diff --git a/CHANGES.md b/CHANGES.md --- a/CHANGES.md +++ b/CHANGES.md @@ -9,6 +9,123 @@ User-visible changes in the hledger command line tool and library. +# 1.24 2021-12-01 + +Features + +- balance commands provide more control over how multicommodity amounts + are displayed. (And they no longer elide too-wide amounts by default.) + The --commodity-column flag has been deprecated and replaced by a new + --layout option, with three values: + + - wide (the default, shows amounts on one line unelided, like older hledger versions) + - tall (a new display mode, shows one amount per line) + - bare (like the old --commodity-columm, shows one commodity per line with symbols in their own column) + + (Stephen Morgan) + +- The balance commands have a new `--declared` flag, causing them to + include leaf (ie, non-parent) accounts declared by account directives, + even if they contain no transactions yet. Together with `-E`, this shows + a balance for both used and declared accounts. + The idea is to be able to see a useful "complete" balance report, even + when you don't have transactions in all of your declared accounts yet. + (#1765) + +- journal files now support a `decimal-mark` directive as a more + principled way (than `commodity` directives) to specify the decimal character + in use in that file, to ensure accurate number parsing. + (#1670, Lawrence Wu) + +Improvements + +- The stats command now shows rough but useful performance stats: run + time and processing speed in transactions per second. + +- balance: support the --related flag, like register, showing the + other postings from the transactions. (#1469, Stephen Morgan) + +- roi now uses posting dates when available, and honors the --date2 + flag. This will not change the results computed for the typical + use-case, it just makes "roi" more thorough/consistent. + (Dmitry Astapov) + +- aregister now shows transactions' secondary date if the --date2 flag is used. + (#1731) + +- timedot: a D default commodity (and style) declared in a parent + journal file will now be applied to timedot amounts. This means they + can be priced and valued/converted. + +- cli: The --pretty and --forecast options can now be written after the + command name, like other general options. + (Stephen Morgan) + +- register -V -H with no interval now values at report end date, like balance. + (#1718, Stephen Morgan) + +- Allow megaparsec 9.2. + +- Drop the base-compat-batteries dependency. (Stephen Morgan) + +Fixes + +- prices: Do not include zero amounts when calculating amounts for balance assignments. (#1736) (Stephen Morgan) + This is not usually a problem, but can get in the way of auto-inferring prices. + +- csv: Successfully parse an empty csv file. (#1183) (Stephen Morgan) + +- balance: Balance reports with --depth=0 properly report aggregated + values, not zero everywhere. (#1761) (Stephen Morgan) + +- prices: Do not try to generate prices when there would be a zero + denominator. Also correctly generate reverse prices for zero + amounts. (Stephen Morgan) + +- csv: Allow both amount-in and amount-out fields to contain a zero. + (#1733, Stephen Morgan) + +- balance: Balance reports should consider date: queries when + calculating report span with --date2. (#1745, Stephen Morgan) + +- print: auto: The print command should always display inferred + amounts for --auto generated postings. (#1276, Stephen Morgan) + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + # 1.23 2021-09-21 Features @@ -103,6 +220,7 @@ predictably and intuitively with multiple commodities. Multi-commodity amounts are sorted by comparing their amounts in each commodity, with alphabetically-first commodity symbols being + most significant, and assuming zero with alphabetically-first commodity symbols being most significant, and assuming zero when a commodity is missing. ([#1563](https://github.com/simonmichael/hledger/issues/1563), [#1564](https://github.com/simonmichael/hledger/issues/1564), Stephen Morgan) diff --git a/Hledger/Cli/CliOptions.hs b/Hledger/Cli/CliOptions.hs --- a/Hledger/Cli/CliOptions.hs +++ b/Hledger/Cli/CliOptions.hs @@ -72,16 +72,13 @@ ) where -import Prelude () -import "base-compat-batteries" Prelude.Compat import qualified Control.Exception as C import Control.Monad (when) import Data.Char import Data.Default import Data.Either (fromRight, isRight) import Data.Functor.Identity (Identity) -import "base-compat-batteries" Data.List.Compat -import Data.List.Extra (groupSortOn, nubSort) +import Data.List.Extra (groupSortOn, intercalate, isInfixOf, nubSort) import Data.List.Split (splitOneOf) import Data.Maybe --import Data.String.Here @@ -105,6 +102,7 @@ import Hledger import Hledger.Cli.DocFiles import Hledger.Cli.Version +import Data.Time.Clock.POSIX (POSIXTime) -- common cmdargs flags @@ -444,6 +442,7 @@ -- 1. the COLUMNS env var, if set -- 2. the width reported by the terminal, if supported -- 3. the default (80) + ,progstarttime_ :: POSIXTime } deriving (Show) instance Default CliOpts where def = defcliopts @@ -461,6 +460,7 @@ , no_new_accounts_ = False , width_ = Nothing , available_width_ = defaultWidth + , progstarttime_ = 0 } -- | Default width for hledger console output, when not otherwise specified. diff --git a/Hledger/Cli/Commands.hs b/Hledger/Cli/Commands.hs --- a/Hledger/Cli/Commands.hs +++ b/Hledger/Cli/Commands.hs @@ -492,7 +492,7 @@ -- ] -- journal4_str = unlines --- ["!include \"somefile\"" +-- ["include \"somefile\"" -- ,"2007/01/27 * joes diner" -- ," expenses:food:dining $10.00" -- ," assets:checking $-47.18" diff --git a/Hledger/Cli/Commands/Add.hs b/Hledger/Cli/Commands/Add.hs --- a/Hledger/Cli/Commands/Add.hs +++ b/Hledger/Cli/Commands/Add.hs @@ -14,8 +14,6 @@ ) where -import Prelude () -import "base-compat-batteries" Prelude.Compat hiding (fail) import Control.Exception as E import Control.Monad (when) import Control.Monad.Trans.Class @@ -24,7 +22,7 @@ import Data.Char (toUpper, toLower) import Data.Either (isRight) import Data.Functor.Identity (Identity(..)) -import "base-compat-batteries" Data.List.Compat +import Data.List (isPrefixOf) import Data.Maybe (fromJust, fromMaybe, isJust) import Data.Text (Text) import qualified Data.Text as T diff --git a/Hledger/Cli/Commands/Aregister.hs b/Hledger/Cli/Commands/Aregister.hs --- a/Hledger/Cli/Commands/Aregister.hs +++ b/Hledger/Cli/Commands/Aregister.hs @@ -88,6 +88,7 @@ , balanceaccum_= Historical , querystring_ = querystring } + wd = whichDate ropts' -- and regenerate the ReportSpec, making sure to use the above rspec' <- either fail return $ updateReportSpec ropts' rspec let @@ -98,7 +99,7 @@ reverse items -- select renderer render | fmt=="txt" = accountTransactionsReportAsText opts (_rsQuery rspec') thisacctq - | fmt=="csv" = printCSV . accountTransactionsReportAsCsv (_rsQuery rspec') thisacctq + | fmt=="csv" = printCSV . accountTransactionsReportAsCsv wd (_rsQuery rspec') thisacctq | fmt=="json" = toJsonText | otherwise = error' $ unsupportedOutputFormatError fmt -- PARTIAL: where @@ -106,19 +107,19 @@ writeOutputLazyText opts $ render items' -accountTransactionsReportAsCsv :: Query -> Query -> AccountTransactionsReport -> CSV -accountTransactionsReportAsCsv reportq thisacctq is = +accountTransactionsReportAsCsv :: WhichDate -> Query -> Query -> AccountTransactionsReport -> CSV +accountTransactionsReportAsCsv wd reportq thisacctq is = ["txnidx","date","code","description","otheraccounts","change","balance"] - : map (accountTransactionsReportItemAsCsvRecord reportq thisacctq) is + : map (accountTransactionsReportItemAsCsvRecord wd reportq thisacctq) is -accountTransactionsReportItemAsCsvRecord :: Query -> Query -> AccountTransactionsReportItem -> CsvRecord +accountTransactionsReportItemAsCsvRecord :: WhichDate -> Query -> Query -> AccountTransactionsReportItem -> CsvRecord accountTransactionsReportItemAsCsvRecord - reportq thisacctq + wd reportq thisacctq (t@Transaction{tindex,tcode,tdescription}, _, _issplit, otheracctsstr, change, balance) = [idx,date,tcode,tdescription,otheracctsstr,amt,bal] where idx = T.pack $ show tindex - date = showDate $ transactionRegisterDate reportq thisacctq t + date = showDate $ transactionRegisterDate wd reportq thisacctq t amt = wbToText $ showMixedAmountB oneLine change bal = wbToText $ showMixedAmountB oneLine balance @@ -156,7 +157,7 @@ -- accountTransactionsReportItemAsText :: CliOpts -> Query -> Query -> Int -> Int -> AccountTransactionsReportItem -> TB.Builder accountTransactionsReportItemAsText - copts@CliOpts{reportspec_=ReportSpec{_rsReportOpts=ReportOpts{color_}}} + copts@CliOpts{reportspec_=ReportSpec{_rsReportOpts=ropts@ReportOpts{color_}}} reportq thisacctq preferredamtwidth preferredbalwidth (t@Transaction{tdescription}, _, _issplit, otheracctsstr, change, balance) = -- Transaction -- the transaction, unmodified @@ -184,7 +185,8 @@ where w = fullwidth - wbWidth amt -- calculate widths (totalwidth,mdescwidth) = registerWidthsFromOpts copts - (datewidth, date) = (10, showDate $ transactionRegisterDate reportq thisacctq t) + (datewidth, date) = (10, showDate $ transactionRegisterDate wd reportq thisacctq t) + where wd = whichDate ropts (amtwidth, balwidth) | shortfall <= 0 = (preferredamtwidth, preferredbalwidth) | otherwise = (adjustedamtwidth, adjustedbalwidth) diff --git a/Hledger/Cli/Commands/Balance.hs b/Hledger/Cli/Commands/Balance.hs --- a/Hledger/Cli/Commands/Balance.hs +++ b/Hledger/Cli/Commands/Balance.hs @@ -270,7 +270,10 @@ import System.Console.CmdArgs.Explicit as C import Lucid as L import Safe (headMay, maximumMay) -import Text.Tabular.AsciiWide as Tab +import Text.Tabular.AsciiWide + (Align(..), Cell(..), Table(..), TableOpts(..), cellWidth, concatTables, + renderColumns, renderRowB, textCell) +import qualified Text.Tabular.AsciiWide as Tab import Hledger import Hledger.Cli.CliOptions @@ -305,23 +308,33 @@ ] ++ flattreeflags True ++ [flagReq ["drop"] (\s opts -> Right $ setopt "drop" s opts) "N" "omit N leading account name parts (in flat mode)" + ,flagNone ["declared"] (setboolopt "declared") "include non-parent declared accounts (best used with -E)" ,flagNone ["average","A"] (setboolopt "average") "show a row average column (in multicolumn reports)" + ,flagNone ["related","r"] (setboolopt "related") "show postings' siblings instead" ,flagNone ["row-total","T"] (setboolopt "row-total") "show a row total column (in multicolumn reports)" ,flagNone ["no-total","N"] (setboolopt "no-total") "omit the final total row" - ,flagNone ["no-elide"] (setboolopt "no-elide") "don't squash boring parent accounts (in tree mode); don't show only 2 commodities per amount" + ,flagNone ["no-elide"] (setboolopt "no-elide") "don't squash boring parent accounts (in tree mode)" ,flagReq ["format"] (\s opts -> Right $ setopt "format" s opts) "FORMATSTR" "use this custom line format (in simple reports)" ,flagNone ["sort-amount","S"] (setboolopt "sort-amount") "sort by amount instead of account code/name (in flat mode). With multiple columns, sorts by the row total, or by row average if that is displayed." ,flagNone ["percent", "%"] (setboolopt "percent") "express values in percentage of each column's total" ,flagNone ["invert"] (setboolopt "invert") "display all amounts with reversed sign" ,flagNone ["transpose"] (setboolopt "transpose") "transpose rows and columns" - ,flagNone ["commodity-column"] (setboolopt "commodity-column") - "show commodity symbols in a separate column, amounts as bare numbers, one row per commodity" + ,flagReq ["layout"] (\s opts -> Right $ setopt "layout" s opts) "ARG" + (unlines + ["how to show multi-commodity amounts:" + ,"'wide[,WIDTH]': all commodities on one line" + ,"'tall' : each commodity on a new line" + ,"'bare' : bare numbers, symbols in a column" + ]) ,outputFormatFlag ["txt","html","csv","json"] ,outputFileFlag ] ) [generalflagsgroup1] - hiddenflags + (hiddenflags ++ + [ flagNone ["commodity-column"] (setboolopt "commodity-column") + "show commodity symbols in a separate column, amounts as bare numbers, one row per commodity" + ]) ([], Just $ argsFlag "[QUERY]") -- | The balance command, prints a balance report. @@ -395,31 +408,29 @@ -- | Render a single-column balance report as CSV. balanceReportAsCsv :: ReportOpts -> BalanceReport -> CSV balanceReportAsCsv opts (items, total) = - ("account" : ((if commodity_column_ opts then (:) "commodity" else id) $ ["balance"])) + ("account" : ((if commodity_layout_ opts == CommodityBare then (:) "commodity" else id) $ ["balance"])) : (concatMap (\(a, _, _, b) -> rows a b) items) ++ if no_total_ opts then [] else rows "total" total where rows :: AccountName -> MixedAmount -> [[T.Text]] - rows name ma - | commodity_column_ opts = + rows name ma = case commodity_layout_ opts of + CommodityBare -> fmap (\(k, a) -> [showName name, k, renderAmount . mixedAmount . amountStripPrices $ a]) . M.toList . foldl' sumAmounts mempty . amounts $ ma - | otherwise = [[showName name, renderAmount ma]] + _ -> [[showName name, renderAmount ma]] showName = accountNameDrop (drop_ opts) renderAmount amt = wbToText $ showMixedAmountB bopts amt where bopts = (balanceOpts False opts){displayOrder = order} - order = if commodity_column_ opts then Just (S.toList $ maCommodities amt) else Nothing + order = if commodity_layout_ opts == CommodityBare then Just (S.toList $ maCommodities amt) else Nothing sumAmounts mp am = M.insertWith (+) (acommodity am) am mp -- | Render a single-column balance report as plain text. balanceReportAsText :: ReportOpts -> BalanceReport -> TB.Builder -balanceReportAsText opts ((items, total)) - | not (commodity_column_ opts) = - unlinesB lines - <> unlinesB (if no_total_ opts then [] else [overline, totalLines]) - | iscustom = error' "Custom format not supported with --commodity-column" -- PARTIAL: - | otherwise = balanceReportAsText' opts ((items, total)) +balanceReportAsText opts ((items, total)) = case commodity_layout_ opts of + CommodityBare | iscustom -> error' "Custom format not supported with commodity columns" -- PARTIAL: + CommodityBare -> balanceReportAsText' opts ((items, total)) + _ -> unlinesB lines <> unlinesB (if no_total_ opts then [] else [overline, totalLines]) where (lines, sizes) = unzip $ map (balanceReportItemAsText opts) items -- abuse renderBalanceReportItem to render the total with similar format @@ -437,7 +448,7 @@ -- | Render a single-column balance report as plain text in commodity-column mode balanceReportAsText' :: ReportOpts -> BalanceReport -> TB.Builder balanceReportAsText' opts ((items, total)) = - unlinesB . fmap (renderColumns def{tableBorders=False} sizes . Tab.Group NoLine . fmap Header) $ + unlinesB . fmap (renderColumns def{tableBorders=False} sizes . Tab.Group Tab.NoLine . fmap Tab.Header) $ lines ++ concat [[[overline], totalline] | not (no_total_ opts)] where render (_, acctname, depth, amt) = @@ -482,7 +493,7 @@ BottomAligned comps -> renderRow' $ render False False comps where renderRow' is = ( renderRowB def{tableBorders=False, borderSpaces=False} - . Tab.Group NoLine $ map Header is + . Tab.Group Tab.NoLine $ map Tab.Header is , map cellWidth is ) render topaligned oneline = map (renderComponent topaligned oneline opts (acctname, depth, total)) @@ -514,7 +525,7 @@ multiBalanceReportAsCsv' :: ReportOpts -> MultiBalanceReport -> (CSV, CSV) multiBalanceReportAsCsv' opts@ReportOpts{..} (PeriodicReport colspans items tr) = - ( ("account" : ["commodity" | commodity_column_] ++ map showDateSpan colspans + ( ("account" : ["commodity" | commodity_layout_ == CommodityBare] ++ map showDateSpan colspans ++ ["total" | row_total_] ++ ["average" | average_] ) : concatMap (fullRowAsTexts (accountNameDrop drop_ . prrFullName)) items @@ -656,12 +667,12 @@ maybetranspose $ addtotalrow $ Table - (Tab.Group NoLine $ map Header (concat accts)) - (Tab.Group NoLine $ map Header colheadings) + (Tab.Group Tab.NoLine $ map Tab.Header (concat accts)) + (Tab.Group Tab.NoLine $ map Tab.Header colheadings) (concat rows) where totalscolumn = row_total_ && balanceaccum_ `notElem` [Cumulative, Historical] - colheadings = ["Commodity" | commodity_column_ opts] + colheadings = ["Commodity" | commodity_layout_ opts == CommodityBare] ++ map (reportPeriodName balanceaccum_ spans) spans ++ [" Total" | totalscolumn] ++ ["Average" | average_] @@ -675,20 +686,23 @@ | no_total_ opts = id | otherwise = let totalrows = multiBalanceRowAsTableText opts tr - rh = Tab.Group NoLine . replicate (length totalrows) $ Header "" - ch = Header [] -- ignored - in (flip (concatTables SingleLine) $ Table rh ch totalrows) + rh = Tab.Group Tab.NoLine . replicate (length totalrows) $ Tab.Header "" + ch = Tab.Header [] -- ignored + in (flip (concatTables Tab.SingleLine) $ Table rh ch totalrows) maybetranspose | transpose_ opts = \(Table rh ch vals) -> Table ch rh (transpose vals) | otherwise = id multiBalanceRowAsWbs :: AmountDisplayOpts -> ReportOpts -> PeriodicReportRow a MixedAmount -> [[WideBuilder]] -multiBalanceRowAsWbs bopts ReportOpts{..} (PeriodicReportRow _ as rowtot rowavg) - | not commodity_column_ = [fmap (showMixedAmountB bopts) all] - | otherwise = - zipWith (:) (fmap wbFromText cs) -- add symbols - . transpose -- each row becomes a list of Text quantities - . fmap (showMixedAmountLinesB bopts{displayOrder=Just cs, displayMinWidth=Nothing}) - $ all +multiBalanceRowAsWbs bopts ReportOpts{..} (PeriodicReportRow _ as rowtot rowavg) = + case commodity_layout_ of + CommodityWide width -> [fmap (showMixedAmountB bopts{displayMaxWidth=width}) all] + CommodityTall -> paddedTranspose mempty + . fmap (showMixedAmountLinesB bopts{displayMaxWidth=Nothing}) + $ all + CommodityBare -> zipWith (:) (fmap wbFromText cs) -- add symbols + . transpose -- each row becomes a list of Text quantities + . fmap (showMixedAmountLinesB bopts{displayOrder=Just cs, displayMinWidth=Nothing}) + $ all where totalscolumn = row_total_ && balanceaccum_ `notElem` [Cumulative, Historical] cs = S.toList . foldl' S.union mempty $ fmap maCommodities all @@ -696,6 +710,20 @@ ++ [rowtot | totalscolumn && not (null as)] ++ [rowavg | average_ && not (null as)] + paddedTranspose :: a -> [[a]] -> [[a]] + paddedTranspose _ [] = [[]] + paddedTranspose n as = take (maximum . map length $ as) . trans $ as + where + trans ([] : xss) = (n : map h xss) : trans ([n] : map t xss) + trans ((x : xs) : xss) = (x : map h xss) : trans (m xs : map t xss) + trans [] = [] + h (x:_) = x + h [] = n + t (_:xs) = xs + t [] = [n] + m (x:xs) = x:xs + m [] = [n] + multiBalanceRowAsCsvText :: ReportOpts -> PeriodicReportRow a MixedAmount -> [[T.Text]] multiBalanceRowAsCsvText opts = fmap (fmap wbToText) . multiBalanceRowAsWbs (balanceOpts False opts) opts @@ -704,10 +732,7 @@ -- | Amount display options to use for balance reports balanceOpts :: Bool -> ReportOpts -> AmountDisplayOpts -balanceOpts isTable ReportOpts{..} = oneLine - { displayColour = isTable && color_ - , displayMaxWidth = if isTable && not no_elide_ then Just 32 else Nothing - } +balanceOpts isTable ReportOpts{..} = oneLine {displayColour = isTable && color_} tests_Balance = testGroup "Balance" [ diff --git a/Hledger/Cli/Commands/Balance.txt b/Hledger/Cli/Commands/Balance.txt --- a/Hledger/Cli/Commands/Balance.txt +++ b/Hledger/Cli/Commands/Balance.txt @@ -59,14 +59,16 @@ - rows and columns swapped (--transpose) - another field used as account name (--pivot) - custom-formatted line items (single-period reports only) (--format) -- commodities shown in a separate column, one per row - (--commodity-column) +- commodities displayed on the same line or multiple lines (--layout) This command supports the output destination and output format options, with output formats txt, csv, json, and (multi-period reports only:) html. In txt output in a colour-supporting terminal, negative amounts are shown in red. +The --related/-r flag shows the balance of the other postings in the +transactions of the postings which would normally be shown. + Simple balance report With no arguments, balance shows a list of all accounts and their change @@ -240,26 +242,69 @@ - Output as HTML and view with a browser: hledger bal -D -o a.html && open a.html -Commodity column +Showing declared accounts -With --commodity-column, commodity symbols are displayed in a separate -column, and amounts are displayed as bare numbers. In this mode, each -report row will show amounts for a single commodity, using extra rows -when necessary. It can be useful for a cleaner display of reports with -many commodities: +With --declared, 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 +-E/--empty to see them.) -$ hledger -f examples/bcexample.hledger bal assets:us:etrade -3 -T -Y +More precisely, leaf declared accounts (with no subaccounts) will be +included, since those are usually the more useful in reports. + +The idea of this is to be able to see a useful "complete" balance +report, even when you don't have transactions in all of your declared +accounts yet. + +Commodity layout + +With --layout, you can control how amounts with more than one commodity +are displayed: + +- --layout=wide[,WIDTH]: on a single line, possibly elided to the + specified width +- --layout=tall: each commodity is displayed on a separate line +- --layout=bare: commodity symbols are displayed in a separate column, + and amounts are displayed as bare numbers + +$ 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 + +$ 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.. -$ hledger -f examples/bcexample.hledger bal assets:us:etrade -3 -T -Y --commodity-column +$ 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 + +$ 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 @@ -274,15 +319,15 @@ || VEA 12.00 10.00 14.00 36.00 || VHT 106.00 18.00 170.00 294.00 -This flag also affects CSV output, which is useful for producing data -that is easier to consume, eg when making charts: +The option --layout=bare also affects CSV output, which is useful for +producing data that is easier to consume, eg when making charts: $ hledger -f examples/bcexample.hledger bal assets:us:etrade -3 -O csv "account","balance" "Assets:US:ETrade","70.00 GLD, 17.00 ITOT, 5120.50 USD, 36.00 VEA, 294.00 VHT" "total","70.00 GLD, 17.00 ITOT, 5120.50 USD, 36.00 VEA, 294.00 VHT" -$ hledger -f examples/bcexample.hledger bal assets:us:etrade -3 -O csv --commodity-column +$ hledger -f examples/bcexample.hledger bal assets:us:etrade -3 -O csv --layout=bare "account","commodity","balance" "Assets:US:ETrade","GLD","70.00" "Assets:US:ETrade","ITOT","17.00" diff --git a/Hledger/Cli/Commands/Commodities.hs b/Hledger/Cli/Commands/Commodities.hs --- a/Hledger/Cli/Commands/Commodities.hs +++ b/Hledger/Cli/Commands/Commodities.hs @@ -29,4 +29,5 @@ commodities :: CliOpts -> Journal -> IO () commodities _copts = + -- TODO support --declared/--used like accounts, payees mapM_ T.putStrLn . S.filter (/= "AUTO") . journalCommodities diff --git a/Hledger/Cli/Commands/Help.hs b/Hledger/Cli/Commands/Help.hs --- a/Hledger/Cli/Commands/Help.hs +++ b/Hledger/Cli/Commands/Help.hs @@ -17,8 +17,6 @@ ) where -import Prelude () -import "base-compat-batteries" Prelude.Compat import Data.Maybe import System.Console.CmdArgs.Explicit import System.Environment diff --git a/Hledger/Cli/Commands/Incomestatement.hs b/Hledger/Cli/Commands/Incomestatement.hs --- a/Hledger/Cli/Commands/Incomestatement.hs +++ b/Hledger/Cli/Commands/Incomestatement.hs @@ -43,3 +43,20 @@ incomestatement :: CliOpts -> Journal -> IO () incomestatement = compoundBalanceCommand incomestatementSpec +{- +Summary of code flow, 2021-11: + +incomestatement + compoundBalanceCommand + compoundBalanceReport + compoundBalanceReportWith + colps = getPostingsByColumn + startps = startingPostings + generateSubreport + startbals = startingBalances (startps restricted to this subreport) + generateMultiBalanceReport startbals (colps restricted to this subreport) + matrix = calculateReportMatrix startbals colps + displaynames = displayedAccounts + buildReportRows displaynames matrix + -} + diff --git a/Hledger/Cli/Commands/Prices.hs b/Hledger/Cli/Commands/Prices.hs --- a/Hledger/Cli/Commands/Prices.hs +++ b/Hledger/Cli/Commands/Prices.hs @@ -35,16 +35,16 @@ q = _rsQuery $ reportspec_ opts ps = filter (matchesPosting q) $ allPostings j mprices = jpricedirectives j - cprices = - map (stylePriceDirectiveExceptPrecision styles) $ + cprices = + map (stylePriceDirectiveExceptPrecision styles) $ concatMap postingsPriceDirectivesFromCosts ps - rcprices = - map (stylePriceDirectiveExceptPrecision styles) $ - concatMap (postingsPriceDirectivesFromCosts . postingTransformAmount (mapMixedAmount invertPrice)) + rcprices = + map (stylePriceDirectiveExceptPrecision styles) $ + concatMap (postingsPriceDirectivesFromCosts . postingTransformAmount (mapMixedAmount invertPrice)) ps - allprices = - mprices - ++ ifBoolOpt "infer-market-prices" cprices + allprices = + mprices + ++ ifBoolOpt "infer-market-prices" cprices ++ ifBoolOpt "infer-reverse-prices" rcprices -- TODO: shouldn't this show reversed P prices also ? valuation will use them mapM_ (T.putStrLn . showPriceDirective) $ @@ -79,8 +79,10 @@ a { aprice = Just $ TotalPrice pa' } where pa' = ((1 / aquantity a) `divideAmount` pa) { aprice = Nothing } Just (TotalPrice pa) -> - a { aquantity = aquantity pa * signum (aquantity a), acommodity = acommodity pa, aprice = Just $ TotalPrice pa' } where + a { aquantity = aquantity pa * nonZeroSignum (aquantity a), acommodity = acommodity pa, aprice = Just $ TotalPrice pa' } where pa' = pa { aquantity = abs $ aquantity a, acommodity = acommodity a, aprice = Nothing, astyle = astyle a } + where + nonZeroSignum x = if x < 0 then -1 else 1 postingsPriceDirectivesFromCosts :: Posting -> [PriceDirective] postingsPriceDirectivesFromCosts p = mapMaybe (amountPriceDirectiveFromCost date) . amountsRaw $ pamount p @@ -89,11 +91,11 @@ amountPriceDirectiveFromCost :: Day -> Amount -> Maybe PriceDirective amountPriceDirectiveFromCost d a = case aprice a of - Nothing -> Nothing Just (UnitPrice pa) -> Just PriceDirective { pddate = d, pdcommodity = acommodity a, pdamount = pa } - Just (TotalPrice pa) -> Just + Just (TotalPrice pa) | aquantity a /= 0 -> Just PriceDirective { pddate = d, pdcommodity = acommodity a, pdamount = abs (aquantity a) `divideAmount'` pa } + _ -> Nothing -- | Given a map of standard amount display styles, apply the -- appropriate one, if any, to this price directive's amount. diff --git a/Hledger/Cli/Commands/Print.hs b/Hledger/Cli/Commands/Print.hs --- a/Hledger/Cli/Commands/Print.hs +++ b/Hledger/Cli/Commands/Print.hs @@ -15,17 +15,17 @@ ) where -import Data.Maybe (isJust) import Data.Text (Text) import Data.List (intersperse) import qualified Data.Text as T import qualified Data.Text.IO as T import qualified Data.Text.Lazy as TL import qualified Data.Text.Lazy.Builder as TB +import Lens.Micro (_Just, has) import System.Console.CmdArgs.Explicit -import Hledger.Read.CsvReader (CSV, printCSV) import Hledger +import Hledger.Read.CsvReader (CSV, printCSV) import Hledger.Cli.CliOptions import Hledger.Cli.Utils @@ -76,21 +76,27 @@ where whichtxn -- With -x, use the fully-inferred txn with all amounts & txn prices explicit. - | boolopt "explicit" (rawopts_ opts) - -- Or also, if any of -B/-V/-X/--value are active. - -- Because of #551, and because of print -V valuing only one - -- posting when there's an implicit txn price. - -- So -B/-V/-X/--value implies -x. Is this ok ? - || (isJust . value_ . _rsReportOpts $ reportspec_ opts) = id + | boolopt "explicit" (rawopts_ opts) = id + -- Or also, if any of -B/-V/-X/--value are active. + -- Because of #551, and because of print -V valuing only one + -- posting when there's an implicit txn price. + -- So -B/-V/-X/--value implies -x. Is this ok ? + | has (value . _Just) opts = id -- By default, use the original as-written-in-the-journal txn. | otherwise = originalTransaction -- Replace this transaction's postings with the original postings if any, but keep the --- current possibly rewritten account names. +-- current possibly rewritten account names, and the inferred values of any auto postings originalTransaction t = t { tpostings = map originalPostingPreservingAccount $ tpostings t } --- Get the original posting if any, but keep the current possibly rewritten account name. -originalPostingPreservingAccount p = (originalPosting p) { paccount = paccount p } +-- Get the original posting if any, but keep the current possibly rewritten account name, and +-- the inferred values of any auto postings +originalPostingPreservingAccount p = orig + { paccount = paccount p + , pamount = pamount $ if isGenerated then p else orig } + where + orig = originalPosting p + isGenerated = "generated-posting" `elem` map fst (ptags p) -- XXX -- tests_showTransactions = [ diff --git a/Hledger/Cli/Commands/Roi.hs b/Hledger/Cli/Commands/Roi.hs --- a/Hledger/Cli/Commands/Roi.hs +++ b/Hledger/Cli/Commands/Roi.hs @@ -70,6 +70,7 @@ let ropts = _rsReportOpts rspec + wd = whichDate ropts showCashFlow = boolopt "cashflow" rawopts prettyTables = pretty_ makeQuery flag = do @@ -83,7 +84,7 @@ trans = dbg3 "investments" $ jtxns $ filterJournalTransactions investmentsQuery j journalSpan = - let dates = map transactionDate2 trans in + let dates = map (transactionDateOrDate2 wd) trans in DateSpan (Just $ minimum dates) (Just $ addDays 1 $ maximum dates) requestedSpan = periodAsDateSpan period_ @@ -121,16 +122,16 @@ cashFlow = ((map (,nullmixedamt) priceDates)++) $ cashFlowApplyCostValue $ - calculateCashFlow trans (And [ Not investmentsQuery - , Not pnlQuery - , Date span ] ) + calculateCashFlow wd trans (And [ Not investmentsQuery + , Not pnlQuery + , Date span ] ) pnl = cashFlowApplyCostValue $ - calculateCashFlow trans (And [ Not investmentsQuery - , pnlQuery - , Date span ] ) + calculateCashFlow wd trans (And [ Not investmentsQuery + , pnlQuery + , Date span ] ) thisSpan = dbg3 "processing span" $ OneSpan spanBegin spanEnd valueBefore valueAfter cashFlow pnl @@ -149,11 +150,11 @@ , T.pack $ printf "%0.2f%%" $ smallIsZero twr ] let table = Table - (Tab.Group NoLine (map (Header . T.pack . show) (take (length tableBody) [1..]))) - (Tab.Group DoubleLine - [ Tab.Group SingleLine [Header "Begin", Header "End"] - , Tab.Group SingleLine [Header "Value (begin)", Header "Cashflow", Header "Value (end)", Header "PnL"] - , Tab.Group SingleLine [Header "IRR", Header "TWR"]]) + (Tab.Group Tab.NoLine (map (Header . T.pack . show) (take (length tableBody) [1..]))) + (Tab.Group Tab.DoubleLine + [ Tab.Group Tab.SingleLine [Header "Begin", Header "End"] + , Tab.Group Tab.SingleLine [Header "Value (begin)", Header "Cashflow", Header "Value (end)", Header "PnL"] + , Tab.Group Tab.SingleLine [Header "IRR", Header "TWR"]]) tableBody TL.putStrLn $ Tab.render prettyTables id id id table @@ -238,9 +239,9 @@ TL.putStr $ Tab.render prettyTables id id T.pack (Table (Tab.Group NoLine (map (Header . showDate) dates)) - (Tab.Group DoubleLine [ Tab.Group SingleLine [Header "Portfolio value", Header "Unit balance"] - , Tab.Group SingleLine [Header "Pnl", Header "Cashflow", Header "Unit price", Header "Units"] - , Tab.Group SingleLine [Header "New Unit Balance"]]) + (Tab.Group DoubleLine [ Tab.Group Tab.SingleLine [Tab.Header "Portfolio value", Tab.Header "Unit balance"] + , Tab.Group Tab.SingleLine [Tab.Header "Pnl", Tab.Header "Cashflow", Tab.Header "Unit price", Tab.Header "Units"] + , Tab.Group Tab.SingleLine [Tab.Header "New Unit Balance"]]) [ [value, oldBalance, pnl, cashflow, prc, udelta, balance] | value <- map showDecimal valuesOnDate | oldBalance <- map showDecimal (0:unitBalances) @@ -267,8 +268,8 @@ let (dates, amounts) = unzip totalCF TL.putStrLn $ Tab.render prettyTables id id id (Table - (Tab.Group NoLine (map (Header . showDate) dates)) - (Tab.Group SingleLine [Header "Amount"]) + (Tab.Group Tab.NoLine (map (Header . showDate) dates)) + (Tab.Group Tab.SingleLine [Header "Amount"]) (map ((:[]) . T.pack . showMixedAmount) amounts)) -- 0% is always a solution, so require at least something here @@ -290,9 +291,9 @@ where go (t,m) = realToFrac (unMix m) * rate ** (fromIntegral (referenceDay `diffDays` t) / 365) -calculateCashFlow :: [Transaction] -> Query -> CashFlow -calculateCashFlow trans query = filter (maIsNonZero . snd) $ map go trans - where go t = (transactionDate2 t, total [t] query) +calculateCashFlow :: WhichDate -> [Transaction] -> Query -> CashFlow +calculateCashFlow wd trans query = + [ (postingDateOrDate2 wd p, pamount p) | p <- filter (matchesPosting query) (concatMap realPostings trans), maIsNonZero (pamount p) ] total :: [Transaction] -> Query -> MixedAmount total trans query = sumPostings . filter (matchesPosting query) $ concatMap realPostings trans diff --git a/Hledger/Cli/Commands/Stats.hs b/Hledger/Cli/Commands/Stats.hs --- a/Hledger/Cli/Commands/Stats.hs +++ b/Hledger/Cli/Commands/Stats.hs @@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ {-# LANGUAGE OverloadedStrings #-} {-# LANGUAGE TemplateHaskell #-} +{-# LANGUAGE NamedFieldPuns #-} module Hledger.Cli.Commands.Stats ( statsmode @@ -29,6 +30,7 @@ import Hledger.Cli.CliOptions import Hledger.Cli.Utils (writeOutputLazyText) import Text.Tabular.AsciiWide +import Data.Time.Clock.POSIX (getPOSIXTime) statsmode = hledgerCommandMode @@ -42,24 +44,31 @@ -- like Register.summarisePostings -- | Print various statistics for the journal. stats :: CliOpts -> Journal -> IO () -stats opts@CliOpts{reportspec_=rspec} j = do +stats opts@CliOpts{reportspec_=rspec, progstarttime_} j = do let today = _rsDay rspec q = _rsQuery rspec l = ledgerFromJournal q j reportspan = ledgerDateSpan l `spanDefaultsFrom` queryDateSpan False q intervalspans = splitSpan (interval_ $ _rsReportOpts rspec) reportspan showstats = showLedgerStats l today - s = unlinesB $ map showstats intervalspans - writeOutputLazyText opts $ TB.toLazyText s + (ls, txncounts) = unzip $ map showstats intervalspans + numtxns = sum txncounts + b = unlinesB ls + writeOutputLazyText opts $ TB.toLazyText b + t <- getPOSIXTime + let dt = t - progstarttime_ + printf "Run time (throughput) : %.2fs (%.0f txns/s)\n" + (realToFrac dt :: Float) (fromIntegral numtxns / realToFrac dt :: Float) -showLedgerStats :: Ledger -> Day -> DateSpan -> TB.Builder +showLedgerStats :: Ledger -> Day -> DateSpan -> (TB.Builder, Int) showLedgerStats l today span = - unlinesB $ map (renderRowB def{tableBorders=False, borderSpaces=False} . showRow) stats + (unlinesB $ map (renderRowB def{tableBorders=False, borderSpaces=False} . showRow) stats + ,tnum) where showRow (label, value) = Group NoLine $ map (Header . textCell TopLeft) [fitText (Just w1) (Just w1) False True label `T.append` ": ", T.pack value] w1 = maximum $ map (T.length . fst) stats - stats = [ + (stats, tnum) = ([ ("Main file", path) -- ++ " (from " ++ source ++ ")") ,("Included files", unlines $ drop 1 $ journalFilePaths j) ,("Transactions span", printf "%s to %s (%d days)" (start span) (end span) days) @@ -75,7 +84,8 @@ -- Unmarked transactions : %(unmarked)s -- Days since reconciliation : %(reconcileelapsed)s -- Days since last transaction : %(recentelapsed)s - ] + ] + ,tnum) where j = ljournal l path = journalFilePath j @@ -90,7 +100,7 @@ where days' = abs days direction | days >= 0 = "days ago" :: String | otherwise = "days from now" - tnum = length ts + tnum = length ts -- Integer would be better start (DateSpan (Just d) _) = show d start _ = "" end (DateSpan _ (Just d)) = show d diff --git a/Hledger/Cli/Commands/Stats.txt b/Hledger/Cli/Commands/Stats.txt --- a/Hledger/Cli/Commands/Stats.txt +++ b/Hledger/Cli/Commands/Stats.txt @@ -1,5 +1,5 @@ stats -Show some journal statistics. +Show journal and performance statistics. _FLAGS @@ -7,20 +7,30 @@ a matched part of it. With a reporting interval, it shows a report for each report period. +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 +stats command's run time is similar to that of a single-column balance +report. + Example: -$ hledger stats -Main journal file : /src/hledger/examples/sample.journal -Included journal files : -Transactions span : 2008-01-01 to 2009-01-01 (366 days) -Last transaction : 2008-12-31 (2333 days ago) -Transactions : 5 (0.0 per day) +$ 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 : 5 -Accounts : 8 (depth 3) -Commodities : 1 ($) -Market prices : 12 ($) +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 This command also supports output destination and output format selection. diff --git a/Hledger/Cli/CompoundBalanceCommand.hs b/Hledger/Cli/CompoundBalanceCommand.hs --- a/Hledger/Cli/CompoundBalanceCommand.hs +++ b/Hledger/Cli/CompoundBalanceCommand.hs @@ -77,20 +77,29 @@ ] ++ flattreeflags True ++ [flagReq ["drop"] (\s opts -> Right $ setopt "drop" s opts) "N" "flat mode: omit N leading account name parts" + ,flagNone ["declared"] (setboolopt "declared") "include non-parent declared accounts (best used with -E)" ,flagNone ["average","A"] (setboolopt "average") "show a row average column (in multicolumn reports)" ,flagNone ["row-total","T"] (setboolopt "row-total") "show a row total column (in multicolumn reports)" ,flagNone ["no-total","N"] (setboolopt "no-total") "omit the final total row" - ,flagNone ["no-elide"] (setboolopt "no-elide") "don't squash boring parent accounts (in tree mode); don't show only 2 commodities per amount" + ,flagNone ["no-elide"] (setboolopt "no-elide") "don't squash boring parent accounts (in tree mode)" ,flagReq ["format"] (\s opts -> Right $ setopt "format" s opts) "FORMATSTR" "use this custom line format (in simple reports)" ,flagNone ["sort-amount","S"] (setboolopt "sort-amount") "sort by amount instead of account code/name" ,flagNone ["percent", "%"] (setboolopt "percent") "express values in percentage of each column's total" - ,flagNone ["commodity-column"] (setboolopt "commodity-column") - "show commodity symbols in a separate column, amounts as bare numbers, one row per commodity" + ,flagReq ["layout"] (\s opts -> Right $ setopt "layout" s opts) "ARG" + (unlines + ["how to show multi-commodity amounts:" + ,"'wide[,WIDTH]': all commodities on one line" + ,"'tall' : each commodity on a new line" + ,"'bare' : bare numbers, symbols in a column" + ]) ,outputFormatFlag ["txt","html","csv","json"] ,outputFileFlag ]) [generalflagsgroup1] - hiddenflags + (hiddenflags ++ + [ flagNone ["commodity-column"] (setboolopt "commodity-column") + "show commodity symbols in a separate column, amounts as bare numbers, one row per commodity" + ]) ([], Just $ argsFlag "[QUERY]") where defaultMarker :: BalanceAccumulation -> String @@ -219,7 +228,7 @@ let totalrows = multiBalanceRowAsTableText ropts netrow rh = Tab.Group NoLine $ map Header ("Net:" : replicate (length totalrows - 1) "") ch = Header [] -- ignored - in ((concatTables DoubleLine) bigtable $ Table rh ch totalrows) + in ((concatTables Tab.DoubleLine) bigtable $ Table rh ch totalrows) -- | Convert a named multi balance report to a table suitable for -- concatenating with others to make a compound balance report table. @@ -228,7 +237,7 @@ -- convert to table Table lefthdrs tophdrs cells = balanceReportAsTable ropts r -- tweak the layout - t = Table (Tab.Group SingleLine [Header title, lefthdrs]) tophdrs ([]:cells) + t = Table (Tab.Group Tab.SingleLine [Tab.Header title, lefthdrs]) tophdrs ([]:cells) -- | Render a compound balance report as CSV. -- Subreports' CSV is concatenated, with the headings rows replaced by a @@ -239,7 +248,7 @@ addtotals $ padRow title : ( "Account" - : ["Commodity" | commodity_column_ ropts] + : ["Commodity" | commodity_layout_ ropts == CommodityBare] ++ map (reportPeriodName (balanceaccum_ ropts) colspans) colspans ++ (if row_total_ ropts then ["Total"] else []) ++ (if average_ ropts then ["Average"] else []) @@ -256,7 +265,7 @@ | null subreports = 1 | otherwise = (1 +) $ -- account name column - (if commodity_column_ ropts then (1+) else id) $ + (if commodity_layout_ ropts == CommodityBare then (1+) else id) $ (if row_total_ ropts then (1+) else id) $ (if average_ ropts then (1+) else id) $ maximum $ -- depends on non-null subreports @@ -278,7 +287,7 @@ titlerows = (tr_ $ th_ [colspanattr, leftattr] $ h2_ $ toHtml title) : [thRow $ - "" : ["Commodity" | commodity_column_ ropts] ++ + "" : ["Commodity" | commodity_layout_ ropts == CommodityBare] ++ map (reportPeriodName (balanceaccum_ ropts) colspans) colspans ++ (if row_total_ ropts then ["Total"] else []) ++ (if average_ ropts then ["Average"] else []) diff --git a/Hledger/Cli/DocFiles.hs b/Hledger/Cli/DocFiles.hs --- a/Hledger/Cli/DocFiles.hs +++ b/Hledger/Cli/DocFiles.hs @@ -20,8 +20,6 @@ ) where -import Prelude () -import "base-compat-batteries" Prelude.Compat import Data.ByteString (ByteString) import qualified Data.ByteString.Char8 as BC import Data.Maybe (fromMaybe, isNothing) diff --git a/Hledger/Cli/Main.hs b/Hledger/Cli/Main.hs --- a/Hledger/Cli/Main.hs +++ b/Hledger/Cli/Main.hs @@ -36,6 +36,8 @@ -} +{-# LANGUAGE LambdaCase #-} + module Hledger.Cli.Main where import Data.Char (isDigit) @@ -49,6 +51,7 @@ import Text.Printf import Hledger.Cli +import Data.Time.Clock.POSIX (getPOSIXTime) -- | The overall cmdargs mode describing hledger's command-line options and subcommands. @@ -94,6 +97,7 @@ -- | Let's go! main :: IO () main = do + progstarttime <- getPOSIXTime -- Choose and run the appropriate internal or external command based -- on the raw command-line arguments, cmdarg's interpretation of @@ -127,7 +131,8 @@ let addons = filter (not . (`elem` builtinCommandNames) . dropExtension) addons' -- parse arguments with cmdargs - opts <- argsToCliOpts args addons + opts' <- argsToCliOpts args addons + let opts = opts'{progstarttime_=progstarttime} -- select an action and run it. let @@ -234,28 +239,29 @@ moveArgs args = insertFlagsAfterCommand $ moveArgs' (args, []) where - -- -h ..., --version ... - moveArgs' ((f:a:as), flags) | isMovableNoArgFlag f = moveArgs' (a:as, flags ++ [f]) -- -f FILE ..., --alias ALIAS ... moveArgs' ((f:v:a:as), flags) | isMovableReqArgFlag f, isValue v = moveArgs' (a:as, flags ++ [f,v]) -- -fFILE ..., --alias=ALIAS ... - moveArgs' ((fv:a:as), flags) | isMovableReqArgFlagAndValue fv = moveArgs' (a:as, flags ++ [fv]) + moveArgs' ((fv:a:as), flags) | isMovableArgFlagAndValue fv = moveArgs' (a:as, flags ++ [fv]) -- -f(missing arg) moveArgs' ((f:a:as), flags) | isMovableReqArgFlag f, not (isValue a) = moveArgs' (a:as, flags ++ [f]) + -- -h ..., --version ... + moveArgs' ((f:a:as), flags) | isMovableNoArgFlag f = moveArgs' (a:as, flags ++ [f]) -- anything else moveArgs' (as, flags) = (as, flags) insertFlagsAfterCommand ([], flags) = flags insertFlagsAfterCommand (command:args, flags) = [command] ++ flags ++ args -isMovableNoArgFlag a = "-" `isPrefixOf` a && dropWhile (=='-') a `elem` noargflagstomove +isMovableNoArgFlag a = "-" `isPrefixOf` a && dropWhile (=='-') a `elem` optargflagstomove ++ noargflagstomove isMovableReqArgFlag a = "-" `isPrefixOf` a && dropWhile (=='-') a `elem` reqargflagstomove -isMovableReqArgFlagAndValue ('-':'-':a:as) = case break (== '=') (a:as) of (f:fs,_:_) -> (f:fs) `elem` reqargflagstomove - _ -> False -isMovableReqArgFlagAndValue ('-':shortflag:_:_) = [shortflag] `elem` reqargflagstomove -isMovableReqArgFlagAndValue _ = False +isMovableArgFlagAndValue ('-':'-':a:as) = case break (== '=') (a:as) of + (f:fs,_:_) -> (f:fs) `elem` optargflagstomove ++ reqargflagstomove + _ -> False +isMovableArgFlagAndValue ('-':shortflag:_:_) = [shortflag] `elem` reqargflagstomove +isMovableArgFlagAndValue _ = False isValue "-" = True isValue ('-':_) = False @@ -265,3 +271,9 @@ noargflagstomove = concatMap flagNames $ filter ((==FlagNone).flagInfo) flagstomove reqargflagstomove = -- filter (/= "debug") $ concatMap flagNames $ filter ((==FlagReq ).flagInfo) flagstomove +optargflagstomove = concatMap flagNames $ filter (isFlagOpt .flagInfo) flagstomove + where + isFlagOpt = \case + FlagOpt _ -> True + FlagOptRare _ -> True + _ -> False diff --git a/embeddedfiles/hledger-ui.1 b/embeddedfiles/hledger-ui.1 --- a/embeddedfiles/hledger-ui.1 +++ b/embeddedfiles/hledger-ui.1 @@ -1,5 +1,5 @@ -.TH "HLEDGER-UI" "1" "September 2021" "hledger-ui-1.23 " "hledger User Manuals" +.TH "HLEDGER-UI" "1" "December 2021" "hledger-ui-1.24 " "hledger User Manuals" @@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ .PP hledger-ui is a terminal interface (TUI) for the hledger accounting tool. -This manual is for hledger-ui 1.23. +This manual is for hledger-ui 1.24. .SH SYNOPSIS .PP \f[C]hledger-ui [OPTIONS] [QUERYARGS]\f[R] @@ -47,7 +47,7 @@ Any QUERYARGS are interpreted as a hledger search query which filters the data. .TP -\f[B]\f[CB]--watch\f[B]\f[R] +\f[B]\f[CB]-w --watch\f[B]\f[R] watch for data and date changes and reload automatically .TP \f[B]\f[CB]--theme=default|terminal|greenterm\f[B]\f[R] @@ -219,20 +219,33 @@ A \[at]FILE argument will be expanded to the contents of FILE, which should contain one command line option/argument per line. (To prevent this, insert a \f[C]--\f[R] argument before.) +.SH MOUSE +.PP +In most modern terminals, you can navigate through the screens with a +mouse or touchpad: +.IP \[bu] 2 +Use mouse wheel or trackpad to scroll up and down +.IP \[bu] 2 +Click on list items to go deeper +.IP \[bu] 2 +Click on the left margin (column 0), or the blank area at bottom of +screen, to go back. .SH KEYS .PP +Keyboard gives more control. +.PP \f[C]?\f[R] shows a help dialog listing all keys. (Some of these also appear in the quick help at the bottom of each screen.) Press \f[C]?\f[R] again (or \f[C]ESCAPE\f[R], or \f[C]LEFT\f[R], or \f[C]q\f[R]) to close it. The following keys work on most screens: .PP -The cursor keys navigate: \f[C]right\f[R] (or \f[C]enter\f[R]) goes -deeper, \f[C]left\f[R] returns to the previous screen, -\f[C]up\f[R]/\f[C]down\f[R]/\f[C]page up\f[R]/\f[C]page down\f[R]/\f[C]home\f[R]/\f[C]end\f[R] +The cursor keys navigate: \f[C]RIGHT\f[R] goes deeper, \f[C]LEFT\f[R] +returns to the previous screen, +\f[C]UP\f[R]/\f[C]DOWN\f[R]/\f[C]PGUP\f[R]/\f[C]PGDN\f[R]/\f[C]HOME\f[R]/\f[C]END\f[R] move up and down through lists. Emacs-style -(\f[C]ctrl-p\f[R]/\f[C]ctrl-n\f[R]/\f[C]ctrl-f\f[R]/\f[C]ctrl-b\f[R]) +(\f[C]CTRL-p\f[R]/\f[C]CTRL-n\f[R]/\f[C]CTRL-f\f[R]/\f[C]CTRL-b\f[R]) movement keys are also supported (but not vi-style keys, since hledger-1.19, sorry!). A tip: movement speed is limited by your keyboard repeat rate, to move @@ -241,11 +254,11 @@ .PP With shift pressed, the cursor keys adjust the report period, limiting the transactions to be shown (by default, all are shown). -\f[C]shift-down/up\f[R] steps downward and upward through these standard +\f[C]SHIFT-DOWN/UP\f[R] steps downward and upward through these standard report period durations: year, quarter, month, week, day. -Then, \f[C]shift-left/right\f[R] moves to the previous/next period. +Then, \f[C]SHIFT-LEFT/RIGHT\f[R] moves to the previous/next period. \f[C]T\f[R] sets the report period to today. -With the \f[C]--watch\f[R] option, when viewing a \[dq]current\[dq] +With the \f[C]-w/--watch\f[R] option, when viewing a \[dq]current\[dq] period (the current day, week, month, quarter, or year), the period will move automatically to track the current date. To set a non-standard period, you can use \f[C]/\f[R] and a @@ -329,6 +342,8 @@ command. By default, it shows all accounts and their latest ending balances (including the balances of subaccounts). +Accounts which have been declared with an account directive are also +listed, even if not yet used (except for empty parent accounts). If you specify a query on the command line, it shows just the matched accounts and the balances from matched transactions. .PP @@ -369,12 +384,11 @@ .PP \f[C]R\f[R] toggles real mode, in which virtual postings are ignored. .PP -\f[C]Z\f[R] toggles nonzero mode, in which only accounts with nonzero +\f[C]z\f[R] toggles nonzero mode, in which only accounts with nonzero balances are shown (hledger-ui shows zero items by default, unlike command-line hledger). .PP -Press \f[C]right\f[R] or \f[C]enter\f[R] to view an account\[aq]s -transactions register. +Press \f[C]RIGHT\f[R] to view an account\[aq]s transactions register. .SS Register screen .PP This screen shows the transactions affecting a particular account, like @@ -416,12 +430,11 @@ .PP \f[C]R\f[R] toggles real mode, in which virtual postings are ignored. .PP -\f[C]Z\f[R] toggles nonzero mode, in which only transactions posting a +\f[C]z\f[R] toggles nonzero mode, in which only transactions posting a nonzero change are shown (hledger-ui shows zero items by default, unlike command-line hledger). .PP -Press \f[C]right\f[R] (or \f[C]enter\f[R]) to view the selected -transaction in detail. +Press \f[C]RIGHT\f[R] to view the selected transaction in detail. .SS Transaction screen .PP This screen shows a single transaction, as a general journal entry, @@ -433,7 +446,7 @@ Simple transactions have two postings, but there can be more (or in certain cases, fewer). .PP -\f[C]up\f[R] and \f[C]down\f[R] will step through all transactions +\f[C]UP\f[R] and \f[C]DOWN\f[R] will step through all transactions listed in the previous account register screen. In the title bar, the numbers in parentheses show your position within that account register. @@ -453,7 +466,7 @@ .SS Watch mode .PP One of hledger-ui\[aq]s best features is the auto-reloading -\f[C]--watch\f[R] mode. +\f[C]-w/--watch\f[R] mode. With this flag, it will update the display automatically whenever changes are saved to the data files. .PP @@ -560,7 +573,8 @@ until the program is restarted. .PP Also, if you are viewing files mounted from another machine, -\f[C]--watch\f[R] requires that both machine clocks are roughly in step. +\f[C]-w/--watch\f[R] requires that both machine clocks are roughly in +step. .SH "REPORTING BUGS" diff --git a/embeddedfiles/hledger-ui.info b/embeddedfiles/hledger-ui.info --- a/embeddedfiles/hledger-ui.info +++ b/embeddedfiles/hledger-ui.info @@ -1,4 +1,5 @@ -This is hledger-ui.info, produced by makeinfo version 6.8 from stdin. +This is hledger-ui/hledger-ui.info, produced by makeinfo version 4.8 +from stdin. INFO-DIR-SECTION User Applications START-INFO-DIR-ENTRY @@ -6,42 +7,43 @@ END-INFO-DIR-ENTRY  -File: hledger-ui.info, Node: Top, Next: OPTIONS, Up: (dir) +File: hledger-ui.info, Node: Top, Up: (dir) hledger-ui(1) ************* hledger-ui is a terminal interface (TUI) for the hledger accounting -tool. This manual is for hledger-ui 1.23. +tool. This manual is for hledger-ui 1.24. - 'hledger-ui [OPTIONS] [QUERYARGS]' -'hledger ui -- [OPTIONS] [QUERYARGS]' + `hledger-ui [OPTIONS] [QUERYARGS]' +`hledger ui -- [OPTIONS] [QUERYARGS]' hledger is a reliable, 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 +simple, editable file format. hledger is inspired by and largely compatible with ledger(1). hledger-ui is hledger's terminal interface, providing an efficient full-window text UI for viewing accounts and transactions, and some -limited data entry capability. It is easier than hledger's command-line +limited data entry capability. It is easier than hledger's command-line interface, and sometimes quicker and more convenient than the web interface. Like hledger, it reads data from one or more files in hledger -journal, timeclock, timedot, or CSV format specified with '-f', or -'$LEDGER_FILE', or '$HOME/.hledger.journal' (on windows, perhaps -'C:/Users/USER/.hledger.journal'). For more about this see hledger(1), +journal, timeclock, timedot, or CSV format specified with `-f', or +`$LEDGER_FILE', or `$HOME/.hledger.journal' (on windows, perhaps +`C:/Users/USER/.hledger.journal'). For more about this see hledger(1), hledger_journal(5) etc. Unlike hledger, hledger-ui hides all future-dated transactions by -default. They can be revealed, along with any rule-generated periodic +default. They can be revealed, along with any rule-generated periodic transactions, by pressing the F key (or starting with -forecast) to enable "forecast mode". * Menu: * OPTIONS:: +* MOUSE:: * KEYS:: * SCREENS:: * TIPS:: @@ -50,163 +52,160 @@ * BUGS::  -File: hledger-ui.info, Node: OPTIONS, Next: KEYS, Prev: Top, Up: Top +File: hledger-ui.info, Node: OPTIONS, Next: MOUSE, Prev: Top, Up: Top 1 OPTIONS ********* -Note: if invoking hledger-ui as a hledger subcommand, write '--' before +Note: if invoking hledger-ui as a hledger subcommand, write `--' before options as shown above. Any QUERYARGS are interpreted as a hledger search query which filters the data. -'--watch' - +`-w --watch' watch for data and date changes and reload automatically -'--theme=default|terminal|greenterm' +`--theme=default|terminal|greenterm' use this custom display theme -'--register=ACCTREGEX' +`--register=ACCTREGEX' start in the (first) matched account's register screen -'--change' +`--change' show period balances (changes) at startup instead of historical balances -'-l --flat' +`-l --flat' show accounts as a flat list (default) -'-t --tree' +`-t --tree' show accounts as a tree hledger input options: -'-f FILE --file=FILE' - - use a different input file. For stdin, use - (default: - '$LEDGER_FILE' or '$HOME/.hledger.journal') -'--rules-file=RULESFILE' +`-f FILE --file=FILE' + use a different input file. For stdin, use - (default: + `$LEDGER_FILE' or `$HOME/.hledger.journal') +`--rules-file=RULESFILE' Conversion rules file to use when reading CSV (default: FILE.rules) -'--separator=CHAR' +`--separator=CHAR' Field separator to expect when reading CSV (default: ',') -'--alias=OLD=NEW' +`--alias=OLD=NEW' rename accounts named OLD to NEW -'--anon' +`--anon' anonymize accounts and payees -'--pivot FIELDNAME' +`--pivot FIELDNAME' use some other field or tag for the account name -'-I --ignore-assertions' +`-I --ignore-assertions' disable balance assertion checks (note: does not disable balance assignments) -'-s --strict' +`-s --strict' do extra error checking (check that all posted accounts are declared) hledger reporting options: -'-b --begin=DATE' - +`-b --begin=DATE' include postings/txns on or after this date (will be adjusted to preceding subperiod start when using a report interval) -'-e --end=DATE' +`-e --end=DATE' include postings/txns before this date (will be adjusted to following subperiod end when using a report interval) -'-D --daily' +`-D --daily' multiperiod/multicolumn report by day -'-W --weekly' +`-W --weekly' multiperiod/multicolumn report by week -'-M --monthly' +`-M --monthly' multiperiod/multicolumn report by month -'-Q --quarterly' +`-Q --quarterly' multiperiod/multicolumn report by quarter -'-Y --yearly' +`-Y --yearly' multiperiod/multicolumn report by year -'-p --period=PERIODEXP' +`-p --period=PERIODEXP' set start date, end date, and/or reporting interval all at once using period expressions syntax -'--date2' +`--date2' match the secondary date instead (see command help for other effects) -'--today=DATE' +`--today=DATE' override today's date (affects relative smart dates, for tests/examples) -'-U --unmarked' +`-U --unmarked' include only unmarked postings/txns (can combine with -P or -C) -'-P --pending' +`-P --pending' include only pending postings/txns -'-C --cleared' +`-C --cleared' include only cleared postings/txns -'-R --real' +`-R --real' include only non-virtual postings -'-NUM --depth=NUM' +`-NUM --depth=NUM' hide/aggregate accounts or postings more than NUM levels deep -'-E --empty' +`-E --empty' show items with zero amount, normally hidden (and vice-versa in hledger-ui/hledger-web) -'-B --cost' +`-B --cost' convert amounts to their cost/selling amount at transaction time -'-V --market' +`-V --market' convert amounts to their market value in default valuation commodities -'-X --exchange=COMM' +`-X --exchange=COMM' convert amounts to their market value in commodity COMM -'--value' +`--value' convert amounts to cost or market value, more flexibly than -B/-V/-X -'--infer-market-prices' +`--infer-market-prices' use transaction prices (recorded with @ or @@) as additional market prices, as if they were P directives -'--auto' +`--auto' apply automated posting rules to modify transactions. -'--forecast' +`--forecast' generate future transactions from periodic transaction rules, for - the next 6 months or till report end date. In hledger-ui, also + the next 6 months or till report end date. In hledger-ui, also make ordinary future transactions visible. -'--commodity-style' +`--commodity-style' Override the commodity style in the output for the specified commodity. For example 'EUR1.000,00'. -'--color=WHEN (or --colour=WHEN)' +`--color=WHEN (or --colour=WHEN)' Should color-supporting commands use ANSI color codes in text output. 'auto' (default): whenever stdout seems to be a color-supporting terminal. 'always' or 'yes': always, useful eg - when piping output into 'less -R'. 'never' or 'no': never. A + when piping output into 'less -R'. 'never' or 'no': never. A NO_COLOR environment variable overrides this. -'--pretty[=WHEN]' - Show prettier output, e.g. using unicode box-drawing characters. +`--pretty[=WHEN]' + Show prettier output, e.g. using unicode box-drawing characters. Accepts 'yes' (the default) or 'no' ('y', 'n', 'always', 'never' also work). If you provide an argument you must use '=', e.g. '-pretty=yes'. @@ -218,122 +217,138 @@ hledger help options: -'-h --help' - +`-h --help' show general or COMMAND help -'--man' +`--man' show general or COMMAND user manual with man -'--info' +`--info' show general or COMMAND user manual with info -'--version' +`--version' show general or ADDONCMD version -'--debug[=N]' +`--debug[=N]' show debug output (levels 1-9, default: 1) A @FILE argument will be expanded to the contents of FILE, which -should contain one command line option/argument per line. (To prevent -this, insert a '--' argument before.) +should contain one command line option/argument per line. (To prevent +this, insert a `--' argument before.)  -File: hledger-ui.info, Node: KEYS, Next: SCREENS, Prev: OPTIONS, Up: Top +File: hledger-ui.info, Node: MOUSE, Next: KEYS, Prev: OPTIONS, Up: Top -2 KEYS +2 MOUSE +******* + +In most modern terminals, you can navigate through the screens with a +mouse or touchpad: + + * Use mouse wheel or trackpad to scroll up and down + + * Click on list items to go deeper + + * Click on the left margin (column 0), or the blank area at bottom of + screen, to go back. + + +File: hledger-ui.info, Node: KEYS, Next: SCREENS, Prev: MOUSE, Up: Top + +3 KEYS ****** -'?' shows a help dialog listing all keys. (Some of these also appear in -the quick help at the bottom of each screen.) Press '?' again (or -'ESCAPE', or 'LEFT', or 'q') to close it. The following keys work on +Keyboard gives more control. + + `?' shows a help dialog listing all keys. (Some of these also appear +in the quick help at the bottom of each screen.) Press `?' again (or +`ESCAPE', or `LEFT', or `q') to close it. The following keys work on most screens: - The cursor keys navigate: 'right' (or 'enter') goes deeper, 'left' -returns to the previous screen, 'up'/'down'/'page up'/'page -down'/'home'/'end' move up and down through lists. Emacs-style -('ctrl-p'/'ctrl-n'/'ctrl-f'/'ctrl-b') movement keys are also supported -(but not vi-style keys, since hledger-1.19, sorry!). A tip: movement -speed is limited by your keyboard repeat rate, to move faster you may -want to adjust it. (If you're on a mac, the karabiner app is one way to -do that.) + The cursor keys navigate: `RIGHT' goes deeper, `LEFT' returns to the +previous screen, `UP'/`DOWN'/`PGUP'/`PGDN'/`HOME'/`END' move up and +down through lists. Emacs-style (`CTRL-p'/`CTRL-n'/`CTRL-f'/`CTRL-b') +movement keys are also supported (but not vi-style keys, since +hledger-1.19, sorry!). A tip: movement speed is limited by your +keyboard repeat rate, to move faster you may want to adjust it. (If +you're on a mac, the karabiner app is one way to do that.) With shift pressed, the cursor keys adjust the report period, limiting the transactions to be shown (by default, all are shown). -'shift-down/up' steps downward and upward through these standard report -period durations: year, quarter, month, week, day. Then, -'shift-left/right' moves to the previous/next period. 'T' sets the -report period to today. With the '--watch' option, when viewing a +`SHIFT-DOWN/UP' steps downward and upward through these standard report +period durations: year, quarter, month, week, day. Then, +`SHIFT-LEFT/RIGHT' moves to the previous/next period. `T' sets the +report period to today. With the `-w/--watch' option, when viewing a "current" period (the current day, week, month, quarter, or year), the -period will move automatically to track the current date. To set a -non-standard period, you can use '/' and a 'date:' query. +period will move automatically to track the current date. To set a +non-standard period, you can use `/' and a `date:' query. - '/' lets you set a general filter query limiting the data shown, -using the same query terms as in hledger and hledger-web. While editing -the query, you can use CTRL-a/e/d/k, BS, cursor keys; press 'ENTER' to -set it, or 'ESCAPE'to cancel. There are also keys for quickly adjusting + `/' lets you set a general filter query limiting the data shown, +using the same query terms as in hledger and hledger-web. While editing +the query, you can use CTRL-a/e/d/k, BS, cursor keys; press `ENTER' to +set it, or `ESCAPE'to cancel. There are also keys for quickly adjusting some common filters like account depth and transaction status (see -below). 'BACKSPACE' or 'DELETE' removes all filters, showing all +below). `BACKSPACE' or `DELETE' removes all filters, showing all transactions. As mentioned above, by default hledger-ui hides future transactions - both ordinary transactions recorded in the journal, and periodic -transactions generated by rule. 'F' toggles forecast mode, in which +transactions generated by rule. `F' toggles forecast mode, in which future/forecasted transactions are shown. - 'ESCAPE' resets the UI state and jumps back to the top screen, -restoring the app's initial state at startup. Or, it cancels minibuffer + `ESCAPE' resets the UI state and jumps back to the top screen, +restoring the app's initial state at startup. Or, it cancels minibuffer data entry or the help dialog. - 'CTRL-l' redraws the screen and centers the selection if possible + `CTRL-l' redraws the screen and centers the selection if possible (selections near the top won't be centered, since we don't scroll above the top). - 'g' reloads from the data file(s) and updates the current screen and -any previous screens. (With large files, this could cause a noticeable + `g' reloads from the data file(s) and updates the current screen and +any previous screens. (With large files, this could cause a noticeable pause.) - 'I' toggles balance assertion checking. Disabling balance assertions + `I' toggles balance assertion checking. Disabling balance assertions temporarily can be useful for troubleshooting. - 'a' runs command-line hledger's add command, and reloads the updated -file. This allows some basic data entry. + `a' runs command-line hledger's add command, and reloads the updated +file. This allows some basic data entry. - 'A' is like 'a', but runs the hledger-iadd tool, which provides a -terminal interface. This key will be available if 'hledger-iadd' is + `A' is like `a', but runs the hledger-iadd tool, which provides a +terminal interface. This key will be available if `hledger-iadd' is installed in $path. - 'E' runs $HLEDGER_UI_EDITOR, or $EDITOR, or a default ('emacsclient --a "" -nw') on the journal file. With some editors (emacs, vi), the + `E' runs $HLEDGER_UI_EDITOR, or $EDITOR, or a default (`emacsclient +-a "" -nw') on the journal file. With some editors (emacs, vi), the cursor will be positioned at the current transaction when invoked from the register and transaction screens, and at the error location (if possible) when invoked from the error screen. - 'B' toggles cost mode, showing amounts in their transaction price's -commodity (like toggling the '-B/--cost' flag). + `B' toggles cost mode, showing amounts in their transaction price's +commodity (like toggling the `-B/--cost' flag). - 'V' toggles value mode, showing amounts' current market value in -their default valuation commodity (like toggling the '-V/--market' -flag). Note, "current market value" means the value on the report end -date if specified, otherwise today. To see the value on another date, -you can temporarily set that as the report end date. Eg: to see a + `V' toggles value mode, showing amounts' current market value in +their default valuation commodity (like toggling the `-V/--market' +flag). Note, "current market value" means the value on the report end +date if specified, otherwise today. To see the value on another date, +you can temporarily set that as the report end date. Eg: to see a transaction as it was valued on july 30, go to the accounts or register -screen, press '/', and add 'date:-7/30' to the query. +screen, press `/', and add `date:-7/30' to the query. At most one of cost or value mode can be active at once. There's not yet any visual reminder when cost or value mode is -active; for now pressing 'b' 'b' 'v' should reliably reset to normal +active; for now pressing `b' `b' `v' should reliably reset to normal mode. - 'q' quits the application. + `q' quits the application. Additional screen-specific keys are described below.  File: hledger-ui.info, Node: SCREENS, Next: TIPS, Prev: KEYS, Up: Top -3 SCREENS +4 SCREENS ********* * Menu: @@ -346,103 +361,105 @@  File: hledger-ui.info, Node: Accounts screen, Next: Register screen, Up: SCREENS -3.1 Accounts screen +4.1 Accounts screen =================== -This is normally the first screen displayed. It lists accounts and -their balances, like hledger's balance command. By default, it shows -all accounts and their latest ending balances (including the balances of -subaccounts). If you specify a query on the command line, it shows just -the matched accounts and the balances from matched transactions. +This is normally the first screen displayed. It lists accounts and their +balances, like hledger's balance command. By default, it shows all +accounts and their latest ending balances (including the balances of +subaccounts). Accounts which have been declared with an account +directive are also listed, even if not yet used (except for empty parent +accounts). If you specify a query on the command line, it shows just the +matched accounts and the balances from matched transactions. - Account names are shown as a flat list by default; press 't' to -toggle tree mode. In list mode, account balances are exclusive of + Account names are shown as a flat list by default; press `t' to +toggle tree mode. In list mode, account balances are exclusive of subaccounts, except where subaccounts are hidden by a depth limit (see -below). In tree mode, all account balances are inclusive of -subaccounts. +below). In tree mode, all account balances are inclusive of subaccounts. - To see less detail, press a number key, '1' to '9', to set a depth -limit. Or use '-' to decrease and '+'/'=' to increase the depth limit. -'0' shows even less detail, collapsing all accounts to a single total. -To remove the depth limit, set it higher than the maximum account depth, -or press 'ESCAPE'. + To see less detail, press a number key, `1' to `9', to set a depth +limit. Or use `-' to decrease and `+'/`=' to increase the depth limit. +`0' shows even less detail, collapsing all accounts to a single total. +To remove the depth limit, set it higher than the maximum account +depth, or press `ESCAPE'. - 'H' toggles between showing historical balances or period balances. + `H' toggles between showing historical balances or period balances. Historical balances (the default) are ending balances at the end of the report period, taking into account all transactions before that date (filtered by the filter query if any), including transactions before the -start of the report period. In other words, historical balances are -what you would see on a bank statement for that account (unless -disturbed by a filter query). Period balances ignore transactions -before the report start date, so they show the change in balance during -the report period. They are more useful eg when viewing a time log. +start of the report period. In other words, historical balances are what +you would see on a bank statement for that account (unless disturbed by +a filter query). Period balances ignore transactions before the report +start date, so they show the change in balance during the report period. +They are more useful eg when viewing a time log. - 'U' toggles filtering by unmarked status, including or excluding -unmarked postings in the balances. Similarly, 'P' toggles pending -postings, and 'C' toggles cleared postings. (By default, balances + `U' toggles filtering by unmarked status, including or excluding +unmarked postings in the balances. Similarly, `P' toggles pending +postings, and `C' toggles cleared postings. (By default, balances include all postings; if you activate one or two status filters, only those postings are included; and if you activate all three, the filter is removed.) - 'R' toggles real mode, in which virtual postings are ignored. + `R' toggles real mode, in which virtual postings are ignored. - 'Z' toggles nonzero mode, in which only accounts with nonzero + `z' toggles nonzero mode, in which only accounts with nonzero balances are shown (hledger-ui shows zero items by default, unlike command-line hledger). - Press 'right' or 'enter' to view an account's transactions register. + Press `RIGHT' to view an account's transactions register.  File: hledger-ui.info, Node: Register screen, Next: Transaction screen, Prev: Accounts screen, Up: SCREENS -3.2 Register screen +4.2 Register screen =================== This screen shows the transactions affecting a particular account, like -a check register. Each line represents one transaction and shows: +a check register. Each line represents one transaction and shows: - * the other account(s) involved, in abbreviated form. (If there are - both real and virtual postings, it shows only the accounts affected - by real postings.) + * the other account(s) involved, in abbreviated form. (If there are + both real and virtual postings, it shows only the accounts + affected by real postings.) * the overall change to the current account's balance; positive for an inflow to this account, negative for an outflow. * the running historical total or period total for the current - account, after the transaction. This can be toggled with 'H'. - Similar to the accounts screen, the historical total is affected by - transactions (filtered by the filter query) before the report start - date, while the period total is not. If the historical total is - not disturbed by a filter query, it will be the running historical - balance you would see on a bank register for the current account. + account, after the transaction. This can be toggled with `H'. + Similar to the accounts screen, the historical total is affected + by transactions (filtered by the filter query) before the report + start date, while the period total is not. If the historical total + is not disturbed by a filter query, it will be the running + historical balance you would see on a bank register for the + current account. + Transactions affecting this account's subaccounts will be included in the register if the accounts screen is in tree mode, or if it's in list mode but this account has subaccounts which are not shown due to a depth -limit. In other words, the register always shows the transactions -contributing to the balance shown on the accounts screen. Tree -mode/list mode can be toggled with 't' here also. +limit. In other words, the register always shows the transactions +contributing to the balance shown on the accounts screen. Tree mode/list +mode can be toggled with `t' here also. - 'U' toggles filtering by unmarked status, showing or hiding unmarked -transactions. Similarly, 'P' toggles pending transactions, and 'C' -toggles cleared transactions. (By default, transactions with all + `U' toggles filtering by unmarked status, showing or hiding unmarked +transactions. Similarly, `P' toggles pending transactions, and `C' +toggles cleared transactions. (By default, transactions with all statuses are shown; if you activate one or two status filters, only those transactions are shown; and if you activate all three, the filter is removed.) - 'R' toggles real mode, in which virtual postings are ignored. + `R' toggles real mode, in which virtual postings are ignored. - 'Z' toggles nonzero mode, in which only transactions posting a + `z' toggles nonzero mode, in which only transactions posting a nonzero change are shown (hledger-ui shows zero items by default, unlike command-line hledger). - Press 'right' (or 'enter') to view the selected transaction in -detail. + Press `RIGHT' to view the selected transaction in detail.  File: hledger-ui.info, Node: Transaction screen, Next: Error screen, Prev: Register screen, Up: SCREENS -3.3 Transaction screen +4.3 Transaction screen ====================== This screen shows a single transaction, as a general journal entry, @@ -454,11 +471,11 @@ Simple transactions have two postings, but there can be more (or in certain cases, fewer). - 'up' and 'down' will step through all transactions listed in the -previous account register screen. In the title bar, the numbers in -parentheses show your position within that account register. They will + `UP' and `DOWN' will step through all transactions listed in the +previous account register screen. In the title bar, the numbers in +parentheses show your position within that account register. They will vary depending on which account register you came from (remember most -transactions appear in multiple account registers). The #N number +transactions appear in multiple account registers). The #N number preceding them is the transaction's position within the complete unfiltered journal, which is a more stable id (at least until the next reload). @@ -466,18 +483,18 @@  File: hledger-ui.info, Node: Error screen, Prev: Transaction screen, Up: SCREENS -3.4 Error screen +4.4 Error screen ================ This screen will appear if there is a problem, such as a parse error, -when you press g to reload. Once you have fixed the problem, press g -again to reload and resume normal operation. (Or, you can press escape +when you press g to reload. Once you have fixed the problem, press g +again to reload and resume normal operation. (Or, you can press escape to cancel the reload attempt.)  File: hledger-ui.info, Node: TIPS, Next: ENVIRONMENT, Prev: SCREENS, Up: Top -4 TIPS +5 TIPS ****** * Menu: @@ -488,113 +505,116 @@  File: hledger-ui.info, Node: Watch mode, Next: Watch mode limitations, Up: TIPS -4.1 Watch mode +5.1 Watch mode ============== -One of hledger-ui's best features is the auto-reloading '--watch' mode. -With this flag, it will update the display automatically whenever +One of hledger-ui's best features is the auto-reloading `-w/--watch' +mode. With this flag, it will update the display automatically whenever changes are saved to the data files. - This is very useful when reconciling. A good workflow is to have -your bank's online register open in a browser window, for reference; the + This is very useful when reconciling. A good workflow is to have your +bank's online register open in a browser window, for reference; the journal file open in an editor window; and hledger-ui in watch mode in a terminal window, eg: + $ hledger-ui --watch --register checking -C As you mark things cleared in the editor, you can see the effect -immediately without having to context switch. This leaves more mental -bandwidth for your accounting. Of course you can still interact with +immediately without having to context switch. This leaves more mental +bandwidth for your accounting. Of course you can still interact with hledger-ui when needed, eg to toggle cleared mode, or to explore the history.  File: hledger-ui.info, Node: Watch mode limitations, Prev: Watch mode, Up: TIPS -4.2 Watch mode limitations +5.2 Watch mode limitations ========================== There are situations in which it won't work, ie the display will not -update when you save a change (because the underlying 'inotify' library -does not support it). Here are some that we know of: +update when you save a change (because the underlying `inotify' library +does not support it). Here are some that we know of: - * Certain editors: saving with 'gedit', and perhaps any Gnome - application, won't be detected (#1617). Jetbrains IDEs, such as + * Certain editors: saving with `gedit', and perhaps any Gnome + application, won't be detected (#1617). Jetbrains IDEs, such as IDEA, also may not work (#911). - * Certain unusual filesystems might not be supported. (All the usual + * Certain unusual filesystems might not be supported. (All the usual ones on unix, mac and windows are supported.) + In such cases, the workaround is to switch to the hledger-ui window -and press 'g' each time you want it to reload. (Actually, see #1617 for +and press `g' each time you want it to reload. (Actually, see #1617 for another workaround, and let us know if it works for you.) - If you leave 'hledger-ui --watch' running for days, on certain + If you leave `hledger-ui --watch' running for days, on certain platforms (?), perhaps with many transactions in your journal (?), perhaps with large numbers of other files present (?), you may see it -gradually using more and more memory and CPU over time, as seen in 'top' -or Activity Monitor or Task Manager. +gradually using more and more memory and CPU over time, as seen in +`top' or Activity Monitor or Task Manager. - A workaround is to 'q'uit and restart it, or to suspend it ('CTRL-z') -and restart it ('fg') if your shell supports that. + A workaround is to `q'uit and restart it, or to suspend it +(`CTRL-z') and restart it (`fg') if your shell supports that.  File: hledger-ui.info, Node: ENVIRONMENT, Next: FILES, Prev: TIPS, Up: Top -5 ENVIRONMENT +6 ENVIRONMENT ************* -*COLUMNS* The screen width to use. Default: the full terminal width. +*COLUMNS* The screen width to use. Default: the full terminal width. - *LEDGER_FILE* The journal file path when not specified with '-f'. -Default: '~/.hledger.journal' (on windows, perhaps -'C:/Users/USER/.hledger.journal'). + *LEDGER_FILE* The journal file path when not specified with `-f'. +Default: `~/.hledger.journal' (on windows, perhaps +`C:/Users/USER/.hledger.journal'). - A typical value is '~/DIR/YYYY.journal', where DIR is a -version-controlled finance directory and YYYY is the current year. Or -'~/DIR/current.journal', where current.journal is a symbolic link to + A typical value is `~/DIR/YYYY.journal', where DIR is a +version-controlled finance directory and YYYY is the current year. Or +`~/DIR/current.journal', where current.journal is a symbolic link to YYYY.journal. - On Mac computers, you can set this and other environment variables in -a more thorough way that also affects applications started from the GUI -(say, an Emacs dock icon). Eg on MacOS Catalina I have a -'~/.MacOSX/environment.plist' file containing + On Mac computers, you can set this and other environment variables +in a more thorough way that also affects applications started from the +GUI (say, an Emacs dock icon). Eg on MacOS Catalina I have a +`~/.MacOSX/environment.plist' file containing + { "LEDGER_FILE" : "~/finance/current.journal" } - To see the effect you may need to 'killall Dock', or reboot. + To see the effect you may need to `killall Dock', or reboot.  File: hledger-ui.info, Node: FILES, Next: BUGS, Prev: ENVIRONMENT, Up: Top -6 FILES +7 FILES ******* Reads data from one or more files in hledger journal, timeclock, -timedot, or CSV format specified with '-f', or '$LEDGER_FILE', or -'$HOME/.hledger.journal' (on windows, perhaps -'C:/Users/USER/.hledger.journal'). +timedot, or CSV format specified with `-f', or `$LEDGER_FILE', or +`$HOME/.hledger.journal' (on windows, perhaps +`C:/Users/USER/.hledger.journal').  File: hledger-ui.info, Node: BUGS, Prev: FILES, Up: Top -7 BUGS +8 BUGS ****** -The need to precede options with '--' when invoked from hledger is +The need to precede options with `--' when invoked from hledger is awkward. - '-f-' doesn't work (hledger-ui can't read from stdin). + `-f-' doesn't work (hledger-ui can't read from stdin). - '-V' affects only the accounts screen. + `-V' affects only the accounts screen. - When you press 'g', the current and all previous screens are -regenerated, which may cause a noticeable pause with large files. Also + When you press `g', the current and all previous screens are +regenerated, which may cause a noticeable pause with large files. Also there is no visual indication that this is in progress. - '--watch' is not yet fully robust. It works well for normal usage, + `--watch' is not yet fully robust. It works well for normal usage, but many file changes in a short time (eg saving the file thousands of times with an editor macro) can cause problems at least on OSX. Symptoms include: unresponsive UI, periodic resetting of the cursor position, @@ -603,41 +623,39 @@ program is restarted. Also, if you are viewing files mounted from another machine, -'--watch' requires that both machine clocks are roughly in step. +`-w/--watch' requires that both machine clocks are roughly in step. +  Tag Table: -Node: Top221 +Node: Top232 Node: OPTIONS1644 -Ref: #options1741 -Node: KEYS6620 -Ref: #keys6715 -Node: SCREENS10786 -Ref: #screens10884 -Node: Accounts screen10974 -Ref: #accounts-screen11102 -Node: Register screen13317 -Ref: #register-screen13472 -Node: Transaction screen15469 -Ref: #transaction-screen15627 -Node: Error screen16497 -Ref: #error-screen16619 -Node: TIPS16863 -Ref: #tips16962 -Node: Watch mode17014 -Ref: #watch-mode17131 -Node: Watch mode limitations17877 -Ref: #watch-mode-limitations18018 -Node: ENVIRONMENT19154 -Ref: #environment19265 -Node: FILES20072 -Ref: #files20171 -Node: BUGS20384 -Ref: #bugs20461 +Ref: #options1742 +Node: MOUSE6617 +Ref: #mouse6712 +Node: KEYS6996 +Ref: #keys7089 +Node: SCREENS11153 +Ref: #screens11251 +Node: Accounts screen11341 +Ref: #accounts-screen11469 +Node: Register screen13796 +Ref: #register-screen13951 +Node: Transaction screen15933 +Ref: #transaction-screen16091 +Node: Error screen16958 +Ref: #error-screen17080 +Node: TIPS17322 +Ref: #tips17421 +Node: Watch mode17473 +Ref: #watch-mode17590 +Node: Watch mode limitations18337 +Ref: #watch-mode-limitations18478 +Node: ENVIRONMENT19611 +Ref: #environment19722 +Node: FILES20527 +Ref: #files20626 +Node: BUGS20839 +Ref: #bugs20916  End Tag Table - - -Local Variables: -coding: utf-8 -End: diff --git a/embeddedfiles/hledger-ui.txt b/embeddedfiles/hledger-ui.txt --- a/embeddedfiles/hledger-ui.txt +++ b/embeddedfiles/hledger-ui.txt @@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ NAME hledger-ui is a terminal interface (TUI) for the hledger accounting - tool. This manual is for hledger-ui 1.23. + tool. This manual is for hledger-ui 1.24. SYNOPSIS hledger-ui [OPTIONS] [QUERYARGS] @@ -41,7 +41,7 @@ Any QUERYARGS are interpreted as a hledger search query which filters the data. - --watch + -w --watch watch for data and date changes and reload automatically --theme=default|terminal|greenterm @@ -211,28 +211,41 @@ contain one command line option/argument per line. (To prevent this, insert a -- argument before.) +MOUSE + In most modern terminals, you can navigate through the screens with a + mouse or touchpad: + + o Use mouse wheel or trackpad to scroll up and down + + o Click on list items to go deeper + + o Click on the left margin (column 0), or the blank area at bottom of + screen, to go back. + KEYS + Keyboard gives more control. + ? shows a help dialog listing all keys. (Some of these also appear in the quick help at the bottom of each screen.) Press ? again (or ESCAPE, or LEFT, or q) to close it. The following keys work on most screens: - The cursor keys navigate: right (or enter) goes deeper, left returns to - the previous screen, up/down/page up/page down/home/end move up and - down through lists. Emacs-style (ctrl-p/ctrl-n/ctrl-f/ctrl-b) movement - keys are also supported (but not vi-style keys, since hledger-1.19, - sorry!). A tip: movement speed is limited by your keyboard repeat - rate, to move faster you may want to adjust it. (If you're on a mac, - the karabiner app is one way to do that.) + The cursor keys navigate: RIGHT goes deeper, LEFT returns to the previ- + ous screen, UP/DOWN/PGUP/PGDN/HOME/END move up and down through lists. + Emacs-style (CTRL-p/CTRL-n/CTRL-f/CTRL-b) movement keys are also sup- + ported (but not vi-style keys, since hledger-1.19, sorry!). A tip: + movement speed is limited by your keyboard repeat rate, to move faster + you may want to adjust it. (If you're on a mac, the karabiner app is + one way to do that.) With shift pressed, the cursor keys adjust the report period, limiting - the transactions to be shown (by default, all are shown). shift- - down/up steps downward and upward through these standard report period - durations: year, quarter, month, week, day. Then, shift-left/right + the transactions to be shown (by default, all are shown). SHIFT- + DOWN/UP steps downward and upward through these standard report period + durations: year, quarter, month, week, day. Then, SHIFT-LEFT/RIGHT moves to the previous/next period. T sets the report period to today. - With the --watch option, when viewing a "current" period (the current - day, week, month, quarter, or year), the period will move automatically - to track the current date. To set a non-standard period, you can use / - and a date: query. + With the -w/--watch option, when viewing a "current" period (the cur- + rent day, week, month, quarter, or year), the period will move automat- + ically to track the current date. To set a non-standard period, you + can use / and a date: query. / lets you set a general filter query limiting the data shown, using the same query terms as in hledger and hledger-web. While editing the @@ -299,7 +312,9 @@ This is normally the first screen displayed. It lists accounts and their balances, like hledger's balance command. By default, it shows all accounts and their latest ending balances (including the balances - of subaccounts). If you specify a query on the command line, it shows + of subaccounts). Accounts which have been declared with an account + directive are also listed, even if not yet used (except for empty par- + ent accounts). If you specify a query on the command line, it shows just the matched accounts and the balances from matched transactions. Account names are shown as a flat list by default; press t to toggle @@ -332,11 +347,11 @@ R toggles real mode, in which virtual postings are ignored. - Z toggles nonzero mode, in which only accounts with nonzero balances + z toggles nonzero mode, in which only accounts with nonzero balances are shown (hledger-ui shows zero items by default, unlike command-line hledger). - Press right or enter to view an account's transactions register. + Press RIGHT to view an account's transactions register. Register screen This screen shows the transactions affecting a particular account, like @@ -372,11 +387,11 @@ R toggles real mode, in which virtual postings are ignored. - Z toggles nonzero mode, in which only transactions posting a nonzero + z toggles nonzero mode, in which only transactions posting a nonzero change are shown (hledger-ui shows zero items by default, unlike com- mand-line hledger). - Press right (or enter) to view the selected transaction in detail. + Press RIGHT to view the selected transaction in detail. Transaction screen This screen shows a single transaction, as a general journal entry, @@ -388,7 +403,7 @@ shown. Simple transactions have two postings, but there can be more (or in certain cases, fewer). - up and down will step through all transactions listed in the previous + UP and DOWN will step through all transactions listed in the previous account register screen. In the title bar, the numbers in parentheses show your position within that account register. They will vary depending on which account register you came from (remember most trans- @@ -404,9 +419,9 @@ TIPS Watch mode - One of hledger-ui's best features is the auto-reloading --watch mode. - With this flag, it will update the display automatically whenever - changes are saved to the data files. + One of hledger-ui's best features is the auto-reloading -w/--watch + mode. With this flag, it will update the display automatically when- + ever changes are saved to the data files. This is very useful when reconciling. A good workflow is to have your bank's online register open in a browser window, for reference; the @@ -494,7 +509,7 @@ siding, and possibly a small but persistent build-up of CPU usage until the program is restarted. - Also, if you are viewing files mounted from another machine, --watch + Also, if you are viewing files mounted from another machine, -w/--watch requires that both machine clocks are roughly in step. @@ -518,4 +533,4 @@ -hledger-ui-1.23 September 2021 HLEDGER-UI(1) +hledger-ui-1.24 December 2021 HLEDGER-UI(1) diff --git a/embeddedfiles/hledger-web.1 b/embeddedfiles/hledger-web.1 --- a/embeddedfiles/hledger-web.1 +++ b/embeddedfiles/hledger-web.1 @@ -1,12 +1,12 @@ -.TH "HLEDGER-WEB" "1" "September 2021" "hledger-web-1.23 " "hledger User Manuals" +.TH "HLEDGER-WEB" "1" "December 2021" "hledger-web-1.24 " "hledger User Manuals" .SH NAME .PP hledger-web is a web interface (WUI) for the hledger accounting tool. -This manual is for hledger-web 1.23. +This manual is for hledger-web 1.24. .SH SYNOPSIS .PP \f[C]hledger-web [OPTIONS]\f[R] diff --git a/embeddedfiles/hledger-web.info b/embeddedfiles/hledger-web.info --- a/embeddedfiles/hledger-web.info +++ b/embeddedfiles/hledger-web.info @@ -1,4 +1,5 @@ -This is hledger-web.info, produced by makeinfo version 6.8 from stdin. +This is hledger-web/hledger-web.info, produced by makeinfo version 4.8 +from stdin. INFO-DIR-SECTION User Applications START-INFO-DIR-ENTRY @@ -6,40 +7,39 @@ END-INFO-DIR-ENTRY  -File: hledger-web.info, Node: Top, Next: OPTIONS, Up: (dir) +File: hledger-web.info, Node: Top, Up: (dir) hledger-web(1) ************** hledger-web is a web interface (WUI) for the hledger accounting tool. -This manual is for hledger-web 1.23. +This manual is for hledger-web 1.24. - 'hledger-web [OPTIONS]' -'hledger web -- [OPTIONS]' + `hledger-web [OPTIONS]' +`hledger web -- [OPTIONS]' hledger is a reliable, 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 +simple, editable file format. hledger is inspired by and largely compatible with ledger(1). - hledger-web is hledger's web interface. It starts a simple web + hledger-web is hledger's web interface. It starts a simple web application for browsing and adding transactions, and optionally opens -it in a web browser window if possible. It provides a more -user-friendly UI than the hledger CLI or hledger-ui interface, showing -more at once (accounts, the current account register, balance charts) -and allowing history-aware data entry, interactive searching, and -bookmarking. +it in a web browser window if possible. It provides a more user-friendly +UI than the hledger CLI or hledger-ui interface, showing more at once +(accounts, the current account register, balance charts) and allowing +history-aware data entry, interactive searching, and bookmarking. hledger-web also lets you share a ledger with multiple users, or even -the public web. There is no access control, so if you need that you -should put it behind a suitable web proxy. As a small protection -against data loss when running an unprotected instance, it writes a -numbered backup of the main journal file (only ?) on every edit. +the public web. There is no access control, so if you need that you +should put it behind a suitable web proxy. As a small protection against +data loss when running an unprotected instance, it writes a numbered +backup of the main journal file (only ?) on every edit. Like hledger, it reads data from one or more files in hledger -journal, timeclock, timedot, or CSV format specified with '-f', or -'$LEDGER_FILE', or '$HOME/.hledger.journal' (on windows, perhaps -'C:/Users/USER/.hledger.journal'). For more about this see hledger(1). +journal, timeclock, timedot, or CSV format specified with `-f', or +`$LEDGER_FILE', or `$HOME/.hledger.journal' (on windows, perhaps +`C:/Users/USER/.hledger.journal'). For more about this see hledger(1). * Menu: @@ -59,180 +59,177 @@ ********* Command-line options and arguments may be used to set an initial filter -on the data. These filter options are not shown in the web UI, but it +on the data. These filter options are not shown in the web UI, but it will be applied in addition to any search query entered there. - Note: if invoking hledger-web as a hledger subcommand, write '--' + Note: if invoking hledger-web as a hledger subcommand, write `--' before options, as shown in the synopsis above. -'--serve' - +`--serve' serve and log requests, don't browse or auto-exit -'--serve-api' +`--serve-api' like -serve, but serve only the JSON web API, without the server-side web UI -'--host=IPADDR' +`--host=IPADDR' listen on this IP address (default: 127.0.0.1) -'--port=PORT' +`--port=PORT' listen on this TCP port (default: 5000) -'--socket=SOCKETFILE' +`--socket=SOCKETFILE' use a unix domain socket file to listen for requests instead of a - TCP socket. Implies '--serve'. It can only be used if the - operating system can provide this type of socket. -'--base-url=URL' + TCP socket. Implies `--serve'. It can only be used if the operating + system can provide this type of socket. +`--base-url=URL' set the base url (default: http://IPADDR:PORT). You would change this when sharing over the network, or integrating within a larger website. -'--file-url=URL' - set the static files url (default: BASEURL/static). hledger-web +`--file-url=URL' + set the static files url (default: BASEURL/static). hledger-web normally serves static files itself, but if you wanted to serve - them from another server for efficiency, you would set the url with - this. -'--capabilities=CAP[,CAP..]' + them from another server for efficiency, you would set the url + with this. +`--capabilities=CAP[,CAP..]' enable the view, add, and/or manage capabilities (default: view,add) -'--capabilities-header=HTTPHEADER' +`--capabilities-header=HTTPHEADER' read capabilities to enable from a HTTP header, like X-Sandstorm-Permissions (default: disabled) -'--test' - run hledger-web's tests and exit. hspec test runner args may +`--test' + run hledger-web's tests and exit. hspec test runner args may follow a -, eg: hledger-web -test - -help hledger input options: -'-f FILE --file=FILE' - - use a different input file. For stdin, use - (default: - '$LEDGER_FILE' or '$HOME/.hledger.journal') -'--rules-file=RULESFILE' +`-f FILE --file=FILE' + use a different input file. For stdin, use - (default: + `$LEDGER_FILE' or `$HOME/.hledger.journal') +`--rules-file=RULESFILE' Conversion rules file to use when reading CSV (default: FILE.rules) -'--separator=CHAR' +`--separator=CHAR' Field separator to expect when reading CSV (default: ',') -'--alias=OLD=NEW' +`--alias=OLD=NEW' rename accounts named OLD to NEW -'--anon' +`--anon' anonymize accounts and payees -'--pivot FIELDNAME' +`--pivot FIELDNAME' use some other field or tag for the account name -'-I --ignore-assertions' +`-I --ignore-assertions' disable balance assertion checks (note: does not disable balance assignments) -'-s --strict' +`-s --strict' do extra error checking (check that all posted accounts are declared) hledger reporting options: -'-b --begin=DATE' - +`-b --begin=DATE' include postings/txns on or after this date (will be adjusted to preceding subperiod start when using a report interval) -'-e --end=DATE' +`-e --end=DATE' include postings/txns before this date (will be adjusted to following subperiod end when using a report interval) -'-D --daily' +`-D --daily' multiperiod/multicolumn report by day -'-W --weekly' +`-W --weekly' multiperiod/multicolumn report by week -'-M --monthly' +`-M --monthly' multiperiod/multicolumn report by month -'-Q --quarterly' +`-Q --quarterly' multiperiod/multicolumn report by quarter -'-Y --yearly' +`-Y --yearly' multiperiod/multicolumn report by year -'-p --period=PERIODEXP' +`-p --period=PERIODEXP' set start date, end date, and/or reporting interval all at once using period expressions syntax -'--date2' +`--date2' match the secondary date instead (see command help for other effects) -'--today=DATE' +`--today=DATE' override today's date (affects relative smart dates, for tests/examples) -'-U --unmarked' +`-U --unmarked' include only unmarked postings/txns (can combine with -P or -C) -'-P --pending' +`-P --pending' include only pending postings/txns -'-C --cleared' +`-C --cleared' include only cleared postings/txns -'-R --real' +`-R --real' include only non-virtual postings -'-NUM --depth=NUM' +`-NUM --depth=NUM' hide/aggregate accounts or postings more than NUM levels deep -'-E --empty' +`-E --empty' show items with zero amount, normally hidden (and vice-versa in hledger-ui/hledger-web) -'-B --cost' +`-B --cost' convert amounts to their cost/selling amount at transaction time -'-V --market' +`-V --market' convert amounts to their market value in default valuation commodities -'-X --exchange=COMM' +`-X --exchange=COMM' convert amounts to their market value in commodity COMM -'--value' +`--value' convert amounts to cost or market value, more flexibly than -B/-V/-X -'--infer-market-prices' +`--infer-market-prices' use transaction prices (recorded with @ or @@) as additional market prices, as if they were P directives -'--auto' +`--auto' apply automated posting rules to modify transactions. -'--forecast' +`--forecast' generate future transactions from periodic transaction rules, for - the next 6 months or till report end date. In hledger-ui, also + the next 6 months or till report end date. In hledger-ui, also make ordinary future transactions visible. -'--commodity-style' +`--commodity-style' Override the commodity style in the output for the specified commodity. For example 'EUR1.000,00'. -'--color=WHEN (or --colour=WHEN)' +`--color=WHEN (or --colour=WHEN)' Should color-supporting commands use ANSI color codes in text output. 'auto' (default): whenever stdout seems to be a color-supporting terminal. 'always' or 'yes': always, useful eg - when piping output into 'less -R'. 'never' or 'no': never. A + when piping output into 'less -R'. 'never' or 'no': never. A NO_COLOR environment variable overrides this. -'--pretty[=WHEN]' - Show prettier output, e.g. using unicode box-drawing characters. +`--pretty[=WHEN]' + Show prettier output, e.g. using unicode box-drawing characters. Accepts 'yes' (the default) or 'no' ('y', 'n', 'always', 'never' also work). If you provide an argument you must use '=', e.g. '-pretty=yes'. @@ -244,62 +241,62 @@ hledger help options: -'-h --help' - +`-h --help' show general or COMMAND help -'--man' +`--man' show general or COMMAND user manual with man -'--info' +`--info' show general or COMMAND user manual with info -'--version' +`--version' show general or ADDONCMD version -'--debug[=N]' +`--debug[=N]' show debug output (levels 1-9, default: 1) A @FILE argument will be expanded to the contents of FILE, which -should contain one command line option/argument per line. (To prevent -this, insert a '--' argument before.) +should contain one command line option/argument per line. (To prevent +this, insert a `--' argument before.) By default, hledger-web starts the web app in "transient mode" and -also opens it in your default web browser if possible. In this mode the +also opens it in your default web browser if possible. In this mode the web app will keep running for as long as you have it open in a browser window, and will exit after two minutes of inactivity (no requests and -no browser windows viewing it). With '--serve', it just runs the web -app without exiting, and logs requests to the console. With -'--serve-api', only the JSON web api (see below) is served, with the +no browser windows viewing it). With `--serve', it just runs the web +app without exiting, and logs requests to the console. With +`--serve-api', only the JSON web api (see below) is served, with the usual HTML server-side web UI disabled. By default the server listens on IP address 127.0.0.1, accessible -only to local requests. You can use '--host' to change this, eg '--host +only to local requests. You can use `--host' to change this, eg `--host 0.0.0.0' to listen on all configured addresses. - Similarly, use '--port' to set a TCP port other than 5000, eg if you + Similarly, use `--port' to set a TCP port other than 5000, eg if you are running multiple hledger-web instances. - Both of these options are ignored when '--socket' is used. In this -case, it creates an 'AF_UNIX' socket file at the supplied path and uses -that for communication. This is an alternative way of running multiple -hledger-web instances behind a reverse proxy that handles authentication -for different users. The path can be derived in a predictable way, eg -by using the username within the path. As an example, 'nginx' as -reverse proxy can use the variable '$remote_user' to derive a path from -the username used in a HTTP basic authentication. The following -'proxy_pass' directive allows access to all 'hledger-web' instances that -created a socket in '/tmp/hledger/': + Both of these options are ignored when `--socket' is used. In this +case, it creates an `AF_UNIX' socket file at the supplied path and uses +that for communication. This is an alternative way of running multiple +hledger-web instances behind a reverse proxy that handles +authentication for different users. The path can be derived in a +predictable way, eg by using the username within the path. As an +example, `nginx' as reverse proxy can use the variable `$remote_user' +to derive a path from the username used in a HTTP basic authentication. +The following `proxy_pass' directive allows access to all `hledger-web' +instances that created a socket in `/tmp/hledger/': + proxy_pass http://unix:/tmp/hledger/${remote_user}.socket; - You can use '--base-url' to change the protocol, hostname, port and + You can use `--base-url' to change the protocol, hostname, port and path that appear in hyperlinks, useful eg for integrating hledger-web -within a larger website. The default is 'http://HOST:PORT/' using the -server's configured host address and TCP port (or 'http://HOST' if PORT +within a larger website. The default is `http://HOST:PORT/' using the +server's configured host address and TCP port (or `http://HOST' if PORT is 80). - With '--file-url' you can set a different base url for static files, + With `--file-url' you can set a different base url for static files, eg for better caching or cookie-less serving on high performance websites. @@ -314,28 +311,32 @@ You can restrict who can reach it by - * setting the IP address it listens on (see '--host' above). By + * setting the IP address it listens on (see `--host' above). By default it listens on 127.0.0.1, accessible to all users on the local machine. + * putting it behind an authenticating proxy, using eg apache or nginx + * custom firewall rules You can restrict what the users who reach it can do, by - * using the '--capabilities=CAP[,CAP..]' flag when you start it, - enabling one or more of the following capabilities. The default - value is 'view,add': - * 'view' - allows viewing the journal file and all included + * using the `--capabilities=CAP[,CAP..]' flag when you start it, + enabling one or more of the following capabilities. The default + value is `view,add': + * `view' - allows viewing the journal file and all included files - * 'add' - allows adding new transactions to the main journal + + * `add' - allows adding new transactions to the main journal file - * 'manage' - allows editing, uploading or downloading the main + + * `manage' - allows editing, uploading or downloading the main or included files - * using the '--capabilities-header=HTTPHEADER' flag to specify a HTTP - header from which it will read capabilities to enable. hledger-web + * using the `--capabilities-header=HTTPHEADER' flag to specify a HTTP + header from which it will read capabilities to enable. hledger-web on Sandstorm uses the X-Sandstorm-Permissions header to integrate - with Sandstorm's permissions. This is disabled by default. + with Sandstorm's permissions. This is disabled by default.  File: hledger-web.info, Node: EDITING UPLOADING DOWNLOADING, Next: RELOADING, Prev: PERMISSIONS, Up: Top @@ -343,8 +344,8 @@ 3 EDITING, UPLOADING, DOWNLOADING ********************************* -If you enable the 'manage' capability mentioned above, you'll see a new -"spanner" button to the right of the search form. Clicking this will +If you enable the `manage' capability mentioned above, you'll see a new +"spanner" button to the right of the search form. Clicking this will let you edit, upload, or download the journal file or any files it includes. @@ -353,13 +354,13 @@ Normally whenever a file is changed in this way, hledger-web saves a numbered backup (assuming file permissions allow it, the disk is not -full, etc.) hledger-web is not aware of version control systems, +full, etc.) hledger-web is not aware of version control systems, currently; if you use one, you'll have to arrange to commit the changes yourself (eg with a cron job or a file watcher like entr). Changes which would leave the journal file(s) unparseable or non-valid (eg with failing balance assertions) are prevented. -(Probably. This needs re-testing.) +(Probably. This needs re-testing.)  File: hledger-web.info, Node: RELOADING, Next: JSON API, Prev: EDITING UPLOADING DOWNLOADING, Up: Top @@ -369,7 +370,7 @@ hledger-web detects changes made to the files by other means (eg if you edit it directly, outside of hledger-web), and it will show the new data -when you reload the page or navigate to a new page. If a change makes a +when you reload the page or navigate to a new page. If a change makes a file unparseable, hledger-web will display an error message until the file has been fixed. @@ -383,14 +384,16 @@ ********** In addition to the web UI, hledger-web also serves a JSON API that can -be used to get data or add new transactions. If you want the JSON API -only, you can use the '--serve-api' flag. Eg: +be used to get data or add new transactions. If you want the JSON API +only, you can use the `--serve-api' flag. Eg: + $ hledger-web -f examples/sample.journal --serve-api ... You can get JSON data from these routes: + /version /accountnames /transactions @@ -403,6 +406,7 @@ command). (hledger-web's JSON does not include newlines, here we use python to prettify it): + $ curl -s http://127.0.0.1:5000/accountnames | python -m json.tool [ "assets", @@ -422,6 +426,7 @@ Or all transactions: + $ curl -s http://127.0.0.1:5000/transactions | python -m json.tool [ { @@ -443,25 +448,26 @@ Most of the JSON corresponds to hledger's data types; for details of what the fields mean, see the Hledger.Data.Json haddock docs and click -on the various data types, eg Transaction. And for a higher level +on the various data types, eg Transaction. And for a higher level understanding, see the journal manual. In some cases there is outer JSON corresponding to a "Report" type. -To understand that, go to the Hledger.Web.Handler.MiscR haddock and look -at the source for the appropriate handler to see what it returns. Eg -for '/accounttransactions' it's getAccounttransactionsR, returning a -"'accountTransactionsReport ...'". Looking up the haddock for that we +To understand that, go to the Hledger.Web.Handler.MiscR haddock and +look at the source for the appropriate handler to see what it returns. +Eg for `/accounttransactions' it's getAccounttransactionsR, returning a +"`accountTransactionsReport ...'". Looking up the haddock for that we can see that /accounttransactions returns an AccountTransactionsReport, which consists of a report title and a list of AccountTransactionsReportItem (etc). You can add a new transaction to the journal with a PUT request to -'/add', if hledger-web was started with the 'add' capability (enabled by -default). The payload must be the full, exact JSON representation of a -hledger transaction (partial data won't do). You can get sample JSON -from hledger-web's '/transactions' or '/accounttransactions', or you can -export it with hledger-lib, eg like so: +`/add', if hledger-web was started with the `add' capability (enabled +by default). The payload must be the full, exact JSON representation of +a hledger transaction (partial data won't do). You can get sample JSON +from hledger-web's `/transactions' or `/accounttransactions', or you +can export it with hledger-lib, eg like so: + .../hledger$ stack ghci hledger-lib >>> writeJsonFile "txn.json" (head $ jtxns samplejournal) >>> :q @@ -469,6 +475,7 @@ Here's how it looks as of hledger-1.17 (remember, this JSON corresponds to hledger's Transaction and related data types): + { "tcomment": "", "tpostings": [ @@ -555,9 +562,10 @@ "tstatus": "Unmarked" } - And here's how to test adding it with curl. This should add a new + And here's how to test adding it with curl. This should add a new entry to your journal: + $ curl http://127.0.0.1:5000/add -X PUT -H 'Content-Type: application/json' --data-binary @txn.json  @@ -566,25 +574,26 @@ 6 ENVIRONMENT ************* -*LEDGER_FILE* The journal file path when not specified with '-f'. -Default: '~/.hledger.journal' (on windows, perhaps -'C:/Users/USER/.hledger.journal'). +*LEDGER_FILE* The journal file path when not specified with `-f'. +Default: `~/.hledger.journal' (on windows, perhaps +`C:/Users/USER/.hledger.journal'). - A typical value is '~/DIR/YYYY.journal', where DIR is a -version-controlled finance directory and YYYY is the current year. Or -'~/DIR/current.journal', where current.journal is a symbolic link to + A typical value is `~/DIR/YYYY.journal', where DIR is a +version-controlled finance directory and YYYY is the current year. Or +`~/DIR/current.journal', where current.journal is a symbolic link to YYYY.journal. - On Mac computers, you can set this and other environment variables in -a more thorough way that also affects applications started from the GUI -(say, an Emacs dock icon). Eg on MacOS Catalina I have a -'~/.MacOSX/environment.plist' file containing + On Mac computers, you can set this and other environment variables +in a more thorough way that also affects applications started from the +GUI (say, an Emacs dock icon). Eg on MacOS Catalina I have a +`~/.MacOSX/environment.plist' file containing + { "LEDGER_FILE" : "~/finance/current.journal" } - To see the effect you may need to 'killall Dock', or reboot. + To see the effect you may need to `killall Dock', or reboot.  File: hledger-web.info, Node: FILES, Next: BUGS, Prev: ENVIRONMENT, Up: Top @@ -593,9 +602,9 @@ ******* Reads data from one or more files in hledger journal, timeclock, -timedot, or CSV format specified with '-f', or '$LEDGER_FILE', or -'$HOME/.hledger.journal' (on windows, perhaps -'C:/Users/USER/.hledger.journal'). +timedot, or CSV format specified with `-f', or `$LEDGER_FILE', or +`$HOME/.hledger.journal' (on windows, perhaps +`C:/Users/USER/.hledger.journal').  File: hledger-web.info, Node: BUGS, Prev: FILES, Up: Top @@ -603,10 +612,10 @@ 8 BUGS ****** -The need to precede options with '--' when invoked from hledger is +The need to precede options with `--' when invoked from hledger is awkward. - '-f-' doesn't work (hledger-web can't read from stdin). + `-f-' doesn't work (hledger-web can't read from stdin). Query arguments and some hledger options are ignored. @@ -614,29 +623,25 @@ Does not work well on small screens. +  Tag Table: -Node: Top223 -Node: OPTIONS1886 -Ref: #options1991 -Node: PERMISSIONS9902 -Ref: #permissions10041 -Node: EDITING UPLOADING DOWNLOADING11253 -Ref: #editing-uploading-downloading11434 -Node: RELOADING12268 -Ref: #reloading12402 -Node: JSON API12835 -Ref: #json-api12949 -Node: ENVIRONMENT18439 -Ref: #environment18555 -Node: FILES19288 -Ref: #files19388 -Node: BUGS19601 -Ref: #bugs19679 +Node: Top235 +Node: OPTIONS1875 +Ref: #options1980 +Node: PERMISSIONS9870 +Ref: #permissions10009 +Node: EDITING UPLOADING DOWNLOADING11221 +Ref: #editing-uploading-downloading11402 +Node: RELOADING12233 +Ref: #reloading12367 +Node: JSON API12799 +Ref: #json-api12913 +Node: ENVIRONMENT18402 +Ref: #environment18518 +Node: FILES19250 +Ref: #files19350 +Node: BUGS19563 +Ref: #bugs19641  End Tag Table - - -Local Variables: -coding: utf-8 -End: diff --git a/embeddedfiles/hledger-web.txt b/embeddedfiles/hledger-web.txt --- a/embeddedfiles/hledger-web.txt +++ b/embeddedfiles/hledger-web.txt @@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ NAME hledger-web is a web interface (WUI) for the hledger accounting tool. - This manual is for hledger-web 1.23. + This manual is for hledger-web 1.24. SYNOPSIS hledger-web [OPTIONS] @@ -570,4 +570,4 @@ -hledger-web-1.23 September 2021 HLEDGER-WEB(1) +hledger-web-1.24 December 2021 HLEDGER-WEB(1) diff --git a/embeddedfiles/hledger.1 b/embeddedfiles/hledger.1 --- a/embeddedfiles/hledger.1 +++ b/embeddedfiles/hledger.1 @@ -1,6 +1,6 @@ .\"t -.TH "HLEDGER" "1" "September 2021" "hledger-1.23 " "hledger User Manuals" +.TH "HLEDGER" "1" "December 2021" "hledger-1.24 " "hledger User Manuals" @@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ This is the command-line interface (CLI) for the hledger accounting tool. Here we also describe hledger\[aq]s concepts and file formats. -This manual is for hledger 1.23. +This manual is for hledger 1.24. .SH SYNOPSIS .PP \f[C]hledger\f[R] @@ -1882,6 +1882,28 @@ 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[C]cur:\f[R]) or amount (\f[C]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 @@ -1963,6 +1985,19 @@ 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 @@ -1976,7 +2011,7 @@ T}@T{ cost T}@T{ -value at report end or today +value at report or journal end T}@T{ value at posting date T}@T{ @@ -2838,14 +2873,18 @@ custom-formatted line items (single-period reports only) (\f[C]--format\f[R]) .IP \[bu] 2 -commodities shown in a separate column, one per row -(\f[C]--commodity-column\f[R]) +commodities displayed on the same line or multiple lines +(\f[C]--layout\f[R]) .PP This command supports the output destination and output format options, with output formats \f[C]txt\f[R], \f[C]csv\f[R], \f[C]json\f[R], and (multi-period reports only:) \f[C]html\f[R]. In \f[C]txt\f[R] output in a colour-supporting terminal, negative amounts are shown in red. +.PP +The \f[C]--related\f[R]/\f[C]-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[C]balance\f[R] shows a list of all accounts and @@ -3062,28 +3101,73 @@ .IP \[bu] 2 Output as HTML and view with a browser: \f[C]hledger bal -D -o a.html && open a.html\f[R] -.SS Commodity column +.SS Showing declared accounts .PP -With \f[C]--commodity-column\f[R], commodity symbols are displayed in a -separate column, and amounts are displayed as bare numbers. -In this mode, each report row will show amounts for a single commodity, -using extra rows when necessary. -It can be useful for a cleaner display of reports with many commodities: +With \f[C]--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[C]-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 Commodity layout +.PP +With \f[C]--layout\f[R], you can control how amounts with more than one +commodity are displayed: +.IP \[bu] 2 +\f[C]--layout=wide[,WIDTH]\f[R]: on a single line, possibly elided to +the specified width +.IP \[bu] 2 +\f[C]--layout=tall\f[R]: each commodity is displayed on a separate line +.IP \[bu] 2 +\f[C]--layout=bare\f[R]: commodity symbols are displayed in a separate +column, and amounts are displayed as bare numbers .IP .nf \f[C] -$ hledger -f examples/bcexample.hledger bal assets:us:etrade -3 -T -Y +$ 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 + +$ 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.. -$ hledger -f examples/bcexample.hledger bal assets:us:etrade -3 -T -Y --commodity-column +$ 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 + +$ 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 @@ -3100,8 +3184,9 @@ \f[R] .fi .PP -This flag also affects CSV output, which is useful for producing data -that is easier to consume, eg when making charts: +The option \f[C]--layout=bare\f[R] also affects CSV output, which is +useful for producing data that is easier to consume, eg when making +charts: .IP .nf \f[C] @@ -3110,7 +3195,7 @@ \[dq]Assets:US:ETrade\[dq],\[dq]70.00 GLD, 17.00 ITOT, 5120.50 USD, 36.00 VEA, 294.00 VHT\[dq] \[dq]total\[dq],\[dq]70.00 GLD, 17.00 ITOT, 5120.50 USD, 36.00 VEA, 294.00 VHT\[dq] -$ hledger -f examples/bcexample.hledger bal assets:us:etrade -3 -O csv --commodity-column +$ 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] @@ -5448,28 +5533,39 @@ .PD 0 .P .PD -Show some journal statistics. +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[C]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 -Main journal file : /src/hledger/examples/sample.journal -Included journal files : -Transactions span : 2008-01-01 to 2009-01-01 (366 days) -Last transaction : 2008-12-31 (2333 days ago) -Transactions : 5 (0.0 per day) +$ 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 : 5 -Accounts : 8 (depth 3) -Commodities : 1 ($) -Market prices : 12 ($) +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 @@ -6104,7 +6200,7 @@ .fi .SS Decimal marks, digit group marks .PP -A decimal mark can be written as a period or a comma: +A \f[I]decimal mark\f[R] can be written as a period or a comma: .IP .nf \f[C] @@ -6114,7 +6210,7 @@ .fi .PP In the integer part of the quantity (left of the decimal mark), groups -of digits can optionally be separated by a \[dq]digit group mark\[dq] - +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 @@ -6139,11 +6235,14 @@ .PP If you don\[aq]t tell it otherwise, hledger will assume both of the above are decimal marks, parsing both numbers as 1. -To prevent confusion and undetected typos, we recommend adding -\f[C]commodity\f[R] directives at the top of your journal file to -explicitly declare the decimal mark (and optionally a digit group mark) -for each commodity. -Read on for more about this. +.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[C]decimal-mark\f[R] directive is best, otherwise +\f[C]commodity\f[R] directives will also work. +These are described detail below. .SS Commodity .PP Amounts in hledger have both a \[dq]quantity\[dq], which is a signed @@ -6169,19 +6268,20 @@ .PP (If you are writing scripts or working with hledger\[aq]s internals, these are the \f[C]Amount\f[R] and \f[C]MixedAmount\f[R] types.) -.SS Commodity directives +.SS Directives influencing number parsing and display .PP -You can add \f[C]commodity\f[R] directives to the journal, preferably at -the top, to declare your commodities and help with number parsing (see -above) and display (see below). -These are optional, but recommended. -They are described in more detail in JOURNAL FORMAT -> Declaring -commodities. +You can add \f[C]decimal-mark\f[R] and \f[C]commodity\f[R] directives to +the journal, to declare and control these things more explicitly and +precisely. +These are described below, in JOURNAL FORMAT -> Declaring commodities. Here\[aq]s a quick example: .IP .nf \f[C] -# number format and display style for $, EUR, INR and the no-symbol commodity: +# 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 @@ -6586,184 +6686,237 @@ .SS Directives .PP A directive is a line in the journal beginning with a special keyword, -that influences how the journal is processed. -hledger\[aq]s directives are based on a subset of Ledger\[aq]s, but -there are many differences (and also some differences between hledger -versions). +that influences how the journal is processed, how things are displayed, +and so on. +hledger\[aq]s directives are based on (a subset of) Ledger\[aq]s, but +there are many differences, and also some differences between hledger +versions. +Here are some more definitions: +.IP \[bu] 2 +\f[I]subdirective\f[R] - Some directives support subdirectives, written +indented below the parent directive. +.IP \[bu] 2 +\f[I]decimal mark\f[R] - The character to interpret as a decimal mark +(period or comma) when parsing amounts of a commodity. +.IP \[bu] 2 +\f[I]display style\f[R] - How to display amounts of a commodity in +output: symbol side and spacing, digit groups, decimal mark, and number +of decimal places. .PP -Directives\[aq] behaviour and interactions can get a little bit complex, -so here is a table summarising the directives and their effects, with -links to more detailed docs. +Directives are not required when starting out with hledger, but you will +probably add some as your needs grow. +Here is an overview of directives by purpose: .PP .TS tab(@); -lw(7.8n) lw(8.6n) lw(7.0n) lw(27.8n) lw(18.8n). +lw(30.6n) lw(22.0n) lw(17.4n). T{ -directive -T}@T{ -end directive -T}@T{ -subdirectives -T}@T{ purpose T}@T{ -can affect (as of 2018/06) +directives +T}@T{ +command line options with similar effect T} _ T{ -\f[C]account\f[R] +\f[B]READING/GENERATING DATA:\f[R] T}@T{ T}@T{ -any text +T} +T{ +Declare a commodity\[aq]s or file\[aq]s decimal mark to help parse +amounts accurately T}@T{ -document account names, declare account types & display order +\f[C]commodity\f[R], \f[C]D\f[R], \f[C]decimal-mark\f[R] T}@T{ -all entries in all files, before or after T} T{ -\f[C]alias\f[R] +Apply changes to the data while parsing T}@T{ -\f[C]end aliases\f[R] +\f[C]alias\f[R], \f[C]apply account\f[R], \f[C]comment\f[R], +\f[C]D\f[R], \f[C]Y\f[R] T}@T{ +\f[C]--alias\f[R] +T} +T{ +Inline extra data files T}@T{ -rewrite account names +\f[C]include\f[R] T}@T{ -following entries until end of current file or end directive +multiple \f[C]-f/--file\f[R]\[aq]s T} T{ -\f[C]apply account\f[R] +Generate extra transactions or budget goals T}@T{ -\f[C]end apply account\f[R] +\f[C]\[ti]\f[R] T}@T{ +T} +T{ +Generate extra postings T}@T{ -prepend a common parent to account names +\f[C]=\f[R] T}@T{ -following entries until end of current file or end directive T} T{ -\f[C]comment\f[R] +\f[B]CHECKING FOR ERRORS:\f[R] T}@T{ -\f[C]end comment\f[R] T}@T{ +T} +T{ +Define valid entities to allow stricter error checking T}@T{ -ignore part of journal +\f[C]account\f[R], \f[C]commodity\f[R], \f[C]payee\f[R] T}@T{ -following entries until end of current file or end directive T} T{ -\f[C]commodity\f[R] +\f[B]DISPLAYING REPORTS:\f[R] T}@T{ T}@T{ -\f[C]format\f[R] -T}@T{ -declare a commodity and its number notation & display style -T}@T{ -number notation: following entries until end of current file; display -style: amounts of that commodity in reports T} T{ -\f[C]D\f[R] +Declare accounts\[aq] display order and accounting type T}@T{ +\f[C]account\f[R] T}@T{ +T} +T{ +Declare commodity display styles T}@T{ -declare a commodity to be used for commodityless amounts, and its number -notation & display style +\f[C]commodity\f[R], \f[C]D\f[R] T}@T{ -default commodity: following commodityless entries until end of current -file; number notation: following entries in that commodity until end of -current file; display style: amounts of that commodity in reports +\f[C]-c/--commodity-style\f[R] T} +.TE +.PP +And here are all the directives and their precise effects: +.PP +.TS +tab(@); +lw(4.9n) lw(61.1n) lw(4.0n). T{ -\f[C]include\f[R] +directive T}@T{ +effects T}@T{ +ends at file end? +T} +_ +T{ +\f[B]\f[CB]account\f[B]\f[R] T}@T{ -include entries/directives from another file +Declares an account, for checking all entries in all files; and its +display order and type, for reports. +Subdirectives: any text, ignored. T}@T{ -what the included directives affect T} T{ -\f[C]payee\f[R] +\f[B]\f[CB]alias\f[B]\f[R] T}@T{ +Rewrites account names, in following entries until end of current file +or \f[C]end aliases\f[R]. T}@T{ +Y +T} +T{ +\f[B]\f[CB]apply account\f[B]\f[R] T}@T{ -declare a payee name +Prepends a common parent account to all account names, in following +entries until end of current file or \f[C]end apply account\f[R]. T}@T{ -following entries until end of current file +Y T} T{ -\f[C]P\f[R] +\f[B]\f[CB]comment\f[B]\f[R] T}@T{ +Ignores part of the journal file, until end of current file or +\f[C]end comment\f[R]. T}@T{ +Y +T} +T{ +\f[B]\f[CB]commodity\f[B]\f[R] T}@T{ -declare a market price for a commodity +Declares a commodity, for checking all entries in all files; the decimal +mark for parsing amounts of this commodity, for following entries until +end of current file; and its display style, for reports. +Takes precedence over \f[C]D\f[R]. +Subdirectives: \f[C]format\f[R] (alternate syntax). T}@T{ -amounts of that commodity in reports, when -V is used +N, Y T} T{ -\f[C]Y\f[R] +\f[B]\f[CB]D\f[B]\f[R] T}@T{ +Sets a default commodity to use for no-symbol amounts, and its decimal +mark for parsing amounts of this commodity in following entries until +end of current file; and its display style, for reports. T}@T{ +Y +T} +T{ +\f[B]\f[CB]decimal-mark\f[B]\f[R] T}@T{ -declare a year for yearless dates +Declares the decimal mark, for parsing amounts of all commodities in +following entries until next \f[C]decimal-mark\f[R] or end of current +file. +Included files can override. +Takes precedence over \f[C]commodity\f[R] and \f[C]D\f[R]. T}@T{ -following entries until end of current file +Y T} T{ -\f[C]=\f[R] +\f[B]\f[CB]include\f[B]\f[R] T}@T{ +Includes entries and directives from another file, as if they were +written inline. T}@T{ +T} +T{ +\f[B]\f[CB]payee\f[B]\f[R] T}@T{ -declare an auto posting rule, adding postings to other transactions +Declares a payee name, for checking all entries in all files. T}@T{ -all entries in parent/current/child files (but not sibling files, see -#1212) T} -.TE -.PP -And some definitions: -.PP -.TS -tab(@); -lw(6.0n) lw(64.0n). T{ -subdirective +\f[B]\f[CB]P\f[B]\f[R] T}@T{ -optional indented directive line immediately following a parent -directive +Declares a market price for a commodity on some date, for valuation +reports. +T}@T{ T} T{ -number notation +\f[B]\f[CB]Y\f[B]\f[R] T}@T{ -how to interpret numbers when parsing journal entries (the identity of -the decimal separator character). -(Currently each commodity can have its own notation, even in the same -file.) +Declares a year for yearless dates, for following entries until end of +current file. +T}@T{ +Y T} T{ -display style +\f[B]\f[CB]\[ti]\f[B]\f[R] (tilde) T}@T{ -how to display amounts of a commodity in reports (symbol side and -spacing, digit groups, decimal separator, decimal places) +Declares a periodic transaction rule that generates future transactions +with \f[C]--forecast\f[R] and budget goals with +\f[C]balance --budget\f[R]. +T}@T{ T} T{ -directive scope +\f[B]\f[CB]=\f[B]\f[R] (equals) T}@T{ -which entries and (when there are multiple files) which files are -affected by a directive +Declares an auto posting rule that generates extra postings on matched +transactions with \f[C]--auto\f[R], in current, parent, and child files +(but not sibling files, see #1212). +T}@T{ +partly T} .TE -.PP -As you can see, directives vary in which journal entries and files they -affect, and whether they are focussed on input (parsing) or output -(reports). -Some directives have multiple effects. .SS Directives and multiple files .PP If you use multiple \f[C]-f\f[R]/\f[C]--file\f[R] options, or the \f[C]include\f[R] directive, hledger will process multiple input files. -But note that directives which affect input (see above) typically last -only until the end of the file in which they occur. +But directives which affect input typically have effect only until the +end of the file in which they occur (and on any included files in that +region). .PP This may seem inconvenient, but it\[aq]s intentional; it makes reports stable and deterministic, independent of the order of input. @@ -6849,6 +7002,30 @@ payee Whole Foods \f[R] .fi +.SS Declaring the decimal mark +.PP +You can use a \f[C]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 Declaring commodities .PP You can use \f[C]commodity\f[R] directives to declare your commodities. @@ -6953,12 +7130,9 @@ \f[C]commodity\f[R] directive (setting the commodity\[aq]s decimal mark for parsing and display style for output). .PP +The syntax is \f[C]D AMOUNT\f[R]. As with \f[C]commodity\f[R], the amount must include a decimal mark (either period or comma). -If both \f[C]commodity\f[R] and \f[C]D\f[R] directives are used for the -same commodity, the \f[C]commodity\f[R] style takes precedence. -.PP -The syntax is \f[C]D AMOUNT\f[R]. Eg: .IP .nf @@ -6972,6 +7146,15 @@ b \f[R] .fi +.PP +If both \f[C]commodity\f[R] and \f[C]D\f[R] directives are found for a +commodity, \f[C]commodity\f[R] takes precedence for setting decimal mark +and display style. +.PP +If you are using \f[C]D\f[R] and also checking commodities, you will +need to add a \f[C]commodity\f[R] directive similar to the \f[C]D\f[R]. +(The \f[C]hledger check commodities\f[R] command expects +\f[C]commodity\f[R] directives, and ignores \f[C]D\f[R]). .SS Declaring market prices .PP The \f[C]P\f[R] directive declares a market price, which is an exchange @@ -7113,67 +7296,64 @@ .fi .SS Account types .PP -hledger recognises five main types of account, corresponding to the -account classes in the accounting equation: -.PP -\f[C]Asset\f[R], \f[C]Liability\f[R], \f[C]Equity\f[R], -\f[C]Revenue\f[R], \f[C]Expense\f[R]. -.PP -These account types are important for controlling which accounts appear -in the balancesheet, balancesheetequity, incomestatement reports (and -probably for other things in future). +By adding a \f[C]type\f[R] tag to the account directive, with value +\f[C]A\f[R], \f[C]L\f[R], \f[C]E\f[R], \f[C]R\f[R], \f[C]X\f[R], +\f[C]C\f[R] (or if you prefer: \f[C]Asset\f[R], \f[C]Liability\f[R], +\f[C]Equity\f[R], \f[C]Revenue\f[R], \f[C]Expense\f[R], \f[C]Cash\f[R]), +you can declare hledger accounts to be of a certain type: +.IP \[bu] 2 +\f[B]asset\f[R], \f[B]liability\f[R], \f[B]equity\f[R], +\f[B]revenue\f[R], \f[B]expense\f[R] +.PD 0 +.P +.PD +the standard types in accounting, or +.IP \[bu] 2 +\f[B]cash\f[R] +.PD 0 +.P +.PD +a subtype of asset, used for liquid assets. .PP -Additionally, we recognise the \f[C]Cash\f[R] type, which is also an -\f[C]Asset\f[R], and which causes accounts to appear in the cashflow -report. -(\[dq]Cash\[dq] here means liquid assets, eg bank balances but typically -not investments or receivables.) -.SS Declaring account types +Declaring account types is a good idea, since it helps enable the easy +balancesheet, balancesheetequity, incomestatement and cashflow reports, +and probably other things in future. +As a convenience, when account types are not declared, hledger will try +to guess them based on english-language account names. .PP -To make the balancesheet/balancesheetequity/cashflow/incomestatement -reports work, generally you should declare your top-level accounts, and -their types. -For each top-level account, write an account directive, with a -\f[C]type:\f[R] tag. -The tag\[aq]s value can be any of \f[C]Asset\f[R], \f[C]Liability\f[R], -\f[C]Equity\f[R], \f[C]Revenue\f[R], \f[C]Expense\f[R], \f[C]Cash\f[R], -or (for short) \f[C]A\f[R], \f[C]L\f[R], \f[C]E\f[R], \f[C]R\f[R], -\f[C]X\f[R], \f[C]C\f[R] (case insensitive). -An account\[aq]s type is inherited by its subaccounts, unless they -declare a different type. -Here\[aq]s an example, declaring all six account types: +Here is a typical set of top-level account declarations (because of the +aforementioned, with these account names the type tags are not strictly +needed, but with non-english or non-standard account names, they will +be): .IP .nf \f[C] -account assets ; type: Asset -account assets:bank ; type: Cash -account assets:cash ; type: Cash -account liabilities ; type: Liability -account equity ; type: Equity -account revenues ; type: Revenue -account expenses ; type: Expense +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 \f[R] .fi .PP -There is also an older syntax, which is deprecated and will be dropped -soon (A, L, E, R or X separated from the account name by two or more -spaces): -.IP -.nf -\f[C] -account assets A -account liabilities L -account equity E -account revenues R -account expenses X -\f[R] -.fi +It\[aq]s not necessary to declare the type of subaccounts. +(You can, if they are different from the parent, but this is not +common.) .SS Auto-detected account types .PP -hledger tries to find at least one top level account in each of the six -account types (Asset, Liability, Equity, Revenue, Expense, Cash). -When no accounts have been declared for a particular type, hledger tries -to auto-detect some accounts by name, using regular expressions: +More about \[dq]guessing\[dq] account types: hledger tries to find at +least one top level account in each of the six account types (Asset, +Liability, Equity, Revenue, Expense, Cash). +When no accounts have been declared for a particular type, it tries to +auto-detect some accounts by name, using the regular expressions below. +Note: if you declare any account\[aq]s type, it\[aq]s a good idea to +declare an account for all six types, because a mix of declared and +auto-detected types can cause confusing results. +.PP +The auto-detection rules are: .IP .nf \f[C] @@ -7188,40 +7368,6 @@ \[ha]expenses?(:|$) | Expense \f[R] .fi -.PP -For people using standard english account names, this feature helps -hledger\[aq]s high-level reports work out of the box with minimal -configuration. -.PP -If you use non-english account names, you should declare account types -to make these reports work. -And more generally, declaring accounts and types is usually a good idea, -for increased clarity and predictability (and for the other benefits of -account directives: error checking, display order, etc). -.PP -Notes: -.IP \[bu] 2 -When any account is declared as some type, this disables auto-detection -for that particular type. -.IP \[bu] 2 -If you declare any account\[aq]s type, it\[aq]s a good idea to declare -an account for all six types, since a mix of declared and auto-detected -types can cause confusion. -For example, here liabilities is declared to be Equity, but would also -be auto-detected as Liability, since no Liability account is declared: -.RS 2 -.IP -.nf -\f[C] -account liabilities ; type:Equity - -2020-01-01 - assets 1 - liabilities 1 - equity -2 -\f[R] -.fi -.RE .SS Account display order .PP Account directives also set the order in which accounts are displayed, @@ -7433,8 +7579,8 @@ .fi .SS \f[C]end aliases\f[R] .PP -You can clear (forget) all currently defined aliases with the -\f[C]end aliases\f[R] directive: +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] @@ -7787,6 +7933,10 @@ 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: diff --git a/embeddedfiles/hledger.info b/embeddedfiles/hledger.info --- a/embeddedfiles/hledger.info +++ b/embeddedfiles/hledger.info @@ -1,9424 +1,10055 @@ -This is hledger.info, produced by makeinfo version 6.8 from stdin. - -INFO-DIR-SECTION User Applications -START-INFO-DIR-ENTRY -* hledger: (hledger). Command-line plain text accounting tool. -END-INFO-DIR-ENTRY - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Top, Next: OPTIONS, Up: (dir) - -hledger(1) -********** - -This is the command-line interface (CLI) for the hledger accounting -tool. Here we also describe hledger's concepts and file formats. This -manual is for hledger 1.23. - - 'hledger' - - 'hledger [-f FILE] COMMAND [OPTIONS] [ARGS]' - - 'hledger [-f FILE] ADDONCMD -- [OPTIONS] [ARGS]' - - hledger is a reliable, 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). - - The basic function of the hledger CLI is to read a plain text file -describing financial transactions (in accounting terms, a general -journal) and print useful reports on standard output, or export them as -CSV. hledger can also read some other file formats such as CSV files, -translating them to journal format. Additionally, hledger lists other -hledger-* executables found in the user's $PATH and can invoke them as -subcommands. - - hledger reads data from one or more files in hledger journal, -timeclock, timedot, or CSV format specified with '-f', or -'$LEDGER_FILE', or '$HOME/.hledger.journal' (on windows, perhaps -'C:/Users/USER/.hledger.journal'). If using '$LEDGER_FILE', note this -must be a real environment variable, not a shell variable. You can -specify standard input with '-f-'. - - Transactions are dated movements of money between two (or more) named -accounts, and are recorded with journal entries like this: - -2015/10/16 bought food - expenses:food $10 - assets:cash - - Most users use a text editor to edit the journal, usually with an -editor mode such as ledger-mode for added convenience. hledger's -interactive add command is another way to record new transactions. -hledger never changes existing transactions. - - To get started, you can either save some entries like the above in -'~/.hledger.journal', or run 'hledger add' and follow the prompts. Then -try some commands like 'hledger print' or 'hledger balance'. Run -'hledger' with no arguments for a list of commands. - -* Menu: - -* OPTIONS:: -* ENVIRONMENT:: -* DATA FILES:: -* TIME PERIODS:: -* DEPTH:: -* QUERIES:: -* COSTING:: -* VALUATION:: -* PIVOTING:: -* OUTPUT:: -* COMMANDS:: -* JOURNAL FORMAT:: -* CSV FORMAT:: -* TIMECLOCK FORMAT:: -* TIMEDOT FORMAT:: -* COMMON TASKS:: -* LIMITATIONS:: -* TROUBLESHOOTING:: - - -File: hledger.info, Node: OPTIONS, Next: ENVIRONMENT, Prev: Top, Up: Top - -1 OPTIONS -********* - -* Menu: - -* General options:: -* Command options:: -* Command arguments:: -* Special characters:: -* Unicode characters:: -* Regular expressions:: - - -File: hledger.info, Node: General options, Next: Command options, Up: OPTIONS - -1.1 General options -=================== - -To see general usage help, including general options which are supported -by most hledger commands, run 'hledger -h'. - - General help options: - -'-h --help' - - show general or COMMAND help -'--man' - - show general or COMMAND user manual with man -'--info' - - show general or COMMAND user manual with info -'--version' - - show general or ADDONCMD version -'--debug[=N]' - - show debug output (levels 1-9, default: 1) - - General input options: - -'-f FILE --file=FILE' - - use a different input file. For stdin, use - (default: - '$LEDGER_FILE' or '$HOME/.hledger.journal') -'--rules-file=RULESFILE' - - Conversion rules file to use when reading CSV (default: FILE.rules) -'--separator=CHAR' - - Field separator to expect when reading CSV (default: ',') -'--alias=OLD=NEW' - - rename accounts named OLD to NEW -'--anon' - - anonymize accounts and payees -'--pivot FIELDNAME' - - use some other field or tag for the account name -'-I --ignore-assertions' - - disable balance assertion checks (note: does not disable balance - assignments) -'-s --strict' - - do extra error checking (check that all posted accounts are - declared) - - General reporting options: - -'-b --begin=DATE' - - include postings/txns on or after this date (will be adjusted to - preceding subperiod start when using a report interval) -'-e --end=DATE' - - include postings/txns before this date (will be adjusted to - following subperiod end when using a report interval) -'-D --daily' - - multiperiod/multicolumn report by day -'-W --weekly' - - multiperiod/multicolumn report by week -'-M --monthly' - - multiperiod/multicolumn report by month -'-Q --quarterly' - - multiperiod/multicolumn report by quarter -'-Y --yearly' - - multiperiod/multicolumn report by year -'-p --period=PERIODEXP' - - set start date, end date, and/or reporting interval all at once - using period expressions syntax -'--date2' - - match the secondary date instead (see command help for other - effects) -'--today=DATE' - - override today's date (affects relative smart dates, for - tests/examples) -'-U --unmarked' - - include only unmarked postings/txns (can combine with -P or -C) -'-P --pending' - - include only pending postings/txns -'-C --cleared' - - include only cleared postings/txns -'-R --real' - - include only non-virtual postings -'-NUM --depth=NUM' - - hide/aggregate accounts or postings more than NUM levels deep -'-E --empty' - - show items with zero amount, normally hidden (and vice-versa in - hledger-ui/hledger-web) -'-B --cost' - - convert amounts to their cost/selling amount at transaction time -'-V --market' - - convert amounts to their market value in default valuation - commodities -'-X --exchange=COMM' - - convert amounts to their market value in commodity COMM -'--value' - - convert amounts to cost or market value, more flexibly than - -B/-V/-X -'--infer-market-prices' - - use transaction prices (recorded with @ or @@) as additional market - prices, as if they were P directives -'--auto' - - apply automated posting rules to modify transactions. -'--forecast' - - generate future transactions from periodic transaction rules, for - the next 6 months or till report end date. In hledger-ui, also - make ordinary future transactions visible. -'--commodity-style' - - Override the commodity style in the output for the specified - commodity. For example 'EUR1.000,00'. -'--color=WHEN (or --colour=WHEN)' - - Should color-supporting commands use ANSI color codes in text - output. 'auto' (default): whenever stdout seems to be a - color-supporting terminal. 'always' or 'yes': always, useful eg - when piping output into 'less -R'. 'never' or 'no': never. A - NO_COLOR environment variable overrides this. -'--pretty[=WHEN]' - - Show prettier output, e.g. using unicode box-drawing characters. - Accepts 'yes' (the default) or 'no' ('y', 'n', 'always', 'never' - also work). If you provide an argument you must use '=', e.g. - '-pretty=yes'. - - When a reporting option appears more than once in the command line, -the last one takes precedence. - - Some reporting options can also be written as query arguments. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Command options, Next: Command arguments, Prev: General options, Up: OPTIONS - -1.2 Command options -=================== - -To see options for a particular command, including command-specific -options, run: 'hledger COMMAND -h'. - - Command-specific options must be written after the command name, eg: -'hledger print -x'. - - Additionally, if the command is an add-on, you may need to put its -options after a double-hyphen, eg: 'hledger ui -- --watch'. Or, you can -run the add-on executable directly: 'hledger-ui --watch'. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Command arguments, Next: Special characters, Prev: Command options, Up: OPTIONS - -1.3 Command arguments -===================== - -Most hledger commands accept arguments after the command name, which are -often a query, filtering the data in some way. - - You can save a set of command line options/arguments in a file, and -then reuse them by writing '@FILENAME' as a command line argument. Eg: -'hledger bal @foo.args'. (To prevent this, eg if you have an argument -that begins with a literal '@', precede it with '--', eg: 'hledger bal --- @ARG'). - - Inside the argument file, each line should contain just one option or -argument. Avoid the use of spaces, except inside quotes (or you'll see -a confusing error). Between a flag and its argument, use = (or -nothing). Bad: - -assets depth:2 --X USD - - Good: - -assets -depth:2 --X=USD - - For special characters (see below), use one less level of quoting -than you would at the command prompt. Bad: - --X"$" - - Good: - --X$ - - See also: Save frequently used options. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Special characters, Next: Unicode characters, Prev: Command arguments, Up: OPTIONS - -1.4 Special characters -====================== - -* Menu: - -* Single escaping shell metacharacters:: -* Double escaping regular expression metacharacters:: -* Triple escaping for add-on commands:: -* Less escaping:: - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Single escaping shell metacharacters, Next: Double escaping regular expression metacharacters, Up: Special characters - -1.4.1 Single escaping (shell metacharacters) --------------------------------------------- - -In shell command lines, characters significant to your shell - such as -spaces, '<', '>', '(', ')', '|', '$' and '\' - should be "shell-escaped" -if you want hledger to see them. This is done by enclosing them in -single or double quotes, or by writing a backslash before them. Eg to -match an account name containing a space: - -$ hledger register 'credit card' - - or: - -$ hledger register credit\ card - - Windows users should keep in mind that 'cmd' treats single quote as a -regular character, so you should be using double quotes exclusively. -PowerShell treats both single and double quotes as quotes. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Double escaping regular expression metacharacters, Next: Triple escaping for add-on commands, Prev: Single escaping shell metacharacters, Up: Special characters - -1.4.2 Double escaping (regular expression metacharacters) ---------------------------------------------------------- - -Characters significant in regular expressions (described below) - such -as '.', '^', '$', '[', ']', '(', ')', '|', and '\' - may need to be -"regex-escaped" if you don't want them to be interpreted by hledger's -regular expression engine. This is done by writing backslashes before -them, but since backslash is typically also a shell metacharacter, both -shell-escaping and regex-escaping will be needed. Eg to match a literal -'$' sign while using the bash shell: - -$ hledger balance cur:'\$' - - or: - -$ hledger balance cur:\\$ - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Triple escaping for add-on commands, Next: Less escaping, Prev: Double escaping regular expression metacharacters, Up: Special characters - -1.4.3 Triple escaping (for add-on commands) -------------------------------------------- - -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 '$' sign while using the -bash shell and running an add-on command ('ui'): - -$ hledger ui cur:'\\$' - - or: - -$ hledger ui cur:\\\\$ - - If you wondered why _four_ backslashes, perhaps this helps: - -unescaped: '$' -escaped: '\$' -double-escaped: '\\$' -triple-escaped: '\\\\$' - - Or, you can avoid the extra escaping by running the add-on executable -directly: - -$ hledger-ui cur:\\$ - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Less escaping, Prev: Triple escaping for add-on commands, Up: Special characters - -1.4.4 Less escaping -------------------- - -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: - - * an @argumentfile - * hledger-ui's filter field - * hledger-web's search form - * GHCI's prompt (used by developers). - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Unicode characters, Next: Regular expressions, Prev: Special characters, Up: OPTIONS - -1.5 Unicode characters -====================== - -hledger is expected to handle non-ascii characters correctly: - - * they should be parsed correctly in input files and on the command - line, by all hledger tools (add, iadd, hledger-web's - search/add/edit forms, etc.) - - * they should be displayed correctly by all hledger tools, and - on-screen alignment should be preserved. - - This requires a well-configured environment. Here are some tips: - - * 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: 'export LANG=en_US.UTF-8'. 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). - - * your terminal software (eg Terminal.app, iTerm, CMD.exe, xterm..) - must support unicode - - * the terminal must be using a font which includes the required - unicode glyphs - - * the terminal should be configured to display wide characters as - double width (for report alignment) - - * 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). - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Regular expressions, Prev: Unicode characters, Up: OPTIONS - -1.6 Regular expressions -======================= - -hledger uses regular expressions in a number of places: - - * query terms, on the command line and in the hledger-web search - form: 'REGEX', 'desc:REGEX', 'cur:REGEX', 'tag:...=REGEX' - * CSV rules conditional blocks: 'if REGEX ...' - * account alias directives and options: 'alias /REGEX/ = - REPLACEMENT', '--alias /REGEX/=REPLACEMENT' - - hledger's regular expressions come from the regex-tdfa library. If -they're not doing what you expect, it's important to know exactly what -they support: - - 1. they are case insensitive - 2. they are infix matching (they do not need to match the entire thing - being matched) - 3. they are POSIX ERE (extended regular expressions) - 4. they also support GNU word boundaries ('\b', '\B', '\<', '\>') - 5. they do not support backreferences; if you write '\1', it will - match the digit '1'. 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. - 6. they do not support mode modifiers ('(?s)'), character classes - ('\w', '\d'), or anything else not mentioned above. - - Some things to note: - - * In the 'alias' directive and '--alias' option, regular expressions - must be enclosed in forward slashes ('/REGEX/'). Elsewhere in - hledger, these are not required. - - * In queries, to match a regular expression metacharacter like '$' as - a literal character, prepend a backslash. Eg to search for amounts - with the dollar sign in hledger-web, write 'cur:\$'. - - * On the command line, some metacharacters like '$' have a special - meaning to the shell and so must be escaped at least once more. - See Special characters. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: ENVIRONMENT, Next: DATA FILES, Prev: OPTIONS, Up: Top - -2 ENVIRONMENT -************* - -*LEDGER_FILE* The journal file path when not specified with '-f'. -Default: '~/.hledger.journal' (on windows, perhaps -'C:/Users/USER/.hledger.journal'). - - A typical value is '~/DIR/YYYY.journal', where DIR is a -version-controlled finance directory and YYYY is the current year. Or -'~/DIR/current.journal', where current.journal is a symbolic link to -YYYY.journal. - - On Mac computers, you can set this and other environment variables in -a more thorough way that also affects applications started from the GUI -(say, an Emacs dock icon). Eg on MacOS Catalina I have a -'~/.MacOSX/environment.plist' file containing - -{ - "LEDGER_FILE" : "~/finance/current.journal" -} - - To see the effect you may need to 'killall Dock', or reboot. - - *COLUMNS* The screen width used by the register command. Default: -the full terminal width. - - *NO_COLOR* If this variable exists with any value, hledger will not -use ANSI color codes in terminal output. This is overriden by the --color/-colour option. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: DATA FILES, Next: TIME PERIODS, Prev: ENVIRONMENT, Up: Top - -3 DATA FILES -************ - -hledger reads transactions from one or more data files. The default -data file is '$HOME/.hledger.journal' (or on Windows, something like -'C:/Users/USER/.hledger.journal'). - - You can override this with the '$LEDGER_FILE' environment variable: - -$ setenv LEDGER_FILE ~/finance/2016.journal -$ hledger stats - - or with one or more '-f/--file' options: - -$ hledger -f /some/file -f another_file stats - - The file name '-' means standard input: - -$ cat some.journal | hledger -f- - -* Menu: - -* Data formats:: -* Multiple files:: -* Strict mode:: - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Data formats, Next: Multiple files, Up: DATA FILES - -3.1 Data formats -================ - -Usually the data file is in hledger's journal format, but it can be in -any of the supported file formats, which currently are: - -Reader: Reads: Used for file - extensions: --------------------------------------------------------------------------- -'journal'hledger journal files and some Ledger '.journal' '.j' - journals, for transactions '.hledger' '.ledger' -'timeclock'timeclock files, for precise time '.timeclock' - logging -'timedot'timedot files, for approximate time '.timedot' - logging -'csv' comma/semicolon/tab/other-separated '.csv' '.ssv' '.tsv' - values, for data import - - These formats are described in their own sections, below. - - hledger detects the format automatically based on the file extensions -shown above. If it can't recognise the file extension, it assumes -'journal' format. So for non-journal files, it's important to use a -recognised file extension, so as to either read successfully or to show -relevant error messages. - - 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: - -$ hledger -f csv:/some/csv-file.dat stats - - Or to read stdin ('-') as timeclock format: - -$ echo 'i 2009/13/1 08:00:00' | hledger print -ftimeclock:- - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Multiple files, Next: Strict mode, Prev: Data formats, Up: DATA FILES - -3.2 Multiple files -================== - -You can specify multiple '-f' options, to read multiple files as one big -journal. There are some limitations with this: - - * most directives do not affect sibling files - * balance assertions will not see any account balances from previous - files - - If you need either of those things, you can - - * use a single parent file which includes the others - * or concatenate the files into one before reading, eg: 'cat - a.journal b.journal | hledger -f- CMD'. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Strict mode, Prev: Multiple files, Up: DATA FILES - -3.3 Strict mode -=============== - -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: - - * Are the input files parseable, with valid syntax ? - * Are all transactions balanced ? - * Do all balance assertions pass ? - - With the '-s'/'--strict' flag, additional checks are performed: - - * Are all accounts posted to, declared with an 'account' directive ? - (Account error checking) - * Are all commodities declared with a 'commodity' directive ? - (Commodity error checking) - * Are all commodity conversions declared explicitly ? - - You can also use the check command to run these and some additional -checks. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: TIME PERIODS, Next: DEPTH, Prev: DATA FILES, Up: Top - -4 TIME PERIODS -************** - -* Menu: - -* Smart dates:: -* Report start & end date:: -* Report intervals:: -* Period expressions:: - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Smart dates, Next: Report start & end date, Up: TIME PERIODS - -4.1 Smart dates -=============== - -hledger's user interfaces accept a flexible "smart date" syntax. Smart -dates allow some english words, can be relative to today's date, and can -have less-significant date parts omitted (defaulting to 1). - - Examples: - -'2004/10/1', exact date, several separators allowed. Year -'2004-01-01', is 4+ digits, month is 1-12, day is 1-31 -'2004.9.1' -'2004' start of year -'2004/10' start of month -'10/1' month and day in current year -'21' day in current month -'october, oct' start of month in current year -'yesterday, today, -1, 0, 1 days from today -tomorrow' -'last/this/next -1, 0, 1 periods from the current period -day/week/month/quarter/year' -'20181201' 8 digit YYYYMMDD with valid year month and - day -'201812' 6 digit YYYYMM with valid year and month - - Counterexamples - malformed digit sequences might give surprising -results: - -'201813' 6 digits with an invalid month is parsed as start of - 6-digit year -'20181301' 8 digits with an invalid month is parsed as start of - 8-digit year -'20181232' 8 digits with an invalid day gives an error -'201801012' 9+ digits beginning with a valid YYYYMMDD gives an error - - Note "today's date" can be overridden with the '--today' option, in -case it's needed for testing or for recreating old reports. (Except for -periodic transaction rules; those are not affected by '--today'.) - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Report start & end date, Next: Report intervals, Prev: Smart dates, Up: TIME PERIODS - -4.2 Report start & end date -=========================== - -By default, most hledger reports will show the full span of time -represented by the journal data. 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. - - 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 '-b/--begin', -'-e/--end', '-p/--period' or a 'date:' query (described below). All of -these accept the smart date syntax. - - Some notes: - - * End dates are exclusive, as in Ledger, so you should write the date - _after_ the last day you want to see in the report. - * As noted in reporting options: among start/end dates specified with - _options_, the last (i.e. right-most) option takes precedence. - * The effective report start and end dates are the intersection of - the start/end dates from options and that from 'date:' queries. - That is, 'date:2019-01 date:2019 -p'2000 to 2030'' yields January - 2019, the smallest common time span. - * A report interval (see below) will adjust start/end dates, when - needed, so that they fall on subperiod boundaries. - - Examples: - -'-b begin on St. Patrick's day 2016 -2016/3/17' -'-e 12/1' end at the start of december 1st of the current year - (11/30 will be the last date included) -'-b all transactions on or after the 1st of the current month -thismonth' -'-p all transactions in the current month -thismonth' -'date:2016/3/17..'the above written as queries instead ('..' can also be - replaced with '-') -'date:..12/1' -'date:thismonth..' -'date:thismonth' - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Report intervals, Next: Period expressions, Prev: Report start & end date, Up: TIME PERIODS - -4.3 Report intervals -==================== - -A report interval can be specified so that commands like register, -balance and activity become multi-period, showing each subperiod as a -separate row or column. - - The following "standard" report intervals can be enabled by using -their corresponding flag: - - * '-D/--daily' - * '-W/--weekly' - * '-M/--monthly' - * '-Q/--quarterly' - * '-Y/--yearly' - - These standard intervals always start on natural interval boundaries: -eg '--weekly' starts on mondays, '--monthly' starts on the first of the -month, '--yearly' always starts on January 1st, etc. - - Certain more complex intervals, and more flexible boundary dates, can -be specified by '-p/--period'. These are described in period -expressions, below. - - Report intervals can only be specified by the flags above, and not by -query arguments, currently. - - Report intervals have another effect: multi-period reports are always -expanded to fill a whole number of subperiods. So if you use a report -interval (other than '--daily'), and you have specified a start or end -date, you may notice those dates being overridden (ie, the report starts -earlier than your requested start date, or ends later than your -requested end date). This is done to ensure "full" first and last -subperiods, so that all subperiods' numbers are comparable. - - To summarise: - - * In multiperiod reports, all subperiods are forced to be the same - length, to simplify reporting. - * Reports with the standard - '--weekly'/'--monthly'/'--quarterly'/'--yearly' intervals are - required to start on the first day of a week/month/quarter/year. - We'd like more flexibility here but it isn't supported yet. - * '--period' (below) can specify more complex intervals, starting on - any date. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Period expressions, Prev: Report intervals, Up: TIME PERIODS - -4.4 Period expressions -====================== - -The '-p/--period' option accepts period expressions, a shorthand way of -expressing a start date, end date, and/or report interval all at once. - - Here's a basic period expression specifying the first quarter of -2009. Note, hledger always treats start dates as inclusive and end -dates as exclusive: - -'-p "from 2009/1/1 to 2009/4/1"' - - Keywords like "from" and "to" are optional, and so are the spaces, as -long as you don't run two dates together. "to" can also be written as -".." or "-". These are equivalent to the above: - -'-p "2009/1/1 2009/4/1"' -'-p2009/1/1to2009/4/1' -'-p2009/1/1..2009/4/1' - - Dates are smart dates, so if the current year is 2009, the above can -also be written as: - -'-p "1/1 4/1"' -'-p "january-apr"' -'-p "this year to 4/1"' - - If you specify only one date, the missing start or end date will be -the earliest or latest transaction in your journal: - -'-p "from 2009/1/1"' everything after january 1, 2009 -'-p "from 2009/1"' the same -'-p "from 2009"' the same -'-p "to 2009"' everything before january 1, 2009 - - A single date with no "from" or "to" defines both the start and end -date like so: - -'-p "2009"' the year 2009; equivalent to “2009/1/1 to 2010/1/1” -'-p "2009/1"' the month of jan; equivalent to “2009/1/1 to 2009/2/1” -'-p "2009/1/1"' just that day; equivalent to “2009/1/1 to 2009/1/2” - - Or you can specify a single quarter like so: - -'-p "2009Q1"' first quarter of 2009, equivalent to “2009/1/1 to 2009/4/1” -'-p "q4"' fourth quarter of the current year - -* Menu: - -* Period expressions with a report interval:: -* More complex report intervals:: -* Intervals with custom start date:: -* Periods or dates ?:: -* Events on multiple weekdays:: - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Period expressions with a report interval, Next: More complex report intervals, Up: Period expressions - -4.4.1 Period expressions with a report interval ------------------------------------------------ - -'-p/--period''s argument can also begin with, or entirely consist of, a -report interval. This should be separated from the start/end dates (if -any) by a space, or the word 'in'. The basic intervals (which can also -be written as command line flags) are 'daily', 'weekly', 'monthly', -'quarterly', and 'yearly'. Some examples: - -'-p "weekly from 2009/1/1 to 2009/4/1"' -'-p "monthly in 2008"' -'-p "quarterly"' - - As mentioned above, the 'weekly', 'monthly', 'quarterly' and 'yearly' -intervals require a report start date that is the first day of a week, -month, quarter or year. And, report start/end dates will be expanded if -needed to span a whole number of intervals. - - For example: - -'-p "weekly from starts on 2008/12/29, closest preceding -2009/1/1 to 2009/4/1"' Monday -'-p "monthly in starts on 2018/11/01 -2008/11/25"' -'-p "quarterly from starts on 2009/04/01, ends on 2009/06/30, -2009-05-05 to which are first and last days of Q2 2009 -2009-06-01"' -'-p "yearly from starts on 2009/01/01, first day of 2009 -2009-12-29"' - - -File: hledger.info, Node: More complex report intervals, Next: Intervals with custom start date, Prev: Period expressions with a report interval, Up: Period expressions - -4.4.2 More complex report intervals ------------------------------------ - -Some more complex kinds of interval are also supported in period -expressions: - - * 'biweekly' - * 'fortnightly' - * 'bimonthly' - * 'every day|week|month|quarter|year' - * 'every N days|weeks|months|quarters|years' - - These too will cause report start/end dates to be expanded, if -needed, to span a whole number of intervals. Examples: - -'-p "bimonthly from periods will have boundaries on 2008/01/01, -2008"' 2008/03/01, ... -'-p "every 2 weeks"' starts on closest preceding Monday -'-p "every 5 month from periods will have boundaries on 2009/03/01, -2009/03"' 2009/08/01, ... - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Intervals with custom start date, Next: Periods or dates ?, Prev: More complex report intervals, Up: Period expressions - -4.4.3 Intervals with custom start date --------------------------------------- - -All intervals mentioned above are required to start on their natural -calendar boundaries, but the following intervals can start on any date: - - Weekly on custom day: - - * 'every Nth day of week' ('th', 'nd', 'rd', or 'st' are all accepted - after the number) - * 'every WEEKDAYNAME' (full or three-letter english weekday name, - case insensitive) - - Monthly on custom day: - - * 'every Nth day [of month]' - * 'every Nth WEEKDAYNAME [of month]' - - Yearly on custom day: - - * 'every MM/DD [of year]' (month number and day of month number) - * 'every MONTHNAME DDth [of year]' (full or three-letter english - month name, case insensitive, and day of month number) - * 'every DDth MONTHNAME [of year]' (equivalent to the above) - - Examples: - -'-p "every 2nd day of periods will go from Tue to Tue -week"' -'-p "every Tue"' same -'-p "every 15th day"' period boundaries will be on 15th of each - month -'-p "every 2nd period boundaries will be on second Monday of -Monday"' each month -'-p "every 11/05"' yearly periods with boundaries on 5th of - November -'-p "every 5th same -November"' -'-p "every Nov 5th"' same - - Show historical balances at end of the 15th day of each month (N is -an end date, exclusive as always): - -$ hledger balance -H -p "every 16th day" - - Group postings from the start of wednesday to end of the following -tuesday (N is both (inclusive) start date and (exclusive) end date): - -$ hledger register checking -p "every 3rd day of week" - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Periods or dates ?, Next: Events on multiple weekdays, Prev: Intervals with custom start date, Up: Period expressions - -4.4.4 Periods or dates ? ------------------------- - -Report intervals like the above are most often used with '-p|--period', -to divide reports into multiple subperiods - each generated date marks a -subperiod boundary. Here, the periods between the dates are what's -important. - - But report intervals can also be used with '--forecast' to generate -future transactions, or with 'balance --budget' to generate budget -goal-setting transactions. For these, the dates themselves are what -matters. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Events on multiple weekdays, Prev: Periods or dates ?, Up: Period expressions - -4.4.5 Events on multiple weekdays ---------------------------------- - -The 'every WEEKDAYNAME' form has a special variant with multiple day -names, comma-separated. Eg: 'every mon,thu,sat'. Also, 'weekday' and -'weekendday' are shorthand for 'mon,tue,wed,thu,fri' and 'sat,sun' -respectively. - - This form is mainly intended for use with '--forecast', to generate -periodic transactions on arbitrary days of the week. It may be less -useful with '-p', since it divides each week into subperiods of unequal -length. (Because gaps between periods are not allowed; if you'd like to -change this, see #1632.) - - Examples: - -'-p "every dates will be Mon, Wed, Fri; periods will be -mon,wed,fri"' Mon-Tue, Wed-Thu, Fri-Sun -'-p "every dates will be Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri; periods will -weekday"' be Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri-Sun -'-p "every dates will be Sat, Sun; periods will be Sat, Sun-Fri -weekendday"' - - -File: hledger.info, Node: DEPTH, Next: QUERIES, Prev: TIME PERIODS, Up: Top - -5 DEPTH -******* - -With the '--depth NUM' option (short form: '-NUM'), commands like -account, balance and register will show only the uppermost accounts in -the account tree, down to level NUM. Use this when you want a summary -with less detail. This flag has the same effect as a 'depth:' query -argument: 'depth:2', '--depth=2' or '-2' are equivalent. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: QUERIES, Next: COSTING, Prev: DEPTH, Up: Top - -6 QUERIES -********* - -One of hledger'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: - - * Zero or more space-separated query terms. These are most often - account name substrings: - - 'utilities food:groceries' - - * Terms with spaces or other special characters should be enclosed in - quotes: - - '"personal care"' - - * Regular expressions are also supported: - - '"^expenses\b" "accounts (payable|receivable)"' - - * Add a query type prefix to match other parts of the data: - - 'date:202012- desc:amazon cur:USD amt:">100" status:' - - * Add a 'not:' prefix to negate a term: - - 'not:cur:USD' - -* Menu: - -* Query types:: -* Combining query terms:: -* Queries and command options:: -* Queries and account aliases:: -* Queries and valuation:: -* Querying with account aliases:: -* Querying with cost or value:: - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Query types, Next: Combining query terms, Up: QUERIES - -6.1 Query types -=============== - -Here are the types of query term available. Remember these can also be -prefixed with *'not:'* to convert them into a negative match. - - *'acct:REGEX', 'REGEX'* -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 'expenses' or 'food'. - - *'amt:N, amt:N, amt:>=N'* -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. - - *'code:REGEX'* -Match by transaction code (eg check number). - - *'cur:REGEX'* -Match postings or transactions including any amounts whose -currency/commodity symbol is fully matched by REGEX. (For a partial -match, use '.*REGEX.*'). Note, to match special characters which are -regex-significant, you need to escape them with '\'. And for characters -which are significant to your shell you may need one more level of -escaping. So eg to match the dollar sign: -'hledger print cur:\\$'. - - *'desc:REGEX'* -Match transaction descriptions. - - *'date:PERIODEXPR'* -Match dates (or with the '--date2' flag, secondary dates) within the -specified period. PERIODEXPR is a period expression with no report -interval. Examples: -'date:2016', 'date:thismonth', 'date:2/1-2/15', -'date:2021-07-27..nextquarter'. - - *'date2:PERIODEXPR'* -Match secondary dates within the specified period (independent of the -'--date2' flag). - - *'depth:N'* -Match (or display, depending on command) accounts at or above this -depth. - - *'note:REGEX'* -Match transaction notes (the part of the description right of '|', or -the whole description if there's no '|'). - - *'payee:REGEX'* -Match transaction payee/payer names (the part of the description left of -'|', or the whole description if there's no '|'). - - *'real:, real:0'* -Match real or virtual postings respectively. - - *'status:, status:!, status:*'* -Match unmarked, pending, or cleared transactions respectively. - - *'tag:REGEX[=REGEX]'* -Match by tag name, and optionally also by tag value. (To match only by -value, use 'tag:.=REGEX'.) Note that postings also inherit tags from -their transaction, and transactions also acquire tags from their -postings, when querying. - - (*'inacct:ACCTNAME'* -A special query term used automatically in hledger-web only: tells -hledger-web to show the transaction register for an account.) - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Combining query terms, Next: Queries and command options, Prev: Query types, Up: QUERIES - -6.2 Combining query terms -========================= - -Most commands select things which match: - - * any of the description terms AND - * any of the account terms AND - * any of the status terms AND - * all the other terms. - - while the print command shows transactions which: - - * match any of the description terms AND - * have any postings matching any of the positive account terms AND - * have no postings matching any of the negative account terms AND - * match all the other terms. - - You can do more powerful queries (such as AND-ing two like terms) by -running a first query with 'print', and piping the result into a second -hledger command. Eg: how much of food expenses was paid with cash ? - -$ hledger print assets:cash | hledger -f- -I balance expenses:food - - If you are interested in full boolean expressions for queries, see -#203. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Queries and command options, Next: Queries and account aliases, Prev: Combining query terms, Up: QUERIES - -6.3 Queries and command options -=============================== - -Some queries can also be expressed as command-line options: 'depth:2' is -equivalent to '--depth 2', 'date:2020' is equivalent to '-p 2020', etc. -When you mix command options and query arguments, generally the -resulting query is their intersection. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Queries and account aliases, Next: Queries and valuation, Prev: Queries and command options, Up: QUERIES - -6.4 Queries and account aliases -=============================== - -When account names are rewritten with '--alias' or 'alias', 'acct:' will -match either the old or the new account name. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Queries and valuation, Next: Querying with account aliases, Prev: Queries and account aliases, Up: QUERIES - -6.5 Queries and valuation -========================= - -When amounts are converted to other commodities in cost or value -reports, 'cur:' and 'amt:' match the old commodity symbol and the old -amount quantity, not the new ones (except in hledger 1.22.0 where it's -reversed, see #1625). - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Querying with account aliases, Next: Querying with cost or value, Prev: Queries and valuation, Up: QUERIES - -6.6 Querying with account aliases -================================= - -When account names are rewritten with '--alias' or 'alias', note that -'acct:' will match either the old or the new account name. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Querying with cost or value, Prev: Querying with account aliases, Up: QUERIES - -6.7 Querying with cost or value -=============================== - -When amounts are converted to other commodities in cost or value -reports, note that 'cur:' matches the new commodity symbol, and not the -old one, and 'amt:' 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. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: COSTING, Next: VALUATION, Prev: QUERIES, Up: Top - -7 COSTING -********* - -The '-B/--cost' flag converts amounts to their cost or sale amount at -transaction time, if they have a transaction price specified. If this -flag is supplied, hledger will perform cost conversion first, and will -apply any market price valuations (if requested) afterwards. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: VALUATION, Next: PIVOTING, Prev: COSTING, Up: Top - -8 VALUATION -*********** - -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 '--value=TYPE[,COMMODITY]' -option, which will be described below. We also provide the simpler '-V' -and '-X COMMODITY' options, and often one of these is all you need: - -* Menu: - -* -V Value:: -* -X Value in specified commodity:: -* Valuation date:: -* Market prices:: -* --infer-market-prices market prices from transactions:: -* Valuation commodity:: -* Simple valuation examples:: -* --value Flexible valuation:: -* More valuation examples:: -* Effect of valuation on reports:: - - -File: hledger.info, Node: -V Value, Next: -X Value in specified commodity, Up: VALUATION - -8.1 -V: Value -============= - -The '-V/--market' flag converts amounts to market value in their default -_valuation commodity_, using the market prices in effect on the -_valuation date(s)_, if any. More on these in a minute. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: -X Value in specified commodity, Next: Valuation date, Prev: -V Value, Up: VALUATION - -8.2 -X: Value in specified commodity -==================================== - -The '-X/--exchange=COMM' option is like '-V', except you tell it which -currency you want to convert to, and it tries to convert everything to -that. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Valuation date, Next: Market prices, Prev: -X Value in specified commodity, Up: VALUATION - -8.3 Valuation date -================== - -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. - - 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's end date. - - For multiperiod reports, each column/period is valued on the last day -of the period, by default. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Market prices, Next: --infer-market-prices market prices from transactions, Prev: Valuation date, Up: VALUATION - -8.4 Market prices -================= - -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 : - - 1. A _declared market price_ or _inferred market price_: A's latest - market price in B on or before the valuation date as declared by a - P directive, or (with the '--infer-market-prices' flag) inferred - from transaction prices. - - 2. A _reverse market price_: the inverse of a declared or inferred - market price from B to A. - - 3. A _forward chain of market prices_: a synthetic price formed by - combining the shortest chain of "forward" (only 1 above) market - prices, leading from A to B. - - 4. _Any chain of market prices_: a chain of any market prices, - including both forward and reverse prices (1 and 2 above), leading - from A to B. - - 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 "gave up" message visible in -'--debug=2' output). That limit is currently 1000. - - Amounts for which no suitable market price can be found, are not -converted. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: --infer-market-prices market prices from transactions, Next: Valuation commodity, Prev: Market prices, Up: VALUATION - -8.5 -infer-market-prices: market prices from transactions -========================================================= - -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 transaction prices as additional market -prices (as Ledger does) ? We could produce value reports without -needing P directives at all. - - Adding the '--infer-market-prices' flag to '-V', '-X' or '--value' -enables this. So for example, 'hledger bs -V --infer-market-prices' -will get market prices both from P directives and from transactions. -(And if both occur on the same day, the P directive takes precedence). - - 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 -'--debug' or '--debug=2' to troubleshoot. - - '--infer-market-prices' can infer market prices from: - - * multicommodity transactions with explicit prices ('@'/'@@') - - * multicommodity transactions with implicit prices (no '@', two - commodities, unbalanced). (With these, the order of postings - matters. 'hledger print -x' can be useful for troubleshooting.) - - * but not, currently, from "more correct" multicommodity transactions - (no '@', multiple commodities, balanced). - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Valuation commodity, Next: Simple valuation examples, Prev: --infer-market-prices market prices from transactions, Up: VALUATION - -8.6 Valuation commodity -======================= - -*When you specify a valuation commodity ('-X COMM' or '--value -TYPE,COMM'):* -hledger will convert all amounts to COMM, wherever it can find a -suitable market price (including by reversing or chaining prices). - - *When you leave the valuation commodity unspecified ('-V' or '--value -TYPE'):* -For each commodity A, hledger picks a default valuation commodity as -follows, in this order of preference: - - 1. The price commodity from the latest P-declared market price for A - on or before valuation date. - - 2. 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.) - - 3. If there are no P directives at all (any commodity or date) and the - '--infer-market-prices' flag is used: the price commodity from the - latest transaction-inferred price for A on or before valuation - date. - - This means: - - * If you have P directives, they determine which commodities '-V' - will convert, and to what. - - * If you have no P directives, and use the '--infer-market-prices' - flag, transaction prices determine it. - - Amounts for which no valuation commodity can be found are not -converted. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Simple valuation examples, Next: --value Flexible valuation, Prev: Valuation commodity, Up: VALUATION - -8.7 Simple valuation examples -============================= - -Here are some quick examples of '-V': - -; 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 € $1.03 - - How many euros do I have ? - -$ hledger -f t.j bal -N euros - €100 assets:euros - - What are they worth at end of nov 3 ? - -$ hledger -f t.j bal -N euros -V -e 2016/11/4 - $110.00 assets:euros - - What are they worth after 2016/12/21 ? (no report end date -specified, defaults to today) - -$ hledger -f t.j bal -N euros -V - $103.00 assets:euros - - -File: hledger.info, Node: --value Flexible valuation, Next: More valuation examples, Prev: Simple valuation examples, Up: VALUATION - -8.8 -value: Flexible valuation -============================== - -'-V' and '-X' are special cases of the more general '--value' option: - - --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 - - The TYPE part selects cost or value and valuation date: - -'--value=then' - - Convert amounts to their value in the default valuation commodity, - using market prices on each posting's date. -'--value=end' - - 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's end date); or in multiperiod reports, - market prices on the last day of each subperiod. -'--value=now' - - Convert amounts to their value in the default valuation commodity - using current market prices (as of when report is generated). -'--value=YYYY-MM-DD' - - Convert amounts to their value in the default valuation commodity - using market prices on this date. - - To select a different valuation commodity, add the optional ',COMM' -part: a comma, then the target commodity's symbol. Eg: -*'--value=now,EUR'*. hledger will do its best to convert amounts to -this commodity, deducing market prices as described above. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: More valuation examples, Next: Effect of valuation on reports, Prev: --value Flexible valuation, Up: VALUATION - -8.9 More valuation examples -=========================== - -Here are some examples showing the effect of '--value', as seen with -'print': - -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 @ 5 B - -2000-02-01 - (a) 1 A @ 6 B - -2000-03-01 - (a) 1 A @ 7 B - - Show the cost of each posting: - -$ hledger -f- print --cost -2000-01-01 - (a) 5 B - -2000-02-01 - (a) 6 B - -2000-03-01 - (a) 7 B - - Show the value as of the last day of the report period (2000-02-29): - -$ hledger -f- print --value=end date:2000/01-2000/03 -2000-01-01 - (a) 2 B - -2000-02-01 - (a) 2 B - - With no report period specified, that shows the value as of the last -day of the journal (2000-03-01): - -$ hledger -f- print --value=end -2000-01-01 - (a) 3 B - -2000-02-01 - (a) 3 B - -2000-03-01 - (a) 3 B - - Show the current value (the 2000-04-01 price is still in effect -today): - -$ hledger -f- print --value=now -2000-01-01 - (a) 4 B - -2000-02-01 - (a) 4 B - -2000-03-01 - (a) 4 B - - Show the value on 2000/01/15: - -$ 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 - - You may need to explicitly set a commodity's display style, when -reverse prices are used. Eg this output might be surprising: - -P 2000-01-01 A 2B - -2000-01-01 - a 1B - b - -$ hledger print -x -X A -2000-01-01 - a 0 - b 0 - - Explanation: because there'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: - -P 2000-01-01 A 2B -commodity 0.00A - -2000-01-01 - a 1B - b - -$ hledger print -X A -2000-01-01 - a 0.50A - b -0.50A - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Effect of valuation on reports, Prev: More valuation examples, Up: VALUATION - -8.10 Effect of valuation on reports -=================================== - -Here is a reference for how valuation is supposed to affect each part of -hledger's reports (and a glossary). (It's wide, you'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. - -Report '-B', '-V', '-X' '--value=then' '--value=end''--value=DATE', -type '--cost' '--value=now' ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -*print* -posting cost value at value at posting value at value -amounts report end date report or at - or today journal DATE/today - end -balance unchanged unchanged unchanged unchanged unchanged -assertions/assignments -*register* -starting cost value at valued at day value at value -balance day before each historical day before at -(-H) report or posting was made report or DATE/today - journal journal - start start -posting cost value at value at posting value at value -amounts report end date report or at - or today journal DATE/today - end -summary summarised value at sum of postings value at value -posting cost period in interval, period at -amounts ends valued at ends DATE/today -with interval start -report -interval -running sum/average sum/average sum/average of sum/average sum/average -total/averageof of displayed values of of - displayed displayed displayed displayed - values values values values -*balance -(bs, -bse, cf, -is)* -balance sums of value at value at posting value at value -changes costs report end date report or at - or today journal DATE/today - of sums of end of of - postings sums of sums - postings of - postings -budget like like like balance like like -amounts balance balance changes balances balance -(-budget) changes changes changes -grand sum of sum of sum of displayed sum of sum of -total displayed displayed valued displayed displayed - values values values values -*balance -(bs, -bse, cf, -is) with -report -interval* -starting sums of value at sums of values value at sums -balances costs of report of postings report of -(-H) postings start of before report start of postings - before sums of start at sums of before - report all respective all report - start postings posting dates postings start - before before - report report - start start -balance sums of same as sums of values balance value -changes costs of -value=end of postings in change in at -(bal, postings period at each DATE/today -is, bs in period respective period, of --change, posting dates valued at sums -cf period of --change) ends postings -end sums of same as sums of values period end value -balances costs of -value=end of postings from balances, at -(bal -H, postings before period valued at DATE/today -is -H, from start to period period of -bs, cf) before end at ends sums - report respective of - start to posting dates postings - period end -budget like like like balance like like -amounts balance balance changes/end balances balance -(-budget) changes/end changes/end balances changes/end - balances balances balances -row sums, sums, sums, averages sums, sums, -totals, averages averages of displayed averages averages -row of of values of of -averages displayed displayed displayed displayed -(-T, -A) values values values values -column sums of sums of sums of sums of sums -totals displayed displayed displayed values displayed of - values values values displayed - values -grand sum, sum, sum, average of sum, sum, -total, average of average of column totals average of average -grand column column column of -average totals totals totals column - totals - - '--cumulative' is omitted to save space, it works like '-H' but with -a zero starting balance. - - *Glossary:* - -_cost_ - - calculated using price(s) recorded in the transaction(s). -_value_ - - market value using available market price declarations, or the - unchanged amount if no conversion rate can be found. -_report start_ - - the first day of the report period specified with -b or -p or - date:, otherwise today. -_report or journal start_ - - the first day of the report period specified with -b or -p or - date:, otherwise the earliest transaction date in the journal, - otherwise today. -_report end_ - - the last day of the report period specified with -e or -p or date:, - otherwise today. -_report or journal end_ - - the last day of the report period specified with -e or -p or date:, - otherwise the latest transaction date in the journal, otherwise - today. -_report interval_ - - a flag (-D/-W/-M/-Q/-Y) or period expression that activates the - report's multi-period mode (whether showing one or many - subperiods). - - -File: hledger.info, Node: PIVOTING, Next: OUTPUT, Prev: VALUATION, Up: Top - -9 PIVOTING -********** - -Normally hledger sums amounts, and organizes them in a hierarchy, based -on account name. The '--pivot FIELD' option causes it to sum and -organize hierarchy based on the value of some other field instead. -FIELD can be: 'code', 'description', 'payee', 'note', or the full name -(case insensitive) of any tag. As with account names, values containing -'colon:separated:parts' will be displayed hierarchically in reports. - - '--pivot' is a general option affecting all reports; you can think of -hledger transforming the journal before any other processing, replacing -every posting's account name with the value of the specified field on -that posting, inheriting it from the transaction or using a blank value -if it's not present. - - An example: - -2016/02/16 Member Fee Payment - assets:bank account 2 EUR - income:member fees -2 EUR ; member: John Doe - - Normal balance report showing account names: - -$ hledger balance - 2 EUR assets:bank account - -2 EUR income:member fees --------------------- - 0 - - Pivoted balance report, using member: tag values instead: - -$ hledger balance --pivot member - 2 EUR - -2 EUR John Doe --------------------- - 0 - - One way to show only amounts with a member: value (using a query, -described below): - -$ hledger balance --pivot member tag:member=. - -2 EUR John Doe --------------------- - -2 EUR - - Another way (the acct: query matches against the pivoted "account -name"): - -$ hledger balance --pivot member acct:. - -2 EUR John Doe --------------------- - -2 EUR - - -File: hledger.info, Node: OUTPUT, Next: COMMANDS, Prev: PIVOTING, Up: Top - -10 OUTPUT -********* - -* Menu: - -* Output destination:: -* Output styling:: -* Output format:: -* Commodity styles:: - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Output destination, Next: Output styling, Up: OUTPUT - -10.1 Output destination -======================= - -hledger commands send their output to the terminal by default. You can -of course redirect this, eg into a file, using standard shell syntax: - -$ hledger print > foo.txt - - Some commands (print, register, stats, the balance commands) also -provide the '-o/--output-file' option, which does the same thing without -needing the shell. Eg: - -$ hledger print -o foo.txt -$ hledger print -o - # write to stdout (the default) - - hledger can optionally produce debug output (if enabled with -'--debug=N'); this goes to stderr, and is not affected by -'-o/--output-file'. If you need to capture it, use shell redirects, eg: -'hledger bal --debug=3 >file 2>&1'. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Output styling, Next: Output format, Prev: Output destination, Up: OUTPUT - -10.2 Output styling -=================== - -hledger commands can produce colour output when the terminal supports -it. This is controlled by the '--color/--colour' option: - if the -'--color/--colour' option is given a value of 'yes' or 'always' (or 'no' -or 'never'), colour will (or will not) be used; - otherwise, if the -'NO_COLOR' environment variable is set, colour will not be used; - -otherwise, colour will be used if the output (terminal or file) supports -it. - - hledger commands can also use unicode box-drawing characters to -produce prettier tables and output. This is controlled by the -'--pretty' option: - if the '--pretty' option is given a value of 'yes' -or 'always' (or 'no' or 'never'), unicode characters will (or will not) -be used; - otherwise, unicode characters will not be used. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Output format, Next: Commodity styles, Prev: Output styling, Up: OUTPUT - -10.3 Output format -================== - -Some commands (print, register, the balance commands) offer a choice of -output format. In addition to the usual plain text format ('txt'), -there are CSV ('csv'), HTML ('html'), JSON ('json') and SQL ('sql'). -This is controlled by the '-O/--output-format' option: - -$ hledger print -O csv - - or, by a file extension specified with '-o/--output-file': - -$ hledger balancesheet -o foo.html # write HTML to foo.html - - The '-O' option can be used to override the file extension if needed: - -$ hledger balancesheet -o foo.txt -O html # write HTML to foo.txt - - Some notes about JSON output: - - * This feature is marked experimental, and not yet much used; you - should expect our JSON to evolve. Real-world feedback is welcome. - - * Our JSON is rather large and verbose, as it is quite a faithful - representation of hledger'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. - - * 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'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) - - Notes about SQL output: - - * SQL output is also marked experimental, and much like JSON could - use real-world feedback. - - * SQL output is expected to work with sqlite, MySQL and PostgreSQL - - * 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 'delete' or 'truncate' - SQL statements) or drop tables completely as otherwise your - postings will be duped. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Commodity styles, Prev: Output format, Up: OUTPUT - -10.4 Commodity styles -===================== - -The display style of a commodity/currency is inferred according to the -rules described in Commodity display style. The inferred display style -can be overridden by an optional '-c/--commodity-style' option -(Exceptions: as is the case for inferred styles, price amounts, and all -amounts displayed by the 'print' command, will be displayed with all of -their decimal digits visible, regardless of the specified precision). -For example, the following will override the display style for dollars. - -$ hledger print -c '$1.000,0' - - The format specification of the style is identical to the commodity -display style specification for the commodity directive. The command -line option can be supplied repeatedly to override the display style for -multiple commodity/currency symbols. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: COMMANDS, Next: JOURNAL FORMAT, Prev: OUTPUT, Up: Top - -11 COMMANDS -*********** - -hledger provides a number of commands for producing reports and managing -your data. Run 'hledger' with no arguments to list the commands -available, and 'hledger CMD' to run a command. CMD can be the full -command name, or its standard abbreviation shown in the commands list, -or any unambiguous prefix of the name. Eg: 'hledger bal'. - - Here are the built-in commands, with the most often-used in bold: - - *Data entry:* - - These data entry commands are the only ones which can modify your -journal file. - - * *add* - add transactions using guided prompts - * *import* - add any new transactions from other files (eg csv) - - *Data management:* - - * check - check for various kinds of issue in the data - * close (equity) - generate balance-resetting transactions - * diff - compare account transactions in two journal files - * rewrite - generate extra postings, similar to print -auto - - *Financial statements:* - - * *aregister (areg)* - show transactions in a particular account - * *balancesheet (bs)* - show assets, liabilities and net worth - * balancesheetequity (bse) - show assets, liabilities and equity - * cashflow (cf) - show changes in liquid assets - * *incomestatement (is)* - show revenues and expenses - * roi - show return on investments - - *Miscellaneous reports:* - - * accounts - show account names - * activity - show postings-per-interval bar charts - * *balance (bal)* - show balance changes/end balances/budgets in any - accounts - * codes - show transaction codes - * commodities - show commodity/currency symbols - * descriptions - show unique transaction descriptions - * files - show input file paths - * help - show hledger user manuals in several formats - * notes - show unique note segments of transaction descriptions - * payees - show unique payee segments of transaction descriptions - * prices - show market price records - * *print* - show transactions (journal entries) - * print-unique - show only transactions with unique descriptions - * *register (reg)* - show postings in one or more accounts & running - total - * register-match - show a recent posting that best matches a - description - * stats - show journal statistics - * tags - show tag names - * test - run self tests - - *Add-on commands:* - - Programs or scripts named 'hledger-SOMETHING' in your PATH are add-on -commands; these appear in the commands list with a '+' mark. Two of -these are maintained and released with hledger: - - * *ui* - an efficient terminal interface (TUI) for hledger - * *web* - a simple web interface (WUI) for hledger - - And these add-ons are maintained separately: - - * iadd - a more interactive alternative for the add command - * interest - generates interest transactions according to various - schemes - * stockquotes - downloads market prices for your commodities from - AlphaVantage _(experimental)_ - - Next, the detailed command docs, in alphabetical order. - -* Menu: - -* accounts:: -* activity:: -* add:: -* aregister:: -* balance:: -* balancesheet:: -* balancesheetequity:: -* cashflow:: -* check:: -* close:: -* codes:: -* commodities:: -* descriptions:: -* diff:: -* files:: -* help:: -* import:: -* incomestatement:: -* notes:: -* payees:: -* prices:: -* print:: -* print-unique:: -* register:: -* register-match:: -* rewrite:: -* roi:: -* stats:: -* tags:: -* test:: -* About add-on commands:: - - -File: hledger.info, Node: accounts, Next: activity, Up: COMMANDS - -11.1 accounts -============= - -accounts -Show account names. - - This command lists account names, either declared with account -directives (-declared), posted to (-used), or both (the default). With -query arguments, only matched account names and account names referenced -by matched postings are shown. It shows a flat list by default. With -'--tree', it uses indentation to show the account hierarchy. In flat -mode you can add '--drop N' to omit the first few account name -components. Account names can be depth-clipped with 'depth:N' or -'--depth N' or '-N'. - - Examples: - -$ hledger accounts -assets:bank:checking -assets:bank:saving -assets:cash -expenses:food -expenses:supplies -income:gifts -income:salary -liabilities:debts - - -File: hledger.info, Node: activity, Next: add, Prev: accounts, Up: COMMANDS - -11.2 activity -============= - -activity -Show an ascii barchart of posting counts per interval. - - 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. - - Examples: - -$ hledger activity --quarterly -2008-01-01 ** -2008-04-01 ******* -2008-07-01 -2008-10-01 ** - - -File: hledger.info, Node: add, Next: aregister, Prev: activity, Up: COMMANDS - -11.3 add -======== - -add -Prompt for transactions and add them to the journal. Any arguments will -be used as default inputs for the first N prompts. - - Many hledger users edit their journals directly with a text editor, -or generate them from CSV. For more interactive data entry, there is the -'add' command, which prompts interactively on the console for new -transactions, and appends them to the journal file (if there are -multiple '-f FILE' options, the first file is used.) Existing -transactions are not changed. This is the only hledger command that -writes to the journal file. - - To use it, just run 'hledger add' and follow the prompts. You can -add as many transactions as you like; when you are finished, enter '.' -or press control-d or control-c to exit. - - Features: - - * add tries to provide useful defaults, using the most similar (by - description) recent transaction (filtered by the query, if any) as - a template. - * You can also set the initial defaults with command line arguments. - * Readline-style edit keys can be used during data entry. - * The tab key will auto-complete whenever possible - accounts, - descriptions, dates ('yesterday', 'today', 'tomorrow'). If the - input area is empty, it will insert the default value. - * If the journal defines a default commodity, it will be added to any - bare numbers entered. - * A parenthesised transaction code may be entered following a date. - * Comments and tags may be entered following a description or amount. - * If you make a mistake, enter '<' at any prompt to go one step - backward. - * Input prompts are displayed in a different colour when the terminal - supports it. - - Example (see the tutorial for a detailed explanation): - -$ 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]: $ - - 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). - - -File: hledger.info, Node: aregister, Next: balance, Prev: add, Up: COMMANDS - -11.4 aregister -============== - -aregister, areg - - Show the transactions and running historical balance of a single -account, with each transaction displayed as one line. - - 'aregister' 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 ('--historical' mode is -always on). - - This is a more "real world", bank-like view than the 'register' -command (which shows individual postings, possibly from multiple -accounts, not necessarily in historical mode). As a quick rule of -thumb: - use 'aregister' for reviewing and reconciling real-world -asset/liability accounts - use 'register' for reviewing detailed -revenues/expenses. - - 'aregister' 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. -(Eg if you have 'assets:aaa:checking' and 'assets:bbb:checking' -accounts, 'hledger areg checking' would select 'assets:aaa:checking'.) - - Transactions involving subaccounts of this account will also be -shown. 'aregister' ignores depth limits, so its final total will always -match a balance report with similar arguments. - - 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's real-world running -balance. - - An example: this shows the transactions and historical running -balance during july, in the first account whose name contains -"checking": - -$ hledger areg checking date:jul - - Each 'aregister' line item shows: - - * the transaction's date (or the relevant posting's date if - different, see below) - * the names of all the other account(s) involved in this transaction - (probably abbreviated) - * the total change to this account's balance from this transaction - * the account's historical running balance after this transaction. - - Transactions making a net change of zero are not shown by default; -add the '-E/--empty' flag to show them. - - This command also supports the output destination and output format -options. The output formats supported are 'txt', 'csv', and 'json'. - -* Menu: - -* aregister and custom posting dates:: - - -File: hledger.info, Node: aregister and custom posting dates, Up: aregister - -11.4.1 aregister and custom posting dates ------------------------------------------ - -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's the posting date that is shown.) This ensures -that 'aregister' can show an accurate historical running balance, -matching the one shown by 'register -H' with the same arguments. - - To filter strictly by transaction date instead, add the '--txn-dates' -flag. If you use this flag and some of your postings have custom dates, -it's probably best to assume the running balance is wrong. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: balance, Next: balancesheet, Prev: aregister, Up: COMMANDS - -11.5 balance -============ - -balance, bal -Show accounts and their balances. - - 'balance' is one of hledger'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. - - Note there are some higher-level variants of the 'balance' command -with convenient defaults, which can be simpler to use: 'balancesheet', -'balancesheetequity', 'cashflow' and 'incomestatement'. When you need -more control, then use 'balance'. - -* Menu: - -* balance features:: -* Simple balance report:: -* Filtered balance report:: -* List or tree mode:: -* Depth limiting:: -* Dropping top-level accounts:: -* Multi-period balance report:: -* Commodity column:: -* Sorting by amount:: -* Percentages:: -* Balance change end balance:: -* Balance report types:: -* Useful balance reports:: -* Budget report:: -* Customising single-period balance reports:: - - -File: hledger.info, Node: balance features, Next: Simple balance report, Up: balance - -11.5.1 balance features ------------------------ - -Here's a quick overview of the 'balance' command's features, followed by -more detailed descriptions and examples. Many of these work with the -higher-level commands as well. - - 'balance' can show.. - - * accounts as a list ('-l') or a tree ('-t') - * optionally depth-limited ('-[1-9]') - * sorted by declaration order and name, or by amount - - ..and their.. - - * balance changes (the default) - * or actual and planned balance changes ('--budget') - * or value of balance changes ('-V') - * or change of balance values ('--valuechange') - * or unrealised capital gain/loss ('--gain') - - ..in.. - - * one time period (the whole journal period by default) - * or multiple periods ('-D', '-W', '-M', '-Q', '-Y', '-p INTERVAL') - - ..either.. - - * per period (the default) - * or accumulated since report start date ('--cumulative') - * or accumulated since account creation ('--historical/-H') - - ..possibly converted to.. - - * cost ('--value=cost[,COMM]'/'--cost'/'-B') - * or market value, as of transaction dates ('--value=then[,COMM]') - * or at period ends ('--value=end[,COMM]') - * or now ('--value=now') - * or at some other date ('--value=YYYY-MM-DD') - - ..with.. - - * totals ('-T'), averages ('-A'), percentages ('-%'), inverted sign - ('--invert') - * rows and columns swapped ('--transpose') - * another field used as account name ('--pivot') - * custom-formatted line items (single-period reports only) - ('--format') - * commodities shown in a separate column, one per row - ('--commodity-column') - - This command supports the output destination and output format -options, with output formats 'txt', 'csv', 'json', and (multi-period -reports only:) 'html'. In 'txt' output in a colour-supporting terminal, -negative amounts are shown in red. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Simple balance report, Next: Filtered balance report, Prev: balance features, Up: balance - -11.5.2 Simple balance report ----------------------------- - -With no arguments, 'balance' 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. For real-world -accounts, this should also match their end balance at the end of the -journal period (more on this below). - - Accounts are sorted by declaration order if any, and then -alphabetically by account name. For instance (using -examples/sample.journal): - -$ 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 - $1 liabilities:debts --------------------- - 0 - - Accounts with a zero balance (and no non-zero subaccounts, in tree -mode - see below) are hidden by default. Use '-E/--empty' to show them -(revealing 'assets:bank:checking' here): - -$ 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 - $1 liabilities:debts --------------------- - 0 - - The total of the amounts displayed is shown as the last line, unless -'-N'/'--no-total' is used. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Filtered balance report, Next: List or tree mode, Prev: Simple balance report, Up: balance - -11.5.3 Filtered balance report ------------------------------- - -You can show fewer accounts, a different time period, totals from -cleared transactions only, etc. by using query arguments or options to -limit the postings being matched. Eg: - -$ hledger -f examples/sample.journal bal --cleared assets date:200806 - $-2 assets:cash --------------------- - $-2 - - -File: hledger.info, Node: List or tree mode, Next: Depth limiting, Prev: Filtered balance report, Up: balance - -11.5.4 List or tree mode ------------------------- - -By default, or with '-l/--flat', accounts are shown as a flat list with -their full names visible, as in the examples above. - - With '-t/--tree', the account hierarchy is shown, with subaccounts' -"leaf" names indented below their parent: - -$ 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 - $1 liabilities:debts --------------------- - 0 - - Notes: - - * "Boring" accounts are combined with their subaccount for more - compact output, unless '--no-elide' is used. Boring accounts have - no balance of their own and just one subaccount (eg 'assets:bank' - and 'liabilities' above). - - * All balances shown are "inclusive", ie including the balances from - all subaccounts. Note this means some repetition in the output, - which requires explanation when sharing reports with - non-plaintextaccounting-users. A tree mode report's final total is - the sum of the top-level balances shown, not of all the balances - shown. - - * Each group of sibling accounts (ie, under a common parent) is - sorted separately. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Depth limiting, Next: Dropping top-level accounts, Prev: List or tree mode, Up: balance - -11.5.5 Depth limiting ---------------------- - -With a 'depth:NUM' query, or '--depth NUM' option, or just '-NUM' (eg: -'-3') balance reports will show accounts only to the specified depth, -hiding the deeper subaccounts. This can be useful for getting an -overview without too much detail. - - Account balances at the depth limit always include the balances from -any deeper subaccounts (even in list mode). Eg, limiting to depth 1: - -$ hledger -f examples/sample.journal balance -1 - $-1 assets - $2 expenses - $-2 income - $1 liabilities --------------------- - 0 - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Dropping top-level accounts, Next: Multi-period balance report, Prev: Depth limiting, Up: balance - -11.5.6 Dropping top-level accounts ----------------------------------- - -You can also hide one or more top-level account name parts, using -'--drop NUM'. This can be useful for hiding repetitive top-level -account names: - -$ hledger -f examples/sample.journal bal expenses --drop 1 - $1 food - $1 supplies --------------------- - $2 - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Multi-period balance report, Next: Commodity column, Prev: Dropping top-level accounts, Up: balance - -11.5.7 Multi-period balance report ----------------------------------- - -With a report interval (set by the '-D/--daily', '-W/--weekly', -'-M/--monthly', '-Q/--quarterly', '-Y/--yearly', or '-p/--period' flag), -'balance' shows a tabular report, with columns representing successive -time periods (and a title): - -$ 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 $1 0 0 - - Notes: - - * The report's start/end dates will be expanded, if necessary, to - fully encompass the displayed subperiods (so that the first and - last subperiods have the same duration as the others). - * Leading and trailing periods (columns) containing all zeroes are - not shown, unless '-E/--empty' is used. - * Accounts (rows) containing all zeroes are not shown, unless - '-E/--empty' is used. - * Amounts with many commodities are shown in abbreviated form, unless - '--no-elide' is used. _(experimental)_ - * Average and/or total columns can be added with the '-A/--average' - and '-T/--row-total' flags. - * The '--transpose' flag can be used to exchange rows and columns. - * The '--pivot FIELD' option causes a different transaction field to - be used as "account name". See PIVOTING. - - Multi-period reports with many periods can be too wide for easy -viewing in the terminal. Here are some ways to handle that: - - * Hide the totals row with '-N/--no-total' - * Convert to a single currency with '-V' - * Maximize the terminal window - * Reduce the terminal's font size - * View with a pager like less, eg: 'hledger bal -D --color=yes | less - -RS' - * Output as CSV and use a CSV viewer like visidata ('hledger bal -D - -O csv | vd -f csv'), Emacs' csv-mode ('M-x csv-mode, C-c C-a'), or - a spreadsheet ('hledger bal -D -o a.csv && open a.csv') - * Output as HTML and view with a browser: 'hledger bal -D -o a.html - && open a.html' - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Commodity column, Next: Sorting by amount, Prev: Multi-period balance report, Up: balance - -11.5.8 Commodity column ------------------------ - -With '--commodity-column', commodity symbols are displayed in a separate -column, and amounts are displayed as bare numbers. In this mode, each -report row will show amounts for a single commodity, using extra rows -when necessary. It can be useful for a cleaner display of reports with -many commodities: - -$ hledger -f examples/bcexample.hledger bal assets:us:etrade -3 -T -Y -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.. - -$ hledger -f examples/bcexample.hledger bal assets:us:etrade -3 -T -Y --commodity-column -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 - - This flag also affects CSV output, which is useful for producing data -that is easier to consume, eg when making charts: - -$ hledger -f examples/bcexample.hledger bal assets:us:etrade -3 -O csv -"account","balance" -"Assets:US:ETrade","70.00 GLD, 17.00 ITOT, 5120.50 USD, 36.00 VEA, 294.00 VHT" -"total","70.00 GLD, 17.00 ITOT, 5120.50 USD, 36.00 VEA, 294.00 VHT" - -$ hledger -f examples/bcexample.hledger bal assets:us:etrade -3 -O csv --commodity-column -"account","commodity","balance" -"Assets:US:ETrade","GLD","70.00" -"Assets:US:ETrade","ITOT","17.00" -"Assets:US:ETrade","USD","5120.50" -"Assets:US:ETrade","VEA","36.00" -"Assets:US:ETrade","VHT","294.00" -"total","GLD","70.00" -"total","ITOT","17.00" -"total","USD","5120.50" -"total","VEA","36.00" -"total","VHT","294.00" - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Sorting by amount, Next: Percentages, Prev: Commodity column, Up: balance - -11.5.9 Sorting by amount ------------------------- - -With '-S/--sort-amount', accounts with the largest (most positive) -balances are shown first. Eg: 'hledger bal expenses -MAS' 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). - - Revenues and liability balances are typically negative, however, so -'-S' shows these in reverse order. To work around this, you can add -'--invert' to flip the signs. (Or, use one of the higher-level reports, -which flip the sign automatically. Eg: 'hledger incomestatement -MAS'). - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Percentages, Next: Balance change end balance, Prev: Sorting by amount, Up: balance - -11.5.10 Percentages -------------------- - -With '-%/--percent', balance reports show each account's value expressed -as a percentage of the (column) total: - -$ hledger -f examples/sample.journal bal expenses -Q -% -Balance changes in 2008: - - || 2008Q1 2008Q2 2008Q3 2008Q4 -===================++================================= - expenses:food || 0 50.0 % 0 0 - expenses:supplies || 0 50.0 % 0 0 --------------------++--------------------------------- - || 0 100.0 % 0 0 - - 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: - -$ hledger bal -% amt:`>0` -$ hledger bal -% amt:`<0` - - Similarly, if the amounts in a column have mixed commodities, convert -them to one commodity with '-B', '-V', '-X' or '--value', or make a -separate report for each commodity: - -$ hledger bal -% cur:\\$ -$ hledger bal -% cur:€ - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Balance change end balance, Next: Balance report types, Prev: Percentages, Up: balance - -11.5.11 Balance change, end balance ------------------------------------ - -It's important to be clear on the meaning of the numbers shown in -balance reports. Here is some terminology we use: - - A *_balance change_* is the net amount added to, or removed from, an -account during some period. - - An *_end balance_* is the amount accumulated in an account as of some -date (and some time, but hledger doesn't store that; assume end of day -in your timezone). It is the sum of previous balance changes. - - We call it a *_historical end balance_* if it includes all balance -changes since the account was created. For a real world account, this -means it will match the "historical record", eg the balances reported in -your bank statements or bank web UI. (If they are correct!) - - 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. - - 'balance' shows balance changes by default. To see accurate -historical end balances: - - 1. Initialise account starting balances with an "opening balances" - transaction (a transfer from equity to the account), unless the - journal covers the account's full lifetime. - - 2. Include all of of the account's prior postings in the report, by - not specifying a report start date, or by using the - '-H/--historical' flag. ('-H' causes report start date to be - ignored when summing postings.) - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Balance report types, Next: Useful balance reports, Prev: Balance change end balance, Up: balance - -11.5.12 Balance report types ----------------------------- - -For more flexible reporting, there are three important option groups: - - 'hledger balance [CALCULATIONTYPE] [ACCUMULATIONTYPE] [VALUATIONTYPE] -...' - - The first two are the most important: calculation type selects the -basic calculation to perform for each table cell, while accumulation -type says which postings should be included in each cell's calculation. -Typically one or both of these are selected by default, so you don't -need to write them explicitly. A valuation type can be added if you -want to convert the basic report to value or cost. - - *Calculation type:* -The basic calculation to perform for each table cell. It is one of: - - * '--sum' : sum the posting amounts (*default*) - * '--budget' : like -sum but also show a goal amount - * '--valuechange' : show the change in period-end historical balance - values (caused by deposits, withdrawals, and/or market price - fluctuations) - * '--gain' : show the unrealised capital gain/loss, (the current - valued balance minus each amount's original cost) - - *Accumulation type:* -Which postings should be included in each cell's calculation. It is one -of: - - * '--change' : postings from column start to column end, ie within - the cell's period. Typically used to see revenues/expenses. - (*default for balance, incomestatement*) - - * '--cumulative' : postings from report start to column end, eg to - show changes accumulated since the report's start date. Rarely - used. - - * '--historical/-H' : postings from journal start to column end, ie - all postings from account creation to the end of the cell's period. - Typically used to see historical end balances of - assets/liabilities/equity. (*default for balancesheet, - balancesheetequity, cashflow*) - - *Valuation type:* -Which kind of valuation, valuation date(s) and optionally a target -valuation commodity to use. It is one of: - - * no valuation, show amounts in their original commodities - (*default*) - * '--value=cost[,COMM]' : no valuation, show amounts converted to - cost - * '--value=then[,COMM]' : show value at transaction dates - * '--value=end[,COMM]' : show value at period end date(s) (*default - with '--valuechange', '--gain'*) - * '--value=now[,COMM]' : show value at today's date - * '--value=YYYY-MM-DD[,COMM]' : show value at another date - - or one of their aliases: '--cost/-B', '--market/-V' or -'--exchange/-X'. - - 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: - - * '--valuechange' implies '--value=end' - * '--valuechange' makes '--change' the default when used with the - 'balancesheet'/'balancesheetequity' commands - * '--cumulative' or '--historical' disables '--row-total/-T' - - For reference, here is what the combinations of accumulation and -valuation show: - -Valuation:no valuation '--value= then' '--value= end' '--value= ->Accumulation: YYYY-MM-DD -v /now' ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -'--change'change in sum of period-end DATE-value - period posting-date value of of change in - market values change in period - in period period -'--cumulative'change from sum of period-end DATE-value - report start to posting-date value of of change - period end market values change from from report - from report report start start to - start to period to period end period end - end -'--historicalchange from sum of period-end DATE-value -/-H' journal start posting-date value of of change - to period end market values change from from journal - (historical end from journal journal start start to - balance) start to period to period end period end - end - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Useful balance reports, Next: Budget report, Prev: Balance report types, Up: balance - -11.5.13 Useful balance reports ------------------------------- - -Some frequently used 'balance' options/reports are: - - * 'bal -M revenues expenses' - Show revenues/expenses in each month. Also available as the - 'incomestatement' command. - - * 'bal -M -H assets liabilities' - Show historical asset/liability balances at each month end. Also - available as the 'balancesheet' command. - - * 'bal -M -H assets liabilities equity' - Show historical asset/liability/equity balances at each month end. - Also available as the 'balancesheetequity' command. - - * 'bal -M assets not:receivable' - Show changes to liquid assets in each month. Also available as the - 'cashflow' command. - - Also: - - * 'bal -M expenses -2 -SA' - Show monthly expenses summarised to depth 2 and sorted by average - amount. - - * 'bal -M --budget expenses' - Show monthly expenses and budget goals. - - * 'bal -M --valuechange investments' - Show monthly change in market value of investment assets. - - * 'bal investments --valuechange -D date:lastweek amt:'>1000' -STA - [--invert]' - Show top gainers [or losers] last week - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Budget report, Next: Customising single-period balance reports, Prev: Useful balance reports, Up: balance - -11.5.14 Budget report ---------------------- - -The '--budget' report type activates extra columns showing any budget -goals for each account and period. The budget goals are defined by -periodic transactions. This is very useful for comparing planned and -actual income, expenses, time usage, etc. - - For example, you can take average monthly expenses in the common -expense categories to construct a minimal monthly budget: - -;; Budget -~ 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 $100 - assets:bank:checking - - You can now see a monthly budget report: - -$ 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 $2000] -----------------------++---------------------------------------------------- - || 0 [ 0] 0 [ 0] - - This is different from a normal balance report in several ways: - - * Only accounts with budget goals during the report period are shown, - by default. - - * In each column, in square brackets after the actual amount, budget - goal amounts are shown, and the actual/goal percentage. (Note: - budget goals should be in the same commodity as the actual amount.) - - * All parent accounts are always shown, even in list mode. Eg - assets, assets:bank, and expenses above. - - * Amounts always include all subaccounts, budgeted or unbudgeted, - even in list mode. - - This means that the numbers displayed will not always add up! Eg -above, the 'expenses' actual amount includes the gifts and supplies -transactions, but the 'expenses:gifts' and 'expenses:supplies' accounts -are not shown, as they have no budget amounts declared. - - This can be confusing. When you need to make things clearer, use the -'-E/--empty' flag, which will reveal all accounts including unbudgeted -ones, giving the full picture. Eg: - -$ 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 $2000] -----------------------++---------------------------------------------------- - || 0 [ 0] 0 [ 0] - - You can roll over unspent budgets to next period with '--cumulative': - -$ 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] - - For more examples and notes, see Budgeting. - -* Menu: - -* Budget report start date:: -* Budgets and subaccounts:: -* Selecting budget goals:: - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Budget report start date, Next: Budgets and subaccounts, Up: Budget report - -11.5.14.1 Budget report start date -.................................. - -This might be a bug, but for now: when making budget reports, it's a -good idea to explicitly set the report's start date to the first day of -a reporting period, because a periodic rule like '~ monthly' 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: - -~ monthly in 2020 - (expenses:food) $500 - -2020-01-15 - expenses:food $400 - assets:checking - -$ hledger bal expenses --budget -Budget performance in 2020-01-15: - - || 2020-01-15 -==============++============ - || $400 ---------------++------------ - || $400 - - To avoid this, specify the budget report's period, or at least the -start date, with '-b'/'-e'/'-p'/'date:', to ensure it includes the -budget goal transactions (periodic transactions) that you want. Eg, -adding '-b 2020/1/1' to the above: - -$ 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] - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Budgets and subaccounts, Next: Selecting budget goals, Prev: Budget report start date, Up: Budget report - -11.5.14.2 Budgets and subaccounts -................................. - -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. - - In the most simple case this means that once you add a budget to any -account, all its parents would have budget as well. - - To illustrate this, consider the following budget: - -~ monthly from 2019/01 - expenses:personal $1,000.00 - expenses:personal:electronics $100.00 - liabilities - - 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 'expenses:personal' and 'expenses' is $1100. - - Transactions in 'expenses:personal:electronics' will be counted both -towards its $100 budget and $1100 of 'expenses:personal' , and -transactions in any other subaccount of 'expenses:personal' would be -counted towards only towards the budget of 'expenses:personal'. - - For example, let's consider these transactions: - -~ 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 $30.00 - liabilities - - As you can see, we have transactions in -'expenses:personal:electronics:upgrades' and 'expenses:personal:train -tickets', and since both of these accounts are without explicitly -defined budget, these transactions would be counted towards budgets of -'expenses:personal:electronics' and 'expenses:personal' accordingly: - -$ 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 $-1100.00] --------------------------------++------------------------------- - || 0 [ 0] - - And with '--empty', we can get a better picture of budget allocation -and consumption: - -$ 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 $-1100.00] -----------------------------------------++------------------------------- - || 0 [ 0] - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Selecting budget goals, Prev: Budgets and subaccounts, Up: Budget report - -11.5.14.3 Selecting budget goals -................................ - -The budget report evaluates periodic transaction rules to generate -special "goal transactions", which generate the goal amounts for each -account in each report subperiod. When troubleshooting, you can use the -print command to show these as forecasted transactions: - -$ hledger print --forecast=BUDGETREPORTPERIOD tag:generated - - 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. - - You can select a subset of periodic rules by providing an argument to -the '--budget' flag. '--budget=DESCPAT' 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. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Customising single-period balance reports, Prev: Budget report, Up: balance - -11.5.15 Customising single-period balance reports -------------------------------------------------- - -For single-period balance reports displayed in the terminal (only), you -can use '--format FMT' to customise the format and content of each line. -Eg: - -$ hledger -f examples/sample.journal balance --format "%20(account) %12(total)" - assets $-1 - bank:saving $1 - cash $-2 - expenses $2 - food $1 - supplies $1 - income $-2 - gifts $-1 - salary $-1 - liabilities:debts $1 ---------------------------------- - 0 - - The FMT format string (plus a newline) specifies the formatting -applied to each account/balance pair. It may contain any suitable text, -with data fields interpolated like so: - - '%[MIN][.MAX](FIELDNAME)' - - * MIN pads with spaces to at least this width (optional) - - * MAX truncates at this width (optional) - - * FIELDNAME must be enclosed in parentheses, and can be one of: - - * 'depth_spacer' - a number of spaces equal to the account's - depth, or if MIN is specified, MIN * depth spaces. - * 'account' - the account's name - * 'total' - the account's balance/posted total, right justified - - Also, FMT can begin with an optional prefix to control how -multi-commodity amounts are rendered: - - * '%_' - render on multiple lines, bottom-aligned (the default) - * '%^' - render on multiple lines, top-aligned - * '%,' - render on one line, comma-separated - - There are some quirks. Eg in one-line mode, '%(depth_spacer)' has no -effect, instead '%(account)' has indentation built in. Experimentation -may be needed to get pleasing results. - - Some example formats: - - * '%(total)' - the account's total - * '%-20.20(account)' - the account's name, left justified, padded to - 20 characters and clipped at 20 characters - * '%,%-50(account) %25(total)' - account name padded to 50 - characters, total padded to 20 characters, with multiple - commodities rendered on one line - * '%20(total) %2(depth_spacer)%-(account)' - the default format for - the single-column balance report - - -File: hledger.info, Node: balancesheet, Next: balancesheetequity, Prev: balance, Up: COMMANDS - -11.6 balancesheet -================= - -balancesheet, bs -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. - - The asset and liability accounts shown are those accounts declared -with the 'Asset' or 'Cash' or 'Liability' type, or otherwise all -accounts under a top-level 'asset' or 'liability' account (case -insensitive, plurals allowed). - - Example: - -$ hledger balancesheet -Balance Sheet - -Assets: - $-1 assets - $1 bank:saving - $-2 cash --------------------- - $-1 - -Liabilities: - $1 liabilities:debts --------------------- - $1 - -Total: --------------------- - 0 - - This command is a higher-level variant of the 'balance' command, and -supports many of that command's features, such as multi-period reports. -It is similar to 'hledger balance -H assets liabilities', but with -smarter account detection, and liabilities displayed with their sign -flipped. - - This command also supports the output destination and output format -options The output formats supported are 'txt', 'csv', 'html', and -(experimental) 'json'. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: balancesheetequity, Next: cashflow, Prev: balancesheet, Up: COMMANDS - -11.7 balancesheetequity -======================= - -balancesheetequity, bse -This command displays a balance sheet, showing historical ending -balances of asset, liability and equity accounts. Amounts are shown -with normal positive sign, as in conventional financial statements. - - The asset, liability and equity accounts shown are those accounts -declared with the 'Asset', 'Cash', 'Liability' or 'Equity' type, or -otherwise all accounts under a top-level 'asset', 'liability' or -'equity' account (case insensitive, plurals allowed). - - Example: - -$ hledger balancesheetequity -Balance Sheet With Equity - -Assets: - $-2 assets - $1 bank:saving - $-3 cash --------------------- - $-2 - -Liabilities: - $1 liabilities:debts --------------------- - $1 - -Equity: - $1 equity:owner --------------------- - $1 - -Total: --------------------- - 0 - - This command is a higher-level variant of the 'balance' command, and -supports many of that command's features, such as multi-period reports. -It is similar to 'hledger balance -H assets liabilities equity', but -with smarter account detection, and liabilities/equity displayed with -their sign flipped. - - This command also supports the output destination and output format -options The output formats supported are 'txt', 'csv', 'html', and -(experimental) 'json'. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: cashflow, Next: check, Prev: balancesheetequity, Up: COMMANDS - -11.8 cashflow -============= - -cashflow, cf -This command displays a cashflow statement, showing the inflows and -outflows affecting "cash" (ie, liquid) assets. Amounts are shown with -normal positive sign, as in conventional financial statements. - - The "cash" accounts shown are those accounts declared with the 'Cash' -type, or otherwise all accounts under a top-level 'asset' account (case -insensitive, plural allowed) which do not have 'fixed', 'investment', -'receivable' or 'A/R' in their name. - - Example: - -$ hledger cashflow -Cashflow Statement - -Cash flows: - $-1 assets - $1 bank:saving - $-2 cash --------------------- - $-1 - -Total: --------------------- - $-1 - - This command is a higher-level variant of the 'balance' command, and -supports many of that command's features, such as multi-period reports. -It is similar to 'hledger balance assets not:fixed not:investment -not:receivable', but with smarter account detection. - - This command also supports the output destination and output format -options The output formats supported are 'txt', 'csv', 'html', and -(experimental) 'json'. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: check, Next: close, Prev: cashflow, Up: COMMANDS - -11.9 check -========== - -check -Check for various kinds of errors in your data. - - 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 'check' 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). - - Some examples: - -hledger check # basic checks -hledger check -s # basic + strict checks -hledger check ordereddates payees # basic + two other checks - - Here are the checks currently available: - -* Menu: - -* Basic checks:: -* Strict checks:: -* Other checks:: -* Custom checks:: - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Basic checks, Next: Strict checks, Up: check - -11.9.1 Basic checks -------------------- - -These checks are always run automatically, by (almost) all hledger -commands, including 'check': - - * *parseable* - data files are well-formed and can be successfully - parsed - - * *balancedwithautoconversion* - all transactions are balanced, - inferring missing amounts where necessary, and possibly converting - commodities using transaction prices or automatically-inferred - transaction prices - - * *assertions* - all balance assertions in the journal are passing. - (This check can be disabled with '-I'/'--ignore-assertions'.) - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Strict checks, Next: Other checks, Prev: Basic checks, Up: check - -11.9.2 Strict checks --------------------- - -These additional checks are run when the '-s'/'--strict' (strict mode) -flag is used. Or, they can be run by giving their names as arguments to -'check': - - * *accounts* - all account names used by transactions have been - declared - - * *commodities* - all commodity symbols used have been declared - - * *balancednoautoconversion* - transactions are balanced, possibly - using explicit transaction prices but not inferred ones - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Other checks, Next: Custom checks, Prev: Strict checks, Up: check - -11.9.3 Other checks -------------------- - -These checks can be run only by giving their names as arguments to -'check'. They are more specialised and not desirable for everyone, -therefore optional: - - * *ordereddates* - transactions are ordered by date within each file - - * *payees* - all payees used by transactions have been declared - - * *uniqueleafnames* - all account leaf names are unique - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Custom checks, Prev: Other checks, Up: check - -11.9.4 Custom checks --------------------- - -A few more checks are are available as separate add-on commands, in -https://github.com/simonmichael/hledger/tree/master/bin: - - * *hledger-check-tagfiles* - all tag values containing / (a forward - slash) exist as file paths - - * *hledger-check-fancyassertions* - more complex balance assertions - are passing - - You could make similar scripts to perform your own custom checks. -See: Cookbook -> Scripting. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: close, Next: codes, Prev: check, Up: COMMANDS - -11.10 close -=========== - -close, equity -Prints a sample "closing" transaction bringing specified account -balances to zero, and an inverse "opening" transaction restoring the -same account balances. - - If like most people you split your journal files by time, eg by year: -at the end of the year you can use this command to "close out" your -asset and liability (and perhaps equity) balances in the old file, and -reinitialise them in the new file. This helps ensure that report -balances remain correct whether you are including old files or not. -(Because all closing/opening transactions except the very first will -cancel out - see example below.) - - Some people also use this command to close out revenue and expense -balances at the end of an accounting period. This properly records the -period's profit/loss as "retained earnings" (part of equity), and allows -the accounting equation (A-L=E) to balance, which you could then check -by the bse report's zero total. - - You can print just the closing transaction by using the '--close' -flag, or just the opening transaction with the '--open' flag. - - Their descriptions are 'closing balances' and 'opening balances' by -default; you can customise these with the '--close-desc' and -'--open-desc' options. - - Just one balancing equity posting is used by default, with the amount -left implicit. The default account name is 'equity:opening/closing -balances'. You can customise the account name(s) with '--close-acct' -and '--open-acct'. (If you specify only one of these, it will be used -for both.) - - With '--x/--explicit', the equity posting's amount will be shown -explicitly, and if it involves multiple commodities, there will be a -separate equity posting for each commodity (as in the print command). - - With '--interleaved', each equity posting is shown next to the -posting it balances (good for troubleshooting). - -* Menu: - -* close and prices:: -* close date:: -* Example close asset/liability accounts for file transition:: -* Hiding opening/closing transactions:: -* close and balance assertions:: -* Example close revenue/expense accounts to retained earnings:: - - -File: hledger.info, Node: close and prices, Next: close date, Up: close - -11.10.1 close and prices ------------------------- - -Transaction prices are ignored (and discarded) by closing/opening -transactions, by default. With '--show-costs', they are preserved; -there will be a separate equity posting for each cost in each commodity. -This means 'balance -B' reports will look the same after the transition. -Note if you have many foreign currency or investment transactions, this -will generate very large journal entries. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: close date, Next: Example close asset/liability accounts for file transition, Prev: close and prices, Up: close - -11.10.2 close date ------------------- - -The default closing date is yesterday, or the journal's end date, -whichever is later. - - Unless you are running 'close' on exactly the first day of the new -period, you'll want to override the closing date. This is done by -specifying a report end date, where "last day of the report period" will -be the closing date. The opening date is always the following day. So -to close on (end of) 2020-12-31 and open on (start of) 2021-01-01, any -of these will work: - -end date explanation -argument -------------------------------------------------------------------- -'-e 2021-01-01' end dates are exclusive -'-e 2021' equivalent, per smart dates -'-p 2020' equivalent, the period's begin date is ignored -'date:2020' equivalent query - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Example close asset/liability accounts for file transition, Next: Hiding opening/closing transactions, Prev: close date, Up: close - -11.10.3 Example: close asset/liability accounts for file transition -------------------------------------------------------------------- - -Carrying asset/liability balances from 2020.journal into a new file for -2021: - -$ hledger close -f 2020.journal -p 2020 assets liabilities -# copy/paste the closing transaction to the end of 2020.journal -# copy/paste the opening transaction to the start of 2021.journal - - Or: - -$ hledger close -f 2020.journal -p 2020 assets liabilities --open >> 2021.journal # add 2021's first transaction -$ hledger close -f 2020.journal -p 2020 assets liabilities --close >> 2020.journal # add 2020's last transaction - - Now, - -$ hledger bs -f 2021.journal # just new file - balances correct -$ hledger bs -f 2020.journal -f 2021.journal # old and new files - balances correct -$ hledger bs -f 2020.journal # just old files - balances are zero ? - # (exclude final closing txn, see below) - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Hiding opening/closing transactions, Next: close and balance assertions, Prev: Example close asset/liability accounts for file transition, Up: close - -11.10.4 Hiding opening/closing transactions -------------------------------------------- - -Although the closing/opening transactions cancel out, they will be -visible in reports like 'print' and 'register', creating some visual -clutter. You can exclude them all with a query, like: - -$ hledger print not:desc:'opening|closing' # less typing -$ hledger print not:'equity:opening/closing balances' # more precise - - But when reporting on multiple files, this can get a bit tricky; you -may need to keep the earliest opening balances, for a historical -register report; or you may need to suppress a closing transaction, to -see year-end balances. If you find yourself needing more precise -queries, here's one solution: add more easily-matched tags to -opening/closing transactions, like this: - -; 2019.journal -2019-01-01 opening balances ; earliest opening txn, no tag here -... -2019-12-31 closing balances ; clopen:2020 -... - -; 2020.journal -2020-01-01 opening balances ; clopen:2020 -... -2020-12-31 closing balances ; clopen:2021 -... - -; 2021.journal -2021-01-01 opening balances ; clopen:2021 -... - - Now with - -; all.journal -include 2019.journal -include 2020.journal -include 2021.journal - - you could do eg: - -$ hledger -f all.journal reg -H checking not:tag:clopen - # all years checking register, hiding non-essential opening/closing txns - -$ hledger -f all.journal bs -p 2020 not:tag:clopen=2020 - # 2020 year end balances, suppressing 2020 closing txn - - -File: hledger.info, Node: close and balance assertions, Next: Example close revenue/expense accounts to retained earnings, Prev: Hiding opening/closing transactions, Up: close - -11.10.5 close and balance assertions ------------------------------------- - -The closing and opening transactions will include balance assertions, -verifying that the accounts have first been reset to zero and then -restored to their previous balance. These provide valuable error -checking, alerting you when things get out of line, but you can ignore -them temporarily with '-I' or just remove them if you prefer. - - You probably shouldn't use status or realness filters (like -C or -R -or 'status:') with 'close', or the generated balance assertions will -depend on these flags. Likewise, if you run this command with '--auto', -the balance assertions would probably always require '--auto'. - - Multi-day transactions (where some postings have a different date) -break the balance assertions, because the money is temporarily -"invisible" while in transit: - -2020/12/30 a purchase made in december, cleared in the next year - expenses:food 5 - assets:bank:checking -5 ; date: 2021/1/2 - - To fix the assertions, you can add a temporary account to track such -in-transit money (splitting the multi-day transaction into two -single-day transactions): - -; in 2020.journal: -2020/12/30 a purchase made in december, cleared in the next year - expenses:food 5 - liabilities:pending - -; in 2021.journal: -2021/1/2 clearance of last year's pending transactions - liabilities:pending 5 = 0 - assets:bank:checking - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Example close revenue/expense accounts to retained earnings, Prev: close and balance assertions, Up: close - -11.10.6 Example: close revenue/expense accounts to retained earnings --------------------------------------------------------------------- - -For this, use '--close' to suppress the opening transaction, as it's not -needed. Also you'll want to change the equity account name to your -equivalent of "equity:retained earnings". - - Closing 2021's first quarter revenues/expenses: - -$ hledger close -f 2021.journal --close revenues expenses -p 2021Q1 \ - --close-acct='equity:retained earnings' >> 2021.journal - - The same, using the default journal and current year: - -$ hledger close --close revenues expenses -p Q1 \ - --close-acct='equity:retained earnings' >> $LEDGER_FILE - - Now, the first quarter's balance sheet should show a zero (unless you -are using @/@@ notation without equity postings): - -$ hledger bse -p Q1 - - And we must suppress the closing transaction to see the first -quarter's income statement (using the description; 'not:'retained -earnings'' won't work here): - -$ hledger is -p Q1 not:desc:'closing balances' - - -File: hledger.info, Node: codes, Next: commodities, Prev: close, Up: COMMANDS - -11.11 codes -=========== - -codes -List the codes seen in transactions, in the order parsed. - - This command prints the value of each transaction'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. - - Transactions aren't required to have a code, and missing or empty -codes will not be shown by default. With the '-E'/'--empty' flag, they -will be printed as blank lines. - - You can add a query to select a subset of transactions. - - Examples: - -1/1 (123) - (a) 1 - -1/1 () - (a) 1 - -1/1 - (a) 1 - -1/1 (126) - (a) 1 - -$ hledger codes -123 -124 -126 - -$ hledger codes -E -123 -124 - - -126 - - -File: hledger.info, Node: commodities, Next: descriptions, Prev: codes, Up: COMMANDS - -11.12 commodities -================= - -commodities -List all commodity/currency symbols used or declared in the journal. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: descriptions, Next: diff, Prev: commodities, Up: COMMANDS - -11.13 descriptions -================== - -descriptions -List the unique descriptions that appear in transactions. - - This command lists the unique descriptions that appear in -transactions, in alphabetic order. You can add a query to select a -subset of transactions. - - Example: - -$ hledger descriptions -Store Name -Gas Station | Petrol -Person A - - -File: hledger.info, Node: diff, Next: files, Prev: descriptions, Up: COMMANDS - -11.14 diff -========== - -diff -Compares a particular account's transactions in two input files. It -shows any transactions to this account which are in one file but not in -the other. - - 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. - - This is useful eg if you have downloaded an account'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. - - Examples: - -$ 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: - - -File: hledger.info, Node: files, Next: help, Prev: diff, Up: COMMANDS - -11.15 files -=========== - -files -List all files included in the journal. With a REGEX argument, only -file names matching the regular expression (case sensitive) are shown. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: help, Next: import, Prev: files, Up: COMMANDS - -11.16 help -========== - -help -Show the hledger user manual in one of several formats, optionally -positioned at a given TOPIC (if possible). - - TOPIC is any heading in the manual, or the start of any heading (but -not the middle). It is case insensitive. - - Some examples: 'commands', 'print', 'forecast', '"auto postings"', -'"commodity column"'. - - This command shows the user manual built in to this hledger version. -It can be useful if the correct version of the hledger manual, or the -usual viewing tools, are not installed on your system. - - By default it uses the best viewer it can find in $PATH, in this -order: 'info', 'man', $PAGER (unless a topic is specified), 'less', or -stdout. When run non-interactively, it always uses stdout. Or you can -select a particular viewer with the '-i' (info), '-m' (man), or '-p' -(pager) flags. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: import, Next: incomestatement, Prev: help, Up: COMMANDS - -11.17 import -============ - -import -Read new transactions added to each FILE since last run, and add them to -the main journal file. Or with -dry-run, just print the transactions -that would be added. Or with -catchup, just mark all of the FILEs' -transactions as imported, without actually importing any. - - Unlike other hledger commands, with 'import' 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 -'hledger import bank.csv' or perhaps 'hledger import *.csv'. - - Note you can import from any file format, though CSV files are the -most common import source, and these docs focus on that case. - -* Menu: - -* Deduplication:: -* Import testing:: -* Importing balance assignments:: -* Commodity display styles:: - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Deduplication, Next: Import testing, Up: import - -11.17.1 Deduplication ---------------------- - -As a convenience 'import' does _deduplication_ while reading -transactions. This does not mean "ignore transactions that look the -same", but rather "ignore transactions that have been seen before". -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 'hledger import bank.csv' and only new transactions will be -imported. ('import' is idempotent.) - - Since the items being read (CSV records, eg) often do not come with -unique identifiers, hledger detects new transactions by date, assuming -that: - - 1. new items always have the newest dates - 2. item dates do not change across reads - 3. and items with the same date remain in the same relative order - across reads. - - 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't matter (and if -you import often, the new transactions will be few, so less likely to be -the ones affected). - - hledger remembers the latest date processed in each input file by -saving a hidden ".latest" state file in the same directory. Eg when -reading 'finance/bank.csv', it will look for and update the -'finance/.latest.bank.csv' state file. The format is simple: one or -more lines containing the same ISO-format date (YYYY-MM-DD), meaning "I -have processed transactions up to this date, and this many of them on -that date." Normally you won't see or manipulate these state files -yourself. But if needed, you can delete them to reset the state (making -all transactions "new"), or you can construct them to "catch up" to a -certain date. - - Note deduplication (and updating of state files) can also be done by -'print --new', but this is less often used. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Import testing, Next: Importing balance assignments, Prev: Deduplication, Up: import - -11.17.2 Import testing ----------------------- - -With '--dry-run', 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: - -$ hledger import --dry bank.csv | hledger -f- -I print unknown - - or (live updating): - -$ ls bank.csv* | entr bash -c 'echo ====; hledger import --dry bank.csv | hledger -f- -I print unknown' - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Importing balance assignments, Next: Commodity display styles, Prev: Import testing, Up: import - -11.17.3 Importing balance assignments -------------------------------------- - -Entries added by import will have their posting amounts made explicit -(like 'hledger print -x'). This means that any balance assignments in -imported files must be evaluated; but, imported files don't get to see -the main file'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: - -$ hledger print IMPORTFILE [--new] >> $LEDGER_FILE - - (If you think import should leave amounts implicit like print does, -please test it and send a pull request.) - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Commodity display styles, Prev: Importing balance assignments, Up: import - -11.17.4 Commodity display styles --------------------------------- - -Imported amounts will be formatted according to the canonical commodity -styles (declared or inferred) in the main journal file. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: incomestatement, Next: notes, Prev: import, Up: COMMANDS - -11.18 incomestatement -===================== - -incomestatement, is - - This command displays an income statement, showing revenues and -expenses during one or more periods. Amounts are shown with normal -positive sign, as in conventional financial statements. - - The revenue and expense accounts shown are those accounts declared -with the 'Revenue' or 'Expense' type, or otherwise all accounts under a -top-level 'revenue' or 'income' or 'expense' account (case insensitive, -plurals allowed). - - Example: - -$ hledger incomestatement -Income Statement - -Revenues: - $-2 income - $-1 gifts - $-1 salary --------------------- - $-2 - -Expenses: - $2 expenses - $1 food - $1 supplies --------------------- - $2 - -Total: --------------------- - 0 - - This command is a higher-level variant of the 'balance' command, and -supports many of that command's features, such as multi-period reports. -It is similar to 'hledger balance '(revenues|income)' expenses', but -with smarter account detection, and revenues/income displayed with their -sign flipped. - - This command also supports the output destination and output format -options The output formats supported are 'txt', 'csv', 'html', and -(experimental) 'json'. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: notes, Next: payees, Prev: incomestatement, Up: COMMANDS - -11.19 notes -=========== - -notes -List the unique notes that appear in transactions. - - This command lists the unique notes that appear in transactions, in -alphabetic order. You can add a query to select a subset of -transactions. The note is the part of the transaction description after -a | character (or if there is no |, the whole description). - - Example: - -$ hledger notes -Petrol -Snacks - - -File: hledger.info, Node: payees, Next: prices, Prev: notes, Up: COMMANDS - -11.20 payees -============ - -payees -List the unique payee/payer names that appear in transactions. - - This command lists unique payee/payer names which have been declared -with payee directives (-declared), used in transaction descriptions -(-used), or both (the default). - - The payee/payer is the part of the transaction description before a | -character (or if there is no |, the whole description). - - You can add query arguments to select a subset of transactions. This -implies -used. - - Example: - -$ hledger payees -Store Name -Gas Station -Person A - - -File: hledger.info, Node: prices, Next: print, Prev: payees, Up: COMMANDS - -11.21 prices -============ - -prices -Print market price directives from the journal. With --infer-market-prices, generate additional market prices from transaction -prices. With -infer-reverse-prices, also generate market prices by -inverting transaction prices. Prices (and postings providing -transaction prices) can be filtered by a query. Price amounts are -displayed with their full precision. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: print, Next: print-unique, Prev: prices, Up: COMMANDS - -11.22 print -=========== - -print -Show transaction journal entries, sorted by date. - - The print command displays full journal entries (transactions) from -the journal file, sorted by date (or with '--date2', by secondary date). - - 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.) - - Amounts are shown right-aligned within each transaction (but not -across all transactions). - - 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. - - Eg: - -$ 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 $-1 - - print's output is usually a valid hledger journal, and you can -process it again with a second hledger command. This can be useful for -certain kinds of search, eg: - -# Show running total of food expenses paid from cash. -# -f- reads from stdin. -I/--ignore-assertions is sometimes needed. -$ hledger print assets:cash | hledger -f- -I reg expenses:food - - There are some situations where print's output can become -unparseable: - - * Valuation affects posting amounts but not balance assertion or - balance assignment amounts, potentially causing those to fail. - * Auto postings can generate postings with too many missing amounts. - - Normally, the journal entry'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 transaction price is -implied but not written, it will not appear in the output. You can use -the '-x'/'--explicit' flag to make all amounts and transaction prices -explicit, which can be useful for troubleshooting or for making your -journal more readable and robust against data entry errors. '-x' is -also implied by using any of '-B','-V','-X','--value'. - - Note, '-x'/'--explicit' 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. - - With '-B'/'--cost', amounts with transaction prices are converted to -cost using that price. This can be used for troubleshooting. - - With '-m'/'--match' and a STR argument, print will show at most one -transaction: the one one whose description is most similar to STR, and -is most recent. STR should contain at least two characters. If there -is no similar-enough match, no transaction will be shown. - - With '--new', hledger prints only transactions it has not seen on a -previous run. This uses the same deduplication system as the 'import' -command. (See import's docs for details.) - - This command also supports the output destination and output format -options The output formats supported are 'txt', 'csv', and -(experimental) 'json' and 'sql'. - - Here's an example of print's CSV output: - -$ hledger print -Ocsv -"txnidx","date","date2","status","code","description","comment","account","amount","commodity","credit","debit","posting-status","posting-comment" -"1","2008/01/01","","","","income","","assets:bank:checking","1","$","","1","","" -"1","2008/01/01","","","","income","","income:salary","-1","$","1","","","" -"2","2008/06/01","","","","gift","","assets:bank:checking","1","$","","1","","" -"2","2008/06/01","","","","gift","","income:gifts","-1","$","1","","","" -"3","2008/06/02","","","","save","","assets:bank:saving","1","$","","1","","" -"3","2008/06/02","","","","save","","assets:bank:checking","-1","$","1","","","" -"4","2008/06/03","","*","","eat & shop","","expenses:food","1","$","","1","","" -"4","2008/06/03","","*","","eat & shop","","expenses:supplies","1","$","","1","","" -"4","2008/06/03","","*","","eat & shop","","assets:cash","-2","$","2","","","" -"5","2008/12/31","","*","","pay off","","liabilities:debts","1","$","","1","","" -"5","2008/12/31","","*","","pay off","","assets:bank:checking","-1","$","1","","","" - - * There is one CSV record per posting, with the parent transaction's - fields repeated. - * The "txnidx" (transaction index) field shows which postings belong - to the same transaction. (This number might change if transactions - are reordered within the file, files are parsed/included in a - different order, etc.) - * The amount is separated into "commodity" (the symbol) and "amount" - (numeric quantity) fields. - * The numeric amount is repeated in either the "credit" or "debit" - column, for convenience. (Those names are not accurate in the - accounting sense; it just puts negative amounts under credit and - zero or greater amounts under debit.) - - -File: hledger.info, Node: print-unique, Next: register, Prev: print, Up: COMMANDS - -11.23 print-unique -================== - -print-unique -Print transactions which do not reuse an already-seen description. - - Example: - -$ cat unique.journal -1/1 test - (acct:one) 1 -2/2 test - (acct:two) 2 -$ LEDGER_FILE=unique.journal hledger print-unique -(-f option not supported) -2015/01/01 test - (acct:one) 1 - - -File: hledger.info, Node: register, Next: register-match, Prev: print-unique, Up: COMMANDS - -11.24 register -============== - -register, reg -Show postings and their running total. - - The register command displays matched postings, across all accounts, -in date order, with their running total or running historical balance. -(See also the 'aregister' command, which shows matched transactions in a -specific account.) - - register normally shows line per posting, but note that -multi-commodity amounts will occupy multiple lines (one line per -commodity). - - It is typically used with a query selecting a particular account, to -see that account's activity: - -$ 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 $-1 0 - - With -date2, it shows and sorts by secondary date instead. - - The '--historical'/'-H' flag adds the balance from any undisplayed -prior postings to the running total. This is useful when you want to -see only recent activity, with a historically accurate running balance: - -$ 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 $-1 0 - - The '--depth' option limits the amount of sub-account detail -displayed. - - The '--average'/'-A' flag shows the running average posting amount -instead of the running total (so, the final number displayed is the -average for the whole report period). This flag implies '--empty' (see -below). It is affected by '--historical'. It works best when showing -just one account and one commodity. - - The '--related'/'-r' flag shows the _other_ postings in the -transactions of the postings which would normally be shown. - - The '--invert' flag negates all amounts. For example, it can be used -on an income account where amounts are normally displayed as negative -numbers. It's also useful to show postings on the checking account -together with the related account: - -$ hledger register --related --invert assets:checking - - With a reporting interval, register shows summary postings, one per -interval, aggregating the postings to each account: - -$ hledger register --monthly income -2008/01 income:salary $-1 $-1 -2008/06 income:gifts $-1 $-2 - - Periods with no activity, and summary postings with a zero amount, -are not shown by default; use the '--empty'/'-E' flag to see them: - -$ 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 $-2 - - Often, you'll want to see just one line per interval. The '--depth' -option helps with this, causing subaccounts to be aggregated: - -$ hledger register --monthly assets --depth 1h -2008/01 assets $1 $1 -2008/06 assets $-1 0 -2008/12 assets $-1 $-1 - - Note when using report intervals, if you specify start/end dates -these will be adjusted outward if necessary to contain a whole number of -intervals. This ensures that the first and last intervals are full -length and comparable to the others in the report. - -* Menu: - -* Custom register output:: - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Custom register output, Up: register - -11.24.1 Custom register output ------------------------------- - -register uses the full terminal width by default, except on windows. -You can override this by setting the 'COLUMNS' environment variable (not -a bash shell variable) or by using the '--width'/'-w' option. - - The description and account columns normally share the space equally -(about half of (width - 40) each). You can adjust this by adding a -description width as part of -width's argument, comma-separated: -'--width W,D' . Here's a diagram (won't display correctly in -help): - -<--------------------------------- width (W) ----------------------------------> -date (10) description (D) account (W-41-D) amount (12) balance (12) -DDDDDDDDDD dddddddddddddddddddd aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa AAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAA - - and some examples: - -$ 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 $COLUMNS,40 # use terminal width, & description width 40 - - This command also supports the output destination and output format -options The output formats supported are 'txt', 'csv', and -(experimental) 'json'. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: register-match, Next: rewrite, Prev: register, Up: COMMANDS - -11.25 register-match -==================== - -register-match -Print the one posting whose transaction description is closest to DESC, -in the style of the register command. If there are multiple equally -good matches, it shows the most recent. Query options (options, not -arguments) can be used to restrict the search space. Helps -ledger-autosync detect already-seen transactions when importing. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: rewrite, Next: roi, Prev: register-match, Up: COMMANDS - -11.26 rewrite -============= - -rewrite -Print all transactions, rewriting the postings of matched transactions. -For now the only rewrite available is adding new postings, like print --auto. - - This is a start at a generic rewriter of transaction entries. It -reads the default journal and prints the transactions, like print, but -adds one or more specified postings to any transactions matching QUERY. -The posting amounts can be fixed, or a multiplier of the existing -transaction's first posting amount. - - Examples: - -$ hledger-rewrite.hs ^income --add-posting '(liabilities:tax) *.33 ; income tax' --add-posting '(reserve:gifts) $100' -$ hledger-rewrite.hs expenses:gifts --add-posting '(reserve:gifts) *-1"' -$ hledger-rewrite.hs -f rewrites.hledger - - rewrites.hledger may consist of entries like: - -= ^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 - - Note the single quotes to protect the dollar sign from bash, and the -two spaces between account and amount. - - More: - -$ hledger rewrite -- [QUERY] --add-posting "ACCT AMTEXPR" ... -$ hledger rewrite -- ^income --add-posting '(liabilities:tax) *.33' -$ hledger rewrite -- expenses:gifts --add-posting '(budget:gifts) *-1"' -$ hledger rewrite -- ^income --add-posting '(budget:foreign currency) *0.25 JPY; diversify' - - Argument for '--add-posting' option is a usual posting of transaction -with an exception for amount specification. More precisely, you can use -''*'' (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's -commodity. - -* Menu: - -* Re-write rules in a file:: -* Diff output format:: -* rewrite vs print --auto:: - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Re-write rules in a file, Next: Diff output format, Up: rewrite - -11.26.1 Re-write rules in a file --------------------------------- - -During the run this tool will execute so called "Automated Transactions" -found in any journal it process. I.e instead of specifying this -operations in command line you can put them in a journal file. - -$ rewrite-rules.journal - - Make contents look like this: - -= ^income - (liabilities:tax) *.33 - -= expenses:gifts - budget:gifts *-1 - assets:budget *1 - - Note that ''='' (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. - -$ hledger rewrite -- -f input.journal -f rewrite-rules.journal > rewritten-tidy-output.journal - - This is something similar to the commands pipeline: - -$ hledger rewrite -- -f input.journal '^income' --add-posting '(liabilities:tax) *.33' \ - | hledger rewrite -- -f - expenses:gifts --add-posting 'budget:gifts *-1' \ - --add-posting 'assets:budget *1' \ - > rewritten-tidy-output.journal - - It is important to understand that relative order of such entries in -journal is important. You can re-use result of previously added -postings. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Diff output format, Next: rewrite vs print --auto, Prev: Re-write rules in a file, Up: rewrite - -11.26.2 Diff output format --------------------------- - -To use this tool for batch modification of your journal files you may -find useful output in form of unified diff. - -$ hledger rewrite -- --diff -f examples/sample.journal '^income' --add-posting '(liabilities:tax) *.33' - - Output might look like: - ---- /tmp/examples/sample.journal -+++ /tmp/examples/sample.journal -@@ -18,3 +18,4 @@ - 2008/01/01 income -- assets:bank:checking $1 -+ assets:bank:checking $1 - income:salary -+ (liabilities:tax) 0 -@@ -22,3 +23,4 @@ - 2008/06/01 gift -- assets:bank:checking $1 -+ assets:bank:checking $1 - income:gifts -+ (liabilities:tax) 0 - - If you'll pass this through 'patch' tool you'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 '--file' options and 'include' directives inside of these -files. - - Be careful. Whole transaction being re-formatted in a style of -output from 'hledger print'. - - See also: - - https://github.com/simonmichael/hledger/issues/99 - - -File: hledger.info, Node: rewrite vs print --auto, Prev: Diff output format, Up: rewrite - -11.26.3 rewrite vs. print -auto -------------------------------- - -This command predates print -auto, and currently does much the same -thing, but with these differences: - - * with multiple files, rewrite lets rules in any file affect all - other files. print -auto uses standard directive scoping; rules - affect only child files. - - * rewrite's query limits which transactions can be rewritten; all are - printed. print -auto's query limits which transactions are - printed. - - * rewrite applies rules specified on command line or in the journal. - print -auto applies rules specified in the journal. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: roi, Next: stats, Prev: rewrite, Up: COMMANDS - -11.27 roi -========= - -roi -Shows the time-weighted (TWR) and money-weighted (IRR) rate of return on -your investments. - - At a minimum, you need to supply a query (which could be just an -account name) to select your investment(s) with '--inv', and another -query to identify your profit and loss transactions with '--pnl'. - - If you do not record changes in the value of your investment -manually, or do not require computation of time-weighted return (TWR), -'--pnl' could be an empty query ('--pnl ""' or '--pnl STR' where 'STR' -does not match any of your accounts). - - 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. - - Price directives will be taken into account if you supply appropriate -'--cost' or '--value' flags (see VALUATION). - - Note, in some cases this report can fail, for these reasons: - - * 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. - * Error (SearchFailed): Failed to find solution for Internal Rate of - Return (IRR). Either search does not converge to a solution, or - converges too slowly. - - Examples: - - * Using roi to compute total return of investment in stocks: - https://github.com/simonmichael/hledger/blob/master/examples/roi-unrealised.ledger - - * Cookbook -> Return on Investment - -* Menu: - -* Spaces and special characters in --inv and --pnl:: -* Semantics of --inv and --pnl:: -* IRR and TWR explained:: - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Spaces and special characters in --inv and --pnl, Next: Semantics of --inv and --pnl, Up: roi - -11.27.1 Spaces and special characters in '--inv' and ----------------------------------------------------- - -'--pnl' Note that '--inv' and '--pnl''s argument is a query, and queries -could have several space-separated terms (see QUERIES). - - To indicate that all search terms form single command-line argument, -you will need to put them in quotes (see Special characters): - -$ hledger roi --inv 'term1 term2 term3 ...' - - If any query terms contain spaces themselves, you will need an extra -level of nested quoting, eg: - -$ hledger roi --inv="'Assets:Test 1'" --pnl="'Equity:Unrealized Profit and Loss'" - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Semantics of --inv and --pnl, Next: IRR and TWR explained, Prev: Spaces and special characters in --inv and --pnl, Up: roi - -11.27.2 Semantics of '--inv' and '--pnl' ----------------------------------------- - -Query supplied to '--inv' has to match all transactions that are related -to your investment. Transactions not matching '--inv' will be ignored. - - In these transactions, ROI will conside postings that match '--inv' -to be "investment postings" and other postings (not matching '--inv') -will be sorted into two categories: "cash flow" and "profit and loss", -as ROI needs to know which part of the investment value is your -contributions and which is due to the return on investment. - - * "Cash flow" is depositing or withdrawing money, buying or selling - assets, or otherwise converting between your investment commodity - and any other commodity. Example: - - 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 - - * "Profit and loss" is change in the value of your investment: - - 2019-06-01 Snake Oil falls in value - investment:snake oil = $57 - equity:unrealized profit or loss - - All non-investment postings are assumed to be "cash flow", unless -they match '--pnl' query. Changes in value of your investment due to -"profit and loss" postings will be considered as part of your investment -return. - - Example: if you use '--inv snake --pnl equity:unrealized', then -postings in the example below would be classifed as: - -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 - - -File: hledger.info, Node: IRR and TWR explained, Prev: Semantics of --inv and --pnl, Up: roi - -11.27.3 IRR and TWR explained ------------------------------ - -"ROI" stands for "return on investment". Traditionally this was -computed as a difference between current value of investment and its -initial value, expressed in percentage of the initial value. - - 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. - - Internal rate of return, or "IRR" (also called "money-weighted rate -of return") 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. - - As mentioned before, in-flows and out-flows would be any cash that -you personally put in or withdraw, and for the "roi" command, these are -the postings that match the query in the'--inv' argument and NOT match -the query in the'--pnl' argument. - - If you manually record changes in the value of your investment as -transactions that balance them against "profit and loss" (or "unrealized -gains") 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. - - 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't done -discounted cash flow analysis before. Implementation of IRR in hledger -should produce results that match the 'XIRR' formula in Excel. - - Second way to compute rate of return that 'roi' command implements is -called "time-weighted rate of return" or "TWR". 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. - - TWR represents your investment as an imaginary "unit fund" where -in-flows/ out-flows lead to buying or selling "units" of your investment -and changes in its value change the value of "investment unit". Change -in "unit price" over the reporting period gives you rate of return of -your investment. - - References: * Explanation of rate of return * Explanation of IRR * -Explanation of TWR * Examples of computing IRR and TWR and discussion of -the limitations of both metrics - - -File: hledger.info, Node: stats, Next: tags, Prev: roi, Up: COMMANDS - -11.28 stats -=========== - -stats -Show some journal statistics. - - 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. - - Example: - -$ hledger stats -Main journal file : /src/hledger/examples/sample.journal -Included journal files : -Transactions span : 2008-01-01 to 2009-01-01 (366 days) -Last transaction : 2008-12-31 (2333 days ago) -Transactions : 5 (0.0 per day) -Transactions last 30 days: 0 (0.0 per day) -Transactions last 7 days : 0 (0.0 per day) -Payees/descriptions : 5 -Accounts : 8 (depth 3) -Commodities : 1 ($) -Market prices : 12 ($) - - This command also supports output destination and output format -selection. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: tags, Next: test, Prev: stats, Up: COMMANDS - -11.29 tags -========== - -tags -List the unique tag names used in the journal. With a TAGREGEX -argument, only tag names matching the regular expression (case -insensitive) are shown. With QUERY arguments, only transactions -matching the query are considered. - - With the -values flag, the tags' unique values are listed instead. - - With -parsed flag, all tags or values are shown in the order they are -parsed from the input data, including duplicates. - - With -E/-empty, any blank/empty values will also be shown, otherwise -they are omitted. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: test, Next: About add-on commands, Prev: tags, Up: COMMANDS - -11.30 test -========== - -test -Run built-in unit tests. - - 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. - - 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! - - 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: - -$ hledger test -- -pData.Amount --color=never - - For help on these, see https://github.com/feuerbach/tasty#options -('-- --help' currently doesn't show them). - - -File: hledger.info, Node: About add-on commands, Prev: test, Up: COMMANDS - -11.31 About add-on commands -=========================== - -Add-on commands are programs or scripts in your PATH - - * whose name starts with 'hledger-' - * whose name ends with a recognised file extension: - '.bat','.com','.exe', '.hs','.lhs','.pl','.py','.rb','.rkt','.sh' - or none - * and (on unix, mac) which are executable by the current user. - - Add-ons are a relatively easy way to add local features or experiment -with new ideas. They can be written in any language, but haskell -scripts have a big advantage: they can use the same hledger library -functions that built-in commands use for command-line options, parsing -and reporting. Some experimental/example add-on scripts can be found in -the hledger repo's bin/ directory. - - Note in a hledger command line, add-on command flags must have a -double dash ('--') preceding them. Eg you must write: - -$ hledger web -- --serve - - and not: - -$ hledger web --serve - - (because the '--serve' flag belongs to 'hledger-web', not 'hledger'). - - The '-h/--help' and '--version' flags don't require '--'. - - If you have any trouble with this, remember you can always run the -add-on program directly, eg: - -$ hledger-web --serve - - -File: hledger.info, Node: JOURNAL FORMAT, Next: CSV FORMAT, Prev: COMMANDS, Up: Top - -12 JOURNAL FORMAT -***************** - -hledger's default file format, representing a General Journal. - - hledger's usual data source is a plain text file containing journal -entries in hledger journal format. This file represents a standard -accounting general journal. I use file names ending in '.journal', but -that's not required. The journal file contains a number of transaction -entries, each describing a transfer of money (or any commodity) between -two or more named accounts, in a simple format readable by both hledger -and humans. - - hledger's journal format is a compatible subset, mostly, of ledger's -journal format, so hledger can work with compatible ledger journal files -as well. It's safe, and encouraged, to run both hledger and ledger on -the same journal file, eg to validate the results you're getting. - - You can use hledger without learning any more about this file; just -use the add or web or import commands to create and update it. - - Many users, though, edit the journal file with a text editor, and -track changes with a version control system such as git. Editor addons -such as ledger-mode or hledger-mode for Emacs, vim-ledger for Vim, and -hledger-vscode for Visual Studio Code, make this easier, adding colour, -formatting, tab completion, and useful commands. See Editor -configuration at hledger.org for the full list. - - Here's a description of each part of the file format (and hledger's -data model). These are mostly in the order you'll use them, but in some -cases related concepts have been grouped together for easy reference, or -linked before they are introduced, so feel free to skip over anything -that looks unnecessary right now. - -* Menu: - -* Transactions:: -* Dates:: -* Status:: -* Code:: -* Description:: -* Comments:: -* Tags:: -* Postings:: -* Account names:: -* Amounts:: -* Transaction prices:: -* Lot prices lot dates:: -* Balance assertions:: -* Balance assignments:: -* Directives:: -* Directives and multiple files:: -* Comment blocks:: -* Including other files:: -* Default year:: -* Declaring payees:: -* Declaring commodities:: -* Default commodity:: -* Declaring market prices:: -* Declaring accounts:: -* Rewriting accounts:: -* Default parent account:: -* Periodic transactions:: -* Auto postings:: - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Transactions, Next: Dates, Up: JOURNAL FORMAT - -12.1 Transactions -================= - -Transactions are the main unit of information in a journal file. They -represent events, typically a movement of some quantity of commodities -between two or more named accounts. - - Each transaction is recorded as a journal entry, beginning with a -simple date in column 0. This can be followed by any of the following -optional fields, separated by spaces: - - * a status character (empty, '!', or '*') - * a code (any short number or text, enclosed in parentheses) - * a description (any remaining text until end of line or a semicolon) - * a comment (any remaining text following a semicolon until end of - line, and any following indented lines beginning with a semicolon) - * 0 or more indented _posting_ lines, describing what was transferred - and the accounts involved (indented comment lines are also allowed, - but not blank lines or non-indented lines). - - Here's a simple journal file containing one transaction: - -2008/01/01 income - assets:bank:checking $1 - income:salary $-1 - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Dates, Next: Status, Prev: Transactions, Up: JOURNAL FORMAT - -12.2 Dates -========== - -* Menu: - -* Simple dates:: -* Secondary dates:: -* Posting dates:: - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Simple dates, Next: Secondary dates, Up: Dates - -12.2.1 Simple dates -------------------- - -Dates in the journal file use _simple dates_ format: 'YYYY-MM-DD' or -'YYYY/MM/DD' or 'YYYY.MM.DD', with leading zeros optional. The year may -be omitted, in which case it will be inferred from the context: the -current transaction, the default year set with a default year directive, -or the current date when the command is run. Some examples: -'2010-01-31', '2010/01/31', '2010.1.31', '1/31'. - - (The UI also accepts simple dates, as well as the more flexible smart -dates documented in the hledger manual.) - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Secondary dates, Next: Posting dates, Prev: Simple dates, Up: Dates - -12.2.2 Secondary dates ----------------------- - -Real-life transactions sometimes involve more than one date - eg the -date you write a cheque, and the date it clears in your bank. When you -want to model this, for more accurate daily balances, you can specify -individual posting dates. - - Or, you can use the older _secondary date_ feature (Ledger calls it -auxiliary date or effective date). Note: we support this for -compatibility, but I usually recommend avoiding this feature; posting -dates are almost always clearer and simpler. - - A secondary date is written after the primary date, following an -equals sign. If the year is omitted, the primary date's year is -assumed. When running reports, the primary (left) date is used by -default, but with the '--date2' flag (or '--aux-date' or '--effective'), -the secondary (right) date will be used instead. - - The meaning of secondary dates is up to you, but it's best to follow -a consistent rule. Eg "primary = the bank's clearing date, secondary = -date the transaction was initiated, if different", as shown here: - -2010/2/23=2/19 movie ticket - expenses:cinema $10 - assets:checking - -$ hledger register checking -2010-02-23 movie ticket assets:checking $-10 $-10 - -$ hledger register checking --date2 -2010-02-19 movie ticket assets:checking $-10 $-10 - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Posting dates, Prev: Secondary dates, Up: Dates - -12.2.3 Posting dates --------------------- - -You can give individual postings a different date from their parent -transaction, by adding a posting comment containing a tag (see below) -like 'date:DATE'. This is probably the best way to control posting -dates precisely. Eg in this example the expense should appear in May -reports, and the deduction from checking should be reported on 6/1 for -easy bank reconciliation: - -2015/5/30 - expenses:food $10 ; food purchased on saturday 5/30 - assets:checking ; bank cleared it on monday, date:6/1 - -$ hledger -f t.j register food -2015-05-30 expenses:food $10 $10 - -$ hledger -f t.j register checking -2015-06-01 assets:checking $-10 $-10 - - DATE should be a simple date; if the year is not specified it will -use the year of the transaction's date. You can set the secondary date -similarly, with 'date2:DATE2'. The 'date:' or 'date2:' tags must have a -valid simple date value if they are present, eg a 'date:' tag with no -value is not allowed. - - Ledger's earlier, more compact bracketed date syntax is also -supported: '[DATE]', '[DATE=DATE2]' or '[=DATE2]'. hledger will attempt -to parse any square-bracketed sequence of the '0123456789/-.=' -characters in this way. With this syntax, DATE infers its year from the -transaction and DATE2 infers its year from DATE. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Status, Next: Code, Prev: Dates, Up: JOURNAL FORMAT - -12.3 Status -=========== - -Transactions, or individual postings within a transaction, can have a -status mark, which is a single character before the transaction -description or posting account name, separated from it by a space, -indicating one of three statuses: - -mark status - ------------------ - unmarked -'!' pending -'*' cleared - - When reporting, you can filter by status with the '-U/--unmarked', -'-P/--pending', and '-C/--cleared' flags; or the 'status:', 'status:!', -and 'status:*' queries; or the U, P, C keys in hledger-ui. - - Note, in Ledger and in older versions of hledger, the "unmarked" -state is called "uncleared". As of hledger 1.3 we have renamed it to -unmarked for clarity. - - To replicate Ledger and old hledger's behaviour of also matching -pending, combine -U and -P. - - Status marks are optional, but can be helpful eg for reconciling with -real-world accounts. Some editor modes provide highlighting and -shortcuts for working with status. Eg in Emacs ledger-mode, you can -toggle transaction status with C-c C-e, or posting status with C-c C-c. - - What "uncleared", "pending", and "cleared" actually mean is up to -you. Here's one suggestion: - -status meaning --------------------------------------------------------------------------- -uncleared recorded but not yet reconciled; needs review -pending tentatively reconciled (if needed, eg during a big - reconciliation) -cleared complete, reconciled as far as possible, and considered - correct - - With this scheme, you would use '-PC' to see the current balance at -your bank, '-U' to see things which will probably hit your bank soon -(like uncashed checks), and no flags to see the most up-to-date state of -your finances. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Code, Next: Description, Prev: Status, Up: JOURNAL FORMAT - -12.4 Code -========= - -After the status mark, but before the description, you can optionally -write a transaction "code", enclosed in parentheses. This is a good -place to record a check number, or some other important transaction id -or reference number. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Description, Next: Comments, Prev: Code, Up: JOURNAL FORMAT - -12.5 Description -================ - -A transaction's description is the rest of the line following the date -and status mark (or until a comment begins). Sometimes called the -"narration" in traditional bookkeeping, it can be used for whatever you -wish, or left blank. Transaction descriptions can be queried, unlike -comments. - -* Menu: - -* Payee and note:: - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Payee and note, Up: Description - -12.5.1 Payee and note ---------------------- - -You can optionally include a '|' (pipe) character in descriptions to -subdivide the description into separate fields for payee/payer name on -the left (up to the first '|') and an additional note field on the right -(after the first '|'). This may be worthwhile if you need to do more -precise querying and pivoting by payee or by note. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Comments, Next: Tags, Prev: Description, Up: JOURNAL FORMAT - -12.6 Comments -============= - -Lines in the journal beginning with a semicolon (';') or hash ('#') or -star ('*') are comments, and will be ignored. (Star comments cause -org-mode nodes to be ignored, allowing emacs users to fold and navigate -their journals with org-mode or orgstruct-mode.) - - You can attach comments to a transaction by writing them after the -description and/or indented on the following lines (before the -postings). Similarly, you can attach comments to an individual posting -by writing them after the amount and/or indented on the following lines. -Transaction and posting comments must begin with a semicolon (';'). - - Some examples: - -# a file comment -; another file comment -* also a file comment, useful in org/orgstruct mode - -comment -A multiline file comment, which continues -until a line containing just "end comment" -(or end of file). -end comment - -2012/5/14 something ; a transaction comment - ; the transaction comment, continued - posting1 1 ; a comment for posting 1 - posting2 - ; a comment for posting 2 - ; another comment line for posting 2 -; a file comment (because not indented) - - You can also comment larger regions of a file using 'comment' and -'end comment' directives. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Tags, Next: Postings, Prev: Comments, Up: JOURNAL FORMAT - -12.7 Tags -========= - -Tags are a way to add extra labels or labelled data to postings and -transactions, which you can then search or pivot on. - - A simple tag is a word (which may contain hyphens) followed by a full -colon, written inside a transaction or posting comment line: - -2017/1/16 bought groceries ; sometag: - - Tags can have a value, which is the text after the colon, up to the -next comma or end of line, with leading/trailing whitespace removed: - - expenses:food $10 ; a-posting-tag: the tag value - - Note this means hledger's tag values can not contain commas or -newlines. Ending at commas means you can write multiple short tags on -one line, comma separated: - - assets:checking ; a comment containing tag1:, tag2: some value ... - - Here, - - * "'a comment containing'" is just comment text, not a tag - * "'tag1'" is a tag with no value - * "'tag2'" is another tag, whose value is "'some value ...'" - - Tags in a transaction comment affect the transaction and all of its -postings, while tags in a posting comment affect only that posting. For -example, the following transaction has three tags ('A', 'TAG2', -'third-tag') and the posting has four (those plus 'posting-tag'): - -1/1 a transaction ; A:, TAG2: - ; third-tag: a third transaction tag, <- with a value - (a) $1 ; posting-tag: - - Tags are like Ledger's metadata feature, except hledger's tag values -are simple strings. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Postings, Next: Account names, Prev: Tags, Up: JOURNAL FORMAT - -12.8 Postings -============= - -A posting is an addition of some amount to, or removal of some amount -from, an account. Each posting line begins with at least one space or -tab (2 or 4 spaces is common), followed by: - - * (optional) a status character (empty, '!', or '*'), followed by a - space - * (required) an account name (any text, optionally containing *single - spaces*, until end of line or a double space) - * (optional) *two or more spaces* or tabs followed by an amount. - - Positive amounts are being added to the account, negative amounts are -being removed. - - The amounts within a transaction must always sum up to zero. As a -convenience, one amount may be left blank; it will be inferred so as to -balance the transaction. - - Be sure to note the unusual two-space delimiter between account name -and amount. This makes it easy to write account names containing -spaces. But if you accidentally leave only one space (or tab) before -the amount, the amount will be considered part of the account name. - -* Menu: - -* Virtual postings:: - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Virtual postings, Up: Postings - -12.8.1 Virtual postings ------------------------ - -A posting with a parenthesised account name is called a _virtual -posting_ or _unbalanced posting_, which means it is exempt from the -usual rule that a transaction's postings must balance add up to zero. - - This is not part of double entry accounting, so you might choose to -avoid this feature. Or you can use it sparingly for certain special -cases where it can be convenient. Eg, you could set opening balances -without using a balancing equity account: - -1/1 opening balances - (assets:checking) $1000 - (assets:savings) $2000 - - A posting with a bracketed account name is called a _balanced virtual -posting_. The balanced virtual postings in a transaction must add up to -zero (separately from other postings). Eg: - -1/1 buy food with cash, update budget envelope subaccounts, & something else - assets:cash $-10 ; <- these balance - expenses:food $7 ; <- - expenses:food $3 ; <- - [assets:checking:budget:food] $-10 ; <- and these balance - [assets:checking:available] $10 ; <- - (something:else) $5 ; <- not required to balance - - Ordinary non-parenthesised, non-bracketed postings are called _real -postings_. You can exclude virtual postings from reports with the -'-R/--real' flag or 'real:1' query. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Account names, Next: Amounts, Prev: Postings, Up: JOURNAL FORMAT - -12.9 Account names -================== - -Account names typically have several parts separated by a full colon, -from which hledger derives a hierarchical chart of accounts. They can -be anything you like, but in finance there are traditionally five -top-level accounts: 'assets', 'liabilities', 'revenue', 'expenses', and -'equity'. - - Account names may contain single spaces, eg: 'assets:accounts -receivable'. Because of this, they must always be followed by *two or -more spaces* (or newline). - - Account names can be aliased. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Amounts, Next: Transaction prices, Prev: Account names, Up: JOURNAL FORMAT - -12.10 Amounts -============= - -After the account name, there is usually an amount. (Important: between -account name and amount, there must be *two or more spaces*.) - - hledger's amount format is flexible, supporting several international -formats. Here are some examples. Amounts have a number (the -"quantity"): - -1 - - ..and usually a currency symbol or commodity name (more on this -below), to the left or right of the quantity, with or without a -separating space: - -$1 -4000 AAPL -3 "green apples" - - 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: - --$1 -$-1 - - One or more spaces between the sign and the number are acceptable -when parsing (but they won't be displayed in output): - -+ $1 -$- 1 - - Scientific E notation is allowed: - -1E-6 -EUR 1E3 - -* Menu: - -* Decimal marks digit group marks:: -* Commodity:: -* Commodity directives:: -* Commodity display style:: -* Rounding:: - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Decimal marks digit group marks, Next: Commodity, Up: Amounts - -12.10.1 Decimal marks, digit group marks ----------------------------------------- - -A decimal mark can be written as a period or a comma: - -1.23 -1,23456780000009 - - In the integer part of the quantity (left of the decimal mark), -groups of digits can optionally be separated by a "digit group mark" - a -space, comma, or period (different from the decimal mark): - - $1,000,000.00 - EUR 2.000.000,00 -INR 9,99,99,999.00 - 1 000 000.9455 - - Note, a number containing a single digit group mark and no decimal -mark is ambiguous. Are these digit group marks or decimal marks ? - -1,000 -1.000 - - If you don't tell it otherwise, hledger will assume both of the above -are decimal marks, parsing both numbers as 1. To prevent confusion and -undetected typos, we recommend adding 'commodity' directives at the top -of your journal file to explicitly declare the decimal mark (and -optionally a digit group mark) for each commodity. Read on for more -about this. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Commodity, Next: Commodity directives, Prev: Decimal marks digit group marks, Up: Amounts - -12.10.2 Commodity ------------------ - -Amounts in hledger have both a "quantity", which is a signed decimal -number, and a "commodity", which is a currency symbol, stock ticker, or -any word or phrase describing something you are tracking. - - If the commodity name contains non-letters (spaces, numbers, or -punctuation), you must always write it inside double quotes ('"green -apples"', '"ABC123"'). - - If you write just a bare number, that too will have a commodity, with -name '""'; we call that the "no-symbol commodity". - - 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: '1 USD, 2 EUR, 3.456 -TSLA'. In practice, you will only see multi-commodity amounts in -hledger's output; you can't write them directly in the journal file. - - (If you are writing scripts or working with hledger's internals, -these are the 'Amount' and 'MixedAmount' types.) - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Commodity directives, Next: Commodity display style, Prev: Commodity, Up: Amounts - -12.10.3 Commodity directives ----------------------------- - -You can add 'commodity' directives to the journal, preferably at the -top, to declare your commodities and help with number parsing (see -above) and display (see below). These are optional, but recommended. -They are described in more detail in JOURNAL FORMAT -> Declaring -commodities. Here's a quick example: - -# number format and display style for $, EUR, INR and the no-symbol commodity: -commodity $1,000.00 -commodity EUR 1.000,00 -commodity INR 9,99,99,999.00 -commodity 1 000 000.9455 - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Commodity display style, Next: Rounding, Prev: Commodity directives, Up: Amounts - -12.10.4 Commodity display style -------------------------------- - -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 'print' command, are displayed with all of -their decimal digits visible.) - - A commodity's display style is inferred as follows. - - First, if a default commodity is declared with 'D', this commodity -and its style is applied to any no-symbol amounts in the journal. - - Then each commodity's style is inferred from one of the following, in -order of preference: - - * The commodity directive for that commodity (including the no-symbol - commodity), if any. - * The amounts in that commodity seen in the journal's transactions. - (Posting amounts only; prices and periodic or auto rules are - ignored, currently.) - * The built-in fallback style, which looks like this: '$1000.00'. - (Symbol on the left, period decimal mark, two decimal places.) - - A style is inferred from journal amounts as follows: - - * Use the general style (decimal mark, symbol placement) of the first - amount - * Use the first-seen digit group style (digit group mark, digit group - sizes), if any - * Use the maximum number of decimal places of all. - - Transaction price amounts don't affect the commodity display style -directly, but occasionally they can do so indirectly (eg when a -posting's amount is inferred using a transaction price). If you find -this causing problems, use a commodity directive to fix the display -style. - - To summarise: each commodity's amounts will be normalised to (a) the -style declared by a 'commodity' 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't like, eg with too many decimal -places, use a commodity directive. Some examples: - -# 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. - - The inferred commodity style can be overridden by supplying a command -line option. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Rounding, Prev: Commodity display style, Up: Amounts - -12.10.5 Rounding ----------------- - -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's rounding: it -rounds to the nearest even number, eg 0.5 displayed with zero decimal -places is "0"). (Guaranteed since hledger 1.17.1; in older versions -this could vary if hledger was built with Decimal < 0.5.1.) - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Transaction prices, Next: Lot prices lot dates, Prev: Amounts, Up: JOURNAL FORMAT - -12.11 Transaction prices -======================== - -Within a transaction, you can note an amount's price in another -commodity. This can be used to document the cost (in a purchase) or -selling price (in a sale). For example, transaction prices are useful -to record purchases of a foreign currency. Note transaction prices are -fixed at the time of the transaction, and do not change over time. See -also market prices, which represent prevailing exchange rates on a -certain date. - - There are several ways to record a transaction price: - - 1. Write the price per unit, as '@ UNITPRICE' after the amount: - - 2009/1/1 - assets:euros €100 @ $1.35 ; one hundred euros purchased at $1.35 each - assets:dollars ; balancing amount is -$135.00 - - 2. Write the total price, as '@@ TOTALPRICE' after the amount: - - 2009/1/1 - assets:euros €100 @@ $135 ; one hundred euros purchased at $135 for the lot - assets:dollars - - 3. Specify amounts for all postings, using exactly two commodities, - and let hledger infer the price that balances the transaction: - - 2009/1/1 - assets:euros €100 ; one hundred euros purchased - assets:dollars $-135 ; for $135 - - 4. Like 1, but the '@' is parenthesised, i.e. '(@)'; this is for - compatibility with Ledger journals (Virtual posting costs), and is - equivalent to 1 in hledger. - - 5. Like 2, but as in 4 the '@@' is parenthesised, i.e. '(@@)'; in - hledger, this is equivalent to 2. - - Use the '-B/--cost' flag to convert amounts to their transaction -price's commodity, if any. (mnemonic: "B" is from "cost Basis", as in -Ledger). Eg here is how -B affects the balance report for the example -above: - -$ hledger bal -N --flat - $-135 assets:dollars - €100 assets:euros -$ hledger bal -N --flat -B - $-135 assets:dollars - $135 assets:euros # <- the euros' cost - - Note -B is sensitive to the order of postings when a transaction -price is inferred: the inferred price will be in the commodity of the -last amount. So if example 3's postings are reversed, while the -transaction is equivalent, -B shows something different: - -2009/1/1 - assets:dollars $-135 ; 135 dollars sold - assets:euros €100 ; for 100 euros - -$ hledger bal -N --flat -B - €-100 assets:dollars # <- the dollars' selling price - €100 assets:euros - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Lot prices lot dates, Next: Balance assertions, Prev: Transaction prices, Up: JOURNAL FORMAT - -12.12 Lot prices, lot dates -=========================== - -Ledger allows another kind of price, lot price (four variants: -'{UNITPRICE}', '{{TOTALPRICE}}', '{=FIXEDUNITPRICE}', -'{{=FIXEDTOTALPRICE}}'), and/or a lot date ('[DATE]') to be specified. -These are normally used to select a lot when selling investments. -hledger will parse these, for compatibility with Ledger journals, but -currently ignores them. A transaction price, lot price and/or lot date -may appear in any order, after the posting amount and before the balance -assertion if any. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Balance assertions, Next: Balance assignments, Prev: Lot prices lot dates, Up: JOURNAL FORMAT - -12.13 Balance assertions -======================== - -hledger supports Ledger-style balance assertions in journal files. -These look like, for example, '= EXPECTEDBALANCE' following a posting's -amount. Eg here we assert the expected dollar balance in accounts a and -b after each posting: - -2013/1/1 - a $1 =$1 - b =$-1 - -2013/1/2 - a $1 =$2 - b $-1 =$-2 - - After reading a journal file, hledger will check all balance -assertions and report an error if any of them fail. Balance assertions -can protect you from, eg, inadvertently disrupting reconciled balances -while cleaning up old entries. You can disable them temporarily with -the '-I/--ignore-assertions' flag, which can be useful for -troubleshooting or for reading Ledger files. (Note: this flag currently -does not disable balance assignments, below). - -* Menu: - -* Assertions and ordering:: -* Assertions and included files:: -* Assertions and multiple -f options:: -* Assertions and commodities:: -* Assertions and prices:: -* Assertions and subaccounts:: -* Assertions and virtual postings:: -* Assertions and precision:: - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Assertions and ordering, Next: Assertions and included files, Up: Balance assertions - -12.13.1 Assertions and ordering -------------------------------- - -hledger sorts an account's postings and assertions first by date and -then (for postings on the same day) by parse order. Note this is -different from Ledger, which sorts assertions only by parse order. -(Also, Ledger assertions do not see the accumulated effect of repeated -postings to the same account within a transaction.) - - So, hledger balance assertions keep working if you reorder -differently-dated transactions within the journal. But if you reorder -same-dated transactions or postings, assertions might break and require -updating. This order dependence does bring an advantage: precise -control over the order of postings and assertions within a day, so you -can assert intra-day balances. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Assertions and included files, Next: Assertions and multiple -f options, Prev: Assertions and ordering, Up: Balance assertions - -12.13.2 Assertions and included files -------------------------------------- - -With included files, things are a little more complicated. Including -preserves the ordering of postings and assertions. If you have multiple -postings to an account on the same day, split across different files, -and you also want to assert the account's balance on the same day, -you'll have to put the assertion in the right file. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Assertions and multiple -f options, Next: Assertions and commodities, Prev: Assertions and included files, Up: Balance assertions - -12.13.3 Assertions and multiple -f options ------------------------------------------- - -Balance assertions don't work well across files specified with multiple --f options. Use include or concatenate the files instead. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Assertions and commodities, Next: Assertions and prices, Prev: Assertions and multiple -f options, Up: Balance assertions - -12.13.4 Assertions and commodities ----------------------------------- - -The asserted balance must be a simple single-commodity amount, and in -fact the assertion checks only this commodity's balance within the -(possibly multi-commodity) account balance. This is how assertions work -in Ledger also. We could call this a "partial" balance assertion. - - To assert the balance of more than one commodity in an account, you -can write multiple postings, each asserting one commodity's balance. - - You can make a stronger "total" balance assertion by writing a double -equals sign ('== EXPECTEDBALANCE'). This asserts that there are no -other unasserted commodities in the account (or, that their balance is -0). - -2013/1/1 - a $1 - a 1€ - b $-1 - c -1€ - -2013/1/2 ; These assertions succeed - a 0 = $1 - a 0 = 1€ - b 0 == $-1 - c 0 == -1€ - -2013/1/3 ; This assertion fails as 'a' also contains 1€ - a 0 == $1 - - It's not yet possible to make a complete assertion about a balance -that has multiple commodities. One workaround is to isolate each -commodity into its own subaccount: - -2013/1/1 - a:usd $1 - a:euro 1€ - b - -2013/1/2 - a 0 == 0 - a:usd 0 == $1 - a:euro 0 == 1€ - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Assertions and prices, Next: Assertions and subaccounts, Prev: Assertions and commodities, Up: Balance assertions - -12.13.5 Assertions and prices ------------------------------ - -Balance assertions ignore transaction prices, and should normally be -written without one: - -2019/1/1 - (a) $1 @ €1 = $1 - - We do allow prices to be written there, however, and print shows -them, even though they don't affect whether the assertion passes or -fails. This is for backward compatibility (hledger's close command used -to generate balance assertions with prices), and because balance -_assignments_ do use them (see below). - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Assertions and subaccounts, Next: Assertions and virtual postings, Prev: Assertions and prices, Up: Balance assertions - -12.13.6 Assertions and subaccounts ----------------------------------- - -The balance assertions above ('=' and '==') do not count the balance -from subaccounts; they check the account's exclusive balance only. You -can assert the balance including subaccounts by writing '=*' or '==*', -eg: - -2019/1/1 - equity:opening balances - checking:a 5 - checking:b 5 - checking 1 ==* 11 - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Assertions and virtual postings, Next: Assertions and precision, Prev: Assertions and subaccounts, Up: Balance assertions - -12.13.7 Assertions and virtual postings ---------------------------------------- - -Balance assertions are checked against all postings, both real and -virtual. They are not affected by the '--real/-R' flag or 'real:' -query. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Assertions and precision, Prev: Assertions and virtual postings, Up: Balance assertions - -12.13.8 Assertions and precision --------------------------------- - -Balance assertions compare the exactly calculated amounts, which are not -always what is shown by reports. Eg a commodity directive may limit the -display precision, but this will not affect balance assertions. Balance -assertion failure messages show exact amounts. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Balance assignments, Next: Directives, Prev: Balance assertions, Up: JOURNAL FORMAT - -12.14 Balance assignments -========================= - -Ledger-style balance assignments are also supported. These are like -balance assertions, but with no posting amount on the left side of the -equals sign; instead it is calculated automatically so as to satisfy the -assertion. This can be a convenience during data entry, eg when setting -opening balances: - -; starting a new journal, set asset account balances -2016/1/1 opening balances - assets:checking = $409.32 - assets:savings = $735.24 - assets:cash = $42 - equity:opening balances - - or when adjusting a balance to reality: - -; no cash left; update balance, record any untracked spending as a generic expense -2016/1/15 - assets:cash = $0 - expenses:misc - - The calculated amount depends on the account's balance in the -commodity at that point (which depends on the previously-dated postings -of the commodity to that account since the last balance assertion or -assignment). Note that using balance assignments makes your journal a -little less explicit; to know the exact amount posted, you have to run -hledger or do the calculations yourself, instead of just reading it. - -* Menu: - -* Balance assignments and prices:: - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Balance assignments and prices, Up: Balance assignments - -12.14.1 Balance assignments and prices --------------------------------------- - -A transaction price in a balance assignment will cause the calculated -amount to have that price attached: - -2019/1/1 - (a) = $1 @ €2 - -$ hledger print --explicit -2019-01-01 - (a) $1 @ €2 = $1 @ €2 - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Directives, Next: Directives and multiple files, Prev: Balance assignments, Up: JOURNAL FORMAT - -12.15 Directives -================ - -A directive is a line in the journal beginning with a special keyword, -that influences how the journal is processed. hledger's directives are -based on a subset of Ledger's, but there are many differences (and also -some differences between hledger versions). - - Directives' behaviour and interactions can get a little bit complex, -so here is a table summarising the directives and their effects, with -links to more detailed docs. - -directiveend subdirectivespurpose can affect (as of - directive 2018/06) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ -'account' any document account names, all entries in - text declare account types & all files, before - display order or after -'alias' 'end rewrite account names following entries - aliases' until end of - current file or - end directive -'apply 'end prepend a common parent to following entries -account' apply account names until end of - account' current file or - end directive -'comment''end ignore part of journal following entries - comment' until end of - current file or - end directive -'commodity' 'format'declare a commodity and its number notation: - number notation & display following entries - style until end of - current file; - display style: - amounts of that - commodity in - reports -'D' declare a commodity to be default - used for commodityless commodity: - amounts, and its number following - notation & display style commodityless - entries until end - of current file; - number notation: - following entries - in that commodity - until end of - current file; - display style: - amounts of that - commodity in - reports -'include' include entries/directives what the included - from another file directives affect -'payee' declare a payee name following entries - until end of - current file -'P' declare a market price for amounts of that - a commodity commodity in - reports, when -V - is used -'Y' declare a year for yearless following entries - dates until end of - current file -'=' declare an auto posting all entries in - rule, adding postings to parent/current/child - other transactions files (but not - sibling files, - see #1212) - - And some definitions: - -subdirectiveoptional indented directive line immediately following a parent - directive -number how to interpret numbers when parsing journal entries (the -notationidentity of the decimal separator character). (Currently each - commodity can have its own notation, even in the same file.) -displayhow to display amounts of a commodity in reports (symbol side -style and spacing, digit groups, decimal separator, decimal places) -directivewhich entries and (when there are multiple files) which files -scope are affected by a directive - - As you can see, directives vary in which journal entries and files -they affect, and whether they are focussed on input (parsing) or output -(reports). Some directives have multiple effects. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Directives and multiple files, Next: Comment blocks, Prev: Directives, Up: JOURNAL FORMAT - -12.16 Directives and multiple files -=================================== - -If you use multiple '-f'/'--file' options, or the 'include' directive, -hledger will process multiple input files. But note that directives -which affect input (see above) typically last only until the end of the -file in which they occur. - - This may seem inconvenient, but it's intentional; it makes reports -stable and deterministic, independent of the order of input. Otherwise -you could see different numbers if you happened to write -f options in a -different order, or if you moved includes around while cleaning up your -files. - - It can be surprising though; for example, it means that 'alias' -directives do not affect parent or sibling files (see below). - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Comment blocks, Next: Including other files, Prev: Directives and multiple files, Up: JOURNAL FORMAT - -12.17 Comment blocks -==================== - -A line containing just 'comment' starts a commented region of the file, -and a line containing just 'end comment' (or the end of the current -file) ends it. See also comments. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Including other files, Next: Default year, Prev: Comment blocks, Up: JOURNAL FORMAT - -12.18 Including other files -=========================== - -You can pull in the content of additional files by writing an include -directive, like this: - -include FILEPATH - - Only journal files can include, and only journal, timeclock or -timedot files can be included (not CSV files, currently). - - If the file path does not begin with a slash, it is relative to the -current file's folder. - - A tilde means home directory, eg: 'include ~/main.journal'. - - The path may contain glob patterns to match multiple files, eg: -'include *.journal'. - - There is limited support for recursive wildcards: '**/' (the slash is -required) matches 0 or more subdirectories. It's not super convenient -since you have to avoid include cycles and including directories, but -this can be done, eg: 'include */**/*.journal'. - - The path may also be prefixed to force a specific file format, -overriding the file extension (as described in hledger.1 -> Input -files): 'include timedot:~/notes/2020*.md'. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Default year, Next: Declaring payees, Prev: Including other files, Up: JOURNAL FORMAT - -12.19 Default year -================== - -You can set a default year to be used for subsequent dates which don't -specify a year. This is a line beginning with 'Y' followed by the year. -Eg: - -Y2009 ; set default year to 2009 - -12/15 ; equivalent to 2009/12/15 - expenses 1 - assets - -Y2010 ; change default year to 2010 - -2009/1/30 ; specifies the year, not affected - expenses 1 - assets - -1/31 ; equivalent to 2010/1/31 - expenses 1 - assets - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Declaring payees, Next: Declaring commodities, Prev: Default year, Up: JOURNAL FORMAT - -12.20 Declaring payees -====================== - -The 'payee' directive can be used to declare a limited set of payees -which may appear in transaction descriptions. The "payees" check will -report an error if any transaction refers to a payee that has not been -declared. Eg: - -payee Whole Foods - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Declaring commodities, Next: Default commodity, Prev: Declaring payees, Up: JOURNAL FORMAT - -12.21 Declaring commodities -=========================== - -You can use 'commodity' directives to declare your commodities. In fact -the 'commodity' directive performs several functions at once: - - 1. It declares commodities which may be used in the journal. This can - optionally be enforced, providing useful error checking. (Cf - Commodity error checking) - - 2. 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 - '1,000' and '1.000' as 1. (Cf Amounts) - - 3. It declares how to render the commodity'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) - - 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. - - Generally you should put them at the top of your journal file (since -for function 2, they affect only following amounts, cf #793). - - A commodity directive is just the word 'commodity' followed by a -sample amount, like this: - -;commodity SAMPLEAMOUNT - -commodity $1000.00 -commodity 1,000.0000 AAAA ; optional same-line comment - - It may also be written on multiple lines, and use the 'format' -subdirective, as in Ledger. Note in this case the commodity symbol -appears twice; it must be the same in both places: - -;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 - - Remember that if the commodity symbol contains spaces, numbers, or -punctuation, it must be enclosed in double quotes (cf Commodity). - - The amount'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. - - A few more examples: - -# 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. - - Note hledger normally uses banker's rounding, so 0.5 displayed with -zero decimal digits is "0". (More at Commodity display style.) - - Even in the presence of commodity directives, the commodity display -style can still be overridden by supplying a command line option. - -* Menu: - -* Commodity error checking:: - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Commodity error checking, Up: Declaring commodities - -12.21.1 Commodity error checking --------------------------------- - -In strict mode, enabled with the '-s'/'--strict' flag, hledger will -report an error if a commodity symbol is used that has not been declared -by a 'commodity' directive. This works similarly to account error -checking, see the notes there for more details. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Default commodity, Next: Declaring market prices, Prev: Declaring commodities, Up: JOURNAL FORMAT - -12.22 Default commodity -======================= - -The 'D' 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 'D' directive, or the end -of the journal. - - For compatibility/historical reasons, 'D' also acts like a -'commodity' directive (setting the commodity's decimal mark for parsing -and display style for output). - - As with 'commodity', the amount must include a decimal mark (either -period or comma). If both 'commodity' and 'D' directives are used for -the same commodity, the 'commodity' style takes precedence. - - The syntax is 'D AMOUNT'. Eg: - -; 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 - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Declaring market prices, Next: Declaring accounts, Prev: Default commodity, Up: JOURNAL FORMAT - -12.23 Declaring market prices -============================= - -The 'P' directive declares a market price, which is an exchange rate -between two commodities on a certain date. (In Ledger, they are called -"historical prices".) These are often obtained from a stock exchange, -cryptocurrency exchange, or the foreign exchange market. - - The format is: - -P DATE COMMODITY1SYMBOL COMMODITY2AMOUNT - - 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: - -# 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 - - The '-V', '-X' and '--value' flags use these market prices to show -amount values in another commodity. See Valuation. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Declaring accounts, Next: Rewriting accounts, Prev: Declaring market prices, Up: JOURNAL FORMAT - -12.24 Declaring accounts -======================== - -'account' 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: - - * They can document your intended chart of accounts, providing a - reference. - * They can help hledger know your accounts' types (asset, liability, - equity, revenue, expense), useful for reports like balancesheet and - incomestatement. - * They control account display order in reports, allowing - non-alphabetic sorting (eg Revenues to appear above Expenses). - * They can store extra information about accounts (account numbers, - notes, etc.) - * They help with account name completion in the add command, - hledger-iadd, hledger-web, ledger-mode etc. - * In strict mode, they restrict which accounts may be posted to by - transactions, which helps detect typos. - - The simplest form is just the word 'account' followed by a -hledger-style account name, eg this account directive declares the -'assets:bank:checking' account: - -account assets:bank:checking - -* Menu: - -* Account error checking:: -* Account comments:: -* Account subdirectives:: -* Account types:: -* Account display order:: - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Account error checking, Next: Account comments, Up: Declaring accounts - -12.24.1 Account error checking ------------------------------- - -By default, accounts come into existence when a transaction references -them by name. This is convenient, but it means hledger can't warn you -when you mis-spell an account name in the journal. Usually you'll find -the error later, as an extra account in balance reports, or an incorrect -balance when reconciling. - - In strict mode, enabled with the '-s'/'--strict' flag, hledger will -report an error if any transaction uses an account name that has not -been declared by an account directive. Some notes: - - * The declaration is case-sensitive; transactions must use the - correct account name capitalisation. - * The account directive's scope is "whole file and below" (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's usual to put them at the top. - * Accounts can only be declared in 'journal' files (but will affect - included files in other formats). - * It's currently not possible to declare "all possible subaccounts" - with a wildcard; every account posted to must be declared. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Account comments, Next: Account subdirectives, Prev: Account error checking, Up: Declaring accounts - -12.24.2 Account comments ------------------------- - -Comments, beginning with a semicolon, can be added: - - * on the same line, *after two or more spaces* (because ; is allowed - in account names) - * on the next lines, indented - - An example of both: - -account assets:bank:checking ; same-line comment, note 2+ spaces before ; - ; next-line comment - ; another with tag, acctno:12345 (not used yet) - - Same-line comments are not supported by Ledger, or hledger <1.13. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Account subdirectives, Next: Account types, Prev: Account comments, Up: Declaring accounts - -12.24.3 Account subdirectives ------------------------------ - -We also allow (and ignore) Ledger-style indented subdirectives, just for -compatibility.: - -account assets:bank:checking - format blah blah ; <- subdirective, ignored - - Here is the full syntax of account directives: - -account ACCTNAME [ACCTTYPE] [;COMMENT] - [;COMMENTS] - [LEDGER-STYLE SUBDIRECTIVES, IGNORED] - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Account types, Next: Account display order, Prev: Account subdirectives, Up: Declaring accounts - -12.24.4 Account types ---------------------- - -hledger recognises five main types of account, corresponding to the -account classes in the accounting equation: - - 'Asset', 'Liability', 'Equity', 'Revenue', 'Expense'. - - These account types are important for controlling which accounts -appear in the balancesheet, balancesheetequity, incomestatement reports -(and probably for other things in future). - - Additionally, we recognise the 'Cash' type, which is also an 'Asset', -and which causes accounts to appear in the cashflow report. ("Cash" -here means liquid assets, eg bank balances but typically not investments -or receivables.) - -* Menu: - -* Declaring account types:: -* Auto-detected account types:: - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Declaring account types, Next: Auto-detected account types, Up: Account types - -12.24.4.1 Declaring account types -................................. - -To make the balancesheet/balancesheetequity/cashflow/incomestatement -reports work, generally you should declare your top-level accounts, and -their types. For each top-level account, write an account directive, -with a 'type:' tag. The tag's value can be any of 'Asset', 'Liability', -'Equity', 'Revenue', 'Expense', 'Cash', or (for short) 'A', 'L', 'E', -'R', 'X', 'C' (case insensitive). An account's type is inherited by its -subaccounts, unless they declare a different type. Here's an example, -declaring all six account types: - -account assets ; type: Asset -account assets:bank ; type: Cash -account assets:cash ; type: Cash -account liabilities ; type: Liability -account equity ; type: Equity -account revenues ; type: Revenue -account expenses ; type: Expense - - There is also an older syntax, which is deprecated and will be -dropped soon (A, L, E, R or X separated from the account name by two or -more spaces): - -account assets A -account liabilities L -account equity E -account revenues R -account expenses X - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Auto-detected account types, Prev: Declaring account types, Up: Account types - -12.24.4.2 Auto-detected account types -..................................... - -hledger tries to find at least one top level account in each of the six -account types (Asset, Liability, Equity, Revenue, Expense, Cash). When -no accounts have been declared for a particular type, hledger tries to -auto-detect some accounts by name, using regular expressions: - - If account's name matches this case insensitive regular expression:| its type is: -------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------ - ^assets?(:|$) | - and does not contain regexp (investment|receivable|:A/R|:fixed) | Cash - otherwise | Asset - ^(debts?|liabilit(y|ies))(:|$) | Liability - ^equity(:|$) | Equity - ^(income|revenue)s?(:|$) | Revenue - ^expenses?(:|$) | Expense - - For people using standard english account names, this feature helps -hledger's high-level reports work out of the box with minimal -configuration. - - If you use non-english account names, you should declare account -types to make these reports work. And more generally, declaring -accounts and types is usually a good idea, for increased clarity and -predictability (and for the other benefits of account directives: error -checking, display order, etc). - - Notes: - - * When any account is declared as some type, this disables - auto-detection for that particular type. - - * If you declare any account's type, it's a good idea to declare an - account for all six types, since a mix of declared and - auto-detected types can cause confusion. For example, here - liabilities is declared to be Equity, but would also be - auto-detected as Liability, since no Liability account is declared: - - account liabilities ; type:Equity - - 2020-01-01 - assets 1 - liabilities 1 - equity -2 - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Account display order, Prev: Account types, Up: Declaring accounts - -12.24.5 Account display order ------------------------------ - -Account directives also set the order in which accounts are displayed, -eg in reports, the hledger-ui accounts screen, and the hledger-web -sidebar. By default accounts are listed in alphabetical order. But if -you have these account directives in the journal: - -account assets -account liabilities -account equity -account revenues -account expenses - - you'll see those accounts displayed in declaration order, not -alphabetically: - -$ hledger accounts -1 -assets -liabilities -equity -revenues -expenses - - Undeclared accounts, if any, are displayed last, in alphabetical -order. - - Note that sorting is done at each level of the account tree (within -each group of sibling accounts under the same parent). And currently, -this directive: - -account other:zoo - - would influence the position of 'zoo' among 'other''s subaccounts, -but not the position of 'other' among the top-level accounts. This -means: - - * you will sometimes declare parent accounts (eg 'account other' - above) that you don't intend to post to, just to customize their - display order - * sibling accounts stay together (you couldn't display 'x:y' in - between 'a:b' and 'a:c'). - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Rewriting accounts, Next: Default parent account, Prev: Declaring accounts, Up: JOURNAL FORMAT - -12.25 Rewriting accounts -======================== - -You can define account alias rules which rewrite your account names, or -parts of them, before generating reports. This can be useful for: - - * expanding shorthand account names to their full form, allowing - easier data entry and a less verbose journal - * adapting old journals to your current chart of accounts - * experimenting with new account organisations, like a new hierarchy - or combining two accounts into one - * customising reports - - Account aliases also rewrite account names in account directives. -They do not affect account names being entered via hledger add or -hledger-web. - - See also Rewrite account names. - -* Menu: - -* Basic aliases:: -* Regex aliases:: -* Combining aliases:: -* Aliases and multiple files:: -* end aliases:: - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Basic aliases, Next: Regex aliases, Up: Rewriting accounts - -12.25.1 Basic aliases ---------------------- - -To set an account alias, use the 'alias' directive in your journal file. -This affects all subsequent journal entries in the current file or its -included files (but note: not sibling or parent files). The spaces -around the = are optional: - -alias OLD = NEW - - Or, you can use the '--alias 'OLD=NEW'' option on the command line. -This affects all entries. It's useful for trying out aliases -interactively. - - OLD and NEW are case sensitive full account names. hledger will -replace any occurrence of the old account name with the new one. -Subaccounts are also affected. Eg: - -alias checking = assets:bank:wells fargo:checking -; rewrites "checking" to "assets:bank:wells fargo:checking", or "checking:a" to "assets:bank:wells fargo:checking:a" - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Regex aliases, Next: Combining aliases, Prev: Basic aliases, Up: Rewriting accounts - -12.25.2 Regex aliases ---------------------- - -There is also a more powerful variant that uses a regular expression, -indicated by the forward slashes: - -alias /REGEX/ = REPLACEMENT - - or '--alias '/REGEX/=REPLACEMENT''. - - REGEX is a case-insensitive regular expression. Anywhere it matches -inside an account name, the matched part will be replaced by -REPLACEMENT. If REGEX contains parenthesised match groups, these can be -referenced by the usual numeric backreferences in REPLACEMENT. Eg: - -alias /^(.+):bank:([^:]+):(.*)/ = \1:\2 \3 -; rewrites "assets:bank:wells fargo:checking" to "assets:wells fargo checking" - - Also note that REPLACEMENT continues to the end of line (or on -command line, to end of option argument), so it can contain trailing -whitespace. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Combining aliases, Next: Aliases and multiple files, Prev: Regex aliases, Up: Rewriting accounts - -12.25.3 Combining aliases -------------------------- - -You can define as many aliases as you like, using journal directives -and/or command line options. - - Recursive aliases - where an account name is rewritten by one alias, -then by another alias, and so on - are allowed. Each alias sees the -effect of previously applied aliases. - - In such cases it can be important to understand which aliases will be -applied and in which order. For (each account name in) each journal -entry, we apply: - - 1. 'alias' directives preceding the journal entry, most recently - parsed first (ie, reading upward from the journal entry, bottom to - top) - 2. '--alias' options, in the order they appeared on the command line - (left to right). - - In other words, for (an account name in) a given journal entry: - - * the nearest alias declaration before/above the entry is applied - first - * the next alias before/above that will be be applied next, and so on - * aliases defined after/below the entry do not affect it. - - This gives nearby aliases precedence over distant ones, and helps -provide semantic stability - aliases will keep working the same way -independent of which files are being read and in which order. - - In case of trouble, adding '--debug=6' to the command line will show -which aliases are being applied when. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Aliases and multiple files, Next: end aliases, Prev: Combining aliases, Up: Rewriting accounts - -12.25.4 Aliases and multiple files ----------------------------------- - -As explained at Directives and multiple files, 'alias' directives do not -affect parent or sibling files. Eg in this command, - -hledger -f a.aliases -f b.journal - - account aliases defined in a.aliases will not affect b.journal. -Including the aliases doesn't work either: - -include a.aliases - -2020-01-01 ; not affected by a.aliases - foo 1 - bar - - This means that account aliases should usually be declared at the -start of your top-most file, like this: - -alias foo=Foo -alias bar=Bar - -2020-01-01 ; affected by aliases above - foo 1 - bar - -include c.journal ; also affected - - -File: hledger.info, Node: end aliases, Prev: Aliases and multiple files, Up: Rewriting accounts - -12.25.5 'end aliases' ---------------------- - -You can clear (forget) all currently defined aliases with the 'end -aliases' directive: - -end aliases - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Default parent account, Next: Periodic transactions, Prev: Rewriting accounts, Up: JOURNAL FORMAT - -12.26 Default parent account -============================ - -You can specify a parent account which will be prepended to all accounts -within a section of the journal. Use the 'apply account' and 'end apply -account' directives like so: - -apply account home - -2010/1/1 - food $10 - cash - -end apply account - - which is equivalent to: - -2010/01/01 - home:food $10 - home:cash $-10 - - If 'end apply account' is omitted, the effect lasts to the end of the -file. Included files are also affected, eg: - -apply account business -include biz.journal -end apply account -apply account personal -include personal.journal - - Prior to hledger 1.0, legacy 'account' and 'end' spellings were also -supported. - - A default parent account also affects account directives. It does -not affect account names being entered via hledger add or hledger-web. -If account aliases are present, they are applied after the default -parent account. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Periodic transactions, Next: Auto postings, Prev: Default parent account, Up: JOURNAL FORMAT - -12.27 Periodic transactions -=========================== - -Periodic transaction rules describe transactions that recur. They allow -hledger to generate temporary future transactions to help with -forecasting, so you don't have to write out each one in the journal, and -it's easy to try out different forecasts. - - Periodic transactions can be a little tricky, so before you use them, -read this whole section - or at least these tips: - - 1. Two spaces accidentally added or omitted will cause you trouble - - read about this below. - 2. For troubleshooting, show the generated transactions with 'hledger - print --forecast tag:generated' or 'hledger register --forecast - tag:generated'. - 3. Forecasted transactions will begin only after the last - non-forecasted transaction's date. - 4. Forecasted transactions will end 6 months from today, by default. - See below for the exact start/end rules. - 5. period expressions can be tricky. Their documentation needs - improvement, but is worth studying. - 6. Some period expressions with a repeating interval must begin on a - natural boundary of that interval. Eg in 'weekly from DATE', DATE - must be a monday. '~ weekly from 2019/10/1' (a tuesday) will give - an error. - 7. Other period expressions with an interval are automatically - expanded to cover a whole number of that interval. (This is done - to improve reports, but it also affects periodic transactions. - Yes, it's a bit inconsistent with the above.) Eg: '~ every 10th - day of month from 2020/01', which is equivalent to '~ every 10th - day of month from 2020/01/01', will be adjusted to start on - 2019/12/10. - - Periodic transaction rules also have a second meaning: they are used -to define budget goals, shown in budget reports. - -* Menu: - -* Periodic rule syntax:: -* Two spaces between period expression and description!:: -* Forecasting with periodic transactions:: -* Budgeting with periodic transactions:: - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Periodic rule syntax, Next: Two spaces between period expression and description!, Up: Periodic transactions - -12.27.1 Periodic rule syntax ----------------------------- - -A periodic transaction rule looks like a normal journal entry, with the -date replaced by a tilde ('~') followed by a period expression -(mnemonic: '~' looks like a recurring sine wave.): - -~ monthly - expenses:rent $2000 - assets:bank:checking - - There is an additional constraint on the period expression: the start -date must fall on a natural boundary of the interval. Eg 'monthly from -2018/1/1' is valid, but 'monthly from 2018/1/15' is not. - - Partial or relative dates (M/D, D, tomorrow, last week) in the period -expression can work (useful or not). They will be relative to today's -date, unless a Y default year directive is in effect, in which case they -will be relative to Y/1/1. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Two spaces between period expression and description!, Next: Forecasting with periodic transactions, Prev: Periodic rule syntax, Up: Periodic transactions - -12.27.2 Two spaces between period expression and description! -------------------------------------------------------------- - -If the period expression is followed by a transaction description, these -must be separated by *two or more spaces*. This helps hledger know -where the period expression ends, so that descriptions can not -accidentally alter their meaning, as in this example: - -; 2 or more spaces needed here, so the period is not understood as "every 2 months in 2020" -; || -; vv -~ every 2 months in 2020, we will review - assets:bank:checking $1500 - income:acme inc - - So, - - * Do write two spaces between your period expression and your - transaction description, if any. - * Don't accidentally write two spaces in the middle of your period - expression. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Forecasting with periodic transactions, Next: Budgeting with periodic transactions, Prev: Two spaces between period expression and description!, Up: Periodic transactions - -12.27.3 Forecasting with periodic transactions ----------------------------------------------- - -The '--forecast' flag activates any periodic transaction rules in the -journal. These will generate temporary additional transactions, usually -recurring and in the future, which will appear in all reports. 'hledger -print --forecast' is a good way to see them. - - This can be useful for estimating balances into the future, perhaps -experimenting with different scenarios. - - It could also be useful for scripted data entry: you could describe -recurring transactions, and every so often copy the output of 'print ---forecast' into the journal. - - The generated transactions will have an extra tag, like -'generated-transaction:~ PERIODICEXPR', indicating which periodic rule -generated them. There is also a similar, hidden tag, named -'_generated-transaction:', which you can use to reliably match -transactions generated "just now" (rather than 'print'ed in the past). - - The forecast transactions are generated within a _forecast period_, -which is independent of the report period. (Forecast period sets the -bounds for generated transactions, report period controls which -transactions are reported.) The forecast period begins on: - - * the start date provided within '--forecast''s argument, if any - * otherwise, the later of - * the report start date, if specified (with '-b'/'-p'/'date:') - * the day after the latest ordinary transaction in the journal, - if any - - * otherwise today. - - It ends on: - - * the end date provided within '--forecast''s argument, if any - * otherwise, the report end date, if specified (with - '-e'/'-p'/'date:') - * otherwise 180 days (6 months) from today. - - Note, this means that ordinary transactions will suppress periodic -transactions, by default; the periodic transactions will not start until -after the last ordinary transaction. This is usually convenient, but -you can get around it in two ways: - - * If you need to record some transactions in the future, make them - periodic transactions (with a single occurrence, eg: '~ - YYYY-MM-DD') rather than ordinary transactions. That way they - won't suppress other periodic transactions. - - * Or give '--forecast' a period expression argument. A forecast - period specified this way can overlap ordinary transactions, and - need not be in the future. Some things to note: - - * You must use '=' between flag and argument; a space won't - work. - * The period expression can specify the forecast period's start - date, end date, or both. See also Report start & end date. - * The period expression should not specify a report interval. - (Each periodic transaction rule specifies its own interval.) - - Some examples: '--forecast=202001-202004', '--forecast=jan-', -'--forecast=2021'. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Budgeting with periodic transactions, Prev: Forecasting with periodic transactions, Up: Periodic transactions - -12.27.4 Budgeting with periodic transactions --------------------------------------------- - -With the '--budget' flag, currently supported by the balance command, -each periodic transaction rule declares recurring budget goals for the -specified accounts. Eg the first example above declares a goal of -spending $2000 on rent (and also, a goal of depositing $2000 into -checking) every month. Goals and actual performance can then be -compared in budget reports. - - See also: Budgeting and Forecasting. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Auto postings, Prev: Periodic transactions, Up: JOURNAL FORMAT - -12.28 Auto postings -=================== - -"Automated postings" or "auto postings" are extra postings which get -added automatically to transactions which match certain queries, defined -by "auto posting rules", when you use the '--auto' flag. - - An auto posting rule looks a bit like a transaction: - -= QUERY - ACCOUNT AMOUNT - ... - ACCOUNT [AMOUNT] - - except the first line is an equals sign (mnemonic: '=' suggests -matching), followed by a query (which matches existing postings), and -each "posting" line describes a posting to be generated, and the posting -amounts can be: - - * a normal amount with a commodity symbol, eg '$2'. This will be - used as-is. - * a number, eg '2'. The commodity symbol (if any) from the matched - posting will be added to this. - * a numeric multiplier, eg '*2' (a star followed by a number N). The - matched posting's amount (and total price, if any) will be - multiplied by N. - * a multiplier with a commodity symbol, eg '*$2' (a star, number N, - and symbol S). The matched posting's amount will be multiplied by - N, and its commodity symbol will be replaced with S. - - Any query term containing spaces must be enclosed in single or double -quotes, as on the command line. Eg, note the quotes around the second -query term below: - -= expenses:groceries 'expenses:dining out' - (budget:funds:dining out) *-1 - - Some examples: - -; every time I buy food, schedule a dollar donation -= expenses:food - (liabilities:charity) $-1 - -; when I buy a gift, also deduct that amount from a budget envelope subaccount -= expenses:gifts - assets:checking:gifts *-1 - assets:checking *1 - -2017/12/1 - expenses:food $10 - assets:checking - -2017/12/14 - expenses:gifts $20 - assets:checking - -$ hledger print --auto -2017-12-01 - expenses:food $10 - assets:checking - (liabilities:charity) $-1 - -2017-12-14 - expenses:gifts $20 - assets:checking - assets:checking:gifts -$20 - assets:checking $20 - -* Menu: - -* Auto postings and multiple files:: -* Auto postings and dates:: -* Auto postings and transaction balancing / inferred amounts / balance assertions:: -* Auto posting tags:: - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Auto postings and multiple files, Next: Auto postings and dates, Up: Auto postings - -12.28.1 Auto postings and multiple files ----------------------------------------- - -An auto posting rule can affect any transaction in the current file, or -in any parent file or child file. Note, currently it will not affect -sibling files (when multiple '-f'/'--file' are used - see #1212). - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Auto postings and dates, Next: Auto postings and transaction balancing / inferred amounts / balance assertions, Prev: Auto postings and multiple files, Up: Auto postings - -12.28.2 Auto postings and dates -------------------------------- - -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. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Auto postings and transaction balancing / inferred amounts / balance assertions, Next: Auto posting tags, Prev: Auto postings and dates, Up: Auto postings - -12.28.3 Auto postings and transaction balancing / inferred amounts / --------------------------------------------------------------------- - -balance assertions Currently, auto postings are added: - - * after missing amounts are inferred, and transactions are checked - for balancedness, - * but before balance assertions are checked. - - Note this means that journal entries must be balanced both before and -after auto postings are added. This changed in hledger 1.12+; see #893 -for background. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Auto posting tags, Prev: Auto postings and transaction balancing / inferred amounts / balance assertions, Up: Auto postings - -12.28.4 Auto posting tags -------------------------- - -Automated postings will have some extra tags: - - * 'generated-posting:= QUERY' - shows this was generated by an auto - posting rule, and the query - * '_generated-posting:= QUERY' - a hidden tag, which does not appear - in hledger's output. This can be used to match postings generated - "just now", rather than generated in the past and saved to the - journal. - - Also, any transaction that has been changed by auto posting rules -will have these tags added: - - * 'modified:' - this transaction was modified - * '_modified:' - a hidden tag not appearing in the comment; this - transaction was modified "just now". - - -File: hledger.info, Node: CSV FORMAT, Next: TIMECLOCK FORMAT, Prev: JOURNAL FORMAT, Up: Top - -13 CSV FORMAT -************* - -How hledger reads CSV data, and the CSV rules file format. - - hledger can read CSV files (Character Separated Value - usually -comma, semicolon, or tab) containing dated records as if they were -journal files, automatically converting each CSV record into a -transaction. - - (To learn about _writing_ CSV, see CSV output.) - - We describe each CSV file's format with a corresponding _rules file_. -By default this is named like the CSV file with a '.rules' extension -added. Eg when reading 'FILE.csv', hledger also looks for -'FILE.csv.rules' in the same directory as 'FILE.csv'. You can specify a -different rules file with the '--rules-file' option. If a rules file is -not found, hledger will create a sample rules file, which you'll need to -adjust. - - This file contains rules describing the CSV data (header line, fields -layout, date format etc.), and how to construct hledger journal entries -(transactions) from it. Often there will also be a list of conditional -rules for categorising transactions based on their descriptions. Here's -an overview of the CSV rules; these are described more fully below, -after the examples: - -*'skip'* skip one or more header lines or matched - CSV records -*'fields' list* name CSV fields, assign them to hledger - fields -*field assignment* assign a value to one hledger field, with - interpolation -*Field names* hledger field names, used in the fields - list and field assignments -*'separator'* a custom field separator -*'if' block* apply some rules to CSV records matched by - patterns -*'if' table* apply some rules to CSV records matched by - patterns, alternate syntax -*'end'* skip the remaining CSV records -*'date-format'* how to parse dates in CSV records -*'decimal-mark'* the decimal mark used in CSV amounts, if - ambiguous -*'newest-first'* disambiguate record order when there's only - one date -*'include'* inline another CSV rules file -*'balance-type'* choose which type of balance assignments to - use - - Note, for best error messages when reading CSV files, use a '.csv', -'.tsv' or '.ssv' file extension or file prefix - see File Extension -below. - - There's an introductory Convert CSV files tutorial on hledger.org. - -* Menu: - -* Examples:: -* CSV rules:: -* Tips:: - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Examples, Next: CSV rules, Up: CSV FORMAT - -13.1 Examples -============= - -Here are some sample hledger CSV rules files. See also the full -collection at: -https://github.com/simonmichael/hledger/tree/master/examples/csv - -* Menu: - -* Basic:: -* Bank of Ireland:: -* Amazon:: -* Paypal:: - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Basic, Next: Bank of Ireland, Up: Examples - -13.1.1 Basic ------------- - -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's a simple CSV file and a rules file for it: - -Date, Description, Id, Amount -12/11/2019, Foo, 123, 10.23 - -# basic.csv.rules -skip 1 -fields date, description, _, amount -date-format %d/%m/%Y - -$ hledger print -f basic.csv -2019-11-12 Foo - expenses:unknown 10.23 - income:unknown -10.23 - - Default account names are chosen, since we didn't set them. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Bank of Ireland, Next: Amazon, Prev: Basic, Up: Examples - -13.1.2 Bank of Ireland ----------------------- - -Here'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: - -Date,Details,Debit,Credit,Balance -07/12/2012,LODGMENT 529898,,10.0,131.21 -07/12/2012,PAYMENT,5,,126 - -# 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 "balance" -# 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 - -$ 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 - - The balance assertions don't raise an error above, because we're -reading directly from CSV, but they will be checked if these entries are -imported into a journal file. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Amazon, Next: Paypal, Prev: Bank of Ireland, Up: Examples - -13.1.3 Amazon -------------- - -Here we convert amazon.com order history, and use an if block to -generate a third posting if there's a fee. (In practice you'd probably -get this data from your bank instead, but it's an example.) - -"Date","Type","To/From","Name","Status","Amount","Fees","Transaction ID" -"Jul 29, 2012","Payment","To","Foo.","Completed","$20.00","$0.00","16000000000000DGLNJPI1P9B8DKPVHL" -"Jul 30, 2012","Payment","To","Adapteva, Inc.","Completed","$25.00","$1.00","17LA58JSKRD4HDGLNJPI1P9B8DKPVHL" - -# amazon-orders.csv.rules - -# skip one header line -skip 1 - -# name the csv fields, and assign the transaction's date, amount and code. -# Avoided the "status" and "amount" hledger field names to prevent confusion. -fields date, _, toorfrom, name, amzstatus, amzamount, fees, code - -# how to parse the date -date-format %b %-d, %Y - -# combine two fields to make the description -description %toorfrom %name - -# save the status as a tag -comment status:%amzstatus - -# set the base account for all transactions -account1 assets:amazon -# leave amount1 blank so it can balance the other(s). -# I'm assuming amzamount excludes the fees, don't remember - -# set a generic account2 -account2 expenses:misc -amount2 %amzamount -# and maybe refine it further: -#include categorisation.rules - -# add a third posting for fees, but only if they are non-zero. -if %fees [1-9] - account3 expenses:fees - amount3 %fees - -$ 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 - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Paypal, Prev: Amazon, Up: Examples - -13.1.4 Paypal -------------- - -Here's a real-world rules file for (customised) Paypal CSV, with some -Paypal-specific rules, and a second rules file included: - -"Date","Time","TimeZone","Name","Type","Status","Currency","Gross","Fee","Net","From Email Address","To Email Address","Transaction ID","Item Title","Item ID","Reference Txn ID","Receipt ID","Balance","Note" -"10/01/2019","03:46:20","PDT","Calm Radio","Subscription Payment","Completed","USD","-6.99","0.00","-6.99","simon@joyful.com","memberships@calmradio.com","60P57143A8206782E","MONTHLY - $1 for the first 2 Months: Me - Order 99309. Item total: $1.00 USD first 2 months, then $6.99 / Month","","I-R8YLY094FJYR","","-6.99","" -"10/01/2019","03:46:20","PDT","","Bank Deposit to PP Account ","Pending","USD","6.99","0.00","6.99","","simon@joyful.com","0TU1544T080463733","","","60P57143A8206782E","","0.00","" -"10/01/2019","08:57:01","PDT","Patreon","PreApproved Payment Bill User Payment","Completed","USD","-7.00","0.00","-7.00","simon@joyful.com","support@patreon.com","2722394R5F586712G","Patreon* Membership","","B-0PG93074E7M86381M","","-7.00","" -"10/01/2019","08:57:01","PDT","","Bank Deposit to PP Account ","Pending","USD","7.00","0.00","7.00","","simon@joyful.com","71854087RG994194F","Patreon* Membership","","2722394R5F586712G","","0.00","" -"10/19/2019","03:02:12","PDT","Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.","Subscription Payment","Completed","USD","-2.00","0.00","-2.00","simon@joyful.com","tle@wikimedia.org","K9U43044RY432050M","Monthly donation to the Wikimedia Foundation","","I-R5C3YUS3285L","","-2.00","" -"10/19/2019","03:02:12","PDT","","Bank Deposit to PP Account ","Pending","USD","2.00","0.00","2.00","","simon@joyful.com","3XJ107139A851061F","","","K9U43044RY432050M","","0.00","" -"10/22/2019","05:07:06","PDT","Noble Benefactor","Subscription Payment","Completed","USD","10.00","-0.59","9.41","noble@bene.fac.tor","simon@joyful.com","6L8L1662YP1334033","Joyful Systems","","I-KC9VBGY2GWDB","","9.41","" - -# paypal-custom.csv.rules - -# Tips: -# Export from Activity -> Statements -> Custom -> Activity download -# Suggested transaction type: "Balance affecting" -# Paypal's default fields in 2018 were: -# "Date","Time","TimeZone","Name","Type","Status","Currency","Gross","Fee","Net","From Email Address","To Email Address","Transaction ID","Shipping Address","Address Status","Item Title","Item ID","Shipping and Handling Amount","Insurance Amount","Sales Tax","Option 1 Name","Option 1 Value","Option 2 Name","Option 2 Value","Reference Txn ID","Invoice Number","Custom Number","Quantity","Receipt ID","Balance","Address Line 1","Address Line 2/District/Neighborhood","Town/City","State/Province/Region/County/Territory/Prefecture/Republic","Zip/Postal Code","Country","Contact Phone Number","Subject","Note","Country Code","Balance Impact" -# This rules file assumes the following more detailed fields, configured in "Customize report fields": -# "Date","Time","TimeZone","Name","Type","Status","Currency","Gross","Fee","Net","From Email Address","To Email Address","Transaction ID","Item Title","Item ID","Reference Txn ID","Receipt ID","Balance","Note" - -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'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's income (a debit) -if %grossamount ^[^-] - account2 income:unknown -# if negative, it's an expense (a credit) -if %grossamount ^- - 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 - -# 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 - -$ 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@joyful.com, toemail:memberships@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@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@joyful.com, toemail:support@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@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@joyful.com, toemail:tle@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@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@bene.fac.tor, toemail:simon@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: - - -File: hledger.info, Node: CSV rules, Next: Tips, Prev: Examples, Up: CSV FORMAT - -13.2 CSV rules -============== - -The following kinds of rule can appear in the rules file, in any order. -Blank lines and lines beginning with '#' or ';' are ignored. - -* Menu: - -* skip:: -* fields list:: -* field assignment:: -* Field names:: -* separator:: -* if block:: -* if table:: -* end:: -* date-format:: -* decimal-mark:: -* newest-first:: -* include:: -* balance-type:: - - -File: hledger.info, Node: skip, Next: fields list, Up: CSV rules - -13.2.1 'skip' -------------- - -skip N - - The word "skip" followed by a number (or no number, meaning 1) tells -hledger to ignore this many non-empty lines preceding the CSV data. -(Empty/blank lines are skipped automatically.) You'll need this -whenever your CSV data contains header lines. - - It also has a second purpose: it can be used inside if blocks to -ignore certain CSV records (described below). - - -File: hledger.info, Node: fields list, Next: field assignment, Prev: skip, Up: CSV rules - -13.2.2 'fields' list --------------------- - -fields FIELDNAME1, FIELDNAME2, ... - - A fields list (the word "fields" followed by comma-separated field -names) is the quick way to assign CSV field values to hledger fields. -(The other way is field assignments, see below.) A fields list does -does two things: - - 1. It names the CSV fields. This is optional, but can be convenient - later for interpolating them. - - 2. Whenever you use a standard hledger field name (defined below), the - CSV value is assigned to that part of the hledger transaction. - - Here's an example that says "use the 1st, 2nd and 4th fields as the -transaction's date, description and amount; name the last two fields for -later reference; and ignore the others": - -fields date, description, , amount, , , somefield, anotherfield - - Tips: - - * The fields list always use commas, even if your CSV data uses - another separator character. - * Currently there must be least two items in the list (at least one - comma). - * Field names may not contain spaces. Spaces before/after field - names are optional. - * If the CSV contains column headings, it's a good idea to use these, - suitably modified, as the basis for your field names (eg - lower-cased, with underscores instead of spaces). - * If some heading names match standard hledger fields, but you don't - want to set the hledger fields directly, alter those names, eg by - appending an underscore. - * Fields you don't care about can be given a dummy name (eg: '_' ), - or no name. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: field assignment, Next: Field names, Prev: fields list, Up: CSV rules - -13.2.3 field assignment ------------------------ - -HLEDGERFIELDNAME FIELDVALUE - - 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). - - 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 ('%N'), or by the name they were given in the fields list -('%CSVFIELDNAME'). - - Some examples: - -# set the amount to the 4th CSV field, with " USD" appended -amount %4 USD - -# combine three fields to make a comment, containing note: and date: tags -comment note: %somefield - %anotherfield, date: %1 - - Tips: - - * Interpolation strips outer whitespace (so a CSV value like '" 1 "' - becomes '1' when interpolated) (#1051). - * Interpolations always refer to a CSV field - you can't interpolate - a hledger field. (See Referencing other fields below). - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Field names, Next: separator, Prev: field assignment, Up: CSV rules - -13.2.4 Field names ------------------- - -Here are the standard hledger field (and pseudo-field) names, which you -can use in a fields list and in field assignments. For more about the -transaction parts they refer to, see Transactions. - -* Menu: - -* date field:: -* date2 field:: -* status field:: -* code field:: -* description field:: -* comment field:: -* account field:: -* amount field:: -* currency field:: -* balance field:: - - -File: hledger.info, Node: date field, Next: date2 field, Up: Field names - -13.2.4.1 date field -................... - -Assigning to 'date' sets the transaction date. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: date2 field, Next: status field, Prev: date field, Up: Field names - -13.2.4.2 date2 field -.................... - -'date2' sets the transaction's secondary date, if any. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: status field, Next: code field, Prev: date2 field, Up: Field names - -13.2.4.3 status field -..................... - -'status' sets the transaction's status, if any. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: code field, Next: description field, Prev: status field, Up: Field names - -13.2.4.4 code field -................... - -'code' sets the transaction's code, if any. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: description field, Next: comment field, Prev: code field, Up: Field names - -13.2.4.5 description field -.......................... - -'description' sets the transaction's description, if any. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: comment field, Next: account field, Prev: description field, Up: Field names - -13.2.4.6 comment field -...................... - -'comment' sets the transaction's comment, if any. - - 'commentN', where N is a number, sets the Nth posting's comment. - - Tips: - You can assign multi-line comments by writing literal '\n' in -the code. A comment starting with '\n' will begin on a new line. - -Comments can contain tags, as usual. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: account field, Next: amount field, Prev: comment field, Up: Field names - -13.2.4.7 account field -...................... - -Assigning to 'accountN', where N is 1 to 99, sets the account name of -the Nth posting, and causes that posting to be generated. - - Most often there are two postings, so you'll want to set 'account1' -and 'account2'. Typically 'account1' is associated with the CSV file, -and is set once with a top-level assignment, while 'account2' is set -based on each transaction's description, and in conditional blocks. - - If a posting's account name is left unset but its amount is set (see -below), a default account name will be chosen (like "expenses:unknown" -or "income:unknown"). - - -File: hledger.info, Node: amount field, Next: currency field, Prev: account field, Up: Field names - -13.2.4.8 amount field -..................... - -'amountN' sets the amount of the Nth posting, and causes that posting to -be generated. By assigning to 'amount1', 'amount2', ... etc. you can -generate up to 99 postings. - - 'amountN-in' and 'amountN-out' can be used instead, if the CSV uses -separate fields for debits and credits (inflows and outflows). hledger -assumes both of these CSV fields are unsigned, and will automatically -negate the "-out" value. If they are signed, see "Setting amounts" -below. - - 'amount', or 'amount-in' and 'amount-out' are a legacy mode, to keep -pre-hledger-1.17 CSV rules files working (and for occasional -convenience). They are suitable only for two-posting transactions; they -set both posting 1's and posting 2's amount. Posting 2's amount will be -negated, and also converted to cost if there's a transaction price. - - If you have an existing rules file using the unnumbered form, you -might want to use the numbered form in certain conditional blocks, -without having to update and retest all the old rules. To facilitate -this, posting 1 ignores 'amount'/'amount-in'/'amount-out' if any of -'amount1'/'amount1-in'/'amount1-out' are assigned, and posting 2 ignores -them if any of 'amount2'/'amount2-in'/'amount2-out' are assigned, -avoiding conflicts. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: currency field, Next: balance field, Prev: amount field, Up: Field names - -13.2.4.9 currency field -....................... - -'currency' sets a currency symbol, to be prepended to all postings' -amounts. You can use this if the CSV amounts do not have a currency -symbol, eg if it is in a separate column. - - 'currencyN' prepends a currency symbol to just the Nth posting's -amount. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: balance field, Prev: currency field, Up: Field names - -13.2.4.10 balance field -....................... - -'balanceN' sets a balance assertion amount (or if the posting amount is -left empty, a balance assignment) on posting N. - - 'balance' is a compatibility spelling for hledger <1.17; it is -equivalent to 'balance1'. - - You can adjust the type of assertion/assignment with the -'balance-type' rule (see below). - - See Tips below for more about setting amounts and currency. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: separator, Next: if block, Prev: Field names, Up: CSV rules - -13.2.5 'separator' ------------------- - -You can use the 'separator' rule to read other kinds of -character-separated data. The argument is any single separator -character, or the words 'tab' or 'space' (case insensitive). Eg, for -comma-separated values (CSV): - -separator , - - or for semicolon-separated values (SSV): - -separator ; - - or for tab-separated values (TSV): - -separator TAB - - If the input file has a '.csv', '.ssv' or '.tsv' file extension (or a -'csv:', 'ssv:', 'tsv:' prefix), the appropriate separator will be -inferred automatically, and you won't need this rule. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: if block, Next: if table, Prev: separator, Up: CSV rules - -13.2.6 'if' block ------------------ - -if MATCHER - RULE - -if -MATCHER -MATCHER -MATCHER - RULE - RULE - - Conditional blocks ("if blocks") are a block of rules that are -applied only to CSV records which match certain patterns. They are -often used for customising account names based on transaction -descriptions. - -* Menu: - -* Matching the whole record:: -* Matching individual fields:: -* Combining matchers:: -* Rules applied on successful match:: - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Matching the whole record, Next: Matching individual fields, Up: if block - -13.2.6.1 Matching the whole record -.................................. - -Each MATCHER can be a record matcher, which looks like this: - -REGEX - - REGEX is a case-insensitive regular expression that tries to match -anywhere within the CSV record. It is a POSIX ERE (extended regular -expression) that also supports GNU word boundaries ('\b', '\B', '\<', -'\>'), and nothing else. If you have trouble, be sure to check our doc: -https://hledger.org/hledger.html#regular-expressions - - Important note: the record that is matched is not the original -record, but a synthetic one, with any enclosing double quotes (but not -enclosing whitespace) removed, and always comma-separated (which means -that a field containing a comma will appear like two fields). Eg, if -the original record is '2020-01-01; "Acme, Inc."; 1,000', the REGEX will -actually see '2020-01-01,Acme, Inc., 1,000'). - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Matching individual fields, Next: Combining matchers, Prev: Matching the whole record, Up: if block - -13.2.6.2 Matching individual fields -................................... - -Or, MATCHER can be a field matcher, like this: - -%CSVFIELD REGEX - - which matches just the content of a particular CSV field. CSVFIELD -is a percent sign followed by the field's name or column number, like -'%date' or '%1'. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Combining matchers, Next: Rules applied on successful match, Prev: Matching individual fields, Up: if block - -13.2.6.3 Combining matchers -........................... - -A single matcher can be written on the same line as the "if"; or -multiple matchers can be written on the following lines, non-indented. -Multiple matchers are OR'd (any one of them can match), unless one -begins with an '&' symbol, in which case it is AND'ed with the previous -matcher. - -if -MATCHER -& MATCHER - RULE - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Rules applied on successful match, Prev: Combining matchers, Up: if block - -13.2.6.4 Rules applied on successful match -.......................................... - -After the patterns there should be one or more rules to apply, all -indented by at least one space. Three kinds of rule are allowed in -conditional blocks: - - * field assignments (to set a hledger field) - * skip (to skip the matched CSV record) - * end (to skip all remaining CSV records). - - Examples: - -# if the CSV record contains "groceries", set account2 to "expenses:groceries" -if groceries - account2 expenses:groceries - -# if the CSV record contains any of these patterns, set account2 and comment as shown -if -monthly service fee -atm transaction fee -banking thru software - account2 expenses:business:banking - comment XXX deductible ? check it - - -File: hledger.info, Node: if table, Next: end, Prev: if block, Up: CSV rules - -13.2.7 'if' table ------------------ - -if,CSVFIELDNAME1,CSVFIELDNAME2,...,CSVFIELDNAMEn -MATCHER1,VALUE11,VALUE12,...,VALUE1n -MATCHER2,VALUE21,VALUE22,...,VALUE2n -MATCHER3,VALUE31,VALUE32,...,VALUE3n - - - Conditional tables ("if tables") are a different syntax to specify -field assignments that will be applied only to CSV records which match -certain patterns. - - MATCHER could be either field or record matcher, as described above. -When MATCHER matches, values from that row would be assigned to the CSV -fields named on the 'if' line, in the same order. - - Therefore 'if' table is exactly equivalent to a sequence of of 'if' -blocks: - -if MATCHER1 - CSVFIELDNAME1 VALUE11 - CSVFIELDNAME2 VALUE12 - ... - CSVFIELDNAMEn VALUE1n - -if MATCHER2 - CSVFIELDNAME1 VALUE21 - CSVFIELDNAME2 VALUE22 - ... - CSVFIELDNAMEn VALUE2n - -if MATCHER3 - CSVFIELDNAME1 VALUE31 - CSVFIELDNAME2 VALUE32 - ... - CSVFIELDNAMEn VALUE3n - - Each line starting with MATCHER should contain enough (possibly -empty) values for all the listed fields. - - Rules would be checked and applied in the order they are listed in -the table and, like with 'if' blocks, later rules (in the same or -another table) or 'if' blocks could override the effect of any rule. - - Instead of ',' you can use a variety of other non-alphanumeric -characters as a separator. First character after 'if' is taken to be -the separator for the rest of the table. It is the responsibility of -the user to ensure that separator does not occur inside MATCHERs and -values - there is no way to escape separator. - - Example: - -if,account2,comment -atm transaction fee,expenses:business:banking,deductible? check it -%description groceries,expenses:groceries, -2020/01/12.*Plumbing LLC,expenses:house:upkeep,emergency plumbing call-out - - -File: hledger.info, Node: end, Next: date-format, Prev: if table, Up: CSV rules - -13.2.8 'end' ------------- - -This rule can be used inside if blocks (only), to make hledger stop -reading this CSV file and move on to the next input file, or to command -execution. Eg: - -# ignore everything following the first empty record -if ,,,, - end - - -File: hledger.info, Node: date-format, Next: decimal-mark, Prev: end, Up: CSV rules - -13.2.9 'date-format' --------------------- - -date-format DATEFMT - - This is a helper for the 'date' (and 'date2') fields. If your CSV -dates are not formatted like 'YYYY-MM-DD', 'YYYY/MM/DD' or 'YYYY.MM.DD', -you'll need to add a date-format rule describing them with a strptime -date parsing pattern, which must parse the CSV date value completely. -Some examples: - -# MM/DD/YY -date-format %m/%d/%y - -# D/M/YYYY -# The - makes leading zeros optional. -date-format %-d/%-m/%Y - -# YYYY-Mmm-DD -date-format %Y-%h-%d - -# 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 - - For the supported strptime syntax, see: -https://hackage.haskell.org/package/time/docs/Data-Time-Format.html#v:formatTime - - Note that although you can parse date-times which include a time -zone, that time zone is ignored; it will not change the date that is -parsed. This means when reading CSV data with times not in your local -time zone, dates can be "off by one". - - -File: hledger.info, Node: decimal-mark, Next: newest-first, Prev: date-format, Up: CSV rules - -13.2.10 'decimal-mark' ----------------------- - -decimal-mark . - - or: - -decimal-mark , - - 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. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: newest-first, Next: include, Prev: decimal-mark, Up: CSV rules - -13.2.11 'newest-first' ----------------------- - -hledger always sorts the generated transactions by date. Transactions -on the same date should appear in the same order as their CSV records, -as hledger can usually auto-detect whether the CSV's normal order is -oldest first or newest first. But if all of the following are true: - - * the CSV might sometimes contain just one day of data (all records - having the same date) - * the CSV records are normally in reverse chronological order (newest - at the top) - * and you care about preserving the order of same-day transactions - - then, you should add the 'newest-first' rule as a hint. Eg: - -# tell hledger explicitly that the CSV is normally newest first -newest-first - - -File: hledger.info, Node: include, Next: balance-type, Prev: newest-first, Up: CSV rules - -13.2.12 'include' ------------------ - -include RULESFILE - - This includes the contents of another CSV rules file at this point. -'RULESFILE' is an absolute file path or a path relative to the current -file's directory. This can be useful for sharing common rules between -several rules files, eg: - -# someaccount.csv.rules - -## someaccount-specific rules -fields date,description,amount -account1 assets:someaccount -account2 expenses:misc - -## common rules -include categorisation.rules - - -File: hledger.info, Node: balance-type, Prev: include, Up: CSV rules - -13.2.13 'balance-type' ----------------------- - -Balance assertions generated by assigning to balanceN are of the simple -'=' 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 -'balance-type' rule: - -# balance assertions will consider all commodities and all subaccounts -balance-type ==* - - Here are the balance assertion types for quick reference: - -= single commodity, exclude subaccounts -=* single commodity, include subaccounts -== multi commodity, exclude subaccounts -==* multi commodity, include subaccounts - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Tips, Prev: CSV rules, Up: CSV FORMAT - -13.3 Tips -========= - -* Menu: - -* Rapid feedback:: -* Valid CSV:: -* File Extension:: -* Reading multiple CSV files:: -* Valid transactions:: -* Deduplicating importing:: -* Setting amounts:: -* Amount signs:: -* Setting currency/commodity:: -* Amount decimal places:: -* Referencing other fields:: -* How CSV rules are evaluated:: - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Rapid feedback, Next: Valid CSV, Up: Tips - -13.3.1 Rapid feedback ---------------------- - -It's a good idea to get rapid feedback while creating/troubleshooting -CSV rules. Here's a good way, using entr from eradman.com/entrproject: - -$ ls foo.csv* | entr bash -c 'echo ----; hledger -f foo.csv print desc:SOMEDESC' - - A desc: query (eg) is used to select just one, or a few, transactions -of interest. "bash -c" 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. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Valid CSV, Next: File Extension, Prev: Rapid feedback, Up: Tips - -13.3.2 Valid CSV ----------------- - -hledger accepts CSV conforming to RFC 4180. When CSV values are -enclosed in quotes, note: - - * they must be double quotes (not single quotes) - * spaces outside the quotes are not allowed - - -File: hledger.info, Node: File Extension, Next: Reading multiple CSV files, Prev: Valid CSV, Up: Tips - -13.3.3 File Extension ---------------------- - -To help hledger identify the format and show the right error messages, -CSV/SSV/TSV files should normally be named with a '.csv', '.ssv' or -'.tsv' filename extension. Or, the file path should be prefixed with -'csv:', 'ssv:' or 'tsv:'. Eg: - -$ hledger -f foo.ssv print - - or: - -$ cat foo | hledger -f ssv:- foo - - You can override the file extension with a separator rule if needed. -See also: Input files in the hledger manual. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Reading multiple CSV files, Next: Valid transactions, Prev: File Extension, Up: Tips - -13.3.4 Reading multiple CSV files ---------------------------------- - -If you use multiple '-f' 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 '--rules-file' option, that rules file will be -used for all the CSV files. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Valid transactions, Next: Deduplicating importing, Prev: Reading multiple CSV files, Up: Tips - -13.3.5 Valid transactions -------------------------- - -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. - - 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: - -$ hledger -f file.csv print | hledger -f- print - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Deduplicating importing, Next: Setting amounts, Prev: Valid transactions, Up: Tips - -13.3.6 Deduplicating, importing -------------------------------- - -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. - - 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't have to remember how many times you ran it or with which -version of the CSV. (It keeps state in a hidden '.latest.FILE.csv' -file.) This is the easiest way to import CSV data. Eg: - -# download the latest CSV files, then run this command. -# Note, no -f flags needed here. -$ hledger import *.csv [--dry] - - This method works for most CSV files. (Where records have a stable -chronological order, and new records appear only at the new end.) - - A number of other tools and workflows, hledger-specific and -otherwise, exist for converting, deduplicating, classifying and managing -CSV data. See: - - * https://hledger.org -> sidebar -> real world setups - * https://plaintextaccounting.org -> data import/conversion - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Setting amounts, Next: Amount signs, Prev: Deduplicating importing, Up: Tips - -13.3.7 Setting amounts ----------------------- - -Some tips on using the amount-setting rules discussed above. - - Here are the ways to set a posting's amount: - - 1. *If the CSV has a single amount field:* - Assign (via a fields list or a field assignment) to 'amountN'. - This sets the Nth posting's amount. N is usually 1 or 2 but can go - up to 99. - - 2. *If the CSV has separate amount fields for debit & credit (in & - out):* - - a. *If both fields are unsigned:* - Assign to 'amountN-in' and 'amountN-out'. This sets posting - N's amount to whichever of these has a non-zero value, and - negates the "-out" value. - - b. *If either field is signed (can contain a minus sign):* - Use a conditional rule to flip the sign (of non-empty values). - Since hledger always negates amountN-out, if it was already - negative, we must undo that by negating once more (but only if - the field is non-empty): - - fields date, description, amount1-in, amount1-out - if %amount1-out [1-9] - amount1-out -%amount1-out - - c. *If both fields, or neither field, can contain a non-zero - value:* - hledger normally expects exactly one of the fields to have a - non-zero value. Eg, the 'amountN-in'/'amountN-out' rules - would reject value pairs like these: - - "", "" - "0", "0" - "1", "none" - - So, use smarter conditional rules to set the amount from the - appropriate field. Eg, these rules would make it use only the - value containing non-zero digits, handling the above: - - fields date, description, in, out - if %in [1-9] - amount1 %in - if %out [1-9] - amount1 %out - - 3. *If you are stuck with hledger <1.17, or you want posting 2's - amount converted to cost:* - Assign to 'amount' (or to 'amount-in' and 'amount-out'). (The old - numberless syntax, which sets amount1 and amount2.) - - 4. *If the CSV has the balance instead of the transaction amount:* - Assign to 'balanceN', which sets posting N's amount indirectly via - a balance assignment. (Old syntax: 'balance', equivalent to - 'balance1'.) - - * *If hledger guesses the wrong default account name:* - When setting the amount via balance assertion, hledger may - guess the wrong default account name. So, set the account - name explicitly, eg: - - fields date, description, balance1 - account1 assets:checking - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Amount signs, Next: Setting currency/commodity, Prev: Setting amounts, Up: Tips - -13.3.8 Amount signs -------------------- - -There is some special handling for amount signs, to simplify parsing and -sign-flipping: - - * *If an amount value begins with a plus sign:* - that will be removed: '+AMT' becomes 'AMT' - - * *If an amount value is parenthesised:* - it will be de-parenthesised and sign-flipped: '(AMT)' becomes - '-AMT' - - * *If an amount value has two minus signs (or two sets of - parentheses, or a minus sign and parentheses):* - they cancel out and will be removed: '--AMT' or '-(AMT)' becomes - 'AMT' - - * *If an amount value contains just a sign (or just a set of - parentheses):* - that is removed, making it an empty value. '"+"' or '"-"' or - '"()"' becomes '""'. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Setting currency/commodity, Next: Amount decimal places, Prev: Amount signs, Up: Tips - -13.3.9 Setting currency/commodity ---------------------------------- - -If the currency/commodity symbol is included in the CSV's amount -field(s): - -2020-01-01,foo,$123.00 - - you don't have to do anything special for the commodity symbol, it -will be assigned as part of the amount. Eg: - -fields date,description,amount - -2020-01-01 foo - expenses:unknown $123.00 - income:unknown $-123.00 - - If the currency is provided as a separate CSV field: - -2020-01-01,foo,USD,123.00 - - You can assign that to the 'currency' pseudo-field, which has the -special effect of prepending itself to every amount in the transaction -(on the left, with no separating space): - -fields date,description,currency,amount - -2020-01-01 foo - expenses:unknown USD123.00 - income:unknown USD-123.00 - - 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: - -fields date,description,cur,amt -amount %amt %cur - -2020-01-01 foo - expenses:unknown 123.00 USD - income:unknown -123.00 USD - - Note we used a temporary field name ('cur') that is not 'currency' - -that would trigger the prepending effect, which we don't want here. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Amount decimal places, Next: Referencing other fields, Prev: Setting currency/commodity, Up: Tips - -13.3.10 Amount decimal places ------------------------------ - -Like amounts in a journal file, the amounts generated by CSV rules like -'amount1' influence commodity display styles, such as the number of -decimal places displayed in reports. - - The original amounts as written in the CSV file do not affect display -style (because we don't yet reliably know their commodity). - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Referencing other fields, Next: How CSV rules are evaluated, Prev: Amount decimal places, Up: Tips - -13.3.11 Referencing other fields --------------------------------- - -In field assignments, you can interpolate only CSV fields, not hledger -fields. In the example below, there's both a CSV field and a hledger -field named amount1, but %amount1 always means the CSV field, not the -hledger field: - -# Name the third CSV field "amount1" -fields date,description,amount1 - -# Set hledger'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 - - Here, since there's no CSV amount1 field, %amount1 will produce a -literal "amount1": - -fields date,description,csvamount -amount1 %csvamount USD -# Can't interpolate amount1 here -comment %amount1 - - When there are multiple field assignments to the same hledger field, -only the last one takes effect. Here, comment's value will be be B, or -C if "something" is matched, but never A: - -comment A -comment B -if something - comment C - - -File: hledger.info, Node: How CSV rules are evaluated, Prev: Referencing other fields, Up: Tips - -13.3.12 How CSV rules are evaluated ------------------------------------ - -Here's how to think of CSV rules being evaluated (if you really need -to). First, - - * 'include' - 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.) - - Then "global" rules are evaluated, top to bottom. If a rule is -repeated, the last one wins: - - * 'skip' (at top level) - * 'date-format' - * 'newest-first' - * 'fields' - names the CSV fields, optionally sets up initial - assignments to hledger fields - - Then for each CSV record in turn: - - * test all 'if' blocks. If any of them contain a 'end' rule, skip - all remaining CSV records. Otherwise if any of them contain a - 'skip' rule, skip that many CSV records. If there are multiple - matched 'skip' rules, the first one wins. - * collect all field assignments at top level and in matched 'if' - blocks. When there are multiple assignments for a field, keep only - the last one. - * compute a value for each hledger field - either the one that was - assigned to it (and interpolate the %CSVFIELDNAME references), or a - default - * generate a synthetic hledger transaction from these values. - - 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. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: TIMECLOCK FORMAT, Next: TIMEDOT FORMAT, Prev: CSV FORMAT, Up: Top - -14 TIMECLOCK FORMAT -******************* - -The time logging format of timeclock.el, as read by hledger. - - hledger can read time logs in timeclock format. As with Ledger, -these are (a subset of) timeclock.el'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). - -i 2015/03/30 09:00:00 some:account name optional description after two spaces -o 2015/03/30 09:20:00 -i 2015/03/31 22:21:45 another account -o 2015/04/01 02:00:34 - - 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, 'hledger print' generates these journal entries: - -$ hledger -f t.timeclock print -2015-03-30 * optional description after two spaces - (some:account name) 0.33h - -2015-03-31 * 22:21-23:59 - (another account) 1.64h - -2015-04-01 * 00:00-02:00 - (another account) 2.01h - - Here is a sample.timeclock to download and some queries to try: - -$ 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 - - To generate time logs, ie to clock in and clock out, you could: - - * use emacs and the built-in timeclock.el, or the extended - timeclock-x.el and perhaps the extras in ledgerutils.el - - * at the command line, use these bash aliases: 'shell alias ti="echo - i `date '+%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S'` \$* >>$TIMELOG" alias to="echo o - `date '+%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S'` >>$TIMELOG"' - - * or use the old 'ti' and 'to' scripts in the ledger 2.x repository. - These rely on a "timeclock" executable which I think is just the - ledger 2 executable renamed. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: TIMEDOT FORMAT, Next: COMMON TASKS, Prev: TIMECLOCK FORMAT, Up: Top - -15 TIMEDOT FORMAT -***************** - -'timedot' format is hledger's human-friendly time logging format. -Compared to 'timeclock' format, it is - - * convenient for quick, approximate, and retroactive time logging - * readable: you can see at a glance where time was spent. - - A timedot file contains a series of day entries, which might look -like this: - -2021-08-04 -hom:errands .... .... -fos:hledger:timedot .. ; docs -per:admin:finance - - hledger reads this as three time transactions on this day, with each -dot representing a quarter-hour spent: - -$ hledger -f a.timedot print # .timedot file extension activates the timedot reader -2021-08-04 * - (hom:errands) 2.00 - -2021-08-04 * - (fos:hledger:timedot) 0.50 - -2021-08-04 * - (per:admin:finance) 0 - - A day entry begins with a date line: - - * a non-indented *simple date* (Y-M-D, Y/M/D, or Y.M.D). - - Optionally this can be followed on the same line by - - * a common *transaction description* for this day - * a common *transaction comment* for this day, after a semicolon - (';'). - - After the date line are zero or more optionally-indented time -transaction lines, consisting of: - - * an *account name* - any word or phrase, usually a hledger-style - account name. - * *two or more spaces* - a field separator, required if there is an - amount (as in journal format). - * a *timedot amount* - dots representing quarter hours, or a number - representing hours. - * an optional *comment* beginning with semicolon. This is ignored. - - In more detail, timedot amounts can be: - - * *dots*: zero or more period characters, each representing one - quarter-hour. Spaces are ignored and can be used for grouping. - Eg: '.... ..' - - * a *number*, representing hours. Eg: '1.5' - - * a *number immediately followed by a unit symbol* 's', 'm', 'h', - 'd', 'w', 'mo', or 'y', representing seconds, minutes, hours, days - weeks, months or years. Eg '1.5h' or '90m'. The following - equivalencies are assumed: - '60s' = '1m', '60m' = '1h', '24h' = '1d', '7d' = '1w', '30d' = - '1mo', '365d' = '1y'. (This unit will not be visible in the - generated transaction amount, which is always in hours.) - - There is some added flexibility to help with keeping time log data in -the same file as your notes, todo lists, etc.: - - * Lines beginning with '#' or ';', and blank lines, are ignored. - - * Lines not ending with a double-space and amount are parsed as - transactions with zero amount. (Most hledger reports hide these by - default; add -E to see them.) - - * One or more stars ('*') followed by a space, at the start of a - line, is ignored. So date lines or time transaction lines can also - be Org-mode headlines. - - * All Org-mode headlines before the first date line are ignored. - - More examples: - -# 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 . - -2016/2/3 -inc:client1 4 -fos:hledger 3 -biz:research 1 - -* Time log -** 2020-01-01 -*** adm:time . -*** adm:finance . - -* 2020 Work Diary -** Q1 -*** 2020-02-29 -**** DONE -0700 yoga -**** UNPLANNED -**** BEGUN -hom:chores - cleaning ... - water plants - outdoor - one full watering can - indoor - light watering -**** TODO -adm:planning: trip -*** LATER - - Reporting: - -$ hledger -f a.timedot print date:2016/2/2 -2016-02-02 * - (inc:client1) 2.00 - -2016-02-02 * - (biz:research) 0.25 - -$ 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 - - Using period instead of colon as account name separator: - -2016/2/4 -fos.hledger.timedot 4 -fos.ledger .. - -$ hledger -f a.timedot --alias /\\./=: bal --tree - 4.50 fos - 4.00 hledger:timedot - 0.50 ledger --------------------- - 4.50 - - A sample.timedot file. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: COMMON TASKS, Next: LIMITATIONS, Prev: TIMEDOT FORMAT, Up: Top - -16 COMMON TASKS -*************** - -Here are some quick examples of how to do some basic tasks with hledger. -For more details, see the reference section below, the -hledger_journal(5) manual, or the more extensive docs at -https://hledger.org. - -* Menu: - -* Getting help:: -* Constructing command lines:: -* Starting a journal file:: -* Setting opening balances:: -* Recording transactions:: -* Reconciling:: -* Reporting:: -* Migrating to a new file:: - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Getting help, Next: Constructing command lines, Up: COMMON TASKS - -16.1 Getting help -================= - -$ hledger # show available commands -$ hledger --help # show common options -$ hledger CMD --help # show common and command options, and command help -$ hledger help # show available manuals/topics -$ hledger help hledger # show hledger manual as info/man/text (auto-chosen) -$ hledger help journal --man # show the journal manual as a man page -$ hledger help --help # show more detailed help for the help command - - Find more docs, chat, mail list, reddit, issue tracker: -https://hledger.org#help-feedback - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Constructing command lines, Next: Starting a journal file, Prev: Getting help, Up: COMMON TASKS - -16.2 Constructing command lines -=============================== - -hledger has an extensive and powerful command line interface. We strive -to keep it simple and ergonomic, but you may run into one of the -confusing real world details described in OPTIONS, below. If that -happens, here are some tips that may help: - - * command-specific options must go after the command (it's fine to - put all options there) ('hledger CMD OPTS ARGS') - * running add-on executables directly simplifies command line parsing - ('hledger-ui OPTS ARGS') - * enclose "problematic" args in single quotes - * if needed, also add a backslash to hide regular expression - metacharacters from the shell - * to see how a misbehaving command is being parsed, add '--debug=2'. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Starting a journal file, Next: Setting opening balances, Prev: Constructing command lines, Up: COMMON TASKS - -16.3 Starting a journal file -============================ - -hledger looks for your accounting data in a journal file, -'$HOME/.hledger.journal' by default: - -$ hledger stats -The hledger journal file "/Users/simon/.hledger.journal" was not found. -Please create it first, eg with "hledger add" or a text editor. -Or, specify an existing journal file with -f or LEDGER_FILE. - - You can override this by setting the 'LEDGER_FILE' environment -variable. It'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: - -$ mkdir ~/finance -$ cd ~/finance -$ git init -Initialized empty Git repository in /Users/simon/finance/.git/ -$ touch 2020.journal -$ echo "export LEDGER_FILE=$HOME/finance/2020.journal" >> ~/.bashrc -$ source ~/.bashrc -$ hledger stats -Main file : /Users/simon/finance/2020.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 () - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Setting opening balances, Next: Recording transactions, Prev: Starting a journal file, Up: COMMON TASKS - -16.4 Setting opening balances -============================= - -Pick a starting date for which you can look up the balances of some -real-world assets (bank accounts, wallet..) and liabilities (credit -cards..). - - 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. - - Add an opening balances transaction to the journal, declaring the -balances on this date. Here are two ways to do it: - - * The first way: open the journal in any text editor and save an - entry like this: - - 2020-01-01 * opening balances - assets:bank:checking $1000 = $1000 - assets:bank:savings $2000 = $2000 - assets:cash $100 = $100 - liabilities:creditcard $-50 = $-50 - equity:opening/closing balances - - These are start-of-day balances, ie whatever was in the account at - the end of the previous day. - - The * after the date is an optional status flag. Here it means - "cleared & confirmed". - - The currency symbols are optional, but usually a good idea as - you'll be dealing with multiple currencies sooner or later. - - The = amounts are optional balance assertions, providing extra - error checking. - - * The second way: run 'hledger add' and follow the prompts to record - a similar transaction: - - $ hledger add - Adding transactions to journal file /Users/simon/finance/2020.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 [2020-02-07]: 2020-01-01 - 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): . - 2020-01-01 * opening balances - assets:bank:checking $1000 - assets:bank:savings $2000 - assets:cash $100 - liabilities:creditcard $-50 - equity:opening/closing balances $-3050 - - Save this transaction to the journal ? [y]: - Saved. - Starting the next transaction (. or ctrl-D/ctrl-C to quit) - Date [2020-01-01]: . - - If you're using version control, this could be a good time to commit -the journal. Eg: - -$ git commit -m 'initial balances' 2020.journal - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Recording transactions, Next: Reconciling, Prev: Setting opening balances, Up: COMMON TASKS - -16.5 Recording transactions -=========================== - -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. - - Here are some simple transactions, see the hledger_journal(5) manual -and hledger.org for more ideas: - -2020/1/10 * gift received - assets:cash $20 - income:gifts - -2020.1.12 * farmers market - expenses:food $13 - assets:cash - -2020-01-15 paycheck - income:salary - assets:bank:checking $1000 - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Reconciling, Next: Reporting, Prev: Recording transactions, Up: COMMON TASKS - -16.6 Reconciling -================ - -Periodically you should reconcile - compare your hledger-reported -balances against external sources of truth, like bank statements or your -bank'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. - - A typical workflow: - - 1. Reconcile cash. Count what's in your wallet. Compare with what - hledger reports ('hledger bal cash'). 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 - ('hledger reg cash'). If you can't find the error, add an - adjustment transaction. Eg if you have $105 after the above, and - can't explain the missing $2, it could be: - - 2020-01-16 * adjust cash - assets:cash $-2 = $105 - expenses:misc - - 2. Reconcile checking. Log in to your bank's website. Compare - today's (cleared) balance with hledger's cleared balance ('hledger - bal checking -C'). If they are different, track down the error or - record the missing transaction(s) or add an adjustment transaction, - similar to the above. Unlike the cash case, you can usually - compare the transaction history and running balance from your bank - with the one reported by 'hledger reg checking -C'. This will be - easier if you generally record transaction dates quite similar to - your bank's clearing dates. - - 3. Repeat for other asset/liability accounts. - - Tip: instead of the register command, use hledger-ui to see a -live-updating register while you edit the journal: 'hledger-ui --watch ---register checking -C' - - After reconciling, it could be a good time to mark the reconciled -transactions' status as "cleared and confirmed", if you want to track -that, by adding the '*' marker. Eg in the paycheck transaction above, -insert '*' between '2020-01-15' and 'paycheck' - - If you're using version control, this can be another good time to -commit: - -$ git commit -m 'txns' 2020.journal - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Reporting, Next: Migrating to a new file, Prev: Reconciling, Up: COMMON TASKS - -16.7 Reporting -============== - -Here are some basic reports. - - Show all transactions: - -$ hledger print -2020-01-01 * opening balances - assets:bank:checking $1000 - assets:bank:savings $2000 - assets:cash $100 - liabilities:creditcard $-50 - equity:opening/closing balances $-3050 - -2020-01-10 * gift received - assets:cash $20 - income:gifts - -2020-01-12 * farmers market - expenses:food $13 - assets:cash - -2020-01-15 * paycheck - income:salary - assets:bank:checking $1000 - -2020-01-16 * adjust cash - assets:cash $-2 = $105 - expenses:misc - - Show account names, and their hierarchy: - -$ hledger accounts --tree -assets - bank - checking - savings - cash -equity - opening/closing balances -expenses - food - misc -income - gifts - salary -liabilities - creditcard - - Show all account totals: - -$ 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 - $-50 liabilities:creditcard --------------------- - 0 - - Show only asset and liability balances, as a flat list, limited to -depth 2: - -$ hledger bal assets liabilities --flat -2 - $4000 assets:bank - $105 assets:cash - $-50 liabilities:creditcard --------------------- - $4055 - - Show the same thing without negative numbers, formatted as a simple -balance sheet: - -$ hledger bs --flat -2 -Balance Sheet 2020-01-16 - - || 2020-01-16 -========================++============ - Assets || -------------------------++------------ - assets:bank || $4000 - assets:cash || $105 -------------------------++------------ - || $4105 -========================++============ - Liabilities || -------------------------++------------ - liabilities:creditcard || $50 -------------------------++------------ - || $50 -========================++============ - Net: || $4055 - - The final total is your "net worth" on the end date. (Or use 'bse' -for a full balance sheet with equity.) - - Show income and expense totals, formatted as an income statement: - -hledger is -Income Statement 2020-01-01-2020-01-16 - - || 2020-01-01-2020-01-16 -===============++======================= - Revenues || ----------------++----------------------- - income:gifts || $20 - income:salary || $1000 ----------------++----------------------- - || $1020 -===============++======================= - Expenses || ----------------++----------------------- - expenses:food || $13 - expenses:misc || $2 ----------------++----------------------- - || $15 -===============++======================= - Net: || $1005 - - The final total is your net income during this period. - - Show transactions affecting your wallet, with running total: - -$ hledger register cash -2020-01-01 opening balances assets:cash $100 $100 -2020-01-10 gift received assets:cash $20 $120 -2020-01-12 farmers market assets:cash $-13 $107 -2020-01-16 adjust cash assets:cash $-2 $105 - - Show weekly posting counts as a bar chart: - -$ hledger activity -W -2019-12-30 ***** -2020-01-06 **** -2020-01-13 **** - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Migrating to a new file, Prev: Reporting, Up: COMMON TASKS - -16.8 Migrating to a new file -============================ - -At the end of the year, you may want to continue your journal in a new -file, so that old transactions don't slow down or clutter your reports, -and to help ensure the integrity of your accounting history. See the -close command. - - If using version control, don't forget to 'git add' the new file. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: LIMITATIONS, Next: TROUBLESHOOTING, Prev: COMMON TASKS, Up: Top - -17 LIMITATIONS -************** - -The need to precede add-on command options with '--' when invoked from -hledger is awkward. - - When input data contains non-ascii characters, a suitable system -locale must be configured (or there will be an unhelpful error). Eg on -POSIX, set LANG to something other than C. - - In a Microsoft Windows CMD window, non-ascii characters and colours -are not supported. - - On Windows, non-ascii characters may not display correctly when -running a hledger built in CMD in MSYS/CYGWIN, or vice-versa. - - In a Cygwin/MSYS/Mintty window, the tab key is not supported in -hledger add. - - Not all of Ledger's journal file syntax is supported. See file -format differences. - - On large data files, hledger is slower and uses more memory than -Ledger. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: TROUBLESHOOTING, Prev: LIMITATIONS, Up: Top - -18 TROUBLESHOOTING -****************** - -Here are some issues you might encounter when you run hledger (and -remember you can also seek help from the IRC channel, mail list or bug -tracker): - - *Successfully installed, but "No command 'hledger' found"* -stack and cabal install binaries into a special directory, which should -be added to your PATH environment variable. Eg on unix-like systems, -that is ~/.local/bin and ~/.cabal/bin respectively. - - *I set a custom LEDGER_FILE, but hledger is still using the default -file* -'LEDGER_FILE' should be a real environment variable, not just a shell -variable. The command 'env | grep LEDGER_FILE' should show it. You may -need to use 'export'. Here's an explanation. - - *Getting errors like "Illegal byte sequence" or "Invalid or -incomplete multibyte or wide character" or "commitAndReleaseBuffer: -invalid argument (invalid character)"* -Programs compiled with GHC (hledger, haskell build tools, etc.) need to -have a UTF-8-aware locale configured in the environment, otherwise they -will fail with these kinds of errors when they encounter non-ascii -characters. - - To fix it, set the LANG environment variable to some locale which -supports UTF-8. The locale you choose must be installed on your system. - - Here's an example of setting LANG temporarily, on Ubuntu GNU/Linux: - -$ file my.journal -my.journal: UTF-8 Unicode text # the file is UTF8-encoded -$ echo $LANG -C # LANG is set to the default locale, which does not support UTF8 -$ locale -a # which locales are installed ? -C -en_US.utf8 # here's a UTF8-aware one we can use -POSIX -$ LANG=en_US.utf8 hledger -f my.journal print # ensure it is used for this command - - If available, 'C.UTF-8' will also work. If your preferred locale -isn't listed by 'locale -a', you might need to install it. Eg on -Ubuntu/Debian: - -$ apt-get install language-pack-fr -$ locale -a -C -en_US.utf8 -fr_BE.utf8 -fr_CA.utf8 -fr_CH.utf8 -fr_FR.utf8 -fr_LU.utf8 -POSIX -$ LANG=fr_FR.utf8 hledger -f my.journal print - - Here's how you could set it permanently, if you use a bash shell: - -$ echo "export LANG=en_US.utf8" >>~/.bash_profile -$ bash --login - - Exact spelling and capitalisation may be important. Note the -difference on MacOS ('UTF-8', not 'utf8'). Some platforms (eg ubuntu) -allow variant spellings, but others (eg macos) require it to be exact: - -$ locale -a | grep -iE en_us.*utf -en_US.UTF-8 -$ LANG=en_US.UTF-8 hledger -f my.journal print - - -Tag Table: -Node: Top208 -Node: OPTIONS2602 -Ref: #options2703 -Node: General options2845 -Ref: #general-options2970 -Node: Command options7183 -Ref: #command-options7334 -Node: Command arguments7734 -Ref: #command-arguments7892 -Node: Special characters8772 -Ref: #special-characters8935 -Node: Single escaping shell metacharacters9098 -Ref: #single-escaping-shell-metacharacters9339 -Node: Double escaping regular expression metacharacters9942 -Ref: #double-escaping-regular-expression-metacharacters10253 -Node: Triple escaping for add-on commands10779 -Ref: #triple-escaping-for-add-on-commands11039 -Node: Less escaping11683 -Ref: #less-escaping11837 -Node: Unicode characters12161 -Ref: #unicode-characters12326 -Node: Regular expressions13738 -Ref: #regular-expressions13878 -Node: 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file315876 -Ref: #migrating-to-a-new-file316026 -Node: LIMITATIONS316325 -Ref: #limitations316453 -Node: TROUBLESHOOTING317196 -Ref: #troubleshooting317311 - -End Tag Table - - -Local Variables: -coding: utf-8 -End: +This is hledger/hledger.info, produced by makeinfo version 4.8 from +stdin. + +INFO-DIR-SECTION User Applications +START-INFO-DIR-ENTRY +* hledger: (hledger). Command-line plain text accounting tool. +END-INFO-DIR-ENTRY + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Top, Up: (dir) + +hledger(1) +********** + +This is the command-line interface (CLI) for the hledger accounting +tool. Here we also describe hledger's concepts and file formats. This +manual is for hledger 1.24. + + `hledger' + + `hledger [-f FILE] COMMAND [OPTIONS] [ARGS]' + + `hledger [-f FILE] ADDONCMD -- [OPTIONS] [ARGS]' + + hledger is a reliable, 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). + + The basic function of the hledger CLI is to read a plain text file +describing financial transactions (in accounting terms, a general +journal) and print useful reports on standard output, or export them as +CSV. hledger can also read some other file formats such as CSV files, +translating them to journal format. Additionally, hledger lists other +hledger-* executables found in the user's $PATH and can invoke them as +subcommands. + + hledger reads data from one or more files in hledger journal, +timeclock, timedot, or CSV format specified with `-f', or +`$LEDGER_FILE', or `$HOME/.hledger.journal' (on windows, perhaps +`C:/Users/USER/.hledger.journal'). If using `$LEDGER_FILE', note this +must be a real environment variable, not a shell variable. You can +specify standard input with `-f-'. + + Transactions are dated movements of money between two (or more) named +accounts, and are recorded with journal entries like this: + + +2015/10/16 bought food + expenses:food $10 + assets:cash + + Most users use a text editor to edit the journal, usually with an +editor mode such as ledger-mode for added convenience. hledger's +interactive add command is another way to record new transactions. +hledger never changes existing transactions. + + To get started, you can either save some entries like the above in +`~/.hledger.journal', or run `hledger add' and follow the prompts. Then +try some commands like `hledger print' or `hledger balance'. Run +`hledger' with no arguments for a list of commands. + +* Menu: + +* OPTIONS:: +* ENVIRONMENT:: +* DATA FILES:: +* TIME PERIODS:: +* DEPTH:: +* QUERIES:: +* COSTING:: +* VALUATION:: +* PIVOTING:: +* OUTPUT:: +* COMMANDS:: +* JOURNAL FORMAT:: +* CSV FORMAT:: +* TIMECLOCK FORMAT:: +* TIMEDOT FORMAT:: +* COMMON TASKS:: +* LIMITATIONS:: +* TROUBLESHOOTING:: + + +File: hledger.info, Node: OPTIONS, Next: ENVIRONMENT, Prev: Top, Up: Top + +1 OPTIONS +********* + +* Menu: + +* General options:: +* Command options:: +* Command arguments:: +* Special characters:: +* Unicode characters:: +* Regular expressions:: + + +File: hledger.info, Node: General options, Next: Command options, Up: OPTIONS + +1.1 General options +=================== + +To see general usage help, including general options which are supported +by most hledger commands, run `hledger -h'. + + General help options: + +`-h --help' + show general or COMMAND help + +`--man' + show general or COMMAND user manual with man + +`--info' + show general or COMMAND user manual with info + +`--version' + show general or ADDONCMD version + +`--debug[=N]' + show debug output (levels 1-9, default: 1) + + General input options: + +`-f FILE --file=FILE' + use a different input file. For stdin, use - (default: + `$LEDGER_FILE' or `$HOME/.hledger.journal') + +`--rules-file=RULESFILE' + Conversion rules file to use when reading CSV (default: FILE.rules) + +`--separator=CHAR' + Field separator to expect when reading CSV (default: ',') + +`--alias=OLD=NEW' + rename accounts named OLD to NEW + +`--anon' + anonymize accounts and payees + +`--pivot FIELDNAME' + use some other field or tag for the account name + +`-I --ignore-assertions' + disable balance assertion checks (note: does not disable balance + assignments) + +`-s --strict' + do extra error checking (check that all posted accounts are + declared) + + General reporting options: + +`-b --begin=DATE' + include postings/txns on or after this date (will be adjusted to + preceding subperiod start when using a report interval) + +`-e --end=DATE' + include postings/txns before this date (will be adjusted to + following subperiod end when using a report interval) + +`-D --daily' + multiperiod/multicolumn report by day + +`-W --weekly' + multiperiod/multicolumn report by week + +`-M --monthly' + multiperiod/multicolumn report by month + +`-Q --quarterly' + multiperiod/multicolumn report by quarter + +`-Y --yearly' + multiperiod/multicolumn report by year + +`-p --period=PERIODEXP' + set start date, end date, and/or reporting interval all at once + using period expressions syntax + +`--date2' + match the secondary date instead (see command help for other + effects) + +`--today=DATE' + override today's date (affects relative smart dates, for + tests/examples) + +`-U --unmarked' + include only unmarked postings/txns (can combine with -P or -C) + +`-P --pending' + include only pending postings/txns + +`-C --cleared' + include only cleared postings/txns + +`-R --real' + include only non-virtual postings + +`-NUM --depth=NUM' + hide/aggregate accounts or postings more than NUM levels deep + +`-E --empty' + show items with zero amount, normally hidden (and vice-versa in + hledger-ui/hledger-web) + +`-B --cost' + convert amounts to their cost/selling amount at transaction time + +`-V --market' + convert amounts to their market value in default valuation + commodities + +`-X --exchange=COMM' + convert amounts to their market value in commodity COMM + +`--value' + convert amounts to cost or market value, more flexibly than + -B/-V/-X + +`--infer-market-prices' + use transaction prices (recorded with @ or @@) as additional market + prices, as if they were P directives + +`--auto' + apply automated posting rules to modify transactions. + +`--forecast' + generate future transactions from periodic transaction rules, for + the next 6 months or till report end date. In hledger-ui, also + make ordinary future transactions visible. + +`--commodity-style' + Override the commodity style in the output for the specified + commodity. For example 'EUR1.000,00'. + +`--color=WHEN (or --colour=WHEN)' + Should color-supporting commands use ANSI color codes in text + output. 'auto' (default): whenever stdout seems to be a + color-supporting terminal. 'always' or 'yes': always, useful eg + when piping output into 'less -R'. 'never' or 'no': never. A + NO_COLOR environment variable overrides this. + +`--pretty[=WHEN]' + Show prettier output, e.g. using unicode box-drawing characters. + Accepts 'yes' (the default) or 'no' ('y', 'n', 'always', 'never' + also work). If you provide an argument you must use '=', e.g. + '-pretty=yes'. + + When a reporting option appears more than once in the command line, +the last one takes precedence. + + Some reporting options can also be written as query arguments. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Command options, Next: Command arguments, Prev: General options, Up: OPTIONS + +1.2 Command options +=================== + +To see options for a particular command, including command-specific +options, run: `hledger COMMAND -h'. + + Command-specific options must be written after the command name, eg: +`hledger print -x'. + + Additionally, if the command is an add-on, you may need to put its +options after a double-hyphen, eg: `hledger ui -- --watch'. Or, you can +run the add-on executable directly: `hledger-ui --watch'. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Command arguments, Next: Special characters, Prev: Command options, Up: OPTIONS + +1.3 Command arguments +===================== + +Most hledger commands accept arguments after the command name, which are +often a query, filtering the data in some way. + + You can save a set of command line options/arguments in a file, and +then reuse them by writing `@FILENAME' as a command line argument. Eg: +`hledger bal @foo.args'. (To prevent this, eg if you have an argument +that begins with a literal `@', precede it with `--', eg: `hledger bal +-- @ARG'). + + Inside the argument file, each line should contain just one option or +argument. Avoid the use of spaces, except inside quotes (or you'll see a +confusing error). Between a flag and its argument, use = (or nothing). +Bad: + + +assets depth:2 +-X USD + + Good: + + +assets +depth:2 +-X=USD + + For special characters (see below), use one less level of quoting +than you would at the command prompt. Bad: + + +-X"$" + + Good: + + +-X$ + + See also: Save frequently used options. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Special characters, Next: Unicode characters, Prev: Command arguments, Up: OPTIONS + +1.4 Special characters +====================== + +* Menu: + +* Single escaping shell metacharacters:: +* Double escaping regular expression metacharacters:: +* Triple escaping for add-on commands:: +* Less escaping:: + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Single escaping shell metacharacters, Next: Double escaping regular expression metacharacters, Up: Special characters + +1.4.1 Single escaping (shell metacharacters) +-------------------------------------------- + +In shell command lines, characters significant to your shell - such as +spaces, `<', `>', `(', `)', `|', `$' and `\' - should be +"shell-escaped" if you want hledger to see them. This is done by +enclosing them in single or double quotes, or by writing a backslash +before them. Eg to match an account name containing a space: + + +$ hledger register 'credit card' + + or: + + +$ hledger register credit\ card + + Windows users should keep in mind that `cmd' treats single quote as +a regular character, so you should be using double quotes exclusively. +PowerShell treats both single and double quotes as quotes. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Double escaping regular expression metacharacters, Next: Triple escaping for add-on commands, Prev: Single escaping shell metacharacters, Up: Special characters + +1.4.2 Double escaping (regular expression metacharacters) +--------------------------------------------------------- + +Characters significant in regular expressions (described below) - such +as `.', `^', `$', `[', `]', `(', `)', `|', and `\' - may need to be +"regex-escaped" if you don't want them to be interpreted by hledger's +regular expression engine. This is done by writing backslashes before +them, but since backslash is typically also a shell metacharacter, both +shell-escaping and regex-escaping will be needed. Eg to match a literal +`$' sign while using the bash shell: + + +$ hledger balance cur:'\$' + + or: + + +$ hledger balance cur:\\$ + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Triple escaping for add-on commands, Next: Less escaping, Prev: Double escaping regular expression metacharacters, Up: Special characters + +1.4.3 Triple escaping (for add-on commands) +------------------------------------------- + +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 `$' sign while using the +bash shell and running an add-on command (`ui'): + + +$ hledger ui cur:'\\$' + + or: + + +$ hledger ui cur:\\\\$ + + If you wondered why _four_ backslashes, perhaps this helps: + +unescaped: `$' +escaped: `\$' +double-escaped: `\\$' +triple-escaped: `\\\\$' + + Or, you can avoid the extra escaping by running the add-on executable +directly: + + +$ hledger-ui cur:\\$ + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Less escaping, Prev: Triple escaping for add-on commands, Up: Special characters + +1.4.4 Less escaping +------------------- + +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: + + * an @argumentfile + + * hledger-ui's filter field + + * hledger-web's search form + + * GHCI's prompt (used by developers). + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Unicode characters, Next: Regular expressions, Prev: Special characters, Up: OPTIONS + +1.5 Unicode characters +====================== + +hledger is expected to handle non-ascii characters correctly: + + * they should be parsed correctly in input files and on the command + line, by all hledger tools (add, iadd, hledger-web's + search/add/edit forms, etc.) + + * they should be displayed correctly by all hledger tools, and + on-screen alignment should be preserved. + + + This requires a well-configured environment. Here are some tips: + + * 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: `export LANG=en_US.UTF-8'. 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). + + * your terminal software (eg Terminal.app, iTerm, CMD.exe, xterm..) + must support unicode + + * the terminal must be using a font which includes the required + unicode glyphs + + * the terminal should be configured to display wide characters as + double width (for report alignment) + + * 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). + + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Regular expressions, Prev: Unicode characters, Up: OPTIONS + +1.6 Regular expressions +======================= + +hledger uses regular expressions in a number of places: + + * query terms, on the command line and in the hledger-web search + form: `REGEX', `desc:REGEX', `cur:REGEX', `tag:...=REGEX' + + * CSV rules conditional blocks: `if REGEX ...' + + * account alias directives and options: `alias /REGEX/ = + REPLACEMENT', `--alias /REGEX/=REPLACEMENT' + + hledger's regular expressions come from the regex-tdfa library. If +they're not doing what you expect, it's important to know exactly what +they support: + + 1. they are case insensitive + + 2. they are infix matching (they do not need to match the entire thing + being matched) + + 3. they are POSIX ERE (extended regular expressions) + + 4. they also support GNU word boundaries (`\b', `\B', `\<', `\>') + + 5. they do not support backreferences; if you write `\1', it will + match the digit `1'. 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. + + 6. they do not support mode modifiers (`(?s)'), character classes + (`\w', `\d'), or anything else not mentioned above. + + Some things to note: + + * In the `alias' directive and `--alias' option, regular expressions + must be enclosed in forward slashes (`/REGEX/'). Elsewhere in + hledger, these are not required. + + * In queries, to match a regular expression metacharacter like `$' as + a literal character, prepend a backslash. Eg to search for amounts + with the dollar sign in hledger-web, write `cur:\$'. + + * On the command line, some metacharacters like `$' have a special + meaning to the shell and so must be escaped at least once more. See + Special characters. + + + +File: hledger.info, Node: ENVIRONMENT, Next: DATA FILES, Prev: OPTIONS, Up: Top + +2 ENVIRONMENT +************* + +*LEDGER_FILE* The journal file path when not specified with `-f'. +Default: `~/.hledger.journal' (on windows, perhaps +`C:/Users/USER/.hledger.journal'). + + A typical value is `~/DIR/YYYY.journal', where DIR is a +version-controlled finance directory and YYYY is the current year. Or +`~/DIR/current.journal', where current.journal is a symbolic link to +YYYY.journal. + + On Mac computers, you can set this and other environment variables +in a more thorough way that also affects applications started from the +GUI (say, an Emacs dock icon). Eg on MacOS Catalina I have a +`~/.MacOSX/environment.plist' file containing + + +{ + "LEDGER_FILE" : "~/finance/current.journal" +} + + To see the effect you may need to `killall Dock', or reboot. + + *COLUMNS* The screen width used by the register command. Default: +the full terminal width. + + *NO_COLOR* If this variable exists with any value, hledger will not +use ANSI color codes in terminal output. This is overriden by the +-color/-colour option. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: DATA FILES, Next: TIME PERIODS, Prev: ENVIRONMENT, Up: Top + +3 DATA FILES +************ + +hledger reads transactions from one or more data files. The default data +file is `$HOME/.hledger.journal' (or on Windows, something like +`C:/Users/USER/.hledger.journal'). + + You can override this with the `$LEDGER_FILE' environment variable: + + +$ setenv LEDGER_FILE ~/finance/2016.journal +$ hledger stats + + or with one or more `-f/--file' options: + + +$ hledger -f /some/file -f another_file stats + + The file name `-' means standard input: + + +$ cat some.journal | hledger -f- + +* Menu: + +* Data formats:: +* Multiple files:: +* Strict mode:: + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Data formats, Next: Multiple files, Up: DATA FILES + +3.1 Data formats +================ + +Usually the data file is in hledger's journal format, but it can be in +any of the supported file formats, which currently are: + +Reader: Reads: Used for file + extensions: +-------------------------------------------------------------------------- +`journal'hledger journal files and some Ledger `.journal' `.j' + journals, for transactions `.hledger' `.ledger' +`timeclock'timeclock files, for precise time `.timeclock' + logging +`timedot'timedot files, for approximate time `.timedot' + logging +`csv' comma/semicolon/tab/other-separated `.csv' `.ssv' `.tsv' + values, for data import + + These formats are described in their own sections, below. + + hledger detects the format automatically based on the file extensions +shown above. If it can't recognise the file extension, it assumes +`journal' format. So for non-journal files, it's important to use a +recognised file extension, so as to either read successfully or to show +relevant error messages. + + 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: + + +$ hledger -f csv:/some/csv-file.dat stats + + Or to read stdin (`-') as timeclock format: + + +$ echo 'i 2009/13/1 08:00:00' | hledger print -ftimeclock:- + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Multiple files, Next: Strict mode, Prev: Data formats, Up: DATA FILES + +3.2 Multiple files +================== + +You can specify multiple `-f' options, to read multiple files as one +big journal. There are some limitations with this: + + * most directives do not affect sibling files + + * balance assertions will not see any account balances from previous + files + + If you need either of those things, you can + + * use a single parent file which includes the others + + * or concatenate the files into one before reading, eg: `cat + a.journal b.journal | hledger -f- CMD'. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Strict mode, Prev: Multiple files, Up: DATA FILES + +3.3 Strict mode +=============== + +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: + + * Are the input files parseable, with valid syntax ? + + * Are all transactions balanced ? + + * Do all balance assertions pass ? + + With the `-s'/`--strict' flag, additional checks are performed: + + * Are all accounts posted to, declared with an `account' directive ? + (Account error checking) + + * Are all commodities declared with a `commodity' directive ? + (Commodity error checking) + + * Are all commodity conversions declared explicitly ? + + You can also use the check command to run these and some additional +checks. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: TIME PERIODS, Next: DEPTH, Prev: DATA FILES, Up: Top + +4 TIME PERIODS +************** + +* Menu: + +* Smart dates:: +* Report start & end date:: +* Report intervals:: +* Period expressions:: + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Smart dates, Next: Report start & end date, Up: TIME PERIODS + +4.1 Smart dates +=============== + +hledger's user interfaces accept a flexible "smart date" syntax. Smart +dates allow some english words, can be relative to today's date, and can +have less-significant date parts omitted (defaulting to 1). + + Examples: + +`2004/10/1', exact date, several separators allowed. Year +`2004-01-01', `2004.9.1' is 4+ digits, month is 1-12, day is 1-31 +`2004' start of year +`2004/10' start of month +`10/1' month and day in current year +`21' day in current month +`october, oct' start of month in current year +`yesterday, today, -1, 0, 1 days from today +tomorrow' +`last/this/next -1, 0, 1 periods from the current period +day/week/month/quarter/year' +`20181201' 8 digit YYYYMMDD with valid year month and day +`201812' 6 digit YYYYMM with valid year and month + + Counterexamples - malformed digit sequences might give surprising +results: + +`201813' 6 digits with an invalid month is parsed as start of + 6-digit year +`20181301' 8 digits with an invalid month is parsed as start of + 8-digit year +`20181232' 8 digits with an invalid day gives an error +`201801012' 9+ digits beginning with a valid YYYYMMDD gives an error + + Note "today's date" can be overridden with the `--today' option, in +case it's needed for testing or for recreating old reports. (Except for +periodic transaction rules; those are not affected by `--today'.) + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Report start & end date, Next: Report intervals, Prev: Smart dates, Up: TIME PERIODS + +4.2 Report start & end date +=========================== + +By default, most hledger reports will show the full span of time +represented by the journal data. 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. + + 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 `-b/--begin', +`-e/--end', `-p/--period' or a `date:' query (described below). All of +these accept the smart date syntax. + + Some notes: + + * End dates are exclusive, as in Ledger, so you should write the date + _after_ the last day you want to see in the report. + + * As noted in reporting options: among start/end dates specified with + _options_, the last (i.e. right-most) option takes precedence. + + * The effective report start and end dates are the intersection of + the start/end dates from options and that from `date:' queries. + That is, `date:2019-01 date:2019 -p'2000 to 2030'' yields January + 2019, the smallest common time span. + + * A report interval (see below) will adjust start/end dates, when + needed, so that they fall on subperiod boundaries. + + Examples: + +`-b begin on St. Patrick's day 2016 +2016/3/17' +`-e 12/1' end at the start of december 1st of the current year + (11/30 will be the last date included) +`-b all transactions on or after the 1st of the current month +thismonth' +`-p all transactions in the current month +thismonth' +`date:2016/3/17..'the above written as queries instead (`..' can also be + replaced with `-') +`date:..12/1' +`date:thismonth..' +`date:thismonth' + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Report intervals, Next: Period expressions, Prev: Report start & end date, Up: TIME PERIODS + +4.3 Report intervals +==================== + +A report interval can be specified so that commands like register, +balance and activity become multi-period, showing each subperiod as a +separate row or column. + + The following "standard" report intervals can be enabled by using +their corresponding flag: + + * `-D/--daily' + + * `-W/--weekly' + + * `-M/--monthly' + + * `-Q/--quarterly' + + * `-Y/--yearly' + + These standard intervals always start on natural interval +boundaries: eg `--weekly' starts on mondays, `--monthly' starts on the +first of the month, `--yearly' always starts on January 1st, etc. + + Certain more complex intervals, and more flexible boundary dates, +can be specified by `-p/--period'. These are described in period +expressions, below. + + Report intervals can only be specified by the flags above, and not by +query arguments, currently. + + Report intervals have another effect: multi-period reports are always +expanded to fill a whole number of subperiods. So if you use a report +interval (other than `--daily'), and you have specified a start or end +date, you may notice those dates being overridden (ie, the report +starts earlier than your requested start date, or ends later than your +requested end date). This is done to ensure "full" first and last +subperiods, so that all subperiods' numbers are comparable. + + To summarise: + + * In multiperiod reports, all subperiods are forced to be the same + length, to simplify reporting. + + * Reports with the standard + `--weekly'/`--monthly'/`--quarterly'/`--yearly' intervals are + required to start on the first day of a week/month/quarter/year. + We'd like more flexibility here but it isn't supported yet. + + * `--period' (below) can specify more complex intervals, starting on + any date. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Period expressions, Prev: Report intervals, Up: TIME PERIODS + +4.4 Period expressions +====================== + +The `-p/--period' option accepts period expressions, a shorthand way of +expressing a start date, end date, and/or report interval all at once. + + Here's a basic period expression specifying the first quarter of +2009. Note, hledger always treats start dates as inclusive and end +dates as exclusive: + +`-p "from 2009/1/1 to 2009/4/1"' + + Keywords like "from" and "to" are optional, and so are the spaces, as +long as you don't run two dates together. "to" can also be written as +".." or "-". These are equivalent to the above: + +`-p "2009/1/1 2009/4/1"' +`-p2009/1/1to2009/4/1' +`-p2009/1/1..2009/4/1' + + Dates are smart dates, so if the current year is 2009, the above can +also be written as: + +`-p "1/1 4/1"' +`-p "january-apr"' +`-p "this year to 4/1"' + + If you specify only one date, the missing start or end date will be +the earliest or latest transaction in your journal: + +`-p "from 2009/1/1"' everything after january 1, 2009 +`-p "from 2009/1"' the same +`-p "from 2009"' the same +`-p "to 2009"' everything before january 1, 2009 + + A single date with no "from" or "to" defines both the start and end +date like so: + +`-p "2009"' the year 2009; equivalent to “2009/1/1 to 2010/1/1” +`-p "2009/1"' the month of jan; equivalent to “2009/1/1 to 2009/2/1” +`-p "2009/1/1"' just that day; equivalent to “2009/1/1 to 2009/1/2” + + Or you can specify a single quarter like so: + +`-p "2009Q1"' first quarter of 2009, equivalent to “2009/1/1 to 2009/4/1” +`-p "q4"' fourth quarter of the current year + +* Menu: + +* Period expressions with a report interval:: +* More complex report intervals:: +* Intervals with custom start date:: +* Periods or dates ?:: +* Events on multiple weekdays:: + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Period expressions with a report interval, Next: More complex report intervals, Up: Period expressions + +4.4.1 Period expressions with a report interval +----------------------------------------------- + +`-p/--period''s argument can also begin with, or entirely consist of, a +report interval. This should be separated from the start/end dates (if +any) by a space, or the word `in'. The basic intervals (which can also +be written as command line flags) are `daily', `weekly', `monthly', +`quarterly', and `yearly'. Some examples: + +`-p "weekly from 2009/1/1 to 2009/4/1"' +`-p "monthly in 2008"' +`-p "quarterly"' + + As mentioned above, the `weekly', `monthly', `quarterly' and +`yearly' intervals require a report start date that is the first day of +a week, month, quarter or year. And, report start/end dates will be +expanded if needed to span a whole number of intervals. + + For example: + +`-p "weekly from 2009/1/1 starts on 2008/12/29, closest preceding Monday +to 2009/4/1"' +`-p "monthly in starts on 2018/11/01 +2008/11/25"' +`-p "quarterly from starts on 2009/04/01, ends on 2009/06/30, +2009-05-05 to 2009-06-01"' which are first and last days of Q2 2009 +`-p "yearly from starts on 2009/01/01, first day of 2009 +2009-12-29"' + + +File: hledger.info, Node: More complex report intervals, Next: Intervals with custom start date, Prev: Period expressions with a report interval, Up: Period expressions + +4.4.2 More complex report intervals +----------------------------------- + +Some more complex kinds of interval are also supported in period +expressions: + + * `biweekly' + + * `fortnightly' + + * `bimonthly' + + * `every day|week|month|quarter|year' + + * `every N days|weeks|months|quarters|years' + + These too will cause report start/end dates to be expanded, if +needed, to span a whole number of intervals. Examples: + +`-p "bimonthly from 2008"' periods will have boundaries on 2008/01/01, + 2008/03/01, ... +`-p "every 2 weeks"' starts on closest preceding Monday +`-p "every 5 month from periods will have boundaries on 2009/03/01, +2009/03"' 2009/08/01, ... + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Intervals with custom start date, Next: Periods or dates ?, Prev: More complex report intervals, Up: Period expressions + +4.4.3 Intervals with custom start date +-------------------------------------- + +All intervals mentioned above are required to start on their natural +calendar boundaries, but the following intervals can start on any date: + + Weekly on custom day: + + * `every Nth day of week' (`th', `nd', `rd', or `st' are all + accepted after the number) + + * `every WEEKDAYNAME' (full or three-letter english weekday name, + case insensitive) + + Monthly on custom day: + + * `every Nth day [of month]' + + * `every Nth WEEKDAYNAME [of month]' + + Yearly on custom day: + + * `every MM/DD [of year]' (month number and day of month number) + + * `every MONTHNAME DDth [of year]' (full or three-letter english + month name, case insensitive, and day of month number) + + * `every DDth MONTHNAME [of year]' (equivalent to the above) + + Examples: + +`-p "every 2nd day of periods will go from Tue to Tue +week"' +`-p "every Tue"' same +`-p "every 15th day"' period boundaries will be on 15th of each month +`-p "every 2nd Monday"' period boundaries will be on second Monday of + each month +`-p "every 11/05"' yearly periods with boundaries on 5th of + November +`-p "every 5th same +November"' +`-p "every Nov 5th"' same + + Show historical balances at end of the 15th day of each month (N is +an end date, exclusive as always): + + +$ hledger balance -H -p "every 16th day" + + Group postings from the start of wednesday to end of the following +tuesday (N is both (inclusive) start date and (exclusive) end date): + + +$ hledger register checking -p "every 3rd day of week" + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Periods or dates ?, Next: Events on multiple weekdays, Prev: Intervals with custom start date, Up: Period expressions + +4.4.4 Periods or dates ? +------------------------ + +Report intervals like the above are most often used with `-p|--period', +to divide reports into multiple subperiods - each generated date marks +a subperiod boundary. Here, the periods between the dates are what's +important. + + But report intervals can also be used with `--forecast' to generate +future transactions, or with `balance --budget' to generate budget +goal-setting transactions. For these, the dates themselves are what +matters. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Events on multiple weekdays, Prev: Periods or dates ?, Up: Period expressions + +4.4.5 Events on multiple weekdays +--------------------------------- + +The `every WEEKDAYNAME' form has a special variant with multiple day +names, comma-separated. Eg: `every mon,thu,sat'. Also, `weekday' and +`weekendday' are shorthand for `mon,tue,wed,thu,fri' and `sat,sun' +respectively. + + This form is mainly intended for use with `--forecast', to generate +periodic transactions on arbitrary days of the week. It may be less +useful with `-p', since it divides each week into subperiods of unequal +length. (Because gaps between periods are not allowed; if you'd like to +change this, see #1632.) + + Examples: + +`-p "every dates will be Mon, Wed, Fri; periods will be Mon-Tue, +mon,wed,fri"' Wed-Thu, Fri-Sun +`-p "every dates will be Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri; periods will +weekday"' be Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri-Sun +`-p "every dates will be Sat, Sun; periods will be Sat, Sun-Fri +weekendday"' + + +File: hledger.info, Node: DEPTH, Next: QUERIES, Prev: TIME PERIODS, Up: Top + +5 DEPTH +******* + +With the `--depth NUM' option (short form: `-NUM'), commands like +account, balance and register will show only the uppermost accounts in +the account tree, down to level NUM. Use this when you want a summary +with less detail. This flag has the same effect as a `depth:' query +argument: `depth:2', `--depth=2' or `-2' are equivalent. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: QUERIES, Next: COSTING, Prev: DEPTH, Up: Top + +6 QUERIES +********* + +One of hledger'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: + + * Zero or more space-separated query terms. These are most often + account name substrings: + + `utilities food:groceries' + + * Terms with spaces or other special characters should be enclosed in + quotes: + + `"personal care"' + + * Regular expressions are also supported: + + `"^expenses\b" "accounts (payable|receivable)"' + + * Add a query type prefix to match other parts of the data: + + `date:202012- desc:amazon cur:USD amt:">100" status:' + + * Add a `not:' prefix to negate a term: + + `not:cur:USD' + + +* Menu: + +* Query types:: +* Combining query terms:: +* Queries and command options:: +* Queries and account aliases:: +* Queries and valuation:: +* Querying with account aliases:: +* Querying with cost or value:: + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Query types, Next: Combining query terms, Up: QUERIES + +6.1 Query types +=============== + +Here are the types of query term available. Remember these can also be +prefixed with *`not:'* to convert them into a negative match. + + *`acct:REGEX', `REGEX'* +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 `expenses' or `food'. + + *`amt:N, amt:N, amt:>=N'* +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. + + *`code:REGEX'* +Match by transaction code (eg check number). + + *`cur:REGEX'* +Match postings or transactions including any amounts whose +currency/commodity symbol is fully matched by REGEX. (For a partial +match, use `.*REGEX.*'). Note, to match special characters which are +regex-significant, you need to escape them with `\'. And for characters +which are significant to your shell you may need one more level of +escaping. So eg to match the dollar sign: +`hledger print cur:\\$'. + + *`desc:REGEX'* +Match transaction descriptions. + + *`date:PERIODEXPR'* +Match dates (or with the `--date2' flag, secondary dates) within the +specified period. PERIODEXPR is a period expression with no report +interval. Examples: +`date:2016', `date:thismonth', `date:2/1-2/15', +`date:2021-07-27..nextquarter'. + + *`date2:PERIODEXPR'* +Match secondary dates within the specified period (independent of the +`--date2' flag). + + *`depth:N'* +Match (or display, depending on command) accounts at or above this +depth. + + *`note:REGEX'* +Match transaction notes (the part of the description right of `|', or +the whole description if there's no `|'). + + *`payee:REGEX'* +Match transaction payee/payer names (the part of the description left of +`|', or the whole description if there's no `|'). + + *`real:, real:0'* +Match real or virtual postings respectively. + + *`status:, status:!, status:*'* +Match unmarked, pending, or cleared transactions respectively. + + *`tag:REGEX[=REGEX]'* +Match by tag name, and optionally also by tag value. (To match only by +value, use `tag:.=REGEX'.) Note that postings also inherit tags from +their transaction, and transactions also acquire tags from their +postings, when querying. + + (*`inacct:ACCTNAME'* +A special query term used automatically in hledger-web only: tells +hledger-web to show the transaction register for an account.) + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Combining query terms, Next: Queries and command options, Prev: Query types, Up: QUERIES + +6.2 Combining query terms +========================= + +Most commands select things which match: + + * any of the description terms AND + + * any of the account terms AND + + * any of the status terms AND + + * all the other terms. + + while the print command shows transactions which: + + * match any of the description terms AND + + * have any postings matching any of the positive account terms AND + + * have no postings matching any of the negative account terms AND + + * match all the other terms. + + You can do more powerful queries (such as AND-ing two like terms) by +running a first query with `print', and piping the result into a second +hledger command. Eg: how much of food expenses was paid with cash ? + + +$ hledger print assets:cash | hledger -f- -I balance expenses:food + + If you are interested in full boolean expressions for queries, see +#203. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Queries and command options, Next: Queries and account aliases, Prev: Combining query terms, Up: QUERIES + +6.3 Queries and command options +=============================== + +Some queries can also be expressed as command-line options: `depth:2' +is equivalent to `--depth 2', `date:2020' is equivalent to `-p 2020', +etc. When you mix command options and query arguments, generally the +resulting query is their intersection. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Queries and account aliases, Next: Queries and valuation, Prev: Queries and command options, Up: QUERIES + +6.4 Queries and account aliases +=============================== + +When account names are rewritten with `--alias' or `alias', `acct:' +will match either the old or the new account name. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Queries and valuation, Next: Querying with account aliases, Prev: Queries and account aliases, Up: QUERIES + +6.5 Queries and valuation +========================= + +When amounts are converted to other commodities in cost or value +reports, `cur:' and `amt:' match the old commodity symbol and the old +amount quantity, not the new ones (except in hledger 1.22.0 where it's +reversed, see #1625). + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Querying with account aliases, Next: Querying with cost or value, Prev: Queries and valuation, Up: QUERIES + +6.6 Querying with account aliases +================================= + +When account names are rewritten with `--alias' or `alias', note that +`acct:' will match either the old or the new account name. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Querying with cost or value, Prev: Querying with account aliases, Up: QUERIES + +6.7 Querying with cost or value +=============================== + +When amounts are converted to other commodities in cost or value +reports, note that `cur:' matches the new commodity symbol, and not the +old one, and `amt:' 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. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: COSTING, Next: VALUATION, Prev: QUERIES, Up: Top + +7 COSTING +********* + +The `-B/--cost' flag converts amounts to their cost or sale amount at +transaction time, if they have a transaction price specified. If this +flag is supplied, hledger will perform cost conversion first, and will +apply any market price valuations (if requested) afterwards. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: VALUATION, Next: PIVOTING, Prev: COSTING, Up: Top + +8 VALUATION +*********** + +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 `--value=TYPE[,COMMODITY]' +option, which will be described below. We also provide the simpler `-V' +and `-X COMMODITY' options, and often one of these is all you need: + +* Menu: + +* -V Value:: +* -X Value in specified commodity:: +* Valuation date:: +* Market prices:: +* --infer-market-prices market prices from transactions:: +* Valuation commodity:: +* Simple valuation examples:: +* --value Flexible valuation:: +* More valuation examples:: +* Interaction of valuation and queries:: +* Effect of valuation on reports:: + + +File: hledger.info, Node: -V Value, Next: -X Value in specified commodity, Up: VALUATION + +8.1 -V: Value +============= + +The `-V/--market' flag converts amounts to market value in their +default _valuation commodity_, using the market prices in effect on the +_valuation date(s)_, if any. More on these in a minute. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: -X Value in specified commodity, Next: Valuation date, Prev: -V Value, Up: VALUATION + +8.2 -X: Value in specified commodity +==================================== + +The `-X/--exchange=COMM' option is like `-V', except you tell it which +currency you want to convert to, and it tries to convert everything to +that. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Valuation date, Next: Market prices, Prev: -X Value in specified commodity, Up: VALUATION + +8.3 Valuation date +================== + +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. + + 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's end date. + + For multiperiod reports, each column/period is valued on the last +day of the period, by default. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Market prices, Next: --infer-market-prices market prices from transactions, Prev: Valuation date, Up: VALUATION + +8.4 Market prices +================= + +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 : + + 1. A _declared market price_ or _inferred market price_: A's latest + market price in B on or before the valuation date as declared by a + P directive, or (with the `--infer-market-prices' flag) inferred + from transaction prices. + + 2. A _reverse market price_: the inverse of a declared or inferred + market price from B to A. + + 3. A _forward chain of market prices_: a synthetic price formed by + combining the shortest chain of "forward" (only 1 above) market + prices, leading from A to B. + + 4. _Any chain of market prices_: a chain of any market prices, + including both forward and reverse prices (1 and 2 above), leading + from A to B. + + + 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 "gave up" message visible in +`--debug=2' output). That limit is currently 1000. + + Amounts for which no suitable market price can be found, are not +converted. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: --infer-market-prices market prices from transactions, Next: Valuation commodity, Prev: Market prices, Up: VALUATION + +8.5 -infer-market-prices: market prices from transactions +========================================================= + +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 transaction prices as additional market +prices (as Ledger does) ? We could produce value reports without needing +P directives at all. + + Adding the `--infer-market-prices' flag to `-V', `-X' or `--value' +enables this. So for example, `hledger bs -V --infer-market-prices' +will get market prices both from P directives and from transactions. +(And if both occur on the same day, the P directive takes precedence). + + 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 +`--debug' or `--debug=2' to troubleshoot. + + `--infer-market-prices' can infer market prices from: + + * multicommodity transactions with explicit prices (`@'/`@@') + + * multicommodity transactions with implicit prices (no `@', two + commodities, unbalanced). (With these, the order of postings + matters. `hledger print -x' can be useful for troubleshooting.) + + * but not, currently, from "more correct" multicommodity + transactions (no `@', multiple commodities, balanced). + + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Valuation commodity, Next: Simple valuation examples, Prev: --infer-market-prices market prices from transactions, Up: VALUATION + +8.6 Valuation commodity +======================= + +*When you specify a valuation commodity (`-X COMM' or `--value +TYPE,COMM'):* +hledger will convert all amounts to COMM, wherever it can find a +suitable market price (including by reversing or chaining prices). + + *When you leave the valuation commodity unspecified (`-V' or +`--value TYPE'):* +For each commodity A, hledger picks a default valuation commodity as +follows, in this order of preference: + + 1. The price commodity from the latest P-declared market price for A + on or before valuation date. + + 2. 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.) + + 3. If there are no P directives at all (any commodity or date) and the + `--infer-market-prices' flag is used: the price commodity from the + latest transaction-inferred price for A on or before valuation + date. + + + This means: + + * If you have P directives, they determine which commodities `-V' + will convert, and to what. + + * If you have no P directives, and use the `--infer-market-prices' + flag, transaction prices determine it. + + + Amounts for which no valuation commodity can be found are not +converted. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Simple valuation examples, Next: --value Flexible valuation, Prev: Valuation commodity, Up: VALUATION + +8.7 Simple valuation examples +============================= + +Here are some quick examples of `-V': + + +; 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 € $1.03 + + How many euros do I have ? + + +$ hledger -f t.j bal -N euros + €100 assets:euros + + What are they worth at end of nov 3 ? + + +$ hledger -f t.j bal -N euros -V -e 2016/11/4 + $110.00 assets:euros + + What are they worth after 2016/12/21 ? (no report end date specified, +defaults to today) + + +$ hledger -f t.j bal -N euros -V + $103.00 assets:euros + + +File: hledger.info, Node: --value Flexible valuation, Next: More valuation examples, Prev: Simple valuation examples, Up: VALUATION + +8.8 -value: Flexible valuation +============================== + +`-V' and `-X' are special cases of the more general `--value' option: + + + --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 + + The TYPE part selects cost or value and valuation date: + +`--value=then' + Convert amounts to their value in the default valuation commodity, + using market prices on each posting's date. + +`--value=end' + 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's end date); or in multiperiod reports, + market prices on the last day of each subperiod. + +`--value=now' + Convert amounts to their value in the default valuation commodity + using current market prices (as of when report is generated). + +`--value=YYYY-MM-DD' + Convert amounts to their value in the default valuation commodity + using market prices on this date. + + To select a different valuation commodity, add the optional `,COMM' +part: a comma, then the target commodity's symbol. Eg: +*`--value=now,EUR'*. hledger will do its best to convert amounts to +this commodity, deducing market prices as described above. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: More valuation examples, Next: Interaction of valuation and queries, Prev: --value Flexible valuation, Up: VALUATION + +8.9 More valuation examples +=========================== + +Here are some examples showing the effect of `--value', as seen with +`print': + + +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 @ 5 B + +2000-02-01 + (a) 1 A @ 6 B + +2000-03-01 + (a) 1 A @ 7 B + + Show the cost of each posting: + + +$ hledger -f- print --cost +2000-01-01 + (a) 5 B + +2000-02-01 + (a) 6 B + +2000-03-01 + (a) 7 B + + Show the value as of the last day of the report period (2000-02-29): + + +$ hledger -f- print --value=end date:2000/01-2000/03 +2000-01-01 + (a) 2 B + +2000-02-01 + (a) 2 B + + With no report period specified, that shows the value as of the last +day of the journal (2000-03-01): + + +$ hledger -f- print --value=end +2000-01-01 + (a) 3 B + +2000-02-01 + (a) 3 B + +2000-03-01 + (a) 3 B + + Show the current value (the 2000-04-01 price is still in effect +today): + + +$ hledger -f- print --value=now +2000-01-01 + (a) 4 B + +2000-02-01 + (a) 4 B + +2000-03-01 + (a) 4 B + + Show the value on 2000/01/15: + + +$ 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 + + You may need to explicitly set a commodity's display style, when +reverse prices are used. Eg this output might be surprising: + + +P 2000-01-01 A 2B + +2000-01-01 + a 1B + b + + +$ hledger print -x -X A +2000-01-01 + a 0 + b 0 + + Explanation: because there'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: + + +P 2000-01-01 A 2B +commodity 0.00A + +2000-01-01 + a 1B + b + + +$ hledger print -X A +2000-01-01 + a 0.50A + b -0.50A + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Interaction of valuation and queries, Next: Effect of valuation on reports, Prev: More valuation examples, Up: VALUATION + +8.10 Interaction of valuation and queries +========================================= + +When matching postings based on queries in the presence of valuation, +the following happens. + + 1. The query is separated into two parts: + 1. the currency (`cur:') or amount (`amt:'). + + 2. all other parts. + + 2. The postings are matched to the currency and amount queries based + on pre-valued amounts. + + 3. Valuation is applied to the postings. + + 4. The postings are matched to the other parts of the query based on + post-valued amounts. + + See: 1625 + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Effect of valuation on reports, Prev: Interaction of valuation and queries, Up: VALUATION + +8.11 Effect of valuation on reports +=================================== + +Here is a reference for how valuation is supposed to affect each part of +hledger's reports (and a glossary). (It's wide, you'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. + +Report `-B', `-V', `-X' `--value=then' `--value=end'`--value=DATE', +type `--cost' `--value=now' +------------------------------------------------------------------------------ +*print* +posting cost value at value at posting value at value +amounts report end date report or at + or today journal end DATE/today +balance unchanged unchanged unchanged unchanged unchanged +assertions/assignments + +*register* +starting cost value at valued at day value at value +balance report or each historical report or at +(-H) journal end posting was made journal end DATE/today +starting cost value at valued at day value at value +balance day before each historical day before at +(-H) with report or posting was made report or DATE/today +report journal journal +interval start start +posting cost value at value at posting value at value +amounts report or date report or at + journal end journal end DATE/today +summary summarised value at sum of postings value at value +posting cost period ends in interval, period ends at +amounts valued at DATE/today +with interval start +report +interval +running sum/average sum/average sum/average of sum/average sum/average +total/averageof of displayed values of of + displayed displayed displayed displayed + values values values values + +*balance +(bs, bse, +cf, is)* +balance sums of value at value at posting value at value +changes costs report end date report or at + or today of journal end DATE/today + sums of of sums of of sums + postings postings of + postings +budget like like like balance like like +amounts balance balance changes balances balance +(-budget) changes changes changes +grand sum of sum of sum of displayed sum of sum of +total displayed displayed valued displayed displayed + values values values values + +*balance +(bs, bse, +cf, is) +with +report +interval* +starting sums of value at sums of values of value at sums of +balances costs of report postings before report postings +(-H) postings start of report start at start of before + before sums of all respective sums of all report + report start postings posting dates postings start + before before + report start report start +balance sums of same as sums of values of balance value +changes costs of -value=end postings in change in at +(bal, is, postings in period at each DATE/today +bs period respective period, of sums +-change, posting dates valued at of +cf period ends postings +-change) +end sums of same as sums of values of period end value +balances costs of -value=end postings from balances, at +(bal -H, postings before period valued at DATE/today +is -H, from before start to period period ends of sums +bs, cf) report end at respective of + start to posting dates postings + period end +budget like like like balance like like +amounts balance balance changes/end balances balance +(-budget) changes/end changes/end balances changes/end + balances balances balances +row sums, sums, sums, averages of sums, sums, +totals, averages of averages of displayed values averages of averages +row displayed displayed displayed of +averages values values values displayed +(-T, -A) values +column sums of sums of sums of displayed sums of sums of +totals displayed displayed values displayed displayed + values values values values +grand sum, sum, sum, average of sum, sum, +total, average of average of column totals average of average +grand column column column of +average totals totals totals column + totals + + + `--cumulative' is omitted to save space, it works like `-H' but with +a zero starting balance. + + *Glossary:* + +_cost_ + calculated using price(s) recorded in the transaction(s). + +_value_ + market value using available market price declarations, or the + unchanged amount if no conversion rate can be found. + +_report start_ + the first day of the report period specified with -b or -p or + date:, otherwise today. + +_report or journal start_ + the first day of the report period specified with -b or -p or + date:, otherwise the earliest transaction date in the journal, + otherwise today. + +_report end_ + the last day of the report period specified with -e or -p or date:, + otherwise today. + +_report or journal end_ + the last day of the report period specified with -e or -p or date:, + otherwise the latest transaction date in the journal, otherwise + today. + +_report interval_ + a flag (-D/-W/-M/-Q/-Y) or period expression that activates the + report's multi-period mode (whether showing one or many + subperiods). + + +File: hledger.info, Node: PIVOTING, Next: OUTPUT, Prev: VALUATION, Up: Top + +9 PIVOTING +********** + +Normally hledger sums amounts, and organizes them in a hierarchy, based +on account name. The `--pivot FIELD' option causes it to sum and +organize hierarchy based on the value of some other field instead. FIELD +can be: `code', `description', `payee', `note', or the full name (case +insensitive) of any tag. As with account names, values containing +`colon:separated:parts' will be displayed hierarchically in reports. + + `--pivot' is a general option affecting all reports; you can think +of hledger transforming the journal before any other processing, +replacing every posting's account name with the value of the specified +field on that posting, inheriting it from the transaction or using a +blank value if it's not present. + + An example: + + +2016/02/16 Member Fee Payment + assets:bank account 2 EUR + income:member fees -2 EUR ; member: John Doe + + Normal balance report showing account names: + + +$ hledger balance + 2 EUR assets:bank account + -2 EUR income:member fees +-------------------- + 0 + + Pivoted balance report, using member: tag values instead: + + +$ hledger balance --pivot member + 2 EUR + -2 EUR John Doe +-------------------- + 0 + + One way to show only amounts with a member: value (using a query, +described below): + + +$ hledger balance --pivot member tag:member=. + -2 EUR John Doe +-------------------- + -2 EUR + + Another way (the acct: query matches against the pivoted "account +name"): + + +$ hledger balance --pivot member acct:. + -2 EUR John Doe +-------------------- + -2 EUR + + +File: hledger.info, Node: OUTPUT, Next: COMMANDS, Prev: PIVOTING, Up: Top + +10 OUTPUT +********* + +* Menu: + +* Output destination:: +* Output styling:: +* Output format:: +* Commodity styles:: + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Output destination, Next: Output styling, Up: OUTPUT + +10.1 Output destination +======================= + +hledger commands send their output to the terminal by default. You can +of course redirect this, eg into a file, using standard shell syntax: + + +$ hledger print > foo.txt + + Some commands (print, register, stats, the balance commands) also +provide the `-o/--output-file' option, which does the same thing +without needing the shell. Eg: + + +$ hledger print -o foo.txt +$ hledger print -o - # write to stdout (the default) + + hledger can optionally produce debug output (if enabled with +`--debug=N'); this goes to stderr, and is not affected by +`-o/--output-file'. If you need to capture it, use shell redirects, eg: +`hledger bal --debug=3 >file 2>&1'. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Output styling, Next: Output format, Prev: Output destination, Up: OUTPUT + +10.2 Output styling +=================== + +hledger commands can produce colour output when the terminal supports +it. This is controlled by the `--color/--colour' option: - if the +`--color/--colour' option is given a value of `yes' or `always' (or +`no' or `never'), colour will (or will not) be used; - otherwise, if +the `NO_COLOR' environment variable is set, colour will not be used; - +otherwise, colour will be used if the output (terminal or file) +supports it. + + hledger commands can also use unicode box-drawing characters to +produce prettier tables and output. This is controlled by the `--pretty' +option: - if the `--pretty' option is given a value of `yes' or +`always' (or `no' or `never'), unicode characters will (or will not) be +used; - otherwise, unicode characters will not be used. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Output format, Next: Commodity styles, Prev: Output styling, Up: OUTPUT + +10.3 Output format +================== + +Some commands (print, register, the balance commands) offer a choice of +output format. In addition to the usual plain text format (`txt'), +there are CSV (`csv'), HTML (`html'), JSON (`json') and SQL (`sql'). +This is controlled by the `-O/--output-format' option: + + +$ hledger print -O csv + + or, by a file extension specified with `-o/--output-file': + + +$ hledger balancesheet -o foo.html # write HTML to foo.html + + The `-O' option can be used to override the file extension if needed: + + +$ hledger balancesheet -o foo.txt -O html # write HTML to foo.txt + + Some notes about JSON output: + + * This feature is marked experimental, and not yet much used; you + should expect our JSON to evolve. Real-world feedback is welcome. + + * Our JSON is rather large and verbose, as it is quite a faithful + representation of hledger'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. + + + * 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'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) + + Notes about SQL output: + + * SQL output is also marked experimental, and much like JSON could + use real-world feedback. + + * SQL output is expected to work with sqlite, MySQL and PostgreSQL + + * 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 `delete' or `truncate' + SQL statements) or drop tables completely as otherwise your + postings will be duped. + + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Commodity styles, Prev: Output format, Up: OUTPUT + +10.4 Commodity styles +===================== + +The display style of a commodity/currency is inferred according to the +rules described in Commodity display style. The inferred display style +can be overridden by an optional `-c/--commodity-style' option +(Exceptions: as is the case for inferred styles, price amounts, and all +amounts displayed by the `print' command, will be displayed with all of +their decimal digits visible, regardless of the specified precision). +For example, the following will override the display style for dollars. + + +$ hledger print -c '$1.000,0' + + The format specification of the style is identical to the commodity +display style specification for the commodity directive. The command +line option can be supplied repeatedly to override the display style for +multiple commodity/currency symbols. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: COMMANDS, Next: JOURNAL FORMAT, Prev: OUTPUT, Up: Top + +11 COMMANDS +*********** + +hledger provides a number of commands for producing reports and managing +your data. Run `hledger' with no arguments to list the commands +available, and `hledger CMD' to run a command. CMD can be the full +command name, or its standard abbreviation shown in the commands list, +or any unambiguous prefix of the name. Eg: `hledger bal'. + + Here are the built-in commands, with the most often-used in bold: + + *Data entry:* + + These data entry commands are the only ones which can modify your +journal file. + + * *add* - add transactions using guided prompts + + * *import* - add any new transactions from other files (eg csv) + + *Data management:* + + * check - check for various kinds of issue in the data + + * close (equity) - generate balance-resetting transactions + + * diff - compare account transactions in two journal files + + * rewrite - generate extra postings, similar to print -auto + + *Financial statements:* + + * *aregister (areg)* - show transactions in a particular account + + * *balancesheet (bs)* - show assets, liabilities and net worth + + * balancesheetequity (bse) - show assets, liabilities and equity + + * cashflow (cf) - show changes in liquid assets + + * *incomestatement (is)* - show revenues and expenses + + * roi - show return on investments + + *Miscellaneous reports:* + + * accounts - show account names + + * activity - show postings-per-interval bar charts + + * *balance (bal)* - show balance changes/end balances/budgets in any + accounts + + * codes - show transaction codes + + * commodities - show commodity/currency symbols + + * descriptions - show unique transaction descriptions + + * files - show input file paths + + * help - show hledger user manuals in several formats + + * notes - show unique note segments of transaction descriptions + + * payees - show unique payee segments of transaction descriptions + + * prices - show market price records + + * *print* - show transactions (journal entries) + + * print-unique - show only transactions with unique descriptions + + * *register (reg)* - show postings in one or more accounts & running + total + + * register-match - show a recent posting that best matches a + description + + * stats - show journal statistics + + * tags - show tag names + + * test - run self tests + + *Add-on commands:* + + Programs or scripts named `hledger-SOMETHING' in your PATH are +add-on commands; these appear in the commands list with a `+' mark. +Two of these are maintained and released with hledger: + + * *ui* - an efficient terminal interface (TUI) for hledger + + * *web* - a simple web interface (WUI) for hledger + + And these add-ons are maintained separately: + + * iadd - a more interactive alternative for the add command + + * interest - generates interest transactions according to various + schemes + + * stockquotes - downloads market prices for your commodities from + AlphaVantage _(experimental)_ + + Next, the detailed command docs, in alphabetical order. + +* Menu: + +* accounts:: +* activity:: +* add:: +* aregister:: +* balance:: +* balancesheet:: +* balancesheetequity:: +* cashflow:: +* check:: +* close:: +* codes:: +* commodities:: +* descriptions:: +* diff:: +* files:: +* help:: +* import:: +* incomestatement:: +* notes:: +* payees:: +* prices:: +* print:: +* print-unique:: +* register:: +* register-match:: +* rewrite:: +* roi:: +* stats:: +* tags:: +* test:: +* About add-on commands:: + + +File: hledger.info, Node: accounts, Next: activity, Up: COMMANDS + +11.1 accounts +============= + +accounts +Show account names. + + This command lists account names, either declared with account +directives (-declared), posted to (-used), or both (the default). With +query arguments, only matched account names and account names referenced +by matched postings are shown. It shows a flat list by default. With +`--tree', it uses indentation to show the account hierarchy. In flat +mode you can add `--drop N' to omit the first few account name +components. Account names can be depth-clipped with `depth:N' or +`--depth N' or `-N'. + + Examples: + + +$ hledger accounts +assets:bank:checking +assets:bank:saving +assets:cash +expenses:food +expenses:supplies +income:gifts +income:salary +liabilities:debts + + +File: hledger.info, Node: activity, Next: add, Prev: accounts, Up: COMMANDS + +11.2 activity +============= + +activity +Show an ascii barchart of posting counts per interval. + + 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. + + Examples: + + +$ hledger activity --quarterly +2008-01-01 ** +2008-04-01 ******* +2008-07-01 +2008-10-01 ** + + +File: hledger.info, Node: add, Next: aregister, Prev: activity, Up: COMMANDS + +11.3 add +======== + +add +Prompt for transactions and add them to the journal. Any arguments will +be used as default inputs for the first N prompts. + + Many hledger users edit their journals directly with a text editor, +or generate them from CSV. For more interactive data entry, there is the +`add' command, which prompts interactively on the console for new +transactions, and appends them to the journal file (if there are +multiple `-f FILE' options, the first file is used.) Existing +transactions are not changed. This is the only hledger command that +writes to the journal file. + + To use it, just run `hledger add' and follow the prompts. You can +add as many transactions as you like; when you are finished, enter `.' +or press control-d or control-c to exit. + + Features: + + * add tries to provide useful defaults, using the most similar (by + description) recent transaction (filtered by the query, if any) as + a template. + + * You can also set the initial defaults with command line arguments. + + * Readline-style edit keys can be used during data entry. + + * The tab key will auto-complete whenever possible - accounts, + descriptions, dates (`yesterday', `today', `tomorrow'). If the + input area is empty, it will insert the default value. + + * If the journal defines a default commodity, it will be added to + any bare numbers entered. + + * A parenthesised transaction code may be entered following a date. + + * Comments and tags may be entered following a description or amount. + + * If you make a mistake, enter `<' at any prompt to go one step + backward. + + * Input prompts are displayed in a different colour when the terminal + supports it. + + Example (see the tutorial for a detailed explanation): + + +$ 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]: $ + + 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). + + +File: hledger.info, Node: aregister, Next: balance, Prev: add, Up: COMMANDS + +11.4 aregister +============== + +aregister, areg +Show the transactions and running historical balance of a single +account, with each transaction displayed as one line. + + `aregister' 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 (`--historical' mode is +always on). + + This is a more "real world", bank-like view than the `register' +command (which shows individual postings, possibly from multiple +accounts, not necessarily in historical mode). As a quick rule of thumb: +- use `aregister' for reviewing and reconciling real-world +asset/liability accounts - use `register' for reviewing detailed +revenues/expenses. + + `aregister' 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. +(Eg if you have `assets:aaa:checking' and `assets:bbb:checking' +accounts, `hledger areg checking' would select `assets:aaa:checking'.) + + Transactions involving subaccounts of this account will also be +shown. `aregister' ignores depth limits, so its final total will always +match a balance report with similar arguments. + + 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's real-world running +balance. + + An example: this shows the transactions and historical running +balance during july, in the first account whose name contains +"checking": + + +$ hledger areg checking date:jul + + Each `aregister' line item shows: + + * the transaction's date (or the relevant posting's date if + different, see below) + + * the names of all the other account(s) involved in this transaction + (probably abbreviated) + + * the total change to this account's balance from this transaction + + * the account's historical running balance after this transaction. + + Transactions making a net change of zero are not shown by default; +add the `-E/--empty' flag to show them. + + This command also supports the output destination and output format +options. The output formats supported are `txt', `csv', and `json'. + +* Menu: + +* aregister and custom posting dates:: + + +File: hledger.info, Node: aregister and custom posting dates, Up: aregister + +11.4.1 aregister and custom posting dates +----------------------------------------- + +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's the posting date that is shown.) This ensures +that `aregister' can show an accurate historical running balance, +matching the one shown by `register -H' with the same arguments. + + To filter strictly by transaction date instead, add the +`--txn-dates' flag. If you use this flag and some of your postings have +custom dates, it's probably best to assume the running balance is wrong. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: balance, Next: balancesheet, Prev: aregister, Up: COMMANDS + +11.5 balance +============ + +balance, bal +Show accounts and their balances. + + `balance' is one of hledger'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. + + Note there are some higher-level variants of the `balance' command +with convenient defaults, which can be simpler to use: `balancesheet', +`balancesheetequity', `cashflow' and `incomestatement'. When you need +more control, then use `balance'. + +* Menu: + +* balance features:: +* Simple balance report:: +* Filtered balance report:: +* List or tree mode:: +* Depth limiting:: +* Dropping top-level accounts:: +* Multi-period balance report:: +* Showing declared accounts:: +* Commodity layout:: +* Sorting by amount:: +* Percentages:: +* Balance change end balance:: +* Balance report types:: +* Useful balance reports:: +* Budget report:: +* Customising single-period balance reports:: + + +File: hledger.info, Node: balance features, Next: Simple balance report, Up: balance + +11.5.1 balance features +----------------------- + +Here's a quick overview of the `balance' command's features, followed +by more detailed descriptions and examples. Many of these work with the +higher-level commands as well. + + `balance' can show.. + + * accounts as a list (`-l') or a tree (`-t') + + * optionally depth-limited (`-[1-9]') + + * sorted by declaration order and name, or by amount + + ..and their.. + + * balance changes (the default) + + * or actual and planned balance changes (`--budget') + + * or value of balance changes (`-V') + + * or change of balance values (`--valuechange') + + * or unrealised capital gain/loss (`--gain') + + ..in.. + + * one time period (the whole journal period by default) + + * or multiple periods (`-D', `-W', `-M', `-Q', `-Y', `-p INTERVAL') + + ..either.. + + * per period (the default) + + * or accumulated since report start date (`--cumulative') + + * or accumulated since account creation (`--historical/-H') + + ..possibly converted to.. + + * cost (`--value=cost[,COMM]'/`--cost'/`-B') + + * or market value, as of transaction dates (`--value=then[,COMM]') + + * or at period ends (`--value=end[,COMM]') + + * or now (`--value=now') + + * or at some other date (`--value=YYYY-MM-DD') + + ..with.. + + * totals (`-T'), averages (`-A'), percentages (`-%'), inverted sign + (`--invert') + + * rows and columns swapped (`--transpose') + + * another field used as account name (`--pivot') + + * custom-formatted line items (single-period reports only) + (`--format') + + * commodities displayed on the same line or multiple lines + (`--layout') + + This command supports the output destination and output format +options, with output formats `txt', `csv', `json', and (multi-period +reports only:) `html'. In `txt' output in a colour-supporting terminal, +negative amounts are shown in red. + + The `--related'/`-r' flag shows the balance of the _other_ postings +in the transactions of the postings which would normally be shown. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Simple balance report, Next: Filtered balance report, Prev: balance features, Up: balance + +11.5.2 Simple balance report +---------------------------- + +With no arguments, `balance' 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. For real-world +accounts, this should also match their end balance at the end of the +journal period (more on this below). + + Accounts are sorted by declaration order if any, and then +alphabetically by account name. For instance (using +examples/sample.journal): + + +$ 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 + $1 liabilities:debts +-------------------- + 0 + + Accounts with a zero balance (and no non-zero subaccounts, in tree +mode - see below) are hidden by default. Use `-E/--empty' to show them +(revealing `assets:bank:checking' here): + + +$ 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 + $1 liabilities:debts +-------------------- + 0 + + The total of the amounts displayed is shown as the last line, unless +`-N'/`--no-total' is used. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Filtered balance report, Next: List or tree mode, Prev: Simple balance report, Up: balance + +11.5.3 Filtered balance report +------------------------------ + +You can show fewer accounts, a different time period, totals from +cleared transactions only, etc. by using query arguments or options to +limit the postings being matched. Eg: + + +$ hledger -f examples/sample.journal bal --cleared assets date:200806 + $-2 assets:cash +-------------------- + $-2 + + +File: hledger.info, Node: List or tree mode, Next: Depth limiting, Prev: Filtered balance report, Up: balance + +11.5.4 List or tree mode +------------------------ + +By default, or with `-l/--flat', accounts are shown as a flat list with +their full names visible, as in the examples above. + + With `-t/--tree', the account hierarchy is shown, with subaccounts' +"leaf" names indented below their parent: + + +$ 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 + $1 liabilities:debts +-------------------- + 0 + + Notes: + + * "Boring" accounts are combined with their subaccount for more + compact output, unless `--no-elide' is used. Boring accounts have + no balance of their own and just one subaccount (eg `assets:bank' + and `liabilities' above). + + * All balances shown are "inclusive", ie including the balances from + all subaccounts. Note this means some repetition in the output, + which requires explanation when sharing reports with + non-plaintextaccounting-users. A tree mode report's final total is + the sum of the top-level balances shown, not of all the balances + shown. + + * Each group of sibling accounts (ie, under a common parent) is + sorted separately. + + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Depth limiting, Next: Dropping top-level accounts, Prev: List or tree mode, Up: balance + +11.5.5 Depth limiting +--------------------- + +With a `depth:NUM' query, or `--depth NUM' option, or just `-NUM' (eg: +`-3') balance reports will show accounts only to the specified depth, +hiding the deeper subaccounts. This can be useful for getting an +overview without too much detail. + + Account balances at the depth limit always include the balances from +any deeper subaccounts (even in list mode). Eg, limiting to depth 1: + + +$ hledger -f examples/sample.journal balance -1 + $-1 assets + $2 expenses + $-2 income + $1 liabilities +-------------------- + 0 + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Dropping top-level accounts, Next: Multi-period balance report, Prev: Depth limiting, Up: balance + +11.5.6 Dropping top-level accounts +---------------------------------- + +You can also hide one or more top-level account name parts, using +`--drop NUM'. This can be useful for hiding repetitive top-level +account names: + + +$ hledger -f examples/sample.journal bal expenses --drop 1 + $1 food + $1 supplies +-------------------- + $2 + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Multi-period balance report, Next: Showing declared accounts, Prev: Dropping top-level accounts, Up: balance + +11.5.7 Multi-period balance report +---------------------------------- + +With a report interval (set by the `-D/--daily', `-W/--weekly', +`-M/--monthly', `-Q/--quarterly', `-Y/--yearly', or `-p/--period' +flag), `balance' shows a tabular report, with columns representing +successive time periods (and a title): + + +$ 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 + + Notes: + + * The report'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). + + * Leading and trailing periods (columns) containing all zeroes are + not shown, unless `-E/--empty' is used. + + * Accounts (rows) containing all zeroes are not shown, unless + `-E/--empty' is used. + + * Amounts with many commodities are shown in abbreviated form, unless + `--no-elide' is used. _(experimental)_ + + * Average and/or total columns can be added with the `-A/--average' + and `-T/--row-total' flags. + + * The `--transpose' flag can be used to exchange rows and columns. + + * The `--pivot FIELD' option causes a different transaction field to + be used as "account name". See PIVOTING. + + Multi-period reports with many periods can be too wide for easy +viewing in the terminal. Here are some ways to handle that: + + * Hide the totals row with `-N/--no-total' + + * Convert to a single currency with `-V' + + * Maximize the terminal window + + * Reduce the terminal's font size + + * View with a pager like less, eg: `hledger bal -D --color=yes | + less -RS' + + * Output as CSV and use a CSV viewer like visidata (`hledger bal -D + -O csv | vd -f csv'), Emacs' csv-mode (`M-x csv-mode, C-c C-a'), + or a spreadsheet (`hledger bal -D -o a.csv && open a.csv') + + * Output as HTML and view with a browser: `hledger bal -D -o a.html + && open a.html' + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Showing declared accounts, Next: Commodity layout, Prev: Multi-period balance report, Up: balance + +11.5.8 Showing declared accounts +-------------------------------- + +With `--declared', 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 +`-E/--empty' to see them.) + + More precisely, _leaf_ declared accounts (with no subaccounts) will +be included, since those are usually the more useful in reports. + + The idea of this is to be able to see a useful "complete" balance +report, even when you don't have transactions in all of your declared +accounts yet. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Commodity layout, Next: Sorting by amount, Prev: Showing declared accounts, Up: balance + +11.5.9 Commodity layout +----------------------- + +With `--layout', you can control how amounts with more than one +commodity are displayed: + + * `--layout=wide[,WIDTH]': on a single line, possibly elided to the + specified width + + * `--layout=tall': each commodity is displayed on a separate line + + * `--layout=bare': commodity symbols are displayed in a separate + column, and amounts are displayed as bare numbers + + +$ 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 + +$ 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.. + +$ 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 + +$ 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 + + The option `--layout=bare' also affects CSV output, which is useful +for producing data that is easier to consume, eg when making charts: + + +$ hledger -f examples/bcexample.hledger bal assets:us:etrade -3 -O csv +"account","balance" +"Assets:US:ETrade","70.00 GLD, 17.00 ITOT, 5120.50 USD, 36.00 VEA, 294.00 VHT" +"total","70.00 GLD, 17.00 ITOT, 5120.50 USD, 36.00 VEA, 294.00 VHT" + +$ hledger -f examples/bcexample.hledger bal assets:us:etrade -3 -O csv --layout=bare +"account","commodity","balance" +"Assets:US:ETrade","GLD","70.00" +"Assets:US:ETrade","ITOT","17.00" +"Assets:US:ETrade","USD","5120.50" +"Assets:US:ETrade","VEA","36.00" +"Assets:US:ETrade","VHT","294.00" +"total","GLD","70.00" +"total","ITOT","17.00" +"total","USD","5120.50" +"total","VEA","36.00" +"total","VHT","294.00" + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Sorting by amount, Next: Percentages, Prev: Commodity layout, Up: balance + +11.5.10 Sorting by amount +------------------------- + +With `-S/--sort-amount', accounts with the largest (most positive) +balances are shown first. Eg: `hledger bal expenses -MAS' 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). + + Revenues and liability balances are typically negative, however, so +`-S' shows these in reverse order. To work around this, you can add +`--invert' to flip the signs. (Or, use one of the higher-level reports, +which flip the sign automatically. Eg: `hledger incomestatement -MAS'). + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Percentages, Next: Balance change end balance, Prev: Sorting by amount, Up: balance + +11.5.11 Percentages +------------------- + +With `-%/--percent', balance reports show each account's value +expressed as a percentage of the (column) total: + + +$ hledger -f examples/sample.journal bal expenses -Q -% +Balance changes in 2008: + + || 2008Q1 2008Q2 2008Q3 2008Q4 +===================++================================= + expenses:food || 0 50.0 % 0 0 + expenses:supplies || 0 50.0 % 0 0 +-------------------++--------------------------------- + || 0 100.0 % 0 0 + + 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: + + +$ hledger bal -% amt:`>0` +$ hledger bal -% amt:`<0` + + Similarly, if the amounts in a column have mixed commodities, convert +them to one commodity with `-B', `-V', `-X' or `--value', or make a +separate report for each commodity: + + +$ hledger bal -% cur:\\$ +$ hledger bal -% cur:€ + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Balance change end balance, Next: Balance report types, Prev: Percentages, Up: balance + +11.5.12 Balance change, end balance +----------------------------------- + +It's important to be clear on the meaning of the numbers shown in +balance reports. Here is some terminology we use: + + A *_balance change_* is the net amount added to, or removed from, an +account during some period. + + An *_end balance_* is the amount accumulated in an account as of +some date (and some time, but hledger doesn't store that; assume end of +day in your timezone). It is the sum of previous balance changes. + + We call it a *_historical end balance_* if it includes all balance +changes since the account was created. For a real world account, this +means it will match the "historical record", eg the balances reported +in your bank statements or bank web UI. (If they are correct!) + + 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. + + `balance' shows balance changes by default. To see accurate +historical end balances: + + 1. Initialise account starting balances with an "opening balances" + transaction (a transfer from equity to the account), unless the + journal covers the account's full lifetime. + + 2. Include all of of the account's prior postings in the report, by + not specifying a report start date, or by using the + `-H/--historical' flag. (`-H' causes report start date to be + ignored when summing postings.) + + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Balance report types, Next: Useful balance reports, Prev: Balance change end balance, Up: balance + +11.5.13 Balance report types +---------------------------- + +For more flexible reporting, there are three important option groups: + + `hledger balance [CALCULATIONTYPE] [ACCUMULATIONTYPE] +[VALUATIONTYPE] ...' + + The first two are the most important: calculation type selects the +basic calculation to perform for each table cell, while accumulation +type says which postings should be included in each cell's calculation. +Typically one or both of these are selected by default, so you don't +need to write them explicitly. A valuation type can be added if you +want to convert the basic report to value or cost. + + *Calculation type:* +The basic calculation to perform for each table cell. It is one of: + + * `--sum' : sum the posting amounts (*default*) + + * `--budget' : like -sum but also show a goal amount + + * `--valuechange' : show the change in period-end historical balance + values (caused by deposits, withdrawals, and/or market price + fluctuations) + + * `--gain' : show the unrealised capital gain/loss, (the current + valued balance minus each amount's original cost) + + *Accumulation type:* +Which postings should be included in each cell's calculation. It is one +of: + + * `--change' : postings from column start to column end, ie within + the cell's period. Typically used to see revenues/expenses. + (*default for balance, incomestatement*) + + * `--cumulative' : postings from report start to column end, eg to + show changes accumulated since the report's start date. Rarely + used. + + * `--historical/-H' : postings from journal start to column end, ie + all postings from account creation to the end of the cell's period. + Typically used to see historical end balances of + assets/liabilities/equity. (*default for balancesheet, + balancesheetequity, cashflow*) + + + *Valuation type:* +Which kind of valuation, valuation date(s) and optionally a target +valuation commodity to use. It is one of: + + * no valuation, show amounts in their original commodities + (*default*) + + * `--value=cost[,COMM]' : no valuation, show amounts converted to + cost + + * `--value=then[,COMM]' : show value at transaction dates + + * `--value=end[,COMM]' : show value at period end date(s) (*default + with `--valuechange', `--gain'*) + + * `--value=now[,COMM]' : show value at today's date + + * `--value=YYYY-MM-DD[,COMM]' : show value at another date + + or one of their aliases: `--cost/-B', `--market/-V' or +`--exchange/-X'. + + 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: + + * `--valuechange' implies `--value=end' + + * `--valuechange' makes `--change' the default when used with the + `balancesheet'/`balancesheetequity' commands + + * `--cumulative' or `--historical' disables `--row-total/-T' + + For reference, here is what the combinations of accumulation and +valuation show: + +Valuation:no valuation `--value= then' `--value= end' `--value= +>Accumulation: YYYY-MM-DD +v /now' +------------------------------------------------------------------------------ +`--change'change in period sum of period-end DATE-value of + posting-date value of change change in + market values in in period period + period +`--cumulative'change from sum of period-end DATE-value of + report start to posting-date value of change change from + period end market values from report report start + from report start to period to period end + start to period end + end +`--historicalchange from sum of period-end DATE-value of +/-H' journal start to posting-date value of change change from + period end market values from journal journal start + (historical end from journal start to period to period end + balance) start to period end + end + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Useful balance reports, Next: Budget report, Prev: Balance report types, Up: balance + +11.5.14 Useful balance reports +------------------------------ + +Some frequently used `balance' options/reports are: + + * `bal -M revenues expenses' + Show revenues/expenses in each month. Also available as the + `incomestatement' command. + + * `bal -M -H assets liabilities' + Show historical asset/liability balances at each month end. Also + available as the `balancesheet' command. + + * `bal -M -H assets liabilities equity' + Show historical asset/liability/equity balances at each month end. + Also available as the `balancesheetequity' command. + + * `bal -M assets not:receivable' + Show changes to liquid assets in each month. Also available as the + `cashflow' command. + + + Also: + + * `bal -M expenses -2 -SA' + Show monthly expenses summarised to depth 2 and sorted by average + amount. + + * `bal -M --budget expenses' + Show monthly expenses and budget goals. + + * `bal -M --valuechange investments' + Show monthly change in market value of investment assets. + + * `bal investments --valuechange -D date:lastweek amt:'>1000' -STA + [--invert]' + Show top gainers [or losers] last week + + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Budget report, Next: Customising single-period balance reports, Prev: Useful balance reports, Up: balance + +11.5.15 Budget report +--------------------- + +The `--budget' report type activates extra columns showing any budget +goals for each account and period. The budget goals are defined by +periodic transactions. This is very useful for comparing planned and +actual income, expenses, time usage, etc. + + For example, you can take average monthly expenses in the common +expense categories to construct a minimal monthly budget: + + +;; Budget +~ 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 $100 + assets:bank:checking + + You can now see a monthly budget report: + + +$ 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 $2000] +----------------------++---------------------------------------------------- + || 0 [ 0] 0 [ 0] + + This is different from a normal balance report in several ways: + + * Only accounts with budget goals during the report period are + shown, by default. + + * In each column, in square brackets after the actual amount, budget + goal amounts are shown, and the actual/goal percentage. (Note: + budget goals should be in the same commodity as the actual amount.) + + * All parent accounts are always shown, even in list mode. Eg assets, + assets:bank, and expenses above. + + * Amounts always include all subaccounts, budgeted or unbudgeted, + even in list mode. + + + This means that the numbers displayed will not always add up! Eg +above, the `expenses' actual amount includes the gifts and supplies +transactions, but the `expenses:gifts' and `expenses:supplies' accounts +are not shown, as they have no budget amounts declared. + + This can be confusing. When you need to make things clearer, use the +`-E/--empty' flag, which will reveal all accounts including unbudgeted +ones, giving the full picture. Eg: + + +$ 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 $2000] +----------------------++---------------------------------------------------- + || 0 [ 0] 0 [ 0] + + You can roll over unspent budgets to next period with `--cumulative': + + +$ 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] + + For more examples and notes, see Budgeting. + +* Menu: + +* Budget report start date:: +* Budgets and subaccounts:: +* Selecting budget goals:: + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Budget report start date, Next: Budgets and subaccounts, Up: Budget report + +11.5.15.1 Budget report start date +.................................. + +This might be a bug, but for now: when making budget reports, it's a +good idea to explicitly set the report's start date to the first day of +a reporting period, because a periodic rule like `~ monthly' 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: + + +~ monthly in 2020 + (expenses:food) $500 + +2020-01-15 + expenses:food $400 + assets:checking + + +$ hledger bal expenses --budget +Budget performance in 2020-01-15: + + || 2020-01-15 +==============++============ + || $400 +--------------++------------ + || $400 + + To avoid this, specify the budget report's period, or at least the +start date, with `-b'/`-e'/`-p'/`date:', to ensure it includes the +budget goal transactions (periodic transactions) that you want. Eg, +adding `-b 2020/1/1' to the above: + + +$ 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] + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Budgets and subaccounts, Next: Selecting budget goals, Prev: Budget report start date, Up: Budget report + +11.5.15.2 Budgets and subaccounts +................................. + +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. + + In the most simple case this means that once you add a budget to any +account, all its parents would have budget as well. + + To illustrate this, consider the following budget: + + +~ monthly from 2019/01 + expenses:personal $1,000.00 + expenses:personal:electronics $100.00 + liabilities + + 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 `expenses:personal' and `expenses' is $1100. + + Transactions in `expenses:personal:electronics' will be counted both +towards its $100 budget and $1100 of `expenses:personal' , and +transactions in any other subaccount of `expenses:personal' would be +counted towards only towards the budget of `expenses:personal'. + + For example, let's consider these transactions: + + +~ 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 $30.00 + liabilities + + As you can see, we have transactions in +`expenses:personal:electronics:upgrades' and `expenses:personal:train +tickets', and since both of these accounts are without explicitly +defined budget, these transactions would be counted towards budgets of +`expenses:personal:electronics' and `expenses:personal' accordingly: + + +$ 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 $-1100.00] +-------------------------------++------------------------------- + || 0 [ 0] + + And with `--empty', we can get a better picture of budget allocation +and consumption: + + +$ 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 $-1100.00] +----------------------------------------++------------------------------- + || 0 [ 0] + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Selecting budget goals, Prev: Budgets and subaccounts, Up: Budget report + +11.5.15.3 Selecting budget goals +................................ + +The budget report evaluates periodic transaction rules to generate +special "goal transactions", which generate the goal amounts for each +account in each report subperiod. When troubleshooting, you can use the +print command to show these as forecasted transactions: + + +$ hledger print --forecast=BUDGETREPORTPERIOD tag:generated + + 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. + + You can select a subset of periodic rules by providing an argument to +the `--budget' flag. `--budget=DESCPAT' 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. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Customising single-period balance reports, Prev: Budget report, Up: balance + +11.5.16 Customising single-period balance reports +------------------------------------------------- + +For single-period balance reports displayed in the terminal (only), you +can use `--format FMT' to customise the format and content of each +line. Eg: + + +$ hledger -f examples/sample.journal balance --format "%20(account) %12(total)" + assets $-1 + bank:saving $1 + cash $-2 + expenses $2 + food $1 + supplies $1 + income $-2 + gifts $-1 + salary $-1 + liabilities:debts $1 +--------------------------------- + 0 + + The FMT format string (plus a newline) specifies the formatting +applied to each account/balance pair. It may contain any suitable text, +with data fields interpolated like so: + + `%[MIN][.MAX](FIELDNAME)' + + * MIN pads with spaces to at least this width (optional) + + * MAX truncates at this width (optional) + + * FIELDNAME must be enclosed in parentheses, and can be one of: + + * `depth_spacer' - a number of spaces equal to the account's + depth, or if MIN is specified, MIN * depth spaces. + + * `account' - the account's name + + * `total' - the account's balance/posted total, right justified + + + Also, FMT can begin with an optional prefix to control how +multi-commodity amounts are rendered: + + * `%_' - render on multiple lines, bottom-aligned (the default) + + * `%^' - render on multiple lines, top-aligned + + * `%,' - render on one line, comma-separated + + There are some quirks. Eg in one-line mode, `%(depth_spacer)' has no +effect, instead `%(account)' has indentation built in. Experimentation +may be needed to get pleasing results. + + Some example formats: + + * `%(total)' - the account's total + + * `%-20.20(account)' - the account's name, left justified, padded to + 20 characters and clipped at 20 characters + + * `%,%-50(account) %25(total)' - account name padded to 50 + characters, total padded to 20 characters, with multiple + commodities rendered on one line + + * `%20(total) %2(depth_spacer)%-(account)' - the default format for + the single-column balance report + + +File: hledger.info, Node: balancesheet, Next: balancesheetequity, Prev: balance, Up: COMMANDS + +11.6 balancesheet +================= + +balancesheet, bs +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. + + The asset and liability accounts shown are those accounts declared +with the `Asset' or `Cash' or `Liability' type, or otherwise all +accounts under a top-level `asset' or `liability' account (case +insensitive, plurals allowed). + + Example: + + +$ hledger balancesheet +Balance Sheet + +Assets: + $-1 assets + $1 bank:saving + $-2 cash +-------------------- + $-1 + +Liabilities: + $1 liabilities:debts +-------------------- + $1 + +Total: +-------------------- + 0 + + This command is a higher-level variant of the `balance' command, and +supports many of that command's features, such as multi-period reports. +It is similar to `hledger balance -H assets liabilities', but with +smarter account detection, and liabilities displayed with their sign +flipped. + + This command also supports the output destination and output format +options The output formats supported are `txt', `csv', `html', and +(experimental) `json'. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: balancesheetequity, Next: cashflow, Prev: balancesheet, Up: COMMANDS + +11.7 balancesheetequity +======================= + +balancesheetequity, bse +This command displays a balance sheet, showing historical ending +balances of asset, liability and equity accounts. Amounts are shown with +normal positive sign, as in conventional financial statements. + + The asset, liability and equity accounts shown are those accounts +declared with the `Asset', `Cash', `Liability' or `Equity' type, or +otherwise all accounts under a top-level `asset', `liability' or +`equity' account (case insensitive, plurals allowed). + + Example: + + +$ hledger balancesheetequity +Balance Sheet With Equity + +Assets: + $-2 assets + $1 bank:saving + $-3 cash +-------------------- + $-2 + +Liabilities: + $1 liabilities:debts +-------------------- + $1 + +Equity: + $1 equity:owner +-------------------- + $1 + +Total: +-------------------- + 0 + + This command is a higher-level variant of the `balance' command, and +supports many of that command's features, such as multi-period reports. +It is similar to `hledger balance -H assets liabilities equity', but +with smarter account detection, and liabilities/equity displayed with +their sign flipped. + + This command also supports the output destination and output format +options The output formats supported are `txt', `csv', `html', and +(experimental) `json'. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: cashflow, Next: check, Prev: balancesheetequity, Up: COMMANDS + +11.8 cashflow +============= + +cashflow, cf +This command displays a cashflow statement, showing the inflows and +outflows affecting "cash" (ie, liquid) assets. Amounts are shown with +normal positive sign, as in conventional financial statements. + + The "cash" accounts shown are those accounts declared with the +`Cash' type, or otherwise all accounts under a top-level `asset' +account (case insensitive, plural allowed) which do not have `fixed', +`investment', `receivable' or `A/R' in their name. + + Example: + + +$ hledger cashflow +Cashflow Statement + +Cash flows: + $-1 assets + $1 bank:saving + $-2 cash +-------------------- + $-1 + +Total: +-------------------- + $-1 + + This command is a higher-level variant of the `balance' command, and +supports many of that command's features, such as multi-period reports. +It is similar to `hledger balance assets not:fixed not:investment +not:receivable', but with smarter account detection. + + This command also supports the output destination and output format +options The output formats supported are `txt', `csv', `html', and +(experimental) `json'. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: check, Next: close, Prev: cashflow, Up: COMMANDS + +11.9 check +========== + +check +Check for various kinds of errors in your data. + + 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 `check' 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). + + Some examples: + + +hledger check # basic checks +hledger check -s # basic + strict checks +hledger check ordereddates payees # basic + two other checks + + Here are the checks currently available: + +* Menu: + +* Basic checks:: +* Strict checks:: +* Other checks:: +* Custom checks:: + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Basic checks, Next: Strict checks, Up: check + +11.9.1 Basic checks +------------------- + +These checks are always run automatically, by (almost) all hledger +commands, including `check': + + * *parseable* - data files are well-formed and can be successfully + parsed + + * *balancedwithautoconversion* - all transactions are balanced, + inferring missing amounts where necessary, and possibly converting + commodities using transaction prices or automatically-inferred + transaction prices + + * *assertions* - all balance assertions in the journal are passing. + (This check can be disabled with `-I'/`--ignore-assertions'.) + + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Strict checks, Next: Other checks, Prev: Basic checks, Up: check + +11.9.2 Strict checks +-------------------- + +These additional checks are run when the `-s'/`--strict' (strict mode) +flag is used. Or, they can be run by giving their names as arguments to +`check': + + * *accounts* - all account names used by transactions have been + declared + + * *commodities* - all commodity symbols used have been declared + + * *balancednoautoconversion* - transactions are balanced, possibly + using explicit transaction prices but not inferred ones + + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Other checks, Next: Custom checks, Prev: Strict checks, Up: check + +11.9.3 Other checks +------------------- + +These checks can be run only by giving their names as arguments to +`check'. They are more specialised and not desirable for everyone, +therefore optional: + + * *ordereddates* - transactions are ordered by date within each file + + * *payees* - all payees used by transactions have been declared + + * *uniqueleafnames* - all account leaf names are unique + + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Custom checks, Prev: Other checks, Up: check + +11.9.4 Custom checks +-------------------- + +A few more checks are are available as separate add-on commands, in +https://github.com/simonmichael/hledger/tree/master/bin: + + * *hledger-check-tagfiles* - all tag values containing / (a forward + slash) exist as file paths + + * *hledger-check-fancyassertions* - more complex balance assertions + are passing + + + You could make similar scripts to perform your own custom checks. +See: Cookbook -> Scripting. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: close, Next: codes, Prev: check, Up: COMMANDS + +11.10 close +=========== + +close, equity +Prints a sample "closing" transaction bringing specified account +balances to zero, and an inverse "opening" transaction restoring the +same account balances. + + If like most people you split your journal files by time, eg by +year: at the end of the year you can use this command to "close out" +your asset and liability (and perhaps equity) balances in the old file, +and reinitialise them in the new file. This helps ensure that report +balances remain correct whether you are including old files or not. +(Because all closing/opening transactions except the very first will +cancel out - see example below.) + + Some people also use this command to close out revenue and expense +balances at the end of an accounting period. This properly records the +period's profit/loss as "retained earnings" (part of equity), and allows +the accounting equation (A-L=E) to balance, which you could then check +by the bse report's zero total. + + You can print just the closing transaction by using the `--close' +flag, or just the opening transaction with the `--open' flag. + + Their descriptions are `closing balances' and `opening balances' by +default; you can customise these with the `--close-desc' and +`--open-desc' options. + + Just one balancing equity posting is used by default, with the amount +left implicit. The default account name is `equity:opening/closing +balances'. You can customise the account name(s) with `--close-acct' +and `--open-acct'. (If you specify only one of these, it will be used +for both.) + + With `--x/--explicit', the equity posting's amount will be shown +explicitly, and if it involves multiple commodities, there will be a +separate equity posting for each commodity (as in the print command). + + With `--interleaved', each equity posting is shown next to the +posting it balances (good for troubleshooting). + +* Menu: + +* close and prices:: +* close date:: +* Example close asset/liability accounts for file transition:: +* Hiding opening/closing transactions:: +* close and balance assertions:: +* Example close revenue/expense accounts to retained earnings:: + + +File: hledger.info, Node: close and prices, Next: close date, Up: close + +11.10.1 close and prices +------------------------ + +Transaction prices are ignored (and discarded) by closing/opening +transactions, by default. With `--show-costs', they are preserved; +there will be a separate equity posting for each cost in each commodity. +This means `balance -B' reports will look the same after the +transition. Note if you have many foreign currency or investment +transactions, this will generate very large journal entries. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: close date, Next: Example close asset/liability accounts for file transition, Prev: close and prices, Up: close + +11.10.2 close date +------------------ + +The default closing date is yesterday, or the journal's end date, +whichever is later. + + Unless you are running `close' on exactly the first day of the new +period, you'll want to override the closing date. This is done by +specifying a report end date, where "last day of the report period" will +be the closing date. The opening date is always the following day. So to +close on (end of) 2020-12-31 and open on (start of) 2021-01-01, any of +these will work: + +end date argument explanation +------------------------------------------------------------------- +`-e 2021-01-01' end dates are exclusive +`-e 2021' equivalent, per smart dates +`-p 2020' equivalent, the period's begin date is ignored +`date:2020' equivalent query + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Example close asset/liability accounts for file transition, Next: Hiding opening/closing transactions, Prev: close date, Up: close + +11.10.3 Example: close asset/liability accounts for file transition +------------------------------------------------------------------- + +Carrying asset/liability balances from 2020.journal into a new file for +2021: + + +$ hledger close -f 2020.journal -p 2020 assets liabilities +# copy/paste the closing transaction to the end of 2020.journal +# copy/paste the opening transaction to the start of 2021.journal + + Or: + + +$ hledger close -f 2020.journal -p 2020 assets liabilities --open >> 2021.journal # add 2021's first transaction +$ hledger close -f 2020.journal -p 2020 assets liabilities --close >> 2020.journal # add 2020's last transaction + + Now, + + +$ hledger bs -f 2021.journal # just new file - balances correct +$ hledger bs -f 2020.journal -f 2021.journal # old and new files - balances correct +$ hledger bs -f 2020.journal # just old files - balances are zero ? + # (exclude final closing txn, see below) + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Hiding opening/closing transactions, Next: close and balance assertions, Prev: Example close asset/liability accounts for file transition, Up: close + +11.10.4 Hiding opening/closing transactions +------------------------------------------- + +Although the closing/opening transactions cancel out, they will be +visible in reports like `print' and `register', creating some visual +clutter. You can exclude them all with a query, like: + + +$ hledger print not:desc:'opening|closing' # less typing +$ hledger print not:'equity:opening/closing balances' # more precise + + But when reporting on multiple files, this can get a bit tricky; you +may need to keep the earliest opening balances, for a historical +register report; or you may need to suppress a closing transaction, to +see year-end balances. If you find yourself needing more precise +queries, here's one solution: add more easily-matched tags to +opening/closing transactions, like this: + + +; 2019.journal +2019-01-01 opening balances ; earliest opening txn, no tag here +... +2019-12-31 closing balances ; clopen:2020 +... + + +; 2020.journal +2020-01-01 opening balances ; clopen:2020 +... +2020-12-31 closing balances ; clopen:2021 +... + + +; 2021.journal +2021-01-01 opening balances ; clopen:2021 +... + + Now with + + +; all.journal +include 2019.journal +include 2020.journal +include 2021.journal + + you could do eg: + + +$ hledger -f all.journal reg -H checking not:tag:clopen + # all years checking register, hiding non-essential opening/closing txns + +$ hledger -f all.journal bs -p 2020 not:tag:clopen=2020 + # 2020 year end balances, suppressing 2020 closing txn + + +File: hledger.info, Node: close and balance assertions, Next: Example close revenue/expense accounts to retained earnings, Prev: Hiding opening/closing transactions, Up: close + +11.10.5 close and balance assertions +------------------------------------ + +The closing and opening transactions will include balance assertions, +verifying that the accounts have first been reset to zero and then +restored to their previous balance. These provide valuable error +checking, alerting you when things get out of line, but you can ignore +them temporarily with `-I' or just remove them if you prefer. + + You probably shouldn't use status or realness filters (like -C or -R +or `status:') with `close', or the generated balance assertions will +depend on these flags. Likewise, if you run this command with `--auto', +the balance assertions would probably always require `--auto'. + + Multi-day transactions (where some postings have a different date) +break the balance assertions, because the money is temporarily +"invisible" while in transit: + + +2020/12/30 a purchase made in december, cleared in the next year + expenses:food 5 + assets:bank:checking -5 ; date: 2021/1/2 + + To fix the assertions, you can add a temporary account to track such +in-transit money (splitting the multi-day transaction into two +single-day transactions): + + +; in 2020.journal: +2020/12/30 a purchase made in december, cleared in the next year + expenses:food 5 + liabilities:pending + +; in 2021.journal: +2021/1/2 clearance of last year's pending transactions + liabilities:pending 5 = 0 + assets:bank:checking + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Example close revenue/expense accounts to retained earnings, Prev: close and balance assertions, Up: close + +11.10.6 Example: close revenue/expense accounts to retained earnings +-------------------------------------------------------------------- + +For this, use `--close' to suppress the opening transaction, as it's +not needed. Also you'll want to change the equity account name to your +equivalent of "equity:retained earnings". + + Closing 2021's first quarter revenues/expenses: + + +$ hledger close -f 2021.journal --close revenues expenses -p 2021Q1 \ + --close-acct='equity:retained earnings' >> 2021.journal + + The same, using the default journal and current year: + + +$ hledger close --close revenues expenses -p Q1 \ + --close-acct='equity:retained earnings' >> $LEDGER_FILE + + Now, the first quarter's balance sheet should show a zero (unless you +are using @/@@ notation without equity postings): + + +$ hledger bse -p Q1 + + And we must suppress the closing transaction to see the first +quarter's income statement (using the description; `not:'retained +earnings'' won't work here): + + +$ hledger is -p Q1 not:desc:'closing balances' + + +File: hledger.info, Node: codes, Next: commodities, Prev: close, Up: COMMANDS + +11.11 codes +=========== + +codes +List the codes seen in transactions, in the order parsed. + + This command prints the value of each transaction'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. + + Transactions aren't required to have a code, and missing or empty +codes will not be shown by default. With the `-E'/`--empty' flag, they +will be printed as blank lines. + + You can add a query to select a subset of transactions. + + Examples: + + +1/1 (123) + (a) 1 + +1/1 () + (a) 1 + +1/1 + (a) 1 + +1/1 (126) + (a) 1 + + +$ hledger codes +123 +124 +126 + + +$ hledger codes -E +123 +124 + + +126 + + +File: hledger.info, Node: commodities, Next: descriptions, Prev: codes, Up: COMMANDS + +11.12 commodities +================= + +commodities +List all commodity/currency symbols used or declared in the journal. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: descriptions, Next: diff, Prev: commodities, Up: COMMANDS + +11.13 descriptions +================== + +descriptions +List the unique descriptions that appear in transactions. + + This command lists the unique descriptions that appear in +transactions, in alphabetic order. You can add a query to select a +subset of transactions. + + Example: + + +$ hledger descriptions +Store Name +Gas Station | Petrol +Person A + + +File: hledger.info, Node: diff, Next: files, Prev: descriptions, Up: COMMANDS + +11.14 diff +========== + +diff +Compares a particular account's transactions in two input files. It +shows any transactions to this account which are in one file but not in +the other. + + 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. + + This is useful eg if you have downloaded an account'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. + + Examples: + + +$ 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: + + +File: hledger.info, Node: files, Next: help, Prev: diff, Up: COMMANDS + +11.15 files +=========== + +files +List all files included in the journal. With a REGEX argument, only file +names matching the regular expression (case sensitive) are shown. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: help, Next: import, Prev: files, Up: COMMANDS + +11.16 help +========== + +help +Show the hledger user manual in one of several formats, optionally +positioned at a given TOPIC (if possible). + + TOPIC is any heading in the manual, or the start of any heading (but +not the middle). It is case insensitive. + + Some examples: `commands', `print', `forecast', `"auto postings"', +`"commodity column"'. + + This command shows the user manual built in to this hledger version. +It can be useful if the correct version of the hledger manual, or the +usual viewing tools, are not installed on your system. + + By default it uses the best viewer it can find in $PATH, in this +order: `info', `man', $PAGER (unless a topic is specified), `less', or +stdout. When run non-interactively, it always uses stdout. Or you can +select a particular viewer with the `-i' (info), `-m' (man), or `-p' +(pager) flags. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: import, Next: incomestatement, Prev: help, Up: COMMANDS + +11.17 import +============ + +import +Read new transactions added to each FILE since last run, and add them to +the main journal file. Or with -dry-run, just print the transactions +that would be added. Or with -catchup, just mark all of the FILEs' +transactions as imported, without actually importing any. + + Unlike other hledger commands, with `import' 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 +`hledger import bank.csv' or perhaps `hledger import *.csv'. + + Note you can import from any file format, though CSV files are the +most common import source, and these docs focus on that case. + +* Menu: + +* Deduplication:: +* Import testing:: +* Importing balance assignments:: +* Commodity display styles:: + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Deduplication, Next: Import testing, Up: import + +11.17.1 Deduplication +--------------------- + +As a convenience `import' does _deduplication_ while reading +transactions. This does not mean "ignore transactions that look the +same", but rather "ignore transactions that have been seen before". 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 +`hledger import bank.csv' and only new transactions will be imported. +(`import' is idempotent.) + + Since the items being read (CSV records, eg) often do not come with +unique identifiers, hledger detects new transactions by date, assuming +that: + + 1. new items always have the newest dates + + 2. item dates do not change across reads + + 3. and items with the same date remain in the same relative order + across reads. + + 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't matter (and if +you import often, the new transactions will be few, so less likely to be +the ones affected). + + hledger remembers the latest date processed in each input file by +saving a hidden ".latest" state file in the same directory. Eg when +reading `finance/bank.csv', it will look for and update the +`finance/.latest.bank.csv' state file. The format is simple: one or +more lines containing the same ISO-format date (YYYY-MM-DD), meaning "I +have processed transactions up to this date, and this many of them on +that date." Normally you won't see or manipulate these state files +yourself. But if needed, you can delete them to reset the state (making +all transactions "new"), or you can construct them to "catch up" to a +certain date. + + Note deduplication (and updating of state files) can also be done by +`print --new', but this is less often used. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Import testing, Next: Importing balance assignments, Prev: Deduplication, Up: import + +11.17.2 Import testing +---------------------- + +With `--dry-run', 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: + + +$ hledger import --dry bank.csv | hledger -f- -I print unknown + + or (live updating): + + +$ ls bank.csv* | entr bash -c 'echo ====; hledger import --dry bank.csv | hledger -f- -I print unknown' + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Importing balance assignments, Next: Commodity display styles, Prev: Import testing, Up: import + +11.17.3 Importing balance assignments +------------------------------------- + +Entries added by import will have their posting amounts made explicit +(like `hledger print -x'). This means that any balance assignments in +imported files must be evaluated; but, imported files don't get to see +the main file'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: + + +$ hledger print IMPORTFILE [--new] >> $LEDGER_FILE + + (If you think import should leave amounts implicit like print does, +please test it and send a pull request.) + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Commodity display styles, Prev: Importing balance assignments, Up: import + +11.17.4 Commodity display styles +-------------------------------- + +Imported amounts will be formatted according to the canonical commodity +styles (declared or inferred) in the main journal file. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: incomestatement, Next: notes, Prev: import, Up: COMMANDS + +11.18 incomestatement +===================== + +incomestatement, is +This command displays an income statement, showing revenues and expenses +during one or more periods. Amounts are shown with normal positive sign, +as in conventional financial statements. + + The revenue and expense accounts shown are those accounts declared +with the `Revenue' or `Expense' type, or otherwise all accounts under a +top-level `revenue' or `income' or `expense' account (case insensitive, +plurals allowed). + + Example: + + +$ hledger incomestatement +Income Statement + +Revenues: + $-2 income + $-1 gifts + $-1 salary +-------------------- + $-2 + +Expenses: + $2 expenses + $1 food + $1 supplies +-------------------- + $2 + +Total: +-------------------- + 0 + + This command is a higher-level variant of the `balance' command, and +supports many of that command's features, such as multi-period reports. +It is similar to `hledger balance '(revenues|income)' expenses', but +with smarter account detection, and revenues/income displayed with +their sign flipped. + + This command also supports the output destination and output format +options The output formats supported are `txt', `csv', `html', and +(experimental) `json'. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: notes, Next: payees, Prev: incomestatement, Up: COMMANDS + +11.19 notes +=========== + +notes +List the unique notes that appear in transactions. + + This command lists the unique notes that appear in transactions, in +alphabetic order. You can add a query to select a subset of +transactions. The note is the part of the transaction description after +a | character (or if there is no |, the whole description). + + Example: + + +$ hledger notes +Petrol +Snacks + + +File: hledger.info, Node: payees, Next: prices, Prev: notes, Up: COMMANDS + +11.20 payees +============ + +payees +List the unique payee/payer names that appear in transactions. + + This command lists unique payee/payer names which have been declared +with payee directives (-declared), used in transaction descriptions +(-used), or both (the default). + + The payee/payer is the part of the transaction description before a | +character (or if there is no |, the whole description). + + You can add query arguments to select a subset of transactions. This +implies -used. + + Example: + + +$ hledger payees +Store Name +Gas Station +Person A + + +File: hledger.info, Node: prices, Next: print, Prev: payees, Up: COMMANDS + +11.21 prices +============ + +prices +Print market price directives from the journal. With +-infer-market-prices, generate additional market prices from +transaction prices. With -infer-reverse-prices, also generate market +prices by inverting transaction prices. Prices (and postings providing +transaction prices) can be filtered by a query. Price amounts are +displayed with their full precision. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: print, Next: print-unique, Prev: prices, Up: COMMANDS + +11.22 print +=========== + +print +Show transaction journal entries, sorted by date. + + The print command displays full journal entries (transactions) from +the journal file, sorted by date (or with `--date2', by secondary date). + + 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.) + + Amounts are shown right-aligned within each transaction (but not +across all transactions). + + 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. + + Eg: + + +$ 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 $-1 + + print's output is usually a valid hledger journal, and you can +process it again with a second hledger command. This can be useful for +certain kinds of search, eg: + + +# Show running total of food expenses paid from cash. +# -f- reads from stdin. -I/--ignore-assertions is sometimes needed. +$ hledger print assets:cash | hledger -f- -I reg expenses:food + + There are some situations where print's output can become +unparseable: + + * Valuation affects posting amounts but not balance assertion or + balance assignment amounts, potentially causing those to fail. + + * Auto postings can generate postings with too many missing amounts. + + Normally, the journal entry'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 transaction price is +implied but not written, it will not appear in the output. You can use +the `-x'/`--explicit' flag to make all amounts and transaction prices +explicit, which can be useful for troubleshooting or for making your +journal more readable and robust against data entry errors. `-x' is +also implied by using any of `-B',`-V',`-X',`--value'. + + Note, `-x'/`--explicit' 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. + + With `-B'/`--cost', amounts with transaction prices are converted to +cost using that price. This can be used for troubleshooting. + + With `-m'/`--match' and a STR argument, print will show at most one +transaction: the one one whose description is most similar to STR, and +is most recent. STR should contain at least two characters. If there is +no similar-enough match, no transaction will be shown. + + With `--new', hledger prints only transactions it has not seen on a +previous run. This uses the same deduplication system as the `import' +command. (See import's docs for details.) + + This command also supports the output destination and output format +options The output formats supported are `txt', `csv', and +(experimental) `json' and `sql'. + + Here's an example of print's CSV output: + + +$ hledger print -Ocsv +"txnidx","date","date2","status","code","description","comment","account","amount","commodity","credit","debit","posting-status","posting-comment" +"1","2008/01/01","","","","income","","assets:bank:checking","1","$","","1","","" +"1","2008/01/01","","","","income","","income:salary","-1","$","1","","","" +"2","2008/06/01","","","","gift","","assets:bank:checking","1","$","","1","","" +"2","2008/06/01","","","","gift","","income:gifts","-1","$","1","","","" +"3","2008/06/02","","","","save","","assets:bank:saving","1","$","","1","","" +"3","2008/06/02","","","","save","","assets:bank:checking","-1","$","1","","","" +"4","2008/06/03","","*","","eat & shop","","expenses:food","1","$","","1","","" +"4","2008/06/03","","*","","eat & shop","","expenses:supplies","1","$","","1","","" +"4","2008/06/03","","*","","eat & shop","","assets:cash","-2","$","2","","","" +"5","2008/12/31","","*","","pay off","","liabilities:debts","1","$","","1","","" +"5","2008/12/31","","*","","pay off","","assets:bank:checking","-1","$","1","","","" + + * There is one CSV record per posting, with the parent transaction's + fields repeated. + + * The "txnidx" (transaction index) field shows which postings belong + to the same transaction. (This number might change if transactions + are reordered within the file, files are parsed/included in a + different order, etc.) + + * The amount is separated into "commodity" (the symbol) and "amount" + (numeric quantity) fields. + + * The numeric amount is repeated in either the "credit" or "debit" + column, for convenience. (Those names are not accurate in the + accounting sense; it just puts negative amounts under credit and + zero or greater amounts under debit.) + + +File: hledger.info, Node: print-unique, Next: register, Prev: print, Up: COMMANDS + +11.23 print-unique +================== + +print-unique +Print transactions which do not reuse an already-seen description. + + Example: + + +$ cat unique.journal +1/1 test + (acct:one) 1 +2/2 test + (acct:two) 2 +$ LEDGER_FILE=unique.journal hledger print-unique +(-f option not supported) +2015/01/01 test + (acct:one) 1 + + +File: hledger.info, Node: register, Next: register-match, Prev: print-unique, Up: COMMANDS + +11.24 register +============== + +register, reg +Show postings and their running total. + + The register command displays matched postings, across all accounts, +in date order, with their running total or running historical balance. +(See also the `aregister' command, which shows matched transactions in a +specific account.) + + register normally shows line per posting, but note that +multi-commodity amounts will occupy multiple lines (one line per +commodity). + + It is typically used with a query selecting a particular account, to +see that account's activity: + + +$ 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 $-1 0 + + With -date2, it shows and sorts by secondary date instead. + + The `--historical'/`-H' flag adds the balance from any undisplayed +prior postings to the running total. This is useful when you want to +see only recent activity, with a historically accurate running balance: + + +$ 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 $-1 0 + + The `--depth' option limits the amount of sub-account detail +displayed. + + The `--average'/`-A' flag shows the running average posting amount +instead of the running total (so, the final number displayed is the +average for the whole report period). This flag implies `--empty' (see +below). It is affected by `--historical'. It works best when showing +just one account and one commodity. + + The `--related'/`-r' flag shows the _other_ postings in the +transactions of the postings which would normally be shown. + + The `--invert' flag negates all amounts. For example, it can be used +on an income account where amounts are normally displayed as negative +numbers. It's also useful to show postings on the checking account +together with the related account: + + +$ hledger register --related --invert assets:checking + + With a reporting interval, register shows summary postings, one per +interval, aggregating the postings to each account: + + +$ hledger register --monthly income +2008/01 income:salary $-1 $-1 +2008/06 income:gifts $-1 $-2 + + Periods with no activity, and summary postings with a zero amount, +are not shown by default; use the `--empty'/`-E' flag to see them: + + +$ 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 $-2 + + Often, you'll want to see just one line per interval. The `--depth' +option helps with this, causing subaccounts to be aggregated: + + +$ hledger register --monthly assets --depth 1h +2008/01 assets $1 $1 +2008/06 assets $-1 0 +2008/12 assets $-1 $-1 + + Note when using report intervals, if you specify start/end dates +these will be adjusted outward if necessary to contain a whole number of +intervals. This ensures that the first and last intervals are full +length and comparable to the others in the report. + +* Menu: + +* Custom register output:: + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Custom register output, Up: register + +11.24.1 Custom register output +------------------------------ + +register uses the full terminal width by default, except on windows. You +can override this by setting the `COLUMNS' environment variable (not a +bash shell variable) or by using the `--width'/`-w' option. + + The description and account columns normally share the space equally +(about half of (width - 40) each). You can adjust this by adding a +description width as part of -width's argument, comma-separated: +`--width W,D' . Here's a diagram (won't display correctly in -help): + + +<--------------------------------- width (W) ----------------------------------> +date (10) description (D) account (W-41-D) amount (12) balance (12) +DDDDDDDDDD dddddddddddddddddddd aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa AAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAA + + and some examples: + + +$ 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 $COLUMNS,40 # use terminal width, & description width 40 + + This command also supports the output destination and output format +options The output formats supported are `txt', `csv', and +(experimental) `json'. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: register-match, Next: rewrite, Prev: register, Up: COMMANDS + +11.25 register-match +==================== + +register-match +Print the one posting whose transaction description is closest to DESC, +in the style of the register command. If there are multiple equally good +matches, it shows the most recent. Query options (options, not +arguments) can be used to restrict the search space. Helps +ledger-autosync detect already-seen transactions when importing. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: rewrite, Next: roi, Prev: register-match, Up: COMMANDS + +11.26 rewrite +============= + +rewrite +Print all transactions, rewriting the postings of matched transactions. +For now the only rewrite available is adding new postings, like print +-auto. + + This is a start at a generic rewriter of transaction entries. It +reads the default journal and prints the transactions, like print, but +adds one or more specified postings to any transactions matching QUERY. +The posting amounts can be fixed, or a multiplier of the existing +transaction's first posting amount. + + Examples: + + +$ hledger-rewrite.hs ^income --add-posting '(liabilities:tax) *.33 ; income tax' --add-posting '(reserve:gifts) $100' +$ hledger-rewrite.hs expenses:gifts --add-posting '(reserve:gifts) *-1"' +$ hledger-rewrite.hs -f rewrites.hledger + + rewrites.hledger may consist of entries like: + + += ^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 + + Note the single quotes to protect the dollar sign from bash, and the +two spaces between account and amount. + + More: + + +$ hledger rewrite -- [QUERY] --add-posting "ACCT AMTEXPR" ... +$ hledger rewrite -- ^income --add-posting '(liabilities:tax) *.33' +$ hledger rewrite -- expenses:gifts --add-posting '(budget:gifts) *-1"' +$ hledger rewrite -- ^income --add-posting '(budget:foreign currency) *0.25 JPY; diversify' + + Argument for `--add-posting' option is a usual posting of +transaction with an exception for amount specification. More precisely, +you can use `'*'' (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's +commodity. + +* Menu: + +* Re-write rules in a file:: +* Diff output format:: +* rewrite vs print --auto:: + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Re-write rules in a file, Next: Diff output format, Up: rewrite + +11.26.1 Re-write rules in a file +-------------------------------- + +During the run this tool will execute so called "Automated Transactions" +found in any journal it process. I.e instead of specifying this +operations in command line you can put them in a journal file. + + +$ rewrite-rules.journal + + Make contents look like this: + + += ^income + (liabilities:tax) *.33 + += expenses:gifts + budget:gifts *-1 + assets:budget *1 + + Note that `'='' (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. + + +$ hledger rewrite -- -f input.journal -f rewrite-rules.journal > rewritten-tidy-output.journal + + This is something similar to the commands pipeline: + + +$ hledger rewrite -- -f input.journal '^income' --add-posting '(liabilities:tax) *.33' \ + | hledger rewrite -- -f - expenses:gifts --add-posting 'budget:gifts *-1' \ + --add-posting 'assets:budget *1' \ + > rewritten-tidy-output.journal + + It is important to understand that relative order of such entries in +journal is important. You can re-use result of previously added +postings. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Diff output format, Next: rewrite vs print --auto, Prev: Re-write rules in a file, Up: rewrite + +11.26.2 Diff output format +-------------------------- + +To use this tool for batch modification of your journal files you may +find useful output in form of unified diff. + + +$ hledger rewrite -- --diff -f examples/sample.journal '^income' --add-posting '(liabilities:tax) *.33' + + Output might look like: + + +--- /tmp/examples/sample.journal ++++ /tmp/examples/sample.journal +@@ -18,3 +18,4 @@ + 2008/01/01 income +- assets:bank:checking $1 ++ assets:bank:checking $1 + income:salary ++ (liabilities:tax) 0 +@@ -22,3 +23,4 @@ + 2008/06/01 gift +- assets:bank:checking $1 ++ assets:bank:checking $1 + income:gifts ++ (liabilities:tax) 0 + + If you'll pass this through `patch' tool you'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 `--file' options and `include' directives inside of these +files. + + Be careful. Whole transaction being re-formatted in a style of output +from `hledger print'. + + See also: + + https://github.com/simonmichael/hledger/issues/99 + + +File: hledger.info, Node: rewrite vs print --auto, Prev: Diff output format, Up: rewrite + +11.26.3 rewrite vs. print -auto +------------------------------- + +This command predates print -auto, and currently does much the same +thing, but with these differences: + + * with multiple files, rewrite lets rules in any file affect all + other files. print -auto uses standard directive scoping; rules + affect only child files. + + * rewrite's query limits which transactions can be rewritten; all are + printed. print -auto's query limits which transactions are printed. + + * rewrite applies rules specified on command line or in the journal. + print -auto applies rules specified in the journal. + + + +File: hledger.info, Node: roi, Next: stats, Prev: rewrite, Up: COMMANDS + +11.27 roi +========= + +roi +Shows the time-weighted (TWR) and money-weighted (IRR) rate of return on +your investments. + + At a minimum, you need to supply a query (which could be just an +account name) to select your investment(s) with `--inv', and another +query to identify your profit and loss transactions with `--pnl'. + + If you do not record changes in the value of your investment +manually, or do not require computation of time-weighted return (TWR), +`--pnl' could be an empty query (`--pnl ""' or `--pnl STR' where `STR' +does not match any of your accounts). + + 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. + + Price directives will be taken into account if you supply appropriate +`--cost' or `--value' flags (see VALUATION). + + Note, in some cases this report can fail, for these reasons: + + * 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. + + * Error (SearchFailed): Failed to find solution for Internal Rate of + Return (IRR). Either search does not converge to a solution, or + converges too slowly. + + Examples: + + * Using roi to compute total return of investment in stocks: + https://github.com/simonmichael/hledger/blob/master/examples/roi-unrealised.ledger + + * Cookbook -> Return on Investment + + +* Menu: + +* Spaces and special characters in --inv and --pnl:: +* Semantics of --inv and --pnl:: +* IRR and TWR explained:: + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Spaces and special characters in --inv and --pnl, Next: Semantics of --inv and --pnl, Up: roi + +11.27.1 Spaces and special characters in `--inv' and +---------------------------------------------------- + +`--pnl' + + Note that `--inv' and `--pnl''s argument is a query, and queries +could have several space-separated terms (see QUERIES). + + To indicate that all search terms form single command-line argument, +you will need to put them in quotes (see Special characters): + + +$ hledger roi --inv 'term1 term2 term3 ...' + + If any query terms contain spaces themselves, you will need an extra +level of nested quoting, eg: + + +$ hledger roi --inv="'Assets:Test 1'" --pnl="'Equity:Unrealized Profit and Loss'" + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Semantics of --inv and --pnl, Next: IRR and TWR explained, Prev: Spaces and special characters in --inv and --pnl, Up: roi + +11.27.2 Semantics of `--inv' and `--pnl' +---------------------------------------- + +Query supplied to `--inv' has to match all transactions that are +related to your investment. Transactions not matching `--inv' will be +ignored. + + In these transactions, ROI will conside postings that match `--inv' +to be "investment postings" and other postings (not matching `--inv') +will be sorted into two categories: "cash flow" and "profit and loss", +as ROI needs to know which part of the investment value is your +contributions and which is due to the return on investment. + + * "Cash flow" is depositing or withdrawing money, buying or selling + assets, or otherwise converting between your investment commodity + and any other commodity. Example: + + + 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 + + * "Profit and loss" is change in the value of your investment: + + + 2019-06-01 Snake Oil falls in value + investment:snake oil = $57 + equity:unrealized profit or loss + + + All non-investment postings are assumed to be "cash flow", unless +they match `--pnl' query. Changes in value of your investment due to +"profit and loss" postings will be considered as part of your investment +return. + + Example: if you use `--inv snake --pnl equity:unrealized', then +postings in the example below would be classifed as: + + +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 + + +File: hledger.info, Node: IRR and TWR explained, Prev: Semantics of --inv and --pnl, Up: roi + +11.27.3 IRR and TWR explained +----------------------------- + +"ROI" stands for "return on investment". Traditionally this was computed +as a difference between current value of investment and its initial +value, expressed in percentage of the initial value. + + 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. + + Internal rate of return, or "IRR" (also called "money-weighted rate +of return") 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. + + As mentioned before, in-flows and out-flows would be any cash that +you personally put in or withdraw, and for the "roi" command, these are +the postings that match the query in the`--inv' argument and NOT match +the query in the`--pnl' argument. + + If you manually record changes in the value of your investment as +transactions that balance them against "profit and loss" (or "unrealized +gains") 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. + + 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't done +discounted cash flow analysis before. Implementation of IRR in hledger +should produce results that match the `XIRR' formula in Excel. + + Second way to compute rate of return that `roi' command implements +is called "time-weighted rate of return" or "TWR". 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. + + TWR represents your investment as an imaginary "unit fund" where +in-flows/ out-flows lead to buying or selling "units" of your investment +and changes in its value change the value of "investment unit". Change +in "unit price" over the reporting period gives you rate of return of +your investment. + + References: * Explanation of rate of return * Explanation of IRR * +Explanation of TWR * Examples of computing IRR and TWR and discussion of +the limitations of both metrics + + +File: hledger.info, Node: stats, Next: tags, Prev: roi, Up: COMMANDS + +11.28 stats +=========== + +stats +Show journal and performance statistics. + + 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. + + 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 `stats' command's run time is similar to that of a +single-column balance report. + + Example: + + +$ 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 + + This command also supports output destination and output format +selection. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: tags, Next: test, Prev: stats, Up: COMMANDS + +11.29 tags +========== + +tags +List the unique tag names used in the journal. With a TAGREGEX argument, +only tag names matching the regular expression (case insensitive) are +shown. With QUERY arguments, only transactions matching the query are +considered. + + With the -values flag, the tags' unique values are listed instead. + + With -parsed flag, all tags or values are shown in the order they are +parsed from the input data, including duplicates. + + With -E/-empty, any blank/empty values will also be shown, otherwise +they are omitted. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: test, Next: About add-on commands, Prev: tags, Up: COMMANDS + +11.30 test +========== + +test +Run built-in unit tests. + + 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. + + 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! + + 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: + + +$ hledger test -- -pData.Amount --color=never + + For help on these, see https://github.com/feuerbach/tasty#options +(`-- --help' currently doesn't show them). + + +File: hledger.info, Node: About add-on commands, Prev: test, Up: COMMANDS + +11.31 About add-on commands +=========================== + +Add-on commands are programs or scripts in your PATH + + * whose name starts with `hledger-' + + * whose name ends with a recognised file extension: + `.bat',`.com',`.exe', `.hs',`.lhs',`.pl',`.py',`.rb',`.rkt',`.sh' + or none + + * and (on unix, mac) which are executable by the current user. + + Add-ons are a relatively easy way to add local features or experiment +with new ideas. They can be written in any language, but haskell scripts +have a big advantage: they can use the same hledger library functions +that built-in commands use for command-line options, parsing and +reporting. Some experimental/example add-on scripts can be found in the +hledger repo's bin/ directory. + + Note in a hledger command line, add-on command flags must have a +double dash (`--') preceding them. Eg you must write: + + +$ hledger web -- --serve + + and not: + + +$ hledger web --serve + + (because the `--serve' flag belongs to `hledger-web', not `hledger'). + + The `-h/--help' and `--version' flags don't require `--'. + + If you have any trouble with this, remember you can always run the +add-on program directly, eg: + + +$ hledger-web --serve + + +File: hledger.info, Node: JOURNAL FORMAT, Next: CSV FORMAT, Prev: COMMANDS, Up: Top + +12 JOURNAL FORMAT +***************** + +hledger's default file format, representing a General Journal. + + hledger's usual data source is a plain text file containing journal +entries in hledger journal format. This file represents a standard +accounting general journal. I use file names ending in `.journal', but +that's not required. The journal file contains a number of transaction +entries, each describing a transfer of money (or any commodity) between +two or more named accounts, in a simple format readable by both hledger +and humans. + + hledger's journal format is a compatible subset, mostly, of ledger's +journal format, so hledger can work with compatible ledger journal files +as well. It's safe, and encouraged, to run both hledger and ledger on +the same journal file, eg to validate the results you're getting. + + You can use hledger without learning any more about this file; just +use the add or web or import commands to create and update it. + + Many users, though, edit the journal file with a text editor, and +track changes with a version control system such as git. Editor addons +such as ledger-mode or hledger-mode for Emacs, vim-ledger for Vim, and +hledger-vscode for Visual Studio Code, make this easier, adding colour, +formatting, tab completion, and useful commands. See Editor +configuration at hledger.org for the full list. + + Here's a description of each part of the file format (and hledger's +data model). These are mostly in the order you'll use them, but in some +cases related concepts have been grouped together for easy reference, or +linked before they are introduced, so feel free to skip over anything +that looks unnecessary right now. + +* Menu: + +* Transactions:: +* Dates:: +* Status:: +* Code:: +* Description:: +* Comments:: +* Tags:: +* Postings:: +* Account names:: +* Amounts:: +* Transaction prices:: +* Lot prices lot dates:: +* Balance assertions:: +* Balance assignments:: +* Directives:: +* Directives and multiple files:: +* Comment blocks:: +* Including other files:: +* Default year:: +* Declaring payees:: +* Declaring the decimal mark:: +* Declaring commodities:: +* Default commodity:: +* Declaring market prices:: +* Declaring accounts:: +* Rewriting accounts:: +* Default parent account:: +* Periodic transactions:: +* Auto postings:: + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Transactions, Next: Dates, Up: JOURNAL FORMAT + +12.1 Transactions +================= + +Transactions are the main unit of information in a journal file. They +represent events, typically a movement of some quantity of commodities +between two or more named accounts. + + Each transaction is recorded as a journal entry, beginning with a +simple date in column 0. This can be followed by any of the following +optional fields, separated by spaces: + + * a status character (empty, `!', or `*') + + * a code (any short number or text, enclosed in parentheses) + + * a description (any remaining text until end of line or a semicolon) + + * a comment (any remaining text following a semicolon until end of + line, and any following indented lines beginning with a semicolon) + + * 0 or more indented _posting_ lines, describing what was transferred + and the accounts involved (indented comment lines are also + allowed, but not blank lines or non-indented lines). + + Here's a simple journal file containing one transaction: + + +2008/01/01 income + assets:bank:checking $1 + income:salary $-1 + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Dates, Next: Status, Prev: Transactions, Up: JOURNAL FORMAT + +12.2 Dates +========== + +* Menu: + +* Simple dates:: +* Secondary dates:: +* Posting dates:: + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Simple dates, Next: Secondary dates, Up: Dates + +12.2.1 Simple dates +------------------- + +Dates in the journal file use _simple dates_ format: `YYYY-MM-DD' or +`YYYY/MM/DD' or `YYYY.MM.DD', with leading zeros optional. The year may +be omitted, in which case it will be inferred from the context: the +current transaction, the default year set with a default year +directive, or the current date when the command is run. Some examples: +`2010-01-31', `2010/01/31', `2010.1.31', `1/31'. + + (The UI also accepts simple dates, as well as the more flexible smart +dates documented in the hledger manual.) + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Secondary dates, Next: Posting dates, Prev: Simple dates, Up: Dates + +12.2.2 Secondary dates +---------------------- + +Real-life transactions sometimes involve more than one date - eg the +date you write a cheque, and the date it clears in your bank. When you +want to model this, for more accurate daily balances, you can specify +individual posting dates. + + Or, you can use the older _secondary date_ feature (Ledger calls it +auxiliary date or effective date). Note: we support this for +compatibility, but I usually recommend avoiding this feature; posting +dates are almost always clearer and simpler. + + A secondary date is written after the primary date, following an +equals sign. If the year is omitted, the primary date's year is +assumed. When running reports, the primary (left) date is used by +default, but with the `--date2' flag (or `--aux-date' or `--effective'), +the secondary (right) date will be used instead. + + The meaning of secondary dates is up to you, but it's best to follow +a consistent rule. Eg "primary = the bank's clearing date, secondary = +date the transaction was initiated, if different", as shown here: + + +2010/2/23=2/19 movie ticket + expenses:cinema $10 + assets:checking + + +$ hledger register checking +2010-02-23 movie ticket assets:checking $-10 $-10 + + +$ hledger register checking --date2 +2010-02-19 movie ticket assets:checking $-10 $-10 + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Posting dates, Prev: Secondary dates, Up: Dates + +12.2.3 Posting dates +-------------------- + +You can give individual postings a different date from their parent +transaction, by adding a posting comment containing a tag (see below) +like `date:DATE'. This is probably the best way to control posting +dates precisely. Eg in this example the expense should appear in May +reports, and the deduction from checking should be reported on 6/1 for +easy bank reconciliation: + + +2015/5/30 + expenses:food $10 ; food purchased on saturday 5/30 + assets:checking ; bank cleared it on monday, date:6/1 + + +$ hledger -f t.j register food +2015-05-30 expenses:food $10 $10 + + +$ hledger -f t.j register checking +2015-06-01 assets:checking $-10 $-10 + + DATE should be a simple date; if the year is not specified it will +use the year of the transaction's date. You can set the secondary date +similarly, with `date2:DATE2'. The `date:' or `date2:' tags must have a +valid simple date value if they are present, eg a `date:' tag with no +value is not allowed. + + Ledger's earlier, more compact bracketed date syntax is also +supported: `[DATE]', `[DATE=DATE2]' or `[=DATE2]'. hledger will attempt +to parse any square-bracketed sequence of the `0123456789/-.=' +characters in this way. With this syntax, DATE infers its year from the +transaction and DATE2 infers its year from DATE. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Status, Next: Code, Prev: Dates, Up: JOURNAL FORMAT + +12.3 Status +=========== + +Transactions, or individual postings within a transaction, can have a +status mark, which is a single character before the transaction +description or posting account name, separated from it by a space, +indicating one of three statuses: + +mark status +----------------- + unmarked +`!' pending +`*' cleared + + When reporting, you can filter by status with the `-U/--unmarked', +`-P/--pending', and `-C/--cleared' flags; or the `status:', `status:!', +and `status:*' queries; or the U, P, C keys in hledger-ui. + + Note, in Ledger and in older versions of hledger, the "unmarked" +state is called "uncleared". As of hledger 1.3 we have renamed it to +unmarked for clarity. + + To replicate Ledger and old hledger's behaviour of also matching +pending, combine -U and -P. + + Status marks are optional, but can be helpful eg for reconciling with +real-world accounts. Some editor modes provide highlighting and +shortcuts for working with status. Eg in Emacs ledger-mode, you can +toggle transaction status with C-c C-e, or posting status with C-c C-c. + + What "uncleared", "pending", and "cleared" actually mean is up to +you. Here's one suggestion: + +status meaning +-------------------------------------------------------------------------- +uncleared recorded but not yet reconciled; needs review +pending tentatively reconciled (if needed, eg during a big + reconciliation) +cleared complete, reconciled as far as possible, and considered + correct + + With this scheme, you would use `-PC' to see the current balance at +your bank, `-U' to see things which will probably hit your bank soon +(like uncashed checks), and no flags to see the most up-to-date state +of your finances. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Code, Next: Description, Prev: Status, Up: JOURNAL FORMAT + +12.4 Code +========= + +After the status mark, but before the description, you can optionally +write a transaction "code", enclosed in parentheses. This is a good +place to record a check number, or some other important transaction id +or reference number. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Description, Next: Comments, Prev: Code, Up: JOURNAL FORMAT + +12.5 Description +================ + +A transaction's description is the rest of the line following the date +and status mark (or until a comment begins). Sometimes called the +"narration" in traditional bookkeeping, it can be used for whatever you +wish, or left blank. Transaction descriptions can be queried, unlike +comments. + +* Menu: + +* Payee and note:: + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Payee and note, Up: Description + +12.5.1 Payee and note +--------------------- + +You can optionally include a `|' (pipe) character in descriptions to +subdivide the description into separate fields for payee/payer name on +the left (up to the first `|') and an additional note field on the +right (after the first `|'). This may be worthwhile if you need to do +more precise querying and pivoting by payee or by note. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Comments, Next: Tags, Prev: Description, Up: JOURNAL FORMAT + +12.6 Comments +============= + +Lines in the journal beginning with a semicolon (`;') or hash (`#') or +star (`*') are comments, and will be ignored. (Star comments cause +org-mode nodes to be ignored, allowing emacs users to fold and navigate +their journals with org-mode or orgstruct-mode.) + + You can attach comments to a transaction by writing them after the +description and/or indented on the following lines (before the +postings). Similarly, you can attach comments to an individual posting +by writing them after the amount and/or indented on the following lines. +Transaction and posting comments must begin with a semicolon (`;'). + + Some examples: + + +# a file comment +; another file comment +* also a file comment, useful in org/orgstruct mode + +comment +A multiline file comment, which continues +until a line containing just "end comment" +(or end of file). +end comment + +2012/5/14 something ; a transaction comment + ; the transaction comment, continued + posting1 1 ; a comment for posting 1 + posting2 + ; a comment for posting 2 + ; another comment line for posting 2 +; a file comment (because not indented) + + You can also comment larger regions of a file using `comment' and +`end comment' directives. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Tags, Next: Postings, Prev: Comments, Up: JOURNAL FORMAT + +12.7 Tags +========= + +Tags are a way to add extra labels or labelled data to postings and +transactions, which you can then search or pivot on. + + A simple tag is a word (which may contain hyphens) followed by a full +colon, written inside a transaction or posting comment line: + + +2017/1/16 bought groceries ; sometag: + + Tags can have a value, which is the text after the colon, up to the +next comma or end of line, with leading/trailing whitespace removed: + + + expenses:food $10 ; a-posting-tag: the tag value + + Note this means hledger's tag values can not contain commas or +newlines. Ending at commas means you can write multiple short tags on +one line, comma separated: + + + assets:checking ; a comment containing tag1:, tag2: some value ... + + Here, + + * "`a comment containing'" is just comment text, not a tag + + * "`tag1'" is a tag with no value + + * "`tag2'" is another tag, whose value is "`some value ...'" + + Tags in a transaction comment affect the transaction and all of its +postings, while tags in a posting comment affect only that posting. For +example, the following transaction has three tags (`A', `TAG2', +`third-tag') and the posting has four (those plus `posting-tag'): + + +1/1 a transaction ; A:, TAG2: + ; third-tag: a third transaction tag, <- with a value + (a) $1 ; posting-tag: + + Tags are like Ledger's metadata feature, except hledger's tag values +are simple strings. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Postings, Next: Account names, Prev: Tags, Up: JOURNAL FORMAT + +12.8 Postings +============= + +A posting is an addition of some amount to, or removal of some amount +from, an account. Each posting line begins with at least one space or +tab (2 or 4 spaces is common), followed by: + + * (optional) a status character (empty, `!', or `*'), followed by a + space + + * (required) an account name (any text, optionally containing + *single spaces*, until end of line or a double space) + + * (optional) *two or more spaces* or tabs followed by an amount. + + Positive amounts are being added to the account, negative amounts are +being removed. + + The amounts within a transaction must always sum up to zero. As a +convenience, one amount may be left blank; it will be inferred so as to +balance the transaction. + + Be sure to note the unusual two-space delimiter between account name +and amount. This makes it easy to write account names containing +spaces. But if you accidentally leave only one space (or tab) before +the amount, the amount will be considered part of the account name. + +* Menu: + +* Virtual postings:: + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Virtual postings, Up: Postings + +12.8.1 Virtual postings +----------------------- + +A posting with a parenthesised account name is called a _virtual +posting_ or _unbalanced posting_, which means it is exempt from the +usual rule that a transaction's postings must balance add up to zero. + + This is not part of double entry accounting, so you might choose to +avoid this feature. Or you can use it sparingly for certain special +cases where it can be convenient. Eg, you could set opening balances +without using a balancing equity account: + + +1/1 opening balances + (assets:checking) $1000 + (assets:savings) $2000 + + A posting with a bracketed account name is called a _balanced +virtual posting_. The balanced virtual postings in a transaction must +add up to zero (separately from other postings). Eg: + + +1/1 buy food with cash, update budget envelope subaccounts, & something else + assets:cash $-10 ; <- these balance + expenses:food $7 ; <- + expenses:food $3 ; <- + [assets:checking:budget:food] $-10 ; <- and these balance + [assets:checking:available] $10 ; <- + (something:else) $5 ; <- not required to balance + + Ordinary non-parenthesised, non-bracketed postings are called _real +postings_. You can exclude virtual postings from reports with the +`-R/--real' flag or `real:1' query. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Account names, Next: Amounts, Prev: Postings, Up: JOURNAL FORMAT + +12.9 Account names +================== + +Account names typically have several parts separated by a full colon, +from which hledger derives a hierarchical chart of accounts. They can be +anything you like, but in finance there are traditionally five top-level +accounts: `assets', `liabilities', `revenue', `expenses', and `equity'. + + Account names may contain single spaces, eg: `assets:accounts +receivable'. Because of this, they must always be followed by *two or +more spaces* (or newline). + + Account names can be aliased. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Amounts, Next: Transaction prices, Prev: Account names, Up: JOURNAL FORMAT + +12.10 Amounts +============= + +After the account name, there is usually an amount. (Important: between +account name and amount, there must be *two or more spaces*.) + + hledger's amount format is flexible, supporting several international +formats. Here are some examples. Amounts have a number (the "quantity"): + + +1 + + ..and usually a currency symbol or commodity name (more on this +below), to the left or right of the quantity, with or without a +separating space: + + +$1 +4000 AAPL +3 "green apples" + + 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: + + +-$1 +$-1 + + One or more spaces between the sign and the number are acceptable +when parsing (but they won't be displayed in output): + + ++ $1 +$- 1 + + Scientific E notation is allowed: + + +1E-6 +EUR 1E3 + +* Menu: + +* Decimal marks digit group marks:: +* Commodity:: +* Directives influencing number parsing and display:: +* Commodity display style:: +* Rounding:: + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Decimal marks digit group marks, Next: Commodity, Up: Amounts + +12.10.1 Decimal marks, digit group marks +---------------------------------------- + +A _decimal mark_ can be written as a period or a comma: + + +1.23 +1,23456780000009 + + In the integer part of the quantity (left of the decimal mark), +groups of digits can optionally be separated by a _digit group mark_ - a +space, comma, or period (different from the decimal mark): + + + $1,000,000.00 + EUR 2.000.000,00 +INR 9,99,99,999.00 + 1 000 000.9455 + + Note, a number containing a single digit group mark and no decimal +mark is ambiguous. Are these digit group marks or decimal marks ? + + +1,000 +1.000 + + If you don't tell it otherwise, hledger will assume both of the above +are decimal marks, parsing both numbers as 1. + + 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 `decimal-mark' directive is best, otherwise `commodity' +directives will also work. These are described detail below. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Commodity, Next: Directives influencing number parsing and display, Prev: Decimal marks digit group marks, Up: Amounts + +12.10.2 Commodity +----------------- + +Amounts in hledger have both a "quantity", which is a signed decimal +number, and a "commodity", which is a currency symbol, stock ticker, or +any word or phrase describing something you are tracking. + + If the commodity name contains non-letters (spaces, numbers, or +punctuation), you must always write it inside double quotes (`"green +apples"', `"ABC123"'). + + If you write just a bare number, that too will have a commodity, with +name `""'; we call that the "no-symbol commodity". + + 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: `1 USD, 2 EUR, 3.456 +TSLA'. In practice, you will only see multi-commodity amounts in +hledger's output; you can't write them directly in the journal file. + + (If you are writing scripts or working with hledger's internals, +these are the `Amount' and `MixedAmount' types.) + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Directives influencing number parsing and display, Next: Commodity display style, Prev: Commodity, Up: Amounts + +12.10.3 Directives influencing number parsing and display +--------------------------------------------------------- + +You can add `decimal-mark' and `commodity' directives to the journal, +to declare and control these things more explicitly and precisely. +These are described below, in JOURNAL FORMAT -> Declaring commodities. +Here's a quick example: + + +# 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 + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Commodity display style, Next: Rounding, Prev: Directives influencing number parsing and display, Up: Amounts + +12.10.4 Commodity display style +------------------------------- + +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 `print' command, are displayed with all of +their decimal digits visible.) + + A commodity's display style is inferred as follows. + + First, if a default commodity is declared with `D', this commodity +and its style is applied to any no-symbol amounts in the journal. + + Then each commodity's style is inferred from one of the following, in +order of preference: + + * The commodity directive for that commodity (including the no-symbol + commodity), if any. + + * The amounts in that commodity seen in the journal's transactions. + (Posting amounts only; prices and periodic or auto rules are + ignored, currently.) + + * The built-in fallback style, which looks like this: `$1000.00'. + (Symbol on the left, period decimal mark, two decimal places.) + + A style is inferred from journal amounts as follows: + + * Use the general style (decimal mark, symbol placement) of the first + amount + + * Use the first-seen digit group style (digit group mark, digit group + sizes), if any + + * Use the maximum number of decimal places of all. + + Transaction price amounts don't affect the commodity display style +directly, but occasionally they can do so indirectly (eg when a +posting's amount is inferred using a transaction price). If you find +this causing problems, use a commodity directive to fix the display +style. + + To summarise: each commodity's amounts will be normalised to (a) the +style declared by a `commodity' 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't like, eg with too many decimal +places, use a commodity directive. Some examples: + + +# 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. + + The inferred commodity style can be overridden by supplying a command +line option. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Rounding, Prev: Commodity display style, Up: Amounts + +12.10.5 Rounding +---------------- + +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's rounding: it rounds +to the nearest even number, eg 0.5 displayed with zero decimal places is +"0"). (Guaranteed since hledger 1.17.1; in older versions this could +vary if hledger was built with Decimal < 0.5.1.) + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Transaction prices, Next: Lot prices lot dates, Prev: Amounts, Up: JOURNAL FORMAT + +12.11 Transaction prices +======================== + +Within a transaction, you can note an amount's price in another +commodity. This can be used to document the cost (in a purchase) or +selling price (in a sale). For example, transaction prices are useful to +record purchases of a foreign currency. Note transaction prices are +fixed at the time of the transaction, and do not change over time. See +also market prices, which represent prevailing exchange rates on a +certain date. + + There are several ways to record a transaction price: + + 1. Write the price per unit, as `@ UNITPRICE' after the amount: + + + 2009/1/1 + assets:euros €100 @ $1.35 ; one hundred euros purchased at $1.35 each + assets:dollars ; balancing amount is -$135.00 + + 2. Write the total price, as `@@ TOTALPRICE' after the amount: + + + 2009/1/1 + assets:euros €100 @@ $135 ; one hundred euros purchased at $135 for the lot + assets:dollars + + 3. Specify amounts for all postings, using exactly two commodities, + and let hledger infer the price that balances the transaction: + + + 2009/1/1 + assets:euros €100 ; one hundred euros purchased + assets:dollars $-135 ; for $135 + + 4. Like 1, but the `@' is parenthesised, i.e. `(@)'; this is for + compatibility with Ledger journals (Virtual posting costs), and is + equivalent to 1 in hledger. + + 5. Like 2, but as in 4 the `@@' is parenthesised, i.e. `(@@)'; in + hledger, this is equivalent to 2. + + + Use the `-B/--cost' flag to convert amounts to their transaction +price's commodity, if any. (mnemonic: "B" is from "cost Basis", as in +Ledger). Eg here is how -B affects the balance report for the example +above: + + +$ hledger bal -N --flat + $-135 assets:dollars + €100 assets:euros +$ hledger bal -N --flat -B + $-135 assets:dollars + $135 assets:euros # <- the euros' cost + + Note -B is sensitive to the order of postings when a transaction +price is inferred: the inferred price will be in the commodity of the +last amount. So if example 3's postings are reversed, while the +transaction is equivalent, -B shows something different: + + +2009/1/1 + assets:dollars $-135 ; 135 dollars sold + assets:euros €100 ; for 100 euros + + +$ hledger bal -N --flat -B + €-100 assets:dollars # <- the dollars' selling price + €100 assets:euros + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Lot prices lot dates, Next: Balance assertions, Prev: Transaction prices, Up: JOURNAL FORMAT + +12.12 Lot prices, lot dates +=========================== + +Ledger allows another kind of price, lot price (four variants: +`{UNITPRICE}', `{{TOTALPRICE}}', `{=FIXEDUNITPRICE}', +`{{=FIXEDTOTALPRICE}}'), and/or a lot date (`[DATE]') to be specified. +These are normally used to select a lot when selling investments. +hledger will parse these, for compatibility with Ledger journals, but +currently ignores them. A transaction price, lot price and/or lot date +may appear in any order, after the posting amount and before the +balance assertion if any. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Balance assertions, Next: Balance assignments, Prev: Lot prices lot dates, Up: JOURNAL FORMAT + +12.13 Balance assertions +======================== + +hledger supports Ledger-style balance assertions in journal files. These +look like, for example, `= EXPECTEDBALANCE' following a posting's +amount. Eg here we assert the expected dollar balance in accounts a and +b after each posting: + + +2013/1/1 + a $1 =$1 + b =$-1 + +2013/1/2 + a $1 =$2 + b $-1 =$-2 + + After reading a journal file, hledger will check all balance +assertions and report an error if any of them fail. Balance assertions +can protect you from, eg, inadvertently disrupting reconciled balances +while cleaning up old entries. You can disable them temporarily with the +`-I/--ignore-assertions' flag, which can be useful for troubleshooting +or for reading Ledger files. (Note: this flag currently does not +disable balance assignments, below). + +* Menu: + +* Assertions and ordering:: +* Assertions and included files:: +* Assertions and multiple -f options:: +* Assertions and commodities:: +* Assertions and prices:: +* Assertions and subaccounts:: +* Assertions and virtual postings:: +* Assertions and precision:: + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Assertions and ordering, Next: Assertions and included files, Up: Balance assertions + +12.13.1 Assertions and ordering +------------------------------- + +hledger sorts an account's postings and assertions first by date and +then (for postings on the same day) by parse order. Note this is +different from Ledger, which sorts assertions only by parse order. +(Also, Ledger assertions do not see the accumulated effect of repeated +postings to the same account within a transaction.) + + So, hledger balance assertions keep working if you reorder +differently-dated transactions within the journal. But if you reorder +same-dated transactions or postings, assertions might break and require +updating. This order dependence does bring an advantage: precise control +over the order of postings and assertions within a day, so you can +assert intra-day balances. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Assertions and included files, Next: Assertions and multiple -f options, Prev: Assertions and ordering, Up: Balance assertions + +12.13.2 Assertions and included files +------------------------------------- + +With included files, things are a little more complicated. Including +preserves the ordering of postings and assertions. If you have multiple +postings to an account on the same day, split across different files, +and you also want to assert the account's balance on the same day, +you'll have to put the assertion in the right file. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Assertions and multiple -f options, Next: Assertions and commodities, Prev: Assertions and included files, Up: Balance assertions + +12.13.3 Assertions and multiple -f options +------------------------------------------ + +Balance assertions don't work well across files specified with multiple +-f options. Use include or concatenate the files instead. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Assertions and commodities, Next: Assertions and prices, Prev: Assertions and multiple -f options, Up: Balance assertions + +12.13.4 Assertions and commodities +---------------------------------- + +The asserted balance must be a simple single-commodity amount, and in +fact the assertion checks only this commodity's balance within the +(possibly multi-commodity) account balance. This is how assertions work +in Ledger also. We could call this a "partial" balance assertion. + + To assert the balance of more than one commodity in an account, you +can write multiple postings, each asserting one commodity's balance. + + You can make a stronger "total" balance assertion by writing a double +equals sign (`== EXPECTEDBALANCE'). This asserts that there are no +other unasserted commodities in the account (or, that their balance is +0). + + +2013/1/1 + a $1 + a 1€ + b $-1 + c -1€ + +2013/1/2 ; These assertions succeed + a 0 = $1 + a 0 = 1€ + b 0 == $-1 + c 0 == -1€ + +2013/1/3 ; This assertion fails as 'a' also contains 1€ + a 0 == $1 + + It's not yet possible to make a complete assertion about a balance +that has multiple commodities. One workaround is to isolate each +commodity into its own subaccount: + + +2013/1/1 + a:usd $1 + a:euro 1€ + b + +2013/1/2 + a 0 == 0 + a:usd 0 == $1 + a:euro 0 == 1€ + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Assertions and prices, Next: Assertions and subaccounts, Prev: Assertions and commodities, Up: Balance assertions + +12.13.5 Assertions and prices +----------------------------- + +Balance assertions ignore transaction prices, and should normally be +written without one: + + +2019/1/1 + (a) $1 @ €1 = $1 + + We do allow prices to be written there, however, and print shows +them, even though they don't affect whether the assertion passes or +fails. This is for backward compatibility (hledger's close command +used to generate balance assertions with prices), and because balance +_assignments_ do use them (see below). + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Assertions and subaccounts, Next: Assertions and virtual postings, Prev: Assertions and prices, Up: Balance assertions + +12.13.6 Assertions and subaccounts +---------------------------------- + +The balance assertions above (`=' and `==') do not count the balance +from subaccounts; they check the account's exclusive balance only. You +can assert the balance including subaccounts by writing `=*' or `==*', +eg: + + +2019/1/1 + equity:opening balances + checking:a 5 + checking:b 5 + checking 1 ==* 11 + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Assertions and virtual postings, Next: Assertions and precision, Prev: Assertions and subaccounts, Up: Balance assertions + +12.13.7 Assertions and virtual postings +--------------------------------------- + +Balance assertions are checked against all postings, both real and +virtual. They are not affected by the `--real/-R' flag or `real:' query. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Assertions and precision, Prev: Assertions and virtual postings, Up: Balance assertions + +12.13.8 Assertions and precision +-------------------------------- + +Balance assertions compare the exactly calculated amounts, which are not +always what is shown by reports. Eg a commodity directive may limit the +display precision, but this will not affect balance assertions. Balance +assertion failure messages show exact amounts. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Balance assignments, Next: Directives, Prev: Balance assertions, Up: JOURNAL FORMAT + +12.14 Balance assignments +========================= + +Ledger-style balance assignments are also supported. These are like +balance assertions, but with no posting amount on the left side of the +equals sign; instead it is calculated automatically so as to satisfy the +assertion. This can be a convenience during data entry, eg when setting +opening balances: + + +; starting a new journal, set asset account balances +2016/1/1 opening balances + assets:checking = $409.32 + assets:savings = $735.24 + assets:cash = $42 + equity:opening balances + + or when adjusting a balance to reality: + + +; no cash left; update balance, record any untracked spending as a generic expense +2016/1/15 + assets:cash = $0 + expenses:misc + + The calculated amount depends on the account's balance in the +commodity at that point (which depends on the previously-dated postings +of the commodity to that account since the last balance assertion or +assignment). Note that using balance assignments makes your journal a +little less explicit; to know the exact amount posted, you have to run +hledger or do the calculations yourself, instead of just reading it. + +* Menu: + +* Balance assignments and prices:: + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Balance assignments and prices, Up: Balance assignments + +12.14.1 Balance assignments and prices +-------------------------------------- + +A transaction price in a balance assignment will cause the calculated +amount to have that price attached: + + +2019/1/1 + (a) = $1 @ €2 + + +$ hledger print --explicit +2019-01-01 + (a) $1 @ €2 = $1 @ €2 + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Directives, Next: Directives and multiple files, Prev: Balance assignments, Up: JOURNAL FORMAT + +12.15 Directives +================ + +A directive is a line in the journal beginning with a special keyword, +that influences how the journal is processed, how things are displayed, +and so on. hledger's directives are based on (a subset of) Ledger's, but +there are many differences, and also some differences between hledger +versions. Here are some more definitions: + + * _subdirective_ - Some directives support subdirectives, written + indented below the parent directive. + + * _decimal mark_ - The character to interpret as a decimal mark + (period or comma) when parsing amounts of a commodity. + + * _display style_ - How to display amounts of a commodity in output: + symbol side and spacing, digit groups, decimal mark, and number of + decimal places. + + + Directives are not required when starting out with hledger, but you +will probably add some as your needs grow. Here is an overview of +directives by purpose: + +purpose directives command line + options with + similar effect +--------------------------------------------------------------------------- +*READING/GENERATING DATA:* +Declare a commodity's or file's `commodity', `D', +decimal mark to help parse `decimal-mark' +amounts accurately +Apply changes to the data while `alias', `apply `--alias' +parsing account', `comment', + `D', `Y' +Inline extra data files `include' multiple + `-f/--file''s +Generate extra transactions or `~' +budget goals +Generate extra postings `=' +*CHECKING FOR ERRORS:* +Define valid entities to allow `account', +stricter error checking `commodity', `payee' +*DISPLAYING REPORTS:* +Declare accounts' display order `account' +and accounting type +Declare commodity display styles `commodity', `D' `-c/--commodity-style' + + And here are all the directives and their precise effects: + +directiveeffects ends + at + file + end? +--------------------------------------------------------------------------- +*`account'*Declares an account, for checking all entries in all files; and + its display order and type, for reports. Subdirectives: any + text, ignored. +*`alias'*Rewrites account names, in following entries until end of Y + current file or `end aliases'. +*`applyPrepends a common parent account to all account names, in Y +account'*following entries until end of current file or `end apply + account'. +*`comment'*Ignores part of the journal file, until end of current file or Y + `end comment'. +*`commodity'*Declares a commodity, for checking all entries in all files; N, Y + the decimal mark for parsing amounts of this commodity, for + following entries until end of current file; and its display + style, for reports. Takes precedence over `D'. Subdirectives: + `format' (alternate syntax). +*`D'* Sets a default commodity to use for no-symbol amounts, and its Y + decimal mark for parsing amounts of this commodity in + following entries until end of current file; and its display + style, for reports. +*`decimal-mark'*Declares the decimal mark, for parsing amounts of all Y + commodities in following entries until next `decimal-mark' or + end of current file. Included files can override. Takes + precedence over `commodity' and `D'. +*`include'*Includes entries and directives from another file, as if they + were written inline. +*`payee'*Declares a payee name, for checking all entries in all files. +*`P'* Declares a market price for a commodity on some date, for + valuation reports. +*`Y'* Declares a year for yearless dates, for following entries until Y + end of current file. +*`~'* Declares a periodic transaction rule that generates future +(tilde)transactions with `--forecast' and budget goals with `balance + --budget'. +*`='* Declares an auto posting rule that generates extra postings on partly +(equals)matched transactions with `--auto', in current, parent, and + child files (but not sibling files, see #1212). + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Directives and multiple files, Next: Comment blocks, Prev: Directives, Up: JOURNAL FORMAT + +12.16 Directives and multiple files +=================================== + +If you use multiple `-f'/`--file' options, or the `include' directive, +hledger will process multiple input files. But directives which affect +input typically have effect only until the end of the file in which +they occur (and on any included files in that region). + + This may seem inconvenient, but it's intentional; it makes reports +stable and deterministic, independent of the order of input. Otherwise +you could see different numbers if you happened to write -f options in a +different order, or if you moved includes around while cleaning up your +files. + + It can be surprising though; for example, it means that `alias' +directives do not affect parent or sibling files (see below). + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Comment blocks, Next: Including other files, Prev: Directives and multiple files, Up: JOURNAL FORMAT + +12.17 Comment blocks +==================== + +A line containing just `comment' starts a commented region of the file, +and a line containing just `end comment' (or the end of the current +file) ends it. See also comments. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Including other files, Next: Default year, Prev: Comment blocks, Up: JOURNAL FORMAT + +12.18 Including other files +=========================== + +You can pull in the content of additional files by writing an include +directive, like this: + + +include FILEPATH + + Only journal files can include, and only journal, timeclock or +timedot files can be included (not CSV files, currently). + + If the file path does not begin with a slash, it is relative to the +current file's folder. + + A tilde means home directory, eg: `include ~/main.journal'. + + The path may contain glob patterns to match multiple files, eg: +`include *.journal'. + + There is limited support for recursive wildcards: `**/' (the slash +is required) matches 0 or more subdirectories. It's not super convenient +since you have to avoid include cycles and including directories, but +this can be done, eg: `include */**/*.journal'. + + The path may also be prefixed to force a specific file format, +overriding the file extension (as described in hledger.1 -> Input +files): `include timedot:~/notes/2020*.md'. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Default year, Next: Declaring payees, Prev: Including other files, Up: JOURNAL FORMAT + +12.19 Default year +================== + +You can set a default year to be used for subsequent dates which don't +specify a year. This is a line beginning with `Y' followed by the year. +Eg: + + +Y2009 ; set default year to 2009 + +12/15 ; equivalent to 2009/12/15 + expenses 1 + assets + +Y2010 ; change default year to 2010 + +2009/1/30 ; specifies the year, not affected + expenses 1 + assets + +1/31 ; equivalent to 2010/1/31 + expenses 1 + assets + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Declaring payees, Next: Declaring the decimal mark, Prev: Default year, Up: JOURNAL FORMAT + +12.20 Declaring payees +====================== + +The `payee' directive can be used to declare a limited set of payees +which may appear in transaction descriptions. The "payees" check will +report an error if any transaction refers to a payee that has not been +declared. Eg: + + +payee Whole Foods + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Declaring the decimal mark, Next: Declaring commodities, Prev: Declaring payees, Up: JOURNAL FORMAT + +12.21 Declaring the decimal mark +================================ + +You can use a `decimal-mark' 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 + + +decimal-mark . + + or + + +decimal-mark , + + 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). + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Declaring commodities, Next: Default commodity, Prev: Declaring the decimal mark, Up: JOURNAL FORMAT + +12.22 Declaring commodities +=========================== + +You can use `commodity' directives to declare your commodities. In fact +the `commodity' directive performs several functions at once: + + 1. It declares commodities which may be used in the journal. This can + optionally be enforced, providing useful error checking. (Cf + Commodity error checking) + + 2. 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 + `1,000' and `1.000' as 1. (Cf Amounts) + + 3. It declares how to render the commodity'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) + + + 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. + + Generally you should put them at the top of your journal file (since +for function 2, they affect only following amounts, cf #793). + + A commodity directive is just the word `commodity' followed by a +sample amount, like this: + + +;commodity SAMPLEAMOUNT + +commodity $1000.00 +commodity 1,000.0000 AAAA ; optional same-line comment + + It may also be written on multiple lines, and use the `format' +subdirective, as in Ledger. Note in this case the commodity symbol +appears twice; it must be the same in both places: + + +;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 + + Remember that if the commodity symbol contains spaces, numbers, or +punctuation, it must be enclosed in double quotes (cf Commodity). + + The amount'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. + + A few more examples: + + +# 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. + + Note hledger normally uses banker's rounding, so 0.5 displayed with +zero decimal digits is "0". (More at Commodity display style.) + + Even in the presence of commodity directives, the commodity display +style can still be overridden by supplying a command line option. + +* Menu: + +* Commodity error checking:: + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Commodity error checking, Up: Declaring commodities + +12.22.1 Commodity error checking +-------------------------------- + +In strict mode, enabled with the `-s'/`--strict' flag, hledger will +report an error if a commodity symbol is used that has not been +declared by a `commodity' directive. This works similarly to account +error checking, see the notes there for more details. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Default commodity, Next: Declaring market prices, Prev: Declaring commodities, Up: JOURNAL FORMAT + +12.23 Default commodity +======================= + +The `D' 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 `D' directive, or the end +of the journal. + + For compatibility/historical reasons, `D' also acts like a +`commodity' directive (setting the commodity's decimal mark for parsing +and display style for output). + + The syntax is `D AMOUNT'. As with `commodity', the amount must +include a decimal mark (either period or comma). Eg: + + +; 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 + + If both `commodity' and `D' directives are found for a commodity, +`commodity' takes precedence for setting decimal mark and display style. + + If you are using `D' and also checking commodities, you will need to +add a `commodity' directive similar to the `D'. (The `hledger check +commodities' command expects `commodity' directives, and ignores `D'). + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Declaring market prices, Next: Declaring accounts, Prev: Default commodity, Up: JOURNAL FORMAT + +12.24 Declaring market prices +============================= + +The `P' directive declares a market price, which is an exchange rate +between two commodities on a certain date. (In Ledger, they are called +"historical prices".) These are often obtained from a stock exchange, +cryptocurrency exchange, or the foreign exchange market. + + The format is: + + +P DATE COMMODITY1SYMBOL COMMODITY2AMOUNT + + 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: + + +# 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 + + The `-V', `-X' and `--value' flags use these market prices to show +amount values in another commodity. See Valuation. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Declaring accounts, Next: Rewriting accounts, Prev: Declaring market prices, Up: JOURNAL FORMAT + +12.25 Declaring accounts +======================== + +`account' 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: + + * They can document your intended chart of accounts, providing a + reference. + + * They can help hledger know your accounts' types (asset, liability, + equity, revenue, expense), useful for reports like balancesheet and + incomestatement. + + * They control account display order in reports, allowing + non-alphabetic sorting (eg Revenues to appear above Expenses). + + * They can store extra information about accounts (account numbers, + notes, etc.) + + * They help with account name completion in the add command, + hledger-iadd, hledger-web, ledger-mode etc. + + * In strict mode, they restrict which accounts may be posted to by + transactions, which helps detect typos. + + The simplest form is just the word `account' followed by a +hledger-style account name, eg this account directive declares the +`assets:bank:checking' account: + + +account assets:bank:checking + +* Menu: + +* Account error checking:: +* Account comments:: +* Account subdirectives:: +* Account types:: +* Account display order:: + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Account error checking, Next: Account comments, Up: Declaring accounts + +12.25.1 Account error checking +------------------------------ + +By default, accounts come into existence when a transaction references +them by name. This is convenient, but it means hledger can't warn you +when you mis-spell an account name in the journal. Usually you'll find +the error later, as an extra account in balance reports, or an incorrect +balance when reconciling. + + In strict mode, enabled with the `-s'/`--strict' flag, hledger will +report an error if any transaction uses an account name that has not +been declared by an account directive. Some notes: + + * The declaration is case-sensitive; transactions must use the + correct account name capitalisation. + + * The account directive's scope is "whole file and below" (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's + usual to put them at the top. + + * Accounts can only be declared in `journal' files (but will affect + included files in other formats). + + * It's currently not possible to declare "all possible subaccounts" + with a wildcard; every account posted to must be declared. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Account comments, Next: Account subdirectives, Prev: Account error checking, Up: Declaring accounts + +12.25.2 Account comments +------------------------ + +Comments, beginning with a semicolon, can be added: + + * on the same line, *after two or more spaces* (because ; is allowed + in account names) + + * on the next lines, indented + + An example of both: + + +account assets:bank:checking ; same-line comment, note 2+ spaces before ; + ; next-line comment + ; another with tag, acctno:12345 (not used yet) + + Same-line comments are not supported by Ledger, or hledger <1.13. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Account subdirectives, Next: Account types, Prev: Account comments, Up: Declaring accounts + +12.25.3 Account subdirectives +----------------------------- + +We also allow (and ignore) Ledger-style indented subdirectives, just for +compatibility.: + + +account assets:bank:checking + format blah blah ; <- subdirective, ignored + + Here is the full syntax of account directives: + + +account ACCTNAME [ACCTTYPE] [;COMMENT] + [;COMMENTS] + [LEDGER-STYLE SUBDIRECTIVES, IGNORED] + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Account types, Next: Account display order, Prev: Account subdirectives, Up: Declaring accounts + +12.25.4 Account types +--------------------- + +By adding a `type' tag to the account directive, with value `A', `L', +`E', `R', `X', `C' (or if you prefer: `Asset', `Liability', `Equity', +`Revenue', `Expense', `Cash'), you can declare hledger accounts to be of +a certain type: + + * *asset*, *liability*, *equity*, *revenue*, *expense* + the standard types in accounting, or + + * *cash* + a subtype of asset, used for liquid assets. + + + Declaring account types is a good idea, since it helps enable the +easy balancesheet, balancesheetequity, incomestatement and cashflow +reports, and probably other things in future. As a convenience, when +account types are not declared, hledger will try to guess them based on +english-language account names. + + Here is a typical set of top-level account declarations (because of +the aforementioned, with these account names the type tags are not +strictly needed, but with non-english or non-standard account names, +they will be): + + +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 + + It's not necessary to declare the type of subaccounts. (You can, if +they are different from the parent, but this is not common.) + +* Menu: + +* Auto-detected account types:: + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Auto-detected account types, Up: Account types + +12.25.4.1 Auto-detected account types +..................................... + +More about "guessing" account types: hledger tries to find at least one +top level account in each of the six account types (Asset, Liability, +Equity, Revenue, Expense, Cash). When no accounts have been declared for +a particular type, it tries to auto-detect some accounts by name, using +the regular expressions below. Note: if you declare any account's type, +it's a good idea to declare an account for all six types, because a mix +of declared and auto-detected types can cause confusing results. + + The auto-detection rules are: + + + If account's name matches this case insensitive regular expression:| its type is: +------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------ + ^assets?(:|$) | + and does not contain regexp (investment|receivable|:A/R|:fixed) | Cash + otherwise | Asset + ^(debts?|liabilit(y|ies))(:|$) | Liability + ^equity(:|$) | Equity + ^(income|revenue)s?(:|$) | Revenue + ^expenses?(:|$) | Expense + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Account display order, Prev: Account types, Up: Declaring accounts + +12.25.5 Account display order +----------------------------- + +Account directives also set the order in which accounts are displayed, +eg in reports, the hledger-ui accounts screen, and the hledger-web +sidebar. By default accounts are listed in alphabetical order. But if +you have these account directives in the journal: + + +account assets +account liabilities +account equity +account revenues +account expenses + + you'll see those accounts displayed in declaration order, not +alphabetically: + + +$ hledger accounts -1 +assets +liabilities +equity +revenues +expenses + + Undeclared accounts, if any, are displayed last, in alphabetical +order. + + Note that sorting is done at each level of the account tree (within +each group of sibling accounts under the same parent). And currently, +this directive: + + +account other:zoo + + would influence the position of `zoo' among `other''s subaccounts, +but not the position of `other' among the top-level accounts. This +means: + + * you will sometimes declare parent accounts (eg `account other' + above) that you don't intend to post to, just to customize their + display order + + * sibling accounts stay together (you couldn't display `x:y' in + between `a:b' and `a:c'). + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Rewriting accounts, Next: Default parent account, Prev: Declaring accounts, Up: JOURNAL FORMAT + +12.26 Rewriting accounts +======================== + +You can define account alias rules which rewrite your account names, or +parts of them, before generating reports. This can be useful for: + + * expanding shorthand account names to their full form, allowing + easier data entry and a less verbose journal + + * adapting old journals to your current chart of accounts + + * experimenting with new account organisations, like a new hierarchy + or combining two accounts into one + + * customising reports + + Account aliases also rewrite account names in account directives. +They do not affect account names being entered via hledger add or +hledger-web. + + See also Rewrite account names. + +* Menu: + +* Basic aliases:: +* Regex aliases:: +* Combining aliases:: +* Aliases and multiple files:: +* end aliases:: + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Basic aliases, Next: Regex aliases, Up: Rewriting accounts + +12.26.1 Basic aliases +--------------------- + +To set an account alias, use the `alias' directive in your journal +file. This affects all subsequent journal entries in the current file or +its included files (but note: not sibling or parent files). The spaces +around the = are optional: + + +alias OLD = NEW + + Or, you can use the `--alias 'OLD=NEW'' option on the command line. +This affects all entries. It's useful for trying out aliases +interactively. + + OLD and NEW are case sensitive full account names. hledger will +replace any occurrence of the old account name with the new one. +Subaccounts are also affected. Eg: + + +alias checking = assets:bank:wells fargo:checking +; rewrites "checking" to "assets:bank:wells fargo:checking", or "checking:a" to "assets:bank:wells fargo:checking:a" + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Regex aliases, Next: Combining aliases, Prev: Basic aliases, Up: Rewriting accounts + +12.26.2 Regex aliases +--------------------- + +There is also a more powerful variant that uses a regular expression, +indicated by the forward slashes: + + +alias /REGEX/ = REPLACEMENT + + or `--alias '/REGEX/=REPLACEMENT''. + + REGEX is a case-insensitive regular expression. Anywhere it matches +inside an account name, the matched part will be replaced by +REPLACEMENT. If REGEX contains parenthesised match groups, these can be +referenced by the usual numeric backreferences in REPLACEMENT. Eg: + + +alias /^(.+):bank:([^:]+):(.*)/ = \1:\2 \3 +; rewrites "assets:bank:wells fargo:checking" to "assets:wells fargo checking" + + Also note that REPLACEMENT continues to the end of line (or on +command line, to end of option argument), so it can contain trailing +whitespace. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Combining aliases, Next: Aliases and multiple files, Prev: Regex aliases, Up: Rewriting accounts + +12.26.3 Combining aliases +------------------------- + +You can define as many aliases as you like, using journal directives +and/or command line options. + + Recursive aliases - where an account name is rewritten by one alias, +then by another alias, and so on - are allowed. Each alias sees the +effect of previously applied aliases. + + In such cases it can be important to understand which aliases will be +applied and in which order. For (each account name in) each journal +entry, we apply: + + 1. `alias' directives preceding the journal entry, most recently + parsed first (ie, reading upward from the journal entry, bottom to + top) + + 2. `--alias' options, in the order they appeared on the command line + (left to right). + + In other words, for (an account name in) a given journal entry: + + * the nearest alias declaration before/above the entry is applied + first + + * the next alias before/above that will be be applied next, and so on + + * aliases defined after/below the entry do not affect it. + + This gives nearby aliases precedence over distant ones, and helps +provide semantic stability - aliases will keep working the same way +independent of which files are being read and in which order. + + In case of trouble, adding `--debug=6' to the command line will show +which aliases are being applied when. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Aliases and multiple files, Next: end aliases, Prev: Combining aliases, Up: Rewriting accounts + +12.26.4 Aliases and multiple files +---------------------------------- + +As explained at Directives and multiple files, `alias' directives do +not affect parent or sibling files. Eg in this command, + + +hledger -f a.aliases -f b.journal + + account aliases defined in a.aliases will not affect b.journal. +Including the aliases doesn't work either: + + +include a.aliases + +2020-01-01 ; not affected by a.aliases + foo 1 + bar + + This means that account aliases should usually be declared at the +start of your top-most file, like this: + + +alias foo=Foo +alias bar=Bar + +2020-01-01 ; affected by aliases above + foo 1 + bar + +include c.journal ; also affected + + +File: hledger.info, Node: end aliases, Prev: Aliases and multiple files, Up: Rewriting accounts + +12.26.5 `end aliases' +--------------------- + +You can clear (forget) all currently defined aliases (seen in the +journal so far, or defined on the command line) with this directive: + + +end aliases + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Default parent account, Next: Periodic transactions, Prev: Rewriting accounts, Up: JOURNAL FORMAT + +12.27 Default parent account +============================ + +You can specify a parent account which will be prepended to all accounts +within a section of the journal. Use the `apply account' and `end apply +account' directives like so: + + +apply account home + +2010/1/1 + food $10 + cash + +end apply account + + which is equivalent to: + + +2010/01/01 + home:food $10 + home:cash $-10 + + If `end apply account' is omitted, the effect lasts to the end of +the file. Included files are also affected, eg: + + +apply account business +include biz.journal +end apply account +apply account personal +include personal.journal + + Prior to hledger 1.0, legacy `account' and `end' spellings were also +supported. + + A default parent account also affects account directives. It does not +affect account names being entered via hledger add or hledger-web. If +account aliases are present, they are applied after the default parent +account. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Periodic transactions, Next: Auto postings, Prev: Default parent account, Up: JOURNAL FORMAT + +12.28 Periodic transactions +=========================== + +Periodic transaction rules describe transactions that recur. They allow +hledger to generate temporary future transactions to help with +forecasting, so you don't have to write out each one in the journal, and +it's easy to try out different forecasts. + + Periodic transactions can be a little tricky, so before you use them, +read this whole section - or at least these tips: + + 1. Two spaces accidentally added or omitted will cause you trouble - + read about this below. + + 2. For troubleshooting, show the generated transactions with `hledger + print --forecast tag:generated' or `hledger register --forecast + tag:generated'. + + 3. Forecasted transactions will begin only after the last + non-forecasted transaction's date. + + 4. Forecasted transactions will end 6 months from today, by default. + See below for the exact start/end rules. + + 5. period expressions can be tricky. Their documentation needs + improvement, but is worth studying. + + 6. Some period expressions with a repeating interval must begin on a + natural boundary of that interval. Eg in `weekly from DATE', DATE + must be a monday. `~ weekly from 2019/10/1' (a tuesday) will give + an error. + + 7. Other period expressions with an interval are automatically + expanded to cover a whole number of that interval. (This is done + to improve reports, but it also affects periodic transactions. + Yes, it's a bit inconsistent with the above.) Eg: `~ every 10th + day of month from 2020/01', which is equivalent to `~ every 10th + day of month from 2020/01/01', will be adjusted to start on + 2019/12/10. + + Periodic transaction rules also have a second meaning: they are used +to define budget goals, shown in budget reports. + +* Menu: + +* Periodic rule syntax:: +* Two spaces between period expression and description!:: +* Forecasting with periodic transactions:: +* Budgeting with periodic transactions:: + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Periodic rule syntax, Next: Two spaces between period expression and description!, Up: Periodic transactions + +12.28.1 Periodic rule syntax +---------------------------- + +A periodic transaction rule looks like a normal journal entry, with the +date replaced by a tilde (`~') followed by a period expression +(mnemonic: `~' looks like a recurring sine wave.): + + +~ monthly + expenses:rent $2000 + assets:bank:checking + + There is an additional constraint on the period expression: the start +date must fall on a natural boundary of the interval. Eg `monthly from +2018/1/1' is valid, but `monthly from 2018/1/15' is not. + + Partial or relative dates (M/D, D, tomorrow, last week) in the period +expression can work (useful or not). They will be relative to today's +date, unless a Y default year directive is in effect, in which case they +will be relative to Y/1/1. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Two spaces between period expression and description!, Next: Forecasting with periodic transactions, Prev: Periodic rule syntax, Up: Periodic transactions + +12.28.2 Two spaces between period expression and description! +------------------------------------------------------------- + +If the period expression is followed by a transaction description, these +must be separated by *two or more spaces*. This helps hledger know +where the period expression ends, so that descriptions can not +accidentally alter their meaning, as in this example: + + +; 2 or more spaces needed here, so the period is not understood as "every 2 months in 2020" +; || +; vv +~ every 2 months in 2020, we will review + assets:bank:checking $1500 + income:acme inc + + So, + + * Do write two spaces between your period expression and your + transaction description, if any. + + * Don't accidentally write two spaces in the middle of your period + expression. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Forecasting with periodic transactions, Next: Budgeting with periodic transactions, Prev: Two spaces between period expression and description!, Up: Periodic transactions + +12.28.3 Forecasting with periodic transactions +---------------------------------------------- + +The `--forecast' flag activates any periodic transaction rules in the +journal. These will generate temporary additional transactions, usually +recurring and in the future, which will appear in all reports. +`hledger print --forecast' is a good way to see them. + + This can be useful for estimating balances into the future, perhaps +experimenting with different scenarios. + + It could also be useful for scripted data entry: you could describe +recurring transactions, and every so often copy the output of `print +--forecast' into the journal. + + The generated transactions will have an extra tag, like +`generated-transaction:~ PERIODICEXPR', indicating which periodic rule +generated them. There is also a similar, hidden tag, named +`_generated-transaction:', which you can use to reliably match +transactions generated "just now" (rather than `print'ed in the past). + + The forecast transactions are generated within a _forecast period_, +which is independent of the report period. (Forecast period sets the +bounds for generated transactions, report period controls which +transactions are reported.) The forecast period begins on: + + * the start date provided within `--forecast''s argument, if any + + * otherwise, the later of + * the report start date, if specified (with `-b'/`-p'/`date:') + + * the day after the latest ordinary transaction in the journal, + if any + + * otherwise today. + + It ends on: + + * the end date provided within `--forecast''s argument, if any + + * otherwise, the report end date, if specified (with + `-e'/`-p'/`date:') + + * otherwise 180 days (6 months) from today. + + Note, this means that ordinary transactions will suppress periodic +transactions, by default; the periodic transactions will not start until +after the last ordinary transaction. This is usually convenient, but you +can get around it in two ways: + + * If you need to record some transactions in the future, make them + periodic transactions (with a single occurrence, eg: `~ + YYYY-MM-DD') rather than ordinary transactions. That way they + won't suppress other periodic transactions. + + * Or give `--forecast' a period expression argument. A forecast + period specified this way can overlap ordinary transactions, and + need not be in the future. Some things to note: + + * You must use `=' between flag and argument; a space won't + work. + + * The period expression can specify the forecast period's start + date, end date, or both. See also Report start & end date. + + * The period expression should not specify a report interval. + (Each periodic transaction rule specifies its own interval.) + + + Some examples: `--forecast=202001-202004', `--forecast=jan-', +`--forecast=2021'. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Budgeting with periodic transactions, Prev: Forecasting with periodic transactions, Up: Periodic transactions + +12.28.4 Budgeting with periodic transactions +-------------------------------------------- + +With the `--budget' flag, currently supported by the balance command, +each periodic transaction rule declares recurring budget goals for the +specified accounts. Eg the first example above declares a goal of +spending $2000 on rent (and also, a goal of depositing $2000 into +checking) every month. Goals and actual performance can then be compared +in budget reports. + + See also: Budgeting and Forecasting. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Auto postings, Prev: Periodic transactions, Up: JOURNAL FORMAT + +12.29 Auto postings +=================== + +"Automated postings" or "auto postings" are extra postings which get +added automatically to transactions which match certain queries, defined +by "auto posting rules", when you use the `--auto' flag. + + An auto posting rule looks a bit like a transaction: + + += QUERY + ACCOUNT AMOUNT + ... + ACCOUNT [AMOUNT] + + except the first line is an equals sign (mnemonic: `=' suggests +matching), followed by a query (which matches existing postings), and +each "posting" line describes a posting to be generated, and the posting +amounts can be: + + * a normal amount with a commodity symbol, eg `$2'. This will be used + as-is. + + * a number, eg `2'. The commodity symbol (if any) from the matched + posting will be added to this. + + * a numeric multiplier, eg `*2' (a star followed by a number N). The + matched posting's amount (and total price, if any) will be + multiplied by N. + + * a multiplier with a commodity symbol, eg `*$2' (a star, number N, + and symbol S). The matched posting's amount will be multiplied by + N, and its commodity symbol will be replaced with S. + + Any query term containing spaces must be enclosed in single or double +quotes, as on the command line. Eg, note the quotes around the second +query term below: + + += expenses:groceries 'expenses:dining out' + (budget:funds:dining out) *-1 + + Some examples: + + +; every time I buy food, schedule a dollar donation += expenses:food + (liabilities:charity) $-1 + +; when I buy a gift, also deduct that amount from a budget envelope subaccount += expenses:gifts + assets:checking:gifts *-1 + assets:checking *1 + +2017/12/1 + expenses:food $10 + assets:checking + +2017/12/14 + expenses:gifts $20 + assets:checking + + +$ hledger print --auto +2017-12-01 + expenses:food $10 + assets:checking + (liabilities:charity) $-1 + +2017-12-14 + expenses:gifts $20 + assets:checking + assets:checking:gifts -$20 + assets:checking $20 + +* Menu: + +* Auto postings and multiple files:: +* Auto postings and dates:: +* Auto postings and transaction balancing / inferred amounts / balance assertions:: +* Auto posting tags:: + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Auto postings and multiple files, Next: Auto postings and dates, Up: Auto postings + +12.29.1 Auto postings and multiple files +---------------------------------------- + +An auto posting rule can affect any transaction in the current file, or +in any parent file or child file. Note, currently it will not affect +sibling files (when multiple `-f'/`--file' are used - see #1212). + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Auto postings and dates, Next: Auto postings and transaction balancing / inferred amounts / balance assertions, Prev: Auto postings and multiple files, Up: Auto postings + +12.29.2 Auto postings and dates +------------------------------- + +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. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Auto postings and transaction balancing / inferred amounts / balance assertions, Next: Auto posting tags, Prev: Auto postings and dates, Up: Auto postings + +12.29.3 Auto postings and transaction balancing / inferred amounts / +-------------------------------------------------------------------- + +balance assertions + + Currently, auto postings are added: + + * after missing amounts are inferred, and transactions are checked + for balancedness, + + * but before balance assertions are checked. + + Note this means that journal entries must be balanced both before and +after auto postings are added. This changed in hledger 1.12+; see #893 +for background. + + 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. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Auto posting tags, Prev: Auto postings and transaction balancing / inferred amounts / balance assertions, Up: Auto postings + +12.29.4 Auto posting tags +------------------------- + +Automated postings will have some extra tags: + + * `generated-posting:= QUERY' - shows this was generated by an auto + posting rule, and the query + + * `_generated-posting:= QUERY' - a hidden tag, which does not appear + in hledger's output. This can be used to match postings generated + "just now", rather than generated in the past and saved to the + journal. + + Also, any transaction that has been changed by auto posting rules +will have these tags added: + + * `modified:' - this transaction was modified + + * `_modified:' - a hidden tag not appearing in the comment; this + transaction was modified "just now". + + +File: hledger.info, Node: CSV FORMAT, Next: TIMECLOCK FORMAT, Prev: JOURNAL FORMAT, Up: Top + +13 CSV FORMAT +************* + +How hledger reads CSV data, and the CSV rules file format. + + hledger can read CSV files (Character Separated Value - usually +comma, semicolon, or tab) containing dated records as if they were +journal files, automatically converting each CSV record into a +transaction. + + (To learn about _writing_ CSV, see CSV output.) + + We describe each CSV file's format with a corresponding _rules +file_. By default this is named like the CSV file with a `.rules' +extension added. Eg when reading `FILE.csv', hledger also looks for +`FILE.csv.rules' in the same directory as `FILE.csv'. You can specify a +different rules file with the `--rules-file' option. If a rules file is +not found, hledger will create a sample rules file, which you'll need +to adjust. + + This file contains rules describing the CSV data (header line, fields +layout, date format etc.), and how to construct hledger journal entries +(transactions) from it. Often there will also be a list of conditional +rules for categorising transactions based on their descriptions. Here's +an overview of the CSV rules; these are described more fully below, +after the examples: + +*`skip'* skip one or more header lines or matched CSV + records +*`fields' list* name CSV fields, assign them to hledger + fields +*field assignment* assign a value to one hledger field, with + interpolation +*Field names* hledger field names, used in the fields list + and field assignments +*`separator'* a custom field separator +*`if' block* apply some rules to CSV records matched by + patterns +*`if' table* apply some rules to CSV records matched by + patterns, alternate syntax +*`end'* skip the remaining CSV records +*`date-format'* how to parse dates in CSV records +*`decimal-mark'* the decimal mark used in CSV amounts, if + ambiguous +*`newest-first'* disambiguate record order when there's only + one date +*`include'* inline another CSV rules file +*`balance-type'* choose which type of balance assignments to + use + + Note, for best error messages when reading CSV files, use a `.csv', +`.tsv' or `.ssv' file extension or file prefix - see File Extension +below. + + There's an introductory Convert CSV files tutorial on hledger.org. + +* Menu: + +* Examples:: +* CSV rules:: +* Tips:: + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Examples, Next: CSV rules, Up: CSV FORMAT + +13.1 Examples +============= + +Here are some sample hledger CSV rules files. See also the full +collection at: +https://github.com/simonmichael/hledger/tree/master/examples/csv + +* Menu: + +* Basic:: +* Bank of Ireland:: +* Amazon:: +* Paypal:: + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Basic, Next: Bank of Ireland, Up: Examples + +13.1.1 Basic +------------ + +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's a simple CSV file and a rules file for it: + + +Date, Description, Id, Amount +12/11/2019, Foo, 123, 10.23 + + +# basic.csv.rules +skip 1 +fields date, description, _, amount +date-format %d/%m/%Y + + +$ hledger print -f basic.csv +2019-11-12 Foo + expenses:unknown 10.23 + income:unknown -10.23 + + Default account names are chosen, since we didn't set them. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Bank of Ireland, Next: Amazon, Prev: Basic, Up: Examples + +13.1.2 Bank of Ireland +---------------------- + +Here'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: + + +Date,Details,Debit,Credit,Balance +07/12/2012,LODGMENT 529898,,10.0,131.21 +07/12/2012,PAYMENT,5,,126 + + +# 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 "balance" +# 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 + + +$ 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 + + The balance assertions don't raise an error above, because we're +reading directly from CSV, but they will be checked if these entries are +imported into a journal file. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Amazon, Next: Paypal, Prev: Bank of Ireland, Up: Examples + +13.1.3 Amazon +------------- + +Here we convert amazon.com order history, and use an if block to +generate a third posting if there's a fee. (In practice you'd probably +get this data from your bank instead, but it's an example.) + + +"Date","Type","To/From","Name","Status","Amount","Fees","Transaction ID" +"Jul 29, 2012","Payment","To","Foo.","Completed","$20.00","$0.00","16000000000000DGLNJPI1P9B8DKPVHL" +"Jul 30, 2012","Payment","To","Adapteva, Inc.","Completed","$25.00","$1.00","17LA58JSKRD4HDGLNJPI1P9B8DKPVHL" + + +# amazon-orders.csv.rules + +# skip one header line +skip 1 + +# name the csv fields, and assign the transaction's date, amount and code. +# Avoided the "status" and "amount" hledger field names to prevent confusion. +fields date, _, toorfrom, name, amzstatus, amzamount, fees, code + +# how to parse the date +date-format %b %-d, %Y + +# combine two fields to make the description +description %toorfrom %name + +# save the status as a tag +comment status:%amzstatus + +# set the base account for all transactions +account1 assets:amazon +# leave amount1 blank so it can balance the other(s). +# I'm assuming amzamount excludes the fees, don't remember + +# set a generic account2 +account2 expenses:misc +amount2 %amzamount +# and maybe refine it further: +#include categorisation.rules + +# add a third posting for fees, but only if they are non-zero. +if %fees [1-9] + account3 expenses:fees + amount3 %fees + + +$ 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 + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Paypal, Prev: Amazon, Up: Examples + +13.1.4 Paypal +------------- + +Here's a real-world rules file for (customised) Paypal CSV, with some +Paypal-specific rules, and a second rules file included: + + +"Date","Time","TimeZone","Name","Type","Status","Currency","Gross","Fee","Net","From Email Address","To Email Address","Transaction ID","Item Title","Item ID","Reference Txn ID","Receipt ID","Balance","Note" +"10/01/2019","03:46:20","PDT","Calm Radio","Subscription Payment","Completed","USD","-6.99","0.00","-6.99","simon@joyful.com","memberships@calmradio.com","60P57143A8206782E","MONTHLY - $1 for the first 2 Months: Me - Order 99309. Item total: $1.00 USD first 2 months, then $6.99 / Month","","I-R8YLY094FJYR","","-6.99","" +"10/01/2019","03:46:20","PDT","","Bank Deposit to PP Account ","Pending","USD","6.99","0.00","6.99","","simon@joyful.com","0TU1544T080463733","","","60P57143A8206782E","","0.00","" +"10/01/2019","08:57:01","PDT","Patreon","PreApproved Payment Bill User Payment","Completed","USD","-7.00","0.00","-7.00","simon@joyful.com","support@patreon.com","2722394R5F586712G","Patreon* Membership","","B-0PG93074E7M86381M","","-7.00","" +"10/01/2019","08:57:01","PDT","","Bank Deposit to PP Account ","Pending","USD","7.00","0.00","7.00","","simon@joyful.com","71854087RG994194F","Patreon* Membership","","2722394R5F586712G","","0.00","" +"10/19/2019","03:02:12","PDT","Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.","Subscription Payment","Completed","USD","-2.00","0.00","-2.00","simon@joyful.com","tle@wikimedia.org","K9U43044RY432050M","Monthly donation to the Wikimedia Foundation","","I-R5C3YUS3285L","","-2.00","" +"10/19/2019","03:02:12","PDT","","Bank Deposit to PP Account ","Pending","USD","2.00","0.00","2.00","","simon@joyful.com","3XJ107139A851061F","","","K9U43044RY432050M","","0.00","" +"10/22/2019","05:07:06","PDT","Noble Benefactor","Subscription Payment","Completed","USD","10.00","-0.59","9.41","noble@bene.fac.tor","simon@joyful.com","6L8L1662YP1334033","Joyful Systems","","I-KC9VBGY2GWDB","","9.41","" + + +# paypal-custom.csv.rules + +# Tips: +# Export from Activity -> Statements -> Custom -> Activity download +# Suggested transaction type: "Balance affecting" +# Paypal's default fields in 2018 were: +# "Date","Time","TimeZone","Name","Type","Status","Currency","Gross","Fee","Net","From Email Address","To Email Address","Transaction ID","Shipping Address","Address Status","Item Title","Item ID","Shipping and Handling Amount","Insurance Amount","Sales Tax","Option 1 Name","Option 1 Value","Option 2 Name","Option 2 Value","Reference Txn ID","Invoice Number","Custom Number","Quantity","Receipt ID","Balance","Address Line 1","Address Line 2/District/Neighborhood","Town/City","State/Province/Region/County/Territory/Prefecture/Republic","Zip/Postal Code","Country","Contact Phone Number","Subject","Note","Country Code","Balance Impact" +# This rules file assumes the following more detailed fields, configured in "Customize report fields": +# "Date","Time","TimeZone","Name","Type","Status","Currency","Gross","Fee","Net","From Email Address","To Email Address","Transaction ID","Item Title","Item ID","Reference Txn ID","Receipt ID","Balance","Note" + +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'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's income (a debit) +if %grossamount ^[^-] + account2 income:unknown +# if negative, it's an expense (a credit) +if %grossamount ^- + 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 + + +# 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 + + +$ 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@joyful.com, toemail:memberships@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@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@joyful.com, toemail:support@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@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@joyful.com, toemail:tle@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@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@bene.fac.tor, toemail:simon@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: + + +File: hledger.info, Node: CSV rules, Next: Tips, Prev: Examples, Up: CSV FORMAT + +13.2 CSV rules +============== + +The following kinds of rule can appear in the rules file, in any order. +Blank lines and lines beginning with `#' or `;' are ignored. + +* Menu: + +* skip:: +* fields list:: +* field assignment:: +* Field names:: +* separator:: +* if block:: +* if table:: +* end:: +* date-format:: +* decimal-mark:: +* newest-first:: +* include:: +* balance-type:: + + +File: hledger.info, Node: skip, Next: fields list, Up: CSV rules + +13.2.1 `skip' +------------- + + +skip N + +The word "skip" followed by a number (or no number, meaning 1) tells +hledger to ignore this many non-empty lines preceding the CSV data. +(Empty/blank lines are skipped automatically.) You'll need this whenever +your CSV data contains header lines. + + It also has a second purpose: it can be used inside if blocks to +ignore certain CSV records (described below). + + +File: hledger.info, Node: fields list, Next: field assignment, Prev: skip, Up: CSV rules + +13.2.2 `fields' list +-------------------- + + +fields FIELDNAME1, FIELDNAME2, ... + +A fields list (the word "fields" followed by comma-separated field +names) is the quick way to assign CSV field values to hledger fields. +(The other way is field assignments, see below.) A fields list does does +two things: + + 1. It names the CSV fields. This is optional, but can be convenient + later for interpolating them. + + 2. Whenever you use a standard hledger field name (defined below), + the CSV value is assigned to that part of the hledger transaction. + + + Here's an example that says "use the 1st, 2nd and 4th fields as the +transaction's date, description and amount; name the last two fields for +later reference; and ignore the others": + + +fields date, description, , amount, , , somefield, anotherfield + + Tips: + + * The fields list always use commas, even if your CSV data uses + another separator character. + + * Currently there must be least two items in the list (at least one + comma). + + * Field names may not contain spaces. Spaces before/after field + names are optional. + + * If the CSV contains column headings, it's a good idea to use these, + suitably modified, as the basis for your field names (eg + lower-cased, with underscores instead of spaces). + + * If some heading names match standard hledger fields, but you don't + want to set the hledger fields directly, alter those names, eg by + appending an underscore. + + * Fields you don't care about can be given a dummy name (eg: `_' ), + or no name. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: field assignment, Next: Field names, Prev: fields list, Up: CSV rules + +13.2.3 field assignment +----------------------- + + +HLEDGERFIELDNAME FIELDVALUE + +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). + + 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 (`%N'), or by the name they were given in the fields list +(`%CSVFIELDNAME'). + + Some examples: + + +# set the amount to the 4th CSV field, with " USD" appended +amount %4 USD + +# combine three fields to make a comment, containing note: and date: tags +comment note: %somefield - %anotherfield, date: %1 + + Tips: + + * Interpolation strips outer whitespace (so a CSV value like `" 1 "' + becomes `1' when interpolated) (#1051). + + * Interpolations always refer to a CSV field - you can't interpolate + a hledger field. (See Referencing other fields below). + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Field names, Next: separator, Prev: field assignment, Up: CSV rules + +13.2.4 Field names +------------------ + +Here are the standard hledger field (and pseudo-field) names, which you +can use in a fields list and in field assignments. For more about the +transaction parts they refer to, see Transactions. + +* Menu: + +* date field:: +* date2 field:: +* status field:: +* code field:: +* description field:: +* comment field:: +* account field:: +* amount field:: +* currency field:: +* balance field:: + + +File: hledger.info, Node: date field, Next: date2 field, Up: Field names + +13.2.4.1 date field +................... + +Assigning to `date' sets the transaction date. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: date2 field, Next: status field, Prev: date field, Up: Field names + +13.2.4.2 date2 field +.................... + +`date2' sets the transaction's secondary date, if any. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: status field, Next: code field, Prev: date2 field, Up: Field names + +13.2.4.3 status field +..................... + +`status' sets the transaction's status, if any. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: code field, Next: description field, Prev: status field, Up: Field names + +13.2.4.4 code field +................... + +`code' sets the transaction's code, if any. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: description field, Next: comment field, Prev: code field, Up: Field names + +13.2.4.5 description field +.......................... + +`description' sets the transaction's description, if any. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: comment field, Next: account field, Prev: description field, Up: Field names + +13.2.4.6 comment field +...................... + +`comment' sets the transaction's comment, if any. + + `commentN', where N is a number, sets the Nth posting's comment. + + Tips: - You can assign multi-line comments by writing literal `\n' +in the code. A comment starting with `\n' will begin on a new line. - +Comments can contain tags, as usual. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: account field, Next: amount field, Prev: comment field, Up: Field names + +13.2.4.7 account field +...................... + +Assigning to `accountN', where N is 1 to 99, sets the account name of +the Nth posting, and causes that posting to be generated. + + Most often there are two postings, so you'll want to set `account1' +and `account2'. Typically `account1' is associated with the CSV file, +and is set once with a top-level assignment, while `account2' is set +based on each transaction's description, and in conditional blocks. + + If a posting's account name is left unset but its amount is set (see +below), a default account name will be chosen (like "expenses:unknown" +or "income:unknown"). + + +File: hledger.info, Node: amount field, Next: currency field, Prev: account field, Up: Field names + +13.2.4.8 amount field +..................... + +`amountN' sets the amount of the Nth posting, and causes that posting +to be generated. By assigning to `amount1', `amount2', ... etc. you can +generate up to 99 postings. + + `amountN-in' and `amountN-out' can be used instead, if the CSV uses +separate fields for debits and credits (inflows and outflows). hledger +assumes both of these CSV fields are unsigned, and will automatically +negate the "-out" value. If they are signed, see "Setting amounts" +below. + + `amount', or `amount-in' and `amount-out' are a legacy mode, to keep +pre-hledger-1.17 CSV rules files working (and for occasional +convenience). They are suitable only for two-posting transactions; they +set both posting 1's and posting 2's amount. Posting 2's amount will be +negated, and also converted to cost if there's a transaction price. + + If you have an existing rules file using the unnumbered form, you +might want to use the numbered form in certain conditional blocks, +without having to update and retest all the old rules. To facilitate +this, posting 1 ignores `amount'/`amount-in'/`amount-out' if any of +`amount1'/`amount1-in'/`amount1-out' are assigned, and posting 2 +ignores them if any of `amount2'/`amount2-in'/`amount2-out' are +assigned, avoiding conflicts. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: currency field, Next: balance field, Prev: amount field, Up: Field names + +13.2.4.9 currency field +....................... + +`currency' sets a currency symbol, to be prepended to all postings' +amounts. You can use this if the CSV amounts do not have a currency +symbol, eg if it is in a separate column. + + `currencyN' prepends a currency symbol to just the Nth posting's +amount. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: balance field, Prev: currency field, Up: Field names + +13.2.4.10 balance field +....................... + +`balanceN' sets a balance assertion amount (or if the posting amount is +left empty, a balance assignment) on posting N. + + `balance' is a compatibility spelling for hledger <1.17; it is +equivalent to `balance1'. + + You can adjust the type of assertion/assignment with the +`balance-type' rule (see below). + + See Tips below for more about setting amounts and currency. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: separator, Next: if block, Prev: Field names, Up: CSV rules + +13.2.5 `separator' +------------------ + +You can use the `separator' rule to read other kinds of +character-separated data. The argument is any single separator +character, or the words `tab' or `space' (case insensitive). Eg, for +comma-separated values (CSV): + + +separator , + + or for semicolon-separated values (SSV): + + +separator ; + + or for tab-separated values (TSV): + + +separator TAB + + If the input file has a `.csv', `.ssv' or `.tsv' file extension (or +a `csv:', `ssv:', `tsv:' prefix), the appropriate separator will be +inferred automatically, and you won't need this rule. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: if block, Next: if table, Prev: separator, Up: CSV rules + +13.2.6 `if' block +----------------- + + +if MATCHER + RULE + +if +MATCHER +MATCHER +MATCHER + RULE + RULE + +Conditional blocks ("if blocks") are a block of rules that are applied +only to CSV records which match certain patterns. They are often used +for customising account names based on transaction descriptions. + +* Menu: + +* Matching the whole record:: +* Matching individual fields:: +* Combining matchers:: +* Rules applied on successful match:: + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Matching the whole record, Next: Matching individual fields, Up: if block + +13.2.6.1 Matching the whole record +.................................. + +Each MATCHER can be a record matcher, which looks like this: + + +REGEX + + REGEX is a case-insensitive regular expression that tries to match +anywhere within the CSV record. It is a POSIX ERE (extended regular +expression) that also supports GNU word boundaries (`\b', `\B', `\<', +`\>'), and nothing else. If you have trouble, be sure to check our doc: +https://hledger.org/hledger.html#regular-expressions + + Important note: the record that is matched is not the original +record, but a synthetic one, with any enclosing double quotes (but not +enclosing whitespace) removed, and always comma-separated (which means +that a field containing a comma will appear like two fields). Eg, if the +original record is `2020-01-01; "Acme, Inc."; 1,000', the REGEX will +actually see `2020-01-01,Acme, Inc., 1,000'). + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Matching individual fields, Next: Combining matchers, Prev: Matching the whole record, Up: if block + +13.2.6.2 Matching individual fields +................................... + +Or, MATCHER can be a field matcher, like this: + + +%CSVFIELD REGEX + + which matches just the content of a particular CSV field. CSVFIELD +is a percent sign followed by the field's name or column number, like +`%date' or `%1'. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Combining matchers, Next: Rules applied on successful match, Prev: Matching individual fields, Up: if block + +13.2.6.3 Combining matchers +........................... + +A single matcher can be written on the same line as the "if"; or +multiple matchers can be written on the following lines, non-indented. +Multiple matchers are OR'd (any one of them can match), unless one +begins with an `&' symbol, in which case it is AND'ed with the previous +matcher. + + +if +MATCHER +& MATCHER + RULE + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Rules applied on successful match, Prev: Combining matchers, Up: if block + +13.2.6.4 Rules applied on successful match +.......................................... + +After the patterns there should be one or more rules to apply, all +indented by at least one space. Three kinds of rule are allowed in +conditional blocks: + + * field assignments (to set a hledger field) + + * skip (to skip the matched CSV record) + + * end (to skip all remaining CSV records). + + Examples: + + +# if the CSV record contains "groceries", set account2 to "expenses:groceries" +if groceries + account2 expenses:groceries + + +# if the CSV record contains any of these patterns, set account2 and comment as shown +if +monthly service fee +atm transaction fee +banking thru software + account2 expenses:business:banking + comment XXX deductible ? check it + + +File: hledger.info, Node: if table, Next: end, Prev: if block, Up: CSV rules + +13.2.7 `if' table +----------------- + + +if,CSVFIELDNAME1,CSVFIELDNAME2,...,CSVFIELDNAMEn +MATCHER1,VALUE11,VALUE12,...,VALUE1n +MATCHER2,VALUE21,VALUE22,...,VALUE2n +MATCHER3,VALUE31,VALUE32,...,VALUE3n + + +Conditional tables ("if tables") are a different syntax to specify field +assignments that will be applied only to CSV records which match certain +patterns. + + MATCHER could be either field or record matcher, as described above. +When MATCHER matches, values from that row would be assigned to the CSV +fields named on the `if' line, in the same order. + + Therefore `if' table is exactly equivalent to a sequence of of `if' +blocks: + + +if MATCHER1 + CSVFIELDNAME1 VALUE11 + CSVFIELDNAME2 VALUE12 + ... + CSVFIELDNAMEn VALUE1n + +if MATCHER2 + CSVFIELDNAME1 VALUE21 + CSVFIELDNAME2 VALUE22 + ... + CSVFIELDNAMEn VALUE2n + +if MATCHER3 + CSVFIELDNAME1 VALUE31 + CSVFIELDNAME2 VALUE32 + ... + CSVFIELDNAMEn VALUE3n + + Each line starting with MATCHER should contain enough (possibly +empty) values for all the listed fields. + + Rules would be checked and applied in the order they are listed in +the table and, like with `if' blocks, later rules (in the same or +another table) or `if' blocks could override the effect of any rule. + + Instead of ',' you can use a variety of other non-alphanumeric +characters as a separator. First character after `if' is taken to be +the separator for the rest of the table. It is the responsibility of +the user to ensure that separator does not occur inside MATCHERs and +values - there is no way to escape separator. + + Example: + + +if,account2,comment +atm transaction fee,expenses:business:banking,deductible? check it +%description groceries,expenses:groceries, +2020/01/12.*Plumbing LLC,expenses:house:upkeep,emergency plumbing call-out + + +File: hledger.info, Node: end, Next: date-format, Prev: if table, Up: CSV rules + +13.2.8 `end' +------------ + +This rule can be used inside if blocks (only), to make hledger stop +reading this CSV file and move on to the next input file, or to command +execution. Eg: + + +# ignore everything following the first empty record +if ,,,, + end + + +File: hledger.info, Node: date-format, Next: decimal-mark, Prev: end, Up: CSV rules + +13.2.9 `date-format' +-------------------- + + +date-format DATEFMT + +This is a helper for the `date' (and `date2') fields. If your CSV dates +are not formatted like `YYYY-MM-DD', `YYYY/MM/DD' or `YYYY.MM.DD', +you'll need to add a date-format rule describing them with a strptime +date parsing pattern, which must parse the CSV date value completely. +Some examples: + + +# MM/DD/YY +date-format %m/%d/%y + + +# D/M/YYYY +# The - makes leading zeros optional. +date-format %-d/%-m/%Y + + +# YYYY-Mmm-DD +date-format %Y-%h-%d + + +# 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 + + For the supported strptime syntax, see: +https://hackage.haskell.org/package/time/docs/Data-Time-Format.html#v:formatTime + + Note that although you can parse date-times which include a time +zone, that time zone is ignored; it will not change the date that is +parsed. This means when reading CSV data with times not in your local +time zone, dates can be "off by one". + + +File: hledger.info, Node: decimal-mark, Next: newest-first, Prev: date-format, Up: CSV rules + +13.2.10 `decimal-mark' +---------------------- + + +decimal-mark . + +or: + + +decimal-mark , + + 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. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: newest-first, Next: include, Prev: decimal-mark, Up: CSV rules + +13.2.11 `newest-first' +---------------------- + +hledger always sorts the generated transactions by date. Transactions on +the same date should appear in the same order as their CSV records, as +hledger can usually auto-detect whether the CSV's normal order is oldest +first or newest first. But if all of the following are true: + + * the CSV might sometimes contain just one day of data (all records + having the same date) + + * the CSV records are normally in reverse chronological order + (newest at the top) + + * and you care about preserving the order of same-day transactions + + then, you should add the `newest-first' rule as a hint. Eg: + + +# tell hledger explicitly that the CSV is normally newest first +newest-first + + +File: hledger.info, Node: include, Next: balance-type, Prev: newest-first, Up: CSV rules + +13.2.12 `include' +----------------- + + +include RULESFILE + +This includes the contents of another CSV rules file at this point. +`RULESFILE' is an absolute file path or a path relative to the current +file's directory. This can be useful for sharing common rules between +several rules files, eg: + + +# someaccount.csv.rules + +## someaccount-specific rules +fields date,description,amount +account1 assets:someaccount +account2 expenses:misc + +## common rules +include categorisation.rules + + +File: hledger.info, Node: balance-type, Prev: include, Up: CSV rules + +13.2.13 `balance-type' +---------------------- + +Balance assertions generated by assigning to balanceN are of the simple +`=' 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 +`balance-type' rule: + + +# balance assertions will consider all commodities and all subaccounts +balance-type ==* + + Here are the balance assertion types for quick reference: + + += single commodity, exclude subaccounts +=* single commodity, include subaccounts +== multi commodity, exclude subaccounts +==* multi commodity, include subaccounts + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Tips, Prev: CSV rules, Up: CSV FORMAT + +13.3 Tips +========= + +* Menu: + +* Rapid feedback:: +* Valid CSV:: +* File Extension:: +* Reading multiple CSV files:: +* Valid transactions:: +* Deduplicating importing:: +* Setting amounts:: +* Amount signs:: +* Setting currency/commodity:: +* Amount decimal places:: +* Referencing other fields:: +* How CSV rules are evaluated:: + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Rapid feedback, Next: Valid CSV, Up: Tips + +13.3.1 Rapid feedback +--------------------- + +It's a good idea to get rapid feedback while creating/troubleshooting +CSV rules. Here's a good way, using entr from eradman.com/entrproject: + + +$ ls foo.csv* | entr bash -c 'echo ----; hledger -f foo.csv print desc:SOMEDESC' + + A desc: query (eg) is used to select just one, or a few, +transactions of interest. "bash -c" 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. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Valid CSV, Next: File Extension, Prev: Rapid feedback, Up: Tips + +13.3.2 Valid CSV +---------------- + +hledger accepts CSV conforming to RFC 4180. When CSV values are enclosed +in quotes, note: + + * they must be double quotes (not single quotes) + + * spaces outside the quotes are not allowed + + +File: hledger.info, Node: File Extension, Next: Reading multiple CSV files, Prev: Valid CSV, Up: Tips + +13.3.3 File Extension +--------------------- + +To help hledger identify the format and show the right error messages, +CSV/SSV/TSV files should normally be named with a `.csv', `.ssv' or +`.tsv' filename extension. Or, the file path should be prefixed with +`csv:', `ssv:' or `tsv:'. Eg: + + +$ hledger -f foo.ssv print + + or: + + +$ cat foo | hledger -f ssv:- foo + + You can override the file extension with a separator rule if needed. +See also: Input files in the hledger manual. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Reading multiple CSV files, Next: Valid transactions, Prev: File Extension, Up: Tips + +13.3.4 Reading multiple CSV files +--------------------------------- + +If you use multiple `-f' 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 `--rules-file' option, that rules file will be +used for all the CSV files. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Valid transactions, Next: Deduplicating importing, Prev: Reading multiple CSV files, Up: Tips + +13.3.5 Valid transactions +------------------------- + +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. + + 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: + + +$ hledger -f file.csv print | hledger -f- print + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Deduplicating importing, Next: Setting amounts, Prev: Valid transactions, Up: Tips + +13.3.6 Deduplicating, importing +------------------------------- + +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. + + 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't have to remember how many times you ran it or with which +version of the CSV. (It keeps state in a hidden `.latest.FILE.csv' +file.) This is the easiest way to import CSV data. Eg: + + +# download the latest CSV files, then run this command. +# Note, no -f flags needed here. +$ hledger import *.csv [--dry] + + This method works for most CSV files. (Where records have a stable +chronological order, and new records appear only at the new end.) + + A number of other tools and workflows, hledger-specific and +otherwise, exist for converting, deduplicating, classifying and +managing CSV data. See: + + * https://hledger.org -> sidebar -> real world setups + + * https://plaintextaccounting.org -> data import/conversion + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Setting amounts, Next: Amount signs, Prev: Deduplicating importing, Up: Tips + +13.3.7 Setting amounts +---------------------- + +Some tips on using the amount-setting rules discussed above. + + Here are the ways to set a posting's amount: + + 1. *If the CSV has a single amount field:* + Assign (via a fields list or a field assignment) to `amountN'. This + sets the Nth posting's amount. N is usually 1 or 2 but can go up + to 99. + + 2. *If the CSV has separate amount fields for debit & credit (in & + out):* + a. *If both fields are unsigned:* + Assign to `amountN-in' and `amountN-out'. This sets posting + N's amount to whichever of these has a non-zero value, and + negates the "-out" value. + + b. *If either field is signed (can contain a minus sign):* + Use a conditional rule to flip the sign (of non-empty + values). Since hledger always negates amountN-out, if it was + already negative, we must undo that by negating once more + (but only if the field is non-empty): + + + + fields date, description, amount1-in, amount1-out + if %amount1-out [1-9] + amount1-out -%amount1-out + + c. *If both fields, or neither field, can contain a non-zero + value:* + hledger normally expects exactly one of the fields to have a + non-zero value. Eg, the `amountN-in'/`amountN-out' rules + would reject value pairs like these: + + + "", "" + "0", "0" + "1", "none" + + So, use smarter conditional rules to set the amount from the + appropriate field. Eg, these rules would make it use only the + value containing non-zero digits, handling the above: + + + fields date, description, in, out + if %in [1-9] + amount1 %in + if %out [1-9] + amount1 %out + + 3. *If you are stuck with hledger <1.17, or you want posting 2's + amount converted to cost:* + Assign to `amount' (or to `amount-in' and `amount-out'). (The old + numberless syntax, which sets amount1 and amount2.) + + 4. *If the CSV has the balance instead of the transaction amount:* + Assign to `balanceN', which sets posting N's amount indirectly via + a balance assignment. (Old syntax: `balance', equivalent to + `balance1'.) + + * *If hledger guesses the wrong default account name:* + When setting the amount via balance assertion, hledger may + guess the wrong default account name. So, set the account + name explicitly, eg: + + + fields date, description, balance1 + account1 assets:checking + + + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Amount signs, Next: Setting currency/commodity, Prev: Setting amounts, Up: Tips + +13.3.8 Amount signs +------------------- + +There is some special handling for amount signs, to simplify parsing and +sign-flipping: + + * *If an amount value begins with a plus sign:* + that will be removed: `+AMT' becomes `AMT' + + * *If an amount value is parenthesised:* + it will be de-parenthesised and sign-flipped: `(AMT)' becomes + `-AMT' + + * *If an amount value has two minus signs (or two sets of + parentheses, or a minus sign and parentheses):* + they cancel out and will be removed: `--AMT' or `-(AMT)' becomes + `AMT' + + * *If an amount value contains just a sign (or just a set of + parentheses):* + that is removed, making it an empty value. `"+"' or `"-"' or + `"()"' becomes `""'. + + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Setting currency/commodity, Next: Amount decimal places, Prev: Amount signs, Up: Tips + +13.3.9 Setting currency/commodity +--------------------------------- + +If the currency/commodity symbol is included in the CSV's amount +field(s): + + +2020-01-01,foo,$123.00 + + you don't have to do anything special for the commodity symbol, it +will be assigned as part of the amount. Eg: + + +fields date,description,amount + + +2020-01-01 foo + expenses:unknown $123.00 + income:unknown $-123.00 + + If the currency is provided as a separate CSV field: + + +2020-01-01,foo,USD,123.00 + + You can assign that to the `currency' pseudo-field, which has the +special effect of prepending itself to every amount in the transaction +(on the left, with no separating space): + + +fields date,description,currency,amount + + +2020-01-01 foo + expenses:unknown USD123.00 + income:unknown USD-123.00 + + 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: + + +fields date,description,cur,amt +amount %amt %cur + + +2020-01-01 foo + expenses:unknown 123.00 USD + income:unknown -123.00 USD + + Note we used a temporary field name (`cur') that is not `currency' - +that would trigger the prepending effect, which we don't want here. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Amount decimal places, Next: Referencing other fields, Prev: Setting currency/commodity, Up: Tips + +13.3.10 Amount decimal places +----------------------------- + +Like amounts in a journal file, the amounts generated by CSV rules like +`amount1' influence commodity display styles, such as the number of +decimal places displayed in reports. + + The original amounts as written in the CSV file do not affect display +style (because we don't yet reliably know their commodity). + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Referencing other fields, Next: How CSV rules are evaluated, Prev: Amount decimal places, Up: Tips + +13.3.11 Referencing other fields +-------------------------------- + +In field assignments, you can interpolate only CSV fields, not hledger +fields. In the example below, there's both a CSV field and a hledger +field named amount1, but %amount1 always means the CSV field, not the +hledger field: + + +# Name the third CSV field "amount1" +fields date,description,amount1 + +# Set hledger'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 + + Here, since there's no CSV amount1 field, %amount1 will produce a +literal "amount1": + + +fields date,description,csvamount +amount1 %csvamount USD +# Can't interpolate amount1 here +comment %amount1 + + When there are multiple field assignments to the same hledger field, +only the last one takes effect. Here, comment's value will be be B, or C +if "something" is matched, but never A: + + +comment A +comment B +if something + comment C + + +File: hledger.info, Node: How CSV rules are evaluated, Prev: Referencing other fields, Up: Tips + +13.3.12 How CSV rules are evaluated +----------------------------------- + +Here's how to think of CSV rules being evaluated (if you really need +to). First, + + * `include' - 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.) + + Then "global" rules are evaluated, top to bottom. If a rule is +repeated, the last one wins: + + * `skip' (at top level) + + * `date-format' + + * `newest-first' + + * `fields' - names the CSV fields, optionally sets up initial + assignments to hledger fields + + Then for each CSV record in turn: + + * test all `if' blocks. If any of them contain a `end' rule, skip + all remaining CSV records. Otherwise if any of them contain a + `skip' rule, skip that many CSV records. If there are multiple + matched `skip' rules, the first one wins. + + * collect all field assignments at top level and in matched `if' + blocks. When there are multiple assignments for a field, keep only + the last one. + + * compute a value for each hledger field - either the one that was + assigned to it (and interpolate the %CSVFIELDNAME references), or a + default + + * generate a synthetic hledger transaction from these values. + + 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. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: TIMECLOCK FORMAT, Next: TIMEDOT FORMAT, Prev: CSV FORMAT, Up: Top + +14 TIMECLOCK FORMAT +******************* + +The time logging format of timeclock.el, as read by hledger. + + hledger can read time logs in timeclock format. As with Ledger, these +are (a subset of) timeclock.el'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). + + +i 2015/03/30 09:00:00 some:account name optional description after two spaces +o 2015/03/30 09:20:00 +i 2015/03/31 22:21:45 another account +o 2015/04/01 02:00:34 + + 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, `hledger print' generates these journal entries: + + +$ hledger -f t.timeclock print +2015-03-30 * optional description after two spaces + (some:account name) 0.33h + +2015-03-31 * 22:21-23:59 + (another account) 1.64h + +2015-04-01 * 00:00-02:00 + (another account) 2.01h + + Here is a sample.timeclock to download and some queries to try: + + +$ 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 + + To generate time logs, ie to clock in and clock out, you could: + + * use emacs and the built-in timeclock.el, or the extended + timeclock-x.el and perhaps the extras in ledgerutils.el + + * at the command line, use these bash aliases: `shell alias + ti="echo i `date '+%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S'` \$* >>$TIMELOG" alias + to="echo o `date '+%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S'` >>$TIMELOG"' + + * or use the old `ti' and `to' scripts in the ledger 2.x repository. + These rely on a "timeclock" executable which I think is just the + ledger 2 executable renamed. + + + +File: hledger.info, Node: TIMEDOT FORMAT, Next: COMMON TASKS, Prev: TIMECLOCK FORMAT, Up: Top + +15 TIMEDOT FORMAT +***************** + +`timedot' format is hledger's human-friendly time logging format. +Compared to `timeclock' format, it is + + * convenient for quick, approximate, and retroactive time logging + + * readable: you can see at a glance where time was spent. + + A timedot file contains a series of day entries, which might look +like this: + + +2021-08-04 +hom:errands .... .... +fos:hledger:timedot .. ; docs +per:admin:finance + + hledger reads this as three time transactions on this day, with each +dot representing a quarter-hour spent: + + +$ hledger -f a.timedot print # .timedot file extension activates the timedot reader +2021-08-04 * + (hom:errands) 2.00 + +2021-08-04 * + (fos:hledger:timedot) 0.50 + +2021-08-04 * + (per:admin:finance) 0 + + A day entry begins with a date line: + + * a non-indented *simple date* (Y-M-D, Y/M/D, or Y.M.D). + + Optionally this can be followed on the same line by + + * a common *transaction description* for this day + + * a common *transaction comment* for this day, after a semicolon + (`;'). + + After the date line are zero or more optionally-indented time +transaction lines, consisting of: + + * an *account name* - any word or phrase, usually a hledger-style + account name. + + * *two or more spaces* - a field separator, required if there is an + amount (as in journal format). + + * a *timedot amount* - dots representing quarter hours, or a number + representing hours. + + * an optional *comment* beginning with semicolon. This is ignored. + + In more detail, timedot amounts can be: + + * *dots*: zero or more period characters, each representing one + quarter-hour. Spaces are ignored and can be used for grouping. Eg: + `.... ..' + + * a *number*, representing hours. Eg: `1.5' + + * a *number immediately followed by a unit symbol* `s', `m', `h', + `d', `w', `mo', or `y', representing seconds, minutes, hours, days + weeks, months or years. Eg `1.5h' or `90m'. The following + equivalencies are assumed: + `60s' = `1m', `60m' = `1h', `24h' = `1d', `7d' = `1w', `30d' = + `1mo', `365d' = `1y'. (This unit will not be visible in the + generated transaction amount, which is always in hours.) + + + There is some added flexibility to help with keeping time log data in +the same file as your notes, todo lists, etc.: + + * Lines beginning with `#' or `;', and blank lines, are ignored. + + * Lines not ending with a double-space and amount are parsed as + transactions with zero amount. (Most hledger reports hide these by + default; add -E to see them.) + + * One or more stars (`*') followed by a space, at the start of a + line, is ignored. So date lines or time transaction lines can also + be Org-mode headlines. + + * All Org-mode headlines before the first date line are ignored. + + + More examples: + + +# 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 . + + +2016/2/3 +inc:client1 4 +fos:hledger 3 +biz:research 1 + + +* Time log +** 2020-01-01 +*** adm:time . +*** adm:finance . + + +* 2020 Work Diary +** Q1 +*** 2020-02-29 +**** DONE +0700 yoga +**** UNPLANNED +**** BEGUN +hom:chores + cleaning ... + water plants + outdoor - one full watering can + indoor - light watering +**** TODO +adm:planning: trip +*** LATER + + Reporting: + + +$ hledger -f a.timedot print date:2016/2/2 +2016-02-02 * + (inc:client1) 2.00 + +2016-02-02 * + (biz:research) 0.25 + + +$ 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 + + Using period instead of colon as account name separator: + + +2016/2/4 +fos.hledger.timedot 4 +fos.ledger .. + + +$ hledger -f a.timedot --alias /\\./=: bal --tree + 4.50 fos + 4.00 hledger:timedot + 0.50 ledger +-------------------- + 4.50 + + A sample.timedot file. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: COMMON TASKS, Next: LIMITATIONS, Prev: TIMEDOT FORMAT, Up: Top + +16 COMMON TASKS +*************** + +Here are some quick examples of how to do some basic tasks with hledger. +For more details, see the reference section below, the +hledger_journal(5) manual, or the more extensive docs at +https://hledger.org. + +* Menu: + +* Getting help:: +* Constructing command lines:: +* Starting a journal file:: +* Setting opening balances:: +* Recording transactions:: +* Reconciling:: +* Reporting:: +* Migrating to a new file:: + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Getting help, Next: Constructing command lines, Up: COMMON TASKS + +16.1 Getting help +================= + + +$ hledger # show available commands +$ hledger --help # show common options +$ hledger CMD --help # show common and command options, and command help +$ hledger help # show available manuals/topics +$ hledger help hledger # show hledger manual as info/man/text (auto-chosen) +$ hledger help journal --man # show the journal manual as a man page +$ hledger help --help # show more detailed help for the help command + +Find more docs, chat, mail list, reddit, issue tracker: +https://hledger.org#help-feedback + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Constructing command lines, Next: Starting a journal file, Prev: Getting help, Up: COMMON TASKS + +16.2 Constructing command lines +=============================== + +hledger has an extensive and powerful command line interface. We strive +to keep it simple and ergonomic, but you may run into one of the +confusing real world details described in OPTIONS, below. If that +happens, here are some tips that may help: + + * command-specific options must go after the command (it's fine to + put all options there) (`hledger CMD OPTS ARGS') + + * running add-on executables directly simplifies command line parsing + (`hledger-ui OPTS ARGS') + + * enclose "problematic" args in single quotes + + * if needed, also add a backslash to hide regular expression + metacharacters from the shell + + * to see how a misbehaving command is being parsed, add `--debug=2'. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Starting a journal file, Next: Setting opening balances, Prev: Constructing command lines, Up: COMMON TASKS + +16.3 Starting a journal file +============================ + +hledger looks for your accounting data in a journal file, +`$HOME/.hledger.journal' by default: + + +$ hledger stats +The hledger journal file "/Users/simon/.hledger.journal" was not found. +Please create it first, eg with "hledger add" or a text editor. +Or, specify an existing journal file with -f or LEDGER_FILE. + + You can override this by setting the `LEDGER_FILE' environment +variable. It'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: + + +$ mkdir ~/finance +$ cd ~/finance +$ git init +Initialized empty Git repository in /Users/simon/finance/.git/ +$ touch 2020.journal +$ echo "export LEDGER_FILE=$HOME/finance/2020.journal" >> ~/.bashrc +$ source ~/.bashrc +$ hledger stats +Main file : /Users/simon/finance/2020.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 () + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Setting opening balances, Next: Recording transactions, Prev: Starting a journal file, Up: COMMON TASKS + +16.4 Setting opening balances +============================= + +Pick a starting date for which you can look up the balances of some +real-world assets (bank accounts, wallet..) and liabilities (credit +cards..). + + 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. + + Add an opening balances transaction to the journal, declaring the +balances on this date. Here are two ways to do it: + + * The first way: open the journal in any text editor and save an + entry like this: + + + 2020-01-01 * opening balances + assets:bank:checking $1000 = $1000 + assets:bank:savings $2000 = $2000 + assets:cash $100 = $100 + liabilities:creditcard $-50 = $-50 + equity:opening/closing balances + + These are start-of-day balances, ie whatever was in the account at + the end of the previous day. + + The * after the date is an optional status flag. Here it means + "cleared & confirmed". + + The currency symbols are optional, but usually a good idea as + you'll be dealing with multiple currencies sooner or later. + + The = amounts are optional balance assertions, providing extra + error checking. + + * The second way: run `hledger add' and follow the prompts to record + a similar transaction: + + + $ hledger add + Adding transactions to journal file /Users/simon/finance/2020.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 [2020-02-07]: 2020-01-01 + 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): . + 2020-01-01 * opening balances + assets:bank:checking $1000 + assets:bank:savings $2000 + assets:cash $100 + liabilities:creditcard $-50 + equity:opening/closing balances $-3050 + + Save this transaction to the journal ? [y]: + Saved. + Starting the next transaction (. or ctrl-D/ctrl-C to quit) + Date [2020-01-01]: . + + + If you're using version control, this could be a good time to commit +the journal. Eg: + + +$ git commit -m 'initial balances' 2020.journal + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Recording transactions, Next: Reconciling, Prev: Setting opening balances, Up: COMMON TASKS + +16.5 Recording transactions +=========================== + +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. + + Here are some simple transactions, see the hledger_journal(5) manual +and hledger.org for more ideas: + + +2020/1/10 * gift received + assets:cash $20 + income:gifts + +2020.1.12 * farmers market + expenses:food $13 + assets:cash + +2020-01-15 paycheck + income:salary + assets:bank:checking $1000 + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Reconciling, Next: Reporting, Prev: Recording transactions, Up: COMMON TASKS + +16.6 Reconciling +================ + +Periodically you should reconcile - compare your hledger-reported +balances against external sources of truth, like bank statements or your +bank'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. + + A typical workflow: + + 1. Reconcile cash. Count what's in your wallet. Compare with what + hledger reports (`hledger bal cash'). 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 + (`hledger reg cash'). If you can't find the error, add an + adjustment transaction. Eg if you have $105 after the above, and + can't explain the missing $2, it could be: + + + 2020-01-16 * adjust cash + assets:cash $-2 = $105 + expenses:misc + + 2. Reconcile checking. Log in to your bank's website. Compare today's + (cleared) balance with hledger's cleared balance (`hledger bal + checking -C'). If they are different, track down the error or + record the missing transaction(s) or add an adjustment + transaction, similar to the above. Unlike the cash case, you can + usually compare the transaction history and running balance from + your bank with the one reported by `hledger reg checking -C'. This + will be easier if you generally record transaction dates quite + similar to your bank's clearing dates. + + 3. Repeat for other asset/liability accounts. + + + Tip: instead of the register command, use hledger-ui to see a +live-updating register while you edit the journal: `hledger-ui --watch +--register checking -C' + + After reconciling, it could be a good time to mark the reconciled +transactions' status as "cleared and confirmed", if you want to track +that, by adding the `*' marker. Eg in the paycheck transaction above, +insert `*' between `2020-01-15' and `paycheck' + + If you're using version control, this can be another good time to +commit: + + +$ git commit -m 'txns' 2020.journal + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Reporting, Next: Migrating to a new file, Prev: Reconciling, Up: COMMON TASKS + +16.7 Reporting +============== + +Here are some basic reports. + + Show all transactions: + + +$ hledger print +2020-01-01 * opening balances + assets:bank:checking $1000 + assets:bank:savings $2000 + assets:cash $100 + liabilities:creditcard $-50 + equity:opening/closing balances $-3050 + +2020-01-10 * gift received + assets:cash $20 + income:gifts + +2020-01-12 * farmers market + expenses:food $13 + assets:cash + +2020-01-15 * paycheck + income:salary + assets:bank:checking $1000 + +2020-01-16 * adjust cash + assets:cash $-2 = $105 + expenses:misc + + Show account names, and their hierarchy: + + +$ hledger accounts --tree +assets + bank + checking + savings + cash +equity + opening/closing balances +expenses + food + misc +income + gifts + salary +liabilities + creditcard + + Show all account totals: + + +$ 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 + $-50 liabilities:creditcard +-------------------- + 0 + + Show only asset and liability balances, as a flat list, limited to +depth 2: + + +$ hledger bal assets liabilities --flat -2 + $4000 assets:bank + $105 assets:cash + $-50 liabilities:creditcard +-------------------- + $4055 + + Show the same thing without negative numbers, formatted as a simple +balance sheet: + + +$ hledger bs --flat -2 +Balance Sheet 2020-01-16 + + || 2020-01-16 +========================++============ + Assets || +------------------------++------------ + assets:bank || $4000 + assets:cash || $105 +------------------------++------------ + || $4105 +========================++============ + Liabilities || +------------------------++------------ + liabilities:creditcard || $50 +------------------------++------------ + || $50 +========================++============ + Net: || $4055 + + The final total is your "net worth" on the end date. (Or use `bse' +for a full balance sheet with equity.) + + Show income and expense totals, formatted as an income statement: + + +hledger is +Income Statement 2020-01-01-2020-01-16 + + || 2020-01-01-2020-01-16 +===============++======================= + Revenues || +---------------++----------------------- + income:gifts || $20 + income:salary || $1000 +---------------++----------------------- + || $1020 +===============++======================= + Expenses || +---------------++----------------------- + expenses:food || $13 + expenses:misc || $2 +---------------++----------------------- + || $15 +===============++======================= + Net: || $1005 + + The final total is your net income during this period. + + Show transactions affecting your wallet, with running total: + + +$ hledger register cash +2020-01-01 opening balances assets:cash $100 $100 +2020-01-10 gift received assets:cash $20 $120 +2020-01-12 farmers market assets:cash $-13 $107 +2020-01-16 adjust cash assets:cash $-2 $105 + + Show weekly posting counts as a bar chart: + + +$ hledger activity -W +2019-12-30 ***** +2020-01-06 **** +2020-01-13 **** + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Migrating to a new file, Prev: Reporting, Up: COMMON TASKS + +16.8 Migrating to a new file +============================ + +At the end of the year, you may want to continue your journal in a new +file, so that old transactions don't slow down or clutter your reports, +and to help ensure the integrity of your accounting history. See the +close command. + + If using version control, don't forget to `git add' the new file. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: LIMITATIONS, Next: TROUBLESHOOTING, Prev: COMMON TASKS, Up: Top + +17 LIMITATIONS +************** + +The need to precede add-on command options with `--' when invoked from +hledger is awkward. + + When input data contains non-ascii characters, a suitable system +locale must be configured (or there will be an unhelpful error). Eg on +POSIX, set LANG to something other than C. + + In a Microsoft Windows CMD window, non-ascii characters and colours +are not supported. + + On Windows, non-ascii characters may not display correctly when +running a hledger built in CMD in MSYS/CYGWIN, or vice-versa. + + In a Cygwin/MSYS/Mintty window, the tab key is not supported in +hledger add. + + Not all of Ledger's journal file syntax is supported. See file format +differences. + + On large data files, hledger is slower and uses more memory than +Ledger. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: TROUBLESHOOTING, Prev: LIMITATIONS, Up: Top + +18 TROUBLESHOOTING +****************** + +Here are some issues you might encounter when you run hledger (and +remember you can also seek help from the IRC channel, mail list or bug +tracker): + + *Successfully installed, but "No command 'hledger' found"* +stack and cabal install binaries into a special directory, which should +be added to your PATH environment variable. Eg on unix-like systems, +that is ~/.local/bin and ~/.cabal/bin respectively. + + *I set a custom LEDGER_FILE, but hledger is still using the default +file* +`LEDGER_FILE' should be a real environment variable, not just a shell +variable. The command `env | grep LEDGER_FILE' should show it. You may +need to use `export'. Here's an explanation. + + *Getting errors like "Illegal byte sequence" or "Invalid or +incomplete multibyte or wide character" or "commitAndReleaseBuffer: +invalid argument (invalid character)"* +Programs compiled with GHC (hledger, haskell build tools, etc.) need to +have a UTF-8-aware locale configured in the environment, otherwise they +will fail with these kinds of errors when they encounter non-ascii +characters. + + To fix it, set the LANG environment variable to some locale which +supports UTF-8. The locale you choose must be installed on your system. + + Here's an example of setting LANG temporarily, on Ubuntu GNU/Linux: + + +$ file my.journal +my.journal: UTF-8 Unicode text # the file is UTF8-encoded +$ echo $LANG +C # LANG is set to the default locale, which does not support UTF8 +$ locale -a # which locales are installed ? +C +en_US.utf8 # here's a UTF8-aware one we can use +POSIX +$ LANG=en_US.utf8 hledger -f my.journal print # ensure it is used for this command + + If available, `C.UTF-8' will also work. If your preferred locale +isn't listed by `locale -a', you might need to install it. Eg on +Ubuntu/Debian: + + +$ apt-get install language-pack-fr +$ locale -a +C +en_US.utf8 +fr_BE.utf8 +fr_CA.utf8 +fr_CH.utf8 +fr_FR.utf8 +fr_LU.utf8 +POSIX +$ LANG=fr_FR.utf8 hledger -f my.journal print + + Here's how you could set it permanently, if you use a bash shell: + + +$ echo "export LANG=en_US.utf8" >>~/.bash_profile +$ bash --login + + Exact spelling and capitalisation may be important. Note the +difference on MacOS (`UTF-8', not `utf8'). Some platforms (eg ubuntu) +allow variant spellings, but others (eg macos) require it to be exact: + + +$ locale -a | grep -iE en_us.*utf +en_US.UTF-8 +$ LANG=en_US.UTF-8 hledger -f my.journal print + + + +Tag Table: +Node: Top216 +Node: OPTIONS2586 +Ref: #options2687 +Node: General options2829 +Ref: #general-options2954 +Node: Command options7162 +Ref: #command-options7313 +Node: Command arguments7712 +Ref: #command-arguments7870 +Node: Special characters8748 +Ref: #special-characters8911 +Node: Single escaping shell metacharacters9074 +Ref: #single-escaping-shell-metacharacters9315 +Node: Double escaping regular expression metacharacters9919 +Ref: #double-escaping-regular-expression-metacharacters10230 +Node: Triple escaping for add-on commands10756 +Ref: #triple-escaping-for-add-on-commands11016 +Node: Less escaping11662 +Ref: #less-escaping11816 +Node: Unicode characters12142 +Ref: #unicode-characters12307 +Node: Regular expressions13716 +Ref: #regular-expressions13856 +Node: ENVIRONMENT15597 +Ref: #environment15713 +Node: DATA FILES16701 +Ref: #data-files16820 +Node: Data formats17361 +Ref: #data-formats17479 +Node: Multiple files18961 +Ref: #multiple-files19103 +Node: Strict mode19573 +Ref: #strict-mode19688 +Node: TIME PERIODS20397 +Ref: #time-periods20514 +Node: Smart dates20612 +Ref: #smart-dates20738 +Node: Report start & end date22252 +Ref: #report-start-end-date22427 +Node: Report intervals24106 +Ref: #report-intervals24274 +Node: Period expressions26016 +Ref: #period-expressions26156 +Node: Period expressions with a report interval27884 +Ref: #period-expressions-with-a-report-interval28116 +Node: More complex report intervals29211 +Ref: #more-complex-report-intervals29460 +Node: Intervals with custom start date30098 +Ref: #intervals-with-custom-start-date30330 +Node: Periods or dates ?31919 +Ref: #periods-or-dates32121 +Node: Events on multiple weekdays32561 +Ref: #events-on-multiple-weekdays32740 +Node: DEPTH33606 +Ref: #depth33706 +Node: QUERIES34039 +Ref: #queries34138 +Node: Query types35077 +Ref: #query-types35196 +Node: Combining query terms37858 +Ref: #combining-query-terms38033 +Node: Queries and command options38842 +Ref: #queries-and-command-options39045 +Node: Queries and account aliases39294 +Ref: #queries-and-account-aliases39497 +Node: Queries and valuation39617 +Ref: #queries-and-valuation39810 +Node: Querying with account aliases40039 +Ref: #querying-with-account-aliases40248 +Node: Querying with cost or value40378 +Ref: #querying-with-cost-or-value40553 +Node: COSTING40854 +Ref: #costing40957 +Node: VALUATION41230 +Ref: #valuation41338 +Node: -V Value42103 +Ref: #v-value42227 +Node: -X Value in specified commodity42421 +Ref: #x-value-in-specified-commodity42614 +Node: Valuation date42763 +Ref: #valuation-date42925 +Node: Market prices43362 +Ref: #market-prices43544 +Node: --infer-market-prices market prices from transactions44727 +Ref: #infer-market-prices-market-prices-from-transactions44994 +Node: Valuation commodity46346 +Ref: #valuation-commodity46557 +Node: Simple valuation examples47784 +Ref: #simple-valuation-examples47980 +Node: --value Flexible valuation48642 +Ref: #value-flexible-valuation48844 +Node: More valuation examples50486 +Ref: #more-valuation-examples50693 +Node: Interaction of valuation and queries52699 +Ref: #interaction-of-valuation-and-queries52938 +Node: Effect of valuation on reports53413 +Ref: #effect-of-valuation-on-reports53608 +Node: PIVOTING61732 +Ref: #pivoting61837 +Node: OUTPUT63516 +Ref: #output63618 +Node: Output destination63709 +Ref: #output-destination63843 +Node: Output styling64499 +Ref: #output-styling64647 +Node: Output format65402 +Ref: #output-format65546 +Node: Commodity styles67709 +Ref: #commodity-styles67836 +Node: COMMANDS68611 +Ref: #commands68723 +Node: accounts72113 +Ref: #accounts72213 +Node: activity72905 +Ref: #activity73017 +Node: add73399 +Ref: #add73502 +Node: aregister76297 +Ref: #aregister76411 +Node: aregister and custom posting dates78770 +Ref: #aregister-and-custom-posting-dates78936 +Node: balance79486 +Ref: #balance79605 +Node: balance features80601 +Ref: #balance-features80741 +Node: Simple balance report82680 +Ref: #simple-balance-report82862 +Node: Filtered balance report84337 +Ref: #filtered-balance-report84524 +Node: List or tree mode84848 +Ref: #list-or-tree-mode85016 +Node: Depth limiting86360 +Ref: #depth-limiting86526 +Node: Dropping top-level accounts87124 +Ref: #dropping-top-level-accounts87326 +Node: Multi-period balance report87634 +Ref: #multi-period-balance-report87847 +Node: Showing declared accounts90126 +Ref: #showing-declared-accounts90324 +Node: Commodity layout90854 +Ref: #commodity-layout91024 +Node: Sorting by amount96341 +Ref: #sorting-by-amount96501 +Node: Percentages97166 +Ref: #percentages97324 +Node: Balance change end balance98283 +Ref: #balance-change-end-balance98476 +Node: Balance report types99900 +Ref: #balance-report-types100090 +Node: Useful balance reports104461 +Ref: #useful-balance-reports104642 +Node: Budget report105726 +Ref: #budget-report105910 +Node: Budget report start date111115 +Ref: #budget-report-start-date111293 +Node: Budgets and subaccounts112620 +Ref: #budgets-and-subaccounts112827 +Node: Selecting budget goals116214 +Ref: #selecting-budget-goals116386 +Node: Customising single-period balance reports117416 +Ref: #customising-single-period-balance-reports117625 +Node: balancesheet119809 +Ref: #balancesheet119947 +Node: balancesheetequity121245 +Ref: #balancesheetequity121396 +Node: cashflow122776 +Ref: #cashflow122900 +Node: check124046 +Ref: #check124151 +Node: Basic checks124784 +Ref: #basic-checks124902 +Node: Strict checks125454 +Ref: #strict-checks125595 +Node: Other checks126031 +Ref: #other-checks126171 +Node: Custom checks126528 +Ref: #custom-checks126648 +Node: close127066 +Ref: #close127170 +Node: close and prices129256 +Ref: #close-and-prices129385 +Node: close date129779 +Ref: #close-date129963 +Node: Example close asset/liability accounts for file transition130709 +Ref: #example-close-assetliability-accounts-for-file-transition131010 +Node: Hiding opening/closing transactions131872 +Ref: #hiding-openingclosing-transactions132143 +Node: close and balance assertions133524 +Ref: #close-and-balance-assertions133782 +Node: Example close revenue/expense accounts to retained earnings135136 +Ref: #example-close-revenueexpense-accounts-to-retained-earnings135414 +Node: codes136307 +Ref: #codes136417 +Node: commodities137130 +Ref: #commodities137259 +Node: descriptions137341 +Ref: #descriptions137471 +Node: diff137775 +Ref: #diff137883 +Node: files138928 +Ref: #files139030 +Node: help139176 +Ref: #help139278 +Node: import140093 +Ref: #import140209 +Node: Deduplication141071 +Ref: #deduplication141196 +Node: Import testing143084 +Ref: #import-testing143249 +Node: Importing balance assignments143739 +Ref: #importing-balance-assignments143945 +Node: Commodity display styles144592 +Ref: #commodity-display-styles144765 +Node: incomestatement144894 +Ref: #incomestatement145029 +Node: notes146330 +Ref: #notes146445 +Node: payees146812 +Ref: #payees146920 +Node: prices147446 +Ref: #prices147554 +Node: print147919 +Ref: #print148031 +Node: print-unique153341 +Ref: #print-unique153469 +Node: register153755 +Ref: #register153884 +Node: Custom register output158328 +Ref: #custom-register-output158459 +Node: register-match159796 +Ref: #register-match159932 +Node: rewrite160280 +Ref: #rewrite160397 +Node: Re-write rules in a file162303 +Ref: #re-write-rules-in-a-file162466 +Node: Diff output format163616 +Ref: #diff-output-format163799 +Node: rewrite vs print --auto164891 +Ref: #rewrite-vs.-print---auto165051 +Node: roi165601 +Ref: #roi165701 +Node: Spaces and special characters in --inv and --pnl167389 +Ref: #spaces-and-special-characters-in---inv-and---pnl167630 +Node: Semantics of --inv and --pnl168123 +Ref: #semantics-of---inv-and---pnl168362 +Node: IRR and TWR explained170208 +Ref: #irr-and-twr-explained170368 +Node: stats173430 +Ref: #stats173531 +Node: tags174907 +Ref: #tags175007 +Node: test175524 +Ref: #test175640 +Node: About add-on commands176385 +Ref: #about-add-on-commands176522 +Node: JOURNAL FORMAT177655 +Ref: #journal-format177783 +Node: Transactions180003 +Ref: #transactions180118 +Node: Dates181135 +Ref: #dates181251 +Node: Simple dates181316 +Ref: #simple-dates181436 +Node: Secondary dates181943 +Ref: #secondary-dates182091 +Node: Posting dates183425 +Ref: #posting-dates183548 +Node: Status184917 +Ref: #status185027 +Node: Code186732 +Ref: #code186844 +Node: Description187075 +Ref: #description187203 +Node: Payee and note187521 +Ref: #payee-and-note187629 +Node: Comments187963 +Ref: #comments188085 +Node: Tags189278 +Ref: #tags-1189389 +Node: Postings190787 +Ref: #postings190911 +Node: Virtual postings191935 +Ref: #virtual-postings192046 +Node: Account names193348 +Ref: #account-names193485 +Node: Amounts193971 +Ref: #amounts194108 +Node: Decimal marks digit group marks195095 +Ref: #decimal-marks-digit-group-marks195272 +Node: Commodity196293 +Ref: #commodity196482 +Node: Directives influencing number parsing and display197432 +Ref: #directives-influencing-number-parsing-and-display197693 +Node: Commodity display style198185 +Ref: #commodity-display-style198393 +Node: Rounding200588 +Ref: #rounding200708 +Node: Transaction prices201118 +Ref: #transaction-prices201284 +Node: Lot prices lot dates203714 +Ref: #lot-prices-lot-dates203897 +Node: Balance assertions204384 +Ref: #balance-assertions204562 +Node: Assertions and ordering205592 +Ref: #assertions-and-ordering205774 +Node: Assertions and included files206471 +Ref: #assertions-and-included-files206708 +Node: Assertions and multiple -f options207039 +Ref: #assertions-and-multiple--f-options207289 +Node: Assertions and commodities207420 +Ref: #assertions-and-commodities207646 +Node: Assertions and prices208801 +Ref: #assertions-and-prices209009 +Node: Assertions and subaccounts209450 +Ref: #assertions-and-subaccounts209673 +Node: Assertions and virtual postings209997 +Ref: #assertions-and-virtual-postings210233 +Node: Assertions and precision210374 +Ref: #assertions-and-precision210561 +Node: Balance assignments210826 +Ref: #balance-assignments210996 +Node: Balance assignments and prices212159 +Ref: #balance-assignments-and-prices212325 +Node: Directives212551 +Ref: #directives212714 +Node: Directives and multiple files218092 +Ref: #directives-and-multiple-files218288 +Node: Comment blocks218978 +Ref: #comment-blocks219155 +Node: Including other files219330 +Ref: #including-other-files219504 +Node: Default year220428 +Ref: #default-year220586 +Node: Declaring payees220993 +Ref: #declaring-payees221164 +Node: Declaring the decimal mark221409 +Ref: #declaring-the-decimal-mark221609 +Node: Declaring commodities222007 +Ref: #declaring-commodities222198 +Node: Commodity error checking224712 +Ref: #commodity-error-checking224862 +Node: Default commodity225118 +Ref: #default-commodity225298 +Node: Declaring market prices226411 +Ref: #declaring-market-prices226600 +Node: Declaring accounts227412 +Ref: #declaring-accounts227592 +Node: Account error checking228799 +Ref: #account-error-checking228965 +Node: Account comments230142 +Ref: #account-comments230326 +Node: Account subdirectives230752 +Ref: #account-subdirectives230937 +Node: Account types231252 +Ref: #account-types231426 +Node: Auto-detected account types232749 +Ref: #auto-detected-account-types232904 +Node: Account display order234137 +Ref: #account-display-order234297 +Node: Rewriting accounts235448 +Ref: #rewriting-accounts235627 +Node: Basic aliases236386 +Ref: #basic-aliases236522 +Node: Regex aliases237264 +Ref: #regex-aliases237426 +Node: Combining aliases238146 +Ref: #combining-aliases238329 +Node: Aliases and multiple files239606 +Ref: #aliases-and-multiple-files239805 +Node: end aliases240386 +Ref: #end-aliases240533 +Node: Default parent account240683 +Ref: #default-parent-account240873 +Node: Periodic transactions241757 +Ref: #periodic-transactions241940 +Node: Periodic rule syntax243857 +Ref: #periodic-rule-syntax244057 +Node: Two spaces between period expression and description!244760 +Ref: #two-spaces-between-period-expression-and-description245073 +Node: Forecasting with periodic transactions245758 +Ref: #forecasting-with-periodic-transactions246057 +Node: Budgeting with periodic transactions248825 +Ref: #budgeting-with-periodic-transactions249058 +Node: Auto postings249465 +Ref: #auto-postings249601 +Node: Auto postings and multiple files251784 +Ref: #auto-postings-and-multiple-files251982 +Node: Auto postings and dates252190 +Ref: #auto-postings-and-dates252458 +Node: Auto postings and transaction balancing / inferred amounts / balance assertions252633 +Ref: #auto-postings-and-transaction-balancing-inferred-amounts-balance-assertions252979 +Node: Auto posting tags253485 +Ref: #auto-posting-tags253694 +Node: CSV FORMAT254331 +Ref: #csv-format254459 +Node: Examples257083 +Ref: #examples257186 +Node: Basic257393 +Ref: #basic257495 +Node: Bank of Ireland258039 +Ref: #bank-of-ireland258176 +Node: Amazon259641 +Ref: #amazon259761 +Node: Paypal261482 +Ref: #paypal261578 +Node: CSV rules269226 +Ref: #csv-rules269344 +Node: skip269677 +Ref: #skip269777 +Node: fields list270149 +Ref: #fields-list270288 +Node: field assignment271793 +Ref: #field-assignment271945 +Node: Field names272977 +Ref: #field-names273117 +Node: date field273496 +Ref: #date-field273616 +Node: date2 field273664 +Ref: #date2-field273807 +Node: status field273863 +Ref: #status-field274008 +Node: code field274057 +Ref: #code-field274204 +Node: description field274249 +Ref: #description-field274411 +Node: comment field274470 +Ref: #comment-field274627 +Node: account field274926 +Ref: #account-field275078 +Node: amount field275652 +Ref: #amount-field275803 +Node: currency field277041 +Ref: #currency-field277196 +Node: balance field277452 +Ref: #balance-field277586 +Node: separator277958 +Ref: #separator278090 +Node: if block278632 +Ref: #if-block278759 +Node: Matching the whole record279157 +Ref: #matching-the-whole-record279334 +Node: Matching individual fields280137 +Ref: #matching-individual-fields280343 +Node: Combining matchers280567 +Ref: #combining-matchers280765 +Node: Rules applied on successful match281079 +Ref: #rules-applied-on-successful-match281272 +Node: if table281929 +Ref: #if-table282050 +Node: end283786 +Ref: #end283900 +Node: date-format284124 +Ref: #date-format284258 +Node: decimal-mark285255 +Ref: #decimal-mark285402 +Node: newest-first285739 +Ref: #newest-first285882 +Node: include286565 +Ref: #include286698 +Node: balance-type287140 +Ref: #balance-type287262 +Node: Tips287962 +Ref: #tips288053 +Node: Rapid feedback288352 +Ref: #rapid-feedback288471 +Node: Valid CSV288922 +Ref: #valid-csv289054 +Node: File Extension289246 +Ref: #file-extension289400 +Node: Reading multiple CSV files289829 +Ref: #reading-multiple-csv-files290016 +Node: Valid transactions290256 +Ref: #valid-transactions290436 +Node: Deduplicating importing291064 +Ref: #deduplicating-importing291245 +Node: Setting amounts292277 +Ref: #setting-amounts292434 +Node: Amount signs294875 +Ref: #amount-signs295029 +Node: Setting currency/commodity295716 +Ref: #setting-currencycommodity295904 +Node: Amount decimal places297084 +Ref: #amount-decimal-places297276 +Node: Referencing other fields297588 +Ref: #referencing-other-fields297787 +Node: How CSV rules are evaluated298685 +Ref: #how-csv-rules-are-evaluated298860 +Node: TIMECLOCK FORMAT300309 +Ref: #timeclock-format300449 +Node: TIMEDOT FORMAT302517 +Ref: #timedot-format302655 +Node: COMMON TASKS307214 +Ref: #common-tasks307343 +Node: Getting help307750 +Ref: #getting-help307884 +Node: Constructing command lines308435 +Ref: #constructing-command-lines308629 +Node: Starting a journal file309328 +Ref: #starting-a-journal-file309528 +Node: Setting opening balances310715 +Ref: #setting-opening-balances310913 +Node: Recording transactions314046 +Ref: #recording-transactions314228 +Node: Reconciling314785 +Ref: #reconciling314930 +Node: Reporting317175 +Ref: #reporting317317 +Node: Migrating to a new file321237 +Ref: #migrating-to-a-new-file321387 +Node: LIMITATIONS321685 +Ref: #limitations321813 +Node: TROUBLESHOOTING322554 +Ref: #troubleshooting322669 + +End Tag Table diff --git a/embeddedfiles/hledger.txt b/embeddedfiles/hledger.txt --- a/embeddedfiles/hledger.txt +++ b/embeddedfiles/hledger.txt @@ -6,7443 +6,7520 @@ NAME This is the command-line interface (CLI) for the hledger accounting tool. Here we also describe hledger's concepts and file formats. This - manual is for hledger 1.23. - -SYNOPSIS - hledger - - hledger [-f FILE] COMMAND [OPTIONS] [ARGS] - - hledger [-f FILE] ADDONCMD -- [OPTIONS] [ARGS] - -DESCRIPTION - hledger is a reliable, 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). - - The basic function of the hledger CLI is to read a plain text file - describing financial transactions (in accounting terms, a general jour- - nal) and print useful reports on standard output, or export them as - CSV. hledger can also read some other file formats such as CSV files, - translating them to journal format. Additionally, hledger lists other - hledger-* executables found in the user's $PATH and can invoke them as - subcommands. - - hledger reads data from one or more files in hledger journal, time- - clock, timedot, or CSV format specified with -f, or $LEDGER_FILE, or - $HOME/.hledger.journal (on windows, perhaps - C:/Users/USER/.hledger.journal). If using $LEDGER_FILE, note this must - be a real environment variable, not a shell variable. You can specify - standard input with -f-. - - Transactions are dated movements of money between two (or more) named - accounts, and are recorded with journal entries like this: - - 2015/10/16 bought food - expenses:food $10 - assets:cash - - Most users use a text editor to edit the journal, usually with an edi- - tor mode such as ledger-mode for added convenience. hledger's interac- - tive add command is another way to record new transactions. hledger - never changes existing transactions. - - To get started, you can either save some entries like the above in - ~/.hledger.journal, or run hledger add and follow the prompts. Then - try some commands like hledger print or hledger balance. Run hledger - with no arguments for a list of commands. - -OPTIONS - General options - To see general usage help, including general options which are sup- - ported by most hledger commands, run hledger -h. - - General help options: - - -h --help - show general or COMMAND help - - --man show general or COMMAND user manual with man - - --info show general or COMMAND user manual with info - - --version - show general or ADDONCMD version - - --debug[=N] - show debug output (levels 1-9, default: 1) - - General input options: - - -f FILE --file=FILE - use a different input file. For stdin, use - (default: - $LEDGER_FILE or $HOME/.hledger.journal) - - --rules-file=RULESFILE - Conversion rules file to use when reading CSV (default: - FILE.rules) - - --separator=CHAR - Field separator to expect when reading CSV (default: ',') - - --alias=OLD=NEW - rename accounts named OLD to NEW - - --anon anonymize accounts and payees - - --pivot FIELDNAME - use some other field or tag for the account name - - -I --ignore-assertions - disable balance assertion checks (note: does not disable balance - assignments) - - -s --strict - do extra error checking (check that all posted accounts are - declared) - - General reporting options: - - -b --begin=DATE - include postings/txns on or after this date (will be adjusted to - preceding subperiod start when using a report interval) - - -e --end=DATE - include postings/txns before this date (will be adjusted to fol- - lowing subperiod end when using a report interval) - - -D --daily - multiperiod/multicolumn report by day - - -W --weekly - multiperiod/multicolumn report by week - - -M --monthly - multiperiod/multicolumn report by month - - -Q --quarterly - multiperiod/multicolumn report by quarter - - -Y --yearly - multiperiod/multicolumn report by year - - -p --period=PERIODEXP - set start date, end date, and/or reporting interval all at once - using period expressions syntax - - --date2 - match the secondary date instead (see command help for other - effects) - - --today=DATE - override today's date (affects relative smart dates, for - tests/examples) - - -U --unmarked - include only unmarked postings/txns (can combine with -P or -C) - - -P --pending - include only pending postings/txns - - -C --cleared - include only cleared postings/txns - - -R --real - include only non-virtual postings - - -NUM --depth=NUM - hide/aggregate accounts or postings more than NUM levels deep - - -E --empty - show items with zero amount, normally hidden (and vice-versa in - hledger-ui/hledger-web) - - -B --cost - convert amounts to their cost/selling amount at transaction time - - -V --market - convert amounts to their market value in default valuation com- - modities - - -X --exchange=COMM - convert amounts to their market value in commodity COMM - - --value - convert amounts to cost or market value, more flexibly than - -B/-V/-X - - --infer-market-prices - use transaction prices (recorded with @ or @@) as additional - market prices, as if they were P directives - - --auto apply automated posting rules to modify transactions. - - --forecast - generate future transactions from periodic transaction rules, - for the next 6 months or till report end date. In hledger-ui, - also make ordinary future transactions visible. - - --commodity-style - Override the commodity style in the output for the specified - commodity. For example 'EUR1.000,00'. - - --color=WHEN (or --colour=WHEN) - Should color-supporting commands use ANSI color codes in text - output. 'auto' (default): whenever stdout seems to be a color- - supporting terminal. 'always' or 'yes': always, useful eg when - piping output into 'less -R'. 'never' or 'no': never. A - NO_COLOR environment variable overrides this. - - --pretty[=WHEN] - Show prettier output, e.g. using unicode box-drawing charac- - ters. Accepts 'yes' (the default) or 'no' ('y', 'n', 'always', - 'never' also work). If you provide an argument you must use - '=', e.g. '--pretty=yes'. - - When a reporting option appears more than once in the command line, the - last one takes precedence. - - Some reporting options can also be written as query arguments. - - Command options - To see options for a particular command, including command-specific - options, run: hledger COMMAND -h. - - Command-specific options must be written after the command name, eg: - hledger print -x. - - Additionally, if the command is an add-on, you may need to put its - options after a double-hyphen, eg: hledger ui -- --watch. Or, you can - run the add-on executable directly: hledger-ui --watch. - - Command arguments - Most hledger commands accept arguments after the command name, which - are often a query, filtering the data in some way. - - You can save a set of command line options/arguments in a file, and - then reuse them by writing @FILENAME as a command line argument. Eg: - hledger bal @foo.args. (To prevent this, eg if you have an argument - that begins with a literal @, precede it with --, eg: hledger bal -- - @ARG). - - Inside the argument file, each line should contain just one option or - argument. Avoid the use of spaces, except inside quotes (or you'll see - a confusing error). Between a flag and its argument, use = (or noth- - ing). Bad: - - assets depth:2 - -X USD - - Good: - - assets - depth:2 - -X=USD - - For special characters (see below), use one less level of quoting than - you would at the command prompt. Bad: - - -X"$" - - Good: - - -X$ - - See also: Save frequently used options. - - Special characters - Single escaping (shell metacharacters) - In shell command lines, characters significant to your shell - such as - spaces, <, >, (, ), |, $ and \ - should be "shell-escaped" if you want - hledger to see them. This is done by enclosing them in single or dou- - ble quotes, or by writing a backslash before them. Eg to match an - account name containing a space: - - $ hledger register 'credit card' - - or: - - $ hledger register credit\ card - - Windows users should keep in mind that cmd treats single quote as a - regular character, so you should be using double quotes exclusively. - PowerShell treats both single and double quotes as quotes. - - Double escaping (regular expression metacharacters) - Characters significant in regular expressions (described below) - such - as ., ^, $, [, ], (, ), |, and \ - may need to be "regex-escaped" if - you don't want them to be interpreted by hledger'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 $ sign while - using the bash shell: - - $ hledger balance cur:'\$' - - or: - - $ hledger balance cur:\\$ - - Triple escaping (for add-on commands) - When you use hledger to run an external add-on command (described - below), one level of shell-escaping is lost from any options or argu- - ments intended for by the add-on command, so those need an extra level - of shell-escaping. Eg to match a literal $ sign while using the bash - shell and running an add-on command (ui): - - $ hledger ui cur:'\\$' - - or: - - $ hledger ui cur:\\\\$ - - If you wondered why four backslashes, perhaps this helps: - - - unescaped: $ - escaped: \$ - double-escaped: \\$ - triple-escaped: \\\\$ - - Or, you can avoid the extra escaping by running the add-on executable - directly: - - $ hledger-ui cur:\\$ - - Less escaping - 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: - - o an @argumentfile - - o hledger-ui's filter field - - o hledger-web's search form - - o GHCI's prompt (used by developers). - - Unicode characters - hledger is expected to handle non-ascii characters correctly: - - o they should be parsed correctly in input files and on the command - line, by all hledger tools (add, iadd, hledger-web's search/add/edit - forms, etc.) - - o they should be displayed correctly by all hledger tools, and on- - screen alignment should be preserved. - - This requires a well-configured environment. Here are some tips: - - o 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: export LANG=en_US.UTF-8. There are some more details in Trou- - bleshooting. This step is essential - without it, hledger will quit - on encountering a non-ascii character (as with all GHC-compiled pro- - grams). - - o your terminal software (eg Terminal.app, iTerm, CMD.exe, xterm..) - must support unicode - - o the terminal must be using a font which includes the required unicode - glyphs - - o the terminal should be configured to display wide characters as dou- - ble width (for report alignment) - - o 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 stan- - dard 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). - - Regular expressions - hledger uses regular expressions in a number of places: - - o query terms, on the command line and in the hledger-web search form: - REGEX, desc:REGEX, cur:REGEX, tag:...=REGEX - - o CSV rules conditional blocks: if REGEX ... - - o account alias directives and options: alias /REGEX/ = REPLACEMENT, - --alias /REGEX/=REPLACEMENT - - hledger's regular expressions come from the regex-tdfa library. If - they're not doing what you expect, it's important to know exactly what - they support: - - 1. they are case insensitive - - 2. they are infix matching (they do not need to match the entire thing - being matched) - - 3. they are POSIX ERE (extended regular expressions) - - 4. they also support GNU word boundaries (\b, \B, \<, \>) - - 5. they do not support backreferences; if you write \1, it will match - the digit 1. 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. - - 6. they do not support mode modifiers ((?s)), character classes (\w, - \d), or anything else not mentioned above. - - Some things to note: - - o In the alias directive and --alias option, regular expressions must - be enclosed in forward slashes (/REGEX/). Elsewhere in hledger, - these are not required. - - o In queries, to match a regular expression metacharacter like $ as a - literal character, prepend a backslash. Eg to search for amounts - with the dollar sign in hledger-web, write cur:\$. - - o On the command line, some metacharacters like $ have a special mean- - ing to the shell and so must be escaped at least once more. See Spe- - cial characters. - -ENVIRONMENT - LEDGER_FILE The journal file path when not specified with -f. Default: - ~/.hledger.journal (on windows, perhaps C:/Users/USER/.hledger.jour- - nal). - - A typical value is ~/DIR/YYYY.journal, where DIR is a version-con- - trolled finance directory and YYYY is the current year. Or ~/DIR/cur- - rent.journal, where current.journal is a symbolic link to YYYY.journal. - - On Mac computers, you can set this and other environment variables in a - more thorough way that also affects applications started from the GUI - (say, an Emacs dock icon). Eg on MacOS Catalina I have a - ~/.MacOSX/environment.plist file containing - - { - "LEDGER_FILE" : "~/finance/current.journal" - } - - To see the effect you may need to killall Dock, or reboot. - - COLUMNS The screen width used by the register command. Default: the - full terminal width. - - NO_COLOR If this variable exists with any value, hledger will not use - ANSI color codes in terminal output. This is overriden by the - --color/--colour option. - -DATA FILES - hledger reads transactions from one or more data files. The default - data file is $HOME/.hledger.journal (or on Windows, something like - C:/Users/USER/.hledger.journal). - - You can override this with the $LEDGER_FILE environment variable: - - $ setenv LEDGER_FILE ~/finance/2016.journal - $ hledger stats - - or with one or more -f/--file options: - - $ hledger -f /some/file -f another_file stats - - The file name - means standard input: - - $ cat some.journal | hledger -f- - - Data formats - Usually the data file is in hledger's journal format, but it can be in - any of the supported file formats, which currently are: - - - Reader: Reads: Used for file exten- - sions: - ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- - journal hledger journal files and some Ledger .journal .j .hledger - journals, for transactions .ledger - time- timeclock files, for precise time log- .timeclock - clock ging - timedot timedot files, for approximate time .timedot - logging - csv comma/semicolon/tab/other-separated .csv .ssv .tsv - values, for data import - - These formats are described in their own sections, below. - - hledger detects the format automatically based on the file extensions - shown above. If it can't recognise the file extension, it assumes - journal format. So for non-journal files, it's important to use a - recognised file extension, so as to either read successfully or to show - relevant error messages. - - 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: - - $ hledger -f csv:/some/csv-file.dat stats - - Or to read stdin (-) as timeclock format: - - $ echo 'i 2009/13/1 08:00:00' | hledger print -ftimeclock:- - - Multiple files - You can specify multiple -f options, to read multiple files as one big - journal. There are some limitations with this: - - o most directives do not affect sibling files - - o balance assertions will not see any account balances from previous - files - - If you need either of those things, you can - - o use a single parent file which includes the others - - o or concatenate the files into one before reading, eg: cat a.journal - b.journal | hledger -f- CMD. - - Strict mode - hledger checks input files for valid data. By default, the most impor- - tant errors are detected, while still accepting easy journal files - without a lot of declarations: - - o Are the input files parseable, with valid syntax ? - - o Are all transactions balanced ? - - o Do all balance assertions pass ? - - With the -s/--strict flag, additional checks are performed: - - o Are all accounts posted to, declared with an account directive ? - (Account error checking) - - o Are all commodities declared with a commodity directive ? (Commodity - error checking) - - o Are all commodity conversions declared explicitly ? - - You can also use the check command to run these and some additional - checks. - -TIME PERIODS - Smart dates - hledger's user interfaces accept a flexible "smart date" syntax. Smart - dates allow some english words, can be relative to today's date, and - can have less-significant date parts omitted (defaulting to 1). - - Examples: - - - 2004/10/1, 2004-01-01, exact date, several separators allowed. Year - 2004.9.1 is 4+ digits, month is 1-12, day is 1-31 - 2004 start of year - 2004/10 start of month - 10/1 month and day in current year - 21 day in current month - october, oct start of month in current year - yesterday, today, tomor- -1, 0, 1 days from today - row - last/this/next -1, 0, 1 periods from the current period - day/week/month/quar- - ter/year - 20181201 8 digit YYYYMMDD with valid year month and day - 201812 6 digit YYYYMM with valid year and month - - Counterexamples - malformed digit sequences might give surprising - results: - - - 201813 6 digits with an invalid month is parsed as start of - 6-digit year - 20181301 8 digits with an invalid month is parsed as start of - 8-digit year - 20181232 8 digits with an invalid day gives an error - 201801012 9+ digits beginning with a valid YYYYMMDD gives an error - - Note "today's date" can be overridden with the --today option, in case - it's needed for testing or for recreating old reports. (Except for - periodic transaction rules; those are not affected by --today.) - - - Report start & end date - By default, most hledger reports will show the full span of time repre- - sented by the journal data. 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. - - 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 -b/--begin, - -e/--end, -p/--period or a date: query (described below). All of these - accept the smart date syntax. - - Some notes: - - o End dates are exclusive, as in Ledger, so you should write the date - after the last day you want to see in the report. - - o As noted in reporting options: among start/end dates specified with - options, the last (i.e. right-most) option takes precedence. - - o The effective report start and end dates are the intersection of the - start/end dates from options and that from date: queries. That is, - date:2019-01 date:2019 -p'2000 to 2030' yields January 2019, the - smallest common time span. - - o A report interval (see below) will adjust start/end dates, when - needed, so that they fall on subperiod boundaries. - - Examples: - - - -b 2016/3/17 begin on St. Patrick's day 2016 - -e 12/1 end at the start of december 1st of the current year - (11/30 will be the last date included) - -b thismonth all transactions on or after the 1st of the current month - -p thismonth all transactions in the current month - date:2016/3/17.. the above written as queries instead (.. can also be - replaced with -) - date:..12/1 - date:thismonth.. - date:thismonth - - Report intervals - A report interval can be specified so that commands like register, bal- - ance and activity become multi-period, showing each subperiod as a sep- - arate row or column. - - The following "standard" report intervals can be enabled by using their - corresponding flag: - - o -D/--daily - - o -W/--weekly - - o -M/--monthly - - o -Q/--quarterly - - o -Y/--yearly - - These standard intervals always start on natural interval boundaries: - eg --weekly starts on mondays, --monthly starts on the first of the - month, --yearly always starts on January 1st, etc. - - Certain more complex intervals, and more flexible boundary dates, can - be specified by -p/--period. These are described in period expres- - sions, below. - - Report intervals can only be specified by the flags above, and not by - query arguments, currently. - - Report intervals have another effect: multi-period reports are always - expanded to fill a whole number of subperiods. So if you use a report - interval (other than --daily), and you have specified a start or end - date, you may notice those dates being overridden (ie, the report - starts earlier than your requested start date, or ends later than your - requested end date). This is done to ensure "full" first and last sub- - periods, so that all subperiods' numbers are comparable. - - To summarise: - - o In multiperiod reports, all subperiods are forced to be the same - length, to simplify reporting. - - o Reports with the standard --weekly/--monthly/--quarterly/--yearly - intervals are required to start on the first day of a - week/month/quarter/year. We'd like more flexibility here but it - isn't supported yet. - - o --period (below) can specify more complex intervals, starting on any - date. - - Period expressions - The -p/--period option accepts period expressions, a shorthand way of - expressing a start date, end date, and/or report interval all at once. - - Here's a basic period expression specifying the first quarter of 2009. - Note, hledger always treats start dates as inclusive and end dates as - exclusive: - - - -p "from 2009/1/1 to 2009/4/1" - - Keywords like "from" and "to" are optional, and so are the spaces, as - long as you don't run two dates together. "to" can also be written as - ".." or "-". These are equivalent to the above: - - - -p "2009/1/1 2009/4/1" - -p2009/1/1to2009/4/1 - -p2009/1/1..2009/4/1 - - Dates are smart dates, so if the current year is 2009, the above can - also be written as: - - - -p "1/1 4/1" - -p "january-apr" - -p "this year to 4/1" - - If you specify only one date, the missing start or end date will be the - earliest or latest transaction in your journal: - - - - -p "from 2009/1/1" everything after january - 1, 2009 - -p "from 2009/1" the same - -p "from 2009" the same - -p "to 2009" everything before january - 1, 2009 - - A single date with no "from" or "to" defines both the start and end - date like so: - - - -p "2009" the year 2009; equivalent - to "2009/1/1 to 2010/1/1" - -p "2009/1" the month of jan; equiva- - lent to "2009/1/1 to - 2009/2/1" - -p "2009/1/1" just that day; equivalent - to "2009/1/1 to 2009/1/2" - - Or you can specify a single quarter like so: - - - -p "2009Q1" first quarter of 2009, - equivalent to "2009/1/1 to - 2009/4/1" - -p "q4" fourth quarter of the cur- - rent year - - Period expressions with a report interval - -p/--period's argument can also begin with, or entirely consist of, a - report interval. This should be separated from the start/end dates (if - any) by a space, or the word in. The basic intervals (which can also - be written as command line flags) are daily, weekly, monthly, quar- - terly, and yearly. Some examples: - - - -p "weekly from 2009/1/1 to 2009/4/1" - -p "monthly in 2008" - -p "quarterly" - - As mentioned above, the weekly, monthly, quarterly and yearly intervals - require a report start date that is the first day of a week, month, - quarter or year. And, report start/end dates will be expanded if - needed to span a whole number of intervals. - - For example: - - - -p "weekly from 2009/1/1 starts on 2008/12/29, closest preceding Mon- - to 2009/4/1" day - -p "monthly in starts on 2018/11/01 - 2008/11/25" - -p "quarterly from starts on 2009/04/01, ends on 2009/06/30, - 2009-05-05 to 2009-06-01" which are first and last days of Q2 2009 - -p "yearly from starts on 2009/01/01, first day of 2009 - 2009-12-29" - - More complex report intervals - Some more complex kinds of interval are also supported in period - expressions: - - o biweekly - - o fortnightly - - o bimonthly - - o every day|week|month|quarter|year - - o every N days|weeks|months|quarters|years - - These too will cause report start/end dates to be expanded, if needed, - to span a whole number of intervals. Examples: - - - -p "bimonthly from 2008" periods will have boundaries on 2008/01/01, - 2008/03/01, ... - -p "every 2 weeks" starts on closest preceding Monday - -p "every 5 month from periods will have boundaries on 2009/03/01, - 2009/03" 2009/08/01, ... - - Intervals with custom start date - All intervals mentioned above are required to start on their natural - calendar boundaries, but the following intervals can start on any date: - - Weekly on custom day: - - o every Nth day of week (th, nd, rd, or st are all accepted after the - number) - - o every WEEKDAYNAME (full or three-letter english weekday name, case - insensitive) - - Monthly on custom day: - - o every Nth day [of month] - - o every Nth WEEKDAYNAME [of month] - - Yearly on custom day: - - o every MM/DD [of year] (month number and day of month number) - - o every MONTHNAME DDth [of year] (full or three-letter english month - name, case insensitive, and day of month number) - - o every DDth MONTHNAME [of year] (equivalent to the above) - - Examples: - - - -p "every 2nd day of periods will go from Tue to Tue - week" - -p "every Tue" same - -p "every 15th day" period boundaries will be on 15th of each - month - -p "every 2nd Monday" period boundaries will be on second Monday of - each month - -p "every 11/05" yearly periods with boundaries on 5th of - November - -p "every 5th November" same - -p "every Nov 5th" same - - Show historical balances at end of the 15th day of each month (N is an - end date, exclusive as always): - - $ hledger balance -H -p "every 16th day" - - Group postings from the start of wednesday to end of the following - tuesday (N is both (inclusive) start date and (exclusive) end date): - - $ hledger register checking -p "every 3rd day of week" - - Periods or dates ? - Report intervals like the above are most often used with -p|--period, - to divide reports into multiple subperiods - each generated date marks - a subperiod boundary. Here, the periods between the dates are what's - important. - - But report intervals can also be used with --forecast to generate - future transactions, or with balance --budget to generate budget goal- - setting transactions. For these, the dates themselves are what mat- - ters. - - Events on multiple weekdays - The every WEEKDAYNAME form has a special variant with multiple day - names, comma-separated. Eg: every mon,thu,sat. Also, weekday and - weekendday are shorthand for mon,tue,wed,thu,fri and sat,sun respec- - tively. - - This form is mainly intended for use with --forecast, to generate peri- - odic transactions on arbitrary days of the week. It may be less useful - with -p, since it divides each week into subperiods of unequal length. - (Because gaps between periods are not allowed; if you'd like to change - this, see #1632.) - - Examples: - - - -p "every dates will be Mon, Wed, Fri; periods will be Mon- - mon,wed,fri" Tue, Wed-Thu, Fri-Sun - -p "every weekday" dates will be Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri; periods will - be Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri-Sun - -p "every weekend- dates will be Sat, Sun; periods will be Sat, Sun-Fri - day" - -DEPTH - With the --depth NUM option (short form: -NUM), commands like account, - balance and register will show only the uppermost accounts in the - account tree, down to level NUM. Use this when you want a summary with - less detail. This flag has the same effect as a depth: query argument: - depth:2, --depth=2 or -2 are equivalent. - -QUERIES - One of hledger's strengths is being able to quickly report on a precise - subset of your data. Most hledger commands accept optional query argu- - ments to restrict their scope. The syntax is as follows: - - o Zero or more space-separated query terms. These are most often - account name substrings: - - utilities food:groceries - - o Terms with spaces or other special characters should be enclosed in - quotes: - - "personal care" - - o Regular expressions are also supported: - - "^expenses\b" "accounts (payable|receivable)" - - o Add a query type prefix to match other parts of the data: - - date:202012- desc:amazon cur:USD amt:">100" status: - - o Add a not: prefix to negate a term: - - not:cur:USD - - Query types - Here are the types of query term available. Remember these can also be - prefixed with not: to convert them into a negative match. - - acct:REGEX, REGEX - Match account names containing this (case insensitive) regular expres- - sion. This is the default query type when there is no prefix, and reg- - ular expression syntax is typically not needed, so usually we just - write an account name substring, like expenses or food. - - amt:N, amt:N, amt:>=N - 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. Oth- - erwise, the absolute magnitudes are compared, ignoring sign. - - code:REGEX - Match by transaction code (eg check number). - - cur:REGEX - Match postings or transactions including any amounts whose cur- - rency/commodity symbol is fully matched by REGEX. (For a partial - match, use .*REGEX.*). Note, to match special characters which are - regex-significant, you need to escape them with \. And for characters - which are significant to your shell you may need one more level of - escaping. So eg to match the dollar sign: - hledger print cur:\\$. - - desc:REGEX - Match transaction descriptions. - - date:PERIODEXPR - Match dates (or with the --date2 flag, secondary dates) within the - specified period. PERIODEXPR is a period expression with no report - interval. Examples: - date:2016, date:thismonth, date:2/1-2/15, date:2021-07-27..nextquarter. - - date2:PERIODEXPR - Match secondary dates within the specified period (independent of the - --date2 flag). - - depth:N - Match (or display, depending on command) accounts at or above this - depth. - - note:REGEX - Match transaction notes (the part of the description right of |, or the - whole description if there's no |). - - payee:REGEX - Match transaction payee/payer names (the part of the description left - of |, or the whole description if there's no |). - - real:, real:0 - Match real or virtual postings respectively. - - status:, status:!, status:* - Match unmarked, pending, or cleared transactions respectively. - - tag:REGEX[=REGEX] - Match by tag name, and optionally also by tag value. (To match only by - value, use tag:.=REGEX.) Note that postings also inherit tags from - their transaction, and transactions also acquire tags from their post- - ings, when querying. - - (inacct:ACCTNAME - A special query term used automatically in hledger-web only: tells - hledger-web to show the transaction register for an account.) - - Combining query terms - Most commands select things which match: - - o any of the description terms AND - - o any of the account terms AND - - o any of the status terms AND - - o all the other terms. - - while the print command shows transactions which: - - o match any of the description terms AND - - o have any postings matching any of the positive account terms AND - - o have no postings matching any of the negative account terms AND - - o match all the other terms. - - You can do more powerful queries (such as AND-ing two like terms) by - running a first query with print, and piping the result into a second - hledger command. Eg: how much of food expenses was paid with cash ? - - $ hledger print assets:cash | hledger -f- -I balance expenses:food - - If you are interested in full boolean expressions for queries, see - #203. - - Queries and command options - Some queries can also be expressed as command-line options: depth:2 is - equivalent to --depth 2, date:2020 is equivalent to -p 2020, etc. When - you mix command options and query arguments, generally the resulting - query is their intersection. - - Queries and account aliases - When account names are rewritten with --alias or alias, acct: will - match either the old or the new account name. - - Queries and valuation - When amounts are converted to other commodities in cost or value - reports, cur: and amt: match the old commodity symbol and the old - amount quantity, not the new ones (except in hledger 1.22.0 where it's - reversed, see #1625). - - Querying with account aliases - When account names are rewritten with --alias or alias, note that acct: - will match either the old or the new account name. - - Querying with cost or value - When amounts are converted to other commodities in cost or value - reports, note that cur: matches the new commodity symbol, and not the - old one, and amt: 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. - -COSTING - The -B/--cost flag converts amounts to their cost or sale amount at - transaction time, if they have a transaction price specified. If this - flag is supplied, hledger will perform cost conversion first, and will - apply any market price valuations (if requested) afterwards. - -VALUATION - 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 --value=TYPE[,COMMODITY] - option, which will be described below. We also provide the simpler -V - and -X COMMODITY options, and often one of these is all you need: - - -V: Value - The -V/--market flag converts amounts to market value in their default - valuation commodity, using the market prices in effect on the valuation - date(s), if any. More on these in a minute. - - -X: Value in specified commodity - The -X/--exchange=COMM option is like -V, except you tell it which cur- - rency you want to convert to, and it tries to convert everything to - that. - - Valuation date - 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. - - 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's end date. - - For multiperiod reports, each column/period is valued on the last day - of the period, by default. - - Market prices - 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 : - - 1. A declared market price or inferred market price: A's latest market - price in B on or before the valuation date as declared by a P direc- - tive, or (with the --infer-market-prices flag) inferred from trans- - action prices. - - 2. A reverse market price: the inverse of a declared or inferred market - price from B to A. - - 3. A forward chain of market prices: a synthetic price formed by com- - bining the shortest chain of "forward" (only 1 above) market prices, - leading from A to B. - - 4. Any chain of market prices: a chain of any market prices, including - both forward and reverse prices (1 and 2 above), leading from A to - B. - - 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 "gave up" message visible in - --debug=2 output). That limit is currently 1000. - - Amounts for which no suitable market price can be found, are not con- - verted. - - --infer-market-prices: market prices from transactions - 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 transaction prices as additional market - prices (as Ledger does) ? We could produce value reports without need- - ing P directives at all. - - Adding the --infer-market-prices flag to -V, -X or --value enables - this. So for example, hledger bs -V --infer-market-prices will get - market prices both from P directives and from transactions. (And if - both occur on the same day, the P directive takes precedence). - - There is a downside: value reports can sometimes be affected in confus- - ing/undesired ways by your journal entries. If this happens to you, - read all of this Valuation section carefully, and try adding --debug or - --debug=2 to troubleshoot. - - --infer-market-prices can infer market prices from: - - o multicommodity transactions with explicit prices (@/@@) - - o multicommodity transactions with implicit prices (no @, two commodi- - ties, unbalanced). (With these, the order of postings matters. - hledger print -x can be useful for troubleshooting.) - - o but not, currently, from "more correct" multicommodity transactions - (no @, multiple commodities, balanced). - - Valuation commodity - When you specify a valuation commodity (-X COMM or --value TYPE,COMM): - hledger will convert all amounts to COMM, wherever it can find a suit- - able market price (including by reversing or chaining prices). - - When you leave the valuation commodity unspecified (-V or --value - TYPE): - For each commodity A, hledger picks a default valuation commodity as - follows, in this order of preference: - - 1. The price commodity from the latest P-declared market price for A on - or before valuation date. - - 2. 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.) - - 3. If there are no P directives at all (any commodity or date) and the - --infer-market-prices flag is used: the price commodity from the - latest transaction-inferred price for A on or before valuation date. - - This means: - - o If you have P directives, they determine which commodities -V will - convert, and to what. - - o If you have no P directives, and use the --infer-market-prices flag, - transaction prices determine it. - - Amounts for which no valuation commodity can be found are not con- - verted. - - Simple valuation examples - Here are some quick examples of -V: - - ; one euro is worth this many dollars from nov 1 - P 2016/11/01 EUR $1.10 - - ; purchase some euros on nov 3 - 2016/11/3 - assets:euros EUR100 - assets:checking - - ; the euro is worth fewer dollars by dec 21 - P 2016/12/21 EUR $1.03 - - How many euros do I have ? - - $ hledger -f t.j bal -N euros - EUR100 assets:euros - - What are they worth at end of nov 3 ? - - $ hledger -f t.j bal -N euros -V -e 2016/11/4 - $110.00 assets:euros - - What are they worth after 2016/12/21 ? (no report end date specified, - defaults to today) - - $ hledger -f t.j bal -N euros -V - $103.00 assets:euros - - --value: Flexible valuation - -V and -X are special cases of the more general --value option: - - --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 - - The TYPE part selects cost or value and valuation date: - - --value=then - Convert amounts to their value in the default valuation commod- - ity, using market prices on each posting's date. - - --value=end - Convert amounts to their value in the default valuation commod- - ity, using market prices on the last day of the report period - (or if unspecified, the journal's end date); or in multiperiod - reports, market prices on the last day of each subperiod. - - --value=now - Convert amounts to their value in the default valuation commod- - ity using current market prices (as of when report is gener- - ated). - - --value=YYYY-MM-DD - Convert amounts to their value in the default valuation commod- - ity using market prices on this date. - - To select a different valuation commodity, add the optional ,COMM part: - a comma, then the target commodity's symbol. Eg: --value=now,EUR. - hledger will do its best to convert amounts to this commodity, deducing - market prices as described above. - - More valuation examples - Here are some examples showing the effect of --value, as seen with - print: - - 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 @ 5 B - - 2000-02-01 - (a) 1 A @ 6 B - - 2000-03-01 - (a) 1 A @ 7 B - - Show the cost of each posting: - - $ hledger -f- print --cost - 2000-01-01 - (a) 5 B - - 2000-02-01 - (a) 6 B - - 2000-03-01 - (a) 7 B - - Show the value as of the last day of the report period (2000-02-29): - - $ hledger -f- print --value=end date:2000/01-2000/03 - 2000-01-01 - (a) 2 B - - 2000-02-01 - (a) 2 B - - With no report period specified, that shows the value as of the last - day of the journal (2000-03-01): - - $ hledger -f- print --value=end - 2000-01-01 - (a) 3 B - - 2000-02-01 - (a) 3 B - - 2000-03-01 - (a) 3 B - - Show the current value (the 2000-04-01 price is still in effect today): - - $ hledger -f- print --value=now - 2000-01-01 - (a) 4 B - - 2000-02-01 - (a) 4 B - - 2000-03-01 - (a) 4 B - - Show the value on 2000/01/15: - - $ 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 - - You may need to explicitly set a commodity's display style, when - reverse prices are used. Eg this output might be surprising: - - P 2000-01-01 A 2B - - 2000-01-01 - a 1B - b - - $ hledger print -x -X A - 2000-01-01 - a 0 - b 0 - - Explanation: because there's no amount or commodity directive specify- - ing a display style for A, 0.5A gets the default style, which shows no - decimal digits. Because the displayed amount looks like zero, the com- - modity symbol and minus sign are not displayed either. Adding a com- - modity directive sets a more useful display style for A: - - P 2000-01-01 A 2B - commodity 0.00A - - 2000-01-01 - a 1B - b - - $ hledger print -X A - 2000-01-01 - a 0.50A - b -0.50A - - Effect of valuation on reports - Here is a reference for how valuation is supposed to affect each part - of hledger's reports (and a glossary). (It's wide, you'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. - - - - Report -B, --cost -V, -X --value=then --value=end --value=DATE, - type --value=now - ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - print - posting cost value at value at posting value at value at - amounts report end date report or DATE/today - or today journal end - balance unchanged unchanged unchanged unchanged unchanged - asser- - tions/assign- - ments - - register - starting bal- cost value at day valued at day value at day value at - ance (-H) before each historical before DATE/today - report or posting was made report or - journal journal - start start - posting cost value at value at posting value at value at - amounts report end date report or DATE/today - or today journal end - summary post- summarised value at sum of postings value at value at - ing amounts cost period ends in interval, val- period ends DATE/today - with report ued at interval - interval start - running sum/average sum/average sum/average of sum/average sum/average - total/average of displayed of displayed displayed values of displayed of displayed - values values values values - - balance (bs, - bse, cf, is) - balance sums of value at value at posting value at value at - changes costs report end date report or DATE/today of - or today of journal end sums of post- - sums of of sums of ings - postings postings - budget like balance like balance like balance like bal- like balance - amounts changes changes changes ances changes - (--budget) - grand total sum of dis- sum of dis- sum of displayed sum of dis- sum of dis- - played val- played val- valued played val- played values - ues ues ues - - balance (bs, - bse, cf, is) - with report - interval - starting bal- sums of value at sums of values of value at sums of post- - ances (-H) costs of report start postings before report start ings before - postings of sums of report start at of sums of report start - before all postings respective post- all postings - report start before ing dates before - report start report start - balance sums of same as sums of values of balance value at - changes (bal, costs of --value=end postings in change in DATE/today of - is, bs postings in period at respec- each period, sums of post- - --change, cf period tive posting valued at ings - --change) dates period ends - end balances sums of same as sums of values of period end value at - (bal -H, is costs of --value=end postings from balances, DATE/today of - --H, bs, cf) postings before period valued at sums of post- - from before start to period period ends ings - report start end at respective - to period posting dates - end - budget like balance like balance like balance like bal- like balance - amounts changes/end changes/end changes/end bal- ances changes/end - (--budget) balances balances ances balances - - - - - row totals, sums, aver- sums, aver- sums, averages of sums, aver- sums, aver- - row averages ages of dis- ages of dis- displayed values ages of dis- ages of dis- - (-T, -A) played val- played val- played val- played values - ues ues ues - column totals sums of dis- sums of dis- sums of displayed sums of dis- sums of dis- - played val- played val- values played val- played values - ues ues ues - grand total, sum, average sum, average sum, average of sum, average sum, average - grand average of column of column column totals of column of column - totals totals totals totals - - - --cumulative is omitted to save space, it works like -H but with a zero - starting balance. - - Glossary: - - cost calculated using price(s) recorded in the transaction(s). - - value market value using available market price declarations, or the - unchanged amount if no conversion rate can be found. - - report start - the first day of the report period specified with -b or -p or - date:, otherwise today. - - report or journal start - the first day of the report period specified with -b or -p or - date:, otherwise the earliest transaction date in the journal, - otherwise today. - - report end - the last day of the report period specified with -e or -p or - date:, otherwise today. - - report or journal end - the last day of the report period specified with -e or -p or - date:, otherwise the latest transaction date in the journal, - otherwise today. - - report interval - a flag (-D/-W/-M/-Q/-Y) or period expression that activates the - report's multi-period mode (whether showing one or many subperi- - ods). - -PIVOTING - Normally hledger sums amounts, and organizes them in a hierarchy, based - on account name. The --pivot FIELD option causes it to sum and orga- - nize hierarchy based on the value of some other field instead. FIELD - can be: code, description, payee, note, or the full name (case insensi- - tive) of any tag. As with account names, values containing colon:sepa- - rated:parts will be displayed hierarchically in reports. - - --pivot is a general option affecting all reports; you can think of - hledger transforming the journal before any other processing, replacing - every posting's account name with the value of the specified field on - that posting, inheriting it from the transaction or using a blank value - if it's not present. - - An example: - - 2016/02/16 Member Fee Payment - assets:bank account 2 EUR - income:member fees -2 EUR ; member: John Doe - - Normal balance report showing account names: - - $ hledger balance - 2 EUR assets:bank account - -2 EUR income:member fees - -------------------- - 0 - - Pivoted balance report, using member: tag values instead: - - $ hledger balance --pivot member - 2 EUR - -2 EUR John Doe - -------------------- - 0 - - One way to show only amounts with a member: value (using a query, - described below): - - $ hledger balance --pivot member tag:member=. - -2 EUR John Doe - -------------------- - -2 EUR - - Another way (the acct: query matches against the pivoted "account - name"): - - $ hledger balance --pivot member acct:. - -2 EUR John Doe - -------------------- - -2 EUR - -OUTPUT - Output destination - hledger commands send their output to the terminal by default. You can - of course redirect this, eg into a file, using standard shell syntax: - - $ hledger print > foo.txt - - Some commands (print, register, stats, the balance commands) also pro- - vide the -o/--output-file option, which does the same thing without - needing the shell. Eg: - - $ hledger print -o foo.txt - $ hledger print -o - # write to stdout (the default) - - hledger can optionally produce debug output (if enabled with - --debug=N); this goes to stderr, and is not affected by -o/--output- - file. If you need to capture it, use shell redirects, eg: hledger bal - --debug=3 >file 2>&1. - - Output styling - hledger commands can produce colour output when the terminal supports - it. This is controlled by the --color/--colour option: - if the - --color/--colour option is given a value of yes or always (or no or - never), colour will (or will not) be used; - otherwise, if the NO_COLOR - environment variable is set, colour will not be used; - otherwise, - colour will be used if the output (terminal or file) supports it. - - hledger commands can also use unicode box-drawing characters to produce - prettier tables and output. This is controlled by the --pretty option: - - if the --pretty option is given a value of yes or always (or no or - never), unicode characters will (or will not) be used; - otherwise, - unicode characters will not be used. - - Output format - Some commands (print, register, the balance commands) offer a choice of - output format. In addition to the usual plain text format (txt), there - are CSV (csv), HTML (html), JSON (json) and SQL (sql). This is con- - trolled by the -O/--output-format option: - - $ hledger print -O csv - - or, by a file extension specified with -o/--output-file: - - $ hledger balancesheet -o foo.html # write HTML to foo.html - - The -O option can be used to override the file extension if needed: - - $ hledger balancesheet -o foo.txt -O html # write HTML to foo.txt - - Some notes about JSON output: - - o This feature is marked experimental, and not yet much used; you - should expect our JSON to evolve. Real-world feedback is welcome. - - o Our JSON is rather large and verbose, as it is quite a faithful rep- - resentation of hledger'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. - - o 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'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) - - Notes about SQL output: - - o SQL output is also marked experimental, and much like JSON could use - real-world feedback. - - o SQL output is expected to work with sqlite, MySQL and PostgreSQL - - o SQL output is structured with the expectations that statements will - be executed in the empty database. If you already have tables cre- - ated via SQL output of hledger, you would probably want to either - clear tables of existing data (via delete or truncate SQL statements) - or drop tables completely as otherwise your postings will be duped. - - Commodity styles - The display style of a commodity/currency is inferred according to the - rules described in Commodity display style. The inferred display style - can be overridden by an optional -c/--commodity-style option (Excep- - tions: as is the case for inferred styles, price amounts, and all - amounts displayed by the print command, will be displayed with all of - their decimal digits visible, regardless of the specified precision). - For example, the following will override the display style for dollars. - - $ hledger print -c '$1.000,0' - - The format specification of the style is identical to the commodity - display style specification for the commodity directive. The command - line option can be supplied repeatedly to override the display style - for multiple commodity/currency symbols. - -COMMANDS - hledger provides a number of commands for producing reports and manag- - ing your data. Run hledger with no arguments to list the commands - available, and hledger CMD to run a command. CMD can be the full com- - mand name, or its standard abbreviation shown in the commands list, or - any unambiguous prefix of the name. Eg: hledger bal. - - Here are the built-in commands, with the most often-used in bold: - - Data entry: - - These data entry commands are the only ones which can modify your jour- - nal file. - - o add - add transactions using guided prompts - - o import - add any new transactions from other files (eg csv) - - Data management: - - o check - check for various kinds of issue in the data - - o close (equity) - generate balance-resetting transactions - - o diff - compare account transactions in two journal files - - o rewrite - generate extra postings, similar to print --auto - - Financial statements: - - o aregister (areg) - show transactions in a particular account - - o balancesheet (bs) - show assets, liabilities and net worth - - o balancesheetequity (bse) - show assets, liabilities and equity - - o cashflow (cf) - show changes in liquid assets - - o incomestatement (is) - show revenues and expenses - - o roi - show return on investments - - Miscellaneous reports: - - o accounts - show account names - - o activity - show postings-per-interval bar charts - - o balance (bal) - show balance changes/end balances/budgets in any - accounts - - o codes - show transaction codes - - o commodities - show commodity/currency symbols - - o descriptions - show unique transaction descriptions - - o files - show input file paths - - o help - show hledger user manuals in several formats - - o notes - show unique note segments of transaction descriptions - - o payees - show unique payee segments of transaction descriptions - - o prices - show market price records - - o print - show transactions (journal entries) - - o print-unique - show only transactions with unique descriptions - - o register (reg) - show postings in one or more accounts & running - total - - o register-match - show a recent posting that best matches a descrip- - tion - - o stats - show journal statistics - - o tags - show tag names - - o test - run self tests - - Add-on commands: - - Programs or scripts named hledger-SOMETHING in your PATH are add-on - commands; these appear in the commands list with a + mark. Two of - these are maintained and released with hledger: - - o ui - an efficient terminal interface (TUI) for hledger - - o web - a simple web interface (WUI) for hledger - - And these add-ons are maintained separately: - - o iadd - a more interactive alternative for the add command - - o interest - generates interest transactions according to various - schemes - - o stockquotes - downloads market prices for your commodities from - AlphaVantage (experimental) - - Next, the detailed command docs, in alphabetical order. - - accounts - accounts - Show account names. - - This command lists account names, either declared with account direc- - tives (--declared), posted to (--used), or both (the default). With - query arguments, only matched account names and account names refer- - enced by matched postings are shown. It shows a flat list by default. - With --tree, it uses indentation to show the account hierarchy. In - flat mode you can add --drop N to omit the first few account name com- - ponents. Account names can be depth-clipped with depth:N or --depth N - or -N. - - Examples: - - $ hledger accounts - assets:bank:checking - assets:bank:saving - assets:cash - expenses:food - expenses:supplies - income:gifts - income:salary - liabilities:debts - - activity - activity - Show an ascii barchart of posting counts per interval. - - 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. - - Examples: - - $ hledger activity --quarterly - 2008-01-01 ** - 2008-04-01 ******* - 2008-07-01 - 2008-10-01 ** - - add - add - Prompt for transactions and add them to the journal. Any arguments - will be used as default inputs for the first N prompts. - - Many hledger users edit their journals directly with a text editor, or - generate them from CSV. For more interactive data entry, there is the - add command, which prompts interactively on the console for new trans- - actions, and appends them to the journal file (if there are multiple -f - FILE options, the first file is used.) Existing transactions are not - changed. This is the only hledger command that writes to the journal - file. - - To use it, just run hledger add and follow the prompts. You can add as - many transactions as you like; when you are finished, enter . or press - control-d or control-c to exit. - - Features: - - o add tries to provide useful defaults, using the most similar (by - description) recent transaction (filtered by the query, if any) as a - template. - - o You can also set the initial defaults with command line arguments. - - o Readline-style edit keys can be used during data entry. - - o The tab key will auto-complete whenever possible - accounts, descrip- - tions, dates (yesterday, today, tomorrow). If the input area is - empty, it will insert the default value. - - o If the journal defines a default commodity, it will be added to any - bare numbers entered. - - o A parenthesised transaction code may be entered following a date. - - o Comments and tags may be entered following a description or amount. - - o If you make a mistake, enter < at any prompt to go one step backward. - - o Input prompts are displayed in a different colour when the terminal - supports it. - - Example (see the tutorial for a detailed explanation): - - $ 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]: $ - - 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). - - aregister - aregister, areg - - Show the transactions and running historical balance of a single - account, with each transaction displayed as one line. - - aregister 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 (--historical mode is always on). - - This is a more "real world", bank-like view than the register command - (which shows individual postings, possibly from multiple accounts, not - necessarily in historical mode). As a quick rule of thumb: - use areg- - ister for reviewing and reconciling real-world asset/liability accounts - - use register for reviewing detailed revenues/expenses. - - aregister 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. - (Eg if you have assets:aaa:checking and assets:bbb:checking accounts, - hledger areg checking would select assets:aaa:checking.) - - Transactions involving subaccounts of this account will also be shown. - aregister ignores depth limits, so its final total will always match a - balance report with similar arguments. - - Any additional arguments form a query which will filter the transac- - tions shown. Note some queries will disturb the running balance, caus- - ing it to be different from the account's real-world running balance. - - An example: this shows the transactions and historical running balance - during july, in the first account whose name contains "checking": - - $ hledger areg checking date:jul - - Each aregister line item shows: - - o the transaction's date (or the relevant posting's date if different, - see below) - - o the names of all the other account(s) involved in this transaction - (probably abbreviated) - - o the total change to this account's balance from this transaction - - o the account's historical running balance after this transaction. - - Transactions making a net change of zero are not shown by default; add - the -E/--empty flag to show them. - - This command also supports the output destination and output format - options. The output formats supported are txt, csv, and json. - - aregister and custom posting dates - 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's the posting date that is shown.) This - ensures that aregister can show an accurate historical running balance, - matching the one shown by register -H with the same arguments. - - To filter strictly by transaction date instead, add the --txn-dates - flag. If you use this flag and some of your postings have custom - dates, it's probably best to assume the running balance is wrong. - - balance - balance, bal - Show accounts and their balances. - - balance is one of hledger'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. - - Note there are some higher-level variants of the balance command with - convenient defaults, which can be simpler to use: balancesheet, bal- - ancesheetequity, cashflow and incomestatement. When you need more con- - trol, then use balance. - - balance features - Here's a quick overview of the balance command's features, followed by - more detailed descriptions and examples. Many of these work with the - higher-level commands as well. - - balance can show.. - - o accounts as a list (-l) or a tree (-t) - - o optionally depth-limited (-[1-9]) - - o sorted by declaration order and name, or by amount - - ..and their.. - - o balance changes (the default) - - o or actual and planned balance changes (--budget) - - o or value of balance changes (-V) - - o or change of balance values (--valuechange) - - o or unrealised capital gain/loss (--gain) - - ..in.. - - o one time period (the whole journal period by default) - - o or multiple periods (-D, -W, -M, -Q, -Y, -p INTERVAL) - - ..either.. - - o per period (the default) - - o or accumulated since report start date (--cumulative) - - o or accumulated since account creation (--historical/-H) - - ..possibly converted to.. - - o cost (--value=cost[,COMM]/--cost/-B) - - o or market value, as of transaction dates (--value=then[,COMM]) - - o or at period ends (--value=end[,COMM]) - - o or now (--value=now) - - o or at some other date (--value=YYYY-MM-DD) - - ..with.. - - o totals (-T), averages (-A), percentages (-%), inverted sign - (--invert) - - o rows and columns swapped (--transpose) - - o another field used as account name (--pivot) - - o custom-formatted line items (single-period reports only) (--format) - - o commodities shown in a separate column, one per row (--commodity-col- - umn) - - This command supports the output destination and output format options, - with output formats txt, csv, json, and (multi-period reports only:) - html. In txt output in a colour-supporting terminal, negative amounts - are shown in red. - - Simple balance report - With no arguments, balance 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. For real-world - accounts, this should also match their end balance at the end of the - journal period (more on this below). - - Accounts are sorted by declaration order if any, and then alphabeti- - cally by account name. For instance (using examples/sample.journal): - - $ 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 - - Accounts with a zero balance (and no non-zero subaccounts, in tree mode - - see below) are hidden by default. Use -E/--empty to show them - (revealing assets:bank:checking here): - - $ 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 - - The total of the amounts displayed is shown as the last line, unless - -N/--no-total is used. - - Filtered balance report - 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: - - $ hledger -f examples/sample.journal bal --cleared assets date:200806 - $-2 assets:cash - -------------------- - $-2 - - List or tree mode - By default, or with -l/--flat, accounts are shown as a flat list with - their full names visible, as in the examples above. - - With -t/--tree, the account hierarchy is shown, with subaccounts' - "leaf" names indented below their parent: - - $ 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 - - Notes: - - o "Boring" accounts are combined with their subaccount for more compact - output, unless --no-elide is used. Boring accounts have no balance - of their own and just one subaccount (eg assets:bank and liabilities - above). - - o All balances shown are "inclusive", ie including the balances from - all subaccounts. Note this means some repetition in the output, - which requires explanation when sharing reports with non-plaintextac- - counting-users. A tree mode report's final total is the sum of the - top-level balances shown, not of all the balances shown. - - o Each group of sibling accounts (ie, under a common parent) is sorted - separately. - - Depth limiting - With a depth:NUM query, or --depth NUM option, or just -NUM (eg: -3) - 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. - - Account balances at the depth limit always include the balances from - any deeper subaccounts (even in list mode). Eg, limiting to depth 1: - - $ hledger -f examples/sample.journal balance -1 - $-1 assets - $2 expenses - $-2 income - $1 liabilities - -------------------- - 0 - - Dropping top-level accounts - You can also hide one or more top-level account name parts, using - --drop NUM. This can be useful for hiding repetitive top-level account - names: - - $ hledger -f examples/sample.journal bal expenses --drop 1 - $1 food - $1 supplies - -------------------- - $2 - - - Multi-period balance report - With a report interval (set by the -D/--daily, -W/--weekly, - -M/--monthly, -Q/--quarterly, -Y/--yearly, or -p/--period flag), bal- - ance shows a tabular report, with columns representing successive time - periods (and a title): - - $ 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 - - Notes: - - o The report's start/end dates will be expanded, if necessary, to fully - encompass the displayed subperiods (so that the first and last subpe- - riods have the same duration as the others). - - o Leading and trailing periods (columns) containing all zeroes are not - shown, unless -E/--empty is used. - - o Accounts (rows) containing all zeroes are not shown, unless - -E/--empty is used. - - o Amounts with many commodities are shown in abbreviated form, unless - --no-elide is used. (experimental) - - o Average and/or total columns can be added with the -A/--average and - -T/--row-total flags. - - o The --transpose flag can be used to exchange rows and columns. - - o The --pivot FIELD option causes a different transaction field to be - used as "account name". See PIVOTING. - - Multi-period reports with many periods can be too wide for easy viewing - in the terminal. Here are some ways to handle that: - - o Hide the totals row with -N/--no-total - - o Convert to a single currency with -V - - o Maximize the terminal window - - o Reduce the terminal's font size - - o View with a pager like less, eg: hledger bal -D --color=yes | less - -RS - - o Output as CSV and use a CSV viewer like visidata (hledger bal -D -O - csv | vd -f csv), Emacs' csv-mode (M-x csv-mode, C-c C-a), or a - spreadsheet (hledger bal -D -o a.csv && open a.csv) - - o Output as HTML and view with a browser: hledger bal -D -o a.html && - open a.html - - Commodity column - With --commodity-column, commodity symbols are displayed in a separate - column, and amounts are displayed as bare numbers. In this mode, each - report row will show amounts for a single commodity, using extra rows - when necessary. It can be useful for a cleaner display of reports with - many commodities: - - $ hledger -f examples/bcexample.hledger bal assets:us:etrade -3 -T -Y - 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.. - - $ hledger -f examples/bcexample.hledger bal assets:us:etrade -3 -T -Y --commodity-column - 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 - - This flag also affects CSV output, which is useful for producing data - that is easier to consume, eg when making charts: - - $ hledger -f examples/bcexample.hledger bal assets:us:etrade -3 -O csv - "account","balance" - "Assets:US:ETrade","70.00 GLD, 17.00 ITOT, 5120.50 USD, 36.00 VEA, 294.00 VHT" - "total","70.00 GLD, 17.00 ITOT, 5120.50 USD, 36.00 VEA, 294.00 VHT" - - $ hledger -f examples/bcexample.hledger bal assets:us:etrade -3 -O csv --commodity-column - "account","commodity","balance" - "Assets:US:ETrade","GLD","70.00" - "Assets:US:ETrade","ITOT","17.00" - "Assets:US:ETrade","USD","5120.50" - "Assets:US:ETrade","VEA","36.00" - "Assets:US:ETrade","VHT","294.00" - "total","GLD","70.00" - "total","ITOT","17.00" - "total","USD","5120.50" - "total","VEA","36.00" - "total","VHT","294.00" - - Sorting by amount - With -S/--sort-amount, accounts with the largest (most positive) bal- - ances are shown first. Eg: hledger bal expenses -MAS shows your big- - gest 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). - - Revenues and liability balances are typically negative, however, so -S - shows these in reverse order. To work around this, you can add - --invert to flip the signs. (Or, use one of the higher-level reports, - which flip the sign automatically. Eg: hledger incomestatement -MAS). - - - Percentages - With -%/--percent, balance reports show each account's value expressed - as a percentage of the (column) total: - - $ hledger -f examples/sample.journal bal expenses -Q -% - Balance changes in 2008: - - || 2008Q1 2008Q2 2008Q3 2008Q4 - ===================++================================= - expenses:food || 0 50.0 % 0 0 - expenses:supplies || 0 50.0 % 0 0 - -------------------++--------------------------------- - || 0 100.0 % 0 0 - - Note it is not useful to calculate percentages if the amounts in a col- - umn have mixed signs. In this case, make a separate report for each - sign, eg: - - $ hledger bal -% amt:`>0` - $ hledger bal -% amt:`<0` - - Similarly, if the amounts in a column have mixed commodities, convert - them to one commodity with -B, -V, -X or --value, or make a separate - report for each commodity: - - $ hledger bal -% cur:\\$ - $ hledger bal -% cur:EUR - - Balance change, end balance - It's important to be clear on the meaning of the numbers shown in bal- - ance reports. Here is some terminology we use: - - A balance change is the net amount added to, or removed from, an - account during some period. - - An end balance is the amount accumulated in an account as of some date - (and some time, but hledger doesn't store that; assume end of day in - your timezone). It is the sum of previous balance changes. - - We call it a historical end balance if it includes all balance changes - since the account was created. For a real world account, this means it - will match the "historical record", eg the balances reported in your - bank statements or bank web UI. (If they are correct!) - - 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. - - balance shows balance changes by default. To see accurate historical - end balances: - - 1. Initialise account starting balances with an "opening balances" - transaction (a transfer from equity to the account), unless the - journal covers the account's full lifetime. - - 2. Include all of of the account's prior postings in the report, by not - specifying a report start date, or by using the -H/--historical - flag. (-H causes report start date to be ignored when summing post- - ings.) - - Balance report types - For more flexible reporting, there are three important option groups: - - hledger balance [CALCULATIONTYPE] [ACCUMULATIONTYPE] [VALUATIONTYPE] - ... - - The first two are the most important: calculation type selects the - basic calculation to perform for each table cell, while accumulation - type says which postings should be included in each cell's calculation. - Typically one or both of these are selected by default, so you don't - need to write them explicitly. A valuation type can be added if you - want to convert the basic report to value or cost. - - Calculation type: - The basic calculation to perform for each table cell. It is one of: - - o --sum : sum the posting amounts (default) - - o --budget : like --sum but also show a goal amount - - o --valuechange : show the change in period-end historical balance val- - ues (caused by deposits, withdrawals, and/or market price fluctua- - tions) - - o --gain : show the unrealised capital gain/loss, (the current valued - balance minus each amount's original cost) - - Accumulation type: - Which postings should be included in each cell's calculation. It is - one of: - - o --change : postings from column start to column end, ie within the - cell's period. Typically used to see revenues/expenses. (default - for balance, incomestatement) - - o --cumulative : postings from report start to column end, eg to show - changes accumulated since the report's start date. Rarely used. - - o --historical/-H : postings from journal start to column end, ie all - postings from account creation to the end of the cell's period. Typ- - ically used to see historical end balances of assets/liabili- - ties/equity. (default for balancesheet, balancesheetequity, cash- - flow) - - Valuation type: - Which kind of valuation, valuation date(s) and optionally a target val- - uation commodity to use. It is one of: - - o no valuation, show amounts in their original commodities (default) - - o --value=cost[,COMM] : no valuation, show amounts converted to cost - - o --value=then[,COMM] : show value at transaction dates - - o --value=end[,COMM] : show value at period end date(s) (default with - --valuechange, --gain) - - o --value=now[,COMM] : show value at today's date - - o --value=YYYY-MM-DD[,COMM] : show value at another date - - or one of their aliases: --cost/-B, --market/-V or --exchange/-X. - - 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: - - o --valuechange implies --value=end - - o --valuechange makes --change the default when used with the bal- - ancesheet/balancesheetequity commands - - o --cumulative or --historical disables --row-total/-T - - For reference, here is what the combinations of accumulation and valua- - tion show: - - - Valua- no valuation --value= then --value= end --value= YYYY- - tion: MM-DD /now - >Accumu- - lation: - v - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ - --change change in period sum of posting- period-end DATE-value of - date market val- value of change change in - ues in period in period period - - - --cumu- change from sum of posting- period-end DATE-value of - lative report start to date market val- value of change change from - period end ues from report from report report start - start to period start to period to period end - end end - --his- change from sum of posting- period-end DATE-value of - torical journal start to date market val- value of change change from - /-H period end (his- ues from journal from journal journal start - torical end bal- start to period start to period to period end - ance) end end - - Useful balance reports - Some frequently used balance options/reports are: - - o bal -M revenues expenses - Show revenues/expenses in each month. Also available as the incomes- - tatement command. - - o bal -M -H assets liabilities - Show historical asset/liability balances at each month end. Also - available as the balancesheet command. - - o bal -M -H assets liabilities equity - Show historical asset/liability/equity balances at each month end. - Also available as the balancesheetequity command. - - o bal -M assets not:receivable - Show changes to liquid assets in each month. Also available as the - cashflow command. - - Also: - - o bal -M expenses -2 -SA - Show monthly expenses summarised to depth 2 and sorted by average - amount. - - o bal -M --budget expenses - Show monthly expenses and budget goals. - - o bal -M --valuechange investments - Show monthly change in market value of investment assets. - - o bal investments --valuechange -D date:lastweek amt:'>1000' -STA - [--invert] - Show top gainers [or losers] last week - - Budget report - The --budget report type activates extra columns showing any budget - goals for each account and period. The budget goals are defined by - periodic transactions. This is very useful for comparing planned and - actual income, expenses, time usage, etc. - - For example, you can take average monthly expenses in the common - expense categories to construct a minimal monthly budget: - - ;; Budget - ~ 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 - - You can now see a monthly budget report: - - $ 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] - - This is different from a normal balance report in several ways: - - o Only accounts with budget goals during the report period are shown, - by default. - - o In each column, in square brackets after the actual amount, budget - goal amounts are shown, and the actual/goal percentage. (Note: bud- - get goals should be in the same commodity as the actual amount.) - - o All parent accounts are always shown, even in list mode. Eg assets, - assets:bank, and expenses above. - - o Amounts always include all subaccounts, budgeted or unbudgeted, even - in list mode. - - This means that the numbers displayed will not always add up! Eg above, - the expenses actual amount includes the gifts and supplies transac- - tions, but the expenses:gifts and expenses:supplies accounts are not - shown, as they have no budget amounts declared. - - This can be confusing. When you need to make things clearer, use the - -E/--empty flag, which will reveal all accounts including unbudgeted - ones, giving the full picture. Eg: - - $ 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] - - You can roll over unspent budgets to next period with --cumulative: - - $ 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] - - For more examples and notes, see Budgeting. - - Budget report start date - This might be a bug, but for now: when making budget reports, it's a - good idea to explicitly set the report's start date to the first day of - a reporting period, because a periodic rule like ~ monthly 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: - - ~ monthly in 2020 - (expenses:food) $500 - - 2020-01-15 - expenses:food $400 - assets:checking - - $ hledger bal expenses --budget - Budget performance in 2020-01-15: - - || 2020-01-15 - ==============++============ - || $400 - --------------++------------ - || $400 - - To avoid this, specify the budget report's period, or at least the - start date, with -b/-e/-p/date:, to ensure it includes the budget goal - transactions (periodic transactions) that you want. Eg, adding -b - 2020/1/1 to the above: - - $ 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] - - Budgets and subaccounts - 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 bud- - get(s) of the child account(s) would be added to the budget of their - parent, much like account balances behave. - - In the most simple case this means that once you add a budget to any - account, all its parents would have budget as well. - - To illustrate this, consider the following budget: - - ~ monthly from 2019/01 - expenses:personal $1,000.00 - expenses:personal:electronics $100.00 - liabilities - - 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 expenses:personal and expenses is $1100. - - Transactions in expenses:personal:electronics will be counted both - towards its $100 budget and $1100 of expenses:personal , and transac- - tions in any other subaccount of expenses:personal would be counted - towards only towards the budget of expenses:personal. - - For example, let's consider these transactions: - - ~ 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 - - As you can see, we have transactions in expenses:personal:electron- - ics:upgrades and expenses:personal:train tickets, and since both of - these accounts are without explicitly defined budget, these transac- - tions would be counted towards budgets of expenses:personal:electronics - and expenses:personal accordingly: - - $ 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] - - And with --empty, we can get a better picture of budget allocation and - consumption: - - $ 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] - - Selecting budget goals - The budget report evaluates periodic transaction rules to generate spe- - cial "goal transactions", which generate the goal amounts for each - account in each report subperiod. When troubleshooting, you can use - the print command to show these as forecasted transactions: - - $ hledger print --forecast=BUDGETREPORTPERIOD tag:generated - - 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. - - You can select a subset of periodic rules by providing an argument to - the --budget flag. --budget=DESCPAT 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. - - Customising single-period balance reports - For single-period balance reports displayed in the terminal (only), you - can use --format FMT to customise the format and content of each line. - Eg: - - $ hledger -f examples/sample.journal balance --format "%20(account) %12(total)" - assets $-1 - bank:saving $1 - cash $-2 - expenses $2 - food $1 - supplies $1 - income $-2 - gifts $-1 - salary $-1 - liabilities:debts $1 - --------------------------------- - 0 - - The FMT format string (plus a newline) specifies the formatting applied - to each account/balance pair. It may contain any suitable text, with - data fields interpolated like so: - - %[MIN][.MAX](FIELDNAME) - - o MIN pads with spaces to at least this width (optional) - - o MAX truncates at this width (optional) - - o FIELDNAME must be enclosed in parentheses, and can be one of: - - o depth_spacer - a number of spaces equal to the account's depth, or - if MIN is specified, MIN * depth spaces. - - o account - the account's name - - o total - the account's balance/posted total, right justified - - Also, FMT can begin with an optional prefix to control how multi-com- - modity amounts are rendered: - - o %_ - render on multiple lines, bottom-aligned (the default) - - o %^ - render on multiple lines, top-aligned - - o %, - render on one line, comma-separated - - There are some quirks. Eg in one-line mode, %(depth_spacer) has no - effect, instead %(account) has indentation built in. Experimentation - may be needed to get pleasing results. - - Some example formats: - - o %(total) - the account's total - - o %-20.20(account) - the account's name, left justified, padded to 20 - characters and clipped at 20 characters - - o %,%-50(account) %25(total) - account name padded to 50 characters, - total padded to 20 characters, with multiple commodities rendered on - one line - - o %20(total) %2(depth_spacer)%-(account) - the default format for the - single-column balance report - - balancesheet - balancesheet, bs - This command displays a balance sheet, showing historical ending bal- - ances 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. - - The asset and liability accounts shown are those accounts declared with - the Asset or Cash or Liability type, or otherwise all accounts under a - top-level asset or liability account (case insensitive, plurals - allowed). - - Example: - - $ hledger balancesheet - Balance Sheet - - Assets: - $-1 assets - $1 bank:saving - $-2 cash - -------------------- - $-1 - - Liabilities: - $1 liabilities:debts - -------------------- - $1 - - Total: - -------------------- - 0 - - This command is a higher-level variant of the balance command, and sup- - ports many of that command's features, such as multi-period reports. - It is similar to hledger balance -H assets liabilities, but with - smarter account detection, and liabilities displayed with their sign - flipped. - - This command also supports the output destination and output format - options The output formats supported are txt, csv, html, and (experi- - mental) json. - - balancesheetequity - balancesheetequity, bse - This command displays a balance sheet, showing historical ending bal- - ances of asset, liability and equity accounts. Amounts are shown with - normal positive sign, as in conventional financial statements. - - The asset, liability and equity accounts shown are those accounts - declared with the Asset, Cash, Liability or Equity type, or otherwise - all accounts under a top-level asset, liability or equity account (case - insensitive, plurals allowed). - - Example: - - $ 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 - - This command is a higher-level variant of the balance command, and sup- - ports many of that command's features, such as multi-period reports. - It is similar to hledger balance -H assets liabilities equity, but with - smarter account detection, and liabilities/equity displayed with their - sign flipped. - - This command also supports the output destination and output format - options The output formats supported are txt, csv, html, and (experi- - mental) json. - - cashflow - cashflow, cf - This command displays a cashflow statement, showing the inflows and - outflows affecting "cash" (ie, liquid) assets. Amounts are shown with - normal positive sign, as in conventional financial statements. - - The "cash" accounts shown are those accounts declared with the Cash - type, or otherwise all accounts under a top-level asset account (case - insensitive, plural allowed) which do not have fixed, investment, - receivable or A/R in their name. - - Example: - - $ hledger cashflow - Cashflow Statement - - Cash flows: - $-1 assets - $1 bank:saving - $-2 cash - -------------------- - $-1 - - Total: - -------------------- - $-1 - - This command is a higher-level variant of the balance command, and sup- - ports many of that command's features, such as multi-period reports. - It is similar to hledger balance assets not:fixed not:investment - not:receivable, but with smarter account detection. - - This command also supports the output destination and output format - options The output formats supported are txt, csv, html, and (experi- - mental) json. - - check - check - Check for various kinds of errors in your data. - - 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 check 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). - - Some examples: - - hledger check # basic checks - hledger check -s # basic + strict checks - hledger check ordereddates payees # basic + two other checks - - Here are the checks currently available: - - Basic checks - These checks are always run automatically, by (almost) all hledger com- - mands, including check: - - o parseable - data files are well-formed and can be successfully parsed - - o balancedwithautoconversion - all transactions are balanced, inferring - missing amounts where necessary, and possibly converting commodities - using transaction prices or automatically-inferred transaction prices - - o assertions - all balance assertions in the journal are passing. - (This check can be disabled with -I/--ignore-assertions.) - - Strict checks - These additional checks are run when the -s/--strict (strict mode) flag - is used. Or, they can be run by giving their names as arguments to - check: - - o accounts - all account names used by transactions have been declared - - o commodities - all commodity symbols used have been declared - - o balancednoautoconversion - transactions are balanced, possibly using - explicit transaction prices but not inferred ones - - Other checks - These checks can be run only by giving their names as arguments to - check. They are more specialised and not desirable for everyone, - therefore optional: - - o ordereddates - transactions are ordered by date within each file - - o payees - all payees used by transactions have been declared - - o uniqueleafnames - all account leaf names are unique - - Custom checks - A few more checks are are available as separate add-on commands, in - https://github.com/simonmichael/hledger/tree/master/bin: - - o hledger-check-tagfiles - all tag values containing / (a forward - slash) exist as file paths - - o hledger-check-fancyassertions - more complex balance assertions are - passing - - You could make similar scripts to perform your own custom checks. See: - Cookbook -> Scripting. - - close - close, equity - Prints a sample "closing" transaction bringing specified account bal- - ances to zero, and an inverse "opening" transaction restoring the same - account balances. - - If like most people you split your journal files by time, eg by year: - at the end of the year you can use this command to "close out" your - asset and liability (and perhaps equity) balances in the old file, and - reinitialise them in the new file. This helps ensure that report bal- - ances remain correct whether you are including old files or not. - (Because all closing/opening transactions except the very first will - cancel out - see example below.) - - Some people also use this command to close out revenue and expense bal- - ances at the end of an accounting period. This properly records the - period's profit/loss as "retained earnings" (part of equity), and - allows the accounting equation (A-L=E) to balance, which you could then - check by the bse report's zero total. - - You can print just the closing transaction by using the --close flag, - or just the opening transaction with the --open flag. - - Their descriptions are closing balances and opening balances by - default; you can customise these with the --close-desc and --open-desc - options. - - Just one balancing equity posting is used by default, with the amount - left implicit. The default account name is equity:opening/closing bal- - ances. You can customise the account name(s) with --close-acct and - --open-acct. (If you specify only one of these, it will be used for - both.) - - With --x/--explicit, the equity posting's amount will be shown explic- - itly, and if it involves multiple commodities, there will be a separate - equity posting for each commodity (as in the print command). - - With --interleaved, each equity posting is shown next to the posting it - balances (good for troubleshooting). - - close and prices - Transaction prices are ignored (and discarded) by closing/opening - transactions, by default. With --show-costs, they are preserved; there - will be a separate equity posting for each cost in each commodity. - This means balance -B reports will look the same after the transition. - Note if you have many foreign currency or investment transactions, this - will generate very large journal entries. - - close date - The default closing date is yesterday, or the journal's end date, - whichever is later. - - Unless you are running close on exactly the first day of the new - period, you'll want to override the closing date. This is done by - specifying a report end date, where "last day of the report period" - will be the closing date. The opening date is always the following - day. So to close on (end of) 2020-12-31 and open on (start of) - 2021-01-01, any of these will work: - - - end date argument explanation - ----------------------------------------------- - -e 2021-01-01 end dates are exclusive - -e 2021 equivalent, per smart - dates - -p 2020 equivalent, the period's - begin date is ignored - date:2020 equivalent query - - Example: close asset/liability accounts for file transition - Carrying asset/liability balances from 2020.journal into a new file for - 2021: - - $ hledger close -f 2020.journal -p 2020 assets liabilities - # copy/paste the closing transaction to the end of 2020.journal - # copy/paste the opening transaction to the start of 2021.journal - - Or: - - $ hledger close -f 2020.journal -p 2020 assets liabilities --open >> 2021.journal # add 2021's first transaction - $ hledger close -f 2020.journal -p 2020 assets liabilities --close >> 2020.journal # add 2020's last transaction - - Now, - - $ hledger bs -f 2021.journal # just new file - balances correct - $ hledger bs -f 2020.journal -f 2021.journal # old and new files - balances correct - $ hledger bs -f 2020.journal # just old files - balances are zero ? - # (exclude final closing txn, see below) - - Hiding opening/closing transactions - Although the closing/opening transactions cancel out, they will be vis- - ible in reports like print and register, creating some visual clutter. - You can exclude them all with a query, like: - - $ hledger print not:desc:'opening|closing' # less typing - $ hledger print not:'equity:opening/closing balances' # more precise - - But when reporting on multiple files, this can get a bit tricky; you - may need to keep the earliest opening balances, for a historical regis- - ter report; or you may need to suppress a closing transaction, to see - year-end balances. If you find yourself needing more precise queries, - here's one solution: add more easily-matched tags to opening/closing - transactions, like this: - - ; 2019.journal - 2019-01-01 opening balances ; earliest opening txn, no tag here - ... - 2019-12-31 closing balances ; clopen:2020 - ... - - ; 2020.journal - 2020-01-01 opening balances ; clopen:2020 - ... - 2020-12-31 closing balances ; clopen:2021 - ... - - ; 2021.journal - 2021-01-01 opening balances ; clopen:2021 - ... - - Now with - - ; all.journal - include 2019.journal - include 2020.journal - include 2021.journal - - you could do eg: - - $ hledger -f all.journal reg -H checking not:tag:clopen - # all years checking register, hiding non-essential opening/closing txns - - $ hledger -f all.journal bs -p 2020 not:tag:clopen=2020 - # 2020 year end balances, suppressing 2020 closing txn - - close and balance assertions - The closing and opening transactions will include balance assertions, - verifying that the accounts have first been reset to zero and then - restored to their previous balance. These provide valuable error - checking, alerting you when things get out of line, but you can ignore - them temporarily with -I or just remove them if you prefer. - - You probably shouldn't use status or realness filters (like -C or -R or - status:) with close, or the generated balance assertions will depend on - these flags. Likewise, if you run this command with --auto, the bal- - ance assertions would probably always require --auto. - - Multi-day transactions (where some postings have a different date) - break the balance assertions, because the money is temporarily "invisi- - ble" while in transit: - - 2020/12/30 a purchase made in december, cleared in the next year - expenses:food 5 - assets:bank:checking -5 ; date: 2021/1/2 - - To fix the assertions, you can add a temporary account to track such - in-transit money (splitting the multi-day transaction into two single- - day transactions): - - ; in 2020.journal: - 2020/12/30 a purchase made in december, cleared in the next year - expenses:food 5 - liabilities:pending - - ; in 2021.journal: - 2021/1/2 clearance of last year's pending transactions - liabilities:pending 5 = 0 - assets:bank:checking - - Example: close revenue/expense accounts to retained earnings - For this, use --close to suppress the opening transaction, as it's not - needed. Also you'll want to change the equity account name to your - equivalent of "equity:retained earnings". - - Closing 2021's first quarter revenues/expenses: - - $ hledger close -f 2021.journal --close revenues expenses -p 2021Q1 \ - --close-acct='equity:retained earnings' >> 2021.journal - - The same, using the default journal and current year: - - $ hledger close --close revenues expenses -p Q1 \ - --close-acct='equity:retained earnings' >> $LEDGER_FILE - - Now, the first quarter's balance sheet should show a zero (unless you - are using @/@@ notation without equity postings): - - $ hledger bse -p Q1 - - And we must suppress the closing transaction to see the first quarter's - income statement (using the description; not:'retained earnings' won't - work here): - - $ hledger is -p Q1 not:desc:'closing balances' - - codes - codes - List the codes seen in transactions, in the order parsed. - - This command prints the value of each transaction'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. - - Transactions aren't required to have a code, and missing or empty codes - will not be shown by default. With the -E/--empty flag, they will be - printed as blank lines. - - You can add a query to select a subset of transactions. - - Examples: - - 1/1 (123) - (a) 1 - - 1/1 () - (a) 1 - - 1/1 - (a) 1 - - 1/1 (126) - (a) 1 - - $ hledger codes - 123 - 124 - 126 - - $ hledger codes -E - 123 - 124 - - - 126 - - commodities - commodities - List all commodity/currency symbols used or declared in the journal. - - descriptions - descriptions - List the unique descriptions that appear in transactions. - - This command lists the unique descriptions that appear in transactions, - in alphabetic order. You can add a query to select a subset of trans- - actions. - - Example: - - $ hledger descriptions - Store Name - Gas Station | Petrol - Person A - - diff - diff - Compares a particular account's transactions in two input files. It - shows any transactions to this account which are in one file but not in - the other. - - 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 mul- - tiple bank transactions have been combined into a single journal entry. - - This is useful eg if you have downloaded an account'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. - - Examples: - - $ 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: - - files - files - List all files included in the journal. With a REGEX argument, only - file names matching the regular expression (case sensitive) are shown. - - help - help - Show the hledger user manual in one of several formats, optionally - positioned at a given TOPIC (if possible). - - TOPIC is any heading in the manual, or the start of any heading (but - not the middle). It is case insensitive. - - Some examples: commands, print, forecast, "auto postings", "commodity - column". - - This command shows the user manual built in to this hledger version. - It can be useful if the correct version of the hledger manual, or the - usual viewing tools, are not installed on your system. - - By default it uses the best viewer it can find in $PATH, in this order: - info, man, $PAGER (unless a topic is specified), less, or stdout. When - run non-interactively, it always uses stdout. Or you can select a par- - ticular viewer with the -i (info), -m (man), or -p (pager) flags. - - import - import - Read new transactions added to each FILE since last run, and add them - to the main journal file. Or with --dry-run, just print the transac- - tions that would be added. Or with --catchup, just mark all of the - FILEs' transactions as imported, without actually importing any. - - Unlike other hledger commands, with import the journal file is an out- - put 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 - hledger import bank.csv or perhaps hledger import *.csv. - - Note you can import from any file format, though CSV files are the most - common import source, and these docs focus on that case. - - Deduplication - As a convenience import does deduplication while reading transactions. - This does not mean "ignore transactions that look the same", but rather - "ignore transactions that have been seen before". 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 hledger import - bank.csv and only new transactions will be imported. (import is idem- - potent.) - - Since the items being read (CSV records, eg) often do not come with - unique identifiers, hledger detects new transactions by date, assuming - that: - - 1. new items always have the newest dates - - 2. item dates do not change across reads - - 3. and items with the same date remain in the same relative order - across reads. - - 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't matter (and if - you import often, the new transactions will be few, so less likely to - be the ones affected). - - hledger remembers the latest date processed in each input file by sav- - ing a hidden ".latest" state file in the same directory. Eg when read- - ing finance/bank.csv, it will look for and update the finance/.lat- - est.bank.csv state file. The format is simple: one or more lines con- - taining the same ISO-format date (YYYY-MM-DD), meaning "I have pro- - cessed transactions up to this date, and this many of them on that - date." Normally you won't see or manipulate these state files yourself. - But if needed, you can delete them to reset the state (making all - transactions "new"), or you can construct them to "catch up" to a cer- - tain date. - - Note deduplication (and updating of state files) can also be done by - print --new, but this is less often used. - - Import testing - With --dry-run, 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: - - $ hledger import --dry bank.csv | hledger -f- -I print unknown - - or (live updating): - - $ ls bank.csv* | entr bash -c 'echo ====; hledger import --dry bank.csv | hledger -f- -I print unknown' - - Importing balance assignments - Entries added by import will have their posting amounts made explicit - (like hledger print -x). This means that any balance assignments in - imported files must be evaluated; but, imported files don't get to see - the main file'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: - - $ hledger print IMPORTFILE [--new] >> $LEDGER_FILE - - (If you think import should leave amounts implicit like print does, - please test it and send a pull request.) - - Commodity display styles - Imported amounts will be formatted according to the canonical commodity - styles (declared or inferred) in the main journal file. - - incomestatement - incomestatement, is - - 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. - - The revenue and expense accounts shown are those accounts declared with - the Revenue or Expense type, or otherwise all accounts under a top- - level revenue or income or expense account (case insensitive, plurals - allowed). - - Example: - - $ hledger incomestatement - Income Statement - - Revenues: - $-2 income - $-1 gifts - $-1 salary - -------------------- - $-2 - - Expenses: - $2 expenses - $1 food - $1 supplies - -------------------- - $2 - - Total: - -------------------- - 0 - - This command is a higher-level variant of the balance command, and sup- - ports many of that command's features, such as multi-period reports. - It is similar to hledger balance '(revenues|income)' expenses, but with - smarter account detection, and revenues/income displayed with their - sign flipped. - - This command also supports the output destination and output format - options The output formats supported are txt, csv, html, and (experi- - mental) json. - - notes - notes - List the unique notes that appear in transactions. - - This command lists the unique notes that appear in transactions, in - alphabetic order. You can add a query to select a subset of transac- - tions. The note is the part of the transaction description after a | - character (or if there is no |, the whole description). - - Example: - - $ hledger notes - Petrol - Snacks - - payees - payees - List the unique payee/payer names that appear in transactions. - - This command lists unique payee/payer names which have been declared - with payee directives (--declared), used in transaction descriptions - (--used), or both (the default). - - The payee/payer is the part of the transaction description before a | - character (or if there is no |, the whole description). - - You can add query arguments to select a subset of transactions. This - implies --used. - - Example: - - $ hledger payees - Store Name - Gas Station - Person A - - prices - prices - Print market price directives from the journal. With --infer-market- - prices, generate additional market prices from transaction prices. - With --infer-reverse-prices, also generate market prices by inverting - transaction prices. Prices (and postings providing transaction prices) - can be filtered by a query. Price amounts are displayed with their - full precision. - - print - print - Show transaction journal entries, sorted by date. - - The print command displays full journal entries (transactions) from the - journal file, sorted by date (or with --date2, by secondary date). - - Amounts are shown mostly normalised to commodity display style, eg the - placement of commodity symbols will be consistent. All of their deci- - mal places are shown, as in the original journal entry (with one alter- - ation: in some cases trailing zeroes are added.) - - Amounts are shown right-aligned within each transaction (but not across - all transactions). - - 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. - - Eg: - - $ 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 - - print'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: - - # 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 - - There are some situations where print's output can become unparseable: - - o Valuation affects posting amounts but not balance assertion or bal- - ance assignment amounts, potentially causing those to fail. - - o Auto postings can generate postings with too many missing amounts. - - Normally, the journal entry's explicit or implicit amount style is pre- - served. For example, when an amount is omitted in the journal, it will - not appear in the output. Similarly, when a transaction price is - implied but not written, it will not appear in the output. You can use - the -x/--explicit flag to make all amounts and transaction prices - explicit, which can be useful for troubleshooting or for making your - journal more readable and robust against data entry errors. -x is also - implied by using any of -B,-V,-X,--value. - - Note, -x/--explicit 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. - - With -B/--cost, amounts with transaction prices are converted to cost - using that price. This can be used for troubleshooting. - - With -m/--match and a STR argument, print will show at most one trans- - action: the one one whose description is most similar to STR, and is - most recent. STR should contain at least two characters. If there is - no similar-enough match, no transaction will be shown. - - With --new, hledger prints only transactions it has not seen on a pre- - vious run. This uses the same deduplication system as the import com- - mand. (See import's docs for details.) - - This command also supports the output destination and output format - options The output formats supported are txt, csv, and (experimental) - json and sql. - - Here's an example of print's CSV output: - - $ hledger print -Ocsv - "txnidx","date","date2","status","code","description","comment","account","amount","commodity","credit","debit","posting-status","posting-comment" - "1","2008/01/01","","","","income","","assets:bank:checking","1","$","","1","","" - "1","2008/01/01","","","","income","","income:salary","-1","$","1","","","" - "2","2008/06/01","","","","gift","","assets:bank:checking","1","$","","1","","" - "2","2008/06/01","","","","gift","","income:gifts","-1","$","1","","","" - "3","2008/06/02","","","","save","","assets:bank:saving","1","$","","1","","" - "3","2008/06/02","","","","save","","assets:bank:checking","-1","$","1","","","" - "4","2008/06/03","","*","","eat & shop","","expenses:food","1","$","","1","","" - "4","2008/06/03","","*","","eat & shop","","expenses:supplies","1","$","","1","","" - "4","2008/06/03","","*","","eat & shop","","assets:cash","-2","$","2","","","" - "5","2008/12/31","","*","","pay off","","liabilities:debts","1","$","","1","","" - "5","2008/12/31","","*","","pay off","","assets:bank:checking","-1","$","1","","","" - - o There is one CSV record per posting, with the parent transaction's - fields repeated. - - o The "txnidx" (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.) - - o The amount is separated into "commodity" (the symbol) and "amount" - (numeric quantity) fields. - - o The numeric amount is repeated in either the "credit" or "debit" col- - umn, for convenience. (Those names are not accurate in the account- - ing sense; it just puts negative amounts under credit and zero or - greater amounts under debit.) - - print-unique - print-unique - Print transactions which do not reuse an already-seen description. - - Example: - - $ cat unique.journal - 1/1 test - (acct:one) 1 - 2/2 test - (acct:two) 2 - $ LEDGER_FILE=unique.journal hledger print-unique - (-f option not supported) - 2015/01/01 test - (acct:one) 1 - - register - register, reg - Show postings and their running total. - - The register command displays matched postings, across all accounts, in - date order, with their running total or running historical balance. - (See also the aregister command, which shows matched transactions in a - specific account.) - - register normally shows line per posting, but note that multi-commodity - amounts will occupy multiple lines (one line per commodity). - - It is typically used with a query selecting a particular account, to - see that account's activity: - - $ 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 - - With --date2, it shows and sorts by secondary date instead. - - The --historical/-H 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: - - $ 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 - - The --depth option limits the amount of sub-account detail displayed. - - The --average/-A flag shows the running average posting amount instead - of the running total (so, the final number displayed is the average for - the whole report period). This flag implies --empty (see below). It - is affected by --historical. It works best when showing just one - account and one commodity. - - The --related/-r flag shows the other postings in the transactions of - the postings which would normally be shown. - - The --invert flag negates all amounts. For example, it can be used on - an income account where amounts are normally displayed as negative num- - bers. It's also useful to show postings on the checking account - together with the related account: - - $ hledger register --related --invert assets:checking - - With a reporting interval, register shows summary postings, one per - interval, aggregating the postings to each account: - - $ hledger register --monthly income - 2008/01 income:salary $-1 $-1 - 2008/06 income:gifts $-1 $-2 - - Periods with no activity, and summary postings with a zero amount, are - not shown by default; use the --empty/-E flag to see them: - - $ 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 - - Often, you'll want to see just one line per interval. The --depth - option helps with this, causing subaccounts to be aggregated: - - $ hledger register --monthly assets --depth 1h - 2008/01 assets $1 $1 - 2008/06 assets $-1 0 - 2008/12 assets $-1 $-1 - - 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. - - Custom register output - register uses the full terminal width by default, except on windows. - You can override this by setting the COLUMNS environment variable (not - a bash shell variable) or by using the --width/-w option. - - 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's argument, comma-separated: - --width W,D . Here's a diagram (won't display correctly in --help): - - <--------------------------------- width (W) ----------------------------------> - date (10) description (D) account (W-41-D) amount (12) balance (12) - DDDDDDDDDD dddddddddddddddddddd aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa AAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAA - - and some examples: - - $ 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 - - This command also supports the output destination and output format - options The output formats supported are txt, csv, and (experimental) - json. - - register-match - register-match - Print the one posting whose transaction description is closest to DESC, - in the style of the register command. If there are multiple equally - good matches, it shows the most recent. Query options (options, not - arguments) can be used to restrict the search space. Helps ledger- - autosync detect already-seen transactions when importing. - - rewrite - rewrite - Print all transactions, rewriting the postings of matched transactions. - For now the only rewrite available is adding new postings, like print - --auto. - - 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 transac- - tion's first posting amount. - - Examples: - - $ hledger-rewrite.hs ^income --add-posting '(liabilities:tax) *.33 ; income tax' --add-posting '(reserve:gifts) $100' - $ hledger-rewrite.hs expenses:gifts --add-posting '(reserve:gifts) *-1"' - $ hledger-rewrite.hs -f rewrites.hledger - - rewrites.hledger may consist of entries like: - - = ^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 - - Note the single quotes to protect the dollar sign from bash, and the - two spaces between account and amount. - - More: - - $ hledger rewrite -- [QUERY] --add-posting "ACCT AMTEXPR" ... - $ hledger rewrite -- ^income --add-posting '(liabilities:tax) *.33' - $ hledger rewrite -- expenses:gifts --add-posting '(budget:gifts) *-1"' - $ hledger rewrite -- ^income --add-posting '(budget:foreign currency) *0.25 JPY; diversify' - - Argument for --add-posting option is a usual posting of transaction - with an exception for amount specification. More precisely, you can - use '*' (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's com- - modity. - - Re-write rules in a file - During the run this tool will execute so called "Automated Transac- - tions" found in any journal it process. I.e instead of specifying this - operations in command line you can put them in a journal file. - - $ rewrite-rules.journal - - Make contents look like this: - - = ^income - (liabilities:tax) *.33 - - = expenses:gifts - budget:gifts *-1 - assets:budget *1 - - Note that '=' (equality symbol) that is used instead of date in trans- - actions you usually write. It indicates the query by which you want to - match the posting to add new ones. - - $ hledger rewrite -- -f input.journal -f rewrite-rules.journal > rewritten-tidy-output.journal - - This is something similar to the commands pipeline: - - $ hledger rewrite -- -f input.journal '^income' --add-posting '(liabilities:tax) *.33' \ - | hledger rewrite -- -f - expenses:gifts --add-posting 'budget:gifts *-1' \ - --add-posting 'assets:budget *1' \ - > rewritten-tidy-output.journal - - It is important to understand that relative order of such entries in - journal is important. You can re-use result of previously added post- - ings. - - Diff output format - To use this tool for batch modification of your journal files you may - find useful output in form of unified diff. - - $ hledger rewrite -- --diff -f examples/sample.journal '^income' --add-posting '(liabilities:tax) *.33' - - Output might look like: - - --- /tmp/examples/sample.journal - +++ /tmp/examples/sample.journal - @@ -18,3 +18,4 @@ - 2008/01/01 income - - assets:bank:checking $1 - + assets:bank:checking $1 - income:salary - + (liabilities:tax) 0 - @@ -22,3 +23,4 @@ - 2008/06/01 gift - - assets:bank:checking $1 - + assets:bank:checking $1 - income:gifts - + (liabilities:tax) 0 - - If you'll pass this through patch tool you'll get transactions contain- - ing the posting that matches your query be updated. Note that multiple - files might be update according to list of input files specified via - --file options and include directives inside of these files. - - Be careful. Whole transaction being re-formatted in a style of output - from hledger print. - - See also: - - https://github.com/simonmichael/hledger/issues/99 - - rewrite vs. print --auto - This command predates print --auto, and currently does much the same - thing, but with these differences: - - o with multiple files, rewrite lets rules in any file affect all other - files. print --auto uses standard directive scoping; rules affect - only child files. - - o rewrite's query limits which transactions can be rewritten; all are - printed. print --auto's query limits which transactions are printed. - - o rewrite applies rules specified on command line or in the journal. - print --auto applies rules specified in the journal. - - roi - roi - Shows the time-weighted (TWR) and money-weighted (IRR) rate of return - on your investments. - - At a minimum, you need to supply a query (which could be just an - account name) to select your investment(s) with --inv, and another - query to identify your profit and loss transactions with --pnl. - - If you do not record changes in the value of your investment manually, - or do not require computation of time-weighted return (TWR), --pnl - could be an empty query (--pnl "" or --pnl STR where STR does not match - any of your accounts). - - 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. - - Price directives will be taken into account if you supply appropriate - --cost or --value flags (see VALUATION). - - Note, in some cases this report can fail, for these reasons: - - o 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. - - o Error (SearchFailed): Failed to find solution for Internal Rate of - Return (IRR). Either search does not converge to a solution, or con- - verges too slowly. - - Examples: - - o Using roi to compute total return of investment in stocks: - https://github.com/simonmichael/hledger/blob/master/examples/roi- - unrealised.ledger - - o Cookbook -> Return on Investment - - Spaces and special characters in --inv and --pnl - Note that --inv and --pnl's argument is a query, and queries could have - several space-separated terms (see QUERIES). - - To indicate that all search terms form single command-line argument, - you will need to put them in quotes (see Special characters): - - $ hledger roi --inv 'term1 term2 term3 ...' - - If any query terms contain spaces themselves, you will need an extra - level of nested quoting, eg: - - $ hledger roi --inv="'Assets:Test 1'" --pnl="'Equity:Unrealized Profit and Loss'" - - Semantics of --inv and --pnl - Query supplied to --inv has to match all transactions that are related - to your investment. Transactions not matching --inv will be ignored. - - In these transactions, ROI will conside postings that match --inv to be - "investment postings" and other postings (not matching --inv) will be - sorted into two categories: "cash flow" and "profit and loss", as ROI - needs to know which part of the investment value is your contributions - and which is due to the return on investment. - - o "Cash flow" is depositing or withdrawing money, buying or selling - assets, or otherwise converting between your investment commodity and - any other commodity. Example: - - 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 - - o "Profit and loss" is change in the value of your investment: - - 2019-06-01 Snake Oil falls in value - investment:snake oil = $57 - equity:unrealized profit or loss - - All non-investment postings are assumed to be "cash flow", unless they - match --pnl query. Changes in value of your investment due to "profit - and loss" postings will be considered as part of your investment - return. - - Example: if you use --inv snake --pnl equity:unrealized, then postings - in the example below would be classifed as: - - 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 - - IRR and TWR explained - "ROI" stands for "return on investment". Traditionally this was com- - puted as a difference between current value of investment and its ini- - tial value, expressed in percentage of the initial value. - - However, this approach is only practical in simple cases, where invest- - ments receives no in-flows or out-flows of money, and where rate of - growth is fixed over time. For more complex scenarios you need differ- - ent ways to compute rate of return, and this command implements two of - them: IRR and TWR. - - Internal rate of return, or "IRR" (also called "money-weighted rate of - return") 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 percent- - age of your initial investment, and if you are adding to your invest- - ment, 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. - - As mentioned before, in-flows and out-flows would be any cash that you - personally put in or withdraw, and for the "roi" command, these are the - postings that match the query in the--inv argument and NOT match the - query in the--pnl argument. - - If you manually record changes in the value of your investment as - transactions that balance them against "profit and loss" (or "unreal- - ized gains") 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. - - 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't done - discounted cash flow analysis before. Implementation of IRR in hledger - should produce results that match the XIRR formula in Excel. - - Second way to compute rate of return that roi command implements is - called "time-weighted rate of return" or "TWR". 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. - - TWR represents your investment as an imaginary "unit fund" where in- - flows/ out-flows lead to buying or selling "units" of your investment - and changes in its value change the value of "investment unit". Change - in "unit price" over the reporting period gives you rate of return of - your investment. - - References: * Explanation of rate of return * Explanation of IRR * - Explanation of TWR * Examples of computing IRR and TWR and discussion - of the limitations of both metrics - - stats - stats - Show some journal statistics. - - 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. - - Example: - - $ hledger stats - Main journal file : /src/hledger/examples/sample.journal - Included journal files : - Transactions span : 2008-01-01 to 2009-01-01 (366 days) - Last transaction : 2008-12-31 (2333 days ago) - Transactions : 5 (0.0 per day) - Transactions last 30 days: 0 (0.0 per day) - Transactions last 7 days : 0 (0.0 per day) - Payees/descriptions : 5 - Accounts : 8 (depth 3) - Commodities : 1 ($) - Market prices : 12 ($) - - This command also supports output destination and output format selec- - tion. - - tags - tags - List the unique tag names used in the journal. With a TAGREGEX argu- - ment, only tag names matching the regular expression (case insensitive) - are shown. With QUERY arguments, only transactions matching the query - are considered. - - With the --values flag, the tags' unique values are listed instead. - - With --parsed flag, all tags or values are shown in the order they are - parsed from the input data, including duplicates. - - With -E/--empty, any blank/empty values will also be shown, otherwise - they are omitted. - - test - test - Run built-in unit tests. - - 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. - - 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! - - 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: - - $ hledger test -- -pData.Amount --color=never - - For help on these, see https://github.com/feuerbach/tasty#options (-- - --help currently doesn't show them). - - About add-on commands - Add-on commands are programs or scripts in your PATH - - o whose name starts with hledger- - - o whose name ends with a recognised file extension: .bat,.com,.exe, - .hs,.lhs,.pl,.py,.rb,.rkt,.sh or none - - o and (on unix, mac) which are executable by the current user. - - Add-ons are a relatively easy way to add local features or experiment - with new ideas. They can be written in any language, but haskell - scripts have a big advantage: they can use the same hledger library - functions that built-in commands use for command-line options, parsing - and reporting. Some experimental/example add-on scripts can be found - in the hledger repo's bin/ directory. - - Note in a hledger command line, add-on command flags must have a double - dash (--) preceding them. Eg you must write: - - $ hledger web -- --serve - - and not: - - $ hledger web --serve - - (because the --serve flag belongs to hledger-web, not hledger). - - The -h/--help and --version flags don't require --. - - If you have any trouble with this, remember you can always run the add- - on program directly, eg: - - $ hledger-web --serve - -JOURNAL FORMAT - hledger's default file format, representing a General Journal. - - hledger's usual data source is a plain text file containing journal - entries in hledger journal format. This file represents a standard - accounting general journal. I use file names ending in .journal, but - that's not required. The journal file contains a number of transaction - entries, each describing a transfer of money (or any commodity) between - two or more named accounts, in a simple format readable by both hledger - and humans. - - hledger's journal format is a compatible subset, mostly, of ledger's - journal format, so hledger can work with compatible ledger journal - files as well. It's safe, and encouraged, to run both hledger and - ledger on the same journal file, eg to validate the results you're get- - ting. - - 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. - - 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 configura- - tion at hledger.org for the full list. - - Here's a description of each part of the file format (and hledger's - data model). These are mostly in the order you'll use them, but in - some cases related concepts have been grouped together for easy refer- - ence, or linked before they are introduced, so feel free to skip over - anything that looks unnecessary right now. - - Transactions - Transactions are the main unit of information in a journal file. They - represent events, typically a movement of some quantity of commodities - between two or more named accounts. - - Each transaction is recorded as a journal entry, beginning with a sim- - ple date in column 0. This can be followed by any of the following - optional fields, separated by spaces: - - o a status character (empty, !, or *) - - o a code (any short number or text, enclosed in parentheses) - - o a description (any remaining text until end of line or a semicolon) - - o a comment (any remaining text following a semicolon until end of - line, and any following indented lines beginning with a semicolon) - - o 0 or more indented posting lines, describing what was transferred and - the accounts involved (indented comment lines are also allowed, but - not blank lines or non-indented lines). - - Here's a simple journal file containing one transaction: - - 2008/01/01 income - assets:bank:checking $1 - income:salary $-1 - - Dates - Simple dates - Dates in the journal file use simple dates format: YYYY-MM-DD or - YYYY/MM/DD or YYYY.MM.DD, with leading zeros optional. The year may be - omitted, in which case it will be inferred from the context: the cur- - rent transaction, the default year set with a default year directive, - or the current date when the command is run. Some examples: - 2010-01-31, 2010/01/31, 2010.1.31, 1/31. - - (The UI also accepts simple dates, as well as the more flexible smart - dates documented in the hledger manual.) - - Secondary dates - Real-life transactions sometimes involve more than one date - eg the - date you write a cheque, and the date it clears in your bank. When you - want to model this, for more accurate daily balances, you can specify - individual posting dates. - - Or, you can use the older secondary date feature (Ledger calls it aux- - iliary date or effective date). Note: we support this for compatibil- - ity, but I usually recommend avoiding this feature; posting dates are - almost always clearer and simpler. - - A secondary date is written after the primary date, following an equals - sign. If the year is omitted, the primary date's year is assumed. - When running reports, the primary (left) date is used by default, but - with the --date2 flag (or --aux-date or --effective), the secondary - (right) date will be used instead. - - The meaning of secondary dates is up to you, but it's best to follow a - consistent rule. Eg "primary = the bank's clearing date, secondary = - date the transaction was initiated, if different", as shown here: - - 2010/2/23=2/19 movie ticket - expenses:cinema $10 - assets:checking - - $ hledger register checking - 2010-02-23 movie ticket assets:checking $-10 $-10 - - $ hledger register checking --date2 - 2010-02-19 movie ticket assets:checking $-10 $-10 - - Posting dates - You can give individual postings a different date from their parent - transaction, by adding a posting comment containing a tag (see below) - like date:DATE. This is probably the best way to control posting dates - precisely. Eg in this example the expense should appear in May - reports, and the deduction from checking should be reported on 6/1 for - easy bank reconciliation: - - 2015/5/30 - expenses:food $10 ; food purchased on saturday 5/30 - assets:checking ; bank cleared it on monday, date:6/1 - - $ hledger -f t.j register food - 2015-05-30 expenses:food $10 $10 - - $ hledger -f t.j register checking - 2015-06-01 assets:checking $-10 $-10 - - DATE should be a simple date; if the year is not specified it will use - the year of the transaction's date. You can set the secondary date - similarly, with date2:DATE2. The date: or date2: tags must have a - valid simple date value if they are present, eg a date: tag with no - value is not allowed. - - Ledger's earlier, more compact bracketed date syntax is also supported: - [DATE], [DATE=DATE2] or [=DATE2]. hledger will attempt to parse any - square-bracketed sequence of the 0123456789/-.= characters in this way. - With this syntax, DATE infers its year from the transaction and DATE2 - infers its year from DATE. - - Status - Transactions, or individual postings within a transaction, can have a - status mark, which is a single character before the transaction - description or posting account name, separated from it by a space, - indicating one of three statuses: - - - mark status - ------------------ - unmarked - ! pending - * cleared - - When reporting, you can filter by status with the -U/--unmarked, - -P/--pending, and -C/--cleared flags; or the status:, status:!, and - status:* queries; or the U, P, C keys in hledger-ui. - - Note, in Ledger and in older versions of hledger, the "unmarked" state - is called "uncleared". As of hledger 1.3 we have renamed it to - unmarked for clarity. - - To replicate Ledger and old hledger's behaviour of also matching pend- - ing, combine -U and -P. - - Status marks are optional, but can be helpful eg for reconciling with - real-world accounts. Some editor modes provide highlighting and short- - cuts for working with status. Eg in Emacs ledger-mode, you can toggle - transaction status with C-c C-e, or posting status with C-c C-c. - - What "uncleared", "pending", and "cleared" actually mean is up to you. - Here's one suggestion: - - - status meaning - -------------------------------------------------------------------------- - uncleared recorded but not yet reconciled; needs review - pending tentatively reconciled (if needed, eg during a big reconcil- - iation) - cleared complete, reconciled as far as possible, and considered cor- - rect - - With this scheme, you would use -PC to see the current balance at your - bank, -U to see things which will probably hit your bank soon (like - uncashed checks), and no flags to see the most up-to-date state of your - finances. - - Code - After the status mark, but before the description, you can optionally - write a transaction "code", enclosed in parentheses. This is a good - place to record a check number, or some other important transaction id - or reference number. - - Description - A transaction's description is the rest of the line following the date - and status mark (or until a comment begins). Sometimes called the - "narration" in traditional bookkeeping, it can be used for whatever you - wish, or left blank. Transaction descriptions can be queried, unlike - comments. - - Payee and note - You can optionally include a | (pipe) character in descriptions to sub- - divide the description into separate fields for payee/payer name on the - left (up to the first |) and an additional note field on the right - (after the first |). This may be worthwhile if you need to do more - precise querying and pivoting by payee or by note. - - Comments - Lines in the journal beginning with a semicolon (;) or hash (#) or star - (*) are comments, and will be ignored. (Star comments cause org-mode - nodes to be ignored, allowing emacs users to fold and navigate their - journals with org-mode or orgstruct-mode.) - - You can attach comments to a transaction by writing them after the - description and/or indented on the following lines (before the post- - ings). Similarly, you can attach comments to an individual posting by - writing them after the amount and/or indented on the following lines. - Transaction and posting comments must begin with a semicolon (;). - - Some examples: - - # a file comment - ; another file comment - * also a file comment, useful in org/orgstruct mode - - comment - A multiline file comment, which continues - until a line containing just "end comment" - (or end of file). - end comment - - 2012/5/14 something ; a transaction comment - ; the transaction comment, continued - posting1 1 ; a comment for posting 1 - posting2 - ; a comment for posting 2 - ; another comment line for posting 2 - ; a file comment (because not indented) - - You can also comment larger regions of a file using comment and end - comment directives. - - Tags - Tags are a way to add extra labels or labelled data to postings and - transactions, which you can then search or pivot on. - - A simple tag is a word (which may contain hyphens) followed by a full - colon, written inside a transaction or posting comment line: - - 2017/1/16 bought groceries ; sometag: - - Tags can have a value, which is the text after the colon, up to the - next comma or end of line, with leading/trailing whitespace removed: - - expenses:food $10 ; a-posting-tag: the tag value - - Note this means hledger's tag values can not contain commas or new- - lines. Ending at commas means you can write multiple short tags on one - line, comma separated: - - assets:checking ; a comment containing tag1:, tag2: some value ... - - Here, - - o "a comment containing" is just comment text, not a tag - - o "tag1" is a tag with no value - - o "tag2" is another tag, whose value is "some value ..." - - Tags in a transaction comment affect the transaction and all of its - postings, while tags in a posting comment affect only that posting. - For example, the following transaction has three tags (A, TAG2, third- - tag) and the posting has four (those plus posting-tag): - - 1/1 a transaction ; A:, TAG2: - ; third-tag: a third transaction tag, <- with a value - (a) $1 ; posting-tag: - - Tags are like Ledger's metadata feature, except hledger's tag values - are simple strings. - - Postings - A posting is an addition of some amount to, or removal of some amount - from, an account. Each posting line begins with at least one space or - tab (2 or 4 spaces is common), followed by: - - o (optional) a status character (empty, !, or *), followed by a space - - o (required) an account name (any text, optionally containing single - spaces, until end of line or a double space) - - o (optional) two or more spaces or tabs followed by an amount. - - Positive amounts are being added to the account, negative amounts are - being removed. - - The amounts within a transaction must always sum up to zero. As a con- - venience, one amount may be left blank; it will be inferred so as to - balance the transaction. - - Be sure to note the unusual two-space delimiter between account name - and amount. This makes it easy to write account names containing spa- - ces. But if you accidentally leave only one space (or tab) before the - amount, the amount will be considered part of the account name. - - Virtual postings - A posting with a parenthesised account name is called a virtual posting - or unbalanced posting, which means it is exempt from the usual rule - that a transaction's postings must balance add up to zero. - - This is not part of double entry accounting, so you might choose to - avoid this feature. Or you can use it sparingly for certain special - cases where it can be convenient. Eg, you could set opening balances - without using a balancing equity account: - - 1/1 opening balances - (assets:checking) $1000 - (assets:savings) $2000 - - A posting with a bracketed account name is called a balanced virtual - posting. The balanced virtual postings in a transaction must add up to - zero (separately from other postings). Eg: - - 1/1 buy food with cash, update budget envelope subaccounts, & something else - assets:cash $-10 ; <- these balance - expenses:food $7 ; <- - expenses:food $3 ; <- - [assets:checking:budget:food] $-10 ; <- and these balance - [assets:checking:available] $10 ; <- - (something:else) $5 ; <- not required to balance - - Ordinary non-parenthesised, non-bracketed postings are called real - postings. You can exclude virtual postings from reports with the - -R/--real flag or real:1 query. - - Account names - Account names typically have several parts separated by a full colon, - from which hledger derives a hierarchical chart of accounts. They can - be anything you like, but in finance there are traditionally five top- - level accounts: assets, liabilities, revenue, expenses, and equity. - - Account names may contain single spaces, eg: assets:accounts receiv- - able. Because of this, they must always be followed by two or more - spaces (or newline). - - Account names can be aliased. - - Amounts - After the account name, there is usually an amount. (Important: - between account name and amount, there must be two or more spaces.) - - hledger's amount format is flexible, supporting several international - formats. Here are some examples. Amounts have a number (the "quan- - tity"): - - 1 - - ..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: - - $1 - 4000 AAPL - 3 "green apples" - - 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 com- - modity symbol: - - -$1 - $-1 - - One or more spaces between the sign and the number are acceptable when - parsing (but they won't be displayed in output): - - + $1 - $- 1 - - Scientific E notation is allowed: - - 1E-6 - EUR 1E3 - - Decimal marks, digit group marks - A decimal mark can be written as a period or a comma: - - 1.23 - 1,23456780000009 - - In the integer part of the quantity (left of the decimal mark), groups - of digits can optionally be separated by a "digit group mark" - a - space, comma, or period (different from the decimal mark): - - $1,000,000.00 - EUR 2.000.000,00 - INR 9,99,99,999.00 - 1 000 000.9455 - - Note, a number containing a single digit group mark and no decimal mark - is ambiguous. Are these digit group marks or decimal marks ? - - 1,000 - 1.000 - - If you don't tell it otherwise, hledger will assume both of the above - are decimal marks, parsing both numbers as 1. To prevent confusion and - undetected typos, we recommend adding commodity directives at the top - of your journal file to explicitly declare the decimal mark (and - optionally a digit group mark) for each commodity. Read on for more - about this. - - Commodity - Amounts in hledger have both a "quantity", which is a signed decimal - number, and a "commodity", which is a currency symbol, stock ticker, or - any word or phrase describing something you are tracking. - - If the commodity name contains non-letters (spaces, numbers, or punctu- - ation), you must always write it inside double quotes ("green apples", - "ABC123"). - - If you write just a bare number, that too will have a commodity, with - name ""; we call that the "no-symbol commodity". - - 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: 1 USD, 2 EUR, 3.456 - TSLA. In practice, you will only see multi-commodity amounts in - hledger's output; you can't write them directly in the journal file. - - (If you are writing scripts or working with hledger's internals, these - are the Amount and MixedAmount types.) - - Commodity directives - You can add commodity directives to the journal, preferably at the top, - to declare your commodities and help with number parsing (see above) - and display (see below). These are optional, but recommended. They - are described in more detail in JOURNAL FORMAT -> Declaring commodi- - ties. Here's a quick example: - - # number format and display style for $, EUR, INR and the no-symbol commodity: - commodity $1,000.00 - commodity EUR 1.000,00 - commodity INR 9,99,99,999.00 - commodity 1 000 000.9455 - - - Commodity display style - 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 print command, are displayed with all of their - decimal digits visible.) - - A commodity's display style is inferred as follows. - - First, if a default commodity is declared with D, this commodity and - its style is applied to any no-symbol amounts in the journal. - - Then each commodity's style is inferred from one of the following, in - order of preference: - - o The commodity directive for that commodity (including the no-symbol - commodity), if any. - - o The amounts in that commodity seen in the journal's transactions. - (Posting amounts only; prices and periodic or auto rules are ignored, - currently.) - - o The built-in fallback style, which looks like this: $1000.00. (Sym- - bol on the left, period decimal mark, two decimal places.) - - A style is inferred from journal amounts as follows: - - o Use the general style (decimal mark, symbol placement) of the first - amount - - o Use the first-seen digit group style (digit group mark, digit group - sizes), if any - - o Use the maximum number of decimal places of all. - - Transaction price amounts don't affect the commodity display style - directly, but occasionally they can do so indirectly (eg when a post- - ing's amount is inferred using a transaction price). If you find this - causing problems, use a commodity directive to fix the display style. - - To summarise: each commodity's amounts will be normalised to (a) the - style declared by a commodity 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't like, eg with too many decimal - places, use a commodity directive. Some examples: - - # 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. - - The inferred commodity style can be overridden by supplying a command - line option. - - Rounding - 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's rounding: it - rounds to the nearest even number, eg 0.5 displayed with zero decimal - places is "0"). (Guaranteed since hledger 1.17.1; in older versions - this could vary if hledger was built with Decimal < 0.5.1.) - - Transaction prices - Within a transaction, you can note an amount's price in another commod- - ity. This can be used to document the cost (in a purchase) or selling - price (in a sale). For example, transaction prices are useful to - record purchases of a foreign currency. Note transaction prices are - fixed at the time of the transaction, and do not change over time. See - also market prices, which represent prevailing exchange rates on a cer- - tain date. - - There are several ways to record a transaction price: - - 1. Write the price per unit, as @ UNITPRICE after the amount: - - 2009/1/1 - assets:euros EUR100 @ $1.35 ; one hundred euros purchased at $1.35 each - assets:dollars ; balancing amount is -$135.00 - - 2. Write the total price, as @@ TOTALPRICE after the amount: - - 2009/1/1 - assets:euros EUR100 @@ $135 ; one hundred euros purchased at $135 for the lot - assets:dollars - - 3. Specify amounts for all postings, using exactly two commodities, and - let hledger infer the price that balances the transaction: - - 2009/1/1 - assets:euros EUR100 ; one hundred euros purchased - assets:dollars $-135 ; for $135 - - 4. Like 1, but the @ is parenthesised, i.e. (@); this is for compati- - bility with Ledger journals (Virtual posting costs), and is equiva- - lent to 1 in hledger. - - 5. Like 2, but as in 4 the @@ is parenthesised, i.e. (@@); in hledger, - this is equivalent to 2. - - Use the -B/--cost flag to convert amounts to their transaction price's - commodity, if any. (mnemonic: "B" is from "cost Basis", as in Ledger). - Eg here is how -B affects the balance report for the example above: - - $ hledger bal -N --flat - $-135 assets:dollars - EUR100 assets:euros - $ hledger bal -N --flat -B - $-135 assets:dollars - $135 assets:euros # <- the euros' cost - - Note -B is sensitive to the order of postings when a transaction price - is inferred: the inferred price will be in the commodity of the last - amount. So if example 3's postings are reversed, while the transaction - is equivalent, -B shows something different: - - 2009/1/1 - assets:dollars $-135 ; 135 dollars sold - assets:euros EUR100 ; for 100 euros - - $ hledger bal -N --flat -B - EUR-100 assets:dollars # <- the dollars' selling price - EUR100 assets:euros - - Lot prices, lot dates - Ledger allows another kind of price, lot price (four variants: {UNIT- - PRICE}, {{TOTALPRICE}}, {=FIXEDUNITPRICE}, {{=FIXEDTOTALPRICE}}), - and/or a lot date ([DATE]) to be specified. These are normally used to - select a lot when selling investments. hledger will parse these, for - compatibility with Ledger journals, but currently ignores them. A - transaction price, lot price and/or lot date may appear in any order, - after the posting amount and before the balance assertion if any. - - Balance assertions - hledger supports Ledger-style balance assertions in journal files. - These look like, for example, = EXPECTEDBALANCE following a posting's - amount. Eg here we assert the expected dollar balance in accounts a - and b after each posting: - - 2013/1/1 - a $1 =$1 - b =$-1 - - 2013/1/2 - a $1 =$2 - b $-1 =$-2 - - After reading a journal file, hledger will check all balance assertions - and report an error if any of them fail. Balance assertions can pro- - tect you from, eg, inadvertently disrupting reconciled balances while - cleaning up old entries. You can disable them temporarily with the - -I/--ignore-assertions flag, which can be useful for troubleshooting or - for reading Ledger files. (Note: this flag currently does not disable - balance assignments, below). - - Assertions and ordering - hledger sorts an account's postings and assertions first by date and - then (for postings on the same day) by parse order. Note this is dif- - ferent from Ledger, which sorts assertions only by parse order. (Also, - Ledger assertions do not see the accumulated effect of repeated post- - ings to the same account within a transaction.) - - So, hledger balance assertions keep working if you reorder differently- - dated transactions within the journal. But if you reorder same-dated - transactions or postings, assertions might break and require updating. - This order dependence does bring an advantage: precise control over the - order of postings and assertions within a day, so you can assert intra- - day balances. - - Assertions and included files - With included files, things are a little more complicated. Including - preserves the ordering of postings and assertions. If you have multi- - ple postings to an account on the same day, split across different - files, and you also want to assert the account's balance on the same - day, you'll have to put the assertion in the right file. - - Assertions and multiple -f options - Balance assertions don't work well across files specified with multiple - -f options. Use include or concatenate the files instead. - - Assertions and commodities - The asserted balance must be a simple single-commodity amount, and in - fact the assertion checks only this commodity's balance within the - (possibly multi-commodity) account balance. This is how assertions - work in Ledger also. We could call this a "partial" balance assertion. - - To assert the balance of more than one commodity in an account, you can - write multiple postings, each asserting one commodity's balance. - - You can make a stronger "total" balance assertion by writing a double - equals sign (== EXPECTEDBALANCE). This asserts that there are no other - unasserted commodities in the account (or, that their balance is 0). - - 2013/1/1 - a $1 - a 1EUR - b $-1 - c -1EUR - - 2013/1/2 ; These assertions succeed - a 0 = $1 - a 0 = 1EUR - b 0 == $-1 - c 0 == -1EUR - - 2013/1/3 ; This assertion fails as 'a' also contains 1EUR - a 0 == $1 - - It's not yet possible to make a complete assertion about a balance that - has multiple commodities. One workaround is to isolate each commodity - into its own subaccount: - - 2013/1/1 - a:usd $1 - a:euro 1EUR - b - - 2013/1/2 - a 0 == 0 - a:usd 0 == $1 - a:euro 0 == 1EUR - - Assertions and prices - Balance assertions ignore transaction prices, and should normally be - written without one: - - 2019/1/1 - (a) $1 @ EUR1 = $1 - - We do allow prices to be written there, however, and print shows them, - even though they don't affect whether the assertion passes or fails. - This is for backward compatibility (hledger's close command used to - generate balance assertions with prices), and because balance assign- - ments do use them (see below). - - Assertions and subaccounts - The balance assertions above (= and ==) do not count the balance from - subaccounts; they check the account's exclusive balance only. You can - assert the balance including subaccounts by writing =* or ==*, eg: - - 2019/1/1 - equity:opening balances - checking:a 5 - checking:b 5 - checking 1 ==* 11 - - Assertions and virtual postings - Balance assertions are checked against all postings, both real and vir- - tual. They are not affected by the --real/-R flag or real: query. - - Assertions and precision - Balance assertions compare the exactly calculated amounts, which are - not always what is shown by reports. Eg a commodity directive may - limit the display precision, but this will not affect balance asser- - tions. Balance assertion failure messages show exact amounts. - - Balance assignments - Ledger-style balance assignments are also supported. These are like - balance assertions, but with no posting amount on the left side of the - equals sign; instead it is calculated automatically so as to satisfy - the assertion. This can be a convenience during data entry, eg when - setting opening balances: - - ; starting a new journal, set asset account balances - 2016/1/1 opening balances - assets:checking = $409.32 - assets:savings = $735.24 - assets:cash = $42 - equity:opening balances - - or when adjusting a balance to reality: - - ; no cash left; update balance, record any untracked spending as a generic expense - 2016/1/15 - assets:cash = $0 - expenses:misc - - The calculated amount depends on the account's balance in the commodity - at that point (which depends on the previously-dated postings of the - commodity to that account since the last balance assertion or assign- - ment). Note that using balance assignments makes your journal a little - less explicit; to know the exact amount posted, you have to run hledger - or do the calculations yourself, instead of just reading it. - - Balance assignments and prices - A transaction price in a balance assignment will cause the calculated - amount to have that price attached: - - 2019/1/1 - (a) = $1 @ EUR2 - - $ hledger print --explicit - 2019-01-01 - (a) $1 @ EUR2 = $1 @ EUR2 - - Directives - A directive is a line in the journal beginning with a special keyword, - that influences how the journal is processed. hledger's directives are - based on a subset of Ledger's, but there are many differences (and also - some differences between hledger versions). - - Directives' behaviour and interactions can get a little bit complex, so - here is a table summarising the directives and their effects, with - links to more detailed docs. - - - direc- end subdi- purpose can affect (as of - tive directive rec- 2018/06) - tives - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ - account any document account names, all entries in all - text declare account types & dis- files, before or - play order after - alias end rewrite account names following entries - aliases until end of cur- - rent file or end - directive - apply end apply prepend a common parent to following entries - account account account names until end of cur- - rent file or end - directive - comment end com- ignore part of journal following entries - ment until end of cur- - rent file or end - directive - - commod- format declare a commodity and its number notation: - ity number notation & display following entries - style until end of cur- - rent file; display - style: amounts of - that commodity in - reports - D declare a commodity to be default commodity: - used for commodityless following commod- - amounts, and its number ityless entries - notation & display style until end of cur- - rent file; number - notation: following - entries in that - commodity until end - of current file; - display style: - amounts of that - commodity in - reports - include include entries/directives what the included - from another file directives affect - payee declare a payee name following entries - until end of cur- - rent file - P declare a market price for a amounts of that - commodity commodity in - reports, when -V is - used - Y declare a year for yearless following entries - dates until end of cur- - rent file - = declare an auto posting all entries in par- - rule, adding postings to ent/current/child - other transactions files (but not sib- - ling files, see - #1212) - - And some definitions: - - - subdi- optional indented directive line immediately following a parent - rec- directive - tive - number how to interpret numbers when parsing journal entries (the iden- - nota- tity of the decimal separator character). (Currently each com- - tion modity can have its own notation, even in the same file.) - dis- how to display amounts of a commodity in reports (symbol side - play and spacing, digit groups, decimal separator, decimal places) - style - direc- which entries and (when there are multiple files) which files - tive are affected by a directive - scope - - As you can see, directives vary in which journal entries and files they - affect, and whether they are focussed on input (parsing) or output - (reports). Some directives have multiple effects. - - Directives and multiple files - If you use multiple -f/--file options, or the include directive, - hledger will process multiple input files. But note that directives - which affect input (see above) typically last only until the end of the - file in which they occur. - - This may seem inconvenient, but it's intentional; it makes reports sta- - ble and deterministic, independent of the order of input. Otherwise - you could see different numbers if you happened to write -f options in - a different order, or if you moved includes around while cleaning up - your files. - - It can be surprising though; for example, it means that alias direc- - tives do not affect parent or sibling files (see below). - - Comment blocks - A line containing just comment starts a commented region of the file, - and a line containing just end comment (or the end of the current file) - ends it. See also comments. - - Including other files - You can pull in the content of additional files by writing an include - directive, like this: - - include FILEPATH - - Only journal files can include, and only journal, timeclock or timedot - files can be included (not CSV files, currently). - - If the file path does not begin with a slash, it is relative to the - current file's folder. - - A tilde means home directory, eg: include ~/main.journal. - - The path may contain glob patterns to match multiple files, eg: include - *.journal. - - There is limited support for recursive wildcards: **/ (the slash is - required) matches 0 or more subdirectories. It's not super convenient - since you have to avoid include cycles and including directories, but - this can be done, eg: include */**/*.journal. - - The path may also be prefixed to force a specific file format, overrid- - ing the file extension (as described in hledger.1 -> Input files): - include timedot:~/notes/2020*.md. - - Default year - You can set a default year to be used for subsequent dates which don't - specify a year. This is a line beginning with Y followed by the year. - Eg: - - Y2009 ; set default year to 2009 - - 12/15 ; equivalent to 2009/12/15 - expenses 1 - assets - - Y2010 ; change default year to 2010 - - 2009/1/30 ; specifies the year, not affected - expenses 1 - assets - - 1/31 ; equivalent to 2010/1/31 - expenses 1 - assets - - Declaring payees - The payee directive can be used to declare a limited set of payees - which may appear in transaction descriptions. The "payees" check will - report an error if any transaction refers to a payee that has not been - declared. Eg: - - payee Whole Foods - - Declaring commodities - You can use commodity directives to declare your commodities. In fact - the commodity directive performs several functions at once: - - 1. It declares commodities which may be used in the journal. This can - optionally be enforced, providing useful error checking. (Cf Com- - modity error checking) - - 2. 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 - 1,000 and 1.000 as 1. (Cf Amounts) - - 3. It declares how to render the commodity's amounts when displaying - output - the decimal mark, any digit group marks, the number of dec- - imal places, symbol placement and so on. (Cf Commodity display - style) - - 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. - - Generally you should put them at the top of your journal file (since - for function 2, they affect only following amounts, cf #793). - - A commodity directive is just the word commodity followed by a sample - amount, like this: - - ;commodity SAMPLEAMOUNT - - commodity $1000.00 - commodity 1,000.0000 AAAA ; optional same-line comment - - It may also be written on multiple lines, and use the format subdirec- - tive, as in Ledger. Note in this case the commodity symbol appears - twice; it must be the same in both places: - - ;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 - - Remember that if the commodity symbol contains spaces, numbers, or - punctuation, it must be enclosed in double quotes (cf Commodity). - - The amount'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. - - A few more examples: - - # 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. - - Note hledger normally uses banker's rounding, so 0.5 displayed with - zero decimal digits is "0". (More at Commodity display style.) - - Even in the presence of commodity directives, the commodity display - style can still be overridden by supplying a command line option. - - Commodity error checking - In strict mode, enabled with the -s/--strict flag, hledger will report - an error if a commodity symbol is used that has not been declared by a - commodity directive. This works similarly to account error checking, - see the notes there for more details. - - Default commodity - The D directive sets a default commodity, to be used for any subsequent - commodityless amounts (ie, plain numbers) seen while parsing the jour- - nal. This effect lasts until the next D directive, or the end of the - journal. - - For compatibility/historical reasons, D also acts like a commodity - directive (setting the commodity's decimal mark for parsing and display - style for output). - - As with commodity, the amount must include a decimal mark (either - period or comma). If both commodity and D directives are used for the - same commodity, the commodity style takes precedence. - - The syntax is D AMOUNT. Eg: - - ; 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 - - Declaring market prices - The P directive declares a market price, which is an exchange rate - between two commodities on a certain date. (In Ledger, they are called - "historical prices".) These are often obtained from a stock exchange, - cryptocurrency exchange, or the foreign exchange market. - - The format is: - - P DATE COMMODITY1SYMBOL COMMODITY2AMOUNT - - 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: - - # one euro was worth $1.35 from 2009-01-01 onward: - P 2009-01-01 EUR $1.35 - - # and $1.40 from 2010-01-01 onward: - P 2010-01-01 EUR $1.40 - - The -V, -X and --value flags use these market prices to show amount - values in another commodity. See Valuation. - - Declaring accounts - account directives can be used to declare accounts (ie, the places that - amounts are transferred from and to). Though not required, these dec- - larations can provide several benefits: - - o They can document your intended chart of accounts, providing a refer- - ence. - - o They can help hledger know your accounts' types (asset, liability, - equity, revenue, expense), useful for reports like balancesheet and - incomestatement. - - o They control account display order in reports, allowing non-alpha- - betic sorting (eg Revenues to appear above Expenses). - - o They can store extra information about accounts (account numbers, - notes, etc.) - - o They help with account name completion in the add command, hledger- - iadd, hledger-web, ledger-mode etc. - - o In strict mode, they restrict which accounts may be posted to by - transactions, which helps detect typos. - - The simplest form is just the word account followed by a hledger-style - account name, eg this account directive declares the assets:bank:check- - ing account: - - account assets:bank:checking - - Account error checking - By default, accounts come into existence when a transaction references - them by name. This is convenient, but it means hledger can't warn you - when you mis-spell an account name in the journal. Usually you'll find - the error later, as an extra account in balance reports, or an incor- - rect balance when reconciling. - - In strict mode, enabled with the -s/--strict flag, hledger will report - an error if any transaction uses an account name that has not been - declared by an account directive. Some notes: - - o The declaration is case-sensitive; transactions must use the correct - account name capitalisation. - - o The account directive's scope is "whole file and below" (see direc- - tives). 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's usual - to put them at the top. - - o Accounts can only be declared in journal files (but will affect - included files in other formats). - - o It's currently not possible to declare "all possible subaccounts" - with a wildcard; every account posted to must be declared. - - Account comments - Comments, beginning with a semicolon, can be added: - - o on the same line, after two or more spaces (because ; is allowed in - account names) - - o on the next lines, indented - - An example of both: - - account assets:bank:checking ; same-line comment, note 2+ spaces before ; - ; next-line comment - ; another with tag, acctno:12345 (not used yet) - - Same-line comments are not supported by Ledger, or hledger <1.13. - - Account subdirectives - We also allow (and ignore) Ledger-style indented subdirectives, just - for compatibility.: - - account assets:bank:checking - format blah blah ; <- subdirective, ignored - - Here is the full syntax of account directives: - - account ACCTNAME [ACCTTYPE] [;COMMENT] - [;COMMENTS] - [LEDGER-STYLE SUBDIRECTIVES, IGNORED] - - Account types - hledger recognises five main types of account, corresponding to the - account classes in the accounting equation: - - Asset, Liability, Equity, Revenue, Expense. - - These account types are important for controlling which accounts appear - in the balancesheet, balancesheetequity, incomestatement reports (and - probably for other things in future). - - Additionally, we recognise the Cash type, which is also an Asset, and - which causes accounts to appear in the cashflow report. ("Cash" here - means liquid assets, eg bank balances but typically not investments or - receivables.) - - Declaring account types - To make the balancesheet/balancesheetequity/cashflow/incomestatement - reports work, generally you should declare your top-level accounts, and - their types. For each top-level account, write an account directive, - with a type: tag. The tag's value can be any of Asset, Liability, - Equity, Revenue, Expense, Cash, or (for short) A, L, E, R, X, C (case - insensitive). An account's type is inherited by its subaccounts, - unless they declare a different type. Here's an example, declaring all - six account types: - - account assets ; type: Asset - account assets:bank ; type: Cash - account assets:cash ; type: Cash - account liabilities ; type: Liability - account equity ; type: Equity - account revenues ; type: Revenue - account expenses ; type: Expense - - There is also an older syntax, which is deprecated and will be dropped - soon (A, L, E, R or X separated from the account name by two or more - spaces): - - account assets A - account liabilities L - account equity E - account revenues R - account expenses X - - Auto-detected account types - hledger tries to find at least one top level account in each of the six - account types (Asset, Liability, Equity, Revenue, Expense, Cash). When - no accounts have been declared for a particular type, hledger tries to - auto-detect some accounts by name, using regular expressions: - - If account's name matches this case insensitive regular expression:| its type is: - ------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------ - ^assets?(:|$) | - and does not contain regexp (investment|receivable|:A/R|:fixed) | Cash - otherwise | Asset - ^(debts?|liabilit(y|ies))(:|$) | Liability - ^equity(:|$) | Equity - ^(income|revenue)s?(:|$) | Revenue - ^expenses?(:|$) | Expense - - For people using standard english account names, this feature helps - hledger's high-level reports work out of the box with minimal configu- - ration. - - If you use non-english account names, you should declare account types - to make these reports work. And more generally, declaring accounts and - types is usually a good idea, for increased clarity and predictability - (and for the other benefits of account directives: error checking, dis- - play order, etc). - - Notes: - - o When any account is declared as some type, this disables auto-detec- - tion for that particular type. - - o If you declare any account's type, it's a good idea to declare an - account for all six types, since a mix of declared and auto-detected - types can cause confusion. For example, here liabilities is declared - to be Equity, but would also be auto-detected as Liability, since no - Liability account is declared: - - account liabilities ; type:Equity - - 2020-01-01 - assets 1 - liabilities 1 - equity -2 - - Account display order - Account directives also set the order in which accounts are displayed, - eg in reports, the hledger-ui accounts screen, and the hledger-web - sidebar. By default accounts are listed in alphabetical order. But if - you have these account directives in the journal: - - account assets - account liabilities - account equity - account revenues - account expenses - - you'll see those accounts displayed in declaration order, not alphabet- - ically: - - $ hledger accounts -1 - assets - liabilities - equity - revenues - expenses - - Undeclared accounts, if any, are displayed last, in alphabetical order. - - Note that sorting is done at each level of the account tree (within - each group of sibling accounts under the same parent). And currently, - this directive: - - account other:zoo - - would influence the position of zoo among other's subaccounts, but not - the position of other among the top-level accounts. This means: - - o you will sometimes declare parent accounts (eg account other above) - that you don't intend to post to, just to customize their display - order - - o sibling accounts stay together (you couldn't display x:y in between - a:b and a:c). - - Rewriting accounts - You can define account alias rules which rewrite your account names, or - parts of them, before generating reports. This can be useful for: - - o expanding shorthand account names to their full form, allowing easier - data entry and a less verbose journal - - o adapting old journals to your current chart of accounts - - o experimenting with new account organisations, like a new hierarchy or - combining two accounts into one - - o customising reports - - Account aliases also rewrite account names in account directives. They - do not affect account names being entered via hledger add or hledger- - web. - - See also Rewrite account names. - - Basic aliases - To set an account alias, use the alias directive in your journal file. - This affects all subsequent journal entries in the current file or its - included files (but note: not sibling or parent files). The spaces - around the = are optional: - - alias OLD = NEW - - Or, you can use the --alias 'OLD=NEW' option on the command line. This - affects all entries. It's useful for trying out aliases interactively. - - OLD and NEW are case sensitive full account names. hledger will - replace any occurrence of the old account name with the new one. Sub- - accounts are also affected. Eg: - - alias checking = assets:bank:wells fargo:checking - ; rewrites "checking" to "assets:bank:wells fargo:checking", or "checking:a" to "assets:bank:wells fargo:checking:a" - - Regex aliases - There is also a more powerful variant that uses a regular expression, - indicated by the forward slashes: - - alias /REGEX/ = REPLACEMENT - - or --alias '/REGEX/=REPLACEMENT'. - - REGEX is a case-insensitive regular expression. Anywhere it matches - inside an account name, the matched part will be replaced by REPLACE- - MENT. If REGEX contains parenthesised match groups, these can be ref- - erenced by the usual numeric backreferences in REPLACEMENT. Eg: - - alias /^(.+):bank:([^:]+):(.*)/ = \1:\2 \3 - ; rewrites "assets:bank:wells fargo:checking" to "assets:wells fargo checking" - - Also note that REPLACEMENT continues to the end of line (or on command - line, to end of option argument), so it can contain trailing white- - space. - - Combining aliases - You can define as many aliases as you like, using journal directives - and/or command line options. - - Recursive aliases - where an account name is rewritten by one alias, - then by another alias, and so on - are allowed. Each alias sees the - effect of previously applied aliases. - - In such cases it can be important to understand which aliases will be - applied and in which order. For (each account name in) each journal - entry, we apply: - - 1. alias directives preceding the journal entry, most recently parsed - first (ie, reading upward from the journal entry, bottom to top) - - 2. --alias options, in the order they appeared on the command line - (left to right). - - In other words, for (an account name in) a given journal entry: - - o the nearest alias declaration before/above the entry is applied first - - o the next alias before/above that will be be applied next, and so on - - o aliases defined after/below the entry do not affect it. - - This gives nearby aliases precedence over distant ones, and helps pro- - vide semantic stability - aliases will keep working the same way inde- - pendent of which files are being read and in which order. - - In case of trouble, adding --debug=6 to the command line will show - which aliases are being applied when. - - Aliases and multiple files - As explained at Directives and multiple files, alias directives do not - affect parent or sibling files. Eg in this command, - - hledger -f a.aliases -f b.journal - - account aliases defined in a.aliases will not affect b.journal. - Including the aliases doesn't work either: - - include a.aliases - - 2020-01-01 ; not affected by a.aliases - foo 1 - bar - - This means that account aliases should usually be declared at the start - of your top-most file, like this: - - alias foo=Foo - alias bar=Bar - - 2020-01-01 ; affected by aliases above - foo 1 - bar - - include c.journal ; also affected - - end aliases - You can clear (forget) all currently defined aliases with the end - aliases directive: - - end aliases - - Default parent account - You can specify a parent account which will be prepended to all - accounts within a section of the journal. Use the apply account and - end apply account directives like so: - - apply account home - - 2010/1/1 - food $10 - cash - - end apply account - - which is equivalent to: - - 2010/01/01 - home:food $10 - home:cash $-10 - - If end apply account is omitted, the effect lasts to the end of the - file. Included files are also affected, eg: - - apply account business - include biz.journal - end apply account - apply account personal - include personal.journal - - Prior to hledger 1.0, legacy account and end spellings were also sup- - ported. - - A default parent account also affects account directives. It does not - affect account names being entered via hledger add or hledger-web. If - account aliases are present, they are applied after the default parent - account. - - Periodic transactions - Periodic transaction rules describe transactions that recur. They - allow hledger to generate temporary future transactions to help with - forecasting, so you don't have to write out each one in the journal, - and it's easy to try out different forecasts. - - Periodic transactions can be a little tricky, so before you use them, - read this whole section - or at least these tips: - - 1. Two spaces accidentally added or omitted will cause you trouble - - read about this below. - - 2. For troubleshooting, show the generated transactions with hledger - print --forecast tag:generated or hledger register --forecast - tag:generated. - - 3. Forecasted transactions will begin only after the last non-fore- - casted transaction's date. - - 4. Forecasted transactions will end 6 months from today, by default. - See below for the exact start/end rules. - - 5. period expressions can be tricky. Their documentation needs - improvement, but is worth studying. - - 6. Some period expressions with a repeating interval must begin on a - natural boundary of that interval. Eg in weekly from DATE, DATE - must be a monday. ~ weekly from 2019/10/1 (a tuesday) will give an - error. - - 7. Other period expressions with an interval are automatically expanded - to cover a whole number of that interval. (This is done to improve - reports, but it also affects periodic transactions. Yes, it's a bit - inconsistent with the above.) Eg: ~ every 10th day of month from - 2020/01, which is equivalent to ~ every 10th day of month from - 2020/01/01, will be adjusted to start on 2019/12/10. - - Periodic transaction rules also have a second meaning: they are used to - define budget goals, shown in budget reports. - - Periodic rule syntax - A periodic transaction rule looks like a normal journal entry, with the - date replaced by a tilde (~) followed by a period expression (mnemonic: - ~ looks like a recurring sine wave.): - - ~ monthly - expenses:rent $2000 - assets:bank:checking - - There is an additional constraint on the period expression: the start - date must fall on a natural boundary of the interval. Eg monthly from - 2018/1/1 is valid, but monthly from 2018/1/15 is not. - - Partial or relative dates (M/D, D, tomorrow, last week) in the period - expression can work (useful or not). They will be relative to today's - date, unless a Y default year directive is in effect, in which case - they will be relative to Y/1/1. - - Two spaces between period expression and description! - If the period expression is followed by a transaction description, - these must be separated by two or more spaces. This helps hledger know - where the period expression ends, so that descriptions can not acciden- - tally alter their meaning, as in this example: - - ; 2 or more spaces needed here, so the period is not understood as "every 2 months in 2020" - ; || - ; vv - ~ every 2 months in 2020, we will review - assets:bank:checking $1500 - income:acme inc - - So, - - o Do write two spaces between your period expression and your transac- - tion description, if any. - - o Don't accidentally write two spaces in the middle of your period - expression. - - Forecasting with periodic transactions - The --forecast flag activates any periodic transaction rules in the - journal. These will generate temporary additional transactions, usu- - ally recurring and in the future, which will appear in all reports. - hledger print --forecast is a good way to see them. - - This can be useful for estimating balances into the future, perhaps - experimenting with different scenarios. - - It could also be useful for scripted data entry: you could describe - recurring transactions, and every so often copy the output of print - --forecast into the journal. - - The generated transactions will have an extra tag, like generated- - transaction:~ PERIODICEXPR, indicating which periodic rule generated - them. There is also a similar, hidden tag, named _generated-transac- - tion:, which you can use to reliably match transactions generated "just - now" (rather than printed in the past). - - The forecast transactions are generated within a forecast period, which - is independent of the report period. (Forecast period sets the bounds - for generated transactions, report period controls which transactions - are reported.) The forecast period begins on: - - o the start date provided within --forecast's argument, if any - - o otherwise, the later of - - o the report start date, if specified (with -b/-p/date:) - - o the day after the latest ordinary transaction in the journal, if - any - - o otherwise today. - - It ends on: - - o the end date provided within --forecast's argument, if any - - o otherwise, the report end date, if specified (with -e/-p/date:) - - o otherwise 180 days (6 months) from today. - - Note, this means that ordinary transactions will suppress periodic - transactions, by default; the periodic transactions will not start - until after the last ordinary transaction. This is usually convenient, - but you can get around it in two ways: - - o If you need to record some transactions in the future, make them - periodic transactions (with a single occurrence, eg: ~ YYYY-MM-DD) - rather than ordinary transactions. That way they won't suppress - other periodic transactions. - - o Or give --forecast a period expression argument. A forecast period - specified this way can overlap ordinary transactions, and need not be - in the future. Some things to note: - - o You must use = between flag and argument; a space won't work. - - o The period expression can specify the forecast period's start date, - end date, or both. See also Report start & end date. - - o The period expression should not specify a report interval. (Each - periodic transaction rule specifies its own interval.) - - Some examples: --forecast=202001-202004, --forecast=jan-, --fore- - cast=2021. - - Budgeting with periodic transactions - With the --budget flag, currently supported by the balance command, - each periodic transaction rule declares recurring budget goals for the - specified accounts. Eg the first example above declares a goal of - spending $2000 on rent (and also, a goal of depositing $2000 into - checking) every month. Goals and actual performance can then be com- - pared in budget reports. - - See also: Budgeting and Forecasting. - - - Auto postings - "Automated postings" or "auto postings" are extra postings which get - added automatically to transactions which match certain queries, - defined by "auto posting rules", when you use the --auto flag. - - An auto posting rule looks a bit like a transaction: - - = QUERY - ACCOUNT AMOUNT - ... - ACCOUNT [AMOUNT] - - except the first line is an equals sign (mnemonic: = suggests match- - ing), followed by a query (which matches existing postings), and each - "posting" line describes a posting to be generated, and the posting - amounts can be: - - o a normal amount with a commodity symbol, eg $2. This will be used - as-is. - - o a number, eg 2. The commodity symbol (if any) from the matched post- - ing will be added to this. - - o a numeric multiplier, eg *2 (a star followed by a number N). The - matched posting's amount (and total price, if any) will be multiplied - by N. - - o a multiplier with a commodity symbol, eg *$2 (a star, number N, and - symbol S). The matched posting's amount will be multiplied by N, and - its commodity symbol will be replaced with S. - - 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: - - = expenses:groceries 'expenses:dining out' - (budget:funds:dining out) *-1 - - Some examples: - - ; every time I buy food, schedule a dollar donation - = expenses:food - (liabilities:charity) $-1 - - ; when I buy a gift, also deduct that amount from a budget envelope subaccount - = expenses:gifts - assets:checking:gifts *-1 - assets:checking *1 - - 2017/12/1 - expenses:food $10 - assets:checking - - 2017/12/14 - expenses:gifts $20 - assets:checking - - $ hledger print --auto - 2017-12-01 - expenses:food $10 - assets:checking - (liabilities:charity) $-1 - - 2017-12-14 - expenses:gifts $20 - assets:checking - assets:checking:gifts -$20 - assets:checking $20 - - Auto postings and multiple files - An auto posting rule can affect any transaction in the current file, or - in any parent file or child file. Note, currently it will not affect - sibling files (when multiple -f/--file are used - see #1212). - - Auto postings and dates - 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. - - Auto postings and transaction balancing / inferred amounts / balance asser- - tions - Currently, auto postings are added: - - o after missing amounts are inferred, and transactions are checked for - balancedness, - - o but before balance assertions are checked. - - Note this means that journal entries must be balanced both before and - after auto postings are added. This changed in hledger 1.12+; see #893 - for background. - - Auto posting tags - Automated postings will have some extra tags: - - o generated-posting:= QUERY - shows this was generated by an auto post- - ing rule, and the query - - o _generated-posting:= QUERY - a hidden tag, which does not appear in - hledger's output. This can be used to match postings generated "just - now", rather than generated in the past and saved to the journal. - - Also, any transaction that has been changed by auto posting rules will - have these tags added: - - o modified: - this transaction was modified - - o _modified: - a hidden tag not appearing in the comment; this transac- - tion was modified "just now". - -CSV FORMAT - How hledger reads CSV data, and the CSV rules file format. - - hledger can read CSV files (Character Separated Value - usually comma, - semicolon, or tab) containing dated records as if they were journal - files, automatically converting each CSV record into a transaction. - - (To learn about writing CSV, see CSV output.) - - We describe each CSV file's format with a corresponding rules file. By - default this is named like the CSV file with a .rules extension added. - Eg when reading FILE.csv, hledger also looks for FILE.csv.rules in the - same directory as FILE.csv. You can specify a different rules file - with the --rules-file option. If a rules file is not found, hledger - will create a sample rules file, which you'll need to adjust. - - This file contains rules describing the CSV data (header line, fields - layout, date format etc.), and how to construct hledger journal entries - (transactions) from it. Often there will also be a list of conditional - rules for categorising transactions based on their descriptions. - Here's an overview of the CSV rules; these are described more fully - below, after the examples: - - - skip skip one or more header lines or matched CSV - records - fields list name CSV fields, assign them to hledger - fields - field assignment assign a value to one hledger field, with - interpolation - Field names hledger field names, used in the fields list - and field assignments - separator a custom field separator - if block apply some rules to CSV records matched by - patterns - if table apply some rules to CSV records matched by - patterns, alternate syntax - end skip the remaining CSV records - date-format how to parse dates in CSV records - decimal-mark the decimal mark used in CSV amounts, if - ambiguous - newest-first disambiguate record order when there's only - one date - include inline another CSV rules file - - - balance-type choose which type of balance assignments to - use - - Note, for best error messages when reading CSV files, use a .csv, .tsv - or .ssv file extension or file prefix - see File Extension below. - - There's an introductory Convert CSV files tutorial on hledger.org. - - Examples - Here are some sample hledger CSV rules files. See also the full col- - lection at: - https://github.com/simonmichael/hledger/tree/master/examples/csv - - Basic - 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's a simple CSV file and a rules file for it: - - Date, Description, Id, Amount - 12/11/2019, Foo, 123, 10.23 - - # basic.csv.rules - skip 1 - fields date, description, _, amount - date-format %d/%m/%Y - - $ hledger print -f basic.csv - 2019-11-12 Foo - expenses:unknown 10.23 - income:unknown -10.23 - - Default account names are chosen, since we didn't set them. - - Bank of Ireland - Here'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 neces- - sary but provides extra error checking: - - Date,Details,Debit,Credit,Balance - 07/12/2012,LODGMENT 529898,,10.0,131.21 - 07/12/2012,PAYMENT,5,,126 - - # 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 "balance" - # 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 - - $ 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 - - The balance assertions don't raise an error above, because we're read- - ing directly from CSV, but they will be checked if these entries are - imported into a journal file. - - Amazon - Here we convert amazon.com order history, and use an if block to gener- - ate a third posting if there's a fee. (In practice you'd probably get - this data from your bank instead, but it's an example.) - - "Date","Type","To/From","Name","Status","Amount","Fees","Transaction ID" - "Jul 29, 2012","Payment","To","Foo.","Completed","$20.00","$0.00","16000000000000DGLNJPI1P9B8DKPVHL" - "Jul 30, 2012","Payment","To","Adapteva, Inc.","Completed","$25.00","$1.00","17LA58JSKRD4HDGLNJPI1P9B8DKPVHL" - - # amazon-orders.csv.rules - - # skip one header line - skip 1 - - # name the csv fields, and assign the transaction's date, amount and code. - # Avoided the "status" and "amount" 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'm assuming amzamount excludes the fees, don'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 - - $ 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 - - Paypal - Here's a real-world rules file for (customised) Paypal CSV, with some - Paypal-specific rules, and a second rules file included: - - "Date","Time","TimeZone","Name","Type","Status","Currency","Gross","Fee","Net","From Email Address","To Email Address","Transaction ID","Item Title","Item ID","Reference Txn ID","Receipt ID","Balance","Note" - "10/01/2019","03:46:20","PDT","Calm Radio","Subscription Payment","Completed","USD","-6.99","0.00","-6.99","simon@joyful.com","memberships@calmradio.com","60P57143A8206782E","MONTHLY - $1 for the first 2 Months: Me - Order 99309. Item total: $1.00 USD first 2 months, then $6.99 / Month","","I-R8YLY094FJYR","","-6.99","" - "10/01/2019","03:46:20","PDT","","Bank Deposit to PP Account ","Pending","USD","6.99","0.00","6.99","","simon@joyful.com","0TU1544T080463733","","","60P57143A8206782E","","0.00","" - "10/01/2019","08:57:01","PDT","Patreon","PreApproved Payment Bill User Payment","Completed","USD","-7.00","0.00","-7.00","simon@joyful.com","support@patreon.com","2722394R5F586712G","Patreon* Membership","","B-0PG93074E7M86381M","","-7.00","" - "10/01/2019","08:57:01","PDT","","Bank Deposit to PP Account ","Pending","USD","7.00","0.00","7.00","","simon@joyful.com","71854087RG994194F","Patreon* Membership","","2722394R5F586712G","","0.00","" - "10/19/2019","03:02:12","PDT","Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.","Subscription Payment","Completed","USD","-2.00","0.00","-2.00","simon@joyful.com","tle@wikimedia.org","K9U43044RY432050M","Monthly donation to the Wikimedia Foundation","","I-R5C3YUS3285L","","-2.00","" - "10/19/2019","03:02:12","PDT","","Bank Deposit to PP Account ","Pending","USD","2.00","0.00","2.00","","simon@joyful.com","3XJ107139A851061F","","","K9U43044RY432050M","","0.00","" - "10/22/2019","05:07:06","PDT","Noble Benefactor","Subscription Payment","Completed","USD","10.00","-0.59","9.41","noble@bene.fac.tor","simon@joyful.com","6L8L1662YP1334033","Joyful Systems","","I-KC9VBGY2GWDB","","9.41","" - - # paypal-custom.csv.rules - - # Tips: - # Export from Activity -> Statements -> Custom -> Activity download - # Suggested transaction type: "Balance affecting" - # Paypal's default fields in 2018 were: - # "Date","Time","TimeZone","Name","Type","Status","Currency","Gross","Fee","Net","From Email Address","To Email Address","Transaction ID","Shipping Address","Address Status","Item Title","Item ID","Shipping and Handling Amount","Insurance Amount","Sales Tax","Option 1 Name","Option 1 Value","Option 2 Name","Option 2 Value","Reference Txn ID","Invoice Number","Custom Number","Quantity","Receipt ID","Balance","Address Line 1","Address Line 2/District/Neighborhood","Town/City","State/Province/Region/County/Territory/Prefecture/Republic","Zip/Postal Code","Country","Contact Phone Number","Subject","Note","Country Code","Balance Impact" - # This rules file assumes the following more detailed fields, configured in "Customize report fields": - # "Date","Time","TimeZone","Name","Type","Status","Currency","Gross","Fee","Net","From Email Address","To Email Address","Transaction ID","Item Title","Item ID","Reference Txn ID","Receipt ID","Balance","Note" - - 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'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's income (a debit) - if %grossamount ^[^-] - account2 income:unknown - # if negative, it's an expense (a credit) - if %grossamount ^- - 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 - - # 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 - - $ 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@joyful.com, toemail:memberships@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@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@joyful.com, toemail:support@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@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@joyful.com, toemail:tle@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@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@bene.fac.tor, toemail:simon@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: - - CSV rules - The following kinds of rule can appear in the rules file, in any order. - Blank lines and lines beginning with # or ; are ignored. - - skip - skip N - - The word "skip" followed by a number (or no number, meaning 1) tells - hledger to ignore this many non-empty lines preceding the CSV data. - (Empty/blank lines are skipped automatically.) You'll need this when- - ever your CSV data contains header lines. - - It also has a second purpose: it can be used inside if blocks to ignore - certain CSV records (described below). - - fields list - fields FIELDNAME1, FIELDNAME2, ... - - A fields list (the word "fields" followed by comma-separated field - names) is the quick way to assign CSV field values to hledger fields. - (The other way is field assignments, see below.) A fields list does - does two things: - - 1. It names the CSV fields. This is optional, but can be convenient - later for interpolating them. - - 2. Whenever you use a standard hledger field name (defined below), the - CSV value is assigned to that part of the hledger transaction. - - Here's an example that says "use the 1st, 2nd and 4th fields as the - transaction's date, description and amount; name the last two fields - for later reference; and ignore the others": - - fields date, description, , amount, , , somefield, anotherfield - - Tips: - - o The fields list always use commas, even if your CSV data uses another - separator character. - - o Currently there must be least two items in the list (at least one - comma). - - o Field names may not contain spaces. Spaces before/after field names - are optional. - - o If the CSV contains column headings, it's a good idea to use these, - suitably modified, as the basis for your field names (eg lower-cased, - with underscores instead of spaces). - - o If some heading names match standard hledger fields, but you don't - want to set the hledger fields directly, alter those names, eg by - appending an underscore. - - o Fields you don't care about can be given a dummy name (eg: _ ), or no - name. - - field assignment - HLEDGERFIELDNAME FIELDVALUE - - 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). - - 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 inter- - polate CSV fields, referenced by their 1-based position in the CSV - record (%N), or by the name they were given in the fields list (%CSV- - FIELDNAME). - - Some examples: - - # set the amount to the 4th CSV field, with " USD" appended - amount %4 USD - - # combine three fields to make a comment, containing note: and date: tags - comment note: %somefield - %anotherfield, date: %1 - - Tips: - - o Interpolation strips outer whitespace (so a CSV value like " 1 " - becomes 1 when interpolated) (#1051). - - o Interpolations always refer to a CSV field - you can't interpolate a - hledger field. (See Referencing other fields below). - - Field names - Here are the standard hledger field (and pseudo-field) names, which you - can use in a fields list and in field assignments. For more about the - transaction parts they refer to, see Transactions. - - date field - Assigning to date sets the transaction date. - - date2 field - date2 sets the transaction's secondary date, if any. - - status field - status sets the transaction's status, if any. - - code field - code sets the transaction's code, if any. - - description field - description sets the transaction's description, if any. - - comment field - comment sets the transaction's comment, if any. - - commentN, where N is a number, sets the Nth posting's comment. - - Tips: - You can assign multi-line comments by writing literal \n in the - code. A comment starting with \n will begin on a new line. - Comments - can contain tags, as usual. - - account field - Assigning to accountN, where N is 1 to 99, sets the account name of the - Nth posting, and causes that posting to be generated. - - Most often there are two postings, so you'll want to set account1 and - account2. Typically account1 is associated with the CSV file, and is - set once with a top-level assignment, while account2 is set based on - each transaction's description, and in conditional blocks. - - If a posting's account name is left unset but its amount is set (see - below), a default account name will be chosen (like "expenses:unknown" - or "income:unknown"). - - amount field - amountN sets the amount of the Nth posting, and causes that posting to - be generated. By assigning to amount1, amount2, ... etc. you can - generate up to 99 postings. - - amountN-in and amountN-out can be used instead, if the CSV uses sepa- - rate fields for debits and credits (inflows and outflows). hledger - assumes both of these CSV fields are unsigned, and will automatically - negate the "-out" value. If they are signed, see "Setting amounts" - below. - - amount, or amount-in and amount-out are a legacy mode, to keep pre- - hledger-1.17 CSV rules files working (and for occasional convenience). - They are suitable only for two-posting transactions; they set both - posting 1's and posting 2's amount. Posting 2's amount will be - negated, and also converted to cost if there's a transaction price. - - If you have an existing rules file using the unnumbered form, you might - want to use the numbered form in certain conditional blocks, without - having to update and retest all the old rules. To facilitate this, - posting 1 ignores amount/amount-in/amount-out if any of - amount1/amount1-in/amount1-out are assigned, and posting 2 ignores them - if any of amount2/amount2-in/amount2-out are assigned, avoiding con- - flicts. - - currency field - currency sets a currency symbol, to be prepended to all postings' - amounts. You can use this if the CSV amounts do not have a currency - symbol, eg if it is in a separate column. - - currencyN prepends a currency symbol to just the Nth posting's amount. - - balance field - balanceN sets a balance assertion amount (or if the posting amount is - left empty, a balance assignment) on posting N. - - balance is a compatibility spelling for hledger <1.17; it is equivalent - to balance1. - - You can adjust the type of assertion/assignment with the balance-type - rule (see below). - - See Tips below for more about setting amounts and currency. - - separator - You can use the separator rule to read other kinds of character-sepa- - rated data. The argument is any single separator character, or the - words tab or space (case insensitive). Eg, for comma-separated values - (CSV): - - separator , - - or for semicolon-separated values (SSV): - - separator ; - - or for tab-separated values (TSV): - - separator TAB - - If the input file has a .csv, .ssv or .tsv file extension (or a csv:, - ssv:, tsv: prefix), the appropriate separator will be inferred automat- - ically, and you won't need this rule. - - if block - if MATCHER - RULE - - if - MATCHER - MATCHER - MATCHER - RULE - RULE - - Conditional blocks ("if blocks") are a block of rules that are applied - only to CSV records which match certain patterns. They are often used - for customising account names based on transaction descriptions. - - Matching the whole record - Each MATCHER can be a record matcher, which looks like this: - - REGEX - - REGEX is a case-insensitive regular expression that tries to match any- - where within the CSV record. It is a POSIX ERE (extended regular - expression) that also supports GNU word boundaries (\b, \B, \<, \>), - and nothing else. If you have trouble, be sure to check our doc: - https://hledger.org/hledger.html#regular-expressions - - Important note: the record that is matched is not the original record, - but a synthetic one, with any enclosing double quotes (but not enclos- - ing whitespace) removed, and always comma-separated (which means that a - field containing a comma will appear like two fields). Eg, if the - original record is 2020-01-01; "Acme, Inc."; 1,000, the REGEX will - actually see 2020-01-01,Acme, Inc., 1,000). - - Matching individual fields - Or, MATCHER can be a field matcher, like this: - - %CSVFIELD REGEX - - which matches just the content of a particular CSV field. CSVFIELD is - a percent sign followed by the field's name or column number, like - %date or %1. - - Combining matchers - A single matcher can be written on the same line as the "if"; or multi- - ple matchers can be written on the following lines, non-indented. Mul- - tiple matchers are OR'd (any one of them can match), unless one begins - with an & symbol, in which case it is AND'ed with the previous matcher. - - if - MATCHER - & MATCHER - RULE - - Rules applied on successful match - After the patterns there should be one or more rules to apply, all - indented by at least one space. Three kinds of rule are allowed in - conditional blocks: - - o field assignments (to set a hledger field) - - o skip (to skip the matched CSV record) - - o end (to skip all remaining CSV records). - - Examples: - - # if the CSV record contains "groceries", set account2 to "expenses:groceries" - if groceries - account2 expenses:groceries - - # if the CSV record contains any of these patterns, set account2 and comment as shown - if - monthly service fee - atm transaction fee - banking thru software - account2 expenses:business:banking - comment XXX deductible ? check it - - if table - if,CSVFIELDNAME1,CSVFIELDNAME2,...,CSVFIELDNAMEn - MATCHER1,VALUE11,VALUE12,...,VALUE1n - MATCHER2,VALUE21,VALUE22,...,VALUE2n - MATCHER3,VALUE31,VALUE32,...,VALUE3n - - - Conditional tables ("if tables") are a different syntax to specify - field assignments that will be applied only to CSV records which match - certain patterns. - - MATCHER could be either field or record matcher, as described above. - When MATCHER matches, values from that row would be assigned to the CSV - fields named on the if line, in the same order. - - Therefore if table is exactly equivalent to a sequence of of if blocks: - - if MATCHER1 - CSVFIELDNAME1 VALUE11 - CSVFIELDNAME2 VALUE12 - ... - CSVFIELDNAMEn VALUE1n - - if MATCHER2 - CSVFIELDNAME1 VALUE21 - CSVFIELDNAME2 VALUE22 - ... - CSVFIELDNAMEn VALUE2n - - if MATCHER3 - CSVFIELDNAME1 VALUE31 - CSVFIELDNAME2 VALUE32 - ... - CSVFIELDNAMEn VALUE3n - - Each line starting with MATCHER should contain enough (possibly empty) - values for all the listed fields. - - Rules would be checked and applied in the order they are listed in the - table and, like with if blocks, later rules (in the same or another ta- - ble) or if blocks could override the effect of any rule. - - Instead of ',' you can use a variety of other non-alphanumeric charac- - ters as a separator. First character after if is taken to be the sepa- - rator for the rest of the table. It is the responsibility of the user - to ensure that separator does not occur inside MATCHERs and values - - there is no way to escape separator. - - Example: - - if,account2,comment - atm transaction fee,expenses:business:banking,deductible? check it - %description groceries,expenses:groceries, - 2020/01/12.*Plumbing LLC,expenses:house:upkeep,emergency plumbing call-out - - end - This rule can be used inside if blocks (only), to make hledger stop - reading this CSV file and move on to the next input file, or to command - execution. Eg: - - # ignore everything following the first empty record - if ,,,, - end - - date-format - date-format DATEFMT - - This is a helper for the date (and date2) fields. If your CSV dates - are not formatted like YYYY-MM-DD, YYYY/MM/DD or YYYY.MM.DD, you'll - need to add a date-format rule describing them with a strptime date - parsing pattern, which must parse the CSV date value completely. Some - examples: - - # MM/DD/YY - date-format %m/%d/%y - - # D/M/YYYY - # The - makes leading zeros optional. - date-format %-d/%-m/%Y - - # YYYY-Mmm-DD - date-format %Y-%h-%d - - # 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 - - For the supported strptime syntax, see: - https://hackage.haskell.org/package/time/docs/Data-Time-For- - mat.html#v:formatTime - - Note that although you can parse date-times which include a time zone, - that time zone is ignored; it will not change the date that is parsed. - This means when reading CSV data with times not in your local time - zone, dates can be "off by one". - - decimal-mark - decimal-mark . - - or: - - decimal-mark , - - 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. - - newest-first - hledger always sorts the generated transactions by date. Transactions - on the same date should appear in the same order as their CSV records, - as hledger can usually auto-detect whether the CSV's normal order is - oldest first or newest first. But if all of the following are true: - - o the CSV might sometimes contain just one day of data (all records - having the same date) - - o the CSV records are normally in reverse chronological order (newest - at the top) - - o and you care about preserving the order of same-day transactions - - then, you should add the newest-first rule as a hint. Eg: - - # tell hledger explicitly that the CSV is normally newest first - newest-first - - include - include RULESFILE - - This includes the contents of another CSV rules file at this point. - RULESFILE is an absolute file path or a path relative to the current - file's directory. This can be useful for sharing common rules between - several rules files, eg: - - # someaccount.csv.rules - - ## someaccount-specific rules - fields date,description,amount - account1 assets:someaccount - account2 expenses:misc - - ## common rules - include categorisation.rules - - balance-type - Balance assertions generated by assigning to balanceN are of the simple - = 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 - balance-type rule: - - # balance assertions will consider all commodities and all subaccounts - balance-type ==* - - Here are the balance assertion types for quick reference: - - = single commodity, exclude subaccounts - =* single commodity, include subaccounts - == multi commodity, exclude subaccounts - ==* multi commodity, include subaccounts - - Tips - Rapid feedback - It's a good idea to get rapid feedback while creating/troubleshooting - CSV rules. Here's a good way, using entr from eradman.com/entrproject: - - $ ls foo.csv* | entr bash -c 'echo ----; hledger -f foo.csv print desc:SOMEDESC' - - A desc: query (eg) is used to select just one, or a few, transactions - of interest. "bash -c" 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. - - Valid CSV - hledger accepts CSV conforming to RFC 4180. When CSV values are - enclosed in quotes, note: - - o they must be double quotes (not single quotes) - - o spaces outside the quotes are not allowed - - File Extension - To help hledger identify the format and show the right error messages, - CSV/SSV/TSV files should normally be named with a .csv, .ssv or .tsv - filename extension. Or, the file path should be prefixed with csv:, - ssv: or tsv:. Eg: - - $ hledger -f foo.ssv print - - or: - - $ cat foo | hledger -f ssv:- foo - - You can override the file extension with a separator rule if needed. - See also: Input files in the hledger manual. - - Reading multiple CSV files - If you use multiple -f 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 --rules-file option, that rules file will be - used for all the CSV files. - - Valid transactions - After reading a CSV file, hledger post-processes and validates the gen- - erated 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. - - 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: - - $ hledger -f file.csv print | hledger -f- print - - Deduplicating, importing - 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. - - 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't have to remember how many times you ran it or with which version - of the CSV. (It keeps state in a hidden .latest.FILE.csv file.) This - is the easiest way to import CSV data. Eg: - - # download the latest CSV files, then run this command. - # Note, no -f flags needed here. - $ hledger import *.csv [--dry] - - This method works for most CSV files. (Where records have a stable - chronological order, and new records appear only at the new end.) - - A number of other tools and workflows, hledger-specific and otherwise, - exist for converting, deduplicating, classifying and managing CSV data. - See: - - o https://hledger.org -> sidebar -> real world setups - - o https://plaintextaccounting.org -> data import/conversion - - Setting amounts - Some tips on using the amount-setting rules discussed above. - - Here are the ways to set a posting's amount: - - 1. If the CSV has a single amount field: - Assign (via a fields list or a field assignment) to amountN. This sets - the Nth posting's amount. N is usually 1 or 2 but can go up to 99. - - 2. If the CSV has separate amount fields for debit & credit (in & out): - - a. If both fields are unsigned: - Assign to amountN-in and amountN-out. This sets posting N's amount - to whichever of these has a non-zero value, and negates the "-out" - value. - - b. If either field is signed (can contain a minus sign): - Use a conditional rule to flip the sign (of non-empty values). - Since hledger always negates amountN-out, if it was already nega- - tive, we must undo that by negating once more (but only if the - field is non-empty): - - fields date, description, amount1-in, amount1-out - if %amount1-out [1-9] - amount1-out -%amount1-out - - c. If both fields, or neither field, can contain a non-zero value: - hledger normally expects exactly one of the fields to have a non- - zero value. Eg, the amountN-in/amountN-out rules would reject - value pairs like these: - - "", "" - "0", "0" - "1", "none" - - So, use smarter conditional rules to set the amount from the appro- - priate field. Eg, these rules would make it use only the value - containing non-zero digits, handling the above: - - fields date, description, in, out - if %in [1-9] - amount1 %in - if %out [1-9] - amount1 %out - - 3. If you are stuck with hledger <1.17, or you want posting 2's amount - converted to cost: - Assign to amount (or to amount-in and amount-out). (The old numberless - syntax, which sets amount1 and amount2.) - - 4. If the CSV has the balance instead of the transaction amount: - Assign to balanceN, which sets posting N's amount indirectly via a bal- - ance assignment. (Old syntax: balance, equivalent to balance1.) - - o If hledger guesses the wrong default account name: - When setting the amount via balance assertion, hledger may guess - the wrong default account name. So, set the account name explic- - itly, eg: - - fields date, description, balance1 - account1 assets:checking - - Amount signs - There is some special handling for amount signs, to simplify parsing - and sign-flipping: - - o If an amount value begins with a plus sign: - that will be removed: +AMT becomes AMT - - o If an amount value is parenthesised: - it will be de-parenthesised and sign-flipped: (AMT) becomes -AMT - - o If an amount value has two minus signs (or two sets of parentheses, - or a minus sign and parentheses): - they cancel out and will be removed: --AMT or -(AMT) becomes AMT - - o If an amount value contains just a sign (or just a set of parenthe- - ses): - that is removed, making it an empty value. "+" or "-" or "()" becomes - "". - - Setting currency/commodity - If the currency/commodity symbol is included in the CSV's amount - field(s): - - 2020-01-01,foo,$123.00 - - you don't have to do anything special for the commodity symbol, it will - be assigned as part of the amount. Eg: - - fields date,description,amount - - 2020-01-01 foo - expenses:unknown $123.00 - income:unknown $-123.00 - - If the currency is provided as a separate CSV field: - - 2020-01-01,foo,USD,123.00 - - You can assign that to the currency pseudo-field, which has the special - effect of prepending itself to every amount in the transaction (on the - left, with no separating space): - - fields date,description,currency,amount - - 2020-01-01 foo - expenses:unknown USD123.00 - income:unknown USD-123.00 - - 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: - - fields date,description,cur,amt - amount %amt %cur - - 2020-01-01 foo - expenses:unknown 123.00 USD - income:unknown -123.00 USD - - Note we used a temporary field name (cur) that is not currency - that - would trigger the prepending effect, which we don't want here. - - Amount decimal places - Like amounts in a journal file, the amounts generated by CSV rules like - amount1 influence commodity display styles, such as the number of deci- - mal places displayed in reports. - - The original amounts as written in the CSV file do not affect display - style (because we don't yet reliably know their commodity). - - Referencing other fields - In field assignments, you can interpolate only CSV fields, not hledger - fields. In the example below, there's both a CSV field and a hledger - field named amount1, but %amount1 always means the CSV field, not the - hledger field: - - # Name the third CSV field "amount1" - fields date,description,amount1 - - # Set hledger'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 - - Here, since there's no CSV amount1 field, %amount1 will produce a lit- - eral "amount1": - - fields date,description,csvamount - amount1 %csvamount USD - # Can't interpolate amount1 here - comment %amount1 - - When there are multiple field assignments to the same hledger field, - only the last one takes effect. Here, comment's value will be be B, or - C if "something" is matched, but never A: - - comment A - comment B - if something - comment C - - How CSV rules are evaluated - Here's how to think of CSV rules being evaluated (if you really need - to). First, - - o include - 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.) - - Then "global" rules are evaluated, top to bottom. If a rule is - repeated, the last one wins: - - o skip (at top level) - - o date-format - - o newest-first - - o fields - names the CSV fields, optionally sets up initial assignments - to hledger fields - - Then for each CSV record in turn: - - o test all if blocks. If any of them contain a end rule, skip all - remaining CSV records. Otherwise if any of them contain a skip rule, - skip that many CSV records. If there are multiple matched skip - rules, the first one wins. - - o collect all field assignments at top level and in matched if blocks. - When there are multiple assignments for a field, keep only the last - one. - - o compute a value for each hledger field - either the one that was - assigned to it (and interpolate the %CSVFIELDNAME references), or a - default - - o generate a synthetic hledger transaction from these values. - - 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. - -TIMECLOCK FORMAT - The time logging format of timeclock.el, as read by hledger. - - hledger can read time logs in timeclock format. As with Ledger, these - are (a subset of) timeclock.el'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). - - i 2015/03/30 09:00:00 some:account name optional description after two spaces - o 2015/03/30 09:20:00 - i 2015/03/31 22:21:45 another account - o 2015/04/01 02:00:34 - - 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, hledger print generates these journal entries: - - $ hledger -f t.timeclock print - 2015-03-30 * optional description after two spaces - (some:account name) 0.33h - - 2015-03-31 * 22:21-23:59 - (another account) 1.64h - - 2015-04-01 * 00:00-02:00 - (another account) 2.01h - - Here is a sample.timeclock to download and some queries to try: - - $ 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 - - To generate time logs, ie to clock in and clock out, you could: - - o use emacs and the built-in timeclock.el, or the extended timeclock- - x.el and perhaps the extras in ledgerutils.el - - o at the command line, use these bash aliases: shell alias ti="echo - i `date '+%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S'` \$* >>$TIMELOG" alias to="echo o - `date '+%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S'` >>$TIMELOG" - - o or use the old ti and to scripts in the ledger 2.x repository. These - rely on a "timeclock" executable which I think is just the ledger 2 - executable renamed. - -TIMEDOT FORMAT - timedot format is hledger's human-friendly time logging format. Com- - pared to timeclock format, it is - - o convenient for quick, approximate, and retroactive time logging - - o readable: you can see at a glance where time was spent. - - A timedot file contains a series of day entries, which might look like - this: - - 2021-08-04 - hom:errands .... .... - fos:hledger:timedot .. ; docs - per:admin:finance - - hledger reads this as three time transactions on this day, with each - dot representing a quarter-hour spent: - - $ hledger -f a.timedot print # .timedot file extension activates the timedot reader - 2021-08-04 * - (hom:errands) 2.00 - - 2021-08-04 * - (fos:hledger:timedot) 0.50 - - 2021-08-04 * - (per:admin:finance) 0 - - A day entry begins with a date line: - - o a non-indented simple date (Y-M-D, Y/M/D, or Y.M.D). - - Optionally this can be followed on the same line by - - o a common transaction description for this day - - o a common transaction comment for this day, after a semicolon (;). - - After the date line are zero or more optionally-indented time transac- - tion lines, consisting of: - - o an account name - any word or phrase, usually a hledger-style account - name. - - o two or more spaces - a field separator, required if there is an - amount (as in journal format). - - o a timedot amount - dots representing quarter hours, or a number rep- - resenting hours. - - o an optional comment beginning with semicolon. This is ignored. - - In more detail, timedot amounts can be: - - o dots: zero or more period characters, each representing one quarter- - hour. Spaces are ignored and can be used for grouping. Eg: .... .. - - o a number, representing hours. Eg: 1.5 - - o a number immediately followed by a unit symbol s, m, h, d, w, mo, or - y, representing seconds, minutes, hours, days weeks, months or years. - Eg 1.5h or 90m. The following equivalencies are assumed: - 60s = 1m, 60m = 1h, 24h = 1d, 7d = 1w, 30d = 1mo, 365d = 1y. (This - unit will not be visible in the generated transaction amount, which is - always in hours.) - - There is some added flexibility to help with keeping time log data in - the same file as your notes, todo lists, etc.: - - o Lines beginning with # or ;, and blank lines, are ignored. - - o Lines not ending with a double-space and amount are parsed as trans- - actions with zero amount. (Most hledger reports hide these by - default; add -E to see them.) - - o One or more stars (*) followed by a space, at the start of a line, is - ignored. So date lines or time transaction lines can also be Org- - mode headlines. - - o All Org-mode headlines before the first date line are ignored. - - More examples: - - # 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 . - - 2016/2/3 - inc:client1 4 - fos:hledger 3 - biz:research 1 - - * Time log - ** 2020-01-01 - *** adm:time . - *** adm:finance . - - * 2020 Work Diary - ** Q1 - *** 2020-02-29 - **** DONE - 0700 yoga - **** UNPLANNED - **** BEGUN - hom:chores - cleaning ... - water plants - outdoor - one full watering can - indoor - light watering - **** TODO - adm:planning: trip - *** LATER - - Reporting: - - $ hledger -f a.timedot print date:2016/2/2 - 2016-02-02 * - (inc:client1) 2.00 - - 2016-02-02 * - (biz:research) 0.25 - - $ 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 - - Using period instead of colon as account name separator: - - 2016/2/4 - fos.hledger.timedot 4 - fos.ledger .. - - $ hledger -f a.timedot --alias /\\./=: bal --tree - 4.50 fos - 4.00 hledger:timedot - 0.50 ledger - -------------------- - 4.50 - - A sample.timedot file. - -COMMON TASKS - Here are some quick examples of how to do some basic tasks with - hledger. For more details, see the reference section below, the - hledger_journal(5) manual, or the more extensive docs at - https://hledger.org. - - Getting help - $ hledger # show available commands - $ hledger --help # show common options - $ hledger CMD --help # show common and command options, and command help - $ hledger help # show available manuals/topics - $ hledger help hledger # show hledger manual as info/man/text (auto-chosen) - $ hledger help journal --man # show the journal manual as a man page - $ hledger help --help # show more detailed help for the help command - - Find more docs, chat, mail list, reddit, issue tracker: - https://hledger.org#help-feedback - - Constructing command lines - hledger has an extensive and powerful command line interface. We - strive to keep it simple and ergonomic, but you may run into one of the - confusing real world details described in OPTIONS, below. If that hap- - pens, here are some tips that may help: - - o command-specific options must go after the command (it's fine to put - all options there) (hledger CMD OPTS ARGS) - - o running add-on executables directly simplifies command line parsing - (hledger-ui OPTS ARGS) - - o enclose "problematic" args in single quotes - - o if needed, also add a backslash to hide regular expression metachar- - acters from the shell - - o to see how a misbehaving command is being parsed, add --debug=2. - - Starting a journal file - hledger looks for your accounting data in a journal file, - $HOME/.hledger.journal by default: - - $ hledger stats - The hledger journal file "/Users/simon/.hledger.journal" was not found. - Please create it first, eg with "hledger add" or a text editor. - Or, specify an existing journal file with -f or LEDGER_FILE. - - You can override this by setting the LEDGER_FILE environment variable. - It'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: - - $ mkdir ~/finance - $ cd ~/finance - $ git init - Initialized empty Git repository in /Users/simon/finance/.git/ - $ touch 2020.journal - $ echo "export LEDGER_FILE=$HOME/finance/2020.journal" >> ~/.bashrc - $ source ~/.bashrc - $ hledger stats - Main file : /Users/simon/finance/2020.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 () - - Setting opening balances - Pick a starting date for which you can look up the balances of some - real-world assets (bank accounts, wallet..) and liabilities (credit - cards..). - - 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. - - Add an opening balances transaction to the journal, declaring the bal- - ances on this date. Here are two ways to do it: - - o The first way: open the journal in any text editor and save an entry - like this: - - 2020-01-01 * opening balances - assets:bank:checking $1000 = $1000 - assets:bank:savings $2000 = $2000 - assets:cash $100 = $100 - liabilities:creditcard $-50 = $-50 - equity:opening/closing balances - - These are start-of-day balances, ie whatever was in the account at - the end of the previous day. - - The * after the date is an optional status flag. Here it means - "cleared & confirmed". - - The currency symbols are optional, but usually a good idea as you'll - be dealing with multiple currencies sooner or later. - - The = amounts are optional balance assertions, providing extra error - checking. - - o The second way: run hledger add and follow the prompts to record a - similar transaction: - - $ hledger add - Adding transactions to journal file /Users/simon/finance/2020.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 [2020-02-07]: 2020-01-01 - 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): . - 2020-01-01 * 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 [2020-01-01]: . - - If you're using version control, this could be a good time to commit - the journal. Eg: - - $ git commit -m 'initial balances' 2020.journal - - Recording transactions - 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. - - Here are some simple transactions, see the hledger_journal(5) manual - and hledger.org for more ideas: - - 2020/1/10 * gift received - assets:cash $20 - income:gifts - - 2020.1.12 * farmers market - expenses:food $13 - assets:cash - - 2020-01-15 paycheck - income:salary - assets:bank:checking $1000 - - Reconciling - Periodically you should reconcile - compare your hledger-reported bal- - ances against external sources of truth, like bank statements or your - bank'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 dis- - crepancies. - - A typical workflow: - - 1. Reconcile cash. Count what's in your wallet. Compare with what - hledger reports (hledger bal cash). 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 - (hledger reg cash). If you can't find the error, add an adjustment - transaction. Eg if you have $105 after the above, and can't explain - the missing $2, it could be: - - 2020-01-16 * adjust cash - assets:cash $-2 = $105 - expenses:misc - - 2. Reconcile checking. Log in to your bank's website. Compare today's - (cleared) balance with hledger's cleared balance (hledger bal check- - ing -C). 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 trans- - action history and running balance from your bank with the one - reported by hledger reg checking -C. This will be easier if you - generally record transaction dates quite similar to your bank's - clearing dates. - - 3. Repeat for other asset/liability accounts. - - Tip: instead of the register command, use hledger-ui to see a live- - updating register while you edit the journal: hledger-ui --watch --reg- - ister checking -C - - After reconciling, it could be a good time to mark the reconciled - transactions' status as "cleared and confirmed", if you want to track - that, by adding the * marker. Eg in the paycheck transaction above, - insert * between 2020-01-15 and paycheck - - If you're using version control, this can be another good time to com- - mit: - - $ git commit -m 'txns' 2020.journal - - Reporting - Here are some basic reports. - - Show all transactions: - - $ hledger print - 2020-01-01 * opening balances - assets:bank:checking $1000 - assets:bank:savings $2000 - assets:cash $100 - liabilities:creditcard $-50 - equity:opening/closing balances $-3050 - - 2020-01-10 * gift received - assets:cash $20 - income:gifts - - 2020-01-12 * farmers market - expenses:food $13 - assets:cash - - 2020-01-15 * paycheck - income:salary - assets:bank:checking $1000 - - 2020-01-16 * adjust cash - assets:cash $-2 = $105 - expenses:misc - - Show account names, and their hierarchy: - - $ hledger accounts --tree - assets - bank - checking - savings - cash - equity - opening/closing balances - expenses - food - misc - income - gifts - salary - liabilities - creditcard - - Show all account totals: - - $ 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 - - Show only asset and liability balances, as a flat list, limited to - depth 2: - - $ hledger bal assets liabilities --flat -2 - $4000 assets:bank - $105 assets:cash - $-50 liabilities:creditcard - -------------------- - $4055 - - Show the same thing without negative numbers, formatted as a simple - balance sheet: - - $ hledger bs --flat -2 - Balance Sheet 2020-01-16 - - || 2020-01-16 - ========================++============ - Assets || - ------------------------++------------ - assets:bank || $4000 - assets:cash || $105 - ------------------------++------------ - || $4105 - ========================++============ - Liabilities || - ------------------------++------------ - liabilities:creditcard || $50 - ------------------------++------------ - || $50 - ========================++============ - Net: || $4055 - - The final total is your "net worth" on the end date. (Or use bse for a - full balance sheet with equity.) - - Show income and expense totals, formatted as an income statement: - - hledger is - Income Statement 2020-01-01-2020-01-16 - - || 2020-01-01-2020-01-16 - ===============++======================= - Revenues || - ---------------++----------------------- - income:gifts || $20 - income:salary || $1000 - ---------------++----------------------- - || $1020 - ===============++======================= - Expenses || - ---------------++----------------------- - expenses:food || $13 - expenses:misc || $2 - ---------------++----------------------- - || $15 - ===============++======================= - Net: || $1005 - - The final total is your net income during this period. - - Show transactions affecting your wallet, with running total: - - $ hledger register cash - 2020-01-01 opening balances assets:cash $100 $100 - 2020-01-10 gift received assets:cash $20 $120 - 2020-01-12 farmers market assets:cash $-13 $107 - 2020-01-16 adjust cash assets:cash $-2 $105 - - Show weekly posting counts as a bar chart: - - $ hledger activity -W - 2019-12-30 ***** - 2020-01-06 **** - 2020-01-13 **** - - Migrating to a new file - At the end of the year, you may want to continue your journal in a new - file, so that old transactions don't slow down or clutter your reports, - and to help ensure the integrity of your accounting history. See the - close command. - - If using version control, don't forget to git add the new file. - -LIMITATIONS - The need to precede add-on command options with -- when invoked from - hledger is awkward. - - When input data contains non-ascii characters, a suitable system locale - must be configured (or there will be an unhelpful error). Eg on POSIX, - set LANG to something other than C. - - In a Microsoft Windows CMD window, non-ascii characters and colours are - not supported. - - On Windows, non-ascii characters may not display correctly when running - a hledger built in CMD in MSYS/CYGWIN, or vice-versa. - - In a Cygwin/MSYS/Mintty window, the tab key is not supported in hledger - add. - - Not all of Ledger's journal file syntax is supported. See file format - differences. - - On large data files, hledger is slower and uses more memory than - Ledger. - -TROUBLESHOOTING - Here are some issues you might encounter when you run hledger (and - remember you can also seek help from the IRC channel, mail list or bug - tracker): - - Successfully installed, but "No command 'hledger' found" - stack and cabal install binaries into a special directory, which should - be added to your PATH environment variable. Eg on unix-like systems, - that is ~/.local/bin and ~/.cabal/bin respectively. - - I set a custom LEDGER_FILE, but hledger is still using the default file - LEDGER_FILE should be a real environment variable, not just a shell - variable. The command env | grep LEDGER_FILE should show it. You may - need to use export. Here's an explanation. - - Getting errors like "Illegal byte sequence" or "Invalid or incomplete - multibyte or wide character" or "commitAndReleaseBuffer: invalid argu- - ment (invalid character)" - Programs compiled with GHC (hledger, haskell build tools, etc.) need to - have a UTF-8-aware locale configured in the environment, otherwise they - will fail with these kinds of errors when they encounter non-ascii - characters. - - To fix it, set the LANG environment variable to some locale which sup- - ports UTF-8. The locale you choose must be installed on your system. - - Here's an example of setting LANG temporarily, on Ubuntu GNU/Linux: - - $ file my.journal - my.journal: UTF-8 Unicode text # the file is UTF8-encoded - $ echo $LANG - C # LANG is set to the default locale, which does not support UTF8 - $ locale -a # which locales are installed ? - C - en_US.utf8 # here's a UTF8-aware one we can use - POSIX - $ LANG=en_US.utf8 hledger -f my.journal print # ensure it is used for this command - - If available, C.UTF-8 will also work. If your preferred locale isn't - listed by locale -a, you might need to install it. Eg on - Ubuntu/Debian: - - $ apt-get install language-pack-fr - $ locale -a - C - en_US.utf8 - fr_BE.utf8 - fr_CA.utf8 - fr_CH.utf8 - fr_FR.utf8 - fr_LU.utf8 - POSIX - $ LANG=fr_FR.utf8 hledger -f my.journal print - - Here's how you could set it permanently, if you use a bash shell: - - $ echo "export LANG=en_US.utf8" >>~/.bash_profile - $ bash --login - - Exact spelling and capitalisation may be important. Note the differ- - ence on MacOS (UTF-8, not utf8). Some platforms (eg ubuntu) allow - variant spellings, but others (eg macos) require it to be exact: - - $ locale -a | grep -iE en_us.*utf - en_US.UTF-8 - $ LANG=en_US.UTF-8 hledger -f my.journal print - - - -REPORTING BUGS - Report bugs at http://bugs.hledger.org (or on the #hledger IRC channel - or hledger mail list) - - -AUTHORS - Simon Michael and contributors - - -COPYRIGHT - Copyright (C) 2007-2020 Simon Michael. - Released under GNU GPL v3 or later. - - -SEE ALSO - hledger(1), hledger-ui(1), hledger-web(1), ledger(1) - - - -hledger-1.23 September 2021 HLEDGER(1) + manual is for hledger 1.24. + +SYNOPSIS + hledger + + hledger [-f FILE] COMMAND [OPTIONS] [ARGS] + + hledger [-f FILE] ADDONCMD -- [OPTIONS] [ARGS] + +DESCRIPTION + hledger is a reliable, 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). + + The basic function of the hledger CLI is to read a plain text file + describing financial transactions (in accounting terms, a general jour- + nal) and print useful reports on standard output, or export them as + CSV. hledger can also read some other file formats such as CSV files, + translating them to journal format. Additionally, hledger lists other + hledger-* executables found in the user's $PATH and can invoke them as + subcommands. + + hledger reads data from one or more files in hledger journal, time- + clock, timedot, or CSV format specified with -f, or $LEDGER_FILE, or + $HOME/.hledger.journal (on windows, perhaps + C:/Users/USER/.hledger.journal). If using $LEDGER_FILE, note this must + be a real environment variable, not a shell variable. You can specify + standard input with -f-. + + Transactions are dated movements of money between two (or more) named + accounts, and are recorded with journal entries like this: + + 2015/10/16 bought food + expenses:food $10 + assets:cash + + Most users use a text editor to edit the journal, usually with an edi- + tor mode such as ledger-mode for added convenience. hledger's interac- + tive add command is another way to record new transactions. hledger + never changes existing transactions. + + To get started, you can either save some entries like the above in + ~/.hledger.journal, or run hledger add and follow the prompts. Then + try some commands like hledger print or hledger balance. Run hledger + with no arguments for a list of commands. + +OPTIONS + General options + To see general usage help, including general options which are sup- + ported by most hledger commands, run hledger -h. + + General help options: + + -h --help + show general or COMMAND help + + --man show general or COMMAND user manual with man + + --info show general or COMMAND user manual with info + + --version + show general or ADDONCMD version + + --debug[=N] + show debug output (levels 1-9, default: 1) + + General input options: + + -f FILE --file=FILE + use a different input file. For stdin, use - (default: + $LEDGER_FILE or $HOME/.hledger.journal) + + --rules-file=RULESFILE + Conversion rules file to use when reading CSV (default: + FILE.rules) + + --separator=CHAR + Field separator to expect when reading CSV (default: ',') + + --alias=OLD=NEW + rename accounts named OLD to NEW + + --anon anonymize accounts and payees + + --pivot FIELDNAME + use some other field or tag for the account name + + -I --ignore-assertions + disable balance assertion checks (note: does not disable balance + assignments) + + -s --strict + do extra error checking (check that all posted accounts are + declared) + + General reporting options: + + -b --begin=DATE + include postings/txns on or after this date (will be adjusted to + preceding subperiod start when using a report interval) + + -e --end=DATE + include postings/txns before this date (will be adjusted to fol- + lowing subperiod end when using a report interval) + + -D --daily + multiperiod/multicolumn report by day + + -W --weekly + multiperiod/multicolumn report by week + + -M --monthly + multiperiod/multicolumn report by month + + -Q --quarterly + multiperiod/multicolumn report by quarter + + -Y --yearly + multiperiod/multicolumn report by year + + -p --period=PERIODEXP + set start date, end date, and/or reporting interval all at once + using period expressions syntax + + --date2 + match the secondary date instead (see command help for other + effects) + + --today=DATE + override today's date (affects relative smart dates, for + tests/examples) + + -U --unmarked + include only unmarked postings/txns (can combine with -P or -C) + + -P --pending + include only pending postings/txns + + -C --cleared + include only cleared postings/txns + + -R --real + include only non-virtual postings + + -NUM --depth=NUM + hide/aggregate accounts or postings more than NUM levels deep + + -E --empty + show items with zero amount, normally hidden (and vice-versa in + hledger-ui/hledger-web) + + -B --cost + convert amounts to their cost/selling amount at transaction time + + -V --market + convert amounts to their market value in default valuation com- + modities + + -X --exchange=COMM + convert amounts to their market value in commodity COMM + + --value + convert amounts to cost or market value, more flexibly than + -B/-V/-X + + --infer-market-prices + use transaction prices (recorded with @ or @@) as additional + market prices, as if they were P directives + + --auto apply automated posting rules to modify transactions. + + --forecast + generate future transactions from periodic transaction rules, + for the next 6 months or till report end date. In hledger-ui, + also make ordinary future transactions visible. + + --commodity-style + Override the commodity style in the output for the specified + commodity. For example 'EUR1.000,00'. + + --color=WHEN (or --colour=WHEN) + Should color-supporting commands use ANSI color codes in text + output. 'auto' (default): whenever stdout seems to be a color- + supporting terminal. 'always' or 'yes': always, useful eg when + piping output into 'less -R'. 'never' or 'no': never. A + NO_COLOR environment variable overrides this. + + --pretty[=WHEN] + Show prettier output, e.g. using unicode box-drawing charac- + ters. Accepts 'yes' (the default) or 'no' ('y', 'n', 'always', + 'never' also work). If you provide an argument you must use + '=', e.g. '--pretty=yes'. + + When a reporting option appears more than once in the command line, the + last one takes precedence. + + Some reporting options can also be written as query arguments. + + Command options + To see options for a particular command, including command-specific + options, run: hledger COMMAND -h. + + Command-specific options must be written after the command name, eg: + hledger print -x. + + Additionally, if the command is an add-on, you may need to put its + options after a double-hyphen, eg: hledger ui -- --watch. Or, you can + run the add-on executable directly: hledger-ui --watch. + + Command arguments + Most hledger commands accept arguments after the command name, which + are often a query, filtering the data in some way. + + You can save a set of command line options/arguments in a file, and + then reuse them by writing @FILENAME as a command line argument. Eg: + hledger bal @foo.args. (To prevent this, eg if you have an argument + that begins with a literal @, precede it with --, eg: hledger bal -- + @ARG). + + Inside the argument file, each line should contain just one option or + argument. Avoid the use of spaces, except inside quotes (or you'll see + a confusing error). Between a flag and its argument, use = (or noth- + ing). Bad: + + assets depth:2 + -X USD + + Good: + + assets + depth:2 + -X=USD + + For special characters (see below), use one less level of quoting than + you would at the command prompt. Bad: + + -X"$" + + Good: + + -X$ + + See also: Save frequently used options. + + Special characters + Single escaping (shell metacharacters) + In shell command lines, characters significant to your shell - such as + spaces, <, >, (, ), |, $ and \ - should be "shell-escaped" if you want + hledger to see them. This is done by enclosing them in single or dou- + ble quotes, or by writing a backslash before them. Eg to match an + account name containing a space: + + $ hledger register 'credit card' + + or: + + $ hledger register credit\ card + + Windows users should keep in mind that cmd treats single quote as a + regular character, so you should be using double quotes exclusively. + PowerShell treats both single and double quotes as quotes. + + Double escaping (regular expression metacharacters) + Characters significant in regular expressions (described below) - such + as ., ^, $, [, ], (, ), |, and \ - may need to be "regex-escaped" if + you don't want them to be interpreted by hledger'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 $ sign while + using the bash shell: + + $ hledger balance cur:'\$' + + or: + + $ hledger balance cur:\\$ + + Triple escaping (for add-on commands) + When you use hledger to run an external add-on command (described + below), one level of shell-escaping is lost from any options or argu- + ments intended for by the add-on command, so those need an extra level + of shell-escaping. Eg to match a literal $ sign while using the bash + shell and running an add-on command (ui): + + $ hledger ui cur:'\\$' + + or: + + $ hledger ui cur:\\\\$ + + If you wondered why four backslashes, perhaps this helps: + + + unescaped: $ + escaped: \$ + double-escaped: \\$ + triple-escaped: \\\\$ + + Or, you can avoid the extra escaping by running the add-on executable + directly: + + $ hledger-ui cur:\\$ + + Less escaping + 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: + + o an @argumentfile + + o hledger-ui's filter field + + o hledger-web's search form + + o GHCI's prompt (used by developers). + + Unicode characters + hledger is expected to handle non-ascii characters correctly: + + o they should be parsed correctly in input files and on the command + line, by all hledger tools (add, iadd, hledger-web's search/add/edit + forms, etc.) + + o they should be displayed correctly by all hledger tools, and on- + screen alignment should be preserved. + + This requires a well-configured environment. Here are some tips: + + o 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: export LANG=en_US.UTF-8. There are some more details in Trou- + bleshooting. This step is essential - without it, hledger will quit + on encountering a non-ascii character (as with all GHC-compiled pro- + grams). + + o your terminal software (eg Terminal.app, iTerm, CMD.exe, xterm..) + must support unicode + + o the terminal must be using a font which includes the required unicode + glyphs + + o the terminal should be configured to display wide characters as dou- + ble width (for report alignment) + + o 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 stan- + dard 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). + + Regular expressions + hledger uses regular expressions in a number of places: + + o query terms, on the command line and in the hledger-web search form: + REGEX, desc:REGEX, cur:REGEX, tag:...=REGEX + + o CSV rules conditional blocks: if REGEX ... + + o account alias directives and options: alias /REGEX/ = REPLACEMENT, + --alias /REGEX/=REPLACEMENT + + hledger's regular expressions come from the regex-tdfa library. If + they're not doing what you expect, it's important to know exactly what + they support: + + 1. they are case insensitive + + 2. they are infix matching (they do not need to match the entire thing + being matched) + + 3. they are POSIX ERE (extended regular expressions) + + 4. they also support GNU word boundaries (\b, \B, \<, \>) + + 5. they do not support backreferences; if you write \1, it will match + the digit 1. 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. + + 6. they do not support mode modifiers ((?s)), character classes (\w, + \d), or anything else not mentioned above. + + Some things to note: + + o In the alias directive and --alias option, regular expressions must + be enclosed in forward slashes (/REGEX/). Elsewhere in hledger, + these are not required. + + o In queries, to match a regular expression metacharacter like $ as a + literal character, prepend a backslash. Eg to search for amounts + with the dollar sign in hledger-web, write cur:\$. + + o On the command line, some metacharacters like $ have a special mean- + ing to the shell and so must be escaped at least once more. See Spe- + cial characters. + +ENVIRONMENT + LEDGER_FILE The journal file path when not specified with -f. Default: + ~/.hledger.journal (on windows, perhaps C:/Users/USER/.hledger.jour- + nal). + + A typical value is ~/DIR/YYYY.journal, where DIR is a version-con- + trolled finance directory and YYYY is the current year. Or ~/DIR/cur- + rent.journal, where current.journal is a symbolic link to YYYY.journal. + + On Mac computers, you can set this and other environment variables in a + more thorough way that also affects applications started from the GUI + (say, an Emacs dock icon). Eg on MacOS Catalina I have a + ~/.MacOSX/environment.plist file containing + + { + "LEDGER_FILE" : "~/finance/current.journal" + } + + To see the effect you may need to killall Dock, or reboot. + + COLUMNS The screen width used by the register command. Default: the + full terminal width. + + NO_COLOR If this variable exists with any value, hledger will not use + ANSI color codes in terminal output. This is overriden by the + --color/--colour option. + +DATA FILES + hledger reads transactions from one or more data files. The default + data file is $HOME/.hledger.journal (or on Windows, something like + C:/Users/USER/.hledger.journal). + + You can override this with the $LEDGER_FILE environment variable: + + $ setenv LEDGER_FILE ~/finance/2016.journal + $ hledger stats + + or with one or more -f/--file options: + + $ hledger -f /some/file -f another_file stats + + The file name - means standard input: + + $ cat some.journal | hledger -f- + + Data formats + Usually the data file is in hledger's journal format, but it can be in + any of the supported file formats, which currently are: + + + Reader: Reads: Used for file exten- + sions: + ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- + journal hledger journal files and some Ledger .journal .j .hledger + journals, for transactions .ledger + time- timeclock files, for precise time log- .timeclock + clock ging + timedot timedot files, for approximate time .timedot + logging + csv comma/semicolon/tab/other-separated .csv .ssv .tsv + values, for data import + + These formats are described in their own sections, below. + + hledger detects the format automatically based on the file extensions + shown above. If it can't recognise the file extension, it assumes + journal format. So for non-journal files, it's important to use a + recognised file extension, so as to either read successfully or to show + relevant error messages. + + 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: + + $ hledger -f csv:/some/csv-file.dat stats + + Or to read stdin (-) as timeclock format: + + $ echo 'i 2009/13/1 08:00:00' | hledger print -ftimeclock:- + + Multiple files + You can specify multiple -f options, to read multiple files as one big + journal. There are some limitations with this: + + o most directives do not affect sibling files + + o balance assertions will not see any account balances from previous + files + + If you need either of those things, you can + + o use a single parent file which includes the others + + o or concatenate the files into one before reading, eg: cat a.journal + b.journal | hledger -f- CMD. + + Strict mode + hledger checks input files for valid data. By default, the most impor- + tant errors are detected, while still accepting easy journal files + without a lot of declarations: + + o Are the input files parseable, with valid syntax ? + + o Are all transactions balanced ? + + o Do all balance assertions pass ? + + With the -s/--strict flag, additional checks are performed: + + o Are all accounts posted to, declared with an account directive ? + (Account error checking) + + o Are all commodities declared with a commodity directive ? (Commodity + error checking) + + o Are all commodity conversions declared explicitly ? + + You can also use the check command to run these and some additional + checks. + +TIME PERIODS + Smart dates + hledger's user interfaces accept a flexible "smart date" syntax. Smart + dates allow some english words, can be relative to today's date, and + can have less-significant date parts omitted (defaulting to 1). + + Examples: + + + 2004/10/1, 2004-01-01, exact date, several separators allowed. Year + 2004.9.1 is 4+ digits, month is 1-12, day is 1-31 + 2004 start of year + 2004/10 start of month + 10/1 month and day in current year + 21 day in current month + october, oct start of month in current year + yesterday, today, tomor- -1, 0, 1 days from today + row + last/this/next -1, 0, 1 periods from the current period + day/week/month/quar- + ter/year + 20181201 8 digit YYYYMMDD with valid year month and day + 201812 6 digit YYYYMM with valid year and month + + Counterexamples - malformed digit sequences might give surprising + results: + + + 201813 6 digits with an invalid month is parsed as start of + 6-digit year + 20181301 8 digits with an invalid month is parsed as start of + 8-digit year + 20181232 8 digits with an invalid day gives an error + 201801012 9+ digits beginning with a valid YYYYMMDD gives an error + + Note "today's date" can be overridden with the --today option, in case + it's needed for testing or for recreating old reports. (Except for + periodic transaction rules; those are not affected by --today.) + + + Report start & end date + By default, most hledger reports will show the full span of time repre- + sented by the journal data. 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. + + 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 -b/--begin, + -e/--end, -p/--period or a date: query (described below). All of these + accept the smart date syntax. + + Some notes: + + o End dates are exclusive, as in Ledger, so you should write the date + after the last day you want to see in the report. + + o As noted in reporting options: among start/end dates specified with + options, the last (i.e. right-most) option takes precedence. + + o The effective report start and end dates are the intersection of the + start/end dates from options and that from date: queries. That is, + date:2019-01 date:2019 -p'2000 to 2030' yields January 2019, the + smallest common time span. + + o A report interval (see below) will adjust start/end dates, when + needed, so that they fall on subperiod boundaries. + + Examples: + + + -b 2016/3/17 begin on St. Patrick's day 2016 + -e 12/1 end at the start of december 1st of the current year + (11/30 will be the last date included) + -b thismonth all transactions on or after the 1st of the current month + -p thismonth all transactions in the current month + date:2016/3/17.. the above written as queries instead (.. can also be + replaced with -) + date:..12/1 + date:thismonth.. + date:thismonth + + Report intervals + A report interval can be specified so that commands like register, bal- + ance and activity become multi-period, showing each subperiod as a sep- + arate row or column. + + The following "standard" report intervals can be enabled by using their + corresponding flag: + + o -D/--daily + + o -W/--weekly + + o -M/--monthly + + o -Q/--quarterly + + o -Y/--yearly + + These standard intervals always start on natural interval boundaries: + eg --weekly starts on mondays, --monthly starts on the first of the + month, --yearly always starts on January 1st, etc. + + Certain more complex intervals, and more flexible boundary dates, can + be specified by -p/--period. These are described in period expres- + sions, below. + + Report intervals can only be specified by the flags above, and not by + query arguments, currently. + + Report intervals have another effect: multi-period reports are always + expanded to fill a whole number of subperiods. So if you use a report + interval (other than --daily), and you have specified a start or end + date, you may notice those dates being overridden (ie, the report + starts earlier than your requested start date, or ends later than your + requested end date). This is done to ensure "full" first and last sub- + periods, so that all subperiods' numbers are comparable. + + To summarise: + + o In multiperiod reports, all subperiods are forced to be the same + length, to simplify reporting. + + o Reports with the standard --weekly/--monthly/--quarterly/--yearly + intervals are required to start on the first day of a + week/month/quarter/year. We'd like more flexibility here but it + isn't supported yet. + + o --period (below) can specify more complex intervals, starting on any + date. + + Period expressions + The -p/--period option accepts period expressions, a shorthand way of + expressing a start date, end date, and/or report interval all at once. + + Here's a basic period expression specifying the first quarter of 2009. + Note, hledger always treats start dates as inclusive and end dates as + exclusive: + + + -p "from 2009/1/1 to 2009/4/1" + + Keywords like "from" and "to" are optional, and so are the spaces, as + long as you don't run two dates together. "to" can also be written as + ".." or "-". These are equivalent to the above: + + + -p "2009/1/1 2009/4/1" + -p2009/1/1to2009/4/1 + -p2009/1/1..2009/4/1 + + Dates are smart dates, so if the current year is 2009, the above can + also be written as: + + + -p "1/1 4/1" + -p "january-apr" + -p "this year to 4/1" + + If you specify only one date, the missing start or end date will be the + earliest or latest transaction in your journal: + + + + -p "from 2009/1/1" everything after january + 1, 2009 + -p "from 2009/1" the same + -p "from 2009" the same + -p "to 2009" everything before january + 1, 2009 + + A single date with no "from" or "to" defines both the start and end + date like so: + + + -p "2009" the year 2009; equivalent + to "2009/1/1 to 2010/1/1" + -p "2009/1" the month of jan; equiva- + lent to "2009/1/1 to + 2009/2/1" + -p "2009/1/1" just that day; equivalent + to "2009/1/1 to 2009/1/2" + + Or you can specify a single quarter like so: + + + -p "2009Q1" first quarter of 2009, + equivalent to "2009/1/1 to + 2009/4/1" + -p "q4" fourth quarter of the cur- + rent year + + Period expressions with a report interval + -p/--period's argument can also begin with, or entirely consist of, a + report interval. This should be separated from the start/end dates (if + any) by a space, or the word in. The basic intervals (which can also + be written as command line flags) are daily, weekly, monthly, quar- + terly, and yearly. Some examples: + + + -p "weekly from 2009/1/1 to 2009/4/1" + -p "monthly in 2008" + -p "quarterly" + + As mentioned above, the weekly, monthly, quarterly and yearly intervals + require a report start date that is the first day of a week, month, + quarter or year. And, report start/end dates will be expanded if + needed to span a whole number of intervals. + + For example: + + + -p "weekly from 2009/1/1 starts on 2008/12/29, closest preceding Mon- + to 2009/4/1" day + -p "monthly in starts on 2018/11/01 + 2008/11/25" + -p "quarterly from starts on 2009/04/01, ends on 2009/06/30, + 2009-05-05 to 2009-06-01" which are first and last days of Q2 2009 + -p "yearly from starts on 2009/01/01, first day of 2009 + 2009-12-29" + + More complex report intervals + Some more complex kinds of interval are also supported in period + expressions: + + o biweekly + + o fortnightly + + o bimonthly + + o every day|week|month|quarter|year + + o every N days|weeks|months|quarters|years + + These too will cause report start/end dates to be expanded, if needed, + to span a whole number of intervals. Examples: + + + -p "bimonthly from 2008" periods will have boundaries on 2008/01/01, + 2008/03/01, ... + -p "every 2 weeks" starts on closest preceding Monday + -p "every 5 month from periods will have boundaries on 2009/03/01, + 2009/03" 2009/08/01, ... + + Intervals with custom start date + All intervals mentioned above are required to start on their natural + calendar boundaries, but the following intervals can start on any date: + + Weekly on custom day: + + o every Nth day of week (th, nd, rd, or st are all accepted after the + number) + + o every WEEKDAYNAME (full or three-letter english weekday name, case + insensitive) + + Monthly on custom day: + + o every Nth day [of month] + + o every Nth WEEKDAYNAME [of month] + + Yearly on custom day: + + o every MM/DD [of year] (month number and day of month number) + + o every MONTHNAME DDth [of year] (full or three-letter english month + name, case insensitive, and day of month number) + + o every DDth MONTHNAME [of year] (equivalent to the above) + + Examples: + + + -p "every 2nd day of periods will go from Tue to Tue + week" + -p "every Tue" same + -p "every 15th day" period boundaries will be on 15th of each + month + -p "every 2nd Monday" period boundaries will be on second Monday of + each month + -p "every 11/05" yearly periods with boundaries on 5th of + November + -p "every 5th November" same + -p "every Nov 5th" same + + Show historical balances at end of the 15th day of each month (N is an + end date, exclusive as always): + + $ hledger balance -H -p "every 16th day" + + Group postings from the start of wednesday to end of the following + tuesday (N is both (inclusive) start date and (exclusive) end date): + + $ hledger register checking -p "every 3rd day of week" + + Periods or dates ? + Report intervals like the above are most often used with -p|--period, + to divide reports into multiple subperiods - each generated date marks + a subperiod boundary. Here, the periods between the dates are what's + important. + + But report intervals can also be used with --forecast to generate + future transactions, or with balance --budget to generate budget goal- + setting transactions. For these, the dates themselves are what mat- + ters. + + Events on multiple weekdays + The every WEEKDAYNAME form has a special variant with multiple day + names, comma-separated. Eg: every mon,thu,sat. Also, weekday and + weekendday are shorthand for mon,tue,wed,thu,fri and sat,sun respec- + tively. + + This form is mainly intended for use with --forecast, to generate peri- + odic transactions on arbitrary days of the week. It may be less useful + with -p, since it divides each week into subperiods of unequal length. + (Because gaps between periods are not allowed; if you'd like to change + this, see #1632.) + + Examples: + + + -p "every dates will be Mon, Wed, Fri; periods will be Mon- + mon,wed,fri" Tue, Wed-Thu, Fri-Sun + -p "every weekday" dates will be Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri; periods will + be Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri-Sun + -p "every weekend- dates will be Sat, Sun; periods will be Sat, Sun-Fri + day" + +DEPTH + With the --depth NUM option (short form: -NUM), commands like account, + balance and register will show only the uppermost accounts in the + account tree, down to level NUM. Use this when you want a summary with + less detail. This flag has the same effect as a depth: query argument: + depth:2, --depth=2 or -2 are equivalent. + +QUERIES + One of hledger's strengths is being able to quickly report on a precise + subset of your data. Most hledger commands accept optional query argu- + ments to restrict their scope. The syntax is as follows: + + o Zero or more space-separated query terms. These are most often + account name substrings: + + utilities food:groceries + + o Terms with spaces or other special characters should be enclosed in + quotes: + + "personal care" + + o Regular expressions are also supported: + + "^expenses\b" "accounts (payable|receivable)" + + o Add a query type prefix to match other parts of the data: + + date:202012- desc:amazon cur:USD amt:">100" status: + + o Add a not: prefix to negate a term: + + not:cur:USD + + Query types + Here are the types of query term available. Remember these can also be + prefixed with not: to convert them into a negative match. + + acct:REGEX, REGEX + Match account names containing this (case insensitive) regular expres- + sion. This is the default query type when there is no prefix, and reg- + ular expression syntax is typically not needed, so usually we just + write an account name substring, like expenses or food. + + amt:N, amt:N, amt:>=N + 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. Oth- + erwise, the absolute magnitudes are compared, ignoring sign. + + code:REGEX + Match by transaction code (eg check number). + + cur:REGEX + Match postings or transactions including any amounts whose cur- + rency/commodity symbol is fully matched by REGEX. (For a partial + match, use .*REGEX.*). Note, to match special characters which are + regex-significant, you need to escape them with \. And for characters + which are significant to your shell you may need one more level of + escaping. So eg to match the dollar sign: + hledger print cur:\\$. + + desc:REGEX + Match transaction descriptions. + + date:PERIODEXPR + Match dates (or with the --date2 flag, secondary dates) within the + specified period. PERIODEXPR is a period expression with no report + interval. Examples: + date:2016, date:thismonth, date:2/1-2/15, date:2021-07-27..nextquarter. + + date2:PERIODEXPR + Match secondary dates within the specified period (independent of the + --date2 flag). + + depth:N + Match (or display, depending on command) accounts at or above this + depth. + + note:REGEX + Match transaction notes (the part of the description right of |, or the + whole description if there's no |). + + payee:REGEX + Match transaction payee/payer names (the part of the description left + of |, or the whole description if there's no |). + + real:, real:0 + Match real or virtual postings respectively. + + status:, status:!, status:* + Match unmarked, pending, or cleared transactions respectively. + + tag:REGEX[=REGEX] + Match by tag name, and optionally also by tag value. (To match only by + value, use tag:.=REGEX.) Note that postings also inherit tags from + their transaction, and transactions also acquire tags from their post- + ings, when querying. + + (inacct:ACCTNAME + A special query term used automatically in hledger-web only: tells + hledger-web to show the transaction register for an account.) + + Combining query terms + Most commands select things which match: + + o any of the description terms AND + + o any of the account terms AND + + o any of the status terms AND + + o all the other terms. + + while the print command shows transactions which: + + o match any of the description terms AND + + o have any postings matching any of the positive account terms AND + + o have no postings matching any of the negative account terms AND + + o match all the other terms. + + You can do more powerful queries (such as AND-ing two like terms) by + running a first query with print, and piping the result into a second + hledger command. Eg: how much of food expenses was paid with cash ? + + $ hledger print assets:cash | hledger -f- -I balance expenses:food + + If you are interested in full boolean expressions for queries, see + #203. + + Queries and command options + Some queries can also be expressed as command-line options: depth:2 is + equivalent to --depth 2, date:2020 is equivalent to -p 2020, etc. When + you mix command options and query arguments, generally the resulting + query is their intersection. + + Queries and account aliases + When account names are rewritten with --alias or alias, acct: will + match either the old or the new account name. + + Queries and valuation + When amounts are converted to other commodities in cost or value + reports, cur: and amt: match the old commodity symbol and the old + amount quantity, not the new ones (except in hledger 1.22.0 where it's + reversed, see #1625). + + Querying with account aliases + When account names are rewritten with --alias or alias, note that acct: + will match either the old or the new account name. + + Querying with cost or value + When amounts are converted to other commodities in cost or value + reports, note that cur: matches the new commodity symbol, and not the + old one, and amt: 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. + +COSTING + The -B/--cost flag converts amounts to their cost or sale amount at + transaction time, if they have a transaction price specified. If this + flag is supplied, hledger will perform cost conversion first, and will + apply any market price valuations (if requested) afterwards. + +VALUATION + 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 --value=TYPE[,COMMODITY] + option, which will be described below. We also provide the simpler -V + and -X COMMODITY options, and often one of these is all you need: + + -V: Value + The -V/--market flag converts amounts to market value in their default + valuation commodity, using the market prices in effect on the valuation + date(s), if any. More on these in a minute. + + -X: Value in specified commodity + The -X/--exchange=COMM option is like -V, except you tell it which cur- + rency you want to convert to, and it tries to convert everything to + that. + + Valuation date + 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. + + 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's end date. + + For multiperiod reports, each column/period is valued on the last day + of the period, by default. + + Market prices + 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 : + + 1. A declared market price or inferred market price: A's latest market + price in B on or before the valuation date as declared by a P direc- + tive, or (with the --infer-market-prices flag) inferred from trans- + action prices. + + 2. A reverse market price: the inverse of a declared or inferred market + price from B to A. + + 3. A forward chain of market prices: a synthetic price formed by com- + bining the shortest chain of "forward" (only 1 above) market prices, + leading from A to B. + + 4. Any chain of market prices: a chain of any market prices, including + both forward and reverse prices (1 and 2 above), leading from A to + B. + + 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 "gave up" message visible in + --debug=2 output). That limit is currently 1000. + + Amounts for which no suitable market price can be found, are not con- + verted. + + --infer-market-prices: market prices from transactions + 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 transaction prices as additional market + prices (as Ledger does) ? We could produce value reports without need- + ing P directives at all. + + Adding the --infer-market-prices flag to -V, -X or --value enables + this. So for example, hledger bs -V --infer-market-prices will get + market prices both from P directives and from transactions. (And if + both occur on the same day, the P directive takes precedence). + + There is a downside: value reports can sometimes be affected in confus- + ing/undesired ways by your journal entries. If this happens to you, + read all of this Valuation section carefully, and try adding --debug or + --debug=2 to troubleshoot. + + --infer-market-prices can infer market prices from: + + o multicommodity transactions with explicit prices (@/@@) + + o multicommodity transactions with implicit prices (no @, two commodi- + ties, unbalanced). (With these, the order of postings matters. + hledger print -x can be useful for troubleshooting.) + + o but not, currently, from "more correct" multicommodity transactions + (no @, multiple commodities, balanced). + + Valuation commodity + When you specify a valuation commodity (-X COMM or --value TYPE,COMM): + hledger will convert all amounts to COMM, wherever it can find a suit- + able market price (including by reversing or chaining prices). + + When you leave the valuation commodity unspecified (-V or --value + TYPE): + For each commodity A, hledger picks a default valuation commodity as + follows, in this order of preference: + + 1. The price commodity from the latest P-declared market price for A on + or before valuation date. + + 2. 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.) + + 3. If there are no P directives at all (any commodity or date) and the + --infer-market-prices flag is used: the price commodity from the + latest transaction-inferred price for A on or before valuation date. + + This means: + + o If you have P directives, they determine which commodities -V will + convert, and to what. + + o If you have no P directives, and use the --infer-market-prices flag, + transaction prices determine it. + + Amounts for which no valuation commodity can be found are not con- + verted. + + Simple valuation examples + Here are some quick examples of -V: + + ; one euro is worth this many dollars from nov 1 + P 2016/11/01 EUR $1.10 + + ; purchase some euros on nov 3 + 2016/11/3 + assets:euros EUR100 + assets:checking + + ; the euro is worth fewer dollars by dec 21 + P 2016/12/21 EUR $1.03 + + How many euros do I have ? + + $ hledger -f t.j bal -N euros + EUR100 assets:euros + + What are they worth at end of nov 3 ? + + $ hledger -f t.j bal -N euros -V -e 2016/11/4 + $110.00 assets:euros + + What are they worth after 2016/12/21 ? (no report end date specified, + defaults to today) + + $ hledger -f t.j bal -N euros -V + $103.00 assets:euros + + --value: Flexible valuation + -V and -X are special cases of the more general --value option: + + --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 + + The TYPE part selects cost or value and valuation date: + + --value=then + Convert amounts to their value in the default valuation commod- + ity, using market prices on each posting's date. + + --value=end + Convert amounts to their value in the default valuation commod- + ity, using market prices on the last day of the report period + (or if unspecified, the journal's end date); or in multiperiod + reports, market prices on the last day of each subperiod. + + --value=now + Convert amounts to their value in the default valuation commod- + ity using current market prices (as of when report is gener- + ated). + + --value=YYYY-MM-DD + Convert amounts to their value in the default valuation commod- + ity using market prices on this date. + + To select a different valuation commodity, add the optional ,COMM part: + a comma, then the target commodity's symbol. Eg: --value=now,EUR. + hledger will do its best to convert amounts to this commodity, deducing + market prices as described above. + + More valuation examples + Here are some examples showing the effect of --value, as seen with + print: + + 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 @ 5 B + + 2000-02-01 + (a) 1 A @ 6 B + + 2000-03-01 + (a) 1 A @ 7 B + + Show the cost of each posting: + + $ hledger -f- print --cost + 2000-01-01 + (a) 5 B + + 2000-02-01 + (a) 6 B + + 2000-03-01 + (a) 7 B + + Show the value as of the last day of the report period (2000-02-29): + + $ hledger -f- print --value=end date:2000/01-2000/03 + 2000-01-01 + (a) 2 B + + 2000-02-01 + (a) 2 B + + With no report period specified, that shows the value as of the last + day of the journal (2000-03-01): + + $ hledger -f- print --value=end + 2000-01-01 + (a) 3 B + + 2000-02-01 + (a) 3 B + + 2000-03-01 + (a) 3 B + + Show the current value (the 2000-04-01 price is still in effect today): + + $ hledger -f- print --value=now + 2000-01-01 + (a) 4 B + + 2000-02-01 + (a) 4 B + + 2000-03-01 + (a) 4 B + + Show the value on 2000/01/15: + + $ 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 + + You may need to explicitly set a commodity's display style, when + reverse prices are used. Eg this output might be surprising: + + P 2000-01-01 A 2B + + 2000-01-01 + a 1B + b + + $ hledger print -x -X A + 2000-01-01 + a 0 + b 0 + + Explanation: because there's no amount or commodity directive specify- + ing a display style for A, 0.5A gets the default style, which shows no + decimal digits. Because the displayed amount looks like zero, the com- + modity symbol and minus sign are not displayed either. Adding a com- + modity directive sets a more useful display style for A: + + P 2000-01-01 A 2B + commodity 0.00A + + 2000-01-01 + a 1B + b + + $ hledger print -X A + 2000-01-01 + a 0.50A + b -0.50A + + Interaction of valuation and queries + When matching postings based on queries in the presence of valuation, + the following happens. + + 1. The query is separated into two parts: + + 1. the currency (cur:) or amount (amt:). + + 2. all other parts. + + 2. The postings are matched to the currency and amount queries based on + pre-valued amounts. + + 3. Valuation is applied to the postings. + + 4. The postings are matched to the other parts of the query based on + post-valued amounts. + + See: 1625 + + Effect of valuation on reports + Here is a reference for how valuation is supposed to affect each part + of hledger's reports (and a glossary). (It's wide, you'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. + + + Report -B, --cost -V, -X --value=then --value=end --value=DATE, + type --value=now + ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- + print + posting cost value at value at posting value at value at + amounts report end date report or DATE/today + or today journal end + balance unchanged unchanged unchanged unchanged unchanged + asser- + tions/assign- + ments + + register + starting bal- cost value at valued at day value at value at + ance (-H) report or each historical report or DATE/today + journal end posting was made journal end + starting bal- cost value at day valued at day value at day value at + ance (-H) before each historical before DATE/today + with report report or posting was made report or + interval journal journal + start start + posting cost value at value at posting value at value at + amounts report or date report or DATE/today + journal end journal end + summary post- summarised value at sum of postings value at value at + ing amounts cost period ends in interval, val- period ends DATE/today + with report ued at interval + interval start + running sum/average sum/average sum/average of sum/average sum/average + total/average of displayed of displayed displayed values of displayed of displayed + values values values values + + balance (bs, + bse, cf, is) + balance sums of value at value at posting value at value at + changes costs report end date report or DATE/today of + or today of journal end sums of post- + sums of of sums of ings + postings postings + budget like balance like balance like balance like bal- like balance + amounts changes changes changes ances changes + (--budget) + grand total sum of dis- sum of dis- sum of displayed sum of dis- sum of dis- + played val- played val- valued played val- played values + ues ues ues + + balance (bs, + bse, cf, is) + with report + interval + + + + + + starting bal- sums of value at sums of values of value at sums of post- + ances (-H) costs of report start postings before report start ings before + postings of sums of report start at of sums of report start + before all postings respective post- all postings + report start before ing dates before + report start report start + balance sums of same as sums of values of balance value at + changes (bal, costs of --value=end postings in change in DATE/today of + is, bs postings in period at respec- each period, sums of post- + --change, cf period tive posting valued at ings + --change) dates period ends + end balances sums of same as sums of values of period end value at + (bal -H, is costs of --value=end postings from balances, DATE/today of + --H, bs, cf) postings before period valued at sums of post- + from before start to period period ends ings + report start end at respective + to period posting dates + end + budget like balance like balance like balance like bal- like balance + amounts changes/end changes/end changes/end bal- ances changes/end + (--budget) balances balances ances balances + row totals, sums, aver- sums, aver- sums, averages of sums, aver- sums, aver- + row averages ages of dis- ages of dis- displayed values ages of dis- ages of dis- + (-T, -A) played val- played val- played val- played values + ues ues ues + column totals sums of dis- sums of dis- sums of displayed sums of dis- sums of dis- + played val- played val- values played val- played values + ues ues ues + grand total, sum, average sum, average sum, average of sum, average sum, average + grand average of column of column column totals of column of column + totals totals totals totals + + + --cumulative is omitted to save space, it works like -H but with a zero + starting balance. + + Glossary: + + cost calculated using price(s) recorded in the transaction(s). + + value market value using available market price declarations, or the + unchanged amount if no conversion rate can be found. + + report start + the first day of the report period specified with -b or -p or + date:, otherwise today. + + report or journal start + the first day of the report period specified with -b or -p or + date:, otherwise the earliest transaction date in the journal, + otherwise today. + + report end + the last day of the report period specified with -e or -p or + date:, otherwise today. + + report or journal end + the last day of the report period specified with -e or -p or + date:, otherwise the latest transaction date in the journal, + otherwise today. + + report interval + a flag (-D/-W/-M/-Q/-Y) or period expression that activates the + report's multi-period mode (whether showing one or many subperi- + ods). + +PIVOTING + Normally hledger sums amounts, and organizes them in a hierarchy, based + on account name. The --pivot FIELD option causes it to sum and orga- + nize hierarchy based on the value of some other field instead. FIELD + can be: code, description, payee, note, or the full name (case insensi- + tive) of any tag. As with account names, values containing colon:sepa- + rated:parts will be displayed hierarchically in reports. + + --pivot is a general option affecting all reports; you can think of + hledger transforming the journal before any other processing, replacing + every posting's account name with the value of the specified field on + that posting, inheriting it from the transaction or using a blank value + if it's not present. + + An example: + + 2016/02/16 Member Fee Payment + assets:bank account 2 EUR + income:member fees -2 EUR ; member: John Doe + + Normal balance report showing account names: + + $ hledger balance + 2 EUR assets:bank account + -2 EUR income:member fees + -------------------- + 0 + + Pivoted balance report, using member: tag values instead: + + $ hledger balance --pivot member + 2 EUR + -2 EUR John Doe + -------------------- + 0 + + One way to show only amounts with a member: value (using a query, + described below): + + $ hledger balance --pivot member tag:member=. + -2 EUR John Doe + -------------------- + -2 EUR + + Another way (the acct: query matches against the pivoted "account + name"): + + $ hledger balance --pivot member acct:. + -2 EUR John Doe + -------------------- + -2 EUR + +OUTPUT + Output destination + hledger commands send their output to the terminal by default. You can + of course redirect this, eg into a file, using standard shell syntax: + + $ hledger print > foo.txt + + Some commands (print, register, stats, the balance commands) also pro- + vide the -o/--output-file option, which does the same thing without + needing the shell. Eg: + + $ hledger print -o foo.txt + $ hledger print -o - # write to stdout (the default) + + hledger can optionally produce debug output (if enabled with + --debug=N); this goes to stderr, and is not affected by -o/--output- + file. If you need to capture it, use shell redirects, eg: hledger bal + --debug=3 >file 2>&1. + + Output styling + hledger commands can produce colour output when the terminal supports + it. This is controlled by the --color/--colour option: - if the + --color/--colour option is given a value of yes or always (or no or + never), colour will (or will not) be used; - otherwise, if the NO_COLOR + environment variable is set, colour will not be used; - otherwise, + colour will be used if the output (terminal or file) supports it. + + hledger commands can also use unicode box-drawing characters to produce + prettier tables and output. This is controlled by the --pretty option: + - if the --pretty option is given a value of yes or always (or no or + never), unicode characters will (or will not) be used; - otherwise, + unicode characters will not be used. + + Output format + Some commands (print, register, the balance commands) offer a choice of + output format. In addition to the usual plain text format (txt), there + are CSV (csv), HTML (html), JSON (json) and SQL (sql). This is con- + trolled by the -O/--output-format option: + + $ hledger print -O csv + + or, by a file extension specified with -o/--output-file: + + $ hledger balancesheet -o foo.html # write HTML to foo.html + + The -O option can be used to override the file extension if needed: + + $ hledger balancesheet -o foo.txt -O html # write HTML to foo.txt + + Some notes about JSON output: + + o This feature is marked experimental, and not yet much used; you + should expect our JSON to evolve. Real-world feedback is welcome. + + o Our JSON is rather large and verbose, as it is quite a faithful rep- + resentation of hledger'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. + + o 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'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) + + Notes about SQL output: + + o SQL output is also marked experimental, and much like JSON could use + real-world feedback. + + o SQL output is expected to work with sqlite, MySQL and PostgreSQL + + o SQL output is structured with the expectations that statements will + be executed in the empty database. If you already have tables cre- + ated via SQL output of hledger, you would probably want to either + clear tables of existing data (via delete or truncate SQL statements) + or drop tables completely as otherwise your postings will be duped. + + Commodity styles + The display style of a commodity/currency is inferred according to the + rules described in Commodity display style. The inferred display style + can be overridden by an optional -c/--commodity-style option (Excep- + tions: as is the case for inferred styles, price amounts, and all + amounts displayed by the print command, will be displayed with all of + their decimal digits visible, regardless of the specified precision). + For example, the following will override the display style for dollars. + + $ hledger print -c '$1.000,0' + + The format specification of the style is identical to the commodity + display style specification for the commodity directive. The command + line option can be supplied repeatedly to override the display style + for multiple commodity/currency symbols. + +COMMANDS + hledger provides a number of commands for producing reports and manag- + ing your data. Run hledger with no arguments to list the commands + available, and hledger CMD to run a command. CMD can be the full com- + mand name, or its standard abbreviation shown in the commands list, or + any unambiguous prefix of the name. Eg: hledger bal. + + Here are the built-in commands, with the most often-used in bold: + + Data entry: + + These data entry commands are the only ones which can modify your jour- + nal file. + + o add - add transactions using guided prompts + + o import - add any new transactions from other files (eg csv) + + Data management: + + o check - check for various kinds of issue in the data + + o close (equity) - generate balance-resetting transactions + + o diff - compare account transactions in two journal files + + o rewrite - generate extra postings, similar to print --auto + + Financial statements: + + o aregister (areg) - show transactions in a particular account + + o balancesheet (bs) - show assets, liabilities and net worth + + o balancesheetequity (bse) - show assets, liabilities and equity + + o cashflow (cf) - show changes in liquid assets + + o incomestatement (is) - show revenues and expenses + + o roi - show return on investments + + Miscellaneous reports: + + o accounts - show account names + + o activity - show postings-per-interval bar charts + + o balance (bal) - show balance changes/end balances/budgets in any + accounts + + o codes - show transaction codes + + o commodities - show commodity/currency symbols + + o descriptions - show unique transaction descriptions + + o files - show input file paths + + o help - show hledger user manuals in several formats + + o notes - show unique note segments of transaction descriptions + + o payees - show unique payee segments of transaction descriptions + + o prices - show market price records + + o print - show transactions (journal entries) + + o print-unique - show only transactions with unique descriptions + + o register (reg) - show postings in one or more accounts & running + total + + o register-match - show a recent posting that best matches a descrip- + tion + + o stats - show journal statistics + + o tags - show tag names + + o test - run self tests + + Add-on commands: + + Programs or scripts named hledger-SOMETHING in your PATH are add-on + commands; these appear in the commands list with a + mark. Two of + these are maintained and released with hledger: + + o ui - an efficient terminal interface (TUI) for hledger + + o web - a simple web interface (WUI) for hledger + + And these add-ons are maintained separately: + + o iadd - a more interactive alternative for the add command + + o interest - generates interest transactions according to various + schemes + + o stockquotes - downloads market prices for your commodities from + AlphaVantage (experimental) + + Next, the detailed command docs, in alphabetical order. + + accounts + accounts + Show account names. + + This command lists account names, either declared with account direc- + tives (--declared), posted to (--used), or both (the default). With + query arguments, only matched account names and account names refer- + enced by matched postings are shown. It shows a flat list by default. + With --tree, it uses indentation to show the account hierarchy. In + flat mode you can add --drop N to omit the first few account name com- + ponents. Account names can be depth-clipped with depth:N or --depth N + or -N. + + Examples: + + $ hledger accounts + assets:bank:checking + assets:bank:saving + assets:cash + expenses:food + expenses:supplies + income:gifts + income:salary + liabilities:debts + + activity + activity + Show an ascii barchart of posting counts per interval. + + 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. + + Examples: + + $ hledger activity --quarterly + 2008-01-01 ** + 2008-04-01 ******* + 2008-07-01 + 2008-10-01 ** + + add + add + Prompt for transactions and add them to the journal. Any arguments + will be used as default inputs for the first N prompts. + + Many hledger users edit their journals directly with a text editor, or + generate them from CSV. For more interactive data entry, there is the + add command, which prompts interactively on the console for new trans- + actions, and appends them to the journal file (if there are multiple -f + FILE options, the first file is used.) Existing transactions are not + changed. This is the only hledger command that writes to the journal + file. + + To use it, just run hledger add and follow the prompts. You can add as + many transactions as you like; when you are finished, enter . or press + control-d or control-c to exit. + + Features: + + o add tries to provide useful defaults, using the most similar (by + description) recent transaction (filtered by the query, if any) as a + template. + + o You can also set the initial defaults with command line arguments. + + o Readline-style edit keys can be used during data entry. + + o The tab key will auto-complete whenever possible - accounts, descrip- + tions, dates (yesterday, today, tomorrow). If the input area is + empty, it will insert the default value. + + o If the journal defines a default commodity, it will be added to any + bare numbers entered. + + o A parenthesised transaction code may be entered following a date. + + o Comments and tags may be entered following a description or amount. + + o If you make a mistake, enter < at any prompt to go one step backward. + + o Input prompts are displayed in a different colour when the terminal + supports it. + + Example (see the tutorial for a detailed explanation): + + $ 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]: $ + + 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). + + aregister + aregister, areg + + Show the transactions and running historical balance of a single + account, with each transaction displayed as one line. + + aregister 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 (--historical mode is always on). + + This is a more "real world", bank-like view than the register command + (which shows individual postings, possibly from multiple accounts, not + necessarily in historical mode). As a quick rule of thumb: - use areg- + ister for reviewing and reconciling real-world asset/liability accounts + - use register for reviewing detailed revenues/expenses. + + aregister 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. + (Eg if you have assets:aaa:checking and assets:bbb:checking accounts, + hledger areg checking would select assets:aaa:checking.) + + Transactions involving subaccounts of this account will also be shown. + aregister ignores depth limits, so its final total will always match a + balance report with similar arguments. + + Any additional arguments form a query which will filter the transac- + tions shown. Note some queries will disturb the running balance, caus- + ing it to be different from the account's real-world running balance. + + An example: this shows the transactions and historical running balance + during july, in the first account whose name contains "checking": + + $ hledger areg checking date:jul + + Each aregister line item shows: + + o the transaction's date (or the relevant posting's date if different, + see below) + + o the names of all the other account(s) involved in this transaction + (probably abbreviated) + + o the total change to this account's balance from this transaction + + o the account's historical running balance after this transaction. + + Transactions making a net change of zero are not shown by default; add + the -E/--empty flag to show them. + + This command also supports the output destination and output format + options. The output formats supported are txt, csv, and json. + + aregister and custom posting dates + 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's the posting date that is shown.) This + ensures that aregister can show an accurate historical running balance, + matching the one shown by register -H with the same arguments. + + To filter strictly by transaction date instead, add the --txn-dates + flag. If you use this flag and some of your postings have custom + dates, it's probably best to assume the running balance is wrong. + + balance + balance, bal + Show accounts and their balances. + + balance is one of hledger'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. + + Note there are some higher-level variants of the balance command with + convenient defaults, which can be simpler to use: balancesheet, bal- + ancesheetequity, cashflow and incomestatement. When you need more con- + trol, then use balance. + + balance features + Here's a quick overview of the balance command's features, followed by + more detailed descriptions and examples. Many of these work with the + higher-level commands as well. + + balance can show.. + + o accounts as a list (-l) or a tree (-t) + + o optionally depth-limited (-[1-9]) + + o sorted by declaration order and name, or by amount + + ..and their.. + + o balance changes (the default) + + o or actual and planned balance changes (--budget) + + o or value of balance changes (-V) + + o or change of balance values (--valuechange) + + o or unrealised capital gain/loss (--gain) + + ..in.. + + o one time period (the whole journal period by default) + + o or multiple periods (-D, -W, -M, -Q, -Y, -p INTERVAL) + + ..either.. + + o per period (the default) + + o or accumulated since report start date (--cumulative) + + o or accumulated since account creation (--historical/-H) + + ..possibly converted to.. + + o cost (--value=cost[,COMM]/--cost/-B) + + o or market value, as of transaction dates (--value=then[,COMM]) + + o or at period ends (--value=end[,COMM]) + + o or now (--value=now) + + o or at some other date (--value=YYYY-MM-DD) + + ..with.. + + o totals (-T), averages (-A), percentages (-%), inverted sign + (--invert) + + o rows and columns swapped (--transpose) + + o another field used as account name (--pivot) + + o custom-formatted line items (single-period reports only) (--format) + + o commodities displayed on the same line or multiple lines (--layout) + + This command supports the output destination and output format options, + with output formats txt, csv, json, and (multi-period reports only:) + html. In txt output in a colour-supporting terminal, negative amounts + are shown in red. + + The --related/-r flag shows the balance of the other postings in the + transactions of the postings which would normally be shown. + + Simple balance report + With no arguments, balance 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. For real-world + accounts, this should also match their end balance at the end of the + journal period (more on this below). + + Accounts are sorted by declaration order if any, and then alphabeti- + cally by account name. For instance (using examples/sample.journal): + + $ 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 + + Accounts with a zero balance (and no non-zero subaccounts, in tree mode + - see below) are hidden by default. Use -E/--empty to show them + (revealing assets:bank:checking here): + + $ 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 + + The total of the amounts displayed is shown as the last line, unless + -N/--no-total is used. + + Filtered balance report + 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: + + $ hledger -f examples/sample.journal bal --cleared assets date:200806 + $-2 assets:cash + -------------------- + $-2 + + List or tree mode + By default, or with -l/--flat, accounts are shown as a flat list with + their full names visible, as in the examples above. + + With -t/--tree, the account hierarchy is shown, with subaccounts' + "leaf" names indented below their parent: + + $ 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 + + Notes: + + o "Boring" accounts are combined with their subaccount for more compact + output, unless --no-elide is used. Boring accounts have no balance + of their own and just one subaccount (eg assets:bank and liabilities + above). + + o All balances shown are "inclusive", ie including the balances from + all subaccounts. Note this means some repetition in the output, + which requires explanation when sharing reports with non-plaintextac- + counting-users. A tree mode report's final total is the sum of the + top-level balances shown, not of all the balances shown. + + o Each group of sibling accounts (ie, under a common parent) is sorted + separately. + + Depth limiting + With a depth:NUM query, or --depth NUM option, or just -NUM (eg: -3) + 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. + + Account balances at the depth limit always include the balances from + any deeper subaccounts (even in list mode). Eg, limiting to depth 1: + + $ hledger -f examples/sample.journal balance -1 + $-1 assets + $2 expenses + $-2 income + $1 liabilities + -------------------- + 0 + + Dropping top-level accounts + You can also hide one or more top-level account name parts, using + --drop NUM. This can be useful for hiding repetitive top-level account + names: + + $ hledger -f examples/sample.journal bal expenses --drop 1 + $1 food + $1 supplies + -------------------- + $2 + + + Multi-period balance report + With a report interval (set by the -D/--daily, -W/--weekly, + -M/--monthly, -Q/--quarterly, -Y/--yearly, or -p/--period flag), bal- + ance shows a tabular report, with columns representing successive time + periods (and a title): + + $ 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 + + Notes: + + o The report's start/end dates will be expanded, if necessary, to fully + encompass the displayed subperiods (so that the first and last subpe- + riods have the same duration as the others). + + o Leading and trailing periods (columns) containing all zeroes are not + shown, unless -E/--empty is used. + + o Accounts (rows) containing all zeroes are not shown, unless + -E/--empty is used. + + o Amounts with many commodities are shown in abbreviated form, unless + --no-elide is used. (experimental) + + o Average and/or total columns can be added with the -A/--average and + -T/--row-total flags. + + o The --transpose flag can be used to exchange rows and columns. + + o The --pivot FIELD option causes a different transaction field to be + used as "account name". See PIVOTING. + + Multi-period reports with many periods can be too wide for easy viewing + in the terminal. Here are some ways to handle that: + + o Hide the totals row with -N/--no-total + + o Convert to a single currency with -V + + o Maximize the terminal window + + o Reduce the terminal's font size + + o View with a pager like less, eg: hledger bal -D --color=yes | less + -RS + + o Output as CSV and use a CSV viewer like visidata (hledger bal -D -O + csv | vd -f csv), Emacs' csv-mode (M-x csv-mode, C-c C-a), or a + spreadsheet (hledger bal -D -o a.csv && open a.csv) + + o Output as HTML and view with a browser: hledger bal -D -o a.html && + open a.html + + Showing declared accounts + With --declared, 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 + -E/--empty to see them.) + + More precisely, leaf declared accounts (with no subaccounts) will be + included, since those are usually the more useful in reports. + + The idea of this is to be able to see a useful "complete" balance + report, even when you don't have transactions in all of your declared + accounts yet. + + Commodity layout + With --layout, you can control how amounts with more than one commodity + are displayed: + + o --layout=wide[,WIDTH]: on a single line, possibly elided to the spec- + ified width + + o --layout=tall: each commodity is displayed on a separate line + + o --layout=bare: commodity symbols are displayed in a separate column, + and amounts are displayed as bare numbers + + $ 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 + + $ 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.. + + $ 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 + + $ 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 + + The option --layout=bare also affects CSV output, which is useful for + producing data that is easier to consume, eg when making charts: + + $ hledger -f examples/bcexample.hledger bal assets:us:etrade -3 -O csv + "account","balance" + "Assets:US:ETrade","70.00 GLD, 17.00 ITOT, 5120.50 USD, 36.00 VEA, 294.00 VHT" + "total","70.00 GLD, 17.00 ITOT, 5120.50 USD, 36.00 VEA, 294.00 VHT" + + $ hledger -f examples/bcexample.hledger bal assets:us:etrade -3 -O csv --layout=bare + "account","commodity","balance" + "Assets:US:ETrade","GLD","70.00" + "Assets:US:ETrade","ITOT","17.00" + "Assets:US:ETrade","USD","5120.50" + "Assets:US:ETrade","VEA","36.00" + "Assets:US:ETrade","VHT","294.00" + "total","GLD","70.00" + "total","ITOT","17.00" + "total","USD","5120.50" + "total","VEA","36.00" + "total","VHT","294.00" + + Sorting by amount + With -S/--sort-amount, accounts with the largest (most positive) bal- + ances are shown first. Eg: hledger bal expenses -MAS shows your big- + gest 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). + + Revenues and liability balances are typically negative, however, so -S + shows these in reverse order. To work around this, you can add + --invert to flip the signs. (Or, use one of the higher-level reports, + which flip the sign automatically. Eg: hledger incomestatement -MAS). + + + Percentages + With -%/--percent, balance reports show each account's value expressed + as a percentage of the (column) total: + + $ hledger -f examples/sample.journal bal expenses -Q -% + Balance changes in 2008: + + || 2008Q1 2008Q2 2008Q3 2008Q4 + ===================++================================= + expenses:food || 0 50.0 % 0 0 + expenses:supplies || 0 50.0 % 0 0 + -------------------++--------------------------------- + || 0 100.0 % 0 0 + + Note it is not useful to calculate percentages if the amounts in a col- + umn have mixed signs. In this case, make a separate report for each + sign, eg: + + $ hledger bal -% amt:`>0` + $ hledger bal -% amt:`<0` + + Similarly, if the amounts in a column have mixed commodities, convert + them to one commodity with -B, -V, -X or --value, or make a separate + report for each commodity: + + $ hledger bal -% cur:\\$ + $ hledger bal -% cur:EUR + + Balance change, end balance + It's important to be clear on the meaning of the numbers shown in bal- + ance reports. Here is some terminology we use: + + A balance change is the net amount added to, or removed from, an + account during some period. + + An end balance is the amount accumulated in an account as of some date + (and some time, but hledger doesn't store that; assume end of day in + your timezone). It is the sum of previous balance changes. + + We call it a historical end balance if it includes all balance changes + since the account was created. For a real world account, this means it + will match the "historical record", eg the balances reported in your + bank statements or bank web UI. (If they are correct!) + + 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. + + balance shows balance changes by default. To see accurate historical + end balances: + + 1. Initialise account starting balances with an "opening balances" + transaction (a transfer from equity to the account), unless the + journal covers the account's full lifetime. + + 2. Include all of of the account's prior postings in the report, by not + specifying a report start date, or by using the -H/--historical + flag. (-H causes report start date to be ignored when summing post- + ings.) + + Balance report types + For more flexible reporting, there are three important option groups: + + hledger balance [CALCULATIONTYPE] [ACCUMULATIONTYPE] [VALUATIONTYPE] + ... + + The first two are the most important: calculation type selects the + basic calculation to perform for each table cell, while accumulation + type says which postings should be included in each cell's calculation. + Typically one or both of these are selected by default, so you don't + need to write them explicitly. A valuation type can be added if you + want to convert the basic report to value or cost. + + Calculation type: + The basic calculation to perform for each table cell. It is one of: + + o --sum : sum the posting amounts (default) + + o --budget : like --sum but also show a goal amount + + o --valuechange : show the change in period-end historical balance val- + ues (caused by deposits, withdrawals, and/or market price fluctua- + tions) + + o --gain : show the unrealised capital gain/loss, (the current valued + balance minus each amount's original cost) + + Accumulation type: + Which postings should be included in each cell's calculation. It is + one of: + + o --change : postings from column start to column end, ie within the + cell's period. Typically used to see revenues/expenses. (default + for balance, incomestatement) + + o --cumulative : postings from report start to column end, eg to show + changes accumulated since the report's start date. Rarely used. + + o --historical/-H : postings from journal start to column end, ie all + postings from account creation to the end of the cell's period. Typ- + ically used to see historical end balances of assets/liabili- + ties/equity. (default for balancesheet, balancesheetequity, cash- + flow) + + Valuation type: + Which kind of valuation, valuation date(s) and optionally a target val- + uation commodity to use. It is one of: + + o no valuation, show amounts in their original commodities (default) + + o --value=cost[,COMM] : no valuation, show amounts converted to cost + + o --value=then[,COMM] : show value at transaction dates + + o --value=end[,COMM] : show value at period end date(s) (default with + --valuechange, --gain) + + o --value=now[,COMM] : show value at today's date + + o --value=YYYY-MM-DD[,COMM] : show value at another date + + or one of their aliases: --cost/-B, --market/-V or --exchange/-X. + + 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: + + o --valuechange implies --value=end + + o --valuechange makes --change the default when used with the bal- + ancesheet/balancesheetequity commands + + o --cumulative or --historical disables --row-total/-T + + For reference, here is what the combinations of accumulation and valua- + tion show: + + + Valua- no valuation --value= then --value= end --value= YYYY- + tion: MM-DD /now + >Accumu- + lation: + v + ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ + --change change in period sum of posting- period-end DATE-value of + date market val- value of change change in + ues in period in period period + --cumu- change from sum of posting- period-end DATE-value of + lative report start to date market val- value of change change from + period end ues from report from report report start + start to period start to period to period end + end end + + --his- change from sum of posting- period-end DATE-value of + torical journal start to date market val- value of change change from + /-H period end (his- ues from journal from journal journal start + torical end bal- start to period start to period to period end + ance) end end + + Useful balance reports + Some frequently used balance options/reports are: + + o bal -M revenues expenses + Show revenues/expenses in each month. Also available as the incomes- + tatement command. + + o bal -M -H assets liabilities + Show historical asset/liability balances at each month end. Also + available as the balancesheet command. + + o bal -M -H assets liabilities equity + Show historical asset/liability/equity balances at each month end. + Also available as the balancesheetequity command. + + o bal -M assets not:receivable + Show changes to liquid assets in each month. Also available as the + cashflow command. + + Also: + + o bal -M expenses -2 -SA + Show monthly expenses summarised to depth 2 and sorted by average + amount. + + o bal -M --budget expenses + Show monthly expenses and budget goals. + + o bal -M --valuechange investments + Show monthly change in market value of investment assets. + + o bal investments --valuechange -D date:lastweek amt:'>1000' -STA + [--invert] + Show top gainers [or losers] last week + + Budget report + The --budget report type activates extra columns showing any budget + goals for each account and period. The budget goals are defined by + periodic transactions. This is very useful for comparing planned and + actual income, expenses, time usage, etc. + + For example, you can take average monthly expenses in the common + expense categories to construct a minimal monthly budget: + + ;; Budget + ~ 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 + + You can now see a monthly budget report: + + $ 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] + + This is different from a normal balance report in several ways: + + o Only accounts with budget goals during the report period are shown, + by default. + + o In each column, in square brackets after the actual amount, budget + goal amounts are shown, and the actual/goal percentage. (Note: bud- + get goals should be in the same commodity as the actual amount.) + + o All parent accounts are always shown, even in list mode. Eg assets, + assets:bank, and expenses above. + + o Amounts always include all subaccounts, budgeted or unbudgeted, even + in list mode. + + This means that the numbers displayed will not always add up! Eg above, + the expenses actual amount includes the gifts and supplies transac- + tions, but the expenses:gifts and expenses:supplies accounts are not + shown, as they have no budget amounts declared. + + This can be confusing. When you need to make things clearer, use the + -E/--empty flag, which will reveal all accounts including unbudgeted + ones, giving the full picture. Eg: + + $ 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] + + You can roll over unspent budgets to next period with --cumulative: + + $ 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] + + For more examples and notes, see Budgeting. + + Budget report start date + This might be a bug, but for now: when making budget reports, it's a + good idea to explicitly set the report's start date to the first day of + a reporting period, because a periodic rule like ~ monthly 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: + + ~ monthly in 2020 + (expenses:food) $500 + + 2020-01-15 + expenses:food $400 + assets:checking + + $ hledger bal expenses --budget + Budget performance in 2020-01-15: + + || 2020-01-15 + ==============++============ + || $400 + --------------++------------ + || $400 + + To avoid this, specify the budget report's period, or at least the + start date, with -b/-e/-p/date:, to ensure it includes the budget goal + transactions (periodic transactions) that you want. Eg, adding -b + 2020/1/1 to the above: + + $ 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] + + Budgets and subaccounts + 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 bud- + get(s) of the child account(s) would be added to the budget of their + parent, much like account balances behave. + + In the most simple case this means that once you add a budget to any + account, all its parents would have budget as well. + + To illustrate this, consider the following budget: + + ~ monthly from 2019/01 + expenses:personal $1,000.00 + expenses:personal:electronics $100.00 + liabilities + + 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 expenses:personal and expenses is $1100. + + Transactions in expenses:personal:electronics will be counted both + towards its $100 budget and $1100 of expenses:personal , and transac- + tions in any other subaccount of expenses:personal would be counted + towards only towards the budget of expenses:personal. + + For example, let's consider these transactions: + + ~ 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 + + As you can see, we have transactions in expenses:personal:electron- + ics:upgrades and expenses:personal:train tickets, and since both of + these accounts are without explicitly defined budget, these transac- + tions would be counted towards budgets of expenses:personal:electronics + and expenses:personal accordingly: + + $ 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] + + And with --empty, we can get a better picture of budget allocation and + consumption: + + $ 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] + + Selecting budget goals + The budget report evaluates periodic transaction rules to generate spe- + cial "goal transactions", which generate the goal amounts for each + account in each report subperiod. When troubleshooting, you can use + the print command to show these as forecasted transactions: + + $ hledger print --forecast=BUDGETREPORTPERIOD tag:generated + + 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. + + You can select a subset of periodic rules by providing an argument to + the --budget flag. --budget=DESCPAT 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. + + Customising single-period balance reports + For single-period balance reports displayed in the terminal (only), you + can use --format FMT to customise the format and content of each line. + Eg: + + $ hledger -f examples/sample.journal balance --format "%20(account) %12(total)" + assets $-1 + bank:saving $1 + cash $-2 + expenses $2 + food $1 + supplies $1 + income $-2 + gifts $-1 + salary $-1 + liabilities:debts $1 + --------------------------------- + 0 + + The FMT format string (plus a newline) specifies the formatting applied + to each account/balance pair. It may contain any suitable text, with + data fields interpolated like so: + + %[MIN][.MAX](FIELDNAME) + + o MIN pads with spaces to at least this width (optional) + + o MAX truncates at this width (optional) + + o FIELDNAME must be enclosed in parentheses, and can be one of: + + o depth_spacer - a number of spaces equal to the account's depth, or + if MIN is specified, MIN * depth spaces. + + o account - the account's name + + o total - the account's balance/posted total, right justified + + Also, FMT can begin with an optional prefix to control how multi-com- + modity amounts are rendered: + + o %_ - render on multiple lines, bottom-aligned (the default) + + o %^ - render on multiple lines, top-aligned + + o %, - render on one line, comma-separated + + There are some quirks. Eg in one-line mode, %(depth_spacer) has no + effect, instead %(account) has indentation built in. Experimentation + may be needed to get pleasing results. + + Some example formats: + + o %(total) - the account's total + + o %-20.20(account) - the account's name, left justified, padded to 20 + characters and clipped at 20 characters + + o %,%-50(account) %25(total) - account name padded to 50 characters, + total padded to 20 characters, with multiple commodities rendered on + one line + + o %20(total) %2(depth_spacer)%-(account) - the default format for the + single-column balance report + + balancesheet + balancesheet, bs + This command displays a balance sheet, showing historical ending bal- + ances 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. + + The asset and liability accounts shown are those accounts declared with + the Asset or Cash or Liability type, or otherwise all accounts under a + top-level asset or liability account (case insensitive, plurals + allowed). + + Example: + + $ hledger balancesheet + Balance Sheet + + Assets: + $-1 assets + $1 bank:saving + $-2 cash + -------------------- + $-1 + + Liabilities: + $1 liabilities:debts + -------------------- + $1 + + Total: + -------------------- + 0 + + This command is a higher-level variant of the balance command, and sup- + ports many of that command's features, such as multi-period reports. + It is similar to hledger balance -H assets liabilities, but with + smarter account detection, and liabilities displayed with their sign + flipped. + + This command also supports the output destination and output format + options The output formats supported are txt, csv, html, and (experi- + mental) json. + + balancesheetequity + balancesheetequity, bse + This command displays a balance sheet, showing historical ending bal- + ances of asset, liability and equity accounts. Amounts are shown with + normal positive sign, as in conventional financial statements. + + The asset, liability and equity accounts shown are those accounts + declared with the Asset, Cash, Liability or Equity type, or otherwise + all accounts under a top-level asset, liability or equity account (case + insensitive, plurals allowed). + + Example: + + $ 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 + + This command is a higher-level variant of the balance command, and sup- + ports many of that command's features, such as multi-period reports. + It is similar to hledger balance -H assets liabilities equity, but with + smarter account detection, and liabilities/equity displayed with their + sign flipped. + + This command also supports the output destination and output format + options The output formats supported are txt, csv, html, and (experi- + mental) json. + + cashflow + cashflow, cf + This command displays a cashflow statement, showing the inflows and + outflows affecting "cash" (ie, liquid) assets. Amounts are shown with + normal positive sign, as in conventional financial statements. + + The "cash" accounts shown are those accounts declared with the Cash + type, or otherwise all accounts under a top-level asset account (case + insensitive, plural allowed) which do not have fixed, investment, + receivable or A/R in their name. + + Example: + + $ hledger cashflow + Cashflow Statement + + Cash flows: + $-1 assets + $1 bank:saving + $-2 cash + -------------------- + $-1 + + Total: + -------------------- + $-1 + + This command is a higher-level variant of the balance command, and sup- + ports many of that command's features, such as multi-period reports. + It is similar to hledger balance assets not:fixed not:investment + not:receivable, but with smarter account detection. + + This command also supports the output destination and output format + options The output formats supported are txt, csv, html, and (experi- + mental) json. + + check + check + Check for various kinds of errors in your data. + + 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 check 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). + + Some examples: + + hledger check # basic checks + hledger check -s # basic + strict checks + hledger check ordereddates payees # basic + two other checks + + Here are the checks currently available: + + Basic checks + These checks are always run automatically, by (almost) all hledger com- + mands, including check: + + o parseable - data files are well-formed and can be successfully parsed + + o balancedwithautoconversion - all transactions are balanced, inferring + missing amounts where necessary, and possibly converting commodities + using transaction prices or automatically-inferred transaction prices + + o assertions - all balance assertions in the journal are passing. + (This check can be disabled with -I/--ignore-assertions.) + + Strict checks + These additional checks are run when the -s/--strict (strict mode) flag + is used. Or, they can be run by giving their names as arguments to + check: + + o accounts - all account names used by transactions have been declared + + o commodities - all commodity symbols used have been declared + + o balancednoautoconversion - transactions are balanced, possibly using + explicit transaction prices but not inferred ones + + Other checks + These checks can be run only by giving their names as arguments to + check. They are more specialised and not desirable for everyone, + therefore optional: + + o ordereddates - transactions are ordered by date within each file + + o payees - all payees used by transactions have been declared + + o uniqueleafnames - all account leaf names are unique + + Custom checks + A few more checks are are available as separate add-on commands, in + https://github.com/simonmichael/hledger/tree/master/bin: + + o hledger-check-tagfiles - all tag values containing / (a forward + slash) exist as file paths + + o hledger-check-fancyassertions - more complex balance assertions are + passing + + You could make similar scripts to perform your own custom checks. See: + Cookbook -> Scripting. + + close + close, equity + Prints a sample "closing" transaction bringing specified account bal- + ances to zero, and an inverse "opening" transaction restoring the same + account balances. + + If like most people you split your journal files by time, eg by year: + at the end of the year you can use this command to "close out" your + asset and liability (and perhaps equity) balances in the old file, and + reinitialise them in the new file. This helps ensure that report bal- + ances remain correct whether you are including old files or not. + (Because all closing/opening transactions except the very first will + cancel out - see example below.) + + Some people also use this command to close out revenue and expense bal- + ances at the end of an accounting period. This properly records the + period's profit/loss as "retained earnings" (part of equity), and + allows the accounting equation (A-L=E) to balance, which you could then + check by the bse report's zero total. + + You can print just the closing transaction by using the --close flag, + or just the opening transaction with the --open flag. + + Their descriptions are closing balances and opening balances by + default; you can customise these with the --close-desc and --open-desc + options. + + Just one balancing equity posting is used by default, with the amount + left implicit. The default account name is equity:opening/closing bal- + ances. You can customise the account name(s) with --close-acct and + --open-acct. (If you specify only one of these, it will be used for + both.) + + With --x/--explicit, the equity posting's amount will be shown explic- + itly, and if it involves multiple commodities, there will be a separate + equity posting for each commodity (as in the print command). + + With --interleaved, each equity posting is shown next to the posting it + balances (good for troubleshooting). + + close and prices + Transaction prices are ignored (and discarded) by closing/opening + transactions, by default. With --show-costs, they are preserved; there + will be a separate equity posting for each cost in each commodity. + This means balance -B reports will look the same after the transition. + Note if you have many foreign currency or investment transactions, this + will generate very large journal entries. + + close date + The default closing date is yesterday, or the journal's end date, + whichever is later. + + Unless you are running close on exactly the first day of the new + period, you'll want to override the closing date. This is done by + specifying a report end date, where "last day of the report period" + will be the closing date. The opening date is always the following + day. So to close on (end of) 2020-12-31 and open on (start of) + 2021-01-01, any of these will work: + + + end date argument explanation + ----------------------------------------------- + -e 2021-01-01 end dates are exclusive + -e 2021 equivalent, per smart + dates + -p 2020 equivalent, the period's + begin date is ignored + date:2020 equivalent query + + Example: close asset/liability accounts for file transition + Carrying asset/liability balances from 2020.journal into a new file for + 2021: + + $ hledger close -f 2020.journal -p 2020 assets liabilities + # copy/paste the closing transaction to the end of 2020.journal + # copy/paste the opening transaction to the start of 2021.journal + + Or: + + $ hledger close -f 2020.journal -p 2020 assets liabilities --open >> 2021.journal # add 2021's first transaction + $ hledger close -f 2020.journal -p 2020 assets liabilities --close >> 2020.journal # add 2020's last transaction + + Now, + + $ hledger bs -f 2021.journal # just new file - balances correct + $ hledger bs -f 2020.journal -f 2021.journal # old and new files - balances correct + $ hledger bs -f 2020.journal # just old files - balances are zero ? + # (exclude final closing txn, see below) + + Hiding opening/closing transactions + Although the closing/opening transactions cancel out, they will be vis- + ible in reports like print and register, creating some visual clutter. + You can exclude them all with a query, like: + + $ hledger print not:desc:'opening|closing' # less typing + $ hledger print not:'equity:opening/closing balances' # more precise + + But when reporting on multiple files, this can get a bit tricky; you + may need to keep the earliest opening balances, for a historical regis- + ter report; or you may need to suppress a closing transaction, to see + year-end balances. If you find yourself needing more precise queries, + here's one solution: add more easily-matched tags to opening/closing + transactions, like this: + + ; 2019.journal + 2019-01-01 opening balances ; earliest opening txn, no tag here + ... + 2019-12-31 closing balances ; clopen:2020 + ... + + ; 2020.journal + 2020-01-01 opening balances ; clopen:2020 + ... + 2020-12-31 closing balances ; clopen:2021 + ... + + ; 2021.journal + 2021-01-01 opening balances ; clopen:2021 + ... + + Now with + + ; all.journal + include 2019.journal + include 2020.journal + include 2021.journal + + you could do eg: + + $ hledger -f all.journal reg -H checking not:tag:clopen + # all years checking register, hiding non-essential opening/closing txns + + $ hledger -f all.journal bs -p 2020 not:tag:clopen=2020 + # 2020 year end balances, suppressing 2020 closing txn + + close and balance assertions + The closing and opening transactions will include balance assertions, + verifying that the accounts have first been reset to zero and then + restored to their previous balance. These provide valuable error + checking, alerting you when things get out of line, but you can ignore + them temporarily with -I or just remove them if you prefer. + + You probably shouldn't use status or realness filters (like -C or -R or + status:) with close, or the generated balance assertions will depend on + these flags. Likewise, if you run this command with --auto, the bal- + ance assertions would probably always require --auto. + + Multi-day transactions (where some postings have a different date) + break the balance assertions, because the money is temporarily "invisi- + ble" while in transit: + + 2020/12/30 a purchase made in december, cleared in the next year + expenses:food 5 + assets:bank:checking -5 ; date: 2021/1/2 + + To fix the assertions, you can add a temporary account to track such + in-transit money (splitting the multi-day transaction into two single- + day transactions): + + ; in 2020.journal: + 2020/12/30 a purchase made in december, cleared in the next year + expenses:food 5 + liabilities:pending + + ; in 2021.journal: + 2021/1/2 clearance of last year's pending transactions + liabilities:pending 5 = 0 + assets:bank:checking + + Example: close revenue/expense accounts to retained earnings + For this, use --close to suppress the opening transaction, as it's not + needed. Also you'll want to change the equity account name to your + equivalent of "equity:retained earnings". + + Closing 2021's first quarter revenues/expenses: + + $ hledger close -f 2021.journal --close revenues expenses -p 2021Q1 \ + --close-acct='equity:retained earnings' >> 2021.journal + + The same, using the default journal and current year: + + $ hledger close --close revenues expenses -p Q1 \ + --close-acct='equity:retained earnings' >> $LEDGER_FILE + + Now, the first quarter's balance sheet should show a zero (unless you + are using @/@@ notation without equity postings): + + $ hledger bse -p Q1 + + And we must suppress the closing transaction to see the first quarter's + income statement (using the description; not:'retained earnings' won't + work here): + + $ hledger is -p Q1 not:desc:'closing balances' + + codes + codes + List the codes seen in transactions, in the order parsed. + + This command prints the value of each transaction'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. + + Transactions aren't required to have a code, and missing or empty codes + will not be shown by default. With the -E/--empty flag, they will be + printed as blank lines. + + You can add a query to select a subset of transactions. + + Examples: + + 1/1 (123) + (a) 1 + + 1/1 () + (a) 1 + + 1/1 + (a) 1 + + 1/1 (126) + (a) 1 + + $ hledger codes + 123 + 124 + 126 + + $ hledger codes -E + 123 + 124 + + + 126 + + commodities + commodities + List all commodity/currency symbols used or declared in the journal. + + descriptions + descriptions + List the unique descriptions that appear in transactions. + + This command lists the unique descriptions that appear in transactions, + in alphabetic order. You can add a query to select a subset of trans- + actions. + + Example: + + $ hledger descriptions + Store Name + Gas Station | Petrol + Person A + + diff + diff + Compares a particular account's transactions in two input files. It + shows any transactions to this account which are in one file but not in + the other. + + 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 mul- + tiple bank transactions have been combined into a single journal entry. + + This is useful eg if you have downloaded an account'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. + + Examples: + + $ 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: + + files + files + List all files included in the journal. With a REGEX argument, only + file names matching the regular expression (case sensitive) are shown. + + help + help + Show the hledger user manual in one of several formats, optionally + positioned at a given TOPIC (if possible). + + TOPIC is any heading in the manual, or the start of any heading (but + not the middle). It is case insensitive. + + Some examples: commands, print, forecast, "auto postings", "commodity + column". + + This command shows the user manual built in to this hledger version. + It can be useful if the correct version of the hledger manual, or the + usual viewing tools, are not installed on your system. + + By default it uses the best viewer it can find in $PATH, in this order: + info, man, $PAGER (unless a topic is specified), less, or stdout. When + run non-interactively, it always uses stdout. Or you can select a par- + ticular viewer with the -i (info), -m (man), or -p (pager) flags. + + import + import + Read new transactions added to each FILE since last run, and add them + to the main journal file. Or with --dry-run, just print the transac- + tions that would be added. Or with --catchup, just mark all of the + FILEs' transactions as imported, without actually importing any. + + Unlike other hledger commands, with import the journal file is an out- + put 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 + hledger import bank.csv or perhaps hledger import *.csv. + + Note you can import from any file format, though CSV files are the most + common import source, and these docs focus on that case. + + Deduplication + As a convenience import does deduplication while reading transactions. + This does not mean "ignore transactions that look the same", but rather + "ignore transactions that have been seen before". 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 hledger import + bank.csv and only new transactions will be imported. (import is idem- + potent.) + + Since the items being read (CSV records, eg) often do not come with + unique identifiers, hledger detects new transactions by date, assuming + that: + + 1. new items always have the newest dates + + 2. item dates do not change across reads + + 3. and items with the same date remain in the same relative order + across reads. + + 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't matter (and if + you import often, the new transactions will be few, so less likely to + be the ones affected). + + hledger remembers the latest date processed in each input file by sav- + ing a hidden ".latest" state file in the same directory. Eg when read- + ing finance/bank.csv, it will look for and update the finance/.lat- + est.bank.csv state file. The format is simple: one or more lines con- + taining the same ISO-format date (YYYY-MM-DD), meaning "I have pro- + cessed transactions up to this date, and this many of them on that + date." Normally you won't see or manipulate these state files yourself. + But if needed, you can delete them to reset the state (making all + transactions "new"), or you can construct them to "catch up" to a cer- + tain date. + + Note deduplication (and updating of state files) can also be done by + print --new, but this is less often used. + + Import testing + With --dry-run, 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: + + $ hledger import --dry bank.csv | hledger -f- -I print unknown + + or (live updating): + + $ ls bank.csv* | entr bash -c 'echo ====; hledger import --dry bank.csv | hledger -f- -I print unknown' + + Importing balance assignments + Entries added by import will have their posting amounts made explicit + (like hledger print -x). This means that any balance assignments in + imported files must be evaluated; but, imported files don't get to see + the main file'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: + + $ hledger print IMPORTFILE [--new] >> $LEDGER_FILE + + (If you think import should leave amounts implicit like print does, + please test it and send a pull request.) + + Commodity display styles + Imported amounts will be formatted according to the canonical commodity + styles (declared or inferred) in the main journal file. + + incomestatement + incomestatement, is + + 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. + + The revenue and expense accounts shown are those accounts declared with + the Revenue or Expense type, or otherwise all accounts under a top- + level revenue or income or expense account (case insensitive, plurals + allowed). + + Example: + + $ hledger incomestatement + Income Statement + + Revenues: + $-2 income + $-1 gifts + $-1 salary + -------------------- + $-2 + + Expenses: + $2 expenses + $1 food + $1 supplies + -------------------- + $2 + + Total: + -------------------- + 0 + + This command is a higher-level variant of the balance command, and sup- + ports many of that command's features, such as multi-period reports. + It is similar to hledger balance '(revenues|income)' expenses, but with + smarter account detection, and revenues/income displayed with their + sign flipped. + + This command also supports the output destination and output format + options The output formats supported are txt, csv, html, and (experi- + mental) json. + + notes + notes + List the unique notes that appear in transactions. + + This command lists the unique notes that appear in transactions, in + alphabetic order. You can add a query to select a subset of transac- + tions. The note is the part of the transaction description after a | + character (or if there is no |, the whole description). + + Example: + + $ hledger notes + Petrol + Snacks + + payees + payees + List the unique payee/payer names that appear in transactions. + + This command lists unique payee/payer names which have been declared + with payee directives (--declared), used in transaction descriptions + (--used), or both (the default). + + The payee/payer is the part of the transaction description before a | + character (or if there is no |, the whole description). + + You can add query arguments to select a subset of transactions. This + implies --used. + + Example: + + $ hledger payees + Store Name + Gas Station + Person A + + prices + prices + Print market price directives from the journal. With --infer-market- + prices, generate additional market prices from transaction prices. + With --infer-reverse-prices, also generate market prices by inverting + transaction prices. Prices (and postings providing transaction prices) + can be filtered by a query. Price amounts are displayed with their + full precision. + + print + print + Show transaction journal entries, sorted by date. + + The print command displays full journal entries (transactions) from the + journal file, sorted by date (or with --date2, by secondary date). + + Amounts are shown mostly normalised to commodity display style, eg the + placement of commodity symbols will be consistent. All of their deci- + mal places are shown, as in the original journal entry (with one alter- + ation: in some cases trailing zeroes are added.) + + Amounts are shown right-aligned within each transaction (but not across + all transactions). + + 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. + + Eg: + + $ 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 + + print'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: + + # 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 + + There are some situations where print's output can become unparseable: + + o Valuation affects posting amounts but not balance assertion or bal- + ance assignment amounts, potentially causing those to fail. + + o Auto postings can generate postings with too many missing amounts. + + Normally, the journal entry's explicit or implicit amount style is pre- + served. For example, when an amount is omitted in the journal, it will + not appear in the output. Similarly, when a transaction price is + implied but not written, it will not appear in the output. You can use + the -x/--explicit flag to make all amounts and transaction prices + explicit, which can be useful for troubleshooting or for making your + journal more readable and robust against data entry errors. -x is also + implied by using any of -B,-V,-X,--value. + + Note, -x/--explicit 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. + + With -B/--cost, amounts with transaction prices are converted to cost + using that price. This can be used for troubleshooting. + + With -m/--match and a STR argument, print will show at most one trans- + action: the one one whose description is most similar to STR, and is + most recent. STR should contain at least two characters. If there is + no similar-enough match, no transaction will be shown. + + With --new, hledger prints only transactions it has not seen on a pre- + vious run. This uses the same deduplication system as the import com- + mand. (See import's docs for details.) + + This command also supports the output destination and output format + options The output formats supported are txt, csv, and (experimental) + json and sql. + + Here's an example of print's CSV output: + + $ hledger print -Ocsv + "txnidx","date","date2","status","code","description","comment","account","amount","commodity","credit","debit","posting-status","posting-comment" + "1","2008/01/01","","","","income","","assets:bank:checking","1","$","","1","","" + "1","2008/01/01","","","","income","","income:salary","-1","$","1","","","" + "2","2008/06/01","","","","gift","","assets:bank:checking","1","$","","1","","" + "2","2008/06/01","","","","gift","","income:gifts","-1","$","1","","","" + "3","2008/06/02","","","","save","","assets:bank:saving","1","$","","1","","" + "3","2008/06/02","","","","save","","assets:bank:checking","-1","$","1","","","" + "4","2008/06/03","","*","","eat & shop","","expenses:food","1","$","","1","","" + "4","2008/06/03","","*","","eat & shop","","expenses:supplies","1","$","","1","","" + "4","2008/06/03","","*","","eat & shop","","assets:cash","-2","$","2","","","" + "5","2008/12/31","","*","","pay off","","liabilities:debts","1","$","","1","","" + "5","2008/12/31","","*","","pay off","","assets:bank:checking","-1","$","1","","","" + + o There is one CSV record per posting, with the parent transaction's + fields repeated. + + o The "txnidx" (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.) + + o The amount is separated into "commodity" (the symbol) and "amount" + (numeric quantity) fields. + + o The numeric amount is repeated in either the "credit" or "debit" col- + umn, for convenience. (Those names are not accurate in the account- + ing sense; it just puts negative amounts under credit and zero or + greater amounts under debit.) + + print-unique + print-unique + Print transactions which do not reuse an already-seen description. + + Example: + + $ cat unique.journal + 1/1 test + (acct:one) 1 + 2/2 test + (acct:two) 2 + $ LEDGER_FILE=unique.journal hledger print-unique + (-f option not supported) + 2015/01/01 test + (acct:one) 1 + + register + register, reg + Show postings and their running total. + + The register command displays matched postings, across all accounts, in + date order, with their running total or running historical balance. + (See also the aregister command, which shows matched transactions in a + specific account.) + + register normally shows line per posting, but note that multi-commodity + amounts will occupy multiple lines (one line per commodity). + + It is typically used with a query selecting a particular account, to + see that account's activity: + + $ 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 + + With --date2, it shows and sorts by secondary date instead. + + The --historical/-H 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: + + $ 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 + + The --depth option limits the amount of sub-account detail displayed. + + The --average/-A flag shows the running average posting amount instead + of the running total (so, the final number displayed is the average for + the whole report period). This flag implies --empty (see below). It + is affected by --historical. It works best when showing just one + account and one commodity. + + The --related/-r flag shows the other postings in the transactions of + the postings which would normally be shown. + + The --invert flag negates all amounts. For example, it can be used on + an income account where amounts are normally displayed as negative num- + bers. It's also useful to show postings on the checking account + together with the related account: + + $ hledger register --related --invert assets:checking + + With a reporting interval, register shows summary postings, one per + interval, aggregating the postings to each account: + + $ hledger register --monthly income + 2008/01 income:salary $-1 $-1 + 2008/06 income:gifts $-1 $-2 + + Periods with no activity, and summary postings with a zero amount, are + not shown by default; use the --empty/-E flag to see them: + + $ 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 + + Often, you'll want to see just one line per interval. The --depth + option helps with this, causing subaccounts to be aggregated: + + $ hledger register --monthly assets --depth 1h + 2008/01 assets $1 $1 + 2008/06 assets $-1 0 + 2008/12 assets $-1 $-1 + + 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. + + Custom register output + register uses the full terminal width by default, except on windows. + You can override this by setting the COLUMNS environment variable (not + a bash shell variable) or by using the --width/-w option. + + 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's argument, comma-separated: + --width W,D . Here's a diagram (won't display correctly in --help): + + <--------------------------------- width (W) ----------------------------------> + date (10) description (D) account (W-41-D) amount (12) balance (12) + DDDDDDDDDD dddddddddddddddddddd aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa AAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAA + + and some examples: + + $ 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 + + This command also supports the output destination and output format + options The output formats supported are txt, csv, and (experimental) + json. + + register-match + register-match + Print the one posting whose transaction description is closest to DESC, + in the style of the register command. If there are multiple equally + good matches, it shows the most recent. Query options (options, not + arguments) can be used to restrict the search space. Helps ledger- + autosync detect already-seen transactions when importing. + + rewrite + rewrite + Print all transactions, rewriting the postings of matched transactions. + For now the only rewrite available is adding new postings, like print + --auto. + + 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 transac- + tion's first posting amount. + + Examples: + + $ hledger-rewrite.hs ^income --add-posting '(liabilities:tax) *.33 ; income tax' --add-posting '(reserve:gifts) $100' + $ hledger-rewrite.hs expenses:gifts --add-posting '(reserve:gifts) *-1"' + $ hledger-rewrite.hs -f rewrites.hledger + + rewrites.hledger may consist of entries like: + + = ^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 + + Note the single quotes to protect the dollar sign from bash, and the + two spaces between account and amount. + + More: + + $ hledger rewrite -- [QUERY] --add-posting "ACCT AMTEXPR" ... + $ hledger rewrite -- ^income --add-posting '(liabilities:tax) *.33' + $ hledger rewrite -- expenses:gifts --add-posting '(budget:gifts) *-1"' + $ hledger rewrite -- ^income --add-posting '(budget:foreign currency) *0.25 JPY; diversify' + + Argument for --add-posting option is a usual posting of transaction + with an exception for amount specification. More precisely, you can + use '*' (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's com- + modity. + + Re-write rules in a file + During the run this tool will execute so called "Automated Transac- + tions" found in any journal it process. I.e instead of specifying this + operations in command line you can put them in a journal file. + + $ rewrite-rules.journal + + Make contents look like this: + + = ^income + (liabilities:tax) *.33 + + = expenses:gifts + budget:gifts *-1 + assets:budget *1 + + Note that '=' (equality symbol) that is used instead of date in trans- + actions you usually write. It indicates the query by which you want to + match the posting to add new ones. + + $ hledger rewrite -- -f input.journal -f rewrite-rules.journal > rewritten-tidy-output.journal + + This is something similar to the commands pipeline: + + $ hledger rewrite -- -f input.journal '^income' --add-posting '(liabilities:tax) *.33' \ + | hledger rewrite -- -f - expenses:gifts --add-posting 'budget:gifts *-1' \ + --add-posting 'assets:budget *1' \ + > rewritten-tidy-output.journal + + It is important to understand that relative order of such entries in + journal is important. You can re-use result of previously added post- + ings. + + Diff output format + To use this tool for batch modification of your journal files you may + find useful output in form of unified diff. + + $ hledger rewrite -- --diff -f examples/sample.journal '^income' --add-posting '(liabilities:tax) *.33' + + Output might look like: + + --- /tmp/examples/sample.journal + +++ /tmp/examples/sample.journal + @@ -18,3 +18,4 @@ + 2008/01/01 income + - assets:bank:checking $1 + + assets:bank:checking $1 + income:salary + + (liabilities:tax) 0 + @@ -22,3 +23,4 @@ + 2008/06/01 gift + - assets:bank:checking $1 + + assets:bank:checking $1 + income:gifts + + (liabilities:tax) 0 + + If you'll pass this through patch tool you'll get transactions contain- + ing the posting that matches your query be updated. Note that multiple + files might be update according to list of input files specified via + --file options and include directives inside of these files. + + Be careful. Whole transaction being re-formatted in a style of output + from hledger print. + + See also: + + https://github.com/simonmichael/hledger/issues/99 + + rewrite vs. print --auto + This command predates print --auto, and currently does much the same + thing, but with these differences: + + o with multiple files, rewrite lets rules in any file affect all other + files. print --auto uses standard directive scoping; rules affect + only child files. + + o rewrite's query limits which transactions can be rewritten; all are + printed. print --auto's query limits which transactions are printed. + + o rewrite applies rules specified on command line or in the journal. + print --auto applies rules specified in the journal. + + roi + roi + Shows the time-weighted (TWR) and money-weighted (IRR) rate of return + on your investments. + + At a minimum, you need to supply a query (which could be just an + account name) to select your investment(s) with --inv, and another + query to identify your profit and loss transactions with --pnl. + + If you do not record changes in the value of your investment manually, + or do not require computation of time-weighted return (TWR), --pnl + could be an empty query (--pnl "" or --pnl STR where STR does not match + any of your accounts). + + 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. + + Price directives will be taken into account if you supply appropriate + --cost or --value flags (see VALUATION). + + Note, in some cases this report can fail, for these reasons: + + o 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. + + o Error (SearchFailed): Failed to find solution for Internal Rate of + Return (IRR). Either search does not converge to a solution, or con- + verges too slowly. + + Examples: + + o Using roi to compute total return of investment in stocks: + https://github.com/simonmichael/hledger/blob/master/examples/roi- + unrealised.ledger + + o Cookbook -> Return on Investment + + Spaces and special characters in --inv and --pnl + Note that --inv and --pnl's argument is a query, and queries could have + several space-separated terms (see QUERIES). + + To indicate that all search terms form single command-line argument, + you will need to put them in quotes (see Special characters): + + $ hledger roi --inv 'term1 term2 term3 ...' + + If any query terms contain spaces themselves, you will need an extra + level of nested quoting, eg: + + $ hledger roi --inv="'Assets:Test 1'" --pnl="'Equity:Unrealized Profit and Loss'" + + Semantics of --inv and --pnl + Query supplied to --inv has to match all transactions that are related + to your investment. Transactions not matching --inv will be ignored. + + In these transactions, ROI will conside postings that match --inv to be + "investment postings" and other postings (not matching --inv) will be + sorted into two categories: "cash flow" and "profit and loss", as ROI + needs to know which part of the investment value is your contributions + and which is due to the return on investment. + + o "Cash flow" is depositing or withdrawing money, buying or selling + assets, or otherwise converting between your investment commodity and + any other commodity. Example: + + 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 + + o "Profit and loss" is change in the value of your investment: + + 2019-06-01 Snake Oil falls in value + investment:snake oil = $57 + equity:unrealized profit or loss + + All non-investment postings are assumed to be "cash flow", unless they + match --pnl query. Changes in value of your investment due to "profit + and loss" postings will be considered as part of your investment + return. + + Example: if you use --inv snake --pnl equity:unrealized, then postings + in the example below would be classifed as: + + 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 + + IRR and TWR explained + "ROI" stands for "return on investment". Traditionally this was com- + puted as a difference between current value of investment and its ini- + tial value, expressed in percentage of the initial value. + + However, this approach is only practical in simple cases, where invest- + ments receives no in-flows or out-flows of money, and where rate of + growth is fixed over time. For more complex scenarios you need differ- + ent ways to compute rate of return, and this command implements two of + them: IRR and TWR. + + Internal rate of return, or "IRR" (also called "money-weighted rate of + return") 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 percent- + age of your initial investment, and if you are adding to your invest- + ment, 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. + + As mentioned before, in-flows and out-flows would be any cash that you + personally put in or withdraw, and for the "roi" command, these are the + postings that match the query in the--inv argument and NOT match the + query in the--pnl argument. + + If you manually record changes in the value of your investment as + transactions that balance them against "profit and loss" (or "unreal- + ized gains") 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. + + 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't done + discounted cash flow analysis before. Implementation of IRR in hledger + should produce results that match the XIRR formula in Excel. + + Second way to compute rate of return that roi command implements is + called "time-weighted rate of return" or "TWR". 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. + + TWR represents your investment as an imaginary "unit fund" where in- + flows/ out-flows lead to buying or selling "units" of your investment + and changes in its value change the value of "investment unit". Change + in "unit price" over the reporting period gives you rate of return of + your investment. + + References: * Explanation of rate of return * Explanation of IRR * + Explanation of TWR * Examples of computing IRR and TWR and discussion + of the limitations of both metrics + + stats + stats + Show journal and performance statistics. + + 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. + + 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 + stats command's run time is similar to that of a single-column balance + report. + + Example: + + $ 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 + + This command also supports output destination and output format selec- + tion. + + tags + tags + List the unique tag names used in the journal. With a TAGREGEX argu- + ment, only tag names matching the regular expression (case insensitive) + are shown. With QUERY arguments, only transactions matching the query + are considered. + + With the --values flag, the tags' unique values are listed instead. + + With --parsed flag, all tags or values are shown in the order they are + parsed from the input data, including duplicates. + + With -E/--empty, any blank/empty values will also be shown, otherwise + they are omitted. + + test + test + Run built-in unit tests. + + 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. + + 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! + + 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: + + $ hledger test -- -pData.Amount --color=never + + For help on these, see https://github.com/feuerbach/tasty#options (-- + --help currently doesn't show them). + + About add-on commands + Add-on commands are programs or scripts in your PATH + + o whose name starts with hledger- + + o whose name ends with a recognised file extension: .bat,.com,.exe, + .hs,.lhs,.pl,.py,.rb,.rkt,.sh or none + + o and (on unix, mac) which are executable by the current user. + + Add-ons are a relatively easy way to add local features or experiment + with new ideas. They can be written in any language, but haskell + scripts have a big advantage: they can use the same hledger library + functions that built-in commands use for command-line options, parsing + and reporting. Some experimental/example add-on scripts can be found + in the hledger repo's bin/ directory. + + Note in a hledger command line, add-on command flags must have a double + dash (--) preceding them. Eg you must write: + + $ hledger web -- --serve + + and not: + + $ hledger web --serve + + (because the --serve flag belongs to hledger-web, not hledger). + + The -h/--help and --version flags don't require --. + + If you have any trouble with this, remember you can always run the add- + on program directly, eg: + + $ hledger-web --serve + +JOURNAL FORMAT + hledger's default file format, representing a General Journal. + + hledger's usual data source is a plain text file containing journal + entries in hledger journal format. This file represents a standard + accounting general journal. I use file names ending in .journal, but + that's not required. The journal file contains a number of transaction + entries, each describing a transfer of money (or any commodity) between + two or more named accounts, in a simple format readable by both hledger + and humans. + + hledger's journal format is a compatible subset, mostly, of ledger's + journal format, so hledger can work with compatible ledger journal + files as well. It's safe, and encouraged, to run both hledger and + ledger on the same journal file, eg to validate the results you're get- + ting. + + 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. + + 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 configura- + tion at hledger.org for the full list. + + Here's a description of each part of the file format (and hledger's + data model). These are mostly in the order you'll use them, but in + some cases related concepts have been grouped together for easy refer- + ence, or linked before they are introduced, so feel free to skip over + anything that looks unnecessary right now. + + Transactions + Transactions are the main unit of information in a journal file. They + represent events, typically a movement of some quantity of commodities + between two or more named accounts. + + Each transaction is recorded as a journal entry, beginning with a sim- + ple date in column 0. This can be followed by any of the following + optional fields, separated by spaces: + + o a status character (empty, !, or *) + + o a code (any short number or text, enclosed in parentheses) + + o a description (any remaining text until end of line or a semicolon) + + o a comment (any remaining text following a semicolon until end of + line, and any following indented lines beginning with a semicolon) + + o 0 or more indented posting lines, describing what was transferred and + the accounts involved (indented comment lines are also allowed, but + not blank lines or non-indented lines). + + Here's a simple journal file containing one transaction: + + 2008/01/01 income + assets:bank:checking $1 + income:salary $-1 + + Dates + Simple dates + Dates in the journal file use simple dates format: YYYY-MM-DD or + YYYY/MM/DD or YYYY.MM.DD, with leading zeros optional. The year may be + omitted, in which case it will be inferred from the context: the cur- + rent transaction, the default year set with a default year directive, + or the current date when the command is run. Some examples: + 2010-01-31, 2010/01/31, 2010.1.31, 1/31. + + (The UI also accepts simple dates, as well as the more flexible smart + dates documented in the hledger manual.) + + Secondary dates + Real-life transactions sometimes involve more than one date - eg the + date you write a cheque, and the date it clears in your bank. When you + want to model this, for more accurate daily balances, you can specify + individual posting dates. + + Or, you can use the older secondary date feature (Ledger calls it aux- + iliary date or effective date). Note: we support this for compatibil- + ity, but I usually recommend avoiding this feature; posting dates are + almost always clearer and simpler. + + A secondary date is written after the primary date, following an equals + sign. If the year is omitted, the primary date's year is assumed. + When running reports, the primary (left) date is used by default, but + with the --date2 flag (or --aux-date or --effective), the secondary + (right) date will be used instead. + + The meaning of secondary dates is up to you, but it's best to follow a + consistent rule. Eg "primary = the bank's clearing date, secondary = + date the transaction was initiated, if different", as shown here: + + 2010/2/23=2/19 movie ticket + expenses:cinema $10 + assets:checking + + $ hledger register checking + 2010-02-23 movie ticket assets:checking $-10 $-10 + + $ hledger register checking --date2 + 2010-02-19 movie ticket assets:checking $-10 $-10 + + Posting dates + You can give individual postings a different date from their parent + transaction, by adding a posting comment containing a tag (see below) + like date:DATE. This is probably the best way to control posting dates + precisely. Eg in this example the expense should appear in May + reports, and the deduction from checking should be reported on 6/1 for + easy bank reconciliation: + + 2015/5/30 + expenses:food $10 ; food purchased on saturday 5/30 + assets:checking ; bank cleared it on monday, date:6/1 + + $ hledger -f t.j register food + 2015-05-30 expenses:food $10 $10 + + $ hledger -f t.j register checking + 2015-06-01 assets:checking $-10 $-10 + + DATE should be a simple date; if the year is not specified it will use + the year of the transaction's date. You can set the secondary date + similarly, with date2:DATE2. The date: or date2: tags must have a + valid simple date value if they are present, eg a date: tag with no + value is not allowed. + + Ledger's earlier, more compact bracketed date syntax is also supported: + [DATE], [DATE=DATE2] or [=DATE2]. hledger will attempt to parse any + square-bracketed sequence of the 0123456789/-.= characters in this way. + With this syntax, DATE infers its year from the transaction and DATE2 + infers its year from DATE. + + Status + Transactions, or individual postings within a transaction, can have a + status mark, which is a single character before the transaction + description or posting account name, separated from it by a space, + indicating one of three statuses: + + + mark status + ------------------ + unmarked + ! pending + * cleared + + When reporting, you can filter by status with the -U/--unmarked, + -P/--pending, and -C/--cleared flags; or the status:, status:!, and + status:* queries; or the U, P, C keys in hledger-ui. + + Note, in Ledger and in older versions of hledger, the "unmarked" state + is called "uncleared". As of hledger 1.3 we have renamed it to + unmarked for clarity. + + To replicate Ledger and old hledger's behaviour of also matching pend- + ing, combine -U and -P. + + Status marks are optional, but can be helpful eg for reconciling with + real-world accounts. Some editor modes provide highlighting and short- + cuts for working with status. Eg in Emacs ledger-mode, you can toggle + transaction status with C-c C-e, or posting status with C-c C-c. + + What "uncleared", "pending", and "cleared" actually mean is up to you. + Here's one suggestion: + + + status meaning + -------------------------------------------------------------------------- + uncleared recorded but not yet reconciled; needs review + pending tentatively reconciled (if needed, eg during a big reconcil- + iation) + cleared complete, reconciled as far as possible, and considered cor- + rect + + With this scheme, you would use -PC to see the current balance at your + bank, -U to see things which will probably hit your bank soon (like + uncashed checks), and no flags to see the most up-to-date state of your + finances. + + Code + After the status mark, but before the description, you can optionally + write a transaction "code", enclosed in parentheses. This is a good + place to record a check number, or some other important transaction id + or reference number. + + Description + A transaction's description is the rest of the line following the date + and status mark (or until a comment begins). Sometimes called the + "narration" in traditional bookkeeping, it can be used for whatever you + wish, or left blank. Transaction descriptions can be queried, unlike + comments. + + Payee and note + You can optionally include a | (pipe) character in descriptions to sub- + divide the description into separate fields for payee/payer name on the + left (up to the first |) and an additional note field on the right + (after the first |). This may be worthwhile if you need to do more + precise querying and pivoting by payee or by note. + + Comments + Lines in the journal beginning with a semicolon (;) or hash (#) or star + (*) are comments, and will be ignored. (Star comments cause org-mode + nodes to be ignored, allowing emacs users to fold and navigate their + journals with org-mode or orgstruct-mode.) + + You can attach comments to a transaction by writing them after the + description and/or indented on the following lines (before the post- + ings). Similarly, you can attach comments to an individual posting by + writing them after the amount and/or indented on the following lines. + Transaction and posting comments must begin with a semicolon (;). + + Some examples: + + # a file comment + ; another file comment + * also a file comment, useful in org/orgstruct mode + + comment + A multiline file comment, which continues + until a line containing just "end comment" + (or end of file). + end comment + + 2012/5/14 something ; a transaction comment + ; the transaction comment, continued + posting1 1 ; a comment for posting 1 + posting2 + ; a comment for posting 2 + ; another comment line for posting 2 + ; a file comment (because not indented) + + You can also comment larger regions of a file using comment and end + comment directives. + + Tags + Tags are a way to add extra labels or labelled data to postings and + transactions, which you can then search or pivot on. + + A simple tag is a word (which may contain hyphens) followed by a full + colon, written inside a transaction or posting comment line: + + 2017/1/16 bought groceries ; sometag: + + Tags can have a value, which is the text after the colon, up to the + next comma or end of line, with leading/trailing whitespace removed: + + expenses:food $10 ; a-posting-tag: the tag value + + Note this means hledger's tag values can not contain commas or new- + lines. Ending at commas means you can write multiple short tags on one + line, comma separated: + + assets:checking ; a comment containing tag1:, tag2: some value ... + + Here, + + o "a comment containing" is just comment text, not a tag + + o "tag1" is a tag with no value + + o "tag2" is another tag, whose value is "some value ..." + + Tags in a transaction comment affect the transaction and all of its + postings, while tags in a posting comment affect only that posting. + For example, the following transaction has three tags (A, TAG2, third- + tag) and the posting has four (those plus posting-tag): + + 1/1 a transaction ; A:, TAG2: + ; third-tag: a third transaction tag, <- with a value + (a) $1 ; posting-tag: + + Tags are like Ledger's metadata feature, except hledger's tag values + are simple strings. + + Postings + A posting is an addition of some amount to, or removal of some amount + from, an account. Each posting line begins with at least one space or + tab (2 or 4 spaces is common), followed by: + + o (optional) a status character (empty, !, or *), followed by a space + + o (required) an account name (any text, optionally containing single + spaces, until end of line or a double space) + + o (optional) two or more spaces or tabs followed by an amount. + + Positive amounts are being added to the account, negative amounts are + being removed. + + The amounts within a transaction must always sum up to zero. As a con- + venience, one amount may be left blank; it will be inferred so as to + balance the transaction. + + Be sure to note the unusual two-space delimiter between account name + and amount. This makes it easy to write account names containing spa- + ces. But if you accidentally leave only one space (or tab) before the + amount, the amount will be considered part of the account name. + + Virtual postings + A posting with a parenthesised account name is called a virtual posting + or unbalanced posting, which means it is exempt from the usual rule + that a transaction's postings must balance add up to zero. + + This is not part of double entry accounting, so you might choose to + avoid this feature. Or you can use it sparingly for certain special + cases where it can be convenient. Eg, you could set opening balances + without using a balancing equity account: + + 1/1 opening balances + (assets:checking) $1000 + (assets:savings) $2000 + + A posting with a bracketed account name is called a balanced virtual + posting. The balanced virtual postings in a transaction must add up to + zero (separately from other postings). Eg: + + 1/1 buy food with cash, update budget envelope subaccounts, & something else + assets:cash $-10 ; <- these balance + expenses:food $7 ; <- + expenses:food $3 ; <- + [assets:checking:budget:food] $-10 ; <- and these balance + [assets:checking:available] $10 ; <- + (something:else) $5 ; <- not required to balance + + Ordinary non-parenthesised, non-bracketed postings are called real + postings. You can exclude virtual postings from reports with the + -R/--real flag or real:1 query. + + Account names + Account names typically have several parts separated by a full colon, + from which hledger derives a hierarchical chart of accounts. They can + be anything you like, but in finance there are traditionally five top- + level accounts: assets, liabilities, revenue, expenses, and equity. + + Account names may contain single spaces, eg: assets:accounts receiv- + able. Because of this, they must always be followed by two or more + spaces (or newline). + + Account names can be aliased. + + Amounts + After the account name, there is usually an amount. (Important: + between account name and amount, there must be two or more spaces.) + + hledger's amount format is flexible, supporting several international + formats. Here are some examples. Amounts have a number (the "quan- + tity"): + + 1 + + ..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: + + $1 + 4000 AAPL + 3 "green apples" + + 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 com- + modity symbol: + + -$1 + $-1 + + One or more spaces between the sign and the number are acceptable when + parsing (but they won't be displayed in output): + + + $1 + $- 1 + + Scientific E notation is allowed: + + 1E-6 + EUR 1E3 + + Decimal marks, digit group marks + A decimal mark can be written as a period or a comma: + + 1.23 + 1,23456780000009 + + In the integer part of the quantity (left of the decimal mark), groups + of digits can optionally be separated by a digit group mark - a space, + comma, or period (different from the decimal mark): + + $1,000,000.00 + EUR 2.000.000,00 + INR 9,99,99,999.00 + 1 000 000.9455 + + Note, a number containing a single digit group mark and no decimal mark + is ambiguous. Are these digit group marks or decimal marks ? + + 1,000 + 1.000 + + If you don't tell it otherwise, hledger will assume both of the above + are decimal marks, parsing both numbers as 1. + + 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 jour- + nal file, using a directive at the top of the file. The decimal-mark + directive is best, otherwise commodity directives will also work. + These are described detail below. + + Commodity + Amounts in hledger have both a "quantity", which is a signed decimal + number, and a "commodity", which is a currency symbol, stock ticker, or + any word or phrase describing something you are tracking. + + If the commodity name contains non-letters (spaces, numbers, or punctu- + ation), you must always write it inside double quotes ("green apples", + "ABC123"). + + If you write just a bare number, that too will have a commodity, with + name ""; we call that the "no-symbol commodity". + + 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: 1 USD, 2 EUR, 3.456 + TSLA. In practice, you will only see multi-commodity amounts in + hledger's output; you can't write them directly in the journal file. + + (If you are writing scripts or working with hledger's internals, these + are the Amount and MixedAmount types.) + + Directives influencing number parsing and display + You can add decimal-mark and commodity directives to the journal, to + declare and control these things more explicitly and precisely. These + are described below, in JOURNAL FORMAT -> Declaring commodities. + Here's a quick example: + + # 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 + + + Commodity display style + 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 print command, are displayed with all of their + decimal digits visible.) + + A commodity's display style is inferred as follows. + + First, if a default commodity is declared with D, this commodity and + its style is applied to any no-symbol amounts in the journal. + + Then each commodity's style is inferred from one of the following, in + order of preference: + + o The commodity directive for that commodity (including the no-symbol + commodity), if any. + + o The amounts in that commodity seen in the journal's transactions. + (Posting amounts only; prices and periodic or auto rules are ignored, + currently.) + + o The built-in fallback style, which looks like this: $1000.00. (Sym- + bol on the left, period decimal mark, two decimal places.) + + A style is inferred from journal amounts as follows: + + o Use the general style (decimal mark, symbol placement) of the first + amount + + o Use the first-seen digit group style (digit group mark, digit group + sizes), if any + + o Use the maximum number of decimal places of all. + + Transaction price amounts don't affect the commodity display style + directly, but occasionally they can do so indirectly (eg when a post- + ing's amount is inferred using a transaction price). If you find this + causing problems, use a commodity directive to fix the display style. + + To summarise: each commodity's amounts will be normalised to (a) the + style declared by a commodity 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't like, eg with too many decimal + places, use a commodity directive. Some examples: + + # 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. + + The inferred commodity style can be overridden by supplying a command + line option. + + Rounding + 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's rounding: it + rounds to the nearest even number, eg 0.5 displayed with zero decimal + places is "0"). (Guaranteed since hledger 1.17.1; in older versions + this could vary if hledger was built with Decimal < 0.5.1.) + + Transaction prices + Within a transaction, you can note an amount's price in another commod- + ity. This can be used to document the cost (in a purchase) or selling + price (in a sale). For example, transaction prices are useful to + record purchases of a foreign currency. Note transaction prices are + fixed at the time of the transaction, and do not change over time. See + also market prices, which represent prevailing exchange rates on a cer- + tain date. + + There are several ways to record a transaction price: + + 1. Write the price per unit, as @ UNITPRICE after the amount: + + 2009/1/1 + assets:euros EUR100 @ $1.35 ; one hundred euros purchased at $1.35 each + assets:dollars ; balancing amount is -$135.00 + + 2. Write the total price, as @@ TOTALPRICE after the amount: + + 2009/1/1 + assets:euros EUR100 @@ $135 ; one hundred euros purchased at $135 for the lot + assets:dollars + + 3. Specify amounts for all postings, using exactly two commodities, and + let hledger infer the price that balances the transaction: + + 2009/1/1 + assets:euros EUR100 ; one hundred euros purchased + assets:dollars $-135 ; for $135 + + 4. Like 1, but the @ is parenthesised, i.e. (@); this is for compati- + bility with Ledger journals (Virtual posting costs), and is equiva- + lent to 1 in hledger. + + 5. Like 2, but as in 4 the @@ is parenthesised, i.e. (@@); in hledger, + this is equivalent to 2. + + Use the -B/--cost flag to convert amounts to their transaction price's + commodity, if any. (mnemonic: "B" is from "cost Basis", as in Ledger). + Eg here is how -B affects the balance report for the example above: + + $ hledger bal -N --flat + $-135 assets:dollars + EUR100 assets:euros + $ hledger bal -N --flat -B + $-135 assets:dollars + $135 assets:euros # <- the euros' cost + + Note -B is sensitive to the order of postings when a transaction price + is inferred: the inferred price will be in the commodity of the last + amount. So if example 3's postings are reversed, while the transaction + is equivalent, -B shows something different: + + 2009/1/1 + assets:dollars $-135 ; 135 dollars sold + assets:euros EUR100 ; for 100 euros + + $ hledger bal -N --flat -B + EUR-100 assets:dollars # <- the dollars' selling price + EUR100 assets:euros + + Lot prices, lot dates + Ledger allows another kind of price, lot price (four variants: {UNIT- + PRICE}, {{TOTALPRICE}}, {=FIXEDUNITPRICE}, {{=FIXEDTOTALPRICE}}), + and/or a lot date ([DATE]) to be specified. These are normally used to + select a lot when selling investments. hledger will parse these, for + compatibility with Ledger journals, but currently ignores them. A + transaction price, lot price and/or lot date may appear in any order, + after the posting amount and before the balance assertion if any. + + Balance assertions + hledger supports Ledger-style balance assertions in journal files. + These look like, for example, = EXPECTEDBALANCE following a posting's + amount. Eg here we assert the expected dollar balance in accounts a + and b after each posting: + + 2013/1/1 + a $1 =$1 + b =$-1 + + 2013/1/2 + a $1 =$2 + b $-1 =$-2 + + After reading a journal file, hledger will check all balance assertions + and report an error if any of them fail. Balance assertions can pro- + tect you from, eg, inadvertently disrupting reconciled balances while + cleaning up old entries. You can disable them temporarily with the + -I/--ignore-assertions flag, which can be useful for troubleshooting or + for reading Ledger files. (Note: this flag currently does not disable + balance assignments, below). + + Assertions and ordering + hledger sorts an account's postings and assertions first by date and + then (for postings on the same day) by parse order. Note this is dif- + ferent from Ledger, which sorts assertions only by parse order. (Also, + Ledger assertions do not see the accumulated effect of repeated post- + ings to the same account within a transaction.) + + So, hledger balance assertions keep working if you reorder differently- + dated transactions within the journal. But if you reorder same-dated + transactions or postings, assertions might break and require updating. + This order dependence does bring an advantage: precise control over the + order of postings and assertions within a day, so you can assert intra- + day balances. + + Assertions and included files + With included files, things are a little more complicated. Including + preserves the ordering of postings and assertions. If you have multi- + ple postings to an account on the same day, split across different + files, and you also want to assert the account's balance on the same + day, you'll have to put the assertion in the right file. + + Assertions and multiple -f options + Balance assertions don't work well across files specified with multiple + -f options. Use include or concatenate the files instead. + + Assertions and commodities + The asserted balance must be a simple single-commodity amount, and in + fact the assertion checks only this commodity's balance within the + (possibly multi-commodity) account balance. This is how assertions + work in Ledger also. We could call this a "partial" balance assertion. + + To assert the balance of more than one commodity in an account, you can + write multiple postings, each asserting one commodity's balance. + + You can make a stronger "total" balance assertion by writing a double + equals sign (== EXPECTEDBALANCE). This asserts that there are no other + unasserted commodities in the account (or, that their balance is 0). + + 2013/1/1 + a $1 + a 1EUR + b $-1 + c -1EUR + + 2013/1/2 ; These assertions succeed + a 0 = $1 + a 0 = 1EUR + b 0 == $-1 + c 0 == -1EUR + + 2013/1/3 ; This assertion fails as 'a' also contains 1EUR + a 0 == $1 + + It's not yet possible to make a complete assertion about a balance that + has multiple commodities. One workaround is to isolate each commodity + into its own subaccount: + + 2013/1/1 + a:usd $1 + a:euro 1EUR + b + + 2013/1/2 + a 0 == 0 + a:usd 0 == $1 + a:euro 0 == 1EUR + + Assertions and prices + Balance assertions ignore transaction prices, and should normally be + written without one: + + 2019/1/1 + (a) $1 @ EUR1 = $1 + + We do allow prices to be written there, however, and print shows them, + even though they don't affect whether the assertion passes or fails. + This is for backward compatibility (hledger's close command used to + generate balance assertions with prices), and because balance assign- + ments do use them (see below). + + Assertions and subaccounts + The balance assertions above (= and ==) do not count the balance from + subaccounts; they check the account's exclusive balance only. You can + assert the balance including subaccounts by writing =* or ==*, eg: + + 2019/1/1 + equity:opening balances + checking:a 5 + checking:b 5 + checking 1 ==* 11 + + Assertions and virtual postings + Balance assertions are checked against all postings, both real and vir- + tual. They are not affected by the --real/-R flag or real: query. + + Assertions and precision + Balance assertions compare the exactly calculated amounts, which are + not always what is shown by reports. Eg a commodity directive may + limit the display precision, but this will not affect balance asser- + tions. Balance assertion failure messages show exact amounts. + + Balance assignments + Ledger-style balance assignments are also supported. These are like + balance assertions, but with no posting amount on the left side of the + equals sign; instead it is calculated automatically so as to satisfy + the assertion. This can be a convenience during data entry, eg when + setting opening balances: + + ; starting a new journal, set asset account balances + 2016/1/1 opening balances + assets:checking = $409.32 + assets:savings = $735.24 + assets:cash = $42 + equity:opening balances + + or when adjusting a balance to reality: + + ; no cash left; update balance, record any untracked spending as a generic expense + 2016/1/15 + assets:cash = $0 + expenses:misc + + The calculated amount depends on the account's balance in the commodity + at that point (which depends on the previously-dated postings of the + commodity to that account since the last balance assertion or assign- + ment). Note that using balance assignments makes your journal a little + less explicit; to know the exact amount posted, you have to run hledger + or do the calculations yourself, instead of just reading it. + + Balance assignments and prices + A transaction price in a balance assignment will cause the calculated + amount to have that price attached: + + 2019/1/1 + (a) = $1 @ EUR2 + + $ hledger print --explicit + 2019-01-01 + (a) $1 @ EUR2 = $1 @ EUR2 + + Directives + A directive is a line in the journal beginning with a special keyword, + that influences how the journal is processed, how things are displayed, + and so on. hledger's directives are based on (a subset of) Ledger's, + but there are many differences, and also some differences between + hledger versions. Here are some more definitions: + + o subdirective - Some directives support subdirectives, written + indented below the parent directive. + + o decimal mark - The character to interpret as a decimal mark (period + or comma) when parsing amounts of a commodity. + + o display style - How to display amounts of a commodity in output: sym- + bol side and spacing, digit groups, decimal mark, and number of deci- + mal places. + + Directives are not required when starting out with hledger, but you + will probably add some as your needs grow. Here is an overview of + directives by purpose: + + + purpose directives command line + options with sim- + ilar effect + ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- + READING/GENERATING DATA: + Declare a commodity's or file's commodity, D, decimal- + decimal mark to help parse mark + amounts accurately + Apply changes to the data while alias, apply account, --alias + parsing comment, D, Y + Inline extra data files include multiple + -f/--file's + Generate extra transactions or ~ + budget goals + Generate extra postings = + CHECKING FOR ERRORS: + Define valid entities to allow account, commodity, + stricter error checking payee + DISPLAYING REPORTS: + Declare accounts' display order account + and accounting type + Declare commodity display commodity, D -c/--commodity- + styles style + + And here are all the directives and their precise effects: + + + direc- effects ends + tive at + file + end? + ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- + account Declares an account, for checking all entries in all files; + and its display order and type, for reports. Subdirectives: + any text, ignored. + alias Rewrites account names, in following entries until end of Y + current file or end aliases. + apply Prepends a common parent account to all account names, in Y + account following entries until end of current file or end apply + account. + + + comment Ignores part of the journal file, until end of current file Y + or end comment. + commod- Declares a commodity, for checking all entries in all files; N, Y + ity the decimal mark for parsing amounts of this commodity, for + following entries until end of current file; and its display + style, for reports. Takes precedence over D. Subdirectives: + format (alternate syntax). + D Sets a default commodity to use for no-symbol amounts, and Y + its decimal mark for parsing amounts of this commodity in + following entries until end of current file; and its display + style, for reports. + deci- Declares the decimal mark, for parsing amounts of all com- Y + mal- modities in following entries until next decimal-mark or end + mark of current file. Included files can override. Takes prece- + dence over commodity and D. + include Includes entries and directives from another file, as if they + were written inline. + payee Declares a payee name, for checking all entries in all files. + P Declares a market price for a commodity on some date, for + valuation reports. + Y Declares a year for yearless dates, for following entries Y + until end of current file. + ~ Declares a periodic transaction rule that generates future + (tilde) transactions with --forecast and budget goals with balance + --budget. + = Declares an auto posting rule that generates extra postings partly + (equals) on matched transactions with --auto, in current, parent, and + child files (but not sibling files, see #1212). + + Directives and multiple files + If you use multiple -f/--file options, or the include directive, + hledger will process multiple input files. But directives which affect + input typically have effect only until the end of the file in which + they occur (and on any included files in that region). + + This may seem inconvenient, but it's intentional; it makes reports sta- + ble and deterministic, independent of the order of input. Otherwise + you could see different numbers if you happened to write -f options in + a different order, or if you moved includes around while cleaning up + your files. + + It can be surprising though; for example, it means that alias direc- + tives do not affect parent or sibling files (see below). + + Comment blocks + A line containing just comment starts a commented region of the file, + and a line containing just end comment (or the end of the current file) + ends it. See also comments. + + Including other files + You can pull in the content of additional files by writing an include + directive, like this: + + include FILEPATH + + Only journal files can include, and only journal, timeclock or timedot + files can be included (not CSV files, currently). + + If the file path does not begin with a slash, it is relative to the + current file's folder. + + A tilde means home directory, eg: include ~/main.journal. + + The path may contain glob patterns to match multiple files, eg: include + *.journal. + + There is limited support for recursive wildcards: **/ (the slash is + required) matches 0 or more subdirectories. It's not super convenient + since you have to avoid include cycles and including directories, but + this can be done, eg: include */**/*.journal. + + The path may also be prefixed to force a specific file format, overrid- + ing the file extension (as described in hledger.1 -> Input files): + include timedot:~/notes/2020*.md. + + Default year + You can set a default year to be used for subsequent dates which don't + specify a year. This is a line beginning with Y followed by the year. + Eg: + + Y2009 ; set default year to 2009 + + 12/15 ; equivalent to 2009/12/15 + expenses 1 + assets + + Y2010 ; change default year to 2010 + + 2009/1/30 ; specifies the year, not affected + expenses 1 + assets + + 1/31 ; equivalent to 2010/1/31 + expenses 1 + assets + + Declaring payees + The payee directive can be used to declare a limited set of payees + which may appear in transaction descriptions. The "payees" check will + report an error if any transaction refers to a payee that has not been + declared. Eg: + + payee Whole Foods + + Declaring the decimal mark + You can use a decimal-mark 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 + + decimal-mark . + + or + + decimal-mark , + + 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). + + Declaring commodities + You can use commodity directives to declare your commodities. In fact + the commodity directive performs several functions at once: + + 1. It declares commodities which may be used in the journal. This can + optionally be enforced, providing useful error checking. (Cf Com- + modity error checking) + + 2. 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 + 1,000 and 1.000 as 1. (Cf Amounts) + + 3. It declares how to render the commodity's amounts when displaying + output - the decimal mark, any digit group marks, the number of dec- + imal places, symbol placement and so on. (Cf Commodity display + style) + + 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. + + Generally you should put them at the top of your journal file (since + for function 2, they affect only following amounts, cf #793). + + A commodity directive is just the word commodity followed by a sample + amount, like this: + + ;commodity SAMPLEAMOUNT + + commodity $1000.00 + commodity 1,000.0000 AAAA ; optional same-line comment + + It may also be written on multiple lines, and use the format subdirec- + tive, as in Ledger. Note in this case the commodity symbol appears + twice; it must be the same in both places: + + ;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 + + Remember that if the commodity symbol contains spaces, numbers, or + punctuation, it must be enclosed in double quotes (cf Commodity). + + The amount'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. + + A few more examples: + + # 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. + + Note hledger normally uses banker's rounding, so 0.5 displayed with + zero decimal digits is "0". (More at Commodity display style.) + + Even in the presence of commodity directives, the commodity display + style can still be overridden by supplying a command line option. + + Commodity error checking + In strict mode, enabled with the -s/--strict flag, hledger will report + an error if a commodity symbol is used that has not been declared by a + commodity directive. This works similarly to account error checking, + see the notes there for more details. + + Default commodity + The D directive sets a default commodity, to be used for any subsequent + commodityless amounts (ie, plain numbers) seen while parsing the jour- + nal. This effect lasts until the next D directive, or the end of the + journal. + + For compatibility/historical reasons, D also acts like a commodity + directive (setting the commodity's decimal mark for parsing and display + style for output). + + The syntax is D AMOUNT. As with commodity, the amount must include a + decimal mark (either period or comma). Eg: + + ; 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 + + If both commodity and D directives are found for a commodity, commodity + takes precedence for setting decimal mark and display style. + + If you are using D and also checking commodities, you will need to add + a commodity directive similar to the D. (The hledger check commodities + command expects commodity directives, and ignores D). + + Declaring market prices + The P directive declares a market price, which is an exchange rate + between two commodities on a certain date. (In Ledger, they are called + "historical prices".) These are often obtained from a stock exchange, + cryptocurrency exchange, or the foreign exchange market. + + The format is: + + P DATE COMMODITY1SYMBOL COMMODITY2AMOUNT + + 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: + + # one euro was worth $1.35 from 2009-01-01 onward: + P 2009-01-01 EUR $1.35 + + # and $1.40 from 2010-01-01 onward: + P 2010-01-01 EUR $1.40 + + The -V, -X and --value flags use these market prices to show amount + values in another commodity. See Valuation. + + Declaring accounts + account directives can be used to declare accounts (ie, the places that + amounts are transferred from and to). Though not required, these dec- + larations can provide several benefits: + + o They can document your intended chart of accounts, providing a refer- + ence. + + o They can help hledger know your accounts' types (asset, liability, + equity, revenue, expense), useful for reports like balancesheet and + incomestatement. + + o They control account display order in reports, allowing non-alpha- + betic sorting (eg Revenues to appear above Expenses). + + o They can store extra information about accounts (account numbers, + notes, etc.) + + o They help with account name completion in the add command, hledger- + iadd, hledger-web, ledger-mode etc. + + o In strict mode, they restrict which accounts may be posted to by + transactions, which helps detect typos. + + The simplest form is just the word account followed by a hledger-style + account name, eg this account directive declares the assets:bank:check- + ing account: + + account assets:bank:checking + + Account error checking + By default, accounts come into existence when a transaction references + them by name. This is convenient, but it means hledger can't warn you + when you mis-spell an account name in the journal. Usually you'll find + the error later, as an extra account in balance reports, or an incor- + rect balance when reconciling. + + In strict mode, enabled with the -s/--strict flag, hledger will report + an error if any transaction uses an account name that has not been + declared by an account directive. Some notes: + + o The declaration is case-sensitive; transactions must use the correct + account name capitalisation. + + o The account directive's scope is "whole file and below" (see direc- + tives). 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's usual + to put them at the top. + + o Accounts can only be declared in journal files (but will affect + included files in other formats). + + o It's currently not possible to declare "all possible subaccounts" + with a wildcard; every account posted to must be declared. + + Account comments + Comments, beginning with a semicolon, can be added: + + o on the same line, after two or more spaces (because ; is allowed in + account names) + + o on the next lines, indented + + An example of both: + + account assets:bank:checking ; same-line comment, note 2+ spaces before ; + ; next-line comment + ; another with tag, acctno:12345 (not used yet) + + Same-line comments are not supported by Ledger, or hledger <1.13. + + Account subdirectives + We also allow (and ignore) Ledger-style indented subdirectives, just + for compatibility.: + + account assets:bank:checking + format blah blah ; <- subdirective, ignored + + Here is the full syntax of account directives: + + account ACCTNAME [ACCTTYPE] [;COMMENT] + [;COMMENTS] + [LEDGER-STYLE SUBDIRECTIVES, IGNORED] + + Account types + By adding a type tag to the account directive, with value A, L, E, R, + X, C (or if you prefer: Asset, Liability, Equity, Revenue, Expense, + Cash), you can declare hledger accounts to be of a certain type: + + o asset, liability, equity, revenue, expense + the standard types in accounting, or + + o cash + a subtype of asset, used for liquid assets. + + Declaring account types is a good idea, since it helps enable the easy + balancesheet, balancesheetequity, incomestatement and cashflow reports, + and probably other things in future. As a convenience, when account + types are not declared, hledger will try to guess them based on + english-language account names. + + Here is a typical set of top-level account declarations (because of the + aforementioned, with these account names the type tags are not strictly + needed, but with non-english or non-standard account names, they will + be): + + 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 + + It's not necessary to declare the type of subaccounts. (You can, if + they are different from the parent, but this is not common.) + + Auto-detected account types + More about "guessing" account types: hledger tries to find at least one + top level account in each of the six account types (Asset, Liability, + Equity, Revenue, Expense, Cash). When no accounts have been declared + for a particular type, it tries to auto-detect some accounts by name, + using the regular expressions below. Note: if you declare any + account's type, it's a good idea to declare an account for all six + types, because a mix of declared and auto-detected types can cause con- + fusing results. + + The auto-detection rules are: + + If account's name matches this case insensitive regular expression:| its type is: + ------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------ + ^assets?(:|$) | + and does not contain regexp (investment|receivable|:A/R|:fixed) | Cash + otherwise | Asset + ^(debts?|liabilit(y|ies))(:|$) | Liability + ^equity(:|$) | Equity + ^(income|revenue)s?(:|$) | Revenue + ^expenses?(:|$) | Expense + + Account display order + Account directives also set the order in which accounts are displayed, + eg in reports, the hledger-ui accounts screen, and the hledger-web + sidebar. By default accounts are listed in alphabetical order. But if + you have these account directives in the journal: + + account assets + account liabilities + account equity + account revenues + account expenses + + you'll see those accounts displayed in declaration order, not alphabet- + ically: + + $ hledger accounts -1 + assets + liabilities + equity + revenues + expenses + + Undeclared accounts, if any, are displayed last, in alphabetical order. + + Note that sorting is done at each level of the account tree (within + each group of sibling accounts under the same parent). And currently, + this directive: + + account other:zoo + + would influence the position of zoo among other's subaccounts, but not + the position of other among the top-level accounts. This means: + + o you will sometimes declare parent accounts (eg account other above) + that you don't intend to post to, just to customize their display + order + + o sibling accounts stay together (you couldn't display x:y in between + a:b and a:c). + + Rewriting accounts + You can define account alias rules which rewrite your account names, or + parts of them, before generating reports. This can be useful for: + + o expanding shorthand account names to their full form, allowing easier + data entry and a less verbose journal + + o adapting old journals to your current chart of accounts + + o experimenting with new account organisations, like a new hierarchy or + combining two accounts into one + + o customising reports + + Account aliases also rewrite account names in account directives. They + do not affect account names being entered via hledger add or hledger- + web. + + See also Rewrite account names. + + Basic aliases + To set an account alias, use the alias directive in your journal file. + This affects all subsequent journal entries in the current file or its + included files (but note: not sibling or parent files). The spaces + around the = are optional: + + alias OLD = NEW + + Or, you can use the --alias 'OLD=NEW' option on the command line. This + affects all entries. It's useful for trying out aliases interactively. + + OLD and NEW are case sensitive full account names. hledger will + replace any occurrence of the old account name with the new one. Sub- + accounts are also affected. Eg: + + alias checking = assets:bank:wells fargo:checking + ; rewrites "checking" to "assets:bank:wells fargo:checking", or "checking:a" to "assets:bank:wells fargo:checking:a" + + Regex aliases + There is also a more powerful variant that uses a regular expression, + indicated by the forward slashes: + + alias /REGEX/ = REPLACEMENT + + or --alias '/REGEX/=REPLACEMENT'. + + REGEX is a case-insensitive regular expression. Anywhere it matches + inside an account name, the matched part will be replaced by REPLACE- + MENT. If REGEX contains parenthesised match groups, these can be ref- + erenced by the usual numeric backreferences in REPLACEMENT. Eg: + + alias /^(.+):bank:([^:]+):(.*)/ = \1:\2 \3 + ; rewrites "assets:bank:wells fargo:checking" to "assets:wells fargo checking" + + Also note that REPLACEMENT continues to the end of line (or on command + line, to end of option argument), so it can contain trailing white- + space. + + Combining aliases + You can define as many aliases as you like, using journal directives + and/or command line options. + + Recursive aliases - where an account name is rewritten by one alias, + then by another alias, and so on - are allowed. Each alias sees the + effect of previously applied aliases. + + In such cases it can be important to understand which aliases will be + applied and in which order. For (each account name in) each journal + entry, we apply: + + 1. alias directives preceding the journal entry, most recently parsed + first (ie, reading upward from the journal entry, bottom to top) + + 2. --alias options, in the order they appeared on the command line + (left to right). + + In other words, for (an account name in) a given journal entry: + + o the nearest alias declaration before/above the entry is applied first + + o the next alias before/above that will be be applied next, and so on + + o aliases defined after/below the entry do not affect it. + + This gives nearby aliases precedence over distant ones, and helps pro- + vide semantic stability - aliases will keep working the same way inde- + pendent of which files are being read and in which order. + + In case of trouble, adding --debug=6 to the command line will show + which aliases are being applied when. + + Aliases and multiple files + As explained at Directives and multiple files, alias directives do not + affect parent or sibling files. Eg in this command, + + hledger -f a.aliases -f b.journal + + account aliases defined in a.aliases will not affect b.journal. + Including the aliases doesn't work either: + + include a.aliases + + 2020-01-01 ; not affected by a.aliases + foo 1 + bar + + This means that account aliases should usually be declared at the start + of your top-most file, like this: + + alias foo=Foo + alias bar=Bar + + 2020-01-01 ; affected by aliases above + foo 1 + bar + + include c.journal ; also affected + + end aliases + You can clear (forget) all currently defined aliases (seen in the jour- + nal so far, or defined on the command line) with this directive: + + end aliases + + Default parent account + You can specify a parent account which will be prepended to all + accounts within a section of the journal. Use the apply account and + end apply account directives like so: + + apply account home + + 2010/1/1 + food $10 + cash + + end apply account + + which is equivalent to: + + 2010/01/01 + home:food $10 + home:cash $-10 + + If end apply account is omitted, the effect lasts to the end of the + file. Included files are also affected, eg: + + apply account business + include biz.journal + end apply account + apply account personal + include personal.journal + + Prior to hledger 1.0, legacy account and end spellings were also sup- + ported. + + A default parent account also affects account directives. It does not + affect account names being entered via hledger add or hledger-web. If + account aliases are present, they are applied after the default parent + account. + + Periodic transactions + Periodic transaction rules describe transactions that recur. They + allow hledger to generate temporary future transactions to help with + forecasting, so you don't have to write out each one in the journal, + and it's easy to try out different forecasts. + + Periodic transactions can be a little tricky, so before you use them, + read this whole section - or at least these tips: + + 1. Two spaces accidentally added or omitted will cause you trouble - + read about this below. + + 2. For troubleshooting, show the generated transactions with hledger + print --forecast tag:generated or hledger register --forecast + tag:generated. + + 3. Forecasted transactions will begin only after the last non-fore- + casted transaction's date. + + 4. Forecasted transactions will end 6 months from today, by default. + See below for the exact start/end rules. + + 5. period expressions can be tricky. Their documentation needs + improvement, but is worth studying. + + 6. Some period expressions with a repeating interval must begin on a + natural boundary of that interval. Eg in weekly from DATE, DATE + must be a monday. ~ weekly from 2019/10/1 (a tuesday) will give an + error. + + 7. Other period expressions with an interval are automatically expanded + to cover a whole number of that interval. (This is done to improve + reports, but it also affects periodic transactions. Yes, it's a bit + inconsistent with the above.) Eg: ~ every 10th day of month from + 2020/01, which is equivalent to ~ every 10th day of month from + 2020/01/01, will be adjusted to start on 2019/12/10. + + Periodic transaction rules also have a second meaning: they are used to + define budget goals, shown in budget reports. + + Periodic rule syntax + A periodic transaction rule looks like a normal journal entry, with the + date replaced by a tilde (~) followed by a period expression (mnemonic: + ~ looks like a recurring sine wave.): + + ~ monthly + expenses:rent $2000 + assets:bank:checking + + There is an additional constraint on the period expression: the start + date must fall on a natural boundary of the interval. Eg monthly from + 2018/1/1 is valid, but monthly from 2018/1/15 is not. + + Partial or relative dates (M/D, D, tomorrow, last week) in the period + expression can work (useful or not). They will be relative to today's + date, unless a Y default year directive is in effect, in which case + they will be relative to Y/1/1. + + Two spaces between period expression and description! + If the period expression is followed by a transaction description, + these must be separated by two or more spaces. This helps hledger know + where the period expression ends, so that descriptions can not acciden- + tally alter their meaning, as in this example: + + ; 2 or more spaces needed here, so the period is not understood as "every 2 months in 2020" + ; || + ; vv + ~ every 2 months in 2020, we will review + assets:bank:checking $1500 + income:acme inc + + So, + + o Do write two spaces between your period expression and your transac- + tion description, if any. + + o Don't accidentally write two spaces in the middle of your period + expression. + + Forecasting with periodic transactions + The --forecast flag activates any periodic transaction rules in the + journal. These will generate temporary additional transactions, usu- + ally recurring and in the future, which will appear in all reports. + hledger print --forecast is a good way to see them. + + This can be useful for estimating balances into the future, perhaps + experimenting with different scenarios. + + It could also be useful for scripted data entry: you could describe + recurring transactions, and every so often copy the output of print + --forecast into the journal. + + The generated transactions will have an extra tag, like generated- + transaction:~ PERIODICEXPR, indicating which periodic rule generated + them. There is also a similar, hidden tag, named _generated-transac- + tion:, which you can use to reliably match transactions generated "just + now" (rather than printed in the past). + + The forecast transactions are generated within a forecast period, which + is independent of the report period. (Forecast period sets the bounds + for generated transactions, report period controls which transactions + are reported.) The forecast period begins on: + + o the start date provided within --forecast's argument, if any + + o otherwise, the later of + + o the report start date, if specified (with -b/-p/date:) + + o the day after the latest ordinary transaction in the journal, if + any + + o otherwise today. + + It ends on: + + o the end date provided within --forecast's argument, if any + + o otherwise, the report end date, if specified (with -e/-p/date:) + + o otherwise 180 days (6 months) from today. + + Note, this means that ordinary transactions will suppress periodic + transactions, by default; the periodic transactions will not start + until after the last ordinary transaction. This is usually convenient, + but you can get around it in two ways: + + o If you need to record some transactions in the future, make them + periodic transactions (with a single occurrence, eg: ~ YYYY-MM-DD) + rather than ordinary transactions. That way they won't suppress + other periodic transactions. + + o Or give --forecast a period expression argument. A forecast period + specified this way can overlap ordinary transactions, and need not be + in the future. Some things to note: + + o You must use = between flag and argument; a space won't work. + + o The period expression can specify the forecast period's start date, + end date, or both. See also Report start & end date. + + o The period expression should not specify a report interval. (Each + periodic transaction rule specifies its own interval.) + + Some examples: --forecast=202001-202004, --forecast=jan-, --fore- + cast=2021. + + Budgeting with periodic transactions + With the --budget flag, currently supported by the balance command, + each periodic transaction rule declares recurring budget goals for the + specified accounts. Eg the first example above declares a goal of + spending $2000 on rent (and also, a goal of depositing $2000 into + checking) every month. Goals and actual performance can then be com- + pared in budget reports. + + See also: Budgeting and Forecasting. + + + Auto postings + "Automated postings" or "auto postings" are extra postings which get + added automatically to transactions which match certain queries, + defined by "auto posting rules", when you use the --auto flag. + + An auto posting rule looks a bit like a transaction: + + = QUERY + ACCOUNT AMOUNT + ... + ACCOUNT [AMOUNT] + + except the first line is an equals sign (mnemonic: = suggests match- + ing), followed by a query (which matches existing postings), and each + "posting" line describes a posting to be generated, and the posting + amounts can be: + + o a normal amount with a commodity symbol, eg $2. This will be used + as-is. + + o a number, eg 2. The commodity symbol (if any) from the matched post- + ing will be added to this. + + o a numeric multiplier, eg *2 (a star followed by a number N). The + matched posting's amount (and total price, if any) will be multiplied + by N. + + o a multiplier with a commodity symbol, eg *$2 (a star, number N, and + symbol S). The matched posting's amount will be multiplied by N, and + its commodity symbol will be replaced with S. + + 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: + + = expenses:groceries 'expenses:dining out' + (budget:funds:dining out) *-1 + + Some examples: + + ; every time I buy food, schedule a dollar donation + = expenses:food + (liabilities:charity) $-1 + + ; when I buy a gift, also deduct that amount from a budget envelope subaccount + = expenses:gifts + assets:checking:gifts *-1 + assets:checking *1 + + 2017/12/1 + expenses:food $10 + assets:checking + + 2017/12/14 + expenses:gifts $20 + assets:checking + + $ hledger print --auto + 2017-12-01 + expenses:food $10 + assets:checking + (liabilities:charity) $-1 + + 2017-12-14 + expenses:gifts $20 + assets:checking + assets:checking:gifts -$20 + assets:checking $20 + + Auto postings and multiple files + An auto posting rule can affect any transaction in the current file, or + in any parent file or child file. Note, currently it will not affect + sibling files (when multiple -f/--file are used - see #1212). + + Auto postings and dates + 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. + + Auto postings and transaction balancing / inferred amounts / balance asser- + tions + Currently, auto postings are added: + + o after missing amounts are inferred, and transactions are checked for + balancedness, + + o but before balance assertions are checked. + + Note this means that journal entries must be balanced both before and + after auto postings are added. This changed in hledger 1.12+; see #893 + for background. + + 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. + + Auto posting tags + Automated postings will have some extra tags: + + o generated-posting:= QUERY - shows this was generated by an auto post- + ing rule, and the query + + o _generated-posting:= QUERY - a hidden tag, which does not appear in + hledger's output. This can be used to match postings generated "just + now", rather than generated in the past and saved to the journal. + + Also, any transaction that has been changed by auto posting rules will + have these tags added: + + o modified: - this transaction was modified + + o _modified: - a hidden tag not appearing in the comment; this transac- + tion was modified "just now". + +CSV FORMAT + How hledger reads CSV data, and the CSV rules file format. + + hledger can read CSV files (Character Separated Value - usually comma, + semicolon, or tab) containing dated records as if they were journal + files, automatically converting each CSV record into a transaction. + + (To learn about writing CSV, see CSV output.) + + We describe each CSV file's format with a corresponding rules file. By + default this is named like the CSV file with a .rules extension added. + Eg when reading FILE.csv, hledger also looks for FILE.csv.rules in the + same directory as FILE.csv. You can specify a different rules file + with the --rules-file option. If a rules file is not found, hledger + will create a sample rules file, which you'll need to adjust. + + This file contains rules describing the CSV data (header line, fields + layout, date format etc.), and how to construct hledger journal entries + (transactions) from it. Often there will also be a list of conditional + rules for categorising transactions based on their descriptions. + Here's an overview of the CSV rules; these are described more fully + below, after the examples: + + + skip skip one or more header lines or matched CSV + records + fields list name CSV fields, assign them to hledger + fields + field assignment assign a value to one hledger field, with + interpolation + Field names hledger field names, used in the fields list + and field assignments + separator a custom field separator + if block apply some rules to CSV records matched by + patterns + if table apply some rules to CSV records matched by + patterns, alternate syntax + end skip the remaining CSV records + date-format how to parse dates in CSV records + decimal-mark the decimal mark used in CSV amounts, if + ambiguous + newest-first disambiguate record order when there's only + one date + include inline another CSV rules file + balance-type choose which type of balance assignments to + use + + Note, for best error messages when reading CSV files, use a .csv, .tsv + or .ssv file extension or file prefix - see File Extension below. + + There's an introductory Convert CSV files tutorial on hledger.org. + + Examples + Here are some sample hledger CSV rules files. See also the full col- + lection at: + https://github.com/simonmichael/hledger/tree/master/examples/csv + + Basic + 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's a simple CSV file and a rules file for it: + + Date, Description, Id, Amount + 12/11/2019, Foo, 123, 10.23 + + # basic.csv.rules + skip 1 + fields date, description, _, amount + date-format %d/%m/%Y + + $ hledger print -f basic.csv + 2019-11-12 Foo + expenses:unknown 10.23 + income:unknown -10.23 + + Default account names are chosen, since we didn't set them. + + Bank of Ireland + Here'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 neces- + sary but provides extra error checking: + + Date,Details,Debit,Credit,Balance + 07/12/2012,LODGMENT 529898,,10.0,131.21 + 07/12/2012,PAYMENT,5,,126 + + # 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 "balance" + # 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 + + $ 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 + + The balance assertions don't raise an error above, because we're read- + ing directly from CSV, but they will be checked if these entries are + imported into a journal file. + + Amazon + Here we convert amazon.com order history, and use an if block to gener- + ate a third posting if there's a fee. (In practice you'd probably get + this data from your bank instead, but it's an example.) + + "Date","Type","To/From","Name","Status","Amount","Fees","Transaction ID" + "Jul 29, 2012","Payment","To","Foo.","Completed","$20.00","$0.00","16000000000000DGLNJPI1P9B8DKPVHL" + "Jul 30, 2012","Payment","To","Adapteva, Inc.","Completed","$25.00","$1.00","17LA58JSKRD4HDGLNJPI1P9B8DKPVHL" + + # amazon-orders.csv.rules + + # skip one header line + skip 1 + + # name the csv fields, and assign the transaction's date, amount and code. + # Avoided the "status" and "amount" 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'm assuming amzamount excludes the fees, don'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 + + $ 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 + + Paypal + Here's a real-world rules file for (customised) Paypal CSV, with some + Paypal-specific rules, and a second rules file included: + + "Date","Time","TimeZone","Name","Type","Status","Currency","Gross","Fee","Net","From Email Address","To Email Address","Transaction ID","Item Title","Item ID","Reference Txn ID","Receipt ID","Balance","Note" + "10/01/2019","03:46:20","PDT","Calm Radio","Subscription Payment","Completed","USD","-6.99","0.00","-6.99","simon@joyful.com","memberships@calmradio.com","60P57143A8206782E","MONTHLY - $1 for the first 2 Months: Me - Order 99309. Item total: $1.00 USD first 2 months, then $6.99 / Month","","I-R8YLY094FJYR","","-6.99","" + "10/01/2019","03:46:20","PDT","","Bank Deposit to PP Account ","Pending","USD","6.99","0.00","6.99","","simon@joyful.com","0TU1544T080463733","","","60P57143A8206782E","","0.00","" + "10/01/2019","08:57:01","PDT","Patreon","PreApproved Payment Bill User Payment","Completed","USD","-7.00","0.00","-7.00","simon@joyful.com","support@patreon.com","2722394R5F586712G","Patreon* Membership","","B-0PG93074E7M86381M","","-7.00","" + "10/01/2019","08:57:01","PDT","","Bank Deposit to PP Account ","Pending","USD","7.00","0.00","7.00","","simon@joyful.com","71854087RG994194F","Patreon* Membership","","2722394R5F586712G","","0.00","" + "10/19/2019","03:02:12","PDT","Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.","Subscription Payment","Completed","USD","-2.00","0.00","-2.00","simon@joyful.com","tle@wikimedia.org","K9U43044RY432050M","Monthly donation to the Wikimedia Foundation","","I-R5C3YUS3285L","","-2.00","" + "10/19/2019","03:02:12","PDT","","Bank Deposit to PP Account ","Pending","USD","2.00","0.00","2.00","","simon@joyful.com","3XJ107139A851061F","","","K9U43044RY432050M","","0.00","" + "10/22/2019","05:07:06","PDT","Noble Benefactor","Subscription Payment","Completed","USD","10.00","-0.59","9.41","noble@bene.fac.tor","simon@joyful.com","6L8L1662YP1334033","Joyful Systems","","I-KC9VBGY2GWDB","","9.41","" + + # paypal-custom.csv.rules + + # Tips: + # Export from Activity -> Statements -> Custom -> Activity download + # Suggested transaction type: "Balance affecting" + # Paypal's default fields in 2018 were: + # "Date","Time","TimeZone","Name","Type","Status","Currency","Gross","Fee","Net","From Email Address","To Email Address","Transaction ID","Shipping Address","Address Status","Item Title","Item ID","Shipping and Handling Amount","Insurance Amount","Sales Tax","Option 1 Name","Option 1 Value","Option 2 Name","Option 2 Value","Reference Txn ID","Invoice Number","Custom Number","Quantity","Receipt ID","Balance","Address Line 1","Address Line 2/District/Neighborhood","Town/City","State/Province/Region/County/Territory/Prefecture/Republic","Zip/Postal Code","Country","Contact Phone Number","Subject","Note","Country Code","Balance Impact" + # This rules file assumes the following more detailed fields, configured in "Customize report fields": + # "Date","Time","TimeZone","Name","Type","Status","Currency","Gross","Fee","Net","From Email Address","To Email Address","Transaction ID","Item Title","Item ID","Reference Txn ID","Receipt ID","Balance","Note" + + 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'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's income (a debit) + if %grossamount ^[^-] + account2 income:unknown + # if negative, it's an expense (a credit) + if %grossamount ^- + 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 + + # 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 + + $ 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@joyful.com, toemail:memberships@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@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@joyful.com, toemail:support@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@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@joyful.com, toemail:tle@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@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@bene.fac.tor, toemail:simon@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: + + CSV rules + The following kinds of rule can appear in the rules file, in any order. + Blank lines and lines beginning with # or ; are ignored. + + skip + skip N + + The word "skip" followed by a number (or no number, meaning 1) tells + hledger to ignore this many non-empty lines preceding the CSV data. + (Empty/blank lines are skipped automatically.) You'll need this when- + ever your CSV data contains header lines. + + It also has a second purpose: it can be used inside if blocks to ignore + certain CSV records (described below). + + fields list + fields FIELDNAME1, FIELDNAME2, ... + + A fields list (the word "fields" followed by comma-separated field + names) is the quick way to assign CSV field values to hledger fields. + (The other way is field assignments, see below.) A fields list does + does two things: + + 1. It names the CSV fields. This is optional, but can be convenient + later for interpolating them. + + 2. Whenever you use a standard hledger field name (defined below), the + CSV value is assigned to that part of the hledger transaction. + + Here's an example that says "use the 1st, 2nd and 4th fields as the + transaction's date, description and amount; name the last two fields + for later reference; and ignore the others": + + fields date, description, , amount, , , somefield, anotherfield + + Tips: + + o The fields list always use commas, even if your CSV data uses another + separator character. + + o Currently there must be least two items in the list (at least one + comma). + + o Field names may not contain spaces. Spaces before/after field names + are optional. + + o If the CSV contains column headings, it's a good idea to use these, + suitably modified, as the basis for your field names (eg lower-cased, + with underscores instead of spaces). + + o If some heading names match standard hledger fields, but you don't + want to set the hledger fields directly, alter those names, eg by + appending an underscore. + + o Fields you don't care about can be given a dummy name (eg: _ ), or no + name. + + field assignment + HLEDGERFIELDNAME FIELDVALUE + + 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). + + 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 inter- + polate CSV fields, referenced by their 1-based position in the CSV + record (%N), or by the name they were given in the fields list (%CSV- + FIELDNAME). + + Some examples: + + # set the amount to the 4th CSV field, with " USD" appended + amount %4 USD + + # combine three fields to make a comment, containing note: and date: tags + comment note: %somefield - %anotherfield, date: %1 + + Tips: + + o Interpolation strips outer whitespace (so a CSV value like " 1 " + becomes 1 when interpolated) (#1051). + + o Interpolations always refer to a CSV field - you can't interpolate a + hledger field. (See Referencing other fields below). + + Field names + Here are the standard hledger field (and pseudo-field) names, which you + can use in a fields list and in field assignments. For more about the + transaction parts they refer to, see Transactions. + + date field + Assigning to date sets the transaction date. + + date2 field + date2 sets the transaction's secondary date, if any. + + status field + status sets the transaction's status, if any. + + code field + code sets the transaction's code, if any. + + description field + description sets the transaction's description, if any. + + comment field + comment sets the transaction's comment, if any. + + commentN, where N is a number, sets the Nth posting's comment. + + Tips: - You can assign multi-line comments by writing literal \n in the + code. A comment starting with \n will begin on a new line. - Comments + can contain tags, as usual. + + account field + Assigning to accountN, where N is 1 to 99, sets the account name of the + Nth posting, and causes that posting to be generated. + + Most often there are two postings, so you'll want to set account1 and + account2. Typically account1 is associated with the CSV file, and is + set once with a top-level assignment, while account2 is set based on + each transaction's description, and in conditional blocks. + + If a posting's account name is left unset but its amount is set (see + below), a default account name will be chosen (like "expenses:unknown" + or "income:unknown"). + + amount field + amountN sets the amount of the Nth posting, and causes that posting to + be generated. By assigning to amount1, amount2, ... etc. you can + generate up to 99 postings. + + amountN-in and amountN-out can be used instead, if the CSV uses sepa- + rate fields for debits and credits (inflows and outflows). hledger + assumes both of these CSV fields are unsigned, and will automatically + negate the "-out" value. If they are signed, see "Setting amounts" + below. + + amount, or amount-in and amount-out are a legacy mode, to keep pre- + hledger-1.17 CSV rules files working (and for occasional convenience). + They are suitable only for two-posting transactions; they set both + posting 1's and posting 2's amount. Posting 2's amount will be + negated, and also converted to cost if there's a transaction price. + + If you have an existing rules file using the unnumbered form, you might + want to use the numbered form in certain conditional blocks, without + having to update and retest all the old rules. To facilitate this, + posting 1 ignores amount/amount-in/amount-out if any of + amount1/amount1-in/amount1-out are assigned, and posting 2 ignores them + if any of amount2/amount2-in/amount2-out are assigned, avoiding con- + flicts. + + currency field + currency sets a currency symbol, to be prepended to all postings' + amounts. You can use this if the CSV amounts do not have a currency + symbol, eg if it is in a separate column. + + currencyN prepends a currency symbol to just the Nth posting's amount. + + balance field + balanceN sets a balance assertion amount (or if the posting amount is + left empty, a balance assignment) on posting N. + + balance is a compatibility spelling for hledger <1.17; it is equivalent + to balance1. + + You can adjust the type of assertion/assignment with the balance-type + rule (see below). + + See Tips below for more about setting amounts and currency. + + separator + You can use the separator rule to read other kinds of character-sepa- + rated data. The argument is any single separator character, or the + words tab or space (case insensitive). Eg, for comma-separated values + (CSV): + + separator , + + or for semicolon-separated values (SSV): + + separator ; + + or for tab-separated values (TSV): + + separator TAB + + If the input file has a .csv, .ssv or .tsv file extension (or a csv:, + ssv:, tsv: prefix), the appropriate separator will be inferred automat- + ically, and you won't need this rule. + + if block + if MATCHER + RULE + + if + MATCHER + MATCHER + MATCHER + RULE + RULE + + Conditional blocks ("if blocks") are a block of rules that are applied + only to CSV records which match certain patterns. They are often used + for customising account names based on transaction descriptions. + + Matching the whole record + Each MATCHER can be a record matcher, which looks like this: + + REGEX + + REGEX is a case-insensitive regular expression that tries to match any- + where within the CSV record. It is a POSIX ERE (extended regular + expression) that also supports GNU word boundaries (\b, \B, \<, \>), + and nothing else. If you have trouble, be sure to check our doc: + https://hledger.org/hledger.html#regular-expressions + + Important note: the record that is matched is not the original record, + but a synthetic one, with any enclosing double quotes (but not enclos- + ing whitespace) removed, and always comma-separated (which means that a + field containing a comma will appear like two fields). Eg, if the + original record is 2020-01-01; "Acme, Inc."; 1,000, the REGEX will + actually see 2020-01-01,Acme, Inc., 1,000). + + Matching individual fields + Or, MATCHER can be a field matcher, like this: + + %CSVFIELD REGEX + + which matches just the content of a particular CSV field. CSVFIELD is + a percent sign followed by the field's name or column number, like + %date or %1. + + Combining matchers + A single matcher can be written on the same line as the "if"; or multi- + ple matchers can be written on the following lines, non-indented. Mul- + tiple matchers are OR'd (any one of them can match), unless one begins + with an & symbol, in which case it is AND'ed with the previous matcher. + + if + MATCHER + & MATCHER + RULE + + Rules applied on successful match + After the patterns there should be one or more rules to apply, all + indented by at least one space. Three kinds of rule are allowed in + conditional blocks: + + o field assignments (to set a hledger field) + + o skip (to skip the matched CSV record) + + o end (to skip all remaining CSV records). + + Examples: + + # if the CSV record contains "groceries", set account2 to "expenses:groceries" + if groceries + account2 expenses:groceries + + # if the CSV record contains any of these patterns, set account2 and comment as shown + if + monthly service fee + atm transaction fee + banking thru software + account2 expenses:business:banking + comment XXX deductible ? check it + + if table + if,CSVFIELDNAME1,CSVFIELDNAME2,...,CSVFIELDNAMEn + MATCHER1,VALUE11,VALUE12,...,VALUE1n + MATCHER2,VALUE21,VALUE22,...,VALUE2n + MATCHER3,VALUE31,VALUE32,...,VALUE3n + + + Conditional tables ("if tables") are a different syntax to specify + field assignments that will be applied only to CSV records which match + certain patterns. + + MATCHER could be either field or record matcher, as described above. + When MATCHER matches, values from that row would be assigned to the CSV + fields named on the if line, in the same order. + + Therefore if table is exactly equivalent to a sequence of of if blocks: + + if MATCHER1 + CSVFIELDNAME1 VALUE11 + CSVFIELDNAME2 VALUE12 + ... + CSVFIELDNAMEn VALUE1n + + if MATCHER2 + CSVFIELDNAME1 VALUE21 + CSVFIELDNAME2 VALUE22 + ... + CSVFIELDNAMEn VALUE2n + + if MATCHER3 + CSVFIELDNAME1 VALUE31 + CSVFIELDNAME2 VALUE32 + ... + CSVFIELDNAMEn VALUE3n + + Each line starting with MATCHER should contain enough (possibly empty) + values for all the listed fields. + + Rules would be checked and applied in the order they are listed in the + table and, like with if blocks, later rules (in the same or another ta- + ble) or if blocks could override the effect of any rule. + + Instead of ',' you can use a variety of other non-alphanumeric charac- + ters as a separator. First character after if is taken to be the sepa- + rator for the rest of the table. It is the responsibility of the user + to ensure that separator does not occur inside MATCHERs and values - + there is no way to escape separator. + + Example: + + if,account2,comment + atm transaction fee,expenses:business:banking,deductible? check it + %description groceries,expenses:groceries, + 2020/01/12.*Plumbing LLC,expenses:house:upkeep,emergency plumbing call-out + + end + This rule can be used inside if blocks (only), to make hledger stop + reading this CSV file and move on to the next input file, or to command + execution. Eg: + + # ignore everything following the first empty record + if ,,,, + end + + date-format + date-format DATEFMT + + This is a helper for the date (and date2) fields. If your CSV dates + are not formatted like YYYY-MM-DD, YYYY/MM/DD or YYYY.MM.DD, you'll + need to add a date-format rule describing them with a strptime date + parsing pattern, which must parse the CSV date value completely. Some + examples: + + # MM/DD/YY + date-format %m/%d/%y + + # D/M/YYYY + # The - makes leading zeros optional. + date-format %-d/%-m/%Y + + # YYYY-Mmm-DD + date-format %Y-%h-%d + + # 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 + + For the supported strptime syntax, see: + https://hackage.haskell.org/package/time/docs/Data-Time-For- + mat.html#v:formatTime + + Note that although you can parse date-times which include a time zone, + that time zone is ignored; it will not change the date that is parsed. + This means when reading CSV data with times not in your local time + zone, dates can be "off by one". + + decimal-mark + decimal-mark . + + or: + + decimal-mark , + + 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. + + newest-first + hledger always sorts the generated transactions by date. Transactions + on the same date should appear in the same order as their CSV records, + as hledger can usually auto-detect whether the CSV's normal order is + oldest first or newest first. But if all of the following are true: + + o the CSV might sometimes contain just one day of data (all records + having the same date) + + o the CSV records are normally in reverse chronological order (newest + at the top) + + o and you care about preserving the order of same-day transactions + + then, you should add the newest-first rule as a hint. Eg: + + # tell hledger explicitly that the CSV is normally newest first + newest-first + + include + include RULESFILE + + This includes the contents of another CSV rules file at this point. + RULESFILE is an absolute file path or a path relative to the current + file's directory. This can be useful for sharing common rules between + several rules files, eg: + + # someaccount.csv.rules + + ## someaccount-specific rules + fields date,description,amount + account1 assets:someaccount + account2 expenses:misc + + ## common rules + include categorisation.rules + + balance-type + Balance assertions generated by assigning to balanceN are of the simple + = 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 + balance-type rule: + + # balance assertions will consider all commodities and all subaccounts + balance-type ==* + + Here are the balance assertion types for quick reference: + + = single commodity, exclude subaccounts + =* single commodity, include subaccounts + == multi commodity, exclude subaccounts + ==* multi commodity, include subaccounts + + Tips + Rapid feedback + It's a good idea to get rapid feedback while creating/troubleshooting + CSV rules. Here's a good way, using entr from eradman.com/entrproject: + + $ ls foo.csv* | entr bash -c 'echo ----; hledger -f foo.csv print desc:SOMEDESC' + + A desc: query (eg) is used to select just one, or a few, transactions + of interest. "bash -c" 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. + + Valid CSV + hledger accepts CSV conforming to RFC 4180. When CSV values are + enclosed in quotes, note: + + o they must be double quotes (not single quotes) + + o spaces outside the quotes are not allowed + + File Extension + To help hledger identify the format and show the right error messages, + CSV/SSV/TSV files should normally be named with a .csv, .ssv or .tsv + filename extension. Or, the file path should be prefixed with csv:, + ssv: or tsv:. Eg: + + $ hledger -f foo.ssv print + + or: + + $ cat foo | hledger -f ssv:- foo + + You can override the file extension with a separator rule if needed. + See also: Input files in the hledger manual. + + Reading multiple CSV files + If you use multiple -f 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 --rules-file option, that rules file will be + used for all the CSV files. + + Valid transactions + After reading a CSV file, hledger post-processes and validates the gen- + erated 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. + + 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: + + $ hledger -f file.csv print | hledger -f- print + + Deduplicating, importing + 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. + + 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't have to remember how many times you ran it or with which version + of the CSV. (It keeps state in a hidden .latest.FILE.csv file.) This + is the easiest way to import CSV data. Eg: + + # download the latest CSV files, then run this command. + # Note, no -f flags needed here. + $ hledger import *.csv [--dry] + + This method works for most CSV files. (Where records have a stable + chronological order, and new records appear only at the new end.) + + A number of other tools and workflows, hledger-specific and otherwise, + exist for converting, deduplicating, classifying and managing CSV data. + See: + + o https://hledger.org -> sidebar -> real world setups + + o https://plaintextaccounting.org -> data import/conversion + + Setting amounts + Some tips on using the amount-setting rules discussed above. + + Here are the ways to set a posting's amount: + + 1. If the CSV has a single amount field: + Assign (via a fields list or a field assignment) to amountN. This sets + the Nth posting's amount. N is usually 1 or 2 but can go up to 99. + + 2. If the CSV has separate amount fields for debit & credit (in & out): + + a. If both fields are unsigned: + Assign to amountN-in and amountN-out. This sets posting N's amount + to whichever of these has a non-zero value, and negates the "-out" + value. + + b. If either field is signed (can contain a minus sign): + Use a conditional rule to flip the sign (of non-empty values). + Since hledger always negates amountN-out, if it was already nega- + tive, we must undo that by negating once more (but only if the + field is non-empty): + + fields date, description, amount1-in, amount1-out + if %amount1-out [1-9] + amount1-out -%amount1-out + + c. If both fields, or neither field, can contain a non-zero value: + hledger normally expects exactly one of the fields to have a non- + zero value. Eg, the amountN-in/amountN-out rules would reject + value pairs like these: + + "", "" + "0", "0" + "1", "none" + + So, use smarter conditional rules to set the amount from the appro- + priate field. Eg, these rules would make it use only the value + containing non-zero digits, handling the above: + + fields date, description, in, out + if %in [1-9] + amount1 %in + if %out [1-9] + amount1 %out + + 3. If you are stuck with hledger <1.17, or you want posting 2's amount + converted to cost: + Assign to amount (or to amount-in and amount-out). (The old numberless + syntax, which sets amount1 and amount2.) + + 4. If the CSV has the balance instead of the transaction amount: + Assign to balanceN, which sets posting N's amount indirectly via a bal- + ance assignment. (Old syntax: balance, equivalent to balance1.) + + o If hledger guesses the wrong default account name: + When setting the amount via balance assertion, hledger may guess + the wrong default account name. So, set the account name explic- + itly, eg: + + fields date, description, balance1 + account1 assets:checking + + Amount signs + There is some special handling for amount signs, to simplify parsing + and sign-flipping: + + o If an amount value begins with a plus sign: + that will be removed: +AMT becomes AMT + + o If an amount value is parenthesised: + it will be de-parenthesised and sign-flipped: (AMT) becomes -AMT + + o If an amount value has two minus signs (or two sets of parentheses, + or a minus sign and parentheses): + they cancel out and will be removed: --AMT or -(AMT) becomes AMT + + o If an amount value contains just a sign (or just a set of parenthe- + ses): + that is removed, making it an empty value. "+" or "-" or "()" becomes + "". + + Setting currency/commodity + If the currency/commodity symbol is included in the CSV's amount + field(s): + + 2020-01-01,foo,$123.00 + + you don't have to do anything special for the commodity symbol, it will + be assigned as part of the amount. Eg: + + fields date,description,amount + + 2020-01-01 foo + expenses:unknown $123.00 + income:unknown $-123.00 + + If the currency is provided as a separate CSV field: + + 2020-01-01,foo,USD,123.00 + + You can assign that to the currency pseudo-field, which has the special + effect of prepending itself to every amount in the transaction (on the + left, with no separating space): + + fields date,description,currency,amount + + 2020-01-01 foo + expenses:unknown USD123.00 + income:unknown USD-123.00 + + 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: + + fields date,description,cur,amt + amount %amt %cur + + 2020-01-01 foo + expenses:unknown 123.00 USD + income:unknown -123.00 USD + + Note we used a temporary field name (cur) that is not currency - that + would trigger the prepending effect, which we don't want here. + + Amount decimal places + Like amounts in a journal file, the amounts generated by CSV rules like + amount1 influence commodity display styles, such as the number of deci- + mal places displayed in reports. + + The original amounts as written in the CSV file do not affect display + style (because we don't yet reliably know their commodity). + + Referencing other fields + In field assignments, you can interpolate only CSV fields, not hledger + fields. In the example below, there's both a CSV field and a hledger + field named amount1, but %amount1 always means the CSV field, not the + hledger field: + + # Name the third CSV field "amount1" + fields date,description,amount1 + + # Set hledger'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 + + Here, since there's no CSV amount1 field, %amount1 will produce a lit- + eral "amount1": + + fields date,description,csvamount + amount1 %csvamount USD + # Can't interpolate amount1 here + comment %amount1 + + When there are multiple field assignments to the same hledger field, + only the last one takes effect. Here, comment's value will be be B, or + C if "something" is matched, but never A: + + comment A + comment B + if something + comment C + + How CSV rules are evaluated + Here's how to think of CSV rules being evaluated (if you really need + to). First, + + o include - 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.) + + Then "global" rules are evaluated, top to bottom. If a rule is + repeated, the last one wins: + + o skip (at top level) + + o date-format + + o newest-first + + o fields - names the CSV fields, optionally sets up initial assignments + to hledger fields + + Then for each CSV record in turn: + + o test all if blocks. If any of them contain a end rule, skip all + remaining CSV records. Otherwise if any of them contain a skip rule, + skip that many CSV records. If there are multiple matched skip + rules, the first one wins. + + o collect all field assignments at top level and in matched if blocks. + When there are multiple assignments for a field, keep only the last + one. + + o compute a value for each hledger field - either the one that was + assigned to it (and interpolate the %CSVFIELDNAME references), or a + default + + o generate a synthetic hledger transaction from these values. + + 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. + +TIMECLOCK FORMAT + The time logging format of timeclock.el, as read by hledger. + + hledger can read time logs in timeclock format. As with Ledger, these + are (a subset of) timeclock.el'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). + + i 2015/03/30 09:00:00 some:account name optional description after two spaces + o 2015/03/30 09:20:00 + i 2015/03/31 22:21:45 another account + o 2015/04/01 02:00:34 + + 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, hledger print generates these journal entries: + + $ hledger -f t.timeclock print + 2015-03-30 * optional description after two spaces + (some:account name) 0.33h + + 2015-03-31 * 22:21-23:59 + (another account) 1.64h + + 2015-04-01 * 00:00-02:00 + (another account) 2.01h + + Here is a sample.timeclock to download and some queries to try: + + $ 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 + + To generate time logs, ie to clock in and clock out, you could: + + o use emacs and the built-in timeclock.el, or the extended timeclock- + x.el and perhaps the extras in ledgerutils.el + + o at the command line, use these bash aliases: shell alias ti="echo + i `date '+%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S'` \$* >>$TIMELOG" alias to="echo o + `date '+%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S'` >>$TIMELOG" + + o or use the old ti and to scripts in the ledger 2.x repository. These + rely on a "timeclock" executable which I think is just the ledger 2 + executable renamed. + +TIMEDOT FORMAT + timedot format is hledger's human-friendly time logging format. Com- + pared to timeclock format, it is + + o convenient for quick, approximate, and retroactive time logging + + o readable: you can see at a glance where time was spent. + + A timedot file contains a series of day entries, which might look like + this: + + 2021-08-04 + hom:errands .... .... + fos:hledger:timedot .. ; docs + per:admin:finance + + hledger reads this as three time transactions on this day, with each + dot representing a quarter-hour spent: + + $ hledger -f a.timedot print # .timedot file extension activates the timedot reader + 2021-08-04 * + (hom:errands) 2.00 + + 2021-08-04 * + (fos:hledger:timedot) 0.50 + + 2021-08-04 * + (per:admin:finance) 0 + + A day entry begins with a date line: + + o a non-indented simple date (Y-M-D, Y/M/D, or Y.M.D). + + Optionally this can be followed on the same line by + + o a common transaction description for this day + + o a common transaction comment for this day, after a semicolon (;). + + After the date line are zero or more optionally-indented time transac- + tion lines, consisting of: + + o an account name - any word or phrase, usually a hledger-style account + name. + + o two or more spaces - a field separator, required if there is an + amount (as in journal format). + + o a timedot amount - dots representing quarter hours, or a number rep- + resenting hours. + + o an optional comment beginning with semicolon. This is ignored. + + In more detail, timedot amounts can be: + + o dots: zero or more period characters, each representing one quarter- + hour. Spaces are ignored and can be used for grouping. Eg: .... .. + + o a number, representing hours. Eg: 1.5 + + o a number immediately followed by a unit symbol s, m, h, d, w, mo, or + y, representing seconds, minutes, hours, days weeks, months or years. + Eg 1.5h or 90m. The following equivalencies are assumed: + 60s = 1m, 60m = 1h, 24h = 1d, 7d = 1w, 30d = 1mo, 365d = 1y. (This + unit will not be visible in the generated transaction amount, which is + always in hours.) + + There is some added flexibility to help with keeping time log data in + the same file as your notes, todo lists, etc.: + + o Lines beginning with # or ;, and blank lines, are ignored. + + o Lines not ending with a double-space and amount are parsed as trans- + actions with zero amount. (Most hledger reports hide these by + default; add -E to see them.) + + o One or more stars (*) followed by a space, at the start of a line, is + ignored. So date lines or time transaction lines can also be Org- + mode headlines. + + o All Org-mode headlines before the first date line are ignored. + + More examples: + + # 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 . + + 2016/2/3 + inc:client1 4 + fos:hledger 3 + biz:research 1 + + * Time log + ** 2020-01-01 + *** adm:time . + *** adm:finance . + + * 2020 Work Diary + ** Q1 + *** 2020-02-29 + **** DONE + 0700 yoga + **** UNPLANNED + **** BEGUN + hom:chores + cleaning ... + water plants + outdoor - one full watering can + indoor - light watering + **** TODO + adm:planning: trip + *** LATER + + Reporting: + + $ hledger -f a.timedot print date:2016/2/2 + 2016-02-02 * + (inc:client1) 2.00 + + 2016-02-02 * + (biz:research) 0.25 + + $ 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 + + Using period instead of colon as account name separator: + + 2016/2/4 + fos.hledger.timedot 4 + fos.ledger .. + + $ hledger -f a.timedot --alias /\\./=: bal --tree + 4.50 fos + 4.00 hledger:timedot + 0.50 ledger + -------------------- + 4.50 + + A sample.timedot file. + +COMMON TASKS + Here are some quick examples of how to do some basic tasks with + hledger. For more details, see the reference section below, the + hledger_journal(5) manual, or the more extensive docs at + https://hledger.org. + + Getting help + $ hledger # show available commands + $ hledger --help # show common options + $ hledger CMD --help # show common and command options, and command help + $ hledger help # show available manuals/topics + $ hledger help hledger # show hledger manual as info/man/text (auto-chosen) + $ hledger help journal --man # show the journal manual as a man page + $ hledger help --help # show more detailed help for the help command + + Find more docs, chat, mail list, reddit, issue tracker: + https://hledger.org#help-feedback + + Constructing command lines + hledger has an extensive and powerful command line interface. We + strive to keep it simple and ergonomic, but you may run into one of the + confusing real world details described in OPTIONS, below. If that hap- + pens, here are some tips that may help: + + o command-specific options must go after the command (it's fine to put + all options there) (hledger CMD OPTS ARGS) + + o running add-on executables directly simplifies command line parsing + (hledger-ui OPTS ARGS) + + o enclose "problematic" args in single quotes + + o if needed, also add a backslash to hide regular expression metachar- + acters from the shell + + o to see how a misbehaving command is being parsed, add --debug=2. + + Starting a journal file + hledger looks for your accounting data in a journal file, + $HOME/.hledger.journal by default: + + $ hledger stats + The hledger journal file "/Users/simon/.hledger.journal" was not found. + Please create it first, eg with "hledger add" or a text editor. + Or, specify an existing journal file with -f or LEDGER_FILE. + + You can override this by setting the LEDGER_FILE environment variable. + It'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: + + $ mkdir ~/finance + $ cd ~/finance + $ git init + Initialized empty Git repository in /Users/simon/finance/.git/ + $ touch 2020.journal + $ echo "export LEDGER_FILE=$HOME/finance/2020.journal" >> ~/.bashrc + $ source ~/.bashrc + $ hledger stats + Main file : /Users/simon/finance/2020.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 () + + Setting opening balances + Pick a starting date for which you can look up the balances of some + real-world assets (bank accounts, wallet..) and liabilities (credit + cards..). + + 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. + + Add an opening balances transaction to the journal, declaring the bal- + ances on this date. Here are two ways to do it: + + o The first way: open the journal in any text editor and save an entry + like this: + + 2020-01-01 * opening balances + assets:bank:checking $1000 = $1000 + assets:bank:savings $2000 = $2000 + assets:cash $100 = $100 + liabilities:creditcard $-50 = $-50 + equity:opening/closing balances + + These are start-of-day balances, ie whatever was in the account at + the end of the previous day. + + The * after the date is an optional status flag. Here it means + "cleared & confirmed". + + The currency symbols are optional, but usually a good idea as you'll + be dealing with multiple currencies sooner or later. + + The = amounts are optional balance assertions, providing extra error + checking. + + o The second way: run hledger add and follow the prompts to record a + similar transaction: + + $ hledger add + Adding transactions to journal file /Users/simon/finance/2020.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 [2020-02-07]: 2020-01-01 + 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): . + 2020-01-01 * 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 [2020-01-01]: . + + If you're using version control, this could be a good time to commit + the journal. Eg: + + $ git commit -m 'initial balances' 2020.journal + + Recording transactions + 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. + + Here are some simple transactions, see the hledger_journal(5) manual + and hledger.org for more ideas: + + 2020/1/10 * gift received + assets:cash $20 + income:gifts + + 2020.1.12 * farmers market + expenses:food $13 + assets:cash + + 2020-01-15 paycheck + income:salary + assets:bank:checking $1000 + + Reconciling + Periodically you should reconcile - compare your hledger-reported bal- + ances against external sources of truth, like bank statements or your + bank'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 dis- + crepancies. + + A typical workflow: + + 1. Reconcile cash. Count what's in your wallet. Compare with what + hledger reports (hledger bal cash). 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 + (hledger reg cash). If you can't find the error, add an adjustment + transaction. Eg if you have $105 after the above, and can't explain + the missing $2, it could be: + + 2020-01-16 * adjust cash + assets:cash $-2 = $105 + expenses:misc + + 2. Reconcile checking. Log in to your bank's website. Compare today's + (cleared) balance with hledger's cleared balance (hledger bal check- + ing -C). 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 trans- + action history and running balance from your bank with the one + reported by hledger reg checking -C. This will be easier if you + generally record transaction dates quite similar to your bank's + clearing dates. + + 3. Repeat for other asset/liability accounts. + + Tip: instead of the register command, use hledger-ui to see a live- + updating register while you edit the journal: hledger-ui --watch --reg- + ister checking -C + + After reconciling, it could be a good time to mark the reconciled + transactions' status as "cleared and confirmed", if you want to track + that, by adding the * marker. Eg in the paycheck transaction above, + insert * between 2020-01-15 and paycheck + + If you're using version control, this can be another good time to com- + mit: + + $ git commit -m 'txns' 2020.journal + + Reporting + Here are some basic reports. + + Show all transactions: + + $ hledger print + 2020-01-01 * opening balances + assets:bank:checking $1000 + assets:bank:savings $2000 + assets:cash $100 + liabilities:creditcard $-50 + equity:opening/closing balances $-3050 + + 2020-01-10 * gift received + assets:cash $20 + income:gifts + + 2020-01-12 * farmers market + expenses:food $13 + assets:cash + + 2020-01-15 * paycheck + income:salary + assets:bank:checking $1000 + + 2020-01-16 * adjust cash + assets:cash $-2 = $105 + expenses:misc + + Show account names, and their hierarchy: + + $ hledger accounts --tree + assets + bank + checking + savings + cash + equity + opening/closing balances + expenses + food + misc + income + gifts + salary + liabilities + creditcard + + Show all account totals: + + $ 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 + + Show only asset and liability balances, as a flat list, limited to + depth 2: + + $ hledger bal assets liabilities --flat -2 + $4000 assets:bank + $105 assets:cash + $-50 liabilities:creditcard + -------------------- + $4055 + + Show the same thing without negative numbers, formatted as a simple + balance sheet: + + $ hledger bs --flat -2 + Balance Sheet 2020-01-16 + + || 2020-01-16 + ========================++============ + Assets || + ------------------------++------------ + assets:bank || $4000 + assets:cash || $105 + ------------------------++------------ + || $4105 + ========================++============ + Liabilities || + ------------------------++------------ + liabilities:creditcard || $50 + ------------------------++------------ + || $50 + ========================++============ + Net: || $4055 + + The final total is your "net worth" on the end date. (Or use bse for a + full balance sheet with equity.) + + Show income and expense totals, formatted as an income statement: + + hledger is + Income Statement 2020-01-01-2020-01-16 + + || 2020-01-01-2020-01-16 + ===============++======================= + Revenues || + ---------------++----------------------- + income:gifts || $20 + income:salary || $1000 + ---------------++----------------------- + || $1020 + ===============++======================= + Expenses || + ---------------++----------------------- + expenses:food || $13 + expenses:misc || $2 + ---------------++----------------------- + || $15 + ===============++======================= + Net: || $1005 + + The final total is your net income during this period. + + Show transactions affecting your wallet, with running total: + + $ hledger register cash + 2020-01-01 opening balances assets:cash $100 $100 + 2020-01-10 gift received assets:cash $20 $120 + 2020-01-12 farmers market assets:cash $-13 $107 + 2020-01-16 adjust cash assets:cash $-2 $105 + + Show weekly posting counts as a bar chart: + + $ hledger activity -W + 2019-12-30 ***** + 2020-01-06 **** + 2020-01-13 **** + + Migrating to a new file + At the end of the year, you may want to continue your journal in a new + file, so that old transactions don't slow down or clutter your reports, + and to help ensure the integrity of your accounting history. See the + close command. + + If using version control, don't forget to git add the new file. + +LIMITATIONS + The need to precede add-on command options with -- when invoked from + hledger is awkward. + + When input data contains non-ascii characters, a suitable system locale + must be configured (or there will be an unhelpful error). Eg on POSIX, + set LANG to something other than C. + + In a Microsoft Windows CMD window, non-ascii characters and colours are + not supported. + + On Windows, non-ascii characters may not display correctly when running + a hledger built in CMD in MSYS/CYGWIN, or vice-versa. + + In a Cygwin/MSYS/Mintty window, the tab key is not supported in hledger + add. + + Not all of Ledger's journal file syntax is supported. See file format + differences. + + On large data files, hledger is slower and uses more memory than + Ledger. + +TROUBLESHOOTING + Here are some issues you might encounter when you run hledger (and + remember you can also seek help from the IRC channel, mail list or bug + tracker): + + Successfully installed, but "No command 'hledger' found" + stack and cabal install binaries into a special directory, which should + be added to your PATH environment variable. Eg on unix-like systems, + that is ~/.local/bin and ~/.cabal/bin respectively. + + I set a custom LEDGER_FILE, but hledger is still using the default file + LEDGER_FILE should be a real environment variable, not just a shell + variable. The command env | grep LEDGER_FILE should show it. You may + need to use export. Here's an explanation. + + Getting errors like "Illegal byte sequence" or "Invalid or incomplete + multibyte or wide character" or "commitAndReleaseBuffer: invalid argu- + ment (invalid character)" + Programs compiled with GHC (hledger, haskell build tools, etc.) need to + have a UTF-8-aware locale configured in the environment, otherwise they + will fail with these kinds of errors when they encounter non-ascii + characters. + + To fix it, set the LANG environment variable to some locale which sup- + ports UTF-8. The locale you choose must be installed on your system. + + Here's an example of setting LANG temporarily, on Ubuntu GNU/Linux: + + $ file my.journal + my.journal: UTF-8 Unicode text # the file is UTF8-encoded + $ echo $LANG + C # LANG is set to the default locale, which does not support UTF8 + $ locale -a # which locales are installed ? + C + en_US.utf8 # here's a UTF8-aware one we can use + POSIX + $ LANG=en_US.utf8 hledger -f my.journal print # ensure it is used for this command + + If available, C.UTF-8 will also work. If your preferred locale isn't + listed by locale -a, you might need to install it. Eg on + Ubuntu/Debian: + + $ apt-get install language-pack-fr + $ locale -a + C + en_US.utf8 + fr_BE.utf8 + fr_CA.utf8 + fr_CH.utf8 + fr_FR.utf8 + fr_LU.utf8 + POSIX + $ LANG=fr_FR.utf8 hledger -f my.journal print + + Here's how you could set it permanently, if you use a bash shell: + + $ echo "export LANG=en_US.utf8" >>~/.bash_profile + $ bash --login + + Exact spelling and capitalisation may be important. Note the differ- + ence on MacOS (UTF-8, not utf8). Some platforms (eg ubuntu) allow + variant spellings, but others (eg macos) require it to be exact: + + $ locale -a | grep -iE en_us.*utf + en_US.UTF-8 + $ LANG=en_US.UTF-8 hledger -f my.journal print + + + +REPORTING BUGS + Report bugs at http://bugs.hledger.org (or on the #hledger IRC channel + or hledger mail list) + + +AUTHORS + Simon Michael and contributors + + +COPYRIGHT + Copyright (C) 2007-2020 Simon Michael. + Released under GNU GPL v3 or later. + + +SEE ALSO + hledger(1), hledger-ui(1), hledger-web(1), ledger(1) + + + +hledger-1.24 December 2021 HLEDGER(1) diff --git a/hledger.1 b/hledger.1 --- a/hledger.1 +++ b/hledger.1 @@ -1,6 +1,6 @@ .\"t -.TH "HLEDGER" "1" "September 2021" "hledger-1.23 " "hledger User Manuals" +.TH "HLEDGER" "1" "December 2021" "hledger-1.24 " "hledger User Manuals" @@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ This is the command-line interface (CLI) for the hledger accounting tool. Here we also describe hledger\[aq]s concepts and file formats. -This manual is for hledger 1.23. +This manual is for hledger 1.24. .SH SYNOPSIS .PP \f[C]hledger\f[R] @@ -1882,6 +1882,28 @@ 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[C]cur:\f[R]) or amount (\f[C]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 @@ -1963,6 +1985,19 @@ 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 @@ -1976,7 +2011,7 @@ T}@T{ cost T}@T{ -value at report end or today +value at report or journal end T}@T{ value at posting date T}@T{ @@ -2838,14 +2873,18 @@ custom-formatted line items (single-period reports only) (\f[C]--format\f[R]) .IP \[bu] 2 -commodities shown in a separate column, one per row -(\f[C]--commodity-column\f[R]) +commodities displayed on the same line or multiple lines +(\f[C]--layout\f[R]) .PP This command supports the output destination and output format options, with output formats \f[C]txt\f[R], \f[C]csv\f[R], \f[C]json\f[R], and (multi-period reports only:) \f[C]html\f[R]. In \f[C]txt\f[R] output in a colour-supporting terminal, negative amounts are shown in red. +.PP +The \f[C]--related\f[R]/\f[C]-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[C]balance\f[R] shows a list of all accounts and @@ -3062,28 +3101,73 @@ .IP \[bu] 2 Output as HTML and view with a browser: \f[C]hledger bal -D -o a.html && open a.html\f[R] -.SS Commodity column +.SS Showing declared accounts .PP -With \f[C]--commodity-column\f[R], commodity symbols are displayed in a -separate column, and amounts are displayed as bare numbers. -In this mode, each report row will show amounts for a single commodity, -using extra rows when necessary. -It can be useful for a cleaner display of reports with many commodities: +With \f[C]--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[C]-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 Commodity layout +.PP +With \f[C]--layout\f[R], you can control how amounts with more than one +commodity are displayed: +.IP \[bu] 2 +\f[C]--layout=wide[,WIDTH]\f[R]: on a single line, possibly elided to +the specified width +.IP \[bu] 2 +\f[C]--layout=tall\f[R]: each commodity is displayed on a separate line +.IP \[bu] 2 +\f[C]--layout=bare\f[R]: commodity symbols are displayed in a separate +column, and amounts are displayed as bare numbers .IP .nf \f[C] -$ hledger -f examples/bcexample.hledger bal assets:us:etrade -3 -T -Y +$ 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 + +$ 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.. -$ hledger -f examples/bcexample.hledger bal assets:us:etrade -3 -T -Y --commodity-column +$ 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 + +$ 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 @@ -3100,8 +3184,9 @@ \f[R] .fi .PP -This flag also affects CSV output, which is useful for producing data -that is easier to consume, eg when making charts: +The option \f[C]--layout=bare\f[R] also affects CSV output, which is +useful for producing data that is easier to consume, eg when making +charts: .IP .nf \f[C] @@ -3110,7 +3195,7 @@ \[dq]Assets:US:ETrade\[dq],\[dq]70.00 GLD, 17.00 ITOT, 5120.50 USD, 36.00 VEA, 294.00 VHT\[dq] \[dq]total\[dq],\[dq]70.00 GLD, 17.00 ITOT, 5120.50 USD, 36.00 VEA, 294.00 VHT\[dq] -$ hledger -f examples/bcexample.hledger bal assets:us:etrade -3 -O csv --commodity-column +$ 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] @@ -5448,28 +5533,39 @@ .PD 0 .P .PD -Show some journal statistics. +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[C]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 -Main journal file : /src/hledger/examples/sample.journal -Included journal files : -Transactions span : 2008-01-01 to 2009-01-01 (366 days) -Last transaction : 2008-12-31 (2333 days ago) -Transactions : 5 (0.0 per day) +$ 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 : 5 -Accounts : 8 (depth 3) -Commodities : 1 ($) -Market prices : 12 ($) +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 @@ -6104,7 +6200,7 @@ .fi .SS Decimal marks, digit group marks .PP -A decimal mark can be written as a period or a comma: +A \f[I]decimal mark\f[R] can be written as a period or a comma: .IP .nf \f[C] @@ -6114,7 +6210,7 @@ .fi .PP In the integer part of the quantity (left of the decimal mark), groups -of digits can optionally be separated by a \[dq]digit group mark\[dq] - +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 @@ -6139,11 +6235,14 @@ .PP If you don\[aq]t tell it otherwise, hledger will assume both of the above are decimal marks, parsing both numbers as 1. -To prevent confusion and undetected typos, we recommend adding -\f[C]commodity\f[R] directives at the top of your journal file to -explicitly declare the decimal mark (and optionally a digit group mark) -for each commodity. -Read on for more about this. +.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[C]decimal-mark\f[R] directive is best, otherwise +\f[C]commodity\f[R] directives will also work. +These are described detail below. .SS Commodity .PP Amounts in hledger have both a \[dq]quantity\[dq], which is a signed @@ -6169,19 +6268,20 @@ .PP (If you are writing scripts or working with hledger\[aq]s internals, these are the \f[C]Amount\f[R] and \f[C]MixedAmount\f[R] types.) -.SS Commodity directives +.SS Directives influencing number parsing and display .PP -You can add \f[C]commodity\f[R] directives to the journal, preferably at -the top, to declare your commodities and help with number parsing (see -above) and display (see below). -These are optional, but recommended. -They are described in more detail in JOURNAL FORMAT -> Declaring -commodities. +You can add \f[C]decimal-mark\f[R] and \f[C]commodity\f[R] directives to +the journal, to declare and control these things more explicitly and +precisely. +These are described below, in JOURNAL FORMAT -> Declaring commodities. Here\[aq]s a quick example: .IP .nf \f[C] -# number format and display style for $, EUR, INR and the no-symbol commodity: +# 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 @@ -6586,184 +6686,237 @@ .SS Directives .PP A directive is a line in the journal beginning with a special keyword, -that influences how the journal is processed. -hledger\[aq]s directives are based on a subset of Ledger\[aq]s, but -there are many differences (and also some differences between hledger -versions). +that influences how the journal is processed, how things are displayed, +and so on. +hledger\[aq]s directives are based on (a subset of) Ledger\[aq]s, but +there are many differences, and also some differences between hledger +versions. +Here are some more definitions: +.IP \[bu] 2 +\f[I]subdirective\f[R] - Some directives support subdirectives, written +indented below the parent directive. +.IP \[bu] 2 +\f[I]decimal mark\f[R] - The character to interpret as a decimal mark +(period or comma) when parsing amounts of a commodity. +.IP \[bu] 2 +\f[I]display style\f[R] - How to display amounts of a commodity in +output: symbol side and spacing, digit groups, decimal mark, and number +of decimal places. .PP -Directives\[aq] behaviour and interactions can get a little bit complex, -so here is a table summarising the directives and their effects, with -links to more detailed docs. +Directives are not required when starting out with hledger, but you will +probably add some as your needs grow. +Here is an overview of directives by purpose: .PP .TS tab(@); -lw(7.8n) lw(8.6n) lw(7.0n) lw(27.8n) lw(18.8n). +lw(30.6n) lw(22.0n) lw(17.4n). T{ -directive -T}@T{ -end directive -T}@T{ -subdirectives -T}@T{ purpose T}@T{ -can affect (as of 2018/06) +directives +T}@T{ +command line options with similar effect T} _ T{ -\f[C]account\f[R] +\f[B]READING/GENERATING DATA:\f[R] T}@T{ T}@T{ -any text +T} +T{ +Declare a commodity\[aq]s or file\[aq]s decimal mark to help parse +amounts accurately T}@T{ -document account names, declare account types & display order +\f[C]commodity\f[R], \f[C]D\f[R], \f[C]decimal-mark\f[R] T}@T{ -all entries in all files, before or after T} T{ -\f[C]alias\f[R] +Apply changes to the data while parsing T}@T{ -\f[C]end aliases\f[R] +\f[C]alias\f[R], \f[C]apply account\f[R], \f[C]comment\f[R], +\f[C]D\f[R], \f[C]Y\f[R] T}@T{ +\f[C]--alias\f[R] +T} +T{ +Inline extra data files T}@T{ -rewrite account names +\f[C]include\f[R] T}@T{ -following entries until end of current file or end directive +multiple \f[C]-f/--file\f[R]\[aq]s T} T{ -\f[C]apply account\f[R] +Generate extra transactions or budget goals T}@T{ -\f[C]end apply account\f[R] +\f[C]\[ti]\f[R] T}@T{ +T} +T{ +Generate extra postings T}@T{ -prepend a common parent to account names +\f[C]=\f[R] T}@T{ -following entries until end of current file or end directive T} T{ -\f[C]comment\f[R] +\f[B]CHECKING FOR ERRORS:\f[R] T}@T{ -\f[C]end comment\f[R] T}@T{ +T} +T{ +Define valid entities to allow stricter error checking T}@T{ -ignore part of journal +\f[C]account\f[R], \f[C]commodity\f[R], \f[C]payee\f[R] T}@T{ -following entries until end of current file or end directive T} T{ -\f[C]commodity\f[R] +\f[B]DISPLAYING REPORTS:\f[R] T}@T{ T}@T{ -\f[C]format\f[R] -T}@T{ -declare a commodity and its number notation & display style -T}@T{ -number notation: following entries until end of current file; display -style: amounts of that commodity in reports T} T{ -\f[C]D\f[R] +Declare accounts\[aq] display order and accounting type T}@T{ +\f[C]account\f[R] T}@T{ +T} +T{ +Declare commodity display styles T}@T{ -declare a commodity to be used for commodityless amounts, and its number -notation & display style +\f[C]commodity\f[R], \f[C]D\f[R] T}@T{ -default commodity: following commodityless entries until end of current -file; number notation: following entries in that commodity until end of -current file; display style: amounts of that commodity in reports +\f[C]-c/--commodity-style\f[R] T} +.TE +.PP +And here are all the directives and their precise effects: +.PP +.TS +tab(@); +lw(4.9n) lw(61.1n) lw(4.0n). T{ -\f[C]include\f[R] +directive T}@T{ +effects T}@T{ +ends at file end? +T} +_ +T{ +\f[B]\f[CB]account\f[B]\f[R] T}@T{ -include entries/directives from another file +Declares an account, for checking all entries in all files; and its +display order and type, for reports. +Subdirectives: any text, ignored. T}@T{ -what the included directives affect T} T{ -\f[C]payee\f[R] +\f[B]\f[CB]alias\f[B]\f[R] T}@T{ +Rewrites account names, in following entries until end of current file +or \f[C]end aliases\f[R]. T}@T{ +Y +T} +T{ +\f[B]\f[CB]apply account\f[B]\f[R] T}@T{ -declare a payee name +Prepends a common parent account to all account names, in following +entries until end of current file or \f[C]end apply account\f[R]. T}@T{ -following entries until end of current file +Y T} T{ -\f[C]P\f[R] +\f[B]\f[CB]comment\f[B]\f[R] T}@T{ +Ignores part of the journal file, until end of current file or +\f[C]end comment\f[R]. T}@T{ +Y +T} +T{ +\f[B]\f[CB]commodity\f[B]\f[R] T}@T{ -declare a market price for a commodity +Declares a commodity, for checking all entries in all files; the decimal +mark for parsing amounts of this commodity, for following entries until +end of current file; and its display style, for reports. +Takes precedence over \f[C]D\f[R]. +Subdirectives: \f[C]format\f[R] (alternate syntax). T}@T{ -amounts of that commodity in reports, when -V is used +N, Y T} T{ -\f[C]Y\f[R] +\f[B]\f[CB]D\f[B]\f[R] T}@T{ +Sets a default commodity to use for no-symbol amounts, and its decimal +mark for parsing amounts of this commodity in following entries until +end of current file; and its display style, for reports. T}@T{ +Y +T} +T{ +\f[B]\f[CB]decimal-mark\f[B]\f[R] T}@T{ -declare a year for yearless dates +Declares the decimal mark, for parsing amounts of all commodities in +following entries until next \f[C]decimal-mark\f[R] or end of current +file. +Included files can override. +Takes precedence over \f[C]commodity\f[R] and \f[C]D\f[R]. T}@T{ -following entries until end of current file +Y T} T{ -\f[C]=\f[R] +\f[B]\f[CB]include\f[B]\f[R] T}@T{ +Includes entries and directives from another file, as if they were +written inline. T}@T{ +T} +T{ +\f[B]\f[CB]payee\f[B]\f[R] T}@T{ -declare an auto posting rule, adding postings to other transactions +Declares a payee name, for checking all entries in all files. T}@T{ -all entries in parent/current/child files (but not sibling files, see -#1212) T} -.TE -.PP -And some definitions: -.PP -.TS -tab(@); -lw(6.0n) lw(64.0n). T{ -subdirective +\f[B]\f[CB]P\f[B]\f[R] T}@T{ -optional indented directive line immediately following a parent -directive +Declares a market price for a commodity on some date, for valuation +reports. +T}@T{ T} T{ -number notation +\f[B]\f[CB]Y\f[B]\f[R] T}@T{ -how to interpret numbers when parsing journal entries (the identity of -the decimal separator character). -(Currently each commodity can have its own notation, even in the same -file.) +Declares a year for yearless dates, for following entries until end of +current file. +T}@T{ +Y T} T{ -display style +\f[B]\f[CB]\[ti]\f[B]\f[R] (tilde) T}@T{ -how to display amounts of a commodity in reports (symbol side and -spacing, digit groups, decimal separator, decimal places) +Declares a periodic transaction rule that generates future transactions +with \f[C]--forecast\f[R] and budget goals with +\f[C]balance --budget\f[R]. +T}@T{ T} T{ -directive scope +\f[B]\f[CB]=\f[B]\f[R] (equals) T}@T{ -which entries and (when there are multiple files) which files are -affected by a directive +Declares an auto posting rule that generates extra postings on matched +transactions with \f[C]--auto\f[R], in current, parent, and child files +(but not sibling files, see #1212). +T}@T{ +partly T} .TE -.PP -As you can see, directives vary in which journal entries and files they -affect, and whether they are focussed on input (parsing) or output -(reports). -Some directives have multiple effects. .SS Directives and multiple files .PP If you use multiple \f[C]-f\f[R]/\f[C]--file\f[R] options, or the \f[C]include\f[R] directive, hledger will process multiple input files. -But note that directives which affect input (see above) typically last -only until the end of the file in which they occur. +But directives which affect input typically have effect only until the +end of the file in which they occur (and on any included files in that +region). .PP This may seem inconvenient, but it\[aq]s intentional; it makes reports stable and deterministic, independent of the order of input. @@ -6849,6 +7002,30 @@ payee Whole Foods \f[R] .fi +.SS Declaring the decimal mark +.PP +You can use a \f[C]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 Declaring commodities .PP You can use \f[C]commodity\f[R] directives to declare your commodities. @@ -6953,12 +7130,9 @@ \f[C]commodity\f[R] directive (setting the commodity\[aq]s decimal mark for parsing and display style for output). .PP +The syntax is \f[C]D AMOUNT\f[R]. As with \f[C]commodity\f[R], the amount must include a decimal mark (either period or comma). -If both \f[C]commodity\f[R] and \f[C]D\f[R] directives are used for the -same commodity, the \f[C]commodity\f[R] style takes precedence. -.PP -The syntax is \f[C]D AMOUNT\f[R]. Eg: .IP .nf @@ -6972,6 +7146,15 @@ b \f[R] .fi +.PP +If both \f[C]commodity\f[R] and \f[C]D\f[R] directives are found for a +commodity, \f[C]commodity\f[R] takes precedence for setting decimal mark +and display style. +.PP +If you are using \f[C]D\f[R] and also checking commodities, you will +need to add a \f[C]commodity\f[R] directive similar to the \f[C]D\f[R]. +(The \f[C]hledger check commodities\f[R] command expects +\f[C]commodity\f[R] directives, and ignores \f[C]D\f[R]). .SS Declaring market prices .PP The \f[C]P\f[R] directive declares a market price, which is an exchange @@ -7113,67 +7296,64 @@ .fi .SS Account types .PP -hledger recognises five main types of account, corresponding to the -account classes in the accounting equation: -.PP -\f[C]Asset\f[R], \f[C]Liability\f[R], \f[C]Equity\f[R], -\f[C]Revenue\f[R], \f[C]Expense\f[R]. -.PP -These account types are important for controlling which accounts appear -in the balancesheet, balancesheetequity, incomestatement reports (and -probably for other things in future). +By adding a \f[C]type\f[R] tag to the account directive, with value +\f[C]A\f[R], \f[C]L\f[R], \f[C]E\f[R], \f[C]R\f[R], \f[C]X\f[R], +\f[C]C\f[R] (or if you prefer: \f[C]Asset\f[R], \f[C]Liability\f[R], +\f[C]Equity\f[R], \f[C]Revenue\f[R], \f[C]Expense\f[R], \f[C]Cash\f[R]), +you can declare hledger accounts to be of a certain type: +.IP \[bu] 2 +\f[B]asset\f[R], \f[B]liability\f[R], \f[B]equity\f[R], +\f[B]revenue\f[R], \f[B]expense\f[R] +.PD 0 +.P +.PD +the standard types in accounting, or +.IP \[bu] 2 +\f[B]cash\f[R] +.PD 0 +.P +.PD +a subtype of asset, used for liquid assets. .PP -Additionally, we recognise the \f[C]Cash\f[R] type, which is also an -\f[C]Asset\f[R], and which causes accounts to appear in the cashflow -report. -(\[dq]Cash\[dq] here means liquid assets, eg bank balances but typically -not investments or receivables.) -.SS Declaring account types +Declaring account types is a good idea, since it helps enable the easy +balancesheet, balancesheetequity, incomestatement and cashflow reports, +and probably other things in future. +As a convenience, when account types are not declared, hledger will try +to guess them based on english-language account names. .PP -To make the balancesheet/balancesheetequity/cashflow/incomestatement -reports work, generally you should declare your top-level accounts, and -their types. -For each top-level account, write an account directive, with a -\f[C]type:\f[R] tag. -The tag\[aq]s value can be any of \f[C]Asset\f[R], \f[C]Liability\f[R], -\f[C]Equity\f[R], \f[C]Revenue\f[R], \f[C]Expense\f[R], \f[C]Cash\f[R], -or (for short) \f[C]A\f[R], \f[C]L\f[R], \f[C]E\f[R], \f[C]R\f[R], -\f[C]X\f[R], \f[C]C\f[R] (case insensitive). -An account\[aq]s type is inherited by its subaccounts, unless they -declare a different type. -Here\[aq]s an example, declaring all six account types: +Here is a typical set of top-level account declarations (because of the +aforementioned, with these account names the type tags are not strictly +needed, but with non-english or non-standard account names, they will +be): .IP .nf \f[C] -account assets ; type: Asset -account assets:bank ; type: Cash -account assets:cash ; type: Cash -account liabilities ; type: Liability -account equity ; type: Equity -account revenues ; type: Revenue -account expenses ; type: Expense +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 \f[R] .fi .PP -There is also an older syntax, which is deprecated and will be dropped -soon (A, L, E, R or X separated from the account name by two or more -spaces): -.IP -.nf -\f[C] -account assets A -account liabilities L -account equity E -account revenues R -account expenses X -\f[R] -.fi +It\[aq]s not necessary to declare the type of subaccounts. +(You can, if they are different from the parent, but this is not +common.) .SS Auto-detected account types .PP -hledger tries to find at least one top level account in each of the six -account types (Asset, Liability, Equity, Revenue, Expense, Cash). -When no accounts have been declared for a particular type, hledger tries -to auto-detect some accounts by name, using regular expressions: +More about \[dq]guessing\[dq] account types: hledger tries to find at +least one top level account in each of the six account types (Asset, +Liability, Equity, Revenue, Expense, Cash). +When no accounts have been declared for a particular type, it tries to +auto-detect some accounts by name, using the regular expressions below. +Note: if you declare any account\[aq]s type, it\[aq]s a good idea to +declare an account for all six types, because a mix of declared and +auto-detected types can cause confusing results. +.PP +The auto-detection rules are: .IP .nf \f[C] @@ -7188,40 +7368,6 @@ \[ha]expenses?(:|$) | Expense \f[R] .fi -.PP -For people using standard english account names, this feature helps -hledger\[aq]s high-level reports work out of the box with minimal -configuration. -.PP -If you use non-english account names, you should declare account types -to make these reports work. -And more generally, declaring accounts and types is usually a good idea, -for increased clarity and predictability (and for the other benefits of -account directives: error checking, display order, etc). -.PP -Notes: -.IP \[bu] 2 -When any account is declared as some type, this disables auto-detection -for that particular type. -.IP \[bu] 2 -If you declare any account\[aq]s type, it\[aq]s a good idea to declare -an account for all six types, since a mix of declared and auto-detected -types can cause confusion. -For example, here liabilities is declared to be Equity, but would also -be auto-detected as Liability, since no Liability account is declared: -.RS 2 -.IP -.nf -\f[C] -account liabilities ; type:Equity - -2020-01-01 - assets 1 - liabilities 1 - equity -2 -\f[R] -.fi -.RE .SS Account display order .PP Account directives also set the order in which accounts are displayed, @@ -7433,8 +7579,8 @@ .fi .SS \f[C]end aliases\f[R] .PP -You can clear (forget) all currently defined aliases with the -\f[C]end aliases\f[R] directive: +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] @@ -7787,6 +7933,10 @@ 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: diff --git a/hledger.cabal b/hledger.cabal --- a/hledger.cabal +++ b/hledger.cabal @@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ -- see: https://github.com/sol/hpack name: hledger -version: 1.23 +version: 1.24 synopsis: Command-line interface for the hledger accounting system description: The command-line interface for the hledger accounting system. Its basic function is to read a plain text file describing @@ -136,14 +136,13 @@ other-modules: Paths_hledger ghc-options: -Wall -fno-warn-unused-do-bind -fno-warn-name-shadowing -fno-warn-missing-signatures -fno-warn-type-defaults -fno-warn-orphans -optP-Wno-nonportable-include-path - cpp-options: -DVERSION="1.23" + cpp-options: -DVERSION="1.24" build-depends: Decimal >=0.5.1 , Diff , aeson >=1 , ansi-terminal >=0.9 , base >=4.11 && <4.16 - , base-compat-batteries >=0.10.1 && <0.12 , bytestring , cmdargs >=0.10 , containers >=0.5.9 @@ -154,10 +153,10 @@ , githash >=0.1.4 , hashable >=1.2.4 , haskeline >=0.6 - , hledger-lib ==1.23.* + , hledger-lib ==1.24.* , lucid , math-functions >=0.3.3.0 - , megaparsec >=7.0.0 && <9.2 + , megaparsec >=7.0.0 && <9.3 , microlens >=0.4 , mtl >=2.2.1 , process @@ -188,13 +187,12 @@ hs-source-dirs: app ghc-options: -Wall -fno-warn-unused-do-bind -fno-warn-name-shadowing -fno-warn-missing-signatures -fno-warn-type-defaults -fno-warn-orphans -optP-Wno-nonportable-include-path - cpp-options: -DVERSION="1.23" + cpp-options: -DVERSION="1.24" build-depends: Decimal >=0.5.1 , aeson >=1 , ansi-terminal >=0.9 , base >=4.11 && <4.16 - , base-compat-batteries >=0.10.1 && <0.12 , bytestring , cmdargs >=0.10 , containers >=0.5.9 @@ -205,9 +203,9 @@ , githash >=0.1.4 , haskeline >=0.6 , hledger - , hledger-lib ==1.23.* + , hledger-lib ==1.24.* , math-functions >=0.3.3.0 - , megaparsec >=7.0.0 && <9.2 + , megaparsec >=7.0.0 && <9.3 , microlens >=0.4 , mtl >=2.2.1 , process @@ -239,13 +237,12 @@ hs-source-dirs: test ghc-options: -Wall -fno-warn-unused-do-bind -fno-warn-name-shadowing -fno-warn-missing-signatures -fno-warn-type-defaults -fno-warn-orphans -optP-Wno-nonportable-include-path - cpp-options: -DVERSION="1.23" + cpp-options: -DVERSION="1.24" build-depends: Decimal >=0.5.1 , aeson >=1 , ansi-terminal >=0.9 , base >=4.11 && <4.16 - , base-compat-batteries >=0.10.1 && <0.12 , bytestring , cmdargs >=0.10 , containers >=0.5.9 @@ -256,9 +253,9 @@ , githash >=0.1.4 , haskeline >=0.6 , hledger - , hledger-lib ==1.23.* + , hledger-lib ==1.24.* , math-functions >=0.3.3.0 - , megaparsec >=7.0.0 && <9.2 + , megaparsec >=7.0.0 && <9.3 , microlens >=0.4 , mtl >=2.2.1 , process @@ -293,7 +290,6 @@ , aeson >=1 , ansi-terminal >=0.9 , base >=4.11 && <4.16 - , base-compat-batteries >=0.10.1 && <0.12 , bytestring , cmdargs >=0.10 , containers >=0.5.9 @@ -305,10 +301,10 @@ , githash >=0.1.4 , haskeline >=0.6 , hledger - , hledger-lib ==1.23.* + , hledger-lib ==1.24.* , html , math-functions >=0.3.3.0 - , megaparsec >=7.0.0 && <9.2 + , megaparsec >=7.0.0 && <9.3 , microlens >=0.4 , mtl >=2.2.1 , process diff --git a/hledger.info b/hledger.info --- a/hledger.info +++ b/hledger.info @@ -1,9424 +1,10055 @@ -This is hledger.info, produced by makeinfo version 6.8 from stdin. - -INFO-DIR-SECTION User Applications -START-INFO-DIR-ENTRY -* hledger: (hledger). Command-line plain text accounting tool. -END-INFO-DIR-ENTRY - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Top, Next: OPTIONS, Up: (dir) - -hledger(1) -********** - -This is the command-line interface (CLI) for the hledger accounting -tool. Here we also describe hledger's concepts and file formats. This -manual is for hledger 1.23. - - 'hledger' - - 'hledger [-f FILE] COMMAND [OPTIONS] [ARGS]' - - 'hledger [-f FILE] ADDONCMD -- [OPTIONS] [ARGS]' - - hledger is a reliable, 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). - - The basic function of the hledger CLI is to read a plain text file -describing financial transactions (in accounting terms, a general -journal) and print useful reports on standard output, or export them as -CSV. hledger can also read some other file formats such as CSV files, -translating them to journal format. Additionally, hledger lists other -hledger-* executables found in the user's $PATH and can invoke them as -subcommands. - - hledger reads data from one or more files in hledger journal, -timeclock, timedot, or CSV format specified with '-f', or -'$LEDGER_FILE', or '$HOME/.hledger.journal' (on windows, perhaps -'C:/Users/USER/.hledger.journal'). If using '$LEDGER_FILE', note this -must be a real environment variable, not a shell variable. You can -specify standard input with '-f-'. - - Transactions are dated movements of money between two (or more) named -accounts, and are recorded with journal entries like this: - -2015/10/16 bought food - expenses:food $10 - assets:cash - - Most users use a text editor to edit the journal, usually with an -editor mode such as ledger-mode for added convenience. hledger's -interactive add command is another way to record new transactions. -hledger never changes existing transactions. - - To get started, you can either save some entries like the above in -'~/.hledger.journal', or run 'hledger add' and follow the prompts. Then -try some commands like 'hledger print' or 'hledger balance'. Run -'hledger' with no arguments for a list of commands. - -* Menu: - -* OPTIONS:: -* ENVIRONMENT:: -* DATA FILES:: -* TIME PERIODS:: -* DEPTH:: -* QUERIES:: -* COSTING:: -* VALUATION:: -* PIVOTING:: -* OUTPUT:: -* COMMANDS:: -* JOURNAL FORMAT:: -* CSV FORMAT:: -* TIMECLOCK FORMAT:: -* TIMEDOT FORMAT:: -* COMMON TASKS:: -* LIMITATIONS:: -* TROUBLESHOOTING:: - - -File: hledger.info, Node: OPTIONS, Next: ENVIRONMENT, Prev: Top, Up: Top - -1 OPTIONS -********* - -* Menu: - -* General options:: -* Command options:: -* Command arguments:: -* Special characters:: -* Unicode characters:: -* Regular expressions:: - - -File: hledger.info, Node: General options, Next: Command options, Up: OPTIONS - -1.1 General options -=================== - -To see general usage help, including general options which are supported -by most hledger commands, run 'hledger -h'. - - General help options: - -'-h --help' - - show general or COMMAND help -'--man' - - show general or COMMAND user manual with man -'--info' - - show general or COMMAND user manual with info -'--version' - - show general or ADDONCMD version -'--debug[=N]' - - show debug output (levels 1-9, default: 1) - - General input options: - -'-f FILE --file=FILE' - - use a different input file. For stdin, use - (default: - '$LEDGER_FILE' or '$HOME/.hledger.journal') -'--rules-file=RULESFILE' - - Conversion rules file to use when reading CSV (default: FILE.rules) -'--separator=CHAR' - - Field separator to expect when reading CSV (default: ',') -'--alias=OLD=NEW' - - rename accounts named OLD to NEW -'--anon' - - anonymize accounts and payees -'--pivot FIELDNAME' - - use some other field or tag for the account name -'-I --ignore-assertions' - - disable balance assertion checks (note: does not disable balance - assignments) -'-s --strict' - - do extra error checking (check that all posted accounts are - declared) - - General reporting options: - -'-b --begin=DATE' - - include postings/txns on or after this date (will be adjusted to - preceding subperiod start when using a report interval) -'-e --end=DATE' - - include postings/txns before this date (will be adjusted to - following subperiod end when using a report interval) -'-D --daily' - - multiperiod/multicolumn report by day -'-W --weekly' - - multiperiod/multicolumn report by week -'-M --monthly' - - multiperiod/multicolumn report by month -'-Q --quarterly' - - multiperiod/multicolumn report by quarter -'-Y --yearly' - - multiperiod/multicolumn report by year -'-p --period=PERIODEXP' - - set start date, end date, and/or reporting interval all at once - using period expressions syntax -'--date2' - - match the secondary date instead (see command help for other - effects) -'--today=DATE' - - override today's date (affects relative smart dates, for - tests/examples) -'-U --unmarked' - - include only unmarked postings/txns (can combine with -P or -C) -'-P --pending' - - include only pending postings/txns -'-C --cleared' - - include only cleared postings/txns -'-R --real' - - include only non-virtual postings -'-NUM --depth=NUM' - - hide/aggregate accounts or postings more than NUM levels deep -'-E --empty' - - show items with zero amount, normally hidden (and vice-versa in - hledger-ui/hledger-web) -'-B --cost' - - convert amounts to their cost/selling amount at transaction time -'-V --market' - - convert amounts to their market value in default valuation - commodities -'-X --exchange=COMM' - - convert amounts to their market value in commodity COMM -'--value' - - convert amounts to cost or market value, more flexibly than - -B/-V/-X -'--infer-market-prices' - - use transaction prices (recorded with @ or @@) as additional market - prices, as if they were P directives -'--auto' - - apply automated posting rules to modify transactions. -'--forecast' - - generate future transactions from periodic transaction rules, for - the next 6 months or till report end date. In hledger-ui, also - make ordinary future transactions visible. -'--commodity-style' - - Override the commodity style in the output for the specified - commodity. For example 'EUR1.000,00'. -'--color=WHEN (or --colour=WHEN)' - - Should color-supporting commands use ANSI color codes in text - output. 'auto' (default): whenever stdout seems to be a - color-supporting terminal. 'always' or 'yes': always, useful eg - when piping output into 'less -R'. 'never' or 'no': never. A - NO_COLOR environment variable overrides this. -'--pretty[=WHEN]' - - Show prettier output, e.g. using unicode box-drawing characters. - Accepts 'yes' (the default) or 'no' ('y', 'n', 'always', 'never' - also work). If you provide an argument you must use '=', e.g. - '-pretty=yes'. - - When a reporting option appears more than once in the command line, -the last one takes precedence. - - Some reporting options can also be written as query arguments. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Command options, Next: Command arguments, Prev: General options, Up: OPTIONS - -1.2 Command options -=================== - -To see options for a particular command, including command-specific -options, run: 'hledger COMMAND -h'. - - Command-specific options must be written after the command name, eg: -'hledger print -x'. - - Additionally, if the command is an add-on, you may need to put its -options after a double-hyphen, eg: 'hledger ui -- --watch'. Or, you can -run the add-on executable directly: 'hledger-ui --watch'. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Command arguments, Next: Special characters, Prev: Command options, Up: OPTIONS - -1.3 Command arguments -===================== - -Most hledger commands accept arguments after the command name, which are -often a query, filtering the data in some way. - - You can save a set of command line options/arguments in a file, and -then reuse them by writing '@FILENAME' as a command line argument. Eg: -'hledger bal @foo.args'. (To prevent this, eg if you have an argument -that begins with a literal '@', precede it with '--', eg: 'hledger bal --- @ARG'). - - Inside the argument file, each line should contain just one option or -argument. Avoid the use of spaces, except inside quotes (or you'll see -a confusing error). Between a flag and its argument, use = (or -nothing). Bad: - -assets depth:2 --X USD - - Good: - -assets -depth:2 --X=USD - - For special characters (see below), use one less level of quoting -than you would at the command prompt. Bad: - --X"$" - - Good: - --X$ - - See also: Save frequently used options. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Special characters, Next: Unicode characters, Prev: Command arguments, Up: OPTIONS - -1.4 Special characters -====================== - -* Menu: - -* Single escaping shell metacharacters:: -* Double escaping regular expression metacharacters:: -* Triple escaping for add-on commands:: -* Less escaping:: - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Single escaping shell metacharacters, Next: Double escaping regular expression metacharacters, Up: Special characters - -1.4.1 Single escaping (shell metacharacters) --------------------------------------------- - -In shell command lines, characters significant to your shell - such as -spaces, '<', '>', '(', ')', '|', '$' and '\' - should be "shell-escaped" -if you want hledger to see them. This is done by enclosing them in -single or double quotes, or by writing a backslash before them. Eg to -match an account name containing a space: - -$ hledger register 'credit card' - - or: - -$ hledger register credit\ card - - Windows users should keep in mind that 'cmd' treats single quote as a -regular character, so you should be using double quotes exclusively. -PowerShell treats both single and double quotes as quotes. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Double escaping regular expression metacharacters, Next: Triple escaping for add-on commands, Prev: Single escaping shell metacharacters, Up: Special characters - -1.4.2 Double escaping (regular expression metacharacters) ---------------------------------------------------------- - -Characters significant in regular expressions (described below) - such -as '.', '^', '$', '[', ']', '(', ')', '|', and '\' - may need to be -"regex-escaped" if you don't want them to be interpreted by hledger's -regular expression engine. This is done by writing backslashes before -them, but since backslash is typically also a shell metacharacter, both -shell-escaping and regex-escaping will be needed. Eg to match a literal -'$' sign while using the bash shell: - -$ hledger balance cur:'\$' - - or: - -$ hledger balance cur:\\$ - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Triple escaping for add-on commands, Next: Less escaping, Prev: Double escaping regular expression metacharacters, Up: Special characters - -1.4.3 Triple escaping (for add-on commands) -------------------------------------------- - -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 '$' sign while using the -bash shell and running an add-on command ('ui'): - -$ hledger ui cur:'\\$' - - or: - -$ hledger ui cur:\\\\$ - - If you wondered why _four_ backslashes, perhaps this helps: - -unescaped: '$' -escaped: '\$' -double-escaped: '\\$' -triple-escaped: '\\\\$' - - Or, you can avoid the extra escaping by running the add-on executable -directly: - -$ hledger-ui cur:\\$ - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Less escaping, Prev: Triple escaping for add-on commands, Up: Special characters - -1.4.4 Less escaping -------------------- - -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: - - * an @argumentfile - * hledger-ui's filter field - * hledger-web's search form - * GHCI's prompt (used by developers). - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Unicode characters, Next: Regular expressions, Prev: Special characters, Up: OPTIONS - -1.5 Unicode characters -====================== - -hledger is expected to handle non-ascii characters correctly: - - * they should be parsed correctly in input files and on the command - line, by all hledger tools (add, iadd, hledger-web's - search/add/edit forms, etc.) - - * they should be displayed correctly by all hledger tools, and - on-screen alignment should be preserved. - - This requires a well-configured environment. Here are some tips: - - * 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: 'export LANG=en_US.UTF-8'. 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). - - * your terminal software (eg Terminal.app, iTerm, CMD.exe, xterm..) - must support unicode - - * the terminal must be using a font which includes the required - unicode glyphs - - * the terminal should be configured to display wide characters as - double width (for report alignment) - - * 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). - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Regular expressions, Prev: Unicode characters, Up: OPTIONS - -1.6 Regular expressions -======================= - -hledger uses regular expressions in a number of places: - - * query terms, on the command line and in the hledger-web search - form: 'REGEX', 'desc:REGEX', 'cur:REGEX', 'tag:...=REGEX' - * CSV rules conditional blocks: 'if REGEX ...' - * account alias directives and options: 'alias /REGEX/ = - REPLACEMENT', '--alias /REGEX/=REPLACEMENT' - - hledger's regular expressions come from the regex-tdfa library. If -they're not doing what you expect, it's important to know exactly what -they support: - - 1. they are case insensitive - 2. they are infix matching (they do not need to match the entire thing - being matched) - 3. they are POSIX ERE (extended regular expressions) - 4. they also support GNU word boundaries ('\b', '\B', '\<', '\>') - 5. they do not support backreferences; if you write '\1', it will - match the digit '1'. 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. - 6. they do not support mode modifiers ('(?s)'), character classes - ('\w', '\d'), or anything else not mentioned above. - - Some things to note: - - * In the 'alias' directive and '--alias' option, regular expressions - must be enclosed in forward slashes ('/REGEX/'). Elsewhere in - hledger, these are not required. - - * In queries, to match a regular expression metacharacter like '$' as - a literal character, prepend a backslash. Eg to search for amounts - with the dollar sign in hledger-web, write 'cur:\$'. - - * On the command line, some metacharacters like '$' have a special - meaning to the shell and so must be escaped at least once more. - See Special characters. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: ENVIRONMENT, Next: DATA FILES, Prev: OPTIONS, Up: Top - -2 ENVIRONMENT -************* - -*LEDGER_FILE* The journal file path when not specified with '-f'. -Default: '~/.hledger.journal' (on windows, perhaps -'C:/Users/USER/.hledger.journal'). - - A typical value is '~/DIR/YYYY.journal', where DIR is a -version-controlled finance directory and YYYY is the current year. Or -'~/DIR/current.journal', where current.journal is a symbolic link to -YYYY.journal. - - On Mac computers, you can set this and other environment variables in -a more thorough way that also affects applications started from the GUI -(say, an Emacs dock icon). Eg on MacOS Catalina I have a -'~/.MacOSX/environment.plist' file containing - -{ - "LEDGER_FILE" : "~/finance/current.journal" -} - - To see the effect you may need to 'killall Dock', or reboot. - - *COLUMNS* The screen width used by the register command. Default: -the full terminal width. - - *NO_COLOR* If this variable exists with any value, hledger will not -use ANSI color codes in terminal output. This is overriden by the --color/-colour option. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: DATA FILES, Next: TIME PERIODS, Prev: ENVIRONMENT, Up: Top - -3 DATA FILES -************ - -hledger reads transactions from one or more data files. The default -data file is '$HOME/.hledger.journal' (or on Windows, something like -'C:/Users/USER/.hledger.journal'). - - You can override this with the '$LEDGER_FILE' environment variable: - -$ setenv LEDGER_FILE ~/finance/2016.journal -$ hledger stats - - or with one or more '-f/--file' options: - -$ hledger -f /some/file -f another_file stats - - The file name '-' means standard input: - -$ cat some.journal | hledger -f- - -* Menu: - -* Data formats:: -* Multiple files:: -* Strict mode:: - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Data formats, Next: Multiple files, Up: DATA FILES - -3.1 Data formats -================ - -Usually the data file is in hledger's journal format, but it can be in -any of the supported file formats, which currently are: - -Reader: Reads: Used for file - extensions: --------------------------------------------------------------------------- -'journal'hledger journal files and some Ledger '.journal' '.j' - journals, for transactions '.hledger' '.ledger' -'timeclock'timeclock files, for precise time '.timeclock' - logging -'timedot'timedot files, for approximate time '.timedot' - logging -'csv' comma/semicolon/tab/other-separated '.csv' '.ssv' '.tsv' - values, for data import - - These formats are described in their own sections, below. - - hledger detects the format automatically based on the file extensions -shown above. If it can't recognise the file extension, it assumes -'journal' format. So for non-journal files, it's important to use a -recognised file extension, so as to either read successfully or to show -relevant error messages. - - 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: - -$ hledger -f csv:/some/csv-file.dat stats - - Or to read stdin ('-') as timeclock format: - -$ echo 'i 2009/13/1 08:00:00' | hledger print -ftimeclock:- - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Multiple files, Next: Strict mode, Prev: Data formats, Up: DATA FILES - -3.2 Multiple files -================== - -You can specify multiple '-f' options, to read multiple files as one big -journal. There are some limitations with this: - - * most directives do not affect sibling files - * balance assertions will not see any account balances from previous - files - - If you need either of those things, you can - - * use a single parent file which includes the others - * or concatenate the files into one before reading, eg: 'cat - a.journal b.journal | hledger -f- CMD'. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Strict mode, Prev: Multiple files, Up: DATA FILES - -3.3 Strict mode -=============== - -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: - - * Are the input files parseable, with valid syntax ? - * Are all transactions balanced ? - * Do all balance assertions pass ? - - With the '-s'/'--strict' flag, additional checks are performed: - - * Are all accounts posted to, declared with an 'account' directive ? - (Account error checking) - * Are all commodities declared with a 'commodity' directive ? - (Commodity error checking) - * Are all commodity conversions declared explicitly ? - - You can also use the check command to run these and some additional -checks. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: TIME PERIODS, Next: DEPTH, Prev: DATA FILES, Up: Top - -4 TIME PERIODS -************** - -* Menu: - -* Smart dates:: -* Report start & end date:: -* Report intervals:: -* Period expressions:: - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Smart dates, Next: Report start & end date, Up: TIME PERIODS - -4.1 Smart dates -=============== - -hledger's user interfaces accept a flexible "smart date" syntax. Smart -dates allow some english words, can be relative to today's date, and can -have less-significant date parts omitted (defaulting to 1). - - Examples: - -'2004/10/1', exact date, several separators allowed. Year -'2004-01-01', is 4+ digits, month is 1-12, day is 1-31 -'2004.9.1' -'2004' start of year -'2004/10' start of month -'10/1' month and day in current year -'21' day in current month -'october, oct' start of month in current year -'yesterday, today, -1, 0, 1 days from today -tomorrow' -'last/this/next -1, 0, 1 periods from the current period -day/week/month/quarter/year' -'20181201' 8 digit YYYYMMDD with valid year month and - day -'201812' 6 digit YYYYMM with valid year and month - - Counterexamples - malformed digit sequences might give surprising -results: - -'201813' 6 digits with an invalid month is parsed as start of - 6-digit year -'20181301' 8 digits with an invalid month is parsed as start of - 8-digit year -'20181232' 8 digits with an invalid day gives an error -'201801012' 9+ digits beginning with a valid YYYYMMDD gives an error - - Note "today's date" can be overridden with the '--today' option, in -case it's needed for testing or for recreating old reports. (Except for -periodic transaction rules; those are not affected by '--today'.) - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Report start & end date, Next: Report intervals, Prev: Smart dates, Up: TIME PERIODS - -4.2 Report start & end date -=========================== - -By default, most hledger reports will show the full span of time -represented by the journal data. 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. - - 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 '-b/--begin', -'-e/--end', '-p/--period' or a 'date:' query (described below). All of -these accept the smart date syntax. - - Some notes: - - * End dates are exclusive, as in Ledger, so you should write the date - _after_ the last day you want to see in the report. - * As noted in reporting options: among start/end dates specified with - _options_, the last (i.e. right-most) option takes precedence. - * The effective report start and end dates are the intersection of - the start/end dates from options and that from 'date:' queries. - That is, 'date:2019-01 date:2019 -p'2000 to 2030'' yields January - 2019, the smallest common time span. - * A report interval (see below) will adjust start/end dates, when - needed, so that they fall on subperiod boundaries. - - Examples: - -'-b begin on St. Patrick's day 2016 -2016/3/17' -'-e 12/1' end at the start of december 1st of the current year - (11/30 will be the last date included) -'-b all transactions on or after the 1st of the current month -thismonth' -'-p all transactions in the current month -thismonth' -'date:2016/3/17..'the above written as queries instead ('..' can also be - replaced with '-') -'date:..12/1' -'date:thismonth..' -'date:thismonth' - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Report intervals, Next: Period expressions, Prev: Report start & end date, Up: TIME PERIODS - -4.3 Report intervals -==================== - -A report interval can be specified so that commands like register, -balance and activity become multi-period, showing each subperiod as a -separate row or column. - - The following "standard" report intervals can be enabled by using -their corresponding flag: - - * '-D/--daily' - * '-W/--weekly' - * '-M/--monthly' - * '-Q/--quarterly' - * '-Y/--yearly' - - These standard intervals always start on natural interval boundaries: -eg '--weekly' starts on mondays, '--monthly' starts on the first of the -month, '--yearly' always starts on January 1st, etc. - - Certain more complex intervals, and more flexible boundary dates, can -be specified by '-p/--period'. These are described in period -expressions, below. - - Report intervals can only be specified by the flags above, and not by -query arguments, currently. - - Report intervals have another effect: multi-period reports are always -expanded to fill a whole number of subperiods. So if you use a report -interval (other than '--daily'), and you have specified a start or end -date, you may notice those dates being overridden (ie, the report starts -earlier than your requested start date, or ends later than your -requested end date). This is done to ensure "full" first and last -subperiods, so that all subperiods' numbers are comparable. - - To summarise: - - * In multiperiod reports, all subperiods are forced to be the same - length, to simplify reporting. - * Reports with the standard - '--weekly'/'--monthly'/'--quarterly'/'--yearly' intervals are - required to start on the first day of a week/month/quarter/year. - We'd like more flexibility here but it isn't supported yet. - * '--period' (below) can specify more complex intervals, starting on - any date. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Period expressions, Prev: Report intervals, Up: TIME PERIODS - -4.4 Period expressions -====================== - -The '-p/--period' option accepts period expressions, a shorthand way of -expressing a start date, end date, and/or report interval all at once. - - Here's a basic period expression specifying the first quarter of -2009. Note, hledger always treats start dates as inclusive and end -dates as exclusive: - -'-p "from 2009/1/1 to 2009/4/1"' - - Keywords like "from" and "to" are optional, and so are the spaces, as -long as you don't run two dates together. "to" can also be written as -".." or "-". These are equivalent to the above: - -'-p "2009/1/1 2009/4/1"' -'-p2009/1/1to2009/4/1' -'-p2009/1/1..2009/4/1' - - Dates are smart dates, so if the current year is 2009, the above can -also be written as: - -'-p "1/1 4/1"' -'-p "january-apr"' -'-p "this year to 4/1"' - - If you specify only one date, the missing start or end date will be -the earliest or latest transaction in your journal: - -'-p "from 2009/1/1"' everything after january 1, 2009 -'-p "from 2009/1"' the same -'-p "from 2009"' the same -'-p "to 2009"' everything before january 1, 2009 - - A single date with no "from" or "to" defines both the start and end -date like so: - -'-p "2009"' the year 2009; equivalent to “2009/1/1 to 2010/1/1” -'-p "2009/1"' the month of jan; equivalent to “2009/1/1 to 2009/2/1” -'-p "2009/1/1"' just that day; equivalent to “2009/1/1 to 2009/1/2” - - Or you can specify a single quarter like so: - -'-p "2009Q1"' first quarter of 2009, equivalent to “2009/1/1 to 2009/4/1” -'-p "q4"' fourth quarter of the current year - -* Menu: - -* Period expressions with a report interval:: -* More complex report intervals:: -* Intervals with custom start date:: -* Periods or dates ?:: -* Events on multiple weekdays:: - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Period expressions with a report interval, Next: More complex report intervals, Up: Period expressions - -4.4.1 Period expressions with a report interval ------------------------------------------------ - -'-p/--period''s argument can also begin with, or entirely consist of, a -report interval. This should be separated from the start/end dates (if -any) by a space, or the word 'in'. The basic intervals (which can also -be written as command line flags) are 'daily', 'weekly', 'monthly', -'quarterly', and 'yearly'. Some examples: - -'-p "weekly from 2009/1/1 to 2009/4/1"' -'-p "monthly in 2008"' -'-p "quarterly"' - - As mentioned above, the 'weekly', 'monthly', 'quarterly' and 'yearly' -intervals require a report start date that is the first day of a week, -month, quarter or year. And, report start/end dates will be expanded if -needed to span a whole number of intervals. - - For example: - -'-p "weekly from starts on 2008/12/29, closest preceding -2009/1/1 to 2009/4/1"' Monday -'-p "monthly in starts on 2018/11/01 -2008/11/25"' -'-p "quarterly from starts on 2009/04/01, ends on 2009/06/30, -2009-05-05 to which are first and last days of Q2 2009 -2009-06-01"' -'-p "yearly from starts on 2009/01/01, first day of 2009 -2009-12-29"' - - -File: hledger.info, Node: More complex report intervals, Next: Intervals with custom start date, Prev: Period expressions with a report interval, Up: Period expressions - -4.4.2 More complex report intervals ------------------------------------ - -Some more complex kinds of interval are also supported in period -expressions: - - * 'biweekly' - * 'fortnightly' - * 'bimonthly' - * 'every day|week|month|quarter|year' - * 'every N days|weeks|months|quarters|years' - - These too will cause report start/end dates to be expanded, if -needed, to span a whole number of intervals. Examples: - -'-p "bimonthly from periods will have boundaries on 2008/01/01, -2008"' 2008/03/01, ... -'-p "every 2 weeks"' starts on closest preceding Monday -'-p "every 5 month from periods will have boundaries on 2009/03/01, -2009/03"' 2009/08/01, ... - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Intervals with custom start date, Next: Periods or dates ?, Prev: More complex report intervals, Up: Period expressions - -4.4.3 Intervals with custom start date --------------------------------------- - -All intervals mentioned above are required to start on their natural -calendar boundaries, but the following intervals can start on any date: - - Weekly on custom day: - - * 'every Nth day of week' ('th', 'nd', 'rd', or 'st' are all accepted - after the number) - * 'every WEEKDAYNAME' (full or three-letter english weekday name, - case insensitive) - - Monthly on custom day: - - * 'every Nth day [of month]' - * 'every Nth WEEKDAYNAME [of month]' - - Yearly on custom day: - - * 'every MM/DD [of year]' (month number and day of month number) - * 'every MONTHNAME DDth [of year]' (full or three-letter english - month name, case insensitive, and day of month number) - * 'every DDth MONTHNAME [of year]' (equivalent to the above) - - Examples: - -'-p "every 2nd day of periods will go from Tue to Tue -week"' -'-p "every Tue"' same -'-p "every 15th day"' period boundaries will be on 15th of each - month -'-p "every 2nd period boundaries will be on second Monday of -Monday"' each month -'-p "every 11/05"' yearly periods with boundaries on 5th of - November -'-p "every 5th same -November"' -'-p "every Nov 5th"' same - - Show historical balances at end of the 15th day of each month (N is -an end date, exclusive as always): - -$ hledger balance -H -p "every 16th day" - - Group postings from the start of wednesday to end of the following -tuesday (N is both (inclusive) start date and (exclusive) end date): - -$ hledger register checking -p "every 3rd day of week" - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Periods or dates ?, Next: Events on multiple weekdays, Prev: Intervals with custom start date, Up: Period expressions - -4.4.4 Periods or dates ? ------------------------- - -Report intervals like the above are most often used with '-p|--period', -to divide reports into multiple subperiods - each generated date marks a -subperiod boundary. Here, the periods between the dates are what's -important. - - But report intervals can also be used with '--forecast' to generate -future transactions, or with 'balance --budget' to generate budget -goal-setting transactions. For these, the dates themselves are what -matters. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Events on multiple weekdays, Prev: Periods or dates ?, Up: Period expressions - -4.4.5 Events on multiple weekdays ---------------------------------- - -The 'every WEEKDAYNAME' form has a special variant with multiple day -names, comma-separated. Eg: 'every mon,thu,sat'. Also, 'weekday' and -'weekendday' are shorthand for 'mon,tue,wed,thu,fri' and 'sat,sun' -respectively. - - This form is mainly intended for use with '--forecast', to generate -periodic transactions on arbitrary days of the week. It may be less -useful with '-p', since it divides each week into subperiods of unequal -length. (Because gaps between periods are not allowed; if you'd like to -change this, see #1632.) - - Examples: - -'-p "every dates will be Mon, Wed, Fri; periods will be -mon,wed,fri"' Mon-Tue, Wed-Thu, Fri-Sun -'-p "every dates will be Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri; periods will -weekday"' be Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri-Sun -'-p "every dates will be Sat, Sun; periods will be Sat, Sun-Fri -weekendday"' - - -File: hledger.info, Node: DEPTH, Next: QUERIES, Prev: TIME PERIODS, Up: Top - -5 DEPTH -******* - -With the '--depth NUM' option (short form: '-NUM'), commands like -account, balance and register will show only the uppermost accounts in -the account tree, down to level NUM. Use this when you want a summary -with less detail. This flag has the same effect as a 'depth:' query -argument: 'depth:2', '--depth=2' or '-2' are equivalent. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: QUERIES, Next: COSTING, Prev: DEPTH, Up: Top - -6 QUERIES -********* - -One of hledger'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: - - * Zero or more space-separated query terms. These are most often - account name substrings: - - 'utilities food:groceries' - - * Terms with spaces or other special characters should be enclosed in - quotes: - - '"personal care"' - - * Regular expressions are also supported: - - '"^expenses\b" "accounts (payable|receivable)"' - - * Add a query type prefix to match other parts of the data: - - 'date:202012- desc:amazon cur:USD amt:">100" status:' - - * Add a 'not:' prefix to negate a term: - - 'not:cur:USD' - -* Menu: - -* Query types:: -* Combining query terms:: -* Queries and command options:: -* Queries and account aliases:: -* Queries and valuation:: -* Querying with account aliases:: -* Querying with cost or value:: - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Query types, Next: Combining query terms, Up: QUERIES - -6.1 Query types -=============== - -Here are the types of query term available. Remember these can also be -prefixed with *'not:'* to convert them into a negative match. - - *'acct:REGEX', 'REGEX'* -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 'expenses' or 'food'. - - *'amt:N, amt:N, amt:>=N'* -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. - - *'code:REGEX'* -Match by transaction code (eg check number). - - *'cur:REGEX'* -Match postings or transactions including any amounts whose -currency/commodity symbol is fully matched by REGEX. (For a partial -match, use '.*REGEX.*'). Note, to match special characters which are -regex-significant, you need to escape them with '\'. And for characters -which are significant to your shell you may need one more level of -escaping. So eg to match the dollar sign: -'hledger print cur:\\$'. - - *'desc:REGEX'* -Match transaction descriptions. - - *'date:PERIODEXPR'* -Match dates (or with the '--date2' flag, secondary dates) within the -specified period. PERIODEXPR is a period expression with no report -interval. Examples: -'date:2016', 'date:thismonth', 'date:2/1-2/15', -'date:2021-07-27..nextquarter'. - - *'date2:PERIODEXPR'* -Match secondary dates within the specified period (independent of the -'--date2' flag). - - *'depth:N'* -Match (or display, depending on command) accounts at or above this -depth. - - *'note:REGEX'* -Match transaction notes (the part of the description right of '|', or -the whole description if there's no '|'). - - *'payee:REGEX'* -Match transaction payee/payer names (the part of the description left of -'|', or the whole description if there's no '|'). - - *'real:, real:0'* -Match real or virtual postings respectively. - - *'status:, status:!, status:*'* -Match unmarked, pending, or cleared transactions respectively. - - *'tag:REGEX[=REGEX]'* -Match by tag name, and optionally also by tag value. (To match only by -value, use 'tag:.=REGEX'.) Note that postings also inherit tags from -their transaction, and transactions also acquire tags from their -postings, when querying. - - (*'inacct:ACCTNAME'* -A special query term used automatically in hledger-web only: tells -hledger-web to show the transaction register for an account.) - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Combining query terms, Next: Queries and command options, Prev: Query types, Up: QUERIES - -6.2 Combining query terms -========================= - -Most commands select things which match: - - * any of the description terms AND - * any of the account terms AND - * any of the status terms AND - * all the other terms. - - while the print command shows transactions which: - - * match any of the description terms AND - * have any postings matching any of the positive account terms AND - * have no postings matching any of the negative account terms AND - * match all the other terms. - - You can do more powerful queries (such as AND-ing two like terms) by -running a first query with 'print', and piping the result into a second -hledger command. Eg: how much of food expenses was paid with cash ? - -$ hledger print assets:cash | hledger -f- -I balance expenses:food - - If you are interested in full boolean expressions for queries, see -#203. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Queries and command options, Next: Queries and account aliases, Prev: Combining query terms, Up: QUERIES - -6.3 Queries and command options -=============================== - -Some queries can also be expressed as command-line options: 'depth:2' is -equivalent to '--depth 2', 'date:2020' is equivalent to '-p 2020', etc. -When you mix command options and query arguments, generally the -resulting query is their intersection. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Queries and account aliases, Next: Queries and valuation, Prev: Queries and command options, Up: QUERIES - -6.4 Queries and account aliases -=============================== - -When account names are rewritten with '--alias' or 'alias', 'acct:' will -match either the old or the new account name. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Queries and valuation, Next: Querying with account aliases, Prev: Queries and account aliases, Up: QUERIES - -6.5 Queries and valuation -========================= - -When amounts are converted to other commodities in cost or value -reports, 'cur:' and 'amt:' match the old commodity symbol and the old -amount quantity, not the new ones (except in hledger 1.22.0 where it's -reversed, see #1625). - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Querying with account aliases, Next: Querying with cost or value, Prev: Queries and valuation, Up: QUERIES - -6.6 Querying with account aliases -================================= - -When account names are rewritten with '--alias' or 'alias', note that -'acct:' will match either the old or the new account name. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Querying with cost or value, Prev: Querying with account aliases, Up: QUERIES - -6.7 Querying with cost or value -=============================== - -When amounts are converted to other commodities in cost or value -reports, note that 'cur:' matches the new commodity symbol, and not the -old one, and 'amt:' 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. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: COSTING, Next: VALUATION, Prev: QUERIES, Up: Top - -7 COSTING -********* - -The '-B/--cost' flag converts amounts to their cost or sale amount at -transaction time, if they have a transaction price specified. If this -flag is supplied, hledger will perform cost conversion first, and will -apply any market price valuations (if requested) afterwards. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: VALUATION, Next: PIVOTING, Prev: COSTING, Up: Top - -8 VALUATION -*********** - -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 '--value=TYPE[,COMMODITY]' -option, which will be described below. We also provide the simpler '-V' -and '-X COMMODITY' options, and often one of these is all you need: - -* Menu: - -* -V Value:: -* -X Value in specified commodity:: -* Valuation date:: -* Market prices:: -* --infer-market-prices market prices from transactions:: -* Valuation commodity:: -* Simple valuation examples:: -* --value Flexible valuation:: -* More valuation examples:: -* Effect of valuation on reports:: - - -File: hledger.info, Node: -V Value, Next: -X Value in specified commodity, Up: VALUATION - -8.1 -V: Value -============= - -The '-V/--market' flag converts amounts to market value in their default -_valuation commodity_, using the market prices in effect on the -_valuation date(s)_, if any. More on these in a minute. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: -X Value in specified commodity, Next: Valuation date, Prev: -V Value, Up: VALUATION - -8.2 -X: Value in specified commodity -==================================== - -The '-X/--exchange=COMM' option is like '-V', except you tell it which -currency you want to convert to, and it tries to convert everything to -that. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Valuation date, Next: Market prices, Prev: -X Value in specified commodity, Up: VALUATION - -8.3 Valuation date -================== - -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. - - 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's end date. - - For multiperiod reports, each column/period is valued on the last day -of the period, by default. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Market prices, Next: --infer-market-prices market prices from transactions, Prev: Valuation date, Up: VALUATION - -8.4 Market prices -================= - -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 : - - 1. A _declared market price_ or _inferred market price_: A's latest - market price in B on or before the valuation date as declared by a - P directive, or (with the '--infer-market-prices' flag) inferred - from transaction prices. - - 2. A _reverse market price_: the inverse of a declared or inferred - market price from B to A. - - 3. A _forward chain of market prices_: a synthetic price formed by - combining the shortest chain of "forward" (only 1 above) market - prices, leading from A to B. - - 4. _Any chain of market prices_: a chain of any market prices, - including both forward and reverse prices (1 and 2 above), leading - from A to B. - - 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 "gave up" message visible in -'--debug=2' output). That limit is currently 1000. - - Amounts for which no suitable market price can be found, are not -converted. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: --infer-market-prices market prices from transactions, Next: Valuation commodity, Prev: Market prices, Up: VALUATION - -8.5 -infer-market-prices: market prices from transactions -========================================================= - -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 transaction prices as additional market -prices (as Ledger does) ? We could produce value reports without -needing P directives at all. - - Adding the '--infer-market-prices' flag to '-V', '-X' or '--value' -enables this. So for example, 'hledger bs -V --infer-market-prices' -will get market prices both from P directives and from transactions. -(And if both occur on the same day, the P directive takes precedence). - - 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 -'--debug' or '--debug=2' to troubleshoot. - - '--infer-market-prices' can infer market prices from: - - * multicommodity transactions with explicit prices ('@'/'@@') - - * multicommodity transactions with implicit prices (no '@', two - commodities, unbalanced). (With these, the order of postings - matters. 'hledger print -x' can be useful for troubleshooting.) - - * but not, currently, from "more correct" multicommodity transactions - (no '@', multiple commodities, balanced). - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Valuation commodity, Next: Simple valuation examples, Prev: --infer-market-prices market prices from transactions, Up: VALUATION - -8.6 Valuation commodity -======================= - -*When you specify a valuation commodity ('-X COMM' or '--value -TYPE,COMM'):* -hledger will convert all amounts to COMM, wherever it can find a -suitable market price (including by reversing or chaining prices). - - *When you leave the valuation commodity unspecified ('-V' or '--value -TYPE'):* -For each commodity A, hledger picks a default valuation commodity as -follows, in this order of preference: - - 1. The price commodity from the latest P-declared market price for A - on or before valuation date. - - 2. 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.) - - 3. If there are no P directives at all (any commodity or date) and the - '--infer-market-prices' flag is used: the price commodity from the - latest transaction-inferred price for A on or before valuation - date. - - This means: - - * If you have P directives, they determine which commodities '-V' - will convert, and to what. - - * If you have no P directives, and use the '--infer-market-prices' - flag, transaction prices determine it. - - Amounts for which no valuation commodity can be found are not -converted. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Simple valuation examples, Next: --value Flexible valuation, Prev: Valuation commodity, Up: VALUATION - -8.7 Simple valuation examples -============================= - -Here are some quick examples of '-V': - -; 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 € $1.03 - - How many euros do I have ? - -$ hledger -f t.j bal -N euros - €100 assets:euros - - What are they worth at end of nov 3 ? - -$ hledger -f t.j bal -N euros -V -e 2016/11/4 - $110.00 assets:euros - - What are they worth after 2016/12/21 ? (no report end date -specified, defaults to today) - -$ hledger -f t.j bal -N euros -V - $103.00 assets:euros - - -File: hledger.info, Node: --value Flexible valuation, Next: More valuation examples, Prev: Simple valuation examples, Up: VALUATION - -8.8 -value: Flexible valuation -============================== - -'-V' and '-X' are special cases of the more general '--value' option: - - --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 - - The TYPE part selects cost or value and valuation date: - -'--value=then' - - Convert amounts to their value in the default valuation commodity, - using market prices on each posting's date. -'--value=end' - - 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's end date); or in multiperiod reports, - market prices on the last day of each subperiod. -'--value=now' - - Convert amounts to their value in the default valuation commodity - using current market prices (as of when report is generated). -'--value=YYYY-MM-DD' - - Convert amounts to their value in the default valuation commodity - using market prices on this date. - - To select a different valuation commodity, add the optional ',COMM' -part: a comma, then the target commodity's symbol. Eg: -*'--value=now,EUR'*. hledger will do its best to convert amounts to -this commodity, deducing market prices as described above. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: More valuation examples, Next: Effect of valuation on reports, Prev: --value Flexible valuation, Up: VALUATION - -8.9 More valuation examples -=========================== - -Here are some examples showing the effect of '--value', as seen with -'print': - -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 @ 5 B - -2000-02-01 - (a) 1 A @ 6 B - -2000-03-01 - (a) 1 A @ 7 B - - Show the cost of each posting: - -$ hledger -f- print --cost -2000-01-01 - (a) 5 B - -2000-02-01 - (a) 6 B - -2000-03-01 - (a) 7 B - - Show the value as of the last day of the report period (2000-02-29): - -$ hledger -f- print --value=end date:2000/01-2000/03 -2000-01-01 - (a) 2 B - -2000-02-01 - (a) 2 B - - With no report period specified, that shows the value as of the last -day of the journal (2000-03-01): - -$ hledger -f- print --value=end -2000-01-01 - (a) 3 B - -2000-02-01 - (a) 3 B - -2000-03-01 - (a) 3 B - - Show the current value (the 2000-04-01 price is still in effect -today): - -$ hledger -f- print --value=now -2000-01-01 - (a) 4 B - -2000-02-01 - (a) 4 B - -2000-03-01 - (a) 4 B - - Show the value on 2000/01/15: - -$ 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 - - You may need to explicitly set a commodity's display style, when -reverse prices are used. Eg this output might be surprising: - -P 2000-01-01 A 2B - -2000-01-01 - a 1B - b - -$ hledger print -x -X A -2000-01-01 - a 0 - b 0 - - Explanation: because there'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: - -P 2000-01-01 A 2B -commodity 0.00A - -2000-01-01 - a 1B - b - -$ hledger print -X A -2000-01-01 - a 0.50A - b -0.50A - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Effect of valuation on reports, Prev: More valuation examples, Up: VALUATION - -8.10 Effect of valuation on reports -=================================== - -Here is a reference for how valuation is supposed to affect each part of -hledger's reports (and a glossary). (It's wide, you'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. - -Report '-B', '-V', '-X' '--value=then' '--value=end''--value=DATE', -type '--cost' '--value=now' ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -*print* -posting cost value at value at posting value at value -amounts report end date report or at - or today journal DATE/today - end -balance unchanged unchanged unchanged unchanged unchanged -assertions/assignments -*register* -starting cost value at valued at day value at value -balance day before each historical day before at -(-H) report or posting was made report or DATE/today - journal journal - start start -posting cost value at value at posting value at value -amounts report end date report or at - or today journal DATE/today - end -summary summarised value at sum of postings value at value -posting cost period in interval, period at -amounts ends valued at ends DATE/today -with interval start -report -interval -running sum/average sum/average sum/average of sum/average sum/average -total/averageof of displayed values of of - displayed displayed displayed displayed - values values values values -*balance -(bs, -bse, cf, -is)* -balance sums of value at value at posting value at value -changes costs report end date report or at - or today journal DATE/today - of sums of end of of - postings sums of sums - postings of - postings -budget like like like balance like like -amounts balance balance changes balances balance -(-budget) changes changes changes -grand sum of sum of sum of displayed sum of sum of -total displayed displayed valued displayed displayed - values values values values -*balance -(bs, -bse, cf, -is) with -report -interval* -starting sums of value at sums of values value at sums -balances costs of report of postings report of -(-H) postings start of before report start of postings - before sums of start at sums of before - report all respective all report - start postings posting dates postings start - before before - report report - start start -balance sums of same as sums of values balance value -changes costs of -value=end of postings in change in at -(bal, postings period at each DATE/today -is, bs in period respective period, of --change, posting dates valued at sums -cf period of --change) ends postings -end sums of same as sums of values period end value -balances costs of -value=end of postings from balances, at -(bal -H, postings before period valued at DATE/today -is -H, from start to period period of -bs, cf) before end at ends sums - report respective of - start to posting dates postings - period end -budget like like like balance like like -amounts balance balance changes/end balances balance -(-budget) changes/end changes/end balances changes/end - balances balances balances -row sums, sums, sums, averages sums, sums, -totals, averages averages of displayed averages averages -row of of values of of -averages displayed displayed displayed displayed -(-T, -A) values values values values -column sums of sums of sums of sums of sums -totals displayed displayed displayed values displayed of - values values values displayed - values -grand sum, sum, sum, average of sum, sum, -total, average of average of column totals average of average -grand column column column of -average totals totals totals column - totals - - '--cumulative' is omitted to save space, it works like '-H' but with -a zero starting balance. - - *Glossary:* - -_cost_ - - calculated using price(s) recorded in the transaction(s). -_value_ - - market value using available market price declarations, or the - unchanged amount if no conversion rate can be found. -_report start_ - - the first day of the report period specified with -b or -p or - date:, otherwise today. -_report or journal start_ - - the first day of the report period specified with -b or -p or - date:, otherwise the earliest transaction date in the journal, - otherwise today. -_report end_ - - the last day of the report period specified with -e or -p or date:, - otherwise today. -_report or journal end_ - - the last day of the report period specified with -e or -p or date:, - otherwise the latest transaction date in the journal, otherwise - today. -_report interval_ - - a flag (-D/-W/-M/-Q/-Y) or period expression that activates the - report's multi-period mode (whether showing one or many - subperiods). - - -File: hledger.info, Node: PIVOTING, Next: OUTPUT, Prev: VALUATION, Up: Top - -9 PIVOTING -********** - -Normally hledger sums amounts, and organizes them in a hierarchy, based -on account name. The '--pivot FIELD' option causes it to sum and -organize hierarchy based on the value of some other field instead. -FIELD can be: 'code', 'description', 'payee', 'note', or the full name -(case insensitive) of any tag. As with account names, values containing -'colon:separated:parts' will be displayed hierarchically in reports. - - '--pivot' is a general option affecting all reports; you can think of -hledger transforming the journal before any other processing, replacing -every posting's account name with the value of the specified field on -that posting, inheriting it from the transaction or using a blank value -if it's not present. - - An example: - -2016/02/16 Member Fee Payment - assets:bank account 2 EUR - income:member fees -2 EUR ; member: John Doe - - Normal balance report showing account names: - -$ hledger balance - 2 EUR assets:bank account - -2 EUR income:member fees --------------------- - 0 - - Pivoted balance report, using member: tag values instead: - -$ hledger balance --pivot member - 2 EUR - -2 EUR John Doe --------------------- - 0 - - One way to show only amounts with a member: value (using a query, -described below): - -$ hledger balance --pivot member tag:member=. - -2 EUR John Doe --------------------- - -2 EUR - - Another way (the acct: query matches against the pivoted "account -name"): - -$ hledger balance --pivot member acct:. - -2 EUR John Doe --------------------- - -2 EUR - - -File: hledger.info, Node: OUTPUT, Next: COMMANDS, Prev: PIVOTING, Up: Top - -10 OUTPUT -********* - -* Menu: - -* Output destination:: -* Output styling:: -* Output format:: -* Commodity styles:: - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Output destination, Next: Output styling, Up: OUTPUT - -10.1 Output destination -======================= - -hledger commands send their output to the terminal by default. You can -of course redirect this, eg into a file, using standard shell syntax: - -$ hledger print > foo.txt - - Some commands (print, register, stats, the balance commands) also -provide the '-o/--output-file' option, which does the same thing without -needing the shell. Eg: - -$ hledger print -o foo.txt -$ hledger print -o - # write to stdout (the default) - - hledger can optionally produce debug output (if enabled with -'--debug=N'); this goes to stderr, and is not affected by -'-o/--output-file'. If you need to capture it, use shell redirects, eg: -'hledger bal --debug=3 >file 2>&1'. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Output styling, Next: Output format, Prev: Output destination, Up: OUTPUT - -10.2 Output styling -=================== - -hledger commands can produce colour output when the terminal supports -it. This is controlled by the '--color/--colour' option: - if the -'--color/--colour' option is given a value of 'yes' or 'always' (or 'no' -or 'never'), colour will (or will not) be used; - otherwise, if the -'NO_COLOR' environment variable is set, colour will not be used; - -otherwise, colour will be used if the output (terminal or file) supports -it. - - hledger commands can also use unicode box-drawing characters to -produce prettier tables and output. This is controlled by the -'--pretty' option: - if the '--pretty' option is given a value of 'yes' -or 'always' (or 'no' or 'never'), unicode characters will (or will not) -be used; - otherwise, unicode characters will not be used. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Output format, Next: Commodity styles, Prev: Output styling, Up: OUTPUT - -10.3 Output format -================== - -Some commands (print, register, the balance commands) offer a choice of -output format. In addition to the usual plain text format ('txt'), -there are CSV ('csv'), HTML ('html'), JSON ('json') and SQL ('sql'). -This is controlled by the '-O/--output-format' option: - -$ hledger print -O csv - - or, by a file extension specified with '-o/--output-file': - -$ hledger balancesheet -o foo.html # write HTML to foo.html - - The '-O' option can be used to override the file extension if needed: - -$ hledger balancesheet -o foo.txt -O html # write HTML to foo.txt - - Some notes about JSON output: - - * This feature is marked experimental, and not yet much used; you - should expect our JSON to evolve. Real-world feedback is welcome. - - * Our JSON is rather large and verbose, as it is quite a faithful - representation of hledger'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. - - * 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'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) - - Notes about SQL output: - - * SQL output is also marked experimental, and much like JSON could - use real-world feedback. - - * SQL output is expected to work with sqlite, MySQL and PostgreSQL - - * 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 'delete' or 'truncate' - SQL statements) or drop tables completely as otherwise your - postings will be duped. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Commodity styles, Prev: Output format, Up: OUTPUT - -10.4 Commodity styles -===================== - -The display style of a commodity/currency is inferred according to the -rules described in Commodity display style. The inferred display style -can be overridden by an optional '-c/--commodity-style' option -(Exceptions: as is the case for inferred styles, price amounts, and all -amounts displayed by the 'print' command, will be displayed with all of -their decimal digits visible, regardless of the specified precision). -For example, the following will override the display style for dollars. - -$ hledger print -c '$1.000,0' - - The format specification of the style is identical to the commodity -display style specification for the commodity directive. The command -line option can be supplied repeatedly to override the display style for -multiple commodity/currency symbols. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: COMMANDS, Next: JOURNAL FORMAT, Prev: OUTPUT, Up: Top - -11 COMMANDS -*********** - -hledger provides a number of commands for producing reports and managing -your data. Run 'hledger' with no arguments to list the commands -available, and 'hledger CMD' to run a command. CMD can be the full -command name, or its standard abbreviation shown in the commands list, -or any unambiguous prefix of the name. Eg: 'hledger bal'. - - Here are the built-in commands, with the most often-used in bold: - - *Data entry:* - - These data entry commands are the only ones which can modify your -journal file. - - * *add* - add transactions using guided prompts - * *import* - add any new transactions from other files (eg csv) - - *Data management:* - - * check - check for various kinds of issue in the data - * close (equity) - generate balance-resetting transactions - * diff - compare account transactions in two journal files - * rewrite - generate extra postings, similar to print -auto - - *Financial statements:* - - * *aregister (areg)* - show transactions in a particular account - * *balancesheet (bs)* - show assets, liabilities and net worth - * balancesheetequity (bse) - show assets, liabilities and equity - * cashflow (cf) - show changes in liquid assets - * *incomestatement (is)* - show revenues and expenses - * roi - show return on investments - - *Miscellaneous reports:* - - * accounts - show account names - * activity - show postings-per-interval bar charts - * *balance (bal)* - show balance changes/end balances/budgets in any - accounts - * codes - show transaction codes - * commodities - show commodity/currency symbols - * descriptions - show unique transaction descriptions - * files - show input file paths - * help - show hledger user manuals in several formats - * notes - show unique note segments of transaction descriptions - * payees - show unique payee segments of transaction descriptions - * prices - show market price records - * *print* - show transactions (journal entries) - * print-unique - show only transactions with unique descriptions - * *register (reg)* - show postings in one or more accounts & running - total - * register-match - show a recent posting that best matches a - description - * stats - show journal statistics - * tags - show tag names - * test - run self tests - - *Add-on commands:* - - Programs or scripts named 'hledger-SOMETHING' in your PATH are add-on -commands; these appear in the commands list with a '+' mark. Two of -these are maintained and released with hledger: - - * *ui* - an efficient terminal interface (TUI) for hledger - * *web* - a simple web interface (WUI) for hledger - - And these add-ons are maintained separately: - - * iadd - a more interactive alternative for the add command - * interest - generates interest transactions according to various - schemes - * stockquotes - downloads market prices for your commodities from - AlphaVantage _(experimental)_ - - Next, the detailed command docs, in alphabetical order. - -* Menu: - -* accounts:: -* activity:: -* add:: -* aregister:: -* balance:: -* balancesheet:: -* balancesheetequity:: -* cashflow:: -* check:: -* close:: -* codes:: -* commodities:: -* descriptions:: -* diff:: -* files:: -* help:: -* import:: -* incomestatement:: -* notes:: -* payees:: -* prices:: -* print:: -* print-unique:: -* register:: -* register-match:: -* rewrite:: -* roi:: -* stats:: -* tags:: -* test:: -* About add-on commands:: - - -File: hledger.info, Node: accounts, Next: activity, Up: COMMANDS - -11.1 accounts -============= - -accounts -Show account names. - - This command lists account names, either declared with account -directives (-declared), posted to (-used), or both (the default). With -query arguments, only matched account names and account names referenced -by matched postings are shown. It shows a flat list by default. With -'--tree', it uses indentation to show the account hierarchy. In flat -mode you can add '--drop N' to omit the first few account name -components. Account names can be depth-clipped with 'depth:N' or -'--depth N' or '-N'. - - Examples: - -$ hledger accounts -assets:bank:checking -assets:bank:saving -assets:cash -expenses:food -expenses:supplies -income:gifts -income:salary -liabilities:debts - - -File: hledger.info, Node: activity, Next: add, Prev: accounts, Up: COMMANDS - -11.2 activity -============= - -activity -Show an ascii barchart of posting counts per interval. - - 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. - - Examples: - -$ hledger activity --quarterly -2008-01-01 ** -2008-04-01 ******* -2008-07-01 -2008-10-01 ** - - -File: hledger.info, Node: add, Next: aregister, Prev: activity, Up: COMMANDS - -11.3 add -======== - -add -Prompt for transactions and add them to the journal. Any arguments will -be used as default inputs for the first N prompts. - - Many hledger users edit their journals directly with a text editor, -or generate them from CSV. For more interactive data entry, there is the -'add' command, which prompts interactively on the console for new -transactions, and appends them to the journal file (if there are -multiple '-f FILE' options, the first file is used.) Existing -transactions are not changed. This is the only hledger command that -writes to the journal file. - - To use it, just run 'hledger add' and follow the prompts. You can -add as many transactions as you like; when you are finished, enter '.' -or press control-d or control-c to exit. - - Features: - - * add tries to provide useful defaults, using the most similar (by - description) recent transaction (filtered by the query, if any) as - a template. - * You can also set the initial defaults with command line arguments. - * Readline-style edit keys can be used during data entry. - * The tab key will auto-complete whenever possible - accounts, - descriptions, dates ('yesterday', 'today', 'tomorrow'). If the - input area is empty, it will insert the default value. - * If the journal defines a default commodity, it will be added to any - bare numbers entered. - * A parenthesised transaction code may be entered following a date. - * Comments and tags may be entered following a description or amount. - * If you make a mistake, enter '<' at any prompt to go one step - backward. - * Input prompts are displayed in a different colour when the terminal - supports it. - - Example (see the tutorial for a detailed explanation): - -$ 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]: $ - - 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). - - -File: hledger.info, Node: aregister, Next: balance, Prev: add, Up: COMMANDS - -11.4 aregister -============== - -aregister, areg - - Show the transactions and running historical balance of a single -account, with each transaction displayed as one line. - - 'aregister' 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 ('--historical' mode is -always on). - - This is a more "real world", bank-like view than the 'register' -command (which shows individual postings, possibly from multiple -accounts, not necessarily in historical mode). As a quick rule of -thumb: - use 'aregister' for reviewing and reconciling real-world -asset/liability accounts - use 'register' for reviewing detailed -revenues/expenses. - - 'aregister' 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. -(Eg if you have 'assets:aaa:checking' and 'assets:bbb:checking' -accounts, 'hledger areg checking' would select 'assets:aaa:checking'.) - - Transactions involving subaccounts of this account will also be -shown. 'aregister' ignores depth limits, so its final total will always -match a balance report with similar arguments. - - 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's real-world running -balance. - - An example: this shows the transactions and historical running -balance during july, in the first account whose name contains -"checking": - -$ hledger areg checking date:jul - - Each 'aregister' line item shows: - - * the transaction's date (or the relevant posting's date if - different, see below) - * the names of all the other account(s) involved in this transaction - (probably abbreviated) - * the total change to this account's balance from this transaction - * the account's historical running balance after this transaction. - - Transactions making a net change of zero are not shown by default; -add the '-E/--empty' flag to show them. - - This command also supports the output destination and output format -options. The output formats supported are 'txt', 'csv', and 'json'. - -* Menu: - -* aregister and custom posting dates:: - - -File: hledger.info, Node: aregister and custom posting dates, Up: aregister - -11.4.1 aregister and custom posting dates ------------------------------------------ - -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's the posting date that is shown.) This ensures -that 'aregister' can show an accurate historical running balance, -matching the one shown by 'register -H' with the same arguments. - - To filter strictly by transaction date instead, add the '--txn-dates' -flag. If you use this flag and some of your postings have custom dates, -it's probably best to assume the running balance is wrong. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: balance, Next: balancesheet, Prev: aregister, Up: COMMANDS - -11.5 balance -============ - -balance, bal -Show accounts and their balances. - - 'balance' is one of hledger'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. - - Note there are some higher-level variants of the 'balance' command -with convenient defaults, which can be simpler to use: 'balancesheet', -'balancesheetequity', 'cashflow' and 'incomestatement'. When you need -more control, then use 'balance'. - -* Menu: - -* balance features:: -* Simple balance report:: -* Filtered balance report:: -* List or tree mode:: -* Depth limiting:: -* Dropping top-level accounts:: -* Multi-period balance report:: -* Commodity column:: -* Sorting by amount:: -* Percentages:: -* Balance change end balance:: -* Balance report types:: -* Useful balance reports:: -* Budget report:: -* Customising single-period balance reports:: - - -File: hledger.info, Node: balance features, Next: Simple balance report, Up: balance - -11.5.1 balance features ------------------------ - -Here's a quick overview of the 'balance' command's features, followed by -more detailed descriptions and examples. Many of these work with the -higher-level commands as well. - - 'balance' can show.. - - * accounts as a list ('-l') or a tree ('-t') - * optionally depth-limited ('-[1-9]') - * sorted by declaration order and name, or by amount - - ..and their.. - - * balance changes (the default) - * or actual and planned balance changes ('--budget') - * or value of balance changes ('-V') - * or change of balance values ('--valuechange') - * or unrealised capital gain/loss ('--gain') - - ..in.. - - * one time period (the whole journal period by default) - * or multiple periods ('-D', '-W', '-M', '-Q', '-Y', '-p INTERVAL') - - ..either.. - - * per period (the default) - * or accumulated since report start date ('--cumulative') - * or accumulated since account creation ('--historical/-H') - - ..possibly converted to.. - - * cost ('--value=cost[,COMM]'/'--cost'/'-B') - * or market value, as of transaction dates ('--value=then[,COMM]') - * or at period ends ('--value=end[,COMM]') - * or now ('--value=now') - * or at some other date ('--value=YYYY-MM-DD') - - ..with.. - - * totals ('-T'), averages ('-A'), percentages ('-%'), inverted sign - ('--invert') - * rows and columns swapped ('--transpose') - * another field used as account name ('--pivot') - * custom-formatted line items (single-period reports only) - ('--format') - * commodities shown in a separate column, one per row - ('--commodity-column') - - This command supports the output destination and output format -options, with output formats 'txt', 'csv', 'json', and (multi-period -reports only:) 'html'. In 'txt' output in a colour-supporting terminal, -negative amounts are shown in red. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Simple balance report, Next: Filtered balance report, Prev: balance features, Up: balance - -11.5.2 Simple balance report ----------------------------- - -With no arguments, 'balance' 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. For real-world -accounts, this should also match their end balance at the end of the -journal period (more on this below). - - Accounts are sorted by declaration order if any, and then -alphabetically by account name. For instance (using -examples/sample.journal): - -$ 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 - $1 liabilities:debts --------------------- - 0 - - Accounts with a zero balance (and no non-zero subaccounts, in tree -mode - see below) are hidden by default. Use '-E/--empty' to show them -(revealing 'assets:bank:checking' here): - -$ 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 - $1 liabilities:debts --------------------- - 0 - - The total of the amounts displayed is shown as the last line, unless -'-N'/'--no-total' is used. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Filtered balance report, Next: List or tree mode, Prev: Simple balance report, Up: balance - -11.5.3 Filtered balance report ------------------------------- - -You can show fewer accounts, a different time period, totals from -cleared transactions only, etc. by using query arguments or options to -limit the postings being matched. Eg: - -$ hledger -f examples/sample.journal bal --cleared assets date:200806 - $-2 assets:cash --------------------- - $-2 - - -File: hledger.info, Node: List or tree mode, Next: Depth limiting, Prev: Filtered balance report, Up: balance - -11.5.4 List or tree mode ------------------------- - -By default, or with '-l/--flat', accounts are shown as a flat list with -their full names visible, as in the examples above. - - With '-t/--tree', the account hierarchy is shown, with subaccounts' -"leaf" names indented below their parent: - -$ 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 - $1 liabilities:debts --------------------- - 0 - - Notes: - - * "Boring" accounts are combined with their subaccount for more - compact output, unless '--no-elide' is used. Boring accounts have - no balance of their own and just one subaccount (eg 'assets:bank' - and 'liabilities' above). - - * All balances shown are "inclusive", ie including the balances from - all subaccounts. Note this means some repetition in the output, - which requires explanation when sharing reports with - non-plaintextaccounting-users. A tree mode report's final total is - the sum of the top-level balances shown, not of all the balances - shown. - - * Each group of sibling accounts (ie, under a common parent) is - sorted separately. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Depth limiting, Next: Dropping top-level accounts, Prev: List or tree mode, Up: balance - -11.5.5 Depth limiting ---------------------- - -With a 'depth:NUM' query, or '--depth NUM' option, or just '-NUM' (eg: -'-3') balance reports will show accounts only to the specified depth, -hiding the deeper subaccounts. This can be useful for getting an -overview without too much detail. - - Account balances at the depth limit always include the balances from -any deeper subaccounts (even in list mode). Eg, limiting to depth 1: - -$ hledger -f examples/sample.journal balance -1 - $-1 assets - $2 expenses - $-2 income - $1 liabilities --------------------- - 0 - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Dropping top-level accounts, Next: Multi-period balance report, Prev: Depth limiting, Up: balance - -11.5.6 Dropping top-level accounts ----------------------------------- - -You can also hide one or more top-level account name parts, using -'--drop NUM'. This can be useful for hiding repetitive top-level -account names: - -$ hledger -f examples/sample.journal bal expenses --drop 1 - $1 food - $1 supplies --------------------- - $2 - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Multi-period balance report, Next: Commodity column, Prev: Dropping top-level accounts, Up: balance - -11.5.7 Multi-period balance report ----------------------------------- - -With a report interval (set by the '-D/--daily', '-W/--weekly', -'-M/--monthly', '-Q/--quarterly', '-Y/--yearly', or '-p/--period' flag), -'balance' shows a tabular report, with columns representing successive -time periods (and a title): - -$ 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 $1 0 0 - - Notes: - - * The report's start/end dates will be expanded, if necessary, to - fully encompass the displayed subperiods (so that the first and - last subperiods have the same duration as the others). - * Leading and trailing periods (columns) containing all zeroes are - not shown, unless '-E/--empty' is used. - * Accounts (rows) containing all zeroes are not shown, unless - '-E/--empty' is used. - * Amounts with many commodities are shown in abbreviated form, unless - '--no-elide' is used. _(experimental)_ - * Average and/or total columns can be added with the '-A/--average' - and '-T/--row-total' flags. - * The '--transpose' flag can be used to exchange rows and columns. - * The '--pivot FIELD' option causes a different transaction field to - be used as "account name". See PIVOTING. - - Multi-period reports with many periods can be too wide for easy -viewing in the terminal. Here are some ways to handle that: - - * Hide the totals row with '-N/--no-total' - * Convert to a single currency with '-V' - * Maximize the terminal window - * Reduce the terminal's font size - * View with a pager like less, eg: 'hledger bal -D --color=yes | less - -RS' - * Output as CSV and use a CSV viewer like visidata ('hledger bal -D - -O csv | vd -f csv'), Emacs' csv-mode ('M-x csv-mode, C-c C-a'), or - a spreadsheet ('hledger bal -D -o a.csv && open a.csv') - * Output as HTML and view with a browser: 'hledger bal -D -o a.html - && open a.html' - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Commodity column, Next: Sorting by amount, Prev: Multi-period balance report, Up: balance - -11.5.8 Commodity column ------------------------ - -With '--commodity-column', commodity symbols are displayed in a separate -column, and amounts are displayed as bare numbers. In this mode, each -report row will show amounts for a single commodity, using extra rows -when necessary. It can be useful for a cleaner display of reports with -many commodities: - -$ hledger -f examples/bcexample.hledger bal assets:us:etrade -3 -T -Y -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.. - -$ hledger -f examples/bcexample.hledger bal assets:us:etrade -3 -T -Y --commodity-column -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 - - This flag also affects CSV output, which is useful for producing data -that is easier to consume, eg when making charts: - -$ hledger -f examples/bcexample.hledger bal assets:us:etrade -3 -O csv -"account","balance" -"Assets:US:ETrade","70.00 GLD, 17.00 ITOT, 5120.50 USD, 36.00 VEA, 294.00 VHT" -"total","70.00 GLD, 17.00 ITOT, 5120.50 USD, 36.00 VEA, 294.00 VHT" - -$ hledger -f examples/bcexample.hledger bal assets:us:etrade -3 -O csv --commodity-column -"account","commodity","balance" -"Assets:US:ETrade","GLD","70.00" -"Assets:US:ETrade","ITOT","17.00" -"Assets:US:ETrade","USD","5120.50" -"Assets:US:ETrade","VEA","36.00" -"Assets:US:ETrade","VHT","294.00" -"total","GLD","70.00" -"total","ITOT","17.00" -"total","USD","5120.50" -"total","VEA","36.00" -"total","VHT","294.00" - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Sorting by amount, Next: Percentages, Prev: Commodity column, Up: balance - -11.5.9 Sorting by amount ------------------------- - -With '-S/--sort-amount', accounts with the largest (most positive) -balances are shown first. Eg: 'hledger bal expenses -MAS' 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). - - Revenues and liability balances are typically negative, however, so -'-S' shows these in reverse order. To work around this, you can add -'--invert' to flip the signs. (Or, use one of the higher-level reports, -which flip the sign automatically. Eg: 'hledger incomestatement -MAS'). - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Percentages, Next: Balance change end balance, Prev: Sorting by amount, Up: balance - -11.5.10 Percentages -------------------- - -With '-%/--percent', balance reports show each account's value expressed -as a percentage of the (column) total: - -$ hledger -f examples/sample.journal bal expenses -Q -% -Balance changes in 2008: - - || 2008Q1 2008Q2 2008Q3 2008Q4 -===================++================================= - expenses:food || 0 50.0 % 0 0 - expenses:supplies || 0 50.0 % 0 0 --------------------++--------------------------------- - || 0 100.0 % 0 0 - - 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: - -$ hledger bal -% amt:`>0` -$ hledger bal -% amt:`<0` - - Similarly, if the amounts in a column have mixed commodities, convert -them to one commodity with '-B', '-V', '-X' or '--value', or make a -separate report for each commodity: - -$ hledger bal -% cur:\\$ -$ hledger bal -% cur:€ - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Balance change end balance, Next: Balance report types, Prev: Percentages, Up: balance - -11.5.11 Balance change, end balance ------------------------------------ - -It's important to be clear on the meaning of the numbers shown in -balance reports. Here is some terminology we use: - - A *_balance change_* is the net amount added to, or removed from, an -account during some period. - - An *_end balance_* is the amount accumulated in an account as of some -date (and some time, but hledger doesn't store that; assume end of day -in your timezone). It is the sum of previous balance changes. - - We call it a *_historical end balance_* if it includes all balance -changes since the account was created. For a real world account, this -means it will match the "historical record", eg the balances reported in -your bank statements or bank web UI. (If they are correct!) - - 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. - - 'balance' shows balance changes by default. To see accurate -historical end balances: - - 1. Initialise account starting balances with an "opening balances" - transaction (a transfer from equity to the account), unless the - journal covers the account's full lifetime. - - 2. Include all of of the account's prior postings in the report, by - not specifying a report start date, or by using the - '-H/--historical' flag. ('-H' causes report start date to be - ignored when summing postings.) - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Balance report types, Next: Useful balance reports, Prev: Balance change end balance, Up: balance - -11.5.12 Balance report types ----------------------------- - -For more flexible reporting, there are three important option groups: - - 'hledger balance [CALCULATIONTYPE] [ACCUMULATIONTYPE] [VALUATIONTYPE] -...' - - The first two are the most important: calculation type selects the -basic calculation to perform for each table cell, while accumulation -type says which postings should be included in each cell's calculation. -Typically one or both of these are selected by default, so you don't -need to write them explicitly. A valuation type can be added if you -want to convert the basic report to value or cost. - - *Calculation type:* -The basic calculation to perform for each table cell. It is one of: - - * '--sum' : sum the posting amounts (*default*) - * '--budget' : like -sum but also show a goal amount - * '--valuechange' : show the change in period-end historical balance - values (caused by deposits, withdrawals, and/or market price - fluctuations) - * '--gain' : show the unrealised capital gain/loss, (the current - valued balance minus each amount's original cost) - - *Accumulation type:* -Which postings should be included in each cell's calculation. It is one -of: - - * '--change' : postings from column start to column end, ie within - the cell's period. Typically used to see revenues/expenses. - (*default for balance, incomestatement*) - - * '--cumulative' : postings from report start to column end, eg to - show changes accumulated since the report's start date. Rarely - used. - - * '--historical/-H' : postings from journal start to column end, ie - all postings from account creation to the end of the cell's period. - Typically used to see historical end balances of - assets/liabilities/equity. (*default for balancesheet, - balancesheetequity, cashflow*) - - *Valuation type:* -Which kind of valuation, valuation date(s) and optionally a target -valuation commodity to use. It is one of: - - * no valuation, show amounts in their original commodities - (*default*) - * '--value=cost[,COMM]' : no valuation, show amounts converted to - cost - * '--value=then[,COMM]' : show value at transaction dates - * '--value=end[,COMM]' : show value at period end date(s) (*default - with '--valuechange', '--gain'*) - * '--value=now[,COMM]' : show value at today's date - * '--value=YYYY-MM-DD[,COMM]' : show value at another date - - or one of their aliases: '--cost/-B', '--market/-V' or -'--exchange/-X'. - - 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: - - * '--valuechange' implies '--value=end' - * '--valuechange' makes '--change' the default when used with the - 'balancesheet'/'balancesheetequity' commands - * '--cumulative' or '--historical' disables '--row-total/-T' - - For reference, here is what the combinations of accumulation and -valuation show: - -Valuation:no valuation '--value= then' '--value= end' '--value= ->Accumulation: YYYY-MM-DD -v /now' ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -'--change'change in sum of period-end DATE-value - period posting-date value of of change in - market values change in period - in period period -'--cumulative'change from sum of period-end DATE-value - report start to posting-date value of of change - period end market values change from from report - from report report start start to - start to period to period end period end - end -'--historicalchange from sum of period-end DATE-value -/-H' journal start posting-date value of of change - to period end market values change from from journal - (historical end from journal journal start start to - balance) start to period to period end period end - end - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Useful balance reports, Next: Budget report, Prev: Balance report types, Up: balance - -11.5.13 Useful balance reports ------------------------------- - -Some frequently used 'balance' options/reports are: - - * 'bal -M revenues expenses' - Show revenues/expenses in each month. Also available as the - 'incomestatement' command. - - * 'bal -M -H assets liabilities' - Show historical asset/liability balances at each month end. Also - available as the 'balancesheet' command. - - * 'bal -M -H assets liabilities equity' - Show historical asset/liability/equity balances at each month end. - Also available as the 'balancesheetequity' command. - - * 'bal -M assets not:receivable' - Show changes to liquid assets in each month. Also available as the - 'cashflow' command. - - Also: - - * 'bal -M expenses -2 -SA' - Show monthly expenses summarised to depth 2 and sorted by average - amount. - - * 'bal -M --budget expenses' - Show monthly expenses and budget goals. - - * 'bal -M --valuechange investments' - Show monthly change in market value of investment assets. - - * 'bal investments --valuechange -D date:lastweek amt:'>1000' -STA - [--invert]' - Show top gainers [or losers] last week - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Budget report, Next: Customising single-period balance reports, Prev: Useful balance reports, Up: balance - -11.5.14 Budget report ---------------------- - -The '--budget' report type activates extra columns showing any budget -goals for each account and period. The budget goals are defined by -periodic transactions. This is very useful for comparing planned and -actual income, expenses, time usage, etc. - - For example, you can take average monthly expenses in the common -expense categories to construct a minimal monthly budget: - -;; Budget -~ 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 $100 - assets:bank:checking - - You can now see a monthly budget report: - -$ 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 $2000] -----------------------++---------------------------------------------------- - || 0 [ 0] 0 [ 0] - - This is different from a normal balance report in several ways: - - * Only accounts with budget goals during the report period are shown, - by default. - - * In each column, in square brackets after the actual amount, budget - goal amounts are shown, and the actual/goal percentage. (Note: - budget goals should be in the same commodity as the actual amount.) - - * All parent accounts are always shown, even in list mode. Eg - assets, assets:bank, and expenses above. - - * Amounts always include all subaccounts, budgeted or unbudgeted, - even in list mode. - - This means that the numbers displayed will not always add up! Eg -above, the 'expenses' actual amount includes the gifts and supplies -transactions, but the 'expenses:gifts' and 'expenses:supplies' accounts -are not shown, as they have no budget amounts declared. - - This can be confusing. When you need to make things clearer, use the -'-E/--empty' flag, which will reveal all accounts including unbudgeted -ones, giving the full picture. Eg: - -$ 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 $2000] -----------------------++---------------------------------------------------- - || 0 [ 0] 0 [ 0] - - You can roll over unspent budgets to next period with '--cumulative': - -$ 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] - - For more examples and notes, see Budgeting. - -* Menu: - -* Budget report start date:: -* Budgets and subaccounts:: -* Selecting budget goals:: - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Budget report start date, Next: Budgets and subaccounts, Up: Budget report - -11.5.14.1 Budget report start date -.................................. - -This might be a bug, but for now: when making budget reports, it's a -good idea to explicitly set the report's start date to the first day of -a reporting period, because a periodic rule like '~ monthly' 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: - -~ monthly in 2020 - (expenses:food) $500 - -2020-01-15 - expenses:food $400 - assets:checking - -$ hledger bal expenses --budget -Budget performance in 2020-01-15: - - || 2020-01-15 -==============++============ - || $400 ---------------++------------ - || $400 - - To avoid this, specify the budget report's period, or at least the -start date, with '-b'/'-e'/'-p'/'date:', to ensure it includes the -budget goal transactions (periodic transactions) that you want. Eg, -adding '-b 2020/1/1' to the above: - -$ 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] - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Budgets and subaccounts, Next: Selecting budget goals, Prev: Budget report start date, Up: Budget report - -11.5.14.2 Budgets and subaccounts -................................. - -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. - - In the most simple case this means that once you add a budget to any -account, all its parents would have budget as well. - - To illustrate this, consider the following budget: - -~ monthly from 2019/01 - expenses:personal $1,000.00 - expenses:personal:electronics $100.00 - liabilities - - 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 'expenses:personal' and 'expenses' is $1100. - - Transactions in 'expenses:personal:electronics' will be counted both -towards its $100 budget and $1100 of 'expenses:personal' , and -transactions in any other subaccount of 'expenses:personal' would be -counted towards only towards the budget of 'expenses:personal'. - - For example, let's consider these transactions: - -~ 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 $30.00 - liabilities - - As you can see, we have transactions in -'expenses:personal:electronics:upgrades' and 'expenses:personal:train -tickets', and since both of these accounts are without explicitly -defined budget, these transactions would be counted towards budgets of -'expenses:personal:electronics' and 'expenses:personal' accordingly: - -$ 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 $-1100.00] --------------------------------++------------------------------- - || 0 [ 0] - - And with '--empty', we can get a better picture of budget allocation -and consumption: - -$ 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 $-1100.00] -----------------------------------------++------------------------------- - || 0 [ 0] - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Selecting budget goals, Prev: Budgets and subaccounts, Up: Budget report - -11.5.14.3 Selecting budget goals -................................ - -The budget report evaluates periodic transaction rules to generate -special "goal transactions", which generate the goal amounts for each -account in each report subperiod. When troubleshooting, you can use the -print command to show these as forecasted transactions: - -$ hledger print --forecast=BUDGETREPORTPERIOD tag:generated - - 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. - - You can select a subset of periodic rules by providing an argument to -the '--budget' flag. '--budget=DESCPAT' 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. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Customising single-period balance reports, Prev: Budget report, Up: balance - -11.5.15 Customising single-period balance reports -------------------------------------------------- - -For single-period balance reports displayed in the terminal (only), you -can use '--format FMT' to customise the format and content of each line. -Eg: - -$ hledger -f examples/sample.journal balance --format "%20(account) %12(total)" - assets $-1 - bank:saving $1 - cash $-2 - expenses $2 - food $1 - supplies $1 - income $-2 - gifts $-1 - salary $-1 - liabilities:debts $1 ---------------------------------- - 0 - - The FMT format string (plus a newline) specifies the formatting -applied to each account/balance pair. It may contain any suitable text, -with data fields interpolated like so: - - '%[MIN][.MAX](FIELDNAME)' - - * MIN pads with spaces to at least this width (optional) - - * MAX truncates at this width (optional) - - * FIELDNAME must be enclosed in parentheses, and can be one of: - - * 'depth_spacer' - a number of spaces equal to the account's - depth, or if MIN is specified, MIN * depth spaces. - * 'account' - the account's name - * 'total' - the account's balance/posted total, right justified - - Also, FMT can begin with an optional prefix to control how -multi-commodity amounts are rendered: - - * '%_' - render on multiple lines, bottom-aligned (the default) - * '%^' - render on multiple lines, top-aligned - * '%,' - render on one line, comma-separated - - There are some quirks. Eg in one-line mode, '%(depth_spacer)' has no -effect, instead '%(account)' has indentation built in. Experimentation -may be needed to get pleasing results. - - Some example formats: - - * '%(total)' - the account's total - * '%-20.20(account)' - the account's name, left justified, padded to - 20 characters and clipped at 20 characters - * '%,%-50(account) %25(total)' - account name padded to 50 - characters, total padded to 20 characters, with multiple - commodities rendered on one line - * '%20(total) %2(depth_spacer)%-(account)' - the default format for - the single-column balance report - - -File: hledger.info, Node: balancesheet, Next: balancesheetequity, Prev: balance, Up: COMMANDS - -11.6 balancesheet -================= - -balancesheet, bs -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. - - The asset and liability accounts shown are those accounts declared -with the 'Asset' or 'Cash' or 'Liability' type, or otherwise all -accounts under a top-level 'asset' or 'liability' account (case -insensitive, plurals allowed). - - Example: - -$ hledger balancesheet -Balance Sheet - -Assets: - $-1 assets - $1 bank:saving - $-2 cash --------------------- - $-1 - -Liabilities: - $1 liabilities:debts --------------------- - $1 - -Total: --------------------- - 0 - - This command is a higher-level variant of the 'balance' command, and -supports many of that command's features, such as multi-period reports. -It is similar to 'hledger balance -H assets liabilities', but with -smarter account detection, and liabilities displayed with their sign -flipped. - - This command also supports the output destination and output format -options The output formats supported are 'txt', 'csv', 'html', and -(experimental) 'json'. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: balancesheetequity, Next: cashflow, Prev: balancesheet, Up: COMMANDS - -11.7 balancesheetequity -======================= - -balancesheetequity, bse -This command displays a balance sheet, showing historical ending -balances of asset, liability and equity accounts. Amounts are shown -with normal positive sign, as in conventional financial statements. - - The asset, liability and equity accounts shown are those accounts -declared with the 'Asset', 'Cash', 'Liability' or 'Equity' type, or -otherwise all accounts under a top-level 'asset', 'liability' or -'equity' account (case insensitive, plurals allowed). - - Example: - -$ hledger balancesheetequity -Balance Sheet With Equity - -Assets: - $-2 assets - $1 bank:saving - $-3 cash --------------------- - $-2 - -Liabilities: - $1 liabilities:debts --------------------- - $1 - -Equity: - $1 equity:owner --------------------- - $1 - -Total: --------------------- - 0 - - This command is a higher-level variant of the 'balance' command, and -supports many of that command's features, such as multi-period reports. -It is similar to 'hledger balance -H assets liabilities equity', but -with smarter account detection, and liabilities/equity displayed with -their sign flipped. - - This command also supports the output destination and output format -options The output formats supported are 'txt', 'csv', 'html', and -(experimental) 'json'. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: cashflow, Next: check, Prev: balancesheetequity, Up: COMMANDS - -11.8 cashflow -============= - -cashflow, cf -This command displays a cashflow statement, showing the inflows and -outflows affecting "cash" (ie, liquid) assets. Amounts are shown with -normal positive sign, as in conventional financial statements. - - The "cash" accounts shown are those accounts declared with the 'Cash' -type, or otherwise all accounts under a top-level 'asset' account (case -insensitive, plural allowed) which do not have 'fixed', 'investment', -'receivable' or 'A/R' in their name. - - Example: - -$ hledger cashflow -Cashflow Statement - -Cash flows: - $-1 assets - $1 bank:saving - $-2 cash --------------------- - $-1 - -Total: --------------------- - $-1 - - This command is a higher-level variant of the 'balance' command, and -supports many of that command's features, such as multi-period reports. -It is similar to 'hledger balance assets not:fixed not:investment -not:receivable', but with smarter account detection. - - This command also supports the output destination and output format -options The output formats supported are 'txt', 'csv', 'html', and -(experimental) 'json'. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: check, Next: close, Prev: cashflow, Up: COMMANDS - -11.9 check -========== - -check -Check for various kinds of errors in your data. - - 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 'check' 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). - - Some examples: - -hledger check # basic checks -hledger check -s # basic + strict checks -hledger check ordereddates payees # basic + two other checks - - Here are the checks currently available: - -* Menu: - -* Basic checks:: -* Strict checks:: -* Other checks:: -* Custom checks:: - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Basic checks, Next: Strict checks, Up: check - -11.9.1 Basic checks -------------------- - -These checks are always run automatically, by (almost) all hledger -commands, including 'check': - - * *parseable* - data files are well-formed and can be successfully - parsed - - * *balancedwithautoconversion* - all transactions are balanced, - inferring missing amounts where necessary, and possibly converting - commodities using transaction prices or automatically-inferred - transaction prices - - * *assertions* - all balance assertions in the journal are passing. - (This check can be disabled with '-I'/'--ignore-assertions'.) - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Strict checks, Next: Other checks, Prev: Basic checks, Up: check - -11.9.2 Strict checks --------------------- - -These additional checks are run when the '-s'/'--strict' (strict mode) -flag is used. Or, they can be run by giving their names as arguments to -'check': - - * *accounts* - all account names used by transactions have been - declared - - * *commodities* - all commodity symbols used have been declared - - * *balancednoautoconversion* - transactions are balanced, possibly - using explicit transaction prices but not inferred ones - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Other checks, Next: Custom checks, Prev: Strict checks, Up: check - -11.9.3 Other checks -------------------- - -These checks can be run only by giving their names as arguments to -'check'. They are more specialised and not desirable for everyone, -therefore optional: - - * *ordereddates* - transactions are ordered by date within each file - - * *payees* - all payees used by transactions have been declared - - * *uniqueleafnames* - all account leaf names are unique - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Custom checks, Prev: Other checks, Up: check - -11.9.4 Custom checks --------------------- - -A few more checks are are available as separate add-on commands, in -https://github.com/simonmichael/hledger/tree/master/bin: - - * *hledger-check-tagfiles* - all tag values containing / (a forward - slash) exist as file paths - - * *hledger-check-fancyassertions* - more complex balance assertions - are passing - - You could make similar scripts to perform your own custom checks. -See: Cookbook -> Scripting. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: close, Next: codes, Prev: check, Up: COMMANDS - -11.10 close -=========== - -close, equity -Prints a sample "closing" transaction bringing specified account -balances to zero, and an inverse "opening" transaction restoring the -same account balances. - - If like most people you split your journal files by time, eg by year: -at the end of the year you can use this command to "close out" your -asset and liability (and perhaps equity) balances in the old file, and -reinitialise them in the new file. This helps ensure that report -balances remain correct whether you are including old files or not. -(Because all closing/opening transactions except the very first will -cancel out - see example below.) - - Some people also use this command to close out revenue and expense -balances at the end of an accounting period. This properly records the -period's profit/loss as "retained earnings" (part of equity), and allows -the accounting equation (A-L=E) to balance, which you could then check -by the bse report's zero total. - - You can print just the closing transaction by using the '--close' -flag, or just the opening transaction with the '--open' flag. - - Their descriptions are 'closing balances' and 'opening balances' by -default; you can customise these with the '--close-desc' and -'--open-desc' options. - - Just one balancing equity posting is used by default, with the amount -left implicit. The default account name is 'equity:opening/closing -balances'. You can customise the account name(s) with '--close-acct' -and '--open-acct'. (If you specify only one of these, it will be used -for both.) - - With '--x/--explicit', the equity posting's amount will be shown -explicitly, and if it involves multiple commodities, there will be a -separate equity posting for each commodity (as in the print command). - - With '--interleaved', each equity posting is shown next to the -posting it balances (good for troubleshooting). - -* Menu: - -* close and prices:: -* close date:: -* Example close asset/liability accounts for file transition:: -* Hiding opening/closing transactions:: -* close and balance assertions:: -* Example close revenue/expense accounts to retained earnings:: - - -File: hledger.info, Node: close and prices, Next: close date, Up: close - -11.10.1 close and prices ------------------------- - -Transaction prices are ignored (and discarded) by closing/opening -transactions, by default. With '--show-costs', they are preserved; -there will be a separate equity posting for each cost in each commodity. -This means 'balance -B' reports will look the same after the transition. -Note if you have many foreign currency or investment transactions, this -will generate very large journal entries. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: close date, Next: Example close asset/liability accounts for file transition, Prev: close and prices, Up: close - -11.10.2 close date ------------------- - -The default closing date is yesterday, or the journal's end date, -whichever is later. - - Unless you are running 'close' on exactly the first day of the new -period, you'll want to override the closing date. This is done by -specifying a report end date, where "last day of the report period" will -be the closing date. The opening date is always the following day. So -to close on (end of) 2020-12-31 and open on (start of) 2021-01-01, any -of these will work: - -end date explanation -argument -------------------------------------------------------------------- -'-e 2021-01-01' end dates are exclusive -'-e 2021' equivalent, per smart dates -'-p 2020' equivalent, the period's begin date is ignored -'date:2020' equivalent query - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Example close asset/liability accounts for file transition, Next: Hiding opening/closing transactions, Prev: close date, Up: close - -11.10.3 Example: close asset/liability accounts for file transition -------------------------------------------------------------------- - -Carrying asset/liability balances from 2020.journal into a new file for -2021: - -$ hledger close -f 2020.journal -p 2020 assets liabilities -# copy/paste the closing transaction to the end of 2020.journal -# copy/paste the opening transaction to the start of 2021.journal - - Or: - -$ hledger close -f 2020.journal -p 2020 assets liabilities --open >> 2021.journal # add 2021's first transaction -$ hledger close -f 2020.journal -p 2020 assets liabilities --close >> 2020.journal # add 2020's last transaction - - Now, - -$ hledger bs -f 2021.journal # just new file - balances correct -$ hledger bs -f 2020.journal -f 2021.journal # old and new files - balances correct -$ hledger bs -f 2020.journal # just old files - balances are zero ? - # (exclude final closing txn, see below) - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Hiding opening/closing transactions, Next: close and balance assertions, Prev: Example close asset/liability accounts for file transition, Up: close - -11.10.4 Hiding opening/closing transactions -------------------------------------------- - -Although the closing/opening transactions cancel out, they will be -visible in reports like 'print' and 'register', creating some visual -clutter. You can exclude them all with a query, like: - -$ hledger print not:desc:'opening|closing' # less typing -$ hledger print not:'equity:opening/closing balances' # more precise - - But when reporting on multiple files, this can get a bit tricky; you -may need to keep the earliest opening balances, for a historical -register report; or you may need to suppress a closing transaction, to -see year-end balances. If you find yourself needing more precise -queries, here's one solution: add more easily-matched tags to -opening/closing transactions, like this: - -; 2019.journal -2019-01-01 opening balances ; earliest opening txn, no tag here -... -2019-12-31 closing balances ; clopen:2020 -... - -; 2020.journal -2020-01-01 opening balances ; clopen:2020 -... -2020-12-31 closing balances ; clopen:2021 -... - -; 2021.journal -2021-01-01 opening balances ; clopen:2021 -... - - Now with - -; all.journal -include 2019.journal -include 2020.journal -include 2021.journal - - you could do eg: - -$ hledger -f all.journal reg -H checking not:tag:clopen - # all years checking register, hiding non-essential opening/closing txns - -$ hledger -f all.journal bs -p 2020 not:tag:clopen=2020 - # 2020 year end balances, suppressing 2020 closing txn - - -File: hledger.info, Node: close and balance assertions, Next: Example close revenue/expense accounts to retained earnings, Prev: Hiding opening/closing transactions, Up: close - -11.10.5 close and balance assertions ------------------------------------- - -The closing and opening transactions will include balance assertions, -verifying that the accounts have first been reset to zero and then -restored to their previous balance. These provide valuable error -checking, alerting you when things get out of line, but you can ignore -them temporarily with '-I' or just remove them if you prefer. - - You probably shouldn't use status or realness filters (like -C or -R -or 'status:') with 'close', or the generated balance assertions will -depend on these flags. Likewise, if you run this command with '--auto', -the balance assertions would probably always require '--auto'. - - Multi-day transactions (where some postings have a different date) -break the balance assertions, because the money is temporarily -"invisible" while in transit: - -2020/12/30 a purchase made in december, cleared in the next year - expenses:food 5 - assets:bank:checking -5 ; date: 2021/1/2 - - To fix the assertions, you can add a temporary account to track such -in-transit money (splitting the multi-day transaction into two -single-day transactions): - -; in 2020.journal: -2020/12/30 a purchase made in december, cleared in the next year - expenses:food 5 - liabilities:pending - -; in 2021.journal: -2021/1/2 clearance of last year's pending transactions - liabilities:pending 5 = 0 - assets:bank:checking - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Example close revenue/expense accounts to retained earnings, Prev: close and balance assertions, Up: close - -11.10.6 Example: close revenue/expense accounts to retained earnings --------------------------------------------------------------------- - -For this, use '--close' to suppress the opening transaction, as it's not -needed. Also you'll want to change the equity account name to your -equivalent of "equity:retained earnings". - - Closing 2021's first quarter revenues/expenses: - -$ hledger close -f 2021.journal --close revenues expenses -p 2021Q1 \ - --close-acct='equity:retained earnings' >> 2021.journal - - The same, using the default journal and current year: - -$ hledger close --close revenues expenses -p Q1 \ - --close-acct='equity:retained earnings' >> $LEDGER_FILE - - Now, the first quarter's balance sheet should show a zero (unless you -are using @/@@ notation without equity postings): - -$ hledger bse -p Q1 - - And we must suppress the closing transaction to see the first -quarter's income statement (using the description; 'not:'retained -earnings'' won't work here): - -$ hledger is -p Q1 not:desc:'closing balances' - - -File: hledger.info, Node: codes, Next: commodities, Prev: close, Up: COMMANDS - -11.11 codes -=========== - -codes -List the codes seen in transactions, in the order parsed. - - This command prints the value of each transaction'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. - - Transactions aren't required to have a code, and missing or empty -codes will not be shown by default. With the '-E'/'--empty' flag, they -will be printed as blank lines. - - You can add a query to select a subset of transactions. - - Examples: - -1/1 (123) - (a) 1 - -1/1 () - (a) 1 - -1/1 - (a) 1 - -1/1 (126) - (a) 1 - -$ hledger codes -123 -124 -126 - -$ hledger codes -E -123 -124 - - -126 - - -File: hledger.info, Node: commodities, Next: descriptions, Prev: codes, Up: COMMANDS - -11.12 commodities -================= - -commodities -List all commodity/currency symbols used or declared in the journal. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: descriptions, Next: diff, Prev: commodities, Up: COMMANDS - -11.13 descriptions -================== - -descriptions -List the unique descriptions that appear in transactions. - - This command lists the unique descriptions that appear in -transactions, in alphabetic order. You can add a query to select a -subset of transactions. - - Example: - -$ hledger descriptions -Store Name -Gas Station | Petrol -Person A - - -File: hledger.info, Node: diff, Next: files, Prev: descriptions, Up: COMMANDS - -11.14 diff -========== - -diff -Compares a particular account's transactions in two input files. It -shows any transactions to this account which are in one file but not in -the other. - - 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. - - This is useful eg if you have downloaded an account'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. - - Examples: - -$ 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: - - -File: hledger.info, Node: files, Next: help, Prev: diff, Up: COMMANDS - -11.15 files -=========== - -files -List all files included in the journal. With a REGEX argument, only -file names matching the regular expression (case sensitive) are shown. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: help, Next: import, Prev: files, Up: COMMANDS - -11.16 help -========== - -help -Show the hledger user manual in one of several formats, optionally -positioned at a given TOPIC (if possible). - - TOPIC is any heading in the manual, or the start of any heading (but -not the middle). It is case insensitive. - - Some examples: 'commands', 'print', 'forecast', '"auto postings"', -'"commodity column"'. - - This command shows the user manual built in to this hledger version. -It can be useful if the correct version of the hledger manual, or the -usual viewing tools, are not installed on your system. - - By default it uses the best viewer it can find in $PATH, in this -order: 'info', 'man', $PAGER (unless a topic is specified), 'less', or -stdout. When run non-interactively, it always uses stdout. Or you can -select a particular viewer with the '-i' (info), '-m' (man), or '-p' -(pager) flags. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: import, Next: incomestatement, Prev: help, Up: COMMANDS - -11.17 import -============ - -import -Read new transactions added to each FILE since last run, and add them to -the main journal file. Or with -dry-run, just print the transactions -that would be added. Or with -catchup, just mark all of the FILEs' -transactions as imported, without actually importing any. - - Unlike other hledger commands, with 'import' 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 -'hledger import bank.csv' or perhaps 'hledger import *.csv'. - - Note you can import from any file format, though CSV files are the -most common import source, and these docs focus on that case. - -* Menu: - -* Deduplication:: -* Import testing:: -* Importing balance assignments:: -* Commodity display styles:: - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Deduplication, Next: Import testing, Up: import - -11.17.1 Deduplication ---------------------- - -As a convenience 'import' does _deduplication_ while reading -transactions. This does not mean "ignore transactions that look the -same", but rather "ignore transactions that have been seen before". -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 'hledger import bank.csv' and only new transactions will be -imported. ('import' is idempotent.) - - Since the items being read (CSV records, eg) often do not come with -unique identifiers, hledger detects new transactions by date, assuming -that: - - 1. new items always have the newest dates - 2. item dates do not change across reads - 3. and items with the same date remain in the same relative order - across reads. - - 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't matter (and if -you import often, the new transactions will be few, so less likely to be -the ones affected). - - hledger remembers the latest date processed in each input file by -saving a hidden ".latest" state file in the same directory. Eg when -reading 'finance/bank.csv', it will look for and update the -'finance/.latest.bank.csv' state file. The format is simple: one or -more lines containing the same ISO-format date (YYYY-MM-DD), meaning "I -have processed transactions up to this date, and this many of them on -that date." Normally you won't see or manipulate these state files -yourself. But if needed, you can delete them to reset the state (making -all transactions "new"), or you can construct them to "catch up" to a -certain date. - - Note deduplication (and updating of state files) can also be done by -'print --new', but this is less often used. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Import testing, Next: Importing balance assignments, Prev: Deduplication, Up: import - -11.17.2 Import testing ----------------------- - -With '--dry-run', 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: - -$ hledger import --dry bank.csv | hledger -f- -I print unknown - - or (live updating): - -$ ls bank.csv* | entr bash -c 'echo ====; hledger import --dry bank.csv | hledger -f- -I print unknown' - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Importing balance assignments, Next: Commodity display styles, Prev: Import testing, Up: import - -11.17.3 Importing balance assignments -------------------------------------- - -Entries added by import will have their posting amounts made explicit -(like 'hledger print -x'). This means that any balance assignments in -imported files must be evaluated; but, imported files don't get to see -the main file'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: - -$ hledger print IMPORTFILE [--new] >> $LEDGER_FILE - - (If you think import should leave amounts implicit like print does, -please test it and send a pull request.) - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Commodity display styles, Prev: Importing balance assignments, Up: import - -11.17.4 Commodity display styles --------------------------------- - -Imported amounts will be formatted according to the canonical commodity -styles (declared or inferred) in the main journal file. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: incomestatement, Next: notes, Prev: import, Up: COMMANDS - -11.18 incomestatement -===================== - -incomestatement, is - - This command displays an income statement, showing revenues and -expenses during one or more periods. Amounts are shown with normal -positive sign, as in conventional financial statements. - - The revenue and expense accounts shown are those accounts declared -with the 'Revenue' or 'Expense' type, or otherwise all accounts under a -top-level 'revenue' or 'income' or 'expense' account (case insensitive, -plurals allowed). - - Example: - -$ hledger incomestatement -Income Statement - -Revenues: - $-2 income - $-1 gifts - $-1 salary --------------------- - $-2 - -Expenses: - $2 expenses - $1 food - $1 supplies --------------------- - $2 - -Total: --------------------- - 0 - - This command is a higher-level variant of the 'balance' command, and -supports many of that command's features, such as multi-period reports. -It is similar to 'hledger balance '(revenues|income)' expenses', but -with smarter account detection, and revenues/income displayed with their -sign flipped. - - This command also supports the output destination and output format -options The output formats supported are 'txt', 'csv', 'html', and -(experimental) 'json'. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: notes, Next: payees, Prev: incomestatement, Up: COMMANDS - -11.19 notes -=========== - -notes -List the unique notes that appear in transactions. - - This command lists the unique notes that appear in transactions, in -alphabetic order. You can add a query to select a subset of -transactions. The note is the part of the transaction description after -a | character (or if there is no |, the whole description). - - Example: - -$ hledger notes -Petrol -Snacks - - -File: hledger.info, Node: payees, Next: prices, Prev: notes, Up: COMMANDS - -11.20 payees -============ - -payees -List the unique payee/payer names that appear in transactions. - - This command lists unique payee/payer names which have been declared -with payee directives (-declared), used in transaction descriptions -(-used), or both (the default). - - The payee/payer is the part of the transaction description before a | -character (or if there is no |, the whole description). - - You can add query arguments to select a subset of transactions. This -implies -used. - - Example: - -$ hledger payees -Store Name -Gas Station -Person A - - -File: hledger.info, Node: prices, Next: print, Prev: payees, Up: COMMANDS - -11.21 prices -============ - -prices -Print market price directives from the journal. With --infer-market-prices, generate additional market prices from transaction -prices. With -infer-reverse-prices, also generate market prices by -inverting transaction prices. Prices (and postings providing -transaction prices) can be filtered by a query. Price amounts are -displayed with their full precision. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: print, Next: print-unique, Prev: prices, Up: COMMANDS - -11.22 print -=========== - -print -Show transaction journal entries, sorted by date. - - The print command displays full journal entries (transactions) from -the journal file, sorted by date (or with '--date2', by secondary date). - - 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.) - - Amounts are shown right-aligned within each transaction (but not -across all transactions). - - 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. - - Eg: - -$ 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 $-1 - - print's output is usually a valid hledger journal, and you can -process it again with a second hledger command. This can be useful for -certain kinds of search, eg: - -# Show running total of food expenses paid from cash. -# -f- reads from stdin. -I/--ignore-assertions is sometimes needed. -$ hledger print assets:cash | hledger -f- -I reg expenses:food - - There are some situations where print's output can become -unparseable: - - * Valuation affects posting amounts but not balance assertion or - balance assignment amounts, potentially causing those to fail. - * Auto postings can generate postings with too many missing amounts. - - Normally, the journal entry'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 transaction price is -implied but not written, it will not appear in the output. You can use -the '-x'/'--explicit' flag to make all amounts and transaction prices -explicit, which can be useful for troubleshooting or for making your -journal more readable and robust against data entry errors. '-x' is -also implied by using any of '-B','-V','-X','--value'. - - Note, '-x'/'--explicit' 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. - - With '-B'/'--cost', amounts with transaction prices are converted to -cost using that price. This can be used for troubleshooting. - - With '-m'/'--match' and a STR argument, print will show at most one -transaction: the one one whose description is most similar to STR, and -is most recent. STR should contain at least two characters. If there -is no similar-enough match, no transaction will be shown. - - With '--new', hledger prints only transactions it has not seen on a -previous run. This uses the same deduplication system as the 'import' -command. (See import's docs for details.) - - This command also supports the output destination and output format -options The output formats supported are 'txt', 'csv', and -(experimental) 'json' and 'sql'. - - Here's an example of print's CSV output: - -$ hledger print -Ocsv -"txnidx","date","date2","status","code","description","comment","account","amount","commodity","credit","debit","posting-status","posting-comment" -"1","2008/01/01","","","","income","","assets:bank:checking","1","$","","1","","" -"1","2008/01/01","","","","income","","income:salary","-1","$","1","","","" -"2","2008/06/01","","","","gift","","assets:bank:checking","1","$","","1","","" -"2","2008/06/01","","","","gift","","income:gifts","-1","$","1","","","" -"3","2008/06/02","","","","save","","assets:bank:saving","1","$","","1","","" -"3","2008/06/02","","","","save","","assets:bank:checking","-1","$","1","","","" -"4","2008/06/03","","*","","eat & shop","","expenses:food","1","$","","1","","" -"4","2008/06/03","","*","","eat & shop","","expenses:supplies","1","$","","1","","" -"4","2008/06/03","","*","","eat & shop","","assets:cash","-2","$","2","","","" -"5","2008/12/31","","*","","pay off","","liabilities:debts","1","$","","1","","" -"5","2008/12/31","","*","","pay off","","assets:bank:checking","-1","$","1","","","" - - * There is one CSV record per posting, with the parent transaction's - fields repeated. - * The "txnidx" (transaction index) field shows which postings belong - to the same transaction. (This number might change if transactions - are reordered within the file, files are parsed/included in a - different order, etc.) - * The amount is separated into "commodity" (the symbol) and "amount" - (numeric quantity) fields. - * The numeric amount is repeated in either the "credit" or "debit" - column, for convenience. (Those names are not accurate in the - accounting sense; it just puts negative amounts under credit and - zero or greater amounts under debit.) - - -File: hledger.info, Node: print-unique, Next: register, Prev: print, Up: COMMANDS - -11.23 print-unique -================== - -print-unique -Print transactions which do not reuse an already-seen description. - - Example: - -$ cat unique.journal -1/1 test - (acct:one) 1 -2/2 test - (acct:two) 2 -$ LEDGER_FILE=unique.journal hledger print-unique -(-f option not supported) -2015/01/01 test - (acct:one) 1 - - -File: hledger.info, Node: register, Next: register-match, Prev: print-unique, Up: COMMANDS - -11.24 register -============== - -register, reg -Show postings and their running total. - - The register command displays matched postings, across all accounts, -in date order, with their running total or running historical balance. -(See also the 'aregister' command, which shows matched transactions in a -specific account.) - - register normally shows line per posting, but note that -multi-commodity amounts will occupy multiple lines (one line per -commodity). - - It is typically used with a query selecting a particular account, to -see that account's activity: - -$ 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 $-1 0 - - With -date2, it shows and sorts by secondary date instead. - - The '--historical'/'-H' flag adds the balance from any undisplayed -prior postings to the running total. This is useful when you want to -see only recent activity, with a historically accurate running balance: - -$ 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 $-1 0 - - The '--depth' option limits the amount of sub-account detail -displayed. - - The '--average'/'-A' flag shows the running average posting amount -instead of the running total (so, the final number displayed is the -average for the whole report period). This flag implies '--empty' (see -below). It is affected by '--historical'. It works best when showing -just one account and one commodity. - - The '--related'/'-r' flag shows the _other_ postings in the -transactions of the postings which would normally be shown. - - The '--invert' flag negates all amounts. For example, it can be used -on an income account where amounts are normally displayed as negative -numbers. It's also useful to show postings on the checking account -together with the related account: - -$ hledger register --related --invert assets:checking - - With a reporting interval, register shows summary postings, one per -interval, aggregating the postings to each account: - -$ hledger register --monthly income -2008/01 income:salary $-1 $-1 -2008/06 income:gifts $-1 $-2 - - Periods with no activity, and summary postings with a zero amount, -are not shown by default; use the '--empty'/'-E' flag to see them: - -$ 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 $-2 - - Often, you'll want to see just one line per interval. The '--depth' -option helps with this, causing subaccounts to be aggregated: - -$ hledger register --monthly assets --depth 1h -2008/01 assets $1 $1 -2008/06 assets $-1 0 -2008/12 assets $-1 $-1 - - Note when using report intervals, if you specify start/end dates -these will be adjusted outward if necessary to contain a whole number of -intervals. This ensures that the first and last intervals are full -length and comparable to the others in the report. - -* Menu: - -* Custom register output:: - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Custom register output, Up: register - -11.24.1 Custom register output ------------------------------- - -register uses the full terminal width by default, except on windows. -You can override this by setting the 'COLUMNS' environment variable (not -a bash shell variable) or by using the '--width'/'-w' option. - - The description and account columns normally share the space equally -(about half of (width - 40) each). You can adjust this by adding a -description width as part of -width's argument, comma-separated: -'--width W,D' . Here's a diagram (won't display correctly in -help): - -<--------------------------------- width (W) ----------------------------------> -date (10) description (D) account (W-41-D) amount (12) balance (12) -DDDDDDDDDD dddddddddddddddddddd aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa AAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAA - - and some examples: - -$ 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 $COLUMNS,40 # use terminal width, & description width 40 - - This command also supports the output destination and output format -options The output formats supported are 'txt', 'csv', and -(experimental) 'json'. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: register-match, Next: rewrite, Prev: register, Up: COMMANDS - -11.25 register-match -==================== - -register-match -Print the one posting whose transaction description is closest to DESC, -in the style of the register command. If there are multiple equally -good matches, it shows the most recent. Query options (options, not -arguments) can be used to restrict the search space. Helps -ledger-autosync detect already-seen transactions when importing. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: rewrite, Next: roi, Prev: register-match, Up: COMMANDS - -11.26 rewrite -============= - -rewrite -Print all transactions, rewriting the postings of matched transactions. -For now the only rewrite available is adding new postings, like print --auto. - - This is a start at a generic rewriter of transaction entries. It -reads the default journal and prints the transactions, like print, but -adds one or more specified postings to any transactions matching QUERY. -The posting amounts can be fixed, or a multiplier of the existing -transaction's first posting amount. - - Examples: - -$ hledger-rewrite.hs ^income --add-posting '(liabilities:tax) *.33 ; income tax' --add-posting '(reserve:gifts) $100' -$ hledger-rewrite.hs expenses:gifts --add-posting '(reserve:gifts) *-1"' -$ hledger-rewrite.hs -f rewrites.hledger - - rewrites.hledger may consist of entries like: - -= ^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 - - Note the single quotes to protect the dollar sign from bash, and the -two spaces between account and amount. - - More: - -$ hledger rewrite -- [QUERY] --add-posting "ACCT AMTEXPR" ... -$ hledger rewrite -- ^income --add-posting '(liabilities:tax) *.33' -$ hledger rewrite -- expenses:gifts --add-posting '(budget:gifts) *-1"' -$ hledger rewrite -- ^income --add-posting '(budget:foreign currency) *0.25 JPY; diversify' - - Argument for '--add-posting' option is a usual posting of transaction -with an exception for amount specification. More precisely, you can use -''*'' (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's -commodity. - -* Menu: - -* Re-write rules in a file:: -* Diff output format:: -* rewrite vs print --auto:: - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Re-write rules in a file, Next: Diff output format, Up: rewrite - -11.26.1 Re-write rules in a file --------------------------------- - -During the run this tool will execute so called "Automated Transactions" -found in any journal it process. I.e instead of specifying this -operations in command line you can put them in a journal file. - -$ rewrite-rules.journal - - Make contents look like this: - -= ^income - (liabilities:tax) *.33 - -= expenses:gifts - budget:gifts *-1 - assets:budget *1 - - Note that ''='' (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. - -$ hledger rewrite -- -f input.journal -f rewrite-rules.journal > rewritten-tidy-output.journal - - This is something similar to the commands pipeline: - -$ hledger rewrite -- -f input.journal '^income' --add-posting '(liabilities:tax) *.33' \ - | hledger rewrite -- -f - expenses:gifts --add-posting 'budget:gifts *-1' \ - --add-posting 'assets:budget *1' \ - > rewritten-tidy-output.journal - - It is important to understand that relative order of such entries in -journal is important. You can re-use result of previously added -postings. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Diff output format, Next: rewrite vs print --auto, Prev: Re-write rules in a file, Up: rewrite - -11.26.2 Diff output format --------------------------- - -To use this tool for batch modification of your journal files you may -find useful output in form of unified diff. - -$ hledger rewrite -- --diff -f examples/sample.journal '^income' --add-posting '(liabilities:tax) *.33' - - Output might look like: - ---- /tmp/examples/sample.journal -+++ /tmp/examples/sample.journal -@@ -18,3 +18,4 @@ - 2008/01/01 income -- assets:bank:checking $1 -+ assets:bank:checking $1 - income:salary -+ (liabilities:tax) 0 -@@ -22,3 +23,4 @@ - 2008/06/01 gift -- assets:bank:checking $1 -+ assets:bank:checking $1 - income:gifts -+ (liabilities:tax) 0 - - If you'll pass this through 'patch' tool you'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 '--file' options and 'include' directives inside of these -files. - - Be careful. Whole transaction being re-formatted in a style of -output from 'hledger print'. - - See also: - - https://github.com/simonmichael/hledger/issues/99 - - -File: hledger.info, Node: rewrite vs print --auto, Prev: Diff output format, Up: rewrite - -11.26.3 rewrite vs. print -auto -------------------------------- - -This command predates print -auto, and currently does much the same -thing, but with these differences: - - * with multiple files, rewrite lets rules in any file affect all - other files. print -auto uses standard directive scoping; rules - affect only child files. - - * rewrite's query limits which transactions can be rewritten; all are - printed. print -auto's query limits which transactions are - printed. - - * rewrite applies rules specified on command line or in the journal. - print -auto applies rules specified in the journal. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: roi, Next: stats, Prev: rewrite, Up: COMMANDS - -11.27 roi -========= - -roi -Shows the time-weighted (TWR) and money-weighted (IRR) rate of return on -your investments. - - At a minimum, you need to supply a query (which could be just an -account name) to select your investment(s) with '--inv', and another -query to identify your profit and loss transactions with '--pnl'. - - If you do not record changes in the value of your investment -manually, or do not require computation of time-weighted return (TWR), -'--pnl' could be an empty query ('--pnl ""' or '--pnl STR' where 'STR' -does not match any of your accounts). - - 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. - - Price directives will be taken into account if you supply appropriate -'--cost' or '--value' flags (see VALUATION). - - Note, in some cases this report can fail, for these reasons: - - * 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. - * Error (SearchFailed): Failed to find solution for Internal Rate of - Return (IRR). Either search does not converge to a solution, or - converges too slowly. - - Examples: - - * Using roi to compute total return of investment in stocks: - https://github.com/simonmichael/hledger/blob/master/examples/roi-unrealised.ledger - - * Cookbook -> Return on Investment - -* Menu: - -* Spaces and special characters in --inv and --pnl:: -* Semantics of --inv and --pnl:: -* IRR and TWR explained:: - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Spaces and special characters in --inv and --pnl, Next: Semantics of --inv and --pnl, Up: roi - -11.27.1 Spaces and special characters in '--inv' and ----------------------------------------------------- - -'--pnl' Note that '--inv' and '--pnl''s argument is a query, and queries -could have several space-separated terms (see QUERIES). - - To indicate that all search terms form single command-line argument, -you will need to put them in quotes (see Special characters): - -$ hledger roi --inv 'term1 term2 term3 ...' - - If any query terms contain spaces themselves, you will need an extra -level of nested quoting, eg: - -$ hledger roi --inv="'Assets:Test 1'" --pnl="'Equity:Unrealized Profit and Loss'" - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Semantics of --inv and --pnl, Next: IRR and TWR explained, Prev: Spaces and special characters in --inv and --pnl, Up: roi - -11.27.2 Semantics of '--inv' and '--pnl' ----------------------------------------- - -Query supplied to '--inv' has to match all transactions that are related -to your investment. Transactions not matching '--inv' will be ignored. - - In these transactions, ROI will conside postings that match '--inv' -to be "investment postings" and other postings (not matching '--inv') -will be sorted into two categories: "cash flow" and "profit and loss", -as ROI needs to know which part of the investment value is your -contributions and which is due to the return on investment. - - * "Cash flow" is depositing or withdrawing money, buying or selling - assets, or otherwise converting between your investment commodity - and any other commodity. Example: - - 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 - - * "Profit and loss" is change in the value of your investment: - - 2019-06-01 Snake Oil falls in value - investment:snake oil = $57 - equity:unrealized profit or loss - - All non-investment postings are assumed to be "cash flow", unless -they match '--pnl' query. Changes in value of your investment due to -"profit and loss" postings will be considered as part of your investment -return. - - Example: if you use '--inv snake --pnl equity:unrealized', then -postings in the example below would be classifed as: - -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 - - -File: hledger.info, Node: IRR and TWR explained, Prev: Semantics of --inv and --pnl, Up: roi - -11.27.3 IRR and TWR explained ------------------------------ - -"ROI" stands for "return on investment". Traditionally this was -computed as a difference between current value of investment and its -initial value, expressed in percentage of the initial value. - - 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. - - Internal rate of return, or "IRR" (also called "money-weighted rate -of return") 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. - - As mentioned before, in-flows and out-flows would be any cash that -you personally put in or withdraw, and for the "roi" command, these are -the postings that match the query in the'--inv' argument and NOT match -the query in the'--pnl' argument. - - If you manually record changes in the value of your investment as -transactions that balance them against "profit and loss" (or "unrealized -gains") 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. - - 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't done -discounted cash flow analysis before. Implementation of IRR in hledger -should produce results that match the 'XIRR' formula in Excel. - - Second way to compute rate of return that 'roi' command implements is -called "time-weighted rate of return" or "TWR". 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. - - TWR represents your investment as an imaginary "unit fund" where -in-flows/ out-flows lead to buying or selling "units" of your investment -and changes in its value change the value of "investment unit". Change -in "unit price" over the reporting period gives you rate of return of -your investment. - - References: * Explanation of rate of return * Explanation of IRR * -Explanation of TWR * Examples of computing IRR and TWR and discussion of -the limitations of both metrics - - -File: hledger.info, Node: stats, Next: tags, Prev: roi, Up: COMMANDS - -11.28 stats -=========== - -stats -Show some journal statistics. - - 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. - - Example: - -$ hledger stats -Main journal file : /src/hledger/examples/sample.journal -Included journal files : -Transactions span : 2008-01-01 to 2009-01-01 (366 days) -Last transaction : 2008-12-31 (2333 days ago) -Transactions : 5 (0.0 per day) -Transactions last 30 days: 0 (0.0 per day) -Transactions last 7 days : 0 (0.0 per day) -Payees/descriptions : 5 -Accounts : 8 (depth 3) -Commodities : 1 ($) -Market prices : 12 ($) - - This command also supports output destination and output format -selection. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: tags, Next: test, Prev: stats, Up: COMMANDS - -11.29 tags -========== - -tags -List the unique tag names used in the journal. With a TAGREGEX -argument, only tag names matching the regular expression (case -insensitive) are shown. With QUERY arguments, only transactions -matching the query are considered. - - With the -values flag, the tags' unique values are listed instead. - - With -parsed flag, all tags or values are shown in the order they are -parsed from the input data, including duplicates. - - With -E/-empty, any blank/empty values will also be shown, otherwise -they are omitted. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: test, Next: About add-on commands, Prev: tags, Up: COMMANDS - -11.30 test -========== - -test -Run built-in unit tests. - - 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. - - 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! - - 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: - -$ hledger test -- -pData.Amount --color=never - - For help on these, see https://github.com/feuerbach/tasty#options -('-- --help' currently doesn't show them). - - -File: hledger.info, Node: About add-on commands, Prev: test, Up: COMMANDS - -11.31 About add-on commands -=========================== - -Add-on commands are programs or scripts in your PATH - - * whose name starts with 'hledger-' - * whose name ends with a recognised file extension: - '.bat','.com','.exe', '.hs','.lhs','.pl','.py','.rb','.rkt','.sh' - or none - * and (on unix, mac) which are executable by the current user. - - Add-ons are a relatively easy way to add local features or experiment -with new ideas. They can be written in any language, but haskell -scripts have a big advantage: they can use the same hledger library -functions that built-in commands use for command-line options, parsing -and reporting. Some experimental/example add-on scripts can be found in -the hledger repo's bin/ directory. - - Note in a hledger command line, add-on command flags must have a -double dash ('--') preceding them. Eg you must write: - -$ hledger web -- --serve - - and not: - -$ hledger web --serve - - (because the '--serve' flag belongs to 'hledger-web', not 'hledger'). - - The '-h/--help' and '--version' flags don't require '--'. - - If you have any trouble with this, remember you can always run the -add-on program directly, eg: - -$ hledger-web --serve - - -File: hledger.info, Node: JOURNAL FORMAT, Next: CSV FORMAT, Prev: COMMANDS, Up: Top - -12 JOURNAL FORMAT -***************** - -hledger's default file format, representing a General Journal. - - hledger's usual data source is a plain text file containing journal -entries in hledger journal format. This file represents a standard -accounting general journal. I use file names ending in '.journal', but -that's not required. The journal file contains a number of transaction -entries, each describing a transfer of money (or any commodity) between -two or more named accounts, in a simple format readable by both hledger -and humans. - - hledger's journal format is a compatible subset, mostly, of ledger's -journal format, so hledger can work with compatible ledger journal files -as well. It's safe, and encouraged, to run both hledger and ledger on -the same journal file, eg to validate the results you're getting. - - You can use hledger without learning any more about this file; just -use the add or web or import commands to create and update it. - - Many users, though, edit the journal file with a text editor, and -track changes with a version control system such as git. Editor addons -such as ledger-mode or hledger-mode for Emacs, vim-ledger for Vim, and -hledger-vscode for Visual Studio Code, make this easier, adding colour, -formatting, tab completion, and useful commands. See Editor -configuration at hledger.org for the full list. - - Here's a description of each part of the file format (and hledger's -data model). These are mostly in the order you'll use them, but in some -cases related concepts have been grouped together for easy reference, or -linked before they are introduced, so feel free to skip over anything -that looks unnecessary right now. - -* Menu: - -* Transactions:: -* Dates:: -* Status:: -* Code:: -* Description:: -* Comments:: -* Tags:: -* Postings:: -* Account names:: -* Amounts:: -* Transaction prices:: -* Lot prices lot dates:: -* Balance assertions:: -* Balance assignments:: -* Directives:: -* Directives and multiple files:: -* Comment blocks:: -* Including other files:: -* Default year:: -* Declaring payees:: -* Declaring commodities:: -* Default commodity:: -* Declaring market prices:: -* Declaring accounts:: -* Rewriting accounts:: -* Default parent account:: -* Periodic transactions:: -* Auto postings:: - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Transactions, Next: Dates, Up: JOURNAL FORMAT - -12.1 Transactions -================= - -Transactions are the main unit of information in a journal file. They -represent events, typically a movement of some quantity of commodities -between two or more named accounts. - - Each transaction is recorded as a journal entry, beginning with a -simple date in column 0. This can be followed by any of the following -optional fields, separated by spaces: - - * a status character (empty, '!', or '*') - * a code (any short number or text, enclosed in parentheses) - * a description (any remaining text until end of line or a semicolon) - * a comment (any remaining text following a semicolon until end of - line, and any following indented lines beginning with a semicolon) - * 0 or more indented _posting_ lines, describing what was transferred - and the accounts involved (indented comment lines are also allowed, - but not blank lines or non-indented lines). - - Here's a simple journal file containing one transaction: - -2008/01/01 income - assets:bank:checking $1 - income:salary $-1 - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Dates, Next: Status, Prev: Transactions, Up: JOURNAL FORMAT - -12.2 Dates -========== - -* Menu: - -* Simple dates:: -* Secondary dates:: -* Posting dates:: - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Simple dates, Next: Secondary dates, Up: Dates - -12.2.1 Simple dates -------------------- - -Dates in the journal file use _simple dates_ format: 'YYYY-MM-DD' or -'YYYY/MM/DD' or 'YYYY.MM.DD', with leading zeros optional. The year may -be omitted, in which case it will be inferred from the context: the -current transaction, the default year set with a default year directive, -or the current date when the command is run. Some examples: -'2010-01-31', '2010/01/31', '2010.1.31', '1/31'. - - (The UI also accepts simple dates, as well as the more flexible smart -dates documented in the hledger manual.) - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Secondary dates, Next: Posting dates, Prev: Simple dates, Up: Dates - -12.2.2 Secondary dates ----------------------- - -Real-life transactions sometimes involve more than one date - eg the -date you write a cheque, and the date it clears in your bank. When you -want to model this, for more accurate daily balances, you can specify -individual posting dates. - - Or, you can use the older _secondary date_ feature (Ledger calls it -auxiliary date or effective date). Note: we support this for -compatibility, but I usually recommend avoiding this feature; posting -dates are almost always clearer and simpler. - - A secondary date is written after the primary date, following an -equals sign. If the year is omitted, the primary date's year is -assumed. When running reports, the primary (left) date is used by -default, but with the '--date2' flag (or '--aux-date' or '--effective'), -the secondary (right) date will be used instead. - - The meaning of secondary dates is up to you, but it's best to follow -a consistent rule. Eg "primary = the bank's clearing date, secondary = -date the transaction was initiated, if different", as shown here: - -2010/2/23=2/19 movie ticket - expenses:cinema $10 - assets:checking - -$ hledger register checking -2010-02-23 movie ticket assets:checking $-10 $-10 - -$ hledger register checking --date2 -2010-02-19 movie ticket assets:checking $-10 $-10 - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Posting dates, Prev: Secondary dates, Up: Dates - -12.2.3 Posting dates --------------------- - -You can give individual postings a different date from their parent -transaction, by adding a posting comment containing a tag (see below) -like 'date:DATE'. This is probably the best way to control posting -dates precisely. Eg in this example the expense should appear in May -reports, and the deduction from checking should be reported on 6/1 for -easy bank reconciliation: - -2015/5/30 - expenses:food $10 ; food purchased on saturday 5/30 - assets:checking ; bank cleared it on monday, date:6/1 - -$ hledger -f t.j register food -2015-05-30 expenses:food $10 $10 - -$ hledger -f t.j register checking -2015-06-01 assets:checking $-10 $-10 - - DATE should be a simple date; if the year is not specified it will -use the year of the transaction's date. You can set the secondary date -similarly, with 'date2:DATE2'. The 'date:' or 'date2:' tags must have a -valid simple date value if they are present, eg a 'date:' tag with no -value is not allowed. - - Ledger's earlier, more compact bracketed date syntax is also -supported: '[DATE]', '[DATE=DATE2]' or '[=DATE2]'. hledger will attempt -to parse any square-bracketed sequence of the '0123456789/-.=' -characters in this way. With this syntax, DATE infers its year from the -transaction and DATE2 infers its year from DATE. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Status, Next: Code, Prev: Dates, Up: JOURNAL FORMAT - -12.3 Status -=========== - -Transactions, or individual postings within a transaction, can have a -status mark, which is a single character before the transaction -description or posting account name, separated from it by a space, -indicating one of three statuses: - -mark status - ------------------ - unmarked -'!' pending -'*' cleared - - When reporting, you can filter by status with the '-U/--unmarked', -'-P/--pending', and '-C/--cleared' flags; or the 'status:', 'status:!', -and 'status:*' queries; or the U, P, C keys in hledger-ui. - - Note, in Ledger and in older versions of hledger, the "unmarked" -state is called "uncleared". As of hledger 1.3 we have renamed it to -unmarked for clarity. - - To replicate Ledger and old hledger's behaviour of also matching -pending, combine -U and -P. - - Status marks are optional, but can be helpful eg for reconciling with -real-world accounts. Some editor modes provide highlighting and -shortcuts for working with status. Eg in Emacs ledger-mode, you can -toggle transaction status with C-c C-e, or posting status with C-c C-c. - - What "uncleared", "pending", and "cleared" actually mean is up to -you. Here's one suggestion: - -status meaning --------------------------------------------------------------------------- -uncleared recorded but not yet reconciled; needs review -pending tentatively reconciled (if needed, eg during a big - reconciliation) -cleared complete, reconciled as far as possible, and considered - correct - - With this scheme, you would use '-PC' to see the current balance at -your bank, '-U' to see things which will probably hit your bank soon -(like uncashed checks), and no flags to see the most up-to-date state of -your finances. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Code, Next: Description, Prev: Status, Up: JOURNAL FORMAT - -12.4 Code -========= - -After the status mark, but before the description, you can optionally -write a transaction "code", enclosed in parentheses. This is a good -place to record a check number, or some other important transaction id -or reference number. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Description, Next: Comments, Prev: Code, Up: JOURNAL FORMAT - -12.5 Description -================ - -A transaction's description is the rest of the line following the date -and status mark (or until a comment begins). Sometimes called the -"narration" in traditional bookkeeping, it can be used for whatever you -wish, or left blank. Transaction descriptions can be queried, unlike -comments. - -* Menu: - -* Payee and note:: - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Payee and note, Up: Description - -12.5.1 Payee and note ---------------------- - -You can optionally include a '|' (pipe) character in descriptions to -subdivide the description into separate fields for payee/payer name on -the left (up to the first '|') and an additional note field on the right -(after the first '|'). This may be worthwhile if you need to do more -precise querying and pivoting by payee or by note. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Comments, Next: Tags, Prev: Description, Up: JOURNAL FORMAT - -12.6 Comments -============= - -Lines in the journal beginning with a semicolon (';') or hash ('#') or -star ('*') are comments, and will be ignored. (Star comments cause -org-mode nodes to be ignored, allowing emacs users to fold and navigate -their journals with org-mode or orgstruct-mode.) - - You can attach comments to a transaction by writing them after the -description and/or indented on the following lines (before the -postings). Similarly, you can attach comments to an individual posting -by writing them after the amount and/or indented on the following lines. -Transaction and posting comments must begin with a semicolon (';'). - - Some examples: - -# a file comment -; another file comment -* also a file comment, useful in org/orgstruct mode - -comment -A multiline file comment, which continues -until a line containing just "end comment" -(or end of file). -end comment - -2012/5/14 something ; a transaction comment - ; the transaction comment, continued - posting1 1 ; a comment for posting 1 - posting2 - ; a comment for posting 2 - ; another comment line for posting 2 -; a file comment (because not indented) - - You can also comment larger regions of a file using 'comment' and -'end comment' directives. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Tags, Next: Postings, Prev: Comments, Up: JOURNAL FORMAT - -12.7 Tags -========= - -Tags are a way to add extra labels or labelled data to postings and -transactions, which you can then search or pivot on. - - A simple tag is a word (which may contain hyphens) followed by a full -colon, written inside a transaction or posting comment line: - -2017/1/16 bought groceries ; sometag: - - Tags can have a value, which is the text after the colon, up to the -next comma or end of line, with leading/trailing whitespace removed: - - expenses:food $10 ; a-posting-tag: the tag value - - Note this means hledger's tag values can not contain commas or -newlines. Ending at commas means you can write multiple short tags on -one line, comma separated: - - assets:checking ; a comment containing tag1:, tag2: some value ... - - Here, - - * "'a comment containing'" is just comment text, not a tag - * "'tag1'" is a tag with no value - * "'tag2'" is another tag, whose value is "'some value ...'" - - Tags in a transaction comment affect the transaction and all of its -postings, while tags in a posting comment affect only that posting. For -example, the following transaction has three tags ('A', 'TAG2', -'third-tag') and the posting has four (those plus 'posting-tag'): - -1/1 a transaction ; A:, TAG2: - ; third-tag: a third transaction tag, <- with a value - (a) $1 ; posting-tag: - - Tags are like Ledger's metadata feature, except hledger's tag values -are simple strings. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Postings, Next: Account names, Prev: Tags, Up: JOURNAL FORMAT - -12.8 Postings -============= - -A posting is an addition of some amount to, or removal of some amount -from, an account. Each posting line begins with at least one space or -tab (2 or 4 spaces is common), followed by: - - * (optional) a status character (empty, '!', or '*'), followed by a - space - * (required) an account name (any text, optionally containing *single - spaces*, until end of line or a double space) - * (optional) *two or more spaces* or tabs followed by an amount. - - Positive amounts are being added to the account, negative amounts are -being removed. - - The amounts within a transaction must always sum up to zero. As a -convenience, one amount may be left blank; it will be inferred so as to -balance the transaction. - - Be sure to note the unusual two-space delimiter between account name -and amount. This makes it easy to write account names containing -spaces. But if you accidentally leave only one space (or tab) before -the amount, the amount will be considered part of the account name. - -* Menu: - -* Virtual postings:: - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Virtual postings, Up: Postings - -12.8.1 Virtual postings ------------------------ - -A posting with a parenthesised account name is called a _virtual -posting_ or _unbalanced posting_, which means it is exempt from the -usual rule that a transaction's postings must balance add up to zero. - - This is not part of double entry accounting, so you might choose to -avoid this feature. Or you can use it sparingly for certain special -cases where it can be convenient. Eg, you could set opening balances -without using a balancing equity account: - -1/1 opening balances - (assets:checking) $1000 - (assets:savings) $2000 - - A posting with a bracketed account name is called a _balanced virtual -posting_. The balanced virtual postings in a transaction must add up to -zero (separately from other postings). Eg: - -1/1 buy food with cash, update budget envelope subaccounts, & something else - assets:cash $-10 ; <- these balance - expenses:food $7 ; <- - expenses:food $3 ; <- - [assets:checking:budget:food] $-10 ; <- and these balance - [assets:checking:available] $10 ; <- - (something:else) $5 ; <- not required to balance - - Ordinary non-parenthesised, non-bracketed postings are called _real -postings_. You can exclude virtual postings from reports with the -'-R/--real' flag or 'real:1' query. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Account names, Next: Amounts, Prev: Postings, Up: JOURNAL FORMAT - -12.9 Account names -================== - -Account names typically have several parts separated by a full colon, -from which hledger derives a hierarchical chart of accounts. They can -be anything you like, but in finance there are traditionally five -top-level accounts: 'assets', 'liabilities', 'revenue', 'expenses', and -'equity'. - - Account names may contain single spaces, eg: 'assets:accounts -receivable'. Because of this, they must always be followed by *two or -more spaces* (or newline). - - Account names can be aliased. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Amounts, Next: Transaction prices, Prev: Account names, Up: JOURNAL FORMAT - -12.10 Amounts -============= - -After the account name, there is usually an amount. (Important: between -account name and amount, there must be *two or more spaces*.) - - hledger's amount format is flexible, supporting several international -formats. Here are some examples. Amounts have a number (the -"quantity"): - -1 - - ..and usually a currency symbol or commodity name (more on this -below), to the left or right of the quantity, with or without a -separating space: - -$1 -4000 AAPL -3 "green apples" - - 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: - --$1 -$-1 - - One or more spaces between the sign and the number are acceptable -when parsing (but they won't be displayed in output): - -+ $1 -$- 1 - - Scientific E notation is allowed: - -1E-6 -EUR 1E3 - -* Menu: - -* Decimal marks digit group marks:: -* Commodity:: -* Commodity directives:: -* Commodity display style:: -* Rounding:: - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Decimal marks digit group marks, Next: Commodity, Up: Amounts - -12.10.1 Decimal marks, digit group marks ----------------------------------------- - -A decimal mark can be written as a period or a comma: - -1.23 -1,23456780000009 - - In the integer part of the quantity (left of the decimal mark), -groups of digits can optionally be separated by a "digit group mark" - a -space, comma, or period (different from the decimal mark): - - $1,000,000.00 - EUR 2.000.000,00 -INR 9,99,99,999.00 - 1 000 000.9455 - - Note, a number containing a single digit group mark and no decimal -mark is ambiguous. Are these digit group marks or decimal marks ? - -1,000 -1.000 - - If you don't tell it otherwise, hledger will assume both of the above -are decimal marks, parsing both numbers as 1. To prevent confusion and -undetected typos, we recommend adding 'commodity' directives at the top -of your journal file to explicitly declare the decimal mark (and -optionally a digit group mark) for each commodity. Read on for more -about this. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Commodity, Next: Commodity directives, Prev: Decimal marks digit group marks, Up: Amounts - -12.10.2 Commodity ------------------ - -Amounts in hledger have both a "quantity", which is a signed decimal -number, and a "commodity", which is a currency symbol, stock ticker, or -any word or phrase describing something you are tracking. - - If the commodity name contains non-letters (spaces, numbers, or -punctuation), you must always write it inside double quotes ('"green -apples"', '"ABC123"'). - - If you write just a bare number, that too will have a commodity, with -name '""'; we call that the "no-symbol commodity". - - 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: '1 USD, 2 EUR, 3.456 -TSLA'. In practice, you will only see multi-commodity amounts in -hledger's output; you can't write them directly in the journal file. - - (If you are writing scripts or working with hledger's internals, -these are the 'Amount' and 'MixedAmount' types.) - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Commodity directives, Next: Commodity display style, Prev: Commodity, Up: Amounts - -12.10.3 Commodity directives ----------------------------- - -You can add 'commodity' directives to the journal, preferably at the -top, to declare your commodities and help with number parsing (see -above) and display (see below). These are optional, but recommended. -They are described in more detail in JOURNAL FORMAT -> Declaring -commodities. Here's a quick example: - -# number format and display style for $, EUR, INR and the no-symbol commodity: -commodity $1,000.00 -commodity EUR 1.000,00 -commodity INR 9,99,99,999.00 -commodity 1 000 000.9455 - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Commodity display style, Next: Rounding, Prev: Commodity directives, Up: Amounts - -12.10.4 Commodity display style -------------------------------- - -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 'print' command, are displayed with all of -their decimal digits visible.) - - A commodity's display style is inferred as follows. - - First, if a default commodity is declared with 'D', this commodity -and its style is applied to any no-symbol amounts in the journal. - - Then each commodity's style is inferred from one of the following, in -order of preference: - - * The commodity directive for that commodity (including the no-symbol - commodity), if any. - * The amounts in that commodity seen in the journal's transactions. - (Posting amounts only; prices and periodic or auto rules are - ignored, currently.) - * The built-in fallback style, which looks like this: '$1000.00'. - (Symbol on the left, period decimal mark, two decimal places.) - - A style is inferred from journal amounts as follows: - - * Use the general style (decimal mark, symbol placement) of the first - amount - * Use the first-seen digit group style (digit group mark, digit group - sizes), if any - * Use the maximum number of decimal places of all. - - Transaction price amounts don't affect the commodity display style -directly, but occasionally they can do so indirectly (eg when a -posting's amount is inferred using a transaction price). If you find -this causing problems, use a commodity directive to fix the display -style. - - To summarise: each commodity's amounts will be normalised to (a) the -style declared by a 'commodity' 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't like, eg with too many decimal -places, use a commodity directive. Some examples: - -# 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. - - The inferred commodity style can be overridden by supplying a command -line option. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Rounding, Prev: Commodity display style, Up: Amounts - -12.10.5 Rounding ----------------- - -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's rounding: it -rounds to the nearest even number, eg 0.5 displayed with zero decimal -places is "0"). (Guaranteed since hledger 1.17.1; in older versions -this could vary if hledger was built with Decimal < 0.5.1.) - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Transaction prices, Next: Lot prices lot dates, Prev: Amounts, Up: JOURNAL FORMAT - -12.11 Transaction prices -======================== - -Within a transaction, you can note an amount's price in another -commodity. This can be used to document the cost (in a purchase) or -selling price (in a sale). For example, transaction prices are useful -to record purchases of a foreign currency. Note transaction prices are -fixed at the time of the transaction, and do not change over time. See -also market prices, which represent prevailing exchange rates on a -certain date. - - There are several ways to record a transaction price: - - 1. Write the price per unit, as '@ UNITPRICE' after the amount: - - 2009/1/1 - assets:euros €100 @ $1.35 ; one hundred euros purchased at $1.35 each - assets:dollars ; balancing amount is -$135.00 - - 2. Write the total price, as '@@ TOTALPRICE' after the amount: - - 2009/1/1 - assets:euros €100 @@ $135 ; one hundred euros purchased at $135 for the lot - assets:dollars - - 3. Specify amounts for all postings, using exactly two commodities, - and let hledger infer the price that balances the transaction: - - 2009/1/1 - assets:euros €100 ; one hundred euros purchased - assets:dollars $-135 ; for $135 - - 4. Like 1, but the '@' is parenthesised, i.e. '(@)'; this is for - compatibility with Ledger journals (Virtual posting costs), and is - equivalent to 1 in hledger. - - 5. Like 2, but as in 4 the '@@' is parenthesised, i.e. '(@@)'; in - hledger, this is equivalent to 2. - - Use the '-B/--cost' flag to convert amounts to their transaction -price's commodity, if any. (mnemonic: "B" is from "cost Basis", as in -Ledger). Eg here is how -B affects the balance report for the example -above: - -$ hledger bal -N --flat - $-135 assets:dollars - €100 assets:euros -$ hledger bal -N --flat -B - $-135 assets:dollars - $135 assets:euros # <- the euros' cost - - Note -B is sensitive to the order of postings when a transaction -price is inferred: the inferred price will be in the commodity of the -last amount. So if example 3's postings are reversed, while the -transaction is equivalent, -B shows something different: - -2009/1/1 - assets:dollars $-135 ; 135 dollars sold - assets:euros €100 ; for 100 euros - -$ hledger bal -N --flat -B - €-100 assets:dollars # <- the dollars' selling price - €100 assets:euros - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Lot prices lot dates, Next: Balance assertions, Prev: Transaction prices, Up: JOURNAL FORMAT - -12.12 Lot prices, lot dates -=========================== - -Ledger allows another kind of price, lot price (four variants: -'{UNITPRICE}', '{{TOTALPRICE}}', '{=FIXEDUNITPRICE}', -'{{=FIXEDTOTALPRICE}}'), and/or a lot date ('[DATE]') to be specified. -These are normally used to select a lot when selling investments. -hledger will parse these, for compatibility with Ledger journals, but -currently ignores them. A transaction price, lot price and/or lot date -may appear in any order, after the posting amount and before the balance -assertion if any. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Balance assertions, Next: Balance assignments, Prev: Lot prices lot dates, Up: JOURNAL FORMAT - -12.13 Balance assertions -======================== - -hledger supports Ledger-style balance assertions in journal files. -These look like, for example, '= EXPECTEDBALANCE' following a posting's -amount. Eg here we assert the expected dollar balance in accounts a and -b after each posting: - -2013/1/1 - a $1 =$1 - b =$-1 - -2013/1/2 - a $1 =$2 - b $-1 =$-2 - - After reading a journal file, hledger will check all balance -assertions and report an error if any of them fail. Balance assertions -can protect you from, eg, inadvertently disrupting reconciled balances -while cleaning up old entries. You can disable them temporarily with -the '-I/--ignore-assertions' flag, which can be useful for -troubleshooting or for reading Ledger files. (Note: this flag currently -does not disable balance assignments, below). - -* Menu: - -* Assertions and ordering:: -* Assertions and included files:: -* Assertions and multiple -f options:: -* Assertions and commodities:: -* Assertions and prices:: -* Assertions and subaccounts:: -* Assertions and virtual postings:: -* Assertions and precision:: - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Assertions and ordering, Next: Assertions and included files, Up: Balance assertions - -12.13.1 Assertions and ordering -------------------------------- - -hledger sorts an account's postings and assertions first by date and -then (for postings on the same day) by parse order. Note this is -different from Ledger, which sorts assertions only by parse order. -(Also, Ledger assertions do not see the accumulated effect of repeated -postings to the same account within a transaction.) - - So, hledger balance assertions keep working if you reorder -differently-dated transactions within the journal. But if you reorder -same-dated transactions or postings, assertions might break and require -updating. This order dependence does bring an advantage: precise -control over the order of postings and assertions within a day, so you -can assert intra-day balances. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Assertions and included files, Next: Assertions and multiple -f options, Prev: Assertions and ordering, Up: Balance assertions - -12.13.2 Assertions and included files -------------------------------------- - -With included files, things are a little more complicated. Including -preserves the ordering of postings and assertions. If you have multiple -postings to an account on the same day, split across different files, -and you also want to assert the account's balance on the same day, -you'll have to put the assertion in the right file. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Assertions and multiple -f options, Next: Assertions and commodities, Prev: Assertions and included files, Up: Balance assertions - -12.13.3 Assertions and multiple -f options ------------------------------------------- - -Balance assertions don't work well across files specified with multiple --f options. Use include or concatenate the files instead. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Assertions and commodities, Next: Assertions and prices, Prev: Assertions and multiple -f options, Up: Balance assertions - -12.13.4 Assertions and commodities ----------------------------------- - -The asserted balance must be a simple single-commodity amount, and in -fact the assertion checks only this commodity's balance within the -(possibly multi-commodity) account balance. This is how assertions work -in Ledger also. We could call this a "partial" balance assertion. - - To assert the balance of more than one commodity in an account, you -can write multiple postings, each asserting one commodity's balance. - - You can make a stronger "total" balance assertion by writing a double -equals sign ('== EXPECTEDBALANCE'). This asserts that there are no -other unasserted commodities in the account (or, that their balance is -0). - -2013/1/1 - a $1 - a 1€ - b $-1 - c -1€ - -2013/1/2 ; These assertions succeed - a 0 = $1 - a 0 = 1€ - b 0 == $-1 - c 0 == -1€ - -2013/1/3 ; This assertion fails as 'a' also contains 1€ - a 0 == $1 - - It's not yet possible to make a complete assertion about a balance -that has multiple commodities. One workaround is to isolate each -commodity into its own subaccount: - -2013/1/1 - a:usd $1 - a:euro 1€ - b - -2013/1/2 - a 0 == 0 - a:usd 0 == $1 - a:euro 0 == 1€ - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Assertions and prices, Next: Assertions and subaccounts, Prev: Assertions and commodities, Up: Balance assertions - -12.13.5 Assertions and prices ------------------------------ - -Balance assertions ignore transaction prices, and should normally be -written without one: - -2019/1/1 - (a) $1 @ €1 = $1 - - We do allow prices to be written there, however, and print shows -them, even though they don't affect whether the assertion passes or -fails. This is for backward compatibility (hledger's close command used -to generate balance assertions with prices), and because balance -_assignments_ do use them (see below). - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Assertions and subaccounts, Next: Assertions and virtual postings, Prev: Assertions and prices, Up: Balance assertions - -12.13.6 Assertions and subaccounts ----------------------------------- - -The balance assertions above ('=' and '==') do not count the balance -from subaccounts; they check the account's exclusive balance only. You -can assert the balance including subaccounts by writing '=*' or '==*', -eg: - -2019/1/1 - equity:opening balances - checking:a 5 - checking:b 5 - checking 1 ==* 11 - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Assertions and virtual postings, Next: Assertions and precision, Prev: Assertions and subaccounts, Up: Balance assertions - -12.13.7 Assertions and virtual postings ---------------------------------------- - -Balance assertions are checked against all postings, both real and -virtual. They are not affected by the '--real/-R' flag or 'real:' -query. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Assertions and precision, Prev: Assertions and virtual postings, Up: Balance assertions - -12.13.8 Assertions and precision --------------------------------- - -Balance assertions compare the exactly calculated amounts, which are not -always what is shown by reports. Eg a commodity directive may limit the -display precision, but this will not affect balance assertions. Balance -assertion failure messages show exact amounts. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Balance assignments, Next: Directives, Prev: Balance assertions, Up: JOURNAL FORMAT - -12.14 Balance assignments -========================= - -Ledger-style balance assignments are also supported. These are like -balance assertions, but with no posting amount on the left side of the -equals sign; instead it is calculated automatically so as to satisfy the -assertion. This can be a convenience during data entry, eg when setting -opening balances: - -; starting a new journal, set asset account balances -2016/1/1 opening balances - assets:checking = $409.32 - assets:savings = $735.24 - assets:cash = $42 - equity:opening balances - - or when adjusting a balance to reality: - -; no cash left; update balance, record any untracked spending as a generic expense -2016/1/15 - assets:cash = $0 - expenses:misc - - The calculated amount depends on the account's balance in the -commodity at that point (which depends on the previously-dated postings -of the commodity to that account since the last balance assertion or -assignment). Note that using balance assignments makes your journal a -little less explicit; to know the exact amount posted, you have to run -hledger or do the calculations yourself, instead of just reading it. - -* Menu: - -* Balance assignments and prices:: - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Balance assignments and prices, Up: Balance assignments - -12.14.1 Balance assignments and prices --------------------------------------- - -A transaction price in a balance assignment will cause the calculated -amount to have that price attached: - -2019/1/1 - (a) = $1 @ €2 - -$ hledger print --explicit -2019-01-01 - (a) $1 @ €2 = $1 @ €2 - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Directives, Next: Directives and multiple files, Prev: Balance assignments, Up: JOURNAL FORMAT - -12.15 Directives -================ - -A directive is a line in the journal beginning with a special keyword, -that influences how the journal is processed. hledger's directives are -based on a subset of Ledger's, but there are many differences (and also -some differences between hledger versions). - - Directives' behaviour and interactions can get a little bit complex, -so here is a table summarising the directives and their effects, with -links to more detailed docs. - -directiveend subdirectivespurpose can affect (as of - directive 2018/06) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ -'account' any document account names, all entries in - text declare account types & all files, before - display order or after -'alias' 'end rewrite account names following entries - aliases' until end of - current file or - end directive -'apply 'end prepend a common parent to following entries -account' apply account names until end of - account' current file or - end directive -'comment''end ignore part of journal following entries - comment' until end of - current file or - end directive -'commodity' 'format'declare a commodity and its number notation: - number notation & display following entries - style until end of - current file; - display style: - amounts of that - commodity in - reports -'D' declare a commodity to be default - used for commodityless commodity: - amounts, and its number following - notation & display style commodityless - entries until end - of current file; - number notation: - following entries - in that commodity - until end of - current file; - display style: - amounts of that - commodity in - reports -'include' include entries/directives what the included - from another file directives affect -'payee' declare a payee name following entries - until end of - current file -'P' declare a market price for amounts of that - a commodity commodity in - reports, when -V - is used -'Y' declare a year for yearless following entries - dates until end of - current file -'=' declare an auto posting all entries in - rule, adding postings to parent/current/child - other transactions files (but not - sibling files, - see #1212) - - And some definitions: - -subdirectiveoptional indented directive line immediately following a parent - directive -number how to interpret numbers when parsing journal entries (the -notationidentity of the decimal separator character). (Currently each - commodity can have its own notation, even in the same file.) -displayhow to display amounts of a commodity in reports (symbol side -style and spacing, digit groups, decimal separator, decimal places) -directivewhich entries and (when there are multiple files) which files -scope are affected by a directive - - As you can see, directives vary in which journal entries and files -they affect, and whether they are focussed on input (parsing) or output -(reports). Some directives have multiple effects. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Directives and multiple files, Next: Comment blocks, Prev: Directives, Up: JOURNAL FORMAT - -12.16 Directives and multiple files -=================================== - -If you use multiple '-f'/'--file' options, or the 'include' directive, -hledger will process multiple input files. But note that directives -which affect input (see above) typically last only until the end of the -file in which they occur. - - This may seem inconvenient, but it's intentional; it makes reports -stable and deterministic, independent of the order of input. Otherwise -you could see different numbers if you happened to write -f options in a -different order, or if you moved includes around while cleaning up your -files. - - It can be surprising though; for example, it means that 'alias' -directives do not affect parent or sibling files (see below). - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Comment blocks, Next: Including other files, Prev: Directives and multiple files, Up: JOURNAL FORMAT - -12.17 Comment blocks -==================== - -A line containing just 'comment' starts a commented region of the file, -and a line containing just 'end comment' (or the end of the current -file) ends it. See also comments. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Including other files, Next: Default year, Prev: Comment blocks, Up: JOURNAL FORMAT - -12.18 Including other files -=========================== - -You can pull in the content of additional files by writing an include -directive, like this: - -include FILEPATH - - Only journal files can include, and only journal, timeclock or -timedot files can be included (not CSV files, currently). - - If the file path does not begin with a slash, it is relative to the -current file's folder. - - A tilde means home directory, eg: 'include ~/main.journal'. - - The path may contain glob patterns to match multiple files, eg: -'include *.journal'. - - There is limited support for recursive wildcards: '**/' (the slash is -required) matches 0 or more subdirectories. It's not super convenient -since you have to avoid include cycles and including directories, but -this can be done, eg: 'include */**/*.journal'. - - The path may also be prefixed to force a specific file format, -overriding the file extension (as described in hledger.1 -> Input -files): 'include timedot:~/notes/2020*.md'. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Default year, Next: Declaring payees, Prev: Including other files, Up: JOURNAL FORMAT - -12.19 Default year -================== - -You can set a default year to be used for subsequent dates which don't -specify a year. This is a line beginning with 'Y' followed by the year. -Eg: - -Y2009 ; set default year to 2009 - -12/15 ; equivalent to 2009/12/15 - expenses 1 - assets - -Y2010 ; change default year to 2010 - -2009/1/30 ; specifies the year, not affected - expenses 1 - assets - -1/31 ; equivalent to 2010/1/31 - expenses 1 - assets - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Declaring payees, Next: Declaring commodities, Prev: Default year, Up: JOURNAL FORMAT - -12.20 Declaring payees -====================== - -The 'payee' directive can be used to declare a limited set of payees -which may appear in transaction descriptions. The "payees" check will -report an error if any transaction refers to a payee that has not been -declared. Eg: - -payee Whole Foods - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Declaring commodities, Next: Default commodity, Prev: Declaring payees, Up: JOURNAL FORMAT - -12.21 Declaring commodities -=========================== - -You can use 'commodity' directives to declare your commodities. In fact -the 'commodity' directive performs several functions at once: - - 1. It declares commodities which may be used in the journal. This can - optionally be enforced, providing useful error checking. (Cf - Commodity error checking) - - 2. 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 - '1,000' and '1.000' as 1. (Cf Amounts) - - 3. It declares how to render the commodity'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) - - 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. - - Generally you should put them at the top of your journal file (since -for function 2, they affect only following amounts, cf #793). - - A commodity directive is just the word 'commodity' followed by a -sample amount, like this: - -;commodity SAMPLEAMOUNT - -commodity $1000.00 -commodity 1,000.0000 AAAA ; optional same-line comment - - It may also be written on multiple lines, and use the 'format' -subdirective, as in Ledger. Note in this case the commodity symbol -appears twice; it must be the same in both places: - -;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 - - Remember that if the commodity symbol contains spaces, numbers, or -punctuation, it must be enclosed in double quotes (cf Commodity). - - The amount'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. - - A few more examples: - -# 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. - - Note hledger normally uses banker's rounding, so 0.5 displayed with -zero decimal digits is "0". (More at Commodity display style.) - - Even in the presence of commodity directives, the commodity display -style can still be overridden by supplying a command line option. - -* Menu: - -* Commodity error checking:: - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Commodity error checking, Up: Declaring commodities - -12.21.1 Commodity error checking --------------------------------- - -In strict mode, enabled with the '-s'/'--strict' flag, hledger will -report an error if a commodity symbol is used that has not been declared -by a 'commodity' directive. This works similarly to account error -checking, see the notes there for more details. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Default commodity, Next: Declaring market prices, Prev: Declaring commodities, Up: JOURNAL FORMAT - -12.22 Default commodity -======================= - -The 'D' 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 'D' directive, or the end -of the journal. - - For compatibility/historical reasons, 'D' also acts like a -'commodity' directive (setting the commodity's decimal mark for parsing -and display style for output). - - As with 'commodity', the amount must include a decimal mark (either -period or comma). If both 'commodity' and 'D' directives are used for -the same commodity, the 'commodity' style takes precedence. - - The syntax is 'D AMOUNT'. Eg: - -; 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 - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Declaring market prices, Next: Declaring accounts, Prev: Default commodity, Up: JOURNAL FORMAT - -12.23 Declaring market prices -============================= - -The 'P' directive declares a market price, which is an exchange rate -between two commodities on a certain date. (In Ledger, they are called -"historical prices".) These are often obtained from a stock exchange, -cryptocurrency exchange, or the foreign exchange market. - - The format is: - -P DATE COMMODITY1SYMBOL COMMODITY2AMOUNT - - 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: - -# 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 - - The '-V', '-X' and '--value' flags use these market prices to show -amount values in another commodity. See Valuation. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Declaring accounts, Next: Rewriting accounts, Prev: Declaring market prices, Up: JOURNAL FORMAT - -12.24 Declaring accounts -======================== - -'account' 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: - - * They can document your intended chart of accounts, providing a - reference. - * They can help hledger know your accounts' types (asset, liability, - equity, revenue, expense), useful for reports like balancesheet and - incomestatement. - * They control account display order in reports, allowing - non-alphabetic sorting (eg Revenues to appear above Expenses). - * They can store extra information about accounts (account numbers, - notes, etc.) - * They help with account name completion in the add command, - hledger-iadd, hledger-web, ledger-mode etc. - * In strict mode, they restrict which accounts may be posted to by - transactions, which helps detect typos. - - The simplest form is just the word 'account' followed by a -hledger-style account name, eg this account directive declares the -'assets:bank:checking' account: - -account assets:bank:checking - -* Menu: - -* Account error checking:: -* Account comments:: -* Account subdirectives:: -* Account types:: -* Account display order:: - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Account error checking, Next: Account comments, Up: Declaring accounts - -12.24.1 Account error checking ------------------------------- - -By default, accounts come into existence when a transaction references -them by name. This is convenient, but it means hledger can't warn you -when you mis-spell an account name in the journal. Usually you'll find -the error later, as an extra account in balance reports, or an incorrect -balance when reconciling. - - In strict mode, enabled with the '-s'/'--strict' flag, hledger will -report an error if any transaction uses an account name that has not -been declared by an account directive. Some notes: - - * The declaration is case-sensitive; transactions must use the - correct account name capitalisation. - * The account directive's scope is "whole file and below" (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's usual to put them at the top. - * Accounts can only be declared in 'journal' files (but will affect - included files in other formats). - * It's currently not possible to declare "all possible subaccounts" - with a wildcard; every account posted to must be declared. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Account comments, Next: Account subdirectives, Prev: Account error checking, Up: Declaring accounts - -12.24.2 Account comments ------------------------- - -Comments, beginning with a semicolon, can be added: - - * on the same line, *after two or more spaces* (because ; is allowed - in account names) - * on the next lines, indented - - An example of both: - -account assets:bank:checking ; same-line comment, note 2+ spaces before ; - ; next-line comment - ; another with tag, acctno:12345 (not used yet) - - Same-line comments are not supported by Ledger, or hledger <1.13. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Account subdirectives, Next: Account types, Prev: Account comments, Up: Declaring accounts - -12.24.3 Account subdirectives ------------------------------ - -We also allow (and ignore) Ledger-style indented subdirectives, just for -compatibility.: - -account assets:bank:checking - format blah blah ; <- subdirective, ignored - - Here is the full syntax of account directives: - -account ACCTNAME [ACCTTYPE] [;COMMENT] - [;COMMENTS] - [LEDGER-STYLE SUBDIRECTIVES, IGNORED] - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Account types, Next: Account display order, Prev: Account subdirectives, Up: Declaring accounts - -12.24.4 Account types ---------------------- - -hledger recognises five main types of account, corresponding to the -account classes in the accounting equation: - - 'Asset', 'Liability', 'Equity', 'Revenue', 'Expense'. - - These account types are important for controlling which accounts -appear in the balancesheet, balancesheetequity, incomestatement reports -(and probably for other things in future). - - Additionally, we recognise the 'Cash' type, which is also an 'Asset', -and which causes accounts to appear in the cashflow report. ("Cash" -here means liquid assets, eg bank balances but typically not investments -or receivables.) - -* Menu: - -* Declaring account types:: -* Auto-detected account types:: - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Declaring account types, Next: Auto-detected account types, Up: Account types - -12.24.4.1 Declaring account types -................................. - -To make the balancesheet/balancesheetequity/cashflow/incomestatement -reports work, generally you should declare your top-level accounts, and -their types. For each top-level account, write an account directive, -with a 'type:' tag. The tag's value can be any of 'Asset', 'Liability', -'Equity', 'Revenue', 'Expense', 'Cash', or (for short) 'A', 'L', 'E', -'R', 'X', 'C' (case insensitive). An account's type is inherited by its -subaccounts, unless they declare a different type. Here's an example, -declaring all six account types: - -account assets ; type: Asset -account assets:bank ; type: Cash -account assets:cash ; type: Cash -account liabilities ; type: Liability -account equity ; type: Equity -account revenues ; type: Revenue -account expenses ; type: Expense - - There is also an older syntax, which is deprecated and will be -dropped soon (A, L, E, R or X separated from the account name by two or -more spaces): - -account assets A -account liabilities L -account equity E -account revenues R -account expenses X - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Auto-detected account types, Prev: Declaring account types, Up: Account types - -12.24.4.2 Auto-detected account types -..................................... - -hledger tries to find at least one top level account in each of the six -account types (Asset, Liability, Equity, Revenue, Expense, Cash). When -no accounts have been declared for a particular type, hledger tries to -auto-detect some accounts by name, using regular expressions: - - If account's name matches this case insensitive regular expression:| its type is: -------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------ - ^assets?(:|$) | - and does not contain regexp (investment|receivable|:A/R|:fixed) | Cash - otherwise | Asset - ^(debts?|liabilit(y|ies))(:|$) | Liability - ^equity(:|$) | Equity - ^(income|revenue)s?(:|$) | Revenue - ^expenses?(:|$) | Expense - - For people using standard english account names, this feature helps -hledger's high-level reports work out of the box with minimal -configuration. - - If you use non-english account names, you should declare account -types to make these reports work. And more generally, declaring -accounts and types is usually a good idea, for increased clarity and -predictability (and for the other benefits of account directives: error -checking, display order, etc). - - Notes: - - * When any account is declared as some type, this disables - auto-detection for that particular type. - - * If you declare any account's type, it's a good idea to declare an - account for all six types, since a mix of declared and - auto-detected types can cause confusion. For example, here - liabilities is declared to be Equity, but would also be - auto-detected as Liability, since no Liability account is declared: - - account liabilities ; type:Equity - - 2020-01-01 - assets 1 - liabilities 1 - equity -2 - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Account display order, Prev: Account types, Up: Declaring accounts - -12.24.5 Account display order ------------------------------ - -Account directives also set the order in which accounts are displayed, -eg in reports, the hledger-ui accounts screen, and the hledger-web -sidebar. By default accounts are listed in alphabetical order. But if -you have these account directives in the journal: - -account assets -account liabilities -account equity -account revenues -account expenses - - you'll see those accounts displayed in declaration order, not -alphabetically: - -$ hledger accounts -1 -assets -liabilities -equity -revenues -expenses - - Undeclared accounts, if any, are displayed last, in alphabetical -order. - - Note that sorting is done at each level of the account tree (within -each group of sibling accounts under the same parent). And currently, -this directive: - -account other:zoo - - would influence the position of 'zoo' among 'other''s subaccounts, -but not the position of 'other' among the top-level accounts. This -means: - - * you will sometimes declare parent accounts (eg 'account other' - above) that you don't intend to post to, just to customize their - display order - * sibling accounts stay together (you couldn't display 'x:y' in - between 'a:b' and 'a:c'). - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Rewriting accounts, Next: Default parent account, Prev: Declaring accounts, Up: JOURNAL FORMAT - -12.25 Rewriting accounts -======================== - -You can define account alias rules which rewrite your account names, or -parts of them, before generating reports. This can be useful for: - - * expanding shorthand account names to their full form, allowing - easier data entry and a less verbose journal - * adapting old journals to your current chart of accounts - * experimenting with new account organisations, like a new hierarchy - or combining two accounts into one - * customising reports - - Account aliases also rewrite account names in account directives. -They do not affect account names being entered via hledger add or -hledger-web. - - See also Rewrite account names. - -* Menu: - -* Basic aliases:: -* Regex aliases:: -* Combining aliases:: -* Aliases and multiple files:: -* end aliases:: - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Basic aliases, Next: Regex aliases, Up: Rewriting accounts - -12.25.1 Basic aliases ---------------------- - -To set an account alias, use the 'alias' directive in your journal file. -This affects all subsequent journal entries in the current file or its -included files (but note: not sibling or parent files). The spaces -around the = are optional: - -alias OLD = NEW - - Or, you can use the '--alias 'OLD=NEW'' option on the command line. -This affects all entries. It's useful for trying out aliases -interactively. - - OLD and NEW are case sensitive full account names. hledger will -replace any occurrence of the old account name with the new one. -Subaccounts are also affected. Eg: - -alias checking = assets:bank:wells fargo:checking -; rewrites "checking" to "assets:bank:wells fargo:checking", or "checking:a" to "assets:bank:wells fargo:checking:a" - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Regex aliases, Next: Combining aliases, Prev: Basic aliases, Up: Rewriting accounts - -12.25.2 Regex aliases ---------------------- - -There is also a more powerful variant that uses a regular expression, -indicated by the forward slashes: - -alias /REGEX/ = REPLACEMENT - - or '--alias '/REGEX/=REPLACEMENT''. - - REGEX is a case-insensitive regular expression. Anywhere it matches -inside an account name, the matched part will be replaced by -REPLACEMENT. If REGEX contains parenthesised match groups, these can be -referenced by the usual numeric backreferences in REPLACEMENT. Eg: - -alias /^(.+):bank:([^:]+):(.*)/ = \1:\2 \3 -; rewrites "assets:bank:wells fargo:checking" to "assets:wells fargo checking" - - Also note that REPLACEMENT continues to the end of line (or on -command line, to end of option argument), so it can contain trailing -whitespace. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Combining aliases, Next: Aliases and multiple files, Prev: Regex aliases, Up: Rewriting accounts - -12.25.3 Combining aliases -------------------------- - -You can define as many aliases as you like, using journal directives -and/or command line options. - - Recursive aliases - where an account name is rewritten by one alias, -then by another alias, and so on - are allowed. Each alias sees the -effect of previously applied aliases. - - In such cases it can be important to understand which aliases will be -applied and in which order. For (each account name in) each journal -entry, we apply: - - 1. 'alias' directives preceding the journal entry, most recently - parsed first (ie, reading upward from the journal entry, bottom to - top) - 2. '--alias' options, in the order they appeared on the command line - (left to right). - - In other words, for (an account name in) a given journal entry: - - * the nearest alias declaration before/above the entry is applied - first - * the next alias before/above that will be be applied next, and so on - * aliases defined after/below the entry do not affect it. - - This gives nearby aliases precedence over distant ones, and helps -provide semantic stability - aliases will keep working the same way -independent of which files are being read and in which order. - - In case of trouble, adding '--debug=6' to the command line will show -which aliases are being applied when. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Aliases and multiple files, Next: end aliases, Prev: Combining aliases, Up: Rewriting accounts - -12.25.4 Aliases and multiple files ----------------------------------- - -As explained at Directives and multiple files, 'alias' directives do not -affect parent or sibling files. Eg in this command, - -hledger -f a.aliases -f b.journal - - account aliases defined in a.aliases will not affect b.journal. -Including the aliases doesn't work either: - -include a.aliases - -2020-01-01 ; not affected by a.aliases - foo 1 - bar - - This means that account aliases should usually be declared at the -start of your top-most file, like this: - -alias foo=Foo -alias bar=Bar - -2020-01-01 ; affected by aliases above - foo 1 - bar - -include c.journal ; also affected - - -File: hledger.info, Node: end aliases, Prev: Aliases and multiple files, Up: Rewriting accounts - -12.25.5 'end aliases' ---------------------- - -You can clear (forget) all currently defined aliases with the 'end -aliases' directive: - -end aliases - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Default parent account, Next: Periodic transactions, Prev: Rewriting accounts, Up: JOURNAL FORMAT - -12.26 Default parent account -============================ - -You can specify a parent account which will be prepended to all accounts -within a section of the journal. Use the 'apply account' and 'end apply -account' directives like so: - -apply account home - -2010/1/1 - food $10 - cash - -end apply account - - which is equivalent to: - -2010/01/01 - home:food $10 - home:cash $-10 - - If 'end apply account' is omitted, the effect lasts to the end of the -file. Included files are also affected, eg: - -apply account business -include biz.journal -end apply account -apply account personal -include personal.journal - - Prior to hledger 1.0, legacy 'account' and 'end' spellings were also -supported. - - A default parent account also affects account directives. It does -not affect account names being entered via hledger add or hledger-web. -If account aliases are present, they are applied after the default -parent account. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Periodic transactions, Next: Auto postings, Prev: Default parent account, Up: JOURNAL FORMAT - -12.27 Periodic transactions -=========================== - -Periodic transaction rules describe transactions that recur. They allow -hledger to generate temporary future transactions to help with -forecasting, so you don't have to write out each one in the journal, and -it's easy to try out different forecasts. - - Periodic transactions can be a little tricky, so before you use them, -read this whole section - or at least these tips: - - 1. Two spaces accidentally added or omitted will cause you trouble - - read about this below. - 2. For troubleshooting, show the generated transactions with 'hledger - print --forecast tag:generated' or 'hledger register --forecast - tag:generated'. - 3. Forecasted transactions will begin only after the last - non-forecasted transaction's date. - 4. Forecasted transactions will end 6 months from today, by default. - See below for the exact start/end rules. - 5. period expressions can be tricky. Their documentation needs - improvement, but is worth studying. - 6. Some period expressions with a repeating interval must begin on a - natural boundary of that interval. Eg in 'weekly from DATE', DATE - must be a monday. '~ weekly from 2019/10/1' (a tuesday) will give - an error. - 7. Other period expressions with an interval are automatically - expanded to cover a whole number of that interval. (This is done - to improve reports, but it also affects periodic transactions. - Yes, it's a bit inconsistent with the above.) Eg: '~ every 10th - day of month from 2020/01', which is equivalent to '~ every 10th - day of month from 2020/01/01', will be adjusted to start on - 2019/12/10. - - Periodic transaction rules also have a second meaning: they are used -to define budget goals, shown in budget reports. - -* Menu: - -* Periodic rule syntax:: -* Two spaces between period expression and description!:: -* Forecasting with periodic transactions:: -* Budgeting with periodic transactions:: - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Periodic rule syntax, Next: Two spaces between period expression and description!, Up: Periodic transactions - -12.27.1 Periodic rule syntax ----------------------------- - -A periodic transaction rule looks like a normal journal entry, with the -date replaced by a tilde ('~') followed by a period expression -(mnemonic: '~' looks like a recurring sine wave.): - -~ monthly - expenses:rent $2000 - assets:bank:checking - - There is an additional constraint on the period expression: the start -date must fall on a natural boundary of the interval. Eg 'monthly from -2018/1/1' is valid, but 'monthly from 2018/1/15' is not. - - Partial or relative dates (M/D, D, tomorrow, last week) in the period -expression can work (useful or not). They will be relative to today's -date, unless a Y default year directive is in effect, in which case they -will be relative to Y/1/1. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Two spaces between period expression and description!, Next: Forecasting with periodic transactions, Prev: Periodic rule syntax, Up: Periodic transactions - -12.27.2 Two spaces between period expression and description! -------------------------------------------------------------- - -If the period expression is followed by a transaction description, these -must be separated by *two or more spaces*. This helps hledger know -where the period expression ends, so that descriptions can not -accidentally alter their meaning, as in this example: - -; 2 or more spaces needed here, so the period is not understood as "every 2 months in 2020" -; || -; vv -~ every 2 months in 2020, we will review - assets:bank:checking $1500 - income:acme inc - - So, - - * Do write two spaces between your period expression and your - transaction description, if any. - * Don't accidentally write two spaces in the middle of your period - expression. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Forecasting with periodic transactions, Next: Budgeting with periodic transactions, Prev: Two spaces between period expression and description!, Up: Periodic transactions - -12.27.3 Forecasting with periodic transactions ----------------------------------------------- - -The '--forecast' flag activates any periodic transaction rules in the -journal. These will generate temporary additional transactions, usually -recurring and in the future, which will appear in all reports. 'hledger -print --forecast' is a good way to see them. - - This can be useful for estimating balances into the future, perhaps -experimenting with different scenarios. - - It could also be useful for scripted data entry: you could describe -recurring transactions, and every so often copy the output of 'print ---forecast' into the journal. - - The generated transactions will have an extra tag, like -'generated-transaction:~ PERIODICEXPR', indicating which periodic rule -generated them. There is also a similar, hidden tag, named -'_generated-transaction:', which you can use to reliably match -transactions generated "just now" (rather than 'print'ed in the past). - - The forecast transactions are generated within a _forecast period_, -which is independent of the report period. (Forecast period sets the -bounds for generated transactions, report period controls which -transactions are reported.) The forecast period begins on: - - * the start date provided within '--forecast''s argument, if any - * otherwise, the later of - * the report start date, if specified (with '-b'/'-p'/'date:') - * the day after the latest ordinary transaction in the journal, - if any - - * otherwise today. - - It ends on: - - * the end date provided within '--forecast''s argument, if any - * otherwise, the report end date, if specified (with - '-e'/'-p'/'date:') - * otherwise 180 days (6 months) from today. - - Note, this means that ordinary transactions will suppress periodic -transactions, by default; the periodic transactions will not start until -after the last ordinary transaction. This is usually convenient, but -you can get around it in two ways: - - * If you need to record some transactions in the future, make them - periodic transactions (with a single occurrence, eg: '~ - YYYY-MM-DD') rather than ordinary transactions. That way they - won't suppress other periodic transactions. - - * Or give '--forecast' a period expression argument. A forecast - period specified this way can overlap ordinary transactions, and - need not be in the future. Some things to note: - - * You must use '=' between flag and argument; a space won't - work. - * The period expression can specify the forecast period's start - date, end date, or both. See also Report start & end date. - * The period expression should not specify a report interval. - (Each periodic transaction rule specifies its own interval.) - - Some examples: '--forecast=202001-202004', '--forecast=jan-', -'--forecast=2021'. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Budgeting with periodic transactions, Prev: Forecasting with periodic transactions, Up: Periodic transactions - -12.27.4 Budgeting with periodic transactions --------------------------------------------- - -With the '--budget' flag, currently supported by the balance command, -each periodic transaction rule declares recurring budget goals for the -specified accounts. Eg the first example above declares a goal of -spending $2000 on rent (and also, a goal of depositing $2000 into -checking) every month. Goals and actual performance can then be -compared in budget reports. - - See also: Budgeting and Forecasting. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Auto postings, Prev: Periodic transactions, Up: JOURNAL FORMAT - -12.28 Auto postings -=================== - -"Automated postings" or "auto postings" are extra postings which get -added automatically to transactions which match certain queries, defined -by "auto posting rules", when you use the '--auto' flag. - - An auto posting rule looks a bit like a transaction: - -= QUERY - ACCOUNT AMOUNT - ... - ACCOUNT [AMOUNT] - - except the first line is an equals sign (mnemonic: '=' suggests -matching), followed by a query (which matches existing postings), and -each "posting" line describes a posting to be generated, and the posting -amounts can be: - - * a normal amount with a commodity symbol, eg '$2'. This will be - used as-is. - * a number, eg '2'. The commodity symbol (if any) from the matched - posting will be added to this. - * a numeric multiplier, eg '*2' (a star followed by a number N). The - matched posting's amount (and total price, if any) will be - multiplied by N. - * a multiplier with a commodity symbol, eg '*$2' (a star, number N, - and symbol S). The matched posting's amount will be multiplied by - N, and its commodity symbol will be replaced with S. - - Any query term containing spaces must be enclosed in single or double -quotes, as on the command line. Eg, note the quotes around the second -query term below: - -= expenses:groceries 'expenses:dining out' - (budget:funds:dining out) *-1 - - Some examples: - -; every time I buy food, schedule a dollar donation -= expenses:food - (liabilities:charity) $-1 - -; when I buy a gift, also deduct that amount from a budget envelope subaccount -= expenses:gifts - assets:checking:gifts *-1 - assets:checking *1 - -2017/12/1 - expenses:food $10 - assets:checking - -2017/12/14 - expenses:gifts $20 - assets:checking - -$ hledger print --auto -2017-12-01 - expenses:food $10 - assets:checking - (liabilities:charity) $-1 - -2017-12-14 - expenses:gifts $20 - assets:checking - assets:checking:gifts -$20 - assets:checking $20 - -* Menu: - -* Auto postings and multiple files:: -* Auto postings and dates:: -* Auto postings and transaction balancing / inferred amounts / balance assertions:: -* Auto posting tags:: - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Auto postings and multiple files, Next: Auto postings and dates, Up: Auto postings - -12.28.1 Auto postings and multiple files ----------------------------------------- - -An auto posting rule can affect any transaction in the current file, or -in any parent file or child file. Note, currently it will not affect -sibling files (when multiple '-f'/'--file' are used - see #1212). - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Auto postings and dates, Next: Auto postings and transaction balancing / inferred amounts / balance assertions, Prev: Auto postings and multiple files, Up: Auto postings - -12.28.2 Auto postings and dates -------------------------------- - -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. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Auto postings and transaction balancing / inferred amounts / balance assertions, Next: Auto posting tags, Prev: Auto postings and dates, Up: Auto postings - -12.28.3 Auto postings and transaction balancing / inferred amounts / --------------------------------------------------------------------- - -balance assertions Currently, auto postings are added: - - * after missing amounts are inferred, and transactions are checked - for balancedness, - * but before balance assertions are checked. - - Note this means that journal entries must be balanced both before and -after auto postings are added. This changed in hledger 1.12+; see #893 -for background. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Auto posting tags, Prev: Auto postings and transaction balancing / inferred amounts / balance assertions, Up: Auto postings - -12.28.4 Auto posting tags -------------------------- - -Automated postings will have some extra tags: - - * 'generated-posting:= QUERY' - shows this was generated by an auto - posting rule, and the query - * '_generated-posting:= QUERY' - a hidden tag, which does not appear - in hledger's output. This can be used to match postings generated - "just now", rather than generated in the past and saved to the - journal. - - Also, any transaction that has been changed by auto posting rules -will have these tags added: - - * 'modified:' - this transaction was modified - * '_modified:' - a hidden tag not appearing in the comment; this - transaction was modified "just now". - - -File: hledger.info, Node: CSV FORMAT, Next: TIMECLOCK FORMAT, Prev: JOURNAL FORMAT, Up: Top - -13 CSV FORMAT -************* - -How hledger reads CSV data, and the CSV rules file format. - - hledger can read CSV files (Character Separated Value - usually -comma, semicolon, or tab) containing dated records as if they were -journal files, automatically converting each CSV record into a -transaction. - - (To learn about _writing_ CSV, see CSV output.) - - We describe each CSV file's format with a corresponding _rules file_. -By default this is named like the CSV file with a '.rules' extension -added. Eg when reading 'FILE.csv', hledger also looks for -'FILE.csv.rules' in the same directory as 'FILE.csv'. You can specify a -different rules file with the '--rules-file' option. If a rules file is -not found, hledger will create a sample rules file, which you'll need to -adjust. - - This file contains rules describing the CSV data (header line, fields -layout, date format etc.), and how to construct hledger journal entries -(transactions) from it. Often there will also be a list of conditional -rules for categorising transactions based on their descriptions. Here's -an overview of the CSV rules; these are described more fully below, -after the examples: - -*'skip'* skip one or more header lines or matched - CSV records -*'fields' list* name CSV fields, assign them to hledger - fields -*field assignment* assign a value to one hledger field, with - interpolation -*Field names* hledger field names, used in the fields - list and field assignments -*'separator'* a custom field separator -*'if' block* apply some rules to CSV records matched by - patterns -*'if' table* apply some rules to CSV records matched by - patterns, alternate syntax -*'end'* skip the remaining CSV records -*'date-format'* how to parse dates in CSV records -*'decimal-mark'* the decimal mark used in CSV amounts, if - ambiguous -*'newest-first'* disambiguate record order when there's only - one date -*'include'* inline another CSV rules file -*'balance-type'* choose which type of balance assignments to - use - - Note, for best error messages when reading CSV files, use a '.csv', -'.tsv' or '.ssv' file extension or file prefix - see File Extension -below. - - There's an introductory Convert CSV files tutorial on hledger.org. - -* Menu: - -* Examples:: -* CSV rules:: -* Tips:: - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Examples, Next: CSV rules, Up: CSV FORMAT - -13.1 Examples -============= - -Here are some sample hledger CSV rules files. See also the full -collection at: -https://github.com/simonmichael/hledger/tree/master/examples/csv - -* Menu: - -* Basic:: -* Bank of Ireland:: -* Amazon:: -* Paypal:: - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Basic, Next: Bank of Ireland, Up: Examples - -13.1.1 Basic ------------- - -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's a simple CSV file and a rules file for it: - -Date, Description, Id, Amount -12/11/2019, Foo, 123, 10.23 - -# basic.csv.rules -skip 1 -fields date, description, _, amount -date-format %d/%m/%Y - -$ hledger print -f basic.csv -2019-11-12 Foo - expenses:unknown 10.23 - income:unknown -10.23 - - Default account names are chosen, since we didn't set them. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Bank of Ireland, Next: Amazon, Prev: Basic, Up: Examples - -13.1.2 Bank of Ireland ----------------------- - -Here'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: - -Date,Details,Debit,Credit,Balance -07/12/2012,LODGMENT 529898,,10.0,131.21 -07/12/2012,PAYMENT,5,,126 - -# 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 "balance" -# 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 - -$ 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 - - The balance assertions don't raise an error above, because we're -reading directly from CSV, but they will be checked if these entries are -imported into a journal file. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Amazon, Next: Paypal, Prev: Bank of Ireland, Up: Examples - -13.1.3 Amazon -------------- - -Here we convert amazon.com order history, and use an if block to -generate a third posting if there's a fee. (In practice you'd probably -get this data from your bank instead, but it's an example.) - -"Date","Type","To/From","Name","Status","Amount","Fees","Transaction ID" -"Jul 29, 2012","Payment","To","Foo.","Completed","$20.00","$0.00","16000000000000DGLNJPI1P9B8DKPVHL" -"Jul 30, 2012","Payment","To","Adapteva, Inc.","Completed","$25.00","$1.00","17LA58JSKRD4HDGLNJPI1P9B8DKPVHL" - -# amazon-orders.csv.rules - -# skip one header line -skip 1 - -# name the csv fields, and assign the transaction's date, amount and code. -# Avoided the "status" and "amount" hledger field names to prevent confusion. -fields date, _, toorfrom, name, amzstatus, amzamount, fees, code - -# how to parse the date -date-format %b %-d, %Y - -# combine two fields to make the description -description %toorfrom %name - -# save the status as a tag -comment status:%amzstatus - -# set the base account for all transactions -account1 assets:amazon -# leave amount1 blank so it can balance the other(s). -# I'm assuming amzamount excludes the fees, don't remember - -# set a generic account2 -account2 expenses:misc -amount2 %amzamount -# and maybe refine it further: -#include categorisation.rules - -# add a third posting for fees, but only if they are non-zero. -if %fees [1-9] - account3 expenses:fees - amount3 %fees - -$ 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 - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Paypal, Prev: Amazon, Up: Examples - -13.1.4 Paypal -------------- - -Here's a real-world rules file for (customised) Paypal CSV, with some -Paypal-specific rules, and a second rules file included: - -"Date","Time","TimeZone","Name","Type","Status","Currency","Gross","Fee","Net","From Email Address","To Email Address","Transaction ID","Item Title","Item ID","Reference Txn ID","Receipt ID","Balance","Note" -"10/01/2019","03:46:20","PDT","Calm Radio","Subscription Payment","Completed","USD","-6.99","0.00","-6.99","simon@joyful.com","memberships@calmradio.com","60P57143A8206782E","MONTHLY - $1 for the first 2 Months: Me - Order 99309. Item total: $1.00 USD first 2 months, then $6.99 / Month","","I-R8YLY094FJYR","","-6.99","" -"10/01/2019","03:46:20","PDT","","Bank Deposit to PP Account ","Pending","USD","6.99","0.00","6.99","","simon@joyful.com","0TU1544T080463733","","","60P57143A8206782E","","0.00","" -"10/01/2019","08:57:01","PDT","Patreon","PreApproved Payment Bill User Payment","Completed","USD","-7.00","0.00","-7.00","simon@joyful.com","support@patreon.com","2722394R5F586712G","Patreon* Membership","","B-0PG93074E7M86381M","","-7.00","" -"10/01/2019","08:57:01","PDT","","Bank Deposit to PP Account ","Pending","USD","7.00","0.00","7.00","","simon@joyful.com","71854087RG994194F","Patreon* Membership","","2722394R5F586712G","","0.00","" -"10/19/2019","03:02:12","PDT","Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.","Subscription Payment","Completed","USD","-2.00","0.00","-2.00","simon@joyful.com","tle@wikimedia.org","K9U43044RY432050M","Monthly donation to the Wikimedia Foundation","","I-R5C3YUS3285L","","-2.00","" -"10/19/2019","03:02:12","PDT","","Bank Deposit to PP Account ","Pending","USD","2.00","0.00","2.00","","simon@joyful.com","3XJ107139A851061F","","","K9U43044RY432050M","","0.00","" -"10/22/2019","05:07:06","PDT","Noble Benefactor","Subscription Payment","Completed","USD","10.00","-0.59","9.41","noble@bene.fac.tor","simon@joyful.com","6L8L1662YP1334033","Joyful Systems","","I-KC9VBGY2GWDB","","9.41","" - -# paypal-custom.csv.rules - -# Tips: -# Export from Activity -> Statements -> Custom -> Activity download -# Suggested transaction type: "Balance affecting" -# Paypal's default fields in 2018 were: -# "Date","Time","TimeZone","Name","Type","Status","Currency","Gross","Fee","Net","From Email Address","To Email Address","Transaction ID","Shipping Address","Address Status","Item Title","Item ID","Shipping and Handling Amount","Insurance Amount","Sales Tax","Option 1 Name","Option 1 Value","Option 2 Name","Option 2 Value","Reference Txn ID","Invoice Number","Custom Number","Quantity","Receipt ID","Balance","Address Line 1","Address Line 2/District/Neighborhood","Town/City","State/Province/Region/County/Territory/Prefecture/Republic","Zip/Postal Code","Country","Contact Phone Number","Subject","Note","Country Code","Balance Impact" -# This rules file assumes the following more detailed fields, configured in "Customize report fields": -# "Date","Time","TimeZone","Name","Type","Status","Currency","Gross","Fee","Net","From Email Address","To Email Address","Transaction ID","Item Title","Item ID","Reference Txn ID","Receipt ID","Balance","Note" - -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'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's income (a debit) -if %grossamount ^[^-] - account2 income:unknown -# if negative, it's an expense (a credit) -if %grossamount ^- - 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 - -# 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 - -$ 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@joyful.com, toemail:memberships@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@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@joyful.com, toemail:support@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@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@joyful.com, toemail:tle@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@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@bene.fac.tor, toemail:simon@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: - - -File: hledger.info, Node: CSV rules, Next: Tips, Prev: Examples, Up: CSV FORMAT - -13.2 CSV rules -============== - -The following kinds of rule can appear in the rules file, in any order. -Blank lines and lines beginning with '#' or ';' are ignored. - -* Menu: - -* skip:: -* fields list:: -* field assignment:: -* Field names:: -* separator:: -* if block:: -* if table:: -* end:: -* date-format:: -* decimal-mark:: -* newest-first:: -* include:: -* balance-type:: - - -File: hledger.info, Node: skip, Next: fields list, Up: CSV rules - -13.2.1 'skip' -------------- - -skip N - - The word "skip" followed by a number (or no number, meaning 1) tells -hledger to ignore this many non-empty lines preceding the CSV data. -(Empty/blank lines are skipped automatically.) You'll need this -whenever your CSV data contains header lines. - - It also has a second purpose: it can be used inside if blocks to -ignore certain CSV records (described below). - - -File: hledger.info, Node: fields list, Next: field assignment, Prev: skip, Up: CSV rules - -13.2.2 'fields' list --------------------- - -fields FIELDNAME1, FIELDNAME2, ... - - A fields list (the word "fields" followed by comma-separated field -names) is the quick way to assign CSV field values to hledger fields. -(The other way is field assignments, see below.) A fields list does -does two things: - - 1. It names the CSV fields. This is optional, but can be convenient - later for interpolating them. - - 2. Whenever you use a standard hledger field name (defined below), the - CSV value is assigned to that part of the hledger transaction. - - Here's an example that says "use the 1st, 2nd and 4th fields as the -transaction's date, description and amount; name the last two fields for -later reference; and ignore the others": - -fields date, description, , amount, , , somefield, anotherfield - - Tips: - - * The fields list always use commas, even if your CSV data uses - another separator character. - * Currently there must be least two items in the list (at least one - comma). - * Field names may not contain spaces. Spaces before/after field - names are optional. - * If the CSV contains column headings, it's a good idea to use these, - suitably modified, as the basis for your field names (eg - lower-cased, with underscores instead of spaces). - * If some heading names match standard hledger fields, but you don't - want to set the hledger fields directly, alter those names, eg by - appending an underscore. - * Fields you don't care about can be given a dummy name (eg: '_' ), - or no name. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: field assignment, Next: Field names, Prev: fields list, Up: CSV rules - -13.2.3 field assignment ------------------------ - -HLEDGERFIELDNAME FIELDVALUE - - 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). - - 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 ('%N'), or by the name they were given in the fields list -('%CSVFIELDNAME'). - - Some examples: - -# set the amount to the 4th CSV field, with " USD" appended -amount %4 USD - -# combine three fields to make a comment, containing note: and date: tags -comment note: %somefield - %anotherfield, date: %1 - - Tips: - - * Interpolation strips outer whitespace (so a CSV value like '" 1 "' - becomes '1' when interpolated) (#1051). - * Interpolations always refer to a CSV field - you can't interpolate - a hledger field. (See Referencing other fields below). - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Field names, Next: separator, Prev: field assignment, Up: CSV rules - -13.2.4 Field names ------------------- - -Here are the standard hledger field (and pseudo-field) names, which you -can use in a fields list and in field assignments. For more about the -transaction parts they refer to, see Transactions. - -* Menu: - -* date field:: -* date2 field:: -* status field:: -* code field:: -* description field:: -* comment field:: -* account field:: -* amount field:: -* currency field:: -* balance field:: - - -File: hledger.info, Node: date field, Next: date2 field, Up: Field names - -13.2.4.1 date field -................... - -Assigning to 'date' sets the transaction date. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: date2 field, Next: status field, Prev: date field, Up: Field names - -13.2.4.2 date2 field -.................... - -'date2' sets the transaction's secondary date, if any. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: status field, Next: code field, Prev: date2 field, Up: Field names - -13.2.4.3 status field -..................... - -'status' sets the transaction's status, if any. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: code field, Next: description field, Prev: status field, Up: Field names - -13.2.4.4 code field -................... - -'code' sets the transaction's code, if any. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: description field, Next: comment field, Prev: code field, Up: Field names - -13.2.4.5 description field -.......................... - -'description' sets the transaction's description, if any. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: comment field, Next: account field, Prev: description field, Up: Field names - -13.2.4.6 comment field -...................... - -'comment' sets the transaction's comment, if any. - - 'commentN', where N is a number, sets the Nth posting's comment. - - Tips: - You can assign multi-line comments by writing literal '\n' in -the code. A comment starting with '\n' will begin on a new line. - -Comments can contain tags, as usual. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: account field, Next: amount field, Prev: comment field, Up: Field names - -13.2.4.7 account field -...................... - -Assigning to 'accountN', where N is 1 to 99, sets the account name of -the Nth posting, and causes that posting to be generated. - - Most often there are two postings, so you'll want to set 'account1' -and 'account2'. Typically 'account1' is associated with the CSV file, -and is set once with a top-level assignment, while 'account2' is set -based on each transaction's description, and in conditional blocks. - - If a posting's account name is left unset but its amount is set (see -below), a default account name will be chosen (like "expenses:unknown" -or "income:unknown"). - - -File: hledger.info, Node: amount field, Next: currency field, Prev: account field, Up: Field names - -13.2.4.8 amount field -..................... - -'amountN' sets the amount of the Nth posting, and causes that posting to -be generated. By assigning to 'amount1', 'amount2', ... etc. you can -generate up to 99 postings. - - 'amountN-in' and 'amountN-out' can be used instead, if the CSV uses -separate fields for debits and credits (inflows and outflows). hledger -assumes both of these CSV fields are unsigned, and will automatically -negate the "-out" value. If they are signed, see "Setting amounts" -below. - - 'amount', or 'amount-in' and 'amount-out' are a legacy mode, to keep -pre-hledger-1.17 CSV rules files working (and for occasional -convenience). They are suitable only for two-posting transactions; they -set both posting 1's and posting 2's amount. Posting 2's amount will be -negated, and also converted to cost if there's a transaction price. - - If you have an existing rules file using the unnumbered form, you -might want to use the numbered form in certain conditional blocks, -without having to update and retest all the old rules. To facilitate -this, posting 1 ignores 'amount'/'amount-in'/'amount-out' if any of -'amount1'/'amount1-in'/'amount1-out' are assigned, and posting 2 ignores -them if any of 'amount2'/'amount2-in'/'amount2-out' are assigned, -avoiding conflicts. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: currency field, Next: balance field, Prev: amount field, Up: Field names - -13.2.4.9 currency field -....................... - -'currency' sets a currency symbol, to be prepended to all postings' -amounts. You can use this if the CSV amounts do not have a currency -symbol, eg if it is in a separate column. - - 'currencyN' prepends a currency symbol to just the Nth posting's -amount. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: balance field, Prev: currency field, Up: Field names - -13.2.4.10 balance field -....................... - -'balanceN' sets a balance assertion amount (or if the posting amount is -left empty, a balance assignment) on posting N. - - 'balance' is a compatibility spelling for hledger <1.17; it is -equivalent to 'balance1'. - - You can adjust the type of assertion/assignment with the -'balance-type' rule (see below). - - See Tips below for more about setting amounts and currency. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: separator, Next: if block, Prev: Field names, Up: CSV rules - -13.2.5 'separator' ------------------- - -You can use the 'separator' rule to read other kinds of -character-separated data. The argument is any single separator -character, or the words 'tab' or 'space' (case insensitive). Eg, for -comma-separated values (CSV): - -separator , - - or for semicolon-separated values (SSV): - -separator ; - - or for tab-separated values (TSV): - -separator TAB - - If the input file has a '.csv', '.ssv' or '.tsv' file extension (or a -'csv:', 'ssv:', 'tsv:' prefix), the appropriate separator will be -inferred automatically, and you won't need this rule. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: if block, Next: if table, Prev: separator, Up: CSV rules - -13.2.6 'if' block ------------------ - -if MATCHER - RULE - -if -MATCHER -MATCHER -MATCHER - RULE - RULE - - Conditional blocks ("if blocks") are a block of rules that are -applied only to CSV records which match certain patterns. They are -often used for customising account names based on transaction -descriptions. - -* Menu: - -* Matching the whole record:: -* Matching individual fields:: -* Combining matchers:: -* Rules applied on successful match:: - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Matching the whole record, Next: Matching individual fields, Up: if block - -13.2.6.1 Matching the whole record -.................................. - -Each MATCHER can be a record matcher, which looks like this: - -REGEX - - REGEX is a case-insensitive regular expression that tries to match -anywhere within the CSV record. It is a POSIX ERE (extended regular -expression) that also supports GNU word boundaries ('\b', '\B', '\<', -'\>'), and nothing else. If you have trouble, be sure to check our doc: -https://hledger.org/hledger.html#regular-expressions - - Important note: the record that is matched is not the original -record, but a synthetic one, with any enclosing double quotes (but not -enclosing whitespace) removed, and always comma-separated (which means -that a field containing a comma will appear like two fields). Eg, if -the original record is '2020-01-01; "Acme, Inc."; 1,000', the REGEX will -actually see '2020-01-01,Acme, Inc., 1,000'). - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Matching individual fields, Next: Combining matchers, Prev: Matching the whole record, Up: if block - -13.2.6.2 Matching individual fields -................................... - -Or, MATCHER can be a field matcher, like this: - -%CSVFIELD REGEX - - which matches just the content of a particular CSV field. CSVFIELD -is a percent sign followed by the field's name or column number, like -'%date' or '%1'. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Combining matchers, Next: Rules applied on successful match, Prev: Matching individual fields, Up: if block - -13.2.6.3 Combining matchers -........................... - -A single matcher can be written on the same line as the "if"; or -multiple matchers can be written on the following lines, non-indented. -Multiple matchers are OR'd (any one of them can match), unless one -begins with an '&' symbol, in which case it is AND'ed with the previous -matcher. - -if -MATCHER -& MATCHER - RULE - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Rules applied on successful match, Prev: Combining matchers, Up: if block - -13.2.6.4 Rules applied on successful match -.......................................... - -After the patterns there should be one or more rules to apply, all -indented by at least one space. Three kinds of rule are allowed in -conditional blocks: - - * field assignments (to set a hledger field) - * skip (to skip the matched CSV record) - * end (to skip all remaining CSV records). - - Examples: - -# if the CSV record contains "groceries", set account2 to "expenses:groceries" -if groceries - account2 expenses:groceries - -# if the CSV record contains any of these patterns, set account2 and comment as shown -if -monthly service fee -atm transaction fee -banking thru software - account2 expenses:business:banking - comment XXX deductible ? check it - - -File: hledger.info, Node: if table, Next: end, Prev: if block, Up: CSV rules - -13.2.7 'if' table ------------------ - -if,CSVFIELDNAME1,CSVFIELDNAME2,...,CSVFIELDNAMEn -MATCHER1,VALUE11,VALUE12,...,VALUE1n -MATCHER2,VALUE21,VALUE22,...,VALUE2n -MATCHER3,VALUE31,VALUE32,...,VALUE3n - - - Conditional tables ("if tables") are a different syntax to specify -field assignments that will be applied only to CSV records which match -certain patterns. - - MATCHER could be either field or record matcher, as described above. -When MATCHER matches, values from that row would be assigned to the CSV -fields named on the 'if' line, in the same order. - - Therefore 'if' table is exactly equivalent to a sequence of of 'if' -blocks: - -if MATCHER1 - CSVFIELDNAME1 VALUE11 - CSVFIELDNAME2 VALUE12 - ... - CSVFIELDNAMEn VALUE1n - -if MATCHER2 - CSVFIELDNAME1 VALUE21 - CSVFIELDNAME2 VALUE22 - ... - CSVFIELDNAMEn VALUE2n - -if MATCHER3 - CSVFIELDNAME1 VALUE31 - CSVFIELDNAME2 VALUE32 - ... - CSVFIELDNAMEn VALUE3n - - Each line starting with MATCHER should contain enough (possibly -empty) values for all the listed fields. - - Rules would be checked and applied in the order they are listed in -the table and, like with 'if' blocks, later rules (in the same or -another table) or 'if' blocks could override the effect of any rule. - - Instead of ',' you can use a variety of other non-alphanumeric -characters as a separator. First character after 'if' is taken to be -the separator for the rest of the table. It is the responsibility of -the user to ensure that separator does not occur inside MATCHERs and -values - there is no way to escape separator. - - Example: - -if,account2,comment -atm transaction fee,expenses:business:banking,deductible? check it -%description groceries,expenses:groceries, -2020/01/12.*Plumbing LLC,expenses:house:upkeep,emergency plumbing call-out - - -File: hledger.info, Node: end, Next: date-format, Prev: if table, Up: CSV rules - -13.2.8 'end' ------------- - -This rule can be used inside if blocks (only), to make hledger stop -reading this CSV file and move on to the next input file, or to command -execution. Eg: - -# ignore everything following the first empty record -if ,,,, - end - - -File: hledger.info, Node: date-format, Next: decimal-mark, Prev: end, Up: CSV rules - -13.2.9 'date-format' --------------------- - -date-format DATEFMT - - This is a helper for the 'date' (and 'date2') fields. If your CSV -dates are not formatted like 'YYYY-MM-DD', 'YYYY/MM/DD' or 'YYYY.MM.DD', -you'll need to add a date-format rule describing them with a strptime -date parsing pattern, which must parse the CSV date value completely. -Some examples: - -# MM/DD/YY -date-format %m/%d/%y - -# D/M/YYYY -# The - makes leading zeros optional. -date-format %-d/%-m/%Y - -# YYYY-Mmm-DD -date-format %Y-%h-%d - -# 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 - - For the supported strptime syntax, see: -https://hackage.haskell.org/package/time/docs/Data-Time-Format.html#v:formatTime - - Note that although you can parse date-times which include a time -zone, that time zone is ignored; it will not change the date that is -parsed. This means when reading CSV data with times not in your local -time zone, dates can be "off by one". - - -File: hledger.info, Node: decimal-mark, Next: newest-first, Prev: date-format, Up: CSV rules - -13.2.10 'decimal-mark' ----------------------- - -decimal-mark . - - or: - -decimal-mark , - - 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. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: newest-first, Next: include, Prev: decimal-mark, Up: CSV rules - -13.2.11 'newest-first' ----------------------- - -hledger always sorts the generated transactions by date. Transactions -on the same date should appear in the same order as their CSV records, -as hledger can usually auto-detect whether the CSV's normal order is -oldest first or newest first. But if all of the following are true: - - * the CSV might sometimes contain just one day of data (all records - having the same date) - * the CSV records are normally in reverse chronological order (newest - at the top) - * and you care about preserving the order of same-day transactions - - then, you should add the 'newest-first' rule as a hint. Eg: - -# tell hledger explicitly that the CSV is normally newest first -newest-first - - -File: hledger.info, Node: include, Next: balance-type, Prev: newest-first, Up: CSV rules - -13.2.12 'include' ------------------ - -include RULESFILE - - This includes the contents of another CSV rules file at this point. -'RULESFILE' is an absolute file path or a path relative to the current -file's directory. This can be useful for sharing common rules between -several rules files, eg: - -# someaccount.csv.rules - -## someaccount-specific rules -fields date,description,amount -account1 assets:someaccount -account2 expenses:misc - -## common rules -include categorisation.rules - - -File: hledger.info, Node: balance-type, Prev: include, Up: CSV rules - -13.2.13 'balance-type' ----------------------- - -Balance assertions generated by assigning to balanceN are of the simple -'=' 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 -'balance-type' rule: - -# balance assertions will consider all commodities and all subaccounts -balance-type ==* - - Here are the balance assertion types for quick reference: - -= single commodity, exclude subaccounts -=* single commodity, include subaccounts -== multi commodity, exclude subaccounts -==* multi commodity, include subaccounts - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Tips, Prev: CSV rules, Up: CSV FORMAT - -13.3 Tips -========= - -* Menu: - -* Rapid feedback:: -* Valid CSV:: -* File Extension:: -* Reading multiple CSV files:: -* Valid transactions:: -* Deduplicating importing:: -* Setting amounts:: -* Amount signs:: -* Setting currency/commodity:: -* Amount decimal places:: -* Referencing other fields:: -* How CSV rules are evaluated:: - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Rapid feedback, Next: Valid CSV, Up: Tips - -13.3.1 Rapid feedback ---------------------- - -It's a good idea to get rapid feedback while creating/troubleshooting -CSV rules. Here's a good way, using entr from eradman.com/entrproject: - -$ ls foo.csv* | entr bash -c 'echo ----; hledger -f foo.csv print desc:SOMEDESC' - - A desc: query (eg) is used to select just one, or a few, transactions -of interest. "bash -c" 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. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Valid CSV, Next: File Extension, Prev: Rapid feedback, Up: Tips - -13.3.2 Valid CSV ----------------- - -hledger accepts CSV conforming to RFC 4180. When CSV values are -enclosed in quotes, note: - - * they must be double quotes (not single quotes) - * spaces outside the quotes are not allowed - - -File: hledger.info, Node: File Extension, Next: Reading multiple CSV files, Prev: Valid CSV, Up: Tips - -13.3.3 File Extension ---------------------- - -To help hledger identify the format and show the right error messages, -CSV/SSV/TSV files should normally be named with a '.csv', '.ssv' or -'.tsv' filename extension. Or, the file path should be prefixed with -'csv:', 'ssv:' or 'tsv:'. Eg: - -$ hledger -f foo.ssv print - - or: - -$ cat foo | hledger -f ssv:- foo - - You can override the file extension with a separator rule if needed. -See also: Input files in the hledger manual. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Reading multiple CSV files, Next: Valid transactions, Prev: File Extension, Up: Tips - -13.3.4 Reading multiple CSV files ---------------------------------- - -If you use multiple '-f' 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 '--rules-file' option, that rules file will be -used for all the CSV files. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Valid transactions, Next: Deduplicating importing, Prev: Reading multiple CSV files, Up: Tips - -13.3.5 Valid transactions -------------------------- - -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. - - 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: - -$ hledger -f file.csv print | hledger -f- print - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Deduplicating importing, Next: Setting amounts, Prev: Valid transactions, Up: Tips - -13.3.6 Deduplicating, importing -------------------------------- - -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. - - 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't have to remember how many times you ran it or with which -version of the CSV. (It keeps state in a hidden '.latest.FILE.csv' -file.) This is the easiest way to import CSV data. Eg: - -# download the latest CSV files, then run this command. -# Note, no -f flags needed here. -$ hledger import *.csv [--dry] - - This method works for most CSV files. (Where records have a stable -chronological order, and new records appear only at the new end.) - - A number of other tools and workflows, hledger-specific and -otherwise, exist for converting, deduplicating, classifying and managing -CSV data. See: - - * https://hledger.org -> sidebar -> real world setups - * https://plaintextaccounting.org -> data import/conversion - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Setting amounts, Next: Amount signs, Prev: Deduplicating importing, Up: Tips - -13.3.7 Setting amounts ----------------------- - -Some tips on using the amount-setting rules discussed above. - - Here are the ways to set a posting's amount: - - 1. *If the CSV has a single amount field:* - Assign (via a fields list or a field assignment) to 'amountN'. - This sets the Nth posting's amount. N is usually 1 or 2 but can go - up to 99. - - 2. *If the CSV has separate amount fields for debit & credit (in & - out):* - - a. *If both fields are unsigned:* - Assign to 'amountN-in' and 'amountN-out'. This sets posting - N's amount to whichever of these has a non-zero value, and - negates the "-out" value. - - b. *If either field is signed (can contain a minus sign):* - Use a conditional rule to flip the sign (of non-empty values). - Since hledger always negates amountN-out, if it was already - negative, we must undo that by negating once more (but only if - the field is non-empty): - - fields date, description, amount1-in, amount1-out - if %amount1-out [1-9] - amount1-out -%amount1-out - - c. *If both fields, or neither field, can contain a non-zero - value:* - hledger normally expects exactly one of the fields to have a - non-zero value. Eg, the 'amountN-in'/'amountN-out' rules - would reject value pairs like these: - - "", "" - "0", "0" - "1", "none" - - So, use smarter conditional rules to set the amount from the - appropriate field. Eg, these rules would make it use only the - value containing non-zero digits, handling the above: - - fields date, description, in, out - if %in [1-9] - amount1 %in - if %out [1-9] - amount1 %out - - 3. *If you are stuck with hledger <1.17, or you want posting 2's - amount converted to cost:* - Assign to 'amount' (or to 'amount-in' and 'amount-out'). (The old - numberless syntax, which sets amount1 and amount2.) - - 4. *If the CSV has the balance instead of the transaction amount:* - Assign to 'balanceN', which sets posting N's amount indirectly via - a balance assignment. (Old syntax: 'balance', equivalent to - 'balance1'.) - - * *If hledger guesses the wrong default account name:* - When setting the amount via balance assertion, hledger may - guess the wrong default account name. So, set the account - name explicitly, eg: - - fields date, description, balance1 - account1 assets:checking - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Amount signs, Next: Setting currency/commodity, Prev: Setting amounts, Up: Tips - -13.3.8 Amount signs -------------------- - -There is some special handling for amount signs, to simplify parsing and -sign-flipping: - - * *If an amount value begins with a plus sign:* - that will be removed: '+AMT' becomes 'AMT' - - * *If an amount value is parenthesised:* - it will be de-parenthesised and sign-flipped: '(AMT)' becomes - '-AMT' - - * *If an amount value has two minus signs (or two sets of - parentheses, or a minus sign and parentheses):* - they cancel out and will be removed: '--AMT' or '-(AMT)' becomes - 'AMT' - - * *If an amount value contains just a sign (or just a set of - parentheses):* - that is removed, making it an empty value. '"+"' or '"-"' or - '"()"' becomes '""'. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Setting currency/commodity, Next: Amount decimal places, Prev: Amount signs, Up: Tips - -13.3.9 Setting currency/commodity ---------------------------------- - -If the currency/commodity symbol is included in the CSV's amount -field(s): - -2020-01-01,foo,$123.00 - - you don't have to do anything special for the commodity symbol, it -will be assigned as part of the amount. Eg: - -fields date,description,amount - -2020-01-01 foo - expenses:unknown $123.00 - income:unknown $-123.00 - - If the currency is provided as a separate CSV field: - -2020-01-01,foo,USD,123.00 - - You can assign that to the 'currency' pseudo-field, which has the -special effect of prepending itself to every amount in the transaction -(on the left, with no separating space): - -fields date,description,currency,amount - -2020-01-01 foo - expenses:unknown USD123.00 - income:unknown USD-123.00 - - 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: - -fields date,description,cur,amt -amount %amt %cur - -2020-01-01 foo - expenses:unknown 123.00 USD - income:unknown -123.00 USD - - Note we used a temporary field name ('cur') that is not 'currency' - -that would trigger the prepending effect, which we don't want here. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Amount decimal places, Next: Referencing other fields, Prev: Setting currency/commodity, Up: Tips - -13.3.10 Amount decimal places ------------------------------ - -Like amounts in a journal file, the amounts generated by CSV rules like -'amount1' influence commodity display styles, such as the number of -decimal places displayed in reports. - - The original amounts as written in the CSV file do not affect display -style (because we don't yet reliably know their commodity). - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Referencing other fields, Next: How CSV rules are evaluated, Prev: Amount decimal places, Up: Tips - -13.3.11 Referencing other fields --------------------------------- - -In field assignments, you can interpolate only CSV fields, not hledger -fields. In the example below, there's both a CSV field and a hledger -field named amount1, but %amount1 always means the CSV field, not the -hledger field: - -# Name the third CSV field "amount1" -fields date,description,amount1 - -# Set hledger'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 - - Here, since there's no CSV amount1 field, %amount1 will produce a -literal "amount1": - -fields date,description,csvamount -amount1 %csvamount USD -# Can't interpolate amount1 here -comment %amount1 - - When there are multiple field assignments to the same hledger field, -only the last one takes effect. Here, comment's value will be be B, or -C if "something" is matched, but never A: - -comment A -comment B -if something - comment C - - -File: hledger.info, Node: How CSV rules are evaluated, Prev: Referencing other fields, Up: Tips - -13.3.12 How CSV rules are evaluated ------------------------------------ - -Here's how to think of CSV rules being evaluated (if you really need -to). First, - - * 'include' - 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.) - - Then "global" rules are evaluated, top to bottom. If a rule is -repeated, the last one wins: - - * 'skip' (at top level) - * 'date-format' - * 'newest-first' - * 'fields' - names the CSV fields, optionally sets up initial - assignments to hledger fields - - Then for each CSV record in turn: - - * test all 'if' blocks. If any of them contain a 'end' rule, skip - all remaining CSV records. Otherwise if any of them contain a - 'skip' rule, skip that many CSV records. If there are multiple - matched 'skip' rules, the first one wins. - * collect all field assignments at top level and in matched 'if' - blocks. When there are multiple assignments for a field, keep only - the last one. - * compute a value for each hledger field - either the one that was - assigned to it (and interpolate the %CSVFIELDNAME references), or a - default - * generate a synthetic hledger transaction from these values. - - 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. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: TIMECLOCK FORMAT, Next: TIMEDOT FORMAT, Prev: CSV FORMAT, Up: Top - -14 TIMECLOCK FORMAT -******************* - -The time logging format of timeclock.el, as read by hledger. - - hledger can read time logs in timeclock format. As with Ledger, -these are (a subset of) timeclock.el'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). - -i 2015/03/30 09:00:00 some:account name optional description after two spaces -o 2015/03/30 09:20:00 -i 2015/03/31 22:21:45 another account -o 2015/04/01 02:00:34 - - 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, 'hledger print' generates these journal entries: - -$ hledger -f t.timeclock print -2015-03-30 * optional description after two spaces - (some:account name) 0.33h - -2015-03-31 * 22:21-23:59 - (another account) 1.64h - -2015-04-01 * 00:00-02:00 - (another account) 2.01h - - Here is a sample.timeclock to download and some queries to try: - -$ 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 - - To generate time logs, ie to clock in and clock out, you could: - - * use emacs and the built-in timeclock.el, or the extended - timeclock-x.el and perhaps the extras in ledgerutils.el - - * at the command line, use these bash aliases: 'shell alias ti="echo - i `date '+%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S'` \$* >>$TIMELOG" alias to="echo o - `date '+%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S'` >>$TIMELOG"' - - * or use the old 'ti' and 'to' scripts in the ledger 2.x repository. - These rely on a "timeclock" executable which I think is just the - ledger 2 executable renamed. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: TIMEDOT FORMAT, Next: COMMON TASKS, Prev: TIMECLOCK FORMAT, Up: Top - -15 TIMEDOT FORMAT -***************** - -'timedot' format is hledger's human-friendly time logging format. -Compared to 'timeclock' format, it is - - * convenient for quick, approximate, and retroactive time logging - * readable: you can see at a glance where time was spent. - - A timedot file contains a series of day entries, which might look -like this: - -2021-08-04 -hom:errands .... .... -fos:hledger:timedot .. ; docs -per:admin:finance - - hledger reads this as three time transactions on this day, with each -dot representing a quarter-hour spent: - -$ hledger -f a.timedot print # .timedot file extension activates the timedot reader -2021-08-04 * - (hom:errands) 2.00 - -2021-08-04 * - (fos:hledger:timedot) 0.50 - -2021-08-04 * - (per:admin:finance) 0 - - A day entry begins with a date line: - - * a non-indented *simple date* (Y-M-D, Y/M/D, or Y.M.D). - - Optionally this can be followed on the same line by - - * a common *transaction description* for this day - * a common *transaction comment* for this day, after a semicolon - (';'). - - After the date line are zero or more optionally-indented time -transaction lines, consisting of: - - * an *account name* - any word or phrase, usually a hledger-style - account name. - * *two or more spaces* - a field separator, required if there is an - amount (as in journal format). - * a *timedot amount* - dots representing quarter hours, or a number - representing hours. - * an optional *comment* beginning with semicolon. This is ignored. - - In more detail, timedot amounts can be: - - * *dots*: zero or more period characters, each representing one - quarter-hour. Spaces are ignored and can be used for grouping. - Eg: '.... ..' - - * a *number*, representing hours. Eg: '1.5' - - * a *number immediately followed by a unit symbol* 's', 'm', 'h', - 'd', 'w', 'mo', or 'y', representing seconds, minutes, hours, days - weeks, months or years. Eg '1.5h' or '90m'. The following - equivalencies are assumed: - '60s' = '1m', '60m' = '1h', '24h' = '1d', '7d' = '1w', '30d' = - '1mo', '365d' = '1y'. (This unit will not be visible in the - generated transaction amount, which is always in hours.) - - There is some added flexibility to help with keeping time log data in -the same file as your notes, todo lists, etc.: - - * Lines beginning with '#' or ';', and blank lines, are ignored. - - * Lines not ending with a double-space and amount are parsed as - transactions with zero amount. (Most hledger reports hide these by - default; add -E to see them.) - - * One or more stars ('*') followed by a space, at the start of a - line, is ignored. So date lines or time transaction lines can also - be Org-mode headlines. - - * All Org-mode headlines before the first date line are ignored. - - More examples: - -# 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 . - -2016/2/3 -inc:client1 4 -fos:hledger 3 -biz:research 1 - -* Time log -** 2020-01-01 -*** adm:time . -*** adm:finance . - -* 2020 Work Diary -** Q1 -*** 2020-02-29 -**** DONE -0700 yoga -**** UNPLANNED -**** BEGUN -hom:chores - cleaning ... - water plants - outdoor - one full watering can - indoor - light watering -**** TODO -adm:planning: trip -*** LATER - - Reporting: - -$ hledger -f a.timedot print date:2016/2/2 -2016-02-02 * - (inc:client1) 2.00 - -2016-02-02 * - (biz:research) 0.25 - -$ 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 - - Using period instead of colon as account name separator: - -2016/2/4 -fos.hledger.timedot 4 -fos.ledger .. - -$ hledger -f a.timedot --alias /\\./=: bal --tree - 4.50 fos - 4.00 hledger:timedot - 0.50 ledger --------------------- - 4.50 - - A sample.timedot file. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: COMMON TASKS, Next: LIMITATIONS, Prev: TIMEDOT FORMAT, Up: Top - -16 COMMON TASKS -*************** - -Here are some quick examples of how to do some basic tasks with hledger. -For more details, see the reference section below, the -hledger_journal(5) manual, or the more extensive docs at -https://hledger.org. - -* Menu: - -* Getting help:: -* Constructing command lines:: -* Starting a journal file:: -* Setting opening balances:: -* Recording transactions:: -* Reconciling:: -* Reporting:: -* Migrating to a new file:: - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Getting help, Next: Constructing command lines, Up: COMMON TASKS - -16.1 Getting help -================= - -$ hledger # show available commands -$ hledger --help # show common options -$ hledger CMD --help # show common and command options, and command help -$ hledger help # show available manuals/topics -$ hledger help hledger # show hledger manual as info/man/text (auto-chosen) -$ hledger help journal --man # show the journal manual as a man page -$ hledger help --help # show more detailed help for the help command - - Find more docs, chat, mail list, reddit, issue tracker: -https://hledger.org#help-feedback - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Constructing command lines, Next: Starting a journal file, Prev: Getting help, Up: COMMON TASKS - -16.2 Constructing command lines -=============================== - -hledger has an extensive and powerful command line interface. We strive -to keep it simple and ergonomic, but you may run into one of the -confusing real world details described in OPTIONS, below. If that -happens, here are some tips that may help: - - * command-specific options must go after the command (it's fine to - put all options there) ('hledger CMD OPTS ARGS') - * running add-on executables directly simplifies command line parsing - ('hledger-ui OPTS ARGS') - * enclose "problematic" args in single quotes - * if needed, also add a backslash to hide regular expression - metacharacters from the shell - * to see how a misbehaving command is being parsed, add '--debug=2'. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Starting a journal file, Next: Setting opening balances, Prev: Constructing command lines, Up: COMMON TASKS - -16.3 Starting a journal file -============================ - -hledger looks for your accounting data in a journal file, -'$HOME/.hledger.journal' by default: - -$ hledger stats -The hledger journal file "/Users/simon/.hledger.journal" was not found. -Please create it first, eg with "hledger add" or a text editor. -Or, specify an existing journal file with -f or LEDGER_FILE. - - You can override this by setting the 'LEDGER_FILE' environment -variable. It'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: - -$ mkdir ~/finance -$ cd ~/finance -$ git init -Initialized empty Git repository in /Users/simon/finance/.git/ -$ touch 2020.journal -$ echo "export LEDGER_FILE=$HOME/finance/2020.journal" >> ~/.bashrc -$ source ~/.bashrc -$ hledger stats -Main file : /Users/simon/finance/2020.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 () - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Setting opening balances, Next: Recording transactions, Prev: Starting a journal file, Up: COMMON TASKS - -16.4 Setting opening balances -============================= - -Pick a starting date for which you can look up the balances of some -real-world assets (bank accounts, wallet..) and liabilities (credit -cards..). - - 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. - - Add an opening balances transaction to the journal, declaring the -balances on this date. Here are two ways to do it: - - * The first way: open the journal in any text editor and save an - entry like this: - - 2020-01-01 * opening balances - assets:bank:checking $1000 = $1000 - assets:bank:savings $2000 = $2000 - assets:cash $100 = $100 - liabilities:creditcard $-50 = $-50 - equity:opening/closing balances - - These are start-of-day balances, ie whatever was in the account at - the end of the previous day. - - The * after the date is an optional status flag. Here it means - "cleared & confirmed". - - The currency symbols are optional, but usually a good idea as - you'll be dealing with multiple currencies sooner or later. - - The = amounts are optional balance assertions, providing extra - error checking. - - * The second way: run 'hledger add' and follow the prompts to record - a similar transaction: - - $ hledger add - Adding transactions to journal file /Users/simon/finance/2020.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 [2020-02-07]: 2020-01-01 - 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): . - 2020-01-01 * opening balances - assets:bank:checking $1000 - assets:bank:savings $2000 - assets:cash $100 - liabilities:creditcard $-50 - equity:opening/closing balances $-3050 - - Save this transaction to the journal ? [y]: - Saved. - Starting the next transaction (. or ctrl-D/ctrl-C to quit) - Date [2020-01-01]: . - - If you're using version control, this could be a good time to commit -the journal. Eg: - -$ git commit -m 'initial balances' 2020.journal - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Recording transactions, Next: Reconciling, Prev: Setting opening balances, Up: COMMON TASKS - -16.5 Recording transactions -=========================== - -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. - - Here are some simple transactions, see the hledger_journal(5) manual -and hledger.org for more ideas: - -2020/1/10 * gift received - assets:cash $20 - income:gifts - -2020.1.12 * farmers market - expenses:food $13 - assets:cash - -2020-01-15 paycheck - income:salary - assets:bank:checking $1000 - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Reconciling, Next: Reporting, Prev: Recording transactions, Up: COMMON TASKS - -16.6 Reconciling -================ - -Periodically you should reconcile - compare your hledger-reported -balances against external sources of truth, like bank statements or your -bank'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. - - A typical workflow: - - 1. Reconcile cash. Count what's in your wallet. Compare with what - hledger reports ('hledger bal cash'). 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 - ('hledger reg cash'). If you can't find the error, add an - adjustment transaction. Eg if you have $105 after the above, and - can't explain the missing $2, it could be: - - 2020-01-16 * adjust cash - assets:cash $-2 = $105 - expenses:misc - - 2. Reconcile checking. Log in to your bank's website. Compare - today's (cleared) balance with hledger's cleared balance ('hledger - bal checking -C'). If they are different, track down the error or - record the missing transaction(s) or add an adjustment transaction, - similar to the above. Unlike the cash case, you can usually - compare the transaction history and running balance from your bank - with the one reported by 'hledger reg checking -C'. This will be - easier if you generally record transaction dates quite similar to - your bank's clearing dates. - - 3. Repeat for other asset/liability accounts. - - Tip: instead of the register command, use hledger-ui to see a -live-updating register while you edit the journal: 'hledger-ui --watch ---register checking -C' - - After reconciling, it could be a good time to mark the reconciled -transactions' status as "cleared and confirmed", if you want to track -that, by adding the '*' marker. Eg in the paycheck transaction above, -insert '*' between '2020-01-15' and 'paycheck' - - If you're using version control, this can be another good time to -commit: - -$ git commit -m 'txns' 2020.journal - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Reporting, Next: Migrating to a new file, Prev: Reconciling, Up: COMMON TASKS - -16.7 Reporting -============== - -Here are some basic reports. - - Show all transactions: - -$ hledger print -2020-01-01 * opening balances - assets:bank:checking $1000 - assets:bank:savings $2000 - assets:cash $100 - liabilities:creditcard $-50 - equity:opening/closing balances $-3050 - -2020-01-10 * gift received - assets:cash $20 - income:gifts - -2020-01-12 * farmers market - expenses:food $13 - assets:cash - -2020-01-15 * paycheck - income:salary - assets:bank:checking $1000 - -2020-01-16 * adjust cash - assets:cash $-2 = $105 - expenses:misc - - Show account names, and their hierarchy: - -$ hledger accounts --tree -assets - bank - checking - savings - cash -equity - opening/closing balances -expenses - food - misc -income - gifts - salary -liabilities - creditcard - - Show all account totals: - -$ 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 - $-50 liabilities:creditcard --------------------- - 0 - - Show only asset and liability balances, as a flat list, limited to -depth 2: - -$ hledger bal assets liabilities --flat -2 - $4000 assets:bank - $105 assets:cash - $-50 liabilities:creditcard --------------------- - $4055 - - Show the same thing without negative numbers, formatted as a simple -balance sheet: - -$ hledger bs --flat -2 -Balance Sheet 2020-01-16 - - || 2020-01-16 -========================++============ - Assets || -------------------------++------------ - assets:bank || $4000 - assets:cash || $105 -------------------------++------------ - || $4105 -========================++============ - Liabilities || -------------------------++------------ - liabilities:creditcard || $50 -------------------------++------------ - || $50 -========================++============ - Net: || $4055 - - The final total is your "net worth" on the end date. (Or use 'bse' -for a full balance sheet with equity.) - - Show income and expense totals, formatted as an income statement: - -hledger is -Income Statement 2020-01-01-2020-01-16 - - || 2020-01-01-2020-01-16 -===============++======================= - Revenues || ----------------++----------------------- - income:gifts || $20 - income:salary || $1000 ----------------++----------------------- - || $1020 -===============++======================= - Expenses || ----------------++----------------------- - expenses:food || $13 - expenses:misc || $2 ----------------++----------------------- - || $15 -===============++======================= - Net: || $1005 - - The final total is your net income during this period. - - Show transactions affecting your wallet, with running total: - -$ hledger register cash -2020-01-01 opening balances assets:cash $100 $100 -2020-01-10 gift received assets:cash $20 $120 -2020-01-12 farmers market assets:cash $-13 $107 -2020-01-16 adjust cash assets:cash $-2 $105 - - Show weekly posting counts as a bar chart: - -$ hledger activity -W -2019-12-30 ***** -2020-01-06 **** -2020-01-13 **** - - -File: hledger.info, Node: Migrating to a new file, Prev: Reporting, Up: COMMON TASKS - -16.8 Migrating to a new file -============================ - -At the end of the year, you may want to continue your journal in a new -file, so that old transactions don't slow down or clutter your reports, -and to help ensure the integrity of your accounting history. See the -close command. - - If using version control, don't forget to 'git add' the new file. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: LIMITATIONS, Next: TROUBLESHOOTING, Prev: COMMON TASKS, Up: Top - -17 LIMITATIONS -************** - -The need to precede add-on command options with '--' when invoked from -hledger is awkward. - - When input data contains non-ascii characters, a suitable system -locale must be configured (or there will be an unhelpful error). Eg on -POSIX, set LANG to something other than C. - - In a Microsoft Windows CMD window, non-ascii characters and colours -are not supported. - - On Windows, non-ascii characters may not display correctly when -running a hledger built in CMD in MSYS/CYGWIN, or vice-versa. - - In a Cygwin/MSYS/Mintty window, the tab key is not supported in -hledger add. - - Not all of Ledger's journal file syntax is supported. See file -format differences. - - On large data files, hledger is slower and uses more memory than -Ledger. - - -File: hledger.info, Node: TROUBLESHOOTING, Prev: LIMITATIONS, Up: Top - -18 TROUBLESHOOTING -****************** - -Here are some issues you might encounter when you run hledger (and -remember you can also seek help from the IRC channel, mail list or bug -tracker): - - *Successfully installed, but "No command 'hledger' found"* -stack and cabal install binaries into a special directory, which should -be added to your PATH environment variable. Eg on unix-like systems, -that is ~/.local/bin and ~/.cabal/bin respectively. - - *I set a custom LEDGER_FILE, but hledger is still using the default -file* -'LEDGER_FILE' should be a real environment variable, not just a shell -variable. The command 'env | grep LEDGER_FILE' should show it. You may -need to use 'export'. Here's an explanation. - - *Getting errors like "Illegal byte sequence" or "Invalid or -incomplete multibyte or wide character" or "commitAndReleaseBuffer: -invalid argument (invalid character)"* -Programs compiled with GHC (hledger, haskell build tools, etc.) need to -have a UTF-8-aware locale configured in the environment, otherwise they -will fail with these kinds of errors when they encounter non-ascii -characters. - - To fix it, set the LANG environment variable to some locale which -supports UTF-8. The locale you choose must be installed on your system. - - Here's an example of setting LANG temporarily, on Ubuntu GNU/Linux: - -$ file my.journal -my.journal: UTF-8 Unicode text # the file is UTF8-encoded -$ echo $LANG -C # LANG is set to the default locale, which does not support UTF8 -$ locale -a # which locales are installed ? -C -en_US.utf8 # here's a UTF8-aware one we can use -POSIX -$ LANG=en_US.utf8 hledger -f my.journal print # ensure it is used for this command - - If available, 'C.UTF-8' will also work. If your preferred locale -isn't listed by 'locale -a', you might need to install it. Eg on -Ubuntu/Debian: - -$ apt-get install language-pack-fr -$ locale -a -C -en_US.utf8 -fr_BE.utf8 -fr_CA.utf8 -fr_CH.utf8 -fr_FR.utf8 -fr_LU.utf8 -POSIX -$ LANG=fr_FR.utf8 hledger -f my.journal print - - Here's how you could set it permanently, if you use a bash shell: - -$ echo "export LANG=en_US.utf8" >>~/.bash_profile -$ bash --login - - Exact spelling and capitalisation may be important. Note the -difference on MacOS ('UTF-8', not 'utf8'). Some platforms (eg ubuntu) -allow variant spellings, but others (eg macos) require it to be exact: - -$ locale -a | grep -iE en_us.*utf -en_US.UTF-8 -$ LANG=en_US.UTF-8 hledger -f my.journal print - - -Tag Table: -Node: Top208 -Node: OPTIONS2602 -Ref: #options2703 -Node: General options2845 -Ref: #general-options2970 -Node: Command options7183 -Ref: #command-options7334 -Node: Command arguments7734 -Ref: #command-arguments7892 -Node: Special characters8772 -Ref: #special-characters8935 -Node: Single escaping shell metacharacters9098 -Ref: #single-escaping-shell-metacharacters9339 -Node: Double escaping regular expression metacharacters9942 -Ref: #double-escaping-regular-expression-metacharacters10253 -Node: Triple escaping for add-on commands10779 -Ref: #triple-escaping-for-add-on-commands11039 -Node: Less escaping11683 -Ref: #less-escaping11837 -Node: Unicode characters12161 -Ref: #unicode-characters12326 -Node: Regular expressions13738 -Ref: #regular-expressions13878 -Node: 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#matching-individual-fields274888 -Node: Combining matchers275112 -Ref: #combining-matchers275310 -Node: Rules applied on successful match275623 -Ref: #rules-applied-on-successful-match275816 -Node: if table276470 -Ref: #if-table276591 -Node: end278329 -Ref: #end278443 -Node: date-format278667 -Ref: #date-format278801 -Node: decimal-mark279797 -Ref: #decimal-mark279944 -Node: newest-first280283 -Ref: #newest-first280426 -Node: include281109 -Ref: #include281242 -Node: balance-type281686 -Ref: #balance-type281808 -Node: Tips282508 -Ref: #tips282599 -Node: Rapid feedback282898 -Ref: #rapid-feedback283017 -Node: Valid CSV283469 -Ref: #valid-csv283601 -Node: File Extension283793 -Ref: #file-extension283947 -Node: Reading multiple CSV files284376 -Ref: #reading-multiple-csv-files284563 -Node: Valid transactions284804 -Ref: #valid-transactions284984 -Node: Deduplicating importing285612 -Ref: #deduplicating-importing285793 -Node: Setting amounts286826 -Ref: #setting-amounts286983 -Node: Amount signs289424 -Ref: #amount-signs289578 -Node: Setting currency/commodity290265 -Ref: #setting-currencycommodity290453 -Node: Amount decimal places291627 -Ref: #amount-decimal-places291819 -Node: Referencing other fields292131 -Ref: #referencing-other-fields292330 -Node: How CSV rules are evaluated293227 -Ref: #how-csv-rules-are-evaluated293402 -Node: TIMECLOCK FORMAT294853 -Ref: #timeclock-format294993 -Node: TIMEDOT FORMAT297054 -Ref: #timedot-format297192 -Node: COMMON TASKS301754 -Ref: #common-tasks301883 -Node: Getting help302290 -Ref: #getting-help302424 -Node: Constructing command lines302977 -Ref: #constructing-command-lines303171 -Node: Starting a journal file303868 -Ref: #starting-a-journal-file304068 -Node: Setting opening balances305256 -Ref: #setting-opening-balances305454 -Node: Recording transactions308595 -Ref: #recording-transactions308777 -Node: Reconciling309333 -Ref: #reconciling309478 -Node: Reporting311735 -Ref: #reporting311877 -Node: Migrating to a new file315876 -Ref: #migrating-to-a-new-file316026 -Node: LIMITATIONS316325 -Ref: #limitations316453 -Node: TROUBLESHOOTING317196 -Ref: #troubleshooting317311 - -End Tag Table - - -Local Variables: -coding: utf-8 -End: +This is hledger/hledger.info, produced by makeinfo version 4.8 from +stdin. + +INFO-DIR-SECTION User Applications +START-INFO-DIR-ENTRY +* hledger: (hledger). Command-line plain text accounting tool. +END-INFO-DIR-ENTRY + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Top, Up: (dir) + +hledger(1) +********** + +This is the command-line interface (CLI) for the hledger accounting +tool. Here we also describe hledger's concepts and file formats. This +manual is for hledger 1.24. + + `hledger' + + `hledger [-f FILE] COMMAND [OPTIONS] [ARGS]' + + `hledger [-f FILE] ADDONCMD -- [OPTIONS] [ARGS]' + + hledger is a reliable, 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). + + The basic function of the hledger CLI is to read a plain text file +describing financial transactions (in accounting terms, a general +journal) and print useful reports on standard output, or export them as +CSV. hledger can also read some other file formats such as CSV files, +translating them to journal format. Additionally, hledger lists other +hledger-* executables found in the user's $PATH and can invoke them as +subcommands. + + hledger reads data from one or more files in hledger journal, +timeclock, timedot, or CSV format specified with `-f', or +`$LEDGER_FILE', or `$HOME/.hledger.journal' (on windows, perhaps +`C:/Users/USER/.hledger.journal'). If using `$LEDGER_FILE', note this +must be a real environment variable, not a shell variable. You can +specify standard input with `-f-'. + + Transactions are dated movements of money between two (or more) named +accounts, and are recorded with journal entries like this: + + +2015/10/16 bought food + expenses:food $10 + assets:cash + + Most users use a text editor to edit the journal, usually with an +editor mode such as ledger-mode for added convenience. hledger's +interactive add command is another way to record new transactions. +hledger never changes existing transactions. + + To get started, you can either save some entries like the above in +`~/.hledger.journal', or run `hledger add' and follow the prompts. Then +try some commands like `hledger print' or `hledger balance'. Run +`hledger' with no arguments for a list of commands. + +* Menu: + +* OPTIONS:: +* ENVIRONMENT:: +* DATA FILES:: +* TIME PERIODS:: +* DEPTH:: +* QUERIES:: +* COSTING:: +* VALUATION:: +* PIVOTING:: +* OUTPUT:: +* COMMANDS:: +* JOURNAL FORMAT:: +* CSV FORMAT:: +* TIMECLOCK FORMAT:: +* TIMEDOT FORMAT:: +* COMMON TASKS:: +* LIMITATIONS:: +* TROUBLESHOOTING:: + + +File: hledger.info, Node: OPTIONS, Next: ENVIRONMENT, Prev: Top, Up: Top + +1 OPTIONS +********* + +* Menu: + +* General options:: +* Command options:: +* Command arguments:: +* Special characters:: +* Unicode characters:: +* Regular expressions:: + + +File: hledger.info, Node: General options, Next: Command options, Up: OPTIONS + +1.1 General options +=================== + +To see general usage help, including general options which are supported +by most hledger commands, run `hledger -h'. + + General help options: + +`-h --help' + show general or COMMAND help + +`--man' + show general or COMMAND user manual with man + +`--info' + show general or COMMAND user manual with info + +`--version' + show general or ADDONCMD version + +`--debug[=N]' + show debug output (levels 1-9, default: 1) + + General input options: + +`-f FILE --file=FILE' + use a different input file. For stdin, use - (default: + `$LEDGER_FILE' or `$HOME/.hledger.journal') + +`--rules-file=RULESFILE' + Conversion rules file to use when reading CSV (default: FILE.rules) + +`--separator=CHAR' + Field separator to expect when reading CSV (default: ',') + +`--alias=OLD=NEW' + rename accounts named OLD to NEW + +`--anon' + anonymize accounts and payees + +`--pivot FIELDNAME' + use some other field or tag for the account name + +`-I --ignore-assertions' + disable balance assertion checks (note: does not disable balance + assignments) + +`-s --strict' + do extra error checking (check that all posted accounts are + declared) + + General reporting options: + +`-b --begin=DATE' + include postings/txns on or after this date (will be adjusted to + preceding subperiod start when using a report interval) + +`-e --end=DATE' + include postings/txns before this date (will be adjusted to + following subperiod end when using a report interval) + +`-D --daily' + multiperiod/multicolumn report by day + +`-W --weekly' + multiperiod/multicolumn report by week + +`-M --monthly' + multiperiod/multicolumn report by month + +`-Q --quarterly' + multiperiod/multicolumn report by quarter + +`-Y --yearly' + multiperiod/multicolumn report by year + +`-p --period=PERIODEXP' + set start date, end date, and/or reporting interval all at once + using period expressions syntax + +`--date2' + match the secondary date instead (see command help for other + effects) + +`--today=DATE' + override today's date (affects relative smart dates, for + tests/examples) + +`-U --unmarked' + include only unmarked postings/txns (can combine with -P or -C) + +`-P --pending' + include only pending postings/txns + +`-C --cleared' + include only cleared postings/txns + +`-R --real' + include only non-virtual postings + +`-NUM --depth=NUM' + hide/aggregate accounts or postings more than NUM levels deep + +`-E --empty' + show items with zero amount, normally hidden (and vice-versa in + hledger-ui/hledger-web) + +`-B --cost' + convert amounts to their cost/selling amount at transaction time + +`-V --market' + convert amounts to their market value in default valuation + commodities + +`-X --exchange=COMM' + convert amounts to their market value in commodity COMM + +`--value' + convert amounts to cost or market value, more flexibly than + -B/-V/-X + +`--infer-market-prices' + use transaction prices (recorded with @ or @@) as additional market + prices, as if they were P directives + +`--auto' + apply automated posting rules to modify transactions. + +`--forecast' + generate future transactions from periodic transaction rules, for + the next 6 months or till report end date. In hledger-ui, also + make ordinary future transactions visible. + +`--commodity-style' + Override the commodity style in the output for the specified + commodity. For example 'EUR1.000,00'. + +`--color=WHEN (or --colour=WHEN)' + Should color-supporting commands use ANSI color codes in text + output. 'auto' (default): whenever stdout seems to be a + color-supporting terminal. 'always' or 'yes': always, useful eg + when piping output into 'less -R'. 'never' or 'no': never. A + NO_COLOR environment variable overrides this. + +`--pretty[=WHEN]' + Show prettier output, e.g. using unicode box-drawing characters. + Accepts 'yes' (the default) or 'no' ('y', 'n', 'always', 'never' + also work). If you provide an argument you must use '=', e.g. + '-pretty=yes'. + + When a reporting option appears more than once in the command line, +the last one takes precedence. + + Some reporting options can also be written as query arguments. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Command options, Next: Command arguments, Prev: General options, Up: OPTIONS + +1.2 Command options +=================== + +To see options for a particular command, including command-specific +options, run: `hledger COMMAND -h'. + + Command-specific options must be written after the command name, eg: +`hledger print -x'. + + Additionally, if the command is an add-on, you may need to put its +options after a double-hyphen, eg: `hledger ui -- --watch'. Or, you can +run the add-on executable directly: `hledger-ui --watch'. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Command arguments, Next: Special characters, Prev: Command options, Up: OPTIONS + +1.3 Command arguments +===================== + +Most hledger commands accept arguments after the command name, which are +often a query, filtering the data in some way. + + You can save a set of command line options/arguments in a file, and +then reuse them by writing `@FILENAME' as a command line argument. Eg: +`hledger bal @foo.args'. (To prevent this, eg if you have an argument +that begins with a literal `@', precede it with `--', eg: `hledger bal +-- @ARG'). + + Inside the argument file, each line should contain just one option or +argument. Avoid the use of spaces, except inside quotes (or you'll see a +confusing error). Between a flag and its argument, use = (or nothing). +Bad: + + +assets depth:2 +-X USD + + Good: + + +assets +depth:2 +-X=USD + + For special characters (see below), use one less level of quoting +than you would at the command prompt. Bad: + + +-X"$" + + Good: + + +-X$ + + See also: Save frequently used options. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Special characters, Next: Unicode characters, Prev: Command arguments, Up: OPTIONS + +1.4 Special characters +====================== + +* Menu: + +* Single escaping shell metacharacters:: +* Double escaping regular expression metacharacters:: +* Triple escaping for add-on commands:: +* Less escaping:: + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Single escaping shell metacharacters, Next: Double escaping regular expression metacharacters, Up: Special characters + +1.4.1 Single escaping (shell metacharacters) +-------------------------------------------- + +In shell command lines, characters significant to your shell - such as +spaces, `<', `>', `(', `)', `|', `$' and `\' - should be +"shell-escaped" if you want hledger to see them. This is done by +enclosing them in single or double quotes, or by writing a backslash +before them. Eg to match an account name containing a space: + + +$ hledger register 'credit card' + + or: + + +$ hledger register credit\ card + + Windows users should keep in mind that `cmd' treats single quote as +a regular character, so you should be using double quotes exclusively. +PowerShell treats both single and double quotes as quotes. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Double escaping regular expression metacharacters, Next: Triple escaping for add-on commands, Prev: Single escaping shell metacharacters, Up: Special characters + +1.4.2 Double escaping (regular expression metacharacters) +--------------------------------------------------------- + +Characters significant in regular expressions (described below) - such +as `.', `^', `$', `[', `]', `(', `)', `|', and `\' - may need to be +"regex-escaped" if you don't want them to be interpreted by hledger's +regular expression engine. This is done by writing backslashes before +them, but since backslash is typically also a shell metacharacter, both +shell-escaping and regex-escaping will be needed. Eg to match a literal +`$' sign while using the bash shell: + + +$ hledger balance cur:'\$' + + or: + + +$ hledger balance cur:\\$ + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Triple escaping for add-on commands, Next: Less escaping, Prev: Double escaping regular expression metacharacters, Up: Special characters + +1.4.3 Triple escaping (for add-on commands) +------------------------------------------- + +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 `$' sign while using the +bash shell and running an add-on command (`ui'): + + +$ hledger ui cur:'\\$' + + or: + + +$ hledger ui cur:\\\\$ + + If you wondered why _four_ backslashes, perhaps this helps: + +unescaped: `$' +escaped: `\$' +double-escaped: `\\$' +triple-escaped: `\\\\$' + + Or, you can avoid the extra escaping by running the add-on executable +directly: + + +$ hledger-ui cur:\\$ + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Less escaping, Prev: Triple escaping for add-on commands, Up: Special characters + +1.4.4 Less escaping +------------------- + +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: + + * an @argumentfile + + * hledger-ui's filter field + + * hledger-web's search form + + * GHCI's prompt (used by developers). + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Unicode characters, Next: Regular expressions, Prev: Special characters, Up: OPTIONS + +1.5 Unicode characters +====================== + +hledger is expected to handle non-ascii characters correctly: + + * they should be parsed correctly in input files and on the command + line, by all hledger tools (add, iadd, hledger-web's + search/add/edit forms, etc.) + + * they should be displayed correctly by all hledger tools, and + on-screen alignment should be preserved. + + + This requires a well-configured environment. Here are some tips: + + * 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: `export LANG=en_US.UTF-8'. 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). + + * your terminal software (eg Terminal.app, iTerm, CMD.exe, xterm..) + must support unicode + + * the terminal must be using a font which includes the required + unicode glyphs + + * the terminal should be configured to display wide characters as + double width (for report alignment) + + * 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). + + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Regular expressions, Prev: Unicode characters, Up: OPTIONS + +1.6 Regular expressions +======================= + +hledger uses regular expressions in a number of places: + + * query terms, on the command line and in the hledger-web search + form: `REGEX', `desc:REGEX', `cur:REGEX', `tag:...=REGEX' + + * CSV rules conditional blocks: `if REGEX ...' + + * account alias directives and options: `alias /REGEX/ = + REPLACEMENT', `--alias /REGEX/=REPLACEMENT' + + hledger's regular expressions come from the regex-tdfa library. If +they're not doing what you expect, it's important to know exactly what +they support: + + 1. they are case insensitive + + 2. they are infix matching (they do not need to match the entire thing + being matched) + + 3. they are POSIX ERE (extended regular expressions) + + 4. they also support GNU word boundaries (`\b', `\B', `\<', `\>') + + 5. they do not support backreferences; if you write `\1', it will + match the digit `1'. 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. + + 6. they do not support mode modifiers (`(?s)'), character classes + (`\w', `\d'), or anything else not mentioned above. + + Some things to note: + + * In the `alias' directive and `--alias' option, regular expressions + must be enclosed in forward slashes (`/REGEX/'). Elsewhere in + hledger, these are not required. + + * In queries, to match a regular expression metacharacter like `$' as + a literal character, prepend a backslash. Eg to search for amounts + with the dollar sign in hledger-web, write `cur:\$'. + + * On the command line, some metacharacters like `$' have a special + meaning to the shell and so must be escaped at least once more. See + Special characters. + + + +File: hledger.info, Node: ENVIRONMENT, Next: DATA FILES, Prev: OPTIONS, Up: Top + +2 ENVIRONMENT +************* + +*LEDGER_FILE* The journal file path when not specified with `-f'. +Default: `~/.hledger.journal' (on windows, perhaps +`C:/Users/USER/.hledger.journal'). + + A typical value is `~/DIR/YYYY.journal', where DIR is a +version-controlled finance directory and YYYY is the current year. Or +`~/DIR/current.journal', where current.journal is a symbolic link to +YYYY.journal. + + On Mac computers, you can set this and other environment variables +in a more thorough way that also affects applications started from the +GUI (say, an Emacs dock icon). Eg on MacOS Catalina I have a +`~/.MacOSX/environment.plist' file containing + + +{ + "LEDGER_FILE" : "~/finance/current.journal" +} + + To see the effect you may need to `killall Dock', or reboot. + + *COLUMNS* The screen width used by the register command. Default: +the full terminal width. + + *NO_COLOR* If this variable exists with any value, hledger will not +use ANSI color codes in terminal output. This is overriden by the +-color/-colour option. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: DATA FILES, Next: TIME PERIODS, Prev: ENVIRONMENT, Up: Top + +3 DATA FILES +************ + +hledger reads transactions from one or more data files. The default data +file is `$HOME/.hledger.journal' (or on Windows, something like +`C:/Users/USER/.hledger.journal'). + + You can override this with the `$LEDGER_FILE' environment variable: + + +$ setenv LEDGER_FILE ~/finance/2016.journal +$ hledger stats + + or with one or more `-f/--file' options: + + +$ hledger -f /some/file -f another_file stats + + The file name `-' means standard input: + + +$ cat some.journal | hledger -f- + +* Menu: + +* Data formats:: +* Multiple files:: +* Strict mode:: + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Data formats, Next: Multiple files, Up: DATA FILES + +3.1 Data formats +================ + +Usually the data file is in hledger's journal format, but it can be in +any of the supported file formats, which currently are: + +Reader: Reads: Used for file + extensions: +-------------------------------------------------------------------------- +`journal'hledger journal files and some Ledger `.journal' `.j' + journals, for transactions `.hledger' `.ledger' +`timeclock'timeclock files, for precise time `.timeclock' + logging +`timedot'timedot files, for approximate time `.timedot' + logging +`csv' comma/semicolon/tab/other-separated `.csv' `.ssv' `.tsv' + values, for data import + + These formats are described in their own sections, below. + + hledger detects the format automatically based on the file extensions +shown above. If it can't recognise the file extension, it assumes +`journal' format. So for non-journal files, it's important to use a +recognised file extension, so as to either read successfully or to show +relevant error messages. + + 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: + + +$ hledger -f csv:/some/csv-file.dat stats + + Or to read stdin (`-') as timeclock format: + + +$ echo 'i 2009/13/1 08:00:00' | hledger print -ftimeclock:- + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Multiple files, Next: Strict mode, Prev: Data formats, Up: DATA FILES + +3.2 Multiple files +================== + +You can specify multiple `-f' options, to read multiple files as one +big journal. There are some limitations with this: + + * most directives do not affect sibling files + + * balance assertions will not see any account balances from previous + files + + If you need either of those things, you can + + * use a single parent file which includes the others + + * or concatenate the files into one before reading, eg: `cat + a.journal b.journal | hledger -f- CMD'. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Strict mode, Prev: Multiple files, Up: DATA FILES + +3.3 Strict mode +=============== + +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: + + * Are the input files parseable, with valid syntax ? + + * Are all transactions balanced ? + + * Do all balance assertions pass ? + + With the `-s'/`--strict' flag, additional checks are performed: + + * Are all accounts posted to, declared with an `account' directive ? + (Account error checking) + + * Are all commodities declared with a `commodity' directive ? + (Commodity error checking) + + * Are all commodity conversions declared explicitly ? + + You can also use the check command to run these and some additional +checks. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: TIME PERIODS, Next: DEPTH, Prev: DATA FILES, Up: Top + +4 TIME PERIODS +************** + +* Menu: + +* Smart dates:: +* Report start & end date:: +* Report intervals:: +* Period expressions:: + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Smart dates, Next: Report start & end date, Up: TIME PERIODS + +4.1 Smart dates +=============== + +hledger's user interfaces accept a flexible "smart date" syntax. Smart +dates allow some english words, can be relative to today's date, and can +have less-significant date parts omitted (defaulting to 1). + + Examples: + +`2004/10/1', exact date, several separators allowed. Year +`2004-01-01', `2004.9.1' is 4+ digits, month is 1-12, day is 1-31 +`2004' start of year +`2004/10' start of month +`10/1' month and day in current year +`21' day in current month +`october, oct' start of month in current year +`yesterday, today, -1, 0, 1 days from today +tomorrow' +`last/this/next -1, 0, 1 periods from the current period +day/week/month/quarter/year' +`20181201' 8 digit YYYYMMDD with valid year month and day +`201812' 6 digit YYYYMM with valid year and month + + Counterexamples - malformed digit sequences might give surprising +results: + +`201813' 6 digits with an invalid month is parsed as start of + 6-digit year +`20181301' 8 digits with an invalid month is parsed as start of + 8-digit year +`20181232' 8 digits with an invalid day gives an error +`201801012' 9+ digits beginning with a valid YYYYMMDD gives an error + + Note "today's date" can be overridden with the `--today' option, in +case it's needed for testing or for recreating old reports. (Except for +periodic transaction rules; those are not affected by `--today'.) + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Report start & end date, Next: Report intervals, Prev: Smart dates, Up: TIME PERIODS + +4.2 Report start & end date +=========================== + +By default, most hledger reports will show the full span of time +represented by the journal data. 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. + + 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 `-b/--begin', +`-e/--end', `-p/--period' or a `date:' query (described below). All of +these accept the smart date syntax. + + Some notes: + + * End dates are exclusive, as in Ledger, so you should write the date + _after_ the last day you want to see in the report. + + * As noted in reporting options: among start/end dates specified with + _options_, the last (i.e. right-most) option takes precedence. + + * The effective report start and end dates are the intersection of + the start/end dates from options and that from `date:' queries. + That is, `date:2019-01 date:2019 -p'2000 to 2030'' yields January + 2019, the smallest common time span. + + * A report interval (see below) will adjust start/end dates, when + needed, so that they fall on subperiod boundaries. + + Examples: + +`-b begin on St. Patrick's day 2016 +2016/3/17' +`-e 12/1' end at the start of december 1st of the current year + (11/30 will be the last date included) +`-b all transactions on or after the 1st of the current month +thismonth' +`-p all transactions in the current month +thismonth' +`date:2016/3/17..'the above written as queries instead (`..' can also be + replaced with `-') +`date:..12/1' +`date:thismonth..' +`date:thismonth' + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Report intervals, Next: Period expressions, Prev: Report start & end date, Up: TIME PERIODS + +4.3 Report intervals +==================== + +A report interval can be specified so that commands like register, +balance and activity become multi-period, showing each subperiod as a +separate row or column. + + The following "standard" report intervals can be enabled by using +their corresponding flag: + + * `-D/--daily' + + * `-W/--weekly' + + * `-M/--monthly' + + * `-Q/--quarterly' + + * `-Y/--yearly' + + These standard intervals always start on natural interval +boundaries: eg `--weekly' starts on mondays, `--monthly' starts on the +first of the month, `--yearly' always starts on January 1st, etc. + + Certain more complex intervals, and more flexible boundary dates, +can be specified by `-p/--period'. These are described in period +expressions, below. + + Report intervals can only be specified by the flags above, and not by +query arguments, currently. + + Report intervals have another effect: multi-period reports are always +expanded to fill a whole number of subperiods. So if you use a report +interval (other than `--daily'), and you have specified a start or end +date, you may notice those dates being overridden (ie, the report +starts earlier than your requested start date, or ends later than your +requested end date). This is done to ensure "full" first and last +subperiods, so that all subperiods' numbers are comparable. + + To summarise: + + * In multiperiod reports, all subperiods are forced to be the same + length, to simplify reporting. + + * Reports with the standard + `--weekly'/`--monthly'/`--quarterly'/`--yearly' intervals are + required to start on the first day of a week/month/quarter/year. + We'd like more flexibility here but it isn't supported yet. + + * `--period' (below) can specify more complex intervals, starting on + any date. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Period expressions, Prev: Report intervals, Up: TIME PERIODS + +4.4 Period expressions +====================== + +The `-p/--period' option accepts period expressions, a shorthand way of +expressing a start date, end date, and/or report interval all at once. + + Here's a basic period expression specifying the first quarter of +2009. Note, hledger always treats start dates as inclusive and end +dates as exclusive: + +`-p "from 2009/1/1 to 2009/4/1"' + + Keywords like "from" and "to" are optional, and so are the spaces, as +long as you don't run two dates together. "to" can also be written as +".." or "-". These are equivalent to the above: + +`-p "2009/1/1 2009/4/1"' +`-p2009/1/1to2009/4/1' +`-p2009/1/1..2009/4/1' + + Dates are smart dates, so if the current year is 2009, the above can +also be written as: + +`-p "1/1 4/1"' +`-p "january-apr"' +`-p "this year to 4/1"' + + If you specify only one date, the missing start or end date will be +the earliest or latest transaction in your journal: + +`-p "from 2009/1/1"' everything after january 1, 2009 +`-p "from 2009/1"' the same +`-p "from 2009"' the same +`-p "to 2009"' everything before january 1, 2009 + + A single date with no "from" or "to" defines both the start and end +date like so: + +`-p "2009"' the year 2009; equivalent to “2009/1/1 to 2010/1/1” +`-p "2009/1"' the month of jan; equivalent to “2009/1/1 to 2009/2/1” +`-p "2009/1/1"' just that day; equivalent to “2009/1/1 to 2009/1/2” + + Or you can specify a single quarter like so: + +`-p "2009Q1"' first quarter of 2009, equivalent to “2009/1/1 to 2009/4/1” +`-p "q4"' fourth quarter of the current year + +* Menu: + +* Period expressions with a report interval:: +* More complex report intervals:: +* Intervals with custom start date:: +* Periods or dates ?:: +* Events on multiple weekdays:: + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Period expressions with a report interval, Next: More complex report intervals, Up: Period expressions + +4.4.1 Period expressions with a report interval +----------------------------------------------- + +`-p/--period''s argument can also begin with, or entirely consist of, a +report interval. This should be separated from the start/end dates (if +any) by a space, or the word `in'. The basic intervals (which can also +be written as command line flags) are `daily', `weekly', `monthly', +`quarterly', and `yearly'. Some examples: + +`-p "weekly from 2009/1/1 to 2009/4/1"' +`-p "monthly in 2008"' +`-p "quarterly"' + + As mentioned above, the `weekly', `monthly', `quarterly' and +`yearly' intervals require a report start date that is the first day of +a week, month, quarter or year. And, report start/end dates will be +expanded if needed to span a whole number of intervals. + + For example: + +`-p "weekly from 2009/1/1 starts on 2008/12/29, closest preceding Monday +to 2009/4/1"' +`-p "monthly in starts on 2018/11/01 +2008/11/25"' +`-p "quarterly from starts on 2009/04/01, ends on 2009/06/30, +2009-05-05 to 2009-06-01"' which are first and last days of Q2 2009 +`-p "yearly from starts on 2009/01/01, first day of 2009 +2009-12-29"' + + +File: hledger.info, Node: More complex report intervals, Next: Intervals with custom start date, Prev: Period expressions with a report interval, Up: Period expressions + +4.4.2 More complex report intervals +----------------------------------- + +Some more complex kinds of interval are also supported in period +expressions: + + * `biweekly' + + * `fortnightly' + + * `bimonthly' + + * `every day|week|month|quarter|year' + + * `every N days|weeks|months|quarters|years' + + These too will cause report start/end dates to be expanded, if +needed, to span a whole number of intervals. Examples: + +`-p "bimonthly from 2008"' periods will have boundaries on 2008/01/01, + 2008/03/01, ... +`-p "every 2 weeks"' starts on closest preceding Monday +`-p "every 5 month from periods will have boundaries on 2009/03/01, +2009/03"' 2009/08/01, ... + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Intervals with custom start date, Next: Periods or dates ?, Prev: More complex report intervals, Up: Period expressions + +4.4.3 Intervals with custom start date +-------------------------------------- + +All intervals mentioned above are required to start on their natural +calendar boundaries, but the following intervals can start on any date: + + Weekly on custom day: + + * `every Nth day of week' (`th', `nd', `rd', or `st' are all + accepted after the number) + + * `every WEEKDAYNAME' (full or three-letter english weekday name, + case insensitive) + + Monthly on custom day: + + * `every Nth day [of month]' + + * `every Nth WEEKDAYNAME [of month]' + + Yearly on custom day: + + * `every MM/DD [of year]' (month number and day of month number) + + * `every MONTHNAME DDth [of year]' (full or three-letter english + month name, case insensitive, and day of month number) + + * `every DDth MONTHNAME [of year]' (equivalent to the above) + + Examples: + +`-p "every 2nd day of periods will go from Tue to Tue +week"' +`-p "every Tue"' same +`-p "every 15th day"' period boundaries will be on 15th of each month +`-p "every 2nd Monday"' period boundaries will be on second Monday of + each month +`-p "every 11/05"' yearly periods with boundaries on 5th of + November +`-p "every 5th same +November"' +`-p "every Nov 5th"' same + + Show historical balances at end of the 15th day of each month (N is +an end date, exclusive as always): + + +$ hledger balance -H -p "every 16th day" + + Group postings from the start of wednesday to end of the following +tuesday (N is both (inclusive) start date and (exclusive) end date): + + +$ hledger register checking -p "every 3rd day of week" + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Periods or dates ?, Next: Events on multiple weekdays, Prev: Intervals with custom start date, Up: Period expressions + +4.4.4 Periods or dates ? +------------------------ + +Report intervals like the above are most often used with `-p|--period', +to divide reports into multiple subperiods - each generated date marks +a subperiod boundary. Here, the periods between the dates are what's +important. + + But report intervals can also be used with `--forecast' to generate +future transactions, or with `balance --budget' to generate budget +goal-setting transactions. For these, the dates themselves are what +matters. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Events on multiple weekdays, Prev: Periods or dates ?, Up: Period expressions + +4.4.5 Events on multiple weekdays +--------------------------------- + +The `every WEEKDAYNAME' form has a special variant with multiple day +names, comma-separated. Eg: `every mon,thu,sat'. Also, `weekday' and +`weekendday' are shorthand for `mon,tue,wed,thu,fri' and `sat,sun' +respectively. + + This form is mainly intended for use with `--forecast', to generate +periodic transactions on arbitrary days of the week. It may be less +useful with `-p', since it divides each week into subperiods of unequal +length. (Because gaps between periods are not allowed; if you'd like to +change this, see #1632.) + + Examples: + +`-p "every dates will be Mon, Wed, Fri; periods will be Mon-Tue, +mon,wed,fri"' Wed-Thu, Fri-Sun +`-p "every dates will be Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri; periods will +weekday"' be Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri-Sun +`-p "every dates will be Sat, Sun; periods will be Sat, Sun-Fri +weekendday"' + + +File: hledger.info, Node: DEPTH, Next: QUERIES, Prev: TIME PERIODS, Up: Top + +5 DEPTH +******* + +With the `--depth NUM' option (short form: `-NUM'), commands like +account, balance and register will show only the uppermost accounts in +the account tree, down to level NUM. Use this when you want a summary +with less detail. This flag has the same effect as a `depth:' query +argument: `depth:2', `--depth=2' or `-2' are equivalent. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: QUERIES, Next: COSTING, Prev: DEPTH, Up: Top + +6 QUERIES +********* + +One of hledger'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: + + * Zero or more space-separated query terms. These are most often + account name substrings: + + `utilities food:groceries' + + * Terms with spaces or other special characters should be enclosed in + quotes: + + `"personal care"' + + * Regular expressions are also supported: + + `"^expenses\b" "accounts (payable|receivable)"' + + * Add a query type prefix to match other parts of the data: + + `date:202012- desc:amazon cur:USD amt:">100" status:' + + * Add a `not:' prefix to negate a term: + + `not:cur:USD' + + +* Menu: + +* Query types:: +* Combining query terms:: +* Queries and command options:: +* Queries and account aliases:: +* Queries and valuation:: +* Querying with account aliases:: +* Querying with cost or value:: + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Query types, Next: Combining query terms, Up: QUERIES + +6.1 Query types +=============== + +Here are the types of query term available. Remember these can also be +prefixed with *`not:'* to convert them into a negative match. + + *`acct:REGEX', `REGEX'* +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 `expenses' or `food'. + + *`amt:N, amt:N, amt:>=N'* +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. + + *`code:REGEX'* +Match by transaction code (eg check number). + + *`cur:REGEX'* +Match postings or transactions including any amounts whose +currency/commodity symbol is fully matched by REGEX. (For a partial +match, use `.*REGEX.*'). Note, to match special characters which are +regex-significant, you need to escape them with `\'. And for characters +which are significant to your shell you may need one more level of +escaping. So eg to match the dollar sign: +`hledger print cur:\\$'. + + *`desc:REGEX'* +Match transaction descriptions. + + *`date:PERIODEXPR'* +Match dates (or with the `--date2' flag, secondary dates) within the +specified period. PERIODEXPR is a period expression with no report +interval. Examples: +`date:2016', `date:thismonth', `date:2/1-2/15', +`date:2021-07-27..nextquarter'. + + *`date2:PERIODEXPR'* +Match secondary dates within the specified period (independent of the +`--date2' flag). + + *`depth:N'* +Match (or display, depending on command) accounts at or above this +depth. + + *`note:REGEX'* +Match transaction notes (the part of the description right of `|', or +the whole description if there's no `|'). + + *`payee:REGEX'* +Match transaction payee/payer names (the part of the description left of +`|', or the whole description if there's no `|'). + + *`real:, real:0'* +Match real or virtual postings respectively. + + *`status:, status:!, status:*'* +Match unmarked, pending, or cleared transactions respectively. + + *`tag:REGEX[=REGEX]'* +Match by tag name, and optionally also by tag value. (To match only by +value, use `tag:.=REGEX'.) Note that postings also inherit tags from +their transaction, and transactions also acquire tags from their +postings, when querying. + + (*`inacct:ACCTNAME'* +A special query term used automatically in hledger-web only: tells +hledger-web to show the transaction register for an account.) + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Combining query terms, Next: Queries and command options, Prev: Query types, Up: QUERIES + +6.2 Combining query terms +========================= + +Most commands select things which match: + + * any of the description terms AND + + * any of the account terms AND + + * any of the status terms AND + + * all the other terms. + + while the print command shows transactions which: + + * match any of the description terms AND + + * have any postings matching any of the positive account terms AND + + * have no postings matching any of the negative account terms AND + + * match all the other terms. + + You can do more powerful queries (such as AND-ing two like terms) by +running a first query with `print', and piping the result into a second +hledger command. Eg: how much of food expenses was paid with cash ? + + +$ hledger print assets:cash | hledger -f- -I balance expenses:food + + If you are interested in full boolean expressions for queries, see +#203. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Queries and command options, Next: Queries and account aliases, Prev: Combining query terms, Up: QUERIES + +6.3 Queries and command options +=============================== + +Some queries can also be expressed as command-line options: `depth:2' +is equivalent to `--depth 2', `date:2020' is equivalent to `-p 2020', +etc. When you mix command options and query arguments, generally the +resulting query is their intersection. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Queries and account aliases, Next: Queries and valuation, Prev: Queries and command options, Up: QUERIES + +6.4 Queries and account aliases +=============================== + +When account names are rewritten with `--alias' or `alias', `acct:' +will match either the old or the new account name. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Queries and valuation, Next: Querying with account aliases, Prev: Queries and account aliases, Up: QUERIES + +6.5 Queries and valuation +========================= + +When amounts are converted to other commodities in cost or value +reports, `cur:' and `amt:' match the old commodity symbol and the old +amount quantity, not the new ones (except in hledger 1.22.0 where it's +reversed, see #1625). + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Querying with account aliases, Next: Querying with cost or value, Prev: Queries and valuation, Up: QUERIES + +6.6 Querying with account aliases +================================= + +When account names are rewritten with `--alias' or `alias', note that +`acct:' will match either the old or the new account name. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Querying with cost or value, Prev: Querying with account aliases, Up: QUERIES + +6.7 Querying with cost or value +=============================== + +When amounts are converted to other commodities in cost or value +reports, note that `cur:' matches the new commodity symbol, and not the +old one, and `amt:' 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. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: COSTING, Next: VALUATION, Prev: QUERIES, Up: Top + +7 COSTING +********* + +The `-B/--cost' flag converts amounts to their cost or sale amount at +transaction time, if they have a transaction price specified. If this +flag is supplied, hledger will perform cost conversion first, and will +apply any market price valuations (if requested) afterwards. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: VALUATION, Next: PIVOTING, Prev: COSTING, Up: Top + +8 VALUATION +*********** + +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 `--value=TYPE[,COMMODITY]' +option, which will be described below. We also provide the simpler `-V' +and `-X COMMODITY' options, and often one of these is all you need: + +* Menu: + +* -V Value:: +* -X Value in specified commodity:: +* Valuation date:: +* Market prices:: +* --infer-market-prices market prices from transactions:: +* Valuation commodity:: +* Simple valuation examples:: +* --value Flexible valuation:: +* More valuation examples:: +* Interaction of valuation and queries:: +* Effect of valuation on reports:: + + +File: hledger.info, Node: -V Value, Next: -X Value in specified commodity, Up: VALUATION + +8.1 -V: Value +============= + +The `-V/--market' flag converts amounts to market value in their +default _valuation commodity_, using the market prices in effect on the +_valuation date(s)_, if any. More on these in a minute. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: -X Value in specified commodity, Next: Valuation date, Prev: -V Value, Up: VALUATION + +8.2 -X: Value in specified commodity +==================================== + +The `-X/--exchange=COMM' option is like `-V', except you tell it which +currency you want to convert to, and it tries to convert everything to +that. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Valuation date, Next: Market prices, Prev: -X Value in specified commodity, Up: VALUATION + +8.3 Valuation date +================== + +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. + + 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's end date. + + For multiperiod reports, each column/period is valued on the last +day of the period, by default. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Market prices, Next: --infer-market-prices market prices from transactions, Prev: Valuation date, Up: VALUATION + +8.4 Market prices +================= + +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 : + + 1. A _declared market price_ or _inferred market price_: A's latest + market price in B on or before the valuation date as declared by a + P directive, or (with the `--infer-market-prices' flag) inferred + from transaction prices. + + 2. A _reverse market price_: the inverse of a declared or inferred + market price from B to A. + + 3. A _forward chain of market prices_: a synthetic price formed by + combining the shortest chain of "forward" (only 1 above) market + prices, leading from A to B. + + 4. _Any chain of market prices_: a chain of any market prices, + including both forward and reverse prices (1 and 2 above), leading + from A to B. + + + 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 "gave up" message visible in +`--debug=2' output). That limit is currently 1000. + + Amounts for which no suitable market price can be found, are not +converted. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: --infer-market-prices market prices from transactions, Next: Valuation commodity, Prev: Market prices, Up: VALUATION + +8.5 -infer-market-prices: market prices from transactions +========================================================= + +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 transaction prices as additional market +prices (as Ledger does) ? We could produce value reports without needing +P directives at all. + + Adding the `--infer-market-prices' flag to `-V', `-X' or `--value' +enables this. So for example, `hledger bs -V --infer-market-prices' +will get market prices both from P directives and from transactions. +(And if both occur on the same day, the P directive takes precedence). + + 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 +`--debug' or `--debug=2' to troubleshoot. + + `--infer-market-prices' can infer market prices from: + + * multicommodity transactions with explicit prices (`@'/`@@') + + * multicommodity transactions with implicit prices (no `@', two + commodities, unbalanced). (With these, the order of postings + matters. `hledger print -x' can be useful for troubleshooting.) + + * but not, currently, from "more correct" multicommodity + transactions (no `@', multiple commodities, balanced). + + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Valuation commodity, Next: Simple valuation examples, Prev: --infer-market-prices market prices from transactions, Up: VALUATION + +8.6 Valuation commodity +======================= + +*When you specify a valuation commodity (`-X COMM' or `--value +TYPE,COMM'):* +hledger will convert all amounts to COMM, wherever it can find a +suitable market price (including by reversing or chaining prices). + + *When you leave the valuation commodity unspecified (`-V' or +`--value TYPE'):* +For each commodity A, hledger picks a default valuation commodity as +follows, in this order of preference: + + 1. The price commodity from the latest P-declared market price for A + on or before valuation date. + + 2. 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.) + + 3. If there are no P directives at all (any commodity or date) and the + `--infer-market-prices' flag is used: the price commodity from the + latest transaction-inferred price for A on or before valuation + date. + + + This means: + + * If you have P directives, they determine which commodities `-V' + will convert, and to what. + + * If you have no P directives, and use the `--infer-market-prices' + flag, transaction prices determine it. + + + Amounts for which no valuation commodity can be found are not +converted. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Simple valuation examples, Next: --value Flexible valuation, Prev: Valuation commodity, Up: VALUATION + +8.7 Simple valuation examples +============================= + +Here are some quick examples of `-V': + + +; 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 € $1.03 + + How many euros do I have ? + + +$ hledger -f t.j bal -N euros + €100 assets:euros + + What are they worth at end of nov 3 ? + + +$ hledger -f t.j bal -N euros -V -e 2016/11/4 + $110.00 assets:euros + + What are they worth after 2016/12/21 ? (no report end date specified, +defaults to today) + + +$ hledger -f t.j bal -N euros -V + $103.00 assets:euros + + +File: hledger.info, Node: --value Flexible valuation, Next: More valuation examples, Prev: Simple valuation examples, Up: VALUATION + +8.8 -value: Flexible valuation +============================== + +`-V' and `-X' are special cases of the more general `--value' option: + + + --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 + + The TYPE part selects cost or value and valuation date: + +`--value=then' + Convert amounts to their value in the default valuation commodity, + using market prices on each posting's date. + +`--value=end' + 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's end date); or in multiperiod reports, + market prices on the last day of each subperiod. + +`--value=now' + Convert amounts to their value in the default valuation commodity + using current market prices (as of when report is generated). + +`--value=YYYY-MM-DD' + Convert amounts to their value in the default valuation commodity + using market prices on this date. + + To select a different valuation commodity, add the optional `,COMM' +part: a comma, then the target commodity's symbol. Eg: +*`--value=now,EUR'*. hledger will do its best to convert amounts to +this commodity, deducing market prices as described above. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: More valuation examples, Next: Interaction of valuation and queries, Prev: --value Flexible valuation, Up: VALUATION + +8.9 More valuation examples +=========================== + +Here are some examples showing the effect of `--value', as seen with +`print': + + +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 @ 5 B + +2000-02-01 + (a) 1 A @ 6 B + +2000-03-01 + (a) 1 A @ 7 B + + Show the cost of each posting: + + +$ hledger -f- print --cost +2000-01-01 + (a) 5 B + +2000-02-01 + (a) 6 B + +2000-03-01 + (a) 7 B + + Show the value as of the last day of the report period (2000-02-29): + + +$ hledger -f- print --value=end date:2000/01-2000/03 +2000-01-01 + (a) 2 B + +2000-02-01 + (a) 2 B + + With no report period specified, that shows the value as of the last +day of the journal (2000-03-01): + + +$ hledger -f- print --value=end +2000-01-01 + (a) 3 B + +2000-02-01 + (a) 3 B + +2000-03-01 + (a) 3 B + + Show the current value (the 2000-04-01 price is still in effect +today): + + +$ hledger -f- print --value=now +2000-01-01 + (a) 4 B + +2000-02-01 + (a) 4 B + +2000-03-01 + (a) 4 B + + Show the value on 2000/01/15: + + +$ 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 + + You may need to explicitly set a commodity's display style, when +reverse prices are used. Eg this output might be surprising: + + +P 2000-01-01 A 2B + +2000-01-01 + a 1B + b + + +$ hledger print -x -X A +2000-01-01 + a 0 + b 0 + + Explanation: because there'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: + + +P 2000-01-01 A 2B +commodity 0.00A + +2000-01-01 + a 1B + b + + +$ hledger print -X A +2000-01-01 + a 0.50A + b -0.50A + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Interaction of valuation and queries, Next: Effect of valuation on reports, Prev: More valuation examples, Up: VALUATION + +8.10 Interaction of valuation and queries +========================================= + +When matching postings based on queries in the presence of valuation, +the following happens. + + 1. The query is separated into two parts: + 1. the currency (`cur:') or amount (`amt:'). + + 2. all other parts. + + 2. The postings are matched to the currency and amount queries based + on pre-valued amounts. + + 3. Valuation is applied to the postings. + + 4. The postings are matched to the other parts of the query based on + post-valued amounts. + + See: 1625 + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Effect of valuation on reports, Prev: Interaction of valuation and queries, Up: VALUATION + +8.11 Effect of valuation on reports +=================================== + +Here is a reference for how valuation is supposed to affect each part of +hledger's reports (and a glossary). (It's wide, you'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. + +Report `-B', `-V', `-X' `--value=then' `--value=end'`--value=DATE', +type `--cost' `--value=now' +------------------------------------------------------------------------------ +*print* +posting cost value at value at posting value at value +amounts report end date report or at + or today journal end DATE/today +balance unchanged unchanged unchanged unchanged unchanged +assertions/assignments + +*register* +starting cost value at valued at day value at value +balance report or each historical report or at +(-H) journal end posting was made journal end DATE/today +starting cost value at valued at day value at value +balance day before each historical day before at +(-H) with report or posting was made report or DATE/today +report journal journal +interval start start +posting cost value at value at posting value at value +amounts report or date report or at + journal end journal end DATE/today +summary summarised value at sum of postings value at value +posting cost period ends in interval, period ends at +amounts valued at DATE/today +with interval start +report +interval +running sum/average sum/average sum/average of sum/average sum/average +total/averageof of displayed values of of + displayed displayed displayed displayed + values values values values + +*balance +(bs, bse, +cf, is)* +balance sums of value at value at posting value at value +changes costs report end date report or at + or today of journal end DATE/today + sums of of sums of of sums + postings postings of + postings +budget like like like balance like like +amounts balance balance changes balances balance +(-budget) changes changes changes +grand sum of sum of sum of displayed sum of sum of +total displayed displayed valued displayed displayed + values values values values + +*balance +(bs, bse, +cf, is) +with +report +interval* +starting sums of value at sums of values of value at sums of +balances costs of report postings before report postings +(-H) postings start of report start at start of before + before sums of all respective sums of all report + report start postings posting dates postings start + before before + report start report start +balance sums of same as sums of values of balance value +changes costs of -value=end postings in change in at +(bal, is, postings in period at each DATE/today +bs period respective period, of sums +-change, posting dates valued at of +cf period ends postings +-change) +end sums of same as sums of values of period end value +balances costs of -value=end postings from balances, at +(bal -H, postings before period valued at DATE/today +is -H, from before start to period period ends of sums +bs, cf) report end at respective of + start to posting dates postings + period end +budget like like like balance like like +amounts balance balance changes/end balances balance +(-budget) changes/end changes/end balances changes/end + balances balances balances +row sums, sums, sums, averages of sums, sums, +totals, averages of averages of displayed values averages of averages +row displayed displayed displayed of +averages values values values displayed +(-T, -A) values +column sums of sums of sums of displayed sums of sums of +totals displayed displayed values displayed displayed + values values values values +grand sum, sum, sum, average of sum, sum, +total, average of average of column totals average of average +grand column column column of +average totals totals totals column + totals + + + `--cumulative' is omitted to save space, it works like `-H' but with +a zero starting balance. + + *Glossary:* + +_cost_ + calculated using price(s) recorded in the transaction(s). + +_value_ + market value using available market price declarations, or the + unchanged amount if no conversion rate can be found. + +_report start_ + the first day of the report period specified with -b or -p or + date:, otherwise today. + +_report or journal start_ + the first day of the report period specified with -b or -p or + date:, otherwise the earliest transaction date in the journal, + otherwise today. + +_report end_ + the last day of the report period specified with -e or -p or date:, + otherwise today. + +_report or journal end_ + the last day of the report period specified with -e or -p or date:, + otherwise the latest transaction date in the journal, otherwise + today. + +_report interval_ + a flag (-D/-W/-M/-Q/-Y) or period expression that activates the + report's multi-period mode (whether showing one or many + subperiods). + + +File: hledger.info, Node: PIVOTING, Next: OUTPUT, Prev: VALUATION, Up: Top + +9 PIVOTING +********** + +Normally hledger sums amounts, and organizes them in a hierarchy, based +on account name. The `--pivot FIELD' option causes it to sum and +organize hierarchy based on the value of some other field instead. FIELD +can be: `code', `description', `payee', `note', or the full name (case +insensitive) of any tag. As with account names, values containing +`colon:separated:parts' will be displayed hierarchically in reports. + + `--pivot' is a general option affecting all reports; you can think +of hledger transforming the journal before any other processing, +replacing every posting's account name with the value of the specified +field on that posting, inheriting it from the transaction or using a +blank value if it's not present. + + An example: + + +2016/02/16 Member Fee Payment + assets:bank account 2 EUR + income:member fees -2 EUR ; member: John Doe + + Normal balance report showing account names: + + +$ hledger balance + 2 EUR assets:bank account + -2 EUR income:member fees +-------------------- + 0 + + Pivoted balance report, using member: tag values instead: + + +$ hledger balance --pivot member + 2 EUR + -2 EUR John Doe +-------------------- + 0 + + One way to show only amounts with a member: value (using a query, +described below): + + +$ hledger balance --pivot member tag:member=. + -2 EUR John Doe +-------------------- + -2 EUR + + Another way (the acct: query matches against the pivoted "account +name"): + + +$ hledger balance --pivot member acct:. + -2 EUR John Doe +-------------------- + -2 EUR + + +File: hledger.info, Node: OUTPUT, Next: COMMANDS, Prev: PIVOTING, Up: Top + +10 OUTPUT +********* + +* Menu: + +* Output destination:: +* Output styling:: +* Output format:: +* Commodity styles:: + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Output destination, Next: Output styling, Up: OUTPUT + +10.1 Output destination +======================= + +hledger commands send their output to the terminal by default. You can +of course redirect this, eg into a file, using standard shell syntax: + + +$ hledger print > foo.txt + + Some commands (print, register, stats, the balance commands) also +provide the `-o/--output-file' option, which does the same thing +without needing the shell. Eg: + + +$ hledger print -o foo.txt +$ hledger print -o - # write to stdout (the default) + + hledger can optionally produce debug output (if enabled with +`--debug=N'); this goes to stderr, and is not affected by +`-o/--output-file'. If you need to capture it, use shell redirects, eg: +`hledger bal --debug=3 >file 2>&1'. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Output styling, Next: Output format, Prev: Output destination, Up: OUTPUT + +10.2 Output styling +=================== + +hledger commands can produce colour output when the terminal supports +it. This is controlled by the `--color/--colour' option: - if the +`--color/--colour' option is given a value of `yes' or `always' (or +`no' or `never'), colour will (or will not) be used; - otherwise, if +the `NO_COLOR' environment variable is set, colour will not be used; - +otherwise, colour will be used if the output (terminal or file) +supports it. + + hledger commands can also use unicode box-drawing characters to +produce prettier tables and output. This is controlled by the `--pretty' +option: - if the `--pretty' option is given a value of `yes' or +`always' (or `no' or `never'), unicode characters will (or will not) be +used; - otherwise, unicode characters will not be used. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Output format, Next: Commodity styles, Prev: Output styling, Up: OUTPUT + +10.3 Output format +================== + +Some commands (print, register, the balance commands) offer a choice of +output format. In addition to the usual plain text format (`txt'), +there are CSV (`csv'), HTML (`html'), JSON (`json') and SQL (`sql'). +This is controlled by the `-O/--output-format' option: + + +$ hledger print -O csv + + or, by a file extension specified with `-o/--output-file': + + +$ hledger balancesheet -o foo.html # write HTML to foo.html + + The `-O' option can be used to override the file extension if needed: + + +$ hledger balancesheet -o foo.txt -O html # write HTML to foo.txt + + Some notes about JSON output: + + * This feature is marked experimental, and not yet much used; you + should expect our JSON to evolve. Real-world feedback is welcome. + + * Our JSON is rather large and verbose, as it is quite a faithful + representation of hledger'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. + + + * 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'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) + + Notes about SQL output: + + * SQL output is also marked experimental, and much like JSON could + use real-world feedback. + + * SQL output is expected to work with sqlite, MySQL and PostgreSQL + + * 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 `delete' or `truncate' + SQL statements) or drop tables completely as otherwise your + postings will be duped. + + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Commodity styles, Prev: Output format, Up: OUTPUT + +10.4 Commodity styles +===================== + +The display style of a commodity/currency is inferred according to the +rules described in Commodity display style. The inferred display style +can be overridden by an optional `-c/--commodity-style' option +(Exceptions: as is the case for inferred styles, price amounts, and all +amounts displayed by the `print' command, will be displayed with all of +their decimal digits visible, regardless of the specified precision). +For example, the following will override the display style for dollars. + + +$ hledger print -c '$1.000,0' + + The format specification of the style is identical to the commodity +display style specification for the commodity directive. The command +line option can be supplied repeatedly to override the display style for +multiple commodity/currency symbols. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: COMMANDS, Next: JOURNAL FORMAT, Prev: OUTPUT, Up: Top + +11 COMMANDS +*********** + +hledger provides a number of commands for producing reports and managing +your data. Run `hledger' with no arguments to list the commands +available, and `hledger CMD' to run a command. CMD can be the full +command name, or its standard abbreviation shown in the commands list, +or any unambiguous prefix of the name. Eg: `hledger bal'. + + Here are the built-in commands, with the most often-used in bold: + + *Data entry:* + + These data entry commands are the only ones which can modify your +journal file. + + * *add* - add transactions using guided prompts + + * *import* - add any new transactions from other files (eg csv) + + *Data management:* + + * check - check for various kinds of issue in the data + + * close (equity) - generate balance-resetting transactions + + * diff - compare account transactions in two journal files + + * rewrite - generate extra postings, similar to print -auto + + *Financial statements:* + + * *aregister (areg)* - show transactions in a particular account + + * *balancesheet (bs)* - show assets, liabilities and net worth + + * balancesheetequity (bse) - show assets, liabilities and equity + + * cashflow (cf) - show changes in liquid assets + + * *incomestatement (is)* - show revenues and expenses + + * roi - show return on investments + + *Miscellaneous reports:* + + * accounts - show account names + + * activity - show postings-per-interval bar charts + + * *balance (bal)* - show balance changes/end balances/budgets in any + accounts + + * codes - show transaction codes + + * commodities - show commodity/currency symbols + + * descriptions - show unique transaction descriptions + + * files - show input file paths + + * help - show hledger user manuals in several formats + + * notes - show unique note segments of transaction descriptions + + * payees - show unique payee segments of transaction descriptions + + * prices - show market price records + + * *print* - show transactions (journal entries) + + * print-unique - show only transactions with unique descriptions + + * *register (reg)* - show postings in one or more accounts & running + total + + * register-match - show a recent posting that best matches a + description + + * stats - show journal statistics + + * tags - show tag names + + * test - run self tests + + *Add-on commands:* + + Programs or scripts named `hledger-SOMETHING' in your PATH are +add-on commands; these appear in the commands list with a `+' mark. +Two of these are maintained and released with hledger: + + * *ui* - an efficient terminal interface (TUI) for hledger + + * *web* - a simple web interface (WUI) for hledger + + And these add-ons are maintained separately: + + * iadd - a more interactive alternative for the add command + + * interest - generates interest transactions according to various + schemes + + * stockquotes - downloads market prices for your commodities from + AlphaVantage _(experimental)_ + + Next, the detailed command docs, in alphabetical order. + +* Menu: + +* accounts:: +* activity:: +* add:: +* aregister:: +* balance:: +* balancesheet:: +* balancesheetequity:: +* cashflow:: +* check:: +* close:: +* codes:: +* commodities:: +* descriptions:: +* diff:: +* files:: +* help:: +* import:: +* incomestatement:: +* notes:: +* payees:: +* prices:: +* print:: +* print-unique:: +* register:: +* register-match:: +* rewrite:: +* roi:: +* stats:: +* tags:: +* test:: +* About add-on commands:: + + +File: hledger.info, Node: accounts, Next: activity, Up: COMMANDS + +11.1 accounts +============= + +accounts +Show account names. + + This command lists account names, either declared with account +directives (-declared), posted to (-used), or both (the default). With +query arguments, only matched account names and account names referenced +by matched postings are shown. It shows a flat list by default. With +`--tree', it uses indentation to show the account hierarchy. In flat +mode you can add `--drop N' to omit the first few account name +components. Account names can be depth-clipped with `depth:N' or +`--depth N' or `-N'. + + Examples: + + +$ hledger accounts +assets:bank:checking +assets:bank:saving +assets:cash +expenses:food +expenses:supplies +income:gifts +income:salary +liabilities:debts + + +File: hledger.info, Node: activity, Next: add, Prev: accounts, Up: COMMANDS + +11.2 activity +============= + +activity +Show an ascii barchart of posting counts per interval. + + 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. + + Examples: + + +$ hledger activity --quarterly +2008-01-01 ** +2008-04-01 ******* +2008-07-01 +2008-10-01 ** + + +File: hledger.info, Node: add, Next: aregister, Prev: activity, Up: COMMANDS + +11.3 add +======== + +add +Prompt for transactions and add them to the journal. Any arguments will +be used as default inputs for the first N prompts. + + Many hledger users edit their journals directly with a text editor, +or generate them from CSV. For more interactive data entry, there is the +`add' command, which prompts interactively on the console for new +transactions, and appends them to the journal file (if there are +multiple `-f FILE' options, the first file is used.) Existing +transactions are not changed. This is the only hledger command that +writes to the journal file. + + To use it, just run `hledger add' and follow the prompts. You can +add as many transactions as you like; when you are finished, enter `.' +or press control-d or control-c to exit. + + Features: + + * add tries to provide useful defaults, using the most similar (by + description) recent transaction (filtered by the query, if any) as + a template. + + * You can also set the initial defaults with command line arguments. + + * Readline-style edit keys can be used during data entry. + + * The tab key will auto-complete whenever possible - accounts, + descriptions, dates (`yesterday', `today', `tomorrow'). If the + input area is empty, it will insert the default value. + + * If the journal defines a default commodity, it will be added to + any bare numbers entered. + + * A parenthesised transaction code may be entered following a date. + + * Comments and tags may be entered following a description or amount. + + * If you make a mistake, enter `<' at any prompt to go one step + backward. + + * Input prompts are displayed in a different colour when the terminal + supports it. + + Example (see the tutorial for a detailed explanation): + + +$ 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]: $ + + 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). + + +File: hledger.info, Node: aregister, Next: balance, Prev: add, Up: COMMANDS + +11.4 aregister +============== + +aregister, areg +Show the transactions and running historical balance of a single +account, with each transaction displayed as one line. + + `aregister' 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 (`--historical' mode is +always on). + + This is a more "real world", bank-like view than the `register' +command (which shows individual postings, possibly from multiple +accounts, not necessarily in historical mode). As a quick rule of thumb: +- use `aregister' for reviewing and reconciling real-world +asset/liability accounts - use `register' for reviewing detailed +revenues/expenses. + + `aregister' 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. +(Eg if you have `assets:aaa:checking' and `assets:bbb:checking' +accounts, `hledger areg checking' would select `assets:aaa:checking'.) + + Transactions involving subaccounts of this account will also be +shown. `aregister' ignores depth limits, so its final total will always +match a balance report with similar arguments. + + 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's real-world running +balance. + + An example: this shows the transactions and historical running +balance during july, in the first account whose name contains +"checking": + + +$ hledger areg checking date:jul + + Each `aregister' line item shows: + + * the transaction's date (or the relevant posting's date if + different, see below) + + * the names of all the other account(s) involved in this transaction + (probably abbreviated) + + * the total change to this account's balance from this transaction + + * the account's historical running balance after this transaction. + + Transactions making a net change of zero are not shown by default; +add the `-E/--empty' flag to show them. + + This command also supports the output destination and output format +options. The output formats supported are `txt', `csv', and `json'. + +* Menu: + +* aregister and custom posting dates:: + + +File: hledger.info, Node: aregister and custom posting dates, Up: aregister + +11.4.1 aregister and custom posting dates +----------------------------------------- + +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's the posting date that is shown.) This ensures +that `aregister' can show an accurate historical running balance, +matching the one shown by `register -H' with the same arguments. + + To filter strictly by transaction date instead, add the +`--txn-dates' flag. If you use this flag and some of your postings have +custom dates, it's probably best to assume the running balance is wrong. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: balance, Next: balancesheet, Prev: aregister, Up: COMMANDS + +11.5 balance +============ + +balance, bal +Show accounts and their balances. + + `balance' is one of hledger'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. + + Note there are some higher-level variants of the `balance' command +with convenient defaults, which can be simpler to use: `balancesheet', +`balancesheetequity', `cashflow' and `incomestatement'. When you need +more control, then use `balance'. + +* Menu: + +* balance features:: +* Simple balance report:: +* Filtered balance report:: +* List or tree mode:: +* Depth limiting:: +* Dropping top-level accounts:: +* Multi-period balance report:: +* Showing declared accounts:: +* Commodity layout:: +* Sorting by amount:: +* Percentages:: +* Balance change end balance:: +* Balance report types:: +* Useful balance reports:: +* Budget report:: +* Customising single-period balance reports:: + + +File: hledger.info, Node: balance features, Next: Simple balance report, Up: balance + +11.5.1 balance features +----------------------- + +Here's a quick overview of the `balance' command's features, followed +by more detailed descriptions and examples. Many of these work with the +higher-level commands as well. + + `balance' can show.. + + * accounts as a list (`-l') or a tree (`-t') + + * optionally depth-limited (`-[1-9]') + + * sorted by declaration order and name, or by amount + + ..and their.. + + * balance changes (the default) + + * or actual and planned balance changes (`--budget') + + * or value of balance changes (`-V') + + * or change of balance values (`--valuechange') + + * or unrealised capital gain/loss (`--gain') + + ..in.. + + * one time period (the whole journal period by default) + + * or multiple periods (`-D', `-W', `-M', `-Q', `-Y', `-p INTERVAL') + + ..either.. + + * per period (the default) + + * or accumulated since report start date (`--cumulative') + + * or accumulated since account creation (`--historical/-H') + + ..possibly converted to.. + + * cost (`--value=cost[,COMM]'/`--cost'/`-B') + + * or market value, as of transaction dates (`--value=then[,COMM]') + + * or at period ends (`--value=end[,COMM]') + + * or now (`--value=now') + + * or at some other date (`--value=YYYY-MM-DD') + + ..with.. + + * totals (`-T'), averages (`-A'), percentages (`-%'), inverted sign + (`--invert') + + * rows and columns swapped (`--transpose') + + * another field used as account name (`--pivot') + + * custom-formatted line items (single-period reports only) + (`--format') + + * commodities displayed on the same line or multiple lines + (`--layout') + + This command supports the output destination and output format +options, with output formats `txt', `csv', `json', and (multi-period +reports only:) `html'. In `txt' output in a colour-supporting terminal, +negative amounts are shown in red. + + The `--related'/`-r' flag shows the balance of the _other_ postings +in the transactions of the postings which would normally be shown. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Simple balance report, Next: Filtered balance report, Prev: balance features, Up: balance + +11.5.2 Simple balance report +---------------------------- + +With no arguments, `balance' 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. For real-world +accounts, this should also match their end balance at the end of the +journal period (more on this below). + + Accounts are sorted by declaration order if any, and then +alphabetically by account name. For instance (using +examples/sample.journal): + + +$ 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 + $1 liabilities:debts +-------------------- + 0 + + Accounts with a zero balance (and no non-zero subaccounts, in tree +mode - see below) are hidden by default. Use `-E/--empty' to show them +(revealing `assets:bank:checking' here): + + +$ 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 + $1 liabilities:debts +-------------------- + 0 + + The total of the amounts displayed is shown as the last line, unless +`-N'/`--no-total' is used. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Filtered balance report, Next: List or tree mode, Prev: Simple balance report, Up: balance + +11.5.3 Filtered balance report +------------------------------ + +You can show fewer accounts, a different time period, totals from +cleared transactions only, etc. by using query arguments or options to +limit the postings being matched. Eg: + + +$ hledger -f examples/sample.journal bal --cleared assets date:200806 + $-2 assets:cash +-------------------- + $-2 + + +File: hledger.info, Node: List or tree mode, Next: Depth limiting, Prev: Filtered balance report, Up: balance + +11.5.4 List or tree mode +------------------------ + +By default, or with `-l/--flat', accounts are shown as a flat list with +their full names visible, as in the examples above. + + With `-t/--tree', the account hierarchy is shown, with subaccounts' +"leaf" names indented below their parent: + + +$ 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 + $1 liabilities:debts +-------------------- + 0 + + Notes: + + * "Boring" accounts are combined with their subaccount for more + compact output, unless `--no-elide' is used. Boring accounts have + no balance of their own and just one subaccount (eg `assets:bank' + and `liabilities' above). + + * All balances shown are "inclusive", ie including the balances from + all subaccounts. Note this means some repetition in the output, + which requires explanation when sharing reports with + non-plaintextaccounting-users. A tree mode report's final total is + the sum of the top-level balances shown, not of all the balances + shown. + + * Each group of sibling accounts (ie, under a common parent) is + sorted separately. + + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Depth limiting, Next: Dropping top-level accounts, Prev: List or tree mode, Up: balance + +11.5.5 Depth limiting +--------------------- + +With a `depth:NUM' query, or `--depth NUM' option, or just `-NUM' (eg: +`-3') balance reports will show accounts only to the specified depth, +hiding the deeper subaccounts. This can be useful for getting an +overview without too much detail. + + Account balances at the depth limit always include the balances from +any deeper subaccounts (even in list mode). Eg, limiting to depth 1: + + +$ hledger -f examples/sample.journal balance -1 + $-1 assets + $2 expenses + $-2 income + $1 liabilities +-------------------- + 0 + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Dropping top-level accounts, Next: Multi-period balance report, Prev: Depth limiting, Up: balance + +11.5.6 Dropping top-level accounts +---------------------------------- + +You can also hide one or more top-level account name parts, using +`--drop NUM'. This can be useful for hiding repetitive top-level +account names: + + +$ hledger -f examples/sample.journal bal expenses --drop 1 + $1 food + $1 supplies +-------------------- + $2 + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Multi-period balance report, Next: Showing declared accounts, Prev: Dropping top-level accounts, Up: balance + +11.5.7 Multi-period balance report +---------------------------------- + +With a report interval (set by the `-D/--daily', `-W/--weekly', +`-M/--monthly', `-Q/--quarterly', `-Y/--yearly', or `-p/--period' +flag), `balance' shows a tabular report, with columns representing +successive time periods (and a title): + + +$ 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 + + Notes: + + * The report'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). + + * Leading and trailing periods (columns) containing all zeroes are + not shown, unless `-E/--empty' is used. + + * Accounts (rows) containing all zeroes are not shown, unless + `-E/--empty' is used. + + * Amounts with many commodities are shown in abbreviated form, unless + `--no-elide' is used. _(experimental)_ + + * Average and/or total columns can be added with the `-A/--average' + and `-T/--row-total' flags. + + * The `--transpose' flag can be used to exchange rows and columns. + + * The `--pivot FIELD' option causes a different transaction field to + be used as "account name". See PIVOTING. + + Multi-period reports with many periods can be too wide for easy +viewing in the terminal. Here are some ways to handle that: + + * Hide the totals row with `-N/--no-total' + + * Convert to a single currency with `-V' + + * Maximize the terminal window + + * Reduce the terminal's font size + + * View with a pager like less, eg: `hledger bal -D --color=yes | + less -RS' + + * Output as CSV and use a CSV viewer like visidata (`hledger bal -D + -O csv | vd -f csv'), Emacs' csv-mode (`M-x csv-mode, C-c C-a'), + or a spreadsheet (`hledger bal -D -o a.csv && open a.csv') + + * Output as HTML and view with a browser: `hledger bal -D -o a.html + && open a.html' + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Showing declared accounts, Next: Commodity layout, Prev: Multi-period balance report, Up: balance + +11.5.8 Showing declared accounts +-------------------------------- + +With `--declared', 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 +`-E/--empty' to see them.) + + More precisely, _leaf_ declared accounts (with no subaccounts) will +be included, since those are usually the more useful in reports. + + The idea of this is to be able to see a useful "complete" balance +report, even when you don't have transactions in all of your declared +accounts yet. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Commodity layout, Next: Sorting by amount, Prev: Showing declared accounts, Up: balance + +11.5.9 Commodity layout +----------------------- + +With `--layout', you can control how amounts with more than one +commodity are displayed: + + * `--layout=wide[,WIDTH]': on a single line, possibly elided to the + specified width + + * `--layout=tall': each commodity is displayed on a separate line + + * `--layout=bare': commodity symbols are displayed in a separate + column, and amounts are displayed as bare numbers + + +$ 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 + +$ 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.. + +$ 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 + +$ 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 + + The option `--layout=bare' also affects CSV output, which is useful +for producing data that is easier to consume, eg when making charts: + + +$ hledger -f examples/bcexample.hledger bal assets:us:etrade -3 -O csv +"account","balance" +"Assets:US:ETrade","70.00 GLD, 17.00 ITOT, 5120.50 USD, 36.00 VEA, 294.00 VHT" +"total","70.00 GLD, 17.00 ITOT, 5120.50 USD, 36.00 VEA, 294.00 VHT" + +$ hledger -f examples/bcexample.hledger bal assets:us:etrade -3 -O csv --layout=bare +"account","commodity","balance" +"Assets:US:ETrade","GLD","70.00" +"Assets:US:ETrade","ITOT","17.00" +"Assets:US:ETrade","USD","5120.50" +"Assets:US:ETrade","VEA","36.00" +"Assets:US:ETrade","VHT","294.00" +"total","GLD","70.00" +"total","ITOT","17.00" +"total","USD","5120.50" +"total","VEA","36.00" +"total","VHT","294.00" + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Sorting by amount, Next: Percentages, Prev: Commodity layout, Up: balance + +11.5.10 Sorting by amount +------------------------- + +With `-S/--sort-amount', accounts with the largest (most positive) +balances are shown first. Eg: `hledger bal expenses -MAS' 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). + + Revenues and liability balances are typically negative, however, so +`-S' shows these in reverse order. To work around this, you can add +`--invert' to flip the signs. (Or, use one of the higher-level reports, +which flip the sign automatically. Eg: `hledger incomestatement -MAS'). + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Percentages, Next: Balance change end balance, Prev: Sorting by amount, Up: balance + +11.5.11 Percentages +------------------- + +With `-%/--percent', balance reports show each account's value +expressed as a percentage of the (column) total: + + +$ hledger -f examples/sample.journal bal expenses -Q -% +Balance changes in 2008: + + || 2008Q1 2008Q2 2008Q3 2008Q4 +===================++================================= + expenses:food || 0 50.0 % 0 0 + expenses:supplies || 0 50.0 % 0 0 +-------------------++--------------------------------- + || 0 100.0 % 0 0 + + 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: + + +$ hledger bal -% amt:`>0` +$ hledger bal -% amt:`<0` + + Similarly, if the amounts in a column have mixed commodities, convert +them to one commodity with `-B', `-V', `-X' or `--value', or make a +separate report for each commodity: + + +$ hledger bal -% cur:\\$ +$ hledger bal -% cur:€ + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Balance change end balance, Next: Balance report types, Prev: Percentages, Up: balance + +11.5.12 Balance change, end balance +----------------------------------- + +It's important to be clear on the meaning of the numbers shown in +balance reports. Here is some terminology we use: + + A *_balance change_* is the net amount added to, or removed from, an +account during some period. + + An *_end balance_* is the amount accumulated in an account as of +some date (and some time, but hledger doesn't store that; assume end of +day in your timezone). It is the sum of previous balance changes. + + We call it a *_historical end balance_* if it includes all balance +changes since the account was created. For a real world account, this +means it will match the "historical record", eg the balances reported +in your bank statements or bank web UI. (If they are correct!) + + 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. + + `balance' shows balance changes by default. To see accurate +historical end balances: + + 1. Initialise account starting balances with an "opening balances" + transaction (a transfer from equity to the account), unless the + journal covers the account's full lifetime. + + 2. Include all of of the account's prior postings in the report, by + not specifying a report start date, or by using the + `-H/--historical' flag. (`-H' causes report start date to be + ignored when summing postings.) + + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Balance report types, Next: Useful balance reports, Prev: Balance change end balance, Up: balance + +11.5.13 Balance report types +---------------------------- + +For more flexible reporting, there are three important option groups: + + `hledger balance [CALCULATIONTYPE] [ACCUMULATIONTYPE] +[VALUATIONTYPE] ...' + + The first two are the most important: calculation type selects the +basic calculation to perform for each table cell, while accumulation +type says which postings should be included in each cell's calculation. +Typically one or both of these are selected by default, so you don't +need to write them explicitly. A valuation type can be added if you +want to convert the basic report to value or cost. + + *Calculation type:* +The basic calculation to perform for each table cell. It is one of: + + * `--sum' : sum the posting amounts (*default*) + + * `--budget' : like -sum but also show a goal amount + + * `--valuechange' : show the change in period-end historical balance + values (caused by deposits, withdrawals, and/or market price + fluctuations) + + * `--gain' : show the unrealised capital gain/loss, (the current + valued balance minus each amount's original cost) + + *Accumulation type:* +Which postings should be included in each cell's calculation. It is one +of: + + * `--change' : postings from column start to column end, ie within + the cell's period. Typically used to see revenues/expenses. + (*default for balance, incomestatement*) + + * `--cumulative' : postings from report start to column end, eg to + show changes accumulated since the report's start date. Rarely + used. + + * `--historical/-H' : postings from journal start to column end, ie + all postings from account creation to the end of the cell's period. + Typically used to see historical end balances of + assets/liabilities/equity. (*default for balancesheet, + balancesheetequity, cashflow*) + + + *Valuation type:* +Which kind of valuation, valuation date(s) and optionally a target +valuation commodity to use. It is one of: + + * no valuation, show amounts in their original commodities + (*default*) + + * `--value=cost[,COMM]' : no valuation, show amounts converted to + cost + + * `--value=then[,COMM]' : show value at transaction dates + + * `--value=end[,COMM]' : show value at period end date(s) (*default + with `--valuechange', `--gain'*) + + * `--value=now[,COMM]' : show value at today's date + + * `--value=YYYY-MM-DD[,COMM]' : show value at another date + + or one of their aliases: `--cost/-B', `--market/-V' or +`--exchange/-X'. + + 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: + + * `--valuechange' implies `--value=end' + + * `--valuechange' makes `--change' the default when used with the + `balancesheet'/`balancesheetequity' commands + + * `--cumulative' or `--historical' disables `--row-total/-T' + + For reference, here is what the combinations of accumulation and +valuation show: + +Valuation:no valuation `--value= then' `--value= end' `--value= +>Accumulation: YYYY-MM-DD +v /now' +------------------------------------------------------------------------------ +`--change'change in period sum of period-end DATE-value of + posting-date value of change change in + market values in in period period + period +`--cumulative'change from sum of period-end DATE-value of + report start to posting-date value of change change from + period end market values from report report start + from report start to period to period end + start to period end + end +`--historicalchange from sum of period-end DATE-value of +/-H' journal start to posting-date value of change change from + period end market values from journal journal start + (historical end from journal start to period to period end + balance) start to period end + end + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Useful balance reports, Next: Budget report, Prev: Balance report types, Up: balance + +11.5.14 Useful balance reports +------------------------------ + +Some frequently used `balance' options/reports are: + + * `bal -M revenues expenses' + Show revenues/expenses in each month. Also available as the + `incomestatement' command. + + * `bal -M -H assets liabilities' + Show historical asset/liability balances at each month end. Also + available as the `balancesheet' command. + + * `bal -M -H assets liabilities equity' + Show historical asset/liability/equity balances at each month end. + Also available as the `balancesheetequity' command. + + * `bal -M assets not:receivable' + Show changes to liquid assets in each month. Also available as the + `cashflow' command. + + + Also: + + * `bal -M expenses -2 -SA' + Show monthly expenses summarised to depth 2 and sorted by average + amount. + + * `bal -M --budget expenses' + Show monthly expenses and budget goals. + + * `bal -M --valuechange investments' + Show monthly change in market value of investment assets. + + * `bal investments --valuechange -D date:lastweek amt:'>1000' -STA + [--invert]' + Show top gainers [or losers] last week + + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Budget report, Next: Customising single-period balance reports, Prev: Useful balance reports, Up: balance + +11.5.15 Budget report +--------------------- + +The `--budget' report type activates extra columns showing any budget +goals for each account and period. The budget goals are defined by +periodic transactions. This is very useful for comparing planned and +actual income, expenses, time usage, etc. + + For example, you can take average monthly expenses in the common +expense categories to construct a minimal monthly budget: + + +;; Budget +~ 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 $100 + assets:bank:checking + + You can now see a monthly budget report: + + +$ 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 $2000] +----------------------++---------------------------------------------------- + || 0 [ 0] 0 [ 0] + + This is different from a normal balance report in several ways: + + * Only accounts with budget goals during the report period are + shown, by default. + + * In each column, in square brackets after the actual amount, budget + goal amounts are shown, and the actual/goal percentage. (Note: + budget goals should be in the same commodity as the actual amount.) + + * All parent accounts are always shown, even in list mode. Eg assets, + assets:bank, and expenses above. + + * Amounts always include all subaccounts, budgeted or unbudgeted, + even in list mode. + + + This means that the numbers displayed will not always add up! Eg +above, the `expenses' actual amount includes the gifts and supplies +transactions, but the `expenses:gifts' and `expenses:supplies' accounts +are not shown, as they have no budget amounts declared. + + This can be confusing. When you need to make things clearer, use the +`-E/--empty' flag, which will reveal all accounts including unbudgeted +ones, giving the full picture. Eg: + + +$ 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 $2000] +----------------------++---------------------------------------------------- + || 0 [ 0] 0 [ 0] + + You can roll over unspent budgets to next period with `--cumulative': + + +$ 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] + + For more examples and notes, see Budgeting. + +* Menu: + +* Budget report start date:: +* Budgets and subaccounts:: +* Selecting budget goals:: + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Budget report start date, Next: Budgets and subaccounts, Up: Budget report + +11.5.15.1 Budget report start date +.................................. + +This might be a bug, but for now: when making budget reports, it's a +good idea to explicitly set the report's start date to the first day of +a reporting period, because a periodic rule like `~ monthly' 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: + + +~ monthly in 2020 + (expenses:food) $500 + +2020-01-15 + expenses:food $400 + assets:checking + + +$ hledger bal expenses --budget +Budget performance in 2020-01-15: + + || 2020-01-15 +==============++============ + || $400 +--------------++------------ + || $400 + + To avoid this, specify the budget report's period, or at least the +start date, with `-b'/`-e'/`-p'/`date:', to ensure it includes the +budget goal transactions (periodic transactions) that you want. Eg, +adding `-b 2020/1/1' to the above: + + +$ 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] + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Budgets and subaccounts, Next: Selecting budget goals, Prev: Budget report start date, Up: Budget report + +11.5.15.2 Budgets and subaccounts +................................. + +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. + + In the most simple case this means that once you add a budget to any +account, all its parents would have budget as well. + + To illustrate this, consider the following budget: + + +~ monthly from 2019/01 + expenses:personal $1,000.00 + expenses:personal:electronics $100.00 + liabilities + + 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 `expenses:personal' and `expenses' is $1100. + + Transactions in `expenses:personal:electronics' will be counted both +towards its $100 budget and $1100 of `expenses:personal' , and +transactions in any other subaccount of `expenses:personal' would be +counted towards only towards the budget of `expenses:personal'. + + For example, let's consider these transactions: + + +~ 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 $30.00 + liabilities + + As you can see, we have transactions in +`expenses:personal:electronics:upgrades' and `expenses:personal:train +tickets', and since both of these accounts are without explicitly +defined budget, these transactions would be counted towards budgets of +`expenses:personal:electronics' and `expenses:personal' accordingly: + + +$ 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 $-1100.00] +-------------------------------++------------------------------- + || 0 [ 0] + + And with `--empty', we can get a better picture of budget allocation +and consumption: + + +$ 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 $-1100.00] +----------------------------------------++------------------------------- + || 0 [ 0] + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Selecting budget goals, Prev: Budgets and subaccounts, Up: Budget report + +11.5.15.3 Selecting budget goals +................................ + +The budget report evaluates periodic transaction rules to generate +special "goal transactions", which generate the goal amounts for each +account in each report subperiod. When troubleshooting, you can use the +print command to show these as forecasted transactions: + + +$ hledger print --forecast=BUDGETREPORTPERIOD tag:generated + + 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. + + You can select a subset of periodic rules by providing an argument to +the `--budget' flag. `--budget=DESCPAT' 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. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Customising single-period balance reports, Prev: Budget report, Up: balance + +11.5.16 Customising single-period balance reports +------------------------------------------------- + +For single-period balance reports displayed in the terminal (only), you +can use `--format FMT' to customise the format and content of each +line. Eg: + + +$ hledger -f examples/sample.journal balance --format "%20(account) %12(total)" + assets $-1 + bank:saving $1 + cash $-2 + expenses $2 + food $1 + supplies $1 + income $-2 + gifts $-1 + salary $-1 + liabilities:debts $1 +--------------------------------- + 0 + + The FMT format string (plus a newline) specifies the formatting +applied to each account/balance pair. It may contain any suitable text, +with data fields interpolated like so: + + `%[MIN][.MAX](FIELDNAME)' + + * MIN pads with spaces to at least this width (optional) + + * MAX truncates at this width (optional) + + * FIELDNAME must be enclosed in parentheses, and can be one of: + + * `depth_spacer' - a number of spaces equal to the account's + depth, or if MIN is specified, MIN * depth spaces. + + * `account' - the account's name + + * `total' - the account's balance/posted total, right justified + + + Also, FMT can begin with an optional prefix to control how +multi-commodity amounts are rendered: + + * `%_' - render on multiple lines, bottom-aligned (the default) + + * `%^' - render on multiple lines, top-aligned + + * `%,' - render on one line, comma-separated + + There are some quirks. Eg in one-line mode, `%(depth_spacer)' has no +effect, instead `%(account)' has indentation built in. Experimentation +may be needed to get pleasing results. + + Some example formats: + + * `%(total)' - the account's total + + * `%-20.20(account)' - the account's name, left justified, padded to + 20 characters and clipped at 20 characters + + * `%,%-50(account) %25(total)' - account name padded to 50 + characters, total padded to 20 characters, with multiple + commodities rendered on one line + + * `%20(total) %2(depth_spacer)%-(account)' - the default format for + the single-column balance report + + +File: hledger.info, Node: balancesheet, Next: balancesheetequity, Prev: balance, Up: COMMANDS + +11.6 balancesheet +================= + +balancesheet, bs +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. + + The asset and liability accounts shown are those accounts declared +with the `Asset' or `Cash' or `Liability' type, or otherwise all +accounts under a top-level `asset' or `liability' account (case +insensitive, plurals allowed). + + Example: + + +$ hledger balancesheet +Balance Sheet + +Assets: + $-1 assets + $1 bank:saving + $-2 cash +-------------------- + $-1 + +Liabilities: + $1 liabilities:debts +-------------------- + $1 + +Total: +-------------------- + 0 + + This command is a higher-level variant of the `balance' command, and +supports many of that command's features, such as multi-period reports. +It is similar to `hledger balance -H assets liabilities', but with +smarter account detection, and liabilities displayed with their sign +flipped. + + This command also supports the output destination and output format +options The output formats supported are `txt', `csv', `html', and +(experimental) `json'. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: balancesheetequity, Next: cashflow, Prev: balancesheet, Up: COMMANDS + +11.7 balancesheetequity +======================= + +balancesheetequity, bse +This command displays a balance sheet, showing historical ending +balances of asset, liability and equity accounts. Amounts are shown with +normal positive sign, as in conventional financial statements. + + The asset, liability and equity accounts shown are those accounts +declared with the `Asset', `Cash', `Liability' or `Equity' type, or +otherwise all accounts under a top-level `asset', `liability' or +`equity' account (case insensitive, plurals allowed). + + Example: + + +$ hledger balancesheetequity +Balance Sheet With Equity + +Assets: + $-2 assets + $1 bank:saving + $-3 cash +-------------------- + $-2 + +Liabilities: + $1 liabilities:debts +-------------------- + $1 + +Equity: + $1 equity:owner +-------------------- + $1 + +Total: +-------------------- + 0 + + This command is a higher-level variant of the `balance' command, and +supports many of that command's features, such as multi-period reports. +It is similar to `hledger balance -H assets liabilities equity', but +with smarter account detection, and liabilities/equity displayed with +their sign flipped. + + This command also supports the output destination and output format +options The output formats supported are `txt', `csv', `html', and +(experimental) `json'. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: cashflow, Next: check, Prev: balancesheetequity, Up: COMMANDS + +11.8 cashflow +============= + +cashflow, cf +This command displays a cashflow statement, showing the inflows and +outflows affecting "cash" (ie, liquid) assets. Amounts are shown with +normal positive sign, as in conventional financial statements. + + The "cash" accounts shown are those accounts declared with the +`Cash' type, or otherwise all accounts under a top-level `asset' +account (case insensitive, plural allowed) which do not have `fixed', +`investment', `receivable' or `A/R' in their name. + + Example: + + +$ hledger cashflow +Cashflow Statement + +Cash flows: + $-1 assets + $1 bank:saving + $-2 cash +-------------------- + $-1 + +Total: +-------------------- + $-1 + + This command is a higher-level variant of the `balance' command, and +supports many of that command's features, such as multi-period reports. +It is similar to `hledger balance assets not:fixed not:investment +not:receivable', but with smarter account detection. + + This command also supports the output destination and output format +options The output formats supported are `txt', `csv', `html', and +(experimental) `json'. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: check, Next: close, Prev: cashflow, Up: COMMANDS + +11.9 check +========== + +check +Check for various kinds of errors in your data. + + 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 `check' 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). + + Some examples: + + +hledger check # basic checks +hledger check -s # basic + strict checks +hledger check ordereddates payees # basic + two other checks + + Here are the checks currently available: + +* Menu: + +* Basic checks:: +* Strict checks:: +* Other checks:: +* Custom checks:: + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Basic checks, Next: Strict checks, Up: check + +11.9.1 Basic checks +------------------- + +These checks are always run automatically, by (almost) all hledger +commands, including `check': + + * *parseable* - data files are well-formed and can be successfully + parsed + + * *balancedwithautoconversion* - all transactions are balanced, + inferring missing amounts where necessary, and possibly converting + commodities using transaction prices or automatically-inferred + transaction prices + + * *assertions* - all balance assertions in the journal are passing. + (This check can be disabled with `-I'/`--ignore-assertions'.) + + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Strict checks, Next: Other checks, Prev: Basic checks, Up: check + +11.9.2 Strict checks +-------------------- + +These additional checks are run when the `-s'/`--strict' (strict mode) +flag is used. Or, they can be run by giving their names as arguments to +`check': + + * *accounts* - all account names used by transactions have been + declared + + * *commodities* - all commodity symbols used have been declared + + * *balancednoautoconversion* - transactions are balanced, possibly + using explicit transaction prices but not inferred ones + + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Other checks, Next: Custom checks, Prev: Strict checks, Up: check + +11.9.3 Other checks +------------------- + +These checks can be run only by giving their names as arguments to +`check'. They are more specialised and not desirable for everyone, +therefore optional: + + * *ordereddates* - transactions are ordered by date within each file + + * *payees* - all payees used by transactions have been declared + + * *uniqueleafnames* - all account leaf names are unique + + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Custom checks, Prev: Other checks, Up: check + +11.9.4 Custom checks +-------------------- + +A few more checks are are available as separate add-on commands, in +https://github.com/simonmichael/hledger/tree/master/bin: + + * *hledger-check-tagfiles* - all tag values containing / (a forward + slash) exist as file paths + + * *hledger-check-fancyassertions* - more complex balance assertions + are passing + + + You could make similar scripts to perform your own custom checks. +See: Cookbook -> Scripting. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: close, Next: codes, Prev: check, Up: COMMANDS + +11.10 close +=========== + +close, equity +Prints a sample "closing" transaction bringing specified account +balances to zero, and an inverse "opening" transaction restoring the +same account balances. + + If like most people you split your journal files by time, eg by +year: at the end of the year you can use this command to "close out" +your asset and liability (and perhaps equity) balances in the old file, +and reinitialise them in the new file. This helps ensure that report +balances remain correct whether you are including old files or not. +(Because all closing/opening transactions except the very first will +cancel out - see example below.) + + Some people also use this command to close out revenue and expense +balances at the end of an accounting period. This properly records the +period's profit/loss as "retained earnings" (part of equity), and allows +the accounting equation (A-L=E) to balance, which you could then check +by the bse report's zero total. + + You can print just the closing transaction by using the `--close' +flag, or just the opening transaction with the `--open' flag. + + Their descriptions are `closing balances' and `opening balances' by +default; you can customise these with the `--close-desc' and +`--open-desc' options. + + Just one balancing equity posting is used by default, with the amount +left implicit. The default account name is `equity:opening/closing +balances'. You can customise the account name(s) with `--close-acct' +and `--open-acct'. (If you specify only one of these, it will be used +for both.) + + With `--x/--explicit', the equity posting's amount will be shown +explicitly, and if it involves multiple commodities, there will be a +separate equity posting for each commodity (as in the print command). + + With `--interleaved', each equity posting is shown next to the +posting it balances (good for troubleshooting). + +* Menu: + +* close and prices:: +* close date:: +* Example close asset/liability accounts for file transition:: +* Hiding opening/closing transactions:: +* close and balance assertions:: +* Example close revenue/expense accounts to retained earnings:: + + +File: hledger.info, Node: close and prices, Next: close date, Up: close + +11.10.1 close and prices +------------------------ + +Transaction prices are ignored (and discarded) by closing/opening +transactions, by default. With `--show-costs', they are preserved; +there will be a separate equity posting for each cost in each commodity. +This means `balance -B' reports will look the same after the +transition. Note if you have many foreign currency or investment +transactions, this will generate very large journal entries. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: close date, Next: Example close asset/liability accounts for file transition, Prev: close and prices, Up: close + +11.10.2 close date +------------------ + +The default closing date is yesterday, or the journal's end date, +whichever is later. + + Unless you are running `close' on exactly the first day of the new +period, you'll want to override the closing date. This is done by +specifying a report end date, where "last day of the report period" will +be the closing date. The opening date is always the following day. So to +close on (end of) 2020-12-31 and open on (start of) 2021-01-01, any of +these will work: + +end date argument explanation +------------------------------------------------------------------- +`-e 2021-01-01' end dates are exclusive +`-e 2021' equivalent, per smart dates +`-p 2020' equivalent, the period's begin date is ignored +`date:2020' equivalent query + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Example close asset/liability accounts for file transition, Next: Hiding opening/closing transactions, Prev: close date, Up: close + +11.10.3 Example: close asset/liability accounts for file transition +------------------------------------------------------------------- + +Carrying asset/liability balances from 2020.journal into a new file for +2021: + + +$ hledger close -f 2020.journal -p 2020 assets liabilities +# copy/paste the closing transaction to the end of 2020.journal +# copy/paste the opening transaction to the start of 2021.journal + + Or: + + +$ hledger close -f 2020.journal -p 2020 assets liabilities --open >> 2021.journal # add 2021's first transaction +$ hledger close -f 2020.journal -p 2020 assets liabilities --close >> 2020.journal # add 2020's last transaction + + Now, + + +$ hledger bs -f 2021.journal # just new file - balances correct +$ hledger bs -f 2020.journal -f 2021.journal # old and new files - balances correct +$ hledger bs -f 2020.journal # just old files - balances are zero ? + # (exclude final closing txn, see below) + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Hiding opening/closing transactions, Next: close and balance assertions, Prev: Example close asset/liability accounts for file transition, Up: close + +11.10.4 Hiding opening/closing transactions +------------------------------------------- + +Although the closing/opening transactions cancel out, they will be +visible in reports like `print' and `register', creating some visual +clutter. You can exclude them all with a query, like: + + +$ hledger print not:desc:'opening|closing' # less typing +$ hledger print not:'equity:opening/closing balances' # more precise + + But when reporting on multiple files, this can get a bit tricky; you +may need to keep the earliest opening balances, for a historical +register report; or you may need to suppress a closing transaction, to +see year-end balances. If you find yourself needing more precise +queries, here's one solution: add more easily-matched tags to +opening/closing transactions, like this: + + +; 2019.journal +2019-01-01 opening balances ; earliest opening txn, no tag here +... +2019-12-31 closing balances ; clopen:2020 +... + + +; 2020.journal +2020-01-01 opening balances ; clopen:2020 +... +2020-12-31 closing balances ; clopen:2021 +... + + +; 2021.journal +2021-01-01 opening balances ; clopen:2021 +... + + Now with + + +; all.journal +include 2019.journal +include 2020.journal +include 2021.journal + + you could do eg: + + +$ hledger -f all.journal reg -H checking not:tag:clopen + # all years checking register, hiding non-essential opening/closing txns + +$ hledger -f all.journal bs -p 2020 not:tag:clopen=2020 + # 2020 year end balances, suppressing 2020 closing txn + + +File: hledger.info, Node: close and balance assertions, Next: Example close revenue/expense accounts to retained earnings, Prev: Hiding opening/closing transactions, Up: close + +11.10.5 close and balance assertions +------------------------------------ + +The closing and opening transactions will include balance assertions, +verifying that the accounts have first been reset to zero and then +restored to their previous balance. These provide valuable error +checking, alerting you when things get out of line, but you can ignore +them temporarily with `-I' or just remove them if you prefer. + + You probably shouldn't use status or realness filters (like -C or -R +or `status:') with `close', or the generated balance assertions will +depend on these flags. Likewise, if you run this command with `--auto', +the balance assertions would probably always require `--auto'. + + Multi-day transactions (where some postings have a different date) +break the balance assertions, because the money is temporarily +"invisible" while in transit: + + +2020/12/30 a purchase made in december, cleared in the next year + expenses:food 5 + assets:bank:checking -5 ; date: 2021/1/2 + + To fix the assertions, you can add a temporary account to track such +in-transit money (splitting the multi-day transaction into two +single-day transactions): + + +; in 2020.journal: +2020/12/30 a purchase made in december, cleared in the next year + expenses:food 5 + liabilities:pending + +; in 2021.journal: +2021/1/2 clearance of last year's pending transactions + liabilities:pending 5 = 0 + assets:bank:checking + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Example close revenue/expense accounts to retained earnings, Prev: close and balance assertions, Up: close + +11.10.6 Example: close revenue/expense accounts to retained earnings +-------------------------------------------------------------------- + +For this, use `--close' to suppress the opening transaction, as it's +not needed. Also you'll want to change the equity account name to your +equivalent of "equity:retained earnings". + + Closing 2021's first quarter revenues/expenses: + + +$ hledger close -f 2021.journal --close revenues expenses -p 2021Q1 \ + --close-acct='equity:retained earnings' >> 2021.journal + + The same, using the default journal and current year: + + +$ hledger close --close revenues expenses -p Q1 \ + --close-acct='equity:retained earnings' >> $LEDGER_FILE + + Now, the first quarter's balance sheet should show a zero (unless you +are using @/@@ notation without equity postings): + + +$ hledger bse -p Q1 + + And we must suppress the closing transaction to see the first +quarter's income statement (using the description; `not:'retained +earnings'' won't work here): + + +$ hledger is -p Q1 not:desc:'closing balances' + + +File: hledger.info, Node: codes, Next: commodities, Prev: close, Up: COMMANDS + +11.11 codes +=========== + +codes +List the codes seen in transactions, in the order parsed. + + This command prints the value of each transaction'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. + + Transactions aren't required to have a code, and missing or empty +codes will not be shown by default. With the `-E'/`--empty' flag, they +will be printed as blank lines. + + You can add a query to select a subset of transactions. + + Examples: + + +1/1 (123) + (a) 1 + +1/1 () + (a) 1 + +1/1 + (a) 1 + +1/1 (126) + (a) 1 + + +$ hledger codes +123 +124 +126 + + +$ hledger codes -E +123 +124 + + +126 + + +File: hledger.info, Node: commodities, Next: descriptions, Prev: codes, Up: COMMANDS + +11.12 commodities +================= + +commodities +List all commodity/currency symbols used or declared in the journal. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: descriptions, Next: diff, Prev: commodities, Up: COMMANDS + +11.13 descriptions +================== + +descriptions +List the unique descriptions that appear in transactions. + + This command lists the unique descriptions that appear in +transactions, in alphabetic order. You can add a query to select a +subset of transactions. + + Example: + + +$ hledger descriptions +Store Name +Gas Station | Petrol +Person A + + +File: hledger.info, Node: diff, Next: files, Prev: descriptions, Up: COMMANDS + +11.14 diff +========== + +diff +Compares a particular account's transactions in two input files. It +shows any transactions to this account which are in one file but not in +the other. + + 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. + + This is useful eg if you have downloaded an account'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. + + Examples: + + +$ 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: + + +File: hledger.info, Node: files, Next: help, Prev: diff, Up: COMMANDS + +11.15 files +=========== + +files +List all files included in the journal. With a REGEX argument, only file +names matching the regular expression (case sensitive) are shown. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: help, Next: import, Prev: files, Up: COMMANDS + +11.16 help +========== + +help +Show the hledger user manual in one of several formats, optionally +positioned at a given TOPIC (if possible). + + TOPIC is any heading in the manual, or the start of any heading (but +not the middle). It is case insensitive. + + Some examples: `commands', `print', `forecast', `"auto postings"', +`"commodity column"'. + + This command shows the user manual built in to this hledger version. +It can be useful if the correct version of the hledger manual, or the +usual viewing tools, are not installed on your system. + + By default it uses the best viewer it can find in $PATH, in this +order: `info', `man', $PAGER (unless a topic is specified), `less', or +stdout. When run non-interactively, it always uses stdout. Or you can +select a particular viewer with the `-i' (info), `-m' (man), or `-p' +(pager) flags. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: import, Next: incomestatement, Prev: help, Up: COMMANDS + +11.17 import +============ + +import +Read new transactions added to each FILE since last run, and add them to +the main journal file. Or with -dry-run, just print the transactions +that would be added. Or with -catchup, just mark all of the FILEs' +transactions as imported, without actually importing any. + + Unlike other hledger commands, with `import' 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 +`hledger import bank.csv' or perhaps `hledger import *.csv'. + + Note you can import from any file format, though CSV files are the +most common import source, and these docs focus on that case. + +* Menu: + +* Deduplication:: +* Import testing:: +* Importing balance assignments:: +* Commodity display styles:: + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Deduplication, Next: Import testing, Up: import + +11.17.1 Deduplication +--------------------- + +As a convenience `import' does _deduplication_ while reading +transactions. This does not mean "ignore transactions that look the +same", but rather "ignore transactions that have been seen before". 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 +`hledger import bank.csv' and only new transactions will be imported. +(`import' is idempotent.) + + Since the items being read (CSV records, eg) often do not come with +unique identifiers, hledger detects new transactions by date, assuming +that: + + 1. new items always have the newest dates + + 2. item dates do not change across reads + + 3. and items with the same date remain in the same relative order + across reads. + + 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't matter (and if +you import often, the new transactions will be few, so less likely to be +the ones affected). + + hledger remembers the latest date processed in each input file by +saving a hidden ".latest" state file in the same directory. Eg when +reading `finance/bank.csv', it will look for and update the +`finance/.latest.bank.csv' state file. The format is simple: one or +more lines containing the same ISO-format date (YYYY-MM-DD), meaning "I +have processed transactions up to this date, and this many of them on +that date." Normally you won't see or manipulate these state files +yourself. But if needed, you can delete them to reset the state (making +all transactions "new"), or you can construct them to "catch up" to a +certain date. + + Note deduplication (and updating of state files) can also be done by +`print --new', but this is less often used. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Import testing, Next: Importing balance assignments, Prev: Deduplication, Up: import + +11.17.2 Import testing +---------------------- + +With `--dry-run', 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: + + +$ hledger import --dry bank.csv | hledger -f- -I print unknown + + or (live updating): + + +$ ls bank.csv* | entr bash -c 'echo ====; hledger import --dry bank.csv | hledger -f- -I print unknown' + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Importing balance assignments, Next: Commodity display styles, Prev: Import testing, Up: import + +11.17.3 Importing balance assignments +------------------------------------- + +Entries added by import will have their posting amounts made explicit +(like `hledger print -x'). This means that any balance assignments in +imported files must be evaluated; but, imported files don't get to see +the main file'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: + + +$ hledger print IMPORTFILE [--new] >> $LEDGER_FILE + + (If you think import should leave amounts implicit like print does, +please test it and send a pull request.) + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Commodity display styles, Prev: Importing balance assignments, Up: import + +11.17.4 Commodity display styles +-------------------------------- + +Imported amounts will be formatted according to the canonical commodity +styles (declared or inferred) in the main journal file. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: incomestatement, Next: notes, Prev: import, Up: COMMANDS + +11.18 incomestatement +===================== + +incomestatement, is +This command displays an income statement, showing revenues and expenses +during one or more periods. Amounts are shown with normal positive sign, +as in conventional financial statements. + + The revenue and expense accounts shown are those accounts declared +with the `Revenue' or `Expense' type, or otherwise all accounts under a +top-level `revenue' or `income' or `expense' account (case insensitive, +plurals allowed). + + Example: + + +$ hledger incomestatement +Income Statement + +Revenues: + $-2 income + $-1 gifts + $-1 salary +-------------------- + $-2 + +Expenses: + $2 expenses + $1 food + $1 supplies +-------------------- + $2 + +Total: +-------------------- + 0 + + This command is a higher-level variant of the `balance' command, and +supports many of that command's features, such as multi-period reports. +It is similar to `hledger balance '(revenues|income)' expenses', but +with smarter account detection, and revenues/income displayed with +their sign flipped. + + This command also supports the output destination and output format +options The output formats supported are `txt', `csv', `html', and +(experimental) `json'. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: notes, Next: payees, Prev: incomestatement, Up: COMMANDS + +11.19 notes +=========== + +notes +List the unique notes that appear in transactions. + + This command lists the unique notes that appear in transactions, in +alphabetic order. You can add a query to select a subset of +transactions. The note is the part of the transaction description after +a | character (or if there is no |, the whole description). + + Example: + + +$ hledger notes +Petrol +Snacks + + +File: hledger.info, Node: payees, Next: prices, Prev: notes, Up: COMMANDS + +11.20 payees +============ + +payees +List the unique payee/payer names that appear in transactions. + + This command lists unique payee/payer names which have been declared +with payee directives (-declared), used in transaction descriptions +(-used), or both (the default). + + The payee/payer is the part of the transaction description before a | +character (or if there is no |, the whole description). + + You can add query arguments to select a subset of transactions. This +implies -used. + + Example: + + +$ hledger payees +Store Name +Gas Station +Person A + + +File: hledger.info, Node: prices, Next: print, Prev: payees, Up: COMMANDS + +11.21 prices +============ + +prices +Print market price directives from the journal. With +-infer-market-prices, generate additional market prices from +transaction prices. With -infer-reverse-prices, also generate market +prices by inverting transaction prices. Prices (and postings providing +transaction prices) can be filtered by a query. Price amounts are +displayed with their full precision. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: print, Next: print-unique, Prev: prices, Up: COMMANDS + +11.22 print +=========== + +print +Show transaction journal entries, sorted by date. + + The print command displays full journal entries (transactions) from +the journal file, sorted by date (or with `--date2', by secondary date). + + 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.) + + Amounts are shown right-aligned within each transaction (but not +across all transactions). + + 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. + + Eg: + + +$ 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 $-1 + + print's output is usually a valid hledger journal, and you can +process it again with a second hledger command. This can be useful for +certain kinds of search, eg: + + +# Show running total of food expenses paid from cash. +# -f- reads from stdin. -I/--ignore-assertions is sometimes needed. +$ hledger print assets:cash | hledger -f- -I reg expenses:food + + There are some situations where print's output can become +unparseable: + + * Valuation affects posting amounts but not balance assertion or + balance assignment amounts, potentially causing those to fail. + + * Auto postings can generate postings with too many missing amounts. + + Normally, the journal entry'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 transaction price is +implied but not written, it will not appear in the output. You can use +the `-x'/`--explicit' flag to make all amounts and transaction prices +explicit, which can be useful for troubleshooting or for making your +journal more readable and robust against data entry errors. `-x' is +also implied by using any of `-B',`-V',`-X',`--value'. + + Note, `-x'/`--explicit' 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. + + With `-B'/`--cost', amounts with transaction prices are converted to +cost using that price. This can be used for troubleshooting. + + With `-m'/`--match' and a STR argument, print will show at most one +transaction: the one one whose description is most similar to STR, and +is most recent. STR should contain at least two characters. If there is +no similar-enough match, no transaction will be shown. + + With `--new', hledger prints only transactions it has not seen on a +previous run. This uses the same deduplication system as the `import' +command. (See import's docs for details.) + + This command also supports the output destination and output format +options The output formats supported are `txt', `csv', and +(experimental) `json' and `sql'. + + Here's an example of print's CSV output: + + +$ hledger print -Ocsv +"txnidx","date","date2","status","code","description","comment","account","amount","commodity","credit","debit","posting-status","posting-comment" +"1","2008/01/01","","","","income","","assets:bank:checking","1","$","","1","","" +"1","2008/01/01","","","","income","","income:salary","-1","$","1","","","" +"2","2008/06/01","","","","gift","","assets:bank:checking","1","$","","1","","" +"2","2008/06/01","","","","gift","","income:gifts","-1","$","1","","","" +"3","2008/06/02","","","","save","","assets:bank:saving","1","$","","1","","" +"3","2008/06/02","","","","save","","assets:bank:checking","-1","$","1","","","" +"4","2008/06/03","","*","","eat & shop","","expenses:food","1","$","","1","","" +"4","2008/06/03","","*","","eat & shop","","expenses:supplies","1","$","","1","","" +"4","2008/06/03","","*","","eat & shop","","assets:cash","-2","$","2","","","" +"5","2008/12/31","","*","","pay off","","liabilities:debts","1","$","","1","","" +"5","2008/12/31","","*","","pay off","","assets:bank:checking","-1","$","1","","","" + + * There is one CSV record per posting, with the parent transaction's + fields repeated. + + * The "txnidx" (transaction index) field shows which postings belong + to the same transaction. (This number might change if transactions + are reordered within the file, files are parsed/included in a + different order, etc.) + + * The amount is separated into "commodity" (the symbol) and "amount" + (numeric quantity) fields. + + * The numeric amount is repeated in either the "credit" or "debit" + column, for convenience. (Those names are not accurate in the + accounting sense; it just puts negative amounts under credit and + zero or greater amounts under debit.) + + +File: hledger.info, Node: print-unique, Next: register, Prev: print, Up: COMMANDS + +11.23 print-unique +================== + +print-unique +Print transactions which do not reuse an already-seen description. + + Example: + + +$ cat unique.journal +1/1 test + (acct:one) 1 +2/2 test + (acct:two) 2 +$ LEDGER_FILE=unique.journal hledger print-unique +(-f option not supported) +2015/01/01 test + (acct:one) 1 + + +File: hledger.info, Node: register, Next: register-match, Prev: print-unique, Up: COMMANDS + +11.24 register +============== + +register, reg +Show postings and their running total. + + The register command displays matched postings, across all accounts, +in date order, with their running total or running historical balance. +(See also the `aregister' command, which shows matched transactions in a +specific account.) + + register normally shows line per posting, but note that +multi-commodity amounts will occupy multiple lines (one line per +commodity). + + It is typically used with a query selecting a particular account, to +see that account's activity: + + +$ 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 $-1 0 + + With -date2, it shows and sorts by secondary date instead. + + The `--historical'/`-H' flag adds the balance from any undisplayed +prior postings to the running total. This is useful when you want to +see only recent activity, with a historically accurate running balance: + + +$ 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 $-1 0 + + The `--depth' option limits the amount of sub-account detail +displayed. + + The `--average'/`-A' flag shows the running average posting amount +instead of the running total (so, the final number displayed is the +average for the whole report period). This flag implies `--empty' (see +below). It is affected by `--historical'. It works best when showing +just one account and one commodity. + + The `--related'/`-r' flag shows the _other_ postings in the +transactions of the postings which would normally be shown. + + The `--invert' flag negates all amounts. For example, it can be used +on an income account where amounts are normally displayed as negative +numbers. It's also useful to show postings on the checking account +together with the related account: + + +$ hledger register --related --invert assets:checking + + With a reporting interval, register shows summary postings, one per +interval, aggregating the postings to each account: + + +$ hledger register --monthly income +2008/01 income:salary $-1 $-1 +2008/06 income:gifts $-1 $-2 + + Periods with no activity, and summary postings with a zero amount, +are not shown by default; use the `--empty'/`-E' flag to see them: + + +$ 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 $-2 + + Often, you'll want to see just one line per interval. The `--depth' +option helps with this, causing subaccounts to be aggregated: + + +$ hledger register --monthly assets --depth 1h +2008/01 assets $1 $1 +2008/06 assets $-1 0 +2008/12 assets $-1 $-1 + + Note when using report intervals, if you specify start/end dates +these will be adjusted outward if necessary to contain a whole number of +intervals. This ensures that the first and last intervals are full +length and comparable to the others in the report. + +* Menu: + +* Custom register output:: + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Custom register output, Up: register + +11.24.1 Custom register output +------------------------------ + +register uses the full terminal width by default, except on windows. You +can override this by setting the `COLUMNS' environment variable (not a +bash shell variable) or by using the `--width'/`-w' option. + + The description and account columns normally share the space equally +(about half of (width - 40) each). You can adjust this by adding a +description width as part of -width's argument, comma-separated: +`--width W,D' . Here's a diagram (won't display correctly in -help): + + +<--------------------------------- width (W) ----------------------------------> +date (10) description (D) account (W-41-D) amount (12) balance (12) +DDDDDDDDDD dddddddddddddddddddd aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa AAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAA + + and some examples: + + +$ 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 $COLUMNS,40 # use terminal width, & description width 40 + + This command also supports the output destination and output format +options The output formats supported are `txt', `csv', and +(experimental) `json'. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: register-match, Next: rewrite, Prev: register, Up: COMMANDS + +11.25 register-match +==================== + +register-match +Print the one posting whose transaction description is closest to DESC, +in the style of the register command. If there are multiple equally good +matches, it shows the most recent. Query options (options, not +arguments) can be used to restrict the search space. Helps +ledger-autosync detect already-seen transactions when importing. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: rewrite, Next: roi, Prev: register-match, Up: COMMANDS + +11.26 rewrite +============= + +rewrite +Print all transactions, rewriting the postings of matched transactions. +For now the only rewrite available is adding new postings, like print +-auto. + + This is a start at a generic rewriter of transaction entries. It +reads the default journal and prints the transactions, like print, but +adds one or more specified postings to any transactions matching QUERY. +The posting amounts can be fixed, or a multiplier of the existing +transaction's first posting amount. + + Examples: + + +$ hledger-rewrite.hs ^income --add-posting '(liabilities:tax) *.33 ; income tax' --add-posting '(reserve:gifts) $100' +$ hledger-rewrite.hs expenses:gifts --add-posting '(reserve:gifts) *-1"' +$ hledger-rewrite.hs -f rewrites.hledger + + rewrites.hledger may consist of entries like: + + += ^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 + + Note the single quotes to protect the dollar sign from bash, and the +two spaces between account and amount. + + More: + + +$ hledger rewrite -- [QUERY] --add-posting "ACCT AMTEXPR" ... +$ hledger rewrite -- ^income --add-posting '(liabilities:tax) *.33' +$ hledger rewrite -- expenses:gifts --add-posting '(budget:gifts) *-1"' +$ hledger rewrite -- ^income --add-posting '(budget:foreign currency) *0.25 JPY; diversify' + + Argument for `--add-posting' option is a usual posting of +transaction with an exception for amount specification. More precisely, +you can use `'*'' (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's +commodity. + +* Menu: + +* Re-write rules in a file:: +* Diff output format:: +* rewrite vs print --auto:: + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Re-write rules in a file, Next: Diff output format, Up: rewrite + +11.26.1 Re-write rules in a file +-------------------------------- + +During the run this tool will execute so called "Automated Transactions" +found in any journal it process. I.e instead of specifying this +operations in command line you can put them in a journal file. + + +$ rewrite-rules.journal + + Make contents look like this: + + += ^income + (liabilities:tax) *.33 + += expenses:gifts + budget:gifts *-1 + assets:budget *1 + + Note that `'='' (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. + + +$ hledger rewrite -- -f input.journal -f rewrite-rules.journal > rewritten-tidy-output.journal + + This is something similar to the commands pipeline: + + +$ hledger rewrite -- -f input.journal '^income' --add-posting '(liabilities:tax) *.33' \ + | hledger rewrite -- -f - expenses:gifts --add-posting 'budget:gifts *-1' \ + --add-posting 'assets:budget *1' \ + > rewritten-tidy-output.journal + + It is important to understand that relative order of such entries in +journal is important. You can re-use result of previously added +postings. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Diff output format, Next: rewrite vs print --auto, Prev: Re-write rules in a file, Up: rewrite + +11.26.2 Diff output format +-------------------------- + +To use this tool for batch modification of your journal files you may +find useful output in form of unified diff. + + +$ hledger rewrite -- --diff -f examples/sample.journal '^income' --add-posting '(liabilities:tax) *.33' + + Output might look like: + + +--- /tmp/examples/sample.journal ++++ /tmp/examples/sample.journal +@@ -18,3 +18,4 @@ + 2008/01/01 income +- assets:bank:checking $1 ++ assets:bank:checking $1 + income:salary ++ (liabilities:tax) 0 +@@ -22,3 +23,4 @@ + 2008/06/01 gift +- assets:bank:checking $1 ++ assets:bank:checking $1 + income:gifts ++ (liabilities:tax) 0 + + If you'll pass this through `patch' tool you'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 `--file' options and `include' directives inside of these +files. + + Be careful. Whole transaction being re-formatted in a style of output +from `hledger print'. + + See also: + + https://github.com/simonmichael/hledger/issues/99 + + +File: hledger.info, Node: rewrite vs print --auto, Prev: Diff output format, Up: rewrite + +11.26.3 rewrite vs. print -auto +------------------------------- + +This command predates print -auto, and currently does much the same +thing, but with these differences: + + * with multiple files, rewrite lets rules in any file affect all + other files. print -auto uses standard directive scoping; rules + affect only child files. + + * rewrite's query limits which transactions can be rewritten; all are + printed. print -auto's query limits which transactions are printed. + + * rewrite applies rules specified on command line or in the journal. + print -auto applies rules specified in the journal. + + + +File: hledger.info, Node: roi, Next: stats, Prev: rewrite, Up: COMMANDS + +11.27 roi +========= + +roi +Shows the time-weighted (TWR) and money-weighted (IRR) rate of return on +your investments. + + At a minimum, you need to supply a query (which could be just an +account name) to select your investment(s) with `--inv', and another +query to identify your profit and loss transactions with `--pnl'. + + If you do not record changes in the value of your investment +manually, or do not require computation of time-weighted return (TWR), +`--pnl' could be an empty query (`--pnl ""' or `--pnl STR' where `STR' +does not match any of your accounts). + + 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. + + Price directives will be taken into account if you supply appropriate +`--cost' or `--value' flags (see VALUATION). + + Note, in some cases this report can fail, for these reasons: + + * 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. + + * Error (SearchFailed): Failed to find solution for Internal Rate of + Return (IRR). Either search does not converge to a solution, or + converges too slowly. + + Examples: + + * Using roi to compute total return of investment in stocks: + https://github.com/simonmichael/hledger/blob/master/examples/roi-unrealised.ledger + + * Cookbook -> Return on Investment + + +* Menu: + +* Spaces and special characters in --inv and --pnl:: +* Semantics of --inv and --pnl:: +* IRR and TWR explained:: + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Spaces and special characters in --inv and --pnl, Next: Semantics of --inv and --pnl, Up: roi + +11.27.1 Spaces and special characters in `--inv' and +---------------------------------------------------- + +`--pnl' + + Note that `--inv' and `--pnl''s argument is a query, and queries +could have several space-separated terms (see QUERIES). + + To indicate that all search terms form single command-line argument, +you will need to put them in quotes (see Special characters): + + +$ hledger roi --inv 'term1 term2 term3 ...' + + If any query terms contain spaces themselves, you will need an extra +level of nested quoting, eg: + + +$ hledger roi --inv="'Assets:Test 1'" --pnl="'Equity:Unrealized Profit and Loss'" + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Semantics of --inv and --pnl, Next: IRR and TWR explained, Prev: Spaces and special characters in --inv and --pnl, Up: roi + +11.27.2 Semantics of `--inv' and `--pnl' +---------------------------------------- + +Query supplied to `--inv' has to match all transactions that are +related to your investment. Transactions not matching `--inv' will be +ignored. + + In these transactions, ROI will conside postings that match `--inv' +to be "investment postings" and other postings (not matching `--inv') +will be sorted into two categories: "cash flow" and "profit and loss", +as ROI needs to know which part of the investment value is your +contributions and which is due to the return on investment. + + * "Cash flow" is depositing or withdrawing money, buying or selling + assets, or otherwise converting between your investment commodity + and any other commodity. Example: + + + 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 + + * "Profit and loss" is change in the value of your investment: + + + 2019-06-01 Snake Oil falls in value + investment:snake oil = $57 + equity:unrealized profit or loss + + + All non-investment postings are assumed to be "cash flow", unless +they match `--pnl' query. Changes in value of your investment due to +"profit and loss" postings will be considered as part of your investment +return. + + Example: if you use `--inv snake --pnl equity:unrealized', then +postings in the example below would be classifed as: + + +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 + + +File: hledger.info, Node: IRR and TWR explained, Prev: Semantics of --inv and --pnl, Up: roi + +11.27.3 IRR and TWR explained +----------------------------- + +"ROI" stands for "return on investment". Traditionally this was computed +as a difference between current value of investment and its initial +value, expressed in percentage of the initial value. + + 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. + + Internal rate of return, or "IRR" (also called "money-weighted rate +of return") 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. + + As mentioned before, in-flows and out-flows would be any cash that +you personally put in or withdraw, and for the "roi" command, these are +the postings that match the query in the`--inv' argument and NOT match +the query in the`--pnl' argument. + + If you manually record changes in the value of your investment as +transactions that balance them against "profit and loss" (or "unrealized +gains") 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. + + 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't done +discounted cash flow analysis before. Implementation of IRR in hledger +should produce results that match the `XIRR' formula in Excel. + + Second way to compute rate of return that `roi' command implements +is called "time-weighted rate of return" or "TWR". 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. + + TWR represents your investment as an imaginary "unit fund" where +in-flows/ out-flows lead to buying or selling "units" of your investment +and changes in its value change the value of "investment unit". Change +in "unit price" over the reporting period gives you rate of return of +your investment. + + References: * Explanation of rate of return * Explanation of IRR * +Explanation of TWR * Examples of computing IRR and TWR and discussion of +the limitations of both metrics + + +File: hledger.info, Node: stats, Next: tags, Prev: roi, Up: COMMANDS + +11.28 stats +=========== + +stats +Show journal and performance statistics. + + 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. + + 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 `stats' command's run time is similar to that of a +single-column balance report. + + Example: + + +$ 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 + + This command also supports output destination and output format +selection. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: tags, Next: test, Prev: stats, Up: COMMANDS + +11.29 tags +========== + +tags +List the unique tag names used in the journal. With a TAGREGEX argument, +only tag names matching the regular expression (case insensitive) are +shown. With QUERY arguments, only transactions matching the query are +considered. + + With the -values flag, the tags' unique values are listed instead. + + With -parsed flag, all tags or values are shown in the order they are +parsed from the input data, including duplicates. + + With -E/-empty, any blank/empty values will also be shown, otherwise +they are omitted. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: test, Next: About add-on commands, Prev: tags, Up: COMMANDS + +11.30 test +========== + +test +Run built-in unit tests. + + 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. + + 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! + + 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: + + +$ hledger test -- -pData.Amount --color=never + + For help on these, see https://github.com/feuerbach/tasty#options +(`-- --help' currently doesn't show them). + + +File: hledger.info, Node: About add-on commands, Prev: test, Up: COMMANDS + +11.31 About add-on commands +=========================== + +Add-on commands are programs or scripts in your PATH + + * whose name starts with `hledger-' + + * whose name ends with a recognised file extension: + `.bat',`.com',`.exe', `.hs',`.lhs',`.pl',`.py',`.rb',`.rkt',`.sh' + or none + + * and (on unix, mac) which are executable by the current user. + + Add-ons are a relatively easy way to add local features or experiment +with new ideas. They can be written in any language, but haskell scripts +have a big advantage: they can use the same hledger library functions +that built-in commands use for command-line options, parsing and +reporting. Some experimental/example add-on scripts can be found in the +hledger repo's bin/ directory. + + Note in a hledger command line, add-on command flags must have a +double dash (`--') preceding them. Eg you must write: + + +$ hledger web -- --serve + + and not: + + +$ hledger web --serve + + (because the `--serve' flag belongs to `hledger-web', not `hledger'). + + The `-h/--help' and `--version' flags don't require `--'. + + If you have any trouble with this, remember you can always run the +add-on program directly, eg: + + +$ hledger-web --serve + + +File: hledger.info, Node: JOURNAL FORMAT, Next: CSV FORMAT, Prev: COMMANDS, Up: Top + +12 JOURNAL FORMAT +***************** + +hledger's default file format, representing a General Journal. + + hledger's usual data source is a plain text file containing journal +entries in hledger journal format. This file represents a standard +accounting general journal. I use file names ending in `.journal', but +that's not required. The journal file contains a number of transaction +entries, each describing a transfer of money (or any commodity) between +two or more named accounts, in a simple format readable by both hledger +and humans. + + hledger's journal format is a compatible subset, mostly, of ledger's +journal format, so hledger can work with compatible ledger journal files +as well. It's safe, and encouraged, to run both hledger and ledger on +the same journal file, eg to validate the results you're getting. + + You can use hledger without learning any more about this file; just +use the add or web or import commands to create and update it. + + Many users, though, edit the journal file with a text editor, and +track changes with a version control system such as git. Editor addons +such as ledger-mode or hledger-mode for Emacs, vim-ledger for Vim, and +hledger-vscode for Visual Studio Code, make this easier, adding colour, +formatting, tab completion, and useful commands. See Editor +configuration at hledger.org for the full list. + + Here's a description of each part of the file format (and hledger's +data model). These are mostly in the order you'll use them, but in some +cases related concepts have been grouped together for easy reference, or +linked before they are introduced, so feel free to skip over anything +that looks unnecessary right now. + +* Menu: + +* Transactions:: +* Dates:: +* Status:: +* Code:: +* Description:: +* Comments:: +* Tags:: +* Postings:: +* Account names:: +* Amounts:: +* Transaction prices:: +* Lot prices lot dates:: +* Balance assertions:: +* Balance assignments:: +* Directives:: +* Directives and multiple files:: +* Comment blocks:: +* Including other files:: +* Default year:: +* Declaring payees:: +* Declaring the decimal mark:: +* Declaring commodities:: +* Default commodity:: +* Declaring market prices:: +* Declaring accounts:: +* Rewriting accounts:: +* Default parent account:: +* Periodic transactions:: +* Auto postings:: + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Transactions, Next: Dates, Up: JOURNAL FORMAT + +12.1 Transactions +================= + +Transactions are the main unit of information in a journal file. They +represent events, typically a movement of some quantity of commodities +between two or more named accounts. + + Each transaction is recorded as a journal entry, beginning with a +simple date in column 0. This can be followed by any of the following +optional fields, separated by spaces: + + * a status character (empty, `!', or `*') + + * a code (any short number or text, enclosed in parentheses) + + * a description (any remaining text until end of line or a semicolon) + + * a comment (any remaining text following a semicolon until end of + line, and any following indented lines beginning with a semicolon) + + * 0 or more indented _posting_ lines, describing what was transferred + and the accounts involved (indented comment lines are also + allowed, but not blank lines or non-indented lines). + + Here's a simple journal file containing one transaction: + + +2008/01/01 income + assets:bank:checking $1 + income:salary $-1 + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Dates, Next: Status, Prev: Transactions, Up: JOURNAL FORMAT + +12.2 Dates +========== + +* Menu: + +* Simple dates:: +* Secondary dates:: +* Posting dates:: + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Simple dates, Next: Secondary dates, Up: Dates + +12.2.1 Simple dates +------------------- + +Dates in the journal file use _simple dates_ format: `YYYY-MM-DD' or +`YYYY/MM/DD' or `YYYY.MM.DD', with leading zeros optional. The year may +be omitted, in which case it will be inferred from the context: the +current transaction, the default year set with a default year +directive, or the current date when the command is run. Some examples: +`2010-01-31', `2010/01/31', `2010.1.31', `1/31'. + + (The UI also accepts simple dates, as well as the more flexible smart +dates documented in the hledger manual.) + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Secondary dates, Next: Posting dates, Prev: Simple dates, Up: Dates + +12.2.2 Secondary dates +---------------------- + +Real-life transactions sometimes involve more than one date - eg the +date you write a cheque, and the date it clears in your bank. When you +want to model this, for more accurate daily balances, you can specify +individual posting dates. + + Or, you can use the older _secondary date_ feature (Ledger calls it +auxiliary date or effective date). Note: we support this for +compatibility, but I usually recommend avoiding this feature; posting +dates are almost always clearer and simpler. + + A secondary date is written after the primary date, following an +equals sign. If the year is omitted, the primary date's year is +assumed. When running reports, the primary (left) date is used by +default, but with the `--date2' flag (or `--aux-date' or `--effective'), +the secondary (right) date will be used instead. + + The meaning of secondary dates is up to you, but it's best to follow +a consistent rule. Eg "primary = the bank's clearing date, secondary = +date the transaction was initiated, if different", as shown here: + + +2010/2/23=2/19 movie ticket + expenses:cinema $10 + assets:checking + + +$ hledger register checking +2010-02-23 movie ticket assets:checking $-10 $-10 + + +$ hledger register checking --date2 +2010-02-19 movie ticket assets:checking $-10 $-10 + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Posting dates, Prev: Secondary dates, Up: Dates + +12.2.3 Posting dates +-------------------- + +You can give individual postings a different date from their parent +transaction, by adding a posting comment containing a tag (see below) +like `date:DATE'. This is probably the best way to control posting +dates precisely. Eg in this example the expense should appear in May +reports, and the deduction from checking should be reported on 6/1 for +easy bank reconciliation: + + +2015/5/30 + expenses:food $10 ; food purchased on saturday 5/30 + assets:checking ; bank cleared it on monday, date:6/1 + + +$ hledger -f t.j register food +2015-05-30 expenses:food $10 $10 + + +$ hledger -f t.j register checking +2015-06-01 assets:checking $-10 $-10 + + DATE should be a simple date; if the year is not specified it will +use the year of the transaction's date. You can set the secondary date +similarly, with `date2:DATE2'. The `date:' or `date2:' tags must have a +valid simple date value if they are present, eg a `date:' tag with no +value is not allowed. + + Ledger's earlier, more compact bracketed date syntax is also +supported: `[DATE]', `[DATE=DATE2]' or `[=DATE2]'. hledger will attempt +to parse any square-bracketed sequence of the `0123456789/-.=' +characters in this way. With this syntax, DATE infers its year from the +transaction and DATE2 infers its year from DATE. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Status, Next: Code, Prev: Dates, Up: JOURNAL FORMAT + +12.3 Status +=========== + +Transactions, or individual postings within a transaction, can have a +status mark, which is a single character before the transaction +description or posting account name, separated from it by a space, +indicating one of three statuses: + +mark status +----------------- + unmarked +`!' pending +`*' cleared + + When reporting, you can filter by status with the `-U/--unmarked', +`-P/--pending', and `-C/--cleared' flags; or the `status:', `status:!', +and `status:*' queries; or the U, P, C keys in hledger-ui. + + Note, in Ledger and in older versions of hledger, the "unmarked" +state is called "uncleared". As of hledger 1.3 we have renamed it to +unmarked for clarity. + + To replicate Ledger and old hledger's behaviour of also matching +pending, combine -U and -P. + + Status marks are optional, but can be helpful eg for reconciling with +real-world accounts. Some editor modes provide highlighting and +shortcuts for working with status. Eg in Emacs ledger-mode, you can +toggle transaction status with C-c C-e, or posting status with C-c C-c. + + What "uncleared", "pending", and "cleared" actually mean is up to +you. Here's one suggestion: + +status meaning +-------------------------------------------------------------------------- +uncleared recorded but not yet reconciled; needs review +pending tentatively reconciled (if needed, eg during a big + reconciliation) +cleared complete, reconciled as far as possible, and considered + correct + + With this scheme, you would use `-PC' to see the current balance at +your bank, `-U' to see things which will probably hit your bank soon +(like uncashed checks), and no flags to see the most up-to-date state +of your finances. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Code, Next: Description, Prev: Status, Up: JOURNAL FORMAT + +12.4 Code +========= + +After the status mark, but before the description, you can optionally +write a transaction "code", enclosed in parentheses. This is a good +place to record a check number, or some other important transaction id +or reference number. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Description, Next: Comments, Prev: Code, Up: JOURNAL FORMAT + +12.5 Description +================ + +A transaction's description is the rest of the line following the date +and status mark (or until a comment begins). Sometimes called the +"narration" in traditional bookkeeping, it can be used for whatever you +wish, or left blank. Transaction descriptions can be queried, unlike +comments. + +* Menu: + +* Payee and note:: + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Payee and note, Up: Description + +12.5.1 Payee and note +--------------------- + +You can optionally include a `|' (pipe) character in descriptions to +subdivide the description into separate fields for payee/payer name on +the left (up to the first `|') and an additional note field on the +right (after the first `|'). This may be worthwhile if you need to do +more precise querying and pivoting by payee or by note. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Comments, Next: Tags, Prev: Description, Up: JOURNAL FORMAT + +12.6 Comments +============= + +Lines in the journal beginning with a semicolon (`;') or hash (`#') or +star (`*') are comments, and will be ignored. (Star comments cause +org-mode nodes to be ignored, allowing emacs users to fold and navigate +their journals with org-mode or orgstruct-mode.) + + You can attach comments to a transaction by writing them after the +description and/or indented on the following lines (before the +postings). Similarly, you can attach comments to an individual posting +by writing them after the amount and/or indented on the following lines. +Transaction and posting comments must begin with a semicolon (`;'). + + Some examples: + + +# a file comment +; another file comment +* also a file comment, useful in org/orgstruct mode + +comment +A multiline file comment, which continues +until a line containing just "end comment" +(or end of file). +end comment + +2012/5/14 something ; a transaction comment + ; the transaction comment, continued + posting1 1 ; a comment for posting 1 + posting2 + ; a comment for posting 2 + ; another comment line for posting 2 +; a file comment (because not indented) + + You can also comment larger regions of a file using `comment' and +`end comment' directives. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Tags, Next: Postings, Prev: Comments, Up: JOURNAL FORMAT + +12.7 Tags +========= + +Tags are a way to add extra labels or labelled data to postings and +transactions, which you can then search or pivot on. + + A simple tag is a word (which may contain hyphens) followed by a full +colon, written inside a transaction or posting comment line: + + +2017/1/16 bought groceries ; sometag: + + Tags can have a value, which is the text after the colon, up to the +next comma or end of line, with leading/trailing whitespace removed: + + + expenses:food $10 ; a-posting-tag: the tag value + + Note this means hledger's tag values can not contain commas or +newlines. Ending at commas means you can write multiple short tags on +one line, comma separated: + + + assets:checking ; a comment containing tag1:, tag2: some value ... + + Here, + + * "`a comment containing'" is just comment text, not a tag + + * "`tag1'" is a tag with no value + + * "`tag2'" is another tag, whose value is "`some value ...'" + + Tags in a transaction comment affect the transaction and all of its +postings, while tags in a posting comment affect only that posting. For +example, the following transaction has three tags (`A', `TAG2', +`third-tag') and the posting has four (those plus `posting-tag'): + + +1/1 a transaction ; A:, TAG2: + ; third-tag: a third transaction tag, <- with a value + (a) $1 ; posting-tag: + + Tags are like Ledger's metadata feature, except hledger's tag values +are simple strings. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Postings, Next: Account names, Prev: Tags, Up: JOURNAL FORMAT + +12.8 Postings +============= + +A posting is an addition of some amount to, or removal of some amount +from, an account. Each posting line begins with at least one space or +tab (2 or 4 spaces is common), followed by: + + * (optional) a status character (empty, `!', or `*'), followed by a + space + + * (required) an account name (any text, optionally containing + *single spaces*, until end of line or a double space) + + * (optional) *two or more spaces* or tabs followed by an amount. + + Positive amounts are being added to the account, negative amounts are +being removed. + + The amounts within a transaction must always sum up to zero. As a +convenience, one amount may be left blank; it will be inferred so as to +balance the transaction. + + Be sure to note the unusual two-space delimiter between account name +and amount. This makes it easy to write account names containing +spaces. But if you accidentally leave only one space (or tab) before +the amount, the amount will be considered part of the account name. + +* Menu: + +* Virtual postings:: + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Virtual postings, Up: Postings + +12.8.1 Virtual postings +----------------------- + +A posting with a parenthesised account name is called a _virtual +posting_ or _unbalanced posting_, which means it is exempt from the +usual rule that a transaction's postings must balance add up to zero. + + This is not part of double entry accounting, so you might choose to +avoid this feature. Or you can use it sparingly for certain special +cases where it can be convenient. Eg, you could set opening balances +without using a balancing equity account: + + +1/1 opening balances + (assets:checking) $1000 + (assets:savings) $2000 + + A posting with a bracketed account name is called a _balanced +virtual posting_. The balanced virtual postings in a transaction must +add up to zero (separately from other postings). Eg: + + +1/1 buy food with cash, update budget envelope subaccounts, & something else + assets:cash $-10 ; <- these balance + expenses:food $7 ; <- + expenses:food $3 ; <- + [assets:checking:budget:food] $-10 ; <- and these balance + [assets:checking:available] $10 ; <- + (something:else) $5 ; <- not required to balance + + Ordinary non-parenthesised, non-bracketed postings are called _real +postings_. You can exclude virtual postings from reports with the +`-R/--real' flag or `real:1' query. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Account names, Next: Amounts, Prev: Postings, Up: JOURNAL FORMAT + +12.9 Account names +================== + +Account names typically have several parts separated by a full colon, +from which hledger derives a hierarchical chart of accounts. They can be +anything you like, but in finance there are traditionally five top-level +accounts: `assets', `liabilities', `revenue', `expenses', and `equity'. + + Account names may contain single spaces, eg: `assets:accounts +receivable'. Because of this, they must always be followed by *two or +more spaces* (or newline). + + Account names can be aliased. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Amounts, Next: Transaction prices, Prev: Account names, Up: JOURNAL FORMAT + +12.10 Amounts +============= + +After the account name, there is usually an amount. (Important: between +account name and amount, there must be *two or more spaces*.) + + hledger's amount format is flexible, supporting several international +formats. Here are some examples. Amounts have a number (the "quantity"): + + +1 + + ..and usually a currency symbol or commodity name (more on this +below), to the left or right of the quantity, with or without a +separating space: + + +$1 +4000 AAPL +3 "green apples" + + 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: + + +-$1 +$-1 + + One or more spaces between the sign and the number are acceptable +when parsing (but they won't be displayed in output): + + ++ $1 +$- 1 + + Scientific E notation is allowed: + + +1E-6 +EUR 1E3 + +* Menu: + +* Decimal marks digit group marks:: +* Commodity:: +* Directives influencing number parsing and display:: +* Commodity display style:: +* Rounding:: + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Decimal marks digit group marks, Next: Commodity, Up: Amounts + +12.10.1 Decimal marks, digit group marks +---------------------------------------- + +A _decimal mark_ can be written as a period or a comma: + + +1.23 +1,23456780000009 + + In the integer part of the quantity (left of the decimal mark), +groups of digits can optionally be separated by a _digit group mark_ - a +space, comma, or period (different from the decimal mark): + + + $1,000,000.00 + EUR 2.000.000,00 +INR 9,99,99,999.00 + 1 000 000.9455 + + Note, a number containing a single digit group mark and no decimal +mark is ambiguous. Are these digit group marks or decimal marks ? + + +1,000 +1.000 + + If you don't tell it otherwise, hledger will assume both of the above +are decimal marks, parsing both numbers as 1. + + 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 `decimal-mark' directive is best, otherwise `commodity' +directives will also work. These are described detail below. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Commodity, Next: Directives influencing number parsing and display, Prev: Decimal marks digit group marks, Up: Amounts + +12.10.2 Commodity +----------------- + +Amounts in hledger have both a "quantity", which is a signed decimal +number, and a "commodity", which is a currency symbol, stock ticker, or +any word or phrase describing something you are tracking. + + If the commodity name contains non-letters (spaces, numbers, or +punctuation), you must always write it inside double quotes (`"green +apples"', `"ABC123"'). + + If you write just a bare number, that too will have a commodity, with +name `""'; we call that the "no-symbol commodity". + + 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: `1 USD, 2 EUR, 3.456 +TSLA'. In practice, you will only see multi-commodity amounts in +hledger's output; you can't write them directly in the journal file. + + (If you are writing scripts or working with hledger's internals, +these are the `Amount' and `MixedAmount' types.) + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Directives influencing number parsing and display, Next: Commodity display style, Prev: Commodity, Up: Amounts + +12.10.3 Directives influencing number parsing and display +--------------------------------------------------------- + +You can add `decimal-mark' and `commodity' directives to the journal, +to declare and control these things more explicitly and precisely. +These are described below, in JOURNAL FORMAT -> Declaring commodities. +Here's a quick example: + + +# 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 + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Commodity display style, Next: Rounding, Prev: Directives influencing number parsing and display, Up: Amounts + +12.10.4 Commodity display style +------------------------------- + +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 `print' command, are displayed with all of +their decimal digits visible.) + + A commodity's display style is inferred as follows. + + First, if a default commodity is declared with `D', this commodity +and its style is applied to any no-symbol amounts in the journal. + + Then each commodity's style is inferred from one of the following, in +order of preference: + + * The commodity directive for that commodity (including the no-symbol + commodity), if any. + + * The amounts in that commodity seen in the journal's transactions. + (Posting amounts only; prices and periodic or auto rules are + ignored, currently.) + + * The built-in fallback style, which looks like this: `$1000.00'. + (Symbol on the left, period decimal mark, two decimal places.) + + A style is inferred from journal amounts as follows: + + * Use the general style (decimal mark, symbol placement) of the first + amount + + * Use the first-seen digit group style (digit group mark, digit group + sizes), if any + + * Use the maximum number of decimal places of all. + + Transaction price amounts don't affect the commodity display style +directly, but occasionally they can do so indirectly (eg when a +posting's amount is inferred using a transaction price). If you find +this causing problems, use a commodity directive to fix the display +style. + + To summarise: each commodity's amounts will be normalised to (a) the +style declared by a `commodity' 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't like, eg with too many decimal +places, use a commodity directive. Some examples: + + +# 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. + + The inferred commodity style can be overridden by supplying a command +line option. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Rounding, Prev: Commodity display style, Up: Amounts + +12.10.5 Rounding +---------------- + +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's rounding: it rounds +to the nearest even number, eg 0.5 displayed with zero decimal places is +"0"). (Guaranteed since hledger 1.17.1; in older versions this could +vary if hledger was built with Decimal < 0.5.1.) + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Transaction prices, Next: Lot prices lot dates, Prev: Amounts, Up: JOURNAL FORMAT + +12.11 Transaction prices +======================== + +Within a transaction, you can note an amount's price in another +commodity. This can be used to document the cost (in a purchase) or +selling price (in a sale). For example, transaction prices are useful to +record purchases of a foreign currency. Note transaction prices are +fixed at the time of the transaction, and do not change over time. See +also market prices, which represent prevailing exchange rates on a +certain date. + + There are several ways to record a transaction price: + + 1. Write the price per unit, as `@ UNITPRICE' after the amount: + + + 2009/1/1 + assets:euros €100 @ $1.35 ; one hundred euros purchased at $1.35 each + assets:dollars ; balancing amount is -$135.00 + + 2. Write the total price, as `@@ TOTALPRICE' after the amount: + + + 2009/1/1 + assets:euros €100 @@ $135 ; one hundred euros purchased at $135 for the lot + assets:dollars + + 3. Specify amounts for all postings, using exactly two commodities, + and let hledger infer the price that balances the transaction: + + + 2009/1/1 + assets:euros €100 ; one hundred euros purchased + assets:dollars $-135 ; for $135 + + 4. Like 1, but the `@' is parenthesised, i.e. `(@)'; this is for + compatibility with Ledger journals (Virtual posting costs), and is + equivalent to 1 in hledger. + + 5. Like 2, but as in 4 the `@@' is parenthesised, i.e. `(@@)'; in + hledger, this is equivalent to 2. + + + Use the `-B/--cost' flag to convert amounts to their transaction +price's commodity, if any. (mnemonic: "B" is from "cost Basis", as in +Ledger). Eg here is how -B affects the balance report for the example +above: + + +$ hledger bal -N --flat + $-135 assets:dollars + €100 assets:euros +$ hledger bal -N --flat -B + $-135 assets:dollars + $135 assets:euros # <- the euros' cost + + Note -B is sensitive to the order of postings when a transaction +price is inferred: the inferred price will be in the commodity of the +last amount. So if example 3's postings are reversed, while the +transaction is equivalent, -B shows something different: + + +2009/1/1 + assets:dollars $-135 ; 135 dollars sold + assets:euros €100 ; for 100 euros + + +$ hledger bal -N --flat -B + €-100 assets:dollars # <- the dollars' selling price + €100 assets:euros + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Lot prices lot dates, Next: Balance assertions, Prev: Transaction prices, Up: JOURNAL FORMAT + +12.12 Lot prices, lot dates +=========================== + +Ledger allows another kind of price, lot price (four variants: +`{UNITPRICE}', `{{TOTALPRICE}}', `{=FIXEDUNITPRICE}', +`{{=FIXEDTOTALPRICE}}'), and/or a lot date (`[DATE]') to be specified. +These are normally used to select a lot when selling investments. +hledger will parse these, for compatibility with Ledger journals, but +currently ignores them. A transaction price, lot price and/or lot date +may appear in any order, after the posting amount and before the +balance assertion if any. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Balance assertions, Next: Balance assignments, Prev: Lot prices lot dates, Up: JOURNAL FORMAT + +12.13 Balance assertions +======================== + +hledger supports Ledger-style balance assertions in journal files. These +look like, for example, `= EXPECTEDBALANCE' following a posting's +amount. Eg here we assert the expected dollar balance in accounts a and +b after each posting: + + +2013/1/1 + a $1 =$1 + b =$-1 + +2013/1/2 + a $1 =$2 + b $-1 =$-2 + + After reading a journal file, hledger will check all balance +assertions and report an error if any of them fail. Balance assertions +can protect you from, eg, inadvertently disrupting reconciled balances +while cleaning up old entries. You can disable them temporarily with the +`-I/--ignore-assertions' flag, which can be useful for troubleshooting +or for reading Ledger files. (Note: this flag currently does not +disable balance assignments, below). + +* Menu: + +* Assertions and ordering:: +* Assertions and included files:: +* Assertions and multiple -f options:: +* Assertions and commodities:: +* Assertions and prices:: +* Assertions and subaccounts:: +* Assertions and virtual postings:: +* Assertions and precision:: + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Assertions and ordering, Next: Assertions and included files, Up: Balance assertions + +12.13.1 Assertions and ordering +------------------------------- + +hledger sorts an account's postings and assertions first by date and +then (for postings on the same day) by parse order. Note this is +different from Ledger, which sorts assertions only by parse order. +(Also, Ledger assertions do not see the accumulated effect of repeated +postings to the same account within a transaction.) + + So, hledger balance assertions keep working if you reorder +differently-dated transactions within the journal. But if you reorder +same-dated transactions or postings, assertions might break and require +updating. This order dependence does bring an advantage: precise control +over the order of postings and assertions within a day, so you can +assert intra-day balances. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Assertions and included files, Next: Assertions and multiple -f options, Prev: Assertions and ordering, Up: Balance assertions + +12.13.2 Assertions and included files +------------------------------------- + +With included files, things are a little more complicated. Including +preserves the ordering of postings and assertions. If you have multiple +postings to an account on the same day, split across different files, +and you also want to assert the account's balance on the same day, +you'll have to put the assertion in the right file. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Assertions and multiple -f options, Next: Assertions and commodities, Prev: Assertions and included files, Up: Balance assertions + +12.13.3 Assertions and multiple -f options +------------------------------------------ + +Balance assertions don't work well across files specified with multiple +-f options. Use include or concatenate the files instead. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Assertions and commodities, Next: Assertions and prices, Prev: Assertions and multiple -f options, Up: Balance assertions + +12.13.4 Assertions and commodities +---------------------------------- + +The asserted balance must be a simple single-commodity amount, and in +fact the assertion checks only this commodity's balance within the +(possibly multi-commodity) account balance. This is how assertions work +in Ledger also. We could call this a "partial" balance assertion. + + To assert the balance of more than one commodity in an account, you +can write multiple postings, each asserting one commodity's balance. + + You can make a stronger "total" balance assertion by writing a double +equals sign (`== EXPECTEDBALANCE'). This asserts that there are no +other unasserted commodities in the account (or, that their balance is +0). + + +2013/1/1 + a $1 + a 1€ + b $-1 + c -1€ + +2013/1/2 ; These assertions succeed + a 0 = $1 + a 0 = 1€ + b 0 == $-1 + c 0 == -1€ + +2013/1/3 ; This assertion fails as 'a' also contains 1€ + a 0 == $1 + + It's not yet possible to make a complete assertion about a balance +that has multiple commodities. One workaround is to isolate each +commodity into its own subaccount: + + +2013/1/1 + a:usd $1 + a:euro 1€ + b + +2013/1/2 + a 0 == 0 + a:usd 0 == $1 + a:euro 0 == 1€ + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Assertions and prices, Next: Assertions and subaccounts, Prev: Assertions and commodities, Up: Balance assertions + +12.13.5 Assertions and prices +----------------------------- + +Balance assertions ignore transaction prices, and should normally be +written without one: + + +2019/1/1 + (a) $1 @ €1 = $1 + + We do allow prices to be written there, however, and print shows +them, even though they don't affect whether the assertion passes or +fails. This is for backward compatibility (hledger's close command +used to generate balance assertions with prices), and because balance +_assignments_ do use them (see below). + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Assertions and subaccounts, Next: Assertions and virtual postings, Prev: Assertions and prices, Up: Balance assertions + +12.13.6 Assertions and subaccounts +---------------------------------- + +The balance assertions above (`=' and `==') do not count the balance +from subaccounts; they check the account's exclusive balance only. You +can assert the balance including subaccounts by writing `=*' or `==*', +eg: + + +2019/1/1 + equity:opening balances + checking:a 5 + checking:b 5 + checking 1 ==* 11 + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Assertions and virtual postings, Next: Assertions and precision, Prev: Assertions and subaccounts, Up: Balance assertions + +12.13.7 Assertions and virtual postings +--------------------------------------- + +Balance assertions are checked against all postings, both real and +virtual. They are not affected by the `--real/-R' flag or `real:' query. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Assertions and precision, Prev: Assertions and virtual postings, Up: Balance assertions + +12.13.8 Assertions and precision +-------------------------------- + +Balance assertions compare the exactly calculated amounts, which are not +always what is shown by reports. Eg a commodity directive may limit the +display precision, but this will not affect balance assertions. Balance +assertion failure messages show exact amounts. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Balance assignments, Next: Directives, Prev: Balance assertions, Up: JOURNAL FORMAT + +12.14 Balance assignments +========================= + +Ledger-style balance assignments are also supported. These are like +balance assertions, but with no posting amount on the left side of the +equals sign; instead it is calculated automatically so as to satisfy the +assertion. This can be a convenience during data entry, eg when setting +opening balances: + + +; starting a new journal, set asset account balances +2016/1/1 opening balances + assets:checking = $409.32 + assets:savings = $735.24 + assets:cash = $42 + equity:opening balances + + or when adjusting a balance to reality: + + +; no cash left; update balance, record any untracked spending as a generic expense +2016/1/15 + assets:cash = $0 + expenses:misc + + The calculated amount depends on the account's balance in the +commodity at that point (which depends on the previously-dated postings +of the commodity to that account since the last balance assertion or +assignment). Note that using balance assignments makes your journal a +little less explicit; to know the exact amount posted, you have to run +hledger or do the calculations yourself, instead of just reading it. + +* Menu: + +* Balance assignments and prices:: + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Balance assignments and prices, Up: Balance assignments + +12.14.1 Balance assignments and prices +-------------------------------------- + +A transaction price in a balance assignment will cause the calculated +amount to have that price attached: + + +2019/1/1 + (a) = $1 @ €2 + + +$ hledger print --explicit +2019-01-01 + (a) $1 @ €2 = $1 @ €2 + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Directives, Next: Directives and multiple files, Prev: Balance assignments, Up: JOURNAL FORMAT + +12.15 Directives +================ + +A directive is a line in the journal beginning with a special keyword, +that influences how the journal is processed, how things are displayed, +and so on. hledger's directives are based on (a subset of) Ledger's, but +there are many differences, and also some differences between hledger +versions. Here are some more definitions: + + * _subdirective_ - Some directives support subdirectives, written + indented below the parent directive. + + * _decimal mark_ - The character to interpret as a decimal mark + (period or comma) when parsing amounts of a commodity. + + * _display style_ - How to display amounts of a commodity in output: + symbol side and spacing, digit groups, decimal mark, and number of + decimal places. + + + Directives are not required when starting out with hledger, but you +will probably add some as your needs grow. Here is an overview of +directives by purpose: + +purpose directives command line + options with + similar effect +--------------------------------------------------------------------------- +*READING/GENERATING DATA:* +Declare a commodity's or file's `commodity', `D', +decimal mark to help parse `decimal-mark' +amounts accurately +Apply changes to the data while `alias', `apply `--alias' +parsing account', `comment', + `D', `Y' +Inline extra data files `include' multiple + `-f/--file''s +Generate extra transactions or `~' +budget goals +Generate extra postings `=' +*CHECKING FOR ERRORS:* +Define valid entities to allow `account', +stricter error checking `commodity', `payee' +*DISPLAYING REPORTS:* +Declare accounts' display order `account' +and accounting type +Declare commodity display styles `commodity', `D' `-c/--commodity-style' + + And here are all the directives and their precise effects: + +directiveeffects ends + at + file + end? +--------------------------------------------------------------------------- +*`account'*Declares an account, for checking all entries in all files; and + its display order and type, for reports. Subdirectives: any + text, ignored. +*`alias'*Rewrites account names, in following entries until end of Y + current file or `end aliases'. +*`applyPrepends a common parent account to all account names, in Y +account'*following entries until end of current file or `end apply + account'. +*`comment'*Ignores part of the journal file, until end of current file or Y + `end comment'. +*`commodity'*Declares a commodity, for checking all entries in all files; N, Y + the decimal mark for parsing amounts of this commodity, for + following entries until end of current file; and its display + style, for reports. Takes precedence over `D'. Subdirectives: + `format' (alternate syntax). +*`D'* Sets a default commodity to use for no-symbol amounts, and its Y + decimal mark for parsing amounts of this commodity in + following entries until end of current file; and its display + style, for reports. +*`decimal-mark'*Declares the decimal mark, for parsing amounts of all Y + commodities in following entries until next `decimal-mark' or + end of current file. Included files can override. Takes + precedence over `commodity' and `D'. +*`include'*Includes entries and directives from another file, as if they + were written inline. +*`payee'*Declares a payee name, for checking all entries in all files. +*`P'* Declares a market price for a commodity on some date, for + valuation reports. +*`Y'* Declares a year for yearless dates, for following entries until Y + end of current file. +*`~'* Declares a periodic transaction rule that generates future +(tilde)transactions with `--forecast' and budget goals with `balance + --budget'. +*`='* Declares an auto posting rule that generates extra postings on partly +(equals)matched transactions with `--auto', in current, parent, and + child files (but not sibling files, see #1212). + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Directives and multiple files, Next: Comment blocks, Prev: Directives, Up: JOURNAL FORMAT + +12.16 Directives and multiple files +=================================== + +If you use multiple `-f'/`--file' options, or the `include' directive, +hledger will process multiple input files. But directives which affect +input typically have effect only until the end of the file in which +they occur (and on any included files in that region). + + This may seem inconvenient, but it's intentional; it makes reports +stable and deterministic, independent of the order of input. Otherwise +you could see different numbers if you happened to write -f options in a +different order, or if you moved includes around while cleaning up your +files. + + It can be surprising though; for example, it means that `alias' +directives do not affect parent or sibling files (see below). + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Comment blocks, Next: Including other files, Prev: Directives and multiple files, Up: JOURNAL FORMAT + +12.17 Comment blocks +==================== + +A line containing just `comment' starts a commented region of the file, +and a line containing just `end comment' (or the end of the current +file) ends it. See also comments. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Including other files, Next: Default year, Prev: Comment blocks, Up: JOURNAL FORMAT + +12.18 Including other files +=========================== + +You can pull in the content of additional files by writing an include +directive, like this: + + +include FILEPATH + + Only journal files can include, and only journal, timeclock or +timedot files can be included (not CSV files, currently). + + If the file path does not begin with a slash, it is relative to the +current file's folder. + + A tilde means home directory, eg: `include ~/main.journal'. + + The path may contain glob patterns to match multiple files, eg: +`include *.journal'. + + There is limited support for recursive wildcards: `**/' (the slash +is required) matches 0 or more subdirectories. It's not super convenient +since you have to avoid include cycles and including directories, but +this can be done, eg: `include */**/*.journal'. + + The path may also be prefixed to force a specific file format, +overriding the file extension (as described in hledger.1 -> Input +files): `include timedot:~/notes/2020*.md'. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Default year, Next: Declaring payees, Prev: Including other files, Up: JOURNAL FORMAT + +12.19 Default year +================== + +You can set a default year to be used for subsequent dates which don't +specify a year. This is a line beginning with `Y' followed by the year. +Eg: + + +Y2009 ; set default year to 2009 + +12/15 ; equivalent to 2009/12/15 + expenses 1 + assets + +Y2010 ; change default year to 2010 + +2009/1/30 ; specifies the year, not affected + expenses 1 + assets + +1/31 ; equivalent to 2010/1/31 + expenses 1 + assets + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Declaring payees, Next: Declaring the decimal mark, Prev: Default year, Up: JOURNAL FORMAT + +12.20 Declaring payees +====================== + +The `payee' directive can be used to declare a limited set of payees +which may appear in transaction descriptions. The "payees" check will +report an error if any transaction refers to a payee that has not been +declared. Eg: + + +payee Whole Foods + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Declaring the decimal mark, Next: Declaring commodities, Prev: Declaring payees, Up: JOURNAL FORMAT + +12.21 Declaring the decimal mark +================================ + +You can use a `decimal-mark' 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 + + +decimal-mark . + + or + + +decimal-mark , + + 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). + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Declaring commodities, Next: Default commodity, Prev: Declaring the decimal mark, Up: JOURNAL FORMAT + +12.22 Declaring commodities +=========================== + +You can use `commodity' directives to declare your commodities. In fact +the `commodity' directive performs several functions at once: + + 1. It declares commodities which may be used in the journal. This can + optionally be enforced, providing useful error checking. (Cf + Commodity error checking) + + 2. 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 + `1,000' and `1.000' as 1. (Cf Amounts) + + 3. It declares how to render the commodity'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) + + + 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. + + Generally you should put them at the top of your journal file (since +for function 2, they affect only following amounts, cf #793). + + A commodity directive is just the word `commodity' followed by a +sample amount, like this: + + +;commodity SAMPLEAMOUNT + +commodity $1000.00 +commodity 1,000.0000 AAAA ; optional same-line comment + + It may also be written on multiple lines, and use the `format' +subdirective, as in Ledger. Note in this case the commodity symbol +appears twice; it must be the same in both places: + + +;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 + + Remember that if the commodity symbol contains spaces, numbers, or +punctuation, it must be enclosed in double quotes (cf Commodity). + + The amount'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. + + A few more examples: + + +# 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. + + Note hledger normally uses banker's rounding, so 0.5 displayed with +zero decimal digits is "0". (More at Commodity display style.) + + Even in the presence of commodity directives, the commodity display +style can still be overridden by supplying a command line option. + +* Menu: + +* Commodity error checking:: + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Commodity error checking, Up: Declaring commodities + +12.22.1 Commodity error checking +-------------------------------- + +In strict mode, enabled with the `-s'/`--strict' flag, hledger will +report an error if a commodity symbol is used that has not been +declared by a `commodity' directive. This works similarly to account +error checking, see the notes there for more details. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Default commodity, Next: Declaring market prices, Prev: Declaring commodities, Up: JOURNAL FORMAT + +12.23 Default commodity +======================= + +The `D' 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 `D' directive, or the end +of the journal. + + For compatibility/historical reasons, `D' also acts like a +`commodity' directive (setting the commodity's decimal mark for parsing +and display style for output). + + The syntax is `D AMOUNT'. As with `commodity', the amount must +include a decimal mark (either period or comma). Eg: + + +; 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 + + If both `commodity' and `D' directives are found for a commodity, +`commodity' takes precedence for setting decimal mark and display style. + + If you are using `D' and also checking commodities, you will need to +add a `commodity' directive similar to the `D'. (The `hledger check +commodities' command expects `commodity' directives, and ignores `D'). + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Declaring market prices, Next: Declaring accounts, Prev: Default commodity, Up: JOURNAL FORMAT + +12.24 Declaring market prices +============================= + +The `P' directive declares a market price, which is an exchange rate +between two commodities on a certain date. (In Ledger, they are called +"historical prices".) These are often obtained from a stock exchange, +cryptocurrency exchange, or the foreign exchange market. + + The format is: + + +P DATE COMMODITY1SYMBOL COMMODITY2AMOUNT + + 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: + + +# 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 + + The `-V', `-X' and `--value' flags use these market prices to show +amount values in another commodity. See Valuation. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Declaring accounts, Next: Rewriting accounts, Prev: Declaring market prices, Up: JOURNAL FORMAT + +12.25 Declaring accounts +======================== + +`account' 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: + + * They can document your intended chart of accounts, providing a + reference. + + * They can help hledger know your accounts' types (asset, liability, + equity, revenue, expense), useful for reports like balancesheet and + incomestatement. + + * They control account display order in reports, allowing + non-alphabetic sorting (eg Revenues to appear above Expenses). + + * They can store extra information about accounts (account numbers, + notes, etc.) + + * They help with account name completion in the add command, + hledger-iadd, hledger-web, ledger-mode etc. + + * In strict mode, they restrict which accounts may be posted to by + transactions, which helps detect typos. + + The simplest form is just the word `account' followed by a +hledger-style account name, eg this account directive declares the +`assets:bank:checking' account: + + +account assets:bank:checking + +* Menu: + +* Account error checking:: +* Account comments:: +* Account subdirectives:: +* Account types:: +* Account display order:: + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Account error checking, Next: Account comments, Up: Declaring accounts + +12.25.1 Account error checking +------------------------------ + +By default, accounts come into existence when a transaction references +them by name. This is convenient, but it means hledger can't warn you +when you mis-spell an account name in the journal. Usually you'll find +the error later, as an extra account in balance reports, or an incorrect +balance when reconciling. + + In strict mode, enabled with the `-s'/`--strict' flag, hledger will +report an error if any transaction uses an account name that has not +been declared by an account directive. Some notes: + + * The declaration is case-sensitive; transactions must use the + correct account name capitalisation. + + * The account directive's scope is "whole file and below" (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's + usual to put them at the top. + + * Accounts can only be declared in `journal' files (but will affect + included files in other formats). + + * It's currently not possible to declare "all possible subaccounts" + with a wildcard; every account posted to must be declared. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Account comments, Next: Account subdirectives, Prev: Account error checking, Up: Declaring accounts + +12.25.2 Account comments +------------------------ + +Comments, beginning with a semicolon, can be added: + + * on the same line, *after two or more spaces* (because ; is allowed + in account names) + + * on the next lines, indented + + An example of both: + + +account assets:bank:checking ; same-line comment, note 2+ spaces before ; + ; next-line comment + ; another with tag, acctno:12345 (not used yet) + + Same-line comments are not supported by Ledger, or hledger <1.13. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Account subdirectives, Next: Account types, Prev: Account comments, Up: Declaring accounts + +12.25.3 Account subdirectives +----------------------------- + +We also allow (and ignore) Ledger-style indented subdirectives, just for +compatibility.: + + +account assets:bank:checking + format blah blah ; <- subdirective, ignored + + Here is the full syntax of account directives: + + +account ACCTNAME [ACCTTYPE] [;COMMENT] + [;COMMENTS] + [LEDGER-STYLE SUBDIRECTIVES, IGNORED] + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Account types, Next: Account display order, Prev: Account subdirectives, Up: Declaring accounts + +12.25.4 Account types +--------------------- + +By adding a `type' tag to the account directive, with value `A', `L', +`E', `R', `X', `C' (or if you prefer: `Asset', `Liability', `Equity', +`Revenue', `Expense', `Cash'), you can declare hledger accounts to be of +a certain type: + + * *asset*, *liability*, *equity*, *revenue*, *expense* + the standard types in accounting, or + + * *cash* + a subtype of asset, used for liquid assets. + + + Declaring account types is a good idea, since it helps enable the +easy balancesheet, balancesheetequity, incomestatement and cashflow +reports, and probably other things in future. As a convenience, when +account types are not declared, hledger will try to guess them based on +english-language account names. + + Here is a typical set of top-level account declarations (because of +the aforementioned, with these account names the type tags are not +strictly needed, but with non-english or non-standard account names, +they will be): + + +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 + + It's not necessary to declare the type of subaccounts. (You can, if +they are different from the parent, but this is not common.) + +* Menu: + +* Auto-detected account types:: + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Auto-detected account types, Up: Account types + +12.25.4.1 Auto-detected account types +..................................... + +More about "guessing" account types: hledger tries to find at least one +top level account in each of the six account types (Asset, Liability, +Equity, Revenue, Expense, Cash). When no accounts have been declared for +a particular type, it tries to auto-detect some accounts by name, using +the regular expressions below. Note: if you declare any account's type, +it's a good idea to declare an account for all six types, because a mix +of declared and auto-detected types can cause confusing results. + + The auto-detection rules are: + + + If account's name matches this case insensitive regular expression:| its type is: +------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------ + ^assets?(:|$) | + and does not contain regexp (investment|receivable|:A/R|:fixed) | Cash + otherwise | Asset + ^(debts?|liabilit(y|ies))(:|$) | Liability + ^equity(:|$) | Equity + ^(income|revenue)s?(:|$) | Revenue + ^expenses?(:|$) | Expense + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Account display order, Prev: Account types, Up: Declaring accounts + +12.25.5 Account display order +----------------------------- + +Account directives also set the order in which accounts are displayed, +eg in reports, the hledger-ui accounts screen, and the hledger-web +sidebar. By default accounts are listed in alphabetical order. But if +you have these account directives in the journal: + + +account assets +account liabilities +account equity +account revenues +account expenses + + you'll see those accounts displayed in declaration order, not +alphabetically: + + +$ hledger accounts -1 +assets +liabilities +equity +revenues +expenses + + Undeclared accounts, if any, are displayed last, in alphabetical +order. + + Note that sorting is done at each level of the account tree (within +each group of sibling accounts under the same parent). And currently, +this directive: + + +account other:zoo + + would influence the position of `zoo' among `other''s subaccounts, +but not the position of `other' among the top-level accounts. This +means: + + * you will sometimes declare parent accounts (eg `account other' + above) that you don't intend to post to, just to customize their + display order + + * sibling accounts stay together (you couldn't display `x:y' in + between `a:b' and `a:c'). + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Rewriting accounts, Next: Default parent account, Prev: Declaring accounts, Up: JOURNAL FORMAT + +12.26 Rewriting accounts +======================== + +You can define account alias rules which rewrite your account names, or +parts of them, before generating reports. This can be useful for: + + * expanding shorthand account names to their full form, allowing + easier data entry and a less verbose journal + + * adapting old journals to your current chart of accounts + + * experimenting with new account organisations, like a new hierarchy + or combining two accounts into one + + * customising reports + + Account aliases also rewrite account names in account directives. +They do not affect account names being entered via hledger add or +hledger-web. + + See also Rewrite account names. + +* Menu: + +* Basic aliases:: +* Regex aliases:: +* Combining aliases:: +* Aliases and multiple files:: +* end aliases:: + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Basic aliases, Next: Regex aliases, Up: Rewriting accounts + +12.26.1 Basic aliases +--------------------- + +To set an account alias, use the `alias' directive in your journal +file. This affects all subsequent journal entries in the current file or +its included files (but note: not sibling or parent files). The spaces +around the = are optional: + + +alias OLD = NEW + + Or, you can use the `--alias 'OLD=NEW'' option on the command line. +This affects all entries. It's useful for trying out aliases +interactively. + + OLD and NEW are case sensitive full account names. hledger will +replace any occurrence of the old account name with the new one. +Subaccounts are also affected. Eg: + + +alias checking = assets:bank:wells fargo:checking +; rewrites "checking" to "assets:bank:wells fargo:checking", or "checking:a" to "assets:bank:wells fargo:checking:a" + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Regex aliases, Next: Combining aliases, Prev: Basic aliases, Up: Rewriting accounts + +12.26.2 Regex aliases +--------------------- + +There is also a more powerful variant that uses a regular expression, +indicated by the forward slashes: + + +alias /REGEX/ = REPLACEMENT + + or `--alias '/REGEX/=REPLACEMENT''. + + REGEX is a case-insensitive regular expression. Anywhere it matches +inside an account name, the matched part will be replaced by +REPLACEMENT. If REGEX contains parenthesised match groups, these can be +referenced by the usual numeric backreferences in REPLACEMENT. Eg: + + +alias /^(.+):bank:([^:]+):(.*)/ = \1:\2 \3 +; rewrites "assets:bank:wells fargo:checking" to "assets:wells fargo checking" + + Also note that REPLACEMENT continues to the end of line (or on +command line, to end of option argument), so it can contain trailing +whitespace. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Combining aliases, Next: Aliases and multiple files, Prev: Regex aliases, Up: Rewriting accounts + +12.26.3 Combining aliases +------------------------- + +You can define as many aliases as you like, using journal directives +and/or command line options. + + Recursive aliases - where an account name is rewritten by one alias, +then by another alias, and so on - are allowed. Each alias sees the +effect of previously applied aliases. + + In such cases it can be important to understand which aliases will be +applied and in which order. For (each account name in) each journal +entry, we apply: + + 1. `alias' directives preceding the journal entry, most recently + parsed first (ie, reading upward from the journal entry, bottom to + top) + + 2. `--alias' options, in the order they appeared on the command line + (left to right). + + In other words, for (an account name in) a given journal entry: + + * the nearest alias declaration before/above the entry is applied + first + + * the next alias before/above that will be be applied next, and so on + + * aliases defined after/below the entry do not affect it. + + This gives nearby aliases precedence over distant ones, and helps +provide semantic stability - aliases will keep working the same way +independent of which files are being read and in which order. + + In case of trouble, adding `--debug=6' to the command line will show +which aliases are being applied when. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Aliases and multiple files, Next: end aliases, Prev: Combining aliases, Up: Rewriting accounts + +12.26.4 Aliases and multiple files +---------------------------------- + +As explained at Directives and multiple files, `alias' directives do +not affect parent or sibling files. Eg in this command, + + +hledger -f a.aliases -f b.journal + + account aliases defined in a.aliases will not affect b.journal. +Including the aliases doesn't work either: + + +include a.aliases + +2020-01-01 ; not affected by a.aliases + foo 1 + bar + + This means that account aliases should usually be declared at the +start of your top-most file, like this: + + +alias foo=Foo +alias bar=Bar + +2020-01-01 ; affected by aliases above + foo 1 + bar + +include c.journal ; also affected + + +File: hledger.info, Node: end aliases, Prev: Aliases and multiple files, Up: Rewriting accounts + +12.26.5 `end aliases' +--------------------- + +You can clear (forget) all currently defined aliases (seen in the +journal so far, or defined on the command line) with this directive: + + +end aliases + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Default parent account, Next: Periodic transactions, Prev: Rewriting accounts, Up: JOURNAL FORMAT + +12.27 Default parent account +============================ + +You can specify a parent account which will be prepended to all accounts +within a section of the journal. Use the `apply account' and `end apply +account' directives like so: + + +apply account home + +2010/1/1 + food $10 + cash + +end apply account + + which is equivalent to: + + +2010/01/01 + home:food $10 + home:cash $-10 + + If `end apply account' is omitted, the effect lasts to the end of +the file. Included files are also affected, eg: + + +apply account business +include biz.journal +end apply account +apply account personal +include personal.journal + + Prior to hledger 1.0, legacy `account' and `end' spellings were also +supported. + + A default parent account also affects account directives. It does not +affect account names being entered via hledger add or hledger-web. If +account aliases are present, they are applied after the default parent +account. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Periodic transactions, Next: Auto postings, Prev: Default parent account, Up: JOURNAL FORMAT + +12.28 Periodic transactions +=========================== + +Periodic transaction rules describe transactions that recur. They allow +hledger to generate temporary future transactions to help with +forecasting, so you don't have to write out each one in the journal, and +it's easy to try out different forecasts. + + Periodic transactions can be a little tricky, so before you use them, +read this whole section - or at least these tips: + + 1. Two spaces accidentally added or omitted will cause you trouble - + read about this below. + + 2. For troubleshooting, show the generated transactions with `hledger + print --forecast tag:generated' or `hledger register --forecast + tag:generated'. + + 3. Forecasted transactions will begin only after the last + non-forecasted transaction's date. + + 4. Forecasted transactions will end 6 months from today, by default. + See below for the exact start/end rules. + + 5. period expressions can be tricky. Their documentation needs + improvement, but is worth studying. + + 6. Some period expressions with a repeating interval must begin on a + natural boundary of that interval. Eg in `weekly from DATE', DATE + must be a monday. `~ weekly from 2019/10/1' (a tuesday) will give + an error. + + 7. Other period expressions with an interval are automatically + expanded to cover a whole number of that interval. (This is done + to improve reports, but it also affects periodic transactions. + Yes, it's a bit inconsistent with the above.) Eg: `~ every 10th + day of month from 2020/01', which is equivalent to `~ every 10th + day of month from 2020/01/01', will be adjusted to start on + 2019/12/10. + + Periodic transaction rules also have a second meaning: they are used +to define budget goals, shown in budget reports. + +* Menu: + +* Periodic rule syntax:: +* Two spaces between period expression and description!:: +* Forecasting with periodic transactions:: +* Budgeting with periodic transactions:: + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Periodic rule syntax, Next: Two spaces between period expression and description!, Up: Periodic transactions + +12.28.1 Periodic rule syntax +---------------------------- + +A periodic transaction rule looks like a normal journal entry, with the +date replaced by a tilde (`~') followed by a period expression +(mnemonic: `~' looks like a recurring sine wave.): + + +~ monthly + expenses:rent $2000 + assets:bank:checking + + There is an additional constraint on the period expression: the start +date must fall on a natural boundary of the interval. Eg `monthly from +2018/1/1' is valid, but `monthly from 2018/1/15' is not. + + Partial or relative dates (M/D, D, tomorrow, last week) in the period +expression can work (useful or not). They will be relative to today's +date, unless a Y default year directive is in effect, in which case they +will be relative to Y/1/1. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Two spaces between period expression and description!, Next: Forecasting with periodic transactions, Prev: Periodic rule syntax, Up: Periodic transactions + +12.28.2 Two spaces between period expression and description! +------------------------------------------------------------- + +If the period expression is followed by a transaction description, these +must be separated by *two or more spaces*. This helps hledger know +where the period expression ends, so that descriptions can not +accidentally alter their meaning, as in this example: + + +; 2 or more spaces needed here, so the period is not understood as "every 2 months in 2020" +; || +; vv +~ every 2 months in 2020, we will review + assets:bank:checking $1500 + income:acme inc + + So, + + * Do write two spaces between your period expression and your + transaction description, if any. + + * Don't accidentally write two spaces in the middle of your period + expression. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Forecasting with periodic transactions, Next: Budgeting with periodic transactions, Prev: Two spaces between period expression and description!, Up: Periodic transactions + +12.28.3 Forecasting with periodic transactions +---------------------------------------------- + +The `--forecast' flag activates any periodic transaction rules in the +journal. These will generate temporary additional transactions, usually +recurring and in the future, which will appear in all reports. +`hledger print --forecast' is a good way to see them. + + This can be useful for estimating balances into the future, perhaps +experimenting with different scenarios. + + It could also be useful for scripted data entry: you could describe +recurring transactions, and every so often copy the output of `print +--forecast' into the journal. + + The generated transactions will have an extra tag, like +`generated-transaction:~ PERIODICEXPR', indicating which periodic rule +generated them. There is also a similar, hidden tag, named +`_generated-transaction:', which you can use to reliably match +transactions generated "just now" (rather than `print'ed in the past). + + The forecast transactions are generated within a _forecast period_, +which is independent of the report period. (Forecast period sets the +bounds for generated transactions, report period controls which +transactions are reported.) The forecast period begins on: + + * the start date provided within `--forecast''s argument, if any + + * otherwise, the later of + * the report start date, if specified (with `-b'/`-p'/`date:') + + * the day after the latest ordinary transaction in the journal, + if any + + * otherwise today. + + It ends on: + + * the end date provided within `--forecast''s argument, if any + + * otherwise, the report end date, if specified (with + `-e'/`-p'/`date:') + + * otherwise 180 days (6 months) from today. + + Note, this means that ordinary transactions will suppress periodic +transactions, by default; the periodic transactions will not start until +after the last ordinary transaction. This is usually convenient, but you +can get around it in two ways: + + * If you need to record some transactions in the future, make them + periodic transactions (with a single occurrence, eg: `~ + YYYY-MM-DD') rather than ordinary transactions. That way they + won't suppress other periodic transactions. + + * Or give `--forecast' a period expression argument. A forecast + period specified this way can overlap ordinary transactions, and + need not be in the future. Some things to note: + + * You must use `=' between flag and argument; a space won't + work. + + * The period expression can specify the forecast period's start + date, end date, or both. See also Report start & end date. + + * The period expression should not specify a report interval. + (Each periodic transaction rule specifies its own interval.) + + + Some examples: `--forecast=202001-202004', `--forecast=jan-', +`--forecast=2021'. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Budgeting with periodic transactions, Prev: Forecasting with periodic transactions, Up: Periodic transactions + +12.28.4 Budgeting with periodic transactions +-------------------------------------------- + +With the `--budget' flag, currently supported by the balance command, +each periodic transaction rule declares recurring budget goals for the +specified accounts. Eg the first example above declares a goal of +spending $2000 on rent (and also, a goal of depositing $2000 into +checking) every month. Goals and actual performance can then be compared +in budget reports. + + See also: Budgeting and Forecasting. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Auto postings, Prev: Periodic transactions, Up: JOURNAL FORMAT + +12.29 Auto postings +=================== + +"Automated postings" or "auto postings" are extra postings which get +added automatically to transactions which match certain queries, defined +by "auto posting rules", when you use the `--auto' flag. + + An auto posting rule looks a bit like a transaction: + + += QUERY + ACCOUNT AMOUNT + ... + ACCOUNT [AMOUNT] + + except the first line is an equals sign (mnemonic: `=' suggests +matching), followed by a query (which matches existing postings), and +each "posting" line describes a posting to be generated, and the posting +amounts can be: + + * a normal amount with a commodity symbol, eg `$2'. This will be used + as-is. + + * a number, eg `2'. The commodity symbol (if any) from the matched + posting will be added to this. + + * a numeric multiplier, eg `*2' (a star followed by a number N). The + matched posting's amount (and total price, if any) will be + multiplied by N. + + * a multiplier with a commodity symbol, eg `*$2' (a star, number N, + and symbol S). The matched posting's amount will be multiplied by + N, and its commodity symbol will be replaced with S. + + Any query term containing spaces must be enclosed in single or double +quotes, as on the command line. Eg, note the quotes around the second +query term below: + + += expenses:groceries 'expenses:dining out' + (budget:funds:dining out) *-1 + + Some examples: + + +; every time I buy food, schedule a dollar donation += expenses:food + (liabilities:charity) $-1 + +; when I buy a gift, also deduct that amount from a budget envelope subaccount += expenses:gifts + assets:checking:gifts *-1 + assets:checking *1 + +2017/12/1 + expenses:food $10 + assets:checking + +2017/12/14 + expenses:gifts $20 + assets:checking + + +$ hledger print --auto +2017-12-01 + expenses:food $10 + assets:checking + (liabilities:charity) $-1 + +2017-12-14 + expenses:gifts $20 + assets:checking + assets:checking:gifts -$20 + assets:checking $20 + +* Menu: + +* Auto postings and multiple files:: +* Auto postings and dates:: +* Auto postings and transaction balancing / inferred amounts / balance assertions:: +* Auto posting tags:: + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Auto postings and multiple files, Next: Auto postings and dates, Up: Auto postings + +12.29.1 Auto postings and multiple files +---------------------------------------- + +An auto posting rule can affect any transaction in the current file, or +in any parent file or child file. Note, currently it will not affect +sibling files (when multiple `-f'/`--file' are used - see #1212). + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Auto postings and dates, Next: Auto postings and transaction balancing / inferred amounts / balance assertions, Prev: Auto postings and multiple files, Up: Auto postings + +12.29.2 Auto postings and dates +------------------------------- + +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. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Auto postings and transaction balancing / inferred amounts / balance assertions, Next: Auto posting tags, Prev: Auto postings and dates, Up: Auto postings + +12.29.3 Auto postings and transaction balancing / inferred amounts / +-------------------------------------------------------------------- + +balance assertions + + Currently, auto postings are added: + + * after missing amounts are inferred, and transactions are checked + for balancedness, + + * but before balance assertions are checked. + + Note this means that journal entries must be balanced both before and +after auto postings are added. This changed in hledger 1.12+; see #893 +for background. + + 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. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Auto posting tags, Prev: Auto postings and transaction balancing / inferred amounts / balance assertions, Up: Auto postings + +12.29.4 Auto posting tags +------------------------- + +Automated postings will have some extra tags: + + * `generated-posting:= QUERY' - shows this was generated by an auto + posting rule, and the query + + * `_generated-posting:= QUERY' - a hidden tag, which does not appear + in hledger's output. This can be used to match postings generated + "just now", rather than generated in the past and saved to the + journal. + + Also, any transaction that has been changed by auto posting rules +will have these tags added: + + * `modified:' - this transaction was modified + + * `_modified:' - a hidden tag not appearing in the comment; this + transaction was modified "just now". + + +File: hledger.info, Node: CSV FORMAT, Next: TIMECLOCK FORMAT, Prev: JOURNAL FORMAT, Up: Top + +13 CSV FORMAT +************* + +How hledger reads CSV data, and the CSV rules file format. + + hledger can read CSV files (Character Separated Value - usually +comma, semicolon, or tab) containing dated records as if they were +journal files, automatically converting each CSV record into a +transaction. + + (To learn about _writing_ CSV, see CSV output.) + + We describe each CSV file's format with a corresponding _rules +file_. By default this is named like the CSV file with a `.rules' +extension added. Eg when reading `FILE.csv', hledger also looks for +`FILE.csv.rules' in the same directory as `FILE.csv'. You can specify a +different rules file with the `--rules-file' option. If a rules file is +not found, hledger will create a sample rules file, which you'll need +to adjust. + + This file contains rules describing the CSV data (header line, fields +layout, date format etc.), and how to construct hledger journal entries +(transactions) from it. Often there will also be a list of conditional +rules for categorising transactions based on their descriptions. Here's +an overview of the CSV rules; these are described more fully below, +after the examples: + +*`skip'* skip one or more header lines or matched CSV + records +*`fields' list* name CSV fields, assign them to hledger + fields +*field assignment* assign a value to one hledger field, with + interpolation +*Field names* hledger field names, used in the fields list + and field assignments +*`separator'* a custom field separator +*`if' block* apply some rules to CSV records matched by + patterns +*`if' table* apply some rules to CSV records matched by + patterns, alternate syntax +*`end'* skip the remaining CSV records +*`date-format'* how to parse dates in CSV records +*`decimal-mark'* the decimal mark used in CSV amounts, if + ambiguous +*`newest-first'* disambiguate record order when there's only + one date +*`include'* inline another CSV rules file +*`balance-type'* choose which type of balance assignments to + use + + Note, for best error messages when reading CSV files, use a `.csv', +`.tsv' or `.ssv' file extension or file prefix - see File Extension +below. + + There's an introductory Convert CSV files tutorial on hledger.org. + +* Menu: + +* Examples:: +* CSV rules:: +* Tips:: + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Examples, Next: CSV rules, Up: CSV FORMAT + +13.1 Examples +============= + +Here are some sample hledger CSV rules files. See also the full +collection at: +https://github.com/simonmichael/hledger/tree/master/examples/csv + +* Menu: + +* Basic:: +* Bank of Ireland:: +* Amazon:: +* Paypal:: + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Basic, Next: Bank of Ireland, Up: Examples + +13.1.1 Basic +------------ + +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's a simple CSV file and a rules file for it: + + +Date, Description, Id, Amount +12/11/2019, Foo, 123, 10.23 + + +# basic.csv.rules +skip 1 +fields date, description, _, amount +date-format %d/%m/%Y + + +$ hledger print -f basic.csv +2019-11-12 Foo + expenses:unknown 10.23 + income:unknown -10.23 + + Default account names are chosen, since we didn't set them. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Bank of Ireland, Next: Amazon, Prev: Basic, Up: Examples + +13.1.2 Bank of Ireland +---------------------- + +Here'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: + + +Date,Details,Debit,Credit,Balance +07/12/2012,LODGMENT 529898,,10.0,131.21 +07/12/2012,PAYMENT,5,,126 + + +# 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 "balance" +# 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 + + +$ 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 + + The balance assertions don't raise an error above, because we're +reading directly from CSV, but they will be checked if these entries are +imported into a journal file. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Amazon, Next: Paypal, Prev: Bank of Ireland, Up: Examples + +13.1.3 Amazon +------------- + +Here we convert amazon.com order history, and use an if block to +generate a third posting if there's a fee. (In practice you'd probably +get this data from your bank instead, but it's an example.) + + +"Date","Type","To/From","Name","Status","Amount","Fees","Transaction ID" +"Jul 29, 2012","Payment","To","Foo.","Completed","$20.00","$0.00","16000000000000DGLNJPI1P9B8DKPVHL" +"Jul 30, 2012","Payment","To","Adapteva, Inc.","Completed","$25.00","$1.00","17LA58JSKRD4HDGLNJPI1P9B8DKPVHL" + + +# amazon-orders.csv.rules + +# skip one header line +skip 1 + +# name the csv fields, and assign the transaction's date, amount and code. +# Avoided the "status" and "amount" hledger field names to prevent confusion. +fields date, _, toorfrom, name, amzstatus, amzamount, fees, code + +# how to parse the date +date-format %b %-d, %Y + +# combine two fields to make the description +description %toorfrom %name + +# save the status as a tag +comment status:%amzstatus + +# set the base account for all transactions +account1 assets:amazon +# leave amount1 blank so it can balance the other(s). +# I'm assuming amzamount excludes the fees, don't remember + +# set a generic account2 +account2 expenses:misc +amount2 %amzamount +# and maybe refine it further: +#include categorisation.rules + +# add a third posting for fees, but only if they are non-zero. +if %fees [1-9] + account3 expenses:fees + amount3 %fees + + +$ 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 + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Paypal, Prev: Amazon, Up: Examples + +13.1.4 Paypal +------------- + +Here's a real-world rules file for (customised) Paypal CSV, with some +Paypal-specific rules, and a second rules file included: + + +"Date","Time","TimeZone","Name","Type","Status","Currency","Gross","Fee","Net","From Email Address","To Email Address","Transaction ID","Item Title","Item ID","Reference Txn ID","Receipt ID","Balance","Note" +"10/01/2019","03:46:20","PDT","Calm Radio","Subscription Payment","Completed","USD","-6.99","0.00","-6.99","simon@joyful.com","memberships@calmradio.com","60P57143A8206782E","MONTHLY - $1 for the first 2 Months: Me - Order 99309. Item total: $1.00 USD first 2 months, then $6.99 / Month","","I-R8YLY094FJYR","","-6.99","" +"10/01/2019","03:46:20","PDT","","Bank Deposit to PP Account ","Pending","USD","6.99","0.00","6.99","","simon@joyful.com","0TU1544T080463733","","","60P57143A8206782E","","0.00","" +"10/01/2019","08:57:01","PDT","Patreon","PreApproved Payment Bill User Payment","Completed","USD","-7.00","0.00","-7.00","simon@joyful.com","support@patreon.com","2722394R5F586712G","Patreon* Membership","","B-0PG93074E7M86381M","","-7.00","" +"10/01/2019","08:57:01","PDT","","Bank Deposit to PP Account ","Pending","USD","7.00","0.00","7.00","","simon@joyful.com","71854087RG994194F","Patreon* Membership","","2722394R5F586712G","","0.00","" +"10/19/2019","03:02:12","PDT","Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.","Subscription Payment","Completed","USD","-2.00","0.00","-2.00","simon@joyful.com","tle@wikimedia.org","K9U43044RY432050M","Monthly donation to the Wikimedia Foundation","","I-R5C3YUS3285L","","-2.00","" +"10/19/2019","03:02:12","PDT","","Bank Deposit to PP Account ","Pending","USD","2.00","0.00","2.00","","simon@joyful.com","3XJ107139A851061F","","","K9U43044RY432050M","","0.00","" +"10/22/2019","05:07:06","PDT","Noble Benefactor","Subscription Payment","Completed","USD","10.00","-0.59","9.41","noble@bene.fac.tor","simon@joyful.com","6L8L1662YP1334033","Joyful Systems","","I-KC9VBGY2GWDB","","9.41","" + + +# paypal-custom.csv.rules + +# Tips: +# Export from Activity -> Statements -> Custom -> Activity download +# Suggested transaction type: "Balance affecting" +# Paypal's default fields in 2018 were: +# "Date","Time","TimeZone","Name","Type","Status","Currency","Gross","Fee","Net","From Email Address","To Email Address","Transaction ID","Shipping Address","Address Status","Item Title","Item ID","Shipping and Handling Amount","Insurance Amount","Sales Tax","Option 1 Name","Option 1 Value","Option 2 Name","Option 2 Value","Reference Txn ID","Invoice Number","Custom Number","Quantity","Receipt ID","Balance","Address Line 1","Address Line 2/District/Neighborhood","Town/City","State/Province/Region/County/Territory/Prefecture/Republic","Zip/Postal Code","Country","Contact Phone Number","Subject","Note","Country Code","Balance Impact" +# This rules file assumes the following more detailed fields, configured in "Customize report fields": +# "Date","Time","TimeZone","Name","Type","Status","Currency","Gross","Fee","Net","From Email Address","To Email Address","Transaction ID","Item Title","Item ID","Reference Txn ID","Receipt ID","Balance","Note" + +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'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's income (a debit) +if %grossamount ^[^-] + account2 income:unknown +# if negative, it's an expense (a credit) +if %grossamount ^- + 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 + + +# 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 + + +$ 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@joyful.com, toemail:memberships@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@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@joyful.com, toemail:support@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@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@joyful.com, toemail:tle@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@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@bene.fac.tor, toemail:simon@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: + + +File: hledger.info, Node: CSV rules, Next: Tips, Prev: Examples, Up: CSV FORMAT + +13.2 CSV rules +============== + +The following kinds of rule can appear in the rules file, in any order. +Blank lines and lines beginning with `#' or `;' are ignored. + +* Menu: + +* skip:: +* fields list:: +* field assignment:: +* Field names:: +* separator:: +* if block:: +* if table:: +* end:: +* date-format:: +* decimal-mark:: +* newest-first:: +* include:: +* balance-type:: + + +File: hledger.info, Node: skip, Next: fields list, Up: CSV rules + +13.2.1 `skip' +------------- + + +skip N + +The word "skip" followed by a number (or no number, meaning 1) tells +hledger to ignore this many non-empty lines preceding the CSV data. +(Empty/blank lines are skipped automatically.) You'll need this whenever +your CSV data contains header lines. + + It also has a second purpose: it can be used inside if blocks to +ignore certain CSV records (described below). + + +File: hledger.info, Node: fields list, Next: field assignment, Prev: skip, Up: CSV rules + +13.2.2 `fields' list +-------------------- + + +fields FIELDNAME1, FIELDNAME2, ... + +A fields list (the word "fields" followed by comma-separated field +names) is the quick way to assign CSV field values to hledger fields. +(The other way is field assignments, see below.) A fields list does does +two things: + + 1. It names the CSV fields. This is optional, but can be convenient + later for interpolating them. + + 2. Whenever you use a standard hledger field name (defined below), + the CSV value is assigned to that part of the hledger transaction. + + + Here's an example that says "use the 1st, 2nd and 4th fields as the +transaction's date, description and amount; name the last two fields for +later reference; and ignore the others": + + +fields date, description, , amount, , , somefield, anotherfield + + Tips: + + * The fields list always use commas, even if your CSV data uses + another separator character. + + * Currently there must be least two items in the list (at least one + comma). + + * Field names may not contain spaces. Spaces before/after field + names are optional. + + * If the CSV contains column headings, it's a good idea to use these, + suitably modified, as the basis for your field names (eg + lower-cased, with underscores instead of spaces). + + * If some heading names match standard hledger fields, but you don't + want to set the hledger fields directly, alter those names, eg by + appending an underscore. + + * Fields you don't care about can be given a dummy name (eg: `_' ), + or no name. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: field assignment, Next: Field names, Prev: fields list, Up: CSV rules + +13.2.3 field assignment +----------------------- + + +HLEDGERFIELDNAME FIELDVALUE + +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). + + 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 (`%N'), or by the name they were given in the fields list +(`%CSVFIELDNAME'). + + Some examples: + + +# set the amount to the 4th CSV field, with " USD" appended +amount %4 USD + +# combine three fields to make a comment, containing note: and date: tags +comment note: %somefield - %anotherfield, date: %1 + + Tips: + + * Interpolation strips outer whitespace (so a CSV value like `" 1 "' + becomes `1' when interpolated) (#1051). + + * Interpolations always refer to a CSV field - you can't interpolate + a hledger field. (See Referencing other fields below). + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Field names, Next: separator, Prev: field assignment, Up: CSV rules + +13.2.4 Field names +------------------ + +Here are the standard hledger field (and pseudo-field) names, which you +can use in a fields list and in field assignments. For more about the +transaction parts they refer to, see Transactions. + +* Menu: + +* date field:: +* date2 field:: +* status field:: +* code field:: +* description field:: +* comment field:: +* account field:: +* amount field:: +* currency field:: +* balance field:: + + +File: hledger.info, Node: date field, Next: date2 field, Up: Field names + +13.2.4.1 date field +................... + +Assigning to `date' sets the transaction date. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: date2 field, Next: status field, Prev: date field, Up: Field names + +13.2.4.2 date2 field +.................... + +`date2' sets the transaction's secondary date, if any. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: status field, Next: code field, Prev: date2 field, Up: Field names + +13.2.4.3 status field +..................... + +`status' sets the transaction's status, if any. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: code field, Next: description field, Prev: status field, Up: Field names + +13.2.4.4 code field +................... + +`code' sets the transaction's code, if any. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: description field, Next: comment field, Prev: code field, Up: Field names + +13.2.4.5 description field +.......................... + +`description' sets the transaction's description, if any. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: comment field, Next: account field, Prev: description field, Up: Field names + +13.2.4.6 comment field +...................... + +`comment' sets the transaction's comment, if any. + + `commentN', where N is a number, sets the Nth posting's comment. + + Tips: - You can assign multi-line comments by writing literal `\n' +in the code. A comment starting with `\n' will begin on a new line. - +Comments can contain tags, as usual. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: account field, Next: amount field, Prev: comment field, Up: Field names + +13.2.4.7 account field +...................... + +Assigning to `accountN', where N is 1 to 99, sets the account name of +the Nth posting, and causes that posting to be generated. + + Most often there are two postings, so you'll want to set `account1' +and `account2'. Typically `account1' is associated with the CSV file, +and is set once with a top-level assignment, while `account2' is set +based on each transaction's description, and in conditional blocks. + + If a posting's account name is left unset but its amount is set (see +below), a default account name will be chosen (like "expenses:unknown" +or "income:unknown"). + + +File: hledger.info, Node: amount field, Next: currency field, Prev: account field, Up: Field names + +13.2.4.8 amount field +..................... + +`amountN' sets the amount of the Nth posting, and causes that posting +to be generated. By assigning to `amount1', `amount2', ... etc. you can +generate up to 99 postings. + + `amountN-in' and `amountN-out' can be used instead, if the CSV uses +separate fields for debits and credits (inflows and outflows). hledger +assumes both of these CSV fields are unsigned, and will automatically +negate the "-out" value. If they are signed, see "Setting amounts" +below. + + `amount', or `amount-in' and `amount-out' are a legacy mode, to keep +pre-hledger-1.17 CSV rules files working (and for occasional +convenience). They are suitable only for two-posting transactions; they +set both posting 1's and posting 2's amount. Posting 2's amount will be +negated, and also converted to cost if there's a transaction price. + + If you have an existing rules file using the unnumbered form, you +might want to use the numbered form in certain conditional blocks, +without having to update and retest all the old rules. To facilitate +this, posting 1 ignores `amount'/`amount-in'/`amount-out' if any of +`amount1'/`amount1-in'/`amount1-out' are assigned, and posting 2 +ignores them if any of `amount2'/`amount2-in'/`amount2-out' are +assigned, avoiding conflicts. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: currency field, Next: balance field, Prev: amount field, Up: Field names + +13.2.4.9 currency field +....................... + +`currency' sets a currency symbol, to be prepended to all postings' +amounts. You can use this if the CSV amounts do not have a currency +symbol, eg if it is in a separate column. + + `currencyN' prepends a currency symbol to just the Nth posting's +amount. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: balance field, Prev: currency field, Up: Field names + +13.2.4.10 balance field +....................... + +`balanceN' sets a balance assertion amount (or if the posting amount is +left empty, a balance assignment) on posting N. + + `balance' is a compatibility spelling for hledger <1.17; it is +equivalent to `balance1'. + + You can adjust the type of assertion/assignment with the +`balance-type' rule (see below). + + See Tips below for more about setting amounts and currency. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: separator, Next: if block, Prev: Field names, Up: CSV rules + +13.2.5 `separator' +------------------ + +You can use the `separator' rule to read other kinds of +character-separated data. The argument is any single separator +character, or the words `tab' or `space' (case insensitive). Eg, for +comma-separated values (CSV): + + +separator , + + or for semicolon-separated values (SSV): + + +separator ; + + or for tab-separated values (TSV): + + +separator TAB + + If the input file has a `.csv', `.ssv' or `.tsv' file extension (or +a `csv:', `ssv:', `tsv:' prefix), the appropriate separator will be +inferred automatically, and you won't need this rule. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: if block, Next: if table, Prev: separator, Up: CSV rules + +13.2.6 `if' block +----------------- + + +if MATCHER + RULE + +if +MATCHER +MATCHER +MATCHER + RULE + RULE + +Conditional blocks ("if blocks") are a block of rules that are applied +only to CSV records which match certain patterns. They are often used +for customising account names based on transaction descriptions. + +* Menu: + +* Matching the whole record:: +* Matching individual fields:: +* Combining matchers:: +* Rules applied on successful match:: + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Matching the whole record, Next: Matching individual fields, Up: if block + +13.2.6.1 Matching the whole record +.................................. + +Each MATCHER can be a record matcher, which looks like this: + + +REGEX + + REGEX is a case-insensitive regular expression that tries to match +anywhere within the CSV record. It is a POSIX ERE (extended regular +expression) that also supports GNU word boundaries (`\b', `\B', `\<', +`\>'), and nothing else. If you have trouble, be sure to check our doc: +https://hledger.org/hledger.html#regular-expressions + + Important note: the record that is matched is not the original +record, but a synthetic one, with any enclosing double quotes (but not +enclosing whitespace) removed, and always comma-separated (which means +that a field containing a comma will appear like two fields). Eg, if the +original record is `2020-01-01; "Acme, Inc."; 1,000', the REGEX will +actually see `2020-01-01,Acme, Inc., 1,000'). + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Matching individual fields, Next: Combining matchers, Prev: Matching the whole record, Up: if block + +13.2.6.2 Matching individual fields +................................... + +Or, MATCHER can be a field matcher, like this: + + +%CSVFIELD REGEX + + which matches just the content of a particular CSV field. CSVFIELD +is a percent sign followed by the field's name or column number, like +`%date' or `%1'. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Combining matchers, Next: Rules applied on successful match, Prev: Matching individual fields, Up: if block + +13.2.6.3 Combining matchers +........................... + +A single matcher can be written on the same line as the "if"; or +multiple matchers can be written on the following lines, non-indented. +Multiple matchers are OR'd (any one of them can match), unless one +begins with an `&' symbol, in which case it is AND'ed with the previous +matcher. + + +if +MATCHER +& MATCHER + RULE + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Rules applied on successful match, Prev: Combining matchers, Up: if block + +13.2.6.4 Rules applied on successful match +.......................................... + +After the patterns there should be one or more rules to apply, all +indented by at least one space. Three kinds of rule are allowed in +conditional blocks: + + * field assignments (to set a hledger field) + + * skip (to skip the matched CSV record) + + * end (to skip all remaining CSV records). + + Examples: + + +# if the CSV record contains "groceries", set account2 to "expenses:groceries" +if groceries + account2 expenses:groceries + + +# if the CSV record contains any of these patterns, set account2 and comment as shown +if +monthly service fee +atm transaction fee +banking thru software + account2 expenses:business:banking + comment XXX deductible ? check it + + +File: hledger.info, Node: if table, Next: end, Prev: if block, Up: CSV rules + +13.2.7 `if' table +----------------- + + +if,CSVFIELDNAME1,CSVFIELDNAME2,...,CSVFIELDNAMEn +MATCHER1,VALUE11,VALUE12,...,VALUE1n +MATCHER2,VALUE21,VALUE22,...,VALUE2n +MATCHER3,VALUE31,VALUE32,...,VALUE3n + + +Conditional tables ("if tables") are a different syntax to specify field +assignments that will be applied only to CSV records which match certain +patterns. + + MATCHER could be either field or record matcher, as described above. +When MATCHER matches, values from that row would be assigned to the CSV +fields named on the `if' line, in the same order. + + Therefore `if' table is exactly equivalent to a sequence of of `if' +blocks: + + +if MATCHER1 + CSVFIELDNAME1 VALUE11 + CSVFIELDNAME2 VALUE12 + ... + CSVFIELDNAMEn VALUE1n + +if MATCHER2 + CSVFIELDNAME1 VALUE21 + CSVFIELDNAME2 VALUE22 + ... + CSVFIELDNAMEn VALUE2n + +if MATCHER3 + CSVFIELDNAME1 VALUE31 + CSVFIELDNAME2 VALUE32 + ... + CSVFIELDNAMEn VALUE3n + + Each line starting with MATCHER should contain enough (possibly +empty) values for all the listed fields. + + Rules would be checked and applied in the order they are listed in +the table and, like with `if' blocks, later rules (in the same or +another table) or `if' blocks could override the effect of any rule. + + Instead of ',' you can use a variety of other non-alphanumeric +characters as a separator. First character after `if' is taken to be +the separator for the rest of the table. It is the responsibility of +the user to ensure that separator does not occur inside MATCHERs and +values - there is no way to escape separator. + + Example: + + +if,account2,comment +atm transaction fee,expenses:business:banking,deductible? check it +%description groceries,expenses:groceries, +2020/01/12.*Plumbing LLC,expenses:house:upkeep,emergency plumbing call-out + + +File: hledger.info, Node: end, Next: date-format, Prev: if table, Up: CSV rules + +13.2.8 `end' +------------ + +This rule can be used inside if blocks (only), to make hledger stop +reading this CSV file and move on to the next input file, or to command +execution. Eg: + + +# ignore everything following the first empty record +if ,,,, + end + + +File: hledger.info, Node: date-format, Next: decimal-mark, Prev: end, Up: CSV rules + +13.2.9 `date-format' +-------------------- + + +date-format DATEFMT + +This is a helper for the `date' (and `date2') fields. If your CSV dates +are not formatted like `YYYY-MM-DD', `YYYY/MM/DD' or `YYYY.MM.DD', +you'll need to add a date-format rule describing them with a strptime +date parsing pattern, which must parse the CSV date value completely. +Some examples: + + +# MM/DD/YY +date-format %m/%d/%y + + +# D/M/YYYY +# The - makes leading zeros optional. +date-format %-d/%-m/%Y + + +# YYYY-Mmm-DD +date-format %Y-%h-%d + + +# 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 + + For the supported strptime syntax, see: +https://hackage.haskell.org/package/time/docs/Data-Time-Format.html#v:formatTime + + Note that although you can parse date-times which include a time +zone, that time zone is ignored; it will not change the date that is +parsed. This means when reading CSV data with times not in your local +time zone, dates can be "off by one". + + +File: hledger.info, Node: decimal-mark, Next: newest-first, Prev: date-format, Up: CSV rules + +13.2.10 `decimal-mark' +---------------------- + + +decimal-mark . + +or: + + +decimal-mark , + + 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. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: newest-first, Next: include, Prev: decimal-mark, Up: CSV rules + +13.2.11 `newest-first' +---------------------- + +hledger always sorts the generated transactions by date. Transactions on +the same date should appear in the same order as their CSV records, as +hledger can usually auto-detect whether the CSV's normal order is oldest +first or newest first. But if all of the following are true: + + * the CSV might sometimes contain just one day of data (all records + having the same date) + + * the CSV records are normally in reverse chronological order + (newest at the top) + + * and you care about preserving the order of same-day transactions + + then, you should add the `newest-first' rule as a hint. Eg: + + +# tell hledger explicitly that the CSV is normally newest first +newest-first + + +File: hledger.info, Node: include, Next: balance-type, Prev: newest-first, Up: CSV rules + +13.2.12 `include' +----------------- + + +include RULESFILE + +This includes the contents of another CSV rules file at this point. +`RULESFILE' is an absolute file path or a path relative to the current +file's directory. This can be useful for sharing common rules between +several rules files, eg: + + +# someaccount.csv.rules + +## someaccount-specific rules +fields date,description,amount +account1 assets:someaccount +account2 expenses:misc + +## common rules +include categorisation.rules + + +File: hledger.info, Node: balance-type, Prev: include, Up: CSV rules + +13.2.13 `balance-type' +---------------------- + +Balance assertions generated by assigning to balanceN are of the simple +`=' 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 +`balance-type' rule: + + +# balance assertions will consider all commodities and all subaccounts +balance-type ==* + + Here are the balance assertion types for quick reference: + + += single commodity, exclude subaccounts +=* single commodity, include subaccounts +== multi commodity, exclude subaccounts +==* multi commodity, include subaccounts + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Tips, Prev: CSV rules, Up: CSV FORMAT + +13.3 Tips +========= + +* Menu: + +* Rapid feedback:: +* Valid CSV:: +* File Extension:: +* Reading multiple CSV files:: +* Valid transactions:: +* Deduplicating importing:: +* Setting amounts:: +* Amount signs:: +* Setting currency/commodity:: +* Amount decimal places:: +* Referencing other fields:: +* How CSV rules are evaluated:: + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Rapid feedback, Next: Valid CSV, Up: Tips + +13.3.1 Rapid feedback +--------------------- + +It's a good idea to get rapid feedback while creating/troubleshooting +CSV rules. Here's a good way, using entr from eradman.com/entrproject: + + +$ ls foo.csv* | entr bash -c 'echo ----; hledger -f foo.csv print desc:SOMEDESC' + + A desc: query (eg) is used to select just one, or a few, +transactions of interest. "bash -c" 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. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Valid CSV, Next: File Extension, Prev: Rapid feedback, Up: Tips + +13.3.2 Valid CSV +---------------- + +hledger accepts CSV conforming to RFC 4180. When CSV values are enclosed +in quotes, note: + + * they must be double quotes (not single quotes) + + * spaces outside the quotes are not allowed + + +File: hledger.info, Node: File Extension, Next: Reading multiple CSV files, Prev: Valid CSV, Up: Tips + +13.3.3 File Extension +--------------------- + +To help hledger identify the format and show the right error messages, +CSV/SSV/TSV files should normally be named with a `.csv', `.ssv' or +`.tsv' filename extension. Or, the file path should be prefixed with +`csv:', `ssv:' or `tsv:'. Eg: + + +$ hledger -f foo.ssv print + + or: + + +$ cat foo | hledger -f ssv:- foo + + You can override the file extension with a separator rule if needed. +See also: Input files in the hledger manual. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Reading multiple CSV files, Next: Valid transactions, Prev: File Extension, Up: Tips + +13.3.4 Reading multiple CSV files +--------------------------------- + +If you use multiple `-f' 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 `--rules-file' option, that rules file will be +used for all the CSV files. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Valid transactions, Next: Deduplicating importing, Prev: Reading multiple CSV files, Up: Tips + +13.3.5 Valid transactions +------------------------- + +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. + + 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: + + +$ hledger -f file.csv print | hledger -f- print + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Deduplicating importing, Next: Setting amounts, Prev: Valid transactions, Up: Tips + +13.3.6 Deduplicating, importing +------------------------------- + +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. + + 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't have to remember how many times you ran it or with which +version of the CSV. (It keeps state in a hidden `.latest.FILE.csv' +file.) This is the easiest way to import CSV data. Eg: + + +# download the latest CSV files, then run this command. +# Note, no -f flags needed here. +$ hledger import *.csv [--dry] + + This method works for most CSV files. (Where records have a stable +chronological order, and new records appear only at the new end.) + + A number of other tools and workflows, hledger-specific and +otherwise, exist for converting, deduplicating, classifying and +managing CSV data. See: + + * https://hledger.org -> sidebar -> real world setups + + * https://plaintextaccounting.org -> data import/conversion + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Setting amounts, Next: Amount signs, Prev: Deduplicating importing, Up: Tips + +13.3.7 Setting amounts +---------------------- + +Some tips on using the amount-setting rules discussed above. + + Here are the ways to set a posting's amount: + + 1. *If the CSV has a single amount field:* + Assign (via a fields list or a field assignment) to `amountN'. This + sets the Nth posting's amount. N is usually 1 or 2 but can go up + to 99. + + 2. *If the CSV has separate amount fields for debit & credit (in & + out):* + a. *If both fields are unsigned:* + Assign to `amountN-in' and `amountN-out'. This sets posting + N's amount to whichever of these has a non-zero value, and + negates the "-out" value. + + b. *If either field is signed (can contain a minus sign):* + Use a conditional rule to flip the sign (of non-empty + values). Since hledger always negates amountN-out, if it was + already negative, we must undo that by negating once more + (but only if the field is non-empty): + + + + fields date, description, amount1-in, amount1-out + if %amount1-out [1-9] + amount1-out -%amount1-out + + c. *If both fields, or neither field, can contain a non-zero + value:* + hledger normally expects exactly one of the fields to have a + non-zero value. Eg, the `amountN-in'/`amountN-out' rules + would reject value pairs like these: + + + "", "" + "0", "0" + "1", "none" + + So, use smarter conditional rules to set the amount from the + appropriate field. Eg, these rules would make it use only the + value containing non-zero digits, handling the above: + + + fields date, description, in, out + if %in [1-9] + amount1 %in + if %out [1-9] + amount1 %out + + 3. *If you are stuck with hledger <1.17, or you want posting 2's + amount converted to cost:* + Assign to `amount' (or to `amount-in' and `amount-out'). (The old + numberless syntax, which sets amount1 and amount2.) + + 4. *If the CSV has the balance instead of the transaction amount:* + Assign to `balanceN', which sets posting N's amount indirectly via + a balance assignment. (Old syntax: `balance', equivalent to + `balance1'.) + + * *If hledger guesses the wrong default account name:* + When setting the amount via balance assertion, hledger may + guess the wrong default account name. So, set the account + name explicitly, eg: + + + fields date, description, balance1 + account1 assets:checking + + + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Amount signs, Next: Setting currency/commodity, Prev: Setting amounts, Up: Tips + +13.3.8 Amount signs +------------------- + +There is some special handling for amount signs, to simplify parsing and +sign-flipping: + + * *If an amount value begins with a plus sign:* + that will be removed: `+AMT' becomes `AMT' + + * *If an amount value is parenthesised:* + it will be de-parenthesised and sign-flipped: `(AMT)' becomes + `-AMT' + + * *If an amount value has two minus signs (or two sets of + parentheses, or a minus sign and parentheses):* + they cancel out and will be removed: `--AMT' or `-(AMT)' becomes + `AMT' + + * *If an amount value contains just a sign (or just a set of + parentheses):* + that is removed, making it an empty value. `"+"' or `"-"' or + `"()"' becomes `""'. + + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Setting currency/commodity, Next: Amount decimal places, Prev: Amount signs, Up: Tips + +13.3.9 Setting currency/commodity +--------------------------------- + +If the currency/commodity symbol is included in the CSV's amount +field(s): + + +2020-01-01,foo,$123.00 + + you don't have to do anything special for the commodity symbol, it +will be assigned as part of the amount. Eg: + + +fields date,description,amount + + +2020-01-01 foo + expenses:unknown $123.00 + income:unknown $-123.00 + + If the currency is provided as a separate CSV field: + + +2020-01-01,foo,USD,123.00 + + You can assign that to the `currency' pseudo-field, which has the +special effect of prepending itself to every amount in the transaction +(on the left, with no separating space): + + +fields date,description,currency,amount + + +2020-01-01 foo + expenses:unknown USD123.00 + income:unknown USD-123.00 + + 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: + + +fields date,description,cur,amt +amount %amt %cur + + +2020-01-01 foo + expenses:unknown 123.00 USD + income:unknown -123.00 USD + + Note we used a temporary field name (`cur') that is not `currency' - +that would trigger the prepending effect, which we don't want here. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Amount decimal places, Next: Referencing other fields, Prev: Setting currency/commodity, Up: Tips + +13.3.10 Amount decimal places +----------------------------- + +Like amounts in a journal file, the amounts generated by CSV rules like +`amount1' influence commodity display styles, such as the number of +decimal places displayed in reports. + + The original amounts as written in the CSV file do not affect display +style (because we don't yet reliably know their commodity). + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Referencing other fields, Next: How CSV rules are evaluated, Prev: Amount decimal places, Up: Tips + +13.3.11 Referencing other fields +-------------------------------- + +In field assignments, you can interpolate only CSV fields, not hledger +fields. In the example below, there's both a CSV field and a hledger +field named amount1, but %amount1 always means the CSV field, not the +hledger field: + + +# Name the third CSV field "amount1" +fields date,description,amount1 + +# Set hledger'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 + + Here, since there's no CSV amount1 field, %amount1 will produce a +literal "amount1": + + +fields date,description,csvamount +amount1 %csvamount USD +# Can't interpolate amount1 here +comment %amount1 + + When there are multiple field assignments to the same hledger field, +only the last one takes effect. Here, comment's value will be be B, or C +if "something" is matched, but never A: + + +comment A +comment B +if something + comment C + + +File: hledger.info, Node: How CSV rules are evaluated, Prev: Referencing other fields, Up: Tips + +13.3.12 How CSV rules are evaluated +----------------------------------- + +Here's how to think of CSV rules being evaluated (if you really need +to). First, + + * `include' - 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.) + + Then "global" rules are evaluated, top to bottom. If a rule is +repeated, the last one wins: + + * `skip' (at top level) + + * `date-format' + + * `newest-first' + + * `fields' - names the CSV fields, optionally sets up initial + assignments to hledger fields + + Then for each CSV record in turn: + + * test all `if' blocks. If any of them contain a `end' rule, skip + all remaining CSV records. Otherwise if any of them contain a + `skip' rule, skip that many CSV records. If there are multiple + matched `skip' rules, the first one wins. + + * collect all field assignments at top level and in matched `if' + blocks. When there are multiple assignments for a field, keep only + the last one. + + * compute a value for each hledger field - either the one that was + assigned to it (and interpolate the %CSVFIELDNAME references), or a + default + + * generate a synthetic hledger transaction from these values. + + 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. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: TIMECLOCK FORMAT, Next: TIMEDOT FORMAT, Prev: CSV FORMAT, Up: Top + +14 TIMECLOCK FORMAT +******************* + +The time logging format of timeclock.el, as read by hledger. + + hledger can read time logs in timeclock format. As with Ledger, these +are (a subset of) timeclock.el'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). + + +i 2015/03/30 09:00:00 some:account name optional description after two spaces +o 2015/03/30 09:20:00 +i 2015/03/31 22:21:45 another account +o 2015/04/01 02:00:34 + + 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, `hledger print' generates these journal entries: + + +$ hledger -f t.timeclock print +2015-03-30 * optional description after two spaces + (some:account name) 0.33h + +2015-03-31 * 22:21-23:59 + (another account) 1.64h + +2015-04-01 * 00:00-02:00 + (another account) 2.01h + + Here is a sample.timeclock to download and some queries to try: + + +$ 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 + + To generate time logs, ie to clock in and clock out, you could: + + * use emacs and the built-in timeclock.el, or the extended + timeclock-x.el and perhaps the extras in ledgerutils.el + + * at the command line, use these bash aliases: `shell alias + ti="echo i `date '+%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S'` \$* >>$TIMELOG" alias + to="echo o `date '+%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S'` >>$TIMELOG"' + + * or use the old `ti' and `to' scripts in the ledger 2.x repository. + These rely on a "timeclock" executable which I think is just the + ledger 2 executable renamed. + + + +File: hledger.info, Node: TIMEDOT FORMAT, Next: COMMON TASKS, Prev: TIMECLOCK FORMAT, Up: Top + +15 TIMEDOT FORMAT +***************** + +`timedot' format is hledger's human-friendly time logging format. +Compared to `timeclock' format, it is + + * convenient for quick, approximate, and retroactive time logging + + * readable: you can see at a glance where time was spent. + + A timedot file contains a series of day entries, which might look +like this: + + +2021-08-04 +hom:errands .... .... +fos:hledger:timedot .. ; docs +per:admin:finance + + hledger reads this as three time transactions on this day, with each +dot representing a quarter-hour spent: + + +$ hledger -f a.timedot print # .timedot file extension activates the timedot reader +2021-08-04 * + (hom:errands) 2.00 + +2021-08-04 * + (fos:hledger:timedot) 0.50 + +2021-08-04 * + (per:admin:finance) 0 + + A day entry begins with a date line: + + * a non-indented *simple date* (Y-M-D, Y/M/D, or Y.M.D). + + Optionally this can be followed on the same line by + + * a common *transaction description* for this day + + * a common *transaction comment* for this day, after a semicolon + (`;'). + + After the date line are zero or more optionally-indented time +transaction lines, consisting of: + + * an *account name* - any word or phrase, usually a hledger-style + account name. + + * *two or more spaces* - a field separator, required if there is an + amount (as in journal format). + + * a *timedot amount* - dots representing quarter hours, or a number + representing hours. + + * an optional *comment* beginning with semicolon. This is ignored. + + In more detail, timedot amounts can be: + + * *dots*: zero or more period characters, each representing one + quarter-hour. Spaces are ignored and can be used for grouping. Eg: + `.... ..' + + * a *number*, representing hours. Eg: `1.5' + + * a *number immediately followed by a unit symbol* `s', `m', `h', + `d', `w', `mo', or `y', representing seconds, minutes, hours, days + weeks, months or years. Eg `1.5h' or `90m'. The following + equivalencies are assumed: + `60s' = `1m', `60m' = `1h', `24h' = `1d', `7d' = `1w', `30d' = + `1mo', `365d' = `1y'. (This unit will not be visible in the + generated transaction amount, which is always in hours.) + + + There is some added flexibility to help with keeping time log data in +the same file as your notes, todo lists, etc.: + + * Lines beginning with `#' or `;', and blank lines, are ignored. + + * Lines not ending with a double-space and amount are parsed as + transactions with zero amount. (Most hledger reports hide these by + default; add -E to see them.) + + * One or more stars (`*') followed by a space, at the start of a + line, is ignored. So date lines or time transaction lines can also + be Org-mode headlines. + + * All Org-mode headlines before the first date line are ignored. + + + More examples: + + +# 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 . + + +2016/2/3 +inc:client1 4 +fos:hledger 3 +biz:research 1 + + +* Time log +** 2020-01-01 +*** adm:time . +*** adm:finance . + + +* 2020 Work Diary +** Q1 +*** 2020-02-29 +**** DONE +0700 yoga +**** UNPLANNED +**** BEGUN +hom:chores + cleaning ... + water plants + outdoor - one full watering can + indoor - light watering +**** TODO +adm:planning: trip +*** LATER + + Reporting: + + +$ hledger -f a.timedot print date:2016/2/2 +2016-02-02 * + (inc:client1) 2.00 + +2016-02-02 * + (biz:research) 0.25 + + +$ 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 + + Using period instead of colon as account name separator: + + +2016/2/4 +fos.hledger.timedot 4 +fos.ledger .. + + +$ hledger -f a.timedot --alias /\\./=: bal --tree + 4.50 fos + 4.00 hledger:timedot + 0.50 ledger +-------------------- + 4.50 + + A sample.timedot file. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: COMMON TASKS, Next: LIMITATIONS, Prev: TIMEDOT FORMAT, Up: Top + +16 COMMON TASKS +*************** + +Here are some quick examples of how to do some basic tasks with hledger. +For more details, see the reference section below, the +hledger_journal(5) manual, or the more extensive docs at +https://hledger.org. + +* Menu: + +* Getting help:: +* Constructing command lines:: +* Starting a journal file:: +* Setting opening balances:: +* Recording transactions:: +* Reconciling:: +* Reporting:: +* Migrating to a new file:: + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Getting help, Next: Constructing command lines, Up: COMMON TASKS + +16.1 Getting help +================= + + +$ hledger # show available commands +$ hledger --help # show common options +$ hledger CMD --help # show common and command options, and command help +$ hledger help # show available manuals/topics +$ hledger help hledger # show hledger manual as info/man/text (auto-chosen) +$ hledger help journal --man # show the journal manual as a man page +$ hledger help --help # show more detailed help for the help command + +Find more docs, chat, mail list, reddit, issue tracker: +https://hledger.org#help-feedback + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Constructing command lines, Next: Starting a journal file, Prev: Getting help, Up: COMMON TASKS + +16.2 Constructing command lines +=============================== + +hledger has an extensive and powerful command line interface. We strive +to keep it simple and ergonomic, but you may run into one of the +confusing real world details described in OPTIONS, below. If that +happens, here are some tips that may help: + + * command-specific options must go after the command (it's fine to + put all options there) (`hledger CMD OPTS ARGS') + + * running add-on executables directly simplifies command line parsing + (`hledger-ui OPTS ARGS') + + * enclose "problematic" args in single quotes + + * if needed, also add a backslash to hide regular expression + metacharacters from the shell + + * to see how a misbehaving command is being parsed, add `--debug=2'. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Starting a journal file, Next: Setting opening balances, Prev: Constructing command lines, Up: COMMON TASKS + +16.3 Starting a journal file +============================ + +hledger looks for your accounting data in a journal file, +`$HOME/.hledger.journal' by default: + + +$ hledger stats +The hledger journal file "/Users/simon/.hledger.journal" was not found. +Please create it first, eg with "hledger add" or a text editor. +Or, specify an existing journal file with -f or LEDGER_FILE. + + You can override this by setting the `LEDGER_FILE' environment +variable. It'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: + + +$ mkdir ~/finance +$ cd ~/finance +$ git init +Initialized empty Git repository in /Users/simon/finance/.git/ +$ touch 2020.journal +$ echo "export LEDGER_FILE=$HOME/finance/2020.journal" >> ~/.bashrc +$ source ~/.bashrc +$ hledger stats +Main file : /Users/simon/finance/2020.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 () + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Setting opening balances, Next: Recording transactions, Prev: Starting a journal file, Up: COMMON TASKS + +16.4 Setting opening balances +============================= + +Pick a starting date for which you can look up the balances of some +real-world assets (bank accounts, wallet..) and liabilities (credit +cards..). + + 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. + + Add an opening balances transaction to the journal, declaring the +balances on this date. Here are two ways to do it: + + * The first way: open the journal in any text editor and save an + entry like this: + + + 2020-01-01 * opening balances + assets:bank:checking $1000 = $1000 + assets:bank:savings $2000 = $2000 + assets:cash $100 = $100 + liabilities:creditcard $-50 = $-50 + equity:opening/closing balances + + These are start-of-day balances, ie whatever was in the account at + the end of the previous day. + + The * after the date is an optional status flag. Here it means + "cleared & confirmed". + + The currency symbols are optional, but usually a good idea as + you'll be dealing with multiple currencies sooner or later. + + The = amounts are optional balance assertions, providing extra + error checking. + + * The second way: run `hledger add' and follow the prompts to record + a similar transaction: + + + $ hledger add + Adding transactions to journal file /Users/simon/finance/2020.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 [2020-02-07]: 2020-01-01 + 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): . + 2020-01-01 * opening balances + assets:bank:checking $1000 + assets:bank:savings $2000 + assets:cash $100 + liabilities:creditcard $-50 + equity:opening/closing balances $-3050 + + Save this transaction to the journal ? [y]: + Saved. + Starting the next transaction (. or ctrl-D/ctrl-C to quit) + Date [2020-01-01]: . + + + If you're using version control, this could be a good time to commit +the journal. Eg: + + +$ git commit -m 'initial balances' 2020.journal + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Recording transactions, Next: Reconciling, Prev: Setting opening balances, Up: COMMON TASKS + +16.5 Recording transactions +=========================== + +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. + + Here are some simple transactions, see the hledger_journal(5) manual +and hledger.org for more ideas: + + +2020/1/10 * gift received + assets:cash $20 + income:gifts + +2020.1.12 * farmers market + expenses:food $13 + assets:cash + +2020-01-15 paycheck + income:salary + assets:bank:checking $1000 + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Reconciling, Next: Reporting, Prev: Recording transactions, Up: COMMON TASKS + +16.6 Reconciling +================ + +Periodically you should reconcile - compare your hledger-reported +balances against external sources of truth, like bank statements or your +bank'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. + + A typical workflow: + + 1. Reconcile cash. Count what's in your wallet. Compare with what + hledger reports (`hledger bal cash'). 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 + (`hledger reg cash'). If you can't find the error, add an + adjustment transaction. Eg if you have $105 after the above, and + can't explain the missing $2, it could be: + + + 2020-01-16 * adjust cash + assets:cash $-2 = $105 + expenses:misc + + 2. Reconcile checking. Log in to your bank's website. Compare today's + (cleared) balance with hledger's cleared balance (`hledger bal + checking -C'). If they are different, track down the error or + record the missing transaction(s) or add an adjustment + transaction, similar to the above. Unlike the cash case, you can + usually compare the transaction history and running balance from + your bank with the one reported by `hledger reg checking -C'. This + will be easier if you generally record transaction dates quite + similar to your bank's clearing dates. + + 3. Repeat for other asset/liability accounts. + + + Tip: instead of the register command, use hledger-ui to see a +live-updating register while you edit the journal: `hledger-ui --watch +--register checking -C' + + After reconciling, it could be a good time to mark the reconciled +transactions' status as "cleared and confirmed", if you want to track +that, by adding the `*' marker. Eg in the paycheck transaction above, +insert `*' between `2020-01-15' and `paycheck' + + If you're using version control, this can be another good time to +commit: + + +$ git commit -m 'txns' 2020.journal + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Reporting, Next: Migrating to a new file, Prev: Reconciling, Up: COMMON TASKS + +16.7 Reporting +============== + +Here are some basic reports. + + Show all transactions: + + +$ hledger print +2020-01-01 * opening balances + assets:bank:checking $1000 + assets:bank:savings $2000 + assets:cash $100 + liabilities:creditcard $-50 + equity:opening/closing balances $-3050 + +2020-01-10 * gift received + assets:cash $20 + income:gifts + +2020-01-12 * farmers market + expenses:food $13 + assets:cash + +2020-01-15 * paycheck + income:salary + assets:bank:checking $1000 + +2020-01-16 * adjust cash + assets:cash $-2 = $105 + expenses:misc + + Show account names, and their hierarchy: + + +$ hledger accounts --tree +assets + bank + checking + savings + cash +equity + opening/closing balances +expenses + food + misc +income + gifts + salary +liabilities + creditcard + + Show all account totals: + + +$ 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 + $-50 liabilities:creditcard +-------------------- + 0 + + Show only asset and liability balances, as a flat list, limited to +depth 2: + + +$ hledger bal assets liabilities --flat -2 + $4000 assets:bank + $105 assets:cash + $-50 liabilities:creditcard +-------------------- + $4055 + + Show the same thing without negative numbers, formatted as a simple +balance sheet: + + +$ hledger bs --flat -2 +Balance Sheet 2020-01-16 + + || 2020-01-16 +========================++============ + Assets || +------------------------++------------ + assets:bank || $4000 + assets:cash || $105 +------------------------++------------ + || $4105 +========================++============ + Liabilities || +------------------------++------------ + liabilities:creditcard || $50 +------------------------++------------ + || $50 +========================++============ + Net: || $4055 + + The final total is your "net worth" on the end date. (Or use `bse' +for a full balance sheet with equity.) + + Show income and expense totals, formatted as an income statement: + + +hledger is +Income Statement 2020-01-01-2020-01-16 + + || 2020-01-01-2020-01-16 +===============++======================= + Revenues || +---------------++----------------------- + income:gifts || $20 + income:salary || $1000 +---------------++----------------------- + || $1020 +===============++======================= + Expenses || +---------------++----------------------- + expenses:food || $13 + expenses:misc || $2 +---------------++----------------------- + || $15 +===============++======================= + Net: || $1005 + + The final total is your net income during this period. + + Show transactions affecting your wallet, with running total: + + +$ hledger register cash +2020-01-01 opening balances assets:cash $100 $100 +2020-01-10 gift received assets:cash $20 $120 +2020-01-12 farmers market assets:cash $-13 $107 +2020-01-16 adjust cash assets:cash $-2 $105 + + Show weekly posting counts as a bar chart: + + +$ hledger activity -W +2019-12-30 ***** +2020-01-06 **** +2020-01-13 **** + + +File: hledger.info, Node: Migrating to a new file, Prev: Reporting, Up: COMMON TASKS + +16.8 Migrating to a new file +============================ + +At the end of the year, you may want to continue your journal in a new +file, so that old transactions don't slow down or clutter your reports, +and to help ensure the integrity of your accounting history. See the +close command. + + If using version control, don't forget to `git add' the new file. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: LIMITATIONS, Next: TROUBLESHOOTING, Prev: COMMON TASKS, Up: Top + +17 LIMITATIONS +************** + +The need to precede add-on command options with `--' when invoked from +hledger is awkward. + + When input data contains non-ascii characters, a suitable system +locale must be configured (or there will be an unhelpful error). Eg on +POSIX, set LANG to something other than C. + + In a Microsoft Windows CMD window, non-ascii characters and colours +are not supported. + + On Windows, non-ascii characters may not display correctly when +running a hledger built in CMD in MSYS/CYGWIN, or vice-versa. + + In a Cygwin/MSYS/Mintty window, the tab key is not supported in +hledger add. + + Not all of Ledger's journal file syntax is supported. See file format +differences. + + On large data files, hledger is slower and uses more memory than +Ledger. + + +File: hledger.info, Node: TROUBLESHOOTING, Prev: LIMITATIONS, Up: Top + +18 TROUBLESHOOTING +****************** + +Here are some issues you might encounter when you run hledger (and +remember you can also seek help from the IRC channel, mail list or bug +tracker): + + *Successfully installed, but "No command 'hledger' found"* +stack and cabal install binaries into a special directory, which should +be added to your PATH environment variable. Eg on unix-like systems, +that is ~/.local/bin and ~/.cabal/bin respectively. + + *I set a custom LEDGER_FILE, but hledger is still using the default +file* +`LEDGER_FILE' should be a real environment variable, not just a shell +variable. The command `env | grep LEDGER_FILE' should show it. You may +need to use `export'. Here's an explanation. + + *Getting errors like "Illegal byte sequence" or "Invalid or +incomplete multibyte or wide character" or "commitAndReleaseBuffer: +invalid argument (invalid character)"* +Programs compiled with GHC (hledger, haskell build tools, etc.) need to +have a UTF-8-aware locale configured in the environment, otherwise they +will fail with these kinds of errors when they encounter non-ascii +characters. + + To fix it, set the LANG environment variable to some locale which +supports UTF-8. The locale you choose must be installed on your system. + + Here's an example of setting LANG temporarily, on Ubuntu GNU/Linux: + + +$ file my.journal +my.journal: UTF-8 Unicode text # the file is UTF8-encoded +$ echo $LANG +C # LANG is set to the default locale, which does not support UTF8 +$ locale -a # which locales are installed ? +C +en_US.utf8 # here's a UTF8-aware one we can use +POSIX +$ LANG=en_US.utf8 hledger -f my.journal print # ensure it is used for this command + + If available, `C.UTF-8' will also work. If your preferred locale +isn't listed by `locale -a', you might need to install it. Eg on +Ubuntu/Debian: + + +$ apt-get install language-pack-fr +$ locale -a +C +en_US.utf8 +fr_BE.utf8 +fr_CA.utf8 +fr_CH.utf8 +fr_FR.utf8 +fr_LU.utf8 +POSIX +$ LANG=fr_FR.utf8 hledger -f my.journal print + + Here's how you could set it permanently, if you use a bash shell: + + +$ echo "export LANG=en_US.utf8" >>~/.bash_profile +$ bash --login + + Exact spelling and capitalisation may be important. Note the +difference on MacOS (`UTF-8', not `utf8'). Some platforms (eg ubuntu) +allow variant spellings, but others (eg macos) require it to be exact: + + +$ locale -a | grep -iE en_us.*utf +en_US.UTF-8 +$ LANG=en_US.UTF-8 hledger -f my.journal print + + + +Tag Table: +Node: Top216 +Node: OPTIONS2586 +Ref: #options2687 +Node: General options2829 +Ref: #general-options2954 +Node: Command options7162 +Ref: #command-options7313 +Node: Command arguments7712 +Ref: #command-arguments7870 +Node: Special characters8748 +Ref: #special-characters8911 +Node: Single escaping shell metacharacters9074 +Ref: #single-escaping-shell-metacharacters9315 +Node: Double escaping regular expression metacharacters9919 +Ref: #double-escaping-regular-expression-metacharacters10230 +Node: Triple escaping for add-on commands10756 +Ref: #triple-escaping-for-add-on-commands11016 +Node: Less escaping11662 +Ref: #less-escaping11816 +Node: Unicode characters12142 +Ref: #unicode-characters12307 +Node: Regular expressions13716 +Ref: #regular-expressions13856 +Node: ENVIRONMENT15597 +Ref: #environment15713 +Node: DATA FILES16701 +Ref: #data-files16820 +Node: Data formats17361 +Ref: #data-formats17479 +Node: Multiple files18961 +Ref: #multiple-files19103 +Node: Strict mode19573 +Ref: #strict-mode19688 +Node: TIME PERIODS20397 +Ref: #time-periods20514 +Node: Smart dates20612 +Ref: #smart-dates20738 +Node: Report start & end date22252 +Ref: #report-start-end-date22427 +Node: Report intervals24106 +Ref: #report-intervals24274 +Node: Period expressions26016 +Ref: #period-expressions26156 +Node: Period expressions with a report interval27884 +Ref: #period-expressions-with-a-report-interval28116 +Node: More complex report intervals29211 +Ref: #more-complex-report-intervals29460 +Node: Intervals with custom start date30098 +Ref: #intervals-with-custom-start-date30330 +Node: Periods or dates ?31919 +Ref: #periods-or-dates32121 +Node: Events on multiple weekdays32561 +Ref: #events-on-multiple-weekdays32740 +Node: DEPTH33606 +Ref: #depth33706 +Node: QUERIES34039 +Ref: #queries34138 +Node: Query types35077 +Ref: #query-types35196 +Node: Combining query terms37858 +Ref: #combining-query-terms38033 +Node: Queries and command options38842 +Ref: #queries-and-command-options39045 +Node: Queries and account aliases39294 +Ref: #queries-and-account-aliases39497 +Node: Queries and valuation39617 +Ref: #queries-and-valuation39810 +Node: Querying with account aliases40039 +Ref: #querying-with-account-aliases40248 +Node: Querying with cost or value40378 +Ref: #querying-with-cost-or-value40553 +Node: COSTING40854 +Ref: #costing40957 +Node: VALUATION41230 +Ref: #valuation41338 +Node: -V Value42103 +Ref: #v-value42227 +Node: -X Value in specified commodity42421 +Ref: #x-value-in-specified-commodity42614 +Node: Valuation date42763 +Ref: #valuation-date42925 +Node: Market prices43362 +Ref: #market-prices43544 +Node: --infer-market-prices market prices from transactions44727 +Ref: #infer-market-prices-market-prices-from-transactions44994 +Node: Valuation commodity46346 +Ref: #valuation-commodity46557 +Node: Simple valuation examples47784 +Ref: #simple-valuation-examples47980 +Node: --value Flexible valuation48642 +Ref: #value-flexible-valuation48844 +Node: More valuation examples50486 +Ref: #more-valuation-examples50693 +Node: Interaction of valuation and queries52699 +Ref: #interaction-of-valuation-and-queries52938 +Node: Effect of valuation on reports53413 +Ref: #effect-of-valuation-on-reports53608 +Node: PIVOTING61732 +Ref: #pivoting61837 +Node: OUTPUT63516 +Ref: #output63618 +Node: Output destination63709 +Ref: #output-destination63843 +Node: Output styling64499 +Ref: #output-styling64647 +Node: Output format65402 +Ref: #output-format65546 +Node: Commodity styles67709 +Ref: #commodity-styles67836 +Node: COMMANDS68611 +Ref: #commands68723 +Node: accounts72113 +Ref: #accounts72213 +Node: activity72905 +Ref: #activity73017 +Node: add73399 +Ref: #add73502 +Node: aregister76297 +Ref: #aregister76411 +Node: aregister and custom posting dates78770 +Ref: #aregister-and-custom-posting-dates78936 +Node: balance79486 +Ref: #balance79605 +Node: balance features80601 +Ref: #balance-features80741 +Node: Simple balance report82680 +Ref: #simple-balance-report82862 +Node: Filtered balance report84337 +Ref: #filtered-balance-report84524 +Node: List or tree mode84848 +Ref: #list-or-tree-mode85016 +Node: Depth limiting86360 +Ref: #depth-limiting86526 +Node: Dropping top-level accounts87124 +Ref: #dropping-top-level-accounts87326 +Node: Multi-period balance report87634 +Ref: #multi-period-balance-report87847 +Node: Showing declared accounts90126 +Ref: #showing-declared-accounts90324 +Node: Commodity layout90854 +Ref: #commodity-layout91024 +Node: Sorting by amount96341 +Ref: #sorting-by-amount96501 +Node: Percentages97166 +Ref: #percentages97324 +Node: Balance change end balance98283 +Ref: #balance-change-end-balance98476 +Node: Balance report types99900 +Ref: #balance-report-types100090 +Node: Useful balance reports104461 +Ref: #useful-balance-reports104642 +Node: Budget report105726 +Ref: #budget-report105910 +Node: Budget report start date111115 +Ref: #budget-report-start-date111293 +Node: Budgets and subaccounts112620 +Ref: #budgets-and-subaccounts112827 +Node: Selecting budget goals116214 +Ref: #selecting-budget-goals116386 +Node: Customising single-period balance reports117416 +Ref: #customising-single-period-balance-reports117625 +Node: balancesheet119809 +Ref: #balancesheet119947 +Node: balancesheetequity121245 +Ref: #balancesheetequity121396 +Node: cashflow122776 +Ref: #cashflow122900 +Node: check124046 +Ref: #check124151 +Node: Basic checks124784 +Ref: #basic-checks124902 +Node: Strict checks125454 +Ref: #strict-checks125595 +Node: Other checks126031 +Ref: #other-checks126171 +Node: Custom checks126528 +Ref: #custom-checks126648 +Node: close127066 +Ref: #close127170 +Node: close and prices129256 +Ref: #close-and-prices129385 +Node: close date129779 +Ref: #close-date129963 +Node: Example close asset/liability accounts for file transition130709 +Ref: #example-close-assetliability-accounts-for-file-transition131010 +Node: Hiding opening/closing transactions131872 +Ref: #hiding-openingclosing-transactions132143 +Node: close and balance assertions133524 +Ref: #close-and-balance-assertions133782 +Node: Example close revenue/expense accounts to retained earnings135136 +Ref: #example-close-revenueexpense-accounts-to-retained-earnings135414 +Node: codes136307 +Ref: #codes136417 +Node: commodities137130 +Ref: #commodities137259 +Node: descriptions137341 +Ref: #descriptions137471 +Node: diff137775 +Ref: #diff137883 +Node: files138928 +Ref: #files139030 +Node: help139176 +Ref: #help139278 +Node: import140093 +Ref: #import140209 +Node: Deduplication141071 +Ref: #deduplication141196 +Node: Import testing143084 +Ref: #import-testing143249 +Node: Importing balance assignments143739 +Ref: #importing-balance-assignments143945 +Node: Commodity display styles144592 +Ref: #commodity-display-styles144765 +Node: incomestatement144894 +Ref: #incomestatement145029 +Node: notes146330 +Ref: #notes146445 +Node: payees146812 +Ref: #payees146920 +Node: prices147446 +Ref: #prices147554 +Node: print147919 +Ref: #print148031 +Node: print-unique153341 +Ref: #print-unique153469 +Node: register153755 +Ref: #register153884 +Node: Custom register output158328 +Ref: #custom-register-output158459 +Node: register-match159796 +Ref: #register-match159932 +Node: rewrite160280 +Ref: #rewrite160397 +Node: Re-write rules in a file162303 +Ref: #re-write-rules-in-a-file162466 +Node: Diff output format163616 +Ref: #diff-output-format163799 +Node: rewrite vs print --auto164891 +Ref: #rewrite-vs.-print---auto165051 +Node: roi165601 +Ref: #roi165701 +Node: Spaces and special characters in --inv and --pnl167389 +Ref: #spaces-and-special-characters-in---inv-and---pnl167630 +Node: Semantics of --inv and --pnl168123 +Ref: #semantics-of---inv-and---pnl168362 +Node: IRR and TWR explained170208 +Ref: #irr-and-twr-explained170368 +Node: stats173430 +Ref: #stats173531 +Node: tags174907 +Ref: #tags175007 +Node: test175524 +Ref: #test175640 +Node: About add-on commands176385 +Ref: #about-add-on-commands176522 +Node: JOURNAL FORMAT177655 +Ref: #journal-format177783 +Node: Transactions180003 +Ref: #transactions180118 +Node: Dates181135 +Ref: #dates181251 +Node: Simple dates181316 +Ref: #simple-dates181436 +Node: Secondary dates181943 +Ref: #secondary-dates182091 +Node: Posting dates183425 +Ref: #posting-dates183548 +Node: Status184917 +Ref: #status185027 +Node: Code186732 +Ref: #code186844 +Node: Description187075 +Ref: #description187203 +Node: Payee and note187521 +Ref: #payee-and-note187629 +Node: Comments187963 +Ref: #comments188085 +Node: Tags189278 +Ref: #tags-1189389 +Node: Postings190787 +Ref: #postings190911 +Node: Virtual postings191935 +Ref: #virtual-postings192046 +Node: Account names193348 +Ref: #account-names193485 +Node: Amounts193971 +Ref: #amounts194108 +Node: Decimal marks digit group marks195095 +Ref: #decimal-marks-digit-group-marks195272 +Node: Commodity196293 +Ref: #commodity196482 +Node: Directives influencing number parsing and display197432 +Ref: #directives-influencing-number-parsing-and-display197693 +Node: Commodity display style198185 +Ref: #commodity-display-style198393 +Node: Rounding200588 +Ref: #rounding200708 +Node: Transaction prices201118 +Ref: #transaction-prices201284 +Node: Lot prices lot dates203714 +Ref: #lot-prices-lot-dates203897 +Node: Balance assertions204384 +Ref: #balance-assertions204562 +Node: Assertions and ordering205592 +Ref: #assertions-and-ordering205774 +Node: Assertions and included files206471 +Ref: #assertions-and-included-files206708 +Node: Assertions and multiple -f options207039 +Ref: #assertions-and-multiple--f-options207289 +Node: Assertions and commodities207420 +Ref: #assertions-and-commodities207646 +Node: Assertions and prices208801 +Ref: #assertions-and-prices209009 +Node: Assertions and subaccounts209450 +Ref: #assertions-and-subaccounts209673 +Node: Assertions and virtual postings209997 +Ref: #assertions-and-virtual-postings210233 +Node: Assertions and precision210374 +Ref: #assertions-and-precision210561 +Node: Balance assignments210826 +Ref: #balance-assignments210996 +Node: Balance assignments and prices212159 +Ref: #balance-assignments-and-prices212325 +Node: Directives212551 +Ref: #directives212714 +Node: Directives and multiple files218092 +Ref: #directives-and-multiple-files218288 +Node: Comment blocks218978 +Ref: #comment-blocks219155 +Node: Including other files219330 +Ref: #including-other-files219504 +Node: Default year220428 +Ref: #default-year220586 +Node: Declaring payees220993 +Ref: #declaring-payees221164 +Node: Declaring the decimal mark221409 +Ref: #declaring-the-decimal-mark221609 +Node: Declaring commodities222007 +Ref: #declaring-commodities222198 +Node: Commodity error checking224712 +Ref: #commodity-error-checking224862 +Node: Default commodity225118 +Ref: #default-commodity225298 +Node: Declaring market prices226411 +Ref: #declaring-market-prices226600 +Node: Declaring accounts227412 +Ref: #declaring-accounts227592 +Node: Account error checking228799 +Ref: #account-error-checking228965 +Node: Account comments230142 +Ref: #account-comments230326 +Node: Account subdirectives230752 +Ref: #account-subdirectives230937 +Node: Account types231252 +Ref: #account-types231426 +Node: Auto-detected account types232749 +Ref: #auto-detected-account-types232904 +Node: Account display order234137 +Ref: #account-display-order234297 +Node: Rewriting accounts235448 +Ref: #rewriting-accounts235627 +Node: Basic aliases236386 +Ref: #basic-aliases236522 +Node: Regex aliases237264 +Ref: #regex-aliases237426 +Node: Combining aliases238146 +Ref: #combining-aliases238329 +Node: Aliases and multiple files239606 +Ref: #aliases-and-multiple-files239805 +Node: end aliases240386 +Ref: #end-aliases240533 +Node: Default parent account240683 +Ref: #default-parent-account240873 +Node: Periodic transactions241757 +Ref: #periodic-transactions241940 +Node: Periodic rule syntax243857 +Ref: #periodic-rule-syntax244057 +Node: Two spaces between period expression and description!244760 +Ref: #two-spaces-between-period-expression-and-description245073 +Node: Forecasting with periodic transactions245758 +Ref: #forecasting-with-periodic-transactions246057 +Node: Budgeting with periodic transactions248825 +Ref: #budgeting-with-periodic-transactions249058 +Node: Auto postings249465 +Ref: #auto-postings249601 +Node: Auto postings and multiple files251784 +Ref: #auto-postings-and-multiple-files251982 +Node: Auto postings and dates252190 +Ref: #auto-postings-and-dates252458 +Node: Auto postings and transaction balancing / inferred amounts / balance assertions252633 +Ref: #auto-postings-and-transaction-balancing-inferred-amounts-balance-assertions252979 +Node: Auto posting tags253485 +Ref: #auto-posting-tags253694 +Node: CSV FORMAT254331 +Ref: #csv-format254459 +Node: Examples257083 +Ref: #examples257186 +Node: Basic257393 +Ref: #basic257495 +Node: Bank of Ireland258039 +Ref: #bank-of-ireland258176 +Node: Amazon259641 +Ref: #amazon259761 +Node: Paypal261482 +Ref: #paypal261578 +Node: CSV rules269226 +Ref: #csv-rules269344 +Node: skip269677 +Ref: #skip269777 +Node: fields list270149 +Ref: #fields-list270288 +Node: field assignment271793 +Ref: #field-assignment271945 +Node: Field names272977 +Ref: #field-names273117 +Node: date field273496 +Ref: #date-field273616 +Node: date2 field273664 +Ref: #date2-field273807 +Node: status field273863 +Ref: #status-field274008 +Node: code field274057 +Ref: #code-field274204 +Node: description field274249 +Ref: #description-field274411 +Node: comment field274470 +Ref: #comment-field274627 +Node: account field274926 +Ref: #account-field275078 +Node: amount field275652 +Ref: #amount-field275803 +Node: currency field277041 +Ref: #currency-field277196 +Node: balance field277452 +Ref: #balance-field277586 +Node: separator277958 +Ref: #separator278090 +Node: if block278632 +Ref: #if-block278759 +Node: Matching the whole record279157 +Ref: #matching-the-whole-record279334 +Node: Matching individual fields280137 +Ref: #matching-individual-fields280343 +Node: Combining matchers280567 +Ref: #combining-matchers280765 +Node: Rules applied on successful match281079 +Ref: #rules-applied-on-successful-match281272 +Node: if table281929 +Ref: #if-table282050 +Node: end283786 +Ref: #end283900 +Node: date-format284124 +Ref: #date-format284258 +Node: decimal-mark285255 +Ref: #decimal-mark285402 +Node: newest-first285739 +Ref: #newest-first285882 +Node: include286565 +Ref: #include286698 +Node: balance-type287140 +Ref: #balance-type287262 +Node: Tips287962 +Ref: #tips288053 +Node: Rapid feedback288352 +Ref: #rapid-feedback288471 +Node: Valid CSV288922 +Ref: #valid-csv289054 +Node: File Extension289246 +Ref: #file-extension289400 +Node: Reading multiple CSV files289829 +Ref: #reading-multiple-csv-files290016 +Node: Valid transactions290256 +Ref: #valid-transactions290436 +Node: Deduplicating importing291064 +Ref: #deduplicating-importing291245 +Node: Setting amounts292277 +Ref: #setting-amounts292434 +Node: Amount signs294875 +Ref: #amount-signs295029 +Node: Setting currency/commodity295716 +Ref: #setting-currencycommodity295904 +Node: Amount decimal places297084 +Ref: #amount-decimal-places297276 +Node: Referencing other fields297588 +Ref: #referencing-other-fields297787 +Node: How CSV rules are evaluated298685 +Ref: #how-csv-rules-are-evaluated298860 +Node: TIMECLOCK FORMAT300309 +Ref: #timeclock-format300449 +Node: TIMEDOT FORMAT302517 +Ref: #timedot-format302655 +Node: COMMON TASKS307214 +Ref: #common-tasks307343 +Node: Getting help307750 +Ref: #getting-help307884 +Node: Constructing command lines308435 +Ref: #constructing-command-lines308629 +Node: Starting a journal file309328 +Ref: #starting-a-journal-file309528 +Node: Setting opening balances310715 +Ref: #setting-opening-balances310913 +Node: Recording transactions314046 +Ref: #recording-transactions314228 +Node: Reconciling314785 +Ref: #reconciling314930 +Node: Reporting317175 +Ref: #reporting317317 +Node: Migrating to a new file321237 +Ref: #migrating-to-a-new-file321387 +Node: LIMITATIONS321685 +Ref: #limitations321813 +Node: TROUBLESHOOTING322554 +Ref: #troubleshooting322669 + +End Tag Table diff --git a/hledger.txt b/hledger.txt --- a/hledger.txt +++ b/hledger.txt @@ -6,7443 +6,7520 @@ NAME This is the command-line interface (CLI) for the hledger accounting tool. Here we also describe hledger's concepts and file formats. This - manual is for hledger 1.23. - -SYNOPSIS - hledger - - hledger [-f FILE] COMMAND [OPTIONS] [ARGS] - - hledger [-f FILE] ADDONCMD -- [OPTIONS] [ARGS] - -DESCRIPTION - hledger is a reliable, 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). - - The basic function of the hledger CLI is to read a plain text file - describing financial transactions (in accounting terms, a general jour- - nal) and print useful reports on standard output, or export them as - CSV. hledger can also read some other file formats such as CSV files, - translating them to journal format. Additionally, hledger lists other - hledger-* executables found in the user's $PATH and can invoke them as - subcommands. - - hledger reads data from one or more files in hledger journal, time- - clock, timedot, or CSV format specified with -f, or $LEDGER_FILE, or - $HOME/.hledger.journal (on windows, perhaps - C:/Users/USER/.hledger.journal). If using $LEDGER_FILE, note this must - be a real environment variable, not a shell variable. You can specify - standard input with -f-. - - Transactions are dated movements of money between two (or more) named - accounts, and are recorded with journal entries like this: - - 2015/10/16 bought food - expenses:food $10 - assets:cash - - Most users use a text editor to edit the journal, usually with an edi- - tor mode such as ledger-mode for added convenience. hledger's interac- - tive add command is another way to record new transactions. hledger - never changes existing transactions. - - To get started, you can either save some entries like the above in - ~/.hledger.journal, or run hledger add and follow the prompts. Then - try some commands like hledger print or hledger balance. Run hledger - with no arguments for a list of commands. - -OPTIONS - General options - To see general usage help, including general options which are sup- - ported by most hledger commands, run hledger -h. - - General help options: - - -h --help - show general or COMMAND help - - --man show general or COMMAND user manual with man - - --info show general or COMMAND user manual with info - - --version - show general or ADDONCMD version - - --debug[=N] - show debug output (levels 1-9, default: 1) - - General input options: - - -f FILE --file=FILE - use a different input file. For stdin, use - (default: - $LEDGER_FILE or $HOME/.hledger.journal) - - --rules-file=RULESFILE - Conversion rules file to use when reading CSV (default: - FILE.rules) - - --separator=CHAR - Field separator to expect when reading CSV (default: ',') - - --alias=OLD=NEW - rename accounts named OLD to NEW - - --anon anonymize accounts and payees - - --pivot FIELDNAME - use some other field or tag for the account name - - -I --ignore-assertions - disable balance assertion checks (note: does not disable balance - assignments) - - -s --strict - do extra error checking (check that all posted accounts are - declared) - - General reporting options: - - -b --begin=DATE - include postings/txns on or after this date (will be adjusted to - preceding subperiod start when using a report interval) - - -e --end=DATE - include postings/txns before this date (will be adjusted to fol- - lowing subperiod end when using a report interval) - - -D --daily - multiperiod/multicolumn report by day - - -W --weekly - multiperiod/multicolumn report by week - - -M --monthly - multiperiod/multicolumn report by month - - -Q --quarterly - multiperiod/multicolumn report by quarter - - -Y --yearly - multiperiod/multicolumn report by year - - -p --period=PERIODEXP - set start date, end date, and/or reporting interval all at once - using period expressions syntax - - --date2 - match the secondary date instead (see command help for other - effects) - - --today=DATE - override today's date (affects relative smart dates, for - tests/examples) - - -U --unmarked - include only unmarked postings/txns (can combine with -P or -C) - - -P --pending - include only pending postings/txns - - -C --cleared - include only cleared postings/txns - - -R --real - include only non-virtual postings - - -NUM --depth=NUM - hide/aggregate accounts or postings more than NUM levels deep - - -E --empty - show items with zero amount, normally hidden (and vice-versa in - hledger-ui/hledger-web) - - -B --cost - convert amounts to their cost/selling amount at transaction time - - -V --market - convert amounts to their market value in default valuation com- - modities - - -X --exchange=COMM - convert amounts to their market value in commodity COMM - - --value - convert amounts to cost or market value, more flexibly than - -B/-V/-X - - --infer-market-prices - use transaction prices (recorded with @ or @@) as additional - market prices, as if they were P directives - - --auto apply automated posting rules to modify transactions. - - --forecast - generate future transactions from periodic transaction rules, - for the next 6 months or till report end date. In hledger-ui, - also make ordinary future transactions visible. - - --commodity-style - Override the commodity style in the output for the specified - commodity. For example 'EUR1.000,00'. - - --color=WHEN (or --colour=WHEN) - Should color-supporting commands use ANSI color codes in text - output. 'auto' (default): whenever stdout seems to be a color- - supporting terminal. 'always' or 'yes': always, useful eg when - piping output into 'less -R'. 'never' or 'no': never. A - NO_COLOR environment variable overrides this. - - --pretty[=WHEN] - Show prettier output, e.g. using unicode box-drawing charac- - ters. Accepts 'yes' (the default) or 'no' ('y', 'n', 'always', - 'never' also work). If you provide an argument you must use - '=', e.g. '--pretty=yes'. - - When a reporting option appears more than once in the command line, the - last one takes precedence. - - Some reporting options can also be written as query arguments. - - Command options - To see options for a particular command, including command-specific - options, run: hledger COMMAND -h. - - Command-specific options must be written after the command name, eg: - hledger print -x. - - Additionally, if the command is an add-on, you may need to put its - options after a double-hyphen, eg: hledger ui -- --watch. Or, you can - run the add-on executable directly: hledger-ui --watch. - - Command arguments - Most hledger commands accept arguments after the command name, which - are often a query, filtering the data in some way. - - You can save a set of command line options/arguments in a file, and - then reuse them by writing @FILENAME as a command line argument. Eg: - hledger bal @foo.args. (To prevent this, eg if you have an argument - that begins with a literal @, precede it with --, eg: hledger bal -- - @ARG). - - Inside the argument file, each line should contain just one option or - argument. Avoid the use of spaces, except inside quotes (or you'll see - a confusing error). Between a flag and its argument, use = (or noth- - ing). Bad: - - assets depth:2 - -X USD - - Good: - - assets - depth:2 - -X=USD - - For special characters (see below), use one less level of quoting than - you would at the command prompt. Bad: - - -X"$" - - Good: - - -X$ - - See also: Save frequently used options. - - Special characters - Single escaping (shell metacharacters) - In shell command lines, characters significant to your shell - such as - spaces, <, >, (, ), |, $ and \ - should be "shell-escaped" if you want - hledger to see them. This is done by enclosing them in single or dou- - ble quotes, or by writing a backslash before them. Eg to match an - account name containing a space: - - $ hledger register 'credit card' - - or: - - $ hledger register credit\ card - - Windows users should keep in mind that cmd treats single quote as a - regular character, so you should be using double quotes exclusively. - PowerShell treats both single and double quotes as quotes. - - Double escaping (regular expression metacharacters) - Characters significant in regular expressions (described below) - such - as ., ^, $, [, ], (, ), |, and \ - may need to be "regex-escaped" if - you don't want them to be interpreted by hledger'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 $ sign while - using the bash shell: - - $ hledger balance cur:'\$' - - or: - - $ hledger balance cur:\\$ - - Triple escaping (for add-on commands) - When you use hledger to run an external add-on command (described - below), one level of shell-escaping is lost from any options or argu- - ments intended for by the add-on command, so those need an extra level - of shell-escaping. Eg to match a literal $ sign while using the bash - shell and running an add-on command (ui): - - $ hledger ui cur:'\\$' - - or: - - $ hledger ui cur:\\\\$ - - If you wondered why four backslashes, perhaps this helps: - - - unescaped: $ - escaped: \$ - double-escaped: \\$ - triple-escaped: \\\\$ - - Or, you can avoid the extra escaping by running the add-on executable - directly: - - $ hledger-ui cur:\\$ - - Less escaping - 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: - - o an @argumentfile - - o hledger-ui's filter field - - o hledger-web's search form - - o GHCI's prompt (used by developers). - - Unicode characters - hledger is expected to handle non-ascii characters correctly: - - o they should be parsed correctly in input files and on the command - line, by all hledger tools (add, iadd, hledger-web's search/add/edit - forms, etc.) - - o they should be displayed correctly by all hledger tools, and on- - screen alignment should be preserved. - - This requires a well-configured environment. Here are some tips: - - o 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: export LANG=en_US.UTF-8. There are some more details in Trou- - bleshooting. This step is essential - without it, hledger will quit - on encountering a non-ascii character (as with all GHC-compiled pro- - grams). - - o your terminal software (eg Terminal.app, iTerm, CMD.exe, xterm..) - must support unicode - - o the terminal must be using a font which includes the required unicode - glyphs - - o the terminal should be configured to display wide characters as dou- - ble width (for report alignment) - - o 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 stan- - dard 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). - - Regular expressions - hledger uses regular expressions in a number of places: - - o query terms, on the command line and in the hledger-web search form: - REGEX, desc:REGEX, cur:REGEX, tag:...=REGEX - - o CSV rules conditional blocks: if REGEX ... - - o account alias directives and options: alias /REGEX/ = REPLACEMENT, - --alias /REGEX/=REPLACEMENT - - hledger's regular expressions come from the regex-tdfa library. If - they're not doing what you expect, it's important to know exactly what - they support: - - 1. they are case insensitive - - 2. they are infix matching (they do not need to match the entire thing - being matched) - - 3. they are POSIX ERE (extended regular expressions) - - 4. they also support GNU word boundaries (\b, \B, \<, \>) - - 5. they do not support backreferences; if you write \1, it will match - the digit 1. 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. - - 6. they do not support mode modifiers ((?s)), character classes (\w, - \d), or anything else not mentioned above. - - Some things to note: - - o In the alias directive and --alias option, regular expressions must - be enclosed in forward slashes (/REGEX/). Elsewhere in hledger, - these are not required. - - o In queries, to match a regular expression metacharacter like $ as a - literal character, prepend a backslash. Eg to search for amounts - with the dollar sign in hledger-web, write cur:\$. - - o On the command line, some metacharacters like $ have a special mean- - ing to the shell and so must be escaped at least once more. See Spe- - cial characters. - -ENVIRONMENT - LEDGER_FILE The journal file path when not specified with -f. Default: - ~/.hledger.journal (on windows, perhaps C:/Users/USER/.hledger.jour- - nal). - - A typical value is ~/DIR/YYYY.journal, where DIR is a version-con- - trolled finance directory and YYYY is the current year. Or ~/DIR/cur- - rent.journal, where current.journal is a symbolic link to YYYY.journal. - - On Mac computers, you can set this and other environment variables in a - more thorough way that also affects applications started from the GUI - (say, an Emacs dock icon). Eg on MacOS Catalina I have a - ~/.MacOSX/environment.plist file containing - - { - "LEDGER_FILE" : "~/finance/current.journal" - } - - To see the effect you may need to killall Dock, or reboot. - - COLUMNS The screen width used by the register command. Default: the - full terminal width. - - NO_COLOR If this variable exists with any value, hledger will not use - ANSI color codes in terminal output. This is overriden by the - --color/--colour option. - -DATA FILES - hledger reads transactions from one or more data files. The default - data file is $HOME/.hledger.journal (or on Windows, something like - C:/Users/USER/.hledger.journal). - - You can override this with the $LEDGER_FILE environment variable: - - $ setenv LEDGER_FILE ~/finance/2016.journal - $ hledger stats - - or with one or more -f/--file options: - - $ hledger -f /some/file -f another_file stats - - The file name - means standard input: - - $ cat some.journal | hledger -f- - - Data formats - Usually the data file is in hledger's journal format, but it can be in - any of the supported file formats, which currently are: - - - Reader: Reads: Used for file exten- - sions: - ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- - journal hledger journal files and some Ledger .journal .j .hledger - journals, for transactions .ledger - time- timeclock files, for precise time log- .timeclock - clock ging - timedot timedot files, for approximate time .timedot - logging - csv comma/semicolon/tab/other-separated .csv .ssv .tsv - values, for data import - - These formats are described in their own sections, below. - - hledger detects the format automatically based on the file extensions - shown above. If it can't recognise the file extension, it assumes - journal format. So for non-journal files, it's important to use a - recognised file extension, so as to either read successfully or to show - relevant error messages. - - 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: - - $ hledger -f csv:/some/csv-file.dat stats - - Or to read stdin (-) as timeclock format: - - $ echo 'i 2009/13/1 08:00:00' | hledger print -ftimeclock:- - - Multiple files - You can specify multiple -f options, to read multiple files as one big - journal. There are some limitations with this: - - o most directives do not affect sibling files - - o balance assertions will not see any account balances from previous - files - - If you need either of those things, you can - - o use a single parent file which includes the others - - o or concatenate the files into one before reading, eg: cat a.journal - b.journal | hledger -f- CMD. - - Strict mode - hledger checks input files for valid data. By default, the most impor- - tant errors are detected, while still accepting easy journal files - without a lot of declarations: - - o Are the input files parseable, with valid syntax ? - - o Are all transactions balanced ? - - o Do all balance assertions pass ? - - With the -s/--strict flag, additional checks are performed: - - o Are all accounts posted to, declared with an account directive ? - (Account error checking) - - o Are all commodities declared with a commodity directive ? (Commodity - error checking) - - o Are all commodity conversions declared explicitly ? - - You can also use the check command to run these and some additional - checks. - -TIME PERIODS - Smart dates - hledger's user interfaces accept a flexible "smart date" syntax. Smart - dates allow some english words, can be relative to today's date, and - can have less-significant date parts omitted (defaulting to 1). - - Examples: - - - 2004/10/1, 2004-01-01, exact date, several separators allowed. Year - 2004.9.1 is 4+ digits, month is 1-12, day is 1-31 - 2004 start of year - 2004/10 start of month - 10/1 month and day in current year - 21 day in current month - october, oct start of month in current year - yesterday, today, tomor- -1, 0, 1 days from today - row - last/this/next -1, 0, 1 periods from the current period - day/week/month/quar- - ter/year - 20181201 8 digit YYYYMMDD with valid year month and day - 201812 6 digit YYYYMM with valid year and month - - Counterexamples - malformed digit sequences might give surprising - results: - - - 201813 6 digits with an invalid month is parsed as start of - 6-digit year - 20181301 8 digits with an invalid month is parsed as start of - 8-digit year - 20181232 8 digits with an invalid day gives an error - 201801012 9+ digits beginning with a valid YYYYMMDD gives an error - - Note "today's date" can be overridden with the --today option, in case - it's needed for testing or for recreating old reports. (Except for - periodic transaction rules; those are not affected by --today.) - - - Report start & end date - By default, most hledger reports will show the full span of time repre- - sented by the journal data. 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. - - 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 -b/--begin, - -e/--end, -p/--period or a date: query (described below). All of these - accept the smart date syntax. - - Some notes: - - o End dates are exclusive, as in Ledger, so you should write the date - after the last day you want to see in the report. - - o As noted in reporting options: among start/end dates specified with - options, the last (i.e. right-most) option takes precedence. - - o The effective report start and end dates are the intersection of the - start/end dates from options and that from date: queries. That is, - date:2019-01 date:2019 -p'2000 to 2030' yields January 2019, the - smallest common time span. - - o A report interval (see below) will adjust start/end dates, when - needed, so that they fall on subperiod boundaries. - - Examples: - - - -b 2016/3/17 begin on St. Patrick's day 2016 - -e 12/1 end at the start of december 1st of the current year - (11/30 will be the last date included) - -b thismonth all transactions on or after the 1st of the current month - -p thismonth all transactions in the current month - date:2016/3/17.. the above written as queries instead (.. can also be - replaced with -) - date:..12/1 - date:thismonth.. - date:thismonth - - Report intervals - A report interval can be specified so that commands like register, bal- - ance and activity become multi-period, showing each subperiod as a sep- - arate row or column. - - The following "standard" report intervals can be enabled by using their - corresponding flag: - - o -D/--daily - - o -W/--weekly - - o -M/--monthly - - o -Q/--quarterly - - o -Y/--yearly - - These standard intervals always start on natural interval boundaries: - eg --weekly starts on mondays, --monthly starts on the first of the - month, --yearly always starts on January 1st, etc. - - Certain more complex intervals, and more flexible boundary dates, can - be specified by -p/--period. These are described in period expres- - sions, below. - - Report intervals can only be specified by the flags above, and not by - query arguments, currently. - - Report intervals have another effect: multi-period reports are always - expanded to fill a whole number of subperiods. So if you use a report - interval (other than --daily), and you have specified a start or end - date, you may notice those dates being overridden (ie, the report - starts earlier than your requested start date, or ends later than your - requested end date). This is done to ensure "full" first and last sub- - periods, so that all subperiods' numbers are comparable. - - To summarise: - - o In multiperiod reports, all subperiods are forced to be the same - length, to simplify reporting. - - o Reports with the standard --weekly/--monthly/--quarterly/--yearly - intervals are required to start on the first day of a - week/month/quarter/year. We'd like more flexibility here but it - isn't supported yet. - - o --period (below) can specify more complex intervals, starting on any - date. - - Period expressions - The -p/--period option accepts period expressions, a shorthand way of - expressing a start date, end date, and/or report interval all at once. - - Here's a basic period expression specifying the first quarter of 2009. - Note, hledger always treats start dates as inclusive and end dates as - exclusive: - - - -p "from 2009/1/1 to 2009/4/1" - - Keywords like "from" and "to" are optional, and so are the spaces, as - long as you don't run two dates together. "to" can also be written as - ".." or "-". These are equivalent to the above: - - - -p "2009/1/1 2009/4/1" - -p2009/1/1to2009/4/1 - -p2009/1/1..2009/4/1 - - Dates are smart dates, so if the current year is 2009, the above can - also be written as: - - - -p "1/1 4/1" - -p "january-apr" - -p "this year to 4/1" - - If you specify only one date, the missing start or end date will be the - earliest or latest transaction in your journal: - - - - -p "from 2009/1/1" everything after january - 1, 2009 - -p "from 2009/1" the same - -p "from 2009" the same - -p "to 2009" everything before january - 1, 2009 - - A single date with no "from" or "to" defines both the start and end - date like so: - - - -p "2009" the year 2009; equivalent - to "2009/1/1 to 2010/1/1" - -p "2009/1" the month of jan; equiva- - lent to "2009/1/1 to - 2009/2/1" - -p "2009/1/1" just that day; equivalent - to "2009/1/1 to 2009/1/2" - - Or you can specify a single quarter like so: - - - -p "2009Q1" first quarter of 2009, - equivalent to "2009/1/1 to - 2009/4/1" - -p "q4" fourth quarter of the cur- - rent year - - Period expressions with a report interval - -p/--period's argument can also begin with, or entirely consist of, a - report interval. This should be separated from the start/end dates (if - any) by a space, or the word in. The basic intervals (which can also - be written as command line flags) are daily, weekly, monthly, quar- - terly, and yearly. Some examples: - - - -p "weekly from 2009/1/1 to 2009/4/1" - -p "monthly in 2008" - -p "quarterly" - - As mentioned above, the weekly, monthly, quarterly and yearly intervals - require a report start date that is the first day of a week, month, - quarter or year. And, report start/end dates will be expanded if - needed to span a whole number of intervals. - - For example: - - - -p "weekly from 2009/1/1 starts on 2008/12/29, closest preceding Mon- - to 2009/4/1" day - -p "monthly in starts on 2018/11/01 - 2008/11/25" - -p "quarterly from starts on 2009/04/01, ends on 2009/06/30, - 2009-05-05 to 2009-06-01" which are first and last days of Q2 2009 - -p "yearly from starts on 2009/01/01, first day of 2009 - 2009-12-29" - - More complex report intervals - Some more complex kinds of interval are also supported in period - expressions: - - o biweekly - - o fortnightly - - o bimonthly - - o every day|week|month|quarter|year - - o every N days|weeks|months|quarters|years - - These too will cause report start/end dates to be expanded, if needed, - to span a whole number of intervals. Examples: - - - -p "bimonthly from 2008" periods will have boundaries on 2008/01/01, - 2008/03/01, ... - -p "every 2 weeks" starts on closest preceding Monday - -p "every 5 month from periods will have boundaries on 2009/03/01, - 2009/03" 2009/08/01, ... - - Intervals with custom start date - All intervals mentioned above are required to start on their natural - calendar boundaries, but the following intervals can start on any date: - - Weekly on custom day: - - o every Nth day of week (th, nd, rd, or st are all accepted after the - number) - - o every WEEKDAYNAME (full or three-letter english weekday name, case - insensitive) - - Monthly on custom day: - - o every Nth day [of month] - - o every Nth WEEKDAYNAME [of month] - - Yearly on custom day: - - o every MM/DD [of year] (month number and day of month number) - - o every MONTHNAME DDth [of year] (full or three-letter english month - name, case insensitive, and day of month number) - - o every DDth MONTHNAME [of year] (equivalent to the above) - - Examples: - - - -p "every 2nd day of periods will go from Tue to Tue - week" - -p "every Tue" same - -p "every 15th day" period boundaries will be on 15th of each - month - -p "every 2nd Monday" period boundaries will be on second Monday of - each month - -p "every 11/05" yearly periods with boundaries on 5th of - November - -p "every 5th November" same - -p "every Nov 5th" same - - Show historical balances at end of the 15th day of each month (N is an - end date, exclusive as always): - - $ hledger balance -H -p "every 16th day" - - Group postings from the start of wednesday to end of the following - tuesday (N is both (inclusive) start date and (exclusive) end date): - - $ hledger register checking -p "every 3rd day of week" - - Periods or dates ? - Report intervals like the above are most often used with -p|--period, - to divide reports into multiple subperiods - each generated date marks - a subperiod boundary. Here, the periods between the dates are what's - important. - - But report intervals can also be used with --forecast to generate - future transactions, or with balance --budget to generate budget goal- - setting transactions. For these, the dates themselves are what mat- - ters. - - Events on multiple weekdays - The every WEEKDAYNAME form has a special variant with multiple day - names, comma-separated. Eg: every mon,thu,sat. Also, weekday and - weekendday are shorthand for mon,tue,wed,thu,fri and sat,sun respec- - tively. - - This form is mainly intended for use with --forecast, to generate peri- - odic transactions on arbitrary days of the week. It may be less useful - with -p, since it divides each week into subperiods of unequal length. - (Because gaps between periods are not allowed; if you'd like to change - this, see #1632.) - - Examples: - - - -p "every dates will be Mon, Wed, Fri; periods will be Mon- - mon,wed,fri" Tue, Wed-Thu, Fri-Sun - -p "every weekday" dates will be Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri; periods will - be Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri-Sun - -p "every weekend- dates will be Sat, Sun; periods will be Sat, Sun-Fri - day" - -DEPTH - With the --depth NUM option (short form: -NUM), commands like account, - balance and register will show only the uppermost accounts in the - account tree, down to level NUM. Use this when you want a summary with - less detail. This flag has the same effect as a depth: query argument: - depth:2, --depth=2 or -2 are equivalent. - -QUERIES - One of hledger's strengths is being able to quickly report on a precise - subset of your data. Most hledger commands accept optional query argu- - ments to restrict their scope. The syntax is as follows: - - o Zero or more space-separated query terms. These are most often - account name substrings: - - utilities food:groceries - - o Terms with spaces or other special characters should be enclosed in - quotes: - - "personal care" - - o Regular expressions are also supported: - - "^expenses\b" "accounts (payable|receivable)" - - o Add a query type prefix to match other parts of the data: - - date:202012- desc:amazon cur:USD amt:">100" status: - - o Add a not: prefix to negate a term: - - not:cur:USD - - Query types - Here are the types of query term available. Remember these can also be - prefixed with not: to convert them into a negative match. - - acct:REGEX, REGEX - Match account names containing this (case insensitive) regular expres- - sion. This is the default query type when there is no prefix, and reg- - ular expression syntax is typically not needed, so usually we just - write an account name substring, like expenses or food. - - amt:N, amt:N, amt:>=N - 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. Oth- - erwise, the absolute magnitudes are compared, ignoring sign. - - code:REGEX - Match by transaction code (eg check number). - - cur:REGEX - Match postings or transactions including any amounts whose cur- - rency/commodity symbol is fully matched by REGEX. (For a partial - match, use .*REGEX.*). Note, to match special characters which are - regex-significant, you need to escape them with \. And for characters - which are significant to your shell you may need one more level of - escaping. So eg to match the dollar sign: - hledger print cur:\\$. - - desc:REGEX - Match transaction descriptions. - - date:PERIODEXPR - Match dates (or with the --date2 flag, secondary dates) within the - specified period. PERIODEXPR is a period expression with no report - interval. Examples: - date:2016, date:thismonth, date:2/1-2/15, date:2021-07-27..nextquarter. - - date2:PERIODEXPR - Match secondary dates within the specified period (independent of the - --date2 flag). - - depth:N - Match (or display, depending on command) accounts at or above this - depth. - - note:REGEX - Match transaction notes (the part of the description right of |, or the - whole description if there's no |). - - payee:REGEX - Match transaction payee/payer names (the part of the description left - of |, or the whole description if there's no |). - - real:, real:0 - Match real or virtual postings respectively. - - status:, status:!, status:* - Match unmarked, pending, or cleared transactions respectively. - - tag:REGEX[=REGEX] - Match by tag name, and optionally also by tag value. (To match only by - value, use tag:.=REGEX.) Note that postings also inherit tags from - their transaction, and transactions also acquire tags from their post- - ings, when querying. - - (inacct:ACCTNAME - A special query term used automatically in hledger-web only: tells - hledger-web to show the transaction register for an account.) - - Combining query terms - Most commands select things which match: - - o any of the description terms AND - - o any of the account terms AND - - o any of the status terms AND - - o all the other terms. - - while the print command shows transactions which: - - o match any of the description terms AND - - o have any postings matching any of the positive account terms AND - - o have no postings matching any of the negative account terms AND - - o match all the other terms. - - You can do more powerful queries (such as AND-ing two like terms) by - running a first query with print, and piping the result into a second - hledger command. Eg: how much of food expenses was paid with cash ? - - $ hledger print assets:cash | hledger -f- -I balance expenses:food - - If you are interested in full boolean expressions for queries, see - #203. - - Queries and command options - Some queries can also be expressed as command-line options: depth:2 is - equivalent to --depth 2, date:2020 is equivalent to -p 2020, etc. When - you mix command options and query arguments, generally the resulting - query is their intersection. - - Queries and account aliases - When account names are rewritten with --alias or alias, acct: will - match either the old or the new account name. - - Queries and valuation - When amounts are converted to other commodities in cost or value - reports, cur: and amt: match the old commodity symbol and the old - amount quantity, not the new ones (except in hledger 1.22.0 where it's - reversed, see #1625). - - Querying with account aliases - When account names are rewritten with --alias or alias, note that acct: - will match either the old or the new account name. - - Querying with cost or value - When amounts are converted to other commodities in cost or value - reports, note that cur: matches the new commodity symbol, and not the - old one, and amt: 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. - -COSTING - The -B/--cost flag converts amounts to their cost or sale amount at - transaction time, if they have a transaction price specified. If this - flag is supplied, hledger will perform cost conversion first, and will - apply any market price valuations (if requested) afterwards. - -VALUATION - 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 --value=TYPE[,COMMODITY] - option, which will be described below. We also provide the simpler -V - and -X COMMODITY options, and often one of these is all you need: - - -V: Value - The -V/--market flag converts amounts to market value in their default - valuation commodity, using the market prices in effect on the valuation - date(s), if any. More on these in a minute. - - -X: Value in specified commodity - The -X/--exchange=COMM option is like -V, except you tell it which cur- - rency you want to convert to, and it tries to convert everything to - that. - - Valuation date - 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. - - 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's end date. - - For multiperiod reports, each column/period is valued on the last day - of the period, by default. - - Market prices - 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 : - - 1. A declared market price or inferred market price: A's latest market - price in B on or before the valuation date as declared by a P direc- - tive, or (with the --infer-market-prices flag) inferred from trans- - action prices. - - 2. A reverse market price: the inverse of a declared or inferred market - price from B to A. - - 3. A forward chain of market prices: a synthetic price formed by com- - bining the shortest chain of "forward" (only 1 above) market prices, - leading from A to B. - - 4. Any chain of market prices: a chain of any market prices, including - both forward and reverse prices (1 and 2 above), leading from A to - B. - - 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 "gave up" message visible in - --debug=2 output). That limit is currently 1000. - - Amounts for which no suitable market price can be found, are not con- - verted. - - --infer-market-prices: market prices from transactions - 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 transaction prices as additional market - prices (as Ledger does) ? We could produce value reports without need- - ing P directives at all. - - Adding the --infer-market-prices flag to -V, -X or --value enables - this. So for example, hledger bs -V --infer-market-prices will get - market prices both from P directives and from transactions. (And if - both occur on the same day, the P directive takes precedence). - - There is a downside: value reports can sometimes be affected in confus- - ing/undesired ways by your journal entries. If this happens to you, - read all of this Valuation section carefully, and try adding --debug or - --debug=2 to troubleshoot. - - --infer-market-prices can infer market prices from: - - o multicommodity transactions with explicit prices (@/@@) - - o multicommodity transactions with implicit prices (no @, two commodi- - ties, unbalanced). (With these, the order of postings matters. - hledger print -x can be useful for troubleshooting.) - - o but not, currently, from "more correct" multicommodity transactions - (no @, multiple commodities, balanced). - - Valuation commodity - When you specify a valuation commodity (-X COMM or --value TYPE,COMM): - hledger will convert all amounts to COMM, wherever it can find a suit- - able market price (including by reversing or chaining prices). - - When you leave the valuation commodity unspecified (-V or --value - TYPE): - For each commodity A, hledger picks a default valuation commodity as - follows, in this order of preference: - - 1. The price commodity from the latest P-declared market price for A on - or before valuation date. - - 2. 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.) - - 3. If there are no P directives at all (any commodity or date) and the - --infer-market-prices flag is used: the price commodity from the - latest transaction-inferred price for A on or before valuation date. - - This means: - - o If you have P directives, they determine which commodities -V will - convert, and to what. - - o If you have no P directives, and use the --infer-market-prices flag, - transaction prices determine it. - - Amounts for which no valuation commodity can be found are not con- - verted. - - Simple valuation examples - Here are some quick examples of -V: - - ; one euro is worth this many dollars from nov 1 - P 2016/11/01 EUR $1.10 - - ; purchase some euros on nov 3 - 2016/11/3 - assets:euros EUR100 - assets:checking - - ; the euro is worth fewer dollars by dec 21 - P 2016/12/21 EUR $1.03 - - How many euros do I have ? - - $ hledger -f t.j bal -N euros - EUR100 assets:euros - - What are they worth at end of nov 3 ? - - $ hledger -f t.j bal -N euros -V -e 2016/11/4 - $110.00 assets:euros - - What are they worth after 2016/12/21 ? (no report end date specified, - defaults to today) - - $ hledger -f t.j bal -N euros -V - $103.00 assets:euros - - --value: Flexible valuation - -V and -X are special cases of the more general --value option: - - --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 - - The TYPE part selects cost or value and valuation date: - - --value=then - Convert amounts to their value in the default valuation commod- - ity, using market prices on each posting's date. - - --value=end - Convert amounts to their value in the default valuation commod- - ity, using market prices on the last day of the report period - (or if unspecified, the journal's end date); or in multiperiod - reports, market prices on the last day of each subperiod. - - --value=now - Convert amounts to their value in the default valuation commod- - ity using current market prices (as of when report is gener- - ated). - - --value=YYYY-MM-DD - Convert amounts to their value in the default valuation commod- - ity using market prices on this date. - - To select a different valuation commodity, add the optional ,COMM part: - a comma, then the target commodity's symbol. Eg: --value=now,EUR. - hledger will do its best to convert amounts to this commodity, deducing - market prices as described above. - - More valuation examples - Here are some examples showing the effect of --value, as seen with - print: - - 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 @ 5 B - - 2000-02-01 - (a) 1 A @ 6 B - - 2000-03-01 - (a) 1 A @ 7 B - - Show the cost of each posting: - - $ hledger -f- print --cost - 2000-01-01 - (a) 5 B - - 2000-02-01 - (a) 6 B - - 2000-03-01 - (a) 7 B - - Show the value as of the last day of the report period (2000-02-29): - - $ hledger -f- print --value=end date:2000/01-2000/03 - 2000-01-01 - (a) 2 B - - 2000-02-01 - (a) 2 B - - With no report period specified, that shows the value as of the last - day of the journal (2000-03-01): - - $ hledger -f- print --value=end - 2000-01-01 - (a) 3 B - - 2000-02-01 - (a) 3 B - - 2000-03-01 - (a) 3 B - - Show the current value (the 2000-04-01 price is still in effect today): - - $ hledger -f- print --value=now - 2000-01-01 - (a) 4 B - - 2000-02-01 - (a) 4 B - - 2000-03-01 - (a) 4 B - - Show the value on 2000/01/15: - - $ 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 - - You may need to explicitly set a commodity's display style, when - reverse prices are used. Eg this output might be surprising: - - P 2000-01-01 A 2B - - 2000-01-01 - a 1B - b - - $ hledger print -x -X A - 2000-01-01 - a 0 - b 0 - - Explanation: because there's no amount or commodity directive specify- - ing a display style for A, 0.5A gets the default style, which shows no - decimal digits. Because the displayed amount looks like zero, the com- - modity symbol and minus sign are not displayed either. Adding a com- - modity directive sets a more useful display style for A: - - P 2000-01-01 A 2B - commodity 0.00A - - 2000-01-01 - a 1B - b - - $ hledger print -X A - 2000-01-01 - a 0.50A - b -0.50A - - Effect of valuation on reports - Here is a reference for how valuation is supposed to affect each part - of hledger's reports (and a glossary). (It's wide, you'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. - - - - Report -B, --cost -V, -X --value=then --value=end --value=DATE, - type --value=now - ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - print - posting cost value at value at posting value at value at - amounts report end date report or DATE/today - or today journal end - balance unchanged unchanged unchanged unchanged unchanged - asser- - tions/assign- - ments - - register - starting bal- cost value at day valued at day value at day value at - ance (-H) before each historical before DATE/today - report or posting was made report or - journal journal - start start - posting cost value at value at posting value at value at - amounts report end date report or DATE/today - or today journal end - summary post- summarised value at sum of postings value at value at - ing amounts cost period ends in interval, val- period ends DATE/today - with report ued at interval - interval start - running sum/average sum/average sum/average of sum/average sum/average - total/average of displayed of displayed displayed values of displayed of displayed - values values values values - - balance (bs, - bse, cf, is) - balance sums of value at value at posting value at value at - changes costs report end date report or DATE/today of - or today of journal end sums of post- - sums of of sums of ings - postings postings - budget like balance like balance like balance like bal- like balance - amounts changes changes changes ances changes - (--budget) - grand total sum of dis- sum of dis- sum of displayed sum of dis- sum of dis- - played val- played val- valued played val- played values - ues ues ues - - balance (bs, - bse, cf, is) - with report - interval - starting bal- sums of value at sums of values of value at sums of post- - ances (-H) costs of report start postings before report start ings before - postings of sums of report start at of sums of report start - before all postings respective post- all postings - report start before ing dates before - report start report start - balance sums of same as sums of values of balance value at - changes (bal, costs of --value=end postings in change in DATE/today of - is, bs postings in period at respec- each period, sums of post- - --change, cf period tive posting valued at ings - --change) dates period ends - end balances sums of same as sums of values of period end value at - (bal -H, is costs of --value=end postings from balances, DATE/today of - --H, bs, cf) postings before period valued at sums of post- - from before start to period period ends ings - report start end at respective - to period posting dates - end - budget like balance like balance like balance like bal- like balance - amounts changes/end changes/end changes/end bal- ances changes/end - (--budget) balances balances ances balances - - - - - row totals, sums, aver- sums, aver- sums, averages of sums, aver- sums, aver- - row averages ages of dis- ages of dis- displayed values ages of dis- ages of dis- - (-T, -A) played val- played val- played val- played values - ues ues ues - column totals sums of dis- sums of dis- sums of displayed sums of dis- sums of dis- - played val- played val- values played val- played values - ues ues ues - grand total, sum, average sum, average sum, average of sum, average sum, average - grand average of column of column column totals of column of column - totals totals totals totals - - - --cumulative is omitted to save space, it works like -H but with a zero - starting balance. - - Glossary: - - cost calculated using price(s) recorded in the transaction(s). - - value market value using available market price declarations, or the - unchanged amount if no conversion rate can be found. - - report start - the first day of the report period specified with -b or -p or - date:, otherwise today. - - report or journal start - the first day of the report period specified with -b or -p or - date:, otherwise the earliest transaction date in the journal, - otherwise today. - - report end - the last day of the report period specified with -e or -p or - date:, otherwise today. - - report or journal end - the last day of the report period specified with -e or -p or - date:, otherwise the latest transaction date in the journal, - otherwise today. - - report interval - a flag (-D/-W/-M/-Q/-Y) or period expression that activates the - report's multi-period mode (whether showing one or many subperi- - ods). - -PIVOTING - Normally hledger sums amounts, and organizes them in a hierarchy, based - on account name. The --pivot FIELD option causes it to sum and orga- - nize hierarchy based on the value of some other field instead. FIELD - can be: code, description, payee, note, or the full name (case insensi- - tive) of any tag. As with account names, values containing colon:sepa- - rated:parts will be displayed hierarchically in reports. - - --pivot is a general option affecting all reports; you can think of - hledger transforming the journal before any other processing, replacing - every posting's account name with the value of the specified field on - that posting, inheriting it from the transaction or using a blank value - if it's not present. - - An example: - - 2016/02/16 Member Fee Payment - assets:bank account 2 EUR - income:member fees -2 EUR ; member: John Doe - - Normal balance report showing account names: - - $ hledger balance - 2 EUR assets:bank account - -2 EUR income:member fees - -------------------- - 0 - - Pivoted balance report, using member: tag values instead: - - $ hledger balance --pivot member - 2 EUR - -2 EUR John Doe - -------------------- - 0 - - One way to show only amounts with a member: value (using a query, - described below): - - $ hledger balance --pivot member tag:member=. - -2 EUR John Doe - -------------------- - -2 EUR - - Another way (the acct: query matches against the pivoted "account - name"): - - $ hledger balance --pivot member acct:. - -2 EUR John Doe - -------------------- - -2 EUR - -OUTPUT - Output destination - hledger commands send their output to the terminal by default. You can - of course redirect this, eg into a file, using standard shell syntax: - - $ hledger print > foo.txt - - Some commands (print, register, stats, the balance commands) also pro- - vide the -o/--output-file option, which does the same thing without - needing the shell. Eg: - - $ hledger print -o foo.txt - $ hledger print -o - # write to stdout (the default) - - hledger can optionally produce debug output (if enabled with - --debug=N); this goes to stderr, and is not affected by -o/--output- - file. If you need to capture it, use shell redirects, eg: hledger bal - --debug=3 >file 2>&1. - - Output styling - hledger commands can produce colour output when the terminal supports - it. This is controlled by the --color/--colour option: - if the - --color/--colour option is given a value of yes or always (or no or - never), colour will (or will not) be used; - otherwise, if the NO_COLOR - environment variable is set, colour will not be used; - otherwise, - colour will be used if the output (terminal or file) supports it. - - hledger commands can also use unicode box-drawing characters to produce - prettier tables and output. This is controlled by the --pretty option: - - if the --pretty option is given a value of yes or always (or no or - never), unicode characters will (or will not) be used; - otherwise, - unicode characters will not be used. - - Output format - Some commands (print, register, the balance commands) offer a choice of - output format. In addition to the usual plain text format (txt), there - are CSV (csv), HTML (html), JSON (json) and SQL (sql). This is con- - trolled by the -O/--output-format option: - - $ hledger print -O csv - - or, by a file extension specified with -o/--output-file: - - $ hledger balancesheet -o foo.html # write HTML to foo.html - - The -O option can be used to override the file extension if needed: - - $ hledger balancesheet -o foo.txt -O html # write HTML to foo.txt - - Some notes about JSON output: - - o This feature is marked experimental, and not yet much used; you - should expect our JSON to evolve. Real-world feedback is welcome. - - o Our JSON is rather large and verbose, as it is quite a faithful rep- - resentation of hledger'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. - - o 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'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) - - Notes about SQL output: - - o SQL output is also marked experimental, and much like JSON could use - real-world feedback. - - o SQL output is expected to work with sqlite, MySQL and PostgreSQL - - o SQL output is structured with the expectations that statements will - be executed in the empty database. If you already have tables cre- - ated via SQL output of hledger, you would probably want to either - clear tables of existing data (via delete or truncate SQL statements) - or drop tables completely as otherwise your postings will be duped. - - Commodity styles - The display style of a commodity/currency is inferred according to the - rules described in Commodity display style. The inferred display style - can be overridden by an optional -c/--commodity-style option (Excep- - tions: as is the case for inferred styles, price amounts, and all - amounts displayed by the print command, will be displayed with all of - their decimal digits visible, regardless of the specified precision). - For example, the following will override the display style for dollars. - - $ hledger print -c '$1.000,0' - - The format specification of the style is identical to the commodity - display style specification for the commodity directive. The command - line option can be supplied repeatedly to override the display style - for multiple commodity/currency symbols. - -COMMANDS - hledger provides a number of commands for producing reports and manag- - ing your data. Run hledger with no arguments to list the commands - available, and hledger CMD to run a command. CMD can be the full com- - mand name, or its standard abbreviation shown in the commands list, or - any unambiguous prefix of the name. Eg: hledger bal. - - Here are the built-in commands, with the most often-used in bold: - - Data entry: - - These data entry commands are the only ones which can modify your jour- - nal file. - - o add - add transactions using guided prompts - - o import - add any new transactions from other files (eg csv) - - Data management: - - o check - check for various kinds of issue in the data - - o close (equity) - generate balance-resetting transactions - - o diff - compare account transactions in two journal files - - o rewrite - generate extra postings, similar to print --auto - - Financial statements: - - o aregister (areg) - show transactions in a particular account - - o balancesheet (bs) - show assets, liabilities and net worth - - o balancesheetequity (bse) - show assets, liabilities and equity - - o cashflow (cf) - show changes in liquid assets - - o incomestatement (is) - show revenues and expenses - - o roi - show return on investments - - Miscellaneous reports: - - o accounts - show account names - - o activity - show postings-per-interval bar charts - - o balance (bal) - show balance changes/end balances/budgets in any - accounts - - o codes - show transaction codes - - o commodities - show commodity/currency symbols - - o descriptions - show unique transaction descriptions - - o files - show input file paths - - o help - show hledger user manuals in several formats - - o notes - show unique note segments of transaction descriptions - - o payees - show unique payee segments of transaction descriptions - - o prices - show market price records - - o print - show transactions (journal entries) - - o print-unique - show only transactions with unique descriptions - - o register (reg) - show postings in one or more accounts & running - total - - o register-match - show a recent posting that best matches a descrip- - tion - - o stats - show journal statistics - - o tags - show tag names - - o test - run self tests - - Add-on commands: - - Programs or scripts named hledger-SOMETHING in your PATH are add-on - commands; these appear in the commands list with a + mark. Two of - these are maintained and released with hledger: - - o ui - an efficient terminal interface (TUI) for hledger - - o web - a simple web interface (WUI) for hledger - - And these add-ons are maintained separately: - - o iadd - a more interactive alternative for the add command - - o interest - generates interest transactions according to various - schemes - - o stockquotes - downloads market prices for your commodities from - AlphaVantage (experimental) - - Next, the detailed command docs, in alphabetical order. - - accounts - accounts - Show account names. - - This command lists account names, either declared with account direc- - tives (--declared), posted to (--used), or both (the default). With - query arguments, only matched account names and account names refer- - enced by matched postings are shown. It shows a flat list by default. - With --tree, it uses indentation to show the account hierarchy. In - flat mode you can add --drop N to omit the first few account name com- - ponents. Account names can be depth-clipped with depth:N or --depth N - or -N. - - Examples: - - $ hledger accounts - assets:bank:checking - assets:bank:saving - assets:cash - expenses:food - expenses:supplies - income:gifts - income:salary - liabilities:debts - - activity - activity - Show an ascii barchart of posting counts per interval. - - 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. - - Examples: - - $ hledger activity --quarterly - 2008-01-01 ** - 2008-04-01 ******* - 2008-07-01 - 2008-10-01 ** - - add - add - Prompt for transactions and add them to the journal. Any arguments - will be used as default inputs for the first N prompts. - - Many hledger users edit their journals directly with a text editor, or - generate them from CSV. For more interactive data entry, there is the - add command, which prompts interactively on the console for new trans- - actions, and appends them to the journal file (if there are multiple -f - FILE options, the first file is used.) Existing transactions are not - changed. This is the only hledger command that writes to the journal - file. - - To use it, just run hledger add and follow the prompts. You can add as - many transactions as you like; when you are finished, enter . or press - control-d or control-c to exit. - - Features: - - o add tries to provide useful defaults, using the most similar (by - description) recent transaction (filtered by the query, if any) as a - template. - - o You can also set the initial defaults with command line arguments. - - o Readline-style edit keys can be used during data entry. - - o The tab key will auto-complete whenever possible - accounts, descrip- - tions, dates (yesterday, today, tomorrow). If the input area is - empty, it will insert the default value. - - o If the journal defines a default commodity, it will be added to any - bare numbers entered. - - o A parenthesised transaction code may be entered following a date. - - o Comments and tags may be entered following a description or amount. - - o If you make a mistake, enter < at any prompt to go one step backward. - - o Input prompts are displayed in a different colour when the terminal - supports it. - - Example (see the tutorial for a detailed explanation): - - $ 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]: $ - - 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). - - aregister - aregister, areg - - Show the transactions and running historical balance of a single - account, with each transaction displayed as one line. - - aregister 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 (--historical mode is always on). - - This is a more "real world", bank-like view than the register command - (which shows individual postings, possibly from multiple accounts, not - necessarily in historical mode). As a quick rule of thumb: - use areg- - ister for reviewing and reconciling real-world asset/liability accounts - - use register for reviewing detailed revenues/expenses. - - aregister 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. - (Eg if you have assets:aaa:checking and assets:bbb:checking accounts, - hledger areg checking would select assets:aaa:checking.) - - Transactions involving subaccounts of this account will also be shown. - aregister ignores depth limits, so its final total will always match a - balance report with similar arguments. - - Any additional arguments form a query which will filter the transac- - tions shown. Note some queries will disturb the running balance, caus- - ing it to be different from the account's real-world running balance. - - An example: this shows the transactions and historical running balance - during july, in the first account whose name contains "checking": - - $ hledger areg checking date:jul - - Each aregister line item shows: - - o the transaction's date (or the relevant posting's date if different, - see below) - - o the names of all the other account(s) involved in this transaction - (probably abbreviated) - - o the total change to this account's balance from this transaction - - o the account's historical running balance after this transaction. - - Transactions making a net change of zero are not shown by default; add - the -E/--empty flag to show them. - - This command also supports the output destination and output format - options. The output formats supported are txt, csv, and json. - - aregister and custom posting dates - 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's the posting date that is shown.) This - ensures that aregister can show an accurate historical running balance, - matching the one shown by register -H with the same arguments. - - To filter strictly by transaction date instead, add the --txn-dates - flag. If you use this flag and some of your postings have custom - dates, it's probably best to assume the running balance is wrong. - - balance - balance, bal - Show accounts and their balances. - - balance is one of hledger'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. - - Note there are some higher-level variants of the balance command with - convenient defaults, which can be simpler to use: balancesheet, bal- - ancesheetequity, cashflow and incomestatement. When you need more con- - trol, then use balance. - - balance features - Here's a quick overview of the balance command's features, followed by - more detailed descriptions and examples. Many of these work with the - higher-level commands as well. - - balance can show.. - - o accounts as a list (-l) or a tree (-t) - - o optionally depth-limited (-[1-9]) - - o sorted by declaration order and name, or by amount - - ..and their.. - - o balance changes (the default) - - o or actual and planned balance changes (--budget) - - o or value of balance changes (-V) - - o or change of balance values (--valuechange) - - o or unrealised capital gain/loss (--gain) - - ..in.. - - o one time period (the whole journal period by default) - - o or multiple periods (-D, -W, -M, -Q, -Y, -p INTERVAL) - - ..either.. - - o per period (the default) - - o or accumulated since report start date (--cumulative) - - o or accumulated since account creation (--historical/-H) - - ..possibly converted to.. - - o cost (--value=cost[,COMM]/--cost/-B) - - o or market value, as of transaction dates (--value=then[,COMM]) - - o or at period ends (--value=end[,COMM]) - - o or now (--value=now) - - o or at some other date (--value=YYYY-MM-DD) - - ..with.. - - o totals (-T), averages (-A), percentages (-%), inverted sign - (--invert) - - o rows and columns swapped (--transpose) - - o another field used as account name (--pivot) - - o custom-formatted line items (single-period reports only) (--format) - - o commodities shown in a separate column, one per row (--commodity-col- - umn) - - This command supports the output destination and output format options, - with output formats txt, csv, json, and (multi-period reports only:) - html. In txt output in a colour-supporting terminal, negative amounts - are shown in red. - - Simple balance report - With no arguments, balance 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. For real-world - accounts, this should also match their end balance at the end of the - journal period (more on this below). - - Accounts are sorted by declaration order if any, and then alphabeti- - cally by account name. For instance (using examples/sample.journal): - - $ 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 - - Accounts with a zero balance (and no non-zero subaccounts, in tree mode - - see below) are hidden by default. Use -E/--empty to show them - (revealing assets:bank:checking here): - - $ 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 - - The total of the amounts displayed is shown as the last line, unless - -N/--no-total is used. - - Filtered balance report - 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: - - $ hledger -f examples/sample.journal bal --cleared assets date:200806 - $-2 assets:cash - -------------------- - $-2 - - List or tree mode - By default, or with -l/--flat, accounts are shown as a flat list with - their full names visible, as in the examples above. - - With -t/--tree, the account hierarchy is shown, with subaccounts' - "leaf" names indented below their parent: - - $ 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 - - Notes: - - o "Boring" accounts are combined with their subaccount for more compact - output, unless --no-elide is used. Boring accounts have no balance - of their own and just one subaccount (eg assets:bank and liabilities - above). - - o All balances shown are "inclusive", ie including the balances from - all subaccounts. Note this means some repetition in the output, - which requires explanation when sharing reports with non-plaintextac- - counting-users. A tree mode report's final total is the sum of the - top-level balances shown, not of all the balances shown. - - o Each group of sibling accounts (ie, under a common parent) is sorted - separately. - - Depth limiting - With a depth:NUM query, or --depth NUM option, or just -NUM (eg: -3) - 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. - - Account balances at the depth limit always include the balances from - any deeper subaccounts (even in list mode). Eg, limiting to depth 1: - - $ hledger -f examples/sample.journal balance -1 - $-1 assets - $2 expenses - $-2 income - $1 liabilities - -------------------- - 0 - - Dropping top-level accounts - You can also hide one or more top-level account name parts, using - --drop NUM. This can be useful for hiding repetitive top-level account - names: - - $ hledger -f examples/sample.journal bal expenses --drop 1 - $1 food - $1 supplies - -------------------- - $2 - - - Multi-period balance report - With a report interval (set by the -D/--daily, -W/--weekly, - -M/--monthly, -Q/--quarterly, -Y/--yearly, or -p/--period flag), bal- - ance shows a tabular report, with columns representing successive time - periods (and a title): - - $ 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 - - Notes: - - o The report's start/end dates will be expanded, if necessary, to fully - encompass the displayed subperiods (so that the first and last subpe- - riods have the same duration as the others). - - o Leading and trailing periods (columns) containing all zeroes are not - shown, unless -E/--empty is used. - - o Accounts (rows) containing all zeroes are not shown, unless - -E/--empty is used. - - o Amounts with many commodities are shown in abbreviated form, unless - --no-elide is used. (experimental) - - o Average and/or total columns can be added with the -A/--average and - -T/--row-total flags. - - o The --transpose flag can be used to exchange rows and columns. - - o The --pivot FIELD option causes a different transaction field to be - used as "account name". See PIVOTING. - - Multi-period reports with many periods can be too wide for easy viewing - in the terminal. Here are some ways to handle that: - - o Hide the totals row with -N/--no-total - - o Convert to a single currency with -V - - o Maximize the terminal window - - o Reduce the terminal's font size - - o View with a pager like less, eg: hledger bal -D --color=yes | less - -RS - - o Output as CSV and use a CSV viewer like visidata (hledger bal -D -O - csv | vd -f csv), Emacs' csv-mode (M-x csv-mode, C-c C-a), or a - spreadsheet (hledger bal -D -o a.csv && open a.csv) - - o Output as HTML and view with a browser: hledger bal -D -o a.html && - open a.html - - Commodity column - With --commodity-column, commodity symbols are displayed in a separate - column, and amounts are displayed as bare numbers. In this mode, each - report row will show amounts for a single commodity, using extra rows - when necessary. It can be useful for a cleaner display of reports with - many commodities: - - $ hledger -f examples/bcexample.hledger bal assets:us:etrade -3 -T -Y - 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.. - - $ hledger -f examples/bcexample.hledger bal assets:us:etrade -3 -T -Y --commodity-column - 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 - - This flag also affects CSV output, which is useful for producing data - that is easier to consume, eg when making charts: - - $ hledger -f examples/bcexample.hledger bal assets:us:etrade -3 -O csv - "account","balance" - "Assets:US:ETrade","70.00 GLD, 17.00 ITOT, 5120.50 USD, 36.00 VEA, 294.00 VHT" - "total","70.00 GLD, 17.00 ITOT, 5120.50 USD, 36.00 VEA, 294.00 VHT" - - $ hledger -f examples/bcexample.hledger bal assets:us:etrade -3 -O csv --commodity-column - "account","commodity","balance" - "Assets:US:ETrade","GLD","70.00" - "Assets:US:ETrade","ITOT","17.00" - "Assets:US:ETrade","USD","5120.50" - "Assets:US:ETrade","VEA","36.00" - "Assets:US:ETrade","VHT","294.00" - "total","GLD","70.00" - "total","ITOT","17.00" - "total","USD","5120.50" - "total","VEA","36.00" - "total","VHT","294.00" - - Sorting by amount - With -S/--sort-amount, accounts with the largest (most positive) bal- - ances are shown first. Eg: hledger bal expenses -MAS shows your big- - gest 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). - - Revenues and liability balances are typically negative, however, so -S - shows these in reverse order. To work around this, you can add - --invert to flip the signs. (Or, use one of the higher-level reports, - which flip the sign automatically. Eg: hledger incomestatement -MAS). - - - Percentages - With -%/--percent, balance reports show each account's value expressed - as a percentage of the (column) total: - - $ hledger -f examples/sample.journal bal expenses -Q -% - Balance changes in 2008: - - || 2008Q1 2008Q2 2008Q3 2008Q4 - ===================++================================= - expenses:food || 0 50.0 % 0 0 - expenses:supplies || 0 50.0 % 0 0 - -------------------++--------------------------------- - || 0 100.0 % 0 0 - - Note it is not useful to calculate percentages if the amounts in a col- - umn have mixed signs. In this case, make a separate report for each - sign, eg: - - $ hledger bal -% amt:`>0` - $ hledger bal -% amt:`<0` - - Similarly, if the amounts in a column have mixed commodities, convert - them to one commodity with -B, -V, -X or --value, or make a separate - report for each commodity: - - $ hledger bal -% cur:\\$ - $ hledger bal -% cur:EUR - - Balance change, end balance - It's important to be clear on the meaning of the numbers shown in bal- - ance reports. Here is some terminology we use: - - A balance change is the net amount added to, or removed from, an - account during some period. - - An end balance is the amount accumulated in an account as of some date - (and some time, but hledger doesn't store that; assume end of day in - your timezone). It is the sum of previous balance changes. - - We call it a historical end balance if it includes all balance changes - since the account was created. For a real world account, this means it - will match the "historical record", eg the balances reported in your - bank statements or bank web UI. (If they are correct!) - - 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. - - balance shows balance changes by default. To see accurate historical - end balances: - - 1. Initialise account starting balances with an "opening balances" - transaction (a transfer from equity to the account), unless the - journal covers the account's full lifetime. - - 2. Include all of of the account's prior postings in the report, by not - specifying a report start date, or by using the -H/--historical - flag. (-H causes report start date to be ignored when summing post- - ings.) - - Balance report types - For more flexible reporting, there are three important option groups: - - hledger balance [CALCULATIONTYPE] [ACCUMULATIONTYPE] [VALUATIONTYPE] - ... - - The first two are the most important: calculation type selects the - basic calculation to perform for each table cell, while accumulation - type says which postings should be included in each cell's calculation. - Typically one or both of these are selected by default, so you don't - need to write them explicitly. A valuation type can be added if you - want to convert the basic report to value or cost. - - Calculation type: - The basic calculation to perform for each table cell. It is one of: - - o --sum : sum the posting amounts (default) - - o --budget : like --sum but also show a goal amount - - o --valuechange : show the change in period-end historical balance val- - ues (caused by deposits, withdrawals, and/or market price fluctua- - tions) - - o --gain : show the unrealised capital gain/loss, (the current valued - balance minus each amount's original cost) - - Accumulation type: - Which postings should be included in each cell's calculation. It is - one of: - - o --change : postings from column start to column end, ie within the - cell's period. Typically used to see revenues/expenses. (default - for balance, incomestatement) - - o --cumulative : postings from report start to column end, eg to show - changes accumulated since the report's start date. Rarely used. - - o --historical/-H : postings from journal start to column end, ie all - postings from account creation to the end of the cell's period. Typ- - ically used to see historical end balances of assets/liabili- - ties/equity. (default for balancesheet, balancesheetequity, cash- - flow) - - Valuation type: - Which kind of valuation, valuation date(s) and optionally a target val- - uation commodity to use. It is one of: - - o no valuation, show amounts in their original commodities (default) - - o --value=cost[,COMM] : no valuation, show amounts converted to cost - - o --value=then[,COMM] : show value at transaction dates - - o --value=end[,COMM] : show value at period end date(s) (default with - --valuechange, --gain) - - o --value=now[,COMM] : show value at today's date - - o --value=YYYY-MM-DD[,COMM] : show value at another date - - or one of their aliases: --cost/-B, --market/-V or --exchange/-X. - - 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: - - o --valuechange implies --value=end - - o --valuechange makes --change the default when used with the bal- - ancesheet/balancesheetequity commands - - o --cumulative or --historical disables --row-total/-T - - For reference, here is what the combinations of accumulation and valua- - tion show: - - - Valua- no valuation --value= then --value= end --value= YYYY- - tion: MM-DD /now - >Accumu- - lation: - v - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ - --change change in period sum of posting- period-end DATE-value of - date market val- value of change change in - ues in period in period period - - - --cumu- change from sum of posting- period-end DATE-value of - lative report start to date market val- value of change change from - period end ues from report from report report start - start to period start to period to period end - end end - --his- change from sum of posting- period-end DATE-value of - torical journal start to date market val- value of change change from - /-H period end (his- ues from journal from journal journal start - torical end bal- start to period start to period to period end - ance) end end - - Useful balance reports - Some frequently used balance options/reports are: - - o bal -M revenues expenses - Show revenues/expenses in each month. Also available as the incomes- - tatement command. - - o bal -M -H assets liabilities - Show historical asset/liability balances at each month end. Also - available as the balancesheet command. - - o bal -M -H assets liabilities equity - Show historical asset/liability/equity balances at each month end. - Also available as the balancesheetequity command. - - o bal -M assets not:receivable - Show changes to liquid assets in each month. Also available as the - cashflow command. - - Also: - - o bal -M expenses -2 -SA - Show monthly expenses summarised to depth 2 and sorted by average - amount. - - o bal -M --budget expenses - Show monthly expenses and budget goals. - - o bal -M --valuechange investments - Show monthly change in market value of investment assets. - - o bal investments --valuechange -D date:lastweek amt:'>1000' -STA - [--invert] - Show top gainers [or losers] last week - - Budget report - The --budget report type activates extra columns showing any budget - goals for each account and period. The budget goals are defined by - periodic transactions. This is very useful for comparing planned and - actual income, expenses, time usage, etc. - - For example, you can take average monthly expenses in the common - expense categories to construct a minimal monthly budget: - - ;; Budget - ~ 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 - - You can now see a monthly budget report: - - $ 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] - - This is different from a normal balance report in several ways: - - o Only accounts with budget goals during the report period are shown, - by default. - - o In each column, in square brackets after the actual amount, budget - goal amounts are shown, and the actual/goal percentage. (Note: bud- - get goals should be in the same commodity as the actual amount.) - - o All parent accounts are always shown, even in list mode. Eg assets, - assets:bank, and expenses above. - - o Amounts always include all subaccounts, budgeted or unbudgeted, even - in list mode. - - This means that the numbers displayed will not always add up! Eg above, - the expenses actual amount includes the gifts and supplies transac- - tions, but the expenses:gifts and expenses:supplies accounts are not - shown, as they have no budget amounts declared. - - This can be confusing. When you need to make things clearer, use the - -E/--empty flag, which will reveal all accounts including unbudgeted - ones, giving the full picture. Eg: - - $ 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] - - You can roll over unspent budgets to next period with --cumulative: - - $ 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] - - For more examples and notes, see Budgeting. - - Budget report start date - This might be a bug, but for now: when making budget reports, it's a - good idea to explicitly set the report's start date to the first day of - a reporting period, because a periodic rule like ~ monthly 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: - - ~ monthly in 2020 - (expenses:food) $500 - - 2020-01-15 - expenses:food $400 - assets:checking - - $ hledger bal expenses --budget - Budget performance in 2020-01-15: - - || 2020-01-15 - ==============++============ - || $400 - --------------++------------ - || $400 - - To avoid this, specify the budget report's period, or at least the - start date, with -b/-e/-p/date:, to ensure it includes the budget goal - transactions (periodic transactions) that you want. Eg, adding -b - 2020/1/1 to the above: - - $ 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] - - Budgets and subaccounts - 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 bud- - get(s) of the child account(s) would be added to the budget of their - parent, much like account balances behave. - - In the most simple case this means that once you add a budget to any - account, all its parents would have budget as well. - - To illustrate this, consider the following budget: - - ~ monthly from 2019/01 - expenses:personal $1,000.00 - expenses:personal:electronics $100.00 - liabilities - - 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 expenses:personal and expenses is $1100. - - Transactions in expenses:personal:electronics will be counted both - towards its $100 budget and $1100 of expenses:personal , and transac- - tions in any other subaccount of expenses:personal would be counted - towards only towards the budget of expenses:personal. - - For example, let's consider these transactions: - - ~ 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 - - As you can see, we have transactions in expenses:personal:electron- - ics:upgrades and expenses:personal:train tickets, and since both of - these accounts are without explicitly defined budget, these transac- - tions would be counted towards budgets of expenses:personal:electronics - and expenses:personal accordingly: - - $ 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] - - And with --empty, we can get a better picture of budget allocation and - consumption: - - $ 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] - - Selecting budget goals - The budget report evaluates periodic transaction rules to generate spe- - cial "goal transactions", which generate the goal amounts for each - account in each report subperiod. When troubleshooting, you can use - the print command to show these as forecasted transactions: - - $ hledger print --forecast=BUDGETREPORTPERIOD tag:generated - - 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. - - You can select a subset of periodic rules by providing an argument to - the --budget flag. --budget=DESCPAT 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. - - Customising single-period balance reports - For single-period balance reports displayed in the terminal (only), you - can use --format FMT to customise the format and content of each line. - Eg: - - $ hledger -f examples/sample.journal balance --format "%20(account) %12(total)" - assets $-1 - bank:saving $1 - cash $-2 - expenses $2 - food $1 - supplies $1 - income $-2 - gifts $-1 - salary $-1 - liabilities:debts $1 - --------------------------------- - 0 - - The FMT format string (plus a newline) specifies the formatting applied - to each account/balance pair. It may contain any suitable text, with - data fields interpolated like so: - - %[MIN][.MAX](FIELDNAME) - - o MIN pads with spaces to at least this width (optional) - - o MAX truncates at this width (optional) - - o FIELDNAME must be enclosed in parentheses, and can be one of: - - o depth_spacer - a number of spaces equal to the account's depth, or - if MIN is specified, MIN * depth spaces. - - o account - the account's name - - o total - the account's balance/posted total, right justified - - Also, FMT can begin with an optional prefix to control how multi-com- - modity amounts are rendered: - - o %_ - render on multiple lines, bottom-aligned (the default) - - o %^ - render on multiple lines, top-aligned - - o %, - render on one line, comma-separated - - There are some quirks. Eg in one-line mode, %(depth_spacer) has no - effect, instead %(account) has indentation built in. Experimentation - may be needed to get pleasing results. - - Some example formats: - - o %(total) - the account's total - - o %-20.20(account) - the account's name, left justified, padded to 20 - characters and clipped at 20 characters - - o %,%-50(account) %25(total) - account name padded to 50 characters, - total padded to 20 characters, with multiple commodities rendered on - one line - - o %20(total) %2(depth_spacer)%-(account) - the default format for the - single-column balance report - - balancesheet - balancesheet, bs - This command displays a balance sheet, showing historical ending bal- - ances 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. - - The asset and liability accounts shown are those accounts declared with - the Asset or Cash or Liability type, or otherwise all accounts under a - top-level asset or liability account (case insensitive, plurals - allowed). - - Example: - - $ hledger balancesheet - Balance Sheet - - Assets: - $-1 assets - $1 bank:saving - $-2 cash - -------------------- - $-1 - - Liabilities: - $1 liabilities:debts - -------------------- - $1 - - Total: - -------------------- - 0 - - This command is a higher-level variant of the balance command, and sup- - ports many of that command's features, such as multi-period reports. - It is similar to hledger balance -H assets liabilities, but with - smarter account detection, and liabilities displayed with their sign - flipped. - - This command also supports the output destination and output format - options The output formats supported are txt, csv, html, and (experi- - mental) json. - - balancesheetequity - balancesheetequity, bse - This command displays a balance sheet, showing historical ending bal- - ances of asset, liability and equity accounts. Amounts are shown with - normal positive sign, as in conventional financial statements. - - The asset, liability and equity accounts shown are those accounts - declared with the Asset, Cash, Liability or Equity type, or otherwise - all accounts under a top-level asset, liability or equity account (case - insensitive, plurals allowed). - - Example: - - $ 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 - - This command is a higher-level variant of the balance command, and sup- - ports many of that command's features, such as multi-period reports. - It is similar to hledger balance -H assets liabilities equity, but with - smarter account detection, and liabilities/equity displayed with their - sign flipped. - - This command also supports the output destination and output format - options The output formats supported are txt, csv, html, and (experi- - mental) json. - - cashflow - cashflow, cf - This command displays a cashflow statement, showing the inflows and - outflows affecting "cash" (ie, liquid) assets. Amounts are shown with - normal positive sign, as in conventional financial statements. - - The "cash" accounts shown are those accounts declared with the Cash - type, or otherwise all accounts under a top-level asset account (case - insensitive, plural allowed) which do not have fixed, investment, - receivable or A/R in their name. - - Example: - - $ hledger cashflow - Cashflow Statement - - Cash flows: - $-1 assets - $1 bank:saving - $-2 cash - -------------------- - $-1 - - Total: - -------------------- - $-1 - - This command is a higher-level variant of the balance command, and sup- - ports many of that command's features, such as multi-period reports. - It is similar to hledger balance assets not:fixed not:investment - not:receivable, but with smarter account detection. - - This command also supports the output destination and output format - options The output formats supported are txt, csv, html, and (experi- - mental) json. - - check - check - Check for various kinds of errors in your data. - - 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 check 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). - - Some examples: - - hledger check # basic checks - hledger check -s # basic + strict checks - hledger check ordereddates payees # basic + two other checks - - Here are the checks currently available: - - Basic checks - These checks are always run automatically, by (almost) all hledger com- - mands, including check: - - o parseable - data files are well-formed and can be successfully parsed - - o balancedwithautoconversion - all transactions are balanced, inferring - missing amounts where necessary, and possibly converting commodities - using transaction prices or automatically-inferred transaction prices - - o assertions - all balance assertions in the journal are passing. - (This check can be disabled with -I/--ignore-assertions.) - - Strict checks - These additional checks are run when the -s/--strict (strict mode) flag - is used. Or, they can be run by giving their names as arguments to - check: - - o accounts - all account names used by transactions have been declared - - o commodities - all commodity symbols used have been declared - - o balancednoautoconversion - transactions are balanced, possibly using - explicit transaction prices but not inferred ones - - Other checks - These checks can be run only by giving their names as arguments to - check. They are more specialised and not desirable for everyone, - therefore optional: - - o ordereddates - transactions are ordered by date within each file - - o payees - all payees used by transactions have been declared - - o uniqueleafnames - all account leaf names are unique - - Custom checks - A few more checks are are available as separate add-on commands, in - https://github.com/simonmichael/hledger/tree/master/bin: - - o hledger-check-tagfiles - all tag values containing / (a forward - slash) exist as file paths - - o hledger-check-fancyassertions - more complex balance assertions are - passing - - You could make similar scripts to perform your own custom checks. See: - Cookbook -> Scripting. - - close - close, equity - Prints a sample "closing" transaction bringing specified account bal- - ances to zero, and an inverse "opening" transaction restoring the same - account balances. - - If like most people you split your journal files by time, eg by year: - at the end of the year you can use this command to "close out" your - asset and liability (and perhaps equity) balances in the old file, and - reinitialise them in the new file. This helps ensure that report bal- - ances remain correct whether you are including old files or not. - (Because all closing/opening transactions except the very first will - cancel out - see example below.) - - Some people also use this command to close out revenue and expense bal- - ances at the end of an accounting period. This properly records the - period's profit/loss as "retained earnings" (part of equity), and - allows the accounting equation (A-L=E) to balance, which you could then - check by the bse report's zero total. - - You can print just the closing transaction by using the --close flag, - or just the opening transaction with the --open flag. - - Their descriptions are closing balances and opening balances by - default; you can customise these with the --close-desc and --open-desc - options. - - Just one balancing equity posting is used by default, with the amount - left implicit. The default account name is equity:opening/closing bal- - ances. You can customise the account name(s) with --close-acct and - --open-acct. (If you specify only one of these, it will be used for - both.) - - With --x/--explicit, the equity posting's amount will be shown explic- - itly, and if it involves multiple commodities, there will be a separate - equity posting for each commodity (as in the print command). - - With --interleaved, each equity posting is shown next to the posting it - balances (good for troubleshooting). - - close and prices - Transaction prices are ignored (and discarded) by closing/opening - transactions, by default. With --show-costs, they are preserved; there - will be a separate equity posting for each cost in each commodity. - This means balance -B reports will look the same after the transition. - Note if you have many foreign currency or investment transactions, this - will generate very large journal entries. - - close date - The default closing date is yesterday, or the journal's end date, - whichever is later. - - Unless you are running close on exactly the first day of the new - period, you'll want to override the closing date. This is done by - specifying a report end date, where "last day of the report period" - will be the closing date. The opening date is always the following - day. So to close on (end of) 2020-12-31 and open on (start of) - 2021-01-01, any of these will work: - - - end date argument explanation - ----------------------------------------------- - -e 2021-01-01 end dates are exclusive - -e 2021 equivalent, per smart - dates - -p 2020 equivalent, the period's - begin date is ignored - date:2020 equivalent query - - Example: close asset/liability accounts for file transition - Carrying asset/liability balances from 2020.journal into a new file for - 2021: - - $ hledger close -f 2020.journal -p 2020 assets liabilities - # copy/paste the closing transaction to the end of 2020.journal - # copy/paste the opening transaction to the start of 2021.journal - - Or: - - $ hledger close -f 2020.journal -p 2020 assets liabilities --open >> 2021.journal # add 2021's first transaction - $ hledger close -f 2020.journal -p 2020 assets liabilities --close >> 2020.journal # add 2020's last transaction - - Now, - - $ hledger bs -f 2021.journal # just new file - balances correct - $ hledger bs -f 2020.journal -f 2021.journal # old and new files - balances correct - $ hledger bs -f 2020.journal # just old files - balances are zero ? - # (exclude final closing txn, see below) - - Hiding opening/closing transactions - Although the closing/opening transactions cancel out, they will be vis- - ible in reports like print and register, creating some visual clutter. - You can exclude them all with a query, like: - - $ hledger print not:desc:'opening|closing' # less typing - $ hledger print not:'equity:opening/closing balances' # more precise - - But when reporting on multiple files, this can get a bit tricky; you - may need to keep the earliest opening balances, for a historical regis- - ter report; or you may need to suppress a closing transaction, to see - year-end balances. If you find yourself needing more precise queries, - here's one solution: add more easily-matched tags to opening/closing - transactions, like this: - - ; 2019.journal - 2019-01-01 opening balances ; earliest opening txn, no tag here - ... - 2019-12-31 closing balances ; clopen:2020 - ... - - ; 2020.journal - 2020-01-01 opening balances ; clopen:2020 - ... - 2020-12-31 closing balances ; clopen:2021 - ... - - ; 2021.journal - 2021-01-01 opening balances ; clopen:2021 - ... - - Now with - - ; all.journal - include 2019.journal - include 2020.journal - include 2021.journal - - you could do eg: - - $ hledger -f all.journal reg -H checking not:tag:clopen - # all years checking register, hiding non-essential opening/closing txns - - $ hledger -f all.journal bs -p 2020 not:tag:clopen=2020 - # 2020 year end balances, suppressing 2020 closing txn - - close and balance assertions - The closing and opening transactions will include balance assertions, - verifying that the accounts have first been reset to zero and then - restored to their previous balance. These provide valuable error - checking, alerting you when things get out of line, but you can ignore - them temporarily with -I or just remove them if you prefer. - - You probably shouldn't use status or realness filters (like -C or -R or - status:) with close, or the generated balance assertions will depend on - these flags. Likewise, if you run this command with --auto, the bal- - ance assertions would probably always require --auto. - - Multi-day transactions (where some postings have a different date) - break the balance assertions, because the money is temporarily "invisi- - ble" while in transit: - - 2020/12/30 a purchase made in december, cleared in the next year - expenses:food 5 - assets:bank:checking -5 ; date: 2021/1/2 - - To fix the assertions, you can add a temporary account to track such - in-transit money (splitting the multi-day transaction into two single- - day transactions): - - ; in 2020.journal: - 2020/12/30 a purchase made in december, cleared in the next year - expenses:food 5 - liabilities:pending - - ; in 2021.journal: - 2021/1/2 clearance of last year's pending transactions - liabilities:pending 5 = 0 - assets:bank:checking - - Example: close revenue/expense accounts to retained earnings - For this, use --close to suppress the opening transaction, as it's not - needed. Also you'll want to change the equity account name to your - equivalent of "equity:retained earnings". - - Closing 2021's first quarter revenues/expenses: - - $ hledger close -f 2021.journal --close revenues expenses -p 2021Q1 \ - --close-acct='equity:retained earnings' >> 2021.journal - - The same, using the default journal and current year: - - $ hledger close --close revenues expenses -p Q1 \ - --close-acct='equity:retained earnings' >> $LEDGER_FILE - - Now, the first quarter's balance sheet should show a zero (unless you - are using @/@@ notation without equity postings): - - $ hledger bse -p Q1 - - And we must suppress the closing transaction to see the first quarter's - income statement (using the description; not:'retained earnings' won't - work here): - - $ hledger is -p Q1 not:desc:'closing balances' - - codes - codes - List the codes seen in transactions, in the order parsed. - - This command prints the value of each transaction'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. - - Transactions aren't required to have a code, and missing or empty codes - will not be shown by default. With the -E/--empty flag, they will be - printed as blank lines. - - You can add a query to select a subset of transactions. - - Examples: - - 1/1 (123) - (a) 1 - - 1/1 () - (a) 1 - - 1/1 - (a) 1 - - 1/1 (126) - (a) 1 - - $ hledger codes - 123 - 124 - 126 - - $ hledger codes -E - 123 - 124 - - - 126 - - commodities - commodities - List all commodity/currency symbols used or declared in the journal. - - descriptions - descriptions - List the unique descriptions that appear in transactions. - - This command lists the unique descriptions that appear in transactions, - in alphabetic order. You can add a query to select a subset of trans- - actions. - - Example: - - $ hledger descriptions - Store Name - Gas Station | Petrol - Person A - - diff - diff - Compares a particular account's transactions in two input files. It - shows any transactions to this account which are in one file but not in - the other. - - 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 mul- - tiple bank transactions have been combined into a single journal entry. - - This is useful eg if you have downloaded an account'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. - - Examples: - - $ 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: - - files - files - List all files included in the journal. With a REGEX argument, only - file names matching the regular expression (case sensitive) are shown. - - help - help - Show the hledger user manual in one of several formats, optionally - positioned at a given TOPIC (if possible). - - TOPIC is any heading in the manual, or the start of any heading (but - not the middle). It is case insensitive. - - Some examples: commands, print, forecast, "auto postings", "commodity - column". - - This command shows the user manual built in to this hledger version. - It can be useful if the correct version of the hledger manual, or the - usual viewing tools, are not installed on your system. - - By default it uses the best viewer it can find in $PATH, in this order: - info, man, $PAGER (unless a topic is specified), less, or stdout. When - run non-interactively, it always uses stdout. Or you can select a par- - ticular viewer with the -i (info), -m (man), or -p (pager) flags. - - import - import - Read new transactions added to each FILE since last run, and add them - to the main journal file. Or with --dry-run, just print the transac- - tions that would be added. Or with --catchup, just mark all of the - FILEs' transactions as imported, without actually importing any. - - Unlike other hledger commands, with import the journal file is an out- - put 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 - hledger import bank.csv or perhaps hledger import *.csv. - - Note you can import from any file format, though CSV files are the most - common import source, and these docs focus on that case. - - Deduplication - As a convenience import does deduplication while reading transactions. - This does not mean "ignore transactions that look the same", but rather - "ignore transactions that have been seen before". 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 hledger import - bank.csv and only new transactions will be imported. (import is idem- - potent.) - - Since the items being read (CSV records, eg) often do not come with - unique identifiers, hledger detects new transactions by date, assuming - that: - - 1. new items always have the newest dates - - 2. item dates do not change across reads - - 3. and items with the same date remain in the same relative order - across reads. - - 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't matter (and if - you import often, the new transactions will be few, so less likely to - be the ones affected). - - hledger remembers the latest date processed in each input file by sav- - ing a hidden ".latest" state file in the same directory. Eg when read- - ing finance/bank.csv, it will look for and update the finance/.lat- - est.bank.csv state file. The format is simple: one or more lines con- - taining the same ISO-format date (YYYY-MM-DD), meaning "I have pro- - cessed transactions up to this date, and this many of them on that - date." Normally you won't see or manipulate these state files yourself. - But if needed, you can delete them to reset the state (making all - transactions "new"), or you can construct them to "catch up" to a cer- - tain date. - - Note deduplication (and updating of state files) can also be done by - print --new, but this is less often used. - - Import testing - With --dry-run, 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: - - $ hledger import --dry bank.csv | hledger -f- -I print unknown - - or (live updating): - - $ ls bank.csv* | entr bash -c 'echo ====; hledger import --dry bank.csv | hledger -f- -I print unknown' - - Importing balance assignments - Entries added by import will have their posting amounts made explicit - (like hledger print -x). This means that any balance assignments in - imported files must be evaluated; but, imported files don't get to see - the main file'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: - - $ hledger print IMPORTFILE [--new] >> $LEDGER_FILE - - (If you think import should leave amounts implicit like print does, - please test it and send a pull request.) - - Commodity display styles - Imported amounts will be formatted according to the canonical commodity - styles (declared or inferred) in the main journal file. - - incomestatement - incomestatement, is - - 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. - - The revenue and expense accounts shown are those accounts declared with - the Revenue or Expense type, or otherwise all accounts under a top- - level revenue or income or expense account (case insensitive, plurals - allowed). - - Example: - - $ hledger incomestatement - Income Statement - - Revenues: - $-2 income - $-1 gifts - $-1 salary - -------------------- - $-2 - - Expenses: - $2 expenses - $1 food - $1 supplies - -------------------- - $2 - - Total: - -------------------- - 0 - - This command is a higher-level variant of the balance command, and sup- - ports many of that command's features, such as multi-period reports. - It is similar to hledger balance '(revenues|income)' expenses, but with - smarter account detection, and revenues/income displayed with their - sign flipped. - - This command also supports the output destination and output format - options The output formats supported are txt, csv, html, and (experi- - mental) json. - - notes - notes - List the unique notes that appear in transactions. - - This command lists the unique notes that appear in transactions, in - alphabetic order. You can add a query to select a subset of transac- - tions. The note is the part of the transaction description after a | - character (or if there is no |, the whole description). - - Example: - - $ hledger notes - Petrol - Snacks - - payees - payees - List the unique payee/payer names that appear in transactions. - - This command lists unique payee/payer names which have been declared - with payee directives (--declared), used in transaction descriptions - (--used), or both (the default). - - The payee/payer is the part of the transaction description before a | - character (or if there is no |, the whole description). - - You can add query arguments to select a subset of transactions. This - implies --used. - - Example: - - $ hledger payees - Store Name - Gas Station - Person A - - prices - prices - Print market price directives from the journal. With --infer-market- - prices, generate additional market prices from transaction prices. - With --infer-reverse-prices, also generate market prices by inverting - transaction prices. Prices (and postings providing transaction prices) - can be filtered by a query. Price amounts are displayed with their - full precision. - - print - print - Show transaction journal entries, sorted by date. - - The print command displays full journal entries (transactions) from the - journal file, sorted by date (or with --date2, by secondary date). - - Amounts are shown mostly normalised to commodity display style, eg the - placement of commodity symbols will be consistent. All of their deci- - mal places are shown, as in the original journal entry (with one alter- - ation: in some cases trailing zeroes are added.) - - Amounts are shown right-aligned within each transaction (but not across - all transactions). - - 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. - - Eg: - - $ 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 - - print'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: - - # 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 - - There are some situations where print's output can become unparseable: - - o Valuation affects posting amounts but not balance assertion or bal- - ance assignment amounts, potentially causing those to fail. - - o Auto postings can generate postings with too many missing amounts. - - Normally, the journal entry's explicit or implicit amount style is pre- - served. For example, when an amount is omitted in the journal, it will - not appear in the output. Similarly, when a transaction price is - implied but not written, it will not appear in the output. You can use - the -x/--explicit flag to make all amounts and transaction prices - explicit, which can be useful for troubleshooting or for making your - journal more readable and robust against data entry errors. -x is also - implied by using any of -B,-V,-X,--value. - - Note, -x/--explicit 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. - - With -B/--cost, amounts with transaction prices are converted to cost - using that price. This can be used for troubleshooting. - - With -m/--match and a STR argument, print will show at most one trans- - action: the one one whose description is most similar to STR, and is - most recent. STR should contain at least two characters. If there is - no similar-enough match, no transaction will be shown. - - With --new, hledger prints only transactions it has not seen on a pre- - vious run. This uses the same deduplication system as the import com- - mand. (See import's docs for details.) - - This command also supports the output destination and output format - options The output formats supported are txt, csv, and (experimental) - json and sql. - - Here's an example of print's CSV output: - - $ hledger print -Ocsv - "txnidx","date","date2","status","code","description","comment","account","amount","commodity","credit","debit","posting-status","posting-comment" - "1","2008/01/01","","","","income","","assets:bank:checking","1","$","","1","","" - "1","2008/01/01","","","","income","","income:salary","-1","$","1","","","" - "2","2008/06/01","","","","gift","","assets:bank:checking","1","$","","1","","" - "2","2008/06/01","","","","gift","","income:gifts","-1","$","1","","","" - "3","2008/06/02","","","","save","","assets:bank:saving","1","$","","1","","" - "3","2008/06/02","","","","save","","assets:bank:checking","-1","$","1","","","" - "4","2008/06/03","","*","","eat & shop","","expenses:food","1","$","","1","","" - "4","2008/06/03","","*","","eat & shop","","expenses:supplies","1","$","","1","","" - "4","2008/06/03","","*","","eat & shop","","assets:cash","-2","$","2","","","" - "5","2008/12/31","","*","","pay off","","liabilities:debts","1","$","","1","","" - "5","2008/12/31","","*","","pay off","","assets:bank:checking","-1","$","1","","","" - - o There is one CSV record per posting, with the parent transaction's - fields repeated. - - o The "txnidx" (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.) - - o The amount is separated into "commodity" (the symbol) and "amount" - (numeric quantity) fields. - - o The numeric amount is repeated in either the "credit" or "debit" col- - umn, for convenience. (Those names are not accurate in the account- - ing sense; it just puts negative amounts under credit and zero or - greater amounts under debit.) - - print-unique - print-unique - Print transactions which do not reuse an already-seen description. - - Example: - - $ cat unique.journal - 1/1 test - (acct:one) 1 - 2/2 test - (acct:two) 2 - $ LEDGER_FILE=unique.journal hledger print-unique - (-f option not supported) - 2015/01/01 test - (acct:one) 1 - - register - register, reg - Show postings and their running total. - - The register command displays matched postings, across all accounts, in - date order, with their running total or running historical balance. - (See also the aregister command, which shows matched transactions in a - specific account.) - - register normally shows line per posting, but note that multi-commodity - amounts will occupy multiple lines (one line per commodity). - - It is typically used with a query selecting a particular account, to - see that account's activity: - - $ 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 - - With --date2, it shows and sorts by secondary date instead. - - The --historical/-H 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: - - $ 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 - - The --depth option limits the amount of sub-account detail displayed. - - The --average/-A flag shows the running average posting amount instead - of the running total (so, the final number displayed is the average for - the whole report period). This flag implies --empty (see below). It - is affected by --historical. It works best when showing just one - account and one commodity. - - The --related/-r flag shows the other postings in the transactions of - the postings which would normally be shown. - - The --invert flag negates all amounts. For example, it can be used on - an income account where amounts are normally displayed as negative num- - bers. It's also useful to show postings on the checking account - together with the related account: - - $ hledger register --related --invert assets:checking - - With a reporting interval, register shows summary postings, one per - interval, aggregating the postings to each account: - - $ hledger register --monthly income - 2008/01 income:salary $-1 $-1 - 2008/06 income:gifts $-1 $-2 - - Periods with no activity, and summary postings with a zero amount, are - not shown by default; use the --empty/-E flag to see them: - - $ 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 - - Often, you'll want to see just one line per interval. The --depth - option helps with this, causing subaccounts to be aggregated: - - $ hledger register --monthly assets --depth 1h - 2008/01 assets $1 $1 - 2008/06 assets $-1 0 - 2008/12 assets $-1 $-1 - - 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. - - Custom register output - register uses the full terminal width by default, except on windows. - You can override this by setting the COLUMNS environment variable (not - a bash shell variable) or by using the --width/-w option. - - 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's argument, comma-separated: - --width W,D . Here's a diagram (won't display correctly in --help): - - <--------------------------------- width (W) ----------------------------------> - date (10) description (D) account (W-41-D) amount (12) balance (12) - DDDDDDDDDD dddddddddddddddddddd aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa AAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAA - - and some examples: - - $ 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 - - This command also supports the output destination and output format - options The output formats supported are txt, csv, and (experimental) - json. - - register-match - register-match - Print the one posting whose transaction description is closest to DESC, - in the style of the register command. If there are multiple equally - good matches, it shows the most recent. Query options (options, not - arguments) can be used to restrict the search space. Helps ledger- - autosync detect already-seen transactions when importing. - - rewrite - rewrite - Print all transactions, rewriting the postings of matched transactions. - For now the only rewrite available is adding new postings, like print - --auto. - - 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 transac- - tion's first posting amount. - - Examples: - - $ hledger-rewrite.hs ^income --add-posting '(liabilities:tax) *.33 ; income tax' --add-posting '(reserve:gifts) $100' - $ hledger-rewrite.hs expenses:gifts --add-posting '(reserve:gifts) *-1"' - $ hledger-rewrite.hs -f rewrites.hledger - - rewrites.hledger may consist of entries like: - - = ^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 - - Note the single quotes to protect the dollar sign from bash, and the - two spaces between account and amount. - - More: - - $ hledger rewrite -- [QUERY] --add-posting "ACCT AMTEXPR" ... - $ hledger rewrite -- ^income --add-posting '(liabilities:tax) *.33' - $ hledger rewrite -- expenses:gifts --add-posting '(budget:gifts) *-1"' - $ hledger rewrite -- ^income --add-posting '(budget:foreign currency) *0.25 JPY; diversify' - - Argument for --add-posting option is a usual posting of transaction - with an exception for amount specification. More precisely, you can - use '*' (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's com- - modity. - - Re-write rules in a file - During the run this tool will execute so called "Automated Transac- - tions" found in any journal it process. I.e instead of specifying this - operations in command line you can put them in a journal file. - - $ rewrite-rules.journal - - Make contents look like this: - - = ^income - (liabilities:tax) *.33 - - = expenses:gifts - budget:gifts *-1 - assets:budget *1 - - Note that '=' (equality symbol) that is used instead of date in trans- - actions you usually write. It indicates the query by which you want to - match the posting to add new ones. - - $ hledger rewrite -- -f input.journal -f rewrite-rules.journal > rewritten-tidy-output.journal - - This is something similar to the commands pipeline: - - $ hledger rewrite -- -f input.journal '^income' --add-posting '(liabilities:tax) *.33' \ - | hledger rewrite -- -f - expenses:gifts --add-posting 'budget:gifts *-1' \ - --add-posting 'assets:budget *1' \ - > rewritten-tidy-output.journal - - It is important to understand that relative order of such entries in - journal is important. You can re-use result of previously added post- - ings. - - Diff output format - To use this tool for batch modification of your journal files you may - find useful output in form of unified diff. - - $ hledger rewrite -- --diff -f examples/sample.journal '^income' --add-posting '(liabilities:tax) *.33' - - Output might look like: - - --- /tmp/examples/sample.journal - +++ /tmp/examples/sample.journal - @@ -18,3 +18,4 @@ - 2008/01/01 income - - assets:bank:checking $1 - + assets:bank:checking $1 - income:salary - + (liabilities:tax) 0 - @@ -22,3 +23,4 @@ - 2008/06/01 gift - - assets:bank:checking $1 - + assets:bank:checking $1 - income:gifts - + (liabilities:tax) 0 - - If you'll pass this through patch tool you'll get transactions contain- - ing the posting that matches your query be updated. Note that multiple - files might be update according to list of input files specified via - --file options and include directives inside of these files. - - Be careful. Whole transaction being re-formatted in a style of output - from hledger print. - - See also: - - https://github.com/simonmichael/hledger/issues/99 - - rewrite vs. print --auto - This command predates print --auto, and currently does much the same - thing, but with these differences: - - o with multiple files, rewrite lets rules in any file affect all other - files. print --auto uses standard directive scoping; rules affect - only child files. - - o rewrite's query limits which transactions can be rewritten; all are - printed. print --auto's query limits which transactions are printed. - - o rewrite applies rules specified on command line or in the journal. - print --auto applies rules specified in the journal. - - roi - roi - Shows the time-weighted (TWR) and money-weighted (IRR) rate of return - on your investments. - - At a minimum, you need to supply a query (which could be just an - account name) to select your investment(s) with --inv, and another - query to identify your profit and loss transactions with --pnl. - - If you do not record changes in the value of your investment manually, - or do not require computation of time-weighted return (TWR), --pnl - could be an empty query (--pnl "" or --pnl STR where STR does not match - any of your accounts). - - 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. - - Price directives will be taken into account if you supply appropriate - --cost or --value flags (see VALUATION). - - Note, in some cases this report can fail, for these reasons: - - o 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. - - o Error (SearchFailed): Failed to find solution for Internal Rate of - Return (IRR). Either search does not converge to a solution, or con- - verges too slowly. - - Examples: - - o Using roi to compute total return of investment in stocks: - https://github.com/simonmichael/hledger/blob/master/examples/roi- - unrealised.ledger - - o Cookbook -> Return on Investment - - Spaces and special characters in --inv and --pnl - Note that --inv and --pnl's argument is a query, and queries could have - several space-separated terms (see QUERIES). - - To indicate that all search terms form single command-line argument, - you will need to put them in quotes (see Special characters): - - $ hledger roi --inv 'term1 term2 term3 ...' - - If any query terms contain spaces themselves, you will need an extra - level of nested quoting, eg: - - $ hledger roi --inv="'Assets:Test 1'" --pnl="'Equity:Unrealized Profit and Loss'" - - Semantics of --inv and --pnl - Query supplied to --inv has to match all transactions that are related - to your investment. Transactions not matching --inv will be ignored. - - In these transactions, ROI will conside postings that match --inv to be - "investment postings" and other postings (not matching --inv) will be - sorted into two categories: "cash flow" and "profit and loss", as ROI - needs to know which part of the investment value is your contributions - and which is due to the return on investment. - - o "Cash flow" is depositing or withdrawing money, buying or selling - assets, or otherwise converting between your investment commodity and - any other commodity. Example: - - 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 - - o "Profit and loss" is change in the value of your investment: - - 2019-06-01 Snake Oil falls in value - investment:snake oil = $57 - equity:unrealized profit or loss - - All non-investment postings are assumed to be "cash flow", unless they - match --pnl query. Changes in value of your investment due to "profit - and loss" postings will be considered as part of your investment - return. - - Example: if you use --inv snake --pnl equity:unrealized, then postings - in the example below would be classifed as: - - 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 - - IRR and TWR explained - "ROI" stands for "return on investment". Traditionally this was com- - puted as a difference between current value of investment and its ini- - tial value, expressed in percentage of the initial value. - - However, this approach is only practical in simple cases, where invest- - ments receives no in-flows or out-flows of money, and where rate of - growth is fixed over time. For more complex scenarios you need differ- - ent ways to compute rate of return, and this command implements two of - them: IRR and TWR. - - Internal rate of return, or "IRR" (also called "money-weighted rate of - return") 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 percent- - age of your initial investment, and if you are adding to your invest- - ment, 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. - - As mentioned before, in-flows and out-flows would be any cash that you - personally put in or withdraw, and for the "roi" command, these are the - postings that match the query in the--inv argument and NOT match the - query in the--pnl argument. - - If you manually record changes in the value of your investment as - transactions that balance them against "profit and loss" (or "unreal- - ized gains") 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. - - 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't done - discounted cash flow analysis before. Implementation of IRR in hledger - should produce results that match the XIRR formula in Excel. - - Second way to compute rate of return that roi command implements is - called "time-weighted rate of return" or "TWR". 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. - - TWR represents your investment as an imaginary "unit fund" where in- - flows/ out-flows lead to buying or selling "units" of your investment - and changes in its value change the value of "investment unit". Change - in "unit price" over the reporting period gives you rate of return of - your investment. - - References: * Explanation of rate of return * Explanation of IRR * - Explanation of TWR * Examples of computing IRR and TWR and discussion - of the limitations of both metrics - - stats - stats - Show some journal statistics. - - 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. - - Example: - - $ hledger stats - Main journal file : /src/hledger/examples/sample.journal - Included journal files : - Transactions span : 2008-01-01 to 2009-01-01 (366 days) - Last transaction : 2008-12-31 (2333 days ago) - Transactions : 5 (0.0 per day) - Transactions last 30 days: 0 (0.0 per day) - Transactions last 7 days : 0 (0.0 per day) - Payees/descriptions : 5 - Accounts : 8 (depth 3) - Commodities : 1 ($) - Market prices : 12 ($) - - This command also supports output destination and output format selec- - tion. - - tags - tags - List the unique tag names used in the journal. With a TAGREGEX argu- - ment, only tag names matching the regular expression (case insensitive) - are shown. With QUERY arguments, only transactions matching the query - are considered. - - With the --values flag, the tags' unique values are listed instead. - - With --parsed flag, all tags or values are shown in the order they are - parsed from the input data, including duplicates. - - With -E/--empty, any blank/empty values will also be shown, otherwise - they are omitted. - - test - test - Run built-in unit tests. - - 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. - - 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! - - 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: - - $ hledger test -- -pData.Amount --color=never - - For help on these, see https://github.com/feuerbach/tasty#options (-- - --help currently doesn't show them). - - About add-on commands - Add-on commands are programs or scripts in your PATH - - o whose name starts with hledger- - - o whose name ends with a recognised file extension: .bat,.com,.exe, - .hs,.lhs,.pl,.py,.rb,.rkt,.sh or none - - o and (on unix, mac) which are executable by the current user. - - Add-ons are a relatively easy way to add local features or experiment - with new ideas. They can be written in any language, but haskell - scripts have a big advantage: they can use the same hledger library - functions that built-in commands use for command-line options, parsing - and reporting. Some experimental/example add-on scripts can be found - in the hledger repo's bin/ directory. - - Note in a hledger command line, add-on command flags must have a double - dash (--) preceding them. Eg you must write: - - $ hledger web -- --serve - - and not: - - $ hledger web --serve - - (because the --serve flag belongs to hledger-web, not hledger). - - The -h/--help and --version flags don't require --. - - If you have any trouble with this, remember you can always run the add- - on program directly, eg: - - $ hledger-web --serve - -JOURNAL FORMAT - hledger's default file format, representing a General Journal. - - hledger's usual data source is a plain text file containing journal - entries in hledger journal format. This file represents a standard - accounting general journal. I use file names ending in .journal, but - that's not required. The journal file contains a number of transaction - entries, each describing a transfer of money (or any commodity) between - two or more named accounts, in a simple format readable by both hledger - and humans. - - hledger's journal format is a compatible subset, mostly, of ledger's - journal format, so hledger can work with compatible ledger journal - files as well. It's safe, and encouraged, to run both hledger and - ledger on the same journal file, eg to validate the results you're get- - ting. - - 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. - - 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 configura- - tion at hledger.org for the full list. - - Here's a description of each part of the file format (and hledger's - data model). These are mostly in the order you'll use them, but in - some cases related concepts have been grouped together for easy refer- - ence, or linked before they are introduced, so feel free to skip over - anything that looks unnecessary right now. - - Transactions - Transactions are the main unit of information in a journal file. They - represent events, typically a movement of some quantity of commodities - between two or more named accounts. - - Each transaction is recorded as a journal entry, beginning with a sim- - ple date in column 0. This can be followed by any of the following - optional fields, separated by spaces: - - o a status character (empty, !, or *) - - o a code (any short number or text, enclosed in parentheses) - - o a description (any remaining text until end of line or a semicolon) - - o a comment (any remaining text following a semicolon until end of - line, and any following indented lines beginning with a semicolon) - - o 0 or more indented posting lines, describing what was transferred and - the accounts involved (indented comment lines are also allowed, but - not blank lines or non-indented lines). - - Here's a simple journal file containing one transaction: - - 2008/01/01 income - assets:bank:checking $1 - income:salary $-1 - - Dates - Simple dates - Dates in the journal file use simple dates format: YYYY-MM-DD or - YYYY/MM/DD or YYYY.MM.DD, with leading zeros optional. The year may be - omitted, in which case it will be inferred from the context: the cur- - rent transaction, the default year set with a default year directive, - or the current date when the command is run. Some examples: - 2010-01-31, 2010/01/31, 2010.1.31, 1/31. - - (The UI also accepts simple dates, as well as the more flexible smart - dates documented in the hledger manual.) - - Secondary dates - Real-life transactions sometimes involve more than one date - eg the - date you write a cheque, and the date it clears in your bank. When you - want to model this, for more accurate daily balances, you can specify - individual posting dates. - - Or, you can use the older secondary date feature (Ledger calls it aux- - iliary date or effective date). Note: we support this for compatibil- - ity, but I usually recommend avoiding this feature; posting dates are - almost always clearer and simpler. - - A secondary date is written after the primary date, following an equals - sign. If the year is omitted, the primary date's year is assumed. - When running reports, the primary (left) date is used by default, but - with the --date2 flag (or --aux-date or --effective), the secondary - (right) date will be used instead. - - The meaning of secondary dates is up to you, but it's best to follow a - consistent rule. Eg "primary = the bank's clearing date, secondary = - date the transaction was initiated, if different", as shown here: - - 2010/2/23=2/19 movie ticket - expenses:cinema $10 - assets:checking - - $ hledger register checking - 2010-02-23 movie ticket assets:checking $-10 $-10 - - $ hledger register checking --date2 - 2010-02-19 movie ticket assets:checking $-10 $-10 - - Posting dates - You can give individual postings a different date from their parent - transaction, by adding a posting comment containing a tag (see below) - like date:DATE. This is probably the best way to control posting dates - precisely. Eg in this example the expense should appear in May - reports, and the deduction from checking should be reported on 6/1 for - easy bank reconciliation: - - 2015/5/30 - expenses:food $10 ; food purchased on saturday 5/30 - assets:checking ; bank cleared it on monday, date:6/1 - - $ hledger -f t.j register food - 2015-05-30 expenses:food $10 $10 - - $ hledger -f t.j register checking - 2015-06-01 assets:checking $-10 $-10 - - DATE should be a simple date; if the year is not specified it will use - the year of the transaction's date. You can set the secondary date - similarly, with date2:DATE2. The date: or date2: tags must have a - valid simple date value if they are present, eg a date: tag with no - value is not allowed. - - Ledger's earlier, more compact bracketed date syntax is also supported: - [DATE], [DATE=DATE2] or [=DATE2]. hledger will attempt to parse any - square-bracketed sequence of the 0123456789/-.= characters in this way. - With this syntax, DATE infers its year from the transaction and DATE2 - infers its year from DATE. - - Status - Transactions, or individual postings within a transaction, can have a - status mark, which is a single character before the transaction - description or posting account name, separated from it by a space, - indicating one of three statuses: - - - mark status - ------------------ - unmarked - ! pending - * cleared - - When reporting, you can filter by status with the -U/--unmarked, - -P/--pending, and -C/--cleared flags; or the status:, status:!, and - status:* queries; or the U, P, C keys in hledger-ui. - - Note, in Ledger and in older versions of hledger, the "unmarked" state - is called "uncleared". As of hledger 1.3 we have renamed it to - unmarked for clarity. - - To replicate Ledger and old hledger's behaviour of also matching pend- - ing, combine -U and -P. - - Status marks are optional, but can be helpful eg for reconciling with - real-world accounts. Some editor modes provide highlighting and short- - cuts for working with status. Eg in Emacs ledger-mode, you can toggle - transaction status with C-c C-e, or posting status with C-c C-c. - - What "uncleared", "pending", and "cleared" actually mean is up to you. - Here's one suggestion: - - - status meaning - -------------------------------------------------------------------------- - uncleared recorded but not yet reconciled; needs review - pending tentatively reconciled (if needed, eg during a big reconcil- - iation) - cleared complete, reconciled as far as possible, and considered cor- - rect - - With this scheme, you would use -PC to see the current balance at your - bank, -U to see things which will probably hit your bank soon (like - uncashed checks), and no flags to see the most up-to-date state of your - finances. - - Code - After the status mark, but before the description, you can optionally - write a transaction "code", enclosed in parentheses. This is a good - place to record a check number, or some other important transaction id - or reference number. - - Description - A transaction's description is the rest of the line following the date - and status mark (or until a comment begins). Sometimes called the - "narration" in traditional bookkeeping, it can be used for whatever you - wish, or left blank. Transaction descriptions can be queried, unlike - comments. - - Payee and note - You can optionally include a | (pipe) character in descriptions to sub- - divide the description into separate fields for payee/payer name on the - left (up to the first |) and an additional note field on the right - (after the first |). This may be worthwhile if you need to do more - precise querying and pivoting by payee or by note. - - Comments - Lines in the journal beginning with a semicolon (;) or hash (#) or star - (*) are comments, and will be ignored. (Star comments cause org-mode - nodes to be ignored, allowing emacs users to fold and navigate their - journals with org-mode or orgstruct-mode.) - - You can attach comments to a transaction by writing them after the - description and/or indented on the following lines (before the post- - ings). Similarly, you can attach comments to an individual posting by - writing them after the amount and/or indented on the following lines. - Transaction and posting comments must begin with a semicolon (;). - - Some examples: - - # a file comment - ; another file comment - * also a file comment, useful in org/orgstruct mode - - comment - A multiline file comment, which continues - until a line containing just "end comment" - (or end of file). - end comment - - 2012/5/14 something ; a transaction comment - ; the transaction comment, continued - posting1 1 ; a comment for posting 1 - posting2 - ; a comment for posting 2 - ; another comment line for posting 2 - ; a file comment (because not indented) - - You can also comment larger regions of a file using comment and end - comment directives. - - Tags - Tags are a way to add extra labels or labelled data to postings and - transactions, which you can then search or pivot on. - - A simple tag is a word (which may contain hyphens) followed by a full - colon, written inside a transaction or posting comment line: - - 2017/1/16 bought groceries ; sometag: - - Tags can have a value, which is the text after the colon, up to the - next comma or end of line, with leading/trailing whitespace removed: - - expenses:food $10 ; a-posting-tag: the tag value - - Note this means hledger's tag values can not contain commas or new- - lines. Ending at commas means you can write multiple short tags on one - line, comma separated: - - assets:checking ; a comment containing tag1:, tag2: some value ... - - Here, - - o "a comment containing" is just comment text, not a tag - - o "tag1" is a tag with no value - - o "tag2" is another tag, whose value is "some value ..." - - Tags in a transaction comment affect the transaction and all of its - postings, while tags in a posting comment affect only that posting. - For example, the following transaction has three tags (A, TAG2, third- - tag) and the posting has four (those plus posting-tag): - - 1/1 a transaction ; A:, TAG2: - ; third-tag: a third transaction tag, <- with a value - (a) $1 ; posting-tag: - - Tags are like Ledger's metadata feature, except hledger's tag values - are simple strings. - - Postings - A posting is an addition of some amount to, or removal of some amount - from, an account. Each posting line begins with at least one space or - tab (2 or 4 spaces is common), followed by: - - o (optional) a status character (empty, !, or *), followed by a space - - o (required) an account name (any text, optionally containing single - spaces, until end of line or a double space) - - o (optional) two or more spaces or tabs followed by an amount. - - Positive amounts are being added to the account, negative amounts are - being removed. - - The amounts within a transaction must always sum up to zero. As a con- - venience, one amount may be left blank; it will be inferred so as to - balance the transaction. - - Be sure to note the unusual two-space delimiter between account name - and amount. This makes it easy to write account names containing spa- - ces. But if you accidentally leave only one space (or tab) before the - amount, the amount will be considered part of the account name. - - Virtual postings - A posting with a parenthesised account name is called a virtual posting - or unbalanced posting, which means it is exempt from the usual rule - that a transaction's postings must balance add up to zero. - - This is not part of double entry accounting, so you might choose to - avoid this feature. Or you can use it sparingly for certain special - cases where it can be convenient. Eg, you could set opening balances - without using a balancing equity account: - - 1/1 opening balances - (assets:checking) $1000 - (assets:savings) $2000 - - A posting with a bracketed account name is called a balanced virtual - posting. The balanced virtual postings in a transaction must add up to - zero (separately from other postings). Eg: - - 1/1 buy food with cash, update budget envelope subaccounts, & something else - assets:cash $-10 ; <- these balance - expenses:food $7 ; <- - expenses:food $3 ; <- - [assets:checking:budget:food] $-10 ; <- and these balance - [assets:checking:available] $10 ; <- - (something:else) $5 ; <- not required to balance - - Ordinary non-parenthesised, non-bracketed postings are called real - postings. You can exclude virtual postings from reports with the - -R/--real flag or real:1 query. - - Account names - Account names typically have several parts separated by a full colon, - from which hledger derives a hierarchical chart of accounts. They can - be anything you like, but in finance there are traditionally five top- - level accounts: assets, liabilities, revenue, expenses, and equity. - - Account names may contain single spaces, eg: assets:accounts receiv- - able. Because of this, they must always be followed by two or more - spaces (or newline). - - Account names can be aliased. - - Amounts - After the account name, there is usually an amount. (Important: - between account name and amount, there must be two or more spaces.) - - hledger's amount format is flexible, supporting several international - formats. Here are some examples. Amounts have a number (the "quan- - tity"): - - 1 - - ..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: - - $1 - 4000 AAPL - 3 "green apples" - - 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 com- - modity symbol: - - -$1 - $-1 - - One or more spaces between the sign and the number are acceptable when - parsing (but they won't be displayed in output): - - + $1 - $- 1 - - Scientific E notation is allowed: - - 1E-6 - EUR 1E3 - - Decimal marks, digit group marks - A decimal mark can be written as a period or a comma: - - 1.23 - 1,23456780000009 - - In the integer part of the quantity (left of the decimal mark), groups - of digits can optionally be separated by a "digit group mark" - a - space, comma, or period (different from the decimal mark): - - $1,000,000.00 - EUR 2.000.000,00 - INR 9,99,99,999.00 - 1 000 000.9455 - - Note, a number containing a single digit group mark and no decimal mark - is ambiguous. Are these digit group marks or decimal marks ? - - 1,000 - 1.000 - - If you don't tell it otherwise, hledger will assume both of the above - are decimal marks, parsing both numbers as 1. To prevent confusion and - undetected typos, we recommend adding commodity directives at the top - of your journal file to explicitly declare the decimal mark (and - optionally a digit group mark) for each commodity. Read on for more - about this. - - Commodity - Amounts in hledger have both a "quantity", which is a signed decimal - number, and a "commodity", which is a currency symbol, stock ticker, or - any word or phrase describing something you are tracking. - - If the commodity name contains non-letters (spaces, numbers, or punctu- - ation), you must always write it inside double quotes ("green apples", - "ABC123"). - - If you write just a bare number, that too will have a commodity, with - name ""; we call that the "no-symbol commodity". - - 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: 1 USD, 2 EUR, 3.456 - TSLA. In practice, you will only see multi-commodity amounts in - hledger's output; you can't write them directly in the journal file. - - (If you are writing scripts or working with hledger's internals, these - are the Amount and MixedAmount types.) - - Commodity directives - You can add commodity directives to the journal, preferably at the top, - to declare your commodities and help with number parsing (see above) - and display (see below). These are optional, but recommended. They - are described in more detail in JOURNAL FORMAT -> Declaring commodi- - ties. Here's a quick example: - - # number format and display style for $, EUR, INR and the no-symbol commodity: - commodity $1,000.00 - commodity EUR 1.000,00 - commodity INR 9,99,99,999.00 - commodity 1 000 000.9455 - - - Commodity display style - 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 print command, are displayed with all of their - decimal digits visible.) - - A commodity's display style is inferred as follows. - - First, if a default commodity is declared with D, this commodity and - its style is applied to any no-symbol amounts in the journal. - - Then each commodity's style is inferred from one of the following, in - order of preference: - - o The commodity directive for that commodity (including the no-symbol - commodity), if any. - - o The amounts in that commodity seen in the journal's transactions. - (Posting amounts only; prices and periodic or auto rules are ignored, - currently.) - - o The built-in fallback style, which looks like this: $1000.00. (Sym- - bol on the left, period decimal mark, two decimal places.) - - A style is inferred from journal amounts as follows: - - o Use the general style (decimal mark, symbol placement) of the first - amount - - o Use the first-seen digit group style (digit group mark, digit group - sizes), if any - - o Use the maximum number of decimal places of all. - - Transaction price amounts don't affect the commodity display style - directly, but occasionally they can do so indirectly (eg when a post- - ing's amount is inferred using a transaction price). If you find this - causing problems, use a commodity directive to fix the display style. - - To summarise: each commodity's amounts will be normalised to (a) the - style declared by a commodity 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't like, eg with too many decimal - places, use a commodity directive. Some examples: - - # 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. - - The inferred commodity style can be overridden by supplying a command - line option. - - Rounding - 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's rounding: it - rounds to the nearest even number, eg 0.5 displayed with zero decimal - places is "0"). (Guaranteed since hledger 1.17.1; in older versions - this could vary if hledger was built with Decimal < 0.5.1.) - - Transaction prices - Within a transaction, you can note an amount's price in another commod- - ity. This can be used to document the cost (in a purchase) or selling - price (in a sale). For example, transaction prices are useful to - record purchases of a foreign currency. Note transaction prices are - fixed at the time of the transaction, and do not change over time. See - also market prices, which represent prevailing exchange rates on a cer- - tain date. - - There are several ways to record a transaction price: - - 1. Write the price per unit, as @ UNITPRICE after the amount: - - 2009/1/1 - assets:euros EUR100 @ $1.35 ; one hundred euros purchased at $1.35 each - assets:dollars ; balancing amount is -$135.00 - - 2. Write the total price, as @@ TOTALPRICE after the amount: - - 2009/1/1 - assets:euros EUR100 @@ $135 ; one hundred euros purchased at $135 for the lot - assets:dollars - - 3. Specify amounts for all postings, using exactly two commodities, and - let hledger infer the price that balances the transaction: - - 2009/1/1 - assets:euros EUR100 ; one hundred euros purchased - assets:dollars $-135 ; for $135 - - 4. Like 1, but the @ is parenthesised, i.e. (@); this is for compati- - bility with Ledger journals (Virtual posting costs), and is equiva- - lent to 1 in hledger. - - 5. Like 2, but as in 4 the @@ is parenthesised, i.e. (@@); in hledger, - this is equivalent to 2. - - Use the -B/--cost flag to convert amounts to their transaction price's - commodity, if any. (mnemonic: "B" is from "cost Basis", as in Ledger). - Eg here is how -B affects the balance report for the example above: - - $ hledger bal -N --flat - $-135 assets:dollars - EUR100 assets:euros - $ hledger bal -N --flat -B - $-135 assets:dollars - $135 assets:euros # <- the euros' cost - - Note -B is sensitive to the order of postings when a transaction price - is inferred: the inferred price will be in the commodity of the last - amount. So if example 3's postings are reversed, while the transaction - is equivalent, -B shows something different: - - 2009/1/1 - assets:dollars $-135 ; 135 dollars sold - assets:euros EUR100 ; for 100 euros - - $ hledger bal -N --flat -B - EUR-100 assets:dollars # <- the dollars' selling price - EUR100 assets:euros - - Lot prices, lot dates - Ledger allows another kind of price, lot price (four variants: {UNIT- - PRICE}, {{TOTALPRICE}}, {=FIXEDUNITPRICE}, {{=FIXEDTOTALPRICE}}), - and/or a lot date ([DATE]) to be specified. These are normally used to - select a lot when selling investments. hledger will parse these, for - compatibility with Ledger journals, but currently ignores them. A - transaction price, lot price and/or lot date may appear in any order, - after the posting amount and before the balance assertion if any. - - Balance assertions - hledger supports Ledger-style balance assertions in journal files. - These look like, for example, = EXPECTEDBALANCE following a posting's - amount. Eg here we assert the expected dollar balance in accounts a - and b after each posting: - - 2013/1/1 - a $1 =$1 - b =$-1 - - 2013/1/2 - a $1 =$2 - b $-1 =$-2 - - After reading a journal file, hledger will check all balance assertions - and report an error if any of them fail. Balance assertions can pro- - tect you from, eg, inadvertently disrupting reconciled balances while - cleaning up old entries. You can disable them temporarily with the - -I/--ignore-assertions flag, which can be useful for troubleshooting or - for reading Ledger files. (Note: this flag currently does not disable - balance assignments, below). - - Assertions and ordering - hledger sorts an account's postings and assertions first by date and - then (for postings on the same day) by parse order. Note this is dif- - ferent from Ledger, which sorts assertions only by parse order. (Also, - Ledger assertions do not see the accumulated effect of repeated post- - ings to the same account within a transaction.) - - So, hledger balance assertions keep working if you reorder differently- - dated transactions within the journal. But if you reorder same-dated - transactions or postings, assertions might break and require updating. - This order dependence does bring an advantage: precise control over the - order of postings and assertions within a day, so you can assert intra- - day balances. - - Assertions and included files - With included files, things are a little more complicated. Including - preserves the ordering of postings and assertions. If you have multi- - ple postings to an account on the same day, split across different - files, and you also want to assert the account's balance on the same - day, you'll have to put the assertion in the right file. - - Assertions and multiple -f options - Balance assertions don't work well across files specified with multiple - -f options. Use include or concatenate the files instead. - - Assertions and commodities - The asserted balance must be a simple single-commodity amount, and in - fact the assertion checks only this commodity's balance within the - (possibly multi-commodity) account balance. This is how assertions - work in Ledger also. We could call this a "partial" balance assertion. - - To assert the balance of more than one commodity in an account, you can - write multiple postings, each asserting one commodity's balance. - - You can make a stronger "total" balance assertion by writing a double - equals sign (== EXPECTEDBALANCE). This asserts that there are no other - unasserted commodities in the account (or, that their balance is 0). - - 2013/1/1 - a $1 - a 1EUR - b $-1 - c -1EUR - - 2013/1/2 ; These assertions succeed - a 0 = $1 - a 0 = 1EUR - b 0 == $-1 - c 0 == -1EUR - - 2013/1/3 ; This assertion fails as 'a' also contains 1EUR - a 0 == $1 - - It's not yet possible to make a complete assertion about a balance that - has multiple commodities. One workaround is to isolate each commodity - into its own subaccount: - - 2013/1/1 - a:usd $1 - a:euro 1EUR - b - - 2013/1/2 - a 0 == 0 - a:usd 0 == $1 - a:euro 0 == 1EUR - - Assertions and prices - Balance assertions ignore transaction prices, and should normally be - written without one: - - 2019/1/1 - (a) $1 @ EUR1 = $1 - - We do allow prices to be written there, however, and print shows them, - even though they don't affect whether the assertion passes or fails. - This is for backward compatibility (hledger's close command used to - generate balance assertions with prices), and because balance assign- - ments do use them (see below). - - Assertions and subaccounts - The balance assertions above (= and ==) do not count the balance from - subaccounts; they check the account's exclusive balance only. You can - assert the balance including subaccounts by writing =* or ==*, eg: - - 2019/1/1 - equity:opening balances - checking:a 5 - checking:b 5 - checking 1 ==* 11 - - Assertions and virtual postings - Balance assertions are checked against all postings, both real and vir- - tual. They are not affected by the --real/-R flag or real: query. - - Assertions and precision - Balance assertions compare the exactly calculated amounts, which are - not always what is shown by reports. Eg a commodity directive may - limit the display precision, but this will not affect balance asser- - tions. Balance assertion failure messages show exact amounts. - - Balance assignments - Ledger-style balance assignments are also supported. These are like - balance assertions, but with no posting amount on the left side of the - equals sign; instead it is calculated automatically so as to satisfy - the assertion. This can be a convenience during data entry, eg when - setting opening balances: - - ; starting a new journal, set asset account balances - 2016/1/1 opening balances - assets:checking = $409.32 - assets:savings = $735.24 - assets:cash = $42 - equity:opening balances - - or when adjusting a balance to reality: - - ; no cash left; update balance, record any untracked spending as a generic expense - 2016/1/15 - assets:cash = $0 - expenses:misc - - The calculated amount depends on the account's balance in the commodity - at that point (which depends on the previously-dated postings of the - commodity to that account since the last balance assertion or assign- - ment). Note that using balance assignments makes your journal a little - less explicit; to know the exact amount posted, you have to run hledger - or do the calculations yourself, instead of just reading it. - - Balance assignments and prices - A transaction price in a balance assignment will cause the calculated - amount to have that price attached: - - 2019/1/1 - (a) = $1 @ EUR2 - - $ hledger print --explicit - 2019-01-01 - (a) $1 @ EUR2 = $1 @ EUR2 - - Directives - A directive is a line in the journal beginning with a special keyword, - that influences how the journal is processed. hledger's directives are - based on a subset of Ledger's, but there are many differences (and also - some differences between hledger versions). - - Directives' behaviour and interactions can get a little bit complex, so - here is a table summarising the directives and their effects, with - links to more detailed docs. - - - direc- end subdi- purpose can affect (as of - tive directive rec- 2018/06) - tives - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ - account any document account names, all entries in all - text declare account types & dis- files, before or - play order after - alias end rewrite account names following entries - aliases until end of cur- - rent file or end - directive - apply end apply prepend a common parent to following entries - account account account names until end of cur- - rent file or end - directive - comment end com- ignore part of journal following entries - ment until end of cur- - rent file or end - directive - - commod- format declare a commodity and its number notation: - ity number notation & display following entries - style until end of cur- - rent file; display - style: amounts of - that commodity in - reports - D declare a commodity to be default commodity: - used for commodityless following commod- - amounts, and its number ityless entries - notation & display style until end of cur- - rent file; number - notation: following - entries in that - commodity until end - of current file; - display style: - amounts of that - commodity in - reports - include include entries/directives what the included - from another file directives affect - payee declare a payee name following entries - until end of cur- - rent file - P declare a market price for a amounts of that - commodity commodity in - reports, when -V is - used - Y declare a year for yearless following entries - dates until end of cur- - rent file - = declare an auto posting all entries in par- - rule, adding postings to ent/current/child - other transactions files (but not sib- - ling files, see - #1212) - - And some definitions: - - - subdi- optional indented directive line immediately following a parent - rec- directive - tive - number how to interpret numbers when parsing journal entries (the iden- - nota- tity of the decimal separator character). (Currently each com- - tion modity can have its own notation, even in the same file.) - dis- how to display amounts of a commodity in reports (symbol side - play and spacing, digit groups, decimal separator, decimal places) - style - direc- which entries and (when there are multiple files) which files - tive are affected by a directive - scope - - As you can see, directives vary in which journal entries and files they - affect, and whether they are focussed on input (parsing) or output - (reports). Some directives have multiple effects. - - Directives and multiple files - If you use multiple -f/--file options, or the include directive, - hledger will process multiple input files. But note that directives - which affect input (see above) typically last only until the end of the - file in which they occur. - - This may seem inconvenient, but it's intentional; it makes reports sta- - ble and deterministic, independent of the order of input. Otherwise - you could see different numbers if you happened to write -f options in - a different order, or if you moved includes around while cleaning up - your files. - - It can be surprising though; for example, it means that alias direc- - tives do not affect parent or sibling files (see below). - - Comment blocks - A line containing just comment starts a commented region of the file, - and a line containing just end comment (or the end of the current file) - ends it. See also comments. - - Including other files - You can pull in the content of additional files by writing an include - directive, like this: - - include FILEPATH - - Only journal files can include, and only journal, timeclock or timedot - files can be included (not CSV files, currently). - - If the file path does not begin with a slash, it is relative to the - current file's folder. - - A tilde means home directory, eg: include ~/main.journal. - - The path may contain glob patterns to match multiple files, eg: include - *.journal. - - There is limited support for recursive wildcards: **/ (the slash is - required) matches 0 or more subdirectories. It's not super convenient - since you have to avoid include cycles and including directories, but - this can be done, eg: include */**/*.journal. - - The path may also be prefixed to force a specific file format, overrid- - ing the file extension (as described in hledger.1 -> Input files): - include timedot:~/notes/2020*.md. - - Default year - You can set a default year to be used for subsequent dates which don't - specify a year. This is a line beginning with Y followed by the year. - Eg: - - Y2009 ; set default year to 2009 - - 12/15 ; equivalent to 2009/12/15 - expenses 1 - assets - - Y2010 ; change default year to 2010 - - 2009/1/30 ; specifies the year, not affected - expenses 1 - assets - - 1/31 ; equivalent to 2010/1/31 - expenses 1 - assets - - Declaring payees - The payee directive can be used to declare a limited set of payees - which may appear in transaction descriptions. The "payees" check will - report an error if any transaction refers to a payee that has not been - declared. Eg: - - payee Whole Foods - - Declaring commodities - You can use commodity directives to declare your commodities. In fact - the commodity directive performs several functions at once: - - 1. It declares commodities which may be used in the journal. This can - optionally be enforced, providing useful error checking. (Cf Com- - modity error checking) - - 2. 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 - 1,000 and 1.000 as 1. (Cf Amounts) - - 3. It declares how to render the commodity's amounts when displaying - output - the decimal mark, any digit group marks, the number of dec- - imal places, symbol placement and so on. (Cf Commodity display - style) - - 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. - - Generally you should put them at the top of your journal file (since - for function 2, they affect only following amounts, cf #793). - - A commodity directive is just the word commodity followed by a sample - amount, like this: - - ;commodity SAMPLEAMOUNT - - commodity $1000.00 - commodity 1,000.0000 AAAA ; optional same-line comment - - It may also be written on multiple lines, and use the format subdirec- - tive, as in Ledger. Note in this case the commodity symbol appears - twice; it must be the same in both places: - - ;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 - - Remember that if the commodity symbol contains spaces, numbers, or - punctuation, it must be enclosed in double quotes (cf Commodity). - - The amount'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. - - A few more examples: - - # 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. - - Note hledger normally uses banker's rounding, so 0.5 displayed with - zero decimal digits is "0". (More at Commodity display style.) - - Even in the presence of commodity directives, the commodity display - style can still be overridden by supplying a command line option. - - Commodity error checking - In strict mode, enabled with the -s/--strict flag, hledger will report - an error if a commodity symbol is used that has not been declared by a - commodity directive. This works similarly to account error checking, - see the notes there for more details. - - Default commodity - The D directive sets a default commodity, to be used for any subsequent - commodityless amounts (ie, plain numbers) seen while parsing the jour- - nal. This effect lasts until the next D directive, or the end of the - journal. - - For compatibility/historical reasons, D also acts like a commodity - directive (setting the commodity's decimal mark for parsing and display - style for output). - - As with commodity, the amount must include a decimal mark (either - period or comma). If both commodity and D directives are used for the - same commodity, the commodity style takes precedence. - - The syntax is D AMOUNT. Eg: - - ; 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 - - Declaring market prices - The P directive declares a market price, which is an exchange rate - between two commodities on a certain date. (In Ledger, they are called - "historical prices".) These are often obtained from a stock exchange, - cryptocurrency exchange, or the foreign exchange market. - - The format is: - - P DATE COMMODITY1SYMBOL COMMODITY2AMOUNT - - 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: - - # one euro was worth $1.35 from 2009-01-01 onward: - P 2009-01-01 EUR $1.35 - - # and $1.40 from 2010-01-01 onward: - P 2010-01-01 EUR $1.40 - - The -V, -X and --value flags use these market prices to show amount - values in another commodity. See Valuation. - - Declaring accounts - account directives can be used to declare accounts (ie, the places that - amounts are transferred from and to). Though not required, these dec- - larations can provide several benefits: - - o They can document your intended chart of accounts, providing a refer- - ence. - - o They can help hledger know your accounts' types (asset, liability, - equity, revenue, expense), useful for reports like balancesheet and - incomestatement. - - o They control account display order in reports, allowing non-alpha- - betic sorting (eg Revenues to appear above Expenses). - - o They can store extra information about accounts (account numbers, - notes, etc.) - - o They help with account name completion in the add command, hledger- - iadd, hledger-web, ledger-mode etc. - - o In strict mode, they restrict which accounts may be posted to by - transactions, which helps detect typos. - - The simplest form is just the word account followed by a hledger-style - account name, eg this account directive declares the assets:bank:check- - ing account: - - account assets:bank:checking - - Account error checking - By default, accounts come into existence when a transaction references - them by name. This is convenient, but it means hledger can't warn you - when you mis-spell an account name in the journal. Usually you'll find - the error later, as an extra account in balance reports, or an incor- - rect balance when reconciling. - - In strict mode, enabled with the -s/--strict flag, hledger will report - an error if any transaction uses an account name that has not been - declared by an account directive. Some notes: - - o The declaration is case-sensitive; transactions must use the correct - account name capitalisation. - - o The account directive's scope is "whole file and below" (see direc- - tives). 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's usual - to put them at the top. - - o Accounts can only be declared in journal files (but will affect - included files in other formats). - - o It's currently not possible to declare "all possible subaccounts" - with a wildcard; every account posted to must be declared. - - Account comments - Comments, beginning with a semicolon, can be added: - - o on the same line, after two or more spaces (because ; is allowed in - account names) - - o on the next lines, indented - - An example of both: - - account assets:bank:checking ; same-line comment, note 2+ spaces before ; - ; next-line comment - ; another with tag, acctno:12345 (not used yet) - - Same-line comments are not supported by Ledger, or hledger <1.13. - - Account subdirectives - We also allow (and ignore) Ledger-style indented subdirectives, just - for compatibility.: - - account assets:bank:checking - format blah blah ; <- subdirective, ignored - - Here is the full syntax of account directives: - - account ACCTNAME [ACCTTYPE] [;COMMENT] - [;COMMENTS] - [LEDGER-STYLE SUBDIRECTIVES, IGNORED] - - Account types - hledger recognises five main types of account, corresponding to the - account classes in the accounting equation: - - Asset, Liability, Equity, Revenue, Expense. - - These account types are important for controlling which accounts appear - in the balancesheet, balancesheetequity, incomestatement reports (and - probably for other things in future). - - Additionally, we recognise the Cash type, which is also an Asset, and - which causes accounts to appear in the cashflow report. ("Cash" here - means liquid assets, eg bank balances but typically not investments or - receivables.) - - Declaring account types - To make the balancesheet/balancesheetequity/cashflow/incomestatement - reports work, generally you should declare your top-level accounts, and - their types. For each top-level account, write an account directive, - with a type: tag. The tag's value can be any of Asset, Liability, - Equity, Revenue, Expense, Cash, or (for short) A, L, E, R, X, C (case - insensitive). An account's type is inherited by its subaccounts, - unless they declare a different type. Here's an example, declaring all - six account types: - - account assets ; type: Asset - account assets:bank ; type: Cash - account assets:cash ; type: Cash - account liabilities ; type: Liability - account equity ; type: Equity - account revenues ; type: Revenue - account expenses ; type: Expense - - There is also an older syntax, which is deprecated and will be dropped - soon (A, L, E, R or X separated from the account name by two or more - spaces): - - account assets A - account liabilities L - account equity E - account revenues R - account expenses X - - Auto-detected account types - hledger tries to find at least one top level account in each of the six - account types (Asset, Liability, Equity, Revenue, Expense, Cash). When - no accounts have been declared for a particular type, hledger tries to - auto-detect some accounts by name, using regular expressions: - - If account's name matches this case insensitive regular expression:| its type is: - ------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------ - ^assets?(:|$) | - and does not contain regexp (investment|receivable|:A/R|:fixed) | Cash - otherwise | Asset - ^(debts?|liabilit(y|ies))(:|$) | Liability - ^equity(:|$) | Equity - ^(income|revenue)s?(:|$) | Revenue - ^expenses?(:|$) | Expense - - For people using standard english account names, this feature helps - hledger's high-level reports work out of the box with minimal configu- - ration. - - If you use non-english account names, you should declare account types - to make these reports work. And more generally, declaring accounts and - types is usually a good idea, for increased clarity and predictability - (and for the other benefits of account directives: error checking, dis- - play order, etc). - - Notes: - - o When any account is declared as some type, this disables auto-detec- - tion for that particular type. - - o If you declare any account's type, it's a good idea to declare an - account for all six types, since a mix of declared and auto-detected - types can cause confusion. For example, here liabilities is declared - to be Equity, but would also be auto-detected as Liability, since no - Liability account is declared: - - account liabilities ; type:Equity - - 2020-01-01 - assets 1 - liabilities 1 - equity -2 - - Account display order - Account directives also set the order in which accounts are displayed, - eg in reports, the hledger-ui accounts screen, and the hledger-web - sidebar. By default accounts are listed in alphabetical order. But if - you have these account directives in the journal: - - account assets - account liabilities - account equity - account revenues - account expenses - - you'll see those accounts displayed in declaration order, not alphabet- - ically: - - $ hledger accounts -1 - assets - liabilities - equity - revenues - expenses - - Undeclared accounts, if any, are displayed last, in alphabetical order. - - Note that sorting is done at each level of the account tree (within - each group of sibling accounts under the same parent). And currently, - this directive: - - account other:zoo - - would influence the position of zoo among other's subaccounts, but not - the position of other among the top-level accounts. This means: - - o you will sometimes declare parent accounts (eg account other above) - that you don't intend to post to, just to customize their display - order - - o sibling accounts stay together (you couldn't display x:y in between - a:b and a:c). - - Rewriting accounts - You can define account alias rules which rewrite your account names, or - parts of them, before generating reports. This can be useful for: - - o expanding shorthand account names to their full form, allowing easier - data entry and a less verbose journal - - o adapting old journals to your current chart of accounts - - o experimenting with new account organisations, like a new hierarchy or - combining two accounts into one - - o customising reports - - Account aliases also rewrite account names in account directives. They - do not affect account names being entered via hledger add or hledger- - web. - - See also Rewrite account names. - - Basic aliases - To set an account alias, use the alias directive in your journal file. - This affects all subsequent journal entries in the current file or its - included files (but note: not sibling or parent files). The spaces - around the = are optional: - - alias OLD = NEW - - Or, you can use the --alias 'OLD=NEW' option on the command line. This - affects all entries. It's useful for trying out aliases interactively. - - OLD and NEW are case sensitive full account names. hledger will - replace any occurrence of the old account name with the new one. Sub- - accounts are also affected. Eg: - - alias checking = assets:bank:wells fargo:checking - ; rewrites "checking" to "assets:bank:wells fargo:checking", or "checking:a" to "assets:bank:wells fargo:checking:a" - - Regex aliases - There is also a more powerful variant that uses a regular expression, - indicated by the forward slashes: - - alias /REGEX/ = REPLACEMENT - - or --alias '/REGEX/=REPLACEMENT'. - - REGEX is a case-insensitive regular expression. Anywhere it matches - inside an account name, the matched part will be replaced by REPLACE- - MENT. If REGEX contains parenthesised match groups, these can be ref- - erenced by the usual numeric backreferences in REPLACEMENT. Eg: - - alias /^(.+):bank:([^:]+):(.*)/ = \1:\2 \3 - ; rewrites "assets:bank:wells fargo:checking" to "assets:wells fargo checking" - - Also note that REPLACEMENT continues to the end of line (or on command - line, to end of option argument), so it can contain trailing white- - space. - - Combining aliases - You can define as many aliases as you like, using journal directives - and/or command line options. - - Recursive aliases - where an account name is rewritten by one alias, - then by another alias, and so on - are allowed. Each alias sees the - effect of previously applied aliases. - - In such cases it can be important to understand which aliases will be - applied and in which order. For (each account name in) each journal - entry, we apply: - - 1. alias directives preceding the journal entry, most recently parsed - first (ie, reading upward from the journal entry, bottom to top) - - 2. --alias options, in the order they appeared on the command line - (left to right). - - In other words, for (an account name in) a given journal entry: - - o the nearest alias declaration before/above the entry is applied first - - o the next alias before/above that will be be applied next, and so on - - o aliases defined after/below the entry do not affect it. - - This gives nearby aliases precedence over distant ones, and helps pro- - vide semantic stability - aliases will keep working the same way inde- - pendent of which files are being read and in which order. - - In case of trouble, adding --debug=6 to the command line will show - which aliases are being applied when. - - Aliases and multiple files - As explained at Directives and multiple files, alias directives do not - affect parent or sibling files. Eg in this command, - - hledger -f a.aliases -f b.journal - - account aliases defined in a.aliases will not affect b.journal. - Including the aliases doesn't work either: - - include a.aliases - - 2020-01-01 ; not affected by a.aliases - foo 1 - bar - - This means that account aliases should usually be declared at the start - of your top-most file, like this: - - alias foo=Foo - alias bar=Bar - - 2020-01-01 ; affected by aliases above - foo 1 - bar - - include c.journal ; also affected - - end aliases - You can clear (forget) all currently defined aliases with the end - aliases directive: - - end aliases - - Default parent account - You can specify a parent account which will be prepended to all - accounts within a section of the journal. Use the apply account and - end apply account directives like so: - - apply account home - - 2010/1/1 - food $10 - cash - - end apply account - - which is equivalent to: - - 2010/01/01 - home:food $10 - home:cash $-10 - - If end apply account is omitted, the effect lasts to the end of the - file. Included files are also affected, eg: - - apply account business - include biz.journal - end apply account - apply account personal - include personal.journal - - Prior to hledger 1.0, legacy account and end spellings were also sup- - ported. - - A default parent account also affects account directives. It does not - affect account names being entered via hledger add or hledger-web. If - account aliases are present, they are applied after the default parent - account. - - Periodic transactions - Periodic transaction rules describe transactions that recur. They - allow hledger to generate temporary future transactions to help with - forecasting, so you don't have to write out each one in the journal, - and it's easy to try out different forecasts. - - Periodic transactions can be a little tricky, so before you use them, - read this whole section - or at least these tips: - - 1. Two spaces accidentally added or omitted will cause you trouble - - read about this below. - - 2. For troubleshooting, show the generated transactions with hledger - print --forecast tag:generated or hledger register --forecast - tag:generated. - - 3. Forecasted transactions will begin only after the last non-fore- - casted transaction's date. - - 4. Forecasted transactions will end 6 months from today, by default. - See below for the exact start/end rules. - - 5. period expressions can be tricky. Their documentation needs - improvement, but is worth studying. - - 6. Some period expressions with a repeating interval must begin on a - natural boundary of that interval. Eg in weekly from DATE, DATE - must be a monday. ~ weekly from 2019/10/1 (a tuesday) will give an - error. - - 7. Other period expressions with an interval are automatically expanded - to cover a whole number of that interval. (This is done to improve - reports, but it also affects periodic transactions. Yes, it's a bit - inconsistent with the above.) Eg: ~ every 10th day of month from - 2020/01, which is equivalent to ~ every 10th day of month from - 2020/01/01, will be adjusted to start on 2019/12/10. - - Periodic transaction rules also have a second meaning: they are used to - define budget goals, shown in budget reports. - - Periodic rule syntax - A periodic transaction rule looks like a normal journal entry, with the - date replaced by a tilde (~) followed by a period expression (mnemonic: - ~ looks like a recurring sine wave.): - - ~ monthly - expenses:rent $2000 - assets:bank:checking - - There is an additional constraint on the period expression: the start - date must fall on a natural boundary of the interval. Eg monthly from - 2018/1/1 is valid, but monthly from 2018/1/15 is not. - - Partial or relative dates (M/D, D, tomorrow, last week) in the period - expression can work (useful or not). They will be relative to today's - date, unless a Y default year directive is in effect, in which case - they will be relative to Y/1/1. - - Two spaces between period expression and description! - If the period expression is followed by a transaction description, - these must be separated by two or more spaces. This helps hledger know - where the period expression ends, so that descriptions can not acciden- - tally alter their meaning, as in this example: - - ; 2 or more spaces needed here, so the period is not understood as "every 2 months in 2020" - ; || - ; vv - ~ every 2 months in 2020, we will review - assets:bank:checking $1500 - income:acme inc - - So, - - o Do write two spaces between your period expression and your transac- - tion description, if any. - - o Don't accidentally write two spaces in the middle of your period - expression. - - Forecasting with periodic transactions - The --forecast flag activates any periodic transaction rules in the - journal. These will generate temporary additional transactions, usu- - ally recurring and in the future, which will appear in all reports. - hledger print --forecast is a good way to see them. - - This can be useful for estimating balances into the future, perhaps - experimenting with different scenarios. - - It could also be useful for scripted data entry: you could describe - recurring transactions, and every so often copy the output of print - --forecast into the journal. - - The generated transactions will have an extra tag, like generated- - transaction:~ PERIODICEXPR, indicating which periodic rule generated - them. There is also a similar, hidden tag, named _generated-transac- - tion:, which you can use to reliably match transactions generated "just - now" (rather than printed in the past). - - The forecast transactions are generated within a forecast period, which - is independent of the report period. (Forecast period sets the bounds - for generated transactions, report period controls which transactions - are reported.) The forecast period begins on: - - o the start date provided within --forecast's argument, if any - - o otherwise, the later of - - o the report start date, if specified (with -b/-p/date:) - - o the day after the latest ordinary transaction in the journal, if - any - - o otherwise today. - - It ends on: - - o the end date provided within --forecast's argument, if any - - o otherwise, the report end date, if specified (with -e/-p/date:) - - o otherwise 180 days (6 months) from today. - - Note, this means that ordinary transactions will suppress periodic - transactions, by default; the periodic transactions will not start - until after the last ordinary transaction. This is usually convenient, - but you can get around it in two ways: - - o If you need to record some transactions in the future, make them - periodic transactions (with a single occurrence, eg: ~ YYYY-MM-DD) - rather than ordinary transactions. That way they won't suppress - other periodic transactions. - - o Or give --forecast a period expression argument. A forecast period - specified this way can overlap ordinary transactions, and need not be - in the future. Some things to note: - - o You must use = between flag and argument; a space won't work. - - o The period expression can specify the forecast period's start date, - end date, or both. See also Report start & end date. - - o The period expression should not specify a report interval. (Each - periodic transaction rule specifies its own interval.) - - Some examples: --forecast=202001-202004, --forecast=jan-, --fore- - cast=2021. - - Budgeting with periodic transactions - With the --budget flag, currently supported by the balance command, - each periodic transaction rule declares recurring budget goals for the - specified accounts. Eg the first example above declares a goal of - spending $2000 on rent (and also, a goal of depositing $2000 into - checking) every month. Goals and actual performance can then be com- - pared in budget reports. - - See also: Budgeting and Forecasting. - - - Auto postings - "Automated postings" or "auto postings" are extra postings which get - added automatically to transactions which match certain queries, - defined by "auto posting rules", when you use the --auto flag. - - An auto posting rule looks a bit like a transaction: - - = QUERY - ACCOUNT AMOUNT - ... - ACCOUNT [AMOUNT] - - except the first line is an equals sign (mnemonic: = suggests match- - ing), followed by a query (which matches existing postings), and each - "posting" line describes a posting to be generated, and the posting - amounts can be: - - o a normal amount with a commodity symbol, eg $2. This will be used - as-is. - - o a number, eg 2. The commodity symbol (if any) from the matched post- - ing will be added to this. - - o a numeric multiplier, eg *2 (a star followed by a number N). The - matched posting's amount (and total price, if any) will be multiplied - by N. - - o a multiplier with a commodity symbol, eg *$2 (a star, number N, and - symbol S). The matched posting's amount will be multiplied by N, and - its commodity symbol will be replaced with S. - - 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: - - = expenses:groceries 'expenses:dining out' - (budget:funds:dining out) *-1 - - Some examples: - - ; every time I buy food, schedule a dollar donation - = expenses:food - (liabilities:charity) $-1 - - ; when I buy a gift, also deduct that amount from a budget envelope subaccount - = expenses:gifts - assets:checking:gifts *-1 - assets:checking *1 - - 2017/12/1 - expenses:food $10 - assets:checking - - 2017/12/14 - expenses:gifts $20 - assets:checking - - $ hledger print --auto - 2017-12-01 - expenses:food $10 - assets:checking - (liabilities:charity) $-1 - - 2017-12-14 - expenses:gifts $20 - assets:checking - assets:checking:gifts -$20 - assets:checking $20 - - Auto postings and multiple files - An auto posting rule can affect any transaction in the current file, or - in any parent file or child file. Note, currently it will not affect - sibling files (when multiple -f/--file are used - see #1212). - - Auto postings and dates - 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. - - Auto postings and transaction balancing / inferred amounts / balance asser- - tions - Currently, auto postings are added: - - o after missing amounts are inferred, and transactions are checked for - balancedness, - - o but before balance assertions are checked. - - Note this means that journal entries must be balanced both before and - after auto postings are added. This changed in hledger 1.12+; see #893 - for background. - - Auto posting tags - Automated postings will have some extra tags: - - o generated-posting:= QUERY - shows this was generated by an auto post- - ing rule, and the query - - o _generated-posting:= QUERY - a hidden tag, which does not appear in - hledger's output. This can be used to match postings generated "just - now", rather than generated in the past and saved to the journal. - - Also, any transaction that has been changed by auto posting rules will - have these tags added: - - o modified: - this transaction was modified - - o _modified: - a hidden tag not appearing in the comment; this transac- - tion was modified "just now". - -CSV FORMAT - How hledger reads CSV data, and the CSV rules file format. - - hledger can read CSV files (Character Separated Value - usually comma, - semicolon, or tab) containing dated records as if they were journal - files, automatically converting each CSV record into a transaction. - - (To learn about writing CSV, see CSV output.) - - We describe each CSV file's format with a corresponding rules file. By - default this is named like the CSV file with a .rules extension added. - Eg when reading FILE.csv, hledger also looks for FILE.csv.rules in the - same directory as FILE.csv. You can specify a different rules file - with the --rules-file option. If a rules file is not found, hledger - will create a sample rules file, which you'll need to adjust. - - This file contains rules describing the CSV data (header line, fields - layout, date format etc.), and how to construct hledger journal entries - (transactions) from it. Often there will also be a list of conditional - rules for categorising transactions based on their descriptions. - Here's an overview of the CSV rules; these are described more fully - below, after the examples: - - - skip skip one or more header lines or matched CSV - records - fields list name CSV fields, assign them to hledger - fields - field assignment assign a value to one hledger field, with - interpolation - Field names hledger field names, used in the fields list - and field assignments - separator a custom field separator - if block apply some rules to CSV records matched by - patterns - if table apply some rules to CSV records matched by - patterns, alternate syntax - end skip the remaining CSV records - date-format how to parse dates in CSV records - decimal-mark the decimal mark used in CSV amounts, if - ambiguous - newest-first disambiguate record order when there's only - one date - include inline another CSV rules file - - - balance-type choose which type of balance assignments to - use - - Note, for best error messages when reading CSV files, use a .csv, .tsv - or .ssv file extension or file prefix - see File Extension below. - - There's an introductory Convert CSV files tutorial on hledger.org. - - Examples - Here are some sample hledger CSV rules files. See also the full col- - lection at: - https://github.com/simonmichael/hledger/tree/master/examples/csv - - Basic - 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's a simple CSV file and a rules file for it: - - Date, Description, Id, Amount - 12/11/2019, Foo, 123, 10.23 - - # basic.csv.rules - skip 1 - fields date, description, _, amount - date-format %d/%m/%Y - - $ hledger print -f basic.csv - 2019-11-12 Foo - expenses:unknown 10.23 - income:unknown -10.23 - - Default account names are chosen, since we didn't set them. - - Bank of Ireland - Here'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 neces- - sary but provides extra error checking: - - Date,Details,Debit,Credit,Balance - 07/12/2012,LODGMENT 529898,,10.0,131.21 - 07/12/2012,PAYMENT,5,,126 - - # 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 "balance" - # 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 - - $ 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 - - The balance assertions don't raise an error above, because we're read- - ing directly from CSV, but they will be checked if these entries are - imported into a journal file. - - Amazon - Here we convert amazon.com order history, and use an if block to gener- - ate a third posting if there's a fee. (In practice you'd probably get - this data from your bank instead, but it's an example.) - - "Date","Type","To/From","Name","Status","Amount","Fees","Transaction ID" - "Jul 29, 2012","Payment","To","Foo.","Completed","$20.00","$0.00","16000000000000DGLNJPI1P9B8DKPVHL" - "Jul 30, 2012","Payment","To","Adapteva, Inc.","Completed","$25.00","$1.00","17LA58JSKRD4HDGLNJPI1P9B8DKPVHL" - - # amazon-orders.csv.rules - - # skip one header line - skip 1 - - # name the csv fields, and assign the transaction's date, amount and code. - # Avoided the "status" and "amount" 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'm assuming amzamount excludes the fees, don'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 - - $ 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 - - Paypal - Here's a real-world rules file for (customised) Paypal CSV, with some - Paypal-specific rules, and a second rules file included: - - "Date","Time","TimeZone","Name","Type","Status","Currency","Gross","Fee","Net","From Email Address","To Email Address","Transaction ID","Item Title","Item ID","Reference Txn ID","Receipt ID","Balance","Note" - "10/01/2019","03:46:20","PDT","Calm Radio","Subscription Payment","Completed","USD","-6.99","0.00","-6.99","simon@joyful.com","memberships@calmradio.com","60P57143A8206782E","MONTHLY - $1 for the first 2 Months: Me - Order 99309. Item total: $1.00 USD first 2 months, then $6.99 / Month","","I-R8YLY094FJYR","","-6.99","" - "10/01/2019","03:46:20","PDT","","Bank Deposit to PP Account ","Pending","USD","6.99","0.00","6.99","","simon@joyful.com","0TU1544T080463733","","","60P57143A8206782E","","0.00","" - "10/01/2019","08:57:01","PDT","Patreon","PreApproved Payment Bill User Payment","Completed","USD","-7.00","0.00","-7.00","simon@joyful.com","support@patreon.com","2722394R5F586712G","Patreon* Membership","","B-0PG93074E7M86381M","","-7.00","" - "10/01/2019","08:57:01","PDT","","Bank Deposit to PP Account ","Pending","USD","7.00","0.00","7.00","","simon@joyful.com","71854087RG994194F","Patreon* Membership","","2722394R5F586712G","","0.00","" - "10/19/2019","03:02:12","PDT","Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.","Subscription Payment","Completed","USD","-2.00","0.00","-2.00","simon@joyful.com","tle@wikimedia.org","K9U43044RY432050M","Monthly donation to the Wikimedia Foundation","","I-R5C3YUS3285L","","-2.00","" - "10/19/2019","03:02:12","PDT","","Bank Deposit to PP Account ","Pending","USD","2.00","0.00","2.00","","simon@joyful.com","3XJ107139A851061F","","","K9U43044RY432050M","","0.00","" - "10/22/2019","05:07:06","PDT","Noble Benefactor","Subscription Payment","Completed","USD","10.00","-0.59","9.41","noble@bene.fac.tor","simon@joyful.com","6L8L1662YP1334033","Joyful Systems","","I-KC9VBGY2GWDB","","9.41","" - - # paypal-custom.csv.rules - - # Tips: - # Export from Activity -> Statements -> Custom -> Activity download - # Suggested transaction type: "Balance affecting" - # Paypal's default fields in 2018 were: - # "Date","Time","TimeZone","Name","Type","Status","Currency","Gross","Fee","Net","From Email Address","To Email Address","Transaction ID","Shipping Address","Address Status","Item Title","Item ID","Shipping and Handling Amount","Insurance Amount","Sales Tax","Option 1 Name","Option 1 Value","Option 2 Name","Option 2 Value","Reference Txn ID","Invoice Number","Custom Number","Quantity","Receipt ID","Balance","Address Line 1","Address Line 2/District/Neighborhood","Town/City","State/Province/Region/County/Territory/Prefecture/Republic","Zip/Postal Code","Country","Contact Phone Number","Subject","Note","Country Code","Balance Impact" - # This rules file assumes the following more detailed fields, configured in "Customize report fields": - # "Date","Time","TimeZone","Name","Type","Status","Currency","Gross","Fee","Net","From Email Address","To Email Address","Transaction ID","Item Title","Item ID","Reference Txn ID","Receipt ID","Balance","Note" - - 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'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's income (a debit) - if %grossamount ^[^-] - account2 income:unknown - # if negative, it's an expense (a credit) - if %grossamount ^- - 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 - - # 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 - - $ 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@joyful.com, toemail:memberships@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@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@joyful.com, toemail:support@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@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@joyful.com, toemail:tle@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@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@bene.fac.tor, toemail:simon@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: - - CSV rules - The following kinds of rule can appear in the rules file, in any order. - Blank lines and lines beginning with # or ; are ignored. - - skip - skip N - - The word "skip" followed by a number (or no number, meaning 1) tells - hledger to ignore this many non-empty lines preceding the CSV data. - (Empty/blank lines are skipped automatically.) You'll need this when- - ever your CSV data contains header lines. - - It also has a second purpose: it can be used inside if blocks to ignore - certain CSV records (described below). - - fields list - fields FIELDNAME1, FIELDNAME2, ... - - A fields list (the word "fields" followed by comma-separated field - names) is the quick way to assign CSV field values to hledger fields. - (The other way is field assignments, see below.) A fields list does - does two things: - - 1. It names the CSV fields. This is optional, but can be convenient - later for interpolating them. - - 2. Whenever you use a standard hledger field name (defined below), the - CSV value is assigned to that part of the hledger transaction. - - Here's an example that says "use the 1st, 2nd and 4th fields as the - transaction's date, description and amount; name the last two fields - for later reference; and ignore the others": - - fields date, description, , amount, , , somefield, anotherfield - - Tips: - - o The fields list always use commas, even if your CSV data uses another - separator character. - - o Currently there must be least two items in the list (at least one - comma). - - o Field names may not contain spaces. Spaces before/after field names - are optional. - - o If the CSV contains column headings, it's a good idea to use these, - suitably modified, as the basis for your field names (eg lower-cased, - with underscores instead of spaces). - - o If some heading names match standard hledger fields, but you don't - want to set the hledger fields directly, alter those names, eg by - appending an underscore. - - o Fields you don't care about can be given a dummy name (eg: _ ), or no - name. - - field assignment - HLEDGERFIELDNAME FIELDVALUE - - 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). - - 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 inter- - polate CSV fields, referenced by their 1-based position in the CSV - record (%N), or by the name they were given in the fields list (%CSV- - FIELDNAME). - - Some examples: - - # set the amount to the 4th CSV field, with " USD" appended - amount %4 USD - - # combine three fields to make a comment, containing note: and date: tags - comment note: %somefield - %anotherfield, date: %1 - - Tips: - - o Interpolation strips outer whitespace (so a CSV value like " 1 " - becomes 1 when interpolated) (#1051). - - o Interpolations always refer to a CSV field - you can't interpolate a - hledger field. (See Referencing other fields below). - - Field names - Here are the standard hledger field (and pseudo-field) names, which you - can use in a fields list and in field assignments. For more about the - transaction parts they refer to, see Transactions. - - date field - Assigning to date sets the transaction date. - - date2 field - date2 sets the transaction's secondary date, if any. - - status field - status sets the transaction's status, if any. - - code field - code sets the transaction's code, if any. - - description field - description sets the transaction's description, if any. - - comment field - comment sets the transaction's comment, if any. - - commentN, where N is a number, sets the Nth posting's comment. - - Tips: - You can assign multi-line comments by writing literal \n in the - code. A comment starting with \n will begin on a new line. - Comments - can contain tags, as usual. - - account field - Assigning to accountN, where N is 1 to 99, sets the account name of the - Nth posting, and causes that posting to be generated. - - Most often there are two postings, so you'll want to set account1 and - account2. Typically account1 is associated with the CSV file, and is - set once with a top-level assignment, while account2 is set based on - each transaction's description, and in conditional blocks. - - If a posting's account name is left unset but its amount is set (see - below), a default account name will be chosen (like "expenses:unknown" - or "income:unknown"). - - amount field - amountN sets the amount of the Nth posting, and causes that posting to - be generated. By assigning to amount1, amount2, ... etc. you can - generate up to 99 postings. - - amountN-in and amountN-out can be used instead, if the CSV uses sepa- - rate fields for debits and credits (inflows and outflows). hledger - assumes both of these CSV fields are unsigned, and will automatically - negate the "-out" value. If they are signed, see "Setting amounts" - below. - - amount, or amount-in and amount-out are a legacy mode, to keep pre- - hledger-1.17 CSV rules files working (and for occasional convenience). - They are suitable only for two-posting transactions; they set both - posting 1's and posting 2's amount. Posting 2's amount will be - negated, and also converted to cost if there's a transaction price. - - If you have an existing rules file using the unnumbered form, you might - want to use the numbered form in certain conditional blocks, without - having to update and retest all the old rules. To facilitate this, - posting 1 ignores amount/amount-in/amount-out if any of - amount1/amount1-in/amount1-out are assigned, and posting 2 ignores them - if any of amount2/amount2-in/amount2-out are assigned, avoiding con- - flicts. - - currency field - currency sets a currency symbol, to be prepended to all postings' - amounts. You can use this if the CSV amounts do not have a currency - symbol, eg if it is in a separate column. - - currencyN prepends a currency symbol to just the Nth posting's amount. - - balance field - balanceN sets a balance assertion amount (or if the posting amount is - left empty, a balance assignment) on posting N. - - balance is a compatibility spelling for hledger <1.17; it is equivalent - to balance1. - - You can adjust the type of assertion/assignment with the balance-type - rule (see below). - - See Tips below for more about setting amounts and currency. - - separator - You can use the separator rule to read other kinds of character-sepa- - rated data. The argument is any single separator character, or the - words tab or space (case insensitive). Eg, for comma-separated values - (CSV): - - separator , - - or for semicolon-separated values (SSV): - - separator ; - - or for tab-separated values (TSV): - - separator TAB - - If the input file has a .csv, .ssv or .tsv file extension (or a csv:, - ssv:, tsv: prefix), the appropriate separator will be inferred automat- - ically, and you won't need this rule. - - if block - if MATCHER - RULE - - if - MATCHER - MATCHER - MATCHER - RULE - RULE - - Conditional blocks ("if blocks") are a block of rules that are applied - only to CSV records which match certain patterns. They are often used - for customising account names based on transaction descriptions. - - Matching the whole record - Each MATCHER can be a record matcher, which looks like this: - - REGEX - - REGEX is a case-insensitive regular expression that tries to match any- - where within the CSV record. It is a POSIX ERE (extended regular - expression) that also supports GNU word boundaries (\b, \B, \<, \>), - and nothing else. If you have trouble, be sure to check our doc: - https://hledger.org/hledger.html#regular-expressions - - Important note: the record that is matched is not the original record, - but a synthetic one, with any enclosing double quotes (but not enclos- - ing whitespace) removed, and always comma-separated (which means that a - field containing a comma will appear like two fields). Eg, if the - original record is 2020-01-01; "Acme, Inc."; 1,000, the REGEX will - actually see 2020-01-01,Acme, Inc., 1,000). - - Matching individual fields - Or, MATCHER can be a field matcher, like this: - - %CSVFIELD REGEX - - which matches just the content of a particular CSV field. CSVFIELD is - a percent sign followed by the field's name or column number, like - %date or %1. - - Combining matchers - A single matcher can be written on the same line as the "if"; or multi- - ple matchers can be written on the following lines, non-indented. Mul- - tiple matchers are OR'd (any one of them can match), unless one begins - with an & symbol, in which case it is AND'ed with the previous matcher. - - if - MATCHER - & MATCHER - RULE - - Rules applied on successful match - After the patterns there should be one or more rules to apply, all - indented by at least one space. Three kinds of rule are allowed in - conditional blocks: - - o field assignments (to set a hledger field) - - o skip (to skip the matched CSV record) - - o end (to skip all remaining CSV records). - - Examples: - - # if the CSV record contains "groceries", set account2 to "expenses:groceries" - if groceries - account2 expenses:groceries - - # if the CSV record contains any of these patterns, set account2 and comment as shown - if - monthly service fee - atm transaction fee - banking thru software - account2 expenses:business:banking - comment XXX deductible ? check it - - if table - if,CSVFIELDNAME1,CSVFIELDNAME2,...,CSVFIELDNAMEn - MATCHER1,VALUE11,VALUE12,...,VALUE1n - MATCHER2,VALUE21,VALUE22,...,VALUE2n - MATCHER3,VALUE31,VALUE32,...,VALUE3n - - - Conditional tables ("if tables") are a different syntax to specify - field assignments that will be applied only to CSV records which match - certain patterns. - - MATCHER could be either field or record matcher, as described above. - When MATCHER matches, values from that row would be assigned to the CSV - fields named on the if line, in the same order. - - Therefore if table is exactly equivalent to a sequence of of if blocks: - - if MATCHER1 - CSVFIELDNAME1 VALUE11 - CSVFIELDNAME2 VALUE12 - ... - CSVFIELDNAMEn VALUE1n - - if MATCHER2 - CSVFIELDNAME1 VALUE21 - CSVFIELDNAME2 VALUE22 - ... - CSVFIELDNAMEn VALUE2n - - if MATCHER3 - CSVFIELDNAME1 VALUE31 - CSVFIELDNAME2 VALUE32 - ... - CSVFIELDNAMEn VALUE3n - - Each line starting with MATCHER should contain enough (possibly empty) - values for all the listed fields. - - Rules would be checked and applied in the order they are listed in the - table and, like with if blocks, later rules (in the same or another ta- - ble) or if blocks could override the effect of any rule. - - Instead of ',' you can use a variety of other non-alphanumeric charac- - ters as a separator. First character after if is taken to be the sepa- - rator for the rest of the table. It is the responsibility of the user - to ensure that separator does not occur inside MATCHERs and values - - there is no way to escape separator. - - Example: - - if,account2,comment - atm transaction fee,expenses:business:banking,deductible? check it - %description groceries,expenses:groceries, - 2020/01/12.*Plumbing LLC,expenses:house:upkeep,emergency plumbing call-out - - end - This rule can be used inside if blocks (only), to make hledger stop - reading this CSV file and move on to the next input file, or to command - execution. Eg: - - # ignore everything following the first empty record - if ,,,, - end - - date-format - date-format DATEFMT - - This is a helper for the date (and date2) fields. If your CSV dates - are not formatted like YYYY-MM-DD, YYYY/MM/DD or YYYY.MM.DD, you'll - need to add a date-format rule describing them with a strptime date - parsing pattern, which must parse the CSV date value completely. Some - examples: - - # MM/DD/YY - date-format %m/%d/%y - - # D/M/YYYY - # The - makes leading zeros optional. - date-format %-d/%-m/%Y - - # YYYY-Mmm-DD - date-format %Y-%h-%d - - # 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 - - For the supported strptime syntax, see: - https://hackage.haskell.org/package/time/docs/Data-Time-For- - mat.html#v:formatTime - - Note that although you can parse date-times which include a time zone, - that time zone is ignored; it will not change the date that is parsed. - This means when reading CSV data with times not in your local time - zone, dates can be "off by one". - - decimal-mark - decimal-mark . - - or: - - decimal-mark , - - 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. - - newest-first - hledger always sorts the generated transactions by date. Transactions - on the same date should appear in the same order as their CSV records, - as hledger can usually auto-detect whether the CSV's normal order is - oldest first or newest first. But if all of the following are true: - - o the CSV might sometimes contain just one day of data (all records - having the same date) - - o the CSV records are normally in reverse chronological order (newest - at the top) - - o and you care about preserving the order of same-day transactions - - then, you should add the newest-first rule as a hint. Eg: - - # tell hledger explicitly that the CSV is normally newest first - newest-first - - include - include RULESFILE - - This includes the contents of another CSV rules file at this point. - RULESFILE is an absolute file path or a path relative to the current - file's directory. This can be useful for sharing common rules between - several rules files, eg: - - # someaccount.csv.rules - - ## someaccount-specific rules - fields date,description,amount - account1 assets:someaccount - account2 expenses:misc - - ## common rules - include categorisation.rules - - balance-type - Balance assertions generated by assigning to balanceN are of the simple - = 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 - balance-type rule: - - # balance assertions will consider all commodities and all subaccounts - balance-type ==* - - Here are the balance assertion types for quick reference: - - = single commodity, exclude subaccounts - =* single commodity, include subaccounts - == multi commodity, exclude subaccounts - ==* multi commodity, include subaccounts - - Tips - Rapid feedback - It's a good idea to get rapid feedback while creating/troubleshooting - CSV rules. Here's a good way, using entr from eradman.com/entrproject: - - $ ls foo.csv* | entr bash -c 'echo ----; hledger -f foo.csv print desc:SOMEDESC' - - A desc: query (eg) is used to select just one, or a few, transactions - of interest. "bash -c" 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. - - Valid CSV - hledger accepts CSV conforming to RFC 4180. When CSV values are - enclosed in quotes, note: - - o they must be double quotes (not single quotes) - - o spaces outside the quotes are not allowed - - File Extension - To help hledger identify the format and show the right error messages, - CSV/SSV/TSV files should normally be named with a .csv, .ssv or .tsv - filename extension. Or, the file path should be prefixed with csv:, - ssv: or tsv:. Eg: - - $ hledger -f foo.ssv print - - or: - - $ cat foo | hledger -f ssv:- foo - - You can override the file extension with a separator rule if needed. - See also: Input files in the hledger manual. - - Reading multiple CSV files - If you use multiple -f 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 --rules-file option, that rules file will be - used for all the CSV files. - - Valid transactions - After reading a CSV file, hledger post-processes and validates the gen- - erated 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. - - 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: - - $ hledger -f file.csv print | hledger -f- print - - Deduplicating, importing - 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. - - 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't have to remember how many times you ran it or with which version - of the CSV. (It keeps state in a hidden .latest.FILE.csv file.) This - is the easiest way to import CSV data. Eg: - - # download the latest CSV files, then run this command. - # Note, no -f flags needed here. - $ hledger import *.csv [--dry] - - This method works for most CSV files. (Where records have a stable - chronological order, and new records appear only at the new end.) - - A number of other tools and workflows, hledger-specific and otherwise, - exist for converting, deduplicating, classifying and managing CSV data. - See: - - o https://hledger.org -> sidebar -> real world setups - - o https://plaintextaccounting.org -> data import/conversion - - Setting amounts - Some tips on using the amount-setting rules discussed above. - - Here are the ways to set a posting's amount: - - 1. If the CSV has a single amount field: - Assign (via a fields list or a field assignment) to amountN. This sets - the Nth posting's amount. N is usually 1 or 2 but can go up to 99. - - 2. If the CSV has separate amount fields for debit & credit (in & out): - - a. If both fields are unsigned: - Assign to amountN-in and amountN-out. This sets posting N's amount - to whichever of these has a non-zero value, and negates the "-out" - value. - - b. If either field is signed (can contain a minus sign): - Use a conditional rule to flip the sign (of non-empty values). - Since hledger always negates amountN-out, if it was already nega- - tive, we must undo that by negating once more (but only if the - field is non-empty): - - fields date, description, amount1-in, amount1-out - if %amount1-out [1-9] - amount1-out -%amount1-out - - c. If both fields, or neither field, can contain a non-zero value: - hledger normally expects exactly one of the fields to have a non- - zero value. Eg, the amountN-in/amountN-out rules would reject - value pairs like these: - - "", "" - "0", "0" - "1", "none" - - So, use smarter conditional rules to set the amount from the appro- - priate field. Eg, these rules would make it use only the value - containing non-zero digits, handling the above: - - fields date, description, in, out - if %in [1-9] - amount1 %in - if %out [1-9] - amount1 %out - - 3. If you are stuck with hledger <1.17, or you want posting 2's amount - converted to cost: - Assign to amount (or to amount-in and amount-out). (The old numberless - syntax, which sets amount1 and amount2.) - - 4. If the CSV has the balance instead of the transaction amount: - Assign to balanceN, which sets posting N's amount indirectly via a bal- - ance assignment. (Old syntax: balance, equivalent to balance1.) - - o If hledger guesses the wrong default account name: - When setting the amount via balance assertion, hledger may guess - the wrong default account name. So, set the account name explic- - itly, eg: - - fields date, description, balance1 - account1 assets:checking - - Amount signs - There is some special handling for amount signs, to simplify parsing - and sign-flipping: - - o If an amount value begins with a plus sign: - that will be removed: +AMT becomes AMT - - o If an amount value is parenthesised: - it will be de-parenthesised and sign-flipped: (AMT) becomes -AMT - - o If an amount value has two minus signs (or two sets of parentheses, - or a minus sign and parentheses): - they cancel out and will be removed: --AMT or -(AMT) becomes AMT - - o If an amount value contains just a sign (or just a set of parenthe- - ses): - that is removed, making it an empty value. "+" or "-" or "()" becomes - "". - - Setting currency/commodity - If the currency/commodity symbol is included in the CSV's amount - field(s): - - 2020-01-01,foo,$123.00 - - you don't have to do anything special for the commodity symbol, it will - be assigned as part of the amount. Eg: - - fields date,description,amount - - 2020-01-01 foo - expenses:unknown $123.00 - income:unknown $-123.00 - - If the currency is provided as a separate CSV field: - - 2020-01-01,foo,USD,123.00 - - You can assign that to the currency pseudo-field, which has the special - effect of prepending itself to every amount in the transaction (on the - left, with no separating space): - - fields date,description,currency,amount - - 2020-01-01 foo - expenses:unknown USD123.00 - income:unknown USD-123.00 - - 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: - - fields date,description,cur,amt - amount %amt %cur - - 2020-01-01 foo - expenses:unknown 123.00 USD - income:unknown -123.00 USD - - Note we used a temporary field name (cur) that is not currency - that - would trigger the prepending effect, which we don't want here. - - Amount decimal places - Like amounts in a journal file, the amounts generated by CSV rules like - amount1 influence commodity display styles, such as the number of deci- - mal places displayed in reports. - - The original amounts as written in the CSV file do not affect display - style (because we don't yet reliably know their commodity). - - Referencing other fields - In field assignments, you can interpolate only CSV fields, not hledger - fields. In the example below, there's both a CSV field and a hledger - field named amount1, but %amount1 always means the CSV field, not the - hledger field: - - # Name the third CSV field "amount1" - fields date,description,amount1 - - # Set hledger'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 - - Here, since there's no CSV amount1 field, %amount1 will produce a lit- - eral "amount1": - - fields date,description,csvamount - amount1 %csvamount USD - # Can't interpolate amount1 here - comment %amount1 - - When there are multiple field assignments to the same hledger field, - only the last one takes effect. Here, comment's value will be be B, or - C if "something" is matched, but never A: - - comment A - comment B - if something - comment C - - How CSV rules are evaluated - Here's how to think of CSV rules being evaluated (if you really need - to). First, - - o include - 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.) - - Then "global" rules are evaluated, top to bottom. If a rule is - repeated, the last one wins: - - o skip (at top level) - - o date-format - - o newest-first - - o fields - names the CSV fields, optionally sets up initial assignments - to hledger fields - - Then for each CSV record in turn: - - o test all if blocks. If any of them contain a end rule, skip all - remaining CSV records. Otherwise if any of them contain a skip rule, - skip that many CSV records. If there are multiple matched skip - rules, the first one wins. - - o collect all field assignments at top level and in matched if blocks. - When there are multiple assignments for a field, keep only the last - one. - - o compute a value for each hledger field - either the one that was - assigned to it (and interpolate the %CSVFIELDNAME references), or a - default - - o generate a synthetic hledger transaction from these values. - - 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. - -TIMECLOCK FORMAT - The time logging format of timeclock.el, as read by hledger. - - hledger can read time logs in timeclock format. As with Ledger, these - are (a subset of) timeclock.el'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). - - i 2015/03/30 09:00:00 some:account name optional description after two spaces - o 2015/03/30 09:20:00 - i 2015/03/31 22:21:45 another account - o 2015/04/01 02:00:34 - - 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, hledger print generates these journal entries: - - $ hledger -f t.timeclock print - 2015-03-30 * optional description after two spaces - (some:account name) 0.33h - - 2015-03-31 * 22:21-23:59 - (another account) 1.64h - - 2015-04-01 * 00:00-02:00 - (another account) 2.01h - - Here is a sample.timeclock to download and some queries to try: - - $ 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 - - To generate time logs, ie to clock in and clock out, you could: - - o use emacs and the built-in timeclock.el, or the extended timeclock- - x.el and perhaps the extras in ledgerutils.el - - o at the command line, use these bash aliases: shell alias ti="echo - i `date '+%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S'` \$* >>$TIMELOG" alias to="echo o - `date '+%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S'` >>$TIMELOG" - - o or use the old ti and to scripts in the ledger 2.x repository. These - rely on a "timeclock" executable which I think is just the ledger 2 - executable renamed. - -TIMEDOT FORMAT - timedot format is hledger's human-friendly time logging format. Com- - pared to timeclock format, it is - - o convenient for quick, approximate, and retroactive time logging - - o readable: you can see at a glance where time was spent. - - A timedot file contains a series of day entries, which might look like - this: - - 2021-08-04 - hom:errands .... .... - fos:hledger:timedot .. ; docs - per:admin:finance - - hledger reads this as three time transactions on this day, with each - dot representing a quarter-hour spent: - - $ hledger -f a.timedot print # .timedot file extension activates the timedot reader - 2021-08-04 * - (hom:errands) 2.00 - - 2021-08-04 * - (fos:hledger:timedot) 0.50 - - 2021-08-04 * - (per:admin:finance) 0 - - A day entry begins with a date line: - - o a non-indented simple date (Y-M-D, Y/M/D, or Y.M.D). - - Optionally this can be followed on the same line by - - o a common transaction description for this day - - o a common transaction comment for this day, after a semicolon (;). - - After the date line are zero or more optionally-indented time transac- - tion lines, consisting of: - - o an account name - any word or phrase, usually a hledger-style account - name. - - o two or more spaces - a field separator, required if there is an - amount (as in journal format). - - o a timedot amount - dots representing quarter hours, or a number rep- - resenting hours. - - o an optional comment beginning with semicolon. This is ignored. - - In more detail, timedot amounts can be: - - o dots: zero or more period characters, each representing one quarter- - hour. Spaces are ignored and can be used for grouping. Eg: .... .. - - o a number, representing hours. Eg: 1.5 - - o a number immediately followed by a unit symbol s, m, h, d, w, mo, or - y, representing seconds, minutes, hours, days weeks, months or years. - Eg 1.5h or 90m. The following equivalencies are assumed: - 60s = 1m, 60m = 1h, 24h = 1d, 7d = 1w, 30d = 1mo, 365d = 1y. (This - unit will not be visible in the generated transaction amount, which is - always in hours.) - - There is some added flexibility to help with keeping time log data in - the same file as your notes, todo lists, etc.: - - o Lines beginning with # or ;, and blank lines, are ignored. - - o Lines not ending with a double-space and amount are parsed as trans- - actions with zero amount. (Most hledger reports hide these by - default; add -E to see them.) - - o One or more stars (*) followed by a space, at the start of a line, is - ignored. So date lines or time transaction lines can also be Org- - mode headlines. - - o All Org-mode headlines before the first date line are ignored. - - More examples: - - # 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 . - - 2016/2/3 - inc:client1 4 - fos:hledger 3 - biz:research 1 - - * Time log - ** 2020-01-01 - *** adm:time . - *** adm:finance . - - * 2020 Work Diary - ** Q1 - *** 2020-02-29 - **** DONE - 0700 yoga - **** UNPLANNED - **** BEGUN - hom:chores - cleaning ... - water plants - outdoor - one full watering can - indoor - light watering - **** TODO - adm:planning: trip - *** LATER - - Reporting: - - $ hledger -f a.timedot print date:2016/2/2 - 2016-02-02 * - (inc:client1) 2.00 - - 2016-02-02 * - (biz:research) 0.25 - - $ 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 - - Using period instead of colon as account name separator: - - 2016/2/4 - fos.hledger.timedot 4 - fos.ledger .. - - $ hledger -f a.timedot --alias /\\./=: bal --tree - 4.50 fos - 4.00 hledger:timedot - 0.50 ledger - -------------------- - 4.50 - - A sample.timedot file. - -COMMON TASKS - Here are some quick examples of how to do some basic tasks with - hledger. For more details, see the reference section below, the - hledger_journal(5) manual, or the more extensive docs at - https://hledger.org. - - Getting help - $ hledger # show available commands - $ hledger --help # show common options - $ hledger CMD --help # show common and command options, and command help - $ hledger help # show available manuals/topics - $ hledger help hledger # show hledger manual as info/man/text (auto-chosen) - $ hledger help journal --man # show the journal manual as a man page - $ hledger help --help # show more detailed help for the help command - - Find more docs, chat, mail list, reddit, issue tracker: - https://hledger.org#help-feedback - - Constructing command lines - hledger has an extensive and powerful command line interface. We - strive to keep it simple and ergonomic, but you may run into one of the - confusing real world details described in OPTIONS, below. If that hap- - pens, here are some tips that may help: - - o command-specific options must go after the command (it's fine to put - all options there) (hledger CMD OPTS ARGS) - - o running add-on executables directly simplifies command line parsing - (hledger-ui OPTS ARGS) - - o enclose "problematic" args in single quotes - - o if needed, also add a backslash to hide regular expression metachar- - acters from the shell - - o to see how a misbehaving command is being parsed, add --debug=2. - - Starting a journal file - hledger looks for your accounting data in a journal file, - $HOME/.hledger.journal by default: - - $ hledger stats - The hledger journal file "/Users/simon/.hledger.journal" was not found. - Please create it first, eg with "hledger add" or a text editor. - Or, specify an existing journal file with -f or LEDGER_FILE. - - You can override this by setting the LEDGER_FILE environment variable. - It'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: - - $ mkdir ~/finance - $ cd ~/finance - $ git init - Initialized empty Git repository in /Users/simon/finance/.git/ - $ touch 2020.journal - $ echo "export LEDGER_FILE=$HOME/finance/2020.journal" >> ~/.bashrc - $ source ~/.bashrc - $ hledger stats - Main file : /Users/simon/finance/2020.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 () - - Setting opening balances - Pick a starting date for which you can look up the balances of some - real-world assets (bank accounts, wallet..) and liabilities (credit - cards..). - - 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. - - Add an opening balances transaction to the journal, declaring the bal- - ances on this date. Here are two ways to do it: - - o The first way: open the journal in any text editor and save an entry - like this: - - 2020-01-01 * opening balances - assets:bank:checking $1000 = $1000 - assets:bank:savings $2000 = $2000 - assets:cash $100 = $100 - liabilities:creditcard $-50 = $-50 - equity:opening/closing balances - - These are start-of-day balances, ie whatever was in the account at - the end of the previous day. - - The * after the date is an optional status flag. Here it means - "cleared & confirmed". - - The currency symbols are optional, but usually a good idea as you'll - be dealing with multiple currencies sooner or later. - - The = amounts are optional balance assertions, providing extra error - checking. - - o The second way: run hledger add and follow the prompts to record a - similar transaction: - - $ hledger add - Adding transactions to journal file /Users/simon/finance/2020.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 [2020-02-07]: 2020-01-01 - 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): . - 2020-01-01 * 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 [2020-01-01]: . - - If you're using version control, this could be a good time to commit - the journal. Eg: - - $ git commit -m 'initial balances' 2020.journal - - Recording transactions - 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. - - Here are some simple transactions, see the hledger_journal(5) manual - and hledger.org for more ideas: - - 2020/1/10 * gift received - assets:cash $20 - income:gifts - - 2020.1.12 * farmers market - expenses:food $13 - assets:cash - - 2020-01-15 paycheck - income:salary - assets:bank:checking $1000 - - Reconciling - Periodically you should reconcile - compare your hledger-reported bal- - ances against external sources of truth, like bank statements or your - bank'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 dis- - crepancies. - - A typical workflow: - - 1. Reconcile cash. Count what's in your wallet. Compare with what - hledger reports (hledger bal cash). 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 - (hledger reg cash). If you can't find the error, add an adjustment - transaction. Eg if you have $105 after the above, and can't explain - the missing $2, it could be: - - 2020-01-16 * adjust cash - assets:cash $-2 = $105 - expenses:misc - - 2. Reconcile checking. Log in to your bank's website. Compare today's - (cleared) balance with hledger's cleared balance (hledger bal check- - ing -C). 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 trans- - action history and running balance from your bank with the one - reported by hledger reg checking -C. This will be easier if you - generally record transaction dates quite similar to your bank's - clearing dates. - - 3. Repeat for other asset/liability accounts. - - Tip: instead of the register command, use hledger-ui to see a live- - updating register while you edit the journal: hledger-ui --watch --reg- - ister checking -C - - After reconciling, it could be a good time to mark the reconciled - transactions' status as "cleared and confirmed", if you want to track - that, by adding the * marker. Eg in the paycheck transaction above, - insert * between 2020-01-15 and paycheck - - If you're using version control, this can be another good time to com- - mit: - - $ git commit -m 'txns' 2020.journal - - Reporting - Here are some basic reports. - - Show all transactions: - - $ hledger print - 2020-01-01 * opening balances - assets:bank:checking $1000 - assets:bank:savings $2000 - assets:cash $100 - liabilities:creditcard $-50 - equity:opening/closing balances $-3050 - - 2020-01-10 * gift received - assets:cash $20 - income:gifts - - 2020-01-12 * farmers market - expenses:food $13 - assets:cash - - 2020-01-15 * paycheck - income:salary - assets:bank:checking $1000 - - 2020-01-16 * adjust cash - assets:cash $-2 = $105 - expenses:misc - - Show account names, and their hierarchy: - - $ hledger accounts --tree - assets - bank - checking - savings - cash - equity - opening/closing balances - expenses - food - misc - income - gifts - salary - liabilities - creditcard - - Show all account totals: - - $ 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 - - Show only asset and liability balances, as a flat list, limited to - depth 2: - - $ hledger bal assets liabilities --flat -2 - $4000 assets:bank - $105 assets:cash - $-50 liabilities:creditcard - -------------------- - $4055 - - Show the same thing without negative numbers, formatted as a simple - balance sheet: - - $ hledger bs --flat -2 - Balance Sheet 2020-01-16 - - || 2020-01-16 - ========================++============ - Assets || - ------------------------++------------ - assets:bank || $4000 - assets:cash || $105 - ------------------------++------------ - || $4105 - ========================++============ - Liabilities || - ------------------------++------------ - liabilities:creditcard || $50 - ------------------------++------------ - || $50 - ========================++============ - Net: || $4055 - - The final total is your "net worth" on the end date. (Or use bse for a - full balance sheet with equity.) - - Show income and expense totals, formatted as an income statement: - - hledger is - Income Statement 2020-01-01-2020-01-16 - - || 2020-01-01-2020-01-16 - ===============++======================= - Revenues || - ---------------++----------------------- - income:gifts || $20 - income:salary || $1000 - ---------------++----------------------- - || $1020 - ===============++======================= - Expenses || - ---------------++----------------------- - expenses:food || $13 - expenses:misc || $2 - ---------------++----------------------- - || $15 - ===============++======================= - Net: || $1005 - - The final total is your net income during this period. - - Show transactions affecting your wallet, with running total: - - $ hledger register cash - 2020-01-01 opening balances assets:cash $100 $100 - 2020-01-10 gift received assets:cash $20 $120 - 2020-01-12 farmers market assets:cash $-13 $107 - 2020-01-16 adjust cash assets:cash $-2 $105 - - Show weekly posting counts as a bar chart: - - $ hledger activity -W - 2019-12-30 ***** - 2020-01-06 **** - 2020-01-13 **** - - Migrating to a new file - At the end of the year, you may want to continue your journal in a new - file, so that old transactions don't slow down or clutter your reports, - and to help ensure the integrity of your accounting history. See the - close command. - - If using version control, don't forget to git add the new file. - -LIMITATIONS - The need to precede add-on command options with -- when invoked from - hledger is awkward. - - When input data contains non-ascii characters, a suitable system locale - must be configured (or there will be an unhelpful error). Eg on POSIX, - set LANG to something other than C. - - In a Microsoft Windows CMD window, non-ascii characters and colours are - not supported. - - On Windows, non-ascii characters may not display correctly when running - a hledger built in CMD in MSYS/CYGWIN, or vice-versa. - - In a Cygwin/MSYS/Mintty window, the tab key is not supported in hledger - add. - - Not all of Ledger's journal file syntax is supported. See file format - differences. - - On large data files, hledger is slower and uses more memory than - Ledger. - -TROUBLESHOOTING - Here are some issues you might encounter when you run hledger (and - remember you can also seek help from the IRC channel, mail list or bug - tracker): - - Successfully installed, but "No command 'hledger' found" - stack and cabal install binaries into a special directory, which should - be added to your PATH environment variable. Eg on unix-like systems, - that is ~/.local/bin and ~/.cabal/bin respectively. - - I set a custom LEDGER_FILE, but hledger is still using the default file - LEDGER_FILE should be a real environment variable, not just a shell - variable. The command env | grep LEDGER_FILE should show it. You may - need to use export. Here's an explanation. - - Getting errors like "Illegal byte sequence" or "Invalid or incomplete - multibyte or wide character" or "commitAndReleaseBuffer: invalid argu- - ment (invalid character)" - Programs compiled with GHC (hledger, haskell build tools, etc.) need to - have a UTF-8-aware locale configured in the environment, otherwise they - will fail with these kinds of errors when they encounter non-ascii - characters. - - To fix it, set the LANG environment variable to some locale which sup- - ports UTF-8. The locale you choose must be installed on your system. - - Here's an example of setting LANG temporarily, on Ubuntu GNU/Linux: - - $ file my.journal - my.journal: UTF-8 Unicode text # the file is UTF8-encoded - $ echo $LANG - C # LANG is set to the default locale, which does not support UTF8 - $ locale -a # which locales are installed ? - C - en_US.utf8 # here's a UTF8-aware one we can use - POSIX - $ LANG=en_US.utf8 hledger -f my.journal print # ensure it is used for this command - - If available, C.UTF-8 will also work. If your preferred locale isn't - listed by locale -a, you might need to install it. Eg on - Ubuntu/Debian: - - $ apt-get install language-pack-fr - $ locale -a - C - en_US.utf8 - fr_BE.utf8 - fr_CA.utf8 - fr_CH.utf8 - fr_FR.utf8 - fr_LU.utf8 - POSIX - $ LANG=fr_FR.utf8 hledger -f my.journal print - - Here's how you could set it permanently, if you use a bash shell: - - $ echo "export LANG=en_US.utf8" >>~/.bash_profile - $ bash --login - - Exact spelling and capitalisation may be important. Note the differ- - ence on MacOS (UTF-8, not utf8). Some platforms (eg ubuntu) allow - variant spellings, but others (eg macos) require it to be exact: - - $ locale -a | grep -iE en_us.*utf - en_US.UTF-8 - $ LANG=en_US.UTF-8 hledger -f my.journal print - - - -REPORTING BUGS - Report bugs at http://bugs.hledger.org (or on the #hledger IRC channel - or hledger mail list) - - -AUTHORS - Simon Michael and contributors - - -COPYRIGHT - Copyright (C) 2007-2020 Simon Michael. - Released under GNU GPL v3 or later. - - -SEE ALSO - hledger(1), hledger-ui(1), hledger-web(1), ledger(1) - - - -hledger-1.23 September 2021 HLEDGER(1) + manual is for hledger 1.24. + +SYNOPSIS + hledger + + hledger [-f FILE] COMMAND [OPTIONS] [ARGS] + + hledger [-f FILE] ADDONCMD -- [OPTIONS] [ARGS] + +DESCRIPTION + hledger is a reliable, 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). + + The basic function of the hledger CLI is to read a plain text file + describing financial transactions (in accounting terms, a general jour- + nal) and print useful reports on standard output, or export them as + CSV. hledger can also read some other file formats such as CSV files, + translating them to journal format. Additionally, hledger lists other + hledger-* executables found in the user's $PATH and can invoke them as + subcommands. + + hledger reads data from one or more files in hledger journal, time- + clock, timedot, or CSV format specified with -f, or $LEDGER_FILE, or + $HOME/.hledger.journal (on windows, perhaps + C:/Users/USER/.hledger.journal). If using $LEDGER_FILE, note this must + be a real environment variable, not a shell variable. You can specify + standard input with -f-. + + Transactions are dated movements of money between two (or more) named + accounts, and are recorded with journal entries like this: + + 2015/10/16 bought food + expenses:food $10 + assets:cash + + Most users use a text editor to edit the journal, usually with an edi- + tor mode such as ledger-mode for added convenience. hledger's interac- + tive add command is another way to record new transactions. hledger + never changes existing transactions. + + To get started, you can either save some entries like the above in + ~/.hledger.journal, or run hledger add and follow the prompts. Then + try some commands like hledger print or hledger balance. Run hledger + with no arguments for a list of commands. + +OPTIONS + General options + To see general usage help, including general options which are sup- + ported by most hledger commands, run hledger -h. + + General help options: + + -h --help + show general or COMMAND help + + --man show general or COMMAND user manual with man + + --info show general or COMMAND user manual with info + + --version + show general or ADDONCMD version + + --debug[=N] + show debug output (levels 1-9, default: 1) + + General input options: + + -f FILE --file=FILE + use a different input file. For stdin, use - (default: + $LEDGER_FILE or $HOME/.hledger.journal) + + --rules-file=RULESFILE + Conversion rules file to use when reading CSV (default: + FILE.rules) + + --separator=CHAR + Field separator to expect when reading CSV (default: ',') + + --alias=OLD=NEW + rename accounts named OLD to NEW + + --anon anonymize accounts and payees + + --pivot FIELDNAME + use some other field or tag for the account name + + -I --ignore-assertions + disable balance assertion checks (note: does not disable balance + assignments) + + -s --strict + do extra error checking (check that all posted accounts are + declared) + + General reporting options: + + -b --begin=DATE + include postings/txns on or after this date (will be adjusted to + preceding subperiod start when using a report interval) + + -e --end=DATE + include postings/txns before this date (will be adjusted to fol- + lowing subperiod end when using a report interval) + + -D --daily + multiperiod/multicolumn report by day + + -W --weekly + multiperiod/multicolumn report by week + + -M --monthly + multiperiod/multicolumn report by month + + -Q --quarterly + multiperiod/multicolumn report by quarter + + -Y --yearly + multiperiod/multicolumn report by year + + -p --period=PERIODEXP + set start date, end date, and/or reporting interval all at once + using period expressions syntax + + --date2 + match the secondary date instead (see command help for other + effects) + + --today=DATE + override today's date (affects relative smart dates, for + tests/examples) + + -U --unmarked + include only unmarked postings/txns (can combine with -P or -C) + + -P --pending + include only pending postings/txns + + -C --cleared + include only cleared postings/txns + + -R --real + include only non-virtual postings + + -NUM --depth=NUM + hide/aggregate accounts or postings more than NUM levels deep + + -E --empty + show items with zero amount, normally hidden (and vice-versa in + hledger-ui/hledger-web) + + -B --cost + convert amounts to their cost/selling amount at transaction time + + -V --market + convert amounts to their market value in default valuation com- + modities + + -X --exchange=COMM + convert amounts to their market value in commodity COMM + + --value + convert amounts to cost or market value, more flexibly than + -B/-V/-X + + --infer-market-prices + use transaction prices (recorded with @ or @@) as additional + market prices, as if they were P directives + + --auto apply automated posting rules to modify transactions. + + --forecast + generate future transactions from periodic transaction rules, + for the next 6 months or till report end date. In hledger-ui, + also make ordinary future transactions visible. + + --commodity-style + Override the commodity style in the output for the specified + commodity. For example 'EUR1.000,00'. + + --color=WHEN (or --colour=WHEN) + Should color-supporting commands use ANSI color codes in text + output. 'auto' (default): whenever stdout seems to be a color- + supporting terminal. 'always' or 'yes': always, useful eg when + piping output into 'less -R'. 'never' or 'no': never. A + NO_COLOR environment variable overrides this. + + --pretty[=WHEN] + Show prettier output, e.g. using unicode box-drawing charac- + ters. Accepts 'yes' (the default) or 'no' ('y', 'n', 'always', + 'never' also work). If you provide an argument you must use + '=', e.g. '--pretty=yes'. + + When a reporting option appears more than once in the command line, the + last one takes precedence. + + Some reporting options can also be written as query arguments. + + Command options + To see options for a particular command, including command-specific + options, run: hledger COMMAND -h. + + Command-specific options must be written after the command name, eg: + hledger print -x. + + Additionally, if the command is an add-on, you may need to put its + options after a double-hyphen, eg: hledger ui -- --watch. Or, you can + run the add-on executable directly: hledger-ui --watch. + + Command arguments + Most hledger commands accept arguments after the command name, which + are often a query, filtering the data in some way. + + You can save a set of command line options/arguments in a file, and + then reuse them by writing @FILENAME as a command line argument. Eg: + hledger bal @foo.args. (To prevent this, eg if you have an argument + that begins with a literal @, precede it with --, eg: hledger bal -- + @ARG). + + Inside the argument file, each line should contain just one option or + argument. Avoid the use of spaces, except inside quotes (or you'll see + a confusing error). Between a flag and its argument, use = (or noth- + ing). Bad: + + assets depth:2 + -X USD + + Good: + + assets + depth:2 + -X=USD + + For special characters (see below), use one less level of quoting than + you would at the command prompt. Bad: + + -X"$" + + Good: + + -X$ + + See also: Save frequently used options. + + Special characters + Single escaping (shell metacharacters) + In shell command lines, characters significant to your shell - such as + spaces, <, >, (, ), |, $ and \ - should be "shell-escaped" if you want + hledger to see them. This is done by enclosing them in single or dou- + ble quotes, or by writing a backslash before them. Eg to match an + account name containing a space: + + $ hledger register 'credit card' + + or: + + $ hledger register credit\ card + + Windows users should keep in mind that cmd treats single quote as a + regular character, so you should be using double quotes exclusively. + PowerShell treats both single and double quotes as quotes. + + Double escaping (regular expression metacharacters) + Characters significant in regular expressions (described below) - such + as ., ^, $, [, ], (, ), |, and \ - may need to be "regex-escaped" if + you don't want them to be interpreted by hledger'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 $ sign while + using the bash shell: + + $ hledger balance cur:'\$' + + or: + + $ hledger balance cur:\\$ + + Triple escaping (for add-on commands) + When you use hledger to run an external add-on command (described + below), one level of shell-escaping is lost from any options or argu- + ments intended for by the add-on command, so those need an extra level + of shell-escaping. Eg to match a literal $ sign while using the bash + shell and running an add-on command (ui): + + $ hledger ui cur:'\\$' + + or: + + $ hledger ui cur:\\\\$ + + If you wondered why four backslashes, perhaps this helps: + + + unescaped: $ + escaped: \$ + double-escaped: \\$ + triple-escaped: \\\\$ + + Or, you can avoid the extra escaping by running the add-on executable + directly: + + $ hledger-ui cur:\\$ + + Less escaping + 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: + + o an @argumentfile + + o hledger-ui's filter field + + o hledger-web's search form + + o GHCI's prompt (used by developers). + + Unicode characters + hledger is expected to handle non-ascii characters correctly: + + o they should be parsed correctly in input files and on the command + line, by all hledger tools (add, iadd, hledger-web's search/add/edit + forms, etc.) + + o they should be displayed correctly by all hledger tools, and on- + screen alignment should be preserved. + + This requires a well-configured environment. Here are some tips: + + o 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: export LANG=en_US.UTF-8. There are some more details in Trou- + bleshooting. This step is essential - without it, hledger will quit + on encountering a non-ascii character (as with all GHC-compiled pro- + grams). + + o your terminal software (eg Terminal.app, iTerm, CMD.exe, xterm..) + must support unicode + + o the terminal must be using a font which includes the required unicode + glyphs + + o the terminal should be configured to display wide characters as dou- + ble width (for report alignment) + + o 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 stan- + dard 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). + + Regular expressions + hledger uses regular expressions in a number of places: + + o query terms, on the command line and in the hledger-web search form: + REGEX, desc:REGEX, cur:REGEX, tag:...=REGEX + + o CSV rules conditional blocks: if REGEX ... + + o account alias directives and options: alias /REGEX/ = REPLACEMENT, + --alias /REGEX/=REPLACEMENT + + hledger's regular expressions come from the regex-tdfa library. If + they're not doing what you expect, it's important to know exactly what + they support: + + 1. they are case insensitive + + 2. they are infix matching (they do not need to match the entire thing + being matched) + + 3. they are POSIX ERE (extended regular expressions) + + 4. they also support GNU word boundaries (\b, \B, \<, \>) + + 5. they do not support backreferences; if you write \1, it will match + the digit 1. 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. + + 6. they do not support mode modifiers ((?s)), character classes (\w, + \d), or anything else not mentioned above. + + Some things to note: + + o In the alias directive and --alias option, regular expressions must + be enclosed in forward slashes (/REGEX/). Elsewhere in hledger, + these are not required. + + o In queries, to match a regular expression metacharacter like $ as a + literal character, prepend a backslash. Eg to search for amounts + with the dollar sign in hledger-web, write cur:\$. + + o On the command line, some metacharacters like $ have a special mean- + ing to the shell and so must be escaped at least once more. See Spe- + cial characters. + +ENVIRONMENT + LEDGER_FILE The journal file path when not specified with -f. Default: + ~/.hledger.journal (on windows, perhaps C:/Users/USER/.hledger.jour- + nal). + + A typical value is ~/DIR/YYYY.journal, where DIR is a version-con- + trolled finance directory and YYYY is the current year. Or ~/DIR/cur- + rent.journal, where current.journal is a symbolic link to YYYY.journal. + + On Mac computers, you can set this and other environment variables in a + more thorough way that also affects applications started from the GUI + (say, an Emacs dock icon). Eg on MacOS Catalina I have a + ~/.MacOSX/environment.plist file containing + + { + "LEDGER_FILE" : "~/finance/current.journal" + } + + To see the effect you may need to killall Dock, or reboot. + + COLUMNS The screen width used by the register command. Default: the + full terminal width. + + NO_COLOR If this variable exists with any value, hledger will not use + ANSI color codes in terminal output. This is overriden by the + --color/--colour option. + +DATA FILES + hledger reads transactions from one or more data files. The default + data file is $HOME/.hledger.journal (or on Windows, something like + C:/Users/USER/.hledger.journal). + + You can override this with the $LEDGER_FILE environment variable: + + $ setenv LEDGER_FILE ~/finance/2016.journal + $ hledger stats + + or with one or more -f/--file options: + + $ hledger -f /some/file -f another_file stats + + The file name - means standard input: + + $ cat some.journal | hledger -f- + + Data formats + Usually the data file is in hledger's journal format, but it can be in + any of the supported file formats, which currently are: + + + Reader: Reads: Used for file exten- + sions: + ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- + journal hledger journal files and some Ledger .journal .j .hledger + journals, for transactions .ledger + time- timeclock files, for precise time log- .timeclock + clock ging + timedot timedot files, for approximate time .timedot + logging + csv comma/semicolon/tab/other-separated .csv .ssv .tsv + values, for data import + + These formats are described in their own sections, below. + + hledger detects the format automatically based on the file extensions + shown above. If it can't recognise the file extension, it assumes + journal format. So for non-journal files, it's important to use a + recognised file extension, so as to either read successfully or to show + relevant error messages. + + 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: + + $ hledger -f csv:/some/csv-file.dat stats + + Or to read stdin (-) as timeclock format: + + $ echo 'i 2009/13/1 08:00:00' | hledger print -ftimeclock:- + + Multiple files + You can specify multiple -f options, to read multiple files as one big + journal. There are some limitations with this: + + o most directives do not affect sibling files + + o balance assertions will not see any account balances from previous + files + + If you need either of those things, you can + + o use a single parent file which includes the others + + o or concatenate the files into one before reading, eg: cat a.journal + b.journal | hledger -f- CMD. + + Strict mode + hledger checks input files for valid data. By default, the most impor- + tant errors are detected, while still accepting easy journal files + without a lot of declarations: + + o Are the input files parseable, with valid syntax ? + + o Are all transactions balanced ? + + o Do all balance assertions pass ? + + With the -s/--strict flag, additional checks are performed: + + o Are all accounts posted to, declared with an account directive ? + (Account error checking) + + o Are all commodities declared with a commodity directive ? (Commodity + error checking) + + o Are all commodity conversions declared explicitly ? + + You can also use the check command to run these and some additional + checks. + +TIME PERIODS + Smart dates + hledger's user interfaces accept a flexible "smart date" syntax. Smart + dates allow some english words, can be relative to today's date, and + can have less-significant date parts omitted (defaulting to 1). + + Examples: + + + 2004/10/1, 2004-01-01, exact date, several separators allowed. Year + 2004.9.1 is 4+ digits, month is 1-12, day is 1-31 + 2004 start of year + 2004/10 start of month + 10/1 month and day in current year + 21 day in current month + october, oct start of month in current year + yesterday, today, tomor- -1, 0, 1 days from today + row + last/this/next -1, 0, 1 periods from the current period + day/week/month/quar- + ter/year + 20181201 8 digit YYYYMMDD with valid year month and day + 201812 6 digit YYYYMM with valid year and month + + Counterexamples - malformed digit sequences might give surprising + results: + + + 201813 6 digits with an invalid month is parsed as start of + 6-digit year + 20181301 8 digits with an invalid month is parsed as start of + 8-digit year + 20181232 8 digits with an invalid day gives an error + 201801012 9+ digits beginning with a valid YYYYMMDD gives an error + + Note "today's date" can be overridden with the --today option, in case + it's needed for testing or for recreating old reports. (Except for + periodic transaction rules; those are not affected by --today.) + + + Report start & end date + By default, most hledger reports will show the full span of time repre- + sented by the journal data. 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. + + 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 -b/--begin, + -e/--end, -p/--period or a date: query (described below). All of these + accept the smart date syntax. + + Some notes: + + o End dates are exclusive, as in Ledger, so you should write the date + after the last day you want to see in the report. + + o As noted in reporting options: among start/end dates specified with + options, the last (i.e. right-most) option takes precedence. + + o The effective report start and end dates are the intersection of the + start/end dates from options and that from date: queries. That is, + date:2019-01 date:2019 -p'2000 to 2030' yields January 2019, the + smallest common time span. + + o A report interval (see below) will adjust start/end dates, when + needed, so that they fall on subperiod boundaries. + + Examples: + + + -b 2016/3/17 begin on St. Patrick's day 2016 + -e 12/1 end at the start of december 1st of the current year + (11/30 will be the last date included) + -b thismonth all transactions on or after the 1st of the current month + -p thismonth all transactions in the current month + date:2016/3/17.. the above written as queries instead (.. can also be + replaced with -) + date:..12/1 + date:thismonth.. + date:thismonth + + Report intervals + A report interval can be specified so that commands like register, bal- + ance and activity become multi-period, showing each subperiod as a sep- + arate row or column. + + The following "standard" report intervals can be enabled by using their + corresponding flag: + + o -D/--daily + + o -W/--weekly + + o -M/--monthly + + o -Q/--quarterly + + o -Y/--yearly + + These standard intervals always start on natural interval boundaries: + eg --weekly starts on mondays, --monthly starts on the first of the + month, --yearly always starts on January 1st, etc. + + Certain more complex intervals, and more flexible boundary dates, can + be specified by -p/--period. These are described in period expres- + sions, below. + + Report intervals can only be specified by the flags above, and not by + query arguments, currently. + + Report intervals have another effect: multi-period reports are always + expanded to fill a whole number of subperiods. So if you use a report + interval (other than --daily), and you have specified a start or end + date, you may notice those dates being overridden (ie, the report + starts earlier than your requested start date, or ends later than your + requested end date). This is done to ensure "full" first and last sub- + periods, so that all subperiods' numbers are comparable. + + To summarise: + + o In multiperiod reports, all subperiods are forced to be the same + length, to simplify reporting. + + o Reports with the standard --weekly/--monthly/--quarterly/--yearly + intervals are required to start on the first day of a + week/month/quarter/year. We'd like more flexibility here but it + isn't supported yet. + + o --period (below) can specify more complex intervals, starting on any + date. + + Period expressions + The -p/--period option accepts period expressions, a shorthand way of + expressing a start date, end date, and/or report interval all at once. + + Here's a basic period expression specifying the first quarter of 2009. + Note, hledger always treats start dates as inclusive and end dates as + exclusive: + + + -p "from 2009/1/1 to 2009/4/1" + + Keywords like "from" and "to" are optional, and so are the spaces, as + long as you don't run two dates together. "to" can also be written as + ".." or "-". These are equivalent to the above: + + + -p "2009/1/1 2009/4/1" + -p2009/1/1to2009/4/1 + -p2009/1/1..2009/4/1 + + Dates are smart dates, so if the current year is 2009, the above can + also be written as: + + + -p "1/1 4/1" + -p "january-apr" + -p "this year to 4/1" + + If you specify only one date, the missing start or end date will be the + earliest or latest transaction in your journal: + + + + -p "from 2009/1/1" everything after january + 1, 2009 + -p "from 2009/1" the same + -p "from 2009" the same + -p "to 2009" everything before january + 1, 2009 + + A single date with no "from" or "to" defines both the start and end + date like so: + + + -p "2009" the year 2009; equivalent + to "2009/1/1 to 2010/1/1" + -p "2009/1" the month of jan; equiva- + lent to "2009/1/1 to + 2009/2/1" + -p "2009/1/1" just that day; equivalent + to "2009/1/1 to 2009/1/2" + + Or you can specify a single quarter like so: + + + -p "2009Q1" first quarter of 2009, + equivalent to "2009/1/1 to + 2009/4/1" + -p "q4" fourth quarter of the cur- + rent year + + Period expressions with a report interval + -p/--period's argument can also begin with, or entirely consist of, a + report interval. This should be separated from the start/end dates (if + any) by a space, or the word in. The basic intervals (which can also + be written as command line flags) are daily, weekly, monthly, quar- + terly, and yearly. Some examples: + + + -p "weekly from 2009/1/1 to 2009/4/1" + -p "monthly in 2008" + -p "quarterly" + + As mentioned above, the weekly, monthly, quarterly and yearly intervals + require a report start date that is the first day of a week, month, + quarter or year. And, report start/end dates will be expanded if + needed to span a whole number of intervals. + + For example: + + + -p "weekly from 2009/1/1 starts on 2008/12/29, closest preceding Mon- + to 2009/4/1" day + -p "monthly in starts on 2018/11/01 + 2008/11/25" + -p "quarterly from starts on 2009/04/01, ends on 2009/06/30, + 2009-05-05 to 2009-06-01" which are first and last days of Q2 2009 + -p "yearly from starts on 2009/01/01, first day of 2009 + 2009-12-29" + + More complex report intervals + Some more complex kinds of interval are also supported in period + expressions: + + o biweekly + + o fortnightly + + o bimonthly + + o every day|week|month|quarter|year + + o every N days|weeks|months|quarters|years + + These too will cause report start/end dates to be expanded, if needed, + to span a whole number of intervals. Examples: + + + -p "bimonthly from 2008" periods will have boundaries on 2008/01/01, + 2008/03/01, ... + -p "every 2 weeks" starts on closest preceding Monday + -p "every 5 month from periods will have boundaries on 2009/03/01, + 2009/03" 2009/08/01, ... + + Intervals with custom start date + All intervals mentioned above are required to start on their natural + calendar boundaries, but the following intervals can start on any date: + + Weekly on custom day: + + o every Nth day of week (th, nd, rd, or st are all accepted after the + number) + + o every WEEKDAYNAME (full or three-letter english weekday name, case + insensitive) + + Monthly on custom day: + + o every Nth day [of month] + + o every Nth WEEKDAYNAME [of month] + + Yearly on custom day: + + o every MM/DD [of year] (month number and day of month number) + + o every MONTHNAME DDth [of year] (full or three-letter english month + name, case insensitive, and day of month number) + + o every DDth MONTHNAME [of year] (equivalent to the above) + + Examples: + + + -p "every 2nd day of periods will go from Tue to Tue + week" + -p "every Tue" same + -p "every 15th day" period boundaries will be on 15th of each + month + -p "every 2nd Monday" period boundaries will be on second Monday of + each month + -p "every 11/05" yearly periods with boundaries on 5th of + November + -p "every 5th November" same + -p "every Nov 5th" same + + Show historical balances at end of the 15th day of each month (N is an + end date, exclusive as always): + + $ hledger balance -H -p "every 16th day" + + Group postings from the start of wednesday to end of the following + tuesday (N is both (inclusive) start date and (exclusive) end date): + + $ hledger register checking -p "every 3rd day of week" + + Periods or dates ? + Report intervals like the above are most often used with -p|--period, + to divide reports into multiple subperiods - each generated date marks + a subperiod boundary. Here, the periods between the dates are what's + important. + + But report intervals can also be used with --forecast to generate + future transactions, or with balance --budget to generate budget goal- + setting transactions. For these, the dates themselves are what mat- + ters. + + Events on multiple weekdays + The every WEEKDAYNAME form has a special variant with multiple day + names, comma-separated. Eg: every mon,thu,sat. Also, weekday and + weekendday are shorthand for mon,tue,wed,thu,fri and sat,sun respec- + tively. + + This form is mainly intended for use with --forecast, to generate peri- + odic transactions on arbitrary days of the week. It may be less useful + with -p, since it divides each week into subperiods of unequal length. + (Because gaps between periods are not allowed; if you'd like to change + this, see #1632.) + + Examples: + + + -p "every dates will be Mon, Wed, Fri; periods will be Mon- + mon,wed,fri" Tue, Wed-Thu, Fri-Sun + -p "every weekday" dates will be Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri; periods will + be Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri-Sun + -p "every weekend- dates will be Sat, Sun; periods will be Sat, Sun-Fri + day" + +DEPTH + With the --depth NUM option (short form: -NUM), commands like account, + balance and register will show only the uppermost accounts in the + account tree, down to level NUM. Use this when you want a summary with + less detail. This flag has the same effect as a depth: query argument: + depth:2, --depth=2 or -2 are equivalent. + +QUERIES + One of hledger's strengths is being able to quickly report on a precise + subset of your data. Most hledger commands accept optional query argu- + ments to restrict their scope. The syntax is as follows: + + o Zero or more space-separated query terms. These are most often + account name substrings: + + utilities food:groceries + + o Terms with spaces or other special characters should be enclosed in + quotes: + + "personal care" + + o Regular expressions are also supported: + + "^expenses\b" "accounts (payable|receivable)" + + o Add a query type prefix to match other parts of the data: + + date:202012- desc:amazon cur:USD amt:">100" status: + + o Add a not: prefix to negate a term: + + not:cur:USD + + Query types + Here are the types of query term available. Remember these can also be + prefixed with not: to convert them into a negative match. + + acct:REGEX, REGEX + Match account names containing this (case insensitive) regular expres- + sion. This is the default query type when there is no prefix, and reg- + ular expression syntax is typically not needed, so usually we just + write an account name substring, like expenses or food. + + amt:N, amt:N, amt:>=N + 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. Oth- + erwise, the absolute magnitudes are compared, ignoring sign. + + code:REGEX + Match by transaction code (eg check number). + + cur:REGEX + Match postings or transactions including any amounts whose cur- + rency/commodity symbol is fully matched by REGEX. (For a partial + match, use .*REGEX.*). Note, to match special characters which are + regex-significant, you need to escape them with \. And for characters + which are significant to your shell you may need one more level of + escaping. So eg to match the dollar sign: + hledger print cur:\\$. + + desc:REGEX + Match transaction descriptions. + + date:PERIODEXPR + Match dates (or with the --date2 flag, secondary dates) within the + specified period. PERIODEXPR is a period expression with no report + interval. Examples: + date:2016, date:thismonth, date:2/1-2/15, date:2021-07-27..nextquarter. + + date2:PERIODEXPR + Match secondary dates within the specified period (independent of the + --date2 flag). + + depth:N + Match (or display, depending on command) accounts at or above this + depth. + + note:REGEX + Match transaction notes (the part of the description right of |, or the + whole description if there's no |). + + payee:REGEX + Match transaction payee/payer names (the part of the description left + of |, or the whole description if there's no |). + + real:, real:0 + Match real or virtual postings respectively. + + status:, status:!, status:* + Match unmarked, pending, or cleared transactions respectively. + + tag:REGEX[=REGEX] + Match by tag name, and optionally also by tag value. (To match only by + value, use tag:.=REGEX.) Note that postings also inherit tags from + their transaction, and transactions also acquire tags from their post- + ings, when querying. + + (inacct:ACCTNAME + A special query term used automatically in hledger-web only: tells + hledger-web to show the transaction register for an account.) + + Combining query terms + Most commands select things which match: + + o any of the description terms AND + + o any of the account terms AND + + o any of the status terms AND + + o all the other terms. + + while the print command shows transactions which: + + o match any of the description terms AND + + o have any postings matching any of the positive account terms AND + + o have no postings matching any of the negative account terms AND + + o match all the other terms. + + You can do more powerful queries (such as AND-ing two like terms) by + running a first query with print, and piping the result into a second + hledger command. Eg: how much of food expenses was paid with cash ? + + $ hledger print assets:cash | hledger -f- -I balance expenses:food + + If you are interested in full boolean expressions for queries, see + #203. + + Queries and command options + Some queries can also be expressed as command-line options: depth:2 is + equivalent to --depth 2, date:2020 is equivalent to -p 2020, etc. When + you mix command options and query arguments, generally the resulting + query is their intersection. + + Queries and account aliases + When account names are rewritten with --alias or alias, acct: will + match either the old or the new account name. + + Queries and valuation + When amounts are converted to other commodities in cost or value + reports, cur: and amt: match the old commodity symbol and the old + amount quantity, not the new ones (except in hledger 1.22.0 where it's + reversed, see #1625). + + Querying with account aliases + When account names are rewritten with --alias or alias, note that acct: + will match either the old or the new account name. + + Querying with cost or value + When amounts are converted to other commodities in cost or value + reports, note that cur: matches the new commodity symbol, and not the + old one, and amt: 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. + +COSTING + The -B/--cost flag converts amounts to their cost or sale amount at + transaction time, if they have a transaction price specified. If this + flag is supplied, hledger will perform cost conversion first, and will + apply any market price valuations (if requested) afterwards. + +VALUATION + 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 --value=TYPE[,COMMODITY] + option, which will be described below. We also provide the simpler -V + and -X COMMODITY options, and often one of these is all you need: + + -V: Value + The -V/--market flag converts amounts to market value in their default + valuation commodity, using the market prices in effect on the valuation + date(s), if any. More on these in a minute. + + -X: Value in specified commodity + The -X/--exchange=COMM option is like -V, except you tell it which cur- + rency you want to convert to, and it tries to convert everything to + that. + + Valuation date + 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. + + 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's end date. + + For multiperiod reports, each column/period is valued on the last day + of the period, by default. + + Market prices + 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 : + + 1. A declared market price or inferred market price: A's latest market + price in B on or before the valuation date as declared by a P direc- + tive, or (with the --infer-market-prices flag) inferred from trans- + action prices. + + 2. A reverse market price: the inverse of a declared or inferred market + price from B to A. + + 3. A forward chain of market prices: a synthetic price formed by com- + bining the shortest chain of "forward" (only 1 above) market prices, + leading from A to B. + + 4. Any chain of market prices: a chain of any market prices, including + both forward and reverse prices (1 and 2 above), leading from A to + B. + + 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 "gave up" message visible in + --debug=2 output). That limit is currently 1000. + + Amounts for which no suitable market price can be found, are not con- + verted. + + --infer-market-prices: market prices from transactions + 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 transaction prices as additional market + prices (as Ledger does) ? We could produce value reports without need- + ing P directives at all. + + Adding the --infer-market-prices flag to -V, -X or --value enables + this. So for example, hledger bs -V --infer-market-prices will get + market prices both from P directives and from transactions. (And if + both occur on the same day, the P directive takes precedence). + + There is a downside: value reports can sometimes be affected in confus- + ing/undesired ways by your journal entries. If this happens to you, + read all of this Valuation section carefully, and try adding --debug or + --debug=2 to troubleshoot. + + --infer-market-prices can infer market prices from: + + o multicommodity transactions with explicit prices (@/@@) + + o multicommodity transactions with implicit prices (no @, two commodi- + ties, unbalanced). (With these, the order of postings matters. + hledger print -x can be useful for troubleshooting.) + + o but not, currently, from "more correct" multicommodity transactions + (no @, multiple commodities, balanced). + + Valuation commodity + When you specify a valuation commodity (-X COMM or --value TYPE,COMM): + hledger will convert all amounts to COMM, wherever it can find a suit- + able market price (including by reversing or chaining prices). + + When you leave the valuation commodity unspecified (-V or --value + TYPE): + For each commodity A, hledger picks a default valuation commodity as + follows, in this order of preference: + + 1. The price commodity from the latest P-declared market price for A on + or before valuation date. + + 2. 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.) + + 3. If there are no P directives at all (any commodity or date) and the + --infer-market-prices flag is used: the price commodity from the + latest transaction-inferred price for A on or before valuation date. + + This means: + + o If you have P directives, they determine which commodities -V will + convert, and to what. + + o If you have no P directives, and use the --infer-market-prices flag, + transaction prices determine it. + + Amounts for which no valuation commodity can be found are not con- + verted. + + Simple valuation examples + Here are some quick examples of -V: + + ; one euro is worth this many dollars from nov 1 + P 2016/11/01 EUR $1.10 + + ; purchase some euros on nov 3 + 2016/11/3 + assets:euros EUR100 + assets:checking + + ; the euro is worth fewer dollars by dec 21 + P 2016/12/21 EUR $1.03 + + How many euros do I have ? + + $ hledger -f t.j bal -N euros + EUR100 assets:euros + + What are they worth at end of nov 3 ? + + $ hledger -f t.j bal -N euros -V -e 2016/11/4 + $110.00 assets:euros + + What are they worth after 2016/12/21 ? (no report end date specified, + defaults to today) + + $ hledger -f t.j bal -N euros -V + $103.00 assets:euros + + --value: Flexible valuation + -V and -X are special cases of the more general --value option: + + --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 + + The TYPE part selects cost or value and valuation date: + + --value=then + Convert amounts to their value in the default valuation commod- + ity, using market prices on each posting's date. + + --value=end + Convert amounts to their value in the default valuation commod- + ity, using market prices on the last day of the report period + (or if unspecified, the journal's end date); or in multiperiod + reports, market prices on the last day of each subperiod. + + --value=now + Convert amounts to their value in the default valuation commod- + ity using current market prices (as of when report is gener- + ated). + + --value=YYYY-MM-DD + Convert amounts to their value in the default valuation commod- + ity using market prices on this date. + + To select a different valuation commodity, add the optional ,COMM part: + a comma, then the target commodity's symbol. Eg: --value=now,EUR. + hledger will do its best to convert amounts to this commodity, deducing + market prices as described above. + + More valuation examples + Here are some examples showing the effect of --value, as seen with + print: + + 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 @ 5 B + + 2000-02-01 + (a) 1 A @ 6 B + + 2000-03-01 + (a) 1 A @ 7 B + + Show the cost of each posting: + + $ hledger -f- print --cost + 2000-01-01 + (a) 5 B + + 2000-02-01 + (a) 6 B + + 2000-03-01 + (a) 7 B + + Show the value as of the last day of the report period (2000-02-29): + + $ hledger -f- print --value=end date:2000/01-2000/03 + 2000-01-01 + (a) 2 B + + 2000-02-01 + (a) 2 B + + With no report period specified, that shows the value as of the last + day of the journal (2000-03-01): + + $ hledger -f- print --value=end + 2000-01-01 + (a) 3 B + + 2000-02-01 + (a) 3 B + + 2000-03-01 + (a) 3 B + + Show the current value (the 2000-04-01 price is still in effect today): + + $ hledger -f- print --value=now + 2000-01-01 + (a) 4 B + + 2000-02-01 + (a) 4 B + + 2000-03-01 + (a) 4 B + + Show the value on 2000/01/15: + + $ 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 + + You may need to explicitly set a commodity's display style, when + reverse prices are used. Eg this output might be surprising: + + P 2000-01-01 A 2B + + 2000-01-01 + a 1B + b + + $ hledger print -x -X A + 2000-01-01 + a 0 + b 0 + + Explanation: because there's no amount or commodity directive specify- + ing a display style for A, 0.5A gets the default style, which shows no + decimal digits. Because the displayed amount looks like zero, the com- + modity symbol and minus sign are not displayed either. Adding a com- + modity directive sets a more useful display style for A: + + P 2000-01-01 A 2B + commodity 0.00A + + 2000-01-01 + a 1B + b + + $ hledger print -X A + 2000-01-01 + a 0.50A + b -0.50A + + Interaction of valuation and queries + When matching postings based on queries in the presence of valuation, + the following happens. + + 1. The query is separated into two parts: + + 1. the currency (cur:) or amount (amt:). + + 2. all other parts. + + 2. The postings are matched to the currency and amount queries based on + pre-valued amounts. + + 3. Valuation is applied to the postings. + + 4. The postings are matched to the other parts of the query based on + post-valued amounts. + + See: 1625 + + Effect of valuation on reports + Here is a reference for how valuation is supposed to affect each part + of hledger's reports (and a glossary). (It's wide, you'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. + + + Report -B, --cost -V, -X --value=then --value=end --value=DATE, + type --value=now + ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- + print + posting cost value at value at posting value at value at + amounts report end date report or DATE/today + or today journal end + balance unchanged unchanged unchanged unchanged unchanged + asser- + tions/assign- + ments + + register + starting bal- cost value at valued at day value at value at + ance (-H) report or each historical report or DATE/today + journal end posting was made journal end + starting bal- cost value at day valued at day value at day value at + ance (-H) before each historical before DATE/today + with report report or posting was made report or + interval journal journal + start start + posting cost value at value at posting value at value at + amounts report or date report or DATE/today + journal end journal end + summary post- summarised value at sum of postings value at value at + ing amounts cost period ends in interval, val- period ends DATE/today + with report ued at interval + interval start + running sum/average sum/average sum/average of sum/average sum/average + total/average of displayed of displayed displayed values of displayed of displayed + values values values values + + balance (bs, + bse, cf, is) + balance sums of value at value at posting value at value at + changes costs report end date report or DATE/today of + or today of journal end sums of post- + sums of of sums of ings + postings postings + budget like balance like balance like balance like bal- like balance + amounts changes changes changes ances changes + (--budget) + grand total sum of dis- sum of dis- sum of displayed sum of dis- sum of dis- + played val- played val- valued played val- played values + ues ues ues + + balance (bs, + bse, cf, is) + with report + interval + + + + + + starting bal- sums of value at sums of values of value at sums of post- + ances (-H) costs of report start postings before report start ings before + postings of sums of report start at of sums of report start + before all postings respective post- all postings + report start before ing dates before + report start report start + balance sums of same as sums of values of balance value at + changes (bal, costs of --value=end postings in change in DATE/today of + is, bs postings in period at respec- each period, sums of post- + --change, cf period tive posting valued at ings + --change) dates period ends + end balances sums of same as sums of values of period end value at + (bal -H, is costs of --value=end postings from balances, DATE/today of + --H, bs, cf) postings before period valued at sums of post- + from before start to period period ends ings + report start end at respective + to period posting dates + end + budget like balance like balance like balance like bal- like balance + amounts changes/end changes/end changes/end bal- ances changes/end + (--budget) balances balances ances balances + row totals, sums, aver- sums, aver- sums, averages of sums, aver- sums, aver- + row averages ages of dis- ages of dis- displayed values ages of dis- ages of dis- + (-T, -A) played val- played val- played val- played values + ues ues ues + column totals sums of dis- sums of dis- sums of displayed sums of dis- sums of dis- + played val- played val- values played val- played values + ues ues ues + grand total, sum, average sum, average sum, average of sum, average sum, average + grand average of column of column column totals of column of column + totals totals totals totals + + + --cumulative is omitted to save space, it works like -H but with a zero + starting balance. + + Glossary: + + cost calculated using price(s) recorded in the transaction(s). + + value market value using available market price declarations, or the + unchanged amount if no conversion rate can be found. + + report start + the first day of the report period specified with -b or -p or + date:, otherwise today. + + report or journal start + the first day of the report period specified with -b or -p or + date:, otherwise the earliest transaction date in the journal, + otherwise today. + + report end + the last day of the report period specified with -e or -p or + date:, otherwise today. + + report or journal end + the last day of the report period specified with -e or -p or + date:, otherwise the latest transaction date in the journal, + otherwise today. + + report interval + a flag (-D/-W/-M/-Q/-Y) or period expression that activates the + report's multi-period mode (whether showing one or many subperi- + ods). + +PIVOTING + Normally hledger sums amounts, and organizes them in a hierarchy, based + on account name. The --pivot FIELD option causes it to sum and orga- + nize hierarchy based on the value of some other field instead. FIELD + can be: code, description, payee, note, or the full name (case insensi- + tive) of any tag. As with account names, values containing colon:sepa- + rated:parts will be displayed hierarchically in reports. + + --pivot is a general option affecting all reports; you can think of + hledger transforming the journal before any other processing, replacing + every posting's account name with the value of the specified field on + that posting, inheriting it from the transaction or using a blank value + if it's not present. + + An example: + + 2016/02/16 Member Fee Payment + assets:bank account 2 EUR + income:member fees -2 EUR ; member: John Doe + + Normal balance report showing account names: + + $ hledger balance + 2 EUR assets:bank account + -2 EUR income:member fees + -------------------- + 0 + + Pivoted balance report, using member: tag values instead: + + $ hledger balance --pivot member + 2 EUR + -2 EUR John Doe + -------------------- + 0 + + One way to show only amounts with a member: value (using a query, + described below): + + $ hledger balance --pivot member tag:member=. + -2 EUR John Doe + -------------------- + -2 EUR + + Another way (the acct: query matches against the pivoted "account + name"): + + $ hledger balance --pivot member acct:. + -2 EUR John Doe + -------------------- + -2 EUR + +OUTPUT + Output destination + hledger commands send their output to the terminal by default. You can + of course redirect this, eg into a file, using standard shell syntax: + + $ hledger print > foo.txt + + Some commands (print, register, stats, the balance commands) also pro- + vide the -o/--output-file option, which does the same thing without + needing the shell. Eg: + + $ hledger print -o foo.txt + $ hledger print -o - # write to stdout (the default) + + hledger can optionally produce debug output (if enabled with + --debug=N); this goes to stderr, and is not affected by -o/--output- + file. If you need to capture it, use shell redirects, eg: hledger bal + --debug=3 >file 2>&1. + + Output styling + hledger commands can produce colour output when the terminal supports + it. This is controlled by the --color/--colour option: - if the + --color/--colour option is given a value of yes or always (or no or + never), colour will (or will not) be used; - otherwise, if the NO_COLOR + environment variable is set, colour will not be used; - otherwise, + colour will be used if the output (terminal or file) supports it. + + hledger commands can also use unicode box-drawing characters to produce + prettier tables and output. This is controlled by the --pretty option: + - if the --pretty option is given a value of yes or always (or no or + never), unicode characters will (or will not) be used; - otherwise, + unicode characters will not be used. + + Output format + Some commands (print, register, the balance commands) offer a choice of + output format. In addition to the usual plain text format (txt), there + are CSV (csv), HTML (html), JSON (json) and SQL (sql). This is con- + trolled by the -O/--output-format option: + + $ hledger print -O csv + + or, by a file extension specified with -o/--output-file: + + $ hledger balancesheet -o foo.html # write HTML to foo.html + + The -O option can be used to override the file extension if needed: + + $ hledger balancesheet -o foo.txt -O html # write HTML to foo.txt + + Some notes about JSON output: + + o This feature is marked experimental, and not yet much used; you + should expect our JSON to evolve. Real-world feedback is welcome. + + o Our JSON is rather large and verbose, as it is quite a faithful rep- + resentation of hledger'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. + + o 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'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) + + Notes about SQL output: + + o SQL output is also marked experimental, and much like JSON could use + real-world feedback. + + o SQL output is expected to work with sqlite, MySQL and PostgreSQL + + o SQL output is structured with the expectations that statements will + be executed in the empty database. If you already have tables cre- + ated via SQL output of hledger, you would probably want to either + clear tables of existing data (via delete or truncate SQL statements) + or drop tables completely as otherwise your postings will be duped. + + Commodity styles + The display style of a commodity/currency is inferred according to the + rules described in Commodity display style. The inferred display style + can be overridden by an optional -c/--commodity-style option (Excep- + tions: as is the case for inferred styles, price amounts, and all + amounts displayed by the print command, will be displayed with all of + their decimal digits visible, regardless of the specified precision). + For example, the following will override the display style for dollars. + + $ hledger print -c '$1.000,0' + + The format specification of the style is identical to the commodity + display style specification for the commodity directive. The command + line option can be supplied repeatedly to override the display style + for multiple commodity/currency symbols. + +COMMANDS + hledger provides a number of commands for producing reports and manag- + ing your data. Run hledger with no arguments to list the commands + available, and hledger CMD to run a command. CMD can be the full com- + mand name, or its standard abbreviation shown in the commands list, or + any unambiguous prefix of the name. Eg: hledger bal. + + Here are the built-in commands, with the most often-used in bold: + + Data entry: + + These data entry commands are the only ones which can modify your jour- + nal file. + + o add - add transactions using guided prompts + + o import - add any new transactions from other files (eg csv) + + Data management: + + o check - check for various kinds of issue in the data + + o close (equity) - generate balance-resetting transactions + + o diff - compare account transactions in two journal files + + o rewrite - generate extra postings, similar to print --auto + + Financial statements: + + o aregister (areg) - show transactions in a particular account + + o balancesheet (bs) - show assets, liabilities and net worth + + o balancesheetequity (bse) - show assets, liabilities and equity + + o cashflow (cf) - show changes in liquid assets + + o incomestatement (is) - show revenues and expenses + + o roi - show return on investments + + Miscellaneous reports: + + o accounts - show account names + + o activity - show postings-per-interval bar charts + + o balance (bal) - show balance changes/end balances/budgets in any + accounts + + o codes - show transaction codes + + o commodities - show commodity/currency symbols + + o descriptions - show unique transaction descriptions + + o files - show input file paths + + o help - show hledger user manuals in several formats + + o notes - show unique note segments of transaction descriptions + + o payees - show unique payee segments of transaction descriptions + + o prices - show market price records + + o print - show transactions (journal entries) + + o print-unique - show only transactions with unique descriptions + + o register (reg) - show postings in one or more accounts & running + total + + o register-match - show a recent posting that best matches a descrip- + tion + + o stats - show journal statistics + + o tags - show tag names + + o test - run self tests + + Add-on commands: + + Programs or scripts named hledger-SOMETHING in your PATH are add-on + commands; these appear in the commands list with a + mark. Two of + these are maintained and released with hledger: + + o ui - an efficient terminal interface (TUI) for hledger + + o web - a simple web interface (WUI) for hledger + + And these add-ons are maintained separately: + + o iadd - a more interactive alternative for the add command + + o interest - generates interest transactions according to various + schemes + + o stockquotes - downloads market prices for your commodities from + AlphaVantage (experimental) + + Next, the detailed command docs, in alphabetical order. + + accounts + accounts + Show account names. + + This command lists account names, either declared with account direc- + tives (--declared), posted to (--used), or both (the default). With + query arguments, only matched account names and account names refer- + enced by matched postings are shown. It shows a flat list by default. + With --tree, it uses indentation to show the account hierarchy. In + flat mode you can add --drop N to omit the first few account name com- + ponents. Account names can be depth-clipped with depth:N or --depth N + or -N. + + Examples: + + $ hledger accounts + assets:bank:checking + assets:bank:saving + assets:cash + expenses:food + expenses:supplies + income:gifts + income:salary + liabilities:debts + + activity + activity + Show an ascii barchart of posting counts per interval. + + 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. + + Examples: + + $ hledger activity --quarterly + 2008-01-01 ** + 2008-04-01 ******* + 2008-07-01 + 2008-10-01 ** + + add + add + Prompt for transactions and add them to the journal. Any arguments + will be used as default inputs for the first N prompts. + + Many hledger users edit their journals directly with a text editor, or + generate them from CSV. For more interactive data entry, there is the + add command, which prompts interactively on the console for new trans- + actions, and appends them to the journal file (if there are multiple -f + FILE options, the first file is used.) Existing transactions are not + changed. This is the only hledger command that writes to the journal + file. + + To use it, just run hledger add and follow the prompts. You can add as + many transactions as you like; when you are finished, enter . or press + control-d or control-c to exit. + + Features: + + o add tries to provide useful defaults, using the most similar (by + description) recent transaction (filtered by the query, if any) as a + template. + + o You can also set the initial defaults with command line arguments. + + o Readline-style edit keys can be used during data entry. + + o The tab key will auto-complete whenever possible - accounts, descrip- + tions, dates (yesterday, today, tomorrow). If the input area is + empty, it will insert the default value. + + o If the journal defines a default commodity, it will be added to any + bare numbers entered. + + o A parenthesised transaction code may be entered following a date. + + o Comments and tags may be entered following a description or amount. + + o If you make a mistake, enter < at any prompt to go one step backward. + + o Input prompts are displayed in a different colour when the terminal + supports it. + + Example (see the tutorial for a detailed explanation): + + $ 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]: $ + + 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). + + aregister + aregister, areg + + Show the transactions and running historical balance of a single + account, with each transaction displayed as one line. + + aregister 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 (--historical mode is always on). + + This is a more "real world", bank-like view than the register command + (which shows individual postings, possibly from multiple accounts, not + necessarily in historical mode). As a quick rule of thumb: - use areg- + ister for reviewing and reconciling real-world asset/liability accounts + - use register for reviewing detailed revenues/expenses. + + aregister 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. + (Eg if you have assets:aaa:checking and assets:bbb:checking accounts, + hledger areg checking would select assets:aaa:checking.) + + Transactions involving subaccounts of this account will also be shown. + aregister ignores depth limits, so its final total will always match a + balance report with similar arguments. + + Any additional arguments form a query which will filter the transac- + tions shown. Note some queries will disturb the running balance, caus- + ing it to be different from the account's real-world running balance. + + An example: this shows the transactions and historical running balance + during july, in the first account whose name contains "checking": + + $ hledger areg checking date:jul + + Each aregister line item shows: + + o the transaction's date (or the relevant posting's date if different, + see below) + + o the names of all the other account(s) involved in this transaction + (probably abbreviated) + + o the total change to this account's balance from this transaction + + o the account's historical running balance after this transaction. + + Transactions making a net change of zero are not shown by default; add + the -E/--empty flag to show them. + + This command also supports the output destination and output format + options. The output formats supported are txt, csv, and json. + + aregister and custom posting dates + 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's the posting date that is shown.) This + ensures that aregister can show an accurate historical running balance, + matching the one shown by register -H with the same arguments. + + To filter strictly by transaction date instead, add the --txn-dates + flag. If you use this flag and some of your postings have custom + dates, it's probably best to assume the running balance is wrong. + + balance + balance, bal + Show accounts and their balances. + + balance is one of hledger'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. + + Note there are some higher-level variants of the balance command with + convenient defaults, which can be simpler to use: balancesheet, bal- + ancesheetequity, cashflow and incomestatement. When you need more con- + trol, then use balance. + + balance features + Here's a quick overview of the balance command's features, followed by + more detailed descriptions and examples. Many of these work with the + higher-level commands as well. + + balance can show.. + + o accounts as a list (-l) or a tree (-t) + + o optionally depth-limited (-[1-9]) + + o sorted by declaration order and name, or by amount + + ..and their.. + + o balance changes (the default) + + o or actual and planned balance changes (--budget) + + o or value of balance changes (-V) + + o or change of balance values (--valuechange) + + o or unrealised capital gain/loss (--gain) + + ..in.. + + o one time period (the whole journal period by default) + + o or multiple periods (-D, -W, -M, -Q, -Y, -p INTERVAL) + + ..either.. + + o per period (the default) + + o or accumulated since report start date (--cumulative) + + o or accumulated since account creation (--historical/-H) + + ..possibly converted to.. + + o cost (--value=cost[,COMM]/--cost/-B) + + o or market value, as of transaction dates (--value=then[,COMM]) + + o or at period ends (--value=end[,COMM]) + + o or now (--value=now) + + o or at some other date (--value=YYYY-MM-DD) + + ..with.. + + o totals (-T), averages (-A), percentages (-%), inverted sign + (--invert) + + o rows and columns swapped (--transpose) + + o another field used as account name (--pivot) + + o custom-formatted line items (single-period reports only) (--format) + + o commodities displayed on the same line or multiple lines (--layout) + + This command supports the output destination and output format options, + with output formats txt, csv, json, and (multi-period reports only:) + html. In txt output in a colour-supporting terminal, negative amounts + are shown in red. + + The --related/-r flag shows the balance of the other postings in the + transactions of the postings which would normally be shown. + + Simple balance report + With no arguments, balance 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. For real-world + accounts, this should also match their end balance at the end of the + journal period (more on this below). + + Accounts are sorted by declaration order if any, and then alphabeti- + cally by account name. For instance (using examples/sample.journal): + + $ 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 + + Accounts with a zero balance (and no non-zero subaccounts, in tree mode + - see below) are hidden by default. Use -E/--empty to show them + (revealing assets:bank:checking here): + + $ 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 + + The total of the amounts displayed is shown as the last line, unless + -N/--no-total is used. + + Filtered balance report + 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: + + $ hledger -f examples/sample.journal bal --cleared assets date:200806 + $-2 assets:cash + -------------------- + $-2 + + List or tree mode + By default, or with -l/--flat, accounts are shown as a flat list with + their full names visible, as in the examples above. + + With -t/--tree, the account hierarchy is shown, with subaccounts' + "leaf" names indented below their parent: + + $ 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 + + Notes: + + o "Boring" accounts are combined with their subaccount for more compact + output, unless --no-elide is used. Boring accounts have no balance + of their own and just one subaccount (eg assets:bank and liabilities + above). + + o All balances shown are "inclusive", ie including the balances from + all subaccounts. Note this means some repetition in the output, + which requires explanation when sharing reports with non-plaintextac- + counting-users. A tree mode report's final total is the sum of the + top-level balances shown, not of all the balances shown. + + o Each group of sibling accounts (ie, under a common parent) is sorted + separately. + + Depth limiting + With a depth:NUM query, or --depth NUM option, or just -NUM (eg: -3) + 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. + + Account balances at the depth limit always include the balances from + any deeper subaccounts (even in list mode). Eg, limiting to depth 1: + + $ hledger -f examples/sample.journal balance -1 + $-1 assets + $2 expenses + $-2 income + $1 liabilities + -------------------- + 0 + + Dropping top-level accounts + You can also hide one or more top-level account name parts, using + --drop NUM. This can be useful for hiding repetitive top-level account + names: + + $ hledger -f examples/sample.journal bal expenses --drop 1 + $1 food + $1 supplies + -------------------- + $2 + + + Multi-period balance report + With a report interval (set by the -D/--daily, -W/--weekly, + -M/--monthly, -Q/--quarterly, -Y/--yearly, or -p/--period flag), bal- + ance shows a tabular report, with columns representing successive time + periods (and a title): + + $ 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 + + Notes: + + o The report's start/end dates will be expanded, if necessary, to fully + encompass the displayed subperiods (so that the first and last subpe- + riods have the same duration as the others). + + o Leading and trailing periods (columns) containing all zeroes are not + shown, unless -E/--empty is used. + + o Accounts (rows) containing all zeroes are not shown, unless + -E/--empty is used. + + o Amounts with many commodities are shown in abbreviated form, unless + --no-elide is used. (experimental) + + o Average and/or total columns can be added with the -A/--average and + -T/--row-total flags. + + o The --transpose flag can be used to exchange rows and columns. + + o The --pivot FIELD option causes a different transaction field to be + used as "account name". See PIVOTING. + + Multi-period reports with many periods can be too wide for easy viewing + in the terminal. Here are some ways to handle that: + + o Hide the totals row with -N/--no-total + + o Convert to a single currency with -V + + o Maximize the terminal window + + o Reduce the terminal's font size + + o View with a pager like less, eg: hledger bal -D --color=yes | less + -RS + + o Output as CSV and use a CSV viewer like visidata (hledger bal -D -O + csv | vd -f csv), Emacs' csv-mode (M-x csv-mode, C-c C-a), or a + spreadsheet (hledger bal -D -o a.csv && open a.csv) + + o Output as HTML and view with a browser: hledger bal -D -o a.html && + open a.html + + Showing declared accounts + With --declared, 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 + -E/--empty to see them.) + + More precisely, leaf declared accounts (with no subaccounts) will be + included, since those are usually the more useful in reports. + + The idea of this is to be able to see a useful "complete" balance + report, even when you don't have transactions in all of your declared + accounts yet. + + Commodity layout + With --layout, you can control how amounts with more than one commodity + are displayed: + + o --layout=wide[,WIDTH]: on a single line, possibly elided to the spec- + ified width + + o --layout=tall: each commodity is displayed on a separate line + + o --layout=bare: commodity symbols are displayed in a separate column, + and amounts are displayed as bare numbers + + $ 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 + + $ 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.. + + $ 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 + + $ 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 + + The option --layout=bare also affects CSV output, which is useful for + producing data that is easier to consume, eg when making charts: + + $ hledger -f examples/bcexample.hledger bal assets:us:etrade -3 -O csv + "account","balance" + "Assets:US:ETrade","70.00 GLD, 17.00 ITOT, 5120.50 USD, 36.00 VEA, 294.00 VHT" + "total","70.00 GLD, 17.00 ITOT, 5120.50 USD, 36.00 VEA, 294.00 VHT" + + $ hledger -f examples/bcexample.hledger bal assets:us:etrade -3 -O csv --layout=bare + "account","commodity","balance" + "Assets:US:ETrade","GLD","70.00" + "Assets:US:ETrade","ITOT","17.00" + "Assets:US:ETrade","USD","5120.50" + "Assets:US:ETrade","VEA","36.00" + "Assets:US:ETrade","VHT","294.00" + "total","GLD","70.00" + "total","ITOT","17.00" + "total","USD","5120.50" + "total","VEA","36.00" + "total","VHT","294.00" + + Sorting by amount + With -S/--sort-amount, accounts with the largest (most positive) bal- + ances are shown first. Eg: hledger bal expenses -MAS shows your big- + gest 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). + + Revenues and liability balances are typically negative, however, so -S + shows these in reverse order. To work around this, you can add + --invert to flip the signs. (Or, use one of the higher-level reports, + which flip the sign automatically. Eg: hledger incomestatement -MAS). + + + Percentages + With -%/--percent, balance reports show each account's value expressed + as a percentage of the (column) total: + + $ hledger -f examples/sample.journal bal expenses -Q -% + Balance changes in 2008: + + || 2008Q1 2008Q2 2008Q3 2008Q4 + ===================++================================= + expenses:food || 0 50.0 % 0 0 + expenses:supplies || 0 50.0 % 0 0 + -------------------++--------------------------------- + || 0 100.0 % 0 0 + + Note it is not useful to calculate percentages if the amounts in a col- + umn have mixed signs. In this case, make a separate report for each + sign, eg: + + $ hledger bal -% amt:`>0` + $ hledger bal -% amt:`<0` + + Similarly, if the amounts in a column have mixed commodities, convert + them to one commodity with -B, -V, -X or --value, or make a separate + report for each commodity: + + $ hledger bal -% cur:\\$ + $ hledger bal -% cur:EUR + + Balance change, end balance + It's important to be clear on the meaning of the numbers shown in bal- + ance reports. Here is some terminology we use: + + A balance change is the net amount added to, or removed from, an + account during some period. + + An end balance is the amount accumulated in an account as of some date + (and some time, but hledger doesn't store that; assume end of day in + your timezone). It is the sum of previous balance changes. + + We call it a historical end balance if it includes all balance changes + since the account was created. For a real world account, this means it + will match the "historical record", eg the balances reported in your + bank statements or bank web UI. (If they are correct!) + + 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. + + balance shows balance changes by default. To see accurate historical + end balances: + + 1. Initialise account starting balances with an "opening balances" + transaction (a transfer from equity to the account), unless the + journal covers the account's full lifetime. + + 2. Include all of of the account's prior postings in the report, by not + specifying a report start date, or by using the -H/--historical + flag. (-H causes report start date to be ignored when summing post- + ings.) + + Balance report types + For more flexible reporting, there are three important option groups: + + hledger balance [CALCULATIONTYPE] [ACCUMULATIONTYPE] [VALUATIONTYPE] + ... + + The first two are the most important: calculation type selects the + basic calculation to perform for each table cell, while accumulation + type says which postings should be included in each cell's calculation. + Typically one or both of these are selected by default, so you don't + need to write them explicitly. A valuation type can be added if you + want to convert the basic report to value or cost. + + Calculation type: + The basic calculation to perform for each table cell. It is one of: + + o --sum : sum the posting amounts (default) + + o --budget : like --sum but also show a goal amount + + o --valuechange : show the change in period-end historical balance val- + ues (caused by deposits, withdrawals, and/or market price fluctua- + tions) + + o --gain : show the unrealised capital gain/loss, (the current valued + balance minus each amount's original cost) + + Accumulation type: + Which postings should be included in each cell's calculation. It is + one of: + + o --change : postings from column start to column end, ie within the + cell's period. Typically used to see revenues/expenses. (default + for balance, incomestatement) + + o --cumulative : postings from report start to column end, eg to show + changes accumulated since the report's start date. Rarely used. + + o --historical/-H : postings from journal start to column end, ie all + postings from account creation to the end of the cell's period. Typ- + ically used to see historical end balances of assets/liabili- + ties/equity. (default for balancesheet, balancesheetequity, cash- + flow) + + Valuation type: + Which kind of valuation, valuation date(s) and optionally a target val- + uation commodity to use. It is one of: + + o no valuation, show amounts in their original commodities (default) + + o --value=cost[,COMM] : no valuation, show amounts converted to cost + + o --value=then[,COMM] : show value at transaction dates + + o --value=end[,COMM] : show value at period end date(s) (default with + --valuechange, --gain) + + o --value=now[,COMM] : show value at today's date + + o --value=YYYY-MM-DD[,COMM] : show value at another date + + or one of their aliases: --cost/-B, --market/-V or --exchange/-X. + + 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: + + o --valuechange implies --value=end + + o --valuechange makes --change the default when used with the bal- + ancesheet/balancesheetequity commands + + o --cumulative or --historical disables --row-total/-T + + For reference, here is what the combinations of accumulation and valua- + tion show: + + + Valua- no valuation --value= then --value= end --value= YYYY- + tion: MM-DD /now + >Accumu- + lation: + v + ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ + --change change in period sum of posting- period-end DATE-value of + date market val- value of change change in + ues in period in period period + --cumu- change from sum of posting- period-end DATE-value of + lative report start to date market val- value of change change from + period end ues from report from report report start + start to period start to period to period end + end end + + --his- change from sum of posting- period-end DATE-value of + torical journal start to date market val- value of change change from + /-H period end (his- ues from journal from journal journal start + torical end bal- start to period start to period to period end + ance) end end + + Useful balance reports + Some frequently used balance options/reports are: + + o bal -M revenues expenses + Show revenues/expenses in each month. Also available as the incomes- + tatement command. + + o bal -M -H assets liabilities + Show historical asset/liability balances at each month end. Also + available as the balancesheet command. + + o bal -M -H assets liabilities equity + Show historical asset/liability/equity balances at each month end. + Also available as the balancesheetequity command. + + o bal -M assets not:receivable + Show changes to liquid assets in each month. Also available as the + cashflow command. + + Also: + + o bal -M expenses -2 -SA + Show monthly expenses summarised to depth 2 and sorted by average + amount. + + o bal -M --budget expenses + Show monthly expenses and budget goals. + + o bal -M --valuechange investments + Show monthly change in market value of investment assets. + + o bal investments --valuechange -D date:lastweek amt:'>1000' -STA + [--invert] + Show top gainers [or losers] last week + + Budget report + The --budget report type activates extra columns showing any budget + goals for each account and period. The budget goals are defined by + periodic transactions. This is very useful for comparing planned and + actual income, expenses, time usage, etc. + + For example, you can take average monthly expenses in the common + expense categories to construct a minimal monthly budget: + + ;; Budget + ~ 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 + + You can now see a monthly budget report: + + $ 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] + + This is different from a normal balance report in several ways: + + o Only accounts with budget goals during the report period are shown, + by default. + + o In each column, in square brackets after the actual amount, budget + goal amounts are shown, and the actual/goal percentage. (Note: bud- + get goals should be in the same commodity as the actual amount.) + + o All parent accounts are always shown, even in list mode. Eg assets, + assets:bank, and expenses above. + + o Amounts always include all subaccounts, budgeted or unbudgeted, even + in list mode. + + This means that the numbers displayed will not always add up! Eg above, + the expenses actual amount includes the gifts and supplies transac- + tions, but the expenses:gifts and expenses:supplies accounts are not + shown, as they have no budget amounts declared. + + This can be confusing. When you need to make things clearer, use the + -E/--empty flag, which will reveal all accounts including unbudgeted + ones, giving the full picture. Eg: + + $ 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] + + You can roll over unspent budgets to next period with --cumulative: + + $ 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] + + For more examples and notes, see Budgeting. + + Budget report start date + This might be a bug, but for now: when making budget reports, it's a + good idea to explicitly set the report's start date to the first day of + a reporting period, because a periodic rule like ~ monthly 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: + + ~ monthly in 2020 + (expenses:food) $500 + + 2020-01-15 + expenses:food $400 + assets:checking + + $ hledger bal expenses --budget + Budget performance in 2020-01-15: + + || 2020-01-15 + ==============++============ + || $400 + --------------++------------ + || $400 + + To avoid this, specify the budget report's period, or at least the + start date, with -b/-e/-p/date:, to ensure it includes the budget goal + transactions (periodic transactions) that you want. Eg, adding -b + 2020/1/1 to the above: + + $ 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] + + Budgets and subaccounts + 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 bud- + get(s) of the child account(s) would be added to the budget of their + parent, much like account balances behave. + + In the most simple case this means that once you add a budget to any + account, all its parents would have budget as well. + + To illustrate this, consider the following budget: + + ~ monthly from 2019/01 + expenses:personal $1,000.00 + expenses:personal:electronics $100.00 + liabilities + + 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 expenses:personal and expenses is $1100. + + Transactions in expenses:personal:electronics will be counted both + towards its $100 budget and $1100 of expenses:personal , and transac- + tions in any other subaccount of expenses:personal would be counted + towards only towards the budget of expenses:personal. + + For example, let's consider these transactions: + + ~ 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 + + As you can see, we have transactions in expenses:personal:electron- + ics:upgrades and expenses:personal:train tickets, and since both of + these accounts are without explicitly defined budget, these transac- + tions would be counted towards budgets of expenses:personal:electronics + and expenses:personal accordingly: + + $ 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] + + And with --empty, we can get a better picture of budget allocation and + consumption: + + $ 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] + + Selecting budget goals + The budget report evaluates periodic transaction rules to generate spe- + cial "goal transactions", which generate the goal amounts for each + account in each report subperiod. When troubleshooting, you can use + the print command to show these as forecasted transactions: + + $ hledger print --forecast=BUDGETREPORTPERIOD tag:generated + + 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. + + You can select a subset of periodic rules by providing an argument to + the --budget flag. --budget=DESCPAT 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. + + Customising single-period balance reports + For single-period balance reports displayed in the terminal (only), you + can use --format FMT to customise the format and content of each line. + Eg: + + $ hledger -f examples/sample.journal balance --format "%20(account) %12(total)" + assets $-1 + bank:saving $1 + cash $-2 + expenses $2 + food $1 + supplies $1 + income $-2 + gifts $-1 + salary $-1 + liabilities:debts $1 + --------------------------------- + 0 + + The FMT format string (plus a newline) specifies the formatting applied + to each account/balance pair. It may contain any suitable text, with + data fields interpolated like so: + + %[MIN][.MAX](FIELDNAME) + + o MIN pads with spaces to at least this width (optional) + + o MAX truncates at this width (optional) + + o FIELDNAME must be enclosed in parentheses, and can be one of: + + o depth_spacer - a number of spaces equal to the account's depth, or + if MIN is specified, MIN * depth spaces. + + o account - the account's name + + o total - the account's balance/posted total, right justified + + Also, FMT can begin with an optional prefix to control how multi-com- + modity amounts are rendered: + + o %_ - render on multiple lines, bottom-aligned (the default) + + o %^ - render on multiple lines, top-aligned + + o %, - render on one line, comma-separated + + There are some quirks. Eg in one-line mode, %(depth_spacer) has no + effect, instead %(account) has indentation built in. Experimentation + may be needed to get pleasing results. + + Some example formats: + + o %(total) - the account's total + + o %-20.20(account) - the account's name, left justified, padded to 20 + characters and clipped at 20 characters + + o %,%-50(account) %25(total) - account name padded to 50 characters, + total padded to 20 characters, with multiple commodities rendered on + one line + + o %20(total) %2(depth_spacer)%-(account) - the default format for the + single-column balance report + + balancesheet + balancesheet, bs + This command displays a balance sheet, showing historical ending bal- + ances 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. + + The asset and liability accounts shown are those accounts declared with + the Asset or Cash or Liability type, or otherwise all accounts under a + top-level asset or liability account (case insensitive, plurals + allowed). + + Example: + + $ hledger balancesheet + Balance Sheet + + Assets: + $-1 assets + $1 bank:saving + $-2 cash + -------------------- + $-1 + + Liabilities: + $1 liabilities:debts + -------------------- + $1 + + Total: + -------------------- + 0 + + This command is a higher-level variant of the balance command, and sup- + ports many of that command's features, such as multi-period reports. + It is similar to hledger balance -H assets liabilities, but with + smarter account detection, and liabilities displayed with their sign + flipped. + + This command also supports the output destination and output format + options The output formats supported are txt, csv, html, and (experi- + mental) json. + + balancesheetequity + balancesheetequity, bse + This command displays a balance sheet, showing historical ending bal- + ances of asset, liability and equity accounts. Amounts are shown with + normal positive sign, as in conventional financial statements. + + The asset, liability and equity accounts shown are those accounts + declared with the Asset, Cash, Liability or Equity type, or otherwise + all accounts under a top-level asset, liability or equity account (case + insensitive, plurals allowed). + + Example: + + $ 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 + + This command is a higher-level variant of the balance command, and sup- + ports many of that command's features, such as multi-period reports. + It is similar to hledger balance -H assets liabilities equity, but with + smarter account detection, and liabilities/equity displayed with their + sign flipped. + + This command also supports the output destination and output format + options The output formats supported are txt, csv, html, and (experi- + mental) json. + + cashflow + cashflow, cf + This command displays a cashflow statement, showing the inflows and + outflows affecting "cash" (ie, liquid) assets. Amounts are shown with + normal positive sign, as in conventional financial statements. + + The "cash" accounts shown are those accounts declared with the Cash + type, or otherwise all accounts under a top-level asset account (case + insensitive, plural allowed) which do not have fixed, investment, + receivable or A/R in their name. + + Example: + + $ hledger cashflow + Cashflow Statement + + Cash flows: + $-1 assets + $1 bank:saving + $-2 cash + -------------------- + $-1 + + Total: + -------------------- + $-1 + + This command is a higher-level variant of the balance command, and sup- + ports many of that command's features, such as multi-period reports. + It is similar to hledger balance assets not:fixed not:investment + not:receivable, but with smarter account detection. + + This command also supports the output destination and output format + options The output formats supported are txt, csv, html, and (experi- + mental) json. + + check + check + Check for various kinds of errors in your data. + + 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 check 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). + + Some examples: + + hledger check # basic checks + hledger check -s # basic + strict checks + hledger check ordereddates payees # basic + two other checks + + Here are the checks currently available: + + Basic checks + These checks are always run automatically, by (almost) all hledger com- + mands, including check: + + o parseable - data files are well-formed and can be successfully parsed + + o balancedwithautoconversion - all transactions are balanced, inferring + missing amounts where necessary, and possibly converting commodities + using transaction prices or automatically-inferred transaction prices + + o assertions - all balance assertions in the journal are passing. + (This check can be disabled with -I/--ignore-assertions.) + + Strict checks + These additional checks are run when the -s/--strict (strict mode) flag + is used. Or, they can be run by giving their names as arguments to + check: + + o accounts - all account names used by transactions have been declared + + o commodities - all commodity symbols used have been declared + + o balancednoautoconversion - transactions are balanced, possibly using + explicit transaction prices but not inferred ones + + Other checks + These checks can be run only by giving their names as arguments to + check. They are more specialised and not desirable for everyone, + therefore optional: + + o ordereddates - transactions are ordered by date within each file + + o payees - all payees used by transactions have been declared + + o uniqueleafnames - all account leaf names are unique + + Custom checks + A few more checks are are available as separate add-on commands, in + https://github.com/simonmichael/hledger/tree/master/bin: + + o hledger-check-tagfiles - all tag values containing / (a forward + slash) exist as file paths + + o hledger-check-fancyassertions - more complex balance assertions are + passing + + You could make similar scripts to perform your own custom checks. See: + Cookbook -> Scripting. + + close + close, equity + Prints a sample "closing" transaction bringing specified account bal- + ances to zero, and an inverse "opening" transaction restoring the same + account balances. + + If like most people you split your journal files by time, eg by year: + at the end of the year you can use this command to "close out" your + asset and liability (and perhaps equity) balances in the old file, and + reinitialise them in the new file. This helps ensure that report bal- + ances remain correct whether you are including old files or not. + (Because all closing/opening transactions except the very first will + cancel out - see example below.) + + Some people also use this command to close out revenue and expense bal- + ances at the end of an accounting period. This properly records the + period's profit/loss as "retained earnings" (part of equity), and + allows the accounting equation (A-L=E) to balance, which you could then + check by the bse report's zero total. + + You can print just the closing transaction by using the --close flag, + or just the opening transaction with the --open flag. + + Their descriptions are closing balances and opening balances by + default; you can customise these with the --close-desc and --open-desc + options. + + Just one balancing equity posting is used by default, with the amount + left implicit. The default account name is equity:opening/closing bal- + ances. You can customise the account name(s) with --close-acct and + --open-acct. (If you specify only one of these, it will be used for + both.) + + With --x/--explicit, the equity posting's amount will be shown explic- + itly, and if it involves multiple commodities, there will be a separate + equity posting for each commodity (as in the print command). + + With --interleaved, each equity posting is shown next to the posting it + balances (good for troubleshooting). + + close and prices + Transaction prices are ignored (and discarded) by closing/opening + transactions, by default. With --show-costs, they are preserved; there + will be a separate equity posting for each cost in each commodity. + This means balance -B reports will look the same after the transition. + Note if you have many foreign currency or investment transactions, this + will generate very large journal entries. + + close date + The default closing date is yesterday, or the journal's end date, + whichever is later. + + Unless you are running close on exactly the first day of the new + period, you'll want to override the closing date. This is done by + specifying a report end date, where "last day of the report period" + will be the closing date. The opening date is always the following + day. So to close on (end of) 2020-12-31 and open on (start of) + 2021-01-01, any of these will work: + + + end date argument explanation + ----------------------------------------------- + -e 2021-01-01 end dates are exclusive + -e 2021 equivalent, per smart + dates + -p 2020 equivalent, the period's + begin date is ignored + date:2020 equivalent query + + Example: close asset/liability accounts for file transition + Carrying asset/liability balances from 2020.journal into a new file for + 2021: + + $ hledger close -f 2020.journal -p 2020 assets liabilities + # copy/paste the closing transaction to the end of 2020.journal + # copy/paste the opening transaction to the start of 2021.journal + + Or: + + $ hledger close -f 2020.journal -p 2020 assets liabilities --open >> 2021.journal # add 2021's first transaction + $ hledger close -f 2020.journal -p 2020 assets liabilities --close >> 2020.journal # add 2020's last transaction + + Now, + + $ hledger bs -f 2021.journal # just new file - balances correct + $ hledger bs -f 2020.journal -f 2021.journal # old and new files - balances correct + $ hledger bs -f 2020.journal # just old files - balances are zero ? + # (exclude final closing txn, see below) + + Hiding opening/closing transactions + Although the closing/opening transactions cancel out, they will be vis- + ible in reports like print and register, creating some visual clutter. + You can exclude them all with a query, like: + + $ hledger print not:desc:'opening|closing' # less typing + $ hledger print not:'equity:opening/closing balances' # more precise + + But when reporting on multiple files, this can get a bit tricky; you + may need to keep the earliest opening balances, for a historical regis- + ter report; or you may need to suppress a closing transaction, to see + year-end balances. If you find yourself needing more precise queries, + here's one solution: add more easily-matched tags to opening/closing + transactions, like this: + + ; 2019.journal + 2019-01-01 opening balances ; earliest opening txn, no tag here + ... + 2019-12-31 closing balances ; clopen:2020 + ... + + ; 2020.journal + 2020-01-01 opening balances ; clopen:2020 + ... + 2020-12-31 closing balances ; clopen:2021 + ... + + ; 2021.journal + 2021-01-01 opening balances ; clopen:2021 + ... + + Now with + + ; all.journal + include 2019.journal + include 2020.journal + include 2021.journal + + you could do eg: + + $ hledger -f all.journal reg -H checking not:tag:clopen + # all years checking register, hiding non-essential opening/closing txns + + $ hledger -f all.journal bs -p 2020 not:tag:clopen=2020 + # 2020 year end balances, suppressing 2020 closing txn + + close and balance assertions + The closing and opening transactions will include balance assertions, + verifying that the accounts have first been reset to zero and then + restored to their previous balance. These provide valuable error + checking, alerting you when things get out of line, but you can ignore + them temporarily with -I or just remove them if you prefer. + + You probably shouldn't use status or realness filters (like -C or -R or + status:) with close, or the generated balance assertions will depend on + these flags. Likewise, if you run this command with --auto, the bal- + ance assertions would probably always require --auto. + + Multi-day transactions (where some postings have a different date) + break the balance assertions, because the money is temporarily "invisi- + ble" while in transit: + + 2020/12/30 a purchase made in december, cleared in the next year + expenses:food 5 + assets:bank:checking -5 ; date: 2021/1/2 + + To fix the assertions, you can add a temporary account to track such + in-transit money (splitting the multi-day transaction into two single- + day transactions): + + ; in 2020.journal: + 2020/12/30 a purchase made in december, cleared in the next year + expenses:food 5 + liabilities:pending + + ; in 2021.journal: + 2021/1/2 clearance of last year's pending transactions + liabilities:pending 5 = 0 + assets:bank:checking + + Example: close revenue/expense accounts to retained earnings + For this, use --close to suppress the opening transaction, as it's not + needed. Also you'll want to change the equity account name to your + equivalent of "equity:retained earnings". + + Closing 2021's first quarter revenues/expenses: + + $ hledger close -f 2021.journal --close revenues expenses -p 2021Q1 \ + --close-acct='equity:retained earnings' >> 2021.journal + + The same, using the default journal and current year: + + $ hledger close --close revenues expenses -p Q1 \ + --close-acct='equity:retained earnings' >> $LEDGER_FILE + + Now, the first quarter's balance sheet should show a zero (unless you + are using @/@@ notation without equity postings): + + $ hledger bse -p Q1 + + And we must suppress the closing transaction to see the first quarter's + income statement (using the description; not:'retained earnings' won't + work here): + + $ hledger is -p Q1 not:desc:'closing balances' + + codes + codes + List the codes seen in transactions, in the order parsed. + + This command prints the value of each transaction'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. + + Transactions aren't required to have a code, and missing or empty codes + will not be shown by default. With the -E/--empty flag, they will be + printed as blank lines. + + You can add a query to select a subset of transactions. + + Examples: + + 1/1 (123) + (a) 1 + + 1/1 () + (a) 1 + + 1/1 + (a) 1 + + 1/1 (126) + (a) 1 + + $ hledger codes + 123 + 124 + 126 + + $ hledger codes -E + 123 + 124 + + + 126 + + commodities + commodities + List all commodity/currency symbols used or declared in the journal. + + descriptions + descriptions + List the unique descriptions that appear in transactions. + + This command lists the unique descriptions that appear in transactions, + in alphabetic order. You can add a query to select a subset of trans- + actions. + + Example: + + $ hledger descriptions + Store Name + Gas Station | Petrol + Person A + + diff + diff + Compares a particular account's transactions in two input files. It + shows any transactions to this account which are in one file but not in + the other. + + 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 mul- + tiple bank transactions have been combined into a single journal entry. + + This is useful eg if you have downloaded an account'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. + + Examples: + + $ 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: + + files + files + List all files included in the journal. With a REGEX argument, only + file names matching the regular expression (case sensitive) are shown. + + help + help + Show the hledger user manual in one of several formats, optionally + positioned at a given TOPIC (if possible). + + TOPIC is any heading in the manual, or the start of any heading (but + not the middle). It is case insensitive. + + Some examples: commands, print, forecast, "auto postings", "commodity + column". + + This command shows the user manual built in to this hledger version. + It can be useful if the correct version of the hledger manual, or the + usual viewing tools, are not installed on your system. + + By default it uses the best viewer it can find in $PATH, in this order: + info, man, $PAGER (unless a topic is specified), less, or stdout. When + run non-interactively, it always uses stdout. Or you can select a par- + ticular viewer with the -i (info), -m (man), or -p (pager) flags. + + import + import + Read new transactions added to each FILE since last run, and add them + to the main journal file. Or with --dry-run, just print the transac- + tions that would be added. Or with --catchup, just mark all of the + FILEs' transactions as imported, without actually importing any. + + Unlike other hledger commands, with import the journal file is an out- + put 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 + hledger import bank.csv or perhaps hledger import *.csv. + + Note you can import from any file format, though CSV files are the most + common import source, and these docs focus on that case. + + Deduplication + As a convenience import does deduplication while reading transactions. + This does not mean "ignore transactions that look the same", but rather + "ignore transactions that have been seen before". 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 hledger import + bank.csv and only new transactions will be imported. (import is idem- + potent.) + + Since the items being read (CSV records, eg) often do not come with + unique identifiers, hledger detects new transactions by date, assuming + that: + + 1. new items always have the newest dates + + 2. item dates do not change across reads + + 3. and items with the same date remain in the same relative order + across reads. + + 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't matter (and if + you import often, the new transactions will be few, so less likely to + be the ones affected). + + hledger remembers the latest date processed in each input file by sav- + ing a hidden ".latest" state file in the same directory. Eg when read- + ing finance/bank.csv, it will look for and update the finance/.lat- + est.bank.csv state file. The format is simple: one or more lines con- + taining the same ISO-format date (YYYY-MM-DD), meaning "I have pro- + cessed transactions up to this date, and this many of them on that + date." Normally you won't see or manipulate these state files yourself. + But if needed, you can delete them to reset the state (making all + transactions "new"), or you can construct them to "catch up" to a cer- + tain date. + + Note deduplication (and updating of state files) can also be done by + print --new, but this is less often used. + + Import testing + With --dry-run, 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: + + $ hledger import --dry bank.csv | hledger -f- -I print unknown + + or (live updating): + + $ ls bank.csv* | entr bash -c 'echo ====; hledger import --dry bank.csv | hledger -f- -I print unknown' + + Importing balance assignments + Entries added by import will have their posting amounts made explicit + (like hledger print -x). This means that any balance assignments in + imported files must be evaluated; but, imported files don't get to see + the main file'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: + + $ hledger print IMPORTFILE [--new] >> $LEDGER_FILE + + (If you think import should leave amounts implicit like print does, + please test it and send a pull request.) + + Commodity display styles + Imported amounts will be formatted according to the canonical commodity + styles (declared or inferred) in the main journal file. + + incomestatement + incomestatement, is + + 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. + + The revenue and expense accounts shown are those accounts declared with + the Revenue or Expense type, or otherwise all accounts under a top- + level revenue or income or expense account (case insensitive, plurals + allowed). + + Example: + + $ hledger incomestatement + Income Statement + + Revenues: + $-2 income + $-1 gifts + $-1 salary + -------------------- + $-2 + + Expenses: + $2 expenses + $1 food + $1 supplies + -------------------- + $2 + + Total: + -------------------- + 0 + + This command is a higher-level variant of the balance command, and sup- + ports many of that command's features, such as multi-period reports. + It is similar to hledger balance '(revenues|income)' expenses, but with + smarter account detection, and revenues/income displayed with their + sign flipped. + + This command also supports the output destination and output format + options The output formats supported are txt, csv, html, and (experi- + mental) json. + + notes + notes + List the unique notes that appear in transactions. + + This command lists the unique notes that appear in transactions, in + alphabetic order. You can add a query to select a subset of transac- + tions. The note is the part of the transaction description after a | + character (or if there is no |, the whole description). + + Example: + + $ hledger notes + Petrol + Snacks + + payees + payees + List the unique payee/payer names that appear in transactions. + + This command lists unique payee/payer names which have been declared + with payee directives (--declared), used in transaction descriptions + (--used), or both (the default). + + The payee/payer is the part of the transaction description before a | + character (or if there is no |, the whole description). + + You can add query arguments to select a subset of transactions. This + implies --used. + + Example: + + $ hledger payees + Store Name + Gas Station + Person A + + prices + prices + Print market price directives from the journal. With --infer-market- + prices, generate additional market prices from transaction prices. + With --infer-reverse-prices, also generate market prices by inverting + transaction prices. Prices (and postings providing transaction prices) + can be filtered by a query. Price amounts are displayed with their + full precision. + + print + print + Show transaction journal entries, sorted by date. + + The print command displays full journal entries (transactions) from the + journal file, sorted by date (or with --date2, by secondary date). + + Amounts are shown mostly normalised to commodity display style, eg the + placement of commodity symbols will be consistent. All of their deci- + mal places are shown, as in the original journal entry (with one alter- + ation: in some cases trailing zeroes are added.) + + Amounts are shown right-aligned within each transaction (but not across + all transactions). + + 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. + + Eg: + + $ 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 + + print'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: + + # 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 + + There are some situations where print's output can become unparseable: + + o Valuation affects posting amounts but not balance assertion or bal- + ance assignment amounts, potentially causing those to fail. + + o Auto postings can generate postings with too many missing amounts. + + Normally, the journal entry's explicit or implicit amount style is pre- + served. For example, when an amount is omitted in the journal, it will + not appear in the output. Similarly, when a transaction price is + implied but not written, it will not appear in the output. You can use + the -x/--explicit flag to make all amounts and transaction prices + explicit, which can be useful for troubleshooting or for making your + journal more readable and robust against data entry errors. -x is also + implied by using any of -B,-V,-X,--value. + + Note, -x/--explicit 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. + + With -B/--cost, amounts with transaction prices are converted to cost + using that price. This can be used for troubleshooting. + + With -m/--match and a STR argument, print will show at most one trans- + action: the one one whose description is most similar to STR, and is + most recent. STR should contain at least two characters. If there is + no similar-enough match, no transaction will be shown. + + With --new, hledger prints only transactions it has not seen on a pre- + vious run. This uses the same deduplication system as the import com- + mand. (See import's docs for details.) + + This command also supports the output destination and output format + options The output formats supported are txt, csv, and (experimental) + json and sql. + + Here's an example of print's CSV output: + + $ hledger print -Ocsv + "txnidx","date","date2","status","code","description","comment","account","amount","commodity","credit","debit","posting-status","posting-comment" + "1","2008/01/01","","","","income","","assets:bank:checking","1","$","","1","","" + "1","2008/01/01","","","","income","","income:salary","-1","$","1","","","" + "2","2008/06/01","","","","gift","","assets:bank:checking","1","$","","1","","" + "2","2008/06/01","","","","gift","","income:gifts","-1","$","1","","","" + "3","2008/06/02","","","","save","","assets:bank:saving","1","$","","1","","" + "3","2008/06/02","","","","save","","assets:bank:checking","-1","$","1","","","" + "4","2008/06/03","","*","","eat & shop","","expenses:food","1","$","","1","","" + "4","2008/06/03","","*","","eat & shop","","expenses:supplies","1","$","","1","","" + "4","2008/06/03","","*","","eat & shop","","assets:cash","-2","$","2","","","" + "5","2008/12/31","","*","","pay off","","liabilities:debts","1","$","","1","","" + "5","2008/12/31","","*","","pay off","","assets:bank:checking","-1","$","1","","","" + + o There is one CSV record per posting, with the parent transaction's + fields repeated. + + o The "txnidx" (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.) + + o The amount is separated into "commodity" (the symbol) and "amount" + (numeric quantity) fields. + + o The numeric amount is repeated in either the "credit" or "debit" col- + umn, for convenience. (Those names are not accurate in the account- + ing sense; it just puts negative amounts under credit and zero or + greater amounts under debit.) + + print-unique + print-unique + Print transactions which do not reuse an already-seen description. + + Example: + + $ cat unique.journal + 1/1 test + (acct:one) 1 + 2/2 test + (acct:two) 2 + $ LEDGER_FILE=unique.journal hledger print-unique + (-f option not supported) + 2015/01/01 test + (acct:one) 1 + + register + register, reg + Show postings and their running total. + + The register command displays matched postings, across all accounts, in + date order, with their running total or running historical balance. + (See also the aregister command, which shows matched transactions in a + specific account.) + + register normally shows line per posting, but note that multi-commodity + amounts will occupy multiple lines (one line per commodity). + + It is typically used with a query selecting a particular account, to + see that account's activity: + + $ 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 + + With --date2, it shows and sorts by secondary date instead. + + The --historical/-H 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: + + $ 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 + + The --depth option limits the amount of sub-account detail displayed. + + The --average/-A flag shows the running average posting amount instead + of the running total (so, the final number displayed is the average for + the whole report period). This flag implies --empty (see below). It + is affected by --historical. It works best when showing just one + account and one commodity. + + The --related/-r flag shows the other postings in the transactions of + the postings which would normally be shown. + + The --invert flag negates all amounts. For example, it can be used on + an income account where amounts are normally displayed as negative num- + bers. It's also useful to show postings on the checking account + together with the related account: + + $ hledger register --related --invert assets:checking + + With a reporting interval, register shows summary postings, one per + interval, aggregating the postings to each account: + + $ hledger register --monthly income + 2008/01 income:salary $-1 $-1 + 2008/06 income:gifts $-1 $-2 + + Periods with no activity, and summary postings with a zero amount, are + not shown by default; use the --empty/-E flag to see them: + + $ 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 + + Often, you'll want to see just one line per interval. The --depth + option helps with this, causing subaccounts to be aggregated: + + $ hledger register --monthly assets --depth 1h + 2008/01 assets $1 $1 + 2008/06 assets $-1 0 + 2008/12 assets $-1 $-1 + + 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. + + Custom register output + register uses the full terminal width by default, except on windows. + You can override this by setting the COLUMNS environment variable (not + a bash shell variable) or by using the --width/-w option. + + 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's argument, comma-separated: + --width W,D . Here's a diagram (won't display correctly in --help): + + <--------------------------------- width (W) ----------------------------------> + date (10) description (D) account (W-41-D) amount (12) balance (12) + DDDDDDDDDD dddddddddddddddddddd aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa AAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAA + + and some examples: + + $ 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 + + This command also supports the output destination and output format + options The output formats supported are txt, csv, and (experimental) + json. + + register-match + register-match + Print the one posting whose transaction description is closest to DESC, + in the style of the register command. If there are multiple equally + good matches, it shows the most recent. Query options (options, not + arguments) can be used to restrict the search space. Helps ledger- + autosync detect already-seen transactions when importing. + + rewrite + rewrite + Print all transactions, rewriting the postings of matched transactions. + For now the only rewrite available is adding new postings, like print + --auto. + + 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 transac- + tion's first posting amount. + + Examples: + + $ hledger-rewrite.hs ^income --add-posting '(liabilities:tax) *.33 ; income tax' --add-posting '(reserve:gifts) $100' + $ hledger-rewrite.hs expenses:gifts --add-posting '(reserve:gifts) *-1"' + $ hledger-rewrite.hs -f rewrites.hledger + + rewrites.hledger may consist of entries like: + + = ^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 + + Note the single quotes to protect the dollar sign from bash, and the + two spaces between account and amount. + + More: + + $ hledger rewrite -- [QUERY] --add-posting "ACCT AMTEXPR" ... + $ hledger rewrite -- ^income --add-posting '(liabilities:tax) *.33' + $ hledger rewrite -- expenses:gifts --add-posting '(budget:gifts) *-1"' + $ hledger rewrite -- ^income --add-posting '(budget:foreign currency) *0.25 JPY; diversify' + + Argument for --add-posting option is a usual posting of transaction + with an exception for amount specification. More precisely, you can + use '*' (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's com- + modity. + + Re-write rules in a file + During the run this tool will execute so called "Automated Transac- + tions" found in any journal it process. I.e instead of specifying this + operations in command line you can put them in a journal file. + + $ rewrite-rules.journal + + Make contents look like this: + + = ^income + (liabilities:tax) *.33 + + = expenses:gifts + budget:gifts *-1 + assets:budget *1 + + Note that '=' (equality symbol) that is used instead of date in trans- + actions you usually write. It indicates the query by which you want to + match the posting to add new ones. + + $ hledger rewrite -- -f input.journal -f rewrite-rules.journal > rewritten-tidy-output.journal + + This is something similar to the commands pipeline: + + $ hledger rewrite -- -f input.journal '^income' --add-posting '(liabilities:tax) *.33' \ + | hledger rewrite -- -f - expenses:gifts --add-posting 'budget:gifts *-1' \ + --add-posting 'assets:budget *1' \ + > rewritten-tidy-output.journal + + It is important to understand that relative order of such entries in + journal is important. You can re-use result of previously added post- + ings. + + Diff output format + To use this tool for batch modification of your journal files you may + find useful output in form of unified diff. + + $ hledger rewrite -- --diff -f examples/sample.journal '^income' --add-posting '(liabilities:tax) *.33' + + Output might look like: + + --- /tmp/examples/sample.journal + +++ /tmp/examples/sample.journal + @@ -18,3 +18,4 @@ + 2008/01/01 income + - assets:bank:checking $1 + + assets:bank:checking $1 + income:salary + + (liabilities:tax) 0 + @@ -22,3 +23,4 @@ + 2008/06/01 gift + - assets:bank:checking $1 + + assets:bank:checking $1 + income:gifts + + (liabilities:tax) 0 + + If you'll pass this through patch tool you'll get transactions contain- + ing the posting that matches your query be updated. Note that multiple + files might be update according to list of input files specified via + --file options and include directives inside of these files. + + Be careful. Whole transaction being re-formatted in a style of output + from hledger print. + + See also: + + https://github.com/simonmichael/hledger/issues/99 + + rewrite vs. print --auto + This command predates print --auto, and currently does much the same + thing, but with these differences: + + o with multiple files, rewrite lets rules in any file affect all other + files. print --auto uses standard directive scoping; rules affect + only child files. + + o rewrite's query limits which transactions can be rewritten; all are + printed. print --auto's query limits which transactions are printed. + + o rewrite applies rules specified on command line or in the journal. + print --auto applies rules specified in the journal. + + roi + roi + Shows the time-weighted (TWR) and money-weighted (IRR) rate of return + on your investments. + + At a minimum, you need to supply a query (which could be just an + account name) to select your investment(s) with --inv, and another + query to identify your profit and loss transactions with --pnl. + + If you do not record changes in the value of your investment manually, + or do not require computation of time-weighted return (TWR), --pnl + could be an empty query (--pnl "" or --pnl STR where STR does not match + any of your accounts). + + 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. + + Price directives will be taken into account if you supply appropriate + --cost or --value flags (see VALUATION). + + Note, in some cases this report can fail, for these reasons: + + o 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. + + o Error (SearchFailed): Failed to find solution for Internal Rate of + Return (IRR). Either search does not converge to a solution, or con- + verges too slowly. + + Examples: + + o Using roi to compute total return of investment in stocks: + https://github.com/simonmichael/hledger/blob/master/examples/roi- + unrealised.ledger + + o Cookbook -> Return on Investment + + Spaces and special characters in --inv and --pnl + Note that --inv and --pnl's argument is a query, and queries could have + several space-separated terms (see QUERIES). + + To indicate that all search terms form single command-line argument, + you will need to put them in quotes (see Special characters): + + $ hledger roi --inv 'term1 term2 term3 ...' + + If any query terms contain spaces themselves, you will need an extra + level of nested quoting, eg: + + $ hledger roi --inv="'Assets:Test 1'" --pnl="'Equity:Unrealized Profit and Loss'" + + Semantics of --inv and --pnl + Query supplied to --inv has to match all transactions that are related + to your investment. Transactions not matching --inv will be ignored. + + In these transactions, ROI will conside postings that match --inv to be + "investment postings" and other postings (not matching --inv) will be + sorted into two categories: "cash flow" and "profit and loss", as ROI + needs to know which part of the investment value is your contributions + and which is due to the return on investment. + + o "Cash flow" is depositing or withdrawing money, buying or selling + assets, or otherwise converting between your investment commodity and + any other commodity. Example: + + 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 + + o "Profit and loss" is change in the value of your investment: + + 2019-06-01 Snake Oil falls in value + investment:snake oil = $57 + equity:unrealized profit or loss + + All non-investment postings are assumed to be "cash flow", unless they + match --pnl query. Changes in value of your investment due to "profit + and loss" postings will be considered as part of your investment + return. + + Example: if you use --inv snake --pnl equity:unrealized, then postings + in the example below would be classifed as: + + 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 + + IRR and TWR explained + "ROI" stands for "return on investment". Traditionally this was com- + puted as a difference between current value of investment and its ini- + tial value, expressed in percentage of the initial value. + + However, this approach is only practical in simple cases, where invest- + ments receives no in-flows or out-flows of money, and where rate of + growth is fixed over time. For more complex scenarios you need differ- + ent ways to compute rate of return, and this command implements two of + them: IRR and TWR. + + Internal rate of return, or "IRR" (also called "money-weighted rate of + return") 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 percent- + age of your initial investment, and if you are adding to your invest- + ment, 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. + + As mentioned before, in-flows and out-flows would be any cash that you + personally put in or withdraw, and for the "roi" command, these are the + postings that match the query in the--inv argument and NOT match the + query in the--pnl argument. + + If you manually record changes in the value of your investment as + transactions that balance them against "profit and loss" (or "unreal- + ized gains") 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. + + 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't done + discounted cash flow analysis before. Implementation of IRR in hledger + should produce results that match the XIRR formula in Excel. + + Second way to compute rate of return that roi command implements is + called "time-weighted rate of return" or "TWR". 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. + + TWR represents your investment as an imaginary "unit fund" where in- + flows/ out-flows lead to buying or selling "units" of your investment + and changes in its value change the value of "investment unit". Change + in "unit price" over the reporting period gives you rate of return of + your investment. + + References: * Explanation of rate of return * Explanation of IRR * + Explanation of TWR * Examples of computing IRR and TWR and discussion + of the limitations of both metrics + + stats + stats + Show journal and performance statistics. + + 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. + + 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 + stats command's run time is similar to that of a single-column balance + report. + + Example: + + $ 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 + + This command also supports output destination and output format selec- + tion. + + tags + tags + List the unique tag names used in the journal. With a TAGREGEX argu- + ment, only tag names matching the regular expression (case insensitive) + are shown. With QUERY arguments, only transactions matching the query + are considered. + + With the --values flag, the tags' unique values are listed instead. + + With --parsed flag, all tags or values are shown in the order they are + parsed from the input data, including duplicates. + + With -E/--empty, any blank/empty values will also be shown, otherwise + they are omitted. + + test + test + Run built-in unit tests. + + 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. + + 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! + + 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: + + $ hledger test -- -pData.Amount --color=never + + For help on these, see https://github.com/feuerbach/tasty#options (-- + --help currently doesn't show them). + + About add-on commands + Add-on commands are programs or scripts in your PATH + + o whose name starts with hledger- + + o whose name ends with a recognised file extension: .bat,.com,.exe, + .hs,.lhs,.pl,.py,.rb,.rkt,.sh or none + + o and (on unix, mac) which are executable by the current user. + + Add-ons are a relatively easy way to add local features or experiment + with new ideas. They can be written in any language, but haskell + scripts have a big advantage: they can use the same hledger library + functions that built-in commands use for command-line options, parsing + and reporting. Some experimental/example add-on scripts can be found + in the hledger repo's bin/ directory. + + Note in a hledger command line, add-on command flags must have a double + dash (--) preceding them. Eg you must write: + + $ hledger web -- --serve + + and not: + + $ hledger web --serve + + (because the --serve flag belongs to hledger-web, not hledger). + + The -h/--help and --version flags don't require --. + + If you have any trouble with this, remember you can always run the add- + on program directly, eg: + + $ hledger-web --serve + +JOURNAL FORMAT + hledger's default file format, representing a General Journal. + + hledger's usual data source is a plain text file containing journal + entries in hledger journal format. This file represents a standard + accounting general journal. I use file names ending in .journal, but + that's not required. The journal file contains a number of transaction + entries, each describing a transfer of money (or any commodity) between + two or more named accounts, in a simple format readable by both hledger + and humans. + + hledger's journal format is a compatible subset, mostly, of ledger's + journal format, so hledger can work with compatible ledger journal + files as well. It's safe, and encouraged, to run both hledger and + ledger on the same journal file, eg to validate the results you're get- + ting. + + 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. + + 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 configura- + tion at hledger.org for the full list. + + Here's a description of each part of the file format (and hledger's + data model). These are mostly in the order you'll use them, but in + some cases related concepts have been grouped together for easy refer- + ence, or linked before they are introduced, so feel free to skip over + anything that looks unnecessary right now. + + Transactions + Transactions are the main unit of information in a journal file. They + represent events, typically a movement of some quantity of commodities + between two or more named accounts. + + Each transaction is recorded as a journal entry, beginning with a sim- + ple date in column 0. This can be followed by any of the following + optional fields, separated by spaces: + + o a status character (empty, !, or *) + + o a code (any short number or text, enclosed in parentheses) + + o a description (any remaining text until end of line or a semicolon) + + o a comment (any remaining text following a semicolon until end of + line, and any following indented lines beginning with a semicolon) + + o 0 or more indented posting lines, describing what was transferred and + the accounts involved (indented comment lines are also allowed, but + not blank lines or non-indented lines). + + Here's a simple journal file containing one transaction: + + 2008/01/01 income + assets:bank:checking $1 + income:salary $-1 + + Dates + Simple dates + Dates in the journal file use simple dates format: YYYY-MM-DD or + YYYY/MM/DD or YYYY.MM.DD, with leading zeros optional. The year may be + omitted, in which case it will be inferred from the context: the cur- + rent transaction, the default year set with a default year directive, + or the current date when the command is run. Some examples: + 2010-01-31, 2010/01/31, 2010.1.31, 1/31. + + (The UI also accepts simple dates, as well as the more flexible smart + dates documented in the hledger manual.) + + Secondary dates + Real-life transactions sometimes involve more than one date - eg the + date you write a cheque, and the date it clears in your bank. When you + want to model this, for more accurate daily balances, you can specify + individual posting dates. + + Or, you can use the older secondary date feature (Ledger calls it aux- + iliary date or effective date). Note: we support this for compatibil- + ity, but I usually recommend avoiding this feature; posting dates are + almost always clearer and simpler. + + A secondary date is written after the primary date, following an equals + sign. If the year is omitted, the primary date's year is assumed. + When running reports, the primary (left) date is used by default, but + with the --date2 flag (or --aux-date or --effective), the secondary + (right) date will be used instead. + + The meaning of secondary dates is up to you, but it's best to follow a + consistent rule. Eg "primary = the bank's clearing date, secondary = + date the transaction was initiated, if different", as shown here: + + 2010/2/23=2/19 movie ticket + expenses:cinema $10 + assets:checking + + $ hledger register checking + 2010-02-23 movie ticket assets:checking $-10 $-10 + + $ hledger register checking --date2 + 2010-02-19 movie ticket assets:checking $-10 $-10 + + Posting dates + You can give individual postings a different date from their parent + transaction, by adding a posting comment containing a tag (see below) + like date:DATE. This is probably the best way to control posting dates + precisely. Eg in this example the expense should appear in May + reports, and the deduction from checking should be reported on 6/1 for + easy bank reconciliation: + + 2015/5/30 + expenses:food $10 ; food purchased on saturday 5/30 + assets:checking ; bank cleared it on monday, date:6/1 + + $ hledger -f t.j register food + 2015-05-30 expenses:food $10 $10 + + $ hledger -f t.j register checking + 2015-06-01 assets:checking $-10 $-10 + + DATE should be a simple date; if the year is not specified it will use + the year of the transaction's date. You can set the secondary date + similarly, with date2:DATE2. The date: or date2: tags must have a + valid simple date value if they are present, eg a date: tag with no + value is not allowed. + + Ledger's earlier, more compact bracketed date syntax is also supported: + [DATE], [DATE=DATE2] or [=DATE2]. hledger will attempt to parse any + square-bracketed sequence of the 0123456789/-.= characters in this way. + With this syntax, DATE infers its year from the transaction and DATE2 + infers its year from DATE. + + Status + Transactions, or individual postings within a transaction, can have a + status mark, which is a single character before the transaction + description or posting account name, separated from it by a space, + indicating one of three statuses: + + + mark status + ------------------ + unmarked + ! pending + * cleared + + When reporting, you can filter by status with the -U/--unmarked, + -P/--pending, and -C/--cleared flags; or the status:, status:!, and + status:* queries; or the U, P, C keys in hledger-ui. + + Note, in Ledger and in older versions of hledger, the "unmarked" state + is called "uncleared". As of hledger 1.3 we have renamed it to + unmarked for clarity. + + To replicate Ledger and old hledger's behaviour of also matching pend- + ing, combine -U and -P. + + Status marks are optional, but can be helpful eg for reconciling with + real-world accounts. Some editor modes provide highlighting and short- + cuts for working with status. Eg in Emacs ledger-mode, you can toggle + transaction status with C-c C-e, or posting status with C-c C-c. + + What "uncleared", "pending", and "cleared" actually mean is up to you. + Here's one suggestion: + + + status meaning + -------------------------------------------------------------------------- + uncleared recorded but not yet reconciled; needs review + pending tentatively reconciled (if needed, eg during a big reconcil- + iation) + cleared complete, reconciled as far as possible, and considered cor- + rect + + With this scheme, you would use -PC to see the current balance at your + bank, -U to see things which will probably hit your bank soon (like + uncashed checks), and no flags to see the most up-to-date state of your + finances. + + Code + After the status mark, but before the description, you can optionally + write a transaction "code", enclosed in parentheses. This is a good + place to record a check number, or some other important transaction id + or reference number. + + Description + A transaction's description is the rest of the line following the date + and status mark (or until a comment begins). Sometimes called the + "narration" in traditional bookkeeping, it can be used for whatever you + wish, or left blank. Transaction descriptions can be queried, unlike + comments. + + Payee and note + You can optionally include a | (pipe) character in descriptions to sub- + divide the description into separate fields for payee/payer name on the + left (up to the first |) and an additional note field on the right + (after the first |). This may be worthwhile if you need to do more + precise querying and pivoting by payee or by note. + + Comments + Lines in the journal beginning with a semicolon (;) or hash (#) or star + (*) are comments, and will be ignored. (Star comments cause org-mode + nodes to be ignored, allowing emacs users to fold and navigate their + journals with org-mode or orgstruct-mode.) + + You can attach comments to a transaction by writing them after the + description and/or indented on the following lines (before the post- + ings). Similarly, you can attach comments to an individual posting by + writing them after the amount and/or indented on the following lines. + Transaction and posting comments must begin with a semicolon (;). + + Some examples: + + # a file comment + ; another file comment + * also a file comment, useful in org/orgstruct mode + + comment + A multiline file comment, which continues + until a line containing just "end comment" + (or end of file). + end comment + + 2012/5/14 something ; a transaction comment + ; the transaction comment, continued + posting1 1 ; a comment for posting 1 + posting2 + ; a comment for posting 2 + ; another comment line for posting 2 + ; a file comment (because not indented) + + You can also comment larger regions of a file using comment and end + comment directives. + + Tags + Tags are a way to add extra labels or labelled data to postings and + transactions, which you can then search or pivot on. + + A simple tag is a word (which may contain hyphens) followed by a full + colon, written inside a transaction or posting comment line: + + 2017/1/16 bought groceries ; sometag: + + Tags can have a value, which is the text after the colon, up to the + next comma or end of line, with leading/trailing whitespace removed: + + expenses:food $10 ; a-posting-tag: the tag value + + Note this means hledger's tag values can not contain commas or new- + lines. Ending at commas means you can write multiple short tags on one + line, comma separated: + + assets:checking ; a comment containing tag1:, tag2: some value ... + + Here, + + o "a comment containing" is just comment text, not a tag + + o "tag1" is a tag with no value + + o "tag2" is another tag, whose value is "some value ..." + + Tags in a transaction comment affect the transaction and all of its + postings, while tags in a posting comment affect only that posting. + For example, the following transaction has three tags (A, TAG2, third- + tag) and the posting has four (those plus posting-tag): + + 1/1 a transaction ; A:, TAG2: + ; third-tag: a third transaction tag, <- with a value + (a) $1 ; posting-tag: + + Tags are like Ledger's metadata feature, except hledger's tag values + are simple strings. + + Postings + A posting is an addition of some amount to, or removal of some amount + from, an account. Each posting line begins with at least one space or + tab (2 or 4 spaces is common), followed by: + + o (optional) a status character (empty, !, or *), followed by a space + + o (required) an account name (any text, optionally containing single + spaces, until end of line or a double space) + + o (optional) two or more spaces or tabs followed by an amount. + + Positive amounts are being added to the account, negative amounts are + being removed. + + The amounts within a transaction must always sum up to zero. As a con- + venience, one amount may be left blank; it will be inferred so as to + balance the transaction. + + Be sure to note the unusual two-space delimiter between account name + and amount. This makes it easy to write account names containing spa- + ces. But if you accidentally leave only one space (or tab) before the + amount, the amount will be considered part of the account name. + + Virtual postings + A posting with a parenthesised account name is called a virtual posting + or unbalanced posting, which means it is exempt from the usual rule + that a transaction's postings must balance add up to zero. + + This is not part of double entry accounting, so you might choose to + avoid this feature. Or you can use it sparingly for certain special + cases where it can be convenient. Eg, you could set opening balances + without using a balancing equity account: + + 1/1 opening balances + (assets:checking) $1000 + (assets:savings) $2000 + + A posting with a bracketed account name is called a balanced virtual + posting. The balanced virtual postings in a transaction must add up to + zero (separately from other postings). Eg: + + 1/1 buy food with cash, update budget envelope subaccounts, & something else + assets:cash $-10 ; <- these balance + expenses:food $7 ; <- + expenses:food $3 ; <- + [assets:checking:budget:food] $-10 ; <- and these balance + [assets:checking:available] $10 ; <- + (something:else) $5 ; <- not required to balance + + Ordinary non-parenthesised, non-bracketed postings are called real + postings. You can exclude virtual postings from reports with the + -R/--real flag or real:1 query. + + Account names + Account names typically have several parts separated by a full colon, + from which hledger derives a hierarchical chart of accounts. They can + be anything you like, but in finance there are traditionally five top- + level accounts: assets, liabilities, revenue, expenses, and equity. + + Account names may contain single spaces, eg: assets:accounts receiv- + able. Because of this, they must always be followed by two or more + spaces (or newline). + + Account names can be aliased. + + Amounts + After the account name, there is usually an amount. (Important: + between account name and amount, there must be two or more spaces.) + + hledger's amount format is flexible, supporting several international + formats. Here are some examples. Amounts have a number (the "quan- + tity"): + + 1 + + ..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: + + $1 + 4000 AAPL + 3 "green apples" + + 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 com- + modity symbol: + + -$1 + $-1 + + One or more spaces between the sign and the number are acceptable when + parsing (but they won't be displayed in output): + + + $1 + $- 1 + + Scientific E notation is allowed: + + 1E-6 + EUR 1E3 + + Decimal marks, digit group marks + A decimal mark can be written as a period or a comma: + + 1.23 + 1,23456780000009 + + In the integer part of the quantity (left of the decimal mark), groups + of digits can optionally be separated by a digit group mark - a space, + comma, or period (different from the decimal mark): + + $1,000,000.00 + EUR 2.000.000,00 + INR 9,99,99,999.00 + 1 000 000.9455 + + Note, a number containing a single digit group mark and no decimal mark + is ambiguous. Are these digit group marks or decimal marks ? + + 1,000 + 1.000 + + If you don't tell it otherwise, hledger will assume both of the above + are decimal marks, parsing both numbers as 1. + + 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 jour- + nal file, using a directive at the top of the file. The decimal-mark + directive is best, otherwise commodity directives will also work. + These are described detail below. + + Commodity + Amounts in hledger have both a "quantity", which is a signed decimal + number, and a "commodity", which is a currency symbol, stock ticker, or + any word or phrase describing something you are tracking. + + If the commodity name contains non-letters (spaces, numbers, or punctu- + ation), you must always write it inside double quotes ("green apples", + "ABC123"). + + If you write just a bare number, that too will have a commodity, with + name ""; we call that the "no-symbol commodity". + + 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: 1 USD, 2 EUR, 3.456 + TSLA. In practice, you will only see multi-commodity amounts in + hledger's output; you can't write them directly in the journal file. + + (If you are writing scripts or working with hledger's internals, these + are the Amount and MixedAmount types.) + + Directives influencing number parsing and display + You can add decimal-mark and commodity directives to the journal, to + declare and control these things more explicitly and precisely. These + are described below, in JOURNAL FORMAT -> Declaring commodities. + Here's a quick example: + + # 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 + + + Commodity display style + 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 print command, are displayed with all of their + decimal digits visible.) + + A commodity's display style is inferred as follows. + + First, if a default commodity is declared with D, this commodity and + its style is applied to any no-symbol amounts in the journal. + + Then each commodity's style is inferred from one of the following, in + order of preference: + + o The commodity directive for that commodity (including the no-symbol + commodity), if any. + + o The amounts in that commodity seen in the journal's transactions. + (Posting amounts only; prices and periodic or auto rules are ignored, + currently.) + + o The built-in fallback style, which looks like this: $1000.00. (Sym- + bol on the left, period decimal mark, two decimal places.) + + A style is inferred from journal amounts as follows: + + o Use the general style (decimal mark, symbol placement) of the first + amount + + o Use the first-seen digit group style (digit group mark, digit group + sizes), if any + + o Use the maximum number of decimal places of all. + + Transaction price amounts don't affect the commodity display style + directly, but occasionally they can do so indirectly (eg when a post- + ing's amount is inferred using a transaction price). If you find this + causing problems, use a commodity directive to fix the display style. + + To summarise: each commodity's amounts will be normalised to (a) the + style declared by a commodity 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't like, eg with too many decimal + places, use a commodity directive. Some examples: + + # 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. + + The inferred commodity style can be overridden by supplying a command + line option. + + Rounding + 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's rounding: it + rounds to the nearest even number, eg 0.5 displayed with zero decimal + places is "0"). (Guaranteed since hledger 1.17.1; in older versions + this could vary if hledger was built with Decimal < 0.5.1.) + + Transaction prices + Within a transaction, you can note an amount's price in another commod- + ity. This can be used to document the cost (in a purchase) or selling + price (in a sale). For example, transaction prices are useful to + record purchases of a foreign currency. Note transaction prices are + fixed at the time of the transaction, and do not change over time. See + also market prices, which represent prevailing exchange rates on a cer- + tain date. + + There are several ways to record a transaction price: + + 1. Write the price per unit, as @ UNITPRICE after the amount: + + 2009/1/1 + assets:euros EUR100 @ $1.35 ; one hundred euros purchased at $1.35 each + assets:dollars ; balancing amount is -$135.00 + + 2. Write the total price, as @@ TOTALPRICE after the amount: + + 2009/1/1 + assets:euros EUR100 @@ $135 ; one hundred euros purchased at $135 for the lot + assets:dollars + + 3. Specify amounts for all postings, using exactly two commodities, and + let hledger infer the price that balances the transaction: + + 2009/1/1 + assets:euros EUR100 ; one hundred euros purchased + assets:dollars $-135 ; for $135 + + 4. Like 1, but the @ is parenthesised, i.e. (@); this is for compati- + bility with Ledger journals (Virtual posting costs), and is equiva- + lent to 1 in hledger. + + 5. Like 2, but as in 4 the @@ is parenthesised, i.e. (@@); in hledger, + this is equivalent to 2. + + Use the -B/--cost flag to convert amounts to their transaction price's + commodity, if any. (mnemonic: "B" is from "cost Basis", as in Ledger). + Eg here is how -B affects the balance report for the example above: + + $ hledger bal -N --flat + $-135 assets:dollars + EUR100 assets:euros + $ hledger bal -N --flat -B + $-135 assets:dollars + $135 assets:euros # <- the euros' cost + + Note -B is sensitive to the order of postings when a transaction price + is inferred: the inferred price will be in the commodity of the last + amount. So if example 3's postings are reversed, while the transaction + is equivalent, -B shows something different: + + 2009/1/1 + assets:dollars $-135 ; 135 dollars sold + assets:euros EUR100 ; for 100 euros + + $ hledger bal -N --flat -B + EUR-100 assets:dollars # <- the dollars' selling price + EUR100 assets:euros + + Lot prices, lot dates + Ledger allows another kind of price, lot price (four variants: {UNIT- + PRICE}, {{TOTALPRICE}}, {=FIXEDUNITPRICE}, {{=FIXEDTOTALPRICE}}), + and/or a lot date ([DATE]) to be specified. These are normally used to + select a lot when selling investments. hledger will parse these, for + compatibility with Ledger journals, but currently ignores them. A + transaction price, lot price and/or lot date may appear in any order, + after the posting amount and before the balance assertion if any. + + Balance assertions + hledger supports Ledger-style balance assertions in journal files. + These look like, for example, = EXPECTEDBALANCE following a posting's + amount. Eg here we assert the expected dollar balance in accounts a + and b after each posting: + + 2013/1/1 + a $1 =$1 + b =$-1 + + 2013/1/2 + a $1 =$2 + b $-1 =$-2 + + After reading a journal file, hledger will check all balance assertions + and report an error if any of them fail. Balance assertions can pro- + tect you from, eg, inadvertently disrupting reconciled balances while + cleaning up old entries. You can disable them temporarily with the + -I/--ignore-assertions flag, which can be useful for troubleshooting or + for reading Ledger files. (Note: this flag currently does not disable + balance assignments, below). + + Assertions and ordering + hledger sorts an account's postings and assertions first by date and + then (for postings on the same day) by parse order. Note this is dif- + ferent from Ledger, which sorts assertions only by parse order. (Also, + Ledger assertions do not see the accumulated effect of repeated post- + ings to the same account within a transaction.) + + So, hledger balance assertions keep working if you reorder differently- + dated transactions within the journal. But if you reorder same-dated + transactions or postings, assertions might break and require updating. + This order dependence does bring an advantage: precise control over the + order of postings and assertions within a day, so you can assert intra- + day balances. + + Assertions and included files + With included files, things are a little more complicated. Including + preserves the ordering of postings and assertions. If you have multi- + ple postings to an account on the same day, split across different + files, and you also want to assert the account's balance on the same + day, you'll have to put the assertion in the right file. + + Assertions and multiple -f options + Balance assertions don't work well across files specified with multiple + -f options. Use include or concatenate the files instead. + + Assertions and commodities + The asserted balance must be a simple single-commodity amount, and in + fact the assertion checks only this commodity's balance within the + (possibly multi-commodity) account balance. This is how assertions + work in Ledger also. We could call this a "partial" balance assertion. + + To assert the balance of more than one commodity in an account, you can + write multiple postings, each asserting one commodity's balance. + + You can make a stronger "total" balance assertion by writing a double + equals sign (== EXPECTEDBALANCE). This asserts that there are no other + unasserted commodities in the account (or, that their balance is 0). + + 2013/1/1 + a $1 + a 1EUR + b $-1 + c -1EUR + + 2013/1/2 ; These assertions succeed + a 0 = $1 + a 0 = 1EUR + b 0 == $-1 + c 0 == -1EUR + + 2013/1/3 ; This assertion fails as 'a' also contains 1EUR + a 0 == $1 + + It's not yet possible to make a complete assertion about a balance that + has multiple commodities. One workaround is to isolate each commodity + into its own subaccount: + + 2013/1/1 + a:usd $1 + a:euro 1EUR + b + + 2013/1/2 + a 0 == 0 + a:usd 0 == $1 + a:euro 0 == 1EUR + + Assertions and prices + Balance assertions ignore transaction prices, and should normally be + written without one: + + 2019/1/1 + (a) $1 @ EUR1 = $1 + + We do allow prices to be written there, however, and print shows them, + even though they don't affect whether the assertion passes or fails. + This is for backward compatibility (hledger's close command used to + generate balance assertions with prices), and because balance assign- + ments do use them (see below). + + Assertions and subaccounts + The balance assertions above (= and ==) do not count the balance from + subaccounts; they check the account's exclusive balance only. You can + assert the balance including subaccounts by writing =* or ==*, eg: + + 2019/1/1 + equity:opening balances + checking:a 5 + checking:b 5 + checking 1 ==* 11 + + Assertions and virtual postings + Balance assertions are checked against all postings, both real and vir- + tual. They are not affected by the --real/-R flag or real: query. + + Assertions and precision + Balance assertions compare the exactly calculated amounts, which are + not always what is shown by reports. Eg a commodity directive may + limit the display precision, but this will not affect balance asser- + tions. Balance assertion failure messages show exact amounts. + + Balance assignments + Ledger-style balance assignments are also supported. These are like + balance assertions, but with no posting amount on the left side of the + equals sign; instead it is calculated automatically so as to satisfy + the assertion. This can be a convenience during data entry, eg when + setting opening balances: + + ; starting a new journal, set asset account balances + 2016/1/1 opening balances + assets:checking = $409.32 + assets:savings = $735.24 + assets:cash = $42 + equity:opening balances + + or when adjusting a balance to reality: + + ; no cash left; update balance, record any untracked spending as a generic expense + 2016/1/15 + assets:cash = $0 + expenses:misc + + The calculated amount depends on the account's balance in the commodity + at that point (which depends on the previously-dated postings of the + commodity to that account since the last balance assertion or assign- + ment). Note that using balance assignments makes your journal a little + less explicit; to know the exact amount posted, you have to run hledger + or do the calculations yourself, instead of just reading it. + + Balance assignments and prices + A transaction price in a balance assignment will cause the calculated + amount to have that price attached: + + 2019/1/1 + (a) = $1 @ EUR2 + + $ hledger print --explicit + 2019-01-01 + (a) $1 @ EUR2 = $1 @ EUR2 + + Directives + A directive is a line in the journal beginning with a special keyword, + that influences how the journal is processed, how things are displayed, + and so on. hledger's directives are based on (a subset of) Ledger's, + but there are many differences, and also some differences between + hledger versions. Here are some more definitions: + + o subdirective - Some directives support subdirectives, written + indented below the parent directive. + + o decimal mark - The character to interpret as a decimal mark (period + or comma) when parsing amounts of a commodity. + + o display style - How to display amounts of a commodity in output: sym- + bol side and spacing, digit groups, decimal mark, and number of deci- + mal places. + + Directives are not required when starting out with hledger, but you + will probably add some as your needs grow. Here is an overview of + directives by purpose: + + + purpose directives command line + options with sim- + ilar effect + ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- + READING/GENERATING DATA: + Declare a commodity's or file's commodity, D, decimal- + decimal mark to help parse mark + amounts accurately + Apply changes to the data while alias, apply account, --alias + parsing comment, D, Y + Inline extra data files include multiple + -f/--file's + Generate extra transactions or ~ + budget goals + Generate extra postings = + CHECKING FOR ERRORS: + Define valid entities to allow account, commodity, + stricter error checking payee + DISPLAYING REPORTS: + Declare accounts' display order account + and accounting type + Declare commodity display commodity, D -c/--commodity- + styles style + + And here are all the directives and their precise effects: + + + direc- effects ends + tive at + file + end? + ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- + account Declares an account, for checking all entries in all files; + and its display order and type, for reports. Subdirectives: + any text, ignored. + alias Rewrites account names, in following entries until end of Y + current file or end aliases. + apply Prepends a common parent account to all account names, in Y + account following entries until end of current file or end apply + account. + + + comment Ignores part of the journal file, until end of current file Y + or end comment. + commod- Declares a commodity, for checking all entries in all files; N, Y + ity the decimal mark for parsing amounts of this commodity, for + following entries until end of current file; and its display + style, for reports. Takes precedence over D. Subdirectives: + format (alternate syntax). + D Sets a default commodity to use for no-symbol amounts, and Y + its decimal mark for parsing amounts of this commodity in + following entries until end of current file; and its display + style, for reports. + deci- Declares the decimal mark, for parsing amounts of all com- Y + mal- modities in following entries until next decimal-mark or end + mark of current file. Included files can override. Takes prece- + dence over commodity and D. + include Includes entries and directives from another file, as if they + were written inline. + payee Declares a payee name, for checking all entries in all files. + P Declares a market price for a commodity on some date, for + valuation reports. + Y Declares a year for yearless dates, for following entries Y + until end of current file. + ~ Declares a periodic transaction rule that generates future + (tilde) transactions with --forecast and budget goals with balance + --budget. + = Declares an auto posting rule that generates extra postings partly + (equals) on matched transactions with --auto, in current, parent, and + child files (but not sibling files, see #1212). + + Directives and multiple files + If you use multiple -f/--file options, or the include directive, + hledger will process multiple input files. But directives which affect + input typically have effect only until the end of the file in which + they occur (and on any included files in that region). + + This may seem inconvenient, but it's intentional; it makes reports sta- + ble and deterministic, independent of the order of input. Otherwise + you could see different numbers if you happened to write -f options in + a different order, or if you moved includes around while cleaning up + your files. + + It can be surprising though; for example, it means that alias direc- + tives do not affect parent or sibling files (see below). + + Comment blocks + A line containing just comment starts a commented region of the file, + and a line containing just end comment (or the end of the current file) + ends it. See also comments. + + Including other files + You can pull in the content of additional files by writing an include + directive, like this: + + include FILEPATH + + Only journal files can include, and only journal, timeclock or timedot + files can be included (not CSV files, currently). + + If the file path does not begin with a slash, it is relative to the + current file's folder. + + A tilde means home directory, eg: include ~/main.journal. + + The path may contain glob patterns to match multiple files, eg: include + *.journal. + + There is limited support for recursive wildcards: **/ (the slash is + required) matches 0 or more subdirectories. It's not super convenient + since you have to avoid include cycles and including directories, but + this can be done, eg: include */**/*.journal. + + The path may also be prefixed to force a specific file format, overrid- + ing the file extension (as described in hledger.1 -> Input files): + include timedot:~/notes/2020*.md. + + Default year + You can set a default year to be used for subsequent dates which don't + specify a year. This is a line beginning with Y followed by the year. + Eg: + + Y2009 ; set default year to 2009 + + 12/15 ; equivalent to 2009/12/15 + expenses 1 + assets + + Y2010 ; change default year to 2010 + + 2009/1/30 ; specifies the year, not affected + expenses 1 + assets + + 1/31 ; equivalent to 2010/1/31 + expenses 1 + assets + + Declaring payees + The payee directive can be used to declare a limited set of payees + which may appear in transaction descriptions. The "payees" check will + report an error if any transaction refers to a payee that has not been + declared. Eg: + + payee Whole Foods + + Declaring the decimal mark + You can use a decimal-mark 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 + + decimal-mark . + + or + + decimal-mark , + + 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). + + Declaring commodities + You can use commodity directives to declare your commodities. In fact + the commodity directive performs several functions at once: + + 1. It declares commodities which may be used in the journal. This can + optionally be enforced, providing useful error checking. (Cf Com- + modity error checking) + + 2. 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 + 1,000 and 1.000 as 1. (Cf Amounts) + + 3. It declares how to render the commodity's amounts when displaying + output - the decimal mark, any digit group marks, the number of dec- + imal places, symbol placement and so on. (Cf Commodity display + style) + + 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. + + Generally you should put them at the top of your journal file (since + for function 2, they affect only following amounts, cf #793). + + A commodity directive is just the word commodity followed by a sample + amount, like this: + + ;commodity SAMPLEAMOUNT + + commodity $1000.00 + commodity 1,000.0000 AAAA ; optional same-line comment + + It may also be written on multiple lines, and use the format subdirec- + tive, as in Ledger. Note in this case the commodity symbol appears + twice; it must be the same in both places: + + ;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 + + Remember that if the commodity symbol contains spaces, numbers, or + punctuation, it must be enclosed in double quotes (cf Commodity). + + The amount'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. + + A few more examples: + + # 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. + + Note hledger normally uses banker's rounding, so 0.5 displayed with + zero decimal digits is "0". (More at Commodity display style.) + + Even in the presence of commodity directives, the commodity display + style can still be overridden by supplying a command line option. + + Commodity error checking + In strict mode, enabled with the -s/--strict flag, hledger will report + an error if a commodity symbol is used that has not been declared by a + commodity directive. This works similarly to account error checking, + see the notes there for more details. + + Default commodity + The D directive sets a default commodity, to be used for any subsequent + commodityless amounts (ie, plain numbers) seen while parsing the jour- + nal. This effect lasts until the next D directive, or the end of the + journal. + + For compatibility/historical reasons, D also acts like a commodity + directive (setting the commodity's decimal mark for parsing and display + style for output). + + The syntax is D AMOUNT. As with commodity, the amount must include a + decimal mark (either period or comma). Eg: + + ; 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 + + If both commodity and D directives are found for a commodity, commodity + takes precedence for setting decimal mark and display style. + + If you are using D and also checking commodities, you will need to add + a commodity directive similar to the D. (The hledger check commodities + command expects commodity directives, and ignores D). + + Declaring market prices + The P directive declares a market price, which is an exchange rate + between two commodities on a certain date. (In Ledger, they are called + "historical prices".) These are often obtained from a stock exchange, + cryptocurrency exchange, or the foreign exchange market. + + The format is: + + P DATE COMMODITY1SYMBOL COMMODITY2AMOUNT + + 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: + + # one euro was worth $1.35 from 2009-01-01 onward: + P 2009-01-01 EUR $1.35 + + # and $1.40 from 2010-01-01 onward: + P 2010-01-01 EUR $1.40 + + The -V, -X and --value flags use these market prices to show amount + values in another commodity. See Valuation. + + Declaring accounts + account directives can be used to declare accounts (ie, the places that + amounts are transferred from and to). Though not required, these dec- + larations can provide several benefits: + + o They can document your intended chart of accounts, providing a refer- + ence. + + o They can help hledger know your accounts' types (asset, liability, + equity, revenue, expense), useful for reports like balancesheet and + incomestatement. + + o They control account display order in reports, allowing non-alpha- + betic sorting (eg Revenues to appear above Expenses). + + o They can store extra information about accounts (account numbers, + notes, etc.) + + o They help with account name completion in the add command, hledger- + iadd, hledger-web, ledger-mode etc. + + o In strict mode, they restrict which accounts may be posted to by + transactions, which helps detect typos. + + The simplest form is just the word account followed by a hledger-style + account name, eg this account directive declares the assets:bank:check- + ing account: + + account assets:bank:checking + + Account error checking + By default, accounts come into existence when a transaction references + them by name. This is convenient, but it means hledger can't warn you + when you mis-spell an account name in the journal. Usually you'll find + the error later, as an extra account in balance reports, or an incor- + rect balance when reconciling. + + In strict mode, enabled with the -s/--strict flag, hledger will report + an error if any transaction uses an account name that has not been + declared by an account directive. Some notes: + + o The declaration is case-sensitive; transactions must use the correct + account name capitalisation. + + o The account directive's scope is "whole file and below" (see direc- + tives). 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's usual + to put them at the top. + + o Accounts can only be declared in journal files (but will affect + included files in other formats). + + o It's currently not possible to declare "all possible subaccounts" + with a wildcard; every account posted to must be declared. + + Account comments + Comments, beginning with a semicolon, can be added: + + o on the same line, after two or more spaces (because ; is allowed in + account names) + + o on the next lines, indented + + An example of both: + + account assets:bank:checking ; same-line comment, note 2+ spaces before ; + ; next-line comment + ; another with tag, acctno:12345 (not used yet) + + Same-line comments are not supported by Ledger, or hledger <1.13. + + Account subdirectives + We also allow (and ignore) Ledger-style indented subdirectives, just + for compatibility.: + + account assets:bank:checking + format blah blah ; <- subdirective, ignored + + Here is the full syntax of account directives: + + account ACCTNAME [ACCTTYPE] [;COMMENT] + [;COMMENTS] + [LEDGER-STYLE SUBDIRECTIVES, IGNORED] + + Account types + By adding a type tag to the account directive, with value A, L, E, R, + X, C (or if you prefer: Asset, Liability, Equity, Revenue, Expense, + Cash), you can declare hledger accounts to be of a certain type: + + o asset, liability, equity, revenue, expense + the standard types in accounting, or + + o cash + a subtype of asset, used for liquid assets. + + Declaring account types is a good idea, since it helps enable the easy + balancesheet, balancesheetequity, incomestatement and cashflow reports, + and probably other things in future. As a convenience, when account + types are not declared, hledger will try to guess them based on + english-language account names. + + Here is a typical set of top-level account declarations (because of the + aforementioned, with these account names the type tags are not strictly + needed, but with non-english or non-standard account names, they will + be): + + 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 + + It's not necessary to declare the type of subaccounts. (You can, if + they are different from the parent, but this is not common.) + + Auto-detected account types + More about "guessing" account types: hledger tries to find at least one + top level account in each of the six account types (Asset, Liability, + Equity, Revenue, Expense, Cash). When no accounts have been declared + for a particular type, it tries to auto-detect some accounts by name, + using the regular expressions below. Note: if you declare any + account's type, it's a good idea to declare an account for all six + types, because a mix of declared and auto-detected types can cause con- + fusing results. + + The auto-detection rules are: + + If account's name matches this case insensitive regular expression:| its type is: + ------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------ + ^assets?(:|$) | + and does not contain regexp (investment|receivable|:A/R|:fixed) | Cash + otherwise | Asset + ^(debts?|liabilit(y|ies))(:|$) | Liability + ^equity(:|$) | Equity + ^(income|revenue)s?(:|$) | Revenue + ^expenses?(:|$) | Expense + + Account display order + Account directives also set the order in which accounts are displayed, + eg in reports, the hledger-ui accounts screen, and the hledger-web + sidebar. By default accounts are listed in alphabetical order. But if + you have these account directives in the journal: + + account assets + account liabilities + account equity + account revenues + account expenses + + you'll see those accounts displayed in declaration order, not alphabet- + ically: + + $ hledger accounts -1 + assets + liabilities + equity + revenues + expenses + + Undeclared accounts, if any, are displayed last, in alphabetical order. + + Note that sorting is done at each level of the account tree (within + each group of sibling accounts under the same parent). And currently, + this directive: + + account other:zoo + + would influence the position of zoo among other's subaccounts, but not + the position of other among the top-level accounts. This means: + + o you will sometimes declare parent accounts (eg account other above) + that you don't intend to post to, just to customize their display + order + + o sibling accounts stay together (you couldn't display x:y in between + a:b and a:c). + + Rewriting accounts + You can define account alias rules which rewrite your account names, or + parts of them, before generating reports. This can be useful for: + + o expanding shorthand account names to their full form, allowing easier + data entry and a less verbose journal + + o adapting old journals to your current chart of accounts + + o experimenting with new account organisations, like a new hierarchy or + combining two accounts into one + + o customising reports + + Account aliases also rewrite account names in account directives. They + do not affect account names being entered via hledger add or hledger- + web. + + See also Rewrite account names. + + Basic aliases + To set an account alias, use the alias directive in your journal file. + This affects all subsequent journal entries in the current file or its + included files (but note: not sibling or parent files). The spaces + around the = are optional: + + alias OLD = NEW + + Or, you can use the --alias 'OLD=NEW' option on the command line. This + affects all entries. It's useful for trying out aliases interactively. + + OLD and NEW are case sensitive full account names. hledger will + replace any occurrence of the old account name with the new one. Sub- + accounts are also affected. Eg: + + alias checking = assets:bank:wells fargo:checking + ; rewrites "checking" to "assets:bank:wells fargo:checking", or "checking:a" to "assets:bank:wells fargo:checking:a" + + Regex aliases + There is also a more powerful variant that uses a regular expression, + indicated by the forward slashes: + + alias /REGEX/ = REPLACEMENT + + or --alias '/REGEX/=REPLACEMENT'. + + REGEX is a case-insensitive regular expression. Anywhere it matches + inside an account name, the matched part will be replaced by REPLACE- + MENT. If REGEX contains parenthesised match groups, these can be ref- + erenced by the usual numeric backreferences in REPLACEMENT. Eg: + + alias /^(.+):bank:([^:]+):(.*)/ = \1:\2 \3 + ; rewrites "assets:bank:wells fargo:checking" to "assets:wells fargo checking" + + Also note that REPLACEMENT continues to the end of line (or on command + line, to end of option argument), so it can contain trailing white- + space. + + Combining aliases + You can define as many aliases as you like, using journal directives + and/or command line options. + + Recursive aliases - where an account name is rewritten by one alias, + then by another alias, and so on - are allowed. Each alias sees the + effect of previously applied aliases. + + In such cases it can be important to understand which aliases will be + applied and in which order. For (each account name in) each journal + entry, we apply: + + 1. alias directives preceding the journal entry, most recently parsed + first (ie, reading upward from the journal entry, bottom to top) + + 2. --alias options, in the order they appeared on the command line + (left to right). + + In other words, for (an account name in) a given journal entry: + + o the nearest alias declaration before/above the entry is applied first + + o the next alias before/above that will be be applied next, and so on + + o aliases defined after/below the entry do not affect it. + + This gives nearby aliases precedence over distant ones, and helps pro- + vide semantic stability - aliases will keep working the same way inde- + pendent of which files are being read and in which order. + + In case of trouble, adding --debug=6 to the command line will show + which aliases are being applied when. + + Aliases and multiple files + As explained at Directives and multiple files, alias directives do not + affect parent or sibling files. Eg in this command, + + hledger -f a.aliases -f b.journal + + account aliases defined in a.aliases will not affect b.journal. + Including the aliases doesn't work either: + + include a.aliases + + 2020-01-01 ; not affected by a.aliases + foo 1 + bar + + This means that account aliases should usually be declared at the start + of your top-most file, like this: + + alias foo=Foo + alias bar=Bar + + 2020-01-01 ; affected by aliases above + foo 1 + bar + + include c.journal ; also affected + + end aliases + You can clear (forget) all currently defined aliases (seen in the jour- + nal so far, or defined on the command line) with this directive: + + end aliases + + Default parent account + You can specify a parent account which will be prepended to all + accounts within a section of the journal. Use the apply account and + end apply account directives like so: + + apply account home + + 2010/1/1 + food $10 + cash + + end apply account + + which is equivalent to: + + 2010/01/01 + home:food $10 + home:cash $-10 + + If end apply account is omitted, the effect lasts to the end of the + file. Included files are also affected, eg: + + apply account business + include biz.journal + end apply account + apply account personal + include personal.journal + + Prior to hledger 1.0, legacy account and end spellings were also sup- + ported. + + A default parent account also affects account directives. It does not + affect account names being entered via hledger add or hledger-web. If + account aliases are present, they are applied after the default parent + account. + + Periodic transactions + Periodic transaction rules describe transactions that recur. They + allow hledger to generate temporary future transactions to help with + forecasting, so you don't have to write out each one in the journal, + and it's easy to try out different forecasts. + + Periodic transactions can be a little tricky, so before you use them, + read this whole section - or at least these tips: + + 1. Two spaces accidentally added or omitted will cause you trouble - + read about this below. + + 2. For troubleshooting, show the generated transactions with hledger + print --forecast tag:generated or hledger register --forecast + tag:generated. + + 3. Forecasted transactions will begin only after the last non-fore- + casted transaction's date. + + 4. Forecasted transactions will end 6 months from today, by default. + See below for the exact start/end rules. + + 5. period expressions can be tricky. Their documentation needs + improvement, but is worth studying. + + 6. Some period expressions with a repeating interval must begin on a + natural boundary of that interval. Eg in weekly from DATE, DATE + must be a monday. ~ weekly from 2019/10/1 (a tuesday) will give an + error. + + 7. Other period expressions with an interval are automatically expanded + to cover a whole number of that interval. (This is done to improve + reports, but it also affects periodic transactions. Yes, it's a bit + inconsistent with the above.) Eg: ~ every 10th day of month from + 2020/01, which is equivalent to ~ every 10th day of month from + 2020/01/01, will be adjusted to start on 2019/12/10. + + Periodic transaction rules also have a second meaning: they are used to + define budget goals, shown in budget reports. + + Periodic rule syntax + A periodic transaction rule looks like a normal journal entry, with the + date replaced by a tilde (~) followed by a period expression (mnemonic: + ~ looks like a recurring sine wave.): + + ~ monthly + expenses:rent $2000 + assets:bank:checking + + There is an additional constraint on the period expression: the start + date must fall on a natural boundary of the interval. Eg monthly from + 2018/1/1 is valid, but monthly from 2018/1/15 is not. + + Partial or relative dates (M/D, D, tomorrow, last week) in the period + expression can work (useful or not). They will be relative to today's + date, unless a Y default year directive is in effect, in which case + they will be relative to Y/1/1. + + Two spaces between period expression and description! + If the period expression is followed by a transaction description, + these must be separated by two or more spaces. This helps hledger know + where the period expression ends, so that descriptions can not acciden- + tally alter their meaning, as in this example: + + ; 2 or more spaces needed here, so the period is not understood as "every 2 months in 2020" + ; || + ; vv + ~ every 2 months in 2020, we will review + assets:bank:checking $1500 + income:acme inc + + So, + + o Do write two spaces between your period expression and your transac- + tion description, if any. + + o Don't accidentally write two spaces in the middle of your period + expression. + + Forecasting with periodic transactions + The --forecast flag activates any periodic transaction rules in the + journal. These will generate temporary additional transactions, usu- + ally recurring and in the future, which will appear in all reports. + hledger print --forecast is a good way to see them. + + This can be useful for estimating balances into the future, perhaps + experimenting with different scenarios. + + It could also be useful for scripted data entry: you could describe + recurring transactions, and every so often copy the output of print + --forecast into the journal. + + The generated transactions will have an extra tag, like generated- + transaction:~ PERIODICEXPR, indicating which periodic rule generated + them. There is also a similar, hidden tag, named _generated-transac- + tion:, which you can use to reliably match transactions generated "just + now" (rather than printed in the past). + + The forecast transactions are generated within a forecast period, which + is independent of the report period. (Forecast period sets the bounds + for generated transactions, report period controls which transactions + are reported.) The forecast period begins on: + + o the start date provided within --forecast's argument, if any + + o otherwise, the later of + + o the report start date, if specified (with -b/-p/date:) + + o the day after the latest ordinary transaction in the journal, if + any + + o otherwise today. + + It ends on: + + o the end date provided within --forecast's argument, if any + + o otherwise, the report end date, if specified (with -e/-p/date:) + + o otherwise 180 days (6 months) from today. + + Note, this means that ordinary transactions will suppress periodic + transactions, by default; the periodic transactions will not start + until after the last ordinary transaction. This is usually convenient, + but you can get around it in two ways: + + o If you need to record some transactions in the future, make them + periodic transactions (with a single occurrence, eg: ~ YYYY-MM-DD) + rather than ordinary transactions. That way they won't suppress + other periodic transactions. + + o Or give --forecast a period expression argument. A forecast period + specified this way can overlap ordinary transactions, and need not be + in the future. Some things to note: + + o You must use = between flag and argument; a space won't work. + + o The period expression can specify the forecast period's start date, + end date, or both. See also Report start & end date. + + o The period expression should not specify a report interval. (Each + periodic transaction rule specifies its own interval.) + + Some examples: --forecast=202001-202004, --forecast=jan-, --fore- + cast=2021. + + Budgeting with periodic transactions + With the --budget flag, currently supported by the balance command, + each periodic transaction rule declares recurring budget goals for the + specified accounts. Eg the first example above declares a goal of + spending $2000 on rent (and also, a goal of depositing $2000 into + checking) every month. Goals and actual performance can then be com- + pared in budget reports. + + See also: Budgeting and Forecasting. + + + Auto postings + "Automated postings" or "auto postings" are extra postings which get + added automatically to transactions which match certain queries, + defined by "auto posting rules", when you use the --auto flag. + + An auto posting rule looks a bit like a transaction: + + = QUERY + ACCOUNT AMOUNT + ... + ACCOUNT [AMOUNT] + + except the first line is an equals sign (mnemonic: = suggests match- + ing), followed by a query (which matches existing postings), and each + "posting" line describes a posting to be generated, and the posting + amounts can be: + + o a normal amount with a commodity symbol, eg $2. This will be used + as-is. + + o a number, eg 2. The commodity symbol (if any) from the matched post- + ing will be added to this. + + o a numeric multiplier, eg *2 (a star followed by a number N). The + matched posting's amount (and total price, if any) will be multiplied + by N. + + o a multiplier with a commodity symbol, eg *$2 (a star, number N, and + symbol S). The matched posting's amount will be multiplied by N, and + its commodity symbol will be replaced with S. + + 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: + + = expenses:groceries 'expenses:dining out' + (budget:funds:dining out) *-1 + + Some examples: + + ; every time I buy food, schedule a dollar donation + = expenses:food + (liabilities:charity) $-1 + + ; when I buy a gift, also deduct that amount from a budget envelope subaccount + = expenses:gifts + assets:checking:gifts *-1 + assets:checking *1 + + 2017/12/1 + expenses:food $10 + assets:checking + + 2017/12/14 + expenses:gifts $20 + assets:checking + + $ hledger print --auto + 2017-12-01 + expenses:food $10 + assets:checking + (liabilities:charity) $-1 + + 2017-12-14 + expenses:gifts $20 + assets:checking + assets:checking:gifts -$20 + assets:checking $20 + + Auto postings and multiple files + An auto posting rule can affect any transaction in the current file, or + in any parent file or child file. Note, currently it will not affect + sibling files (when multiple -f/--file are used - see #1212). + + Auto postings and dates + 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. + + Auto postings and transaction balancing / inferred amounts / balance asser- + tions + Currently, auto postings are added: + + o after missing amounts are inferred, and transactions are checked for + balancedness, + + o but before balance assertions are checked. + + Note this means that journal entries must be balanced both before and + after auto postings are added. This changed in hledger 1.12+; see #893 + for background. + + 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. + + Auto posting tags + Automated postings will have some extra tags: + + o generated-posting:= QUERY - shows this was generated by an auto post- + ing rule, and the query + + o _generated-posting:= QUERY - a hidden tag, which does not appear in + hledger's output. This can be used to match postings generated "just + now", rather than generated in the past and saved to the journal. + + Also, any transaction that has been changed by auto posting rules will + have these tags added: + + o modified: - this transaction was modified + + o _modified: - a hidden tag not appearing in the comment; this transac- + tion was modified "just now". + +CSV FORMAT + How hledger reads CSV data, and the CSV rules file format. + + hledger can read CSV files (Character Separated Value - usually comma, + semicolon, or tab) containing dated records as if they were journal + files, automatically converting each CSV record into a transaction. + + (To learn about writing CSV, see CSV output.) + + We describe each CSV file's format with a corresponding rules file. By + default this is named like the CSV file with a .rules extension added. + Eg when reading FILE.csv, hledger also looks for FILE.csv.rules in the + same directory as FILE.csv. You can specify a different rules file + with the --rules-file option. If a rules file is not found, hledger + will create a sample rules file, which you'll need to adjust. + + This file contains rules describing the CSV data (header line, fields + layout, date format etc.), and how to construct hledger journal entries + (transactions) from it. Often there will also be a list of conditional + rules for categorising transactions based on their descriptions. + Here's an overview of the CSV rules; these are described more fully + below, after the examples: + + + skip skip one or more header lines or matched CSV + records + fields list name CSV fields, assign them to hledger + fields + field assignment assign a value to one hledger field, with + interpolation + Field names hledger field names, used in the fields list + and field assignments + separator a custom field separator + if block apply some rules to CSV records matched by + patterns + if table apply some rules to CSV records matched by + patterns, alternate syntax + end skip the remaining CSV records + date-format how to parse dates in CSV records + decimal-mark the decimal mark used in CSV amounts, if + ambiguous + newest-first disambiguate record order when there's only + one date + include inline another CSV rules file + balance-type choose which type of balance assignments to + use + + Note, for best error messages when reading CSV files, use a .csv, .tsv + or .ssv file extension or file prefix - see File Extension below. + + There's an introductory Convert CSV files tutorial on hledger.org. + + Examples + Here are some sample hledger CSV rules files. See also the full col- + lection at: + https://github.com/simonmichael/hledger/tree/master/examples/csv + + Basic + 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's a simple CSV file and a rules file for it: + + Date, Description, Id, Amount + 12/11/2019, Foo, 123, 10.23 + + # basic.csv.rules + skip 1 + fields date, description, _, amount + date-format %d/%m/%Y + + $ hledger print -f basic.csv + 2019-11-12 Foo + expenses:unknown 10.23 + income:unknown -10.23 + + Default account names are chosen, since we didn't set them. + + Bank of Ireland + Here'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 neces- + sary but provides extra error checking: + + Date,Details,Debit,Credit,Balance + 07/12/2012,LODGMENT 529898,,10.0,131.21 + 07/12/2012,PAYMENT,5,,126 + + # 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 "balance" + # 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 + + $ 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 + + The balance assertions don't raise an error above, because we're read- + ing directly from CSV, but they will be checked if these entries are + imported into a journal file. + + Amazon + Here we convert amazon.com order history, and use an if block to gener- + ate a third posting if there's a fee. (In practice you'd probably get + this data from your bank instead, but it's an example.) + + "Date","Type","To/From","Name","Status","Amount","Fees","Transaction ID" + "Jul 29, 2012","Payment","To","Foo.","Completed","$20.00","$0.00","16000000000000DGLNJPI1P9B8DKPVHL" + "Jul 30, 2012","Payment","To","Adapteva, Inc.","Completed","$25.00","$1.00","17LA58JSKRD4HDGLNJPI1P9B8DKPVHL" + + # amazon-orders.csv.rules + + # skip one header line + skip 1 + + # name the csv fields, and assign the transaction's date, amount and code. + # Avoided the "status" and "amount" 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'm assuming amzamount excludes the fees, don'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 + + $ 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 + + Paypal + Here's a real-world rules file for (customised) Paypal CSV, with some + Paypal-specific rules, and a second rules file included: + + "Date","Time","TimeZone","Name","Type","Status","Currency","Gross","Fee","Net","From Email Address","To Email Address","Transaction ID","Item Title","Item ID","Reference Txn ID","Receipt ID","Balance","Note" + "10/01/2019","03:46:20","PDT","Calm Radio","Subscription Payment","Completed","USD","-6.99","0.00","-6.99","simon@joyful.com","memberships@calmradio.com","60P57143A8206782E","MONTHLY - $1 for the first 2 Months: Me - Order 99309. Item total: $1.00 USD first 2 months, then $6.99 / Month","","I-R8YLY094FJYR","","-6.99","" + "10/01/2019","03:46:20","PDT","","Bank Deposit to PP Account ","Pending","USD","6.99","0.00","6.99","","simon@joyful.com","0TU1544T080463733","","","60P57143A8206782E","","0.00","" + "10/01/2019","08:57:01","PDT","Patreon","PreApproved Payment Bill User Payment","Completed","USD","-7.00","0.00","-7.00","simon@joyful.com","support@patreon.com","2722394R5F586712G","Patreon* Membership","","B-0PG93074E7M86381M","","-7.00","" + "10/01/2019","08:57:01","PDT","","Bank Deposit to PP Account ","Pending","USD","7.00","0.00","7.00","","simon@joyful.com","71854087RG994194F","Patreon* Membership","","2722394R5F586712G","","0.00","" + "10/19/2019","03:02:12","PDT","Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.","Subscription Payment","Completed","USD","-2.00","0.00","-2.00","simon@joyful.com","tle@wikimedia.org","K9U43044RY432050M","Monthly donation to the Wikimedia Foundation","","I-R5C3YUS3285L","","-2.00","" + "10/19/2019","03:02:12","PDT","","Bank Deposit to PP Account ","Pending","USD","2.00","0.00","2.00","","simon@joyful.com","3XJ107139A851061F","","","K9U43044RY432050M","","0.00","" + "10/22/2019","05:07:06","PDT","Noble Benefactor","Subscription Payment","Completed","USD","10.00","-0.59","9.41","noble@bene.fac.tor","simon@joyful.com","6L8L1662YP1334033","Joyful Systems","","I-KC9VBGY2GWDB","","9.41","" + + # paypal-custom.csv.rules + + # Tips: + # Export from Activity -> Statements -> Custom -> Activity download + # Suggested transaction type: "Balance affecting" + # Paypal's default fields in 2018 were: + # "Date","Time","TimeZone","Name","Type","Status","Currency","Gross","Fee","Net","From Email Address","To Email Address","Transaction ID","Shipping Address","Address Status","Item Title","Item ID","Shipping and Handling Amount","Insurance Amount","Sales Tax","Option 1 Name","Option 1 Value","Option 2 Name","Option 2 Value","Reference Txn ID","Invoice Number","Custom Number","Quantity","Receipt ID","Balance","Address Line 1","Address Line 2/District/Neighborhood","Town/City","State/Province/Region/County/Territory/Prefecture/Republic","Zip/Postal Code","Country","Contact Phone Number","Subject","Note","Country Code","Balance Impact" + # This rules file assumes the following more detailed fields, configured in "Customize report fields": + # "Date","Time","TimeZone","Name","Type","Status","Currency","Gross","Fee","Net","From Email Address","To Email Address","Transaction ID","Item Title","Item ID","Reference Txn ID","Receipt ID","Balance","Note" + + 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'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's income (a debit) + if %grossamount ^[^-] + account2 income:unknown + # if negative, it's an expense (a credit) + if %grossamount ^- + 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 + + # 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 + + $ 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@joyful.com, toemail:memberships@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@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@joyful.com, toemail:support@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@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@joyful.com, toemail:tle@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@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@bene.fac.tor, toemail:simon@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: + + CSV rules + The following kinds of rule can appear in the rules file, in any order. + Blank lines and lines beginning with # or ; are ignored. + + skip + skip N + + The word "skip" followed by a number (or no number, meaning 1) tells + hledger to ignore this many non-empty lines preceding the CSV data. + (Empty/blank lines are skipped automatically.) You'll need this when- + ever your CSV data contains header lines. + + It also has a second purpose: it can be used inside if blocks to ignore + certain CSV records (described below). + + fields list + fields FIELDNAME1, FIELDNAME2, ... + + A fields list (the word "fields" followed by comma-separated field + names) is the quick way to assign CSV field values to hledger fields. + (The other way is field assignments, see below.) A fields list does + does two things: + + 1. It names the CSV fields. This is optional, but can be convenient + later for interpolating them. + + 2. Whenever you use a standard hledger field name (defined below), the + CSV value is assigned to that part of the hledger transaction. + + Here's an example that says "use the 1st, 2nd and 4th fields as the + transaction's date, description and amount; name the last two fields + for later reference; and ignore the others": + + fields date, description, , amount, , , somefield, anotherfield + + Tips: + + o The fields list always use commas, even if your CSV data uses another + separator character. + + o Currently there must be least two items in the list (at least one + comma). + + o Field names may not contain spaces. Spaces before/after field names + are optional. + + o If the CSV contains column headings, it's a good idea to use these, + suitably modified, as the basis for your field names (eg lower-cased, + with underscores instead of spaces). + + o If some heading names match standard hledger fields, but you don't + want to set the hledger fields directly, alter those names, eg by + appending an underscore. + + o Fields you don't care about can be given a dummy name (eg: _ ), or no + name. + + field assignment + HLEDGERFIELDNAME FIELDVALUE + + 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). + + 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 inter- + polate CSV fields, referenced by their 1-based position in the CSV + record (%N), or by the name they were given in the fields list (%CSV- + FIELDNAME). + + Some examples: + + # set the amount to the 4th CSV field, with " USD" appended + amount %4 USD + + # combine three fields to make a comment, containing note: and date: tags + comment note: %somefield - %anotherfield, date: %1 + + Tips: + + o Interpolation strips outer whitespace (so a CSV value like " 1 " + becomes 1 when interpolated) (#1051). + + o Interpolations always refer to a CSV field - you can't interpolate a + hledger field. (See Referencing other fields below). + + Field names + Here are the standard hledger field (and pseudo-field) names, which you + can use in a fields list and in field assignments. For more about the + transaction parts they refer to, see Transactions. + + date field + Assigning to date sets the transaction date. + + date2 field + date2 sets the transaction's secondary date, if any. + + status field + status sets the transaction's status, if any. + + code field + code sets the transaction's code, if any. + + description field + description sets the transaction's description, if any. + + comment field + comment sets the transaction's comment, if any. + + commentN, where N is a number, sets the Nth posting's comment. + + Tips: - You can assign multi-line comments by writing literal \n in the + code. A comment starting with \n will begin on a new line. - Comments + can contain tags, as usual. + + account field + Assigning to accountN, where N is 1 to 99, sets the account name of the + Nth posting, and causes that posting to be generated. + + Most often there are two postings, so you'll want to set account1 and + account2. Typically account1 is associated with the CSV file, and is + set once with a top-level assignment, while account2 is set based on + each transaction's description, and in conditional blocks. + + If a posting's account name is left unset but its amount is set (see + below), a default account name will be chosen (like "expenses:unknown" + or "income:unknown"). + + amount field + amountN sets the amount of the Nth posting, and causes that posting to + be generated. By assigning to amount1, amount2, ... etc. you can + generate up to 99 postings. + + amountN-in and amountN-out can be used instead, if the CSV uses sepa- + rate fields for debits and credits (inflows and outflows). hledger + assumes both of these CSV fields are unsigned, and will automatically + negate the "-out" value. If they are signed, see "Setting amounts" + below. + + amount, or amount-in and amount-out are a legacy mode, to keep pre- + hledger-1.17 CSV rules files working (and for occasional convenience). + They are suitable only for two-posting transactions; they set both + posting 1's and posting 2's amount. Posting 2's amount will be + negated, and also converted to cost if there's a transaction price. + + If you have an existing rules file using the unnumbered form, you might + want to use the numbered form in certain conditional blocks, without + having to update and retest all the old rules. To facilitate this, + posting 1 ignores amount/amount-in/amount-out if any of + amount1/amount1-in/amount1-out are assigned, and posting 2 ignores them + if any of amount2/amount2-in/amount2-out are assigned, avoiding con- + flicts. + + currency field + currency sets a currency symbol, to be prepended to all postings' + amounts. You can use this if the CSV amounts do not have a currency + symbol, eg if it is in a separate column. + + currencyN prepends a currency symbol to just the Nth posting's amount. + + balance field + balanceN sets a balance assertion amount (or if the posting amount is + left empty, a balance assignment) on posting N. + + balance is a compatibility spelling for hledger <1.17; it is equivalent + to balance1. + + You can adjust the type of assertion/assignment with the balance-type + rule (see below). + + See Tips below for more about setting amounts and currency. + + separator + You can use the separator rule to read other kinds of character-sepa- + rated data. The argument is any single separator character, or the + words tab or space (case insensitive). Eg, for comma-separated values + (CSV): + + separator , + + or for semicolon-separated values (SSV): + + separator ; + + or for tab-separated values (TSV): + + separator TAB + + If the input file has a .csv, .ssv or .tsv file extension (or a csv:, + ssv:, tsv: prefix), the appropriate separator will be inferred automat- + ically, and you won't need this rule. + + if block + if MATCHER + RULE + + if + MATCHER + MATCHER + MATCHER + RULE + RULE + + Conditional blocks ("if blocks") are a block of rules that are applied + only to CSV records which match certain patterns. They are often used + for customising account names based on transaction descriptions. + + Matching the whole record + Each MATCHER can be a record matcher, which looks like this: + + REGEX + + REGEX is a case-insensitive regular expression that tries to match any- + where within the CSV record. It is a POSIX ERE (extended regular + expression) that also supports GNU word boundaries (\b, \B, \<, \>), + and nothing else. If you have trouble, be sure to check our doc: + https://hledger.org/hledger.html#regular-expressions + + Important note: the record that is matched is not the original record, + but a synthetic one, with any enclosing double quotes (but not enclos- + ing whitespace) removed, and always comma-separated (which means that a + field containing a comma will appear like two fields). Eg, if the + original record is 2020-01-01; "Acme, Inc."; 1,000, the REGEX will + actually see 2020-01-01,Acme, Inc., 1,000). + + Matching individual fields + Or, MATCHER can be a field matcher, like this: + + %CSVFIELD REGEX + + which matches just the content of a particular CSV field. CSVFIELD is + a percent sign followed by the field's name or column number, like + %date or %1. + + Combining matchers + A single matcher can be written on the same line as the "if"; or multi- + ple matchers can be written on the following lines, non-indented. Mul- + tiple matchers are OR'd (any one of them can match), unless one begins + with an & symbol, in which case it is AND'ed with the previous matcher. + + if + MATCHER + & MATCHER + RULE + + Rules applied on successful match + After the patterns there should be one or more rules to apply, all + indented by at least one space. Three kinds of rule are allowed in + conditional blocks: + + o field assignments (to set a hledger field) + + o skip (to skip the matched CSV record) + + o end (to skip all remaining CSV records). + + Examples: + + # if the CSV record contains "groceries", set account2 to "expenses:groceries" + if groceries + account2 expenses:groceries + + # if the CSV record contains any of these patterns, set account2 and comment as shown + if + monthly service fee + atm transaction fee + banking thru software + account2 expenses:business:banking + comment XXX deductible ? check it + + if table + if,CSVFIELDNAME1,CSVFIELDNAME2,...,CSVFIELDNAMEn + MATCHER1,VALUE11,VALUE12,...,VALUE1n + MATCHER2,VALUE21,VALUE22,...,VALUE2n + MATCHER3,VALUE31,VALUE32,...,VALUE3n + + + Conditional tables ("if tables") are a different syntax to specify + field assignments that will be applied only to CSV records which match + certain patterns. + + MATCHER could be either field or record matcher, as described above. + When MATCHER matches, values from that row would be assigned to the CSV + fields named on the if line, in the same order. + + Therefore if table is exactly equivalent to a sequence of of if blocks: + + if MATCHER1 + CSVFIELDNAME1 VALUE11 + CSVFIELDNAME2 VALUE12 + ... + CSVFIELDNAMEn VALUE1n + + if MATCHER2 + CSVFIELDNAME1 VALUE21 + CSVFIELDNAME2 VALUE22 + ... + CSVFIELDNAMEn VALUE2n + + if MATCHER3 + CSVFIELDNAME1 VALUE31 + CSVFIELDNAME2 VALUE32 + ... + CSVFIELDNAMEn VALUE3n + + Each line starting with MATCHER should contain enough (possibly empty) + values for all the listed fields. + + Rules would be checked and applied in the order they are listed in the + table and, like with if blocks, later rules (in the same or another ta- + ble) or if blocks could override the effect of any rule. + + Instead of ',' you can use a variety of other non-alphanumeric charac- + ters as a separator. First character after if is taken to be the sepa- + rator for the rest of the table. It is the responsibility of the user + to ensure that separator does not occur inside MATCHERs and values - + there is no way to escape separator. + + Example: + + if,account2,comment + atm transaction fee,expenses:business:banking,deductible? check it + %description groceries,expenses:groceries, + 2020/01/12.*Plumbing LLC,expenses:house:upkeep,emergency plumbing call-out + + end + This rule can be used inside if blocks (only), to make hledger stop + reading this CSV file and move on to the next input file, or to command + execution. Eg: + + # ignore everything following the first empty record + if ,,,, + end + + date-format + date-format DATEFMT + + This is a helper for the date (and date2) fields. If your CSV dates + are not formatted like YYYY-MM-DD, YYYY/MM/DD or YYYY.MM.DD, you'll + need to add a date-format rule describing them with a strptime date + parsing pattern, which must parse the CSV date value completely. Some + examples: + + # MM/DD/YY + date-format %m/%d/%y + + # D/M/YYYY + # The - makes leading zeros optional. + date-format %-d/%-m/%Y + + # YYYY-Mmm-DD + date-format %Y-%h-%d + + # 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 + + For the supported strptime syntax, see: + https://hackage.haskell.org/package/time/docs/Data-Time-For- + mat.html#v:formatTime + + Note that although you can parse date-times which include a time zone, + that time zone is ignored; it will not change the date that is parsed. + This means when reading CSV data with times not in your local time + zone, dates can be "off by one". + + decimal-mark + decimal-mark . + + or: + + decimal-mark , + + 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. + + newest-first + hledger always sorts the generated transactions by date. Transactions + on the same date should appear in the same order as their CSV records, + as hledger can usually auto-detect whether the CSV's normal order is + oldest first or newest first. But if all of the following are true: + + o the CSV might sometimes contain just one day of data (all records + having the same date) + + o the CSV records are normally in reverse chronological order (newest + at the top) + + o and you care about preserving the order of same-day transactions + + then, you should add the newest-first rule as a hint. Eg: + + # tell hledger explicitly that the CSV is normally newest first + newest-first + + include + include RULESFILE + + This includes the contents of another CSV rules file at this point. + RULESFILE is an absolute file path or a path relative to the current + file's directory. This can be useful for sharing common rules between + several rules files, eg: + + # someaccount.csv.rules + + ## someaccount-specific rules + fields date,description,amount + account1 assets:someaccount + account2 expenses:misc + + ## common rules + include categorisation.rules + + balance-type + Balance assertions generated by assigning to balanceN are of the simple + = 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 + balance-type rule: + + # balance assertions will consider all commodities and all subaccounts + balance-type ==* + + Here are the balance assertion types for quick reference: + + = single commodity, exclude subaccounts + =* single commodity, include subaccounts + == multi commodity, exclude subaccounts + ==* multi commodity, include subaccounts + + Tips + Rapid feedback + It's a good idea to get rapid feedback while creating/troubleshooting + CSV rules. Here's a good way, using entr from eradman.com/entrproject: + + $ ls foo.csv* | entr bash -c 'echo ----; hledger -f foo.csv print desc:SOMEDESC' + + A desc: query (eg) is used to select just one, or a few, transactions + of interest. "bash -c" 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. + + Valid CSV + hledger accepts CSV conforming to RFC 4180. When CSV values are + enclosed in quotes, note: + + o they must be double quotes (not single quotes) + + o spaces outside the quotes are not allowed + + File Extension + To help hledger identify the format and show the right error messages, + CSV/SSV/TSV files should normally be named with a .csv, .ssv or .tsv + filename extension. Or, the file path should be prefixed with csv:, + ssv: or tsv:. Eg: + + $ hledger -f foo.ssv print + + or: + + $ cat foo | hledger -f ssv:- foo + + You can override the file extension with a separator rule if needed. + See also: Input files in the hledger manual. + + Reading multiple CSV files + If you use multiple -f 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 --rules-file option, that rules file will be + used for all the CSV files. + + Valid transactions + After reading a CSV file, hledger post-processes and validates the gen- + erated 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. + + 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: + + $ hledger -f file.csv print | hledger -f- print + + Deduplicating, importing + 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. + + 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't have to remember how many times you ran it or with which version + of the CSV. (It keeps state in a hidden .latest.FILE.csv file.) This + is the easiest way to import CSV data. Eg: + + # download the latest CSV files, then run this command. + # Note, no -f flags needed here. + $ hledger import *.csv [--dry] + + This method works for most CSV files. (Where records have a stable + chronological order, and new records appear only at the new end.) + + A number of other tools and workflows, hledger-specific and otherwise, + exist for converting, deduplicating, classifying and managing CSV data. + See: + + o https://hledger.org -> sidebar -> real world setups + + o https://plaintextaccounting.org -> data import/conversion + + Setting amounts + Some tips on using the amount-setting rules discussed above. + + Here are the ways to set a posting's amount: + + 1. If the CSV has a single amount field: + Assign (via a fields list or a field assignment) to amountN. This sets + the Nth posting's amount. N is usually 1 or 2 but can go up to 99. + + 2. If the CSV has separate amount fields for debit & credit (in & out): + + a. If both fields are unsigned: + Assign to amountN-in and amountN-out. This sets posting N's amount + to whichever of these has a non-zero value, and negates the "-out" + value. + + b. If either field is signed (can contain a minus sign): + Use a conditional rule to flip the sign (of non-empty values). + Since hledger always negates amountN-out, if it was already nega- + tive, we must undo that by negating once more (but only if the + field is non-empty): + + fields date, description, amount1-in, amount1-out + if %amount1-out [1-9] + amount1-out -%amount1-out + + c. If both fields, or neither field, can contain a non-zero value: + hledger normally expects exactly one of the fields to have a non- + zero value. Eg, the amountN-in/amountN-out rules would reject + value pairs like these: + + "", "" + "0", "0" + "1", "none" + + So, use smarter conditional rules to set the amount from the appro- + priate field. Eg, these rules would make it use only the value + containing non-zero digits, handling the above: + + fields date, description, in, out + if %in [1-9] + amount1 %in + if %out [1-9] + amount1 %out + + 3. If you are stuck with hledger <1.17, or you want posting 2's amount + converted to cost: + Assign to amount (or to amount-in and amount-out). (The old numberless + syntax, which sets amount1 and amount2.) + + 4. If the CSV has the balance instead of the transaction amount: + Assign to balanceN, which sets posting N's amount indirectly via a bal- + ance assignment. (Old syntax: balance, equivalent to balance1.) + + o If hledger guesses the wrong default account name: + When setting the amount via balance assertion, hledger may guess + the wrong default account name. So, set the account name explic- + itly, eg: + + fields date, description, balance1 + account1 assets:checking + + Amount signs + There is some special handling for amount signs, to simplify parsing + and sign-flipping: + + o If an amount value begins with a plus sign: + that will be removed: +AMT becomes AMT + + o If an amount value is parenthesised: + it will be de-parenthesised and sign-flipped: (AMT) becomes -AMT + + o If an amount value has two minus signs (or two sets of parentheses, + or a minus sign and parentheses): + they cancel out and will be removed: --AMT or -(AMT) becomes AMT + + o If an amount value contains just a sign (or just a set of parenthe- + ses): + that is removed, making it an empty value. "+" or "-" or "()" becomes + "". + + Setting currency/commodity + If the currency/commodity symbol is included in the CSV's amount + field(s): + + 2020-01-01,foo,$123.00 + + you don't have to do anything special for the commodity symbol, it will + be assigned as part of the amount. Eg: + + fields date,description,amount + + 2020-01-01 foo + expenses:unknown $123.00 + income:unknown $-123.00 + + If the currency is provided as a separate CSV field: + + 2020-01-01,foo,USD,123.00 + + You can assign that to the currency pseudo-field, which has the special + effect of prepending itself to every amount in the transaction (on the + left, with no separating space): + + fields date,description,currency,amount + + 2020-01-01 foo + expenses:unknown USD123.00 + income:unknown USD-123.00 + + 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: + + fields date,description,cur,amt + amount %amt %cur + + 2020-01-01 foo + expenses:unknown 123.00 USD + income:unknown -123.00 USD + + Note we used a temporary field name (cur) that is not currency - that + would trigger the prepending effect, which we don't want here. + + Amount decimal places + Like amounts in a journal file, the amounts generated by CSV rules like + amount1 influence commodity display styles, such as the number of deci- + mal places displayed in reports. + + The original amounts as written in the CSV file do not affect display + style (because we don't yet reliably know their commodity). + + Referencing other fields + In field assignments, you can interpolate only CSV fields, not hledger + fields. In the example below, there's both a CSV field and a hledger + field named amount1, but %amount1 always means the CSV field, not the + hledger field: + + # Name the third CSV field "amount1" + fields date,description,amount1 + + # Set hledger'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 + + Here, since there's no CSV amount1 field, %amount1 will produce a lit- + eral "amount1": + + fields date,description,csvamount + amount1 %csvamount USD + # Can't interpolate amount1 here + comment %amount1 + + When there are multiple field assignments to the same hledger field, + only the last one takes effect. Here, comment's value will be be B, or + C if "something" is matched, but never A: + + comment A + comment B + if something + comment C + + How CSV rules are evaluated + Here's how to think of CSV rules being evaluated (if you really need + to). First, + + o include - 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.) + + Then "global" rules are evaluated, top to bottom. If a rule is + repeated, the last one wins: + + o skip (at top level) + + o date-format + + o newest-first + + o fields - names the CSV fields, optionally sets up initial assignments + to hledger fields + + Then for each CSV record in turn: + + o test all if blocks. If any of them contain a end rule, skip all + remaining CSV records. Otherwise if any of them contain a skip rule, + skip that many CSV records. If there are multiple matched skip + rules, the first one wins. + + o collect all field assignments at top level and in matched if blocks. + When there are multiple assignments for a field, keep only the last + one. + + o compute a value for each hledger field - either the one that was + assigned to it (and interpolate the %CSVFIELDNAME references), or a + default + + o generate a synthetic hledger transaction from these values. + + 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. + +TIMECLOCK FORMAT + The time logging format of timeclock.el, as read by hledger. + + hledger can read time logs in timeclock format. As with Ledger, these + are (a subset of) timeclock.el'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). + + i 2015/03/30 09:00:00 some:account name optional description after two spaces + o 2015/03/30 09:20:00 + i 2015/03/31 22:21:45 another account + o 2015/04/01 02:00:34 + + 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, hledger print generates these journal entries: + + $ hledger -f t.timeclock print + 2015-03-30 * optional description after two spaces + (some:account name) 0.33h + + 2015-03-31 * 22:21-23:59 + (another account) 1.64h + + 2015-04-01 * 00:00-02:00 + (another account) 2.01h + + Here is a sample.timeclock to download and some queries to try: + + $ 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 + + To generate time logs, ie to clock in and clock out, you could: + + o use emacs and the built-in timeclock.el, or the extended timeclock- + x.el and perhaps the extras in ledgerutils.el + + o at the command line, use these bash aliases: shell alias ti="echo + i `date '+%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S'` \$* >>$TIMELOG" alias to="echo o + `date '+%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S'` >>$TIMELOG" + + o or use the old ti and to scripts in the ledger 2.x repository. These + rely on a "timeclock" executable which I think is just the ledger 2 + executable renamed. + +TIMEDOT FORMAT + timedot format is hledger's human-friendly time logging format. Com- + pared to timeclock format, it is + + o convenient for quick, approximate, and retroactive time logging + + o readable: you can see at a glance where time was spent. + + A timedot file contains a series of day entries, which might look like + this: + + 2021-08-04 + hom:errands .... .... + fos:hledger:timedot .. ; docs + per:admin:finance + + hledger reads this as three time transactions on this day, with each + dot representing a quarter-hour spent: + + $ hledger -f a.timedot print # .timedot file extension activates the timedot reader + 2021-08-04 * + (hom:errands) 2.00 + + 2021-08-04 * + (fos:hledger:timedot) 0.50 + + 2021-08-04 * + (per:admin:finance) 0 + + A day entry begins with a date line: + + o a non-indented simple date (Y-M-D, Y/M/D, or Y.M.D). + + Optionally this can be followed on the same line by + + o a common transaction description for this day + + o a common transaction comment for this day, after a semicolon (;). + + After the date line are zero or more optionally-indented time transac- + tion lines, consisting of: + + o an account name - any word or phrase, usually a hledger-style account + name. + + o two or more spaces - a field separator, required if there is an + amount (as in journal format). + + o a timedot amount - dots representing quarter hours, or a number rep- + resenting hours. + + o an optional comment beginning with semicolon. This is ignored. + + In more detail, timedot amounts can be: + + o dots: zero or more period characters, each representing one quarter- + hour. Spaces are ignored and can be used for grouping. Eg: .... .. + + o a number, representing hours. Eg: 1.5 + + o a number immediately followed by a unit symbol s, m, h, d, w, mo, or + y, representing seconds, minutes, hours, days weeks, months or years. + Eg 1.5h or 90m. The following equivalencies are assumed: + 60s = 1m, 60m = 1h, 24h = 1d, 7d = 1w, 30d = 1mo, 365d = 1y. (This + unit will not be visible in the generated transaction amount, which is + always in hours.) + + There is some added flexibility to help with keeping time log data in + the same file as your notes, todo lists, etc.: + + o Lines beginning with # or ;, and blank lines, are ignored. + + o Lines not ending with a double-space and amount are parsed as trans- + actions with zero amount. (Most hledger reports hide these by + default; add -E to see them.) + + o One or more stars (*) followed by a space, at the start of a line, is + ignored. So date lines or time transaction lines can also be Org- + mode headlines. + + o All Org-mode headlines before the first date line are ignored. + + More examples: + + # 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 . + + 2016/2/3 + inc:client1 4 + fos:hledger 3 + biz:research 1 + + * Time log + ** 2020-01-01 + *** adm:time . + *** adm:finance . + + * 2020 Work Diary + ** Q1 + *** 2020-02-29 + **** DONE + 0700 yoga + **** UNPLANNED + **** BEGUN + hom:chores + cleaning ... + water plants + outdoor - one full watering can + indoor - light watering + **** TODO + adm:planning: trip + *** LATER + + Reporting: + + $ hledger -f a.timedot print date:2016/2/2 + 2016-02-02 * + (inc:client1) 2.00 + + 2016-02-02 * + (biz:research) 0.25 + + $ 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 + + Using period instead of colon as account name separator: + + 2016/2/4 + fos.hledger.timedot 4 + fos.ledger .. + + $ hledger -f a.timedot --alias /\\./=: bal --tree + 4.50 fos + 4.00 hledger:timedot + 0.50 ledger + -------------------- + 4.50 + + A sample.timedot file. + +COMMON TASKS + Here are some quick examples of how to do some basic tasks with + hledger. For more details, see the reference section below, the + hledger_journal(5) manual, or the more extensive docs at + https://hledger.org. + + Getting help + $ hledger # show available commands + $ hledger --help # show common options + $ hledger CMD --help # show common and command options, and command help + $ hledger help # show available manuals/topics + $ hledger help hledger # show hledger manual as info/man/text (auto-chosen) + $ hledger help journal --man # show the journal manual as a man page + $ hledger help --help # show more detailed help for the help command + + Find more docs, chat, mail list, reddit, issue tracker: + https://hledger.org#help-feedback + + Constructing command lines + hledger has an extensive and powerful command line interface. We + strive to keep it simple and ergonomic, but you may run into one of the + confusing real world details described in OPTIONS, below. If that hap- + pens, here are some tips that may help: + + o command-specific options must go after the command (it's fine to put + all options there) (hledger CMD OPTS ARGS) + + o running add-on executables directly simplifies command line parsing + (hledger-ui OPTS ARGS) + + o enclose "problematic" args in single quotes + + o if needed, also add a backslash to hide regular expression metachar- + acters from the shell + + o to see how a misbehaving command is being parsed, add --debug=2. + + Starting a journal file + hledger looks for your accounting data in a journal file, + $HOME/.hledger.journal by default: + + $ hledger stats + The hledger journal file "/Users/simon/.hledger.journal" was not found. + Please create it first, eg with "hledger add" or a text editor. + Or, specify an existing journal file with -f or LEDGER_FILE. + + You can override this by setting the LEDGER_FILE environment variable. + It'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: + + $ mkdir ~/finance + $ cd ~/finance + $ git init + Initialized empty Git repository in /Users/simon/finance/.git/ + $ touch 2020.journal + $ echo "export LEDGER_FILE=$HOME/finance/2020.journal" >> ~/.bashrc + $ source ~/.bashrc + $ hledger stats + Main file : /Users/simon/finance/2020.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 () + + Setting opening balances + Pick a starting date for which you can look up the balances of some + real-world assets (bank accounts, wallet..) and liabilities (credit + cards..). + + 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. + + Add an opening balances transaction to the journal, declaring the bal- + ances on this date. Here are two ways to do it: + + o The first way: open the journal in any text editor and save an entry + like this: + + 2020-01-01 * opening balances + assets:bank:checking $1000 = $1000 + assets:bank:savings $2000 = $2000 + assets:cash $100 = $100 + liabilities:creditcard $-50 = $-50 + equity:opening/closing balances + + These are start-of-day balances, ie whatever was in the account at + the end of the previous day. + + The * after the date is an optional status flag. Here it means + "cleared & confirmed". + + The currency symbols are optional, but usually a good idea as you'll + be dealing with multiple currencies sooner or later. + + The = amounts are optional balance assertions, providing extra error + checking. + + o The second way: run hledger add and follow the prompts to record a + similar transaction: + + $ hledger add + Adding transactions to journal file /Users/simon/finance/2020.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 [2020-02-07]: 2020-01-01 + 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): . + 2020-01-01 * 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 [2020-01-01]: . + + If you're using version control, this could be a good time to commit + the journal. Eg: + + $ git commit -m 'initial balances' 2020.journal + + Recording transactions + 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. + + Here are some simple transactions, see the hledger_journal(5) manual + and hledger.org for more ideas: + + 2020/1/10 * gift received + assets:cash $20 + income:gifts + + 2020.1.12 * farmers market + expenses:food $13 + assets:cash + + 2020-01-15 paycheck + income:salary + assets:bank:checking $1000 + + Reconciling + Periodically you should reconcile - compare your hledger-reported bal- + ances against external sources of truth, like bank statements or your + bank'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 dis- + crepancies. + + A typical workflow: + + 1. Reconcile cash. Count what's in your wallet. Compare with what + hledger reports (hledger bal cash). 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 + (hledger reg cash). If you can't find the error, add an adjustment + transaction. Eg if you have $105 after the above, and can't explain + the missing $2, it could be: + + 2020-01-16 * adjust cash + assets:cash $-2 = $105 + expenses:misc + + 2. Reconcile checking. Log in to your bank's website. Compare today's + (cleared) balance with hledger's cleared balance (hledger bal check- + ing -C). 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 trans- + action history and running balance from your bank with the one + reported by hledger reg checking -C. This will be easier if you + generally record transaction dates quite similar to your bank's + clearing dates. + + 3. Repeat for other asset/liability accounts. + + Tip: instead of the register command, use hledger-ui to see a live- + updating register while you edit the journal: hledger-ui --watch --reg- + ister checking -C + + After reconciling, it could be a good time to mark the reconciled + transactions' status as "cleared and confirmed", if you want to track + that, by adding the * marker. Eg in the paycheck transaction above, + insert * between 2020-01-15 and paycheck + + If you're using version control, this can be another good time to com- + mit: + + $ git commit -m 'txns' 2020.journal + + Reporting + Here are some basic reports. + + Show all transactions: + + $ hledger print + 2020-01-01 * opening balances + assets:bank:checking $1000 + assets:bank:savings $2000 + assets:cash $100 + liabilities:creditcard $-50 + equity:opening/closing balances $-3050 + + 2020-01-10 * gift received + assets:cash $20 + income:gifts + + 2020-01-12 * farmers market + expenses:food $13 + assets:cash + + 2020-01-15 * paycheck + income:salary + assets:bank:checking $1000 + + 2020-01-16 * adjust cash + assets:cash $-2 = $105 + expenses:misc + + Show account names, and their hierarchy: + + $ hledger accounts --tree + assets + bank + checking + savings + cash + equity + opening/closing balances + expenses + food + misc + income + gifts + salary + liabilities + creditcard + + Show all account totals: + + $ 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 + + Show only asset and liability balances, as a flat list, limited to + depth 2: + + $ hledger bal assets liabilities --flat -2 + $4000 assets:bank + $105 assets:cash + $-50 liabilities:creditcard + -------------------- + $4055 + + Show the same thing without negative numbers, formatted as a simple + balance sheet: + + $ hledger bs --flat -2 + Balance Sheet 2020-01-16 + + || 2020-01-16 + ========================++============ + Assets || + ------------------------++------------ + assets:bank || $4000 + assets:cash || $105 + ------------------------++------------ + || $4105 + ========================++============ + Liabilities || + ------------------------++------------ + liabilities:creditcard || $50 + ------------------------++------------ + || $50 + ========================++============ + Net: || $4055 + + The final total is your "net worth" on the end date. (Or use bse for a + full balance sheet with equity.) + + Show income and expense totals, formatted as an income statement: + + hledger is + Income Statement 2020-01-01-2020-01-16 + + || 2020-01-01-2020-01-16 + ===============++======================= + Revenues || + ---------------++----------------------- + income:gifts || $20 + income:salary || $1000 + ---------------++----------------------- + || $1020 + ===============++======================= + Expenses || + ---------------++----------------------- + expenses:food || $13 + expenses:misc || $2 + ---------------++----------------------- + || $15 + ===============++======================= + Net: || $1005 + + The final total is your net income during this period. + + Show transactions affecting your wallet, with running total: + + $ hledger register cash + 2020-01-01 opening balances assets:cash $100 $100 + 2020-01-10 gift received assets:cash $20 $120 + 2020-01-12 farmers market assets:cash $-13 $107 + 2020-01-16 adjust cash assets:cash $-2 $105 + + Show weekly posting counts as a bar chart: + + $ hledger activity -W + 2019-12-30 ***** + 2020-01-06 **** + 2020-01-13 **** + + Migrating to a new file + At the end of the year, you may want to continue your journal in a new + file, so that old transactions don't slow down or clutter your reports, + and to help ensure the integrity of your accounting history. See the + close command. + + If using version control, don't forget to git add the new file. + +LIMITATIONS + The need to precede add-on command options with -- when invoked from + hledger is awkward. + + When input data contains non-ascii characters, a suitable system locale + must be configured (or there will be an unhelpful error). Eg on POSIX, + set LANG to something other than C. + + In a Microsoft Windows CMD window, non-ascii characters and colours are + not supported. + + On Windows, non-ascii characters may not display correctly when running + a hledger built in CMD in MSYS/CYGWIN, or vice-versa. + + In a Cygwin/MSYS/Mintty window, the tab key is not supported in hledger + add. + + Not all of Ledger's journal file syntax is supported. See file format + differences. + + On large data files, hledger is slower and uses more memory than + Ledger. + +TROUBLESHOOTING + Here are some issues you might encounter when you run hledger (and + remember you can also seek help from the IRC channel, mail list or bug + tracker): + + Successfully installed, but "No command 'hledger' found" + stack and cabal install binaries into a special directory, which should + be added to your PATH environment variable. Eg on unix-like systems, + that is ~/.local/bin and ~/.cabal/bin respectively. + + I set a custom LEDGER_FILE, but hledger is still using the default file + LEDGER_FILE should be a real environment variable, not just a shell + variable. The command env | grep LEDGER_FILE should show it. You may + need to use export. Here's an explanation. + + Getting errors like "Illegal byte sequence" or "Invalid or incomplete + multibyte or wide character" or "commitAndReleaseBuffer: invalid argu- + ment (invalid character)" + Programs compiled with GHC (hledger, haskell build tools, etc.) need to + have a UTF-8-aware locale configured in the environment, otherwise they + will fail with these kinds of errors when they encounter non-ascii + characters. + + To fix it, set the LANG environment variable to some locale which sup- + ports UTF-8. The locale you choose must be installed on your system. + + Here's an example of setting LANG temporarily, on Ubuntu GNU/Linux: + + $ file my.journal + my.journal: UTF-8 Unicode text # the file is UTF8-encoded + $ echo $LANG + C # LANG is set to the default locale, which does not support UTF8 + $ locale -a # which locales are installed ? + C + en_US.utf8 # here's a UTF8-aware one we can use + POSIX + $ LANG=en_US.utf8 hledger -f my.journal print # ensure it is used for this command + + If available, C.UTF-8 will also work. If your preferred locale isn't + listed by locale -a, you might need to install it. Eg on + Ubuntu/Debian: + + $ apt-get install language-pack-fr + $ locale -a + C + en_US.utf8 + fr_BE.utf8 + fr_CA.utf8 + fr_CH.utf8 + fr_FR.utf8 + fr_LU.utf8 + POSIX + $ LANG=fr_FR.utf8 hledger -f my.journal print + + Here's how you could set it permanently, if you use a bash shell: + + $ echo "export LANG=en_US.utf8" >>~/.bash_profile + $ bash --login + + Exact spelling and capitalisation may be important. Note the differ- + ence on MacOS (UTF-8, not utf8). Some platforms (eg ubuntu) allow + variant spellings, but others (eg macos) require it to be exact: + + $ locale -a | grep -iE en_us.*utf + en_US.UTF-8 + $ LANG=en_US.UTF-8 hledger -f my.journal print + + + +REPORTING BUGS + Report bugs at http://bugs.hledger.org (or on the #hledger IRC channel + or hledger mail list) + + +AUTHORS + Simon Michael and contributors + + +COPYRIGHT + Copyright (C) 2007-2020 Simon Michael. + Released under GNU GPL v3 or later. + + +SEE ALSO + hledger(1), hledger-ui(1), hledger-web(1), ledger(1) + + + +hledger-1.24 December 2021 HLEDGER(1)