t see it in most
CSV rules examples.
But it helps remove some of the busywork of managing CSV downloads.
Most of your financial institutions\[aq]s default CSV filenames are
different and can be recognised by a glob pattern.
So you can put a rule like \f[V]source Checking1*.csv\f[R] in
foo-checking.csv.rules, and then periodically follow a workflow like:
.IP "1." 3
Download CSV from Foo\[aq]s website, using your browser\[aq]s defaults
.IP "2." 3
Run \f[V]hledger import foo-checking.csv.rules\f[R] to import any new
transactions
.PP
After import, you can: discard the CSV, or leave it where it is for a
while, or move it into your archives, as you prefer.
If you do nothing, next time your browser will save something like
Checking1-2.csv, and hledger will use that because of the \f[V]*\f[R]
wild card and because it is the most recent.
.SS Valid transactions
.PP
After reading a CSV file, hledger post-processes and validates the
generated journal entries as it would for a journal file - balancing
them, applying balance assignments, and canonicalising amount styles.
Any errors at this stage will be reported in the usual way, displaying
the problem entry.
.PP
There is one exception: balance assertions, if you have generated them,
will not be checked, since normally these will work only when the CSV
data is part of the main journal.
If you do need to check balance assertions generated from CSV right
away, pipe into another hledger:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger -f file.csv print | hledger -f- print
\f[R]
.fi
.SS Deduplicating, importing
.PP
When you download a CSV file periodically, eg to get your latest bank
transactions, the new file may overlap with the old one, containing some
of the same records.
.PP
The import command will (a) detect the new transactions, and (b) append
just those transactions to your main journal.
It is idempotent, so you don\[aq]t have to remember how many times you
ran it or with which version of the CSV.
(It keeps state in a hidden \f[V].latest.FILE.csv\f[R] file.)
This is the easiest way to import CSV data.
Eg:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
# download the latest CSV files, then run this command.
# Note, no -f flags needed here.
$ hledger import *.csv [--dry]
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
This method works for most CSV files.
(Where records have a stable chronological order, and new records appear
only at the new end.)
.PP
A number of other tools and workflows, hledger-specific and otherwise,
exist for converting, deduplicating, classifying and managing CSV data.
See:
.IP \[bu] 2
https://hledger.org/cookbook.html#setups-and-workflows
.IP \[bu] 2
https://plaintextaccounting.org -> data import/conversion
.SS Setting amounts
.PP
Continuing from amount field above, here are more tips on handling
various amount-setting situations:
.IP "1." 3
\f[B]If the amount is in a single CSV field:\f[R]
.PD 0
.P
.PD
.RS 4
.IP "a." 3
\f[B]If its sign indicates direction of flow:\f[R]
.PD 0
.P
.PD
Assign it to \f[V]amountN\f[R], to set the Nth posting\[aq]s amount.
N is usually 1 or 2 but can go up to 99.
.IP "b." 3
\f[B]If another field indicates direction of flow:\f[R]
.PD 0
.P
.PD
Use one or more conditional rules to set the appropriate amount sign.
Eg:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
# assume a withdrawal unless Type contains \[dq]deposit\[dq]:
amount1  -%Amount
if %Type deposit
  amount1  %Amount
\f[R]
.fi
.RE
.IP "2." 3
\f[B]If the amount is in one of two CSV fields (eg Debit and
Credit):\f[R]
.PD 0
.P
.PD
.RS 4
.IP "a." 3
\f[B]If both fields are unsigned:\f[R]
.PD 0
.P
.PD
Assign the fields to \f[V]amountN-in\f[R] and \f[V]amountN-out\f[R].
This sets posting N\[aq]s amount to whichever of these has a non-zero
value.
If it\[aq]s the -out value, the amount will be negated.
.IP "b." 3
\f[B]If either field is signed:\f[R]
.PD 0
.P
.PD
Use a conditional rule to flip the sign when needed.
Eg below, the -out value already has a minus sign so we undo
hledger\[aq]s automatic negating by negating once more (but only if the
field is non-empty, so that we don\[aq]t leave a minus sign by itself):
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
fields date, description, amount1-in, amount1-out
if %amount1-out [1-9]
 amount1-out -%amount1-out
\f[R]
.fi
.IP "c." 3
\f[B]If both fields can contain a non-zero value (or both can be
empty):\f[R]
.PD 0
.P
.PD
The -in/-out rules normally choose the value which is
non-zero/non-empty.
Some value pairs can be ambiguous, such as \f[V]1\f[R] and
\f[V]none\f[R].
For such cases, use conditional rules to help select the amount.
Eg, to handle the above you could select the value containing non-zero
digits:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
fields date, description, in, out
if %in [1-9]
 amount1 %in
if %out [1-9]
 amount1 %out
\f[R]
.fi
.RE
.IP "3." 3
\f[B]If you want posting 2\[aq]s amount converted to cost:\f[R]
.PD 0
.P
.PD
Use the unnumbered \f[V]amount\f[R] (or \f[V]amount-in\f[R] and
\f[V]amount-out\f[R]) syntax.
.IP "4." 3
\f[B]If the CSV has only balance amounts, not transaction amounts:\f[R]
.PD 0
.P
.PD
Assign to \f[V]balanceN\f[R], to set a balance assignment on the Nth
posting, causing the posting\[aq]s amount to be calculated
automatically.
\f[V]balance\f[R] with no number is equivalent to \f[V]balance1\f[R].
In this situation hledger is more likely to guess the wrong default
account name, so you may need to set that explicitly.
.SS Amount signs
.PP
There is some special handling making it easier to parse and to reverse
amount signs.
(This only works for whole amounts, not for cost amounts such as COST in
\f[V]amount1  AMT \[at] COST\f[R]):
.IP \[bu] 2
\f[B]If an amount value begins with a plus sign:\f[R]
.PD 0
.P
.PD
that will be removed: \f[V]+AMT\f[R] becomes \f[V]AMT\f[R]
.IP \[bu] 2
\f[B]If an amount value is parenthesised:\f[R]
.PD 0
.P
.PD
it will be de-parenthesised and sign-flipped: \f[V](AMT)\f[R] becomes
\f[V]-AMT\f[R]
.IP \[bu] 2
\f[B]If an amount value has two minus signs (or two sets of parentheses,
or a minus sign and parentheses):\f[R]
.PD 0
.P
.PD
they cancel out and will be removed: \f[V]--AMT\f[R] or \f[V]-(AMT)\f[R]
becomes \f[V]AMT\f[R]
.IP \[bu] 2
\f[B]If an amount value contains just a sign (or just a set of
parentheses):\f[R]
.PD 0
.P
.PD
that is removed, making it an empty value.
\f[V]\[dq]+\[dq]\f[R] or \f[V]\[dq]-\[dq]\f[R] or \f[V]\[dq]()\[dq]\f[R]
becomes \f[V]\[dq]\[dq]\f[R].
.PP
It\[aq]s not possible (without preprocessing the CSV) to set an amount
to its absolute value, ie discard its sign.
.SS Setting currency/commodity
.PP
If the currency/commodity symbol is included in the CSV\[aq]s amount
field(s):
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
2023-01-01,foo,$123.00
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
you don\[aq]t have to do anything special for the commodity symbol, it
will be assigned as part of the amount.
Eg:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
fields date,description,amount
\f[R]
.fi
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
2023-01-01 foo
    expenses:unknown         $123.00
    income:unknown          $-123.00
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
If the currency is provided as a separate CSV field:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
2023-01-01,foo,USD,123.00
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
You can assign that to the \f[V]currency\f[R] pseudo-field, which has
the special effect of prepending itself to every amount in the
transaction (on the left, with no separating space):
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
fields date,description,currency,amount
\f[R]
.fi
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
2023-01-01 foo
    expenses:unknown       USD123.00
    income:unknown        USD-123.00
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
Or, you can use a field assignment to construct the amount yourself,
with more control.
Eg to put the symbol on the right, and separated by a space:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
fields date,description,cur,amt
amount %amt %cur
\f[R]
.fi
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
2023-01-01 foo
    expenses:unknown        123.00 USD
    income:unknown         -123.00 USD
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
Note we used a temporary field name (\f[V]cur\f[R]) that is not
\f[V]currency\f[R] - that would trigger the prepending effect, which we
don\[aq]t want here.
.SS Amount decimal places
.PP
Like amounts in a journal file, the amounts generated by CSV rules like
\f[V]amount1\f[R] influence commodity display styles, such as the number
of decimal places displayed in reports.
.PP
The original amounts as written in the CSV file do not affect display
style (because we don\[aq]t yet reliably know their commodity).
.SS Referencing other fields
.PP
In field assignments, you can interpolate only CSV fields, not hledger
fields.
In the example below, there\[aq]s both a CSV field and a hledger field
named amount1, but %amount1 always means the CSV field, not the hledger
field:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
# Name the third CSV field \[dq]amount1\[dq]
fields date,description,amount1

# Set hledger\[aq]s amount1 to the CSV amount1 field followed by USD
amount1 %amount1 USD

# Set comment to the CSV amount1 (not the amount1 assigned above)
comment %amount1
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
Here, since there\[aq]s no CSV amount1 field, %amount1 will produce a
literal \[dq]amount1\[dq]:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
fields date,description,csvamount
amount1 %csvamount USD
# Can\[aq]t interpolate amount1 here
comment %amount1
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
When there are multiple field assignments to the same hledger field,
only the last one takes effect.
Here, comment\[aq]s value will be be B, or C if \[dq]something\[dq] is
matched, but never A:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
comment A
comment B
if something
 comment C
\f[R]
.fi
.SS How CSV rules are evaluated
.PP
Here\[aq]s how to think of CSV rules being evaluated (if you really need
to).
First,
.IP \[bu] 2
\f[V]include\f[R] - all includes are inlined, from top to bottom, depth
first.
(At each include point the file is inlined and scanned for further
includes, recursively, before proceeding.)
.PP
Then \[dq]global\[dq] rules are evaluated, top to bottom.
If a rule is repeated, the last one wins:
.IP \[bu] 2
\f[V]skip\f[R] (at top level)
.IP \[bu] 2
\f[V]date-format\f[R]
.IP \[bu] 2
\f[V]newest-first\f[R]
.IP \[bu] 2
\f[V]fields\f[R] - names the CSV fields, optionally sets up initial
assignments to hledger fields
.PP
Then for each CSV record in turn:
.IP \[bu] 2
test all \f[V]if\f[R] blocks.
If any of them contain a \f[V]end\f[R] rule, skip all remaining CSV
records.
Otherwise if any of them contain a \f[V]skip\f[R] rule, skip that many
CSV records.
If there are multiple matched \f[V]skip\f[R] rules, the first one wins.
.IP \[bu] 2
collect all field assignments at top level and in matched \f[V]if\f[R]
blocks.
When there are multiple assignments for a field, keep only the last one.
.IP \[bu] 2
compute a value for each hledger field - either the one that was
assigned to it (and interpolate the %CSVFIELD references), or a default
.IP \[bu] 2
generate a hledger transaction (journal entry) from these values.
.PP
This is all part of the CSV reader, one of several readers hledger can
use to parse input files.
When all files have been read successfully, the transactions are passed
as input to whichever hledger command the user specified.
.PP
.SS Well factored rules
.PP
Some things than can help reduce duplication and complexity in rules
files:
.IP \[bu] 2
Extracting common rules usable with multiple CSV files into a
\f[V]common.rules\f[R], and adding \f[V]include common.rules\f[R] to
each CSV\[aq]s rules file.
.IP \[bu] 2
Splitting if blocks into smaller if blocks, extracting the frequently
used parts.
.SS CSV rules examples
.SS Bank of Ireland
.PP
Here\[aq]s a CSV with two amount fields (Debit and Credit), and a
balance field, which we can use to add balance assertions, which is not
necessary but provides extra error checking:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
Date,Details,Debit,Credit,Balance
07/12/2012,LODGMENT       529898,,10.0,131.21
07/12/2012,PAYMENT,5,,126
\f[R]
.fi
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
# bankofireland-checking.csv.rules

# skip the header line
skip

# name the csv fields, and assign some of them as journal entry fields
fields  date, description, amount-out, amount-in, balance

# We generate balance assertions by assigning to \[dq]balance\[dq]
# above, but you may sometimes need to remove these because:
#
# - the CSV balance differs from the true balance,
#   by up to 0.0000000000005 in my experience
#
# - it is sometimes calculated based on non-chronological ordering,
#   eg when multiple transactions clear on the same day

# date is in UK/Ireland format
date-format  %d/%m/%Y

# set the currency
currency  EUR

# set the base account for all txns
account1  assets:bank:boi:checking
\f[R]
.fi
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger -f bankofireland-checking.csv print
2012-12-07 LODGMENT       529898
    assets:bank:boi:checking         EUR10.0 = EUR131.2
    income:unknown                  EUR-10.0

2012-12-07 PAYMENT
    assets:bank:boi:checking         EUR-5.0 = EUR126.0
    expenses:unknown                  EUR5.0
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
The balance assertions don\[aq]t raise an error above, because we\[aq]re
reading directly from CSV, but they will be checked if these entries are
imported into a journal file.
.SS Coinbase
.PP
A simple example with some CSV from Coinbase.
The spot price is recorded using cost notation.
The legacy \f[V]amount\f[R] field name conveniently sets amount 2
(posting 2\[aq]s amount) to the total cost.
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
# Timestamp,Transaction Type,Asset,Quantity Transacted,Spot Price Currency,Spot Price at Transaction,Subtotal,Total (inclusive of fees and/or spread),Fees and/or Spread,Notes
# 2021-12-30T06:57:59Z,Receive,USDC,100,GBP,0.740000,\[dq]\[dq],\[dq]\[dq],\[dq]\[dq],\[dq]Received 100.00 USDC from an external account\[dq]
\f[R]
.fi
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
# coinbase.csv.rules
skip         1
fields       Timestamp,Transaction_Type,Asset,Quantity_Transacted,Spot_Price_Currency,Spot_Price_at_Transaction,Subtotal,Total,Fees_Spread,Notes
date         %Timestamp
date-format  %Y-%m-%dT%T%Z
description  %Notes
account1     assets:coinbase:cc
amount       %Quantity_Transacted %Asset \[at] %Spot_Price_at_Transaction %Spot_Price_Currency
\f[R]
.fi
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger print -f coinbase.csv
2021-12-30 Received 100.00 USDC from an external account
    assets:coinbase:cc    100 USDC \[at] 0.740000 GBP
    income:unknown                 -74.000000 GBP
\f[R]
.fi
.SS Amazon
.PP
Here we convert amazon.com order history, and use an if block to
generate a third posting if there\[aq]s a fee.
(In practice you\[aq]d probably get this data from your bank instead,
but it\[aq]s an example.)
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
\[dq]Date\[dq],\[dq]Type\[dq],\[dq]To/From\[dq],\[dq]Name\[dq],\[dq]Status\[dq],\[dq]Amount\[dq],\[dq]Fees\[dq],\[dq]Transaction ID\[dq]
\[dq]Jul 29, 2012\[dq],\[dq]Payment\[dq],\[dq]To\[dq],\[dq]Foo.\[dq],\[dq]Completed\[dq],\[dq]$20.00\[dq],\[dq]$0.00\[dq],\[dq]16000000000000DGLNJPI1P9B8DKPVHL\[dq]
\[dq]Jul 30, 2012\[dq],\[dq]Payment\[dq],\[dq]To\[dq],\[dq]Adapteva, Inc.\[dq],\[dq]Completed\[dq],\[dq]$25.00\[dq],\[dq]$1.00\[dq],\[dq]17LA58JSKRD4HDGLNJPI1P9B8DKPVHL\[dq]
\f[R]
.fi
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
# amazon-orders.csv.rules

# skip one header line
skip 1

# name the csv fields, and assign the transaction\[aq]s date, amount and code.
# Avoided the \[dq]status\[dq] and \[dq]amount\[dq] hledger field names to prevent confusion.
fields date, _, toorfrom, name, amzstatus, amzamount, fees, code

# how to parse the date
date-format %b %-d, %Y

# combine two fields to make the description
description %toorfrom %name

# save the status as a tag
comment     status:%amzstatus

# set the base account for all transactions
account1    assets:amazon
# leave amount1 blank so it can balance the other(s).
# I\[aq]m assuming amzamount excludes the fees, don\[aq]t remember

# set a generic account2
account2    expenses:misc
amount2     %amzamount
# and maybe refine it further:
#include categorisation.rules

# add a third posting for fees, but only if they are non-zero.
if %fees [1-9]
 account3    expenses:fees
 amount3     %fees
\f[R]
.fi
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger -f amazon-orders.csv print
2012-07-29 (16000000000000DGLNJPI1P9B8DKPVHL) To Foo.  ; status:Completed
    assets:amazon
    expenses:misc          $20.00

2012-07-30 (17LA58JSKRD4HDGLNJPI1P9B8DKPVHL) To Adapteva, Inc.  ; status:Completed
    assets:amazon
    expenses:misc          $25.00
    expenses:fees           $1.00
\f[R]
.fi
.SS Paypal
.PP
Here\[aq]s a real-world rules file for (customised) Paypal CSV, with
some Paypal-specific rules, and a second rules file included:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
\[dq]Date\[dq],\[dq]Time\[dq],\[dq]TimeZone\[dq],\[dq]Name\[dq],\[dq]Type\[dq],\[dq]Status\[dq],\[dq]Currency\[dq],\[dq]Gross\[dq],\[dq]Fee\[dq],\[dq]Net\[dq],\[dq]From Email Address\[dq],\[dq]To Email Address\[dq],\[dq]Transaction ID\[dq],\[dq]Item Title\[dq],\[dq]Item ID\[dq],\[dq]Reference Txn ID\[dq],\[dq]Receipt ID\[dq],\[dq]Balance\[dq],\[dq]Note\[dq]
\[dq]10/01/2019\[dq],\[dq]03:46:20\[dq],\[dq]PDT\[dq],\[dq]Calm Radio\[dq],\[dq]Subscription Payment\[dq],\[dq]Completed\[dq],\[dq]USD\[dq],\[dq]-6.99\[dq],\[dq]0.00\[dq],\[dq]-6.99\[dq],\[dq]simon\[at]joyful.com\[dq],\[dq]memberships\[at]calmradio.com\[dq],\[dq]60P57143A8206782E\[dq],\[dq]MONTHLY - $1 for the first 2 Months: Me - Order 99309. Item total: $1.00 USD first 2 months, then $6.99 / Month\[dq],\[dq]\[dq],\[dq]I-R8YLY094FJYR\[dq],\[dq]\[dq],\[dq]-6.99\[dq],\[dq]\[dq]
\[dq]10/01/2019\[dq],\[dq]03:46:20\[dq],\[dq]PDT\[dq],\[dq]\[dq],\[dq]Bank Deposit to PP Account \[dq],\[dq]Pending\[dq],\[dq]USD\[dq],\[dq]6.99\[dq],\[dq]0.00\[dq],\[dq]6.99\[dq],\[dq]\[dq],\[dq]simon\[at]joyful.com\[dq],\[dq]0TU1544T080463733\[dq],\[dq]\[dq],\[dq]\[dq],\[dq]60P57143A8206782E\[dq],\[dq]\[dq],\[dq]0.00\[dq],\[dq]\[dq]
\[dq]10/01/2019\[dq],\[dq]08:57:01\[dq],\[dq]PDT\[dq],\[dq]Patreon\[dq],\[dq]PreApproved Payment Bill User Payment\[dq],\[dq]Completed\[dq],\[dq]USD\[dq],\[dq]-7.00\[dq],\[dq]0.00\[dq],\[dq]-7.00\[dq],\[dq]simon\[at]joyful.com\[dq],\[dq]support\[at]patreon.com\[dq],\[dq]2722394R5F586712G\[dq],\[dq]Patreon* Membership\[dq],\[dq]\[dq],\[dq]B-0PG93074E7M86381M\[dq],\[dq]\[dq],\[dq]-7.00\[dq],\[dq]\[dq]
\[dq]10/01/2019\[dq],\[dq]08:57:01\[dq],\[dq]PDT\[dq],\[dq]\[dq],\[dq]Bank Deposit to PP Account \[dq],\[dq]Pending\[dq],\[dq]USD\[dq],\[dq]7.00\[dq],\[dq]0.00\[dq],\[dq]7.00\[dq],\[dq]\[dq],\[dq]simon\[at]joyful.com\[dq],\[dq]71854087RG994194F\[dq],\[dq]Patreon* Membership\[dq],\[dq]\[dq],\[dq]2722394R5F586712G\[dq],\[dq]\[dq],\[dq]0.00\[dq],\[dq]\[dq]
\[dq]10/19/2019\[dq],\[dq]03:02:12\[dq],\[dq]PDT\[dq],\[dq]Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.\[dq],\[dq]Subscription Payment\[dq],\[dq]Completed\[dq],\[dq]USD\[dq],\[dq]-2.00\[dq],\[dq]0.00\[dq],\[dq]-2.00\[dq],\[dq]simon\[at]joyful.com\[dq],\[dq]tle\[at]wikimedia.org\[dq],\[dq]K9U43044RY432050M\[dq],\[dq]Monthly donation to the Wikimedia Foundation\[dq],\[dq]\[dq],\[dq]I-R5C3YUS3285L\[dq],\[dq]\[dq],\[dq]-2.00\[dq],\[dq]\[dq]
\[dq]10/19/2019\[dq],\[dq]03:02:12\[dq],\[dq]PDT\[dq],\[dq]\[dq],\[dq]Bank Deposit to PP Account \[dq],\[dq]Pending\[dq],\[dq]USD\[dq],\[dq]2.00\[dq],\[dq]0.00\[dq],\[dq]2.00\[dq],\[dq]\[dq],\[dq]simon\[at]joyful.com\[dq],\[dq]3XJ107139A851061F\[dq],\[dq]\[dq],\[dq]\[dq],\[dq]K9U43044RY432050M\[dq],\[dq]\[dq],\[dq]0.00\[dq],\[dq]\[dq]
\[dq]10/22/2019\[dq],\[dq]05:07:06\[dq],\[dq]PDT\[dq],\[dq]Noble Benefactor\[dq],\[dq]Subscription Payment\[dq],\[dq]Completed\[dq],\[dq]USD\[dq],\[dq]10.00\[dq],\[dq]-0.59\[dq],\[dq]9.41\[dq],\[dq]noble\[at]bene.fac.tor\[dq],\[dq]simon\[at]joyful.com\[dq],\[dq]6L8L1662YP1334033\[dq],\[dq]Joyful Systems\[dq],\[dq]\[dq],\[dq]I-KC9VBGY2GWDB\[dq],\[dq]\[dq],\[dq]9.41\[dq],\[dq]\[dq]
\f[R]
.fi
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
# paypal-custom.csv.rules

# Tips:
# Export from Activity -> Statements -> Custom -> Activity download
# Suggested transaction type: \[dq]Balance affecting\[dq]
# Paypal\[aq]s default fields in 2018 were:
# \[dq]Date\[dq],\[dq]Time\[dq],\[dq]TimeZone\[dq],\[dq]Name\[dq],\[dq]Type\[dq],\[dq]Status\[dq],\[dq]Currency\[dq],\[dq]Gross\[dq],\[dq]Fee\[dq],\[dq]Net\[dq],\[dq]From Email Address\[dq],\[dq]To Email Address\[dq],\[dq]Transaction ID\[dq],\[dq]Shipping Address\[dq],\[dq]Address Status\[dq],\[dq]Item Title\[dq],\[dq]Item ID\[dq],\[dq]Shipping and Handling Amount\[dq],\[dq]Insurance Amount\[dq],\[dq]Sales Tax\[dq],\[dq]Option 1 Name\[dq],\[dq]Option 1 Value\[dq],\[dq]Option 2 Name\[dq],\[dq]Option 2 Value\[dq],\[dq]Reference Txn ID\[dq],\[dq]Invoice Number\[dq],\[dq]Custom Number\[dq],\[dq]Quantity\[dq],\[dq]Receipt ID\[dq],\[dq]Balance\[dq],\[dq]Address Line 1\[dq],\[dq]Address Line 2/District/Neighborhood\[dq],\[dq]Town/City\[dq],\[dq]State/Province/Region/County/Territory/Prefecture/Republic\[dq],\[dq]Zip/Postal Code\[dq],\[dq]Country\[dq],\[dq]Contact Phone Number\[dq],\[dq]Subject\[dq],\[dq]Note\[dq],\[dq]Country Code\[dq],\[dq]Balance Impact\[dq]
# This rules file assumes the following more detailed fields, configured in \[dq]Customize report fields\[dq]:
# \[dq]Date\[dq],\[dq]Time\[dq],\[dq]TimeZone\[dq],\[dq]Name\[dq],\[dq]Type\[dq],\[dq]Status\[dq],\[dq]Currency\[dq],\[dq]Gross\[dq],\[dq]Fee\[dq],\[dq]Net\[dq],\[dq]From Email Address\[dq],\[dq]To Email Address\[dq],\[dq]Transaction ID\[dq],\[dq]Item Title\[dq],\[dq]Item ID\[dq],\[dq]Reference Txn ID\[dq],\[dq]Receipt ID\[dq],\[dq]Balance\[dq],\[dq]Note\[dq]

fields date, time, timezone, description_, type, status_, currency, grossamount, feeamount, netamount, fromemail, toemail, code, itemtitle, itemid, referencetxnid, receiptid, balance, note

skip  1

date-format  %-m/%-d/%Y

# ignore some paypal events
if
In Progress
Temporary Hold
Update to
 skip

# add more fields to the description
description %description_ %itemtitle

# save some other fields as tags
comment  itemid:%itemid, fromemail:%fromemail, toemail:%toemail, time:%time, type:%type, status:%status_

# convert to short currency symbols
if %currency USD
 currency $
if %currency EUR
 currency E
if %currency GBP
 currency P

# generate postings

# the first posting will be the money leaving/entering my paypal account
# (negative means leaving my account, in all amount fields)
account1 assets:online:paypal
amount1  %netamount

# the second posting will be money sent to/received from other party
# (account2 is set below)
amount2  -%grossamount

# if there\[aq]s a fee, add a third posting for the money taken by paypal.
if %feeamount [1-9]
 account3 expenses:banking:paypal
 amount3  -%feeamount
 comment3 business:

# choose an account for the second posting

# override the default account names:
# if the amount is positive, it\[aq]s income (a debit)
if %grossamount \[ha][\[ha]-]
 account2 income:unknown
# if negative, it\[aq]s an expense (a credit)
if %grossamount \[ha]-
 account2 expenses:unknown

# apply common rules for setting account2 & other tweaks
include common.rules

# apply some overrides specific to this csv

# Transfers from/to bank. These are usually marked Pending,
# which can be disregarded in this case.
if
Bank Account
Bank Deposit to PP Account
 description %type for %referencetxnid %itemtitle
 account2 assets:bank:wf:pchecking
 account1 assets:online:paypal

# Currency conversions
if Currency Conversion
 account2 equity:currency conversion
\f[R]
.fi
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
# common.rules

if
darcs
noble benefactor
 account2 revenues:foss donations:darcshub
 comment2 business:

if
Calm Radio
 account2 expenses:online:apps

if
electronic frontier foundation
Patreon
wikimedia
Advent of Code
 account2 expenses:dues

if Google
 account2 expenses:online:apps
 description google | music
\f[R]
.fi
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger -f paypal-custom.csv  print
2019-10-01 (60P57143A8206782E) Calm Radio MONTHLY - $1 for the first 2 Months: Me - Order 99309. Item total: $1.00 USD first 2 months, then $6.99 / Month  ; itemid:, fromemail:simon\[at]joyful.com, toemail:memberships\[at]calmradio.com, time:03:46:20, type:Subscription Payment, status:Completed
    assets:online:paypal          $-6.99 = $-6.99
    expenses:online:apps           $6.99

2019-10-01 (0TU1544T080463733) Bank Deposit to PP Account for 60P57143A8206782E  ; itemid:, fromemail:, toemail:simon\[at]joyful.com, time:03:46:20, type:Bank Deposit to PP Account, status:Pending
    assets:online:paypal               $6.99 = $0.00
    assets:bank:wf:pchecking          $-6.99

2019-10-01 (2722394R5F586712G) Patreon Patreon* Membership  ; itemid:, fromemail:simon\[at]joyful.com, toemail:support\[at]patreon.com, time:08:57:01, type:PreApproved Payment Bill User Payment, status:Completed
    assets:online:paypal          $-7.00 = $-7.00
    expenses:dues                  $7.00

2019-10-01 (71854087RG994194F) Bank Deposit to PP Account for 2722394R5F586712G Patreon* Membership  ; itemid:, fromemail:, toemail:simon\[at]joyful.com, time:08:57:01, type:Bank Deposit to PP Account, status:Pending
    assets:online:paypal               $7.00 = $0.00
    assets:bank:wf:pchecking          $-7.00

2019-10-19 (K9U43044RY432050M) Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. Monthly donation to the Wikimedia Foundation  ; itemid:, fromemail:simon\[at]joyful.com, toemail:tle\[at]wikimedia.org, time:03:02:12, type:Subscription Payment, status:Completed
    assets:online:paypal             $-2.00 = $-2.00
    expenses:dues                     $2.00
    expenses:banking:paypal      ; business:

2019-10-19 (3XJ107139A851061F) Bank Deposit to PP Account for K9U43044RY432050M  ; itemid:, fromemail:, toemail:simon\[at]joyful.com, time:03:02:12, type:Bank Deposit to PP Account, status:Pending
    assets:online:paypal               $2.00 = $0.00
    assets:bank:wf:pchecking          $-2.00

2019-10-22 (6L8L1662YP1334033) Noble Benefactor Joyful Systems  ; itemid:, fromemail:noble\[at]bene.fac.tor, toemail:simon\[at]joyful.com, time:05:07:06, type:Subscription Payment, status:Completed
    assets:online:paypal                       $9.41 = $9.41
    revenues:foss donations:darcshub         $-10.00  ; business:
    expenses:banking:paypal                    $0.59  ; business:
\f[R]
.fi
.SH Timeclock
.PP
The time logging format of timeclock.el, as read by hledger.
.PP
hledger can read time logs in timeclock format.
As with Ledger, these are (a subset of) timeclock.el\[aq]s format,
containing clock-in and clock-out entries as in the example below.
The date is a simple date.
The time format is HH:MM[:SS][+-ZZZZ].
Seconds and timezone are optional.
The timezone, if present, must be four digits and is ignored (currently
the time is always interpreted as a local time).
Lines beginning with \f[V]#\f[R] or \f[V];\f[R] or \f[V]*\f[R], and
blank lines, are ignored.
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
i 2015/03/30 09:00:00 some account  optional description after 2 spaces ; optional comment, tags:
o 2015/03/30 09:20:00
i 2015/03/31 22:21:45 another:account
o 2015/04/01 02:00:34
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
hledger treats each clock-in/clock-out pair as a transaction posting
some number of hours to an account.
Or if the session spans more than one day, it is split into several
transactions, one for each day.
For the above time log, \f[V]hledger print\f[R] generates these journal
entries:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger -f t.timeclock print
2015-03-30 * optional description after 2 spaces   ; optional comment, tags:
    (some account)           0.33h

2015-03-31 * 22:21-23:59
    (another:account)           1.64h

2015-04-01 * 00:00-02:00
    (another:account)           2.01h
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
Here is a sample.timeclock to download and some queries to try:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger -f sample.timeclock balance                               # current time balances
$ hledger -f sample.timeclock register -p 2009/3                    # sessions in march 2009
$ hledger -f sample.timeclock register -p weekly --depth 1 --empty  # time summary by week
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
To generate time logs, ie to clock in and clock out, you could:
.IP \[bu] 2
use emacs and the built-in timeclock.el, or the extended timeclock-x.el
and perhaps the extras in ledgerutils.el
.IP \[bu] 2
at the command line, use these bash aliases:
\f[V]shell     alias ti=\[dq]echo i \[ga]date \[aq]+%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S\[aq]\[ga] \[rs]$* >>$TIMELOG\[dq]     alias to=\[dq]echo o \[ga]date \[aq]+%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S\[aq]\[ga] >>$TIMELOG\[dq]\f[R]
.IP \[bu] 2
or use the old \f[V]ti\f[R] and \f[V]to\f[R] scripts in the ledger 2.x
repository.
These rely on a \[dq]timeclock\[dq] executable which I think is just the
ledger 2 executable renamed.
.PP
.SH Timedot
.PP
\f[V]timedot\f[R] format is hledger\[aq]s human-friendly time logging
format.
Compared to \f[V]timeclock\f[R] format, it is
.IP \[bu] 2
convenient for quick, approximate, and retroactive time logging
.IP \[bu] 2
readable: you can see at a glance where time was spent.
.PP
A timedot file contains a series of day entries, which might look like
this:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
2023-05-01
hom:errands          .... ....  ; two hours
fos:hledger:timedot  ..         ; half an hour
per:admin:finance
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
hledger reads this as a transaction on this day with three (unbalanced)
postings, where each dot represents \[dq]0.25\[dq].
No commodity is assumed, but normally we interpret it as hours, with
each dot representing a quarter-hour.
It\[aq]s convenient, though not required, to group the dots in fours for
easy reading.
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger -f a.timedot print   # .timedot file extension (or timedot: prefix) is required
2023-05-01 *
    (hom:errands)                    2.00  ; two hours
    (fos:hledger:timedot)            0.50  ; half an hour
    (per:admin:finance)                 0
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
A transaction begins with a non-indented \f[B]simple date\f[R] (Y-M-D,
Y/M/D, or Y.M.D).
It can optionally be preceded by one or more stars and a space, for
Emacs org mode compatibility.
It can optionally be followed on the same line by a transaction
description, and/or a transaction comment following a semicolon.
.PP
After the date line are zero or more time postings, consisting of:
.IP \[bu] 2
an \f[B]account name\f[R] - any hledger-style account name, optionally
hierarchical, optionally indented.
.IP \[bu] 2
\f[B]two or more spaces\f[R] - a field separator, required if there is
an amount (as in journal format).
.IP \[bu] 2
an optional \f[B]timedot amount\f[R] - dots representing quarter hours,
or a number representing hours, optionally with a unit suffix.
.IP \[bu] 2
an optional \f[B]posting comment\f[R] following a semicolon.
.PP
Timedot amounts can be:
.IP \[bu] 2
\f[B]dots\f[R]: zero or more period characters (\f[V].\f[R]), each
representing 0.25.
Spaces are ignored and can be used for grouping.
Eg: \f[V].... ..\f[R]
.IP \[bu] 2
or a \f[B]number\f[R].
Eg: \f[V]1.5\f[R]
.IP \[bu] 2
or a \f[B]number immediately followed by a unit symbol\f[R] \f[V]s\f[R],
\f[V]m\f[R], \f[V]h\f[R], \f[V]d\f[R], \f[V]w\f[R], \f[V]mo\f[R], or
\f[V]y\f[R].
These are interpreted as seconds, minutes, hours, days weeks, months or
years, and converted to hours, assuming:
.PD 0
.P
.PD
\f[V]60s\f[R] = \f[V]1m\f[R], \f[V]60m\f[R] = \f[V]1h\f[R],
\f[V]24h\f[R] = \f[V]1d\f[R], \f[V]7d\f[R] = \f[V]1w\f[R], \f[V]30d\f[R]
= \f[V]1mo\f[R], \f[V]365d\f[R] = \f[V]1y\f[R].
Eg \f[V]90m\f[R] is parsed as \f[V]1.5\f[R].
.PP
There is some added flexibility to help with keeping time log data in
the same file as your notes, todo lists, etc.:
.IP \[bu] 2
Blank lines and lines beginning with \f[V]#\f[R] or \f[V];\f[R] are
ignored.
.IP \[bu] 2
Before the first date line, lines beginning with \f[V]*\f[R] are
ignored.
.IP \[bu] 2
From the first date line onward, one or more \f[V]*\f[R]\[aq]s followed
by a space at beginning of lines (ie, the headline prefix used by Emacs
Org mode) is ignored.
This means the time log can be kept under an Org headline, and date
lines or time transaction lines can be Org headlines.
.IP \[bu] 2
Lines not ending with a double-space and amount are parsed as postings
with zero amount.
Note hledger\[aq]s register reports hide these by default (add -E to see
them).
.PP
More examples:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
# on this day, 6h was spent on client work, 1.5h on haskell FOSS work, etc.
2016/2/1
inc:client1   .... .... .... .... .... ....
fos:haskell   .... ..
biz:research  .

2016/2/2
inc:client1   .... ....
biz:research  .
\f[R]
.fi
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
2016/2/3
inc:client1   4
fos:hledger   3
biz:research  1
\f[R]
.fi
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
* Time log
** 2023-01-01
*** adm:time  .
*** adm:finance  .
\f[R]
.fi
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
* 2023 Work Diary
** Q1
*** 2023-02-29
**** DONE
0700 yoga
**** UNPLANNED
**** BEGUN
hom:chores
 cleaning  ...
 water plants
  outdoor - one full watering can
  indoor - light watering
**** TODO
adm:planning: trip
*** LATER
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
Reporting:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger -f a.timedot print date:2016/2/2
2016-02-02 *
    (inc:client1)          2.00

2016-02-02 *
    (biz:research)          0.25
\f[R]
.fi
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger -f a.timedot bal --daily --tree
Balance changes in 2016-02-01-2016-02-03:

            ||  2016-02-01d  2016-02-02d  2016-02-03d 
============++========================================
 biz        ||         0.25         0.25         1.00 
   research ||         0.25         0.25         1.00 
 fos        ||         1.50            0         3.00 
   haskell  ||         1.50            0            0 
   hledger  ||            0            0         3.00 
 inc        ||         6.00         2.00         4.00 
   client1  ||         6.00         2.00         4.00 
------------++----------------------------------------
            ||         7.75         2.25         8.00 
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
Using period instead of colon as account name separator:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
2016/2/4
fos.hledger.timedot  4
fos.ledger           ..
\f[R]
.fi
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger -f a.timedot --alias /\[rs]\[rs]./=: bal --tree
                4.50  fos
                4.00    hledger:timedot
                0.50    ledger
--------------------
                4.50
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
A sample.timedot file.
.SH PART 3: REPORTING CONCEPTS
.SH Time periods
.PP
.SS Report start & end date
.PP
By default, most hledger reports will show the full span of time
represented by the journal.
The report start date will be the earliest transaction or posting date,
and the report end date will be the latest transaction, posting, or
market price date.
.PP
Often you will want to see a shorter time span, such as the current
month.
You can specify a start and/or end date using \f[V]-b/--begin\f[R],
\f[V]-e/--end\f[R], \f[V]-p/--period\f[R] or a \f[V]date:\f[R] query
(described below).
All of these accept the smart date syntax (below).
.PP
Some notes:
.IP \[bu] 2
End dates are exclusive, as in Ledger, so you should write the date
\f[I]after\f[R] the last day you want to see in the report.
.IP \[bu] 2
As noted in reporting options: among start/end dates specified with
\f[I]options\f[R], the last (i.e.
right-most) option takes precedence.
.IP \[bu] 2
The effective report start and end dates are the intersection of the
start/end dates from options and that from \f[V]date:\f[R] queries.
That is, \f[V]date:2019-01 date:2019 -p\[aq]2000 to 2030\[aq]\f[R]
yields January 2019, the smallest common time span.
.IP \[bu] 2
In some cases a report interval will adjust start/end dates to fall on
interval boundaries (see below).
.PP
Examples:
.PP
.TS
tab(@);
lw(12.4n) lw(57.6n).
T{
\f[V]-b 2016/3/17\f[R]
T}@T{
begin on St.\ Patrick\[cq]s day 2016
T}
T{
\f[V]-e 12/1\f[R]
T}@T{
end at the start of december 1st of the current year (11/30 will be the
last date included)
T}
T{
\f[V]-b thismonth\f[R]
T}@T{
all transactions on or after the 1st of the current month
T}
T{
\f[V]-p thismonth\f[R]
T}@T{
all transactions in the current month
T}
T{
\f[V]date:2016/3/17..\f[R]
T}@T{
the above written as queries instead (\f[V]..\f[R] can also be replaced
with \f[V]-\f[R])
T}
T{
\f[V]date:..12/1\f[R]
T}@T{
T}
T{
\f[V]date:thismonth..\f[R]
T}@T{
T}
T{
\f[V]date:thismonth\f[R]
T}@T{
T}
.TE
.SS Smart dates
.PP
hledger\[aq]s user interfaces accept a \[dq]smart date\[dq] syntax for
added convenience.
Smart dates optionally can be relative to today\[aq]s date, be written
with english words, and have less-significant parts omitted (missing
parts are inferred as 1).
Some examples:
.PP
.TS
tab(@);
lw(24.2n) lw(45.8n).
T{
\f[V]2004/10/1\f[R], \f[V]2004-01-01\f[R], \f[V]2004.9.1\f[R]
T}@T{
exact date, several separators allowed.
Year is 4+ digits, month is 1-12, day is 1-31
T}
T{
\f[V]2004\f[R]
T}@T{
start of year
T}
T{
\f[V]2004/10\f[R]
T}@T{
start of month
T}
T{
\f[V]10/1\f[R]
T}@T{
month and day in current year
T}
T{
\f[V]21\f[R]
T}@T{
day in current month
T}
T{
\f[V]october, oct\f[R]
T}@T{
start of month in current year
T}
T{
\f[V]yesterday, today, tomorrow\f[R]
T}@T{
-1, 0, 1 days from today
T}
T{
\f[V]last/this/next day/week/month/quarter/year\f[R]
T}@T{
-1, 0, 1 periods from the current period
T}
T{
\f[V]in n days/weeks/months/quarters/years\f[R]
T}@T{
n periods from the current period
T}
T{
\f[V]n days/weeks/months/quarters/years ahead\f[R]
T}@T{
n periods from the current period
T}
T{
\f[V]n days/weeks/months/quarters/years ago\f[R]
T}@T{
-n periods from the current period
T}
T{
\f[V]20181201\f[R]
T}@T{
8 digit YYYYMMDD with valid year month and day
T}
T{
\f[V]201812\f[R]
T}@T{
6 digit YYYYMM with valid year and month
T}
.TE
.PP
Some counterexamples - malformed digit sequences might give surprising
results:
.PP
.TS
tab(@);
lw(11.4n) lw(58.6n).
T{
\f[V]201813\f[R]
T}@T{
6 digits with an invalid month is parsed as start of 6-digit year
T}
T{
\f[V]20181301\f[R]
T}@T{
8 digits with an invalid month is parsed as start of 8-digit year
T}
T{
\f[V]20181232\f[R]
T}@T{
8 digits with an invalid day gives an error
T}
T{
\f[V]201801012\f[R]
T}@T{
9+ digits beginning with a valid YYYYMMDD gives an error
T}
.TE
.PP
\[dq]Today\[aq]s date\[dq] can be overridden with the \f[V]--today\f[R]
option, in case it\[aq]s needed for testing or for recreating old
reports.
(Except for periodic transaction rules, which are not affected by
\f[V]--today\f[R].)
.SS Report intervals
.PP
A report interval can be specified so that reports like register,
balance or activity become multi-period, showing each subperiod as a
separate row or column.
.PP
The following standard intervals can be enabled with command-line flags:
.IP \[bu] 2
\f[V]-D/--daily\f[R]
.IP \[bu] 2
\f[V]-W/--weekly\f[R]
.IP \[bu] 2
\f[V]-M/--monthly\f[R]
.IP \[bu] 2
\f[V]-Q/--quarterly\f[R]
.IP \[bu] 2
\f[V]-Y/--yearly\f[R]
.PP
More complex intervals can be specified using \f[V]-p/--period\f[R],
described below.
.SS Date adjustment
.PP
When there is a report interval (other than daily), report start/end
dates which have been inferred, eg from the journal, are automatically
adjusted to natural period boundaries.
This is convenient for producing simple periodic reports.
More precisely:
.IP \[bu] 2
an inferred start date will be adjusted earlier if needed to fall on a
natural period boundary
.IP \[bu] 2
an inferred end date will be adjusted later if needed to make the last
period the same length as the others.
.PP
By contrast, start/end dates which have been specified explicitly, with
\f[V]-b\f[R], \f[V]-e\f[R], \f[V]-p\f[R] or \f[V]date:\f[R], will not be
adjusted (since hledger 1.29).
This makes it possible to specify non-standard report periods, but it
also means that if you are specifying a start date, you should pick one
that\[aq]s on a period boundary if you want to see simple report period
headings.
.SS Period expressions
.PP
The \f[V]-p/--period\f[R] option specifies a period expression, which is
a compact way of expressing a start date, end date, and/or report
interval.
.PP
Here\[aq]s a period expression with a start and end date (specifying the
first quarter of 2009):
.PP
.TS
tab(@);
l.
T{
\f[V]-p \[dq]from 2009/1/1 to 2009/4/1\[dq]\f[R]
T}
.TE
.PP
Several keywords like \[dq]from\[dq] and \[dq]to\[dq] are supported for
readability; these are optional.
\[dq]to\[dq] can also be written as \[dq]..\[dq] or \[dq]-\[dq].
The spaces are also optional, as long as you don\[aq]t run two dates
together.
So the following are equivalent to the above:
.PP
.TS
tab(@);
l.
T{
\f[V]-p \[dq]2009/1/1 2009/4/1\[dq]\f[R]
T}
T{
\f[V]-p2009/1/1to2009/4/1\f[R]
T}
T{
\f[V]-p2009/1/1..2009/4/1\f[R]
T}
.TE
.PP
Dates are smart dates, so if the current year is 2009, these are also
equivalent to the above:
.PP
.TS
tab(@);
l.
T{
\f[V]-p \[dq]1/1 4/1\[dq]\f[R]
T}
T{
\f[V]-p \[dq]jan-apr\[dq]\f[R]
T}
T{
\f[V]-p \[dq]this year to 4/1\[dq]\f[R]
T}
.TE
.PP
If you specify only one date, the missing start or end date will be the
earliest or latest transaction date in the journal:
.PP
.TS
tab(@);
l l.
T{
\f[V]-p \[dq]from 2009/1/1\[dq]\f[R]
T}@T{
everything after january 1, 2009
T}
T{
\f[V]-p \[dq]since 2009/1\[dq]\f[R]
T}@T{
the same, since is a synonym
T}
T{
\f[V]-p \[dq]from 2009\[dq]\f[R]
T}@T{
the same
T}
T{
\f[V]-p \[dq]to 2009\[dq]\f[R]
T}@T{
everything before january 1, 2009
T}
.TE
.PP
You can also specify a period by writing a single partial or full date:
.PP
.TS
tab(@);
lw(14.5n) lw(55.5n).
T{
\f[V]-p \[dq]2009\[dq]\f[R]
T}@T{
the year 2009; equivalent to \[lq]2009/1/1 to 2010/1/1\[rq]
T}
T{
\f[V]-p \[dq]2009/1\[dq]\f[R]
T}@T{
the month of january 2009; equivalent to \[lq]2009/1/1 to 2009/2/1\[rq]
T}
T{
\f[V]-p \[dq]2009/1/1\[dq]\f[R]
T}@T{
the first day of 2009; equivalent to \[lq]2009/1/1 to 2009/1/2\[rq]
T}
.TE
.PP
or by using the \[dq]Q\[dq] quarter-year syntax (case insensitive):
.PP
.TS
tab(@);
lw(15.3n) lw(54.7n).
T{
\f[V]-p \[dq]2009Q1\[dq]\f[R]
T}@T{
first quarter of 2009, equivalent to \[lq]2009/1/1 to 2009/4/1\[rq]
T}
T{
\f[V]-p \[dq]q4\[dq]\f[R]
T}@T{
fourth quarter of the current year
T}
.TE
.SS Period expressions with a report interval
.PP
A period expression can also begin with a report interval, separated
from the start/end dates (if any) by a space or the word \f[V]in\f[R]:
.PP
.TS
tab(@);
l.
T{
\f[V]-p \[dq]weekly from 2009/1/1 to 2009/4/1\[dq]\f[R]
T}
T{
\f[V]-p \[dq]monthly in 2008\[dq]\f[R]
T}
T{
\f[V]-p \[dq]quarterly\[dq]\f[R]
T}
.TE
.SS More complex report intervals
.PP
Some more complex intervals can be specified within period expressions,
such as:
.IP \[bu] 2
\f[V]biweekly\f[R] (every two weeks)
.IP \[bu] 2
\f[V]fortnightly\f[R]
.IP \[bu] 2
\f[V]bimonthly\f[R] (every two months)
.IP \[bu] 2
\f[V]every day|week|month|quarter|year\f[R]
.IP \[bu] 2
\f[V]every N days|weeks|months|quarters|years\f[R]
.PP
Weekly on a custom day:
.IP \[bu] 2
\f[V]every Nth day of week\f[R] (\f[V]th\f[R], \f[V]nd\f[R],
\f[V]rd\f[R], or \f[V]st\f[R] are all accepted after the number)
.IP \[bu] 2
\f[V]every WEEKDAYNAME\f[R] (full or three-letter english weekday name,
case insensitive)
.PP
Monthly on a custom day:
.IP \[bu] 2
\f[V]every Nth day [of month]\f[R]
.IP \[bu] 2
\f[V]every Nth WEEKDAYNAME [of month]\f[R]
.PP
Yearly on a custom day:
.IP \[bu] 2
\f[V]every MM/DD [of year]\f[R] (month number and day of month number)
.IP \[bu] 2
\f[V]every MONTHNAME DDth [of year]\f[R] (full or three-letter english
month name, case insensitive, and day of month number)
.IP \[bu] 2
\f[V]every DDth MONTHNAME [of year]\f[R] (equivalent to the above)
.PP
Examples:
.PP
.TS
tab(@);
lw(26.8n) lw(43.2n).
T{
\f[V]-p \[dq]bimonthly from 2008\[dq]\f[R]
T}@T{
T}
T{
\f[V]-p \[dq]every 2 weeks\[dq]\f[R]
T}@T{
T}
T{
\f[V]-p \[dq]every 5 months from 2009/03\[dq]\f[R]
T}@T{
T}
T{
\f[V]-p \[dq]every 2nd day of week\[dq]\f[R]
T}@T{
periods will go from Tue to Tue
T}
T{
\f[V]-p \[dq]every Tue\[dq]\f[R]
T}@T{
same
T}
T{
\f[V]-p \[dq]every 15th day\[dq]\f[R]
T}@T{
period boundaries will be on 15th of each month
T}
T{
\f[V]-p \[dq]every 2nd Monday\[dq]\f[R]
T}@T{
period boundaries will be on second Monday of each month
T}
T{
\f[V]-p \[dq]every 11/05\[dq]\f[R]
T}@T{
yearly periods with boundaries on 5th of November
T}
T{
\f[V]-p \[dq]every 5th November\[dq]\f[R]
T}@T{
same
T}
T{
\f[V]-p \[dq]every Nov 5th\[dq]\f[R]
T}@T{
same
T}
.TE
.PP
Show historical balances at end of the 15th day of each month (N is an
end date, exclusive as always):
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger balance -H -p \[dq]every 16th day\[dq]
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
Group postings from the start of wednesday to end of the following
tuesday (N is both (inclusive) start date and (exclusive) end date):
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger register checking -p \[dq]every 3rd day of week\[dq]
\f[R]
.fi
.SS Multiple weekday intervals
.PP
This special form is also supported:
.IP \[bu] 2
\f[V]every WEEKDAYNAME,WEEKDAYNAME,...\f[R] (full or three-letter
english weekday names, case insensitive)
.PP
Also, \f[V]weekday\f[R] and \f[V]weekendday\f[R] are shorthand for
\f[V]mon,tue,wed,thu,fri\f[R] and \f[V]sat,sun\f[R].
.PP
This is mainly intended for use with \f[V]--forecast\f[R], to generate
periodic transactions on arbitrary days of the week.
It may be less useful with \f[V]-p\f[R], since it divides each week into
subperiods of unequal length, which is unusual.
(Related: #1632)
.PP
Examples:
.PP
.TS
tab(@);
lw(17.8n) lw(52.2n).
T{
\f[V]-p \[dq]every mon,wed,fri\[dq]\f[R]
T}@T{
dates will be Mon, Wed, Fri; periods will be Mon-Tue, Wed-Thu, Fri-Sun
T}
T{
\f[V]-p \[dq]every weekday\[dq]\f[R]
T}@T{
dates will be Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri; periods will be Mon, Tue, Wed,
Thu, Fri-Sun
T}
T{
\f[V]-p \[dq]every weekendday\[dq]\f[R]
T}@T{
dates will be Sat, Sun; periods will be Sat, Sun-Fri
T}
.TE
.SH Depth
.PP
With the \f[V]--depth NUM\f[R] option (short form: \f[V]-NUM\f[R]),
reports will show accounts only to the specified depth, hiding deeper
subaccounts.
Use this when you want a summary with less detail.
This flag has the same effect as a \f[V]depth:\f[R] query argument:
\f[V]depth:2\f[R], \f[V]--depth=2\f[R] or \f[V]-2\f[R] are equivalent.
.SH Queries
.PP
One of hledger\[aq]s strengths is being able to quickly report on a
precise subset of your data.
Most hledger commands accept optional query arguments to restrict their
scope.
The syntax is as follows:
.IP \[bu] 2
Zero or more space-separated query terms.
These are most often account name substrings:
.RS 2
.PP
\f[V]utilities food:groceries\f[R]
.RE
.IP \[bu] 2
Terms with spaces or other special characters should be enclosed in
quotes:
.RS 2
.PP
\f[V]\[dq]personal care\[dq]\f[R]
.RE
.IP \[bu] 2
Regular expressions are also supported:
.RS 2
.PP
\f[V]\[dq]\[ha]expenses\[rs]b\[dq]\f[R]
.PD 0
.P
.PD
\f[V]\[dq]accounts (payable|receivable)\[dq]\f[R]
.RE
.IP \[bu] 2
Add a query type prefix to match other parts of the data:
.RS 2
.PP
\f[V]date:202312-\f[R]
.PD 0
.P
.PD
\f[V]status:\f[R]
.PD 0
.P
.PD
\f[V]desc:amazon\f[R]
.PD 0
.P
.PD
\f[V]cur:USD\f[R]
.PD 0
.P
.PD
\f[V]\[dq]amt:>0\[dq]\f[R]
.RE
.IP \[bu] 2
Add a \f[V]not:\f[R] prefix to negate:
.RS 2
.PP
\f[V]not:cur:USD\f[R]
.RE
.IP \[bu] 2
Multiple unlike terms are AND-ed, multiple like terms are OR-ed
.RS 2
.PP
\f[V]date:2022 desc:amazon desc:amzn\f[R]
.PD 0
.P
.PD
(all transactions with \[dq]amazon\[dq] or \[dq]amzn\[dq] in description
during 2022)
.RE
.SS Query types
.PP
Here are the types of query term available.
Remember these can also be prefixed with \f[B]\f[VB]not:\f[B]\f[R] to
convert them into a negative match.
.PP
\f[B]\f[VB]acct:REGEX\f[B], \f[VB]REGEX\f[B]\f[R]
.PD 0
.P
.PD
Match account names containing this (case insensitive) regular
expression.
This is the default query type when there is no prefix, and regular
expression syntax is typically not needed, so usually we just write an
account name substring, like \f[V]expenses\f[R] or \f[V]food\f[R].
.PP
\f[B]\f[VB]amt:N, amt:<N, amt:<=N, amt:>N, amt:>=N\f[B]\f[R]
.PD 0
.P
.PD
Match postings with a single-commodity amount equal to, less than, or
greater than N.
(Postings with 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.
.PP
\f[B]\f[VB]code:REGEX\f[B]\f[R]
.PD 0
.P
.PD
Match by transaction code (eg check number).
.PP
\f[B]\f[VB]cur:REGEX\f[B]\f[R]
.PD 0
.P
.PD
Match postings or transactions including any amounts whose
currency/commodity symbol is fully matched by REGEX.
(For a partial match, use \f[V].*REGEX.*\f[R]).
Note, to match special characters which are regex-significant, you need
to escape them with \f[V]\[rs]\f[R].
And for characters which are significant to your shell you may need one
more level of escaping.
So eg to match the dollar sign:
.PD 0
.P
.PD
\f[V]hledger print cur:\[rs]\[rs]$\f[R].
.PP
\f[B]\f[VB]desc:REGEX\f[B]\f[R]
.PD 0
.P
.PD
Match transaction descriptions.
.PP
\f[B]\f[VB]date:PERIODEXPR\f[B]\f[R]
.PD 0
.P
.PD
Match dates (or with the \f[V]--date2\f[R] flag, secondary dates) within
the specified period.
PERIODEXPR is a period expression with no report interval.
Examples:
.PD 0
.P
.PD
\f[V]date:2016\f[R], \f[V]date:thismonth\f[R], \f[V]date:2/1-2/15\f[R],
\f[V]date:2021-07-27..nextquarter\f[R].
.PP
\f[B]\f[VB]date2:PERIODEXPR\f[B]\f[R]
.PD 0
.P
.PD
Match secondary dates within the specified period (independent of the
\f[V]--date2\f[R] flag).
.PP
\f[B]\f[VB]depth:N\f[B]\f[R]
.PD 0
.P
.PD
Match (or display, depending on command) accounts at or above this
depth.
.PP
\f[B]\f[VB]expr:\[dq]TERM AND NOT (TERM OR TERM)\[dq]\f[B]\f[R] (eg)
.PD 0
.P
.PD
Match with a boolean combination of queries (which must be enclosed in
quotes).
See Combining query terms below.
.PP
\f[B]\f[VB]note:REGEX\f[B]\f[R]
.PD 0
.P
.PD
Match transaction notes (the part of the description right of
\f[V]|\f[R], or the whole description if there\[aq]s no \f[V]|\f[R]).
.PP
\f[B]\f[VB]payee:REGEX\f[B]\f[R]
.PD 0
.P
.PD
Match transaction payee/payer names (the part of the description left of
\f[V]|\f[R], or the whole description if there\[aq]s no \f[V]|\f[R]).
.PP
\f[B]\f[VB]real:, real:0\f[B]\f[R]
.PD 0
.P
.PD
Match real or virtual postings respectively.
.PP
\f[B]\f[VB]status:, status:!, status:*\f[B]\f[R]
.PD 0
.P
.PD
Match unmarked, pending, or cleared transactions respectively.
.PP
\f[B]\f[VB]type:TYPECODES\f[B]\f[R]
.PD 0
.P
.PD
Match by account type (see Declaring accounts > Account types).
\f[V]TYPECODES\f[R] is one or more of the single-letter account type
codes \f[V]ALERXCV\f[R], case insensitive.
Note \f[V]type:A\f[R] and \f[V]type:E\f[R] will also match their
respective subtypes \f[V]C\f[R] (Cash) and \f[V]V\f[R] (Conversion).
Certain kinds of account alias can disrupt account types, see Rewriting
accounts > Aliases and account types.
.PP
\f[B]\f[VB]tag:REGEX[=REGEX]\f[B]\f[R]
.PD 0
.P
.PD
Match by tag name, and optionally also by tag value.
(To match only by value, use \f[V]tag:.=REGEX\f[R].)
.PP
When querying by tag, note that:
.IP \[bu] 2
Accounts also inherit the tags of their parent accounts
.IP \[bu] 2
Postings also inherit the tags of their account and their transaction
.IP \[bu] 2
Transactions also acquire the tags of their postings.
.PP
(\f[B]\f[VB]inacct:ACCTNAME\f[B]\f[R]
.PD 0
.P
.PD
A special query term used automatically in hledger-web only: tells
hledger-web to show the transaction register for an account.)
.SS Combining query terms
.PP
When given multiple space-separated query terms, most commands select
things which match:
.IP \[bu] 2
any of the description terms AND
.IP \[bu] 2
any of the account terms AND
.IP \[bu] 2
any of the status terms AND
.IP \[bu] 2
all the other terms.
.PP
The print command is a little different, showing transactions which:
.IP \[bu] 2
match any of the description terms AND
.IP \[bu] 2
have any postings matching any of the positive account terms AND
.IP \[bu] 2
have no postings matching any of the negative account terms AND
.IP \[bu] 2
match all the other terms.
.PP
We also support more complex boolean queries with the \[aq]expr:\[aq]
prefix.
This allows one to combine queries using one of three operators: AND,
OR, and NOT, where NOT is different syntax for \[aq]not:\[aq].
.PP
Examples of such queries are:
.IP \[bu] 2
Match transactions with \[aq]cool\[aq] in the description AND with the
\[aq]A\[aq] tag
.RS 2
.PP
\f[V]expr:\[dq]desc:cool AND tag:A\[dq]\f[R]
.RE
.IP \[bu] 2
Match transactions NOT to the \[aq]expenses:food\[aq] account OR with
the \[aq]A\[aq] tag
.RS 2
.PP
\f[V]expr:\[dq]NOT expenses:food OR tag:A\[dq]\f[R]
.RE
.IP \[bu] 2
Match transactions NOT involving the \[aq]expenses:food\[aq] account OR
with the \[aq]A\[aq] tag AND involving the \[aq]expenses:drink\[aq]
account.
(the AND is implicitly added by space-separation, following the rules
above)
.RS 2
.PP
\f[V]expr:\[dq]expenses:food OR (tag:A expenses:drink)\[dq]\f[R]
.RE
.SS Queries and command options
.PP
Some queries can also be expressed as command-line options:
\f[V]depth:2\f[R] is equivalent to \f[V]--depth 2\f[R],
\f[V]date:2023\f[R] is equivalent to \f[V]-p 2023\f[R], etc.
When you mix command options and query arguments, generally the
resulting query is their intersection.
.SS Queries and valuation
.PP
When amounts are converted to other commodities in cost or value
reports, \f[V]cur:\f[R] and \f[V]amt:\f[R] match the old commodity
symbol and the old amount quantity, not the new ones (except in hledger
1.22.0 where it\[aq]s reversed, see #1625).
.SS Querying with account aliases
.PP
When account names are rewritten with \f[V]--alias\f[R] or
\f[V]alias\f[R], note that \f[V]acct:\f[R] will match either the old or
the new account name.
.SS Querying with cost or value
.PP
When amounts are converted to other commodities in cost or value
reports, note that \f[V]cur:\f[R] matches the new commodity symbol, and
not the old one, and \f[V]amt:\f[R] matches the new quantity, and not
the old one.
Note: this changed in hledger 1.22, previously it was the reverse, see
the discussion at #1625.
.SH Pivoting
.PP
Normally, hledger groups and sums amounts within each account.
The \f[V]--pivot FIELD\f[R] option substitutes some other transaction
field for account names, causing amounts to be grouped and summed by
that field\[aq]s value instead.
FIELD can be any of the transaction fields \f[V]acct\f[R],
\f[V]status\f[R], \f[V]code\f[R], \f[V]desc\f[R], \f[V]payee\f[R],
\f[V]note\f[R], or a tag name.
When pivoting on a tag and a posting has multiple values of that tag,
only the first value is displayed.
Values containing \f[V]colon:separated:parts\f[R] will be displayed
hierarchically, like account names.
Multiple, colon-delimited fields can be pivoted simultaneously,
generating a hierarchical account name.
.PP
Some examples:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
2016/02/16 Yearly Dues Payment
    assets:bank account                 2 EUR
    income:dues                        -2 EUR  ; member: John Doe, kind: Lifetime
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
Normal balance report showing account names:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger balance
               2 EUR  assets:bank account
              -2 EUR  income:dues
--------------------
                   0
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
Pivoted balance report, using member: tag values instead:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger balance --pivot member
               2 EUR
              -2 EUR  John Doe
--------------------
                   0
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
One way to show only amounts with a member: value (using a query):
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger balance --pivot member tag:member=.
              -2 EUR  John Doe
--------------------
              -2 EUR
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
Another way (the acct: query matches against the pivoted \[dq]account
name\[dq]):
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger balance --pivot member acct:.
              -2 EUR  John Doe
--------------------
              -2 EUR
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
Hierarchical reports can be generated with multiple pivots:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger balance Income:Dues --pivot kind:member
              -2 EUR  Lifetime:John Doe
--------------------
              -2 EUR
\f[R]
.fi
.SH Generating data
.PP
hledger has several features for generating data, such as:
.IP \[bu] 2
Periodic transaction rules can generate single or repeating transactions
following a template.
These are usually dated in the future, eg to help with forecasting.
They are activated by the \f[V]--forecast\f[R] option.
.IP \[bu] 2
The balance command\[aq]s \f[V]--budget\f[R] option uses these same
periodic rules to generate goals for the budget report.
.IP \[bu] 2
Auto posting rules can generate extra postings on certain matched
transactions.
They are always applied to forecast transactions; with the
\f[V]--auto\f[R] flag they are applied to transactions recorded in the
journal as well.
.IP \[bu] 2
The \f[V]--infer-equity\f[R] flag infers missing conversion equity
postings from \[at]/\[at]\[at] costs.
And the inverse \f[V]--infer-costs\f[R] flag infers missing
\[at]/\[at]\[at] costs from conversion equity postings.
.PP
Generated data of this kind is temporary, existing only at report time.
But you can see it in the output of \f[V]hledger print\f[R], and you can
save that to your journal, in effect converting it from temporary
generated data to permanent recorded data.
This could be useful as a data entry aid.
.PP
If you are wondering what data is being generated and why, add the
\f[V]--verbose-tags\f[R] flag.
In \f[V]hledger print\f[R] output you will see extra tags like
\f[V]generated-transaction\f[R], \f[V]generated-posting\f[R], and
\f[V]modified\f[R] on generated/modified data.
Also, even without \f[V]--verbose-tags\f[R], generated data always has
equivalen hidden tags (with an underscore prefix), so eg you could match
generated transactions with \f[V]tag:_generated-transaction\f[R].
.SH Forecasting
.PP
Forecasting, or speculative future reporting, can be useful for
estimating future balances, or for exploring different future scenarios.
.PP
The simplest and most flexible way to do it with hledger is to manually
record a bunch of future-dated transactions.
You could keep these in a separate \f[V]future.journal\f[R] and include
that with \f[V]-f\f[R] only when you want to see them.
.SS --forecast
.PP
There is another way: with the \f[V]--forecast\f[R] option, hledger can
generate temporary \[dq]forecast transactions\[dq] for reporting
purposes, according to periodic transaction rules defined in the
journal.
Each rule can generate multiple recurring transactions, so by changing
one rule you can change many forecasted transactions.
(These same rules can also generate budget goals, described in
Budgeting.)
.PP
Forecast transactions usually start after ordinary transactions end.
By default, they begin after your latest-dated ordinary transaction, or
today, whichever is later, and they end six months from today.
(The exact rules are a little more complicated, and are given below.)
.PP
This is the \[dq]forecast period\[dq], which need not be the same as the
report period.
You can override it - eg to forecast farther into the future, or to
force forecast transactions to overlap your ordinary transactions - by
giving the --forecast option a period expression argument, like
\f[V]--forecast=..2099\f[R] or \f[V]--forecast=2023-02-15..\f[R].
Note that the \f[V]=\f[R] is required.
.SS Inspecting forecast transactions
.PP
\f[V]print\f[R] is the best command for inspecting and troubleshooting
forecast transactions.
Eg:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
\[ti] monthly from 2022-12-20    rent
    assets:bank:checking
    expenses:rent           $1000
\f[R]
.fi
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger print --forecast --today=2023/4/21
2023-05-20 rent
    ; generated-transaction: \[ti] monthly from 2022-12-20
    assets:bank:checking
    expenses:rent                  $1000

2023-06-20 rent
    ; generated-transaction: \[ti] monthly from 2022-12-20
    assets:bank:checking
    expenses:rent                  $1000

2023-07-20 rent
    ; generated-transaction: \[ti] monthly from 2022-12-20
    assets:bank:checking
    expenses:rent                  $1000

2023-08-20 rent
    ; generated-transaction: \[ti] monthly from 2022-12-20
    assets:bank:checking
    expenses:rent                  $1000

2023-09-20 rent
    ; generated-transaction: \[ti] monthly from 2022-12-20
    assets:bank:checking
    expenses:rent                  $1000
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
Here there are no ordinary transactions, so the forecasted transactions
begin on the first occurence after today\[aq]s date.
(You won\[aq]t normally use \f[V]--today\f[R]; it\[aq]s just to make
these examples reproducible.)
.SS Forecast reports
.PP
Forecast transactions affect all reports, as you would expect.
Eg:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger areg rent --forecast --today=2023/4/21
Transactions in expenses:rent and subaccounts:
2023-05-20 rent                 as:ba:checking               $1000         $1000
2023-06-20 rent                 as:ba:checking               $1000         $2000
2023-07-20 rent                 as:ba:checking               $1000         $3000
2023-08-20 rent                 as:ba:checking               $1000         $4000
2023-09-20 rent                 as:ba:checking               $1000         $5000
\f[R]
.fi
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger bal -M expenses --forecast --today=2023/4/21
Balance changes in 2023-05-01..2023-09-30:

               ||   May    Jun    Jul    Aug    Sep 
===============++===================================
 expenses:rent || $1000  $1000  $1000  $1000  $1000 
---------------++-----------------------------------
               || $1000  $1000  $1000  $1000  $1000 
\f[R]
.fi
.SS Forecast tags
.PP
Forecast transactions generated by --forecast have a hidden tag,
\f[V]_generated-transaction\f[R].
So if you ever need to match forecast transactions, you could use
\f[V]tag:_generated-transaction\f[R] (or just \f[V]tag:generated\f[R])
in a query.
.PP
For troubleshooting, you can add the \f[V]--verbose-tags\f[R] flag.
Then, visible \f[V]generated-transaction\f[R] tags will be added also,
so you can view them with the \f[V]print\f[R] command.
Their value indicates which periodic rule was responsible.
.SS Forecast period, in detail
.PP
Forecast start/end dates are chosen so as to do something useful by
default in almost all situations, while also being flexible.
Here are (with luck) the exact rules, to help with troubleshooting:
.PP
The forecast period starts on:
.IP \[bu] 2
the later of
.RS 2
.IP \[bu] 2
the start date in the periodic transaction rule
.IP \[bu] 2
the start date in \f[V]--forecast\f[R]\[aq]s argument
.RE
.IP \[bu] 2
otherwise (if those are not available): the later of
.RS 2
.IP \[bu] 2
the report start date specified with
\f[V]-b\f[R]/\f[V]-p\f[R]/\f[V]date:\f[R]
.IP \[bu] 2
the day after the latest ordinary transaction in the journal
.RE
.IP \[bu] 2
otherwise (if none of these are available): today.
.PP
The forecast period ends on:
.IP \[bu] 2
the earlier of
.RS 2
.IP \[bu] 2
the end date in the periodic transaction rule
.IP \[bu] 2
the end date in \f[V]--forecast\f[R]\[aq]s argument
.RE
.IP \[bu] 2
otherwise: the report end date specified with
\f[V]-e\f[R]/\f[V]-p\f[R]/\f[V]date:\f[R]
.IP \[bu] 2
otherwise: 180 days (\[ti]6 months) from today.
.SS Forecast troubleshooting
.PP
When --forecast is not doing what you expect, one of these tips should
help:
.IP \[bu] 2
Remember to use the \f[V]--forecast\f[R] option.
.IP \[bu] 2
Remember to have at least one periodic transaction rule in your journal.
.IP \[bu] 2
Test with \f[V]print --forecast\f[R].
.IP \[bu] 2
Check for typos or too-restrictive start/end dates in your periodic
transaction rule.
.IP \[bu] 2
Leave at least 2 spaces between the rule\[aq]s period expression and
description fields.
.IP \[bu] 2
Check for future-dated ordinary transactions suppressing forecasted
transactions.
.IP \[bu] 2
Try setting explicit report start and/or end dates with \f[V]-b\f[R],
\f[V]-e\f[R], \f[V]-p\f[R] or \f[V]date:\f[R]
.IP \[bu] 2
Try adding the \f[V]-E\f[R] flag to encourage display of empty
periods/zero transactions.
.IP \[bu] 2
Try setting explicit forecast start and/or end dates with
\f[V]--forecast=START..END\f[R]
.IP \[bu] 2
Consult Forecast period, in detail, above.
.IP \[bu] 2
Check inside the engine: add \f[V]--debug=2\f[R] (eg).
.SH Budgeting
.PP
With the balance command\[aq]s \f[V]--budget\f[R] report, each periodic
transaction rule generates recurring budget goals in specified accounts,
and goals and actual performance can be compared.
See the balance command\[aq]s doc below.
.PP
You can generate budget goals and forecast transactions at the same
time, from the same or different periodic transaction rules:
\f[V]hledger bal -M --budget --forecast ...\f[R]
.PP
See also: Budgeting and Forecasting.
.SH Cost reporting
.PP
This section is about recording the cost of things, in transactions
where one commodity is exchanged for another.
Eg an exchange of currency, or a stock purchase or sale.
First, a quick glossary:
.IP \[bu] 2
Conversion - an exchange of one currency or commodity for another.
Eg a foreign currency exchange, or a purchase or sale of stock or
cryptocurrency.
.IP \[bu] 2
Conversion transaction - a transaction involving one or more
conversions.
.IP \[bu] 2
Conversion rate - the cost per unit of one commodity in the other, ie
the exchange rate.
.IP \[bu] 2
Cost - how much of one commodity was paid to acquire the other.
And more generally, in hledger docs: the amount exchanged in the
\[dq]secondary\[dq] commodity (usually your base currency), whether in a
purchase or a sale, and whether expressed per unit or in total.
Also, the \[dq]\[at]/\[at]\[at] PRICE\[dq] notation used to represent
this.
.SS -B: Convert to cost
.PP
As discussed in JOURNAL > Costs, when recording a transaction you can
also record the amount\[aq]s cost in another commodity, by adding
\f[V]\[at] UNITPRICE\f[R] or \f[V]\[at]\[at] TOTALPRICE\f[R].
.PP
Then you can see a report with amounts converted to cost, by adding the
\f[V]-B/--cost\f[R] flag.
(Mnemonic: \[dq]B\[dq] from \[dq]cost Basis\[dq], as in Ledger).
Eg:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
2022-01-01
  assets:dollars  $-135          ; 135 dollars is exchanged for..
  assets:euros     €100 \[at] $1.35  ; one hundred euros purchased at $1.35 each
\f[R]
.fi
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger bal -N
               $-135  assets:dollars
                €100  assets:euros
$ hledger bal -N -B
               $-135  assets:dollars
                $135  assets:euros    # <- the euros\[aq] cost
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
Notes:
.PP
-B is sensitive to the order of postings when a cost is inferred: the
inferred price will be in the commodity of the last amount.
So if example 3\[aq]s postings are reversed, while the transaction is
equivalent, -B shows something different:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
2022-01-01
  assets:dollars  $-135              ; 135 dollars sold
  assets:euros     €100              ; for 100 euros
\f[R]
.fi
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger bal -N -B
               €-100  assets:dollars  # <- the dollars\[aq] selling price
                €100  assets:euros
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
The \[at]/\[at]\[at] cost notation is convenient, but has some
drawbacks: it does not truly balance the transaction, so it disrupts the
accounting equation and tends to causes a non-zero total in balance
reports.
.SS Equity conversion postings
.PP
By contrast, conventional double entry bookkeeping (DEB) uses a
different notation: an extra pair of equity postings to balance
conversion transactions.
In this style, the above entry might be written:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
2022-01-01 one hundred euros purchased at $1.35 each
    assets:dollars      $-135
    equity:conversion    $135
    equity:conversion   €-100
    assets:euros         €100
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
This style is more correct, but it\[aq]s also more verbose and makes
cost reporting more difficult for PTA tools.
.PP
Happily, current hledger can read either notation, or convert one to the
other when needed, so you can use the one you prefer.
.PP
You can even use cost notation and equivalent conversion postings at the
same time, for clarity.
hledger will ignore the redundancy.
But be sure the cost and conversion posting amounts match, or you\[aq]ll
see a not-so-clear transaction balancing error message.
.SS Inferring equity postings from cost
.PP
With \f[V]--infer-equity\f[R], hledger detects transactions written with
PTA cost notation and adds equity conversion postings to them:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
2022-01-01
  assets:dollars  -$135
  assets:euros     €100 \[at] $1.35
\f[R]
.fi
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger print --infer-equity
2022-01-01
    assets:dollars                    $-135
    assets:euros               €100 \[at] $1.35
    equity:conversion:$-€:€           €-100  ; generated-posting:
    equity:conversion:$-€:$         $135.00  ; generated-posting:
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
The conversion account names can be changed with the conversion account
type declaration.
.PP
--infer-equity is useful when when transactions have been recorded using
cost notation, to help preserve the accounting equation and balance
reports\[aq] zero total, or to produce more conventional journal entries
for sharing with non-PTA-users.
.SS Inferring cost from equity postings
.PP
The reverse operation is possible using \f[V]--infer-costs\f[R], which
detects transactions written with equity conversion postings and adds
cost notation to them:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
2022-01-01
    assets:dollars            $-135
    equity:conversion          $135
    equity:conversion         €-100
    assets:euros               €100
\f[R]
.fi
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger print --infer-costs
2022-01-01
    assets:dollars       $-135 \[at]\[at] €100
    equity:conversion             $135
    equity:conversion            €-100
    assets:euros                  €100
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
--infer-costs is useful when combined with -B/--cost, allowing cost
reporting even when transactions have been recorded using equity
postings:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger print --infer-costs -B
2009-01-01
    assets:dollars           €-100
    assets:euros              €100
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
Notes:
.PP
For \f[V]--infer-costs\f[R] to work, an exchange must consist of four
postings:
.IP "1." 3
two non-equity postings
.IP "2." 3
two equity postings, next to one another
.IP "3." 3
the equity accounts must be declared, with account type
\f[V]V\f[R]/\f[V]Conversion\f[R] (or if they are not declared, they must
be named \f[V]equity:conversion\f[R], \f[V]equity:trade\f[R],
\f[V]equity:trading\f[R] or subaccounts of these)
.IP "4." 3
the equity postings\[aq] amounts must exactly match the non-equity
postings\[aq] amounts.
.PP
Multiple such exchanges can coexist within a single transaction.
.PP
When inferring cost, the order of postings matters: the cost is added to
the first of the non-equity postings involved in the exchange, in the
commodity of the last non-equity posting involved in the exchange.
If you don\[aq]t want to write your postings in the required order, you
can use explicit cost notation instead.
.PP
--infer-equity and --infer-costs can be used together, if you have a
mixture of both notations in your journal.
.SS When to infer cost/equity
.PP
Inferring equity postings or costs is still fairly new, so not enabled
by default.
We\[aq]re not sure yet if that should change.
Here are two suggestions to try, experience reports welcome:
.IP "1." 3
When you use -B, always use --infer-costs as well.
Eg: \f[V]hledger bal -B --infer-costs\f[R]
.IP "2." 3
Always run hledger with both flags enabled.
Eg: \f[V]alias hl=\[dq]hledger --infer-equity --infer-costs\[dq]\f[R]
.SS How to record conversions
.PP
Essentially there are four ways to record a conversion transaction in
hledger.
Here are all of them, with pros and cons.
.SS Conversion with implicit cost
.PP
Let\[aq]s assume 100 EUR is converted to 120 USD.
You can just record the outflow (100 EUR) and inflow (120 USD) in the
appropriate asset account:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
2021-01-01
    assets:cash    -100 EUR
    assets:cash     120 USD
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
hledger will assume this transaction is balanced, inferring that the
conversion rate must be 1 EUR = 1.20 USD.
You can see the inferred rate by using \f[V]hledger print -x\f[R].
.PP
Pro:
.IP \[bu] 2
Concise, easy
.PP
Con:
.IP \[bu] 2
Less error checking - typos in amounts or commodity symbols may not be
detected
.IP \[bu] 2
Conversion rate is not clear
.IP \[bu] 2
Disturbs the accounting equation, unless you add the --infer-equity flag
.PP
You can prevent accidental implicit conversions due to a mistyped
commodity symbol, by using \f[V]hledger check commodities\f[R].
.PP
You can prevent implicit conversions entirely, by using
\f[V]hledger check balancednoautoconversion\f[R], or
\f[V]-s/--strict\f[R].
.SS Conversion with explicit cost
.PP
You can add the conversion rate using \[at] notation:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
2021-01-01
    assets:cash        -100 EUR \[at] 1.20 USD
    assets:cash         120 USD
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
Now hledger will check that 100 * 1.20 = 120, and would report an error
otherwise.
.PP
Pro:
.IP \[bu] 2
Still concise
.IP \[bu] 2
Makes the conversion rate clear
.IP \[bu] 2
Provides more error checking
.PP
Con:
.IP \[bu] 2
Disturbs the accounting equation, unless you add the --infer-equity flag
.SS Conversion with equity postings
.PP
In strict double entry bookkeeping, the above transaction is not
balanced in EUR or in USD, since some EUR disappears, and some USD
appears.
This violates the accounting equation (A+L+E=0), and prevents reports
like \f[V]balancesheetequity\f[R] from showing a zero total.
.PP
The proper way to make it balance is to add a balancing posting for each
commodity, using an equity account:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
2021-01-01
    assets:cash        -100 EUR
    equity:conversion   100 EUR
    equity:conversion  -120 USD
    assets:cash         120 USD
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
Pro:
.IP \[bu] 2
Preserves the accounting equation
.IP \[bu] 2
Keeps track of conversions and related gains/losses in one place
.IP \[bu] 2
Standard, works in any double entry accounting system
.PP
Con:
.IP \[bu] 2
More verbose
.IP \[bu] 2
Conversion rate is not obvious
.IP \[bu] 2
Cost reporting requires adding the --infer-costs flag
.SS Conversion with equity postings and explicit cost
.PP
Here both equity postings and \[at] notation are used together.
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
2021-01-01
    assets:cash        -100 EUR \[at] 1.20 USD
    equity:conversion   100 EUR
    equity:conversion  -120 USD
    assets:cash         120 USD
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
Pro:
.IP \[bu] 2
Preserves the accounting equation
.IP \[bu] 2
Keeps track of conversions and related gains/losses in one place
.IP \[bu] 2
Makes the conversion rate clear
.IP \[bu] 2
Provides more error checking
.PP
Con:
.IP \[bu] 2
Most verbose
.IP \[bu] 2
Not compatible with ledger
.SS Cost tips
.IP \[bu] 2
Recording the cost/conversion rate explicitly is good because it makes
that clear and helps detect errors.
.IP \[bu] 2
Recording equity postings is good because it is correct bookkeeping and
preserves the accounting equation.
.IP \[bu] 2
Combining these is possible.
.IP \[bu] 2
When you want to see the cost (or sale proceeds) of things, use
\f[V]-B\f[R] (short form of \f[V]--cost\f[R]).
.IP \[bu] 2
If you use conversion postings without cost notation, add
\f[V]--infer-costs\f[R] also.
.IP \[bu] 2
If you use cost notation without conversion postings, and you want to
see a balanced balance sheet or print correct journal entries, use
\f[V]--infer-equity\f[R].
.IP \[bu] 2
Conversion to cost is performed before valuation (described next).
.SH Valuation
.PP
Instead of reporting amounts in their original commodity, hledger can
convert them to cost/sale amount (using the conversion rate recorded in
the transaction), and/or to market value (using some market price on a
certain date).
This is controlled by the \f[V]--value=TYPE[,COMMODITY]\f[R] option,
which will be described below.
We also provide the simpler \f[V]-V\f[R] and \f[V]-X COMMODITY\f[R]
options, and often one of these is all you need:
.SS -V: Value
.PP
The \f[V]-V/--market\f[R] flag converts amounts to market value in their
default \f[I]valuation commodity\f[R], using the market prices in effect
on the \f[I]valuation date(s)\f[R], if any.
More on these in a minute.
.SS -X: Value in specified commodity
.PP
The \f[V]-X/--exchange=COMM\f[R] option is like \f[V]-V\f[R], except you
tell it which currency you want to convert to, and it tries to convert
everything to that.
.SS Valuation date
.PP
Since market prices can change from day to day, market value reports
have a valuation date (or more than one), which determines which market
prices will be used.
.PP
For single period reports, if an explicit report end date is specified,
that will be used as the valuation date; otherwise the valuation date is
the journal\[aq]s end date.
.PP
For multiperiod reports, each column/period is valued on the last day of
the period, by default.
.SS Finding market price
.PP
To convert a commodity A to its market value in another commodity B,
hledger looks for a suitable market price (exchange rate) as follows, in
this order of preference :
.IP "1." 3
A \f[I]declared market price\f[R] or \f[I]inferred market price\f[R]:
A\[aq]s latest market price in B on or before the valuation date as
declared by a P directive, or (with the \f[V]--infer-market-prices\f[R]
flag) inferred from costs.
.IP "2." 3
A \f[I]reverse market price\f[R]: the inverse of a declared or inferred
market price from B to A.
.IP "3." 3
A \f[I]forward chain of market prices\f[R]: a synthetic price formed by
combining the shortest chain of \[dq]forward\[dq] (only 1 above) market
prices, leading from A to B.
.IP "4." 3
\f[I]Any chain of market prices\f[R]: a chain of any market prices,
including both forward and reverse prices (1 and 2 above), leading from
A to B.
.PP
There is a limit to the length of these price chains; if hledger reaches
that length without finding a complete chain or exhausting all
possibilities, it will give up (with a \[dq]gave up\[dq] message visible
in \f[V]--debug=2\f[R] output).
That limit is currently 1000.
.PP
Amounts for which no suitable market price can be found, are not
converted.
.SS --infer-market-prices: market prices from transactions
.PP
Normally, market value in hledger is fully controlled by, and requires,
P directives in your journal.
Since adding and updating those can be a chore, and since transactions
usually take place at close to market value, why not use the recorded
costs as additional market prices (as Ledger does) ?
Adding the \f[V]--infer-market-prices\f[R] flag to \f[V]-V\f[R],
\f[V]-X\f[R] or \f[V]--value\f[R] enables this.
.PP
So for example, \f[V]hledger bs -V --infer-market-prices\f[R] will get
market prices both from P directives and from transactions.
If both occur on the same day, the P directive takes precedence.
.PP
There is a downside: value reports can sometimes be affected in
confusing/undesired ways by your journal entries.
If this happens to you, read all of this Valuation section carefully,
and try adding \f[V]--debug\f[R] or \f[V]--debug=2\f[R] to troubleshoot.
.PP
\f[V]--infer-market-prices\f[R] can infer market prices from:
.IP \[bu] 2
multicommodity transactions with explicit prices
(\f[V]\[at]\f[R]/\f[V]\[at]\[at]\f[R])
.IP \[bu] 2
multicommodity transactions with implicit prices (no \f[V]\[at]\f[R],
two commodities, unbalanced).
(With these, the order of postings matters.
\f[V]hledger print -x\f[R] can be useful for troubleshooting.)
.IP \[bu] 2
multicommodity transactions with equity postings, if cost is inferred
with \f[V]--infer-costs\f[R].
.PP
There is a limitation (bug) currently: when a valuation commodity is not
specified, prices inferred with \f[V]--infer-market-prices\f[R] do not
help select a default valuation commodity, as \f[V]P\f[R] prices would.
So conversion might not happen because no valuation commodity was
detected (\f[V]--debug=2\f[R] will show this).
To be safe, specify the valuation commmodity, eg:
.IP \[bu] 2
\f[V]-X EUR --infer-market-prices\f[R], not
\f[V]-V --infer-market-prices\f[R]
.IP \[bu] 2
\f[V]--value=then,EUR --infer-market-prices\f[R], not
\f[V]--value=then --infer-market-prices\f[R]
.PP
Signed costs and market prices can be confusing.
For reference, here is the current behaviour, since hledger 1.25.
(If you think it should work differently, see #1870.)
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
2022-01-01 Positive Unit prices
    a        A 1
    b        B -1 \[at] A 1

2022-01-01 Positive Total prices
    a        A 1
    b        B -1 \[at]\[at] A 1


2022-01-02 Negative unit prices
    a        A 1
    b        B 1 \[at] A -1

2022-01-02 Negative total prices
    a        A 1
    b        B 1 \[at]\[at] A -1


2022-01-03 Double Negative unit prices
    a        A -1
    b        B -1 \[at] A -1

2022-01-03 Double Negative total prices
    a        A -1
    b        B -1 \[at]\[at] A -1
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
All of the transactions above are considered balanced (and on each day,
the two transactions are considered equivalent).
Here are the market prices inferred for B:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger -f- --infer-market-prices prices
P 2022-01-01 B A 1
P 2022-01-01 B A 1.0
P 2022-01-02 B A -1
P 2022-01-02 B A -1.0
P 2022-01-03 B A -1
P 2022-01-03 B A -1.0
\f[R]
.fi
.SS Valuation commodity
.PP
\f[B]When you specify a valuation commodity (\f[VB]-X COMM\f[B] or
\f[VB]--value TYPE,COMM\f[B]):\f[R]
.PD 0
.P
.PD
hledger will convert all amounts to COMM, wherever it can find a
suitable market price (including by reversing or chaining prices).
.PP
\f[B]When you leave the valuation commodity unspecified (\f[VB]-V\f[B]
or \f[VB]--value TYPE\f[B]):\f[R]
.PD 0
.P
.PD
For each commodity A, hledger picks a default valuation commodity as
follows, in this order of preference:
.IP "1." 3
The price commodity from the latest P-declared market price for A on or
before valuation date.
.IP "2." 3
The price commodity from the latest P-declared market price for A on any
date.
(Allows conversion to proceed when there are inferred prices before the
valuation date.)
.IP "3." 3
If there are no P directives at all (any commodity or date) and the
\f[V]--infer-market-prices\f[R] flag is used: the price commodity from
the latest transaction-inferred price for A on or before valuation date.
.PP
This means:
.IP \[bu] 2
If you have P directives, they determine which commodities \f[V]-V\f[R]
will convert, and to what.
.IP \[bu] 2
If you have no P directives, and use the \f[V]--infer-market-prices\f[R]
flag, costs determine it.
.PP
Amounts for which no valuation commodity can be found are not converted.
.SS Simple valuation examples
.PP
Here are some quick examples of \f[V]-V\f[R]:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
; one euro is worth this many dollars from nov 1
P 2016/11/01 € $1.10

; purchase some euros on nov 3
2016/11/3
    assets:euros        €100
    assets:checking

; the euro is worth fewer dollars by dec 21
P 2016/12/21 € $1.03
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
How many euros do I have ?
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger -f t.j bal -N euros
                €100  assets:euros
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
What are they worth at end of nov 3 ?
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger -f t.j bal -N euros -V -e 2016/11/4
             $110.00  assets:euros
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
What are they worth after 2016/12/21 ?
(no report end date specified, defaults to today)
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger -f t.j bal -N euros -V
             $103.00  assets:euros
\f[R]
.fi
.SS --value: Flexible valuation
.PP
\f[V]-V\f[R] and \f[V]-X\f[R] are special cases of the more general
\f[V]--value\f[R] option:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
 --value=TYPE[,COMM]  TYPE is then, end, now or YYYY-MM-DD.
                      COMM is an optional commodity symbol.
                      Shows amounts converted to:
                      - default valuation commodity (or COMM) using market prices at posting dates
                      - default valuation commodity (or COMM) using market prices at period end(s)
                      - default valuation commodity (or COMM) using current market prices
                      - default valuation commodity (or COMM) using market prices at some date
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
The TYPE part selects cost or value and valuation date:
.TP
\f[V]--value=then\f[R]
Convert amounts to their value in the default valuation commodity, using
market prices on each posting\[aq]s date.
.TP
\f[V]--value=end\f[R]
Convert amounts to their value in the default valuation commodity, using
market prices on the last day of the report period (or if unspecified,
the journal\[aq]s end date); or in multiperiod reports, market prices on
the last day of each subperiod.
.TP
\f[V]--value=now\f[R]
Convert amounts to their value in the default valuation commodity using
current market prices (as of when report is generated).
.TP
\f[V]--value=YYYY-MM-DD\f[R]
Convert amounts to their value in the default valuation commodity using
market prices on this date.
.PP
To select a different valuation commodity, add the optional
\f[V],COMM\f[R] part: a comma, then the target commodity\[aq]s symbol.
Eg: \f[B]\f[VB]--value=now,EUR\f[B]\f[R].
hledger will do its best to convert amounts to this commodity, deducing
market prices as described above.
.SS More valuation examples
.PP
Here are some examples showing the effect of \f[V]--value\f[R], as seen
with \f[V]print\f[R]:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
P 2000-01-01 A  1 B
P 2000-02-01 A  2 B
P 2000-03-01 A  3 B
P 2000-04-01 A  4 B

2000-01-01
  (a)      1 A \[at] 5 B

2000-02-01
  (a)      1 A \[at] 6 B

2000-03-01
  (a)      1 A \[at] 7 B
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
Show the cost of each posting:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger -f- print --cost
2000-01-01
    (a)             5 B

2000-02-01
    (a)             6 B

2000-03-01
    (a)             7 B
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
Show the value as of the last day of the report period (2000-02-29):
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger -f- print --value=end date:2000/01-2000/03
2000-01-01
    (a)             2 B

2000-02-01
    (a)             2 B
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
With no report period specified, that shows the value as of the last day
of the journal (2000-03-01):
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger -f- print --value=end
2000-01-01
    (a)             3 B

2000-02-01
    (a)             3 B

2000-03-01
    (a)             3 B
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
Show the current value (the 2000-04-01 price is still in effect today):
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger -f- print --value=now
2000-01-01
    (a)             4 B

2000-02-01
    (a)             4 B

2000-03-01
    (a)             4 B
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
Show the value on 2000/01/15:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger -f- print --value=2000-01-15
2000-01-01
    (a)             1 B

2000-02-01
    (a)             1 B

2000-03-01
    (a)             1 B
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
You may need to explicitly set a commodity\[aq]s display style, when
reverse prices are used.
Eg this output might be surprising:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
P 2000-01-01 A 2B

2000-01-01
  a  1B
  b
\f[R]
.fi
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger print -x -X A
2000-01-01
    a               0
    b               0
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
Explanation: because there\[aq]s no amount or commodity directive
specifying a display style for A, 0.5A gets the default style, which
shows no decimal digits.
Because the displayed amount looks like zero, the commodity symbol and
minus sign are not displayed either.
Adding a commodity directive sets a more useful display style for A:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
P 2000-01-01 A 2B
commodity 0.00A

2000-01-01
  a  1B
  b
\f[R]
.fi
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger print -X A
2000-01-01
    a           0.50A
    b          -0.50A
\f[R]
.fi
.SS Interaction of valuation and queries
.PP
When matching postings based on queries in the presence of valuation,
the following happens.
.IP "1." 3
The query is separated into two parts:
.RS 4
.IP "1." 3
the currency (\f[V]cur:\f[R]) or amount (\f[V]amt:\f[R]).
.IP "2." 3
all other parts.
.RE
.IP "2." 3
The postings are matched to the currency and amount queries based on
pre-valued amounts.
.IP "3." 3
Valuation is applied to the postings.
.IP "4." 3
The postings are matched to the other parts of the query based on
post-valued amounts.
.PP
See: 1625
.SS Effect of valuation on reports
.PP
Here is a reference for how valuation is supposed to affect each part of
hledger\[aq]s reports (and a glossary).
(It\[aq]s wide, you\[aq]ll have to scroll sideways.)
It may be useful when troubleshooting.
If you find problems, please report them, ideally with a reproducible
example.
Related: #329, #1083.
.PP
.TS
tab(@);
lw(9.5n) lw(11.8n) lw(12.0n) lw(17.2n) lw(12.0n) lw(7.4n).
T{
Report type
T}@T{
\f[V]-B\f[R], \f[V]--cost\f[R]
T}@T{
\f[V]-V\f[R], \f[V]-X\f[R]
T}@T{
\f[V]--value=then\f[R]
T}@T{
\f[V]--value=end\f[R]
T}@T{
\f[V]--value=DATE\f[R], \f[V]--value=now\f[R]
T}
_
T{
\f[B]print\f[R]
T}@T{
T}@T{
T}@T{
T}@T{
T}@T{
T}
T{
posting amounts
T}@T{
cost
T}@T{
value at report end or today
T}@T{
value at posting date
T}@T{
value at report or journal end
T}@T{
value at DATE/today
T}
T{
balance assertions/assignments
T}@T{
unchanged
T}@T{
unchanged
T}@T{
unchanged
T}@T{
unchanged
T}@T{
unchanged
T}
T{
T}@T{
T}@T{
T}@T{
T}@T{
T}@T{
T}
T{
\f[B]register\f[R]
T}@T{
T}@T{
T}@T{
T}@T{
T}@T{
T}
T{
starting balance (-H)
T}@T{
cost
T}@T{
value at report or journal end
T}@T{
valued at day each historical posting was made
T}@T{
value at report or journal end
T}@T{
value at DATE/today
T}
T{
starting balance (-H) with report interval
T}@T{
cost
T}@T{
value at day before report or journal start
T}@T{
valued at day each historical posting was made
T}@T{
value at day before report or journal start
T}@T{
value at DATE/today
T}
T{
posting amounts
T}@T{
cost
T}@T{
value at report or journal end
T}@T{
value at posting date
T}@T{
value at report or journal end
T}@T{
value at DATE/today
T}
T{
summary posting amounts with report interval
T}@T{
summarised cost
T}@T{
value at period ends
T}@T{
sum of postings in interval, valued at interval start
T}@T{
value at period ends
T}@T{
value at DATE/today
T}
T{
running total/average
T}@T{
sum/average of displayed values
T}@T{
sum/average of displayed values
T}@T{
sum/average of displayed values
T}@T{
sum/average of displayed values
T}@T{
sum/average of displayed values
T}
T{
T}@T{
T}@T{
T}@T{
T}@T{
T}@T{
T}
T{
\f[B]balance (bs, bse, cf, is)\f[R]
T}@T{
T}@T{
T}@T{
T}@T{
T}@T{
T}
T{
balance changes
T}@T{
sums of costs
T}@T{
value at report end or today of sums of postings
T}@T{
value at posting date
T}@T{
value at report or journal end of sums of postings
T}@T{
value at DATE/today of sums of postings
T}
T{
budget amounts (--budget)
T}@T{
like balance changes
T}@T{
like balance changes
T}@T{
like balance changes
T}@T{
like balances
T}@T{
like balance changes
T}
T{
grand total
T}@T{
sum of displayed values
T}@T{
sum of displayed values
T}@T{
sum of displayed valued
T}@T{
sum of displayed values
T}@T{
sum of displayed values
T}
T{
T}@T{
T}@T{
T}@T{
T}@T{
T}@T{
T}
T{
\f[B]balance (bs, bse, cf, is) with report interval\f[R]
T}@T{
T}@T{
T}@T{
T}@T{
T}@T{
T}
T{
starting balances (-H)
T}@T{
sums of costs of postings before report start
T}@T{
value at report start of sums of all postings before report start
T}@T{
sums of values of postings before report start at respective posting
dates
T}@T{
value at report start of sums of all postings before report start
T}@T{
sums of postings before report start
T}
T{
balance changes (bal, is, bs --change, cf --change)
T}@T{
sums of costs of postings in period
T}@T{
same as --value=end
T}@T{
sums of values of postings in period at respective posting dates
T}@T{
balance change in each period, valued at period ends
T}@T{
value at DATE/today of sums of postings
T}
T{
end balances (bal -H, is --H, bs, cf)
T}@T{
sums of costs of postings from before report start to period end
T}@T{
same as --value=end
T}@T{
sums of values of postings from before period start to period end at
respective posting dates
T}@T{
period end balances, valued at period ends
T}@T{
value at DATE/today of sums of postings
T}
T{
budget amounts (--budget)
T}@T{
like balance changes/end balances
T}@T{
like balance changes/end balances
T}@T{
like balance changes/end balances
T}@T{
like balances
T}@T{
like balance changes/end balances
T}
T{
row totals, row averages (-T, -A)
T}@T{
sums, averages of displayed values
T}@T{
sums, averages of displayed values
T}@T{
sums, averages of displayed values
T}@T{
sums, averages of displayed values
T}@T{
sums, averages of displayed values
T}
T{
column totals
T}@T{
sums of displayed values
T}@T{
sums of displayed values
T}@T{
sums of displayed values
T}@T{
sums of displayed values
T}@T{
sums of displayed values
T}
T{
grand total, grand average
T}@T{
sum, average of column totals
T}@T{
sum, average of column totals
T}@T{
sum, average of column totals
T}@T{
sum, average of column totals
T}@T{
sum, average of column totals
T}
T{
T}@T{
T}@T{
T}@T{
T}@T{
T}@T{
T}
.TE
.PP
\f[V]--cumulative\f[R] is omitted to save space, it works like
\f[V]-H\f[R] but with a zero starting balance.
.PP
\f[B]Glossary:\f[R]
.TP
\f[I]cost\f[R]
calculated using price(s) recorded in the transaction(s).
.TP
\f[I]value\f[R]
market value using available market price declarations, or the unchanged
amount if no conversion rate can be found.
.TP
\f[I]report start\f[R]
the first day of the report period specified with -b or -p or date:,
otherwise today.
.TP
\f[I]report or journal start\f[R]
the first day of the report period specified with -b or -p or date:,
otherwise the earliest transaction date in the journal, otherwise today.
.TP
\f[I]report end\f[R]
the last day of the report period specified with -e or -p or date:,
otherwise today.
.TP
\f[I]report or journal end\f[R]
the last day of the report period specified with -e or -p or date:,
otherwise the latest transaction date in the journal, otherwise today.
.TP
\f[I]report interval\f[R]
a flag (-D/-W/-M/-Q/-Y) or period expression that activates the
report\[aq]s multi-period mode (whether showing one or many subperiods).
.SH PART 4: COMMANDS
.SS Commands overview
.PP
Here are the built-in commands:
.SS DATA ENTRY
.PP
These data entry commands are the only ones which can modify your
journal file.
.IP \[bu] 2
add - add transactions using terminal prompts
.IP \[bu] 2
import - add new transactions from other files, eg CSV files
.SS DATA CREATION
.IP \[bu] 2
close - generate balance-zeroing/restoring transactions
.IP \[bu] 2
rewrite - generate auto postings, like print --auto
.SS DATA MANAGEMENT
.IP \[bu] 2
check - check for various kinds of error in the data
.IP \[bu] 2
diff - compare account transactions in two journal files
.SS REPORTS, FINANCIAL
.IP \[bu] 2
aregister (areg) - show transactions in a particular account
.IP \[bu] 2
balancesheet (bs) - show assets, liabilities and net worth
.IP \[bu] 2
balancesheetequity (bse) - show assets, liabilities and equity
.IP \[bu] 2
cashflow (cf) - show changes in liquid assets
.IP \[bu] 2
incomestatement (is) - show revenues and expenses
.SS REPORTS, VERSATILE
.IP \[bu] 2
balance (bal) - show balance changes, end balances, budgets, gains..
.IP \[bu] 2
print - show transactions or export journal data
.IP \[bu] 2
register (reg) - show postings in one or more accounts & running total
.IP \[bu] 2
roi - show return on investments
.SS REPORTS, BASIC
.IP \[bu] 2
accounts - show account names
.IP \[bu] 2
activity - show bar charts of posting counts per period
.IP \[bu] 2
codes - show transaction codes
.IP \[bu] 2
commodities - show commodity/currency symbols
.IP \[bu] 2
descriptions - show transaction descriptions
.IP \[bu] 2
files - show input file paths
.IP \[bu] 2
notes - show note parts of transaction descriptions
.IP \[bu] 2
payees - show payee parts of transaction descriptions
.IP \[bu] 2
prices - show market prices
.IP \[bu] 2
stats - show journal statistics
.IP \[bu] 2
tags - show tag names
.IP \[bu] 2
test - run self tests
.SS HELP
.IP \[bu] 2
help - show the hledger manual with info/man/pager
.IP \[bu] 2
demo - show small hledger demos in the terminal
.PP
.SS ADD-ONS
.PP
And here are some typical add-on commands.
Some of these are installed by the hledger-install script.
If installed, they will appear in hledger\[aq]s commands list:
.IP \[bu] 2
ui - run hledger\[aq]s terminal UI
.IP \[bu] 2
web - run hledger\[aq]s web UI
.IP \[bu] 2
iadd - add transactions using a TUI (currently hard to build)
.IP \[bu] 2
interest - generate interest transactions
.IP \[bu] 2
stockquotes - download market prices from AlphaVantage
.IP \[bu] 2
Scripts and add-ons - check-fancyassertions, edit, fifo, git, move,
pijul, plot, and more..
.PP
Next, each command is described in detail, in alphabetical order.
.SS accounts
.PP
Show account names.
.PP
This command lists account names.
By default it shows all known accounts, either used in transactions or
declared with account directives.
.PP
With query arguments, only matched account names and account names
referenced by matched postings are shown.
.PP
Or it can show just the used accounts (\f[V]--used\f[R]/\f[V]-u\f[R]),
the declared accounts (\f[V]--declared\f[R]/\f[V]-d\f[R]), the accounts
declared but not used (\f[V]--unused\f[R]), the accounts used but not
declared (\f[V]--undeclared\f[R]), or the first account matched by an
account name pattern, if any (\f[V]--find\f[R]).
.PP
It shows a flat list by default.
With \f[V]--tree\f[R], it uses indentation to show the account
hierarchy.
In flat mode you can add \f[V]--drop N\f[R] to omit the first few
account name components.
Account names can be depth-clipped with \f[V]depth:N\f[R] or
\f[V]--depth N\f[R] or \f[V]-N\f[R].
.PP
With \f[V]--types\f[R], it also shows each account\[aq]s type, if
it\[aq]s known.
(See Declaring accounts > Account types.)
.PP
With \f[V]--positions\f[R], it also shows the file and line number of
each account\[aq]s declaration, if any, and the account\[aq]s overall
declaration order; these may be useful when troubleshooting account
display order.
.PP
With \f[V]--directives\f[R], it adds the \f[V]account\f[R] keyword,
showing valid account directives which can be pasted into a journal
file.
This is useful together with \f[V]--undeclared\f[R] when updating your
account declarations to satisfy \f[V]hledger check accounts\f[R].
.PP
The \f[V]--find\f[R] flag can be used to look up a single account name,
in the same way that the \f[V]aregister\f[R] command does.
It returns the alphanumerically-first matched account name, or if none
can be found, it fails with a non-zero exit code.
.PP
Examples:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger accounts
assets:bank:checking
assets:bank:saving
assets:cash
expenses:food
expenses:supplies
income:gifts
income:salary
liabilities:debts
\f[R]
.fi
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger accounts --undeclared --directives >> $LEDGER_FILE
$ hledger check accounts
\f[R]
.fi
.SS activity
.PP
Show an ascii barchart of posting counts per interval.
.PP
The activity command displays an ascii histogram showing transaction
counts by day, week, month or other reporting interval (by day is the
default).
With query arguments, it counts only matched transactions.
.PP
Examples:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger activity --quarterly
2008-01-01 **
2008-04-01 *******
2008-07-01 
2008-10-01 **
\f[R]
.fi
.SS add
.PP
Prompt for transactions and add them to the journal.
Any arguments will be used as default inputs for the first N prompts.
.PP
Many hledger users edit their journals directly with a text editor, or
generate them from CSV.
For more interactive data entry, there is the \f[V]add\f[R] command,
which prompts interactively on the console for new transactions, and
appends them to the main journal file (which should be in journal
format).
Existing transactions are not changed.
This is one of the few hledger commands that writes to the journal file
(see also \f[V]import\f[R]).
.PP
To use it, just run \f[V]hledger add\f[R] and follow the prompts.
You can add as many transactions as you like; when you are finished,
enter \f[V].\f[R] or press control-d or control-c to exit.
.PP
Features:
.IP \[bu] 2
add tries to provide useful defaults, using the most similar (by
description) recent transaction (filtered by the query, if any) as a
template.
.IP \[bu] 2
You can also set the initial defaults with command line arguments.
.IP \[bu] 2
Readline-style edit keys can be used during data entry.
.IP \[bu] 2
The tab key will auto-complete whenever possible - accounts,
payees/descriptions, dates (\f[V]yesterday\f[R], \f[V]today\f[R],
\f[V]tomorrow\f[R]).
If the input area is empty, it will insert the default value.
.IP \[bu] 2
If the journal defines a default commodity, it will be added to any bare
numbers entered.
.IP \[bu] 2
A parenthesised transaction code may be entered following a date.
.IP \[bu] 2
Comments and tags may be entered following a description or amount.
.IP \[bu] 2
If you make a mistake, enter \f[V]<\f[R] at any prompt to go one step
backward.
.IP \[bu] 2
Input prompts are displayed in a different colour when the terminal
supports it.
.PP
Example (see https://hledger.org/add.html for a detailed tutorial):
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger add
Adding transactions to journal file /src/hledger/examples/sample.journal
Any command line arguments will be used as defaults.
Use tab key to complete, readline keys to edit, enter to accept defaults.
An optional (CODE) may follow transaction dates.
An optional ; COMMENT may follow descriptions or amounts.
If you make a mistake, enter < at any prompt to go one step backward.
To end a transaction, enter . when prompted.
To quit, enter . at a date prompt or press control-d or control-c.
Date [2015/05/22]: 
Description: supermarket
Account 1: expenses:food
Amount  1: $10
Account 2: assets:checking
Amount  2 [$-10.0]: 
Account 3 (or . or enter to finish this transaction): .
2015/05/22 supermarket
    expenses:food             $10
    assets:checking        $-10.0

Save this transaction to the journal ? [y]: 
Saved.
Starting the next transaction (. or ctrl-D/ctrl-C to quit)
Date [2015/05/22]: <CTRL-D> $
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
On Microsoft Windows, the add command makes sure that no part of the
file path ends with a period, as that would cause problems (#1056).
.SS aregister
.PP
(areg)
.PP
Show the transactions and running historical balance of a single
account, with each transaction displayed as one line.
.PP
\f[V]aregister\f[R] shows the overall transactions affecting a
particular account (and any subaccounts).
Each report line represents one transaction in this account.
Transactions before the report start date are always included in the
running balance (\f[V]--historical\f[R] mode is always on).
.PP
This is a more \[dq]real world\[dq], bank-like view than the
\f[V]register\f[R] command (which shows individual postings, possibly
from multiple accounts, not necessarily in historical mode).
As a quick rule of thumb: - use \f[V]aregister\f[R] for reviewing and
reconciling real-world asset/liability accounts - use \f[V]register\f[R]
for reviewing detailed revenues/expenses.
.PP
\f[V]aregister\f[R] requires one argument: the account to report on.
You can write either the full account name, or a case-insensitive
regular expression which will select the alphabetically first matched
account.
.PP
When there are multiple matches, the alphabetically-first choice can be
surprising; eg if you have \f[V]assets:per:checking 1\f[R] and
\f[V]assets:biz:checking 2\f[R] accounts,
\f[V]hledger areg checking\f[R] would select
\f[V]assets:biz:checking 2\f[R].
It\[aq]s just a convenience to save typing, so if in doubt, write the
full account name, or a distinctive substring that matches uniquely.
.PP
Transactions involving subaccounts of this account will also be shown.
\f[V]aregister\f[R] ignores depth limits, so its final total will always
match a balance report with similar arguments.
.PP
Any additional arguments form a query which will filter the transactions
shown.
Note some queries will disturb the running balance, causing it to be
different from the account\[aq]s real-world running balance.
.PP
An example: this shows the transactions and historical running balance
during july, in the first account whose name contains
\[dq]checking\[dq]:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger areg checking date:jul
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
Each \f[V]aregister\f[R] line item shows:
.IP \[bu] 2
the transaction\[aq]s date (or the relevant posting\[aq]s date if
different, see below)
.IP \[bu] 2
the names of all the other account(s) involved in this transaction
(probably abbreviated)
.IP \[bu] 2
the total change to this account\[aq]s balance from this transaction
.IP \[bu] 2
the account\[aq]s historical running balance after this transaction.
.PP
Transactions making a net change of zero are not shown by default; add
the \f[V]-E/--empty\f[R] flag to show them.
.PP
For performance reasons, column widths are chosen based on the first
1000 lines; this means unusually wide values in later lines can cause
visual discontinuities as column widths are adjusted.
If you want to ensure perfect alignment, at the cost of more time and
memory, use the \f[V]--align-all\f[R] flag.
.PP
This command also supports the output destination and output format
options.
The output formats supported are \f[V]txt\f[R], \f[V]csv\f[R], and
\f[V]json\f[R].
.SS aregister and custom posting dates
.PP
Transactions whose date is outside the report period can still be shown,
if they have a posting to this account dated inside the report period.
(And in this case it\[aq]s the posting date that is shown.)
This ensures that \f[V]aregister\f[R] can show an accurate historical
running balance, matching the one shown by \f[V]register -H\f[R] with
the same arguments.
.PP
To filter strictly by transaction date instead, add the
\f[V]--txn-dates\f[R] flag.
If you use this flag and some of your postings have custom dates,
it\[aq]s probably best to assume the running balance is wrong.
.SS balance
.PP
(bal)
.PP
Show accounts and their balances.
.PP
\f[V]balance\f[R] is one of hledger\[aq]s oldest and most versatile
commands, for listing account balances, balance changes, values, value
changes and more, during one time period or many.
Generally it shows a table, with rows representing accounts, and columns
representing periods.
.PP
Note there are some higher-level variants of the \f[V]balance\f[R]
command with convenient defaults, which can be simpler to use:
\f[V]balancesheet\f[R], \f[V]balancesheetequity\f[R], \f[V]cashflow\f[R]
and \f[V]incomestatement\f[R].
When you need more control, then use \f[V]balance\f[R].
.SS balance features
.PP
Here\[aq]s a quick overview of the \f[V]balance\f[R] command\[aq]s
features, followed by more detailed descriptions and examples.
Many of these work with the higher-level commands as well.
.PP
\f[V]balance\f[R] can show..
.IP \[bu] 2
accounts as a list (\f[V]-l\f[R]) or a tree (\f[V]-t\f[R])
.IP \[bu] 2
optionally depth-limited (\f[V]-[1-9]\f[R])
.IP \[bu] 2
sorted by declaration order and name, or by amount
.PP
\&..and their..
.IP \[bu] 2
balance changes (the default)
.IP \[bu] 2
or actual and planned balance changes (\f[V]--budget\f[R])
.IP \[bu] 2
or value of balance changes (\f[V]-V\f[R])
.IP \[bu] 2
or change of balance values (\f[V]--valuechange\f[R])
.IP \[bu] 2
or unrealised capital gain/loss (\f[V]--gain\f[R])
.IP \[bu] 2
or postings count (\f[V]--count\f[R])
.PP
\&..in..
.IP \[bu] 2
one time period (the whole journal period by default)
.IP \[bu] 2
or multiple periods (\f[V]-D\f[R], \f[V]-W\f[R], \f[V]-M\f[R],
\f[V]-Q\f[R], \f[V]-Y\f[R], \f[V]-p INTERVAL\f[R])
.PP
\&..either..
.IP \[bu] 2
per period (the default)
.IP \[bu] 2
or accumulated since report start date (\f[V]--cumulative\f[R])
.IP \[bu] 2
or accumulated since account creation (\f[V]--historical/-H\f[R])
.PP
\&..possibly converted to..
.IP \[bu] 2
cost (\f[V]--value=cost[,COMM]\f[R]/\f[V]--cost\f[R]/\f[V]-B\f[R])
.IP \[bu] 2
or market value, as of transaction dates (\f[V]--value=then[,COMM]\f[R])
.IP \[bu] 2
or at period ends (\f[V]--value=end[,COMM]\f[R])
.IP \[bu] 2
or now (\f[V]--value=now\f[R])
.IP \[bu] 2
or at some other date (\f[V]--value=YYYY-MM-DD\f[R])
.PP
\&..with..
.IP \[bu] 2
totals (\f[V]-T\f[R]), averages (\f[V]-A\f[R]), percentages
(\f[V]-%\f[R]), inverted sign (\f[V]--invert\f[R])
.IP \[bu] 2
rows and columns swapped (\f[V]--transpose\f[R])
.IP \[bu] 2
another field used as account name (\f[V]--pivot\f[R])
.IP \[bu] 2
custom-formatted line items (single-period reports only)
(\f[V]--format\f[R])
.IP \[bu] 2
commodities displayed on the same line or multiple lines
(\f[V]--layout\f[R])
.PP
This command supports the output destination and output format options,
with output formats \f[V]txt\f[R], \f[V]csv\f[R], \f[V]json\f[R], and
(multi-period reports only:) \f[V]html\f[R].
In \f[V]txt\f[R] output in a colour-supporting terminal, negative
amounts are shown in red.
.PP
The \f[V]--related\f[R]/\f[V]-r\f[R] flag shows the balance of the
\f[I]other\f[R] postings in the transactions of the postings which would
normally be shown.
.SS Simple balance report
.PP
With no arguments, \f[V]balance\f[R] shows a list of all accounts and
their change of balance - ie, the sum of posting amounts, both inflows
and outflows - during the entire period of the journal.
(\[dq]Simple\[dq] here means just one column of numbers, covering a
single period.
You can also have multi-period reports, described later.)
.PP
For real-world accounts, these numbers will normally be their end
balance at the end of the journal period; more on this below.
.PP
Accounts are sorted by declaration order if any, and then alphabetically
by account name.
For instance (using examples/sample.journal):
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger -f examples/sample.journal bal
                  $1  assets:bank:saving
                 $-2  assets:cash
                  $1  expenses:food
                  $1  expenses:supplies
                 $-1  income:gifts
                 $-1  income:salary
                  $1  liabilities:debts
--------------------
                   0  
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
Accounts with a zero balance (and no non-zero subaccounts, in tree mode
- see below) are hidden by default.
Use \f[V]-E/--empty\f[R] to show them (revealing
\f[V]assets:bank:checking\f[R] here):
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger -f examples/sample.journal bal  -E
                   0  assets:bank:checking
                  $1  assets:bank:saving
                 $-2  assets:cash
                  $1  expenses:food
                  $1  expenses:supplies
                 $-1  income:gifts
                 $-1  income:salary
                  $1  liabilities:debts
--------------------
                   0  
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
The total of the amounts displayed is shown as the last line, unless
\f[V]-N\f[R]/\f[V]--no-total\f[R] is used.
.SS Balance report line format
.PP
For single-period balance reports displayed in the terminal (only), you
can use \f[V]--format FMT\f[R] to customise the format and content of
each line.
Eg:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger -f examples/sample.journal balance --format \[dq]%20(account) %12(total)\[dq]
              assets          $-1
         bank:saving           $1
                cash          $-2
            expenses           $2
                food           $1
            supplies           $1
              income          $-2
               gifts          $-1
              salary          $-1
   liabilities:debts           $1
---------------------------------
                                0
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
The FMT format string specifies the formatting applied to each
account/balance pair.
It may contain any suitable text, with data fields interpolated like so:
.PP
\f[V]%[MIN][.MAX](FIELDNAME)\f[R]
.IP \[bu] 2
MIN pads with spaces to at least this width (optional)
.IP \[bu] 2
MAX truncates at this width (optional)
.IP \[bu] 2
FIELDNAME must be enclosed in parentheses, and can be one of:
.RS 2
.IP \[bu] 2
\f[V]depth_spacer\f[R] - a number of spaces equal to the account\[aq]s
depth, or if MIN is specified, MIN * depth spaces.
.IP \[bu] 2
\f[V]account\f[R] - the account\[aq]s name
.IP \[bu] 2
\f[V]total\f[R] - the account\[aq]s balance/posted total, right
justified
.RE
.PP
Also, FMT can begin with an optional prefix to control how
multi-commodity amounts are rendered:
.IP \[bu] 2
\f[V]%_\f[R] - render on multiple lines, bottom-aligned (the default)
.IP \[bu] 2
\f[V]%\[ha]\f[R] - render on multiple lines, top-aligned
.IP \[bu] 2
\f[V]%,\f[R] - render on one line, comma-separated
.PP
There are some quirks.
Eg in one-line mode, \f[V]%(depth_spacer)\f[R] has no effect, instead
\f[V]%(account)\f[R] has indentation built in.
Experimentation may be needed to get pleasing results.
.PP
Some example formats:
.IP \[bu] 2
\f[V]%(total)\f[R] - the account\[aq]s total
.IP \[bu] 2
\f[V]%-20.20(account)\f[R] - the account\[aq]s name, left justified,
padded to 20 characters and clipped at 20 characters
.IP \[bu] 2
\f[V]%,%-50(account)  %25(total)\f[R] - account name padded to 50
characters, total padded to 20 characters, with multiple commodities
rendered on one line
.IP \[bu] 2
\f[V]%20(total)  %2(depth_spacer)%-(account)\f[R] - the default format
for the single-column balance report
.SS Filtered balance report
.PP
You can show fewer accounts, a different time period, totals from
cleared transactions only, etc.
by using query arguments or options to limit the postings being matched.
Eg:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger -f examples/sample.journal bal --cleared assets date:200806
                 $-2  assets:cash
--------------------
                 $-2  
\f[R]
.fi
.SS List or tree mode
.PP
By default, or with \f[V]-l/--flat\f[R], accounts are shown as a flat
list with their full names visible, as in the examples above.
.PP
With \f[V]-t/--tree\f[R], the account hierarchy is shown, with
subaccounts\[aq] \[dq]leaf\[dq] names indented below their parent:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger -f examples/sample.journal balance
                 $-1  assets
                  $1    bank:saving
                 $-2    cash
                  $2  expenses
                  $1    food
                  $1    supplies
                 $-2  income
                 $-1    gifts
                 $-1    salary
                  $1  liabilities:debts
--------------------
                   0
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
Notes:
.IP \[bu] 2
\[dq]Boring\[dq] accounts are combined with their subaccount for more
compact output, unless \f[V]--no-elide\f[R] is used.
Boring accounts have no balance of their own and just one subaccount (eg
\f[V]assets:bank\f[R] and \f[V]liabilities\f[R] above).
.IP \[bu] 2
All balances shown are \[dq]inclusive\[dq], ie including the balances
from all subaccounts.
Note this means some repetition in the output, which requires
explanation when sharing reports with non-plaintextaccounting-users.
A tree mode report\[aq]s final total is the sum of the top-level
balances shown, not of all the balances shown.
.IP \[bu] 2
Each group of sibling accounts (ie, under a common parent) is sorted
separately.
.SS Depth limiting
.PP
With a \f[V]depth:NUM\f[R] query, or \f[V]--depth NUM\f[R] option, or
just \f[V]-NUM\f[R] (eg: \f[V]-3\f[R]) balance reports will show
accounts only to the specified depth, hiding the deeper subaccounts.
This can be useful for getting an overview without too much detail.
.PP
Account balances at the depth limit always include the balances from any
deeper subaccounts (even in list mode).
Eg, limiting to depth 1:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger -f examples/sample.journal balance -1
                 $-1  assets
                  $2  expenses
                 $-2  income
                  $1  liabilities
--------------------
                   0  
\f[R]
.fi
.SS Dropping top-level accounts
.PP
You can also hide one or more top-level account name parts, using
\f[V]--drop NUM\f[R].
This can be useful for hiding repetitive top-level account names:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger -f examples/sample.journal bal expenses --drop 1
                  $1  food
                  $1  supplies
--------------------
                  $2  
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
.SS Showing declared accounts
.PP
With \f[V]--declared\f[R], accounts which have been declared with an
account directive will be included in the balance report, even if they
have no transactions.
(Since they will have a zero balance, you will also need
\f[V]-E/--empty\f[R] to see them.)
.PP
More precisely, \f[I]leaf\f[R] declared accounts (with no subaccounts)
will be included, since those are usually the more useful in reports.
.PP
The idea of this is to be able to see a useful \[dq]complete\[dq]
balance report, even when you don\[aq]t have transactions in all of your
declared accounts yet.
.SS Sorting by amount
.PP
With \f[V]-S/--sort-amount\f[R], accounts with the largest (most
positive) balances are shown first.
Eg: \f[V]hledger bal expenses -MAS\f[R] shows your biggest averaged
monthly expenses first.
When more than one commodity is present, they will be sorted by the
alphabetically earliest commodity first, and then by subsequent
commodities (if an amount is missing a commodity, it is treated as 0).
.PP
Revenues and liability balances are typically negative, however, so
\f[V]-S\f[R] shows these in reverse order.
To work around this, you can add \f[V]--invert\f[R] to flip the signs.
(Or, use one of the higher-level reports, which flip the sign
automatically.
Eg: \f[V]hledger incomestatement -MAS\f[R]).
.PP
.SS Percentages
.PP
With \f[V]-%/--percent\f[R], balance reports show each account\[aq]s
value expressed as a percentage of the (column) total.
.PP
Note it is not useful to calculate percentages if the amounts in a
column have mixed signs.
In this case, make a separate report for each sign, eg:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger bal -% amt:\[ga]>0\[ga]
$ hledger bal -% amt:\[ga]<0\[ga]
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
Similarly, if the amounts in a column have mixed commodities, convert
them to one commodity with \f[V]-B\f[R], \f[V]-V\f[R], \f[V]-X\f[R] or
\f[V]--value\f[R], or make a separate report for each commodity:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger bal -% cur:\[rs]\[rs]$
$ hledger bal -% cur:€
\f[R]
.fi
.SS Multi-period balance report
.PP
With a report interval (set by the \f[V]-D/--daily\f[R],
\f[V]-W/--weekly\f[R], \f[V]-M/--monthly\f[R], \f[V]-Q/--quarterly\f[R],
\f[V]-Y/--yearly\f[R], or \f[V]-p/--period\f[R] flag), \f[V]balance\f[R]
shows a tabular report, with columns representing successive time
periods (and a title):
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger -f examples/sample.journal bal --quarterly income expenses -E
Balance changes in 2008:

                   ||  2008q1  2008q2  2008q3  2008q4 
===================++=================================
 expenses:food     ||       0      $1       0       0 
 expenses:supplies ||       0      $1       0       0 
 income:gifts      ||       0     $-1       0       0 
 income:salary     ||     $-1       0       0       0 
-------------------++---------------------------------
                   ||     $-1      $1       0       0 
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
Notes:
.IP \[bu] 2
The report\[aq]s start/end dates will be expanded, if necessary, to
fully encompass the displayed subperiods (so that the first and last
subperiods have the same duration as the others).
.IP \[bu] 2
Leading and trailing periods (columns) containing all zeroes are not
shown, unless \f[V]-E/--empty\f[R] is used.
.IP \[bu] 2
Accounts (rows) containing all zeroes are not shown, unless
\f[V]-E/--empty\f[R] is used.
.IP \[bu] 2
Amounts with many commodities are shown in abbreviated form, unless
\f[V]--no-elide\f[R] is used.
\f[I](experimental)\f[R]
.IP \[bu] 2
Average and/or total columns can be added with the
\f[V]-A/--average\f[R] and \f[V]-T/--row-total\f[R] flags.
.IP \[bu] 2
The \f[V]--transpose\f[R] flag can be used to exchange rows and columns.
.IP \[bu] 2
The \f[V]--pivot FIELD\f[R] option causes a different transaction field
to be used as \[dq]account name\[dq].
See PIVOTING.
.PP
Multi-period reports with many periods can be too wide for easy viewing
in the terminal.
Here are some ways to handle that:
.IP \[bu] 2
Hide the totals row with \f[V]-N/--no-total\f[R]
.IP \[bu] 2
Convert to a single currency with \f[V]-V\f[R]
.IP \[bu] 2
Maximize the terminal window
.IP \[bu] 2
Reduce the terminal\[aq]s font size
.IP \[bu] 2
View with a pager like less, eg:
\f[V]hledger bal -D --color=yes | less -RS\f[R]
.IP \[bu] 2
Output as CSV and use a CSV viewer like visidata
(\f[V]hledger bal -D -O csv | vd -f csv\f[R]), Emacs\[aq] csv-mode
(\f[V]M-x csv-mode, C-c C-a\f[R]), or a spreadsheet
(\f[V]hledger bal -D -o a.csv && open a.csv\f[R])
.IP \[bu] 2
Output as HTML and view with a browser:
\f[V]hledger bal -D -o a.html && open a.html\f[R]
.SS Balance change, end balance
.PP
It\[aq]s important to be clear on the meaning of the numbers shown in
balance reports.
Here is some terminology we use:
.PP
A \f[B]\f[BI]balance change\f[B]\f[R] is the net amount added to, or
removed from, an account during some period.
.PP
An \f[B]\f[BI]end balance\f[B]\f[R] is the amount accumulated in an
account as of some date (and some time, but hledger doesn\[aq]t store
that; assume end of day in your timezone).
It is the sum of previous balance changes.
.PP
We call it a \f[B]\f[BI]historical end balance\f[B]\f[R] if it includes
all balance changes since the account was created.
For a real world account, this means it will match the \[dq]historical
record\[dq], eg the balances reported in your bank statements or bank
web UI.
(If they are correct!)
.PP
In general, balance changes are what you want to see when reviewing
revenues and expenses, and historical end balances are what you want to
see when reviewing or reconciling asset, liability and equity accounts.
.PP
\f[V]balance\f[R] shows balance changes by default.
To see accurate historical end balances:
.IP "1." 3
Initialise account starting balances with an \[dq]opening balances\[dq]
transaction (a transfer from equity to the account), unless the journal
covers the account\[aq]s full lifetime.
.IP "2." 3
Include all of of the account\[aq]s prior postings in the report, by not
specifying a report start date, or by using the
\f[V]-H/--historical\f[R] flag.
(\f[V]-H\f[R] causes report start date to be ignored when summing
postings.)
.SS Balance report types
.PP
The balance command is quite flexible; here is the full detail on how to
control what it reports.
If the following seems complicated, don\[aq]t worry - this is for
advanced reporting, and it does take time and experimentation to get
familiar with all the report modes.
.PP
There are three important option groups:
.PP
\f[V]hledger balance [CALCULATIONTYPE] [ACCUMULATIONTYPE] [VALUATIONTYPE] ...\f[R]
.SS Calculation type
.PP
The basic calculation to perform for each table cell.
It is one of:
.IP \[bu] 2
\f[V]--sum\f[R] : sum the posting amounts (\f[B]default\f[R])
.IP \[bu] 2
\f[V]--budget\f[R] : sum the amounts, but also show the budget goal
amount (for each account/period)
.IP \[bu] 2
\f[V]--valuechange\f[R] : show the change in period-end historical
balance values (caused by deposits, withdrawals, and/or market price
fluctuations)
.IP \[bu] 2
\f[V]--gain\f[R] : show the unrealised capital gain/loss, (the current
valued balance minus each amount\[aq]s original cost)
.IP \[bu] 2
\f[V]--count\f[R] : show the count of postings
.SS Accumulation type
.PP
How amounts should accumulate across report periods.
Another way to say it: which time period\[aq]s postings should
contribute to each cell\[aq]s calculation.
It is one of:
.IP \[bu] 2
\f[V]--change\f[R] : calculate with postings from column start to column
end, ie \[dq]just this column\[dq].
Typically used to see revenues/expenses.
(\f[B]default for balance, incomestatement\f[R])
.IP \[bu] 2
\f[V]--cumulative\f[R] : calculate with postings from report start to
column end, ie \[dq]previous columns plus this column\[dq].
Typically used to show changes accumulated since the report\[aq]s start
date.
Not often used.
.IP \[bu] 2
\f[V]--historical/-H\f[R] : calculate with postings from journal start
to column end, ie \[dq]all postings from before report start date until
this column\[aq]s end\[dq].
Typically used to see historical end balances of
assets/liabilities/equity.
(\f[B]default for balancesheet, balancesheetequity, cashflow\f[R])
.SS Valuation type
.PP
Which kind of value or cost conversion should be applied, if any, before
displaying the report.
It is one of:
.IP \[bu] 2
no valuation type : don\[aq]t convert to cost or value
(\f[B]default\f[R])
.IP \[bu] 2
\f[V]--value=cost[,COMM]\f[R] : convert amounts to cost (then optionally
to some other commodity)
.IP \[bu] 2
\f[V]--value=then[,COMM]\f[R] : convert amounts to market value on
transaction dates
.IP \[bu] 2
\f[V]--value=end[,COMM]\f[R] : convert amounts to market value on period
end date(s)
.PD 0
.P
.PD
(\f[B]default with \f[VB]--valuechange\f[B], \f[VB]--gain\f[B]\f[R])
.IP \[bu] 2
\f[V]--value=now[,COMM]\f[R] : convert amounts to market value on
today\[aq]s date
.IP \[bu] 2
\f[V]--value=YYYY-MM-DD[,COMM]\f[R] : convert amounts to market value on
another date
.PP
or one of the equivalent simpler flags:
.IP \[bu] 2
\f[V]-B/--cost\f[R] : like --value=cost (though, note --cost and --value
are independent options which can both be used at once)
.IP \[bu] 2
\f[V]-V/--market\f[R] : like --value=end
.IP \[bu] 2
\f[V]-X COMM/--exchange COMM\f[R] : like --value=end,COMM
.PP
See Cost reporting and Valuation for more about these.
.SS Combining balance report types
.PP
Most combinations of these options should produce reasonable reports,
but if you find any that seem wrong or misleading, let us know.
The following restrictions are applied:
.IP \[bu] 2
\f[V]--valuechange\f[R] implies \f[V]--value=end\f[R]
.IP \[bu] 2
\f[V]--valuechange\f[R] makes \f[V]--change\f[R] the default when used
with the \f[V]balancesheet\f[R]/\f[V]balancesheetequity\f[R] commands
.IP \[bu] 2
\f[V]--cumulative\f[R] or \f[V]--historical\f[R] disables
\f[V]--row-total/-T\f[R]
.PP
For reference, here is what the combinations of accumulation and
valuation show:
.PP
.TS
tab(@);
lw(7.9n) lw(16.4n) lw(16.9n) lw(15.1n) lw(13.7n).
T{
Valuation:> Accumulation:v
T}@T{
no valuation
T}@T{
\f[V]--value= then\f[R]
T}@T{
\f[V]--value= end\f[R]
T}@T{
\f[V]--value= YYYY-MM-DD /now\f[R]
T}
_
T{
\f[V]--change\f[R]
T}@T{
change in period
T}@T{
sum of posting-date market values in period
T}@T{
period-end value of change in period
T}@T{
DATE-value of change in period
T}
T{
\f[V]--cumulative\f[R]
T}@T{
change from report start to period end
T}@T{
sum of posting-date market values from report start to period end
T}@T{
period-end value of change from report start to period end
T}@T{
DATE-value of change from report start to period end
T}
T{
\f[V]--historical /-H\f[R]
T}@T{
change from journal start to period end (historical end balance)
T}@T{
sum of posting-date market values from journal start to period end
T}@T{
period-end value of change from journal start to period end
T}@T{
DATE-value of change from journal start to period end
T}
.TE
.SS Budget report
.PP
The \f[V]--budget\f[R] report type activates extra columns showing any
budget goals for each account and period.
The budget goals are defined by periodic transactions.
This is useful for comparing planned and actual income, expenses, time
usage, etc.
.PP
For example, you can take average monthly expenses in the common expense
categories to construct a minimal monthly budget:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
;; Budget
\[ti] monthly
  income  $2000
  expenses:food    $400
  expenses:bus     $50
  expenses:movies  $30
  assets:bank:checking

;; Two months worth of expenses
2017-11-01
  income  $1950
  expenses:food    $396
  expenses:bus     $49
  expenses:movies  $30
  expenses:supplies  $20
  assets:bank:checking

2017-12-01
  income  $2100
  expenses:food    $412
  expenses:bus     $53
  expenses:gifts   $100
  assets:bank:checking
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
You can now see a monthly budget report:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger balance -M --budget
Budget performance in 2017/11/01-2017/12/31:

                      ||                      Nov                       Dec 
======================++====================================================
 assets               || $-2445 [  99% of $-2480]  $-2665 [ 107% of $-2480] 
 assets:bank          || $-2445 [  99% of $-2480]  $-2665 [ 107% of $-2480] 
 assets:bank:checking || $-2445 [  99% of $-2480]  $-2665 [ 107% of $-2480] 
 expenses             ||   $495 [ 103% of   $480]    $565 [ 118% of   $480] 
 expenses:bus         ||    $49 [  98% of    $50]     $53 [ 106% of    $50] 
 expenses:food        ||   $396 [  99% of   $400]    $412 [ 103% of   $400] 
 expenses:movies      ||    $30 [ 100% of    $30]       0 [   0% of    $30] 
 income               ||  $1950 [  98% of  $2000]   $2100 [ 105% of  $2000] 
----------------------++----------------------------------------------------
                      ||      0 [              0]       0 [              0] 
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
This is different from a normal balance report in several ways.
Currently:
.IP \[bu] 2
Accounts with budget goals during the report period, and their parents,
are shown.
.IP \[bu] 2
Their subaccounts are not shown (regardless of the depth setting).
.IP \[bu] 2
Accounts without budget goals, if any, are aggregated and shown as
\[dq]<unbudgeted>\[dq].
.IP \[bu] 2
Amounts are always inclusive (subaccount-including), even in list mode.
.IP \[bu] 2
After each actual amount, the corresponding goal amount and percentage
of goal reached are also shown, in square brackets.
.PP
This means that the numbers displayed will not always add up!
Eg above, the \f[V]expenses\f[R] actual amount includes the gifts and
supplies transactions, but the \f[V]expenses:gifts\f[R] and
\f[V]expenses:supplies\f[R] accounts are not shown, as they have no
budget amounts declared.
.PP
This can be confusing.
When you need to make things clearer, use the \f[V]-E/--empty\f[R] flag,
which will reveal all accounts including unbudgeted ones, giving the
full picture.
Eg:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger balance -M --budget --empty
Budget performance in 2017/11/01-2017/12/31:

                      ||                      Nov                       Dec 
======================++====================================================
 assets               || $-2445 [  99% of $-2480]  $-2665 [ 107% of $-2480] 
 assets:bank          || $-2445 [  99% of $-2480]  $-2665 [ 107% of $-2480] 
 assets:bank:checking || $-2445 [  99% of $-2480]  $-2665 [ 107% of $-2480] 
 expenses             ||   $495 [ 103% of   $480]    $565 [ 118% of   $480] 
 expenses:bus         ||    $49 [  98% of    $50]     $53 [ 106% of    $50] 
 expenses:food        ||   $396 [  99% of   $400]    $412 [ 103% of   $400] 
 expenses:gifts       ||      0                      $100                   
 expenses:movies      ||    $30 [ 100% of    $30]       0 [   0% of    $30] 
 expenses:supplies    ||    $20                         0                   
 income               ||  $1950 [  98% of  $2000]   $2100 [ 105% of  $2000] 
----------------------++----------------------------------------------------
                      ||      0 [              0]       0 [              0] 
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
You can roll over unspent budgets to next period with
\f[V]--cumulative\f[R]:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger balance -M --budget --cumulative
Budget performance in 2017/11/01-2017/12/31:

                      ||                      Nov                       Dec 
======================++====================================================
 assets               || $-2445 [  99% of $-2480]  $-5110 [ 103% of $-4960] 
 assets:bank          || $-2445 [  99% of $-2480]  $-5110 [ 103% of $-4960] 
 assets:bank:checking || $-2445 [  99% of $-2480]  $-5110 [ 103% of $-4960] 
 expenses             ||   $495 [ 103% of   $480]   $1060 [ 110% of   $960] 
 expenses:bus         ||    $49 [  98% of    $50]    $102 [ 102% of   $100] 
 expenses:food        ||   $396 [  99% of   $400]    $808 [ 101% of   $800] 
 expenses:movies      ||    $30 [ 100% of    $30]     $30 [  50% of    $60] 
 income               ||  $1950 [  98% of  $2000]   $4050 [ 101% of  $4000] 
----------------------++----------------------------------------------------
                      ||      0 [              0]       0 [              0] 
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
It\[aq]s common to limit budgets/budget reports to just expenses
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
hledger bal -M --budget expenses
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
or just revenues and expenses (eg, using account types):
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
hledger bal -M --budget type:rx
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
It\[aq]s also common to limit or convert them to a single currency
(\f[V]cur:COMM\f[R] or \f[V]-X COMM [--infer-market-prices]\f[R]).
If showing multiple currencies, \f[V]--layout bare\f[R] or
\f[V]--layout tall\f[R] can help.
.PP
For more examples and notes, see Budgeting.
.SS Budget report start date
.PP
This might be a bug, but for now: when making budget reports, it\[aq]s a
good idea to explicitly set the report\[aq]s start date to the first day
of a reporting period, because a periodic rule like
\f[V]\[ti] monthly\f[R] generates its transactions on the 1st of each
month, and if your journal has no regular transactions on the 1st, the
default report start date could exclude that budget goal, which can be a
little surprising.
Eg here the default report period is just the day of 2020-01-15:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
\[ti] monthly in 2020
  (expenses:food)  $500

2020-01-15
  expenses:food    $400
  assets:checking
\f[R]
.fi
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger bal expenses --budget
Budget performance in 2020-01-15:

              || 2020-01-15 
==============++============
 <unbudgeted> ||       $400 
--------------++------------
              ||       $400 
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
To avoid this, specify the budget report\[aq]s period, or at least the
start date, with \f[V]-b\f[R]/\f[V]-e\f[R]/\f[V]-p\f[R]/\f[V]date:\f[R],
to ensure it includes the budget goal transactions (periodic
transactions) that you want.
Eg, adding \f[V]-b 2020/1/1\f[R] to the above:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger bal expenses --budget -b 2020/1/1
Budget performance in 2020-01-01..2020-01-15:

               || 2020-01-01..2020-01-15 
===============++========================
 expenses:food ||     $400 [80% of $500] 
---------------++------------------------
               ||     $400 [80% of $500] 
\f[R]
.fi
.SS Budgets and subaccounts
.PP
You can add budgets to any account in your account hierarchy.
If you have budgets on both parent account and some of its children,
then budget(s) of the child account(s) would be added to the budget of
their parent, much like account balances behave.
.PP
In the most simple case this means that once you add a budget to any
account, all its parents would have budget as well.
.PP
To illustrate this, consider the following budget:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
\[ti] monthly from 2019/01
    expenses:personal             $1,000.00
    expenses:personal:electronics    $100.00
    liabilities
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
With this, monthly budget for electronics is defined to be $100 and
budget for personal expenses is an additional $1000, which implicitly
means that budget for both \f[V]expenses:personal\f[R] and
\f[V]expenses\f[R] is $1100.
.PP
Transactions in \f[V]expenses:personal:electronics\f[R] will be counted
both towards its $100 budget and $1100 of \f[V]expenses:personal\f[R] ,
and transactions in any other subaccount of \f[V]expenses:personal\f[R]
would be counted towards only towards the budget of
\f[V]expenses:personal\f[R].
.PP
For example, let\[aq]s consider these transactions:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
\[ti] monthly from 2019/01
    expenses:personal             $1,000.00
    expenses:personal:electronics    $100.00
    liabilities

2019/01/01 Google home hub
    expenses:personal:electronics          $90.00
    liabilities                           $-90.00

2019/01/02 Phone screen protector
    expenses:personal:electronics:upgrades          $10.00
    liabilities

2019/01/02 Weekly train ticket
    expenses:personal:train tickets       $153.00
    liabilities

2019/01/03 Flowers
    expenses:personal          $30.00
    liabilities
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
As you can see, we have transactions in
\f[V]expenses:personal:electronics:upgrades\f[R] and
\f[V]expenses:personal:train tickets\f[R], and since both of these
accounts are without explicitly defined budget, these transactions would
be counted towards budgets of \f[V]expenses:personal:electronics\f[R]
and \f[V]expenses:personal\f[R] accordingly:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger balance --budget -M
Budget performance in 2019/01:

                               ||                           Jan 
===============================++===============================
 expenses                      ||  $283.00 [  26% of  $1100.00] 
 expenses:personal             ||  $283.00 [  26% of  $1100.00] 
 expenses:personal:electronics ||  $100.00 [ 100% of   $100.00] 
 liabilities                   || $-283.00 [  26% of $-1100.00] 
-------------------------------++-------------------------------
                               ||        0 [                 0] 
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
And with \f[V]--empty\f[R], we can get a better picture of budget
allocation and consumption:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger balance --budget -M --empty
Budget performance in 2019/01:

                                        ||                           Jan 
========================================++===============================
 expenses                               ||  $283.00 [  26% of  $1100.00] 
 expenses:personal                      ||  $283.00 [  26% of  $1100.00] 
 expenses:personal:electronics          ||  $100.00 [ 100% of   $100.00] 
 expenses:personal:electronics:upgrades ||   $10.00                      
 expenses:personal:train tickets        ||  $153.00                      
 liabilities                            || $-283.00 [  26% of $-1100.00] 
----------------------------------------++-------------------------------
                                        ||        0 [                 0] 
\f[R]
.fi
.SS Selecting budget goals
.PP
The budget report evaluates periodic transaction rules to generate
special \[dq]goal transactions\[dq], which generate the goal amounts for
each account in each report subperiod.
When troubleshooting, you can use \f[V]print --forecast\f[R] to show
these as forecasted transactions:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger print --forecast=BUDGETREPORTPERIOD tag:generated
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
By default, the budget report uses all available periodic transaction
rules to generate goals.
This includes rules with a different report interval from your report.
Eg if you have daily, weekly and monthly periodic rules, all of these
will contribute to the goals in a monthly budget report.
.PP
You can select a subset of periodic rules by providing an argument to
the \f[V]--budget\f[R] flag.
\f[V]--budget=DESCPAT\f[R] will match all periodic rules whose
description contains DESCPAT, a case-insensitive substring (not a
regular expression or query).
This means you can give your periodic rules descriptions (remember that
two spaces are needed), and then select from multiple budgets defined in
your journal.
.SS Budget vs forecast
.PP
\f[V]hledger --forecast ...\f[R] and
\f[V]hledger balance --budget ...\f[R] are separate features, though
both of them use the periodic transaction rules defined in the journal,
and both of them generate temporary transactions for reporting purposes
(\[dq]forecast transactions\[dq] and \[dq]budget goal transactions\[dq],
respectively).
You can use both features at the same time if you want.
Here are some differences between them, as of hledger 1.29:
.PP
CLI:
.IP \[bu] 2
--forecast is a general hledger option, usable with any command
.IP \[bu] 2
--budget is a \f[V]balance\f[R] command option, usable only with that
command.
.PP
Visibility of generated transactions:
.IP \[bu] 2
forecast transactions are visible in any report, like ordinary
transactions
.IP \[bu] 2
budget goal transactions are invisible except for the goal amounts they
produce in --budget reports.
.PP
Periodic transaction rules:
.IP \[bu] 2
--forecast uses all available periodic transaction rules
.IP \[bu] 2
--budget uses all periodic rules (\f[V]--budget\f[R]) or a selected
subset (\f[V]--budget=DESCPAT\f[R])
.PP
Period of generated transactions:
.IP \[bu] 2
--forecast generates forecast transactions
.RS 2
.IP \[bu] 2
from after the last regular transaction to the end of the report period
(\f[V]--forecast\f[R])
.IP \[bu] 2
or, during a specified period (\f[V]--forecast=PERIODEXPR\f[R])
.IP \[bu] 2
possibly further restricted by a period specified in the periodic
transaction rule
.IP \[bu] 2
and always restricted within the bounds of the report period
.RE
.IP \[bu] 2
--budget generates budget goal transactions
.RS 2
.IP \[bu] 2
throughout the report period
.IP \[bu] 2
possibly restricted by a period specified in the periodic transaction
rule.
.RE
.SS Data layout
.PP
The \f[V]--layout\f[R] option affects how balance reports show
multi-commodity amounts and commodity symbols, which can improve
readability.
It can also normalise the data for easy consumption by other programs.
It has four possible values:
.IP \[bu] 2
\f[V]--layout=wide[,WIDTH]\f[R]: commodities are shown on a single line,
optionally elided to WIDTH
.IP \[bu] 2
\f[V]--layout=tall\f[R]: each commodity is shown on a separate line
.IP \[bu] 2
\f[V]--layout=bare\f[R]: commodity symbols are in their own column,
amounts are bare numbers
.IP \[bu] 2
\f[V]--layout=tidy\f[R]: data is normalised to easily-consumed
\[dq]tidy\[dq] form, with one row per data value
.PP
Here are the \f[V]--layout\f[R] modes supported by each output format;
note only CSV output supports all of them:
.PP
.TS
tab(@);
l l l l l l.
T{
-
T}@T{
txt
T}@T{
csv
T}@T{
html
T}@T{
json
T}@T{
sql
T}
_
T{
wide
T}@T{
Y
T}@T{
Y
T}@T{
Y
T}@T{
T}@T{
T}
T{
tall
T}@T{
Y
T}@T{
Y
T}@T{
Y
T}@T{
T}@T{
T}
T{
bare
T}@T{
Y
T}@T{
Y
T}@T{
Y
T}@T{
T}@T{
T}
T{
tidy
T}@T{
T}@T{
Y
T}@T{
T}@T{
T}@T{
T}
.TE
.PP
Examples:
.IP \[bu] 2
Wide layout.
With many commodities, reports can be very wide:
.RS 2
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger -f examples/bcexample.hledger bal assets:us:etrade -3 -T -Y --layout=wide
Balance changes in 2012-01-01..2014-12-31:

                  ||                                          2012                                                     2013                                             2014                                                      Total 
==================++====================================================================================================================================================================================================================
 Assets:US:ETrade || 10.00 ITOT, 337.18 USD, 12.00 VEA, 106.00 VHT  70.00 GLD, 18.00 ITOT, -98.12 USD, 10.00 VEA, 18.00 VHT  -11.00 ITOT, 4881.44 USD, 14.00 VEA, 170.00 VHT  70.00 GLD, 17.00 ITOT, 5120.50 USD, 36.00 VEA, 294.00 VHT 
------------------++--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                  || 10.00 ITOT, 337.18 USD, 12.00 VEA, 106.00 VHT  70.00 GLD, 18.00 ITOT, -98.12 USD, 10.00 VEA, 18.00 VHT  -11.00 ITOT, 4881.44 USD, 14.00 VEA, 170.00 VHT  70.00 GLD, 17.00 ITOT, 5120.50 USD, 36.00 VEA, 294.00 VHT 
\f[R]
.fi
.RE
.IP \[bu] 2
Limited wide layout.
A width limit reduces the width, but some commodities will be hidden:
.RS 2
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger -f examples/bcexample.hledger bal assets:us:etrade -3 -T -Y --layout=wide,32
Balance changes in 2012-01-01..2014-12-31:

                  ||                             2012                             2013                   2014                            Total 
==================++===========================================================================================================================
 Assets:US:ETrade || 10.00 ITOT, 337.18 USD, 2 more..  70.00 GLD, 18.00 ITOT, 3 more..  -11.00 ITOT, 3 more..  70.00 GLD, 17.00 ITOT, 3 more.. 
------------------++---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                  || 10.00 ITOT, 337.18 USD, 2 more..  70.00 GLD, 18.00 ITOT, 3 more..  -11.00 ITOT, 3 more..  70.00 GLD, 17.00 ITOT, 3 more.. 
\f[R]
.fi
.RE
.IP \[bu] 2
Tall layout.
Each commodity gets a new line (may be different in each column), and
account names are repeated:
.RS 2
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger -f examples/bcexample.hledger bal assets:us:etrade -3 -T -Y --layout=tall
Balance changes in 2012-01-01..2014-12-31:

                  ||       2012        2013         2014        Total 
==================++==================================================
 Assets:US:ETrade || 10.00 ITOT   70.00 GLD  -11.00 ITOT    70.00 GLD 
 Assets:US:ETrade || 337.18 USD  18.00 ITOT  4881.44 USD   17.00 ITOT 
 Assets:US:ETrade ||  12.00 VEA  -98.12 USD    14.00 VEA  5120.50 USD 
 Assets:US:ETrade || 106.00 VHT   10.00 VEA   170.00 VHT    36.00 VEA 
 Assets:US:ETrade ||              18.00 VHT                294.00 VHT 
------------------++--------------------------------------------------
                  || 10.00 ITOT   70.00 GLD  -11.00 ITOT    70.00 GLD 
                  || 337.18 USD  18.00 ITOT  4881.44 USD   17.00 ITOT 
                  ||  12.00 VEA  -98.12 USD    14.00 VEA  5120.50 USD 
                  || 106.00 VHT   10.00 VEA   170.00 VHT    36.00 VEA 
                  ||              18.00 VHT                294.00 VHT 
\f[R]
.fi
.RE
.IP \[bu] 2
Bare layout.
Commodity symbols are kept in one column, each commodity gets its own
report row, account names are repeated:
.RS 2
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger -f examples/bcexample.hledger bal assets:us:etrade -3 -T -Y --layout=bare
Balance changes in 2012-01-01..2014-12-31:

                  || Commodity    2012    2013     2014    Total 
==================++=============================================
 Assets:US:ETrade || GLD             0   70.00        0    70.00 
 Assets:US:ETrade || ITOT        10.00   18.00   -11.00    17.00 
 Assets:US:ETrade || USD        337.18  -98.12  4881.44  5120.50 
 Assets:US:ETrade || VEA         12.00   10.00    14.00    36.00 
 Assets:US:ETrade || VHT        106.00   18.00   170.00   294.00 
------------------++---------------------------------------------
                  || GLD             0   70.00        0    70.00 
                  || ITOT        10.00   18.00   -11.00    17.00 
                  || USD        337.18  -98.12  4881.44  5120.50 
                  || VEA         12.00   10.00    14.00    36.00 
                  || VHT        106.00   18.00   170.00   294.00 
\f[R]
.fi
.RE
.IP \[bu] 2
Bare layout also affects CSV output, which is useful for producing data
that is easier to consume, eg for making charts:
.RS 2
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger -f examples/bcexample.hledger bal assets:us:etrade -3 -O csv --layout=bare
\[dq]account\[dq],\[dq]commodity\[dq],\[dq]balance\[dq]
\[dq]Assets:US:ETrade\[dq],\[dq]GLD\[dq],\[dq]70.00\[dq]
\[dq]Assets:US:ETrade\[dq],\[dq]ITOT\[dq],\[dq]17.00\[dq]
\[dq]Assets:US:ETrade\[dq],\[dq]USD\[dq],\[dq]5120.50\[dq]
\[dq]Assets:US:ETrade\[dq],\[dq]VEA\[dq],\[dq]36.00\[dq]
\[dq]Assets:US:ETrade\[dq],\[dq]VHT\[dq],\[dq]294.00\[dq]
\[dq]total\[dq],\[dq]GLD\[dq],\[dq]70.00\[dq]
\[dq]total\[dq],\[dq]ITOT\[dq],\[dq]17.00\[dq]
\[dq]total\[dq],\[dq]USD\[dq],\[dq]5120.50\[dq]
\[dq]total\[dq],\[dq]VEA\[dq],\[dq]36.00\[dq]
\[dq]total\[dq],\[dq]VHT\[dq],\[dq]294.00\[dq]
\f[R]
.fi
.RE
.IP \[bu] 2
Tidy layout produces normalised \[dq]tidy data\[dq], where every
variable has its own column and each row represents a single data point.
See
https://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/tidyr/vignettes/tidy-data.html
for more.
This is the easiest kind of data for other software to consume.
Here\[aq]s how it looks:
.RS 2
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger -f examples/bcexample.hledger bal assets:us:etrade -3 -Y -O csv --layout=tidy
\[dq]account\[dq],\[dq]period\[dq],\[dq]start_date\[dq],\[dq]end_date\[dq],\[dq]commodity\[dq],\[dq]value\[dq]
\[dq]Assets:US:ETrade\[dq],\[dq]2012\[dq],\[dq]2012-01-01\[dq],\[dq]2012-12-31\[dq],\[dq]GLD\[dq],\[dq]0\[dq]
\[dq]Assets:US:ETrade\[dq],\[dq]2012\[dq],\[dq]2012-01-01\[dq],\[dq]2012-12-31\[dq],\[dq]ITOT\[dq],\[dq]10.00\[dq]
\[dq]Assets:US:ETrade\[dq],\[dq]2012\[dq],\[dq]2012-01-01\[dq],\[dq]2012-12-31\[dq],\[dq]USD\[dq],\[dq]337.18\[dq]
\[dq]Assets:US:ETrade\[dq],\[dq]2012\[dq],\[dq]2012-01-01\[dq],\[dq]2012-12-31\[dq],\[dq]VEA\[dq],\[dq]12.00\[dq]
\[dq]Assets:US:ETrade\[dq],\[dq]2012\[dq],\[dq]2012-01-01\[dq],\[dq]2012-12-31\[dq],\[dq]VHT\[dq],\[dq]106.00\[dq]
\[dq]Assets:US:ETrade\[dq],\[dq]2013\[dq],\[dq]2013-01-01\[dq],\[dq]2013-12-31\[dq],\[dq]GLD\[dq],\[dq]70.00\[dq]
\[dq]Assets:US:ETrade\[dq],\[dq]2013\[dq],\[dq]2013-01-01\[dq],\[dq]2013-12-31\[dq],\[dq]ITOT\[dq],\[dq]18.00\[dq]
\[dq]Assets:US:ETrade\[dq],\[dq]2013\[dq],\[dq]2013-01-01\[dq],\[dq]2013-12-31\[dq],\[dq]USD\[dq],\[dq]-98.12\[dq]
\[dq]Assets:US:ETrade\[dq],\[dq]2013\[dq],\[dq]2013-01-01\[dq],\[dq]2013-12-31\[dq],\[dq]VEA\[dq],\[dq]10.00\[dq]
\[dq]Assets:US:ETrade\[dq],\[dq]2013\[dq],\[dq]2013-01-01\[dq],\[dq]2013-12-31\[dq],\[dq]VHT\[dq],\[dq]18.00\[dq]
\[dq]Assets:US:ETrade\[dq],\[dq]2014\[dq],\[dq]2014-01-01\[dq],\[dq]2014-12-31\[dq],\[dq]GLD\[dq],\[dq]0\[dq]
\[dq]Assets:US:ETrade\[dq],\[dq]2014\[dq],\[dq]2014-01-01\[dq],\[dq]2014-12-31\[dq],\[dq]ITOT\[dq],\[dq]-11.00\[dq]
\[dq]Assets:US:ETrade\[dq],\[dq]2014\[dq],\[dq]2014-01-01\[dq],\[dq]2014-12-31\[dq],\[dq]USD\[dq],\[dq]4881.44\[dq]
\[dq]Assets:US:ETrade\[dq],\[dq]2014\[dq],\[dq]2014-01-01\[dq],\[dq]2014-12-31\[dq],\[dq]VEA\[dq],\[dq]14.00\[dq]
\[dq]Assets:US:ETrade\[dq],\[dq]2014\[dq],\[dq]2014-01-01\[dq],\[dq]2014-12-31\[dq],\[dq]VHT\[dq],\[dq]170.00\[dq]
\f[R]
.fi
.RE
.SS Useful balance reports
.PP
Some frequently used \f[V]balance\f[R] options/reports are:
.IP \[bu] 2
\f[V]bal -M revenues expenses\f[R]
.PD 0
.P
.PD
Show revenues/expenses in each month.
Also available as the \f[V]incomestatement\f[R] command.
.IP \[bu] 2
\f[V]bal -M -H assets liabilities\f[R]
.PD 0
.P
.PD
Show historical asset/liability balances at each month end.
Also available as the \f[V]balancesheet\f[R] command.
.IP \[bu] 2
\f[V]bal -M -H assets liabilities equity\f[R]
.PD 0
.P
.PD
Show historical asset/liability/equity balances at each month end.
Also available as the \f[V]balancesheetequity\f[R] command.
.IP \[bu] 2
\f[V]bal -M assets not:receivable\f[R]
.PD 0
.P
.PD
Show changes to liquid assets in each month.
Also available as the \f[V]cashflow\f[R] command.
.PP
Also:
.IP \[bu] 2
\f[V]bal -M expenses -2 -SA\f[R]
.PD 0
.P
.PD
Show monthly expenses summarised to depth 2 and sorted by average
amount.
.IP \[bu] 2
\f[V]bal -M --budget expenses\f[R]
.PD 0
.P
.PD
Show monthly expenses and budget goals.
.IP \[bu] 2
\f[V]bal -M --valuechange investments\f[R]
.PD 0
.P
.PD
Show monthly change in market value of investment assets.
.IP \[bu] 2
\f[V]bal investments --valuechange -D date:lastweek amt:\[aq]>1000\[aq] -STA [--invert]\f[R]
.PD 0
.P
.PD
Show top gainers [or losers] last week
.SS balancesheet
.PP
(bs)
.PP
This command displays a balance sheet, showing historical ending
balances of asset and liability accounts.
(To see equity as well, use the balancesheetequity command.)
Amounts are shown with normal positive sign, as in conventional
financial statements.
.PP
This report shows accounts declared with the \f[V]Asset\f[R],
\f[V]Cash\f[R] or \f[V]Liability\f[R] type (see account types).
Or if no such accounts are declared, it shows top-level accounts named
\f[V]asset\f[R] or \f[V]liability\f[R] (case insensitive, plurals
allowed) and their subaccounts.
.PP
Example:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger balancesheet
Balance Sheet

Assets:
                 $-1  assets
                  $1    bank:saving
                 $-2    cash
--------------------
                 $-1

Liabilities:
                  $1  liabilities:debts
--------------------
                  $1

Total:
--------------------
                   0
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
This command is a higher-level variant of the \f[V]balance\f[R] command,
and supports many of that command\[aq]s features, such as multi-period
reports.
It is similar to \f[V]hledger balance -H assets liabilities\f[R], but
with smarter account detection, and liabilities displayed with their
sign flipped.
.PP
This command also supports the output destination and output format
options The output formats supported are \f[V]txt\f[R], \f[V]csv\f[R],
\f[V]html\f[R], and (experimental) \f[V]json\f[R].
.SS balancesheetequity
.PP
(bse)
.PP
This command displays a balance sheet, showing historical ending
balances of asset, liability and equity accounts.
Amounts are shown with normal positive sign, as in conventional
financial statements.
.PP
This report shows accounts declared with the \f[V]Asset\f[R],
\f[V]Cash\f[R], \f[V]Liability\f[R] or \f[V]Equity\f[R] type (see
account types).
Or if no such accounts are declared, it shows top-level accounts named
\f[V]asset\f[R], \f[V]liability\f[R] or \f[V]equity\f[R] (case
insensitive, plurals allowed) and their subaccounts.
.PP
Example:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger balancesheetequity
Balance Sheet With Equity

Assets:
                 $-2  assets
                  $1    bank:saving
                 $-3    cash
--------------------
                 $-2

Liabilities:
                  $1  liabilities:debts
--------------------
                  $1

Equity:
          $1  equity:owner
--------------------
          $1

Total:
--------------------
                   0
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
This command is a higher-level variant of the \f[V]balance\f[R] command,
and supports many of that command\[aq]s features, such as multi-period
reports.
It is similar to \f[V]hledger balance -H assets liabilities equity\f[R],
but with smarter account detection, and liabilities/equity displayed
with their sign flipped.
.PP
This command also supports the output destination and output format
options The output formats supported are \f[V]txt\f[R], \f[V]csv\f[R],
\f[V]html\f[R], and (experimental) \f[V]json\f[R].
.SS cashflow
.PP
(cf)
.PP
This command displays a cashflow statement, showing the inflows and
outflows affecting \[dq]cash\[dq] (ie, liquid, easily convertible)
assets.
Amounts are shown with normal positive sign, as in conventional
financial statements.
.PP
This report shows accounts declared with the \f[V]Cash\f[R] type (see
account types).
Or if no such accounts are declared, it shows accounts
.IP \[bu] 2
under a top-level account named \f[V]asset\f[R] (case insensitive,
plural allowed)
.IP \[bu] 2
whose name contains some variation of \f[V]cash\f[R], \f[V]bank\f[R],
\f[V]checking\f[R] or \f[V]saving\f[R].
.PP
More precisely: all accounts matching this case insensitive regular
expression:
.PP
\f[V]\[ha]assets?(:.+)?:(cash|bank|che(ck|que?)(ing)?|savings?|currentcash)(:|$)\f[R]
.PP
and their subaccounts.
.PP
An example cashflow report:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger cashflow
Cashflow Statement

Cash flows:
                 $-1  assets
                  $1    bank:saving
                 $-2    cash
--------------------
                 $-1

Total:
--------------------
                 $-1
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
This command is a higher-level variant of the \f[V]balance\f[R] command,
and supports many of that command\[aq]s features, such as multi-period
reports.
It is similar to
\f[V]hledger balance assets not:fixed not:investment not:receivable\f[R],
but with smarter account detection.
.PP
This command also supports the output destination and output format
options The output formats supported are \f[V]txt\f[R], \f[V]csv\f[R],
\f[V]html\f[R], and (experimental) \f[V]json\f[R].
.SS check
.PP
Check for various kinds of errors in your data.
.PP
hledger provides a number of built-in error checks to help prevent
problems in your data.
Some of these are run automatically; or, you can use this
\f[V]check\f[R] command to run them on demand, with no output and a zero
exit code if all is well.
Specify their names (or a prefix) as argument(s).
.PP
Some examples:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
hledger check      # basic checks
hledger check -s   # basic + strict checks
hledger check ordereddates payees  # basic + two other checks
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
If you are an Emacs user, you can also configure flycheck-hledger to run
these checks, providing instant feedback as you edit the journal.
.PP
Here are the checks currently available:
.SS Basic checks
.PP
These checks are always run automatically, by (almost) all hledger
commands, including \f[V]check\f[R]:
.IP \[bu] 2
\f[B]parseable\f[R] - data files are well-formed and can be successfully
parsed
.IP \[bu] 2
\f[B]balancedwithautoconversion\f[R] - all transactions are balanced,
inferring missing amounts where necessary, and possibly converting
commodities using costs or automatically-inferred costs
.IP \[bu] 2
\f[B]assertions\f[R] - all balance assertions in the journal are
passing.
(This check can be disabled with
\f[V]-I\f[R]/\f[V]--ignore-assertions\f[R].)
.SS Strict checks
.PP
These additional checks are run when the \f[V]-s\f[R]/\f[V]--strict\f[R]
(strict mode) flag is used.
Or, they can be run by giving their names as arguments to
\f[V]check\f[R]:
.IP \[bu] 2
\f[B]accounts\f[R] - all account names used by transactions have been
declared
.IP \[bu] 2
\f[B]commodities\f[R] - all commodity symbols used have been declared
.IP \[bu] 2
\f[B]balancednoautoconversion\f[R] - transactions are balanced, possibly
using explicit costs but not inferred ones
.SS Other checks
.PP
These checks can be run only by giving their names as arguments to
\f[V]check\f[R].
They are more specialised and not desirable for everyone, therefore
optional:
.IP \[bu] 2
\f[B]ordereddates\f[R] - transactions are ordered by date within each
file
.IP \[bu] 2
\f[B]payees\f[R] - all payees used by transactions have been declared
.IP \[bu] 2
\f[B]recentassertions\f[R] - all accounts with balance assertions have a
balance assertion no more than 7 days before their latest posting
.IP \[bu] 2
\f[B]tags\f[R] - all tags used by transactions have been declared
.IP \[bu] 2
\f[B]uniqueleafnames\f[R] - all account leaf names are unique
.SS Custom checks
.PP
A few more checks are are available as separate add-on commands, in
https://github.com/simonmichael/hledger/tree/master/bin:
.IP \[bu] 2
\f[B]hledger-check-tagfiles\f[R] - all tag values containing / (a
forward slash) exist as file paths
.IP \[bu] 2
\f[B]hledger-check-fancyassertions\f[R] - more complex balance
assertions are passing
.PP
You could make similar scripts to perform your own custom checks.
See: Cookbook -> Scripting.
.SS More about specific checks
.PP
\f[V]hledger check recentassertions\f[R] will complain if any
balance-asserted account does not have a balance assertion within 7 days
before its latest posting.
This aims to prevent the situation where you are regularly updating your
journal, but forgetting to check your balances against the real world,
then one day must dig back through months of data to find an error.
It assumes that adding a balance assertion requires/reminds you to check
the real-world balance.
That may not be true if you auto-generate balance assertions from bank
data; in that case, I recommend to import transactions uncleared, then
use the manual-review-and-mark-cleared phase as a reminder to check the
latest assertions against real-world balances.
.SS close
.PP
(equity)
.PP
Generate transactions which transfer account balances to and/or from
another account (typically equity).
This can be useful for migrating balances to a new journal file, or for
merging earnings into equity at end of accounting period.
.PP
By default, it prints a transaction that zeroes out ALE accounts (asset,
liability, equity accounts; this requires account types to be
configured); or if ACCTQUERY is provided, the accounts matched by that.
.PP
\f[I](experimental)\f[R]
.PP
This command has four main modes, corresponding to the most common use
cases:
.IP "1." 3
With \f[V]--close\f[R] (default), it prints a \[dq]closing balances\[dq]
transaction that zeroes out ALE (asset, liability, equity) accounts by
default (this requires account types to be inferred or declared); or,
the accounts matched by the provided ACCTQUERY arguments.
.IP "2." 3
With \f[V]--open\f[R], it prints an opposite \[dq]opening balances\[dq]
transaction that restores those balances from zero.
This is similar to Ledger\[aq]s equity command.
.IP "3." 3
With \f[V]--migrate\f[R], it prints both the closing and opening
transactions.
This is the preferred way to migrate balances to a new file: run
\f[V]hledger close --migrate\f[R], add the closing transaction at the
end of the old file, and add the opening transaction at the start of the
new file.
The matching closing/opening transactions cancel each other out,
preserving correct balances during multi-file reporting.
.IP "4." 3
With \f[V]--retain\f[R], it prints a \[dq]retain earnings\[dq]
transaction that transfers RX (revenue and expense) balances to
\f[V]equity:retained earnings\f[R].
Businesses traditionally do this at the end of each accounting period;
it is less necessary with computer-based accounting, but it could still
be useful if you want to see the accounting equation (A=L+E) satisfied.
.PP
In all modes, the defaults can be overridden:
.IP \[bu] 2
the transaction descriptions can be changed with
\f[V]--close-desc=DESC\f[R] and \f[V]--open-desc=DESC\f[R]
.IP \[bu] 2
the account to transfer to/from can be changed with
\f[V]--close-acct=ACCT\f[R] and \f[V]--open-acct=ACCT\f[R]
.IP \[bu] 2
the accounts to be closed/opened can be changed with \f[V]ACCTQUERY\f[R]
(account query arguments).
.IP \[bu] 2
the closing/opening dates can be changed with \f[V]-e DATE\f[R] (a
report end date)
.PP
By default just one destination/source posting will be used, with its
amount left implicit.
With \f[V]--x/--explicit\f[R], the amount will be shown explicitly, and
if it involves multiple commodities, a separate posting will be
generated for each of them (similar to \f[V]print -x\f[R]).
.PP
With \f[V]--show-costs\f[R], any amount costs are shown, with separate
postings for each cost.
This is currently the best way to view investment lots.
If you have many currency conversion or investment transactions, it can
generate very large journal entries.
.PP
With \f[V]--interleaved\f[R], each individual transfer is shown with
source and destination postings next to each other.
This could be useful for troubleshooting.
.PP
The default closing date is yesterday, or the journal\[aq]s end date,
whichever is later.
You can change this by specifying a report end date with \f[V]-e\f[R].
The last day of the report period will be the closing date, eg
\f[V]-e 2024\f[R] means \[dq]close on 2023-12-31\[dq].
The opening date is always the day after the closing date.
.SS close and balance assertions
.PP
Balance assertions will be generated, verifying that the accounts have
been reset to zero (and then restored to their previous balances, if
there is an opening transaction).
.PP
These provide useful error checking, but you can ignore them temporarily
with \f[V]-I\f[R], or remove them if you prefer.
.PP
You probably should avoid filtering transactions by status or realness
(\f[V]-C\f[R], \f[V]-R\f[R], \f[V]status:\f[R]), or generating postings
(\f[V]--auto\f[R]), with this command, since the balance assertions
would depend on these.
.PP
Note custom posting dates spanning the file boundary will disrupt the
balance assertions:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
2023-12-30 a purchase made in december, cleared in january
    expenses:food          5
    assets:bank:checking  -5  ; date: 2023-01-02
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
To solve that you can transfer the money to and from a temporary
account, in effect splitting the multi-day transaction into two
single-day transactions:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
; in 2022.journal:
2022-12-30 a purchase made in december, cleared in january
    expenses:food          5
    equity:pending        -5

; in 2023.journal:
2023-01-02 last year\[aq]s transaction cleared
    equity:pending         5 = 0
    assets:bank:checking  -5
\f[R]
.fi
.SS Example: retain earnings
.PP
Record 2022\[aq]s revenues/expenses as retained earnings on 2022-12-31,
appending the generated transaction to the journal:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger close --retain -f 2022.journal -p 2022 >> 2022.journal
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
Note 2022\[aq]s income statement will now show only zeroes, because
revenues and expenses have been moved entirely to equity.
To see them again, you could exclude the retain transaction:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger -f 2022.journal is not:desc:\[aq]retain earnings\[aq]
\f[R]
.fi
.SS Example: migrate balances to a new file
.PP
Close assets/liabilities/equity on 2022-12-31 and re-open them on
2023-01-01:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger close --migrate -f 2022.journal -p 2022
# copy/paste the closing transaction to the end of 2022.journal
# copy/paste the opening transaction to the start of 2023.journal
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
Now 2022\[aq]s balance sheet will show only zeroes, indicating a
balanced accounting equation.
(Unless you are using \[at]/\[at]\[at] notation - in that case, try
adding --infer-equity.)
To see the end-of-year balances again, you could exclude the closing
transaction:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger -f 2022.journal bs not:desc:\[aq]closing balances\[aq]
\f[R]
.fi
.SS Example: excluding closing/opening transactions
.PP
When combining many files for multi-year reports, the closing/opening
transactions cause some noise in transaction-oriented reports like
\f[V]print\f[R] and \f[V]register\f[R].
You can exclude them as shown above, but \f[V]not:desc:...\f[R] is not
ideal as it depends on consistent descriptions; also you will want to
avoid excluding the very first opening transaction, which could be
awkward.
Here is one alternative, using tags:
.PP
Add \f[V]clopen:\f[R] tags to all opening/closing balances transactions
except the first, like this:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
; 2021.journal
2021-06-01 first opening balances
\&...
2021-12-31 closing balances  ; clopen:2022
\&...
\f[R]
.fi
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
; 2022.journal
2022-01-01 opening balances  ; clopen:2022
\&...
2022-12-31 closing balances  ; clopen:2023
\&...
\f[R]
.fi
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
; 2023.journal
2023-01-01 opening balances  ; clopen:2023
\&...
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
Now, assuming a combined journal like:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
; all.journal
include 2021.journal
include 2022.journal
include 2023.journal
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
The \f[V]clopen:\f[R] tag can exclude all but the first opening
transaction.
To show a clean multi-year checking register:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger -f all.journal areg checking not:tag:clopen
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
And the year values allow more precision.
To show 2022\[aq]s year-end balance sheet:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger -f all.journal bs -e2023 not:tag:clopen=2023
\f[R]
.fi
.SS codes
.PP
List the codes seen in transactions, in the order parsed.
.PP
This command prints the value of each transaction\[aq]s code field, in
the order transactions were parsed.
The transaction code is an optional value written in parentheses between
the date and description, often used to store a cheque number, order
number or similar.
.PP
Transactions aren\[aq]t required to have a code, and missing or empty
codes will not be shown by default.
With the \f[V]-E\f[R]/\f[V]--empty\f[R] flag, they will be printed as
blank lines.
.PP
You can add a query to select a subset of transactions.
.PP
Examples:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
2022/1/1 (123) Supermarket   
 Food       $5.00
 Checking    

2022/1/2 (124) Post Office
 Postage    $8.32
 Checking

2022/1/3 Supermarket
 Food      $11.23
 Checking 

2022/1/4 (126) Post Office
 Postage    $3.21
 Checking
\f[R]
.fi
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger codes
123
124
126
\f[R]
.fi
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger codes -E
123
124

126
\f[R]
.fi
.SS commodities
.PP
List all commodity/currency symbols used or declared in the journal.
.SS demo
.PP
Play demos of hledger usage in the terminal, if asciinema is installed.
.PP
Run this command with no argument to list the demos.
To play a demo, write its number or a prefix or substring of its title.
Tips:
.PP
Make your terminal window large enough to see the demo clearly.
.PP
Use the -s/--speed SPEED option to set your preferred playback speed, eg
\f[V]-s4\f[R] to play at 4x original speed or \f[V]-s.5\f[R] to play at
half speed.
The default speed is 2x.
.PP
Other asciinema options can be added following a double dash, eg
\f[V]-- -i.1\f[R] to limit pauses or \f[V]-- -h\f[R] to list
asciinema\[aq]s other options.
.PP
During playback, several keys are available: SPACE to pause/unpause, .
to step forward (while paused), CTRL-c quit.
.PP
Examples:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger demo               # list available demos
$ hledger demo 1             # play the first demo at default speed (2x)
$ hledger demo install -s4   # play the \[dq]install\[dq] demo at 4x speed
\f[R]
.fi
.SS descriptions
.PP
List the unique descriptions that appear in transactions.
.PP
This command lists the unique descriptions that appear in transactions,
in alphabetic order.
You can add a query to select a subset of transactions.
.PP
Example:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger descriptions
Store Name
Gas Station | Petrol
Person A
\f[R]
.fi
.SS diff
.PP
Compares a particular account\[aq]s transactions in two input files.
It shows any transactions to this account which are in one file but not
in the other.
.PP
More precisely, for each posting affecting this account in either file,
it looks for a corresponding posting in the other file which posts the
same amount to the same account (ignoring date, description, etc.)
Since postings not transactions are compared, this also works when
multiple bank transactions have been combined into a single journal
entry.
.PP
This is useful eg if you have downloaded an account\[aq]s transactions
from your bank (eg as CSV data).
When hledger and your bank disagree about the account balance, you can
compare the bank data with your journal to find out the cause.
.PP
Examples:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger diff -f $LEDGER_FILE -f bank.csv assets:bank:giro 
These transactions are in the first file only:

2014/01/01 Opening Balances
    assets:bank:giro              EUR ...
    ...
    equity:opening balances       EUR -...

These transactions are in the second file only:
\f[R]
.fi
.SS files
.PP
List all files included in the journal.
With a REGEX argument, only file names matching the regular expression
(case sensitive) are shown.
.SS help
.PP
Show the hledger user manual in the terminal, with \f[V]info\f[R],
\f[V]man\f[R], or a pager.
With a TOPIC argument, open it at that topic if possible.
TOPIC can be any heading in the manual, or a heading prefix, case
insensitive.
Eg: \f[V]commands\f[R], \f[V]print\f[R], \f[V]forecast\f[R],
\f[V]journal\f[R], \f[V]amount\f[R], \f[V]\[dq]auto postings\[dq]\f[R].
.PP
This command shows the hledger manual built in to your hledger version.
It can be useful when offline, or when you prefer the terminal to a web
browser, or when the appropriate hledger manual or viewing tools are not
installed on your system.
.PP
By default it chooses the best viewer found in $PATH, trying (in this
order): \f[V]info\f[R], \f[V]man\f[R], \f[V]$PAGER\f[R], \f[V]less\f[R],
\f[V]more\f[R].
You can force the use of info, man, or a pager with the \f[V]-i\f[R],
\f[V]-m\f[R], or \f[V]-p\f[R] flags, If no viewer can be found, or the
command is run non-interactively, it just prints the manual to stdout.
.PP
If using \f[V]info\f[R], note that version 6 or greater is needed for
TOPIC lookup.
If you are on mac you will likely have info 4.8, and should consider
installing a newer version, eg with \f[V]brew install texinfo\f[R]
(#1770).
.PP
Examples
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger help --help      # show how the help command works
$ hledger help             # show the hledger manual with info, man or $PAGER
$ hledger help journal     # show the journal topic in the hledger manual
$ hledger help -m journal  # show it with man, even if info is installed
\f[R]
.fi
.SS import
.PP
Read new transactions added to each FILE since last run, and add them to
the journal.
Or with --dry-run, just print the transactions that would be added.
Or with --catchup, just mark all of the FILEs\[aq] transactions as
imported, without actually importing any.
.PP
This command may append new transactions to the main journal file (which
should be in journal format).
Existing transactions are not changed.
This is one of the few hledger commands that writes to the journal file
(see also \f[V]add\f[R]).
.PP
Unlike other hledger commands, with \f[V]import\f[R] the journal file is
an output file, and will be modified, though only by appending (existing
data will not be changed).
The input files are specified as arguments, so to import one or more CSV
files to your main journal, you will run
\f[V]hledger import bank.csv\f[R] or perhaps
\f[V]hledger import *.csv\f[R].
.PP
Note you can import from any file format, though CSV files are the most
common import source, and these docs focus on that case.
.SS Deduplication
.PP
As a convenience \f[V]import\f[R] does \f[I]deduplication\f[R] while
reading transactions.
This does not mean \[dq]ignore transactions that look the same\[dq], but
rather \[dq]ignore transactions that have been seen before\[dq].
This is intended for when you are periodically importing foreign data
which may contain already-imported transactions.
So eg, if every day you download bank CSV files containing redundant
data, you can safely run \f[V]hledger import bank.csv\f[R] and only new
transactions will be imported.
(\f[V]import\f[R] is idempotent.)
.PP
Since the items being read (CSV records, eg) often do not come with
unique identifiers, hledger detects new transactions by date, assuming
that:
.IP "1." 3
new items always have the newest dates
.IP "2." 3
item dates do not change across reads
.IP "3." 3
and items with the same date remain in the same relative order across
reads.
.PP
These are often true of CSV files representing transactions, or true
enough so that it works pretty well in practice.
1 is important, but violations of 2 and 3 amongst the old transactions
won\[aq]t matter (and if you import often, the new transactions will be
few, so less likely to be the ones affected).
.PP
hledger remembers the latest date processed in each input file by saving
a hidden \[dq].latest\[dq] state file in the same directory.
Eg when reading \f[V]finance/bank.csv\f[R], it will look for and update
the \f[V]finance/.latest.bank.csv\f[R] state file.
The format is simple: one or more lines containing the same ISO-format
date (YYYY-MM-DD), meaning \[dq]I have processed transactions up to this
date, and this many of them on that date.\[dq] Normally you won\[aq]t
see or manipulate these state files yourself.
But if needed, you can delete them to reset the state (making all
transactions \[dq]new\[dq]), or you can construct them to \[dq]catch
up\[dq] to a certain date.
.PP
Note deduplication (and updating of state files) can also be done by
\f[V]print --new\f[R], but this is less often used.
.SS Import testing
.PP
With \f[V]--dry-run\f[R], the transactions that will be imported are
printed to the terminal, without updating your journal or state files.
The output is valid journal format, like the print command, so you can
re-parse it.
Eg, to see any importable transactions which CSV rules have not
categorised:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger import --dry bank.csv | hledger -f- -I print unknown
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
or (live updating):
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ ls bank.csv* | entr bash -c \[aq]echo ====; hledger import --dry bank.csv | hledger -f- -I print unknown\[aq]
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
Note: when importing from multiple files at once, it\[aq]s currently
possible for some .latest files to be updated successfully, while the
actual import fails because of a problem in one of the files, leaving
them out of sync (and causing some transactions to be missed).
To prevent this, do a --dry-run first and fix any problems before the
real import.
.SS Importing balance assignments
.PP
Entries added by import will have their posting amounts made explicit
(like \f[V]hledger print -x\f[R]).
This means that any balance assignments in imported files must be
evaluated; but, imported files don\[aq]t get to see the main file\[aq]s
account balances.
As a result, importing entries with balance assignments (eg from an
institution that provides only balances and not posting amounts) will
probably generate incorrect posting amounts.
To avoid this problem, use print instead of import:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger print IMPORTFILE [--new] >> $LEDGER_FILE
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
(If you think import should leave amounts implicit like print does,
please test it and send a pull request.)
.SS Commodity display styles
.PP
Imported amounts will be formatted according to the canonical commodity
styles (declared or inferred) in the main journal file.
.SS incomestatement
.PP
(is)
.PP
This command displays an income statement, showing revenues and expenses
during one or more periods.
Amounts are shown with normal positive sign, as in conventional
financial statements.
.PP
This report shows accounts declared with the \f[V]Revenue\f[R] or
\f[V]Expense\f[R] type (see account types).
Or if no such accounts are declared, it shows top-level accounts named
\f[V]revenue\f[R] or \f[V]income\f[R] or \f[V]expense\f[R] (case
insensitive, plurals allowed) and their subaccounts.
.PP
Example:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger incomestatement
Income Statement

Revenues:
                 $-2  income
                 $-1    gifts
                 $-1    salary
--------------------
                 $-2

Expenses:
                  $2  expenses
                  $1    food
                  $1    supplies
--------------------
                  $2

Total:
--------------------
                   0
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
This command is a higher-level variant of the \f[V]balance\f[R] command,
and supports many of that command\[aq]s features, such as multi-period
reports.
It is similar to
\f[V]hledger balance \[aq](revenues|income)\[aq] expenses\f[R], but with
smarter account detection, and revenues/income displayed with their sign
flipped.
.PP
This command also supports the output destination and output format
options The output formats supported are \f[V]txt\f[R], \f[V]csv\f[R],
\f[V]html\f[R], and (experimental) \f[V]json\f[R].
.SS notes
.PP
List the unique notes that appear in transactions.
.PP
This command lists the unique notes that appear in transactions, in
alphabetic order.
You can add a query to select a subset of transactions.
The note is the part of the transaction description after a | character
(or if there is no |, the whole description).
.PP
Example:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger notes
Petrol
Snacks
\f[R]
.fi
.SS payees
.PP
List the unique payee/payer names that appear in transactions.
.PP
This command lists unique payee/payer names which have been declared
with payee directives (--declared), used in transaction descriptions
(--used), or both (the default).
.PP
The payee/payer is the part of the transaction description before a |
character (or if there is no |, the whole description).
.PP
You can add query arguments to select a subset of transactions.
This implies --used.
.PP
Example:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger payees
Store Name
Gas Station
Person A
\f[R]
.fi
.SS prices
.PP
Print market price directives from the journal.
With --infer-market-prices, generate additional market prices from
costs.
With --infer-reverse-prices, also generate market prices by inverting
known prices.
Prices can be filtered by a query.
Price amounts are displayed with their full precision.
.SS print
.PP
Show transaction journal entries, sorted by date.
.PP
The print command displays full journal entries (transactions) from the
journal file, sorted by date (or with \f[V]--date2\f[R], by secondary
date).
.PP
Amounts are shown mostly normalised to commodity display style, eg the
placement of commodity symbols will be consistent.
All of their decimal places are shown, as in the original journal entry
(with one alteration: in some cases trailing zeroes are added.)
.PP
Amounts are shown right-aligned within each transaction (but not across
all transactions).
.PP
Directives and inter-transaction comments are not shown, currently.
This means the print command is somewhat lossy, and if you are using it
to reformat your journal you should take care to also copy over the
directives and file-level comments.
.PP
Eg:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger print
2008/01/01 income
    assets:bank:checking            $1
    income:salary                  $-1

2008/06/01 gift
    assets:bank:checking            $1
    income:gifts                   $-1

2008/06/02 save
    assets:bank:saving              $1
    assets:bank:checking           $-1

2008/06/03 * eat & shop
    expenses:food                $1
    expenses:supplies            $1
    assets:cash                 $-2

2008/12/31 * pay off
    liabilities:debts               $1
    assets:bank:checking           $-1
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
print\[aq]s output is usually a valid hledger journal, and you can
process it again with a second hledger command.
This can be useful for certain kinds of search, eg:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
# Show running total of food expenses paid from cash.
# -f- reads from stdin. -I/--ignore-assertions is sometimes needed.
$ hledger print assets:cash | hledger -f- -I reg expenses:food
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
There are some situations where print\[aq]s output can become
unparseable:
.IP \[bu] 2
Valuation affects posting amounts but not balance assertion or balance
assignment amounts, potentially causing those to fail.
.IP \[bu] 2
Auto postings can generate postings with too many missing amounts.
.IP \[bu] 2
Account aliases can generate bad account names.
.PP
Normally, the journal entry\[aq]s explicit or implicit amount style is
preserved.
For example, when an amount is omitted in the journal, it will not
appear in the output.
Similarly, when a cost is implied but not written, it will not appear in
the output.
You can use the \f[V]-x\f[R]/\f[V]--explicit\f[R] flag to make all
amounts and costs explicit, which can be useful for troubleshooting or
for making your journal more readable and robust against data entry
errors.
\f[V]-x\f[R] is also implied by using any of
\f[V]-B\f[R],\f[V]-V\f[R],\f[V]-X\f[R],\f[V]--value\f[R].
.PP
Note, \f[V]-x\f[R]/\f[V]--explicit\f[R] will cause postings with a
multi-commodity amount (these can arise when a multi-commodity
transaction has an implicit amount) to be split into multiple
single-commodity postings, keeping the output parseable.
.PP
With \f[V]-B\f[R]/\f[V]--cost\f[R], amounts with costs are converted to
cost using that price.
This can be used for troubleshooting.
.PP
With \f[V]-m DESC\f[R]/\f[V]--match=DESC\f[R], print does a fuzzy search
for one recent transaction whose description is most similar to DESC.
DESC should contain at least two characters.
If there is no similar-enough match, no transaction will be shown and
the program exit code will be non-zero.
.PP
With \f[V]--new\f[R], hledger prints only transactions it has not seen
on a previous run.
This uses the same deduplication system as the \f[V]import\f[R] command.
(See import\[aq]s docs for details.)
.PP
This command also supports the output destination and output format
options The output formats supported are \f[V]txt\f[R], \f[V]csv\f[R],
and (experimental) \f[V]json\f[R] and \f[V]sql\f[R].
.PP
Here\[aq]s an example of print\[aq]s CSV output:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger print -Ocsv
\[dq]txnidx\[dq],\[dq]date\[dq],\[dq]date2\[dq],\[dq]status\[dq],\[dq]code\[dq],\[dq]description\[dq],\[dq]comment\[dq],\[dq]account\[dq],\[dq]amount\[dq],\[dq]commodity\[dq],\[dq]credit\[dq],\[dq]debit\[dq],\[dq]posting-status\[dq],\[dq]posting-comment\[dq]
\[dq]1\[dq],\[dq]2008/01/01\[dq],\[dq]\[dq],\[dq]\[dq],\[dq]\[dq],\[dq]income\[dq],\[dq]\[dq],\[dq]assets:bank:checking\[dq],\[dq]1\[dq],\[dq]$\[dq],\[dq]\[dq],\[dq]1\[dq],\[dq]\[dq],\[dq]\[dq]
\[dq]1\[dq],\[dq]2008/01/01\[dq],\[dq]\[dq],\[dq]\[dq],\[dq]\[dq],\[dq]income\[dq],\[dq]\[dq],\[dq]income:salary\[dq],\[dq]-1\[dq],\[dq]$\[dq],\[dq]1\[dq],\[dq]\[dq],\[dq]\[dq],\[dq]\[dq]
\[dq]2\[dq],\[dq]2008/06/01\[dq],\[dq]\[dq],\[dq]\[dq],\[dq]\[dq],\[dq]gift\[dq],\[dq]\[dq],\[dq]assets:bank:checking\[dq],\[dq]1\[dq],\[dq]$\[dq],\[dq]\[dq],\[dq]1\[dq],\[dq]\[dq],\[dq]\[dq]
\[dq]2\[dq],\[dq]2008/06/01\[dq],\[dq]\[dq],\[dq]\[dq],\[dq]\[dq],\[dq]gift\[dq],\[dq]\[dq],\[dq]income:gifts\[dq],\[dq]-1\[dq],\[dq]$\[dq],\[dq]1\[dq],\[dq]\[dq],\[dq]\[dq],\[dq]\[dq]
\[dq]3\[dq],\[dq]2008/06/02\[dq],\[dq]\[dq],\[dq]\[dq],\[dq]\[dq],\[dq]save\[dq],\[dq]\[dq],\[dq]assets:bank:saving\[dq],\[dq]1\[dq],\[dq]$\[dq],\[dq]\[dq],\[dq]1\[dq],\[dq]\[dq],\[dq]\[dq]
\[dq]3\[dq],\[dq]2008/06/02\[dq],\[dq]\[dq],\[dq]\[dq],\[dq]\[dq],\[dq]save\[dq],\[dq]\[dq],\[dq]assets:bank:checking\[dq],\[dq]-1\[dq],\[dq]$\[dq],\[dq]1\[dq],\[dq]\[dq],\[dq]\[dq],\[dq]\[dq]
\[dq]4\[dq],\[dq]2008/06/03\[dq],\[dq]\[dq],\[dq]*\[dq],\[dq]\[dq],\[dq]eat & shop\[dq],\[dq]\[dq],\[dq]expenses:food\[dq],\[dq]1\[dq],\[dq]$\[dq],\[dq]\[dq],\[dq]1\[dq],\[dq]\[dq],\[dq]\[dq]
\[dq]4\[dq],\[dq]2008/06/03\[dq],\[dq]\[dq],\[dq]*\[dq],\[dq]\[dq],\[dq]eat & shop\[dq],\[dq]\[dq],\[dq]expenses:supplies\[dq],\[dq]1\[dq],\[dq]$\[dq],\[dq]\[dq],\[dq]1\[dq],\[dq]\[dq],\[dq]\[dq]
\[dq]4\[dq],\[dq]2008/06/03\[dq],\[dq]\[dq],\[dq]*\[dq],\[dq]\[dq],\[dq]eat & shop\[dq],\[dq]\[dq],\[dq]assets:cash\[dq],\[dq]-2\[dq],\[dq]$\[dq],\[dq]2\[dq],\[dq]\[dq],\[dq]\[dq],\[dq]\[dq]
\[dq]5\[dq],\[dq]2008/12/31\[dq],\[dq]\[dq],\[dq]*\[dq],\[dq]\[dq],\[dq]pay off\[dq],\[dq]\[dq],\[dq]liabilities:debts\[dq],\[dq]1\[dq],\[dq]$\[dq],\[dq]\[dq],\[dq]1\[dq],\[dq]\[dq],\[dq]\[dq]
\[dq]5\[dq],\[dq]2008/12/31\[dq],\[dq]\[dq],\[dq]*\[dq],\[dq]\[dq],\[dq]pay off\[dq],\[dq]\[dq],\[dq]assets:bank:checking\[dq],\[dq]-1\[dq],\[dq]$\[dq],\[dq]1\[dq],\[dq]\[dq],\[dq]\[dq],\[dq]\[dq]
\f[R]
.fi
.IP \[bu] 2
There is one CSV record per posting, with the parent transaction\[aq]s
fields repeated.
.IP \[bu] 2
The \[dq]txnidx\[dq] (transaction index) field shows which postings
belong to the same transaction.
(This number might change if transactions are reordered within the file,
files are parsed/included in a different order, etc.)
.IP \[bu] 2
The amount is separated into \[dq]commodity\[dq] (the symbol) and
\[dq]amount\[dq] (numeric quantity) fields.
.IP \[bu] 2
The numeric amount is repeated in either the \[dq]credit\[dq] or
\[dq]debit\[dq] column, for convenience.
(Those names are not accurate in the accounting sense; it just puts
negative amounts under credit and zero or greater amounts under debit.)
.SS register
.PP
(reg)
.PP
Show postings and their running total.
.PP
The register command displays matched postings, across all accounts, in
date order, with their running total or running historical balance.
(See also the \f[V]aregister\f[R] command, which shows matched
transactions in a specific account.)
.PP
register normally shows line per posting, but note that multi-commodity
amounts will occupy multiple lines (one line per commodity).
.PP
It is typically used with a query selecting a particular account, to see
that account\[aq]s activity:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger register checking
2008/01/01 income               assets:bank:checking            $1           $1
2008/06/01 gift                 assets:bank:checking            $1           $2
2008/06/02 save                 assets:bank:checking           $-1           $1
2008/12/31 pay off              assets:bank:checking           $-1            0
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
With \f[V]--date2\f[R], it shows and sorts by secondary date instead.
.PP
For performance reasons, column widths are chosen based on the first
1000 lines; this means unusually wide values in later lines can cause
visual discontinuities as column widths are adjusted.
If you want to ensure perfect alignment, at the cost of more time and
memory, use the \f[V]--align-all\f[R] flag.
.PP
The \f[V]--historical\f[R]/\f[V]-H\f[R] flag adds the balance from any
undisplayed prior postings to the running total.
This is useful when you want to see only recent activity, with a
historically accurate running balance:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger register checking -b 2008/6 --historical
2008/06/01 gift                 assets:bank:checking            $1           $2
2008/06/02 save                 assets:bank:checking           $-1           $1
2008/12/31 pay off              assets:bank:checking           $-1            0
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
The \f[V]--depth\f[R] option limits the amount of sub-account detail
displayed.
.PP
The \f[V]--average\f[R]/\f[V]-A\f[R] 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 \f[V]--empty\f[R] (see below).
It is affected by \f[V]--historical\f[R].
It works best when showing just one account and one commodity.
.PP
The \f[V]--related\f[R]/\f[V]-r\f[R] flag shows the \f[I]other\f[R]
postings in the transactions of the postings which would normally be
shown.
.PP
The \f[V]--invert\f[R] flag negates all amounts.
For example, it can be used on an income account where amounts are
normally displayed as negative numbers.
It\[aq]s also useful to show postings on the checking account together
with the related account:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger register --related --invert assets:checking
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
With a reporting interval, register shows summary postings, one per
interval, aggregating the postings to each account:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger register --monthly income
2008/01                 income:salary                          $-1          $-1
2008/06                 income:gifts                           $-1          $-2
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
Periods with no activity, and summary postings with a zero amount, are
not shown by default; use the \f[V]--empty\f[R]/\f[V]-E\f[R] flag to see
them:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger register --monthly income -E
2008/01                 income:salary                          $-1          $-1
2008/02                                                          0          $-1
2008/03                                                          0          $-1
2008/04                                                          0          $-1
2008/05                                                          0          $-1
2008/06                 income:gifts                           $-1          $-2
2008/07                                                          0          $-2
2008/08                                                          0          $-2
2008/09                                                          0          $-2
2008/10                                                          0          $-2
2008/11                                                          0          $-2
2008/12                                                          0          $-2
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
Often, you\[aq]ll want to see just one line per interval.
The \f[V]--depth\f[R] option helps with this, causing subaccounts to be
aggregated:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger register --monthly assets --depth 1h
2008/01                 assets                                  $1           $1
2008/06                 assets                                 $-1            0
2008/12                 assets                                 $-1          $-1
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
Note when using report intervals, if you specify start/end dates these
will be adjusted outward if necessary to contain a whole number of
intervals.
This ensures that the first and last intervals are full length and
comparable to the others in the report.
.PP
With \f[V]-m DESC\f[R]/\f[V]--match=DESC\f[R], register does a fuzzy
search for one recent posting whose description is most similar to DESC.
DESC should contain at least two characters.
If there is no similar-enough match, no posting will be shown and the
program exit code will be non-zero.
.SS Custom register output
.PP
register uses the full terminal width by default, except on windows.
You can override this by setting the \f[V]COLUMNS\f[R] environment
variable (not a bash shell variable) or by using the
\f[V]--width\f[R]/\f[V]-w\f[R] option.
.PP
The description and account columns normally share the space equally
(about half of (width - 40) each).
You can adjust this by adding a description width as part of
--width\[aq]s argument, comma-separated: \f[V]--width W,D\f[R] .
Here\[aq]s a diagram (won\[aq]t display correctly in --help):
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
<--------------------------------- width (W) ---------------------------------->
date (10)  description (D)       account (W-41-D)     amount (12)   balance (12)
DDDDDDDDDD dddddddddddddddddddd  aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa  AAAAAAAAAAAA  AAAAAAAAAAAA
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
and some examples:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger reg                     # use terminal width (or 80 on windows)
$ hledger reg -w 100              # use width 100
$ COLUMNS=100 hledger reg         # set with one-time environment variable
$ export COLUMNS=100; hledger reg # set till session end (or window resize)
$ hledger reg -w 100,40           # set overall width 100, description width 40
$ hledger reg -w $COLUMNS,40      # use terminal width, & description width 40
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
This command also supports the output destination and output format
options The output formats supported are \f[V]txt\f[R], \f[V]csv\f[R],
and (experimental) \f[V]json\f[R].
.SS rewrite
.PP
Print all transactions, rewriting the postings of matched transactions.
For now the only rewrite available is adding new postings, like print
--auto.
.PP
This is a start at a generic rewriter of transaction entries.
It reads the default journal and prints the transactions, like print,
but adds one or more specified postings to any transactions matching
QUERY.
The posting amounts can be fixed, or a multiplier of the existing
transaction\[aq]s first posting amount.
.PP
Examples:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger-rewrite.hs \[ha]income --add-posting \[aq](liabilities:tax)  *.33  ; income tax\[aq] --add-posting \[aq](reserve:gifts)  $100\[aq]
$ hledger-rewrite.hs expenses:gifts --add-posting \[aq](reserve:gifts)  *-1\[dq]\[aq]
$ hledger-rewrite.hs -f rewrites.hledger
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
rewrites.hledger may consist of entries like:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
= \[ha]income amt:<0 date:2017
  (liabilities:tax)  *0.33  ; tax on income
  (reserve:grocery)  *0.25  ; reserve 25% for grocery
  (reserve:)  *0.25  ; reserve 25% for grocery
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
Note the single quotes to protect the dollar sign from bash, and the two
spaces between account and amount.
.PP
More:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger rewrite -- [QUERY]        --add-posting \[dq]ACCT  AMTEXPR\[dq] ...
$ hledger rewrite -- \[ha]income        --add-posting \[aq](liabilities:tax)  *.33\[aq]
$ hledger rewrite -- expenses:gifts --add-posting \[aq](budget:gifts)  *-1\[dq]\[aq]
$ hledger rewrite -- \[ha]income        --add-posting \[aq](budget:foreign currency)  *0.25 JPY; diversify\[aq]
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
Argument for \f[V]--add-posting\f[R] option is a usual posting of
transaction with an exception for amount specification.
More precisely, you can use \f[V]\[aq]*\[aq]\f[R] (star symbol) before
the amount to indicate that that this is a factor for an amount of
original matched posting.
If the amount includes a commodity name, the new posting amount will be
in the new commodity; otherwise, it will be in the matched posting
amount\[aq]s commodity.
.SS Re-write rules in a file
.PP
During the run this tool will execute so called \[dq]Automated
Transactions\[dq] found in any journal it process.
I.e instead of specifying this operations in command line you can put
them in a journal file.
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ rewrite-rules.journal
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
Make contents look like this:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
= \[ha]income
    (liabilities:tax)  *.33

= expenses:gifts
    budget:gifts  *-1
    assets:budget  *1
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
Note that \f[V]\[aq]=\[aq]\f[R] (equality symbol) that is used instead
of date in transactions you usually write.
It indicates the query by which you want to match the posting to add new
ones.
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger rewrite -- -f input.journal -f rewrite-rules.journal > rewritten-tidy-output.journal
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
This is something similar to the commands pipeline:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger rewrite -- -f input.journal \[aq]\[ha]income\[aq] --add-posting \[aq](liabilities:tax)  *.33\[aq] \[rs]
  | hledger rewrite -- -f - expenses:gifts      --add-posting \[aq]budget:gifts  *-1\[aq]       \[rs]
                                                --add-posting \[aq]assets:budget  *1\[aq]       \[rs]
  > rewritten-tidy-output.journal
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
It is important to understand that relative order of such entries in
journal is important.
You can re-use result of previously added postings.
.SS Diff output format
.PP
To use this tool for batch modification of your journal files you may
find useful output in form of unified diff.
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger rewrite -- --diff -f examples/sample.journal \[aq]\[ha]income\[aq] --add-posting \[aq](liabilities:tax)  *.33\[aq]
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
Output might look like:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
--- /tmp/examples/sample.journal
+++ /tmp/examples/sample.journal
\[at]\[at] -18,3 +18,4 \[at]\[at]
 2008/01/01 income
-    assets:bank:checking  $1
+    assets:bank:checking            $1
     income:salary
+    (liabilities:tax)                0
\[at]\[at] -22,3 +23,4 \[at]\[at]
 2008/06/01 gift
-    assets:bank:checking  $1
+    assets:bank:checking            $1
     income:gifts
+    (liabilities:tax)                0
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
If you\[aq]ll pass this through \f[V]patch\f[R] tool you\[aq]ll get
transactions containing the posting that matches your query be updated.
Note that multiple files might be update according to list of input
files specified via \f[V]--file\f[R] options and \f[V]include\f[R]
directives inside of these files.
.PP
Be careful.
Whole transaction being re-formatted in a style of output from
\f[V]hledger print\f[R].
.PP
See also:
.PP
https://github.com/simonmichael/hledger/issues/99
.SS rewrite vs. print --auto
.PP
This command predates print --auto, and currently does much the same
thing, but with these differences:
.IP \[bu] 2
with multiple files, rewrite lets rules in any file affect all other
files.
print --auto uses standard directive scoping; rules affect only child
files.
.IP \[bu] 2
rewrite\[aq]s query limits which transactions can be rewritten; all are
printed.
print --auto\[aq]s query limits which transactions are printed.
.IP \[bu] 2
rewrite applies rules specified on command line or in the journal.
print --auto applies rules specified in the journal.
.SS roi
.PP
Shows the time-weighted (TWR) and money-weighted (IRR) rate of return on
your investments.
.PP
At a minimum, you need to supply a query (which could be just an account
name) to select your investment(s) with \f[V]--inv\f[R], and another
query to identify your profit and loss transactions with
\f[V]--pnl\f[R].
.PP
If you do not record changes in the value of your investment manually,
or do not require computation of time-weighted return (TWR),
\f[V]--pnl\f[R] could be an empty query (\f[V]--pnl \[dq]\[dq]\f[R] or
\f[V]--pnl STR\f[R] where \f[V]STR\f[R] does not match any of your
accounts).
.PP
This command will compute and display the internalized rate of return
(IRR) and time-weighted rate of return (TWR) for your investments for
the time period requested.
Both rates of return are annualized before display, regardless of the
length of reporting interval.
.PP
Price directives will be taken into account if you supply appropriate
\f[V]--cost\f[R] or \f[V]--value\f[R] flags (see VALUATION).
.PP
Note, in some cases this report can fail, for these reasons:
.IP \[bu] 2
Error (NotBracketed): No solution for Internal Rate of Return (IRR).
Possible causes: IRR is huge (>1000000%), balance of investment becomes
negative at some point in time.
.IP \[bu] 2
Error (SearchFailed): Failed to find solution for Internal Rate of
Return (IRR).
Either search does not converge to a solution, or converges too slowly.
.PP
Examples:
.IP \[bu] 2
Using roi to compute total return of investment in stocks:
https://github.com/simonmichael/hledger/blob/master/examples/investing/roi-unrealised.ledger
.IP \[bu] 2
Cookbook > Return on Investment: https://hledger.org/roi.html
.SS Spaces and special characters in \f[V]--inv\f[R] and \f[V]--pnl\f[R]
.PP
Note that \f[V]--inv\f[R] and \f[V]--pnl\f[R]\[aq]s argument is a query,
and queries could have several space-separated terms (see QUERIES).
.PP
To indicate that all search terms form single command-line argument, you
will need to put them in quotes (see Special characters):
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger roi --inv \[aq]term1 term2 term3 ...\[aq]
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
If any query terms contain spaces themselves, you will need an extra
level of nested quoting, eg:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger roi --inv=\[dq]\[aq]Assets:Test 1\[aq]\[dq] --pnl=\[dq]\[aq]Equity:Unrealized Profit and Loss\[aq]\[dq]
\f[R]
.fi
.SS Semantics of \f[V]--inv\f[R] and \f[V]--pnl\f[R]
.PP
Query supplied to \f[V]--inv\f[R] has to match all transactions that are
related to your investment.
Transactions not matching \f[V]--inv\f[R] will be ignored.
.PP
In these transactions, ROI will conside postings that match
\f[V]--inv\f[R] to be \[dq]investment postings\[dq] and other postings
(not matching \f[V]--inv\f[R]) will be sorted into two categories:
\[dq]cash flow\[dq] and \[dq]profit and loss\[dq], as ROI needs to know
which part of the investment value is your contributions and which is
due to the return on investment.
.IP \[bu] 2
\[dq]Cash flow\[dq] is depositing or withdrawing money, buying or
selling assets, or otherwise converting between your investment
commodity and any other commodity.
Example:
.RS 2
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
2019-01-01 Investing in Snake Oil
  assets:cash          -$100
  investment:snake oil

2020-01-01 Selling my Snake Oil
  assets:cash           $10
  investment:snake oil  = 0
\f[R]
.fi
.RE
.IP \[bu] 2
\[dq]Profit and loss\[dq] is change in the value of your investment:
.RS 2
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
2019-06-01 Snake Oil falls in value
  investment:snake oil  = $57
  equity:unrealized profit or loss
\f[R]
.fi
.RE
.PP
All non-investment postings are assumed to be \[dq]cash flow\[dq],
unless they match \f[V]--pnl\f[R] query.
Changes in value of your investment due to \[dq]profit and loss\[dq]
postings will be considered as part of your investment return.
.PP
Example: if you use \f[V]--inv snake --pnl equity:unrealized\f[R], then
postings in the example below would be classifed as:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
2019-01-01 Snake Oil #1
  assets:cash          -$100   ; cash flow posting
  investment:snake oil         ; investment posting

2019-03-01 Snake Oil #2
  equity:unrealized pnl  -$100 ; profit and loss posting
  snake oil                    ; investment posting

2019-07-01 Snake Oil #3
  equity:unrealized pnl        ; profit and loss posting
  cash          -$100          ; cash flow posting
  snake oil     $50            ; investment posting
\f[R]
.fi
.SS IRR and TWR explained
.PP
\[dq]ROI\[dq] stands for \[dq]return on investment\[dq].
Traditionally this was computed as a difference between current value of
investment and its initial value, expressed in percentage of the initial
value.
.PP
However, this approach is only practical in simple cases, where
investments receives no in-flows or out-flows of money, and where rate
of growth is fixed over time.
For more complex scenarios you need different ways to compute rate of
return, and this command implements two of them: IRR and TWR.
.PP
Internal rate of return, or \[dq]IRR\[dq] (also called
\[dq]money-weighted rate of return\[dq]) takes into account effects of
in-flows and out-flows.
Naively, if you are withdrawing from your investment, your future gains
would be smaller (in absolute numbers), and will be a smaller percentage
of your initial investment, and if you are adding to your investment,
you will receive bigger absolute gains (but probably at the same rate of
return).
IRR is a way to compute rate of return for each period between in-flow
or out-flow of money, and then combine them in a way that gives you a
compound annual rate of return that investment is expected to generate.
.PP
As mentioned before, in-flows and out-flows would be any cash that you
personally put in or withdraw, and for the \[dq]roi\[dq] command, these
are the postings that match the query in the\f[V]--inv\f[R] argument and
NOT match the query in the\f[V]--pnl\f[R] argument.
.PP
If you manually record changes in the value of your investment as
transactions that balance them against \[dq]profit and loss\[dq] (or
\[dq]unrealized gains\[dq]) account or use price directives, then in
order for IRR to compute the precise effect of your in-flows and
out-flows on the rate of return, you will need to record the value of
your investement on or close to the days when in- or out-flows occur.
.PP
In technical terms, IRR uses the same approach as computation of net
present value, and tries to find a discount rate that makes net present
value of all the cash flows of your investment to add up to zero.
This could be hard to wrap your head around, especially if you
haven\[aq]t done discounted cash flow analysis before.
Implementation of IRR in hledger should produce results that match the
\f[V]XIRR\f[R] formula in Excel.
.PP
Second way to compute rate of return that \f[V]roi\f[R] command
implements is called \[dq]time-weighted rate of return\[dq] or
\[dq]TWR\[dq].
Like IRR, it will also break the history of your investment into periods
between in-flows, out-flows and value changes, to compute rate of return
per each period and then a compound rate of return.
However, internal workings of TWR are quite different.
.PP
TWR represents your investment as an imaginary \[dq]unit fund\[dq] where
in-flows/ out-flows lead to buying or selling \[dq]units\[dq] of your
investment and changes in its value change the value of \[dq]investment
unit\[dq].
Change in \[dq]unit price\[dq] over the reporting period gives you rate
of return of your investment.
.PP
References:
.IP \[bu] 2
Explanation of rate of return
.IP \[bu] 2
Explanation of IRR
.IP \[bu] 2
Explanation of TWR
.IP \[bu] 2
Examples of computing IRR and TWR and discussion of the limitations of
both metrics
.SS stats
.PP
Show journal and performance statistics.
.PP
The stats command displays summary information for the whole journal, or
a matched part of it.
With a reporting interval, it shows a report for each report period.
.PP
At the end, it shows (in the terminal) the overall run time and number
of transactions processed per second.
Note these are approximate and will vary based on machine, current load,
data size, hledger version, haskell lib versions, GHC version..
but they may be of interest.
The \f[V]stats\f[R] command\[aq]s run time is similar to that of a
single-column balance report.
.PP
Example:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger stats -f examples/1000x1000x10.journal
Main file                : /Users/simon/src/hledger/examples/1000x1000x10.journal
Included files           : 
Transactions span        : 2000-01-01 to 2002-09-27 (1000 days)
Last transaction         : 2002-09-26 (6995 days ago)
Transactions             : 1000 (1.0 per day)
Transactions last 30 days: 0 (0.0 per day)
Transactions last 7 days : 0 (0.0 per day)
Payees/descriptions      : 1000
Accounts                 : 1000 (depth 10)
Commodities              : 26 (A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, W, X, Y, Z)
Market prices            : 1000 (A)

Run time                 : 0.12 s
Throughput               : 8342 txns/s
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
This command supports the -o/--output-file option (but not
-O/--output-format selection).
.SS tags
.PP
List the tags used in the journal, or their values.
.PP
This command lists the tag names used in the journal, whether on
transactions, postings, or account declarations.
.PP
With a TAGREGEX argument, only tag names matching this regular
expression (case insensitive, infix matched) are shown.
.PP
With QUERY arguments, only transactions and accounts matching this query
are considered.
If the query involves transaction fields (date:, desc:, amt:, ...), the
search is restricted to the matched transactions and their accounts.
.PP
With the --values flag, the tags\[aq] unique non-empty values are listed
instead.
With -E/--empty, blank/empty values are also shown.
.PP
With --parsed, tags or values are shown in the order they were parsed,
with duplicates included.
(Except, tags from account declarations are always shown first.)
.PP
Tip: remember, accounts also acquire tags from their parents, postings
also acquire tags from their account and transaction, transactions also
acquire tags from their postings.
.SS test
.PP
Run built-in unit tests.
.PP
This command runs the unit tests built in to hledger and hledger-lib,
printing the results on stdout.
If any test fails, the exit code will be non-zero.
.PP
This is mainly used by hledger developers, but you can also use it to
sanity-check the installed hledger executable on your platform.
All tests are expected to pass - if you ever see a failure, please
report as a bug!
.PP
This command also accepts tasty test runner options, written after a --
(double hyphen).
Eg to run only the tests in Hledger.Data.Amount, with ANSI colour codes
disabled:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger test -- -pData.Amount --color=never
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
For help on these, see https://github.com/feuerbach/tasty#options
(\f[V]-- --help\f[R] currently doesn\[aq]t show them).
.PP
.SH PART 5: COMMON TASKS
.PP
Here are some quick examples of how to do some basic tasks with hledger.
.SS Getting help
.PP
Here\[aq]s how to list commands and view options and command docs:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger                # show available commands
$ hledger --help         # show common options
$ hledger CMD --help     # show CMD\[aq]s options, common options and CMD\[aq]s documentation
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
You can also view your hledger version\[aq]s manual in several formats
by using the help command.
Eg:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger help           # show the hledger manual with info, man or $PAGER (best available)
$ hledger help journal   # show the journal topic in the hledger manual
$ hledger help --help    # find out more about the help command
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
To view manuals and introductory docs on the web, visit
https://hledger.org.
Chat and mail list support and discussion archives can be found at
https://hledger.org/support.
.SS Constructing command lines
.PP
hledger has a flexible command line interface.
We strive to keep it simple and ergonomic, but if you run into one of
the sharp edges described in OPTIONS, here are some tips that might
help:
.IP \[bu] 2
command-specific options must go after the command (it\[aq]s fine to put
common options there too: \f[V]hledger CMD OPTS ARGS\f[R])
.IP \[bu] 2
running add-on executables directly simplifies command line parsing
(\f[V]hledger-ui OPTS ARGS\f[R])
.IP \[bu] 2
enclose \[dq]problematic\[dq] args in single quotes
.IP \[bu] 2
if needed, also add a backslash to hide regular expression
metacharacters from the shell
.IP \[bu] 2
to see how a misbehaving command line is being parsed, add
\f[V]--debug=2\f[R].
.SS Starting a journal file
.PP
hledger looks for your accounting data in a journal file,
\f[V]$HOME/.hledger.journal\f[R] by default:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger stats
The hledger journal file \[dq]/Users/simon/.hledger.journal\[dq] was not found.
Please create it first, eg with \[dq]hledger add\[dq] or a text editor.
Or, specify an existing journal file with -f or LEDGER_FILE.
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
You can override this by setting the \f[V]LEDGER_FILE\f[R] environment
variable (see below).
It\[aq]s a good practice to keep this important file under version
control, and to start a new file each year.
So you could do something like this:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ mkdir \[ti]/finance
$ cd \[ti]/finance
$ git init
Initialized empty Git repository in /Users/simon/finance/.git/
$ touch 2023.journal
$ echo \[dq]export LEDGER_FILE=$HOME/finance/2023.journal\[dq] >> \[ti]/.profile
$ source \[ti]/.profile
$ hledger stats
Main file                : /Users/simon/finance/2023.journal
Included files           : 
Transactions span        :  to  (0 days)
Last transaction         : none
Transactions             : 0 (0.0 per day)
Transactions last 30 days: 0 (0.0 per day)
Transactions last 7 days : 0 (0.0 per day)
Payees/descriptions      : 0
Accounts                 : 0 (depth 0)
Commodities              : 0 ()
Market prices            : 0 ()
\f[R]
.fi
.SS Setting LEDGER_FILE
.PP
How to set \f[V]LEDGER_FILE\f[R] permanently depends on your setup:
.PP
On unix and mac, running these commands in the terminal will work for
many people; adapt as needed:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ echo \[aq]export LEDGER_FILE=\[ti]/finance/2023.journal\[ga] >> \[ti]/.profile
$ source \[ti]/.profile
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
When correctly configured, in a new terminal window
\f[V]env | grep LEDGER_FILE\f[R] will show your file, and so will
\f[V]hledger files\f[R].
.PP
On mac, this additional step might be helpful for GUI applications (like
Emacs started from the dock): add an entry to
\f[V]\[ti]/.MacOSX/environment.plist\f[R] like
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
{
  \[dq]LEDGER_FILE\[dq] : \[dq]\[ti]/finance/2023.journal\[dq]
}
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
and then run \f[V]killall Dock\f[R] in a terminal window (or restart the
machine).
.PP
On Windows, see https://www.java.com/en/download/help/path.html, or try
running these commands in a powershell window (let us know if it
persists across a reboot, and if you need to be an Administrator):
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
> CD
> MKDIR finance
> SETX LEDGER_FILE \[dq]C:\[rs]Users\[rs]USERNAME\[rs]finance\[rs]2023.journal\[dq]
\f[R]
.fi
.SS Setting opening balances
.PP
Pick a starting date for which you can look up the balances of some
real-world assets (bank accounts, wallet..)
and liabilities (credit cards..).
.PP
To avoid a lot of data entry, you may want to start with just one or two
accounts, like your checking account or cash wallet; and pick a recent
starting date, like today or the start of the week.
You can always come back later and add more accounts and older
transactions, eg going back to january 1st.
.PP
Add an opening balances transaction to the journal, declaring the
balances on this date.
Here are two ways to do it:
.IP \[bu] 2
The first way: open the journal in any text editor and save an entry
like this:
.RS 2
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
2023-01-01 * opening balances
    assets:bank:checking                $1000   = $1000
    assets:bank:savings                 $2000   = $2000
    assets:cash                          $100   = $100
    liabilities:creditcard               $-50   = $-50
    equity:opening/closing balances
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
These are start-of-day balances, ie whatever was in the account at the
end of the previous day.
.PP
The * after the date is an optional status flag.
Here it means \[dq]cleared & confirmed\[dq].
.PP
The currency symbols are optional, but usually a good idea as you\[aq]ll
be dealing with multiple currencies sooner or later.
.PP
The = amounts are optional balance assertions, providing extra error
checking.
.RE
.IP \[bu] 2
The second way: run \f[V]hledger add\f[R] and follow the prompts to
record a similar transaction:
.RS 2
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger add
Adding transactions to journal file /Users/simon/finance/2023.journal
Any command line arguments will be used as defaults.
Use tab key to complete, readline keys to edit, enter to accept defaults.
An optional (CODE) may follow transaction dates.
An optional ; COMMENT may follow descriptions or amounts.
If you make a mistake, enter < at any prompt to go one step backward.
To end a transaction, enter . when prompted.
To quit, enter . at a date prompt or press control-d or control-c.
Date [2023-02-07]: 2023-01-01
Description: * opening balances
Account 1: assets:bank:checking
Amount  1: $1000
Account 2: assets:bank:savings
Amount  2 [$-1000]: $2000
Account 3: assets:cash
Amount  3 [$-3000]: $100
Account 4: liabilities:creditcard
Amount  4 [$-3100]: $-50
Account 5: equity:opening/closing balances
Amount  5 [$-3050]: 
Account 6 (or . or enter to finish this transaction): .
2023-01-01 * opening balances
    assets:bank:checking                      $1000
    assets:bank:savings                       $2000
    assets:cash                                $100
    liabilities:creditcard                     $-50
    equity:opening/closing balances          $-3050

Save this transaction to the journal ? [y]: 
Saved.
Starting the next transaction (. or ctrl-D/ctrl-C to quit)
Date [2023-01-01]: .
\f[R]
.fi
.RE
.PP
If you\[aq]re using version control, this could be a good time to commit
the journal.
Eg:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ git commit -m \[aq]initial balances\[aq] 2023.journal
\f[R]
.fi
.SS Recording transactions
.PP
As you spend or receive money, you can record these transactions using
one of the methods above (text editor, hledger add) or by using the
hledger-iadd or hledger-web add-ons, or by using the import command to
convert CSV data downloaded from your bank.
.PP
Here are some simple transactions, see the hledger_journal(5) manual and
hledger.org for more ideas:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
2023/1/10 * gift received
  assets:cash   $20
  income:gifts

2023.1.12 * farmers market
  expenses:food    $13
  assets:cash

2023-01-15 paycheck
  income:salary
  assets:bank:checking    $1000
\f[R]
.fi
.SS Reconciling
.PP
Periodically you should reconcile - compare your hledger-reported
balances against external sources of truth, like bank statements or your
bank\[aq]s website - to be sure that your ledger accurately represents
the real-world balances (and, that the real-world institutions have not
made a mistake!).
This gets easy and fast with (1) practice and (2) frequency.
If you do it daily, it can take 2-10 minutes.
If you let it pile up, expect it to take longer as you hunt down errors
and discrepancies.
.PP
A typical workflow:
.IP "1." 3
Reconcile cash.
Count what\[aq]s in your wallet.
Compare with what hledger reports (\f[V]hledger bal cash\f[R]).
If they are different, try to remember the missing transaction, or look
for the error in the already-recorded transactions.
A register report can be helpful (\f[V]hledger reg cash\f[R]).
If you can\[aq]t find the error, add an adjustment transaction.
Eg if you have $105 after the above, and can\[aq]t explain the missing
$2, it could be:
.RS 4
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
2023-01-16 * adjust cash
    assets:cash    $-2 = $105
    expenses:misc
\f[R]
.fi
.RE
.IP "2." 3
Reconcile checking.
Log in to your bank\[aq]s website.
Compare today\[aq]s (cleared) balance with hledger\[aq]s cleared balance
(\f[V]hledger bal checking -C\f[R]).
If they are different, track down the error or record the missing
transaction(s) or add an adjustment transaction, similar to the above.
Unlike the cash case, you can usually compare the transaction history
and running balance from your bank with the one reported by
\f[V]hledger reg checking -C\f[R].
This will be easier if you generally record transaction dates quite
similar to your bank\[aq]s clearing dates.
.IP "3." 3
Repeat for other asset/liability accounts.
.PP
Tip: instead of the register command, use hledger-ui to see a
live-updating register while you edit the journal:
\f[V]hledger-ui --watch --register checking -C\f[R]
.PP
After reconciling, it could be a good time to mark the reconciled
transactions\[aq] status as \[dq]cleared and confirmed\[dq], if you want
to track that, by adding the \f[V]*\f[R] marker.
Eg in the paycheck transaction above, insert \f[V]*\f[R] between
\f[V]2023-01-15\f[R] and \f[V]paycheck\f[R]
.PP
If you\[aq]re using version control, this can be another good time to
commit:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ git commit -m \[aq]txns\[aq] 2023.journal
\f[R]
.fi
.SS Reporting
.PP
Here are some basic reports.
.PP
Show all transactions:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger print
2023-01-01 * opening balances
    assets:bank:checking                      $1000
    assets:bank:savings                       $2000
    assets:cash                                $100
    liabilities:creditcard                     $-50
    equity:opening/closing balances          $-3050

2023-01-10 * gift received
    assets:cash              $20
    income:gifts

2023-01-12 * farmers market
    expenses:food             $13
    assets:cash

2023-01-15 * paycheck
    income:salary
    assets:bank:checking           $1000

2023-01-16 * adjust cash
    assets:cash               $-2 = $105
    expenses:misc
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
Show account names, and their hierarchy:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger accounts --tree
assets
  bank
    checking
    savings
  cash
equity
  opening/closing balances
expenses
  food
  misc
income
  gifts
  salary
liabilities
  creditcard
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
Show all account totals:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger balance
               $4105  assets
               $4000    bank
               $2000      checking
               $2000      savings
                $105    cash
              $-3050  equity:opening/closing balances
                 $15  expenses
                 $13    food
                  $2    misc
              $-1020  income
                $-20    gifts
              $-1000    salary
                $-50  liabilities:creditcard
--------------------
                   0
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
Show only asset and liability balances, as a flat list, limited to depth
2:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger bal assets liabilities -2
               $4000  assets:bank
                $105  assets:cash
                $-50  liabilities:creditcard
--------------------
               $4055
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
Show the same thing without negative numbers, formatted as a simple
balance sheet:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger bs -2
Balance Sheet 2023-01-16

                        || 2023-01-16 
========================++============
 Assets                 ||            
------------------------++------------
 assets:bank            ||      $4000 
 assets:cash            ||       $105 
------------------------++------------
                        ||      $4105 
========================++============
 Liabilities            ||            
------------------------++------------
 liabilities:creditcard ||        $50 
------------------------++------------
                        ||        $50 
========================++============
 Net:                   ||      $4055 
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
The final total is your \[dq]net worth\[dq] on the end date.
(Or use \f[V]bse\f[R] for a full balance sheet with equity.)
.PP
Show income and expense totals, formatted as an income statement:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
hledger is 
Income Statement 2023-01-01-2023-01-16

               || 2023-01-01-2023-01-16 
===============++=======================
 Revenues      ||                       
---------------++-----------------------
 income:gifts  ||                   $20 
 income:salary ||                 $1000 
---------------++-----------------------
               ||                 $1020 
===============++=======================
 Expenses      ||                       
---------------++-----------------------
 expenses:food ||                   $13 
 expenses:misc ||                    $2 
---------------++-----------------------
               ||                   $15 
===============++=======================
 Net:          ||                 $1005 
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
The final total is your net income during this period.
.PP
Show transactions affecting your wallet, with running total:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger register cash
2023-01-01 opening balances     assets:cash                   $100          $100
2023-01-10 gift received        assets:cash                    $20          $120
2023-01-12 farmers market       assets:cash                   $-13          $107
2023-01-16 adjust cash          assets:cash                    $-2          $105
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
Show weekly posting counts as a bar chart:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ hledger activity -W
2019-12-30 *****
2023-01-06 ****
2023-01-13 ****
\f[R]
.fi
.SS Migrating to a new file
.PP
At the end of the year, you may want to continue your journal in a new
file, so that old transactions don\[aq]t slow down or clutter your
reports, and to help ensure the integrity of your accounting history.
See the close command.
.PP
If using version control, don\[aq]t forget to \f[V]git add\f[R] the new
file.
.SH BUGS
.PP
We welcome bug reports in the hledger issue tracker (shortcut:
http://bugs.hledger.org), or on the #hledger chat or hledger mail list
(https://hledger.org/support).
.PP
Some known issues and limitations:
.PP
The need to precede add-on command options with \f[V]--\f[R] when
invoked from hledger is awkward.
(See Command options, Constructing command lines.)
.PP
A UTF-8-aware system locale must be configured to work with non-ascii
data.
(See Unicode characters, Troubleshooting.)
.PP
On Microsoft Windows, depending whether you are running in a CMD window
or a Cygwin/MSYS/Mintty window and how you installed hledger, non-ascii
characters and colours may not be supported, and the tab key may not be
supported by \f[V]hledger add\f[R].
(Running in a WSL window should resolve these.)
.PP
When processing large data files, hledger uses more memory than Ledger.
.SS Troubleshooting
.PP
Here are some common issues you might encounter when you run hledger,
and how to resolve them (and remember also you can usually get quick
Support):
.PP
\f[B]PATH issues: I get an error like \[dq]No command \[aq]hledger\[aq]
found\[dq]\f[R]
.PD 0
.P
.PD
Depending how you installed hledger, the executables may not be in your
shell\[aq]s PATH.
Eg on unix systems, stack installs hledger in \f[V]\[ti]/.local/bin\f[R]
and cabal installs it in \f[V]\[ti]/.cabal/bin\f[R].
You may need to add one of these directories to your shell\[aq]s PATH,
and/or open a new terminal window.
.PP
\f[B]LEDGER_FILE issues: I configured LEDGER_FILE but hledger is not
using it\f[R]
.PD 0
.P
.PD
.IP \[bu] 2
\f[V]LEDGER_FILE\f[R] should be a real environment variable, not just a
shell variable.
Eg on unix, the command \f[V]env | grep LEDGER_FILE\f[R] should show it.
You may need to use \f[V]export\f[R] (see
https://stackoverflow.com/a/7411509).
.IP \[bu] 2
You may need to force your shell to see the new configuration.
A simple way is to close your terminal window and open a new one.
.PP
\f[B]LANG issues: I get errors like \[dq]Illegal byte sequence\[dq] or
\[dq]Invalid or incomplete multibyte or wide character\[dq] or
\[dq]commitAndReleaseBuffer: invalid argument (invalid
character)\[dq]\f[R]
.PD 0
.P
.PD
Programs compiled with GHC (hledger, haskell build tools, etc.)
need the system locale to be UTF-8-aware, or they will fail when they
encounter non-ascii characters.
To fix it, set the LANG environment variable to a locale which supports
UTF-8 and which is installed on your system.
.PP
On unix, \f[V]locale -a\f[R] lists the installed locales.
Look for one which mentions \f[V]utf8\f[R], \f[V]UTF-8\f[R] or similar.
Some examples: \f[V]C.UTF-8\f[R], \f[V]en_US.utf-8\f[R],
\f[V]fr_FR.utf8\f[R].
If necessary, use your system package manager to install one.
Then select it by setting the \f[V]LANG\f[R] environment variable.
Note, exact spelling and capitalisation of the locale name may be
important: Here\[aq]s one common way to configure this permanently for
your shell:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
$ echo \[dq]export LANG=en_US.utf8\[dq] >>\[ti]/.profile
# close and re-open terminal window
\f[R]
.fi
.PP
\f[B]COMPATIBILITY ISSUES: hledger gives an error with my Ledger
file\f[R]
.PD 0
.P
.PD
Not all of Ledger\[aq]s journal file syntax or feature set is supported.
See hledger and Ledger for full details.


.SH AUTHORS
Simon Michael <simon@joyful.com> and contributors.
.br
See http://hledger.org/CREDITS.html

.SH COPYRIGHT
Copyright 2007-2023 Simon Michael and contributors.

.SH LICENSE
Released under GNU GPL v3 or later.

.SH SEE ALSO
hledger(1), hledger\-ui(1), hledger\-web(1), ledger(1)